Chapter X: Book I: , Chapters 16-22, 26 and 27, comprising more than an eighth of

the entire work, are concerned with physical training, which is treated under the following heads: “Of sundry forms of exercise necessary for a gentleman. Exercises whereof cometh both recreation and profit” (here he mentions the use of dumb-bells of lead or other metal, lifting or throwing the heavy stone or bar, wrestling, running, swimming, handling the sword and the battle axe, riding and vaulting.) “The ancient hunting of Greeks, Romans, and Persians. Dancing. Of other exercises which, moderately used, be to every estate of man expedient. That shooting in a long bow (the ‘noble art of archery’) is principal of all other exercises.”[10] Elyot’s fondness for the classics appears in his very numerous references to Greek and Roman examples or authorities.

While Mercurialis was writing his _De Arte Gymnastica_ and Montaigne his _Essays_, _Richard Mulcaster_ (1530?-1611) was doing hard work for scant pay as Master of the Merchant Taylors’ School in London (1561-1586). Among other striking points of difference, he stands in pleasant contrast with his more successful contemporary Sturm, at Strasburg, in his attitude toward the bodies of the young. His _Positions_, which appeared in 1581 and was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, deals with the principles to be observed in the training of children, “either for skill in their book or health in their body.” A third of the volume is given up to the physical side of education, and the nature of the contents cannot be better revealed in brief space than by a partial list of the chapter headings, slightly altered and condensed: Chapter 4, That exercise must be joined with the book, as the schooling of the body. 6, The importance of exercise and physical training (as an agent of health). 7, The order followed in the present treatment of the subject. 8, Definition and varieties of exercise (athletics, martial exercises, exercises for health, etc.). 9, Choice of exercises. 10-15, Of loud speaking, loud singing, loud and soft reading, much talking and silence, laughing and weeping, holding the breath. 16-27, Dancing, wrestling, fencing, top and scourge, walking, running, leaping, swimming, riding, hunting, shooting (archery), ball games. 28-34, Circumstances to be considered in exercise, nature and quality of exercise, the bodies which are to be exercised; place, time, quantity, and manner of exercise. 35, The training master (the same teacher is to serve for both mind and body). Of all books on gymnastics, he says in this last chapter, “I know not any comparable to Hieronymus Mercurialis, a very learned Italian physician now in our time, which hath taken great pains to sift out of all writers whatsoever concerneth the whole gymnastical and exercising argument, whose advice in this question I have myself much used, where he did fit my purpose.” Mulcaster seems never to have caught the ear of the age in which he lived, and it is only within the last few decades that he has been rescued from oblivion and rated at his real worth, as a man far in advance of his time. His book was reprinted in London in 1888.

Standing at the very end of this period of the Renaissance and the Reformation is _John Milton_ (1608-1674), whose _Tractate on Education_ (1644), though not of great value in itself, is yet deserving of mention here because it associates a form of bodily exercise with mental and moral training. In his model school, intended to bring up gentlemen’s sons “to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices both private and public, of peace and war,” he would have the young men, between the ages of twelve and twenty-one, live together in barracks, like the Spartan youth. “About an hour and a half ere they eat at noon should be allowed them for exercise, and due rest afterwards; but the time for this may be enlarged at pleasure.... The exercise which I commend first is exact use of their weapon, to guard and to strike safely with edge or point; this will keep them healthy, nimble, strong, and well in breath; is also the likeliest means to make them grow large and tall, and to inspire them with a gallant and fearless courage.... They must be also practised in all the locks and gripes of wrestling, wherein Englishmen were wont to excel, as need may often be in fight to tug or grapple, and to close....” About two hours before supper they are to be called out for their military motions under sky or covert; “first on foot, then, as their age permits, on horseback, to all the art of cavalry; that, having in sport, but much exactness, and daily muster, served out the rudiments of their soldiership ... they may as it were out of a long war, come forth renowned and perfect commanders in the service of their country.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

R. H. Quick, “Essays on Educational Reformers.” New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1890.

F. P. Graves, “A History of Education during the Middle Ages and the Transition to Modern Times.” New York, The Macmillan Co., 1910.

Foster Watson, “Notices of Some Early English Writers on Education, with Descriptions, Extracts, and Notes.” In annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1900-01 (I: 861-884), 1902 (I: 481-508), 1903 (I: 319-350), and 1904 (I: 633-701).

W. H. Woodward, “Studies in Education during the Age of the Renaissance (1400-1600).” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1906.

W. H. Woodward, “Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators: Essays and Versions.” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1897.

Wilhelm Krampe, “Die italienischen Humanisten und ihre Wirksamkeit für die Wiederbelebung gymnastischer Pädagogik. Ein Beitrag zur allgemeinen Geschichte der Jugenderziehung und der Leibesübungen.” Breslau, W. G. Korn, 1895.

O. Richter, “Die Ansichten und Bestrebungen italienischer Humanisten auf dem Gebiete der Leibeserziehung. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Leibesübungen.” In _Monatsschrift für das Turnwesen_ 14 (1895); 98-107, 139-149, 193-200, and 262-270. Berlin, R. Gaertners Verlagsbuchhandlung.

Carl Rossow, “Italienische und deutsche Humanisten und ihre Stellung zu den Leibesübungen.” Leipzig, C. G. Naumann, 1903.

S. S. Laurie, “John Amos Comenius, Bishop of the Moravians: His Life and Educational Works.” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1895.

M. W. Keatinge, “The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius now for the first time Englished, with Introductions, Biographical and Historical.” London, Adam and Charles Black, 1896.

W. S. Monroe, “Comenius and the Beginnings of Educational Reform.” New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900.

Foster Watson, “Vives: On Education. A Translation of the _De Tradendis Disciplinis_ of Juan Luis Vives, together with an Introduction.” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1913.

Foster Watson, “Vives and the Renascence Education of Women.” New York: Longmans, Green & Co.; London, Edward Arnold, 1912.

Arthur Tilley, “François Rabelais.” Philadelphia and London, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1907.

Walter Besant, “Readings in Rabelais.” Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1883.

M. E. Lowndes, “Michel de Montaigne: A Biographical Study.” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1898.

Edward Dowden, “Michel de Montaigne.” Philadelphia and London, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1905.

L. E. Rector, “Montaigne: The Education of Children. Selected, Translated, and Annotated.” New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1899.

H. H. S. Croft, “The Boke named The Governour, Devised by Sir Thomas Elyot, Knight. Edited from the first edition of 1531.” In two volumes. London: Kegan, Paul & Co., 1880.

Sir Thomas Elyot, “The Boke Named the Governour.” London, J. M. Dent & Co.; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co. (Foster Watson’s Introduction is dated 1907). Number 227 in _Everyman’s Library_.

R. H. Quick, “Positions: By Richard Mulcaster, First Headmaster of Merchant Taylors’ School (A.D. 1561-1586); with an Appendix, containing Some Account of His Life and Writings.” London and New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1888.

Oscar Browning, “Milton’s Tractate on Education. A Facsimile Reprint from the Edition of 1673. Edited with an Introduction and Notes.” Cambridge (England), at the University Press, 1890. The _Tractate_ is also published in Barnard’s _American Journal of Education_ II (1856): 76-85.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The first edition, dedicated to Cardinal Alexander Farnese, has the following title-page: “Artis Gymnasticæ apud Antiquos celeberrimæ, nostris temporibus ignoratæ, Libri Sex. In quibus exercitationum omnium vetustarum genera, loca, modi, facultates & quicquid denique ad corporis humani exercitationes pertinet, diligenter explicatur. Opus non modo medicis, verum etiam omnibus antiquarum rerum cognoscendarum, & valetudinis conservandæ studiosis admodum utile. Palæstræ descriptio ex Vetruvio sub litera B. Auctore Hieronymo Mercuriali Foroliviensi, Medico & Philosopho. Venetiis, Apud Juntas. MDLXIX.” The second edition, like the third and the fourth, is illustrated, and dedicated to Emperor Maximilian II. The title-page is changed to read: “Hieronymi Mercurialis de arte gymnastica Libri Sex, in quibus exercitationum ... admodum utile (as in first edition). Secunda editione aucti, & multis figuris ornati. Ad Maximilianum II. Imperatorem. Venetiis apud Juntas, MDLXXIII.” The Paris issue of this second edition substitutes the words “Parisiis, Apud Jacobum du Puys, via Joannis Lateranensis, sub signo Samaritanæ. 1577.” The third edition (“Tertia editione correctiores, & auctiores facti”) was published “Venetiis, MDLXXXVII. Apud Juntas,” and the fourth edition (“Quarta editione correctiores, & auctiores facti”), “Venetiis, apus Juntas. MDCI.”

The title-page of the Amsterdam edition reads: “Hieronymi Mercurialis Foroliviensis de Arte Gymnastica Libri Sex: in quibus exercitationum omnium vetustarum genera, loca, modi, facultates, & quidquid denique ad corporis humani exercitationes pertinet diligenter explicatur. Editio novissima, aucta, emendata, & figuris authenticis Christophori Coriolani exornata. Amstelodami, Sumptibus Andreæ Frisii,” (1672).

In this connection may be mentioned also “The Muscles and Their Story, from the Earliest Times; including the Whole Text of Mercurialis, and the Opinions of Other Writers Ancient and Modern, on Mental and Bodily Development. By John W. F. Blundell, M.D., Licentiate of the Royal College of Edinburgh, Author of ‘Medicina Mechanica,’ etc.” London, Chapman & Hall, 1864.

[7] The table of contents, translated, is given in full at the foot of pp. 477-479 in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1891-1892, vol. =1=.

[8] Translated by Karl Wassmannsdorff in _Deutsche Turnzeitung_, =17= (1872); 272, 279.

[9] Chapter 23. The entire passage is given in English at the foot of pp. 472-474 in the report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1891-1892, vol. =1=.

[10] Quotations from these chapters will be found in Barnard’s _Am. Jour. Educ._, =16=, 490-496 (1866). In 1545 _Roger Ascham_ (1515-1568), author of The Scholemaster, published his “Toxophilus, the schole of shootinge conteyned in two bookes.”