Fluency in speaking French was the chief need of the classes of society in which the demand for instruction was greatest. Correctness in detail was only of secondary importance, and grammar, though desirable, was not considered indispensable. The importance of speaking French naturally brought the subject of pronunciation to the fore. No doubt most of the early teachers shared the opinions of their successors, that rules and theoretical information were of little avail in teaching the sounds of the language, compared with the practice of imitation and repetition; nevertheless, many of them attempted to supply some information on the subject. When, in the second decade of the fifteenth century, another writer based a new treatise for teaching French on the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, which had then been current for well over a century, the chief point in which it differed from its original was precisely in the provision of guidance to facilitate pronunciation.

This new treatise was styled Femina,[81] because just as the mother teaches her young child to speak his native tongue, so does this work teach children to speak French naturally.[82] It covers almost exactly the same ground as the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, but, as in the case of the earlier imitation of the same work, the Nominale, the order of arrangement varies, and the whole is permeated with a lively humour which makes it at least equal in interest to the work on which it is based. The French lines are octosyllabic and arranged in distichs, each pair being followed by an English translation, which is given in full, contrary to the practice in the earlier works of the same kind. The author endeavours to teach the French of France[83] as distinguished from that of England, and, although he lavishes provincialisms from the local dialects of France—Norman, Picard, Walloon—in the main they are French provincialisms, and many of them may be due to errors on the part of the scribe. To assist pronunciation notes are provided at the bottom of the page, giving pseudo-English equivalents of the sounds of words written otherwise in the text.

The treatise opens with an exhortation to the child to learn French that he may speak fairly before wise men, for "heavy is he that is not taught":

Cap: primum docet rethorice loqui de assimilitudine bestiarum.

a b

Beau enfaunt pur apprendre

c d

En franceis devez bien entendre

Ffayre chyld for to lerne

In french ye schal wel understande

e

Coment vous parlerez bealment,

Et devaunt les sagez naturalment.

How ye schal speke fayre,

And afore ye wysemen kyndly.

f g

Ceo est veir que vous dy,

h i

Hony est il qui n'est norry.

That ys soth that y yow say

Hevy ys he that ys not taugth

k l

Parlez tout ditz com affaites

m

Et nenny come dissafaites

Spekep alway as man ys tauth

And not as man untauth.

Parlez imprimer de tout assemblé

n o

Dez bestez que Dieu ad formé.

Spekep fyrst of manere assemble alle

Of bestes that God hath y maked.

(a) beau debet legi bev, (b) enfaunt, (c) fraunceys, (d) bein, (e) belement, (f) ce, (g) cet vel eyztt, (h) Iil, (i) neot, (k) toutdiz, (l) afetes, (m) dissafetes, (n) beetez, (o) dv et non Dieu.

The subsequent chapters deal with the same subjects as in Bibbesworth, and sometimes the wording is almost identical. The concluding chapter, "De moribus infantis," is taken from another source, and gives admonitions for discreet behaviour, quoting the moral treatise of the pseudo-Cato, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the like. The passage in which Femina deals with the upbringing of the child may be of interest, as showing how the later author repeats the earlier, while altering the wording; and as throwing some light on the way French was then learnt:

Et quaunt il court en graunt age

Mettez ly apprendre langage.

And when he runs in great age[84]

Put him to learn language.

En fraunceys a luy vous devez dire

Comez il doit soun corps discrire.

In French to him ye shall say

How first he shall his body describe.

Et pur ordre garder de moun et ma,

Toun et ta, son et sa, masculino et feminino.

And for order to kepe of mon and ma,

Toun and ta, soun and sa, for ma souneth.