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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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ROGER ASCHAM (1515 - 1568) Ascham was born in Kirby Wiske, south of the Tees. A distinguished classical scholar at Cambridge, Ascham published Toxophilus (1545), an attractive book on archery, presented as a dialogue between Toxophilus (lover of shooting) and Philologus (lover of books). It puts the case for physical education and the use of English. Its dedication to Henry VIII gained Ascham a £10 pension. He was tutor to Princess Elizabeth 1548-50 and his 1550 encounter with Lady Jane Grey, then aged 13, has inspired many paintings and literary works. He was Latin Secretary to both Queen Mary I and Elizabeth. Late in life he was afflicted by poverty, though probably not, as William Camden (q.v.) asserts, by his addiction to dicing and cock-fighting. He is said to have died from chill caught by staying up all New Year’s night writing a poem to the queen. Ascham’s famous Scholemaster was prompted by a story he heard in 1563 of how some Eton scholars had fled from the school for fear of flogging. Published in 1570. Its form influenced Sidney’s Defence of Poetry and its plea for humanity in place of corporal punishment, though by no means original, was an important landmark in educational theory. His style is relaxed and personal, and pleasantly free of padding.
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