Milton's ideas on education were thought, in his day, to be wholly impracticable; but not a few of them are now exploited as something wholly new. He believed in teaching to know things, as well as to know how to talk about them, in teaching to do, as well as to talk about doing. In speaking of the study of languages, he

says,

Though a linguist should pride himself to have all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, yet, if he have not studied the solid things in them, as well as the words and lexicons, he were nothing so much to be esteemed a learned man as any yeoman or tradesman competently wise in his mother dialect only. Hence appear the many mistakes which have made learning generally so unpleasing and so unsuccessful: first, we do amiss to spend seven or eight years merely in scraping together so much miserable Latin and Greek as might be learned otherwise easily and delightfully in one year.

Yet it is said of Milton that he had mastered all the learning of his day, and it is possible that he unwittingly set the pace for others by what he himself was able to do. It is certain that his doctrine that an education should include both a knowledge of the practical things of life and an experience in them, would find a more ready acceptance now than it did in his day.

56. Sir Matthew Hale.- During the reign of Charles II, when immorality was so prevalent in high circles, "Sir Matthew Hale stands out with peculiar luster as an impartial, incorruptible, and determined administrator of justice." He was a man of undoubted ability, was a judge for many years, and was finally raised to the high office of Chief Justice of the King's

Bench; yet he was plain in appearance and unassuming in manners. His language was a model of simplicity, clearness, and strength. The following extract is a small portion of a letter of advice with reference to conversation. It has been often quoted, but is such a perfect example of wise counsel and unaffected style that it will bear quoting many times more.

I thank God I came well to Farrington this day, about five o'clock. And as I have some leisure time at my inn, I cannot spend it more to my satisfaction and your benefit, than, by a letter, to give you some good counsel. The subject shall be concerning your speech; because much of the good or evil that befalls persons arises from the well or ill managing of their conversation. When I have leisure and opportunity, I shall give you my directions on other subjects.

Never speak anything for a truth which you know or believe to be false. Lying is a great sin against God, who gave us a tongue to speak the truth, and not falsehood. It is a great offense against humanity itself; for, where there is no regard to truth, there can be no safe society between man and man. And it is an injury to the speaker; for, besides the disgrace which it brings upon him, it occasions so much baseness of mind, that he can scarcely tell truth, or avoid lying, even when he has no color of necessity for it; and, in time, he comes to such a pass, that, as other people cannot believe he speaks truth, so he himself scarcely knows when he tells a falsehood. As you must be careful not to lie, so you must avoid coming near it. You must not equivocate, nor speak anything positively for which you have no authority but report, or conjecture, or opinion.

Be not too earnest, loud, or violent in your conversation. Silence your opponent with reason, not with noise. Be careful not to interrupt another when he is speaking; hear him out, and you will understand him the better, and be able to give him the better answer. Consider before you speak, especially when the business is of moment; weigh the sense of what you mean to

utter, and the expressions you intend to use, that they may be significant, pertinent, and inoffensive. Inconsiderate persons do not think till they speak; or they speak, and then think.

57. Isaac Barrow. Among the greatest reasoners and most eloquent preachers of his time was Isaac Barrow. He was a thorough scholar, proficient in mathematics and the natural sciences, as well as in ancient literature. He was also a traveler; and was thus fitted both by education and by experience to take a broad view of life. His eloquence consisted in the depth and clearness of his reasoning, rather than in flights of fancy or flowers of imagination. His language is almost destitute of illustration or ornamentation, the interest of the reader being kept up by a certain richness and profusion of thought. His reasoning has an accumulative force which cannot be shown by brief extracts, but the following will enable the reader to form a notion of the style of one who has by sheer force of reasoning and plain appeal interested thoughtful readers for more than two centuries. In contrasting concord and discord he says,

How delicious that conversation is which is accompanied with mutual confidence, freedom, courtesy, and complaisance! How calm the mind, how composed the affections, how serene the countenance, how melodious the voice, how sweet the sleep, how contentful the whole life is of him that neither deviseth mischief against others nor suspects any to be contrived against himself! And contrariwise, how ungrateful and loathsome a thing it is to abide in a state of enmity, wrath, dissension,— having the thoughts distracted with solicitous care, anxious suspicion, envious regret ; the heart boiling with choler, the face overclouded with discontent, the tongue jarring and out of tune, the ears filled with discordant noises of contradiction, clamor, and reproach; the whole

frame of body and soul distempered and disturbed with the worst of passions! . . . How much a peaceful state resembles heaven, into which neither complaint, pain, nor clamor do ever enter; but blessed souls converse together in perfect love, and in perpetual concord; and how a condition of enmity represents the state of hell, that black and dismal region of dark hatred, fiery wrath, and horrible tumult. How like a paradise the world would be, flourishing in joy and rest, if men would cheerfully conspire in affection, and helpfully contribute to each other's content; and how like a savage wilderness now it is, when, like wild beasts, they vex and persecute, worry and devour, each other. How not only philosophy hath placed the supreme pitch of happiness in a calmness of mind and tranquillity of life, void of care and trouble, of irregular passions and perturbations; but that Holy Scripture itself, in that one term of peace, most usually comprehends all joy and content, all felicity and prosperity: so that the heavenly consort of angels, when they agree most highly to bless, and to wish the greatest happiness to mankind, could not better express their sense than by saying, "Be on earth peace, and good-will among men."

In discoursing on industry, he has this paragraph :—

It is with us as with other things in nature, which by motion are preserved in their native purity and perfection, in their sweetness, in their luster; rest corrupting, debasing, and defiling them. If the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; but stagnation turneth it into a noisome puddle: if the air be fanned by winds, it is pure and wholesome; but from being shut up, it groweth thick and putrid: if metals be employed, they abide smooth and splendid; but lay them up, and they soon contract rust if the earth be belabored with culture, it yieldeth corn; but lying neglected, it will be overgrown with brakes and thistles; and the better its soil is, the ranker weeds it will produce. All nature is upheld in its being, order, and state by constant agitation every creature is incessantly employed in action comfortable to its designed end and use. In like manner, the preservation and improvement of our faculties depend on their constant exercise.

58. Izaak Walton.- It is not well to pass unnoticed the sweet effusions of a man who has shown more genius, and more of the spirit of a true poet, in writing a little prose book on angling, than many a rimer has shown in ponderous works of verse. The talk about angling seems to be a pretext for taking his readers to the quiet haunts of nature, and there opening their eyes to the beauties which God has created, and to his goodness toward the children of men. No man ever had a heart more open to the charms of nature, or more grateful to Him "from whom all blessings flow." His language is simple and artless, like the man who wrote it; but, like him, it is full of sweetness, and of a wisdom that issues from a purer fount than do the selfish maxims so common among men. It is true that some of his instructions in the art of angling savor of cruelty to the very creatures that he should love; but this only proves him human, and we can spread the mantle of charity over these blemishes, while we enjoy the feast of pure sentiments which he has prepared for us.

Walton wrote many other works, mostly biographies of eminent men, some of whom he had personally known during his long life of ninety years. In all his writings he showed a generous spirit, a just appreciation, and a firm adherence to truth. The extracts

given below give a hint of his style.

And first the Lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear her, she then quits the earth and sings as she ascends higher into the air; and, having ended her heavenly employment, grows then mute and sad to think she must descend to the dull earth, which she would not touch but for necessity.

How do the Blackbird and Thrassel with their melodious