scholars are prostrate before him, either on the ground upon
bended knees, or sitting upon low benches. Nor was this
rigid system relaxed in the middle of the same (xvith)
century; when Roger Ascham composed his incomparable
treatise, intitled the "_Schoolmaster_;" the object of which
was to decry the same severity of discipline. This able
writer taught his countrymen the value of making the road to
knowledge smooth and inviting, by smiles and remunerations,
rather than by stripes and other punishments. Indeed, such
was the stern and Draco-like character which schoolmasters
of this period conceived themselves authorized to assume
that neither rank, nor situation, nor sex, were exempt from
the exercise of their tyranny. Lady Jane Grey tells Ascham
that her former teacher used to give her "pinches, and
cuffs, and bobs," &c. The preface to the Schoolmaster
informs us that two gentlemen, who dined with Ascham at
Cecil's table, were of opinion that NICOLAS UDAL, then head
master of Eaton School, "was the best schoolmaster of their
time, and the _greatest beater_!" Bishop Latimer, in his
fourth sermon (edit. 1562, fol. 15 to 18), has drawn such a
picture of the Londoners of this period that the philosopher
may imagine that youths, who sprung from such parents,
required to be ruled with a rod of iron. But it has been the
fashion of all writers, from the age of St. Austin
downwards, to depreciate the excellences, and magnify the
vices, of the times in which they lived. Ludovicus Vives,
who was Latimer's contemporary, has attacked both
schoolmasters and youths, in an ungracious style; saying of
the former that "some taught Ovid's books of love to their
scholars, and some make expositions and expounded the
vices." He also calls upon the young women, in the language
of St. Jerome, "to avoid, as a mischief or poison of
chastity, young men with heads bushed and trimmed; and sweet
smelling skins of outlandish mice." _Instruction of a
Christian Woman_; edit. 1592, sign. D 3, rect. &c. I am not
aware of any work of importance, relating to the education
of youth, which appeared till the publication of the
_Compleat Gentleman_ by HENRY PEACHAM: an author, who richly
deserves all the handsome things above said of him in the
text. His chapters