Reform needed. Subscription for "Elementary."

that the young could find pleasure in any kind of work, or that they had eyes for aught besides reading and writing. The pernicious age of Louis XIV. had inflicted on the poor children of the upper class, hair curled by the barber and messed with powder and pomade, braided coats, knee breeches, silk stockings, and a dagger by the side—for active, lively children a perfect torture" (Gesch. d. Pädagogik, ii. 297). Kant gave expression to a very wide-spread feeling when he said that what was wanted in education was no longer a reform but a revolution. Here, then, was a good scope offered for innovators, and Basedow was a prince of innovators.

§ 3. Having succeeded in interesting the Danish minister, Bernstorff, in his plans, he was permitted to devote himself entirely to a work on the subject of education whilst retaining his income from the Altona Gymnasium. The result was his "Address to Philanthropists and Men of Property on Schools and Studies and their Influence on the Public Weal" (1766), in which he announces the plan of his "Elementary." In this address he calls upon princes, governments, town-councils, dignitaries of the Church, freemasons' lodges, &c., &c., if they loved their fellowcreatures, to come to his assistance in bringing out his book. Nor did he call in vain. When the "Elementary" at length appeared (in 1774), he had to acknowledge contributions from the Emperor Joseph II., from Catherine II. of Russia, from Christian VII. of Denmark, from the Grand Prince Paul, and many other celebrities, the total sum received being over 2,000l.

* I avail myself of the old substantival use of the word elementary to express its German equivalent Elementarbuch.

A journey with Goethe.

§ 4. While Basedow was travelling about (in 1774) to get subscriptions, he spent some time in Frankfurt, and thence made an excursion to Ems with two distinguished comparions, one of them Lavater, and the other a young man of fiveand-twenty, already celebrated as the author of "Götz von Berlichingen," and the "Sorrows of Werther." Of Basedow's personal peculiarities at this time Goethe has left us an amusing description in the "Wahrheit und Dichtung;" but we must accept the portrait with caution: the sketch was thrown in as an artistic contrast with that of Lavater, and no doubt exaggerates those features in which the antithesis could be brought out with best effect.

"One could not see," writes Goethe, a more marked

contrast than between Lavater and Basedow. As the lines of Lavater's countenance were free and open to the beholder, so were Basedow's contracted, and as it were drawn inwards. Lavater's eye, clear and benign, under a very wide eye-lid; Basedow's, on the other hand, deep in his head, small, black, sharp, gleaming out from under shaggy eyebrows, whilst Lavater's frontal bone seemed bounded by two arches of the softest brown hair. Basedow's impetuous rough voice, his rapid and sharp utterances, a certain derisive laugh, an abrupt changing of the topic of conversation, and whatever else distinguished him, all were opposed to the peculiarities and the behaviour by which Lavater had been making us over-fastidious."

$ 5. Goethe approved of Basedow's desire to make all instruction lively and natural, and thought that his system would promote mental activity and give the young a fresher view of the world: but he finds fault with the "Elementary," and prefers the "Orbis Pictus" of Comenius, in which subjects are presented in their natural connection. Base

Goethe on Basedow.

dow himself, says Goethe, was not a man either to edify or to lead other people. Although the object of his journey was to interest the public in his philanthropic enterprise, and to open not only hearts but purses, and he was able to speak eloquently and convincingly on the subject of education, he spoilt everything by his tirades against prevalent religious belief, especially on the subject of the Trinity.

§ 6. Goethe found in Basedow's society an opportunity of "exercising, if not enlightening," his mind, so he bore with his personal peculiarities, though apparently with great difficulty. Basedow seems to have delighted in worrying his associates. "He would never see anyone quiet but he provoked him with mocking irony, in a hoarse voice, or put him to confusion by an unexpected question, and laughed bitterly when he had gained his end; yet he was pleased when the object of his jests was quick enough to collect himself, and answer in the same strain." So far Goethe was his match; but he was nearly routed by Basedow's use of bad tobacco, and of some tinder still worse with which he was constantly lighting his pipe and poisoning the air insufferably. He soon discovered Goethe's dislike to this preparation of his, so he took a malicious pleasure in using it and dilating upon its merits.

§ 7. Here is an odd account of their intercourse. During their stay at Ems Goethe went a great deal into fashionable society. "To make up for these dissipations," he writes, "I always passed a part of the night with Basedow. He never went to bed, but dictated without cessation. Occasionally he cast himself on the couch and slumbered, while his amanuensis sat quietly, pen in hand, ready to continue his work when the half-awakened author

The Philanthropinum opened.

should once more give free course to his thoughts. All this took place in a close confined chamber, filled with the fumes of tobacco and the odious tinder. As often as I was disengaged from a dance I hastened up to Basedow, who was ready at once to speak and dispute on any question; and when after a time I hurried again to the ball-room, before I had closed the door behind me he would resume the thread of his essay as composedly as if he had been engaged with nothing else."

§ 8. It was through a friend of Goethe's, Behrisch, whose acquaintance we make in the "Wahrheit und Dichtung," that Basedow became connected with Prince Leopold of Dessau. Behrisch was tutor to the Prince's son, and by him the Prince was so interested in Basedow's plans that he determined to found an Institute in which they should be realised. Basedow was therefore called to Dessau, and under his direction was opened the famous Philanthropinum. Then for the first, and probably for the last time, a school was started in which use and wont were entirely set aside, and everything done on "improved principles." Such a bold enterprise attracted the attention of all interested in education, far and near: but it would seem that few parents considered their own children vilia corpora on whom experiments might be made for the public. good. When, in May 1776, a number of schoolmasters and others collected from different parts of Germany, and even from beyond Germany, to be present by Basedow's invitation at an examination of the children, they found only thirteen pupils in the Philanthropinum, including Basedow's own son and daughter.

§ 9. Before we investigate how Basedow's principles were embodied in the Philanthropinum, let us see the form in

B.'s "Elementary" and "Book of Method."

which he had already announced them. The great work from which all children were to be taught was the Elementary." As a companion to this was published the "Book of Method" (Methodenbuch) for parents and teachers. The “Elementary" is a work in which a great deal of information about things in general is given in the form of dialogue, interspersed with tales and easy poetry. Except in bulk, it does not seem to me to differ very materially from many of the reading-books, which, in late years, have been published in this country. It had the advantage, however, of being accompanied by a set of engravings to which the text referred, though they were too large to be bound up with it. The root-ideas of Basedow put forth in his "Book of Method," and other writings, are those of Rousseau. For example, "You should attend to nature in your children far more than to art. The elegant manners and usages of the world are for the most part unnatural (Unnatur). These come of themselves in later years. Treat children like children, that they may remain the longer uncorrupted. A boy whose acutest faculties are his senses, and who has no perception of anything abstract, must first of all be made acquainted with the world as it presents itself to the senses. Let this be shown him in nature herself, or where this is impossible, in faithful drawings or models. Thereby can he, even in play, learn how the various objects are to be named. Comenius alone has pointed out the right road in this matter. By all means reduce the wretched exercises of the memory." Elsewhere he gives instances of the sort of things to which this method should be applied. Ist. Man. Here he would use pictures of foreigners and wild men, also a skeleton, a hand in spirits, and other objects still more