Additional matter was introduced in 1673 in the shape of short rules for the pronunciation of English, which in the following editions were developed into a short English grammar, written in French dialogues. Later Mauger modified the arrangement of his French grammar rules, giving them in parallel columns of French and English, in the form of question and answer. The section dealing with the parts of speech is recast in the form of a conversation between a French master and his lady pupil. As to the dialogues, which are all "modish"—there is not a word in them but is "elegant"—they were divided into two categories, one elementary and the other advanced. In the twelfth edition, for instance, we have forty-six dialogues, in the style of those of the earlier editions, and then ten longer and more difficult ones. Mauger made hardly any changes in the issues that followed the twelfth, and in this shape it passed down to the eighteenth century. In the course of its development it had grown to nearly twice its original size.
Mauger's popularity as a teacher of French grew apace with his grammar. The commendatory poems, one by John Busby, which are prefixed to the first two editions, show that even at that early date he was held in high esteem by many influential Englishmen; and each new edition was offered to some new patron.
Mauger also published a collection of letters in French and English, which he considered "a great help to the learner of the French tongue," for "those who understand it with the help of the English, are capable of explaining afterwards any French author, being written on several subjects." The Lettres Françoises et Angloises de Claude Mauger sur Toutes sortes de sujets grands et mediocres were dedicated to Sir William Pulteney. They were first issued in 1671, and again in 1676, with the addition of fifty letters. Many are addressed to gentlemen of note who had been his students at Blois, and continued to correspond with him for the purpose of practice in French. "Puisque vous désirez que je continue à vous écrire des Lettres Françoises," he wrote to the Count of Praghen in 1668, "pour vous exercer en cette langue qui est tant usitée dans toutes les cours de l'Europe, je reçois vos ordres avec joye." Others are addressed to pupils in London, including some of his large clientèle of ladies. MAUGER'S FRENCH AND ENGLISH LETTERSFor instance, he writes to a certain Mrs. Gregorie:
Ayant ouï dire que vous estes allée a la campagne pour quinze jours, durant cette belle saison en laquele la nature déploye ce qu'elle a de plus beau, j'ay pris la hardiesse de vous écrire cette lettre en François pour vous exercer en cette langue que vous apprenez avec tant de diligence. Je suis bien aise que vous vous y adonniez si bien, car, comme vous avez la mémoire admirable, vous en viendriez bien tost à bout.
He seems to have made a regular practice of exercising his pupils' French by writing to them in the language.[815] Among his young English pupils was William Penn, the Quaker, to whom he wrote a letter dated 1670:
Je n'entendrois pas bien mes interests si Dieu m'ayant fait si heureux de vous monstrer le François que vous apprenez si bien, je n'en témoignois de la joye, en faisant voir à tout le Monde, que l'honneur que vous me faites de vous servir de moy, pour vous l'acquérir est tres grand. En effet monsieur, n'est-ce pas un bon-heur? Car je perdrois mon credit si Dieu ne me suscitoit de tems en tems des personnes comme vous, qui par leur diligence et capacité avec l'aide de ma méthode le soutiennent. . . . J'ay bien de la satisfaction qu'elle [i.e. l'Angleterre] sçache que vous m'avez choisy pour vous donner la connaissance d'une langue qui vous manquoit, qui est si estimée, et si usitée par toute la Terre. . . .
Whether these letters were ever actually sent to his pupils is a question of some uncertainty, which we are inclined to answer in the affirmative. In any case, they provided him with an excellent opportunity of advertising himself by calling attention to some of his well-known pupils. Many were addressed to friends in France, where he seems to have had a very good connexion. He closes his collection with a short selection of commercial letters.
Mauger was the author of several other short works—a Livre d'Histoires curieuses du Temps, destined for his pupils' reading; a Tableau du jugement universal (1675), which sold so well that there were very few copies left at the end of the year; and a Latin poem of one hundred and four lines, entitled Oliva Pacis, celebrating the declaration of peace between Louis X. of France and Philip II.
Besides many influential friends, he seems to have had several relatives in London.[816] One of these was a Master Keyser, his brother-in-law, a Dutch gentleman and painter, who lived in "Long Aker between the Maidenhead and the Three Tuns Tavern," and acted as a sort of agent for Claude. Mauger himself lived "in Great Queen Street, over against Well's Street, next door to the strong water shop," in 1670. Before 1673 he had moved to "within two doors of Master Longland, a Farrier in Little Queen St., over against the Guy of Warwick near the King's Gate in Holborn"; and in 1676 to "Shandois Street, over against the Three Elmes, at Master Saint André's." It was probably about the year 1670 that he began to teach English to foreigners visiting England. He had the honour "of helping a little to the English tongue both the French ambassadors, Ladyes, ambassadresses and several great Lords, who come daily from the court of France to the court of England." With many of these he had much familiar intercourse, and it was at their request that he wrote his rules for the English language. One of his letters is addressed to the sharp-witted Courtin, and others to the Marquis de Sande and Monseigneur Colbert's surgeon. Some of the numerous French nobility, "who come daily from the court of France to the court of England," attracted by the gay and Frenchified court of Charles II., also studied English under Mauger.
He describes his method of teaching as discursive, "avec raisonnement." Practice and reading are the chief exercises. In one of his dialogues a lady pupil describes her French lesson;[817] it consisted in reading, with special attention to the pronunciation, and telling a story in French, no doubt a repetition of the matter read. For the pronunciation, Mauger considered "the living voice of a master better than all that can be set down in writing"; but none the less he provided rules for acquiring the true accent of Blois. He took little interest in grammar, but fully realized the necessity of guiding rules; "some man perhaps," he writes, "will answer me that he speaketh his naturall tongue well enough, without all these rules. I confesse he may speak reasonably well, because it is a natural thing for him to do. But you needs must confesse that a Latine schollar, who hath been acquainted with all such rules of grammar, speaketh better than such a one." Mauger would have the student first master his rules, and then begin "by all means" to read, "pour joindre la pratique à la speculation des règles." MAUGER'S METHOD OF TEACHINGHe no doubt intended the student to attempt to speak at the outset with the guidance of a French master, whom he held absolutely indispensable. The following talk between two students throws light on the practical methods advocated: