CAUSE OF THEIR SUCCESS.

15

morning, and were to be urged to frequent confession and receiving of the Holy Communion.

The bodily health also was to be carefully attended to. The pupils were not to study too much or too long at a time. Nothing was to be done for a space of from one to two hours after dinner. On holidays excursions were made to farms in the country.*

Punishments were to be as light as possible, and the master was to shut his eyes to offences whenever he thought he might do so with safety. Grave offences were to be visited with flogging, performed by a 'corrector,' who was not a member of the Order. Where flogging did not have a good effect, the pupil was to be expelled.

The dry details into which I have been drawn by faithfully copying the manner of the Ratio Studiorum may seem to the reader to afford no answer to the question which naturally suggests itself—To what did the school-system of the Jesuits owe its enormous popularity? But in part, at least, these details do afford an answer. They show us that the Jesuits were intensely practical. The title Ratio Studiorum has been called a misnomer, for the book so designated hardly contains a single principle; but what it does is this-it points out a perfectly attainable goal, and carefully defines the road by which that goal is to be approached. For each class was prescribed not only the work to be done, but also the end to be kept in

*Circa illorum valetudinem peculiari cura animadvertat (Rector) ut et in laboribus mentis modum servent, et in iis quæ ad corpus pertinent, religiosa commoditate tractentur, ut diutius in studiis perseverare tam in litteris addiscendis quam in eisdem exercendis ad Dei gloriam possint.'-Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid.

view.

Thus method reigned throughout; —perhaps not the best method, as the object to be attained was assuredly not the highest object; but the method, such as it was, was applied with undeviating exactness. In this particular the Jesuit schools contrasted strongly with their rivals of old, as indeed with the ordinary school of the present day. The Head Master, who is to the modern English school what the General, Provincial, Rector, Prefect of Studies, and Ratio Studiorum combined were to a school of the Jesuits, has perhaps no standard in view up to which the boy should have been brought when his school course is completed.* The masters of forms teach just those` portions of their subject in which they themselves are interested, in any way that occurs to them, with by no means uniform success; so that when two forms are examined with the same examination paper, it is no very uncommon occurrence for the lower to be found superior to the higher. It is, perhaps, to be expected that a course in which uniform method tends to a definite goal would on the whole be more successful than one in which a boy has to accustom himself by turns to half-a-dozen different methods, invented at haphazard by individual masters with different aims in view, if indeed they have any aim at all.

I have said that the object which the Jesuits proposed in their teaching was not the highest object. They did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties. When the young man had acquired a tho

* As the recent Commission has pointed out, the Head Master often thinks of nothing but the attainment of University honours, even when the great majority of his pupils are not going to the University.

KIND TREATMENT OF PUPILS.

17

rough mastery of the Latin language for all purposes, when he was well versed in the theological and philosophical opinions of his preceptors, when he was skilful in dispute, and could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest point to which the Jesuits sought to lead him.* Originality and independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting, and of forming correct judgments, were not merely neglected they were suppressed in the Jesuits' system. But in what they attempted they were eminently successful, and their success went a long way towards securing their popularity.†

*The advantages of learning by heart are twofold, says Sacchini : 'Primum memoriam ipsam perficiunt, quod est in totam ætatem ad universa negotia inestimabile commodum. Deinde suppellectilem inde pulcherrimam congregant verborum ac rerum: quæ item, quamdiu vivant, usui futura sit: cum quæ ætate illa insederint indelebilia soleant permanere. Magnam itaque, ubi adoleverint, gratiam Præceptori habebunt, cui memoriæ debebunt profectum, magnamque lætitiam capient invenientes quodammodo domi thesaurum quem, in ætate cæteroqui parum fructuosa, prope non sentientes parârint. Enim vero quam sæpe viros graves atque præstantes magnoque jam natu videre et audire est, dum in docta ac nobili corona jucundissime quædam promunt ex iis quæ pueri condiderunt?' The master, he says, must point out to his pupils the advantages we derive from memory; that we only know and possess that which we retain, that this cannot be taken from us, but is with us always, and is always ready for use, a living library, which may be studied even in the dark. Boys should therefore be encouraged to run over in their minds, or to say aloud, what they have learnt, as often as opportunity offers, as when they are walking or are by themselves: 'Ita numquam in otio futuros otiosos; ita minus fore solos cum soli erunt, consuetudine fruentes sapientum . Denique curandum erit ut selecta quædam ediscant quæ deinde in quovis studiorum genere ac vita fere omni usui sint futura.'-Cap. viii.

Ranke, speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says: 'It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than

C

Their popularity was due, moreover, to the means employed, as well as to the result attained. The Jesuit teachers were to lead, not drive their pupils, to make disciplinam non modo tolerabilem, sed etiam amabilem.' Sacchini expresses himself very forcibly on this subject. It is,' says he, the unvarying decision of wise men, whether in ancient or modern times, that the instruction of youth will always be best when it is pleasantest: whence this application of the word ludus. The tenderness of youth requires of us that we should not overstrain it, its innocence that we should abstain from harshness. . . . That which enters into willing ears the mind as it were runs to welcome, seizes with avidity, carefully stows away, and faithfully preserves.'* The pupils were therefore to be encouraged in every way to take kindly to their learning. With this end in view (and no doubt other objects also), the masters were carefully to seek the boys' affections. When pupils love the master,' says Sacchini, they will soon love his teaching. Let him, therefore, show an interest in everything that concerns them and not merely in their studies. Let him rejoice with those that rejoice, and not disdain to weep with those that weep. After the example of the Apostle let him become a with others in two years. Even Protestants called back their children from distant schools, and put them under the care of the Jesuits.'—Hist. of Popes, book v. p. 138. Kelly's Trans.

* Sapientum hoc omnium seu veterum seu recentum constans judicium est, institutionem puerilem tum fore optimam cum jucundissima fuerit, inde enim et ludum vocari. Meretur ætatis teneritas ut ne oneretur: meretur innocentia ut ei parcatur Quæ libentibus auribus instillantur, ad ea velut occurrit animus, avide suscipit, studiose recondit, fideliter servat.'

WORK NOT TOO DIFFICULT.

19

little one amongst little ones, that he may make them adult in Christ, and Christ adult in them. . . Let him unite the grave kindness and authority of a father with a mother's tenderness.'*

In order that learning might be pleasant to the pupils, it was necessary that they should not be overtasked. To avoid this the master had to study the character and capacity of each boy in his class, and to keep a book with all particulars about him, and marks from one to six indicating proficiency. Thus the master formed an estimate of what should be required, and the amount varied considerably with the pupil, though the quality of the work was always to be good.

Not only was the work not to be excessive, it was never to be of great difficulty. Even the grammar was to be made as easy and attractive as possible. 'I think it a mistake,' says Sacchini, to introduce at an early stage the more thorny difficulties of gramfor when the pupils have become familiar with the easier parts, use will, by degrees, make the more difficult clear to them. His mind

mar:

* 'Conciliabit facilè studiis quos primùm sibi conciliârit. Det itaque omnem operam illorum erga se observantionem ut sapienter colligat et continenter enutriat. Ostendat, sibi res eorum curæ esse non solum quæ ad animum sed etiam quæ ad alia pertinent. Gaudeat cum gau

dentibus, nec dedignetur flere cum flentibus. Instar Apostoli inter parvulos parvulus fiat quo magnos in Christo et magnum in eis Christum efficiat . . . Seriam comitatem et paternam gravitatem cum materna benignitate permisceat.' Unfortunately, the Jesuit's kind manner loses its value from being due not so much to kind feeling as to some ulterior object, or to a rule of the Order. I think it is Jouvency who recommends that when a boy is absent from sickness or other sufficient reason, the master should send daily to inquire after him, because the parents will be pleased by such attention. When the motive of the enquiry is suspected, the parents will be pleased no longer.