Schools, School-Books and Schoolmasters Part 15

XVIII.

Ancient French school-books for English learners--Their historical and philological interest--Succession of writers and teachers--Hollyband, Florio, Delamothe, and others--Sketches of their work--Their imperfect acquaintance with our language--Other publications of an educational cast.

I. Turning to the French language, there is a very singular relic of early times in the shape of an Anglo-Gallic Vocabulary of the end of the fifteenth century, in which the spelling of both languages is strikingly archaic:--

"Here is a good boke to lerne to speke french.

Vecy ung bon lievre a apprendre parler fraunchoys.

In the name of the fader of the sonne.

En nom du pere et du fils.

And of the holy goost I will begynne.

Et du saint esprit ie veuel comenchier.

To lerne to speke frenche.

A apprendre a parler franchoys."

After this exordium follow the numbers, the names of precious stones, articles of merchandise, fruits, wines, &c. _Wine of roch.e.l.l_ is rendered _vin de rosele_. What we know as _Beaune_ is called _byane_ in French and _beaune_ in English. On the fourth page, among "Other maner of speche in frenche," occur:--

"Sir G.o.d giue you good day.

Sire dieu vous doint bon iour.

Sir G.o.d giue you good euyn.

Sire dieu vous doint bon vespere.

Holde sir here it is.

Tenez sire le veez ey."

The _z_ in _tenez_ seems to have been specially cut, for it is of a different font or case, and, curiously enough, in the next sentence it is wrongly inserted in _ditez_ (for _dites_). The question is asked how much one man owes another, and the reply is _ten shillings_, for which the French equivalent is taken to be _dix soulz_. But there were no shillings in England at that time; perhaps the writer was thinking of the skilling, with which our coin has no more than a nominal affinity.

The _Eclairciss.e.m.e.nt de la langue Francoise_, by John Palsgrave, 1530, and the _Introductory to learn, p.r.o.nounce, and speak the French tongue_, by Giles Du Wes or Dewes, written some years later for the use of the Princess Mary in the same way as Linacre's _Latin Grammar_ had been, are sufficiently familiar from their reproduction in modern times under the auspices of the French Government. Dewes was not improbably related to a person of the same name who acted as preceptor to the son of Cromwell, Earl of Ess.e.x. Both he and Palsgrave were professional teachers; but Palsgrave was a Londoner, who had completed his studies in the Parisian Gymnasium; and he at all events was a Latin, no less than a French scholar. In the dedication of his English version of the _Comedy of Acolastus_ to Henry VIII. in 1540, he speaks at some length, and in laudatory terms, of the official Primer issued in that year, and he also conveys to us the notion of being then advanced in life.

Nearly, if not quite, contemporary with him and Dewes was Pierre du Ploiche, who in the time of Henry published a very curious little volume of more general scope, called _A Treatise in English and French right necessary and profitable for all young children_. Du Ploiche, when this work appeared, was residing in Trinity Lane, at the sign of the Rose. He gives us in parallel columns, the English on the left hand, and the French equivalent on the right, the _Catechism_, the _Litany and Suffrages_, and a series of _Prayers_. These occupy three sections; the fourth, fifth, and sixth sections are devoted to secular and familiar topics: _For to speake at the table_, _for to aske the way_, and _for to bie and sell_; and the concluding portion embraces the A. B. C. and Grammar.

The English is pretty much on a par with that found in educational treatises produced by foreigners, and the French itself is decidedly of an archaic cast, though, doubtless, such as was generally recognised and understood in the sixteenth century. I shall pa.s.s over the religious divisions, and transcribe a few specimens from the three groups of dialogue on social or personal subjects.

The third chapter, where the scene at a meal is depicted, affords, of course, some interesting suggestions and ill.u.s.trations, yet little that is very new, except that we seem to get a glimpse of the practice, borrowed from monastic life, of some one reading aloud while the rest were at their repast. For one says: "Reade Maynerd, _Lisez Maynart_," to which the other rejoins: "Where shall I reade?" and the first answers: "There where your fellow lefte yesterday," so that it was apparently the custom to take turns. We perceive, too, that the dinner was both ushered in and wound up with very elaborate graces. In this dialogue, as well as in the next about asking the way, there is mention of almost every description of utensil, but no reference to the fork, which was not yet in general use.

There is a delicate refinement of phraseology here and there, as where "You ly" is rendered "Vous espargnez la verite;" and Du Ploiche does not fail to advertise himself and his address, for when one of the interlocutors demands: "Where go you to schole?" the other is made to reply: "In trinytie lane at the signe of the Rose."

The annexed extract from the same chapter may a.s.sist in fixing the date of the publication to 1544:--

"And you sir, from whence "_Et vous seigneur, d'ou venez com you? vous?_

I come from Bulloigne. _Ie viens de Boulongne._

From Englande, from Germany. _D'Engleterre, d'Allemaigne._

What newes? _Quelle nouuelles?_

I know none but good. _Ie ne scay rien que bien._

I harde say _i'ay ouy dire_

That the Englishe men _que les anglois_

haue kylled many frenche men. _ont occis beaucoup de Francois._

And where? _Et ou?_

Before Bulloigne. _Deuant Boulongne._

When came the newes? _Quant vinrent tez nouuelle?_

This morninge by a post." _A ce matin par vng poste._"

The portion which yields this matter comprises all the incidents of a long journey, the arrival at the inn, the call for refreshment, the baiting and putting up of the horse, the retirement to rest, and the breakfast before departure in the morning.

The sixth section, on buying and selling, exhibits no remarkable examples, or rather nothing that I can, with so large a choice, afford to cite, and the grammatical part follows the usual lines. The present treatise came to a new edition in 1578, but it does not seem to have been very successful.

In point of fact, the taste and demand for such a cla.s.s of hand-books or primers had not fully set in. With the reign of Elizabeth the habit of foreign travel and the consequent value of a conversance with languages, especially French and Italian, imparted the first marked stimulus and development to this cla.s.s of literary enterprise.

II. Claude Desainliens, who transformed himself into _Claudius Holy-Band_ or _Hollyband_, and who seems in his earlier days to have had quarters over or adjoining the sign of the Lucrece in St. Paul's Churchyard, became a voluminous producer of the dictionaries, grammars, and phrase-books so popular in early times, and included in his range the Italian as well as the French series. Long after his death his works continued to be in demand, and were edited with improvements by others. Desainliens began, so far as I know, with his _French Littleton_ in 1566, and his French Dictionary was not printed till 1593. In 1581 he had moved from the Lucrece to the Golden Ball, just by.

Perhaps of all his multifarious performances his _French_ and _Italian Schoolmasters_ were the two which met with the greatest favour; and the longer career of the former may perhaps be ascribed to the more general cultivation of the French language in England. The _Italian Schoolmaster_ originally appeared in 1575 as an annex to a version of the story of _Arnalte and Lucenda_; but in the subsequent impressions of 1597 and 1608 the philological portion occupies the place of honour, and the story is made to follow. In the former the rules for p.r.o.nunciation and such matter as fell within his knowledge as an Italian may be pa.s.sed as representing what was the correct practice and view at the period; it is with the English ill.u.s.trations and equivalents that one is apt to be surprised and amused; and one, moreover, figures the occasional bewilderment even of an English pupil at the strange unidiomatic forms which Desainliens has adopted. In other words, instead of translating English into Italian, he has translated Italian into broken English; as, for instance, where in a dialogue a man is inquiring the way to London, we find at the conclusion such pure _Italicisms_ as _Have me recommended_: _I am yours_: _Remaine with G.o.d_. Then, again, terms are misapplied, of course, as thus: "Tell me deere fellowe, is it yet farre to the citie?" And when he has entered his inn, he calls to the host: "Bring me for to wash my hands and face." At the same time the pages of this and similar volumes abound with fruitful ill.u.s.trations of all kinds, which we should have been very sorry indeed to lose; and it is to be recollected that the English gloss was secondary, and that the bizarre style and texture of this cla.s.s of book arose from the aim at enabling the learner to be prepared for all sorts of occasions and every variety of conversational topic. The author consequently leads him through the different occupations and incidents of life, and imagines successive interviews and dialogues with such persons as he would be likely to encounter. In the parley with a farrier, it comes out that the charge for shoeing a horse was fivepence a foot; and in the section _Per maritarsi = To be married_, Hollyband starts by rendering _O bella giovane_ "Ho fair maiden." He urges her to be prompt in her decision by citing the proverb, "Ladie, whilest the iron is hote, it must be wrought."

Much of the matter introduced by Desainliens is highly curious and even important. I shall transcribe a section or two, as they are brief, for the sake of the English suggestions:--

"_To sing and daunce._

"O fellowes, I wish that wee shoulde sing a song, and I will take the lute.

Let vs sing and daunce, when you will.

Mystres, will it please you to daunce a galliard with me? pray you therefore.

I cannot daunce after the Italian fashion.

We shall daunce after the high Dutch.

Go to, play a galliard vpon the violl.

I would rather vpon the virginals....

_Of the Booke binder._

Shew me an Italian, and English bookes and of the best print.

I have none bound at this present.

Bind me this with silke and claspes....

Reach me royall paper to write.

Neede you any ynke and bombash?

No, but wast paper, & of that which wee call drinking paper....

_Of the Shoemaker._

I would you shoulde make mee a paire of bootes, a ierkin, and a paire of shoes, pantofles, mules, and buskins.

We will make the sir, & of good leather.