The Teaching and Cultivation of the French Language in England Part 46

Several of the French teachers in France wrote books for the use of their pupils. Mauger himself quotes the authority of "all French Grammarians that are Professors in France for the teaching of travellers the language." Yet in the seventeenth century, when the French language became one of the chief preoccupations of polite society as well as of scholars, many grammars paid no attention to teaching the language to foreigners. There were, however, several well-known teachers of languages at Paris who wrote grammars specially for their use. Alcide de St. Maurice, the author of the _Guide fidelle des estrangers dans le voyage de France_ (1672), composed a grammar called _Remarques sur les princ.i.p.ales difficultez de la langue francoise_ (1674), which has little value, and is compiled chiefly from Vaugelas and Menage. His chief aim was to overcome the usual difficulties--p.r.o.nunciation and orthography.

Several years previously he had written a collection of short stories inspired by the _Decameron_. The _Fleurs, Fleurettes et pa.s.setemps ou les divers caracteres de l'amour honneste_, as he called them, were published at Paris in 1666, and were no doubt intended as reading matter for his pupils.

A work called the _Nova Grammatica Gallica_, written in Latin and French for the use of foreigners, appeared at Paris in 1678. It is mainly compiled from Chiflet and other French grammarians. A certain M.

Mauconduy was responsible for the grammar, which was on much the same lines as that of Maupas. The French theologian M. de Saint-Amour, of the Sorbonne, addressed several foreigners to Mauconduy, who issued for their use daily _feuillets volants_, containing remarks on the language.

His pupils made rapid progress, and usually knew French fairly well in three months, we are told.

Another of these teachers, Denys Vaira.s.se d'Allais,[924] lived, like Mauger, in the Faubourg St. Germain, and like him taught English as well as French. He had spent some time in England in his youth, and perhaps taught French there. He also corresponded with Pepys, the famous diarist. Vaira.s.se had a particular affection for his English pupils, and they appear to have been in the majority. He was a strong advocate of the study of grammar, and condemned attempts to learn French "by imitation" alone. His _Grammaire Methodique contenant en abrege les principes de cet art et les regles les plus necessaires de la langue francoise dans un ordre claire et naturelle_ appeared at Paris in 1682.[925] In it he criticizes severely all the French grammars for the use of strangers produced either in France or in foreign countries.

Shortly afterwards the grammar was abridged and translated into English as _A Short and Methodical Introduction to the French Tongue composed for the particular benefit of the English_, printed at Paris in 1683.

This French grammar published in English at Paris is a striking testimony to the importance of the English as students of French.

Rene Milleran, like Vaira.s.se d'Allais, taught English as well as French.

He was a native of Saumur, but spent most of his life at Paris teaching languages, and for a time acted as interpreter to the king. He composed for the use of his pupils a French grammar ent.i.tled _La Nouvelle Grammaire Francoise, avec le Latin a cote des exemples devisee en deux parties_ (Ma.r.s.eilles, 1692), which is no doubt a first edition of his _Les deux Gramaires Fransaizes_ (Ma.r.s.eilles, 1694), in which he expounds his new system of orthography. His collection of letters, _Lettres Familieres Galantes et autres sur toutes sortes de sujets, avec leurs responses_, of which the third edition appeared in 1700, enjoyed a great popularity, like most similar collections at this time: successive editions appeared right into the eighteenth century. This, he says, was the first work which won for him the favour of so many foreign n.o.blemen.

His method was to give the students copies of the letters in either Latin or their own language, and to let them translate them into French.

He announced an edition of the letters with English, German, and Latin translations for the use of his pupils, but it does not appear to have been published. Like most writers connected with the Court, Milleran calls attention to the purity of his style, and announces that no other books give such exact rules for the language of the Court. A special feature of his work was the selection of letters by members of the French Academy. [Header: HOWELL'S ADVICE TO TRAVELLERS] Nor was the more familiar side neglected: there are numerous letters to and from students of French, reporting on their progress in the language, with mutual congratulations on improvement in style, etc. It is said of Milleran's compositions that their chief merit is their scarcity, and few will agree with De Liniere, the satirist and enemy of Boileau, who wrote in praise of Milleran:

Cet homme en sa Grammaire etale Autant de scavoir que Varron, Et dans ses Lettres il egale Balzac, Voiture et Ciceron.

Not a few English travellers dispensed with the services of a tutor in France. Among these was James Howell, who studied French at Paris, Orleans, and Poissy, where he endangered his health by too close application; he acted for a time as travelling tutor to the son of Baron Altham. He put his knowledge of French to the test by translating his own first literary production, _Dodona's Grove_. This, he says, he submitted to the new _Academie des beaux esprits_, founded by Richelieu, which gave it a public expression of approbation.[926] The translation was printed at Paris in 1641 under the t.i.tle of _Dendrologie ou la Foret de Dodone_. Howell left instructions for travellers, based on his own experience of study abroad, and typical of the theories current at the time. He advises[927] the student who has settled in some quiet town to choose a room looking on to the street, "to take in the common cry and language"; to keep a diary during the day, and in the evening to write an essay from this material, "for the penne maketh the deepest furrowes, and doth fertilize and enrich the memory more than anything else." He should avoid the company of his countrymen, "the greatest bane of English Gentlemen abroad," and frequent cafes and ordinaries,[928] and engage a French page-boy "to parley and chide withal, whereof he shall have occasion enough."[929] Howell strongly felt the necessity of travelling in France at an early age in order to gain a good p.r.o.nunciation, "hardly overcome by one who has past the minority ...

the French tongue by reason of the huge difference betwixt their writing and speaking will put one often into fits of despair and pa.s.sion." He draws a grotesque picture of "some of the riper plants" who "overact themselves, for while they labour to _trencher le mot_, to cut the word as they say, and speake like naturall Frenchmen, and to get the true genuine tone ... they fall a lisping and mincing, and so distort and strain their mouths and voyce so that they render themselves fantastique and ridiculous: let it be sufficient for one of riper years to speak French intelligibly, roundly, and congruously, without such forced affectation." It is equally important to avoid bashfulness in speaking: "whatsoever it is, let it come forth confidently whether true or false sintaxis; for a bold vivacious spirit hath a very great advantage in attaining the French, or indeed any other language."

The student will also do well to repair sometimes "to the Courts of pleading and to the Publique Schools. For in France they presently fall from the Latine to dispute in the vulgar tongue." He should also combine the study of grammar--that of Maupas is the best--with his practical exercises, and begin a course of reading, making notes as he goes on.

The most suitable books are those dealing with the history of France, such as Serres and D'Aubigne. Much judgment is needed in the choice of books on other subjects, "especially when there is such a confusion of them as in France, which, as Africk, produceth always something new, for I never knew week pa.s.s in Paris, but it brought forth some new kinds of authors: but let him take heed of tumultuary and disjointed Authors, as well as of the frivolous and pedantique." However, "there be some French poets will affoord excellent entertainment specially Du Bartas, and 'twere not amisse to give a slight salute to Ronsard and Desportes, and the late Theophile.[930] And touching poets, they must be used like flowers, some must only be smelt into, but some are good to be thrown into a limbique to be Distilled."

The student is likewise admonished to make a collection of French proverbs, and translate from English into French--the most difficult task in learning the language, "for to translate another tongue into English is not hard or profitable." [Header: USUAL COURSE] Finally, "for Sundayes and Holydayes, there bee many Treasuries of Devotion in the French Tongue, full of patheticall e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, and Heavenly raptures, and his closet must not be without some of these.... Peter du Moulin hath many fine pieces to this purpose, du Plessis, Allencour and others.

And let him be conversant with such bookes only on Sundayes and not mingle humane studies with them. His closet must be his Rendez-vous whensoever hee is surprized with any fit of perverseness, as thoughts of Country or Kindred will often affect one."

Having acquired some knowledge of French in this retirement, "hee may then adventure upon Paris, and the Court, and visit Amba.s.sadours," and go in the train of some young n.o.bleman. In addition he should enter into the life of the town, read the weekly gazettes and newspapers, "and it were not amisse for him to spend some time in the New Academy, erected lately by the French Cardinall Richelieu, where all the sciences are read in the French tongue which is done of purpose to refine and enrich the Language." He may also frequent one of the divers Academies in Paris, for private gentlemen and cadets.

It was also customary to make either the _Grand_ or the _Pet.i.t Tour_ of France, after the period of studious retirement. The _Grand Tour_ included Lyons, Ma.r.s.eilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Paris; the _Pet.i.t Tour_, Paris, Tours, and Poitiers.[931] Paris, we can guess, was the chief attraction to most young Englishmen of family and fortune. Dryden thus describes the education of a young gentleman of fashion:[932] "Your father sent you into France at twelve years old, bred you up at Paris, first at a college and then at an Academy." Much importance was attached to a course of study at the University there, and many recognized the advantages gained therefrom. But on the other hand there were not a few complaints of the dangers of lack of discipline and the company of dissolute scholars, and still more, of the neglect of all serious study.

Clarendon[933] a.s.sures us that many English travellers never saw the University nor knew in what part of Paris it stood; but "dedicate all that precious season only to Dancing and other exercises, which is horribly to misspend it"; with the result that when such a traveller returns to England, all his learning consists in wearing his clothes well, and he has at least one French fellow to wait upon him and comb his periwig. He is a "most accomplish'd Harlequin:"[934]

Drest in a tawdrey suit, at Paris made, For which he more than twice the value paid.

French his attendants, French alone his mouth Can speak, his native language is uncouth.

If to the ladies he doth make advance, His very looks must have the air of France.

Such being the case, Admiral Penn thought well to send his son William to France[935] in the hope that the brilliant life there would make him forget the Quaker sympathies formed at Oxford.[936] The plan succeeded for the time being; Penn returned "a most modish person, a fine Gentleman, with all the latest French fashions," and Pepys[937] reports that he perceived "something of learning he hath got, but a great deale, if not too much of the vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait. I fear all real profit he hath made of his travel will signify little."

No doubt many "raw young travellers" did "waste their time abroad in gallantry, ignorant for the most part of foreign languages, and no recommendation to their own country."[938] Costeker in _The Compleat Education of a Young n.o.bleman_ pictures what the young traveller abroad often is, and what he might be. To begin with, "the utmost of his thoughts and ideas are confined to the more fashionable part of dress."

Then, "according to custom, our Beau is designed to Travel; the Tour proposed is to France, Italy and Spain. Were I to act the part of an impartial Inquisitor I would ask for what? Why, most undoubtedly, I might expect to be answered, to see the World again and perfect his Studies, and by that means compleat the fine Gentleman. Thus equiped with a fine Estate, little Learning, and less Sense, and intirely ignorant of all Languages but his own, he launches into a foreign Nation, without the least knowledge of his own, where the sharpers will find him out, discover his Intellects, and make the most of him; they besiege him with fulsome Adulation, against which his feminine refined Understanding is too weak to resist. [Header: SIR JOHN RERESBY IN FRANCE] I will not dwell long upon the subject of his stay there, supposing he has made his Tour, and seen all the most remarkable and wondrous curiosities of those Nations, he returns a little better than he went, except for smattering a little of the tongues, and can give us but as bad and imperfect an Account of their nation as he was capable of giving them of ours; all the Advantage he brings from thence is their Modes and Vices ... the incommoding a French Peruke unmans the Bow at once."[939] And next to himself he "loves best anyone who will call him a _Bel Esprit_." How different a picture from that of the traveller which is painted as a model to young Englishmen: at the age of twenty he goes abroad for two years, after having acquired a true knowledge of his own nation and made himself master of French and Latin. He is capable of learning more in a month than another ignorant of languages can in twelve. "I am confident were all our young n.o.blemen educated in this manner the French Court would no longer bee esteem'd the Residence of Politeness and Belles Lettres but must then yield to the British one in many degrees, by reason our young Gentlemen would not only be perfect Masters in their exterior but intellectual Perfections, and England will then be fam'd for the Excellency of Manners and Politeness as it is now for the incomparable Beauty of the Ladies."[940]

Sir John Reresby's account of how he spent his time abroad may be given as a fairly typical example.[941] He went to France, in company with Mr.

Leech, his governor, in 1654. They travelled from Rye to Dieppe, and thence to Paris, pa.s.sing through Rouen. Their stay at Paris was very short, as Reresby found the great resort of his countrymen there a great "prevention" to learning the language. "I stayed no longer in Paris," he tells us, "than to get my clothes, and to receive my bills of exchange, and so went to live in a pension or boarding house at Blois.... I employed my time here in learning the language, the guitar and dancing, till July, and then, there having been some likelihood of a quarrel between me and a Dutch gentleman in the same house, my governour prevailed with me to go and live at Saumur[942].... At Saumur in addition to the exercises I learnt at Blois, I learned to fence, and to play of the lute. Besides that I studied philosophy and the mathematicks, with my governor, who read lectures of each to me every other day. After eight months' stay I had got so much of the language to be able to converse with some ladies of the town, especially the daughters of one M. du Plessis.... In the month of April I began to make the little tour or circuit of France, and returned to Saumur after some six weeks' absence. In July, I went (desirous to avoid much English company resident at Saumur) to Le Mans, the capital town of Mayence, with the two Mr. Leeches and one Mr. Butler. We lodged, and were in pension at the parson's or minister's house; there were there no strangers. There were several French persons of quality that lived there at that time, as the Marquis de Cogne's widow, the Marquis de Verdun, and several others, who made us partakers of the pastimes and diversions of the place. All that winter few weeks did pa.s.s, that there were not b.a.l.l.s three times at the least, and we had the freer access by reason that the women were more numerous than the men. I stayed there till April 1656, and then returned to Saumur with my Governor alone." After staying there for some time, Reresby dismissed his governor and made a tour in Italy.

FOOTNOTES:

[882] _Discourse in derision of the Teaching in Free Schools_, 1644.

[883] One John Gifford, for instance, obtained permission to spend seven years in France in order to educate his family there (_Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1623-25_, p. 282). Mr. Storey sent his grandson Starky to France to learn the language (_ibid., 1649-50_, p. 535).

[884] _Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1654_, p. 427. Care was taken to prevent English students abroad from going to Roman Catholics; in 1661 Francis Cottington made a successful application for the remission of a forfeiture he incurred by going to Paris without a licence and living three months in the house of a Papist (_Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-62_, p. 566).

[885] _Memoirs of the Verney Family_, i. pp. 477, 497.

[886] Among the books he read were Monluc's _Commentaires_, the _Secretaire a la mode_, and the _Secretaire de la cour_ (_Memoirs of the Verney Family_, iii. p. 80).

[887] _Memoirs_, iii. p. 66.

[888] An Edict of 1683 restricted the number of such pupils allowed to French pastors to two.

[889] An account of the schools of the French Protestants is given by M.

Nicolas in the _Bulletin de l'Histoire du Protestantisme francais_, vol.

iv. pp. 497 _et seq._

[890] Cp. pp. 233 _sqq._, _supra_. The names of many famous families are found in the registers of Geneva University--the Pembrokes, Montagus, Cavendishes, Cecils, etc. Borgeaud, _L'Academie de Geneve_, p. 442.

[891] _Memoirs_, i. p. 358.

[892] _Verney Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 358.

[893] _Cal. of State Papers, Dom., 1661-62_, p. 283.

[894] _Ibid., 1656-56_, pp. 182, 188, 281, 288, 316.

[895] _Savile Correspondence_, Camden Society, 1858, pp. 80, 71 _sqq._, 228.

[896] When the Academy of Saumur was suppressed in 1684, the town lost about two-thirds of its inhabitants.

[897] Locke was one of those who went to the South of France "carrying a cough with him"; cp. his Journal in King, _Life of Locke ... with Extracts from his ... Journal_, 1830, i. pp. 86 _sqq._, Nov. 1675-March 1679.

[898] _Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1667-68_, p. 69.

[899] _New Instructions to the Guardian_, 1694, p. 101.

[900] Cooper, _Annals of Cambridge_, iv. 184.

[901] _New Instructions to the Guardian_, 1694, p. 101.

[902] _The Compleat Gentleman or Directions for the Education of Youth as to their breeding at home and Travelling Abroad_, 1687, pp. 33 _sqq._

[903] Eliote seems to have been the first to have described the Grand Tour--in his grammar, _Ortho-Epia Gallica_ (1593). Sherwood followed his example in 1625. After the middle of the century such dialogues a.s.sume a more educational and guide-like and less descriptive form.

[904] Lister, _A Journey to Paris in the year 1698_, p. 2. Lister had previously visited France in about 1668. In 1698 he visited the aged Mlle. de Scudery and the Daciers, and frequented the French theatres.

[905] Second edition, 1657.

[906] London, 1656. Another edition appeared in 1673, ent.i.tled _The Voyage of France, or a compleat Journey through France_.