In 1583 Bellot was still living near St. Paul's Churchyard. But after this date we lose all trace of him until 1588, when the printer Robert Robinson received a licence to print "a booke intytuled a grammar in Frenche and Englishe, the auttour is James Bellot."[418] This second French Grammar was known as The French Methode.[419]
To the numerous band of Normans in England also belonged, perhaps, G. De la Mothe, who wrote the letter "N" after his name. De la Mothe was another refugee for the sake of religion, and he speaks with gratitude of the generous welcome he received in England.[420] He tells us that the cruel civil wars in France had "burnt the wings of his studies" and ruined his fortune.[421] On his arrival in England, he began his career as a teacher of French in the same way as many others; he became a tutor in a noble family, and shortly after produced a book for teaching French. He was first appointed French tutor to the son of Sir Henry Wallop, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and a prominent patron of the refugees, on the return of his lordship to England in 1589. De la Mothe was also received, at some date before 1592, into the midst of another important English family, the Wenmans, of Thame Park, Oxfordshire. He taught French to the girls, and early in 1592, if not before, was at Oxford with the eldest son, Richard Wenman,[422] afterwards Sir Richard, and his brothers.
De la Mothe had in the meantime written a French text-book which he called The French Alphabet, Teaching in a very short time by a most easie way, to pronounce French naturally, to read it perfectly, to unite it truly, and to speak it accordingly, Together with a Treasure of the French Tongue.[423] He divided it into two parts, which he dedicated to each of his patrons—the first to Sir Henry Wallop and the second to Sir Richard Wenman's mother, at whose request he had undertaken the work. De la Mothe acknowledges his debt of gratitude to both, and also to the country which had received him so hospitably, in terms which contain something more than the usual trite expressions.
The French Alphabet was licensed to the printer Richard Field in 1592,[424] but no copy of this earliest edition has been preserved. Field succeeded to Vautrollier's successful business, and in this same year showed his friendship for his fellow-townsman[425] Shakespeare, by printing the first work he published, Venus and Adonis. It is of course pure conjecture to suggest that Shakespeare saw and even read the little book printed by his friend. Whether this be so or not, it was perhaps through Field and his Huguenot connexions—he had married Vautrollier's widow—that Shakespeare became acquainted with the family of Christopher Montjoy.
A G. DE LA MOTHE, N. new edition of the Alphabet appeared in 1595, from the press of Edward Alde. At this date De la Mothe had joined the group of teachers in St. Paul's Churchyard. He taught at the "Signe of the Helmet," and "there you shall finde him ever willing to show you any favour or curtesie he may; and most ready to endeavour himselfe to satisfie you in all that can be possible for hime to doe." The Sign of the Helmet was the address of the bookseller Thomas Chard.[426] Any one desirous of becoming acquainted with the author for his better furtherance in the French tongue could also make enquiries at the Sign of St. John the Evangelist in Fleet Street, beneath the Conduit, where lived the printer and bookseller Hugh Jackson, commissioned to sell the book—further instances of the friendly relations between the French teachers and the printers and booksellers of the time, through whom these teachers would, no doubt, get a large proportion of their clientèle. The Huguenot sympathies of many of the printers, such as Vautrollier and Field, account in part for this cordial feeling.
After the 1595 edition of his work we hear nothing further of De la Mothe. Although the name occurs frequently in the returns of aliens, none can be identified with him. He probably seized an early opportunity of returning to his native land. His manual, however, did not disappear with him. Second in popularity only to the works of Holyband in the sixteenth century, it enjoyed numerous editions in the seventeenth.[427] Excepting the omission of De la Mothe's advertisement, all the later editions are identical. They were issued from the press of Field's successor, George Miller.[428] It is difficult to understand how the 1595 edition came to be printed by Edward Alde, though his work was evidently countenanced by De la Mothe.
The French Alphabet is a very practical little work. It contains rules for pronunciation and familiar dialogues in the usual style. The whole is given in French and English arranged on opposite pages. His treatment of pronunciation is much the same as Holyband's, and he sometimes transcribes freely from his active contemporary's work.[429] He explains the sounds chiefly by comparison with English, giving the nearest equivalent to each letter. After the letters he deals with the syllables and then the words. The rules are arranged in the form of dialogues between master and pupil:
| Sir, will it please you do me so much favour (or would you take the pain) to teach me to speak French? | Monsieur, vous plaist il me faire tant de faveur (ou voudriez vous prendre la peine) de m'apprendre a parler François? |
| With all my heart, if you have a desire to it. | Tres volontiers, si vous en avez envie. |
| I desire nothing more. | Je ne desire rien plus. |
| If you desire it you shall learn it quickly, if you please to take some pain. | Si vous le desirez vous l'apprendez bien, s'il vous plaist de prendre un peu de peine. |
| There is nothing though never so hard but by labour it may be made easie. | Il n'y a rien si difficile qui par labeur ne soit facile. |
| You say true, I believe you. | Vous dites vray, je vous en croy. . . . |
| How do you pronounce the letter a? | Comment prononcez vous la lettre a? |
| A is pronounced plaine and long as this English word awe, to be in awe, as ma, ta, sa, la, bat, part, blanc, etc. | A se prononce ouvert et long comme ce mot Anglois awe, to be in awe, comme ma, ta, sa, la, bat, part, blanc, etc. |
And the next lesson takes the following form:
HIS FRENCH ALPHABET