Rise of native teachers--Magdalen College School, Oxford--John
Annaquil, its first master, and his grammatical handbooks--The
_Compendium Grammatices_ with the _Vulgaria_ of Terence annexed--The
_Parvulorum Institutio_--Personal allusions in the examples
given--JOHN STANBRIDGE--Account of his works, with extracts of
interesting passages--ROBERT WHITTINTON--His sectional series of
Grammars.
I. The influence of Donatus was both widespread and of prolonged duration,
and we must regard the ancient capital of the civilised world as the focus
and cradle of all modern grammatical literature. Upon the great revival of
culture, many Englishmen repaired to Rome to undergo a formal training for
the scholastic profession under the masters who arose there, among whom
were Sulpicius, author, as we have seen, of several educational tracts,
which obtained considerable currency here, and Johannes Balbus, who
compiled the famous _Catholicon_.
The LEXICON and DICTIONARY naturally followed the Primer; and our earliest
productions of this kind were formed out of the Vocabularies composed and
printed abroad--not in Italy, but in Germany, as a rule. But while in many
instances we are made acquainted with the writers or editors of the
smaller treatises, the names of those laborious men who undertook the
compilation of the first type of glossographical Manual are scarcely
known.
But the time soon arrived when a native school of tuition was formed in
England, and its original seat seems to have been at the Free School
immediately adjacent to Magdalen College, Oxford.
We find John Annaquil mentioned as the master of this seminary in the time
of Henry the Seventh, and it is the most ancient record of it that has
been apparently recovered. Annaquil, of whom our knowledge is extremely
scanty, wrote, for the use more immediately of his own pupils, _Compendium
Grammatices_, with an Anglo-Latin version of the _Vulgaria_ of Terence
annexed. This volume was printed at Oxford by Theodore Rood about 1484;
and an edition of the work entitled _Parvulorum Institutio_, ascribed to
the same press, was doubtless prepared by Annaquil, or under his
direction, for the benefit of his school. Such fragments as have been
recovered of this book exhibit variations from the later copies, into
which subsequent editors purposely introduced improvements and
corrections. There are some familiar allusions here, such as, had they
been more numerous, might have rendered these ancient educational tracts
more attractive and precious even than they are. I mean such entries as,
"I go to Oxford: _Eo Oxonium_ or _Ad Oxonium_." "I shall go to London:
_Ibo Londinum_."
Knight explains these references in his Life of Dean Colet: "It may not be
amiss to remark that many of the examples in the Latin Grammar pointed to
the then juncture of public affairs; viz., the prosecution of Empson and
Dudley in the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign: as _Regum est tueri leges:
Refert omnium animadverti in malos_. And this humour was the reason why,
in the following editions of the Syntax, there were examples accommodated
to the respective years of the impressions; as, _Audito regem Doroberniam
proficisci_; _Imperator_ [Maximilian] _meruit sub rege_, &c. There were
likewise in that edition of Erasmus several examples referring to Dean
Colet, as _Vixit Romæ_, _studuit Oxonii_, _natus est Londini_, _discessit
Londini_, &c."
Annaquil is supposed to have died about 1488, and was succeeded in his
work by John Stanbridge, who is much better known as a grammarian than his
predecessor. Stanbridge was a native of Northamptonshire, according to
Wood, and received his education at Winchester. In 1481 he was admitted to
New College, Oxford, after two years' probation, and remained there five
years, at the end of which he was appointed first usher under Annaquil of
the Free School aforesaid, and after his principal's death took his place.
The exact period of his death is not determined; but he probably lived
into the reign of Henry the Eighth.
II. The writings of Stanbridge are divisible into two sections--those
which he published in his own lifetime, and those which appeared after his
death in the form either of reimpressions or selections by his pupil
Whittinton and others. The former category embraces: 1. ACCIDENCE; 2.
VOCABULA; 3. VULGARIA. In the latter I include: 1. ACCIDENTIA EX
STANBRIGIANA EDITIONE RECOGNITA limâ Roberti Whittintoni; 2. PARVULORUM
INSTITUTIO EX STANBRIGIANA COLLECTIONE. The first of these productions,
not strictly to be regarded as proceeding from the pen of Stanbridge,
bears the name of Whittinton; the second I merely apprehend to have been
his. But the line of distinction between the publications of Stanbridge
himself and posthumous, or at any rate not personally superintended
reprints, is one which ought to be drawn.
There is an edition of Stanbridge's _Accidence_, printed at the end of the
sixteenth century by Caxton's successor at Westminster. The variations
between it and the collections which were modelled upon it, probably by
John Holt, whom I shall again mention, are thus explained and stated by
the author of the _Typographical Antiquities_:--
"This treats of the eight parts of reason; but they differ in several
respects as to the manner of treating of them; this treating largely of
the degrees of comparison, which the other (_Accidentia ex Stanbrigiana
Collectione_) does not so much as mention. That gives the moods and
tenses of the 4. conjugations at large, both active and passive, whereas
this gives only a few short rules to know them by. Again, this shews the
concords of grammar, which the other has not."
There are at least three issues of the _Accidence_ from London presses,
and a fourth in an abridged shape from an Antwerp one, presumably for the
convenience of English residents in the Low Countries. The tide had by
this time begun to a certain extent to flow in an opposite direction, as
it were, and not only introductions to our own language were executed here
and reproduced abroad, but Latin authors were beginning to find competent
native interpreters, among whom John Annaquil was perhaps the foremost.
Next to the _Accidence_ of Stanbridge I shall consider briefly his
_Vocabula_, which was, on the whole, the most popular of his works, and
continued for the greatest length of time in vogue, as I record editions
of it as late as the period of the Civil War (1647). I have not, on the
other hand, met with any anterior to 1510. Annexed is a specimen:--
_De naui et eius pertinentibus._
The formost parte The hynder parte The saylewarde the bottom of the
of the shyppe of the shyppe =antenna= shyppe
=Prora nauis= =Puppis rostrum= =carina=
The takelynge the mast The cable an anker the stern
=Armamenta= =malus= =rudens simul= =anchora= =clauus=
The hatches the pompe the water pompe the hatches
=foci= =sentina cum= =nautea nausea= =transtra=
The sayle cloth idem the maste of the shyppe to sayle a shypman
=carbalus= =et belum= =nauergus= =et nauigo= =nauta=
Qui nauem regit idem i. nauis
=nauicularius= =et nauclerus= =nauigiumq=;
Ptines ad naue to rowe qui remigat the dockes an ore
=naualis= =remigio= =remus= =naualia= =remex=
Ptinens ad naue qui fregit nauem the see a wawe
=nauticus et= =naufragus naufragium= =ac mare= =fretu=
To carry ouer to dryue to carry ouer the toll, or the custome
=Trajitio= =appello= =transporto= =portarjumq=;
A fery man a fery barge idem a cokbote a bottom
=Portitor= =hyppago= =ponto= =Iynter quoq=; =cymba=
This extract is highly edifying. In the concluding line _ponto_, a
ferry-barge, is the modern _punt_, and _lynter_, a cock-boat, is the early
Venetian _lintra_, to which I refer in _Venice before the Stones_ as
antecedent to the gondola.
III. The remaining contribution of Stanbridge to this class of literature
is his _Vulgaria_, which I take to be the least known. Dibdin describes it
somewhat at large, and it may be worth while to transfer a specimen
hither:--
"_Sinciput, et vertex, caput, occiput, et coma, crinis._
=hoc sinciput, is=, the fore parte of the heed
=hic vertex, cis=, for the crowne of the heed
=hoc caput, is=, for a heed
=hoc occiput, is=, the hynder parte of the heed
=hec coma, e=, for a brisshe
=hic crinis, nis=, for a heer
* * * * *
A garment a clothe idem apparayle
=Hic indumentum= =vestis= =vestitus= =amictus=
idem idem idem
=Ornatus= =simul apparatus= =amiculus idem=
a cappe agat: e idem
=Ista caput gestat apex= =caliptra= =galerus=
a cappe idem an hood idem
=Biretum= =pilius= =cuculus= =capitiumq=;
* * * * *
_Vulgaria queda cu suis vernaculis compilata iuxta
consuetudinem ludi litterarij diui Pauli._
Good morowe. =Bonu tibi huius diei sit primordiu.=
Good nyght. =Bona nox, tranquilla nox, optata requies, &c.=
Scolers must lyue hardly at Oxford,
=Scolasticos Oxonii parce viuere oportet.=
My fader hath had a greate losse on the see.
=Pater meus magna p naufragiu iactura habuit.=
Wysshers and wolders be small housholders.
=Affectatibus diuitias modica hospitalitate obseruant.="
The abridgments of Stanbridge's _Accidence_ led, I presume, to the
distinction of the original text as the _Long Accidence_, although I have
not personally met with more than a single edition of the work under such
a title. Dibdin, however, has a story that John Bagford had heard of one
printed at Tavistock, for which the said John "would have stuck at no
price."
The chief of these adaptations of the _Accidence_ is the _Parvulorum
Institutio_, which I have described as probably emanating, in the first
place, from the earliest press for the use of the earliest known school at
Oxford. But it was reprinted with alterations by Stanbridge, and perhaps
by John Holt. In Dibdin's account of one of these recensions he
observes:--
"The work begins immediately on sign. A ij:-'What is to be done whan an
englysshe is gyuen to be made in latyn? Fyrst the verbe must be loked out,
and yf there be moo verbes than one in a reason, I must loke out the
pryncypall verbe and aske this questyon who or what, and that word that
answereth to the questyon shall be the nomynatyve case to the verbe.
Except it be a verbe Impersonell the whiche wyll haue no nomynative case.'
"On the last leaf but one we have as follows:--
=Indignus dignus obscenus fedus Cice. qq hecauditu
acerbus.= acerba sunt.
=Rarus iucundus absurdus turpe Tere. turpe
saluber.= dictu.
=Mirandus mirus pulchrum sit Qui. multa
periculosus.= dictu visuq; miranda.
=Whan there cometh a verbe after Teretius. quidna
sum es fui without a relatyve incepturus es.
or a coniunccyon yf it be of the
actyue sygnyfycacyon it shall be Tere. uxor tibi
put in a partycyple of the fyrst ducenda est paphyle
sutertens yf he be of the passyue Te oro vt
synyfacoon he shall be put in the nuptie que fuerant
partycyple of the latter sutertens, future fiant.
except exulo, vapulo, veneo, fio.=
IV. Robert Whittinton, whose name is probably more familiar to the
ordinary student than that of the man from whom he derived his knowledge
and tastes, was a native of Warwickshire, and was born at Lichfield about
1480--perhaps a little before. He received his education, as I have
stated, at the Free School at Oxford, and is supposed to have gained
admission to one of the colleges; but of this there is no certainty. He
subsequently acquired, however, the distinction of being decorated with
the laurel wreath by the University of Oxford for his proficiency in
grammar and rhetoric, with leave to read publicly any of the logical
writings of Aristotle; and he assumed the title of Protovates Angliæ, and
the credit of having been the first Englishman who was laureated.
It is certain that Whittinton became a teacher like his master Stanbridge,
and among his scholars he counted William Lily, the eminent grammarian;
but where he so established himself is not so clear, nor do we know the
circumstances or date of his decease.
I am going to do my best to lay before the reader of these pages a clear
bibliographical outline of Whittinton's literary performances; and it
seems to amount to this, that he has left to us, apart from a few
miscellaneous effusions, eleven distinct treatises on the parts of
grammar, all doubtless more or less based on the researches and consonant
with the doctrines of his immediate master Anniquil and the foreign
professors of the same art, whose works had found their way into England,
and had even, as in the case of Sulpicius and Perottus, been adopted by
the English press.
I will first give the titles of the several pieces succinctly, and then
proceed to furnish a slight description of each:--
1. De Nominum Generibis.
2. Declinationes Nominum.
3. De Syllabarum Quantitate, &c.
4. Verborum Præterita et Supina.
6. De Octo Partibus Orationis.
7. De Heteroclitis Nominibus.
8. De Concinnitate Grammatices et Constructione.
9. Syntaxis. [A recension of No. 8.]
10. Vulgaria.
11. Lucubrationes.
These eleven _fasciculi_ actually form altogether one system, and some of
them have their order of succession in the author's arrangement indicated;
as, for instance, the _Verborum Præterita et Supina_, which is called the
Fifth Book of the First Part; but others are deficient in this clue, so
that if one classes them, it must be in one's own way.
V. The treatise on the _Kinds of Nouns_, in one of the numerous editions
of it at least, is designated _Primæ Partis Liber Primus_, which seems an
inducement to yield it the foremost place in the series. But it will be
presently observed that, although the collection in a complete state is
susceptible of a consecutive arrangement, the pieces composing it did not,
so far as we can tell, follow each other originally in strict order of
time.
Of the tract on the _Declensions of Nouns_, which stands second in order,
Dibdin supplies us with a specimen:--
De nto singu- =Anchise et Ve-= =Capis filius= =Qui fingit elegan-=
lari prime =neris filius,= =es, ut An-= =tia carmina, a,=
declina- =as, ut Aeneas= =chises.= =ut poeta.=
tionis. Rectus as, es, a; simul am dat flexio prima.
=Aeneæ= =Aeneæ=
=ut huius= =huic=
=musæ= =musæ=
De gto et dto Ac dat dipthongum genitiuus sic que datiuus
singularibus =hi poete= =o poete=
et nto et veto Singularis, sic pluralis primus quoque quintus
pluralibu. =familie et= =aulai pro aulae=
=vt huius= =huic=
=familias= =pictai pro pictæ.=
Olim rectus in a, genito dedit as simul ai.
=vt hic Judas, huius Jude, vel Juda=
Ex Judas Juda aut Judæ dat pagina sacra
=vt hic Adam. huius Adam. huic Adam, &c.=
Barbara in am propria aut a recto non variantur.
We must now pass to the treatise _De Syllabarum Quantitate_, which, in a
chronological respect, ranks first among Whittinton's works, as there was
an edition of it as early as 1513.
This tripartite volume, 1. _On the Quantity of Syllables_; 2. _On Accent_;
and 3. _On the Roman Magistrates_, is noteworthy on two accounts. The
second portion embraces the earliest specimen in any English book of the
poems of Horace, and the concluding section is a kind of rudimentary
Lemprière. Subjoined is a sample of the lines upon accents, from Dibdin:--
"=Accentus tonus est per que fit syllaba quevis
Cognita: quado acui debet, vel qu gravari
Accentus triplex; fit acutus vel gravis, inde
Est circuflexus: qui nunc fit rarus in vsu.
Syllaba cum tendit sursum est accentus acutus
Est gravis accentus sed syllaba pressa deorsum
Fit circuflexus gravis in prima: sed in altum
Attollit mediam, postrema gravis reciditque.="
This metrical exposition, which will not be mistaken for the language of
Horace, is followed by a commentary in prose.
The next three divisions do not call for any particular criticism. They
treat of the _Eight Parts of Speech_, the _Irregular Nouns_, and the _Laws
of Grammatical Construction_, of which the last is the first cast of the
_Syntax_.
There remain the _Vulgaria_ and the _Lucubrations_, which are far more
important and interesting, and of which there were numerous editions. The
subjoined samples will shew the principle on which the _Vulgaria_ was
compiled:--
"Befe and motton is so dere, that a peny worth of meet wyll scant suffyse
a boy at a meale.
"Whan I was a scholler of Oxforthe I lyued competently with vii. pens
commens wekely.
"Be of good chere man for I sawe ryght nowe a rodde made of wythye for
the, garnysshed with knottes, it wolde do a boy good to loke vpon it.
"A busshell of whete was holde at xii. pens.
"A gallon of swete wyne is at viii. pens in London.
"A gallon of ale is at a peny and ferdynge.
"I warne the fro hens forthe medle not with my bokes. Thou blurrest and
blottest them, as thou were a bletchy sowter."
Such bits as these were decidedly worth extracting, yet Dibdin, with the
very copy of the book from which they are derived before him, let them
pass. In this volume Whittinton takes occasion to speak in eulogistic
terms of Sir Thomas More.
Of the _Lucubrations_ the most interesting portion to an English reader
will be the
"_To arraye or_ _To backbyte._ The goute.
_to dyght._ Detraho Arthesis
Orno Detracto Arthtica passio
Vestio Obtrecto Morbus articularis
Amicio Maledico Chiragra
Induo Carpo Podagra
Como &c. &c. &c.
Colo
_An alyen or_ _To playe the_ _To be wode._
_outlandysshe._ _brothell._ Seuio
Alienagena Scortari Furio
Peregrinus Prostitui Insanio
Aduena Fornicari Excandeseor
Alienus Merere Bacchor
Exterus Struprari _Wodnesse or_
Externus Adulterari _madnesse._
Barbarus Cohire Insania
Extraneus Concumbere Seviciæ
&c. &c. Furor."
The copious storehouse of equivalent phrases in Latin composition shews us
in what wide vogue that language was in England at this period, as there
is no corresponding facility offered for persons desirous of enlarging
their English vocabulary. The influence of the scholars of France, Italy,
Holland, and Germany long kept our vernacular in the background, and
retarded the study of English by Englishmen; but the uprise of a taste for
the French and Italian probably gave the first serious blow to the
supremacy of the dead tongues, as they are called, and it became by
degrees as fashionable for gentlemen and ladies to read and speak the
languages in which Molière and Tasso wrote as the hybrid dialect in which
erudite foreigners had been used to correspond and compose.
Whittinton styles himself on the title-pages of several of his pieces
_laureatus_ and _protovates Angliæ_. In one place he speaks of being
"primus in Angliâ lauri coronam gestans," and elsewhere he professes to be
_magister grammatices_. As Warton and others have speculated a good deal
on the real nature and import of the dignity which this early scholar
claimed in regard to the laurel crown or wreath, it may be worth noting
that Wood furnishes the annexed explanation of the point:--
"In the beginning of the year 1513, he supplicated the venerable
congregation of regents under the name and title of Robert Whittington, a
secular chaplain and a scholar of the art of rhetoric: that, whereas he
had spent fourteen years in the study of the said art, and twelve years
in the informing of boys, it might be sufficient for him that he might be
laureated. This supplication being granted, he was, after he had composed
an hundred verses, which were stuck up in public places, especially on the
door or doors of St. Mary's Church [Oxford], very solemnly crowned, or his
temples adorned with a wreath of laurel, that is, decorated in the arts of
grammar and rhetoric, 4 July the same year."
The biographer of Colet is undoubtedly correct in supposing that the
ancient poet-laureatship was nothing more than an academical degree, and
that in this sense, and in no other, Skelton bore that designation, as
well as Bernardus Andreas, who was tutor to Prince Arthur, elder brother
of Henry VIII.
It also appears from the account of the decoration of Whittinton that he
had commenced his qualification for a schoolmaster as far back as 1499,
which is reconcilable with the date assigned to his birth (1480).