Excerpt from The Educational Writings of John Locke Throughout the seventeenth century the schools con tinned to lose their hold upon the socially distinguished class, and the process was accelerated as the studies and manners of school-boys departed more widely from its social ideals. The schools imparted learning, and learning was something Of a trade, unsuitable to men Of position or Of affluence. Referring to her son, Colin, a Westminster boy, Lady Caithness writes, in 1692 Som says the 80001 he is at is mo proper for to breed up youths for Church men than any other station; I supos my sons inclination will not be for that post. 2 Owners of great estates frequently educated their sons at home under a private tutor and the fashion spread amongst country gentlemen. Fielding's Squire Western in Tom Jones (1749) embodies the failure Of the system; contemporary evidence shows the failure was not nu common. But its success produced the accomplished virtuoso and man Of the world, whose powers had been stimulated and strengthened by a residence of two or three years in one of the Inns Of Court, where he found access to good society, the sojourn in London being followed by a prolonged tour in France and Italy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.