Directions for the Education of a Young Prince

CHAP. I. Of the Education of a Prince.

MAN is the weakest of Living Creatures, and the most difficult to be brought up; especially a Prince, though he seems to have all advantages on his side. He is made by his Creator of matter no less frail than the Clown, both born infirm and naked; but the Prince is received with acclamations of Joy, bravely lodged, wrapped up in warm Cloaths, with great care, compassed in with Skreens and Hangings, a Nurse provided to give him suck, skillful Women to swaddle, rock, and carry him, with Physicians to over-see his and his Nurses health; all strive who shall do him service. The poor little Clown makes his first entry to the World in a Cottage, where there is scarce room enough to shut the Doors, or the Window, o • to kindle a smoky fire with green Wood; he is wrapped, not according to his need, but after his Mothers ability; who, as soon as she riseth from Childbed, returns to her work, and carries the Child with her, to gleaning or weeding; where it lieth on the ground exposed to all the Injuries of the Air. Who would believe but that this tender infant-creature should perish immediately, and that the Prince would come on and thrive apace, being so tenderly looked to? Yet Experience shows, that for the most part, the little Cottager runs alone at the years end, and the Prince can hardly stand alone at the end of two. Of which the reason may be, that all which happens to the one, serves to make him stronger; and to the other, to make him a little weakling. The Prince is so well tended, that the smallest things offend him; the opening of a door makes him catch cold, a little noise wakes him in a fright: the other is so used to the Wind, Rain, and Sun, that nothing makes him Rheumatick; he sleeps better on a Turf when it thunders, than the Prince in his soft warm Cradle, in the greatest silence. The great advantage of the little Rustic is, That his Mother is his Nurse, who loves him with a Natural Affection; her Milk is not so apt to be troubled as that of the Prince's Nurse; for she leads an innocent country life, without ambition or covetousness; feeds soberly with a merry heart, and hath no need of Clysters, or Cassia to refresh her: But the Prince's Nurse being mercenary, her End is her own Interest; as soon as she comes to Court, she changes her Diet and her Manners, grows fat with good Chear, and proud with the Gifts and Courtings of Great Persons, and becomes insupportable to those that serve with her; half the time she is either angry or frighted; for the Great Ones & the Physicians give her a thousand alarms; one while her Milk is too hot, another time too cold, or not plentiful enough; and many times they dry up her Milk with fear.

But let us endeavor to find a Nurse for our Prince young and healthful, of a sweet and pleasant Humour; one that hath seen the World a little, that the presence of Great Persons may not disturb her: Let her not be angered nor frighted, let her Diet be sober, and though somewhat mended from what she had at home, yet as near it as may be: Let there not be too many Women to serve with her, lest that bring wrangling and confusion. Of so many Heads you shall scarce find two of the same opinion; and among so many, some may be careless, and endanger to put a Leg or an Arm out of Joynt: in great Houses many are defective in their Limbs and Stature, it may be, because they run more hazards than others do. A Prince standing in more need of strength than any of his Subjects, for whom he often ought wake when they sleep, and their welfare depending much upon his Health and Life, he ought to be so bred, that he may be more robust, hardy and patient than any of his Subjects, if it were possible: for which end much of that usual tenderness of their breeding which makes them delicate, willful, and impatient, ought to be abated.

CHAP. II. Of preparing a Prince to Good Habits in his first Infancy.

ALthough Man be a reasonable Creature, he is more led by Sense than Reason in his first years; he is then much like to other Animals, who incline to sensible things; and desireth pleasant objects that rejoice his sight and please his taste, shrinking from all things unpleasant to his Senses: It were to go against the Creators order to make a Child to reason before the Organs are disposed for it; yet in the first four or five years of his age, he may be framed to such Habits as will be dispositions for him to entertain good Counsel and right Reason when he is capable of it: For in that age a Child may with little pains be made tractable and obedient: yes, if one begin soon enough to teach him Obedience, and inure him to it, before he be capable so much as to ask why he must obey: for I dissent very much from them who think it ungenerous to bring him to obedience who is born to command, for all Princes ought to obey Reason, else both They and their Subjects are miserable: and Princes shall never so well learn to obey Reason, unless their natural infant-stubbornness be broken to Tractableness, before they are capable of the Counsels of Reason. A Child of two years old may easily be bowed any way by fear of some light pain, or hope of some little pleasure; and he must be used to be denied some things that he would have; for at that Age the Passion and the Will have the supremacy of the Soul; and therefore that is the Age when they should be taught to be ruled.

As soon as the Buds of Reason begin to disclose, the Seeds of Truth and Goodness in-born to the Soyl of Mans Nature, ought to be carefully, yet gently stirred; that he may be sensible of his Maker and his Judge, to whom all Sovereigns are accountable, and of whom depends their good or ill-being. Then, when he is so young, he may with little pains be made Generous, Meek, Liberal, Temperate; and above all things to love Godliness and Justice. But then take heed lest any come near him that spoil your Husbandry, and sow Darnel among your Wheat: Let it be the aim of all that converse with him to better his Mind as near as may be.

Some are better born than others; in some Children you may observe a natural Generosity and Disdain of base things; an inclination to High and Noble Actions, an aptness in their Understandings to be instructed, a tractableness for Morality. Others are born with a base Soul, obstinately brutish, slow to apprehend, and not to be brought to Obedience but by Severity: Yet the best born have their Original-sinful Inclinations, which if they be not moderated by wholesome Instruction, and the work of Grace, (which must be craved of God by instant Prayer) the most vigorous and generous Natures will serve but to make men more eminent in Vices.

Although the Complexions be different in Children, and that according to that diversity they should be differently dealt with, yet there are certain handles to take hold of those little Souls. Almost all Children are Shamefac'd, Fearful, Curious and Credulous: By these four handles we may with Discretion take hold of, and bring the Childs Soul to our end. But as we find in him four Helps or Dispositions to Virtue, we observe also four Hinderances to fight with: for a Child is naturally Proud, Wilful, a Lyar, and Intemperate.

CHAP. III. Of Shamefac'dness.

I Intend not to treat of the Nature and Causes of this Passion, of which Philosophers have spoken: nor of the lasting effects of the same, which extend to the last years of a man's life. We pretend only to speak of so much of it as will serve to begin the education of a Prince till he be seven years old. This innocent passion begins to appear in Children about the second year of their Age, and it increaseth with their Knowledge, as they grow more able to discern Honest from Dishonest. They begin to be ashamed of their Nakedness, and hide themselves to do their natural Necessities, and give over their Wilfulness at the sight of some grave Person. Shamefac'dness is a weak and maimed remainder of Innocence; it is the Guardian of Modesty and all Virtues: for generally Shame ariseth out of an apprehension of anything that may breed Infamy; and is often purer in Infancy than in riper Age: It is a Passion so delicate and slender, that there is nothing more easy to corrupt, and may soon degenerate into Impudence, its contrary; and being once out of a tender Soul, it cannot be recalled: for Impudence which doth succeed it, is headstrong, and so over-mastereth Reason, that one can hardly see in the Child any trace of Shame. It must therefore be our business to manage that Passion with so much industry, that it 'scape not from us, since without Shamefac'dness we can neither well begin nor set forward our Design.

What is superfluous in it, must be cut off. Some Children are excessively shamefaced even of good things, they dare not speak, nor do any handsome Exercise before such as they respect, or are not accustomed to see. But now, least cutting off Superfluities we should pull Shamefac'dness up by the Roots, and with it the Neighbouring Virtues, Humility and Modesty, the want of which would do more hurt than the Excess of Bashfulness, which will decrease in time; we ought rather to cherish Bashfulness, than check it severely; if our Prince be bashful in his Childhood, he will be the more mild, graceful and acceptable in Conversation when he comes to ripe years: If in his tender Age he blush a little when he must speak, or do some Exercise before Strangers, it will give to the Company a good presage of a Virtuous Disposition. If his over-Bashfulness make him Rude and Unmannerly, the Cure of it ought not to be undertaken with reproachful Terms, after the ordinary way; for Fear never brings Confidence; and he that was whipped today for being bashful, will be more bashful tomorrow. The more bashful the Child is, the more gently deal with him; make as though you saw it not; reproach him not for it, but by little and little use him to speak and do his Exercises before good Company; and by degrees, as his Body is brought to Exercises, and his Mind to Reasonings, he will get Assurance.

Value not the little Pleasure that Childish Prattle gives; but aim at a higher end, and remember that a shamefaced, fearful, silent, and considering Child, is a slow Soil that yields a rich after-crop: Whereas on the contrary, it is often seen that these little witty Sparks that will entertain and delight great Companies with their prattling, give afterward no great occasions to Historians to speak of them. But some like not expectations, they had rather eat green Apricots than stay till the Sun hath ripened them: If their Children answer not their pleasure, they check and discourage them, or forbear to talk with them; and with their impatience lose the Advantages wherewith Nature had furnished them, preferring a little present Pastime before a future solid Content. Neither can they have their little ends what violence soever they use; the Temper of Nature will not alter: A Child that is naturally too bashful, may be made to do what he is commanded by fear or punishment, but it will look constrained and ungentle, and his bashfulness may degenerate into baseness; for whereas the shamefac'dness of a Child in speaking or doing, comes from a fear of doing ill; a most excellent Disposition which must never be rooted out, but be made more intelligent by gentle and patient teaching: That Root of Goodness is plucked up when the Child is forced to do what he conceiveth to be amiss, and he is brought to conceive that Good and Evil are indifferent. But if you cherish Shamefac'dness, and teach him withal what is truly shameful, and what is laudable, he will blush when he hath a mind to tell a lie, or do an undecent action, and be cheerful when he may do that which may get him praise; of which Children are great Lovers. Bashfulness will be a gentle Bridle to hold him within the Limits of his Duty.

Sometimes Obstinacy takes the name of Bashfulness, when a Child resists a reasonable Command feigning he is ashamed to do it; whereas it is Impudence that makes him seemingly bashful, but indeed obstinate: for if he were ashamed indeed, he durst not be disobedient; it is Wilfulness that makes him disobey; a Weed that must be rooted out. Every Judicious Person may discern it from bashfulness, the Child having not wit enough to hide his pride & perverseness.

There is a kind of bastard-shame ordinary in Youths o • great Birth, who having been brought up in Godliness and Moderation, coming to frequent debauched Company are seized with a pernicious shame, which with-holds them from saying or doing any good thing in their presence, and a • last brings them to imitate thei • Vices, as, to drink withou • thirst, to speak lasciviously though they understand no • what they say, to play grea • Game, though they covet no • Money, and to swear, fo • which they know no more reason than they of whom they learned it. All these they do at the first not without pain • and some remorse of Conscience; but by this soft compliance they soon become like those they imitate, or worse. Therefore we must (with all our power) use our Prince not to be ashamed in such Occurrences, but boldly to refuse whatsoever is dishonest or hurtful; of this ill shamefac'dness Plutarch speaks much and pertinently in his Morals, whither we refer the curious Reader.

CHAP. IV. Of Fear.

NOT to speak of that Fear which possesseth base and effeminate persons, and produceth so many strange Effects in their Bodies and Minds; but only of this Passion before it grow wild and be corrupted; we will endeavor to show how it may be useful, if we can wisely govern it. Fear is in the Soul of Man a natural Prudence, aiming at the preservation of his Being: It is a wary, considering and foreseeing Passion: As soon as it knows the danger, it becomes sensible of it, and retires from it. A Child is most governed by fear in the first years of his life; for though we bend and turn him, as well by Promises as Threatenings; yet Fear is the chief-spring of all his actions: for either he fears punishment, or fears to lose the recompense promised to his Obedience; it is like the Stern, whereby to turn him any way according to need or occasion. By it he is wrought to all Virtue, and turned from Vice: Self-love is so natural, that every Child will forbear that which will bring him pain, or deprive him of some pleasure. Yet (may some say) we see most Children run headlong into danger of Fire and Water, handle Knives that cut them, and if they be not looked to, eat things that cause their death, and daily do things forbidden on pain of Whipping. But all that comes out of ignorance; did the Child know that the fire burns, he would have no mind to grasp it; in that Infancy he apprehends only the outside of things; light and gay colors cheer up his sight; and he hath a mind to touch anything that shines: he understands not why they will not let him take the Candle by the flame, which he sees to be finer than that part by which others hold it: but if once he burn himself, he will no more have any mind to come near it; and so from anything that hurts him once he will retire. That Children often do things forbidden, is by reason of the great diversity of their actions, their motions are so quick & so witless, that they have effected what their fancy sets them on, before they consider what inconveniences may follow; besides they are so oft pardoned their faults, that they hope to be so once more. But there is no Child unless he be a fool, that will go about to do anything, if beforehand he be sure he shall be punished for it; if he do, it is because he hopes to 'scape either by denying the deed, or by asking pardon, or by the mediation of some that are fond of him.

This then is without doubt, that Fear is a Gift of the Creator, given to every Animal, to keep itself from danger, and to prevent whatsoever may hurt it; that passion, being wisely governed and fortified with Reason, will work itself into Prudence & Foresight, and may in time make one of the best parts of the Politicks of the Prince, if he have light enough in his understanding to discern that which is indeed dangerous, from that which hath only an appearance of danger.

It must be acknowledged that the advantages which remain in Human Nature after it was dis-figured by sin, are so weak and imperfect, that if it hath some light dispositions to Virtue, it hath such inclinations to Vice, that it falls as easily into it as a stone rolls downward, and cannot be raised again to the right use, but by the singular blessing of God, and much labor of Human Prudence. All Passions innocent by Nature, may become Virtuous or Vicious, as they are guided.

Fear, which we have set down as a good disposition, will degenerate into base-mindedness and idleness; If the Child be not well guided, it will make him so cowardly as to fear everything, and so idle as to shun generous Actions, though his judgment tells him they are good and honest: wherefore there is need of a great measure of discretion so to manage that passion of Fear, as to frame our Prince thereby to be tractable, respectful, obedient hearkening to Counsel; and withal, to cherish his Generosity so, that he be free, open, jovial, of a good meen, having nothing constrained either in Body or Mind.

Before all things, let him learn to fear God with a fear grounded upon so much knowledge as his Age is capable of; Let him be taught to know and love him as his Maker, his Redeemer, his Father and Benefactor: to fear to offend him, because he punisheth the wicked, and hateth Liars, (a Vice natural to Children) and loveth such as fear him, and makes them increase in all blessings. From the same spring will proceed his Respect & Obedience to his Father and Mother, which must be printed in him with great care. It is a wise Caveat for those that are born to command, That he shall never command well, that hath not well learned to obey. Let that fear of his Parents be so seasoned with Love, that he be afraid to offend them, not for fear of blows, as Slaves or Hirelings; but, through the apprehension of being less beloved of them, and of being deprived of their Caresses and little Gifts.

It is a great Error in some Parents to be afraid to show their love to their Children, for fear of spoiling them; all Fathers would have their Children to fear them, but that fear will be servile, if by demonstrations of their love they make not their Children to love them again. There is also a contrary Error, to be overfond of Children, which is the Disease of soft effeminate minds: such Parents by satisfying all the desires of their Children, without the distinction of Good and Evil, do but feed the Child's sensuality with their own. True fatherly and motherly affection aims at some better end than to make their Children their fools to make them sport, and to that end to please the Child though in ill things: Wise Parents will labor, without ceasing, to strengthen the reasonable part of a Childs Soul, to make him a Lover of Equity and Honesty, and to weaken the brutish and sensual part, which will soon master Reason, if the Child be suffered to follow his appetite. They will endeavor so to work upon his tender mind, susceptible of all impressions, that he may become Judicious, Generous, a Lover of Godliness and Righteousness, Meek, Liberal, Temperate in all things, Obedient to his Parents. To that end the Parents must so get their Childs love by cherishing him, that there be need of no other Promises to make the Child love Virtue, than to tell him, if he do so his Father will love him; and of no other threats to keep him from Vice, than to tell him, that thereby he shall lose his Fathers love: and the like of his Mother, whose wisdom must confute the ordinary reproach, that the Mothers fondness spoils all the virtue which the Fathers and Tutors Instructions labor to plant in their Children's Souls: make the Child believe that there is no other way to keep in his Father's and Mother's favor, than to be obedient and good: if he chance to commit some fault in their presence, and they tell him they will love him no more, and bid him go out of their sight, it will be a sharper correction than if they had beaten him. If it please the Mother to inform herself daily of the Child's Governess, how he hath behaved himself, she may by the entertainment she gives him, when he is brought to her, either encourage him, or keep him in awe. It is not good to keep Children in as much fear when they do well, as when they do ill: some tremble in the presence of their Parents for fear, not daring to speak, or scarce to stir: this breeds a pernicious fear in them, which maimeth all their Faculties: when they are about any good or indifferent action, how shall the Childs Wit spread out itself, if it be always fettered by awe? How shall the Child learn to reason, if he be never asked Questions, and have not the liberty to speak his little Thoughts, and to clear those difficulties that are framed in his Childish Head? Some will say, A Prince's Child has those by him that are paid to reason with him. Yet it were not amiss for the Parents to see whether they be faithful Sowers, and whether the soil be such as will bring a good Crop. But admit we were well assured of the fidelity of the Teachers, and of the Child's aptness to conceive, and memory to retain: yet we should desire that a Prince who is not born to converse only with School masters, should also learn to speak with great persons, and to be abash'd at nothing but at doing ill.

I put among the things he should not be afraid of, many petty things which Children are chidden for, as fouling his Coat, durtying his Apron, lofing his Handkerchief, or his Gloves, breaking or losing such Toys as he plays with, or giving them to whom he please; all these things deserve not severe reproof; for such matters his Attendants must not lose their Credit with him, or take away his Liberty: his little mind cannot order all things right. Take care that he speak no lie, or ill word, that his Passion commit nothing that is cruel or unjust, and that he come to his Exercises in due time; for the rest, let him play his fill, and not be hamper'd in any of his Actions; if he dirty himself, trouble not his Joy for that, but change his Linnen as oft as there is need; if he grieve for having lost or broken any Toy, let another be bought. Let not him that is born to Command, be awed with servile fear; let him fear to do evil, and nothing else.

Let him still have something to dispose according to his own fancy, some Money, and the Toyes he plays with, that so his nature may be known, whether he be prodigal or sparing, cruel or merciful, that he may be taught to keep the virtuous mean, between the vicious extremes: how can one observe the seeds of Virtue or Vice in him, if he be constrained so that he dare not produce himself? and if he have nothing whereof he may dispose without leave? This inclination in point of giving or sparing, being once observed, he may be taught that to win Friends is a great point of Husbandry in a Prince: and that he must oblige many, and not give all to one Favorite. Let not fear then be used, but to hinder him from some naughty Custom and vicious Excess, and not to curb his innocent Sports and Actions, or to abate his Liveliness or Mirth, of which Mirth his wise Directors must make use, to bring the Exercises of his Childhood by way of Play: away with those sad words, Go study your Lesson, or learn your Catechism; rather say, Let us go play, and see if such an one can tell what Letter this is, and then how to put the Letters together; let us try which of these two Boys can answer best to two Questions of the Catechism, and then lay a Wager that we shall say it better than either of them; when we are weary of this exercise we will cast up a little reckoning, or have a Violin, and learn to make a Leg: all this without any use of fear, for if the Child be not delighted with what is said to him, it makes no impression in his Wit; to which end, you must always leave off before the Child be weary and fret; and praise him still, though he have said little to the purpose, that he be not afraid to come to it again: for if he be dull or heavy, it will not better his Wit to check him, or threaten to punish him if he learn no better; on the contrary, if fear be added to natural slowness, all is lost; there is no more good to be done till that fear be driven away, which makes the understanding a troubled Water, and Confidence restored, which is the Mother of Tranquillity. If excess of fear be hurtful to the Faculties of the Mind, it is no less to the Abilities and Exercises of the Body. He that is checked or reviled for not dancing well, for not having a good posture, and not making a good Leg; shall hardly ever have a good Meen; he may learn the cadences of a Violin, but it will look so studied and constrained, that it will not be pleasing at all; if he have a natural Grace, with little pain he will be brought to do his Exercises handsomely; but if he have not, chiding and taunting will not help it; it will be better to take no notice of it, only tell him, that if he would go a little more upright, and lean a little more to the other side, he would be then a Gallant indeed: if with such winning and sweet words he be often told of his faults, it will be a wonder if he get not a good fashion, at least he will not have that timorous and constrained behavior which is so unhandsom in a Great Person; for a graceful Garb proceeds (for the most part) from confidence, and some good opinion of ones self.

Before we conclude this discourse of Fear, which should supply the place of Reason in the first three or four years of his life, we will give a Caveat that the Child be kept in fear with some visible sensible thing, as the Rod; but never fright a Child with unknown things, as many do, who to still their Children will knock at their Beds Head, counterfeit some Voice, or come in some disguise to take them away. This is a dangerous Method, it dulls Children, and makes them afraid of their shadows at Noon-day.

CHAP. V. Of Curiosity.

THe first act of Reason in a Child is his seeking of knowledge through Curiosity, which is like the hunger of the Understanding; as the new-born-Babe thirsts after the breast for his preservation, for the same cause the new-hatched Reason thirsteth after Truth, which is the food of the Mind. As one may give a Child Poison instead of Milk, so one may give to the infant-understanding Falsehood instead of Truth: which is a fault too ordinary, to feed the tender minds of Children (hungry of knowledge) with blind tales, and fill their imaginations with Grotescoes and Chymera's, wherewith their young Understandings being once seasoned, get a deep die of Folly, which they keep long, sometimes all their life. Those are the hopefullest Children which are most curious, and most inquisitive; if to their Questions you return wrong Informations, you cannot justify the wrong you do them for your sport, by saying they are not yet capable of understanding the true Causes of things. For they can make you no Question, upon which you may not make them some true Answer, though they be not capable as yet of the whole Truth of what they ask. Certainly, a great care should be taken of the first things that are put into a Child's mind; and what Persons are talking with them; the best Wit is best cheap, though the entertainment be above the ordinary rate; Wit sows itself, and much Wisdom is learned by rote; if such cannot be had, let the Attendants be limited to talk to the Prince cheerfully about the care of his Person; and if they are allowed to tell him stories, let them be only such as are of good Instruction, appointed by the Governess, no senseless Tales: Children love Histories, we must be wise Husbands of that Inclination, to cast in their tender minds the foundation of true and necessary Knowledge: For the knowledge of all Goodness, and that of man's Duty and Happiness is grounded in History; with that necessary History; the Child shall be as much delighted as with Fables. Tell him that God made the World in six days; what he created the first day, what the second, &c. and how he rested the seventh day; how God framed man of earth, and blew the Spirit of Life into his Nostrils; how he laid him asleep, and took one of his Ribs, and made him a Wife out of it: What a fine Garden they lived in, and how happy they might have been, if they had obeyed God their Maker: How Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and by doing what he forbad them, they became unhappy, and their Posterity sinful and unfortunate: how God sent a great Flood that drowned them all, but Noah and his Family saved in the Ark. Tell him the Histories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: the pleasant Adventures of Joseph, of Moses, of David, of Daniel; the more holy History of our Savior's Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection. These he will hear with delight, and remember with facility: and by them get saving Instruction before they be aware. With the like ease he may learn the History of England, and of the Neighbouring States, and many Relations of Great and Good Men, and of God's Judgments upon the Wicked.

Let us settle Truth and Goodness in our Prince while he is yet tractable, curious and credulous: let us not lose that opportunity to print that first, which should stay last, and which is profitable and necessary in all ages of life; Saving Truth is never better received than by little Children, before malice have perverted them, before unruly Passions have got the dominion over Reason; that is the right season to plant the love of God, and sow the seeds of his fear in innocent Souls. Our Lord Jesus loved this innocent Age, when he took the little Children in his Arms, and blessed them, and when he said, Unless you become like little Children, you cannot be my Disciples: It were happy, if leaving the imprudence of Children as we grow, we kept still their innocence. The Doctrine of Salvation is clear, and sinks easily into a tender Soul, if one know how to pour it drop by drop, according to the capacity of the Child, and no more at once than he can digest with pleasure and profit.

Let the Prince above all things get a reverend conceit of God's Wisdom, Goodness, and Justice: All which may be presented to him in familiar and particular Instances; because Children are not capable to conceive Universals. Tell him it was God that made that Sun, that Moon, these Stars, the Trees of this Walk, that fine Horse; it is God that makes these Cherry-Trees to bear Cherries, and that Vine to bear Grapes: it is God that healed your Nurse of her sickness, and helped such a Servant of yours from hurt, when his Horse threw him down; it is God that gives you a good Father and Mother, your Food, your Cloaths, and all the good and pretty things that you delight in; it is God that discovered such a Murder, and brought the Murderer to the Gallows. Let all occasions be used to fill our Prince's Mind with God, and to make him practice with ease, this Precept, which comprehends all Duties, and brings all Felicities, In all thy ways acknowledge God, Prov. 5.6.

Prayers and Catechism he should learn by heart, but neither of them long; I like not trying to the uttermost what a Child's Memory can bear: I fear it might dull his reasoning and discoursive Faculties; which in that age, hath need to be awakened and fashioned. Make him consider the beauties of Nature, the marvels of the Sun, which sends light and fertility to the World, the greatness of the Sea and Land, and the great number of Animals that live in the Earth, in the Water, and in the Air. The World is full of matter of Instruction and Delight.

From Works of Nature lead our Prince to the Works of Grace: he should know in general that God created man Just and Good; but man, believing the Devil's word, became wicked, and God's enemy: whereupon the good God sent his Son into the world to make peace between God and Man; that this Son of God our good Savior suffered that death which we deserve, and so bought us again to make us God's Children, and Heirs of his Kingdom, of surpassing Wealth, Beauty, Peace, and Joy forever; that, for it we are bound to love God with all our heart and Soul, and seek to please him in all things; & that we cannot enter into that fine Kingdom, if we do not all that he commands us; and that those that refuse to do as God bids them, are cast away into Hell, where all God's Enemies are punished forever. Thus we may see that the richest and best part of Divinity may be understood by the simplest: it is food fit for little Children, for grown Men, and for decrepit Age. The curiosity of a young Prince should be entertained with the knowledge both of natural and artificial things, such as are not above the capacity of his age: Let him be told where the several Metals are found, & how they are wrought, whence come the several Rarities and precious Things which he seeth; how Glass is made, how Bells are cast, how Books are printed: Especially let a Prince be taught the Inventions that belong to War, to make him martial; instead of Girlish Babies, let it be his play to rank little men of Tin, or purer Metal, in Battle-array, and let such as are skillful in the Art of War teach him; soon after let him have some little Boys of his age to be exercised by him; and the disobedient to be punished in his little Jurisdiction; let him have little Forts, sometimes to assault, sometimes to defend, and learn in his play to make War in earnest. For other Pastimes and Exercises, whether of Body or Mind, refuse him nothing that may innocently satisfy his curiosity: yet keep him still in obedience to his Directors, that he be not suffered to exceed the bounds of Reason and Modesty.

CHAP. VI. Of Credulity.

BY Curiosity a Child desires Knowledge, by Credulity he receives it; it were in vain to thirst for Knowledge, if there were not an aptness to receive it: Credulity feeds on all that is set before it, without distinction of Good and Evil: Darnel as well as Wheat: and makes both to sprout and grow; we will then consider our young Prince as a matter capable of any form: as a vessel that may receive a precious Liquor, or mortal poison: what it first receiveth, will give a taste to all that is poured in after: if falsehood come first, it will so corrupt the faculty, that it will never after be so proper to receive Truth; although it should be cleansed and carefully rinsed, there will a smack still remain.

Let us labor faithfully to sow good Seed in this field before it be fore-stall'd with bad stuff; let us take all the advantage of of his innocent Credulity, to frame him to Piety and Goodness, Justice and Generosity: Let us season him with the fundamental Truth of Religion, of which we spake in the Chapter before, and with the easy Grounds of Virtue and Nobleness, those especially which most concern his Quality; Train up a Child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it, Prov. 22.6.

CHAP. VII. Of natural vicious Inclinations, in Children, and first of Pride.

WE have observed hitherto some inclinations in Children which may be wrought to Goodness by good Education; the same for want of good care may turn to Vices and several Diseases of the Mind: If then that which is best in the Childs Nature, may turn to evil, being left to itself, what is to be expected of the furious in-born Passions which are prints of the Image of the Devil? And who is free of them? Who can find a man that is not proud, and consequently wedded to his own opinions? That is not intemperate in the use of necessary things, and greedy in getting the unnecessary and superfluous? That is not a Lyar in his words, and in his very actions? These and other vicious Inclinations, more prone to run to excess in a high fortune, are kept low by the low breeding and bodily labor of the inferior sort; but in Children of great birth, bred accordingly, they put themselves forth with great flattery. Therefore there is more need in Children of high condition to oppose the corruption of Nature, and with strong and wise endeavors to subject Passion to the Empire of Reason, and plant in young minds Humility, Docility, Fidelity, Justice, the love of Truth and Temperance.

The first vicious Enormity to be encountered, is Pride, which is an excess of Self-love, that doth so fore-stall the judgment of those tender Souls, with satisfaction of themselves, that they are hardly brought to a sense of their ignorance and natural wants, of which before they be made sensible, they are incapable of instruction and counsel: it is very hard to make a perfect cure of an hereditary disease, which the Patient feeleth not, but huggs it with all his strength; and besides, pride is fed by so much respect both of Attendants and Visitants, as if all were hired to puff him up. Labor we then above all things to let our Prince know that he hath a Great Master, to whom he is no less subject than the least of his Servants, and whom he must fear as the Witness and the Judge of his Actions and Affections. Let him learn that God his Maker made him and his Foot-boy of the same stuff; that Christ his Savior hath shed as much Blood for the redemption of the one, as of the other; that he is a Prince only as long as he liveth, that after his death his Body will turn to dust as those of other men, and that his Soul shall then keep rank among other Souls, not according to his birth and condition in this world, but according to his Goodness.

And that Pride and Self-love may afford a Remedy against themselves, let the Prince be made sensible that the more he is humble and meek towards all men, the more they will love and respect him, and have a high esteem of him, but if he be surly and haughty, he will be despised even of those that stand bare before him: an humble affability is a kind of liberality whereby a Child gives all that is in his power, salutes to those that salute him, thanks to those that serve and assist him, smiles and kindness to all: and if he get not those Habits of Courtesie and Gentleness in his Childhood, he will hardly get them afterward: for the elder he grows, the stronger will his passions be, and the less will any dare to tell him of his faults.

I do not hold it a good course against Pride, to conceal from a young Prince what he is, as Henry the Fourth of France was bred in his Infancy: which though it succeeded well with his witty and compliant nature, yet would not perhaps have the like effect with a Soul of courser metal. He that is ignorant of his Birth, and comes to know it to be greater than he thought, may be astonished, and out of countenance, troubled with his new Titles. A new course of Education, and new Precepts, would make him lose what he had got by the old through the perplexity of his mind. Let him learn as soon as he is able to apprehend it, to frame his mind and conversation according to his degree. Let him learn that because he is a Prince he must be humble; if he be born to be a King, he is born to be a great Servant, and that he had need to subdue those by humility and kindness, that must be one day subject to his Authority.

CHAP. VIII. Of Wilfulness.

WIlfulness is the ordinary effect of Pride, a very proud man is always very willful: for he loves himself so much, and his own conceits, that he will not part from them, though he find others better; many have no other reason to maintain what they have once said, than because they have said it; and to follow a course, than because they have begun it, from whence ariseth the undoing of most proud men. But when Wilfulness keeps Court in a Prince's head, and is armed with Authority, it produceth dreadful effects; it hath no ears, and breaks all that resisteth it, and chooseth rather to sink the Ship, than to stoop the sails. But that passion, so tough when it is old, is easy to be bowed in Children, if it be taken in hand with prudence; for though it be a blustering and bawling passion, it is weak and cowardly, shame will appease it, and fear will awe it; and if he can but be made believe he hath what he would have, he is satisfied.

According to the humor of those that have the Education of the Child, the obstinate may become tractable, and the tractable obstinate: if the Director be of a soft spirit, that yields to an obstinate Child in all things, his willfulness wi •… get such a head, that it will n •… be driven away from the •… without great violence: and 〈◊〉 those that are about the Chi •… be of a willful humor themselves, and bend themselve sadly against the Childs opini •… trety, wrangling with him f •… everything, and not yieldin • to him in any, they will mak • the Child willful, if he was no • before, or had but little inclination to it; for Vices, as well as Virtues, grow strong by exercise; Dispute & Contestation is the Delight of Obstinacy.

The first and most ordinary fault is fond tenderness, which spoils many Children; those little Creatures are willful chiefly, because they have not the use of Reason, and are governed by Sense in the first years, • eing very eager after all things • hat they fancy pleasant, with • ut distinction of profitable: • herefore persons of age are set • bout them to supply the want • f Reason, who know what is • ood for Children, & let them • ave that only, without respect • o their appetites: but soft ser • ile minds, to whom sometimes • he Government of high-born Children is committed, seem • o be without Reason themselves, and to have no motion • ut after the Childs fancy, whose slaves they are: instead of governing him, when the Prince is willful, mutinous, and disobedient, then they flatter him, beat another Child before him, and give him sweetmeats, or some other fine thing, when he should have a good Rod, that which is necessary for hi • health or instruction, is no • done because my little Maste • would not: Such leave a hard task to the grave Tutors tha • shall come after them; fo • who can finish a work we •… that hath been so ill begun? What good can one do with such a Child as hath been made willful with all the industry tha • flattery can invent? The way to master such a hardened willfulness are too violent, and no • to be used to a Prince, who ought to brought up with much freedom. All is the • to begin betimes, before Wilfulness hath got the Command in the Prince's Head, from the very weaning of the Child use him to be ruled, sometimes to be denied things that he would have, make him restore things that he hath taken from another, cause him to take what is given him, not what he cries for, let him get nothing by his anger and eagerness. This way a Child will be used before it be two years old, to do anything that is desired, without resistance; and to suffer anything to be done that is necessary for his good and education: make a discreet use of his shamefac'dness, of his fear, and of his desire to get praise, Wilfulness will never appear; and go not out of the good Rules which you have once set down, for Wilfulness is a bold undertaker, where it sees no danger; if it be yielded unto today, tomorrow it will go further, and still get strength: in the beginning it is cowardly, and advanceth with fear till it finds resistance, and then draws back, and comes no more in sight while the difficulty lasteth, and that the Child seeth that it depends on such a person as varieth not from his Resolutions. Let all fondness be banished from the Education of a Child; these little people know how to master fondness, they know all the weak sides of it, and under the shelter of fondness they will grow willful and perverse, given to their pleasure, and not to be ruled.

The opposite humor to fondness, which is imperiousness, contention, and contradiction, is yet more dangerous than fondness; a willful Director will make a willful Child. If you cross a Child in small things too much, he will learn to counter check your checking, and to be contentious, and furnished with cutting terms: With the froward thou wilt learn frowardness. Let no contentious person be about him; let none be suffered to dispute with him, or before him; Let the Child see no other face of manners but that of Affability and Complaisance. One can hardly imagine what harm is done a Child by wrangling before him: That will make a greater impression in his tender mind, than all the good Art used to teach him Civility and Meekness. For that end, the Child should not be opposed in trifles, but when he is set on them willfully and sharply, if you will make him tractable, you must not lose your credit with him for a small matter; by giving way to his childish fancies (which time will wear away) you may discover the nature of the Child, and know by what part of his mind you may get the best handles to take and lead him.

If he be at any time in a very willful fit (as the best Children will have some) he must be corrected for it, but not till the fit be over, and in cold blood; especially if that ill humor take him in company; if then he will not do what is desired, insist no longer upon it; but when he is out of his cross humor, and retired, then in a cool temper correct him, so may ye another time with a word or a look keep him in obedience before Strangers. But Remedies of Severity should be very sparingly used to a Prince, only when there is no other course left; Generosity must be cherished in him, that so there may be little use of Severity. I recommend again, that from his Weaning all good Endeavors be used to make him tractable.

CHAP. IX. Of Lying.

LYing being a servile and cowardly Vice, odious in all persons, is most ugly in a Prince: who, besides his Nature, should bear in his Dignity the Image of God, the God of Truth. A Prince's word is considered as the Public Faith, and ought to be sacred, as firm as an Oath; that Vice being too natural to all Children, ought to be weeded with all possible industry out of the nature of an infant-Prince: the rather, because the Court, in which he is to be brought up, is the Rendezvous of Liars, and the School of Dissimulation, in which he will learn too soon to speak contrary to that he thinks. The ordinary lying of Children is an excess of fear and shame, when the Child hath done something for which he fears punishment, he will deny the Deed, and lay it to another. That lie of excuse is as natural to Children as self-love: wherein they are many times confirmed by their foolish Waiters, who seeing the Child ashamed, tell him it was not he that did it, but such a one present, who must be beaten, and he hugged: So they teach him to lie on the like occasions; yea, they teach him calumny and cruel Tyranny, to make the innocent smart for his errors, and his pleasure.

That the Child may have no occasion to shelter himself by lying excuses, he must not be chid for all the Toys he breaks, and all the Aprons he fouls: a wise Governess must invite him to confess that it was he that broke such a Looking Glass, or tore such a book; and then, upon his ingenuous confession, praise him for not telling a lie, and give him some fine thing: nothing that a Child spoils can be so precious as Truth and Ingenuity, those rich Jewels wherewith a noble Soul should be adorned. Age will wear out that gamesome bustling and breaking or spoiling what comes to his hand, for which yet he may be gently reproved: but age will confirm and strengthen Lying, if the Child being terrified for those Childish Disorders, be forced to lie to excuse himself. Children will sometimes in their talk come out with little untruths, which are rather the issue of a luxuriant Brain, than of a lying Disposition; these fancies should be heeded, rather to espy their inclination, than to rebuke them much, or impose them silence: For since such fancies are working in their brains, they were as good speak them as think them: age will amend that; and a wise Director, when he seeth time, will help to prune the over - shooting of those wild Twigs: the best way is to fill his Head with Truth and Goodness.

Of willful lying, the Child should not be suffered to speak the least word, whether it be for excuse or otherwise, and in that point a most strict severity ought to be used: especially if it be a contrived lie to work harm to another; let lying be represented to the Child so unhandsome and so base, that he may abhor it: the way for that, will be to furnish his Memory with instances of Great Men, who by lying and breaking their Faith have incurred infamy, and wrought their own ruin: or if any Youth that serveth him be taken in a lie, condemn him before the Prince to be whipt: for Examples are more taking than Precepts, especially with Children.

CHAP. X. Of Intemperance.

THe Nurses Milk breeds in the Child a Disposition to sobriety, for while he hath no other food but the breast, he is not intemperate; either for variety or quantity: that disposition ought to be well managed when he is to be fed with other meat and drink: and if be grow intemperate in that infancy, it will not be his but his Keepers fault. By Sobriety he shall be confirmed in his health, and the faculties of his mind will be lively, vigorous, and clear. Let him eat for necessity not pleasure, good plain Diet, fitting for his Age and Complexion: Let his Understanding be instructed before his Palate, and when his Understanding begins to awake, never promise him Junkets as the Reward of his Obedience, but Honor and Praise, which he should be made to love. Use him not to variety in his Diet, one kind of meat well chosen is enough at once, or two at most; variety will but provoke him to eat and drink more than he should; it is not good to give them Comfits or Preserves, or to use them to eat at all times of the day, or without measure; it rots their teeth, and spoils their digestion; they get a hard belly, and strong breath, and grow tender and froward: the like effects may be wrought by eating too many delicates at their Fathers Table. The fear of this persuaded Henry King of Navarre, Grandfather to Henry the Great King of France, to bring him up secretly in the Country, so to secure him from the Education of the Court; which fell out so happily, that he grew one of the hardiest men of his time.

The Noble Families in France breed their Children to great Sobriety and Obedience, giving them dry Bread to their Breakfast, and nothing to eat and drink but at Meals, not suffering them so much as to know Sweet-meats. Hence comes the great difference between the Nobility and the People, the Nobles are much taller, better shaped, and better fashioned; of so great importance it is to begin well.

CHAP. XI. How the Persons about an Infant-Prince ought to be qualified.

THe greatest part of the breeding of a Child, be he of high or low birth, till he be seven years old, falls always to the share of Women; for although a wise man ought to be appointed to be near an Infant-Prince when he draweth nigh that Age; yet Women being the Waiters for his Bodily Necessities, with whom therefore he must converse more than with his Governors, they will have the principal influence on his mind; and the ordinary business of a Nursery being less for the inspection of men, the Female Waiters must and ought to be ruled by a Governess, not a Governor.

One of the greatest Difficulties then that I find in the Childs Breeding, is in the choice of those Women-Servants that dress and undress him, have the charge of his Linnen and Cloaths, wait on him at his Dinner, and Supper, and Breakfast, and attend him especially when he hath some indisposition: for upon those Womens humors & manners, the Child will frame his, whatsoever be endeavored to the contrary. Now where shall we find Nursery-maids that can either speak wisely, or hold their tongues? that are not foolish, envious, and contentious? filling a Nursery with Factions? that will not give him in secret, things forbidden, to win his love? that will not fright him, to make him hold his peace when he crieth? that will not distract his mind with Tales of Hobgoblins and Fairies? that will not make his Virtue to consist in not fouling the Room which they must make clean? Can a Prince by such a conversation fill his mind with Noble Notions? And will not their talk and behavior engross all the thoughts of the Child? To prevent these dangers, is a matter of great difficulty; since Women must be about his person, the Governess must have the choice of them, and her prudence will choose the wisest she can get, such as are not of the lowest condition, but have some breeding: if they be ignorant, at least let them not be talkative; but such as know their own ignorance; meek, quiet, obedient to the Governess, and pleasant with the Child, everyone keeping their due distance; not to utter any of their follies before the Child, and speak to him only of such things as their place requires. And whereas no instruction can be given to a Prince of that age above their Understanding: let the Governess command them to order their behavior and discourse with him accordingly, and charge them not to say or do anything to or before the Child, that shall be contrary to her Rules; let no Youths come near his person, but such as are at years of discretion, modest, and well-bred.

That there may be Peace and Order in serving the young Prince, it is very fit, yea necessary that the Governess have the choosing & disposing of all Servants under her: otherwise she shall never be able to rule them if she cannot place and displace them: nor can she give a good account of her charge. Those that buy such places will be apt to be malapert, more than deserving persons that are freely chosen by the Governess, whom they know they must obey, and by whom they may be kept or turned out, according to their good or ill deserving and behavior; thus there will be no strife in the Nursery, but who shall do the best service in their place; and there will be a quiet obedience about the Prince.

CHAP. XII. Of the Governess.

THe main business of the Governess being about the breeding of the Prince, I wish for one endowed with singular Piety and Virtue, that Virtue especially which before God is of great Price, the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit. Let her be Judicious and Prudent, of a grave and and gracious behavior, industrious, compliant, and patient, and withal of a wholesome severity and resolution: inflexible to anything but Reason; a Lady of an even humor and well-poised temper, without odness of Melancholy or Pride: one that needs not force herself to be cheerful and complaisant with her charge; for that way Children must be won. I wish the Governess neither too young, nor too old; for the young have not the vigor to make themselves respected, and the very old have lost it, and are come round to Childhood again.

Let the understanding of the Governess be stored with good and useful knowledge, not with much School-Learning, for thereby some have gotten a haughty Genius which cannot stoop, and is destitute of the Virtues of Conversation: none are more unfit for the Education of Children: for we have need of one that will sympathize with Childish Weakness. Let our Governess above all things have that Learning which makes one wise to Salvation, well read in History, for that is the Mistress of Life; let her understand that which she undertakes, having learned the skill of educating a Child, by her experience at home. As you would not commit the young Prince's health to a Physician that never practiced, though he be never so learned in the Theory of Physic, no more ought a Woman except of very good parts, be admitted to educate a Prince, if she has not learned that skill by experience. Seek among good Families what Children well bred may thank their Mothers for it: it will be an encouragement to a Prince to say, The Lady that hath bred these Children, shall breed mine. As King James said by the Lord Harrington 's Lady, whom he chose to be Governess to his Daughter the Queen of Bohemia, when the first saw the behavior of the Countess of Bedford, Daughter to that Lady. One that hath never tried it, and hath a good wit, may frame Rules which will be hard to put in practice; there is need of a long conversation with these little People, before one can know all their weaknesses, and all their childish Crafts; why they are froward, and how to win them: Such as have not been used to them, are amazed to find so much difficulty: having perhaps figured nothing but pastime to themselves, they will admire the diversities of children's fancies, their shrewd turns and willfulness, if they have not had a particular acquaintance with some, in order to govern them; some may think to make a Child wise all at once, and to lash out Childishness with a good Rod; which yet, will not away till the arrival of Age: when they have in vain tried that way, they will find that violence makes the Child violent, and that Children must be won by a yielding dexterity. O the education of Children is a work of great patience! A Lady not well stored of that provision should not undertake the work; especially when she is to deal with other men's children of high Quality, for they shall meet with as many Advices as there are Heads about the Prince; a Governess had need of much prudence to select the best. Let her be true to this general end, to tend the Temporal and Spiritual Good of the young Prince with sincerity and a good Conscience, especially to plant piety and generous virtue in his heart, vigorously removing all that oppose, or neglect their part in that design: faithfully guarding all approaches to the place she is trusted with, not suffering to enter at the mouth, eyes, or ears of the Child anything that may annoy his Body or Soul: justifying by her freedom in checking his Inclinations to any vice, that it is not to keep his love to herself, that she discountenanceth those Flatterers that would cherish them, if any such there be; and that her endeavors to get the Prince's love, is not to advance her family, but to make him susceptible of her Good Counsels.

For that good end it is necessary that she get the Child's love as much as is possible, and it will sooner be gotten by gentleness seasoned with a little awe, than by too much fondness. Let her keep it in her power, in the Nursery, to give him or deny him that which most pleaseth him, according as he behaveth himself; so he will endeavor to follow her Orders, to please her: That is almost the only way of severity to be used to an Infant-Prince: whose Generosity must be cherished. He must be made sensible of Honor as the greatest Reward, and Dishonor as the greatest Punishment. Blows are for Inferiors: after he is six years old, or if ever there be an absolute necessity to come to that Remedy, it is proper to the Parents to use it, the fear of whose Displeasure ought to be deeply planted in the Child's Mind; and let it be the highest threatening used to him, That they shall be told of his perverseness, and then they will love him no more.

Let her not go about to make the Child wise to soon, by dulling the edge of his Joy, which is the best spring of his mind for wisdom to work upon: let him have his Belly full of play, and be encouraged to spread all the faculties of his Body and Mind: After he is weary of playing and running, he will be easily persuaded to some more useful exercises: or if he be used to delightful Stories, when he hath run himself out of breath, he will sit down, and desire you to tell him a tale: A judicious person will know how to make use of these little resting times, to instruct the Child; for being wearied with running, he will be attentive; and if you mingle profitable things with pleasant, he will remember what you say to him: Then is the time to let him hear the Evangelical History of the Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, and other Histories of Scripture, necessary to be known, as being the grounds of Religion, which may be instill'd into him in a pleasing way; he will be delighted to hear what fine things the wise men of the East gave to the Child Jesus; how wicked Herod was to kill the poor little Babes of Bethlehem; how happy those Children were whom Christ took in his arms, and blessed them; and tell him that Christ will do as much to him, if he be a good Child, say his Prayers, and obey his Parents, and those who by their Authority are set over him. But if when the Child is in that humor to hear stories, you be too grave with him, and feason not your Discourse with some pleasant thing suitable to his age, he will leave you, and call on a Chambermaid to tell him a tale; but let the Governess look well to whom she allows that liberty, lest another pull down what she builds.

After the Governess hath taken good order with the Servants behavior and discourses before the Prince, she shall have more dangers to overcome from strangers that come to visit him, whom in civility you can hardly restrain from speaking what they list; if you fear these strangers have made some ill impression in the Child's Mind, the Governess must have the prudence and the goodness to labor to heal it. Many Flatterers will strive to come near the Prince, and humor him, and spoil him for their own advantage, the Governess must make bold to keep them out; that at the end of her Government, which I suppose to be about the time he is seven years old, she may deliver him untainted from the evil Opinions and Customs of the wicked World. Let no Children be admitted to play with the young Prince; he shall learn nothing but Childishness of them; and if they have but vulgar breeding, he shall get of them the Vices of their Education, and the fond Tales they have learned of their Maids at home: They that will have their Children to become men of understanding betimes, must make them converse with Men, not with Children.

CHAP. XIII. Of the Rudiments of the young Prince's Instruction.

Although the Child be not put from a Governess to a Governor before he be seven years old, we must not leave him so long before he learn his Latin, a Language necessary for great Princes to know, to receive Embassies, and entertain Forreign Intelligences. The Emperor Charles V. who had the Spanish, the French, and the German Tongues, was much afflicted and angry with himself for neglecting to learn Latin when he was under Tutors, whereby he was put to the need of an Interpreter in all Addresses made to him in that Language; neither would we have our Prince incapable of the benefit and delight which is got by Latin Authors; Latin is the Key to a great treasure of useful Knowledge, even of that which is proper to a Prince. But I am far from advising that he spend the best of his young years to learn a Grammar and a Syntaxis; they are things, not words, which must accomplish a Prince; and these things are so many, and so necessary to be known, that I would have a Prince not to be troubled with much Grammar-Learning after he is seven years old; but it is not hard so to make him learn Latin before that time, that he shall need only a little exercise to preserve what he hath got.

I say it is as easy to make a Prince, or any Child to learn Latin with his Mother-Tongue, as for all the Children of Flanders and Brabant to learn French as soon as Dutch, and many of them learn Spanish besides. I would then have a German or Dutchman, one that speaks Latin readily and purely (and there are many such in their Universities) employed to wait on the Prince, before he can speak, and let him never speak any word to him but Latin; by that conversation the Child, before he be seven years old shall speak as pure Latin, and as readily as that Servant; if he have two such Servants it will be better. Let him learn to read a Latin Book as soon as an English; after that, Latin will be familiar to him all the days of his Life, having with great ease escaped the horrible tediousness of Grammar-Schools. With such Servants he may likewise learn many good things in sport, and in talk get the Grounds of History, the Mistress of Life. A great help to make the Child love and learn History, is, to let him have Pictures of great Persons, and Maps of Countries and Cities: These Pictures will give occasions to his learned Servants to tell him many things which he must know of the business of the World; there are few notable Histories of Antiquities which are not represented in Prints and Hangings; these Images being expounded to him, will make a lasting print in his imagination. A King (now flourishing) played in his Childhood with Cards, where the several Princes and States of the World were figured; whereby he learned betimes to know the World, in which he is now such a principal Actor.

If the Child have a good Memory, you may use it; make him learn by heart a few profitable things; I say a few, for if you over-stretch his Memory, you confine his Judgment and Imagination to a lesser compass, these three being like three Rooms on one Floor, the wideness of the one makes the two other narrower. Imitate the wisdom of Gardiners, who will not suffer their young Grafts to be charged with much Fruit.

Before, and after all, let there be a principal endeavor to plant piety in the Childs tender Soul, that he may know, love, and fear his Maker and Redeemer, and put all his hope and confidence in him, and not in his dignity of Prince, his Friends and Wealth: that he may have betimes a Preservative against the corruption of the wicked World; by whose temptations a Prince is more assaulted than any of his Inferiors: If there be any Vice sprouting in his wicked nature, let it be weeded out with all care.

Besides that Wilfulness and Libertinism which is natural to all Children, there is in some a natural niggardliness, covetousness, dogged pride, love of none but themselves, and cruelty to man and beast: These Vices are hard to be overcome, and without a singular Work of the Grace of God, and an Industrious Care to bend these crooked young Twigs to the contrary, they will grow worse and worse, being products of the tenacious temper of Melancholy; but most ill nature may be overcome by the power of Grace and good Education.

This Discourse made for an Infant-Prince in his Mothers Court, may (for the most part of it) serve for all Children, especially for those of Noble condition: The Parents that have not the means to keep a Governess, may make advantage of their want, by taking the Government of their Children in their own hands: the Mother shall have that benefit of not being a Princess, that she may nurse her Child with her own Brest, which is more natural, more pleasing to God, and best for the Child: Thereby the Mother shall love the Child the better, and be better acquainted with his Inclinations.

It is ordinary that the Father is so employed abroad about other businesses, and the Mother so busy at home to guide her Household, that they allow to themselves no time to tend that principal business, the breeding of their Children, leaving that to some ill bred Women, who sometimes impart to them much folly: Will such Parents labor to get Goods, and neglect to make their Children good, to whom they must leave them? They may be sure their Children will punish them for that neglect. Because the Parents have not curbed in their Infancy, that Wilfulness, and insatiate childish Greediness, that will have all things, and yet is content with nothing; the children will grow intemperate and incontinent men, slaves to their untame desires, and will lavish in luxury and drunkenness all that their Parents have saved for them with much care and labor: The more you love your children, and desire to be gentle with them all your life, the more be ye earnest so to break their obstinacy betimes, and the violence of their passions, that Temperance, Meekness, and Obedience become natural to them: Many by loving their Children too much at the first, have hated them at the last.

Let the Women that serve the Children speak plain, and good English; if they stut, or speak too fast, the Children will imitate them; it is not to be expected that persons of low breeding have much of Virtuous Qualities of the Civil World; but at least let them not be froward, but of a good nature, quiet and modest; for be ye sure that all that is done about Children with noise and high words, will make a deeper impression in their soft mould, than all the good instructions you can give them. When the Children are come to an age to learn by heart, force them not to it; for if you do, they will hate Learning: but entice them with praise and little Rewards; But in your Praise and Rewards you must use Mediocrity; for if you praise them too much, you will make them proud; if you reward them too often, you will make them mercenary: but show them much love, and win them to do out of love what you bid them. I know that Children will learn but little without fear, and that a Rod is a necessary impliment of a School; but I consider now Children in the age before they go to School; which age yet, must not lie until'd, but ought to be husbanded with some easy Learning, and with much gentleness; and the learning wherewith their tender Souls ought to be first seasoned, is that which will make them wise to salvation; if you see them free to learn, overcharge them not with great tasks, lest you spend their spirits, and exhaust their natural moisture, make them dry and weak in their Bodies, and dull in their intellectuals.

The breeding of Girls till seven years of age, needs not be much different from that of Boys, but that their Wilfulness and Obstinacy ought yet to be more abated than that of Male Children; and that for two Reasons: The one, that the Virtue wherein the Reputation of Women most consisteth, is Chastity; for which they have need betime to bear a strict hand over their passions, and indulge very little to their desires; the other reason is, that they are to be ruled by the will of another, for which they shall be unfit if they be suffered to be self-willed. Let pains be taken with Girls to make the vulgar saying false, What is a Woman but her Will? Many Parents take a clean contrary course, breeding their Daughters more indulgently than their Sons; whereby some become vain and wanton, proud Mistresses and peevish Wives. St. Peter knew what was most needful and becoming to that Sex, when he recommended unto them The Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which before God is of great price.

Let the Parents love to their Children be coupled with fear, when they consider that they are God's Trustees of those precious Depositums, and that they shall be called to account how they have fitted them for the Service of God, their King, and their Country. Let Parents be to their Children such Examples of Piety, Temperance, Meekness, and Charity, and Uprightness, that they may leave them the Inheritance of their Virtues; and that Goodness and the Blessing of God be entailed on their Families.