enough to have first learned their notes under other musicians. Gargantua, when asked by Ponocrates to meet certain scientific gentlemen of Paris who had been specially invited to inspire the royal Giant with love of knowledge, was so weak and pale after his dose that he could only bow his head, while wondering lazily to himself what all these heavy talks about Science had to do with the Latin, which his good old Father Grandgousier had been so anxious for him to learn.
When he had been dosed enough to forget his old studies, and even to look up with a mild surprise when his dearly-loved Master Holofernes was mentioned, Gargantua was put through a course of study, in which he did not lose a single hour of the day. Only think how much he must have learned each day ! First, he was roused up, whether he wanted or not, at four o'clock every morning, when he said his prayers. While the attendants were rubbing his body down, a young page would read, in a loud voice, so as to be heard above the scrubbing, some extracts from a book of good doctrine. After this, being not more than half-dressed yet, his practice was to visit each of his companions in his room, and with a gentle ' Get thee up, my boy ! get thee up !' awake the lazy fellow from his slumbers. Then he returned to his room, where he found Ponocrates always ready to explain what was doubtful in the chapters that had been read to him, and to ask him whether he had
PONOCRATES DOSES GARGANTUA.
noted, as he should, what signs the sun morning, and what moon would have was entering that aspect he thought the that night.
It was only after this that his attendants began to dress him, to perfume him, to curl him, and to powder him — Gargantua all the while not once venturing to use that large, well-thumbed German comb of which he had once been so proud. While all this was going on, the same page would repeat the lesson of the day. Gargantua, thoroughly dosed and brought down to a most anxious desire for study, learned after two or three days to repeat the lessons by heart. Everybody looked glad at this — none more so than good Master Ponocrates himself— especially when the debate touched on such a question as the 'Human State,' which was made the special lesson for two or three hours. While Gargantua was still puzzling over the reading of the
'Human State,' and learning all around the best talk about it, the big clock would strike eleven; and then he would, with all his friends, walk soberly to the ground where they would play at the good old game of ball, exercising their bodies till all their muscles grew tired. From the field it was an easy way to the house, where Gargantua, being first rubbed down and after a change of shirt, would walk meekly, surrounded by his friends, towards the kitchen to ask if the dinner was ready. While waiting for the cook — now no longer in a stew, and
GARGAXTUA AT HIS LESSONS
therefore growing fatter and greasier than ever — to send up the meal, they would recite clearly and eloquently such sentences as had been retained from the morning-lecture. However, Mister Appetite is stronger than Knowledge ; and when dinner was ready, they soon dropped their wise talk and began to look with eyes as big as their stomachs towards the dining-room. Once seated at table some one would begin to read a pleasant history of ancient heroism, and continue reading until the wine was served. Then, if the party seemed in a mood for it, Ponocrates would set them to chatting merrily about the nature of all that they had before them on the table, the bread, the wine, the water, the salt, the meats, the fish, the fruits, herbs, roots, and the mode of preparing all these. Doing this every day, Gar-gantua soon learned all the passages relating to them to be found in old classic writers, who were as dry as they were wise. Sometimes, when the quotation did not run smooth, the old, musty, yellow parchment itself, with its nearly rubbed-out Gothic letters, would be brought in to settle the question; and the result was that, in a marvelously short time, no learned doctor was Gargantua's equal in all this — no, not by one-half.
They would once more take up in an easy talk the lessons read during the morning, and, after finishing their dinner with some well-made marmalade of quinces, would clean their teeth with a twig of the mastic tree, and wash their hands and eyes with fresh water. Which being done, cards were brought, not to play with, but to teach a thousand fresh tricks and inventions which sprang directly, not only from Architecture, but from Geometry, Astronomy, and Music. After that, with a word from the good Master, Gargantua would make himself merry in singing w r ith his comrades some songs selected by himself, accompanied by such instruments as the lute, the spinet, the harp, the German nine-holed flute, the viol, and the sackbut, when would come three hours given to exercises in writing antique and Roman letters, and, lastly, to the main study, which would have made old Father Grandgousier's heart swell with gladness if he could only have known it.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW GARGANTUA WAS MADE NOT TO LOSE ONE HOUR OF THE DAY.
EVERYBODY knows that Giants are very queer people and require a great deal of care, even when they are the mildest, and Gargantua was such a Giant that the measures of all the Tailors of Paris at that time couldn't have told him how tall he was, and all the weights known in his day couldn't possibly have balanced his big body.
Master Ponocrates, who had no idea of making the Prince's mind strong at the expense of his body, — being too good a teacher for that, — arranged it in such a way that, every day after the Latin lesson, Gargantua was allowed, after changing his clothes, to leave his hotel with his Squire Gymnaste, who had been chosen specially to teach him the noble art of horsemanship. Once on horseback, Gargantua would first give his steed full rein ; then make him leap high in air ; then jump a ditch ; then scale a fence; then turn quickly in one half of a circle, and back again around the other half, before one could count thirty seconds. Then calling for a lance — the keenest, the sharpest, and the strongest that could be had—he would ride full-tilt against the heaviest door or the stoutest oak, piercing the one through and through, or uprooting the other by sheer force with as much ease as a common man would tear up a sapling. As for the flourishes on horseback, no one could compete with Gargantua. The great acrobat of Ferrara was only a monkey in comparison with him. Gargantua was taught to leap from one horse to another while both were at full gallop, without touching the ground, or, with lance at rest, mounting each horse without stirrup or bridle, and guiding it as he pleased. As Ponocrates said, help to make a good soldier.' only a trifle. Every fine day the Prince things would go mg. 'all these
Yet this was hunt-He would shine as brightly there as he had done in horsemanship. He would always be the first when the stag was brought to bay.
He would be foremost in chasing the deer, the doe, the boar, the partridge, the pheasant, and the bustard.
Next to hunting came swimming. Gargantua, being so bulky, never would strike a stroke unless he was in deep waters. He would play such tricks in the water as only good swimmers know — swimming on his back, or sideways, or with all his body, or sometimes with his feet only. He laughed at the idea of crossing the Seine. It was his daily pastime, holding a book with one hand high above the water, to reach the other side without wetting a single page of it. One day, Gargantua, being praised for all this, was asked if he had any model. All he said was : —
' Perhaps, Julius Csesar used to do something of the same kind.'
On coming out of the water, he would of course feel chilled through, and then to get well warmed he would run up a hill, and then rush down, taking the trees on the way, up which he would dart like a cat,
GABGANTUA LEABNS TO SHOOT
breaking the targets from be-then before him, leaping from one branch to the other like a squirrel, and breaking down great limbs to the right and left like Milo of old. He would next pay his attention to the houses which, with the aid of two steel poniards, he would climb, jumping down from them without ever being the worse for it. After this he would exercise with the bow, often strongest bows in drawing, shooting at low upwards, from above downwards, sideways, and at last behind him, like the Parthians.
