The Protestant academies usually consisted of faculties of Arts and Theology. At Geneva[661] there were lectures in Law, Theology, Philosophy, Philology, and Literature; the teaching was chiefly in Latin, but sometimes in French. At the end of the sixteenth century a riding school, known as the Manège de la Courature, on the same lines as the polite academies of France, was started. The instruction given at Geneva was on broader lines than that of the less popular academies. Nîmes and Montpellier, for instance, were mainly theological.[662]

Of the many Englishmen who went to Geneva, as to other Protestant centres, not all attended lectures at the Academies. Some went merely to learn French, "the exercises and assurance of behaviour," as the general belief in England was that they did so with less danger in the towns tempered by a Calvinistic atmosphere. Among the Englishmen who visited Geneva in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century we find the names of Henry Withers, Roger Manners, fifth Earl of Rutland, Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, the son of Elizabeth's unfortunate favourite, and others. Thomas Bodley, the celebrated founder of the Oxford Library, followed all the courses at the University in 1559. It was considered a great honour to lodge in the house of one or other of the professors; Anthony Bacon, the elder brother of the great Bacon, had the good fortune to be received into the house of de Bèze. Casaubon likewise received into his house certain young gentlemen who came to the town with a special recommendation to him. These included the young Henry Wotton, then on the long tour on the Continent, during which he acquired the remarkable knowledge of languages which qualified him for the position of ambassador which he subsequently occupied. In 1593 Wotton wrote to Lord Zouch: "Here I am placed to my great contentment in the house of Mr. Isaac Casaubon, a person of sober condition among the French." The learned professor soon became very fond of Wotton, so far as to allow him to get into debt for his board and lodging, and the young man left Geneva without paying his debts, leaving Casaubon to face his numerous creditors in the town. Casaubon was in despair; but fortunately the episode ended satisfactorily, for Wotton lived up to his character, and paid his debts in full as soon as he was able.[663]

THE AFFECTED TRAVELLER When later Casaubon was at Paris (1600-1610) and his fame was widespread, most travellers and scholars passing through the city seized any opportunity of visiting him. Coryat relates his visit to the great humanist as the experience he enjoyed above all others. Lord Herbert of Cherbury was also among the English travellers received by Casaubon into his house at this period. "And now coming to court," writes Lord Herbert, "I obtained licence to go beyond sea, taking with me for my companion Mr. Aurilian Townsend ... and a man to wait in my chamber, who spoke French, two lacqueys and three horses.... Coming now to Paris through the recommendation of the Lord Ambassador I was received to the house of that incomparable scholar Isaac Casaubon, by whose learned conversation I much benefited myself. Sometimes also I went to the Court of the French King Henry IV., who, upon information of me in the Garden of the Tuileries, received me with much courtesy, embracing me in his arms, and holding me some while there."[664]

By the side of the serious traveller we are introduced to the frivolous type, travelling merely as a matter of fashion. These "idle travellers," as they were called, were the cause of most of the objections raised against the journey to France and the longer tour on the Continent—apart from questions of religion and politics. Few such travellers "scaped bewitching passing over seas."[665] When Lord Herbert of Cherbury arrived in Paris he remarked on the great number of Englishmen thronging about the ambassador's mansion. They had, most of them, studied the language and fashions in some quiet provincial town, such as Orleans or Blois, and returned to Paris full of affectations. Herbert draws a picture[666] of one such "true accomplish'd cavalere":

Now what he speaks are complimental speeches
That never go off, but below the breeches
Of him he doth salute, while he doth wring
And with some strange French words which he doth string,
Windeth about the arms, the legs and sides,
Most serpent like, of any man that bides
His indirect approach.

Many travellers did not follow Moryson's advice "to lay aside the spoone and forke of Italy, the affected gestures of France, and all strange apparrell" on their return to England. Their affectation of foreign languages and customs proved disagreeable to many of their countrymen. The Frenchified traveller and his untravelled imitators were known as beaux or mounsiers. Nash speaks of the "dapper mounsieur pages of the Court," and Shakespeare of the young gallants who charm the ladies with a French song and a fiddle, and fill the Court with quarrels, talks, and tailors.[667] When the English nobles and gentlemen who had held official appointments at Tournai returned to England, after lingering some time at the French Court, the chronicler Hall[668] declares they were "all French in eating, drinking, yea in French vices and brages, so that all estates of England were by them laughed at."

The English beau thought it his duty to despise English ways, fashions, and speech, and to ape and dote upon all things French:[669]

He struts about
In cloak of fashion French. His girdle, purse,
And sword are French; his hat is French;
His nether limbs are cased in French costume.
His shoes are French. In short from top to toe
He stands the Frenchman.

Above all, he loves to display his "sorry French" and chide his French valet in public, and

if he speak
Though but three little words in French, he swells
And plumes himself on his proficiency.