[39] I am sorry to use a German word, but educational matters have been so little considered among us that we have no English vocabulary for them. The want of a word for Realien was felt over 200 years ago. “Repositories for visibles shall be prepared by which from beholding the things gentlewomen may learn the names, natures, values, and use of herbs, shrubs, trees, mineral-juices (sic), metals, and stones.” (Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen. London, 1672.)
[40] See the very interesting Essay on Montaigne by Dean R. W. Church.
[41] Perhaps the saying of Montaigne’s which is most frequently quoted is the paradox Savoir par cœur n’est pas savoir: (“to know by heart is not to know.”) But these words are often misunderstood. The meaning, as I take it, is this: When a thought has entered into the mind it shakes off the words by which it was conveyed thither. Therefore so long as the words are indispensable the thought is not known. Knowing and knowing by heart are not necessarily opposed, but they are different things; and as the mind most easily runs along sequences of words a knowledge of the words often conceals ignorance or neglect of the thought. I once asked a boy if he thought of the meaning when he repeated Latin poetry and I got the instructive answer: “Sometimes, when I am not sure of the words.” But there are cases in which we naturally connect a particular form of words with thoughts that have become part of our minds. We then know, and know by heart also.
[42] Lord Armstrong has perhaps never read Montaigne’s Essay on Pedantry; certainly, he has not borrowed from it; and yet much that he says in discussing “The Cry for Useless Knowledge” (Nineteenth Century Magazine, November, 1888), is just what Montaigne said more than three centuries ago. “The aphorism that knowledge is power is so constantly used by educational enthusiasts that it may almost be regarded as the motto of the party. But the first essential of a motto is that it be true, and it is certainly not true that knowledge is the same as power, seeing that it is only an aid to power. The power of a surgeon to amputate a limb no more lies in his knowledge than in his knife. In fact, the knife has the better claim to potency of the two, for a man may hack off a limb with his knife alone, but not with his knowledge alone. Knowledge is not even an aid to power in all cases, seeing that useless knowledge, which is no uncommon article in our popular schools, has no relation to power. The true source of power is the originative action of the mind which we see exhibited in the daily incidents of life, as well as in matters of great importance.... A man’s success in life depends incomparably more upon his capacities for useful action than upon his acquirements in knowledge, and the education of the young should therefore be directed to the development of faculties and valuable qualities rather than to the acquisition of knowledge.... Men of capacity and possessing qualities for useful action are at a premium all over the world, while men of mere education are at a deplorable discount.” (p. 664).
“There is a great tendency in the scholastic world to underrate the value and potency of self-education, which commences on leaving school and endures all through life.” (p. 667).
“I deprecate plunging into doubtful and costly schemes of instruction, led on by the ignis fatuus that ‘knowledge is a power.’ For where natural capacity is wasted in attaining knowledge, it would be truer to say that knowledge is weakness.” (p. 668).
[43] In another matter, also, we find that the masters of these schools subsequently departed widely from the intention of the great men who fostered the revival of learning. Wolsey writes: “Imprimis hoc unum admonendum censuerimus, ut neque plagis severioribus neque vultuosis minis, aut ulla tyrannidis specie, tenera pubes afficiatur: hac enim injuria ingenii alacritas aut extingui aut magna ex parte obtundi solet.” Again he says: “In ipsis studiis sic voluptas est intermiscenda ut puer ludum potius discendi quam laborem existimet.” He adds: “Cavendum erit ne immodica contentione ingenia discentium obruantur aut lectione prolonga defatigentur; utraque enim juxta offenditur.”
[44] Professor Arber is one of the very few editors who give accurate and sufficient bibliographical information about the books they edit. All students of our old literature are under deep obligations to him.
[45] Mayor’s is beautifully printed and costs 1s. (London, Bell and Sons.)
[46] “Utile imprimis ut multi præcipiunt, vel ex Græco in Latinum vel ex Latino vertere in Græcum; quo genere exercitationis proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, vis explicandi, præterea imitatione optimorum similia inveniendi facultas paratur: simul quæ legentem fefellissent transferentem fugere non possunt. Intelligentia ex hoc et judicium acquiritur.”—Epp. vii. 9, § 2. So the passage stands in Pliny. Ascham quotes “et ex Græco in Latinum et ex Latino vertere in Græcum.” with other variations.