of Latine Orators as also of other lerned and discrete persons trusting that the whole being wel seene considered together with the instructions and exquisite termes wherewith an auditour ought to be furnished except peraduenture the mynd and courage of the Reader be altogether ignorant sluggish of the number of them that remayning in the gulfe and botome of rechlenesse haue their sense so corrupted their memorie so slppery and their mynde so dull slow astoonned that they may rightly of euery one be taken and estemed as brutall and barbarous which ceassing and a good will succeding there is no doute but a man shall easyly learne to make a Letter or Epistle so well adorned and garnished that it shall render vnto the Readers hearers not onely great ioye and commoditie but also to the endytour profit honor inestimable delectation Hirmolaus Barbarus writeth vnto George Merule PLato in that his diuine institution of lawes amongst other soueraigne things maketh mention that it is nedefull in the common weale to prescribe giue order that it be not permitted vnto any man to shew either pryuatly or publikly any thing that he hath composed except it be first perused and approued by the iudges thereunto assigned Would to God O discrete Merula at this daye we had the same law Certainly so many people should not then write and so few should not apply them selues to good Letters for now through the abundance of many noughty bookes we are greatly endomaged leuing the approued and knowne authors we folow the base and blynde wryters and that which is to be lamented we iudge of studies according to the good or euil authors one with another without indifferencie or correction From this spring and fountaine is risen this mortall and monstrous persuasion that Philosophers Consules can not be both alyke and eloqueÌ„t for the which senteÌ„ce bicause in many places we haue argued to the contrary as well in speaking disputing as by writing I dout not but of many I haue incurred hatred and office or according to thy common prouerbe haue angred the waspes But â—ith we haue the othe of this Knighthoode it were a capitall cryme to quite so honorable a charge And certainly I ordeyne and appoynt nowe that I haue power authoritie not to chyde or make a noyse but by writing or interpreting to proue my cause before wise and lerned persons euen so as the thing it self shal wytnesse that there is altogether no matter which this florishing and redie kynde of saying and speakyng doeth not receyâ—e and hath not his naturall hystory yea and contayneth not his very particular and sensible reasoÌ„s For this is of Pliny the second without all controuersie constituted and made but the same is that whereof euery one vniuersally maketh question and debate in such sort maner and forme as I think verily I my selfe haue first touched it in Themistio That which I haue proposed I pray thée Merula as effectually as I can deuise that thou woldest say for me euen as for thy selfe and that thou woldest be not onely my defender but my helper iudge and corrector For certainly it can not be denied but that in Philosophie there are sundry places the which to vtter and expresse it is néedefull and necessary sometimes to faine renewe And this doeth Marcus Tullius and all the other auncient and greate Philosophers graunt allow the which is now by maner of prelocution and reuerence grauÌ„ted vnto vs as he sayth we may name and place new wordes where we sée the Latin to be corrupted or altered as in the names of money and coyne or such lyke And herein would I haue thée to be an egall Censor or Iudge if peradueÌ„ture thou findest in these bookes any thing either altogether fayned to the seÌ„blance of certayne voyces or by licence that I say not rudely or hardly translated or by abuse to boldly transposed or else by a certayne imitation somwhat to coÌ„firmable Howbeit I think thou shalt not finde many which might offend thée or be troublesome tenne at the most or thereabouts thou shalt find in the whole worke that I sende thee here withall the which a man may say are not takeÌ„ rightly from the Latin and yet is there some of them that we haue receyued and taken euen from the Latin eares some we haue newly made for the other I take no disdayne of the vsage of learned and wise men howbeit I will not seeme to affirme my self to be wholly vnreprouable least peraduenture some doe obiect say if thou excuse thy selfe that thou art not barbarous what is it then that thou sayst And thus I wholly submit my cause to the indifferent iudge voyde of parcialitie Farewel From Venice 1480 Hirmolaus Barbarus vvriteth to Angelus Politianus IN that thou hast conceiued incredible ioy for my prosperities thou hast therin done no newe thing nor any thing which I had not before hande well séene by imagination presupposed I knowe with what carefulnesse great forwardnesse of vnderstanding thou hast taken in hand this busy vnspeakable charge to adorne extoll my name although that thou hast therein ben constant diligent effectuous yet sith in so doing it séemeth that thou speakest for thy selfe when thou speakest for me I doe nothing maruell in y t thou hast thought to profit thy selâ— when thou hast ben about myne affayres I giue thanks vnto thée and will giue continually not only as to a louer and a frende but euen as vnto Politian that is to say vnto a man right wise And certainly it is a greater thing to be praised of Politian than of a frend for the testimony and iudgement of a frende might be deceaued but of Politian a frende neuer deceaued And to my Lord Laurentius no lesse my prince than thyne I am greatly bound and beholdeÌ„ he himselfe thereof is witnesse I am in great danger least that in so many benefits merits which it hath pleased him to bestowe vpon me I appeare not to be vngratefull and barbarous Marsilius Ficinus vvriteth vnto Angelus Politianus IF now Politian I should say that I greatly maruelled at the hautinesse eloquence of thy style some peraduenture woulde suppose that I were to full of maruelling certainly in others I am accustomed to maruell at things for the noueltie of them but in Politian I maruell at things which are vnto me of a long time very well knowne howbeit for a veritie I now haue in admiration not olde things but new things For my Politian hath so happyly encreased within short space synce his youth that for his style he séemeth vnto me wholly another man and altogether new and therefore he that being euen a child hath not smally pleased me and being a yong man greatly plesed me now that he hath passed his youth doth perfectly and worthily please me for euen as his beautie hath dayly encreased so also hath increased his grace
the Minor whereby we gyue him to vnderstand what our mynde is by Epistle or letter The consequent or conclusion is of it selfe sufficiently knowne The first style or maner wherein the Cause is specified SYr you haue written vnto me and desired me that I would lend you send you by your lacky this bearer one of my bookes for youre recreacion and pastime And bicause that I know the greate affection and desire of you by your Epistle so eloquently composed and endyted I therefore am constrained and by youre letters full of humanitie compelled to make you aunswer as one who altogether is determined to shew you pleasure to lend and send you the booke that you demaund for in so doing I hope that In casu simili vel maiori you will answere me according to my desire which may engendre betwene vs not onely a mutual loue but also a perpetuall beneuolence and a continuall good will The three foresayd partes must be in euery Letter and Epistle either couertly or plainely And a man may also adde to other necessary and superabundaÌ„t clauses euery thing in as briefe order as may be and according as the cause requireth importeth it is not nedefull alwaies to write the cause but it is requisit to write the intent the consequence or coÌ„clusion for the consequence dependeth of the two first the which must be very much either persuading or dissuading He that can artificially and workmanlike handle an Epistle may begin with the intent afterwardes tell the cause end with the consequence or begin with the consequence after declare the intent and then the cause ordring the whole matter as vnto himselfe shal seme best most decent The second Style wherein the Cause is first afterward the Intent and then the Conclusion THe thing which God and Nature would principally should be desyred with most harty affection and the which I perceiue to be imprinted in my selfe more than any other thing my singular and perfect frende is to know to learne and to practise all honesty and humanitie And bicause that aboue all Orators writing of humanitie the sentences of Tully are preferred and bycause that he is estemed of all men the Prince of eloquence yet notwithstanding partely vnknowne in these quarters and notoriously manifested at Paris the Fountaine of Science therefore haue I thought good to write vnto you as to him whom I accompt my singular frende requesting you aboue all the pleasures that you desire to do me and also that you hope as I may imagine that it may be the cause to erect make me a man of vnderstanding that it wold please you to send me the booke of Tullie And in sending I will not forget the recompence of your humanitie which shall not be defrauded of me thorough ingratitude c. The third Style in this order the intent the Cause and the Conclusion I Would dere frende that you tooke as great pleasure to lende me the Paradoxes of Cicero as I desire to haue them of you and throughly to peruse them ouer by coÌ„tinual reading but I haue always deferred to demand them of you bicause they were nedeful for you in your ordinary lectures Notwithstanding for y t I am now aduertised y t your lecture hath takeÌ„ end to your great honor good renown I suppose that the booke is out of your seruice together also as I vnderstand it is more corrected than any other For this cause I request you to send it me y e which I hope you will easely performe And so doing I shall acknowledge the good will which you beare vnto me in sending me the booke which perchance you loue best whereof it may be that you haue most néede And shalbe bound to lend you what soeuer you shall demaund me according to my possibilitie Promising moreouer bothe my seâ—e and goods at your commaundement c. The fourth Style in this order the Conclusion the Cause and the Intent YOu should do me a great and singular pleasure yea and also shold binde me for euer if it wold please you to agrée to my request the which is nothing preiudiciall vnto you and vnto me very necessary and profitable It is to lende me your booke of Rhetorike for many times when I talke or declare a matter to the ende to perswade or disswade or otherwise I perceiue my selfe so naked and vnfurnished of termes and phrases for the purpose and such as I accustomably vse I apply them so ill that eueryone is weary and ceasseth to giue eare vnto me for the discorde of my speach But if any do tary to heare the ende they be either poore ignorant women or else such as deryde me to my shame confusion great dishonour Therefore I am constrained humbly to require you that it would please you to lend me your booke of Rethorike for to haue thereof the copie to the end that I may auoid such inconuenience which hapneth vnto me through the fondnesse and abuse of my language Here is to be noted that the conclusion is made but in three sortes onely to wit by Amplificacion and enlarging by commiseration and pittie or by Epiloge and briefe rehersall By Amplification as inducing laughter or ioy by commiseracion as in mouing to pitty pardon by Epiloge as in collecting briefly together that which hath ben amply and at large declared in the Epistle before especially when it conteyneth many long partes And the Epiloge is made to the ende the Readers or the herers be not defrauded of the purpose conclusion But this is more decent conuenient in Epistles than in Letters for letters ought to be briefe and short And yet bicause this place shall not be left darkely obscurely I wil giue more ample intelligence of commiseracion amplification Epiloge also of demonstration CoÌ„miseracion must be made of swete pitiful humble laÌ„guage like to a CoÌ„medie must be brief for it is ynough if a man do but somwhat moue the Audience to pittie as to say thus with humble modestie wold to God right worshipfull that I had wept to you not haue prouoked you to wepe for with great paine can I scarce vtter one onely worde of myne inteÌ„t through the abundaÌ„ce of teares which my heart causeth to distil from mine eyes c. Amplification is made when for to moue the AudieÌ„ce to honest myrth somtimes to indignatioÌ„ or sometimes to pittie there is spoken in augmeÌ„ting the termes of the CoÌ„clusion somthing for to encrese the termes phrases as to saye thus Right honorable I aduertise you that the cause appertayneth to God and to men of great authoritie Also if you wyl not accept this charge you refuse a great goodnesse and honour which God doeth sende you The Epiloge by nature should be briefe and is made alwayes at the end of the discourse wheÌ„ brefly and in suÌ„me the
the publike weale that I desire their banishment imprisonment or punishment with sharpe Iustice And although I haue ben instantly desired to write vnto you in the behalfe of such a one who as it is sayd hath committed such a fact c. is deteyned in your prysons in daunger of his life as I am aduertised although also I thought the request reasonable yet would I hot in any wise haue written vnto you right honorable Iudge for so slanderous a matter had I not ben prouoked thereunto by the cōsideration of the vertues which I know to be in him in such nūber that it were to long to recite them I assure you my Lorde Iudge that this euil excepted if an euill it may be called being done in a mans owne defēse as I am informed he hath alwayes shewed him self an honest man were it for y e defence of y e town or to mayntein iustice wherin he hath not spared his bodie goods counsell nor frendes And when there hath ben any good act in hand to apprehend the body of any offēder there hath ben no man more hardy nor that without feare hath more fréely ventured him self in danger wherby yet many woūds and skarres are apparant in him And I ensure you my Lord that there is no lambe more gentle than hée nothing more peaceable than he is And there is in this Towne none more valiant hardy nor honester man without dispraysing any My Lord I consider that for such a case hapned by fortune as this is whereof I intreate so many vertues which are in the man of whom I write vnto you ought not to be quenched requiring of their owne nature fauour of grace and iust supportation Therefore I besech you my Lord Iudge to whose pitie and benignitie I entend to direct this Letter and not to your seuere Iustice that it wold please you not to haue so much regard to this pitifull chaūce sodenly hapned but y t aboue all you might haue regarde to his youth already wyse sage and so full of vertue that he is beloued of many good men for that he neuer offended but in this matter and is well willing to amend and neuer to returne to any such fault Pleaseth it you therefore to deliuer him whereof I hūbly besech you to y e end that he may yet again hazard himselfe his body and his goods in ech iust quarell How to request the counsaile of an Aduocate TO demaūd fauor in any thing that is called an vncororall benefit as doctrine counsayl c. First of al we must deuide the letter into foure partes The first conteyneth that he of whome we demaūd hath power to giue that which we would request of him for by that meanes he shal not excuse him selfe by impossibilitie Secondly to shew the demaund to be iust honest to thende that he excuse not himself saying that he would do it gladly if the demaund were iust Thirdly to make the demaund declaring it selfe to be facile easie Fourthly to promise gold siluer or other thing perpetual seruice c. And vpon this point it is to be noted that in this kinde of style and sundry other sortes of supplications and demaunds we must vse humble language as much as may bee For humble speache is a great persuasion to obtayne that which we require and demaunde The Example THe Incredible Eloquence that is in you right worshipfull Aduocate shineth in such sort that there are no Orators in Iudiciall actes to be compared vnto you which thing giueth me stedfast hope that if it would please you to take the charge of my cause and to conduct it I should come to such ende as my heart desireth The quarel that I haue is iust and begoon agaynst such a one myne aduersary who through deceyte and cauilacion hath induced me to make a bargaine with him very trublesome hurtfull for me whereof I haue ben dismissed by the King in his Chauncery as you may perceiue by y e specialties which are in my bagge Therefore haue I this recourse vnto you trusting of your good counsell and that you will speake boldly for me before the Iudges to susteyne my good right whereof I presently write vnto you hoping that you will willingly employ your selfe thereunto after that you haue vnderstanded the matter at large wherein I haue iust cause although the aduersary party say the contrary And in so doing as my special trust is and as I humbly besech you I will promise to recompense yeu with honest and lawfull rewarde the which I will pay you largely liberally and incontinently at your pleasure And so shall you also haue my ayde in your affaires and businesse and commaunde me as your humble seruant to accomplish the full content of a good heart to the pleasure of our Lord c. Hovv to ansvvere in such a like matter IN the answere of a matter called an vncorporall benefit that is to say of Doctrine or counsell the diuision must be made into three parts First to get beneuolence declaring that for the loue that we beare vnto him we do gently agree vnto his demaund Secondly we must make offer of that which is demaunded and required and of other greater matters in purchasing good will on the other side Thirdly we repete the offer by enlarging amplifying of seruices that we desyre nothing more than to do him seruice that we will therein do so well that he shal haue occasion to holde himselfe contented The Example I Haue receued the letters which it plesed you to write vnto me my singular perfect frend by the which I perceiue the desire affection confidēce that you haue in me concerning the guiding of your cause the matter of the allowing of the kings letters obteyned for you against such a one c. I aduertise you that not onely for the good iust action y t you haue in this mater wherunto euery vertuous man ought to shew fauor but also for the singular loue frō the time of our youth mutually cōsidered my dere frēd I accord vnto you not onely for y e which you require me but also for all other fauor seruice euen as one frend ought to do vnto an other In such sort y t you shall not perceiue in me any signe of apperāce to refuse that labour For I will wholly altogether endeuour my selfe for you in this affaire euen as for myne owne yea you shal vnderstand God to frende that I wil do more better therein than I am able presently to speake or write Certifying you my singuler frend that I am redy to fulfill your desire cōmandement wherevnto soeuer it shall please you to assigne me and that nothing shal more reioyce me than to perceiue by you to haue done any thing that doth please and content you c. How to thanke an Aduocate for a cause by him conducted TO render thanks for an vncorporal benefit
moneths space I haue not writen vnto you but certainly no occasion cometh vnto my memorie at thys time more conuenient than to reason by writing with a sage and gentle person and one adorned with vertue and thus vnderstanding myne excuse I trust you wil be enclined to pardon me But to the purpose synce your worshippe departed from vs we haue ben more pursued and molested in our processe before the commissary who arriued here the day after your departure than euer we were afore tyme we haue ben these .iiij. sundry dayes sore troubled bicause we had no man to speake for vs and our aduerse partie had Maister Iames Parcenall for his couÌ„seller But not to be troublesom by ouer long writing the whole matter of the processe depeÌ„deth vntil your comming therfore I pray you make spedy returne and addresse your writings orderly Thus vnderstaÌ„d you our troubles one houre séemeth vnto me a whole yere vntill your worship come vnto vs. We haue founde the last will and testament of our Vncle deceassed the which will make very much for our purpose we wait for you here y e wéek after Ester c. To aunswere thy frend hauing praysed thee YOur phrase of speach is so finely adorned so eloquent that in veritie vnto a man euen full of eloquence it would be troublesom therunto to make due and sufficient aunswere therefore impossible vnto me full of barbarisme But peraduenture I know not the loue and affection which you beare vnto me for which cause although I haue not y e ornature of speache that were requisite yet notwithstanding I will enforce my self for duties sake as also I trust to your contentment to write you some part of an aunswere to the ende that you myght rather blame me of insufficiencie than of ingratitude or negligeÌ„ce And therfore though I know my self to haue ben praised rather through your humanitie for y e singular loue y t you beare vnto me thaÌ„ for y e merits of my vertues yet neuerthelesse I cannot choose but be glad reioice to be praised of so prudeÌ„t a person one adorned with such eloqueÌ„ce as you are for your authority is so much in estimatioÌ„ y t not only men worthy but also y e vnworthy it beutifieth extolleth The Replie vnto the same COnsidering with my self y e smal puisaÌ„ce of my weak spirit w t what authoritie of eloqueÌ„ce it were nedeful and necessarie to send you my Letters I am as it were astonyed and especially for the recept of your copious Epistles But certainly I am not he whome you haue sayd to be prudeÌ„t and adorned with eloquence for therein haue I employde no labour But assuredly you are worthy to be called euen eloquence it selfe c. To shew thy selfe thankfull for a benefit receiued THough at this present through the contrarietie of the tyme I fynde my self feeble in the gifts of Fortune that towards you I cannot vse that renumeration in effectes which I ought yet I trust you thinke that my good will is so great towards you that I haue thereby fully satisfyed to euery default of my vnfortunate Fortune And so remain I assured y t through your accustomed humanitie you wil accept my good wil. But if euer Fortune who is mutable doe returne hir selfe towardes me as I attende hir swéete daliance and put hir prosperous Sayles to mine honest intente there is not a man in the whole worlde that more largely shall dispose of me and all my possibilities than shal your wisdome c. The same after an other maner IF God had shewed such fauoure vnto me that I had bene as sufficiente to haue rewarded so many your benefits as I féele my selfe able and desirous to render you infinite thankes assuredly I woulde haue bene as ready to the satisfaction of the déede as of the good wil therefore as farre as extendeth at this presente my possibilitie I mynde not to be vngratefull vnto you And thus I thanke you for the fame asmuch as if you had done me the greatest and most singular benefite in the worlde offer my selfe alwayes vnto you in all that shalbe possible for me c. Here endeth the third boke The fourth boke containyng sundry Letters belonging to Loue as well in Verse as in Prose Eurialus writeth vnto Lucretia IT is not wythoute cause Lady Lucrece if all they of this citie haue their eyes fixed to behold regard loue praise thée when of the one part they coÌ„sider the great vertues wherwith thou art enriched the good honest maners which adorne thée and moreouer they haue in admiratioÌ„ thy richesse and yet more thy nobilitie surpassyng all other thy parents And then wheÌ„ besides they coÌ„sider on the other parte the great singular incredible beautie whiche is in thée they iudge within theÌ„selues y t thou art a very spectacle of Natures work are not deceiued for they viewe thy Angelicall visage so fair cléere that it wold lighteÌ„ a firmameÌ„t altogether cloudie thy eies bright clere shining like ij starres whose swéete aspects driue away all sorowe and sadnesse and bring in place all ioy and pleasantnesse The faire die of thy pleasant face passeth all other liuely colour thy large forhed thy christall neck thy corall lips thy goldeÌ„ haire thy comely body other meÌ„bres so well proportioned y t I can not desist nor abstaine from praising thée in praising thee to loue thee and in louing thée to honor thee These causes with many modoe constraine me to loue thée and though nobilitie richesse and youth he in me also that thanks be vnto God I am fortunate inough yet much more happy shold I be if it would please thée to loue me For as for my part I am determined not onely to loue esteme and honor thée but also to die for thée in thy necessitie or at thy pleasure I assure thée that both waking sleping I haue no thought but of thée and though some of my companions do say that I am happy bicause in me are some smal giftes of fortune and vertues yet these notwithstanding I accompâ—â—ny selfe vnfortunate if I obtain not thy fauor for thou arâ— the same wherein resteth my onely hope Turne therefore if it please thee my swéete Dame and gracious virgin thy sweete eyes of humanitie and with clemencie beholde thy humble Seruitour O what a thing is Loue now doe I know it by experience and maruell not though the greatest Lordes and Ladies be therevnto subiect for many willing to obeye his commaundement are fallen into great inconueniences Remember thee of Daphne and of Siringue of which y e one despising the loue of Phoebus and the other of â—an cruelly ended their liues Take thou heede of so doing and rather follow Penelope who vnto hir Louer obserued Loyaltie and liued notably And to be briefe graunt vnto my request for in so doing I promise thée to be loyall honest and secrete in the accomplishing
And certainly also this pleseth me well that it should so bée for this cause for often tymes I presupposed and as it were prognosticated that it would so come to passe therfore I pray thée hold on as thou hast begon Diuine to the ende that thou maist likewise make me a true Diuinator In respect of that that thou extollest y e Marsilian in euery place with passing praises I doe maruell no whit at all Who is he that in pronouncing his proper praises is not vehement and warmeth not him selfe who is hee so vnsensible that delyteth not himselfe in that which belongeth vnto him selfe Francus declared vnto vs that thou hast had talke of vs with all the wise and learned especially with Hirmolaus Barbarus What wilt thou that I do for thée certainly I wil willingly do it Farewel Politianus answereth vnto Marsilius Ficinus THou perceiuest not in me euery day new things which are worthy to be praised but rather new things in thy selfe through y t which thou praisest mée and that which semeth vnto thée such abundance is thy excéeding loue whereby as Propertius recyteth of nothing is raysed a great history And veryly I think thou wilt make me a Diuinator for thou hast caused me to Diuine whē as euery day I say and preach that thou art a Diuine Farewell Innocent Pope to Angelus Politianus MY welbeloued Sonne health and Apostolicall benediction The booke which thou lately didst sende vnto vs translated out of Greke into Latin we haue hartely and gladly receiued aswell for the noueltie of the thing as for the iudgement of diuers whome in these partes we esteme for learned and wise It is so well furnished with learning and wit that therewith our Lybrarie shalbe greatly adorned and therfore we giue thée most hartie thanks recommending thy vertue vnto our Lord and exhorting thée from henceforth to perseuer in such lyke things to the ende that by these honest labours thou mayst one day get greater prayses and that thou maist deserue at our hands more fertile grace And in token aswell of the good will that we know to be in thée as for the great fatherly loue that we beare towards thée we haue thought good to send thée two hundred Crownes by our welbeloued sonne Iohn Turnabon to the ende that by suche succour of liuing thou mightest more easyly support and accomplysh thy labours and workes Youen at Rome at Saint Peters vnder the Seale of the Fisher The .xvj. of August 1487. The third yere of our Pontificalitie Innocent the eight Pope to his vvelbeloued sonne Laurentius de Medicis VVElbeloued sonne health and Apostolicall benediction We giue thanckes vnto thy deuotion for that through the same our welbeloued sonne Angelus Politianus a man very learned and expert hath sent vs a booke translated out of Greke into Latin the which he dedicated vnto our name the which not onely by our owne iudgement but also by the iudgement of other wyse men vnto whome we haue shewed it is greately commended It shall be of vs as appertayneth greatly estemed and honoured and shall bée an ornament in our Librarie the whiche shall bée a Testimonye of his Vertue and Learning wée exhort thée aboue all things to prouoke and moue the same Angelus by thy authoritie to make and compose like workes which shall bring forth vnto him vulgar estimation and vnto vs no small delectation who for so honest labours partly by benefits partly by other things will cause that worthy thanks reward shalbe employed and giuen vnto him And now in token therof we haue appointed to be sent vnto hym by oure welbeloued sonne Iohn Turnabon .ij. C. Crownes to the ende that this booke shold not remayne without recompense Youen at Rome at Saint Peters c. Angelus Politianus to Innocent the .viij. Pope rendreth Salutaion I Knowe not in what sort to render thée thanks most holy Father Innocent Soueraigne Bishop which hast with so great prayses and ample liberalitie rewarded our small labours which thing I consider and interpret to haue ben so done for this cause to wit that it hath pleased thy holynesse and blessednesse by this meanes to erecte and stirre vp the myndes of learned men whiche of long tyme haue lien still and as it were slombred when they vnderstand to be in such a worthy Bishop of this time suche and so great humanitie and liberalitie that now euen the basest and least in order remayne not only praysed and honored but also liberally recompenced Certainly these prayses togither with the presēt and vnloked for benefits on me bestowed haue added vnto me as it were spurs and pricks and haue charged me with a great carefulnesse so to kepe and behaue my selfe that at no time or by no cause I be found to be vnworthy of this thy liberalitie and fauour wherevpon I will take care and will so enforce my selfe that this our tender territorie to the tillage whereof thy magnificence hath now giuen such and so great succoure shal bring forth hereafter new reuenues to thy sacred Maiestie Valeat tua sanctitas Florentiae c. A certayne man writeth to a Bokebynder of Paris VVOrshipfull Syr assured I am that if I should commend me an hundreth thousand times vnto you yet shold I doe lesse than nothing if it pleased you not to accompt me for one of those that wish you well therefore I pray you commend me vnto you certifying you that synce my departure I haue written sufficient matter vnto you according to my rudenesse whereunto you haue made me no aunswere Howbeit I maruell not thereat considering that you haue ben so busyed about the vrgent affaires of the king that you haue had no leysure to attend thereunto wherefore you are worthely to be excused And though it be so that I am transported into a farre cuntry to execute needfull things yet is it not to be supposed that true loue shold decay through the visible seperatiō made betwene two frendes whereof you are the one and I the other at the least I am yours and beleue that you are myne And therefore as myne I haue not nor wil not deferre to write vnto you trusting and being assured that through the receiuing of my Letters I shall cause you to be more ioyfull and to haue me in remembrance Doing you also thereby to vnderstand that if it would so please you I would gladly haue certaine little bookes whereof I spake vnto you dispatched from the bynding hansomely and fynely as you know wel how to doe them yea farre better than it is possible to expresse or write vnto you Of a thing well done the praise remayneth to the Author and doer thereof wherein I know you shall be partaker for that you worke so perfectly that no man will nor can fynde fault therewith Moreouer if there be any thing in these partes wherin I may plesure you doe but commaūd it and I will obey according to the possibilitie of your sayd frend not