1. GRAMMAR. The foundation and source of all the Liberal Arts was grammar, it being, according to Maurus, "the science which teaches us to explain the poets and historians, and the art which qualifies us to speak and write correctly" (R. 74 a). In the introduction to an improved Latin grammar, [3] published about 1119, grammar is defined as "The doorkeeper of all the other sciences, the apt expurgatrix of the stammering tongue, the servant of logic, the mistress of rhetoric, the interpreter of theology, the relief of medicine, and the praiseworthy foundation of the whole quadrivium." Figure 45, from one of the earliest books printed in English, also emphasizes the great importance of grammar with the words: "Wythout whiche science (s)ycherly alle other sciences in especial ben of lytyl recomme(d)." In addition to grammar in the sense we know the study to-day, grammar in the old Roman and mediaeval mind also included much of what we know as the analytical side of the study of literature, such as comparison, analysis, versification, prosody, word formations, figures of speech, and vocal expression (R. 76). These were considered necessary to enable one to read understandingly the Holy Scriptures, and hence, "though the art be secular," says Maurus, "it has nothing unworthy about it." [Illustration: FIG. 45. A SCHOOL: A LESSON IN GRAMMAR (After a woodcut printed by Caxton in _The Mirror of the World_, 1481 (?). From Blades' _Life and Typography of William Caxton_, ii, Plate LVI) This is a good example of early English printing. Can you read it? This "Old English," like the German type (see Fig. 26), shows the change in Latin letters which came about with the copying of manuscripts during the Middle Ages. After the invention of printing the English soon returned to the Latin forms; the Germans are only now doing so.] The leading textbook was that of Donatus, [4] written in the fourth century, and Donatus (_donat_) and grammar came to be synonymous terms. The text by Priscian, [5] written in the sixth century, was also extensively used. The treatment in each was catechetical in form; that is, questions and answers, which were learned. The text was of course in Latin, and the teacher usually had the only copy, so that the pupils had to learn from memory or copy from dictation. The cost of writing-material usually precluded the latter method. After sufficient ability in grammar had been attained, simple reading exercises or colloquies (R. 75), usually of a religious or moralizing nature, were introduced, though where permitted the Latin authors, especially Vergil, [6] were read. At Saint Gall, in Switzerland, and at some other places, many Latin authors were read; at Tours, on the other hand, we find the learned Abbot Alcuin saying to the monks: "The sacred poets are sufficient for you; there is no reason why you should sully your mind with the rank luxuriance of Vergil's verse."