The works on French which appeared at Oxford were not all formal grammars of the type described. Pierre Bense, a native of Paris, who taught Italian and Spanish as well as French, was the author of the Analogo-Diaphora seu Concordantia Discrepans et Discrepantia Concordans trium linguarum Gallicae, Italicae et Hispanicae, commended by Edward Leigh in his Foelix Consortium or a fit Conjuncture of Religion and Learning (1663). This comparison of the resemblances and differences in the grammar of the three languages is dedicated to the University of Oxford, and was printed at the author's own expense in 1637.[537] As to Bense himself we are told that he was partly bred "in good letters" at Paris, and then, coming to England, "he went by letters commendatory to Oxon where being kindly received and entertained, became a sojourner there, was entred into the public library, and taught for several years the French, Italian and Spanish tongues." For the rest we must be content to add with Wood: "What other things he hath written I know not, nor any thing else of the author."[538]
GABRIEL DU GRÈS As yet no French grammars had appeared at Cambridge, and French teachers do not seem to have made their presence felt there.[539] In 1631, however, one of the best known of this group of university French tutors arrived at Cambridge—Gabriel Du Grès, a native of Saumur, and a member of a good family from Angers. He arrived in England as a refugee on account of his Protestant faith, received a warm welcome at Cambridge, and taught French to several of the students in various colleges.[540] In the fifth year of his residence, the liberality of his pupils enabled him to publish his Breve et Accuratum Grammaticae Gallicae compendium in quo superflua rescinduntur et necessaria non omittuntur (1636), a work on the same lines and of about the same dimensions as that of Morlet.[541] It is preceded by Latin verses addressed to the author by members of different colleges, and is dedicated to the students of the University, especially those engaged in the study of French. This grammar of Du Grès appears to be the only work of its kind printed at Cambridge before the eighteenth century.[542]
Shortly after its publication Du Grès joined the group of French tutors at Oxford,[543] and this removal points to the more ready openings offered there to those of his profession. When he published his Dialogi Gallico-Anglico-Latini[544] at Oxford in 1639, he was teaching French in that "most illustrious and famous university." These dialogues are dedicated to Charles, Prince of Wales. Twenty-one in number, they deal with the usual familiar topics, greetings and the ordinary civilities, visiting and table talk, the house and its contents, man and the parts of his body, wayfaring, a journey to France, and so forth, many being of much interest on account of the light they throw on the customs of the time. Considerable space is devoted to instructions for writing letters.
A second edition appeared in 1652, enlarged with "necessary rules for the pronunciation of the French tongue, very profitable unto them that are desirous of it," giving a pseudo-English equivalent of the sound of each French letter, and followed by a few general rules for reading French and a table of the auxiliary and regular verbs. This little book, which has more in common with the productions of the London teachers than with the Oxford manuals, enjoyed a greater popularity than those of Du Grès's rivals. In 1660 a third edition appeared, without the additions found in the second.
He was also the author of an interesting little work in English on the Duke of Richelieu,[545] printed in London in 1643. Probably Du Grès had removed to London at that date; in the second edition of his grammar, printed, like the first, by Leonard Lichfield at Oxford, he describes himself as "late teacher of the same in Oxford."
In his dialogues Du Grès gives some account of his ideas on the teaching of French:[546]
Commençons à l'abécé.
Escusez moy.
Entendez moy, oyez moy, prononcer les lettres. Remarquez bien comment je prononce les voyelles, et principalement u, car il est bien malaisé a prononcer à vous autres mm. les Anglois, comme aussi e entre les consonnes. Prononcez apres moy.
Voilà qui va bien.