best for substance and the brauest for circumstance and whatsoeuer shall becom of the English state the English tung cānot proue fairer then it is at this daie if it maie please our learned sort to esteme so of it and to bestow their trauell vpon such a subiect so capable of ornament so proper to themselues and the more to be honored bycause it is their own The force of prerogatiue is such as maie not be disobeied tho it seme to disorder som well ordered rule and cause som peple wonder which weie not the cause Wherefor when anie note shall com in place quite contrarie to the common not custom but precept then must we nedes think of prerogatiues power a great princesse in proces and a parent to corruption but withall intending to rase another Phenix from the formet ashes Which prerogatiue who soeuer he be that will not graunt to anie tung denyeth it to haue life onelesse his meaning be by registriug som period in it of most excellent note to restraine prerogatiue and to preserue the tūg which he enrolleth by writing from the peples prophaning by making of it learned and exempting it from corruption as our book lāguages be whose rule is so certain as theie dream of no change This prerogatiue and libertie which the peple hath to vse both speche and pen at will is the cause and yet not blamed therefor why the English writers be now finer then theie were som hundreth yeares ago tho som antiquarie will take the old writing to be finer But the questiō is wherein finenesse standeth So was Salust deceiued among the Romans liuing with eloquent Tullie and writing like ancient Cato But in one generall word to tuch both this prerogatiue and my other six rules with the verie generall method where with I haue traced the right of our writing I do take them all to be verie well grounded neither is there anie thing at all set down by me in waie of obseruation concerning the tung be it neuer so strange or rather seme it neuer so strange but it is as artificiall and of as sure note as the best language is Which I shall not nede in this so petie a principle to proue by particulars neither to raise vp again a sort of horieheded writers both grammarians and greater in the verie best speches from out of their graues to subscribe to my rules It is enough for me that the learned find this trew in their own trauell and that the vnlearned be content to beleue the learned that I vtter a truth tho I bring not in a Priscian or anie Priscianlike ortografer or anie of the twelue old grammarians likned to the nine muses and the thre graces in the Latin tung Which tung I rest still on as commonlie best known to our bookish peple That my cuntrie custom doth fight stoutlie for me that euen sound it self is sound of my side and that the best reason is my greatest frind naie my verie good Ladie no man I hope will deny me being so redie to content him but more redie to procede and perform mine enterprise In this writing prerogatiue the verie pen it self is a great doer and of maruellous autoritie which bycause it is the secretarie alone and executeth all that the wit cā deliuer presumeth therefor much will venter as far as anie counseller else of what soeuer calling tho neuer against reason whose instrument it is to satisfie the sight as the tung doth the ear Custom whose charge prerogatiue is as the pen is his conueier fauoreth the pen excedinglie much and will not stik to stand to it that a dash with a pen maie hold for a warrant where both dispatch for spede and grace for fair letter bid the pen be bold Hence cummeth it that so manie zeds in our tung ar herd so few sene for dexteritie and spede in the currantnesse of writing And as the pē can do this so I do take it that our verie tung vpō prerogatiue for smoothnesse vseth the z so much for s the weak th the vwish o and such others of the duble sounds But it maie be said that all our exceptions of most reasonable prerogatiue maie be well reduced to the generall form as why not whome moste whear thear hear and a number such as well as home coste fear and such which I contrarie not at all tho I se som difficultie in altering that which our custom hath so grasped And it were to much almost to require that of anie wise and learned man so to arrest exceptions chefelie in such a thing as will not proue a standard tho he that wisheth this seme to conceiue such a thing which tho it were granted yet wold it break out again furth with som other waie and cause a greater gap Bycause no banks can kepe it in so strait bycause no strength can withstand such a stream bycause no vessell can hold such a liquor but onelie those banks which in flowing ar content to be somtimes ouerrun onelie those staies which in furie of water will bend like a bulrush onelie that vessell which in holding of the humor will receiue som it self as allowing of the relice If anie ignorant pen either ignorantlie or vpon ignorant ground tho pretending knowlege and good resolution do offend against reason and intrude vpon prerogatiue that is no right quill neither auowed by me as neither that currant is to be called custom which holdeth by vsurpation neither that cause to be coūted reason which hath other beginning then right knowlege or other ending then the natur of that thing wil seme to admit for whom that reason speaketh And certainlie whē I cōsider the thing depelie as my thoughts in this case haue not bene slight neither mere superficiall I cannot se when these imperfections be remoued which still companie perfection and by easie notes maie easlie be remoued with cōtentmēt of the wise tho with the wonder of som which ar blinded with their own but that our tungs prerogatiue maie full well take place the pen also his considering our custom is becom so orderlie as it maie well be ruled without either chopping or changing of anie letter at all or otherwise praing aid of anie forē inuentiō more thē I haue set down said enough of These be the notes which I promised to giue for the ordering of our tung the right writing thereof wherein if I haue hit right the right will be my warrant yea tho it seme not right to som wherein I comfort my selfe tho I content not all Aristides once made an oration to the peple of Athens and was wonderfullie well liked euē with som clapping of hands or som popular shout which generall liking he so misliked as he asked som frind who stood next vnto him what ill he had spoken bycause it was so liked as if it were not possible for anie good thing to win general liking tho the
better consent It is an honorable conceit besides the incredible good for a learned vertewous prince by the assistence of a like counsell to reduce the professours of learning by choice in euerie kinde to a certain number to make choice in points of learning necessarie for the state to appoint out books for learning both in multitude not to manie and in method of the best The president is princelie in euerie profession not onelie now moued There hath bene stripping heretofore in all these kindes both by consent of the learned and by commandement frâ—… good princes Our cuntrie is small the thing the more easie our liuings within compas the thing the more nedfull the enormitie great the lesse able we to beare it our prince learned the liker to giue ear our peple of vnderstanding the better able to enform her But neither doth the physician thriue so by the preseruing part of physik nor the lawyer grow rich so by taking vp of contentions nor the diuine prosper so in a heauen where all is good as he doth in earth where all is euill tho the best in ech kinde do honor them most And therefore profit wil be followed tho it be with confusion redresse will not stir bycause it iudgeth the world to be in som falt which it is loth to confesse Howbeit to procure som redresse and help this waie at the Princes hand it standeth all them in hand which make profession of learning if theie do but consider the reputation of learning in these our daies whether by insufficient professours or contemned professions In the professours of learning to whose solliciting this point is recommended there be two things chefelie required First that theie studie soundlie themselues vpon stuf worth the studie in order of right ascent with mindes giuen to peace For sound learning will not so soon be shaken at euerie eager point of controuersie as the fleter will Orderlie ascent groweth strong verie soon a pacifik conceit is a furtherer to that end which is both priuatlie minded and publiklie intended The consent of the learned and their quiet inclination is a great blessing to anie common weal but chefelie to ours in this contentious time where the ouerwhetted mindes work verie small good to sons worthie professions The distraction of mindes into sects and sorts of philosophie did a might ie great displeasur to the quietnesse of that people where the destraction fell as it did our religion more which spreding in that cuntrie where those sorts were nurished was neuer in quiet sence The second point required in a learned student is not so much to seke his own auancement as the things which he professeth which if it take place himself coms forward bycause he hath the things If he seke his own auancement and either forget the thing if he haue it or care not for it if he haue it not the want of the thing will weaken his credit tho it encrease hir own as where the ignorant is blamed there knowledge is allowed tho the allower be not learned He that studieth soundlie recommendeth good letters by his own example he that solliciteth other who haue autoritie to further aduaunceth them by aduertisment he that exerciseth his pen to help the best currant confirmeth his desire by the doing thereof In this last kinde mine own labor trauelleth to seke for vniformitie to strip awaie the nedelesse to supply som defects to do mine endeuor to help euerie one in as quiet a course as I can temper my stile vnto And tho somtimes I do sprede vpon cause in length of discourse yet for the matter it self which I will commend to the learner I wil be short and sound enough and leaue more to practis then I will laie in precept Thus much for the generalitie of learning and the learned to whose considerations I commit the solliciting as to the magistrates the amendment The second question which I said might be demanded of me why I do not follow som learned president of those writers which haue delt this waie with great admiration maie be answered verie soon I confesse the number of them which haue writen of the training vp of children to be so manie in number as either priuat cuntrie or priuate cause might moue to deal in it I confesse the excellencie of manie in that kinde as Bembus Sturmius Erasmus and diuerse other But we differ in circumstance Afré citie a priuat frind and an hole monarchie haue diuersities in respect tho theie agré in som generalls wherein those writers dissent not from me Neither do I but follow good writers fetching my first patern from such writers as taught all those to write so well a thing alredie proued in the second chapter of this book I am seruant to my cuntrie For hir sake I trauell hir circumstances I must consider and whatsoeuer I shall pen I will se it executed by the grace of God mine own self to persuade other the better by a tried prouf The third question for my writing in English and my so carefull I will not saie so curious writing concerneth me somwhat bycause it beareth matter For som be of opinion that we should neither write of anie philosophicall argument nor philosophicallie of anie slight argument in our English tung bycause the vnlearned vnderstand it not the learned esteme it not as a thing of difficultie to the one and no delite to the other For both the penning in English generallie and mine own penning in this order I haue this to saie No one tung is more fine then other naturallie but by industrie of the speaker which vpon occasion offered by the kinde of gouernment wherein he liueth endeuoreth himself to garnish it with eloquence to enrich it with learning The vse of such a tung so eloquent for speche and so learned for matter while it kepeth it self within the naturall soil it both serues the own turn with great admiration and kindleth in the foren which com to knowledge of it a great desire to resemble the like Hence came it to passe that the peple of Athens both bewtified their speche by the vse of their pleading enriched their tung with all kindes of knowledge both bred within Grece and borowed from without Hence came it to passe that peple of Rome hauing platted their gouernment much what like the Athenian for their common pleas became enamored with their eloquence whose vse theie stood in nede of and translated their learning where with theie were in loue Howbeit there was nothing somuch learning in the latin tung while the Romane florished as at this daie is in it by the industrie of studeÌ„ts thoroughout all Europe who vse the latin tung as a common mean of their generall deliuerie both in things of their own deuise and in works translated by them The Romane autoritie first planted the latin among vs here by force of their conquest the vse thereof for
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
Whatsoeuer shall belōg to coloring to shadowing such more workmanlie points by cause theie ar nearer to the painter thē to the drawing learner I will reserue thē to the after habit to the studēts choice whē he is to diuert to betake himself to som one trade of life At which time if he chaūce to chuse the pen pēcil to liue by this introduction then will proue his great frind as he himself shall find when he feles it in prouf Last of all forsomuch as drawing is a thing whose thorough help manie good workmen do vse which liue honestlie thereby in good degre of estimation welth as architectur pictur embroderie engrauing statuarie all modelling all platforming manie the like besides the learned vse thereof for Astronomie Geometrie Chorographie Topographie and som other such I will therefor pik out som certain figures proper to so manie of the foresaid faculties as shall seme most fit to teach a child to draw withall I will shew how theie be to be delt with euen frō their first point to their last perfection seing it is out of all controuersie that if drawing be thought nedefull as it shall be proued to be it is now to be delt with while the finger is tēder the writing yet in hād that both the pen pēcill both the rule cōpas maie go forward together As for Musik which I have deuided into voice and instrument I will kepe this currant The training vp in musik as in all other faculties hath a speciall eie to these thre points The childe himself that is to learn the matter it self which he is to learn and the instument it self whereon he is to learn Wherein I will deall so for the first and last that is for the childe and the instrument as neither of them shall lak whatsoeuer is nedefull either for framing of the childes voice or for the righting of his finger or for the prikking of his lessons or for the the tuning of his instrumēt For in the voice there is a right pitch that it be neither ouer nor vnder strained but delicatelie brought to hir best ground both to kepe out long to rise or fall within dew compas and so to becom tunable with regard to helth and pleasant to hear And in the fingring also there is a regard to be had both that the childe strike so as he do not shufle neither spoill anie sound and that his finger run so both sure and sightiie as it cumber not it self with entāgled deliuerie Where of the first commōlie falleth out by to much hast in the young learner who is euer longing vntill be a leauing the second falt coms of the master himself who doth not consider the naturall dexteritie and sequele in the ioynts which being vsed right in a naturall consequence procureth the finger a nimblenesse with ease and helpeth the deliuerie to readinesse without pain as the vntoward fingring must nedes bring in corruption tho corrupt vse do not vse to cōplain For the matter of musik which the childe is to learn I will set it down how and by what degres in what lessons a boy that is to be brought vp to sing maie ought to procede by ordinarie ascēt from the first term of Art the first note in sound vntill he shal be able without anie oftē or anie great missing to sing his part in priksōg either himself alone which is his first in rudenesse or with som cōpanie which is his best in practis For I take so much to be enough for an Elemē tarie institution which saluteth but the facultie tho it perfit the princple I refer the residew for setting discāt to enciease of cūning which dailie will grow on to further years whē the hole bodie of musik wil com craue place And yet bycause the childe must still mount somwhat that waie I will set him down sō rules of setting discāt which will make him better able to iudge of singing being a setter himself as in the tung he that vseth to write shal best iudge of a writer Cōcerning the virginalls the lute which two instrumēts I haue therfor chosen bycause of the full musik which is vttered by thē the varietie of fingring which is shewed vpō thē I will also set down so manie chosen lessons for either of them as shall bring the young learner to plaie reasonable well on them both tho not at the first sight whether by the ear or by the book allwaie prouided that priksong go before plaing All which lessons both for instumēt voice I will not onelie name and set the learner ouer to get them where he can in the writen song books set furth by musik masters but I will cause them all to be prikt and printed in the same principle of musik that both the reader maie iudge of them and the scholer learn by them Which thing as well as all the rest that I haue vndertaken to perform in this Elementarie I hope by Gods help to bring to such effect thorough cōference with the best practicioners in our time and the counsell of the best learned writers in anie time in euerie of the principles besides mine own trauell and som not negligent experience as I shall discharge my promis and content my good cuntrimen What thing soeuer else besides this that I haue named shall seme to be nedefull for the better opening of anie particular point I will se to it there tho I saie nothing of it here This is the sō of my Elemētarie platform for the matter thereof For the maner of teaching and consideration of circumstance in executing thereof which was the second part of my generall plat in my first diuision hath the same place if not a greater in the particular performāce of anie executiō for what auaileth precept if it be not performed or what performance is it that procedeth not in order I entend to do thus Bycause all these things tho neuer so good of themselues tho neuer so commended by writers tho neuer so well liked of parents yet maie miscarie in the handling if theie be not well followed with all dew circumstances I will therefor set down a particular direction for euerie principle when to begin and in what degre of ripenesse to ioyn with another and that so as neither to soon mar nor to much confound how to handle the young wit how to ioyn exercise of the bodie with these principles for the mind what method in teaching them maie seme to be best what pretie deuises must be vsed to cause the childe of himself shew what he can do and what metle there is in him with all such considerations as be naturallie incident to such an execution that the young learner maie both thank me for his helth and think well of me for his learning as a willing instrument to do him som good if it
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
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
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