base stile there be contained many other humors or qualities of stile as the plaine and obscure the rough and smoth the facill and hard the plentifull and barraine the rude and eloquent the strong and feeble the vehement and cold stiles all which in their euill are to be reformed and the good to be kept and vsed But generally to haue the stile decent comely it behooueth the maker or Poet to follow the nature of his subiect that is if his matter be high and loftie that the stile be so to if meane the stile also to be meane if base the stile humble and base accordingly and they that do otherwise vse it applying to meane matter hie and loftie stile and to hie matters stile eyther meane or base and to the base matters the meane or hie stile do vtterly disgrace their poesie and shew themselues nothing skilfull in their arte nor hauing regard to the decencie which is the chiefe praise of any writer Therefore to ridde all louers of learning from that errour I will as neere as I can set downe which matters be hie and loftie which be but meane and which be low and base to the intent the stiles may be fashioned to the matters and keepe their decorum and good proportion in euery respect I am not ignorant that many good clerkes be contrary to mine opinion and say that the loftie style may be decently vsed in a meane and base subiect contrariwise which I do in parte acknowledge but with a reasonable qualification For Homer hath so vsed it in his trifling worke of Batrachomyomachia that is in his treatise of the warre betwixt the frogs and the mice Virgill also in his bucolickes and in his georgicks whereof the one is counted meane the other base that is the husbandmans discourses and the shepheards but hereunto serueth a reason in my simple conceite for first to that trifling poeme of Homer though the frog and the mouse be but litle and ridiculous beasts yet to treat of warre is an high subiect and a thing in euery respect terrible and daungerous to them that it alights on and therefore of learned dutie asketh martiall grandiloquence if it be set foorth in his kind and nature of warre euen betwixt the basest creatures that can be imagined so also is the Ante or pismire and they be but little creeping things not perfect beasts but insect or wormes yet in describing their nature instinct and their manner of life approching to the forme of a common-welth and their properties not vnlike to the vertues of most excellent gouernors and captaines it asketh a more maiestie of speach then would the description of any other beastes life or nature and perchance of many matters perteyning vnto the baser sort of men because it resembleth the historie of a ciuill regiment and of them all the chiefe and most principall which is Monarchie so also in his bucolicks which are but pastorall speaches and the basest of any other poeme in their owne proper nature Virgill vsed a somewhat swelling stile when he came to insinuate the birth of Marcellus heire apparant to the Emperour Augustus as child to his sister aspiring by hope and greatnes of the house to the succession of the Empire and establishment thereof in that familie whereupon Virgill could do no lesse then to vse such manner of stile whatsoeuer condition the poeme were of and this was decent no fault or blemish to confound the tennors of the stiles for that cause But now when I remember me againe that this Eglogue for I haue read it somewhere was conceiued by Octauian th'Emperour to be written to the honour of Pollio a citizen of Rome of no great nobilitie the same was misliked againe as an implicatiue nothing decent nor proportionable to Pollio his fortunes and calling in which respect I might say likewise the stile was not to be such as if it had bene for the Emperours owne honour and those of the bloud imperiall then which subiect there could not be among the Romane writers an higher nor grauer to treat vpon so can I not be remoued from mine opinion but still me thinks that in all decencie the stile ought to conforme with the nature of the subiect otherwise if a writer will seeme to obserue no decorum at all nor passe how he fashion his tale to his matter who doubteth but he may in the lightest cause speake like a Pope in the grauest matters prate like a parrat finde wordes phrases ynough to serue both turnes and neither of them commendably for neither is all that may be written of Kings and Princes such as ought to keepe a high stile nor all that may be written vpon a shepheard to keepe the low but according to the matter reported if that be of high or base nature for euery pety pleasure and vayne delight of a king are not to accompted high matter for the height of his estate but meane and perchaunce very base and vile nor so a Poet or historiographer could decently with a high stile reporte the vanities of Nero the ribaudries of Caligula the idlenes of Domitian the riots of Heliogabalus But well the magnanimitie and honorable ambition of Caesar the prosperities of Augustus the grauitie of Tiberius the bountie of Traiane the wisedome of Aurelius and generally all that which concerned the highest honours of Emperours their birth alliaunces gouernement exploits in warre and peace and other publike affaires for they be matter stately and high and require a stile to be lift vp and aduaunced by choyse of wordes phrases sentences and figures high loftie eloquent magnifik in proportion so be the meane matters to be caried with all wordes and speaches of smothnesse and pleasant moderation finally the base things to be holden within their teder by a low myld and simple maner of vtterance creeping rather then clyming marching rather then mounting vpwardes with the wings of the stately subiects and stile CHAP. VI. Of the high low and meane subiect THe matters therefore that concerne the Gods and diuine things are highest of all other to be couched in writing next to them the noble gests and great fortunes of Princes and the notable accidēts of time as the greatest affaires of war peace these be all high subiectes and therefore are deliuered ouer to the Poets Hymnick historicall who be occupied either in diuine laudes or in heroicall reports the meane matters be those that cōcerne meane men their life and busines as lawyers gentlemen and marchants good housholders and honest Citizens and which sound neither to matters of state nor of warre nor leagues nor great alliances but smatch all the common conuersation as of the ciuiller and better sort of men the base and low matters be the doings of the commō artificer seruing man yeoman groome husbandman day-labourer sailer shepheard swynard and such like of homely calling degree and bringing vp so that in
twenty winter old By might marke ye able to doo more Than the mayne sea that batters on his shore For what the waues could neuer wash away This proper youth hath wasted in a day Not much vnlike the vvondrer haue ye another figure called the doubtfull because oftentimes we will seeme to cast perils Aporia or the Doubtfull and make doubt of things when by a plaine manner of speech wee might affirme or deny him as thus of a cruell mother who murdred her owne child Whether the cruell mother were more to blame Or the shrevvd childe come of so curst a dame Or vvhether some smatch of the fathers blood Whose kinne vvere neuer kinde nor neuer good Mooued her thereto c. This manner of speech is vsed when we will not seeme Epitropis or the Figure of Reference either for manner sake or to auoid tediousnesse to trouble the iudge or hearer with all that we could say but hauing said inough already we referre the rest to their consideration as he that said thus Me thinkes that I haue said vvhat may vvell suffise Referring all the rest to your better aduise The fine and subtill perswader when his intent is to sting his aduersary or els to declare his mind in broad and liberal speeches which might breede offence or scandall he will seeme to bespeake pardon before hand Parâ—sia or the Licentious whereby his licentiousnes may be the better borne withall as he that said If my speech hap t' offend you any vvay Thinke it their fault that force me so to say Anachinosis or the Impartener Not much vnlike to the figure of reference is there another with some little diuersitie which we call the impartener because many times in pleading and perswading we thinke it a very good pollicie to acquaint our iudge or hearer or very aduersarie with some part of our Counsell and aduice and to aske their opinion as who would say they could not otherwise thinke of the matter then we do As he that had tolde a long tale before certaine noble women of a matter somewhat in honour touching the Sex Tell me faire Ladies if the case were your owne So foule a fault would you haue it be knowen Maister Gorge in this figure said very sweetly All you who read these lines and skanne of my desart Iudge whether was more good my hap or els my hart The good Orator vseth a manner of speach in his perswasion and is when all that should seeme to make against him being spoken by th'otherside Paramologia or the figure of Admittance he will first admit it and in th' end auoid all for his better aduantage and this figure is much vsed by our English pleaders in the Starchamber and Chancery which they call to confesse and auoid if it be in case of crime or iniury and is a very good way For when the matter is so plaine that it cannot be denied or trauersed it is good that it be iustified by confessall and auoidance I call it the figure of admittance As we once wrate to the reproofe of a Ladieâ— faire but crueltie I know your witte I know your pleasant tongue Your some sweete smiles your some but louely lowrs A beautie to enamour olde and yong Those chast desires that noble minde of yours And that chiefe part whence all your honor springs A grace to entertaine the greatest kings All this I know but sinne it is to see So faire partes spilt by too much crueltie In many cases we are driuen for better perswasion to tell the cause that mooues vs to say thus or thus Etiologia or the Reason rend or the Tell cause or els when we would fortifie our allegations by rendring reasons to euery one this assignation of cause the Greekes called Etiologia which if we might without scorne of a new inuented terme call Tellcause it were right according to the Greeke originall I pray you why should we not and with as good authoritie as the Greekes Sir Thomas Smith her Maiesties principall Secretary and a man of great learning and grauitie seeking to geue an English word to this Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called it Spitewed or wedspite Master Secretary Wilson geuing an English name to his arte of Logicke called it Witcraft me thinke I may be bolde with like liberty to call the figure Etiologia Tellcause And this manner of speech is alwayes contemned with these words for because and such other confirmatiues The Latines hauing no fitte name to geue it in one single word gaue it no name at all but by circumlocution We also call him the reason-rendrer and leaue the right English word Tel cause much better answering the Greeke originall Aristotle was most excellent in vse of this figure for he neuer propones any allegation or makes any surmise but he yeelds a reason or cause to fortifie and proue it which geues it great credit For example ye may take these verses first pointing than confirming by similitudes When fortune shall haue spit out all her gall I trust good luck shall be to me allowde For I haue seene a shippe in hauen fall After the storme had broke both maste and shrowde And this Good is the thing that moues vs to desire That is to ioy the beauty we behold Els were we louers as in an endlesse fire Alwaies burning and euer chill a colde And in these verses Accused though I be without desart Sith none can proue beleeue it not for true For neuer yet since first ye had my hart Entended I to false or be vntrue And in this Disticque And for her beauties praise no wight that with her warres For where she comes she shewes her selfe like sun among the stars And in this other dittie of ours where the louer complaines of his Ladies crueltie rendring for euery surmise a reason and by telling the cause seeketh as it were to get credit thus Cruel you be who can say nay Since ye delight in others wo Vnwise am I ye may well say For that I haue honourd you so But blamelesse I who could not chuse To be enchaunted by your eye But ye to blame thus to refuse My seruice and to let me die Dichologia or the Figure of excuse Sometimes our error is so manifest or we be so hardly prest with our aduersaries as we cannot deny the fault layd vnto our charge in which case it is good pollicie to excuse it by some allowable pretext as did one whom his mistresse burdened with some vnkinde speeches which he had past of her thus I said it but by lapse of lying tongue When furie and iust griefe my heart opprest I sayd it as ye see both fraile and young When your rigor had ranckled in my brest The cruell wound that smarted me so sore Pardon therefore sweete sorrow or at least Beare with mine youth that neuer fell before Least your offence encrease my griefe the more And againe in these I
Fraunce The word became not the greatnesse of her person and much lesse her sex whose chiefe vertue is shamefastnesse which the Latines call Verecundia that is a naturall feare to be noted with any impudicitie so as when they heare or see any thing tending that way they commonly blush is a part greatly praised in all women Yet will ye see in many cases how pleasant speeches and sauouring some skurrillity and vnshamefastnes haue now and then a certaine decencie and well become both the speaker to say and the hearer to abide but that is by reason of some other circumstance as when the speaker himselfe is knowne to be a common iester or buffon such as take vpon them to make princes merry or when some occasion is giuen by the hearer to induce such a pleasaunt speach and in many other cases whereof no generall rule can be giuen but are best knowen by example as when Sir Andrew Flamock king Henry the eights standerdbearer a merry conceyted man and apt to skoffe waiting one day at the kings heeles when he entred the parke at Greenewich the king blew his horne Flamock hauing his belly full and his tayle at commaundement gaue out a rappe nothing faintly that the king turned him about and said how now sirra Flamock not well knowing how to excuse his vnmanerly act if it please you Sir quoth he your Maiesty blew one blast for the keeper and I another for his man The king laughed hartily and tooke it nothing offensiuely for indeed as the case fell out it was not vndecently spoken by Sir Andrew Flamock for it was the cleaneliest excuse he could make and a merry implicatiue in termes nothing odious and therefore a sporting satisfaction to the kings mind in a matter which without some such merry answere could not haue bene well taken So was Flamocks action most vncomely but his speech excellently well becōming the occasion But at another time and in another like case the same skurrillitie of Flamock was more offensiue because it was more indecent As when the king hauing Flamock with him in his barge passing from Westminster to Greenewich to visite a fayre Lady whom the king loued and was lodged in the tower of the Parke the king comming within sight of the tower and being disposed to be merry said Flamock let vs rime as well as I can said Flamock if it please your grace The king began thus Within this towre There lieth a flowre That hath my hart Flamock for aunswer Within this hower she will c. with the rest in so vncleanly termes as might not now become me by the rule of Decorum to vtter writing to so great a Maiestie but the king tooke them in so euill part as he bid Flamock auant varlet and that he should no more be so neere vnto him And wherein I would faine learne lay this vndecencie in the skurrill and filthy termes not meete for a kings care perchance so For the king was a wise and graue man and though he hated not a faire woman yet liked he nothing well to heare speeches of ribaudrie as they report of th'emperour Octauian Licet fuerit ipse incontinentissimus fuit tamen incontinente seuerissimus vltor But the very cause in deed was for that Flamocks reply answered not the kings expectation for the kings rime commencing with a pleasant and amorous propositiō Sir Andrew Flamock to finish it not with loue but with lothsomnesse by termes very rude and vnciuill and seing the king greatly fauour that Ladie for her much beauty by like or some other good partes by his fastidious aunswer to make her seeme odious to him it helde a great disproportion to the kings appetite for nothing is so vnpleasant to a man as to be encountred in his chiefe affection specially in his loues whom we honour we should also reuerence their appetites or at the least beare with them not being wicked and vtterly euill and whatsoeuer they do affect we do not as becōmeth vs if we make it seeme to them horrible This in mine opinion was the chiefe cause of the vndecencie and also of the kings offence Aristotle the great philosopher knowing this very well what time he put Calistenes to king Alexāder the greats seruice gaue him this lesson Sirra quoth he ye go now from a scholler to be a courtier see ye speake to the king your maister either nothing at all or else that which pleaseth him which rule if Calistenes had followed and forborne to crosse the kings appetite in diuerse speeches it had not cost him so deepely as afterward it did A like matter of offence fell out betweene th'Emperour Charles the fifth an Embassadour of king Henry the eight whō I could name but will not for the great opinion the world had of his wisdome and sufficiency in that behalfe and all for misusing of a terme The king in the matter of controuersie betwixt him and Ladie Catherine of Castill the Emperours awnt found himselfe grieued that the Emperour should take her part and worke vnder hand with the Pope to hinder the diuorce and gaue his Embassadour commission in good termes to open his griefes to the Emperour and to expostulat with his Maiestie for that he seemed to forget the kings great kindnesse and friendship before times vsed with th'Emperour aswell by disbursing for him sundry great summes of monie which were not all yet repayd as also by furnishing him at his neede with store of men and munition to his warres and now to be thus vsed he thought it a very euill requitall The Embassadour for too much animositie and more then needed in the case or perchance by ignorance of the proprietie of the Spanish tongue told the Emperour among other words that he was Hombre el mas ingrato enel mondo the ingratest person in the world to vse his maister so The Emperour tooke him suddainly with the word and said callest thou me ingrato I tell thee learne better termes or else I will teach them thee Th'Embassadour excused it by his commission and said they were the king his maisters words and not his owne Nay quoth th'Emperour thy maister durst not haue sent me these words were it not for that broad ditch betweene him me meaning the sea which is hard to passe with an army of reuenge The Embassadour was cōmanded away no more hard by the Emperor til by some other means afterward the grief was either pacified or forgotten all this inconueniēce grew by misuse of one word which being otherwise spoken in some sort qualified had easily holpen all yet th'Embassadour might sufficiently haue satisfied his commission much better aduaunced his purpose as to haue said for this word ye are ingrate ye haue not vsed such gratitude towards him as he hath deserued so ye may see how a word spokē vndecently not knowing the phrase or proprietie of a language maketh a whole matter many times miscarrie
soyle or sea or nauigable riuer lay neere vnto it to be able to sustaine so great a number of inhabitants Truely Sir quoth Dinocrates I haue not yet considered thereof for in trueth it is the barest part of all the Countrey of Macedonia The king smiled at it and said very honourably we like your deuice well and meane to vse your seruice in the building of a Citie but we wil chuse out a more commodious scituation and made him attend in that voyage in which he conquered Asia and Egypt and there made him chiefe Surueyour of his new Citie of Alexandria Thus did Dinocrates singularitie in attire greatly further him to his aduancement Yet are generally all rare things and such as breede maruell admiration somewhat holding of the vndecent as when a man is bigger exceeding the ordinary stature of a man like a Giaunt or farre vnder the reasonable and common size of men as a dwarfe and such vndecencies do not angre vs but either we pittie them or scorne at them But at all insolent and vnwoonted partes of a mans behauiour we find many times cause to mislike or to be mistrustfull which proceedeth of some vndecency that is in it as when a man that hath alwaies bene strange vnacquainted with vs will suddenly become our familiar and domestick and another that hath bene alwaies sterne and churlish wil be vpon the suddaine affable and curteous it is neyther a comely sight nor a signe of any good towardes vs. Which the subtill Italian well obserued by the successes thereof saying in Prouerbe Chi me sa meglio che non suole Tradito me ha o tradir me vuole He that speakes me fairer than his woont was too Hath done me harme or meanes for to doo Now againe all maner of conceites that stirre vp any vehement passion in a man doo it by some turpitude or euill and vndecency that is in them as to make a man angry there must be some iniury or contempt offered to make him enuy there must proceede some vndeserued prosperitie of his egall or inferiour to make him pitie some miserable fortune or spectakle to behold And yet in euery of these passions being as it were vndecencies there is a comelinesse to be discerned which some men can keepe and some men can not as to be angry or to enuy or to hate or to pitie or to be ashamed decently that is none otherwise then reason requireth This surmise appeareth to be true for Homer the father of Poets writing that famous and most honourable poeme called the Illiades or warres of Troy made his commēcement the magnanimous wrath and anger of Achilles in his first verse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sing foorth my muse the wrath of Achilles Peleus sonne which the Poet would neuer haue done if the wrath of a prince had not beene in some sort comely allowable But when Arrianus and Curtius historiographers that wrote the noble gestes of king Alexander the great came to prayse him for many things yet for his wrath and anger they reproched him because it proceeded not of any magnanimitie but vpon surfet distemper in his diet nor growing of any iust causes was exercised to the destruction of his dearest friends and familiers and not of his enemies nor any other waies so honorably as th 'others was and so could not be reputed a decent and comely anger So may al your other passions be vsed decently though the very matter of their originall be grounded vpon some vndecencie as it is written by a certaine king of Egypt who looking out of his window and seing his owne sonne for some grieuous offence carried by the officers of his iustice to the place of execution he neuer once changed his countenance at the matter though the sight were neuer so full of ruth and atrocitie And it was thought a decent countenance and constant animositie in the king to be so affected the case concerning so high and rare a peece of his owne iustice But within few daies after when he beheld out of the same window an old friend and familiar of his stand begging an almes in the streete he wept tenderly remembring their old familiarity and considering how by the mutabilitie of fortune and frailtie of mās estate it might one day come to passe that he himselfe should fall into the like miserable estate He therfore had a remorse very comely for a king in that behalfe which also caused him to giue order for his poore friends plentiful reliefe But generally to weepe for any sorrow as one may doe for pitie is not so decent in a man and therefore all high minded persons when they cannot chuse but shed teares wil turne away their face as a countenance vndecent for a man to shew and so will the standers by till they haue supprest such passiō thinking it nothing decent to behold such an vncomely countenance But for Ladies and women to weepe and shed teares at euery little greefe it is nothing vncomely but rather a signe of much good nature meeknes of minde a most decent propertie for that sexe and therefore they be for the more part more deuout and charitable and greater geuers of almes than men and zealous relieuers of prisoners and beseechers of pardons and such like parts of commiseration Yea they be more than so too for by the common prouerbe a woman will weepe for pitie to see a gosling goe barefoote But most certainly all things that moue a man to laughter as doe these scurrilities other ridiculous behauiours it is for some vndecencie that is foūd in them which maketh it decent for euery man to laugh at them And therefore when we see or heare a natural foole and idiot doe or say any thing foolishly we laugh not at him but when he doeth or speaketh wisely because that is vnlike him selfe and a buffonne or counterfet foole to heare him speake wisely which is like himselfe it is no sport at all but for such a counterfait to talke and looke foolishly it maketh vs laugh because it is no part of his naturall for in euery vncomlinesse there must be a certaine absurditie and disproportion to nature and the opinion of the hearer or beholder to make the thing ridiculous But for a foole to talke foolishly or a wiseman wisely there is no such absurditie or disproportion And though at all absurdities we may decently laugh when they be no absurdities not decently yet in laughing is there an vndecencie for other respectes sometime than of the matter it selfe Which made Philippus sonne to the first Christen Emperour Philippus Arabicus sitting with his father one day in the theatre to behold the sports giue his father a great rebuke because he laughed saying that it was no comely countenance for an Emperour to bewray in such a publicke place nor specially to laugh at euery foolish toy the posteritie gaue the sonne for that cause the name of Philippus
them but as our ordinary talke then which nothing can be more vnsauourie and farre from all ciuilitie I remember in the first yeare of Queenes Maries raigne a Knight of Yorkshire was chosen speaker of the Parliament a good gentleman and wise in the affaires of his shire and not vnlearned in the lawes of the Realme but as well for some lack of his teeth as for want of language nothing thing well spoken which at that time and businesse was most behooffull for him to haue bene this man after he had made his Oration to the Queene which ye know is of course to be done at the first assembly of both houses a bencher of the Temple both well learned and very eloquent returning from the Parliament house asked another gentleman his frend how he liked M. Speakers Oration mary quoth th' other me thinks I heard not a better alehouse tale told this seuen yeares This happened because the good old Knight made no difference betweene an Oration or publike speach to be deliuered to th' eare of a Princes Maiestie and state of a Realme then he would haue done of an ordinary tale to be told at his table in the countrey wherein all men know the oddes is very great And though graue and wise counsellours in their consultations doe not vse much superfluous eloquence and also in their iudiciall hearings do much mislike all scholasticall rhetoricks yet in such a case as it may be and as this Parliament was if the Lord Chancelour of England or Archbishop of Canterbury himselfe were to speake he ought to doe it cunningly and eloquently which can not be without the vse of figures and neuerthelesse none impeachment or blemish to the grauitie of their persons or of the cause wherein I report me to thē that knew Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord keeper of the great Seale or the now Lord Treasorer of England and haue bene conuersant with their speaches made in the Parliament house Starrechamber From whose lippes I haue seene to proceede more graue and naturall eloquence then from all the Oratours of Oxford or Cambridge but all is as it is handled and maketh no matter whether the same eloquence be naturall to them or artificiall though I thinke rather naturall yet were they knowen to be learned and not vnskilfull of th' arte when they were yonger men and as learning and arte teacheth a schollar to speake so doth it also teach a counsellour and aswell an old man as a yong and a man in authoritie aswell as a priuate person and a pleader aswell as a preacher euery man after his sort and calling as best becommeth and that speach which becommeth one doth not become another for maners of speaches some serue to work in excesse some in mediocritie some to graue purposes some to light some to be short and brief some to be long some to stirre vp affections some to pacifie and appease them and these common despisers of good vtterance which resteth altogether in figuratiue speaches being well vsed whether it come by nature or by arte or by exercise they be but certaine grosse ignorance of whom it is truly spoken scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem I haue come to the Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon found him sitting in his gallery alone with the works of Quintilian before him in deede he was a most eloquent man and of rare learning and wisedome as euer I knew England to breed and one that ioyed as much in learned men and men of good witts A Knight of the Queenes priuie chamber once intreated a noble woman of the Court being in great fauour about her Maiestie to th' intent to remoue her from a certaine displeasure which by sinister opinion she had conceiued against a gentleman his friend that it would please her to heare him speake in his own cause not to cōdēne him vpon his aduersaries report God forbid said she he is to wise for me to talke with let him goe and satisfie such a man naming him why quoth the Knight againe had your Ladyship rather heare a man talke like a foole or like a wise man This was because the Lady was a litle peruerse and not disposed to reforme her selfe by hearing reason which none other can so well beate into the ignorant head as the well spoken and eloquent man And because I am so farre waded into this discourse of eloquence and figuratiue speaches I will tell you what hapned on a time my selfe being present when certaine Doctours of the ciuil law were heard in a litigious cause betwixt a man and his wife before a great Magistrat who as they can tell that knew him was a man very well learned and graue but somewhat sowre and of no plausible vtterance the gentlemans chaunce was to say my Lord the simple woman is not so much to blame as her lewde abbettours who by violent perswasions haue lead her into this wilfulnesse Quoth the iudge what neede such eloquent termes in this place the gentleman replied doth your Lordship mislike the terme violent me thinkes I speake it to great purpose for I am sure she would neuer haue done it but by force of perswasion if perswasiōs were not very violent to the minde of man it could not haue wrought so stāge an effect as we read that it did once in Aegypt would haue told the whole tale at large if the Magistrate had not passed it ouer very pleasantly Now to tell you the whole matter as the gentlemā intēded thus it was There came into Aegypt a notable Oratour whose name was Hegesias who inueyed so much against the incōmodities of this transitory life so highly commended death the dispatcher of all euils as a great number of his hearers destroyed themselues some with weapō some with poyson others by drowning and hanging themselues to be rid out of this vale of misery in so much as it was feared least many moe of the people would haue miscaried by occasion of his perswasions if king Ptolome had not made a publicke proclamation that the Oratour should auoyde the countrey and no more be allowed to speake in any matter Whether now perswasions may not be said violent and forcible to simple myndes in speciall I referre it to all mens iudgements that heare the story At least waies I finde this opinion confirmed by a pretie deuise or embleme that Lucianus alleageth he saw in the pourtrait of Hercules within the Citie of Marseills in Prouence where they had figured a lustie old man with a long chayne tyed by one end at his tong by the other end at the peoples eares who stood a farre of and seemed to be drawen to him by the force of that chayne fastned to his tong as who would say by force of his perswasions And to shew more plainly that eloquence is of great force and not as many men thinke amisse the propertie and gift of yong men onely but rather of old
nobleman and Counseller in this Realme was secretlie aduised by his friend not to vse so much writing his letters in fauour of euery man that asked them specially to the Iudges of the Realme in cases of iustice To whom the noble man answered it becomes vs Councellors better to vse instance for our friend then for the Iudges to sentence at instance for whatsoeuer we doe require them it is in their choise to refuse to doe but for all that the example was ill and dangerous And there is a decencie in chusing the times of a mans busines and as the Spaniard sayes es tiempo de negotiar there is a fitte time for euery man to performe his businesse in to attēd his affaires which out of that time would be vndecent as to sleepe al day and wake al night and to goe a hunting by torch-light as an old Earle of Arundel vsed to doe or for any occasion of little importance to wake a man out of his sleepe or to make him rise from his dinner to talke with him or such like importunities for so we call euery vnseasonable action and the vndecencie of the time Callicratides being sent Ambassador by the Lacedemonians to Cirus the young king of Persia to contract with him for money and men toward their warres against the Athenians came to the Court at such vnseasonable time as the king was yet in the midst of his dinner and went away againe saying it is now no time to interrupt the kings mirth He came againe another day in the after noone and finding the king at a rere-banquet and to haue taken the wine somewhat plentifully turned back againe saying I thinke there is no houre fitte to deale with Cirus for he is euer in his banquets I will rather leaue all the busines vndone then doe any thing that shall not become the Lacedemonians meaning to offer conference of so great importaunce to his Countrey with a man so distempered by surfet as hee was not likely to geue him any reasonable resolution in the cause One Eudamidas brother to king Agis of Lacedemonia cōming by Zenocrates schoole and looking in saw him sit in his chaire disputing with a long hoare beard asked who it was one answered Sir it is a wise man and one of them that searches after vertue and if he haue not yet found it quoth Eudamidas when will he vse it that now at this yeares is seeking after it as who would say it is not time to talke of matters when they should be put in execution nor for an old man to be to seeke what vertue is which all his youth he should haue had in exercise Another time comming to heare a notable Philosopher dispute it happened that all was ended euen as he came and one of his familiers would haue had him requested the Philosopher to beginne againe that were indecent and nothing ciuill quoth Eudamidas for if he should come to me supperlesse when I had supped before were it seemely for him to pray me to suppe againe for his companie And the place makes a thing decent or indecent in which consideration one Euboidas being sent Embassadour into a forraine realme some of his familiars tooke occasion at the table to praise the wiues and women of that country in presence of their owne husbands which th'embassadour misliked and when supper was ended and the guestes departed tooke his familiars aside and told them that is was nothing decent in a strange country to praise the women nor specially a wife before her husbands face for inconueniencie that might rise thereby aswell to the prayser as to the woman and that the chiefe commendation of a chast matrone was to be knowen onely to her husband and not to be obserued by straungers and guestes And in the vse of apparell there is no litle decency and vndecencie to be perceiued as well for the fashion as the stuffe for it is comely that euery estate and vocation should be knowen by the differences of their habit a clarke from a lay man a gentleman from a yeoman a souldier from a citizen and the chiefe of euery degree frō their inferiours because in confusion and disorder there is no manner of decencie The Romaines of any other people most seuere cēsurers of decencie thought no vpper garment so comely for a ciuill man as a long playted gowne because it sheweth much grauitie also pudicitie hiding euery member of the body which had not bin pleasant to behold In somuch as a certain Proconsull or Legat of theirs dealing one day with Ptolome king of Egipt seeing him clad in a straite narrow garment very lasciuiously discouering euery part of his body gaue him a great checke for it and said that vnlesse he vsed more sad and comely garments the Romaines would take no pleasure to hold amitie with him for by the wantonnes of his garment they would iudge the vanitie of his mind not to be worthy of their constant friendship A pleasant old courtier wearing one day in the sight of a great councellour after the new guise a french cloake skarce reaching to the wast a long beaked doublet hanging downe to his thies an high paire of silke netherstocks that couered all his buttockes and loignes the Councellor marueled to see him in that sort disguised and otherwise than he had bin woont to be Sir quoth the Gentleman to excuse it if I should not be able whan I had need to pisse out of my doublet and to do the rest in my netherstocks vsing the plaine terme all men would say I were but a lowte the Councellor laughed hartily at the absurditie of the speech but what would those sower fellowes of Rome haue said trowe ye truely in mine opinion that all such persons as take pleasure to shew their limbes specially those that nature hath cōmanded out of sight should be inioyned either to go starke naked or else to resort backe to the comely and modest fashion of their owne countrie apparell vsed by their old honorable auncestors And there is a decēcy of apparrel in respect of the place where it is to be vsed as in the Court to be richely apparrelled in the countrey to weare more plain homely garmēts For who who would not thinke it a ridiculous thing to see a Lady in her milke-house with a veluet gowne and at a bridall in her cassock of mockado a Gentleman of the Countrey among the bushes and briers goe in a pounced dublet and a paire of embrodered hosen in the Citie to weare a frise Ierkin and a paire of leather breeches yet some such phantasticals haue I knowen and one a certaine knight of all other the most vaine who commonly would come to the Sessions and other ordinarie meetings and Commissions in the Countrey so bedect with buttons and aglets of gold and such costly embroderies as the poore plaine men of the Countrey called him for his gaynesse the golden knight Another for the like
wits no lesse apt to deuise and imitate then theirs were If againe Art be but a certaine order of rules prescribed by reason and gathered by experience why should not Poesie be a vulgar Art with vs aswell as with the Greeks and Latines our language admitting no fewer rules and nice diuersities then theirs but peraduenture moe by a peculiar which our speech hath in many things differing from theirs and yet in the generall points of that Art allowed to go in common with them so as if one point perchance which is their feete whereupon their measures stand and in deede is all the beautie of their Poesie and which feete we haue not nor as yet neuer went about to frame the nature of our language and wordes not permitting it we haue in stead thereof twentie other curious points in that skill more then they euer had by reason of our rime and tunable concords or simphonie which they neuer obserued Poesie therefore may be an Art in our vulgar and that verie methodicall and commendable CHAP. III. How Poets were the first priests the first prophets the first Legislators and polititians in the world THe profession and vse of Poesie is most ancient from the beginning and not as manie erroniously suppose after but before any ciuil society was among men For it is written that Poesie was th' originall cause and occasion of their first assemblies when before the people remained in the woods and mountains vagarant and dipersed like the wild beasts lawlesse and naked or verie ill clad and of all good and necessarie prouision for harbour or sustenance vtterly vnfurnished so as they litle diffred for their maner of life from the very brute beasts of the field Whereupon it is fayned that Amphion and Orpheus two Poets of the first ages one of them to wit Amphion builded vp cities and reared walles with the stones that came in heapes to the sound of his harpe figuring thereby the mollifying of hard and stonie hearts by his sweete and eloquent perswasion And Orpheus assembled the wilde beasts to come in heards to harken to his musicke and by that meanes made them tame implying thereby how by his discreete and wholsome lessons vttered in harmonie and with melodious instruments he brought the rude and sauage people to a more ciuill and orderly life nothing as it seemeth more preuailing or fit to redresse and edifie the cruell and sturdie courage of man then it And as these two Poets and Linus before them and Museus also and Hesiodus in Greece and Archadia so by all likelihood had mo Poets done in other places and in other ages before them though there be no remembrance left of them by reason of the Recordes by some accident of time perished and failing Poets therfore are of great antiquitie Then forasmuch as they were the first that entended to the obseruation of nature and her works and specially of the Celestiall courses by reason of the continuall motion of the heauens searching after the first mouer and from thence by degrees comming to know and consider of the substances separate abstract which we call the diuine intelligences or good Angels Demones they were the first that instituted sacrifices of placation with inuocations and worship to them as to Gods and inuented and stablished all the rest of the obseruances and ceremonies of religion and so were the first Priests and ministers of the holy misteries And because for the better execution of that high charge and function it behoued them to liue chast and in all holines of life and in continuall studie and contemplation they came by instinct diuine and by deepe meditation and much abstinence the same assubtiling and refining their spirits to be made apt to receaue visions both waking and sleeping which made them vtter prophesies and foretell things to come So also were they the first Prophetes or seears Videntes for so the Scripture tearmeth them in Latine after the Hebrue word and all the oracles and answers of the gods were giuen in meeter or verse and published to the people by their direction And for that they were aged and graue men and of much wisedome and experience in th' affaires of the world they were the first lawmakers to the people and the first polititiens deuising all expedient meanes for th'establishment of Common wealth to hold and containe the people in order and duety by force and vertue of good and wholesome lawes made for the preseruation of the publique peace and tranquillitie The same peraduenture not purposely intended but greatly furthered by the aw of their gods and such scruple of conscience as the terrors of their late inuented religion had led them into CHAP. IIII. How the Poets were the first Philosophers the first Astronomers and Historiographers and Oratours and Musitiens of the world VTterance also and language is giuen by nature to man for perswasion of others and aide of them selues I meane the first abilite to speake For speech it selfe is artificiall and made by man and the more pleasing it is the more it preuaileth to such purpose as it is intended for but speech by meeter is a kind of vtterance more cleanly couched and more delicate to the eare then prose is because it is more currant and slipper vpon the tongue and withal tunable and melodious as a kind of Musicke and therfore may be tearmed a musicall speech or vtterance which cannot but please the hearer very well Another cause is for that it is briefer more compendious and easier to beare away and be retained in memorie then that which is contained in multitude of words and full of tedious ambage and long periods It is beside a maner of vtterance more eloquent and rethoricall then the ordinarie prose which we vse in our daily talke because it is decked and set out with all maner of fresh colours and figures which maketh that it sooner inuegleth the iudgement of man and carieth his opinion this way and that whither soeuer the heart by impression of the eare shal be most affectionatly bent and directed The vtterance in prose is not of so great efficacie because not only it is dayly vsed and by that occasion the eare is ouerglutted with it but is also not so voluble and slipper vpon the tong being wide and lose and nothing numerous nor contriued into measures and sounded with so gallant and harmonical accents nor in fine alowed that figuratiue conueyance nor so great licence in choise of words and phrases as meeter is So as the Poets were also from the beginning the best perswaders and their eloquence the first Rethoricke of the world Euen so it became that the high mysteries of the gods should be reuealed taught by a maner of vtterance and language of extraordinarie phrase and briefe and compendious and aboue al others sweet and ciuill as the Metricall is The same also was meetest to register the liues and noble gests of Princes and of the great
Monarkes of the world and all other the memorable accidents of time so as the Poet was also the first historiographer Then forasmuch as they were the first obseruers of all naturall causes effects in the things generable and corruptible and from thence mounted vp to search after the celestiall courses and influences yet penetrated further to know the diuine essences and substances separate as is sayd before they were the first Astronomers and Philosophists and Metaphisicks Finally because they did altogether endeuor thēselues to reduce the life of man to a certaine method of good maners and made the first differences betweene vertue and vice and then tempered all these knowledges and skilles with the exercise of a delectable Musicke by melodious instruments which withall serued them to delight their hearers to call the people together by admiration to a plausible and vertuous conuersation therefore were they the first Philosophers Ethick the first artificial Musiciens of the world Such was Linus Orpheus Amphiō Museus the most ancient Poets and Philosophers of whom there is left any memorie by the prophane writers King Dauid also Salomon his sonne and many other of the holy Prophets wrate in meeters and vsed to sing them to the harpe although to many of vs ignorant of the Hebrue language and phrase and not obseruing it the same seeme but a prose It can not bee therefore that anie scorne or indignitie should iustly be offred to so noble profitable ancient and diuine a science as Poesie is CHAP. V. How the wilde and sauage people vsed a naturall Poesie in versicle and rime as our vulgar is ANd the Greeke and Latine Poesie was by verse numerous and metricall running vpon pleasant feete sometimes swift sometime slow their words very aptly seruing that purpose but without any rime or tunable concord in th' end of their verses as we and all other nations now vse But the Hebrues Chaldees who were more ancient then the Greekes did not only vse a metricall Poesie but also with the same a maner of rime as hath bene of late obserued by learned men Wherby it appeareth that our vulgar running Poesie was common to all the nations of the world besides whom the Latines and Greekes in speciall called barbarous So as it was notwithstanding the first and most ancient Poesie and the most vniuersall which two points do otherwise giue to all humane inuentions and affaires no small credit This is proued by certificate of marchants trauellers who by late nauigations haue surueyed the whole world and discouered large countries and strange peoples wild and sauage affirming that the American the Perusine the very Canniball do sing and also say their highest and holiest matters in certaine riming versicles and not in prose which proues also that our maner of vulgar Poesie is more ancient then the artificiall of the Greeks and Latines ours comming by instinct of nature which was before Art or obseruation and vsed with the sauage and vnciuill who were before all science or ciuilitie euen as the naked by prioritie of time is before the clothed and the ignorant before the learned The naturall Poesie therefore being aided and amended by Art and not vtterly altered or obscured but some signe left of it as the Greekes and Latines haue left none is no lesse to be allowed and commended then theirs CHAP. VI. How the riming Poesie came first to the Grecians and Latines and had altered and almost spilt their maner of Poesie BVt it came to passe when fortune fled farre from the Greekes and Latines that their townes florished no more in traficke nor their Vniuersities in learning as they had done continuing those Monarchies the barbarous conquerers inuading them with innumerable swarmes of strange nations the Poesie metricall of the Grecians and Latines came to be much corrupted and altered in so much as there were times that the very Greekes and Latines themselues tooke pleasure in Riming verses and vsed it as a rare and gallant thing Yea their Oratours proses nor the Doctors Sermons were acceptable to Princes nor yet to the common people vnlesse it went in manner of tunable rime or metricall sentences as appeares by many of the auncient writers about that time and since And the great Princes and Popes and Sultans would one salute and greet an other sometime in frendship and sport sometime in earnest and enmitie by ryming verses nothing seemed clerkly done but must be done in ryme Whereof we finde diuers examples from the time of th' Emperours Gracian Valentinian downwardes For then aboutes began the declination of the Romain Empire by the notable inundations of the Hunnes and Vandalles in Europe vnder the conduict of Totila Atila and other their generalles This brought the ryming Poesie in grace and made it preuaile in Italie and Greece their owne long time cast aside and almost neglected till after many yeares that the peace of Italie and of th' Empire Occidentall reuiued new clerkes who recouering and perusing the bookes and studies of the ciuiler ages restored all maner of arts and that of the Greeke and Latine Poesie withall into their former puritie and netnes Which neuerthelesse did not so preuaile but that the ryming Poesie of the Barbarians remained still in his reputation that one in the schole this other in Courts of Princes more ordinary and allowable CHAP. VII How in the time of Charlemaine and many yeares after him the Latine Poetes wrote in ryme ANd this appeareth euidently by the workes of many learned men who wrote about the time of Charlemaines raigne in the Empire Occidentall where the Christian Religion became through the excessiue authoritie of Popes and deepe deuotion of Princes strongly fortified and established by erection of orders Monastical in which many simple clerks for deuotiō sake sanctitie were receiued more then for any learning by which occasion the solitarinesse of their life waxing studious without discipline or instruction by any good methode some of them grew to be historiographers some Poets and following either the barbarous rudenes of the time or els their own idle inuentions all that they wrote to the fauor or prayse of Princes they did it in such maner of minstrelsie and thought themselues no small fooles when they could make their verses goe all in ryme as did the schoole of Salerne dedicating their booke of medicinall rules vnto our king of England with this beginning Anglorum Regi scripsit tota schola Salerni Sivis incolumem sivis te reddere sanum Curas tolle graues irasci crede prophanum Nec retine ventrem nec string as fortiter annum And all the rest that follow throughout the whole booke more curiously then cleanely neuerthelesse very well to the purpose of their arte In the same time king Edward the iij. him selfe quartering the Armes of England and France did discouer his pretence and clayme to the Crowne of Fraunce in these ryming verses