are matters of conjecture. For some years, however, before the Tractate was published, Hartlib had been endeavoring to assist the renowned Moravian educator, John Amos Comenius. He had twice published translations from Comenius' writings, and was instrumental in bringing the great reformer to England in 1641.1 But, much to Hartlib's disappointment, Comenius left England 1 within a year, not having found opportunity there to put his theories into practice. Despairing, possibly, of Comenius' return, and unwilling to give up the hope of educational reform, Hartlib nearly two years later applied to Milton as the Englishman of whom he expected most—a man of eminent attainments, and already known as a writer on current affairs, and one, moreover, whose views on education were quite as definite and emphatic as those of Comenius himself. At all events, Hartlib's urgent solicitations finally induced Milton to postpone for a time his meditations upon marriage and divorce, and upon the freedom of the press, and somewhat prematurely, as Milton felt, to publish his views on education.

1 Laurie, John Amos Comenius, p. 74. See below, P. SI.

II

EDITIONS

The first edition of the Tractate Of Education is a quarto of eight pages, and is simply headed: 'Of Education, To Master Samuel Hartlib.' It was published without date or signature, or even a title-page. Our first information on these details is from George Thomason, a famous London bookseller and collector of pamphlets in Milton's time.1 Says Masson: 'The date of the publication is fixed, and the fact that the authorship was known at the time is proved, by this manuscript note of Thomason on the copy among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum: "By Mr. John Milton: 5 June, 1644."' '2

The second edition was published in 1673, at the end (pp. 95117) of a volume of the Minor Poems. In this volume the wording of the title-page is as follows: 'Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions. By Mr. John Milton: Both English and Latin, &c. Composed at several times. With a small Tractate of Education to Mr. Hartlib. London, Printed for Tho. Dring at the White Lion next Chancery Lane End, in Fleetstreet, 1673.'

Milton's nephew and biographer, Edward Philips, speaks of the Tractate as 'one sheet Of Education which he dedicated to Mr. Samuel Hartlib, he that wrote so much of husbandry (this sheet is printed at the end of the second edition of his Poems).'4

Milton's inclusion of the Tractate in a volume of his poems may have no special significance; but so far as I am aware, it is the only one of his prose works to have been thus distinguished.

1 Masson, Life of Milton 3. 45, note.

2 Ibid. 3. 233, note.

'In some copies the imprint gives "for Tho. Dring at the Blew Anchor next Mitre Court over against Fetter Lane in Fleet-street, 1673," as if Dring had changed his premises in the course of the year.' Masson, Life of Milton 6. 687.

Milton, Of Education, Areopagitica, The Commonwealth, ed. by Lockwood, p. lxvii.

Of Education has probably been reprinted the most frequently of all Milton's prose works, except possibly the Areopagitica. The most recent editions are:

Milton's Tractate on Education; a Facsimile Reprint from the Edition of 1673. Edited by Oscar Browning, Cambridge, 1905. (Pp. xxv+43.)

Tractate of Education, by John Milton. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Edward E. Morris. London, 1905. (Pp. xlv + 50.)

Of Education, Areopagitica, the Commonwealth, by John Milton, with Early Biographies of Milton, Introduction, and Notes. Edited by Laura E. Lockwood. The Riverside Press, Boston, 1911. (Pp. lxxxvi+205.)

III

THE TRACTATE AS A HUMANISTIC DOCUMENT

In substance, Milton's Tractate generally agrees with the humanistic theory of education that grew up in Western Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the impulse of the Revival of Learning. This theory is marked by two or three outstanding characteristics, all of which are prominent in Milton's treatise. One of these is a clearer consciousness, among teachers and students, of education as a discipline for active life.1 A second is an insistence upon the more extensive reading of ancient writers, both classical and Christian, as the principal means of securing this discipline.2 A third_characteristic is an attitude of severe and often hostile criticism toward mediæval education and culture. Of these characteristics, the first two proceed from the whole nature of the movement that is called the Renaissance, and especially from the greater interest that people in general during the fifteenth century began to take in the present life; they also proceed from the activity of scholars and men of wealth in the discovery and study of the records of the past. The third feature, that of hostility toward the Middle Ages, probably grew out of the opposition that the new learning often encountered, especially in the universities.

Of the humanistic theory in practice, the best illustration for the present purpose is offered by the school established at Mantua by Vittorino da Feltre. A disciple of the new learning, Vittorino came to Mantua in 1423, and there remained until his death in 1446.5 'During these two-and-twenty years,' says W. H. Wood1 See below, p. $5.

2 See below, pp. 52-3. See below, P. 54.

4 Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre, p. 25.

5 Ibid., p. 24.

ward, ‘he established and perfected the first great school of the Renaissance—a school whose spirit, curriculum, and method justify us in regarding it as a landmark of critical importance in the history of classical education. It was indeed the great typical school of the Humanities.'1

The system of education conceived and carried out at Mantua by Vittorino was framed on the ideal of combining 'the spirit of the Christian life with the educational apparatus of classical literature, whilst uniting with both something of the Greek passion for bodily culture and for dignity of the outer life.'' This ideal reminds one of the end of education proposed by Milton, and of the religious studies that he combines with a preparation for life, both active and contemplative. In Vittorino's school, moreover, one may observe a remarkable similarity to the ideal Academy later described by Milton. The 'spacious house and ground about it's are represented by the palace called 'La Gioiosa' (the Pleasure-house), which the Marquis Gonzaga devoted to the purpose of the school, and the name of which Vittorino modified to ‘La Giocosa' (the Pleasant House). Its situation was healthful and attractive, and in this house and the adjoining buildings Vittorino and his pupils made their home. The intercourse between teacher and student was intimate and cordial, and the greatest precautions were used to protect the pupils, especially the younger ones, from influences that were vicious or distracting. The number of students, it is true, was only about one-half that mentioned by Milton. "Their studies, their exercise, and their diet' were supervised by Vittorino himself with the solicitude of a father.

The curriculum was, of course, humanistic. The outlines of the medieval Trivium and Quadrivium were to some extent observed, but the spirit and method of the study were such as to make it far different from the earlier instruction of the schools and universities.

1 Ibid., p. 24.

2 Ibid., p. 27.

3 See below, p. 55.

L