“Courtesy” at Little Gidding

Abstract

Nicholas Ferrar was always a teacher, providing for his multi-generational household a variety of educational activities. The illustrated biblical harmonies created by the older members of the family and the discussions in the Little Academy are comparatively well known. Less familiar is the material Ferrar produced to instruct the youngest members of the household in both worldly manners and spiritual formation. Ferrar’s original manuscript volume is lost, but his precepts survive in the notes of his biographer Francis Turner. This article combines Turner’s text with information about its context both at Gidding and in the larger contemporary world. Ferrar’s “Instructions” were for private rather than public consumption; hence, in them, Ferrar could speak directly to the children with vivid and concrete examples. Of particular interest is the striking emphasis he gave to gesture, especially with the hands, and the practical nature of his spiritual advice.