the Labyrinth, the Dormi secure, and such-like stable-refuse have been introduced by the devil, so that the Latin tongue has decayed, and in no place is any good school or instruction or method of study left.”[1]
With his wide-minded contempt for petty details he would have wished to abolish the formal study of grammar altogether. The books to be used are “the poets and orators, be they Christian or heathen, Greek or Latin. From these the grammar must be learned.”[2] Now, while it is certainly a grievous error to sacrifice the whole morning of youth to the study of grammar, it is also evident that to neglect it altogether could only lead to a slipshod habit of mind in later years. A corrective for Luther’s complete carelessness of academic accuracy was at hand in Philip Melanchthon, the grammarian of the Reformation in Germany, whose Latin Grammar appeared in 1525.[3] Melanchthon, while attaching the utmost importance to grammar, was fully aware how necessary it was to make rules as short and concise as possible. Other Grammars, he tells us, existed, but most of them were neglected on account of their length, and he had therefore written his to supply the practical wants of the age.
In truth the Grammar of 1525 is many centuries in advance of the shibboleth that Erasmus learned at Deventer. Apart from its intrinsic merit, Melanchthon’s name on the title-page would have secured its widespread use in Protestant schools. It underwent many editions, notably that by Jacob Micyllus, and was still in use at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Worthy of notice is the relative importance given to the rules for gender (these take up thirty-three pages), and the introduction of words like Halec, Huber, Lafer, and Meninx; but the main interest of the work lies in its preface, which embodies Melanchthon’s views on the study of grammar. “Of what importance it is to Christ’s
