the schools, and has pointed out the remedies). In France too they set this stone in motion, since, in the year 1629, Janus Cæcilius Frey10 brought out a fine work on Didactic (under the title, A new and easy way to the goodly Sciences and Arts, to Languages, and to Rhetoric).
11. It is almost incredible what pleasure I found, and how my pain over the decline of my native land and the terribly oppressed state of all Germany was lightened whenever opportunity arose and I turned over the pages of these writings. For I began to hope that it was not without purpose that the providence of the Almighty had allowed it to come to pass that the decline of the old schools and the foundation of new ones in harmony with new ideas should take place at one and the same time. For he who intends to raise a new building, invariably levels the ground beforehand and removes the less comfortable or ruined houses.
12. This thought raised in me a joyful hope mingled with pleasant emotion; but I soon felt this vanish, and reflected that it would be impossible to reconstruct such an important institution from the very beginning.
13. As I wished for instruction on some points, and on others wished, myself, to instruct my fellows, I applied by letter first to one then to another of the above-mentioned writers. In vain, however, partly because some guarded their ideas with great care, partly because the letters did not reach those to whom they were directed, and therefore remained unanswered.
14. Only one of them (the renowned J. V. Andreæ) sent the friendly answer that he wished to be of some assistance, and urged me to proceed with my efforts. Stimulated by this, my spirit began to take more daring flights, till at last my unbounded solicitude for the public good led me to take the matter thoroughly in hand.
15. So, putting on one side the discoveries, thoughts, observations, and admonitions of others, I began myself to investigate the matter thoughtfully and to seek out the causes, the principles, the methods, and the objects of the
