Moore - Nobleman's education Flashcards
December 1653
Account concerns two sons of ‘Lothian’ and their tutor Mr Young. (Robert & William) Robert was 17 in 1653, William 15.
Travellers could find fellow Scots to stay with or help them.
Churches also provide focus (travellers attend French Protestant Congregation at Dieppe)
Travellers could engage ‘a messenger’ ie an agent who hired horses/coaches, arranged food/accommodation etc and travelled with them.
Cost to hire a coach for 2 days in Paris = 20 livres
In Paris, the Fauburg St Germain was the quarter favoured by British travellers. Good hotels were frequented by other young noblemen and their governors/tutors.
Networks of friends gave advice about what to see/do and showed them the sights eg court of Louis XIV at the Louvre
Travellers in this account didn’t visit court of Charles II and Henrietta Maria (in their exile) at the Palais Royal after hearing none of their English counterparts had for fear of upsetting Cromwell & causing trouble for families at home.
Travelled on by coach (a carosse) from Paris to Orleans via Chartres. Presumably public coach not private hire as they ‘took seats’. Found it expensive and uncomfortable.
Reached Saumur (near Tours) on Jan 20, 1654. Sought accommodation with Mr Gray, a resident Scot who was recommended but no rooms free so stayed at the pension of a French widow related to the Protestant minister of the town. Other young men staying at the pension were French & Dutch - so they could practice their languages. Even tho' not staying with him, Mr Gray still helped them.
Lothian had heard from someone else about their visit to Paris and was unhappy with decision not to attend Charles II’s court on grounds it would add to the ‘prejudice’ the king already held against him. Scottish Presbyterians ‘detested the rule of Cromwell’ and professed ‘loyalty to their covenanted king’.
Further letters from the Lothians showed they were unhappy with the tutor who replied asking for more precise instructions about what they expected him to do.
That spring/summer, they studied history & geography with the tutor & entered for ‘all the exercises’ of the town (which were?).
They were unable to study maths because the Saumur mathematics master had recently died.
Riding lessons were postponed because the horses were no good.
Timetable - every day except Saturday & holy days (presumably that includes Sundays):
7 - 8 am - scripture study in French & English & general reading in French (romance or grammar)
8 - 9 am - fencing
Breakfast
till 11.30 - dancing
11.30 - French practice with a French master to ‘learn the true accent’
till noon - lute practice for one boy while Sir William practices writing
Dinner (lunch)
till 2pm - William learns guitar
2 - 3 pm - lesson with design master (what’s this? drawing?)
3 - 4 pm - singing/music lessons
4 - 5 pm - various kinds of practice as set by tutors including military exercises (pike, partizan, musket etc)
Forbidden to play real tennis so they go for walks in the fields
Evening - more history or geography (Plutarch & Clouwer)
Sundays & holy days timetable:
Mornings in their chambers
Afternoons ‘returning civilities’ they had received from other Scots & others (writing letters? calling on people?)
2 sermons on Sundays & one on any Wednesday they had no tutors
Otherwise they went for solitary walks & spent time ‘in conversation’
For practice, the boys wrote home in French & possibly Dutch
Tutor reports their progress by writing home;
Summer heat stopped fencing and military exercises which were replaced by tennis after Lady Lothian ended her objections.
She thought there was too much music in the timetable, at the expense of more ‘serious study’ so viol and guitar lessons ended to give more time to philosphy and history.
Drawing lessons were considered preparation for maths.
Saumur = good place to live Better climate than Holland.
Other young men of similar status provided plenty of appropriate company; Dutch, Danish. Constant turnover of other lodgers in their pension as travellers came & went, most of them aristocrats.
Occasionally the ‘exercise’ masters were invited to supper
Over the summer, they made some excusions lasting 1 to 4 days to see some French towns, ‘rich houses’ and other places of interest. In October they made a 2nd trip to Bourgueil for a week ‘to see the way of the vintage’ - presumably to find out about wine making.
Intention had been to leave Saumur in the autumn and Montpelier was considered as a possible next destination but Young favoured the Loire, where he said the best French was spoken. Eventually decided on Angers (also on the Loire) where there was a famous riding academy.
Departure delayed till December while they waited for money from home to settle outstanding debts to masters & tailors.
Accommodation arranged in advance. In a Catholic house but also being used by young Dutch Protestants. They rode to Sunday services at the Protestant chapel.
Angers timetable: 7 - 10 am - riding lessons 10 - 11 am - fencing 11 - dinner - Logic/philosophy After dinner til 3pm - Lute/guitar. When not having music lesson, they practice writing or drawing 3 - 4 pm - dancing lessons Then history/geography till supper After supper - reading or conversation in French
Lothian had lost money during the civil war & unsuccessfully sought comopensation from Cromwell’s govt. While in Holland, boys & their tutor had financial problems. Also financially constrained in France but not to same extent.
The financial situation meant they could not travel on to Italy as they wanted so they stay in Angers will April/May 1656 then travelled again to Paris.
Journey to Paris from Angers took 6 days on horseback. They stayed in Paris for 10.5 months. They had lessons in Maths, geography, music, fencing, dancing.
They attended services at the HQ of the French Huguenot church at Charenton along with other Scots & English Protestants. Cost was 30 livres involving hire of horses & a meal each time.
They visited Fontainblois and made short excursions to places of interest around Paris.
They bought books on georgraphy, history & travel (incl maps) and a book about ‘great personnes of France’ (their father collected portraits of ‘the great’.
Left Paris in March 1657 and returned to London where they stayed for 8 weeks making excursions eg to Tower of London, Westminster Abby, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court sometimes by water, sometimes by horse or by carriage.
They left London end May, arriving home in Newbattle about 8 days later.
They were away for 6 years and 3 months.
