Latin-Spanish-English-French edition, and so made it quadrilingual, and on his return to Germany added a German version, strongly commending it as an excellent means of learning a language. The work was frequently republished in many parts of Germany, was introduced into many schools, and ultimately, in 1629, appeared in eight languages.

At first Comenius hailed this book with pleasure, but after carefully studying it, came to the conclusion that it did not justify its title; and this, first, because it contained many words beyond the capacity of the young, while omitting many in daily use; secondly, because the words, which were used only once, were used in one signification only, whereas they constantly, in native authors, have more than one meaning, and thus pupils are misled; and thirdly, because, where one signification is alone given, it ought always to be the primary one, which in the book in question was not the case. There were other objections to the book: the sentences did not contribute to the moral instruction of youth, and were clumsy, and, indeed, even often destitute of meaning.

'My fundamental principle-an irrefragable law of didactics-is,' he says, in speaking of his own Janua, 'that the understanding and the tongue should advance in parallel lines always. The human being tends to utter what he apprehends. If he does not apprehend the words he uses, he is a parrot; if he apprehends without words, he is a dumb statue. Accordingly, under 100 heads, I have classified the whole uni

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verse of things in a manner suited to the capacity of boys, and I have given the corresponding language. I have selected from Lexicons the words that had to be introduced, and I include 8000 vocables in 1000 sentences, which are at first simple, and thereafter gradually become complex. I have used words, as far as practicable, in their primary signification, according to the comprehension of the young, but have had to seek for modern Latin words where pure Latin was not to be had. I have used the same word only once, except where it had two meanings. Synonyms and contraries I have placed together, so that they may throw light on one another. I have arranged the words so as to bring into view concords and governments and declension. The vernacular text (Czech or Bohemian) I have printed separately on this occasion, as it would be useless to many whose judgments on my effort I desire to have. An index of the words (not however, absolutely necessary) will be afterwards added; also a brief treatise on homonyms, synonyms, etc., and a short, compendious, simple, and easy grammar-all of which, comprised in one volume, will be a little treasure-house of school-learning.'

Three years were spent on the Janua alone, and yet Comenius was far from thinking the work perfect: he considered he had only led the way for others. He hoped also himself, from time to time, to improve the book.

He called this little book a 'Seminary of Tongues and all Sciences,' because equal care had been given to things and words. He desired to introduce some beginnings

and clear perception of things, and at the same time to lay the foundations of learning, morals, and piety.

Speaking generally, we may say that Comenius's aim was-first, to simplify and graduate; secondly, to teach words through things; thirdly, to teach things through words. The book was a very remarkable innovation on the then existing school text-books; but, notwithstanding this, or because of it, when he published it in 1631, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, and before, in his opinion, it was perfected, it achieved an immediate and enormous success. 'People,' he says,1 'seemed to vie with one another in producing editions of it.' It was translated into Greek, Bohemian, Polish, German, Swedish, Belgian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Arabic, and into a language which he calls Mogolic, and which,' he says, was familiar to the populations of India.' He next, in 1633, published his Vestibulum, which was intended to serve as an easy introduction to the Janua.

In 1632 there was convened a synod of the Moravian Brethren at Lissa, at which Comenius (now forty years of age) was elected to succeed his father-in-law Cyrillus as Bishop of the scattered brethren-a position which enabled him to be of great service, by means of correspondence, to the members of the community, who were dispersed in various parts of Europe. Throughout the whole of his long life he continued this fatherly charge, and seemed never quite to abandon the hope 1 Dedication of Schola Ludus, vol. iii.

of being restored, along with his fellow-exiles, to his native land-a hope doomed to disappointment. In his capacity of Pastor-Bishop he wrote several treatises, such as a History of the Persecutions of the Brotherhood, an account of the Moravian Church-discipline and Order, and polemical tracts against a contemporary Socinian.

Meanwhile his great Didactic treatise, which had been written in his native Czech tongue, was yet unpublished. He was, it would appear, stimulated to the publication of it by an invitation he received in 1638, from the authorities in Sweden, to visit their country and undertake the reformation of their schools.1 He replied that he was unwilling to undertake a task at once SO onerous and so invidious, but that he would gladly give the benefit of his advice to any one of their own nation whom they might select for the duty. These communications led him to resume his labour on the Great Didactic, and to translate it into Latin, in which form it finally appeared.2

In education Comenius was a Sense-Realist-the first great and thoroughly consistent Realist. Von Raumer says:-'He received his first impulse in this direction, as he himself relates, from the well-known Spanish pedagogue Ludovic Vives, who declared himself against Aristotle, and demanded a Christian instead of a heathen mode of philosophising.' It is not disputation

1 Preface to vol. i.

2 I cannot find the precise date. In the Dictionnaire de Pédagogie it is stated that the work, though completed at the time stated in the above, was not published till 1657. I think this is a mistake.

which leads to any result,' said Vives, 'but the silent observation of Nature. It is better for the scholars to ask questions and to investigate than to be disputing with each other.' 'Yet,' says Comenius, 'Vives understood better where the fault lay than what was the remedy.'

Comenius received a second impulse from Thomas Campanella, who, however, did not satisfy him. 'But when,' he says, 'Bacon's Instauratio Magna came into my hands a wonderful work, which I consider the most instructive philosophical work of the century now beginning, I saw in it that Campanella's demonstrations are wanting in that thoroughness which is demanded by the truth of things. Yet again I was troubled, because the noble Verulam, while giving the true key of Nature, did not unlock her secrets, but only showed, by a few examples, how they should be unlocked, and left the rest to future observations to be extended through centuries.' He goes on, in the preface to the Physics, from which these utterances are taken, to say that he is convinced that it is not Aristotle who must be master of philosophy for Christians, but that philosophy must be studied fully according to the leading of sense, reason, and books. 'For,' he continues, 'do we not dwell in the garden of Nature as well as the ancients? Why should we not use our eyes, ears, and noses as well as they? And why should we need other teachers than these our senses to learn to know the works of Nature? Why, say I, should we not, instead of these dead books, lay open the living book of Nature, in which there is much more