In his dialogue called The Scholar, incorporated in the first part of the Ortho-Epia, Eliote explains his 'new' method of learning languages, by nature and art. By "nature" he means the acquirement of a vocabulary of all created things, by use and common practice; and by "art" the rules and precepts for combining these into sentences, and also the authority of learned men. Such rules chiefly concern nouns, verbs, and pronunciation, "in which the greatest mystery of all languages consists." Thus, although he gives no grammatical information in his Ortho-Epia Gallica, he recognized its importance.
Before introducing his pupils to the method of "Nature and Art," Eliote would have them well grounded in nouns and verbs, and able to translate dialogues, comedies in verse, and prose writings. He attached much importance to translation from English into French, just as Palsgrave did. He directs the student to make out the meaning of the French first by comparing it with the English column, and then to cover over the French version, and attempt to translate the English into French. "This I have learned by long experience to be the readiest way to attaine the knowledge of any language, that we of Englishmen make French, and not of French learn English." As to the theory of "Nature and Art," it seems to have been little more than the method, common at the time, of making practice the basis of the study of French, and confirming this by rules as need for them arose.
In addition to the Ortho-Epia Gallica,[446] Eliote also wrote a Survey or topographical description of France, collected from sundry approved authors. This was published in 1592, and dedicated to Sir John Pickering, Keeper of the Privy Seal. He also translated from French into English[447] a number of unimportant works, mostly of topical interest, one of them being dedicated to Robert, Earl of Essex. Little else is known of him, except that he was born in Warwickshire in 1562, and entered Brasenose College, Oxford, on the 12th of December 1580, at the age of eighteen years.[448] He tells us that he held the degree of Doctor of Divinity, but there is no record of his having taken any such degree there. Robert Greene was among his friends, and he wrote a sonnet in questionable French on Greene's Perimedes or the Black Smith, with which it was published in 1588. These are all the details we possess concerning this amusing and striking figure among the French teachers of the sixteenth century.
FOOTNOTES:
[410] The names of many have been lost, owing to the incompleteness of the records, or to the fact that no profession is indicated. A few are known from other sources to have been schoolmasters or private tutors; cp. Huguenot Society Publications, vol. x., Returns of Aliens dwelling in London; vols. viii., xviii., Letters of Denization.
[411] Evrard Erail, Onias Ganeur, Charles Bod, Robert Fontaine, Charles Darvil d'Arras, Jean Vaquerie, Baudouin Mason, and Adrian Tresol (Schickler, Églises du Refuge, i. p. 124). Of these names only that of Robert Fontaine is found in the Returns of Aliens. Charles Darvil and Adrian Tresol are again mentioned in connexion with the Church in 1564. Baudouin Mason received letters of denization in 1565, and Adrian Tresol, a Netherlander, in 1562. In 1571 there were three other schoolmasters connected with the Church: Adrian Tressel, John Preste of Rouen, and Nicolas Langlois or Inglish. All these, however, are mentioned in the Returns of Aliens.
[412] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 182.
[413] Returns of Aliens, Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. ii. pp. 228, 335.
[414] Duc d'Alençon, who died in 1584.
[415] Printed by Henry Dizlie for Thomas Purfoote. Reprinted by T. Spiro in the Neudrucke frühneuenglischer Grammatiken, herausgegeben von R. Brotanek, Bd. 7, Halle, 1912. It contains 75 pages, 8vo.