and made troublous times. In 1621 Fulneck was taken by the Spaniards, and Comenius lost all his property. Instigated by the Jesuits, the Austrian Government proscribed the evangelical pastors, and forced them to fly. Comenius took refuge for a time in his native mountains, but, as the persecution waxed hotter, he fled to Lissa, in Poland. On crossing the border, he devoutly knelt and prayed God that the truth might not be quenched in his native land.

At Lissa he found employment in the Moravian Gymnasium, of which he seems to have become rector. He applied himself with new ardor to his educational studies. He acquainted himself with the best educational writings of the age, perusing among others the works of Ratich and Bacon. He was greatly impressed by them. "Yet," he says, "observing here and there some defects and gaps as it were, I could not restrain myself from attempting something that might rest upon an immovable foundation, and which, if it could be found out, should not be subject to any ruin. Therefore, after many workings and tossings of my thoughts, by reducing everything to the immovable law of Nature, I lighted upon my Didactica Magna, which shows the art of readily and solidly teaching all men all things." In this work, which was not published for several years, Comenius made a comprehensive and profound study of education, and announced those principles which were destined to transform the schools of all Christian lands.

He next set about reforming the methods of teaching Latin. Too much time was given to words. "If so much time is to be spent on the language alone," he says, "when is the boy to know about things—when

will he learn philosophy, when religion, and so forth? He will consume his life in preparing for life." To remedy this evil, he prepared his "Gate of Tongues Unlocked" (Janua Linguarum Reserata), the character of which he fully sets forth in the following extract : "My fundamental principle—an irrefragable law of didactics—is 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 word he uses, he is a parrot; if he apprehends without words, he is a dumb statue. Accordingly, under one hundred heads, I have classified the whole universe 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 eight thousand vocables in one thousand 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 upon one another. I have arranged the words so as to bring into view concords and governments and declension."

As this passage shows, the "Gate of Tongues" possessed several great merits. It was suited to the pupil's capacity; it carried him along by easy gradations; and, above all, it taught him things in connection with words. Its success was instantaneous and immense. It was

translated into Greek, Bohemian, Polish, German, Swedish, Belgian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Arabic, and one of the languages of India.

It is now time to speak of a scheme to which Comenius long gave affectionate thought and zealous labor. Its realization he believed for many years was to constitute his principal life-work. This scheme, suggested to him by Bacon, was the publication of a work that would embrace and fully exhibit the whole circle of knowledge. This vast undertaking, which Comenius believed would be very helpful to the advancement of science, was obviously beyond the powers of any one man. Hence his practical mind suggested the establishment of an institution, in which all departments of learning should be represented by the ablest scholars, and from which this encyclopædia of knowledge was to proceed.

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It was in relation to this great pansophic scheme that Comenius was invited by the English Parliament to London. He went there in 1641, and promising measures were taken to open a "universal college.' "But," as he tells us in his own account of the visit, a rumor that Ireland was in a state of commotion, and that more than two hundred thousand of the English had been slaughtered there in one night, the sudden departure of the king from London, and the clear indications that a most cruel war was on the point of breaking out, threw all our plans into confusion, and compelled me and my friends to hasten our return."

At this juncture Comenius was invited to Sweden. He was kindly received at Stockholm by the illustrious statesman, Oxenstiern, and Chancellor Skyte, of the University of Upsala. His didactic and pansophic schemes

were fully discussed. "For four days," he says, "these two men held me in debate, but chiefly Oxenstiern, that eagle of the North, who questioned me as to my principles, both pansophic and didactic, with a greater penetration and closeness than had been exhibited by any of the learned with whom I had come in contact. For the first three days didactic was the subject of his examination, and he brought the interviews to an end with the following remarks: From youth up I have perceived a certain violence in the customary method of school studies, but I could never put my finger on the place where the shoe pinched. When sent by my king, of glorious memory,* as an embassador to Germany, I conferred with many learned men on the subject; and when I was informed that Wolfgang Ratich had attempted a reform of method, I had no peace of mind till I had the man before me; but he, instead of a conversation, presented me with a huge book in quarto. I swallowed that annoyance, and, having run through the whole volume, I saw that he had exposed the diseases of the schools not badly; but, as for the remedies, they did not seem to me to be adequate. Your remedies rest on firmer foundations; go on with your work.'"

The pansophic plans of Comenius were not encouraged by Oxenstiern; and, as a result of this conference, he was induced to prepare a work in which his principles should be carefully wrought out in reference to teaching languages. For this purpose, he took up his residence at Elbing, in Prussia, where he was supported by De Geer, a wealthy and intelligent Dutchman. Here, after four years of labor, he produced his "Latest

* Gustavus Adolphus.

Method with Languages" (Methodus Linguarum Novissima). In this work he points out three evils in the current teaching of Latin: 1. That words are taught without being understood; 2. That boys are introduced at once into the intricacies of grammar; and, 3. That they are required to make impossible leaps, being forced prematurely into works above their comprehension. In this connection, he laid down the important principles that words and things should be learned together; that theory should not be dissevered from practice, and that study should advance by easy gradations.

No sooner had Comenius accomplished the work assigned him by his Swedish advisers, than he received a call to reform the schools of Transylvania, in Hungary. Accordingly, he went, in 1650, to the town of Patak, where he established a model school. This he designed, under the patronage of wealthy friends, to develop into a pansophic institution; but it appears that he never organized more than the lower classes.

He remained at Patak four years, which were characterized by surprising literary activity. During this short period he produced no less than fifteen different works, among them his "World Illustrated" (Orbis Pictus), the most famous of all his writings. This work contained, as stated in the title-page, "the pictures and names of all the principal things in the world, and of all the principal occupations of man." It admirably applied the principle that words and things should be learned together. It contained not only a simple treatment of things in general, but also pictures to illustrate the subject of each lesson. The philosophic basis of the work is presented by Comenius in the following extract: