DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52059#0025
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In order to illustrate certain statements of Defoe’s, I
originally intended to append a number of notes at the
end of the text; on second thoughts, however, it seemed
more advisable to arrange them in connected order and
give them in the shape of forewords. Still, this intro-
duction is not, and does not pretend to be, much more
than a mere collection of notices principally intended
to throw a clear light on two points, and necessary for
a full appreciation of Defoe’s works : (i) The changes
in the meaning of the word gentleman ; (2) The education
of the upper classes of England in former times. As
the latter is a subject, or forms part of a subject, which
has lately begun to interest not a few people in England,
viz., the History of Education ; I feel confident that,
though my remarks may be imperfect, they will not be
thought altogether futile.
The collection of these notices has involved a large
amount of work, as the material had to be dug up from
a heap of old books, of which only few proved service-
able, and many did not yield any contribution at all.
This may seem surprising, as it is well known that
all the books on education down to the time of Rousseau
—at least, all English books—are concerned only with
the bringing up of young gentlemen. But I was less
interested in the theory1 than in illustrating the actual
state of education; besides, almost all the books,
especially of the sixteenth and the earlier part of the
seventeenth century, written as they are by pedantic
scribblers, contain nothing but a dull tissue of childish
1 A very' useful book on the history of educational theory, in
England, is Mr. Robert Hebert Quick’s Essay on Educational
Reformers, 2nd ed., Cincinnati, U.S.A., 1888.
In order to illustrate certain statements of Defoe’s, I
originally intended to append a number of notes at the
end of the text; on second thoughts, however, it seemed
more advisable to arrange them in connected order and
give them in the shape of forewords. Still, this intro-
duction is not, and does not pretend to be, much more
than a mere collection of notices principally intended
to throw a clear light on two points, and necessary for
a full appreciation of Defoe’s works : (i) The changes
in the meaning of the word gentleman ; (2) The education
of the upper classes of England in former times. As
the latter is a subject, or forms part of a subject, which
has lately begun to interest not a few people in England,
viz., the History of Education ; I feel confident that,
though my remarks may be imperfect, they will not be
thought altogether futile.
The collection of these notices has involved a large
amount of work, as the material had to be dug up from
a heap of old books, of which only few proved service-
able, and many did not yield any contribution at all.
This may seem surprising, as it is well known that
all the books on education down to the time of Rousseau
—at least, all English books—are concerned only with
the bringing up of young gentlemen. But I was less
interested in the theory1 than in illustrating the actual
state of education; besides, almost all the books,
especially of the sixteenth and the earlier part of the
seventeenth century, written as they are by pedantic
scribblers, contain nothing but a dull tissue of childish
1 A very' useful book on the history of educational theory, in
England, is Mr. Robert Hebert Quick’s Essay on Educational
Reformers, 2nd ed., Cincinnati, U.S.A., 1888.