Toy qui est receveur du Roy
Je te prie entens et me croy.
Reçoy avant que tu escripves,
Escriptz avant que tu delivres,
De recevoir faitz diligence
Et fais tardifve delivrance.
En tes clers pas tant ne te fie
Que veoir te fais souvent oublie.
Regarde souvent en ton papier
Quant, quoy, combien il fault payer.
Prens lettres quy soyent vaillables,
Aye parrolles amiables,
Et soys diligent de compter.
Ainsy pourras plus hault monter.
Du Ploich seems to have brought with him to England a Genevan "A B C," or book of elementary instruction and prayers for children, such as was common in France as well as in England. The next section of his treatise treats of the French A B C in words identical with those of an A B C françois printed at Geneva in 1551. This is followed by a few very slight rules in English, which tell us not to pronounce the last letter of a French word, except s, t, and p, when the next word begins with a consonant; to neglect a vowel at the end of a word when the following word begins with another vowel; also that the accusative precedes the verb; that after au, ou, i, and eu, l is not sounded; that the consonants sp, st, and ct should not be separated in pronunciation; and that the negative is formed by placing ne before the verb and pas or point after it. To this scanty grammatical information, which bears considerable resemblance to that contained in some previous works,[348] the eighth and last chapter adds the conjugation of the two auxiliaries in Latin, English, and French. The treatise closes with a Latin poem addressed to "preceptor noster Du Ploich" by John Alexander, one of his pupils, and with a table of contents.
No doubt French was the basis of the whole of the instruction given by Du Ploich in his school. His pupils learnt to write from this French text-book, and memorized the Latin verbs with the French verbs. The fact that Du Ploich places his few grammar rules at the end of the work, and after the practical reading-exercises, shows what slight importance he attached to them. He would, we may assume, refer his pupils to them as occasion arose, but practical exercises and conversation formed the chief part of his lessons. He made free use of English in explaining the meaning of the French, and throughout his book he sacrifices the English phrase in order to render more closely the meaning of the French, for which he duly apologizes: "that none blame or reprove this sayd translacion thus made in Englishe because that it is a litle corrupt. DU PLOICH'S METHOD OF TEACHINGFor the author hath done it for the better declaryng of the diversitie of one tounge to the other, and it is turned almost worde for worde and lyne for lyne, that it may be to his young scholars more easy and lyght."
Du Ploich was thoughtful for his young pupils. "A little at a time, and that done well" was his motto. On this method, he says, the child will learn more in a week than he would do in two months by attempting a great deal at the beginning. The master should repeat the lesson two or three times before allowing the child to say it, and be ready to explain difficulties, and not wait for the child to guess. If not, the pupil will lose patience and the little courage he possesses. Du Ploich would have the verbs learnt on the plan already advocated on a larger scale by Duwes, that is, he advises the student to practise them negatively and interrogatively as well as in the usual affirmative form.
Some time later, probably after Du Ploich's death, or when he had left England, there appeared another edition of his grammar. This was printed by John Kingston, and finished on the fourteenth day of April 1578.[349] An important change in the arrangement of the chapters distinguishes it from the edition of 1553; in the later edition the chapter on the alphabet and grammar is placed at the beginning, although in both issues the chapter on the two auxiliaries closes the work. Kingston—for he was probably responsible for the change—thus yielded to the tendency, which became stronger and stronger as time advanced, of placing theoretical before practical instruction. In addition to slight variations, other differences between the two works are the omission of the verses for "gens de finance," and of the Latin poem addressed to Du Ploich by one of his pupils.
The Little Treatise in English and French was not the only work produced by Du Ploich during his residence in England. On its completion he turned his attention to the composition of a work on the estate of princes, which he called a Petit Recueil tresutile et tresnecessaire de l'Etat dez Princes, dez Seigneurs temporelz et du commun peuple, faict par Pierre Du Ploych.[350] This Recueil is written in French. Its subject matter is not of much interest, but the Latin verses with which it closes inform us that Du Ploich had a law degree (Licentiatus Legum). He dedicated the manuscript, which is not dated, to the "Roy tres puissant Eduard sixieme de ce nom," who graciously received it and rewarded Du Ploich's industry by a generous gift.[351] This favourable reception encouraged the French teacher to present another work to his "Soverain lord and master" in the course of the following year. This second manuscript is shorter than the earlier Recueil;[352] it bears the title of Petit Recueil des homaiges, honneurs et recognoissances deubz par les hommes a Dieu le createur, avec certaines prieres en la recognoissance de soy mesme. At the end occurs a passage of some interest in which Du Ploich expresses his intention of providing the work, unworthy as it is, with an English translation, as soon as he finds time and opportunity for such an undertaking, for he has not English "de nature."[353] This rendering, he says, will be "mot pour mot et ligne pour ligne, affin d'augmenter les couraiges des professeurs." We may infer from this that he thought of having the work printed in French and English for the use of students.
A French school very similar to that of Du Ploich, but of which we have more details, was kept by Claude de Sainliens, De Sancto Vinculo, or, as he anglicized it, Holyband. A native of Moulins and a Huguenot, Holyband probably sought refuge in England from the persecutions. In 1571 he is said to have been in England seven years;[354] hence he must have begun his long career in London as a teacher of French in the year 1564. In 1566 he took out letters of denization.[355] Holyband was not exactly a scholar, but rather a man of broad interests, sustained by extraordinary vitality, and before he had been in England three years he had published two books for teaching French, which became very popular, and continued to be reprinted for nearly a century. There is no extant copy of the earliest edition of the first of these, but it appeared most probably in 1565. CLAUDE HOLYBANDThe earliest copy known is dated 1573, and bears the title, The French Schoolemaister, wherin is most plainlie shewed the true and most perfect way of pronouncinge of the French Tongue. The contents of this little book are of the kind which became characteristic of works for teaching French. It opens with rules for pronunciation and grammar in English, of little value or originality, and purposely made as concise as possible. These are followed by dialogues, collections of proverbs, golden sayings, prayers, and graces before meat, and a large vocabulary. The dialogues are by far the most interesting portion of the work. Like those of Du Ploich, they show a close connexion between the teaching of French and the daily concerns of life. They give us a picture of the busy London of the time, and especially of St. Paul's Churchyard, as well as lively family scenes, together with the usual wayside and tavern conversation. We see the boy setting off to school in the morning, threading his way through the busy streets, and again see him return to the hearty and hospitable family dinner, during which he finds occasion to speak of his French studies. These dialogues are given in French and English arranged on opposite pages. Their dramatic interest may be gathered from the opening passage, where we listen to the servant hurrying the boy off to school:
| Hau François, levez vous et allez a l'eschole: vous serez battu, car il est sept heures passées: abillez vous vistement. | Ho Francis, arise and go to schoole: you shall be beaten, for it is past seven: make you ready quickly. |
| Dites voz prieres, puis vous aurez vostre desiuner: sus, remuez vous. | Say your prayers, then you shall have your breakfast: go to, stirre. |
| Marguerite, baillez moy mes chausses. | Margaret, give me my hosen. |
| Despeschez vous ie vous prie: où est mon pourpoint? apportez me iartieres et mes souliers: donnez moy ce chausse-pied. | Dispatch I pray you: where is my doublet? bring my garters and my shoes: give me that shooing-horne. |
| Que faites vous là? que ne vous hastez vous? | What do you there? why make you no haste? |
| Prenez premierement une chemise blanche, car la vostre est trop sale: n'est elle pas? | Take first a cleane shirt, for yours is too foule: is it not? |
| Hastez vous donc, car ie demeure trop. | Make haste then, for I do tarry too long. |
| Elle est encore moite, attendez un peu que ie la seiche au feu: i'auray tost fait. | It is moist yet, tarry a litle that I may drie it by the fire: I will have soone done. |
| Je ne sauroye tarder si longuement. | I cannot tarry so long. |
| Allez vous en, ie n'en veux point. | Go your way, I will none of it. |
| Vostre mere me tancera si vous allez a l'eschole sans vostre chemise blanche. | Your mother will chide me if you go to school without your clean shirt. |
And after quarrelling with Margaret, and using rather bad language, Francis receives his parents' blessing, and starts off to school. Unfortunately we are not spectators of his doings there.
Whether Holyband had opened his French school or not when he composed the French Schoolemaister is uncertain; but the school was evidently in full swing at the time his second work appeared, about a year later, in 1566. The contents of the new work, The French Littleton, a most easie, perfect, and absolute way to learn the French tongue, are much the same as those of the French Schoolemaister. There is, however, one important difference between the two works. In the Schoolemaister the rules precede the practical exercises, but this order is reversed in the Littleton. In the first work Holyband does not appear to have fully evolved his method of teaching French. By the time he wrote the French Littleton he was able to lay down principles, based, no doubt, on experience, and consequently he attached a higher value to the second of his works, and used it himself in teaching. The French Schoolemaister was intended more for the use of private pupils. It was described as a "perfect way" of learning French without any "helpe of Maister or teacher,[356] set foorthe for the furtherance of all those whiche doo studie privately in their own study or houses." Holyband himself does not seem to have given it much attention after its first appearance. Nevertheless it enjoyed as great a popularity and went through as many editions, or nearly so, as its author's more favoured work. Other French teachers made up for Holyband's neglect by editing it themselves in the early seventeenth century. So great indeed was its success that in 1600 a tax of 20 per cent was levied on each edition for the benefit of the poor.[357] We may perhaps conclude from this that those who studied French privately were numerous.