FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206  
207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   >>   >|  
nly as it shall appear advisable. For a, boy of quality then, who pretends to letters not upon the account of profit (for so mean an object is unworthy of the grace and favour of the Muses, and moreover, in it a man directs his service to and depends upon others), nor so much for outward ornament, as for his own proper and peculiar use, and to furnish and enrich himself within, having rather a desire to come out an accomplished cavalier than a mere scholar or learned man; for such a one, I say, I would, also, have his friends solicitous to find him out a tutor, who has rather a well-made than a well-filled head;--["'Tete bien faite', an expression created by Montaigne, and which has remained a part of our language."--Servan.]-- seeking, indeed, both the one and the other, but rather of the two to prefer manners and judgment to mere learning, and that this man should exercise his charge after a new method. 'Tis the custom of pedagogues to be eternally thundering in their pupil's ears, as they were pouring into a funnel, whilst the business of the pupil is only to repeat what the others have said: now I would have a tutor to correct this error, and, that at the very first, he should according to the capacity he has to deal with, put it to the test, permitting his pupil himself to taste things, and of himself to discern and choose them, sometimes opening the way to him, and sometimes leaving him to open it for himself; that is, I would not have him alone to invent and speak, but that he should also hear his pupil speak in turn. Socrates, and since him Arcesilaus, made first their scholars speak, and then they spoke to them--[Diogenes Laertius, iv. 36.] "Obest plerumque iis, qui discere volunt, auctoritas eorum, qui docent." ["The authority of those who teach, is very often an impediment to those who desire to learn."--Cicero, De Natura Deor., i. 5.] It is good to make him, like a young horse, trot before him, that he may judge of his going, and how much he is to abate of his own speed, to accommodate himself to the vigour and capacity of the other. For want of which due proportion we spoil all; which also to know how to adjust, and to keep within an exact and due measure, is one of the hardest things I know, and 'tis the effect of a high and well-tempered soul, to know how to condescend to such puerile motions and to govern and direct them. I walk firmer and more secure up
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206  
207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

desire

 

capacity

 

things

 

authority

 

docent

 

auctoritas

 
plerumque
 
volunt
 

permitting

 
discere

Laertius
 

leaving

 
invent
 

Socrates

 

opening

 

Arcesilaus

 
discern
 
Diogenes
 

scholars

 

choose


adjust

 
proportion
 

accommodate

 

firmer

 
vigour
 

measure

 

hardest

 
condescend
 
puerile
 

govern


tempered

 

direct

 

effect

 

Natura

 

impediment

 

Cicero

 

motions

 

secure

 

eternally

 

accomplished


cavalier

 

scholar

 

enrich

 

proper

 

peculiar

 
furnish
 
learned
 

filled

 
friends
 

solicitous