OCRed data provided
for searching only. THE EGG WHICH ERASMUS LAID AT PAUL'S ii9
1672-97 a At that time, Paul's had eight forms, four in lower school and four in upper. The lower school was devoted entirely, of course, to Latin. This curriculum shows the typical sixteenth century routine, with morning lessons upon the grammar, and afternoon lessons upon authors. For the first four forms, morning lessons the first four days of the week consisted of drill upon the parts of speech from the authorized Latin grammar. Afternoon lessons were upon authors and vocabulary. All four forms had Nomenclatura on Wednesdays for vocabulary. The first form used Sententiae Pueriles on the other three days. The second form used Cato on Monday and Thursday, Aesop on Tuesday. The third form used Ovid, De Tristibus Monday and Thursday, Erasmus, Colloquies on Tuesday. The fourth used Ovid, Metamorphoses on Monday, Ovid's Epistles on Tuesday, and Justin on Thursday. There was an "Exercise read every day"; that is, on each of the four working days. This exercise was given the day before. So Monday's exercise was set on Saturday morning, the routine for that period being, "Forming of verbs & Catechiseing every Saturday per Annum in Fourmes & exercise for Munday." The draft shows that all four classes formed verbs on Saturday mornings till ten, then worked upon the catechism, which in the third and fourth forms was in Latin, the direction being, "Afterwards the Latine Catechism is said by heart." Finally, the exercise was set for Monday. For the first form, this exercise consisted of verses from the Proverbs; for the second, from the Psalms or on Tuesdays and Thursdays "English Examples"; for the third and fourth, from Proverbs or Psalms, except that "an English dictamen" might come on Wednesday and that on Tuesdays the fourth turned "a story in Heathen Gods"4 into Latin, and turned verses and proved them. The first and second forms rendered the work of the week on Friday mornings and declined
s McDonnell, Michael F. J., A History of St. Paul's School, pp. 265-266. I am indebted to the authorities of Trinity College, Cambridge, for permitting a photostat of the manuscript of this curriculum (o. to. 22) to be made for the Library of the University of Illinois. James, M. R., The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, No. 1474, Vol. III, p. 515, dates the statutes and this curriculum as "Cent. xvi-xvii early," but the curriculum certainly it not earlier than the latter part of the seventeenth century, as shown by the text-books referred to, etc. There is a first draft of this curriculum (o. 1. 42; James, No. io66) for the first four forms, from which this copy was made. The draft furnishes numerous small de-tails which have not been carried over to the fair copy. The draft was probably itself based on some earlier statement of the curriculum.
' This text was probably The Poetical Histories Being a Conmpleat Collection Old/the Stories necessary for a Perfect understanding of the Greek and Latine Poets and other Ancient Authors, translated from P. Galtruchius (Pierre Gautruche) by Marius D'Assigny, 1671. It is said that there was an earlier English edition under another title in 167o (De Backer, Augustin and Aloys, Bibliothique De La Compagnie De JEsus (1882), Part I, Vol. III, p. 1288).
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