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The work is a scholarly survey of how French was taught and used in England from the medieval period through the Stuart era, framed by an introductory chapter on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Its opening pages explain the editorial choices made for this edition, corrected punctuation, end‑of‑chapter footnotes, and a system for representing diacritics, before presenting a formal title page that lists the University of Manchester press, the author’s academic credentials, and a detailed preface. The preface situates the study within the author’s own research trajectory, noting its origin in a Faulkner Fellowship and its reliance on the guidance of several professors and scholars. The table of contents then maps a dense, chronologically ordered investigation, covering everything from early French grammars and courtly usage to the impact of Huguenot refugees, the methods of French tutors, and the language’s role in universities, travel, commerce, and post‑Restoration society.
The prose is that of an early‑twentieth‑century academic, marked by formal diction, extensive footnoting, and a meticulous cataloguing of sources. Its tone is descriptive rather than argumentative, offering a comprehensive reference rather than a narrative history. Readers who relish detailed institutional histories, language‑policy studies, or the cultural interplay between England and France will find it rewarding. It will especially appeal to historians of education, philologists, and anyone interested in the evolution of language instruction and the social status of French from the medieval era to the late seventeenth century.
The opening · free to read
French tutors at Court--John Palsgrave and Giles Duwes--Palsgrave's _Esclarcissement_--The pronunciation of French--His second and third books--The vocabulary--The Introductorie of Duwes--His Dialogues--The methods of the two teachers--Dates of composition and editions--Attitude of the two teachers to each other--Duwes on English teachers of French--Palsgrave's claims--Palsgrave's acquaintance with French literature--Incidents in Duwes's career in England--His royal pupils--Palsgrave's teaching career--Mary Tudor his pupil--The Duke of Richmond, Gregory Cromwell, etc.--Palsgrave in the North, at Oxford, and in London--Jean Bellemain, tutor to Edward VI.--The King's French exercises--Intercourse with Calvin--Bellemain on French orthography--French tutor to Elizabeth--Her translations from the French--A. R. Chevallier.
Effects of the persecution of the Protestants on the teaching of French in England--Protestant refugees--Registers and returns of aliens--French churches in London--Reception and treatment of foreigners--Incivility of the common people--Courtesy of the gentry--Refugees received into English families--French in polite education--French tutors and text-books--Converse with foreigners--Shakespeare's French--Professional schoolmasters--No opening in the grammar schools--French schools--Du Ploich's school--His Treatise in French and English and method of teaching--His works in manuscript--Claude Holyband--His French Schoolemaister and _French Littleton_--His French school--Holyband as private tutor--His method of teaching--Schools in connection with the French churches--Schools at Canterbury and elsewhere--Saravia's school at Southampton--Joshua Sylvester--Place of French in the public schools of Scotland--In the parish and private schools--No French grammars produced in Scotland.
Importance of the Huguenot teachers in London--St. Paul's Churchyard the centre of the profession--The group of Normans--Robert Fontaine--Jacques Bellot--His French and English grammars, and _Jardin de Vertu_--The _French Methode_--G. de La Mothe--His French Alphabet and method of teaching--French teachers from the Netherlands--Roman Catholic schoolmasters--Objections raised against French teachers--The right of the English to teach French--John Eliote--His attack on French teachers--His love of Rabelais and debt to French literature--His 'merrie vaine'--The Ortho-Epia Gallica and his other works.
Usual methods of learning French--Reading and translation--Pronunciation--Rules of grammar--Importance of 'practice'--Latin and French text-books--Contrast of methods--Grammar and Practice--Books in French and English--French by translation--French dictionaries--Holyband's Dictionaries--Dictionary printed by Harrison--A place given to French in some Latin dictionaries--Veron--Baret--John Higgins--French-Latin dictionaries--Cotgrave's great French-English Dictionary--Sherwood's English-French Dictionary--Howell's editions of Cotgrave--The reading of French literature--Attitude of French teachers--Favourite authors--Histories and Memoirs of military life for soldiers and statesmen.
Latin the language of the Universities--Retention of the use of French formulae--Modern languages read--French a relaxation from 'severer studies'--French tutors and French grammars--Morlet's _Janitrix_--French grammars written in Latin--Antonio de Corro--John Sanford--Wye Saltonstall--Henry Leighton--French grammarians and teachers at Oxford--Robert Farrear--Pierre Bense--French teachers at Cambridge--Gabriel du Grès at Cambridge and Oxford--On the teaching of French--French at the Universities at the time of the Restoration--The French of the Universities and of the fashionable world--French at the Inns of Court--One-sidedness of the University curriculum--Steps taken to supplement it.
Travel in France and on the Continent--In the suite of ambassadors--Children in France--Course of studies--Girls in France--Objections to children being sent to France--France and Italy--Protests against travel--Prejudices against travel--Preference for France--Necessity of the French language--The travelling tutor--The age for travel--Literati as travelling tutors--Travel without a governor--Books on travel--'Methods' of travel--The study of French--Dallington and Moryson--Study of French before travel--French 'by rote'--Language masters for travellers--French grammars for travellers--Charles Maupas of Blois and his son--Antoine Oudin--Other grammars--Père Chiflet--The 'exercises'--Travellers at the Universities--At the Protestant Academies--Geneva--Isaac Casaubon--The 'idle traveller'--The 'beau'--Affectations of newly returned travellers--Commendation and censure of travel.
Merchants and the study of French--Text-books for merchants--Relations with the Netherlands--The 'book from Anvers'--Barlement's book of dialogues--Meurier's manuals for teaching French to the English in Antwerp--The study of French in the Netherlands--French for soldiers--The Verneys--John Wodroeph--The difficulty of the French language--Necessity of rules as well as practice--_The Marrow of the French Tongue_.
The French language in England in the time of the early Stuarts--In the royal family--French tutors--John Florio--Guy Le Moyne--Massonet--Sir Robert Le Grys--French among the ladies--Erondelle's French Garden for English ladies--His dialogues--His career as a teacher--His earlier works--The French Queen of England--French plays in London--The English language neglected by foreigners--English literature ignored in France--English players abroad--The study of English--English grammars for foreigners in England--French teachers and merchants further the study of English--Provision for teaching English in the Netherlands and in France.
Robert Sherwood, teacher of French and English--His school and _French Tutour_--William Colson, another English teacher--His 'method' and writings--Maupas's French grammar in England--William Aufeild--How to study French--The _Flower de Luce_--Laur du Terme on the teaching of French--Paul Cogneau's French grammar--His method--Continued use of the sixteenth-century French grammars--Latin and French--Latin school-books adapted to teaching French--Books for teaching Latin and French together--The Janua of Comenius--Wye Saltonstall--De Grave--French in private institutions--The _Museum Minervae_--Gerbier's Academy--French in schools for ladies.
The Blois group of French teachers--Claude Mauger and his French grammar--Its popularity and development--Mauger's Letters--Other writings--Life in London--Teaches English--Mauger's method of teaching--Mauger at Paris--The demand for his grammar abroad--Paul Festeau--His French and English grammars--Editions and contents--Pierre Lainé--His French grammar--Encouragement of the study of French literature.
Vogue of French romances in England--Dorothy Osborne--Pepys on French literature--His French books--French text-books and the précieux spirit--William Herbert--His criticism of the French teaching profession--Rivalry among teachers--Need for protection--Herbert's later works--His early career in England--Quarrels with a minister of the French church--English gentry at the French church--Pepys a regular attender--French teachers encourage the practice--The method of 'grammar and rote'--French 'by rote'--Examples of how French was studied--Latin by grammar--Calls for reform--The case against grammar--French taught on the 'right method'--Attempts to teach Latin on the same lines as French--Contrast between the learning of Latin in England 'by grammar' and of French in France 'by rote.'
The Protestant schools and Academies--A group of English students at Saumur--Travellers at the French Universities--A method of travel--Attitude of the French teachers to the tour in France--Guide books--Routes followed--Favourite resorts for study--_Auberges_ and _pensions_--Language masters in France--Grammars for travellers--Howell's instructions for travellers--Suitable books for students--The 'Grand' and 'Petit' Tour in France--Paris--Inexperienced young travellers--Sir John Reresby in France.
Gallomania in England after the Restoration--The royal family in France--Their knowledge of the language--English courtiers and gentry in France--Men of letters in France--French and the French at the English court after the Restoration--French 'salons' London--French valets, cooks, dancing masters, tailors--The French language--French among the ladies--The 'Frenchified' lady--The 'beaux' or English 'monsieurs'--French influence at the theatre--Popularity of French actors in London.
French grammars after the Restoration--Pierre de Lainé, tutor to the children of the Duke of York--The _Princely Way to the French Tongue_--Guy Miège--His Dictionaries--His French Grammars--His method of teaching--Rote and grammar--Miège's other works--Other French Grammars--Pierre Berault--The universality of French--Supremacy over Latin in the world of fashion and diplomacy--Position of French in the educational world--The classics read in French--'All learning now in French'--French recognized by writers on education--Projects for reformed schools--Numerous French schools in and about London--Villiers' school at Nottingham--Academies for ladies--Academies for training gentlemen in the necessary social accomplishments and for business--Effects of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
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