Chapter XXXIII

. and XXXVII.

[178] Cf. Specht, _Geschichte des Unterrichtswesens in Deutschland, etc._ (Stuttgard, 1885), p. 75 and _passim_.

Yet how soon and with what childish prattle youths might begin to speak and write Latin is touchingly shown by a boy’s letter, written from a monastic school, to his parents. It just asks for various little things, and its superscription is: “Parentibus suis A. agnus ablactatus pium balatum”: which seems to mean: “To his parents, A, a weaned lamb, sends a loving bah.” This and other curious little letters are ascribed to one Robertus Metensis (_cir._ A.D. 900) (Migne 132, col. 533).

[179] See Thurot, _Histoire des doctrines grammaticales au moyen âge; Notices et extraits des MSS._ vol. 22, part 2, p. 85. For what is said in the preceding and following pages the writer’s obligations are deep to this well-known work of Thurot, and to Reichling’s edition of the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander de Villa-Dei (_Mon. Germ. paedagogica_, XII., Berlin, 1893). Paetow’s _Arts Course at Medieval Universities_ (University of Illinois, 1910) treats learnedly of these matters.

[180] See Thurot, _o.c._ p. 204 _sqq._

[181] _Regere_, a mediaeval term not used in this sense by Priscian.

[182] See the _Einleitung_ to Reichling’s edition of the _Doctrinale_ already referred to; also Thurot, _De Alexandri de Villa-Dei doctrinali_ (Paris, 1850). The chief mediaeval rival of the _Doctrinale_ was the _Graecismus_ of Eberhard of Bethune, written a little later. See Paetow, _o.c._ p. 38.

[183] _Doctrinale_, line 1561 _sqq._

[184] _Doctrinale_, 1603 _sqq._

[185] _Doctrinale_, 2330-2331.

[186] See passage in Reichling’s _Einleitung_, p. xxvii.

[187] See _e.g._ _Une Grammaire latine inédite du XIII{e} siècle_, par Ch. Fierville (Paris, 1886).

[188] See Reichling, _o.c._ _Einleitung_, p. xix; Thurot, _Not. et extr._ xxii. 2, p. 112 _sqq._

[189] See _e.g._ Thurot, _o.c._ p. 176 _sqq._; p. 216 _sqq._

[190] Thurot, _o.c._ pp. 126-127.

[191] Thurot, _o.c._ p. 127.

[192] _The Greek Grammar of Roger Bacon_, ed. by Nolan and Hirsch (Cambridge, 1902).

[193] Bacon defines _idioma_ “as the determined peculiarity (_proprietas_) of language, which one _gens_ uses after its custom; and another _gens_ uses another _idioma_ of the same language” (_Greek Grammar_, p. 26). Dialect is the modern term.

[194] _Greek Grammar_, p. 27. Bacon appears to have followed Priscian chiefly. As to whether he used Byzantine models, or other sources, see the Introduction to Nolan and Hirsch’s edition of the _Greek Grammar_. These thoughts inspiring Bacon’s _Grammar_ became a veritable metaphysics in the _Grammatica speculativa_ ascribed to Duns Scotus, see _post_,