In 1563 Ascham began the work "The Scholemaster", published posthumously in 1570, which ensured his later reputation. Richard Sackville, he states in the book's preface, told him that "a fond schoolmaster" had, by his brutality, made him hate learning, much to his loss, and as he had now a young son, whom he wished to be learned, he offered, if Ascham would name a tutor, to pay for the education of their respective sons under Ascham's orders, and invited Ascham to write a treatise on "the right order of teaching". "The Scholemaster" was the result.