other it doth destruction by breach of proportion and so consequentlie of peace In naturall bodies this to much appeareth when one or mo parts engrosse them selues to much feble the remnant In a coÌ„mon bodie this to much for learning is then to be espied when the priuat professions do smell to much and so weaken the hole bodie either by multitude of the prefessors which bite sore where manie must be fed and haue but litle to fede on or by vnnecessarie professions which choke vp the better and fill the world with toies or by infinitnesse of books which cloie vp students and weaken with varietie or by intolerable swelling in the verie handling which fatteh the carcasse and febleth the strength of pithie matter Be not all these surfets at this daie in our state Be there not enemies to the common end being growen out of proportioÌ„ be theie not worth the weing wish theie no redresse I saie no more where it is to much euen to saie so much in a sore of to much For to litle thus I coÌ„ceiue In a naturall bodie there is then to litle when either som necessarie thing wanteth or when that which is not waÌ„ting is to weak to serue the turn And be not the same defects diseases in learning and disquieters to a state when necessarie professours waÌ„t either for number as to few or for valew as to feble wheÌ„ shew is shrined where stuf should be enstalled when sound learning is litle sought for but onelie sursace sufficient to shift with When som necessarie professions ar quite contemned and laid vnder foot bycause the cursorie student is to passe awaie in post When want of nedefull books bycause theie be not to be had proues a forcible let to greater learning when such as we haue be as good not had for insufficiencis in handling and lamenesse to learn by This corruption in learning anie man maie se who is desirous to seke both for the maladie and the amendment A breach of proportion and therefore of peace to a publik bodie which ought to be proportionate a pining euil which consumeth by staruing For diuersitie in masters of learning thus I think that as it self procedeth from diuersities in abilitie for bringing vp for wit for iudgement for perfection bycause either all or som of these four be a great deal finer in som then in som so it worketh verie much harm in the peace of anie state chefelie where the leaders thereof tho theie fall not out and do but vtter their opinions yet deuide studies according to their fauorites which consider not so much the weight of the arguments as the liking of the autors If this diuersitie do break out in carnest as it hath commonlie don in our time while the verie print it self being the instrument of necessitie and the deliuerer of learning in the naturall and best vse becommeth verie often to fré a mean for ambition in brauerie for malice in enuie for reuenge in enimitie for all passions in all purposes what a sore blow doth the coÌ„mon quiet receiue whose mean to quiet is made an instrumeÌ„t to distemper For will not he fight in his furie which brauleth in his books seme not those mindes armed naie arm theie not others to by egging enimitie forward to an open coÌ„flict which in priuat studies enter combats with papirs which by to much eagernesse make to much a do in a stir better quenched to dy then quikned to liue which whet their wits before to be wranglers euer after and as much as lyeth in them disturb the common ease nedelesse combats in matters of learning be those which I mislike the nedefull maie go on yet with no more passion then common ciuilitie will allow and christian charitie not condemn To much ouerburdeneth to litle consumeth to diuerse distracteth but to dissensious destroies Your selues know my learned readers what a wonderfull stir there is dailie in your schools thorough the dissenting opinions of som in logik som in philosophie som in the mathematiks Physik is not fre tho Paracelsus were no fo to those his humorists The lawyer generallic is most quiet for contradictorie writing bycause he gains not by it the thing which he sekes for contrarie pleading at coÌ„mon bars is a better pastur for a lean purse then a bissie pen to publish controuersies The dissension in diuinitie is fierce beyond Gods forbid so much the more bycause it falls out often that the aduersarie parties entermingle their own passions with the matters which theie deal in For as our arguments of controuersie in cases of relligioÌ„ do somtimes require a necessarie defense so theâ—…e be oftimes such as maie be well compounded if mens affections would abide as much water to coul as theie bring fire to enflame But in the mean while how is the common peace disturbed by the dissensious writhing of a worthie mean to maintain a wrong and to becom slaue to som in ordinate passion I enter not this argument to stand long about it but in natur of a passage to let my good reader vnderstand how much my desire was encreased to the furtherance of learning after I had markt these inconueniences wheras at the first I ment no more but onelie the help of teaching the learned tungs The agrement of the learned generallie is mother to contentment generallie By carping or contrarying theie trouble the world and taint themselues bearing the name of Christians which verie title enioyneth a serch to avoyd contentioÌ„ euen by submission of the wronged neither chargeth it vs to defend our religion with passionat mindes but with armor of pacience and appointment of truth sufficient to confute euen bycause it is trew not neding our affections wherewith it is trubled These were the blemishes which I saw by the waie in the bodie of learning which as I did mone so I wished the amendment which amendment resteth vpon two great pillers The professours of learning to giue intelligence of the error and the principall magistrates naie the verie souerain prince to cause the redresse in so necessarie a pece as the course of learning is being Gods great instrument to work our quietnesse for souls bodies goods and doings The prince maie take order to cut of that is to much to make vp that is to litle to vnite diuersities to expell dissensions whose lawfull autoritie is a great coÌ„mander and no where more then in a generall good where euerie one will follow bycause euerie one is bettered If it com not froÌ„ the prince the mone maie continew the ameÌ„d ment is consumed Which proueth Platoes sentence to haue kings Filosofers that is all magistrates learned to be mauellous requisite in anie good gouernment It is a great corrosiue to the hole prouince of learning which is the regiment of peace where such as must direct ar but experienced wise tho that be verie much but yet both experience and learning togither make the
THE FIRST PART OF THE ELEMENTARIE VVHICH ENTREATETH CHEFELIE OF THE right writing of our English tung set furth by RICHARD MVLCASTER Imprinted at London by Thomas Vautroullier dwelling in the blak-friers by Lud-gate 1582. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE MY VERIE GOOD LORD THE L. Robert Dudlie Earle of Leicester Baron of Denbigh knight of the most noble order of the garter and S. Michaëll master of hir maiesties horses and one of hir highnesse most honorable priuie counsell RIGHT honorable and my verie good Lord as the considerations which enforced me to offer hir maiestie the first frutes of my publik writing were exceding great so those reasons which induce me now to present to your honor this my second labor be not verie small Hir maiestie representeth the personage of the hole land and therefor clameth a prerogatiue in dewtie both for the excellencie of hir place wherewith she is honored as our prince and for the greatnesse of hir care wherewith she is charged as our parent If honor be the end of that which is don hir place is to clame if the common good then hir charge is to chalenge VVhich both clame in honor and chalenge in charge did concur in one aspect when I offered hir my book For mine own purpos was to honor hir place with the first of my labor and my book pretended to benefit hir charge with som generall profit Again being desirous both to procure my book passage thorough hir maiesties dominions to laie som ground for mine own credit at the verie fountain how could I haue obtained either the first without hir sufferance or the last but with hir countenance VVhose considerate iudgement if my book did not please my credit were in danger whose gracious permission if it were denyed my successe were in despare So that both my dewtie towards hir maiestie as my souerain prince and my desire of furtherance by hir maiestie as my surest protection compelled me of force to begin with hir highnesse by satisfying of my dewtie to com in hope of my desire if the matter which I offred should deserue liking as the course which I took shewed desire to please Now my dewtie in that behalf towards hir maiestie being so discharged whom the presenting of my book makes priuie to my purpos doth not the verie stream of dewtie the force of de sert carie me streight frō hir highnesse vnto your honor whether I haue in eie your general good nesse towards all them which be learned themselues or your particular fauor towards my trauell which teach others to learn For in common iudgement is not he to take place next after the prince in the honor of learning which all waie by the prince most preferreth learning wherein I do not se that there is anie one about hir maiestie without offence be it spoken either to your honor if you desire not to hear it or to anie other person which deserues well that waie which either iustlie can or vniustlie will cōpare with your honor either for the encouraging of students to the attainmēt of learning or for helping the learned to aduancement of liuing VVhich two points I take to be most euident proufs of generall patronage to all learning to nurish it being grene to cherish it being grown Of which your honors both first nurishing and last cherishing of ech kinde of learning there is no one corner in all our cuntrie but it feleth the frute and thriues by the effect For how manie singular men haue bene worthilie placed how manie nedefull places haue bene singularlie appointed by your either onelie or most honorable means with this generall consideration whereby all men ar bound to your honor in dewtie who either like of learning or liue by learning mine own particular doth ioyn it self with all officiousnesse and desire to do honor where it hath found fauor For I do find my self excedinglie indetted vnto your honor for your speciall goodnesse and most fauorable countenance these manie years VVhereby I am bound to declare the vow of my seruice vnto your honor not by the offering of a petie boke alone such as this is but by tendring whatsoeuer a thankfull minde can deuise in extremitie of power for so excellent a patron And tho I begin the shew of my deuotion with a verie mean sacrifice for so great a saint as what a simple present is a part of an Elementarie or an English ortografie to so great a person and so good a patron yet am I in verie good hope that your honor will accept it and measur my good will not by the valew of the present but by the wont of your goodnesse For dewtie will break out and an ishew it will find which tho it stream not great where it springeth first yet is it as pure as where it spredeth most Mo offerings hereafter of the like sort maie giue it greater shew but none of anie sort can shew more good will And so I desire your honor to take it in waie of euidence to the world that your desert hath bound me in waie of witnesse to your self that I would return dewtie Mine own good will I know my self of your good liking I nothing dout whose honorable and ordinarie dispositiō is to take things well which taste of goodwill I offred to hir maiestie the prime of my pen I offer to your honor the prime of right penning not handled thus before as I can perceiue by anie of my cuntrie tho I se diuerse that haue bene tampering about it And as the difference of state betwene hir maiestie your honor made me of mere force to begin with hir and to discend to you so the matter of that book which I presented vnto hir is the occasiō of this which I offer vnto you In that book among other things which the discourse enforced as it enforced manie bycause it doth medle with all the nedefull accidents which belong to teaching I did promis an Elementarie that is the hole matter which childern ar to learn and the hole maner how masters ar to teach them from their first beginning to go to anie school vntill theie passe to grammer in both the best if my opinion proue best This point is of great moment in my iudgement both for young learners to be entred with the best and for the old learned to be sound from the first This Elementarie am I now to perform VVhose particular brāches being manie in number the book thereby growing to som bulk I thought it good to de uide it into parts vpō sundrie causes but chefelie for the printer whose sale will be quik if the book be not big Of those seuerall parts this is the first wherein I entreat tho that be but litle of certain generall considerations which concern the hole Elementarie but I handle speciallie in it the right writing of our English tung a verie necessarie point and of force to be handled ear the child
wherevnto it entreth and appropriate to the learner which it must enter there be two considerations chefelie to be had the one is of what cumpas the profession maie be whom the institution leadeth the other of what kinde In the cumpas we consider the vse thereof to direct our life whether it stretch far or but som small waie In the kinde we consider whether it be more in action and lesse in contemplation or contrarie wise For according to these two considerations the institution must be fashioned Bycause the professions of diuinitie law and physik be of themselues verie large for varietie of matter and in vse verie nedefull for their generall seruice their institutions therefor ar commonlie great as a fair gate doth best beseme a sumptuous pallace The other faculties and Arts as of argument vnder these so of consequence lesse then these nede but short institutions as a litle dore doth best fit a pretie small bilding Again where the end of anie art is hollie in doing the institution wold be short for hindering of that end by holding the learner toto long in musing vpon rules as in our grammer which is the institutiō to speche there wold be no such length as is commonlie vsed bycause the end thereof is to write and speak which when we do most we learn our grammer best being applyed to matter and not clogd with rules As for the vnderstanding of writers that cums by years and ripenesse of wit not by rule of grammer anie otherwise then that grammer helpeth to the knowledge of tungs whereby we vnderstand the arguments hid in them But I will then handle these things when I deal with grammer next after mine elementarie In the mean while that rule of Aristotle must be preciselie kept whereby we ar taught that the best waie to learn anie thing well which must afterward be don when it is learned is still to be a doing while we be a learning In this last kinde whose rule is to be short in precept and much in practis is this hole Elementarie and therefor I am to deliuer som pretie and few rules pikt out of the verie substance of ech principle which to kepe in practis and then to set down som well chosen presidents whereupon to practis neither laing on to much to passe an institution neither leauing out to much to com to short of it neither vsing but the best to work the best effect For an institution ought to be in lineament like the hole as the infant to his parent tho not so full grown in working forcible as a strong renet in ech part pithie to sprede full in all without anie defect when it is to perform least it proue it self lame for not preuenting that where the lamenesse appeareth which wold not appear if either the institution it self had bene perfit or the following of it full For the failing that waie is oft in the institution being not perfitlie made but either swelling to much or pent in to small or not properlie cast but it is more oft in the trainer himself which cannot perform that that is perfitlie set down But least I proue long while I promis shortnesse I will streight waie in hand with my first principle which is that of Reading wherein I will first appoint certain notes to direct the reader and after som presidents which seme fittest to be red This treatis concerning the right writing of our English tung tucheth the teacher and grown men more out of the which I will still collect by waie of precept and a short epitomé so much as shal be necessarie for the young reader to help his spelling or the young writer to direct his hand right ear I deal with the two principles THE PERORATION To my gentle readers good cuntriemen VVHEREIN MANIE THINGS AR HANDLED CONCERNING LEARning in generall and the natur of the english and foren tungs besides som particularities concerning the penning of this and other books in English MY good cuntriemen and gentle readers you cannot possiblie haue axie more certain argument of the great desire which I haue to please you and the earnest care which I haue to win your liking then this verie speche directed vnto you and that of set purpos For if I had trusted vnto my self alone and had thought mine own iudgement sufficient enough to have bene the rule of my right writing which when I had pleased I should nede no further care to content anie other I might haue spared this pains in requiring your frindship and have left curtesie to som hope tho it were in som hasard which seing I do not but sew for your fauor and frindlie construction my earnest care in sewing therefor as in me it voids contempt of your iudgement and confidence in mine own so in you it maie work curtesie and a fauorable minde towards a man so affected and so desirous to please you as I dont not but it will seing care is my sollicitor and curtisie yours If I feared not that inconueuience which commonlie enseweth where two speak in an vnknown tung and the third standing by thinks himself despised bycause he vnderstands not I wold haue sollicited my request in the latin tung bycause the kinde of people which I reuerence most and whose frindlie opinion I do couet most both desireth and deliteth to be dealt with in that tung as being learned themselues But the vnlearned stander by must help with a smile and is therefor to vnderstand the matter which is handled Wherefor to content both by contemning neither I will go on in that tung wherein I first began and by a mean known to both seke frindship of both seing my desire is as to profit the ignorant so to please the cunning But before I do moue anie particular request to anie or all of you my good cuntrimen I must nedes enform you in the state of my cause that perceiuing all circumstances you maie yeild with more fauor when the motion shal be made The verie first cause which moued me first to deal in this argument and to venter vpon the print whereof I stood in aw for a long time and neuer durst com near it till now of late was to do som good in that trade onelie wherein I haue trauelled these manie years and by vttering my experience in the train to learned tungs to lighten other mens labor bycause I had espied som defects that waie which craued som supply But the consideration thereof being once entered my head did sprede a great deal further then I dreamed on at the first and wrought in me the like impression for the right teaching of the learned tungs that the inquirie for iustice in things of common life did somtime work in that renouned Plato For Plato seking to define Iustice and what that is which we call right in ciuill doing could not deuise how to set them down in certain by waie of definition bycà use theie were
credit in a doutfull case tho it pretēded profit to haue bene beleued before it had perswaded by plane euidence To haue the thing proued ear it were perceiued that it wold be profitable not onelie for the present but in time to com also and that in euerie mans eie which had anie foresight If the first could do so both in finding and perswading both in first admitting and still continewing his follower must do so or be in falt himself and deliuer the thing from opinion of hardnesse which riseth of himself being not well appointed for sufficient deliuerie If the partie which readeth do not conceiue the thing well bycause he is ignorant he is to be pardoned the disease proceding from mere infirmitie But if he do not bycause he will not hauing abilitie to do tho not with the most he is punished enough by being peuish ignorāt if he can do with the best will deal with the worst blinded vnderstanding is the greatest darknesse punisheth the ill humor with deprauing of reason which should iudge right If the partie deliuerer be himself weak where mine own part coms in being a deliuerer my self he is either vnaduised if he write ear that he know or not well aduised if he mēd not where he misseth so he know wherein and can tell how Yet the readers curtesie is som couert against error for him that writeth as his pardon is protection for him that readeth if simple ignorance be their onelie falt without further want or defect in good will It fareth oftimes with readers in the iudging of books as it doth with beholders in iudging of fauor as it doth with tasters in iudging of relice In the matter of fauor where louing is all things be amiable where lothing is there nothing is liked no not beawtie it self But where affection is voided and reason in place being able to iudge there beawtie is beawtie and deformitie is ill fauored and euerie thing so weighed as it is worth in dede The like varietie is in matters of diet a sikkish humor can relice nothing well an ouergiuen delite likes nothing at all but his own choice an healthfull humor and a right taste neither ouerlothes with siknesse nor ouerloues with fant sie but measureth what he t◅steth with a right sense And therefor in iudge ment of fauor the corrupt opinion must be freid from passion in discerning of iuyces the corruption of taste must be cleared from distem per in matters of reason right information must be mean to right iudgement or else that passion is to imperious whom information cānot rule Howbeit I fear not anie so strong a passion in anie my reader and therefor I will on with my argument of hardnesse Admit this diuision to be trew that the hardnesse about matter either riseth of the thing it self or of the handling Is the thing hard saie you Then is it such as is strāge to the reader either for differēce of trade betwene the readers profession and the thing which he rea deth or for want of full studie which marreth that in hādling that was neuer so studied as it could be well handled For the first what affinitie is there in respect of their profession betwene a simple plowman a warie merchant and a subtill lawyer betwene manuarie trades and metaphysicall discourses either for the mathematiks for physik or for diuinitie Again can anie thing at all be easie euē to students who professe allyance with the thing which theie studie as the other do not whose trades be mere fremd if theie haue not trauelled sufficiētlie therein I nede saie no more but onelie this that where there is no acquaintance in profession there is no ease to help vnderstanding where no familiaritie there no facilitie where no cōferēce there no knowledge If the man delue the earth the matter dwell in heauen there is no mean to vnite where the distance is so great without compatibilitie And whereas the vnderstanding in affinitie of trade is clear insufficient there is far more hardnesse then in diffe rence of professiō bycause vain persuasiō in such imperfitnesse brings much more error then weak knowledge can work vnderstanding In the ignorant vnacquaint◅d there maie som good follow if he begin to like but the lukewarm learned doth mar his own waie by preiudi cat opinion But all this while if there be anie difficultie about the matter the mean is cause of hardnesse which is in the man and not the propertie which is in the matter and maie easilie be had if it be carefullie sought I am quik in teaching and so hard to vnderstand but to whom and why To him forsoth that is not acquainted with such a currant neither yet familiar to the matter so coursed Well then if want of acquaintance be the cause of difficultie and supposed hardnesse acquaintāce once made and frindlie continewed will reme die that complaint if the matter seme worthie the mās acquaintāce in his naturall tung for that is a question in a conceit blinded with the foren fauor or if the partie be desirous to be rid of such a gest as ignorance is for that is another question in a vain opinion ouerweining it self For ane hole book being writen in English and so manie Englishmen being so well able to satisfy euen at full the most ignorant reader in anie case of a book in that tung it were to great discourtesie not to lighten a mans labor with a short question and as long an answer but to pretend difficultie as a shadow not to seke where the matter it self being no pleasant tale nor anie amorous de uise but an earnest argument concerning sober aduised learning not acquainted with all readers nor yet with all writers doth protest no ease before it be sought and deseruing to be sought either for knowledge sake to instruct our selues or for cuntries sake to enlarge hir speche if it be not sought at all and thereby not found it doth bewraie an vnnaturall idlenesse which desireth rather to find salt thē ease For what reason is it for one to labor to help all none to list to help that one naie for anie to list not to help himself frō the danger bondage of blind ignorance If the book were all Latin no one word of the readers acquaintāce thē the thing were desperate for a mere Englishmā to compas Where as now anie man maie do it with verie small enquirie of his skilfull neighbour Wherefor if anie thing seme hard to such an ignorant as desireth to know doth not know thorough the argument it self being mere strang to his kinde of life he must handle the thing often and so make it soft where it semeth to be hard and in questions of dowt confer with those which ar cūning allredie He must take acquaintāce make the thing familiar if it seme to be strange For all strange things seme great nouelties hard of
were soundlie made yet was it not well armed with sufficient suretie against the festuring euill of error corruption Wherefor when it felt the want of such an assurance it praied aid of Art which like a beaten lawyer handled the matter so and with such a forecast in the penning of his books as euerie of them which had anie interest were taught to know what was their own Other tungs beside the first refined marking this currant applied the same to their own seuerall writing and were verie glad with great thanks to vse the benefit of those mens labor which wrastled with the difficulties of sound error corruption and the residew of that ill humored peple This originall president in the first and translated patern in the rest I mean to follow in the finding out of our right English writing which whether it will proue to be fashioned accordinglie and framed like the patern it shall then appear whē the thing it self shall com furth in hir own naturall hew tho in artificiall habit I haue not vsed anie autors name in this discourse either to confirm or to confute by credit of autoritie For anie man allmost of anie mean learning maie quiklie espy that these matters ar not without autors For can reason custō art sound error corruption and such other qualities as plaie their parts in this so ordinate a plat lak testimonie of writers being so much writen of But I did onelie seke to satisfie nede and to polish no further To conclude and knit vp the argument this method and this order vsed the first tung that euer was brought to anie right in writing by the help whereof vnder the direction of Art all those tungs which we now call learned ar com to that certaintie which we se them now in thorough precept and rule The same help will I vse in my particular method Which before I deall with I must examin two principall points in our tung whereof one is whether our tung haue stuf in it for art to bild on bycause I said that Art delt where she found matter sufficient for hir trauell The other is whether our writing be iustlie chalenged for those infirmities wherewith it is charged in this our time bycause I said that this period in our time semeth to be the perfitest period in our English tūg that our custom hath alredie beaten out his own rules redie for the method frame of Art Which two points ar necessarilie to be considered For if there be either no matter for Art in extreme cōfusion or if our custō be not yet ripe to be reduced vnto rule then that perfit period in our tung is not yet com I haue set vpon this argument while it is yet to grene Howbeit I hope it will not proue to timelie and therefor I will first shew that there is in our tung great and sufficient stuf for Art then that there is no such infirmitie in our writing as is pretended but that our custom is grown fit to receaue this artificiall frame and that by this method which I haue laid down without anie foren help and with those rules onelie which ar and maie be gathered out of our own ordinarie writing CAP. XIII That the English tung hath in it self sufficient matter to work her own artificiall direction for the right writing thereof IT must nedes be that our English tung hath matter enough in hir own writing which maie direct her own right if it be reduced to certain precept and rule of Art tho it haue not as yet bene thoroughlie perceaued The causes why it hath not as yet bene thoroughlie perceaued ar the hope despare of such as haue either thought vpon it and not dealt in it or that haue delt in it but not rightlie thought vpon it For som considering the great difficultie which theie found to be in the writing thereof euerie letter almost being deputed to manie and seuerall naie to manie and wellnigh contrarie sounds and vses euerie word almost either wanting letters for his necessarie sound or hauing some more then necessitie requireth began to despare in the midst of such a confusio euer to find out anie sure direction whereon to ground Art and to set it certain And what if either theie did not seke or did not know how to seke in right form of Art and the compòsing method But whether difficultie in the thing or infirmitie in the searchers gaue cause thereunto the parties them selues gaue ouer the thing as in a desperat case and by not medling thorough despare theie helped not the right Again som others bearing a good affection to their naturall tung and resolued to burst thorough the midst of all these difficulties which offered such resistēce as theie misliked the confusion wherewith the other were afraid so theie deuised a new mean wherein theie laid their hope to bring the thing about Wherevpon som of them being of great place and good learning set furth in print particular treatises of that argument with these their new conceaued means how we ought to write and so to write right But their good hope by reason of their strange mean had the same euent that the others despare had by their either misconceauing the thing at first or their diffidence at the last Wherein the parties them selues no dout deserue some praise and thanks to of vs and our cuntrie in both these extremities of hope and despare tho theie helped not the thing which theie went about but in common apparence did som what hinder it rather For both he that despared in the end took great pains before diffidence caused him giue ouer to despare and he that did hope by his own deuise to supply the generall wāt was not verie idle both in brain to deuise and in hand to deliuer the thing which he deuised Which their trauell in the thing and desire to do good deserue great thanks tho that waie which theie took did not take effect The causes why theie took not effect and thereby in part did hinder the thing by making of manie think the case more desperat then it was in dede bycause such fellowes did so faill were these Their despare which thought that the tung was vncapable of anie direction came of a wrong cause the falt rising in dede not of the thing which theie did cōdemn as altogether rude and vnrulie but of the parties them selues who mistook their waie For the thing it self will soon be ordered our custom is grown so orderable tho it require som diligence and good consideration in him that must find it out But when a writer taketh a wrong principle quite contrarie to common practis where triall must be tuch and practis must confirm the mean which he conceaueth is it anie maruell if the vse of a tung ouerthwart such a mean which is not conformable vnto it Herevpon proceded the despare to hit right bycause theie missed
he that pretendeth a falt against anie tung amēdeth not that falt but deuiseth a new right of his own conceiuing helpeth not the old falt but by tendering a new mean offereth more matter to the finding of new falts while men will rather be content to embrase their old with all knowen falts then to ventur vpon a new theie know not how good I shall not nede to vse anie learned mās testimonie or name more thē Gaza alone to proue that this most commonlie so is the onelie right in writing and speaking and what a great commāder custom is in it by cause euerie where theie write nothing else concerning custom when theie deall with him in this kinde but of that his dominion ouer speche and pen. And theie that be learned know that all such as deall in speche whether pithilie with logik or plausiblie with rhethorik or purelie with grāmer do laie it down in plain terms of vse and custom that for speche and pen the rule and resolution thereof goeth still so as vse best alloweth as custom most commandeth whose choice lyes in that which is commonlie so vpō best shew sharpest cause The vnlearned also in their dailie experience maie well perceiue that the thing is so by the liking and misliking by the rising and decaing of sundrie words and phrases of speche in their ordinarie dealings as either youth and fresh cause pre ferreth the new and as age and ouerwearing displaceth the old So that who so will enforce the contrarie to that which custom and vse do take to protection as practised by the most and not disproued by the best which is the reason of my plat in fining of speche euen from the verie first shall not possibile preuail as maie be well perceiued by manie fair attempts which can find no entrie where theie haue attempted all As for consent this I haue to saie that it did both beget letters and gaue them their forces at the verie first to expresse the sound of the articulate voice and that from time to time it hath so altered and vsed them vpon nedefull cause by lawfull autoritie of it self confirming it self as theie haue followed that course which consent hath commanded and good reason why For mens nede being the onelie cause why theie fly to new deuises whereby to supply that nede if theie thēselues do confesse their own nede to be supplyed by such a mean as theie haue found out will you seke further prouf thereof then their own confession which both found the want and fele the help And if vpon som longer and therefor better trauell theie do find that the thing which theie liked on at the first excedinglie well while the misliking of their want persuaded the well liking of anie thing at all which serued for supply must afterward be qualifyed much otherwise then it was at the first to be so made proper to all performances which their nede requireth will ye not beleue them in that which theie both find and fele whether you do or no the truth will and pronounceth peremptorilie that custom doth and must rule in all such cases where manie ar to practis a thing of their own procurement but most of all there where theie haue practised allredie and ar most willing to continew in that the which theie haue practised as in this our writing Wherefor it shall please my good cuntrimen to giue their consent that this is their right in writing without further parlementing it will proue so in dede And why it should be so I will alledge verie fair and yet nothing else but that which euen theie themselues vse in their dailie writing wherein as theie maie be iudges of the matter vpon familiaritie with it so will I frame the mean to ascertain the matter according vnto the president of all the best tungs Cap. XVI The seuen means to find out and ascertain the right writing of English IT hath bene not onelie said but also proued allredie and that in euerie particular branch thereof how the first mean which was vsed for the fining of the first tung and was afterward transported to the fining of other to work the same effect in them by following the same president did procede in working by these degres First the sound alone did rule the pen bycause the letters were first deuised onelie to resemble and expresse the sound by their aspectable figur But verie manie inconueniences did follow while that sound alone did commād the pen bycause of the differēce in the instrumēts of our voice wherewith we soūd bycause of the finenesse or grossenesse of the ear wherewith we receiue sounds bycause of the iudgemēt or ignorāce in the partie which is to pronounce of the right or wrong expressing of the sound For the auoiding whereof the peple which found these inconueniēces and the causes why to be in the imperfection of their gide while sound alone was the leader in writing ioyned reason and custom in commission with sound Reason to obserue where the sternnesse of sound were to be followed and where to be qualified bycause letters resemble the ioynts in sound but ar not the same with the things resembled Custom to confirm that by experiēce in the pen which reason doth obserue and note in the sound But all these thrè the proprietie of sound the qualifying of reason the experimenting of custom consisting as yet in the bare vnrecorded and vnwriten vse wherein euerie mans brain was euerie mās book and euerie priuat conceit a particular print diuerse and great corruptions began to encroche again against both reason and custom to restore sound to his first monarchie to force custom against the common currant Which attempts of error and misuse for these two be sounds principal frinds in the maintenance of his vnlawfull autoritie reason and custom vpon great causes did mightilie withstand and praied help of Art as an autorised notarie to write all those things down in precept and method wherein sound reason and custom all thrè had consented and agreid were not to be shaken by anie insolence of corruption if the bands of their consent agrement were once made subscribed sealed deliuered as all their thré dedes Which being don all quarells were ended and the rule of right writing was so enrold before such officers of state as it was but vaine for sound or for anie of his fauorers euer to striue thēcefurth for anie monarchie alone tho he cōtinew stil in verie great autoritie This course took the first finers to bring their pen to an artificiall right this the rest followed and this course will I take by the grace of God to bring my cuntrie writing to precept method by the help of Art registring the argument of reason custom and sound in the writing thereof with as good deliberation and faith as my cunning can compas and as the natur of such an argument will admit
not I will not alledge that the old learned men vsed darknesse in deliuerie in matters of relligion to win reuerēce to the argumēt as of another world not of ordinarie speche neither that the old wisedom was expressed by ridles prouerbs fables oracles and oracle like verses to draw on studie and set that sure in memorie which was soundlie studied for ear it was so vttered Be anie of our best and eldest writers which we studie at this daie haue ben thought the best eche in their kinde euer since theie wrote first vnderstood at once reading and at the verie first tho he that studieth them do know their tung as well as we think we know English naie and better to bycause it is more labored or is their manner of penning to be disallowed as dark bycause the ignorant reader or the nice student maie not streight waie rush into it That theie fell into that short close kinde of writing euen for verie pith to saie much where theie speak least the commenting of thē declareth which openeth that with great lēgth which theie set down in som short sentēce naie in som short cut of no verie long sentēce Be not all the chefe paragons principall leaders in euerie profession of this same sort vnpearceable for the commō tho in their common tūg but reserued to learning as to store them that will studie But maie not this dark falt be in him that finds it not in the matter which is plane of it self and is plainelie vttered tho it be not so to him Our daintinesse deceiues vs our want of good will blinds vs naie our want of skill is the verie witch which bereueth vs of sense tho we pretend cunning countenance for learning For euerie one that bids a book good morow is not therefor a scholler nor a sufficient iudge of the book arguments What if he haue studied verie well but neither much nor long nor once medled or not soundlie medled with the argumēt whereof he wil be iudge What if desire of prefermēt haue cut of his studie in the midst of his hope greatest towardnesse Naie what if what not where the means be so manie to work infirmitie notwithstanding either countināce in the partie or opinion in the peple do muster verie fare for som shew of learning Euerie man maie iudge well of euerie thing which he hath studied well practised full if the studie require practis with all the circumstances that belong thereto Pretie skill som one waie and in som one thing will somtimes glance at further matter and shew som smak of further cunning but no more then a smak no further then a glance And therefor in my iudging of another mans writing so much of my iudgement is trew as I am able to proue soundlie if I were sadlie apposed by those that can iudge and not so much as I maie carie vncontrolled either by pleasing my self or som as ignorāt as my self Apelles could allow the coblers opinion where his clouting was his cunning but not an inch further For my maner of writing if I misse in choice I misse with warrāt still rather minding the matter with substance then the person with surface For howsoeuer it be in speche in that kinde of penning which wil be like to speche plane for plane argument where performance must be present deliuerie without delaie certainlie where the matter must bide the tuch and be tryed by the hāmer of a learned resolution there wold be precisenesse there wold be ordinat method and deliuerie well coucht euerie word bearing weight euerie sentēce being well euen that well well weighed where both time doth lend weing and the matter deserues weing Which kinde of writing tho it want estimation in som one age by sleightnesse of the time yet maie win it in another when weight shal be in price as som hundreth years be writen both to shrine saincts and to autorise books For the generall penning in the English tung I must nedes saie this much that in som points of handling by the tung there is none more excellent then ours is As in the teaching kinde no work memorie with delite like the old leonine verses which run in rime it doth admit such daliance with the letter as I know not anie And in that kinde where remembrance is the end it is without blame tho otherwise not if it com in to often and bewraie affectation not sound but followed In the staie of speche strong ending it is verie forcible and stout bycause of the monosyllab which is the chefe ground ordinarie pitch of both our pen tung For fine translating in pithie terms either pere to or passing the foren quiknesse I find it wonderfull pliable and redie to discharge a quik conceit in verie few words For close deliuerie of much matter in not manie words generallie it will do as much in the primitiue vtterance as in anie translation Which close deliuerie in few words maie seme hard somtimes but onelie there where ignorance is harbored or idlenesse is the idoll which will not be entreated to crak the nut tho he couet the kernell I nede no example in anie of these whereof mine ownpenning is a generall patern Neither shall anie man iudge so well of these points in our tūg as those shall which haue matter flowing vpon their pen that wil be so vttered or will vtterlie refuse him which refuseth that vtterance For as in other tungs there is a certain propertie in their own dialect so is there in ours for our deliuerie both as pretie and as pithie as anie is in theirs In the force of words which was the third note and pretence of obscuritie there ar to be considered Commonesse for euerie man beawtie for the learned brauerie to rauish borowing to enlarge our naturall speche rediest deliuerie And therefor if anie reader find falt with anie word which is not sutable to his ear bycause it is not he for whom that word serues let him mark his own which he knoweth and make much of the other which is worthie his knowing Know you not som words why no maruell It is a metaphor a learned translation remoued from where it is proper into som such place where it is more properlie vsed and most significant to if it be well vnderstood take pains to know it you haue of whom to learn It is not commonlie so vsed as I do vse it but I trust not abused naie peraduentur in a more statelie calling then euer you herd it Then mark that the place doth honor the parson and think well of good words which tho you hādle but with ordinarie lips those somtimes foul yet in a fairer mouth or vnder a finer pen theie maie com to honor Is it a stranger but no Turk tho it were an enemies word yet good is worth the getting tho it be from