Epistle XIII. To Cornelius Tacitus.
by
the Same. [Mr. Henley.]
[_]
On the erecting of a Publick School.
I Give you Joy of your safe Arrival in Town, which to me was never so much wanted or desired.
As for my self, I shall stay a few Days longer at Tusculanus, to compleat the Work that is in my Hands.
For I am afraid, that if I break off this Application of mine, now towards the Close of the Affair,
I shall find a Difficulty in taking it up again. In the mean Time, that I may let nothing fall by my too eager Haste,
which I design to ask of you at present, I desire it here by a kind of preliminary Letter;
but first you must be told the Occasion of my Request, and then the Subject of it.
When I was last in my own Country, a Townsman's Son, who had almost newly put on his
Pretexta, came to pay his Respects to me, I ask'd him, Whether he pursu'd any Study?
He reply'd, He did: Where? At Milan: Why not here? To this his Father (for he was with him,
and indeed brought the boy himself to me) answer'd, Because we have no Masters here.
Why have you none? For it would be very much the Interest of you Fathers (and it
happen'd luckily, that several Persons were present) to have your Children instructed at Home.
For where can then live more pleasantly than in their Native Country;
or be more virtuously govern'd than under the Eye of their Parents, or,
be kept at a lesser Expence than at Home? Therefore how small a Matter would it be to keep Masters in Pay,
by a contributed Stock of Cash, and throw what you spend at present on your Houses,
Travelling Charges, or buying of Goods abroad (as all are bought) in a superfluous Manner,
into Salaries? And so I, who as yet have no Children, am ready to give a third Part of what you shall be pleas'd to contribute for the Benefit of our little Commonwealth,
as for a Daughter, or a Parent. I should willingly engage the whole, if I did not apprehend,
that my Benefaction might sometime be corrupted by the Ambition of those that might sollicit for it:
as I observe it happens in a Variety of Places, where Masters are publickly supported.
One Remedy might obviate this Fault, if the Right of Choice and Payment was vested only in the Parents; and they were put under a scrupulous Obligation of Judging aright,
by the Necessity of the Contribution. For they who, perhaps, would be careless of another's Money,
would certainly be mindful of their own; and use their Endeavours, that none by a worthy Person shall receive it from me,
when he is likewise to receive it from them at
the same Time. Therefore agree, concur in the Matter, and take the better Spirit from mine,
who am desirous that my Part of the Collection should be far the largest.
You can do no greater Justice to your Children, or Pleasure to your Country.
Let those who are born here, be here educated; and accustom'd, from their earliest Infancy to love and be familiar with their Native Soil;
and I wish you may contract with Masters so famous, that Learning and Study may be here courted by the Neighbouring Towns:
And as your Children now are sent to other Places, so Foreigners may speedily flock hither.
I thought it necessary to carry these Arguments very high, and, as it were,
to the Fountain head, to give you the clearest Sense, how acceptable it wou'd be to me,
if you would undertake what I enjoin you. Now I enjoin and implore you,
from the Importance of the Thing, to look about for Masters, whom we may sollicit,
among the great Number of studious Men that resort to you, in Admiration of your Genius; yet under this Condition, that I may not oblige my self by Promise to any of them.
For I preserve every Thing free to the Parents. Let them judge; Let them chuse;
I only require the Care and the Expence for my Part of the Management.
Therefore, if you meet with any one that confides in his Wit and Abilities,
let him repair hither on this Article, that he brings nothing from these Offers that is certain,
but his own Confidence.
