Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/44

 1. Ecce Tabula nigra.

2. Pars Tabulæ nigræ.

3. Addo Partem Tabulæ nigræ.

4. Video Tabulam nigram.

5. O tu Tabula nigra.

6. Video aliquid in Tabula nigra.

The Vestibulum met with considerable success, and, though never as popular as the Janua, was published in English, German, Hungarian, and Swedish.

Having once started theorising about the physical constitution of the universe, Comenius carried his train of thought still farther than in the Physics. He had already enabled the “studious youth” to take an external survey of natural objects by means of the Janua Linguarum, he would now introduce him to their essential nature, and with this end in view began to compose a Gate of phenomena or doorway to wisdom; the work to be a kind of small Encyclopædia or hand-book of universal knowledge. Some friends with whom he had discussed this project now visited England, and excited so much interest by the reports that they brought of the Pansophistic work on the stocks, that a “worthy man” (probably Hartlib) wrote to him and asked for a slight sketch of the projected treatise. Comenius obligingly complied with the request and sent him a short manuscript entitled Outline of my work on Universal Wisdom.

Imagine his surprise, when the manuscript intended for his friends’ eyes alone was returned to him in print. Still, though publication had been far removed from his intention, he could not but recognise the advantage of sounding public opinion and seeing what the learned world thought of the issue of a work on such ambitious lines. As a feeler,