common people may be led to understand and take an interest in the liberal arts and sciences; and with this end in view we must not speak in a language that is foreign to them, and that is in itself artificial.
16. And lastly, those boys who have to learn Latin later on will find it no disadvantage to know the technical terms in their mother-tongue, nor will it prove any hindrance to them that they praised God in their own language before doing so in Latin.
17. The third requisite is an easy method of introducing these books to the young, and of this we will give a brief sketch in the following rules:
(i) The class lessons should not exceed four daily, of which two should be before mid-day, and two after. The remaining hours of the day may profitably be spent in domestic work (especially among the poor), or in some form of recreation.
(ii) The morning should be devoted to the exercise of the intellect and the memory, the afternoon to that of the hand and the voice.
(iii) In the morning the master shall read over the lesson for the hour several times, while the whole class attends, and shall explain anything that needs explanation in simple language, and in such a way that it cannot but be understood. He shall then bid the boys read it in turn, and while one reads it in a clear voice the rest should attend and follow in their books. If this be continued for half an hour, or longer, the clever boys and at last even the stupid ones will try to repeat by heart what they have just read. For the tasks that are set must be short; not too long for an hour’s lesson, or too hard for the boys to understand.
(iv) No fresh work should be done in the afternoon, but the lessons done in the morning should be repeated. The pupils should transcribe portions of their printed books, and should compete with one another to see who can best remember the morning’s lesson, or who is most proficient in writing, in singing, or in counting.
