amongst fishe 〈◊〉 Dolphin and amongst men a very Hercules For counsayle of the Citie and politike affaires there is not his lyke who is and will be to your Citie no small adornement whereby you shall get great renowne and strangers the light of most euident example And bicause that my to rude vnderstanding knoweth not the maner how to write the tenth part of his vertues and that my letter sheld be to long and tedious it may please you to be content at this present with this small writing for I do determine to write vnto you an other time more largely what soeuer I write it shal be nothing but mere truthe deuoide of all faining and flattery I aduertise you my Lords that so much the more you shall know him so much the more wil you commeÌ„d praise honour and esteme it a great benefit to haue had the â—â—â—â—ledge acquaintance seruice ayde support familiaritie frendship confederation alliance recourse coÌ„pany of such a personage c. Hovv to vvrite vnder the Demonstratiue gender blaming or dispraysing another TO write in y e dispraise of a man we must deuide our letter into three parts First to get good wil vnto our selues declaring that in deede we do not loue neither that it is our commoÌ„ vse to write euill of any man but that now we are vehemently vrged and constrayned there vnto c. Secondly we must dispraise the party in honest and couert termes and so placed that it be not playnly perceiued that we speke for enuy or anger or otherwise but onely that in very deede the great pryde which is in him doeth cause vs to say it to thende to abate his presumpâ—ion and to reforme him Thirdly we shall excuse our selues towardes him vnto whome we write that if we haue written any thing vnto him which might displease him we suppose him to be wise ynough to know the truth offering c. The Example vvherin a certain man writeth to Cicero touching the conspiracie of Catyline IT is not my custome learned Cicero most renowmed and worthy of honor by detracting and speaking euill or blaming of an other as many do to go about to get vnto my selfe praise and renowme especially when the vices of the other doe touch me nothing at all in so much that although I my selfe be standered greatly iniured by myne enimies I suffer it paciently and hold my peace But yet considering with my selfe the great Treasons of Catiline who notwithstanding neuer did me any displeasure seing that he was determined as a Traytour to kéepe the whole Citie and cuntry in subiection by the ayde and support of strangers I coulde not abstayne my selfe from declaring it vnto you to the end that the whole being known ye might giue order and conuenient remedie I aduertise you worthy sir and déere frende that ouer and aboue the other innumerable vices pety trafficks traysons and subtilties that are in him he communicateth day night with the cursed peruerse and wicked rybalds ruffians rascal Roges of the Towne he prouoketh corrupteth them with money and other damnable meanes to conspyre with him the destruction of y e good noble Burgesses Citizens with full determinate purpose to make a generall coÌ„motion to kill the wise learned gouernors to fier theyr houses to ransack spoyle their goods to do al the execrable wickednesse that is possible And this is now manifestly notoriously knoweÌ„ throughout the whole Citie For he now declareth himselfe to be such a one euen in open audience threatning them that are in chiefest aucthoritie in such sorte that they are constrained to flee fearing a greater inconuenience Therfore it is necessary my singular friende to giue politike order and that brefly to the end that a greater euill do not ensue I haue not writte this vnto you for any hatred or enuy that I haue against him for so should I do wrong to complayne of him but that which I do is in fauour of the publick weale to moue you as a good and diligent Iudge to redresse it by seuere iustice so far forth as it is nedefull to thend that we may remayne in ciuill peace and tranquillitie requiring and beseching you to addresse vnto me your noble desyres that I may accomplish theÌ„ according to my possibilitie Hovv to vvrite by maner of Complaint or lamentation for an iniury receiued IN such a case we must first get the good wil of him vnto whom we write by reducing to his memory the cause wherefore we are moued and prouoked to let him vnderstaÌ„d of our estate Secondly we must make honest remonstration and reciâ—all of the wrong that our aduersary hath done vnto vs by reprouing him of ingratitude or some other villanous vice Thirdly we must require counsayle comfort ayde or demaunde his counsayle offring in lyke maner c. The Example vvherein Appius vvriteth to Caesar of iniury done him by Cicero THe feruent desire and singular loue which you haue alwayes shewed vnto me most mighty Caesar doeth constraine me to write vnto you my complaint of an iniury which hath ben done vnto me to y e end to obtayn of you some comforte for I suppose that the iniury doeth touch you as well as me considering the amitie and freÌ„dship betwixt vs which through firme stedfast acquaintance ought to be common as well in prosperitie as in aduersitie And bicause that within this moneth I haue susteyned very vncurteous and vnhonest iniuries I could not abstayn from writing vnto you to the end that you might be a relieuer and comforter of this greuous trouble You knowe right renowned Caesar the pains trauels diligence and the great perils and dangers wherein I haue ben for this wicked persoÌ„ of whom I write vnto you not onely for to doe him honor but also profit And when I was iudge you knowe in what magnificence he was receiued of the counsel yet now hath he forgotten all the good dedes seruice that I haue done him For notwithstanding that I my selfe requested him and also caused him to be requested by men of good reputation to defend my cause and to pleade it before the Senat yet he refused me although he employeth him selfe to the like for euery one yea euen for straÌ„gers and them that he neuer knew nor that euer dyd him any pleasure or seruice Yea and that which is worse to do me greater displeasure he hath counsayled my aduersary and found subtilties and cautoles to pleade against me in such sorte that I am depriued of my right beholde the godly rewardes and recompences wherewith this wicked vngrateful person had paid me for hauing done him so much pleasure and seruice Vnto thee mighty and puisant Caesar I haue yet my remedie to appeale and to moue him of the vniust sentence which hath ben giuen against me Therefore do I humbly besech you that it would please you to admonish him that if remaining and perseuering in his
giuing generall commission and charge of businesse or affayres THere is yet another fort of letters whereby we giue commission or charge of certayne businesse generally or particularly and such letters must contayne foure partes First to purchase his beneuolence saying that for the loyaltie that is in him and also the confidence that we haue of his person and that for the loue of vs he wil entreat our businesse euen as his owne therefore haue we deliberated to commit our busynesse vnto him Secondly to declare what businesse and with what persons and how he hath to doe Thirdly to expresse the authoritie that we minde to giue him ouer our busynesse with all other clauses necessary to the expedicion or execucion of the same businesse Fourthly to promise to take in good parte whatsoeuer to him shalbe done c. The Example wherein Cicero committeth to Scipio his authoritie ouer all his businesse in Rome I Know not any thing so weighty or so diâ—â—icill my more than dere frend Scipio yea though death it selfe should follow that for you I would not most willingly doe For so willeth the loue beneuolence that inwardly ioyneth and vniteth vs together and I doe stedfastly beleue that you wil do the like for me whensoeuer I néede Secondly the cause that moueth me to write thus vnto you is y e I haue much businesse to dispatch at Rome where personally for my other affayres I can not be assistant therefore it behoueth me to haue some frende resydent there for me that may take the charge of my affayres Thirdly and although that I could commit them to dyuers other my frendes yet notwithstanding I am affrayde in so doing that I should to much offende you and should séeme that I would wholly separate my selfe from you if I shold not commit my causes and affaires vnto you and lykewise if you desist from giuing me commission of yours our naturall and mutuall loue might be diminished Which case to auoyde I now sende you playne and especiall procuration in my vrgent and nedefull businesse hauing stedfast confidence in you that nothing shall perish through negligence And especially concerning the cause and pursuyte betwene me and such a one wherof I pray you procure spéedy expedition as knowing well the great wrong of the aduerse partie my good right which hath great néede of ayde and succour Fourthly I besech you againe to haue my affaires in remembrance whereof I giue you the charge and playne commission irreuocable all which things I would haue you to do and procure euen as though I my selfe were personally present and whatsoeuer you shall doe I promise to be content withall vnder obligation and bond of all my goods according as more plainly is conteined in the procuration or Letter of attorney which I sende you here withall And thus fynish I my letter praying c. How to write letters giuing particular Commission for some affayres OFtentimes yt happeneth that we commit and giue charge of some particular busynesse and such letters must be diuided into foure parts euen as the other before written Howbeit in the second part we must expresse one or moe businesse and affayres by order in euery article the things that we would haue dispatched being particularly shewed plainly and manifestly The Example wherein Appius constituteth Cicero his receyuer in Sicilia THe perfectnesse of fidelitie that I haue in you my loyall friende Tully and the which you vse towardes all your frendes as I haue alwayes perfectly perceyued it doeth giue me no small hope together the loue and beneuolence wherwith we are vnyted that your wysedome and liberall humanytie taketh great pleasure to employ it selfe aboute my busynesse if I commit any vnto you Secondly and to the ende that I giue you to vnderstand what businesse I intend that you doe for me at this present you shall know and vnderstand that in your prouince I haue hadde to doe for the Senate of Rome and that great summes of money remayne due vnto me by dyuers of my creaditours thereaboutes And seing that I am at this poynt assured of the good will that you beare vnto mée I haue thought good to constitute you my procurour or attourney to receyue of such a one so much and of such a one so much c. Whereof I sende you the cedules and obligations Thirdly and if any of them or any other wyll resyst you and refuse or delay the payment I gyue you power and aucthoritie to constrayne them by all wayes of Iustice euen as I might my selfe if I were there personally present Fourthly whatsoeuer you shall doe for me I promise you to be content therewithall bynd me by the procuration which I seÌ„d you by this bearer with y e billes writings seruing to that effect I commit the whole vnto you certefiyng you that in me you haue a frend prest and ready to do whatsoeuer you shall commaunde him From Rome the. c. How to write certaine myxed Letters YEt is there another sorte of Letters conteyning entermixed matters whiche are to be deuided into two parts onely First to declare the most necessary businesse Neuerthelesse we must always begin with some honest preamble lyke as if we write to our frende saying though we bee occupied and busyed with many affayres yet we intend to visit him with our letters Secondly to declare particularly and plainly our intent And if peradueÌ„ture it behoue vs to aunswere letters receiued from our frende in such a case for the preamble we shall say that we haue receiued his letters the which were very comfortable vnto vs and that we intend orderly to giue aunswere in the ende whereof we may wryte that which we will besyde offering as in the other before c. The Example wherein Cicero writeth to Curio concerning his businesse I Haue by this bearer receued your letters my singular frende Curio wherby I greatly reioyced wheÌ„ I vnderstoode the good health prosperitie that is with you and yours yet notwithstanding I was something sory when I sawe my selfe accused of negligence for that I haue not written vnto you so often as you desired as I ought to haue done And certainly I coÌ„fesse that I am greatly to be blamed for in deede I was not very much busyed and am very glad that I know that my letters do so greatly comfort you promising you that from henceforth there shal passe no messaÌ„ger but I will visit you with my writings and will neuer thinke it any labour to write vnto you so long as I may pleasure you Secondly you write vnto me that I should certifie you of your busynesse in what state they are I assure you that day and night I go about to dispatch them but the craftinesse of your aduersaries is so great that I am forced to deferre attending the good houre to breake and frustrate their malyce the which notwithstanding I beseche God to mayntaine you in your honour and dignitie And
ingratitude he will not helpe me yet at the least that he doe not hurt me which thing I trust that in fine he wil doe if it would please you to admonish or commaund him And you shall charge me with your affaires as I charge you with myne c. Hovv to vvrite vvhen one frend comforteth another in an iniury receiued WHen we write to such effecte we must deuide our letters into three partes First saying that we are maruellous sory for that iniury Secondly we must shew him that for such an iniurie he ought not to vex himselfe adding the cause Thirdly to comfort him promising our ayde c. The Example vvherein Caesar comforteth Appius touching the content of the letters here before written I Haue receiued thy Letters right redowted Knight Appius which haue so much greued my heart that I can not expresse it yea I should haue sustained the iniury which was done vnto thée more paciently if Tully had done it vnto me verily I know how vnhonestly he behaued himselfe in thy cause before the Senate who through corruptions against God and Iustice caused thée to lose thy matter which thing semed vnto me very strange at the first sight to think how he â—urst do it considering the great good dedes that thou hast done vnto him For by that meanes in y e iudgement of all good men he is greatly bouÌ„d vnto thée and therfore they wold scarce beleue that he would offend thée But when I perceiued through thy Letters his greate mischiefe I made it manifest vnto most of them who are very ill content with him and are as much displesed and as sory euen as I my self But Appius when I consider the malice and iniquitie of Tully and that therefore in the ende he shall susteyne more dishonor and damage thaÌ„ the hurt which he hath done vnto thée doth amouÌ„t vnto I then reioyce and comfort my selfe For his ingratitude knoweÌ„ euery one wil mock him and will bewayle thy damage and by that meanes thy honor shall encrease and in the ende shal haue victory glorious triumph my selfe to reduce him to thy seruice shewing him his fault And I promise thée that I will not cease vntill such time that I haue reduced thée victorious and ioyfull and therefore I pray thée spare me not in any thing that I may pleasure thée Hovv to vvrite a Letter of complaint for a misfortune demaunding counsell or consolation SVch an Epistle or Letter must bee deuided into three partes First to get beneuolence declaring that the good loue which we haue together doeth moue vs to write our fortune for to haue consolacion comfort Secondly we must declare the case Thirdly to demaund counsell ayde c. saying that in him consisteth our onely hope desyring that we be not defrauded of our intent offering our selues c. The Example wherein a Father lamenting the death of his sonne writeth to a frende of his I Would my singular and déere frende had it ben the good pleasure of our lord that within these thrée days you had ben here with other my frendes for to see the griefes lamentations weepings and intollerable afflictions that I had and yet haue for the death of my sonne for if you had ben present I knowe for a certentie that you wold not onely haue had compassion with mée and other my good frendes but you should also haue muche ayded to haue reléeued me of my mortal griefe But bicause it is impossible aswel for the time also for the distance of place betwixt vs I haue thought good to write vnto you by these presents the dolorous and greuous passions that synce that day I doe intolerably susteyne hoping that for the frendship which you haue hadde with me synce our youth the which hath alwayes encreased together with our yeres I might receiue froÌ„ you som coÌ„fort You know well ynough and are wel aduertised of the pouerties afflictions inconueniences perils and dangers which they suffer in this mortall world that beare charge in the common weale and likewise those that in the midst of the multitude of their riches doe liue in tribulations and are continually in sorowful miserable troubles and vexations But as concerning me to make a very heape of my ordinarie afflictions I had one little sonne so swete pleasant and amiable in whom I tooke all my comfort and recreation For his onely presence or his onely speache did often resolue me from my great fantasies taking from me all melancholy yea he was my onely pastime but now I poure out teares of sadnesse so much the more for that I knowe that death hath ben cruell vnto me who through his enuie hath taken away my sonne he hath killed my onely hope my consolation my lyfe him from whome came all my ioy and therefore do I now susteyne great wrath and melancholy I know not where to seke comfort nor what I should doe or say And therefore haue I thought best to write vnto you as to my singular and perfecte frende to the end that you might wayle with me that it might please you to giue me comfort doing as you haue ben accustomed to doe for you haue many times released me from great calamities through your good councell and reconciliacion How one frende should ansvver another comforting him for his losse THe letter must be deuided into three partes First declaring the griefe that he hath which he estemeth to be euen vnto himselfe in augmenting it Secondly to giue comfort by three or foure or moe reasons concluding that it is good to take comfort Thirdly to giue a certayne hope offering to do all things possible and especially for his consolation The Example wherein one frende comforteth another for the death of his soone I Bitterly bewailed my most singular and perfect frende and could not keepe in my teares when I red the Letters which you sent me making mention of the death of your sonne And I aduertise you that I was constrayned so to doe for the good loue that of so long tyme hath ben is betwixt vs two the which causeth me to feele the lyke dolor and griefe that you haue in losing the presence of a childe so wel taught and of so good a wit and entrance of good maners wherfore I maruell not though in him did lye all thy consolation For I thinke that if our lord should not sende you ayde and succour in so great a tribulation you wold be consumed with weping and wailing and would dye immediately after him NotwithstaÌ„ding through the prouideÌ„ce that is in you you know y e a man ought not to vex nor greue him selfe beyond the limits of reason by the which all desolacion ought to be chased froÌ„ the harts of men and if it were so that you were deuoide of reason through the exessiue dolour which you haue suffred to rule in your hart not considering that your sonne was mortall that you haue begot him
mortall nourished him mortall that he is mortally dead rendring the tribute of nature euen as it is appoynted to euery one of vs yet should neither my letters nor consolacion serue to no effect But sith in deede you know well ynough that both yong olde yea euen your selfe shall wax rype and dye ceasse therefore such wéepings and lamentations which better beseeme the female kynde than a wise and prudent man such one as you are and mitigate your strong passions with stronger reasons in doing the déede of a vertuous man employ now your wysdome seing that it is time néedefull to the ende that euery one yea they that know you not may sée to appeare in your persō the constancie and pacience which you haue tolde them to be in you I well remember I haue oftentimes seene you reioyce in prosperitie and therfore if you shold now shew your selfe otherwyse you should giue occasion to think that it were your custome at sometimes to reioyce afterwards bitterly to sorrowe The remedie against such mutabilities and vnconstantnesse is equally to sustaine all prosperous and aduerse fortunes Therfore at my request let not so many vertues which are in you remayne deuoide of pacience I know that you vnderstand this and a thousand other good reasons méete for such a purpose better than I am able to speake or write them vnto you yea you your selfe haue accustomed to comfort your frendes being in aduersitie And I aduertise you that this which I write vnto you is not to instruct or teach you but only to giue you to vnderstand the great good wil that I beare vnto you and that I wold according to my possibilitie plesure you both with body goods without sparing of any thing Hovv to vvrite letters being in exile vnder hope to obtaine restitution ayde counsell or comfort WE must deuide our Letters into three partes First to purchase the beueuolence of the person to whome we write hoping of his loue and prudence by the which he may vnderstād that such a fortune is common to all men Secondly to shew the good deedes that we haue done to our cūtrey or vnto him by whom we are exiled neuerthelesse not vsing any arrogācie but to the end that we may euidently shew that we are wrongfully exyled then shall we declare through whose iniury it was as by our enemies c. whome we know doe hate vs in that they shew vs vngratitude iniury Afterwards we must say that we hope to haue vpright iustice by the whiche we shall obtaine honor and our aduersaries be confounded punished Thirdly we must thereupon demaunde ayde and counsell recommending vs and our matters to our frend which we willingly present vnto him The Example wherein Cicero lamenteth to Lentulus that for the hatred of Clodius he is exyled IT is my custome my singular frende Lentulus when there hapneth vnto me any aduersitie to haue recourse vnto my frendes for theyr ayde counsel or consolation Therfore vnto you whom I repute not onely my frende but aboue all other most especiall for y e you esteme my aduersities to bée yours I haue thought good to write a misfortun which is hapned vnto me through malyce to this ende that by your ayde and counsel I might in so great an euill fynde some comfort and remedy Euery one knoweth and it is common inough to all men what great paynes trauells and charges I haue manfully susteyned to illustrate defende and preserue the publike weale and so doing I haue bestowed not onely my goods ▪ but also my time and labour which leauing vndone I might haue profyted in other greate affaires True it is that in so doing I haue obteyned honour but you know that the wicked doe alwayes malyce the good and can not suffer vertue to haue place for through their wicked steights subtilties they haue so wrought that all the profit commoditie that I deserued had of the publike weale I haue now in one houre lost it al. Against me is raysed vp this wicked hatred of God the world Clodius vnto whome I haue done many good déedes whereof as vngrate he will not remember him selfe but shewing his malice doth rendre me euill for good going about to put me to death for he hath inuēted a thousand fictions and dreames before the Senate with his false wicked witnesses lyke vnto him self hath so wrought that I am banished sent into exyle whereby I am falne into such sorow griefe that I esteme the death to be much sweter and lesse paineful than to liue in such torment And certainly it were impossible for me to liue any longer if there remayned not vnto me a certayne hope which cōforteth me that is that a tyme wil come wherin the truth shalbe knowen and my honor wholy restored and then shall I haue an ende of these euils And to the end that you might hastē this time I pray you herein geue me ayde comfort and counsell for of you onely I require and demaunde it offering vnto you rewarde and gift of me my family and goodes with humble recommendations How to comfort our frend in his exile VPon such an occasion we must deuide our Letters into three partes First must be declared the griefe that we sustaine for the aduersitie of our frende which we must say to be cōmon vnto vs by reason of our mutuall loue Secondly we must get the beneuolence of his person by praysing his great wisdome and vertue declaring vnto him the vyces of his aduersary who through enuie hath ben the cause of his exile Thirdly we must put him in hope shortly to returne and to be restored to his honor with promise to employ our selues to the vttermost of our possibilitie The Example vvherein Lentulus comforteth Cicero who through the malice of Clodius vvas exyled I Can not giue thée to vnderstand by writing my singular friend Cicero nor expresse vnto thée by any meanes what and how great dolour and sadnesse I had when I first conceiued by your letters that this false and wicked Clodius through hatred and yll wil had banished and expulsed you out of our worthy Citie And certainly my frende I am not only sory for your aduersitie euen at the very heart but also when and as often as I remēber that he that hath done so many good déedes to his Cuntry is thorough enuie exyled then gusheth from myne eyes such a spring of teares and in so great abundance that by good similitude they may rightly be called a very Riuer for the great loue that I haue to you And for a truth it wold be so cōtinually with me if I were not restrayned by thincking y e through great wrong to the great dishonor of them that did it you are thus exyled Lord God it is wel knowne vnto thē what humanitie gētlenesse you haue shewed thē insomuch that to none were he neuer so base you haue at any tyme
refused your paynes labours were it for the weale particular or publick but with a certeine deliberate benignitie haue studied to please al without vsing any refusall disdaine or arrogancie which are vertues worthy of great prayse cōmendatiō reward And yet through y e enuy of a mischeuous flatterer a seducer of the people hauing nothing misdone are sent into exile euen as though you were a Traitor or malefactor but y e violence y t is done vnto you the violēce of Clodius wil haue an end for they can not alwaies endure Therefore my dere frend take vnto you a good corage setting a syde sundry small cōclusions which can but hurt haue a good hope cōsider y e till luck can not always cōtinue in one place for fortune is mutable in hir dedes Consider y t you haue yet many frēds yea though there were but onely I my selfe whom I think am not one of y e least yet I wold hope by y e help of god that within short space y e malyce of Clodius should be vanquished and the truth knowne for my part I will spare nothing to the ende y t in short time you may be restored vnto your former honours and dignities and he shamefully deiected and punished Hovv to vvrite expositiue letters certifying the vvitnesse or notyce of a thing WHen we write Epistles or Letters giuing to vnderstād of the witnesse history or knowlege of the witnesse of any thing we must parte our Letters into three parts First to get beneuolence towards our selues declaring that al is for the loue of Iustice and veritie to the ende that thinnocent and iust be not opressed that for the great loue that we beare vnto him to whome we write we testifie the truth of that which is demaunded Secondly we must declare the full circumstance of the fact Thirdly we must say that we haue certifyed that which we know of a veritie that if we shall know any more either of y e or of any other matter we will gladly shew him plesure The Example vvherin Cicero testifieth vnto the iudge that Clodius vvas at Rome the same day that the sacred things of Vesta were violated I Am requested by you Iudges of equitie to say that which I know concerning the cōtrouersie betwene the honest order of the Matrones of the one part and Clodius for the violence of the sacred things of the good goddesse Vesta on the other part to wit whether the day of the same violēce Clodius was within Rome Although my Lords y t I desire not to hurt any person but desire Iustice and equitie to be rēdred vnto euery one And to cause the same to be obserued kept I wold rather choose to dye than to conceale the truth my Lords I aduertise you that the daye of the sayde violence towards morning I saw Clodius in the field of Mars and about seuen of the clock in the Euening he supped with Pompeus and almost all the day I sawe him about the Temple of Caesar and about three of the clock in the after noone he went hastely into his house yet notwithstanding I know not wherfore c. This which you desyred to vnderstande of me my Lordes I haue written it vnto you according to the pure veritie and if you know any other thing wherein I might doe you seruice you haue me to cōmaund and I to obey and do it How to certifie some newes lately happened TO certifie some nouell or new thing the Letters must be deuided into three partes First we must purchase beneuolence to our selues declaring that we are inclyned to write vnto him as vnto our frende of newes which hapned aswell in publike affaires as in priuate for we know wel that he taketh pleasure to heare speake of them Secondly shalbe declared the history be it of Battaile or other businesse Thirdly we shall say that that which we haue written vnto him was not to haue bin left behinde without aduertisement promising him that we will not complaine of our labour in wrytinge alwayes vnto him lyke newes prouided that we know them to be acceptable vnto him The Example vvherein one frende writeth vnto an other of newes of the Court. I Know dere perfect frend the greate desire that you alwayes haue to vnderstand know the things that are done in this citie of London for the profit of the publike affairs wherof you are a very piller and can not long absent your self but that your absence shalbe lamented for the good loue and godly fauour that you alwayes beare vnto the commōweale in such sort that your heart can not be contented except you be aduertised by some of your frends of the newes that dayly happen Therfore to pleasure you and to doe you agreable seruice euen as I am bounden I haue thought good to write vnto you y e which is lately happened since your departure Vpon Tewsday last in the morning newes were spread abrode by a Poast through out the whole Citie and euen vnto the eares of my Lordes of the Courte and of the Citie that there was in this Citie great abundance of Ruffians and other such hurly burlies of wicked people called Roages who in the night time make and commit manie execrable crymes throughout the towne Through which occasion the counsell assembled dyd deliberate to knowe what was to be done And after all opinions there was ordeined a newe watch of the burgesses and inhabitants of the Citie and that euery one should hang forth Lanterns Candle light to giue light in the night and that vpon great forfeicts which is done according to the ordinance c. Moreouer c. Thus haue I written vnto you the newes whiche I know at this present and if there come vnto my notice any other thing worthy to be knowne I wil write it vnto you incōtinently not thinking much at my trauel as well in this as in other things by the which I may pleasure you Recommending me vnto your good honour Hovv to aduertise one of the conditions of another LEtters to aduertise the conditions or maners of any person must be deuided into three parts First we must get beneuolence to the person of whome we write saying y t we haue don our diligēce to enquire of the maners and to haue knowledge of the person or of the thing wherof we intreate but if we write of our selues we must omit the first parte and in steade thereof purchase beneuolence to our selues excusing vs yf peraduenture we saye any thing of our selues that it is not for arrogancy but euen onely to make vs to be knowne vnto him that desyreth to vnderstand what we are and that done go forwarde with the thirde parte as before Secondly we must make recitall of the maners conditions c. Thirdly we shal say that this is all that we know at this present of the person or of the thing being redy to enquire more
and also cause it to be manifested Offering our selues c. The example wherein Cicero declareth vnto Caesar the conditions of Appolonius of Rhodes Orator THere is nothing so difficile weightie or paynefull Noble Caesar which with a frée heart for the loue of you I would not take in hande throughe the singular and affectuall good wyll the which I doe beare vnto your most noble Maiestie And thereunto I féele my self bounden by meanes of y e benefits gratulations y t you haue done stil daily do vnto me You haue writtē vnto me that in all diligence I should enquire of the maners and conditions of Appolonius of Rhodes and that I wold write vnto you the veritie I do you to vnderstand that in the iudgement of all thē that know him he is a singular man and not onely in Rhetorike but also in Philosophie doeth get by his workes an immortal name And I certifie you that when he departed from Rhodes he went vnto Athens and there found not his lyke in somuch that the Students sayd that he was a second Pallas yet once againe descended from the braine of Iupiter into their Citie Many other things might I write vnto you of him but wherefore For whosoeuer you shal enquire of you shal fynde them to haue the like good opinion of him so that if you cause him to come to the Citie you shall do a singular cōmoditie not onely vnto your self but also to the whole common weale And if you will that I shal do any other thing for you beholde I am altogether redy to please and obey you recommending me once againe vnto your good grace Hovv to vvrite a Proficiat or Congratulation for an Office or Dignitie WHen a man hath obtained an Offiice or Benefice or any other thing by his good fortune that we would shew our selues to be ioyfull of it we must deuide our letters into three parts First beneuolence to the person vnto whome we write with commending of his merits and vertues Secondly to declare our affection by the which we doe participate of his ioye Thirdly to pray vnto God that the same dignitie office or fortune may be vnto his profit and perpetuall praise offering our whole seruice c. The Example vvherein one frend reioyceth with an other of the office that the king hath giuen him I Know not whether vnto me or vnto you singular frend I ought to say Proficiat for the office which through your vertues and spedy diligence you haue obtained of the king and I assure you that the profit honour yea and glory if it be lawfull to glorifie in wel doing are of no smal estimatiō sith in so yong age you haue obtayned such dignitie surpassed the merits of your elders whereof I ought muche to reioyce for from hence forth your vertues shall be manifested and my honours and profit shall encrease seing that I haue such a frend who through the brightnesse of the glorie hapned vnto him shal driue from me the darkenesse of griefe and shall cause me to haue good participation of his honours ioye and profit Much good doe it you therefore this dignitie which you neuer obtained through ambition but onely through the vertues that are in you for the which there are yet greater benefits due vnto you And as for my parte it is not without a cause that I reioyce for the benefits of fortune are common omongst frends causeth the loue which is in both their bodys to haue but one spirite and in bothe of them is perceiued but one only minde I besech God that you may still prosper go foreward frō good vnto better that by your vertuous faith you may purchase immortall glory and as long as you lyue to remayne in his holy fauour and grace Hovv to vvrite Letters reioycing for oun frendes health or safe returne IF your frend haue recouered his helth or be safely returned from his iorney in such a case our Letters must bee deuided into three partes First to get beneuolence of our owne behalfe for that we were sore affrayde of his sickenesse or that there should happen vnto him any misfortune or aduersitie abroade in his voyage Secondly to declare the ioy that we haue had of his mending or returne praying vnto God to kepe him from all euill Thirdly to offer our whole seruice c. The Example vvherein one frend reioyceth of anothers recouery to health IT is not possible for me to write vnto you neither is the heart of man able to thinke my singular and perfect frende what sorrow and griefe I had when it was reported vnto me that you were greuously sick in great danger for then me thought that I euen felte your sicknesse through the good wil and loue that I beare vnto you and wold gladly that my sorow might haue diminished or eased your passion But by suche and lyke meanes that I had greate sadnesse and griefe for the first newes I haue now inestimable ioy for that it is tolde and affirmed vnto me for a certaintie that you haue wholly recouered your health and welfare I giue vnto you the Proficiat vobis my singular frende for suche a treasure recouered and besech our lord that he will preserue and kepe you in as good and long helth as I wold wish euen vnto myne owne person And I giue you to vnderstād that I. N. M. and all the rest hereabouts are thanckes be giuen to God in good health and welfare prest redy to accomplish all your good requests and commaundement How to exhort to vertue and to good maners TO exhorte vnto Vertue and goodnesse bee yt to auoyde griefe or to get profit the letters or Epistles must be parted into foure partes First to acquire beneuolence by reason of the matter declaring how worthy it is how profitable and necessary for him vnto whome we write and thē that it shalbe a worthy praise for euery good man so to doe Secondly shalbe expressed the thing to be possible and easy to be done Thirdly that it is very necessary for him to doe it and if he doe it not that there may happen vnto him damage dishonor Fourthly and fynally to declare what is to be done and this latter parte may bee placed in such order as shall seme good vnto the endyter The Example vvherein a frende exhorteth a yong man to obtaine vertue THere is nothing in the world wittie yong man that more profiteth aswel to atcheue to common as priuate goods nor which causeth more to augment and get honor and good renowne than the trade of good maners and vertue for by that meanes the wise not onely in their houses haue taken a forme of regiment by good order keping but also kingdoms and publike affaires are by them gouerned mayntained and augmented Beholde the Athemans the Romains and diuers other haue they not alwayes florished when vertuous and wise men had the gouernmēt of their publike
the bearer hereof named Dauid Berthon viij hundreth Frenche crownes and cause hym onely there to giue good and sure pledge for the sayd summe For so hath the same Dauid here promised vs to do gyuyng him .vj. monethes daye of payment I pray you take sufficient assurance to the ende that our goodes be not lightly loste It suffiseth to shewe pleasure you therefore fulfyll the contentes hereof And thus fare you well c. One Friende writeth vnto an other DEare and well beloued friende after moste heartie Commendations vnto you and your good bedfellow c. The chiefest cause of my writyng vnto you at this presente is to lette you vnderstand that we are still in greate tribulation by reason of the men of Armes and aduenturers by whome the poore people of Mousne doe sustayne inestimable damage The countreye is altogether deserte and that which is also more pitifull is that many worthie maydens are by them caryed away into other places and some by force violated as also are many mens wiues bothe faire and honeste Consider you into what abundaunce of teares they haue bene brought O vnfortunate Fraunce nowe florishinge in armes is it possible that thy auncient vertue shuld be altogether extinguished O my perfect friende the eternal God moued me to sende vnto your house at Bloys Iane my wife and my daughter out of so great perill Yesterday from my wife and from my daughter I receyued comfortable Letters by the which I am plainely certifyed that that your bedfellowe vseth vnto them al curtesie gentlenesse O the eternall God graunt me life to y e end that if not in al yet at the least in part I may rēder some recompense vnto the benefites from you receyued for the which I am become a great detter vnto youre goodnesse And thus the eternall haue you al in his keeping and send vs a mery meeting c. The aunswere of one friende vnto an other WElbeloued Friend I heartily recommende me vnto you wishing youre healthe and prosperitie euen as mine owne c. Be well assured that so long as I lyue my house and all that I haue shall at all tymes be at your commaundement or any of your friendes And that shall you manyfestly knowe in processe of time And would to God that I mighte shewe such fidelitie loue and charitie towardes you as at youre house at Mousne you discouered vnto me and myne Thanks be vnto God we make good chéere but certainly I and my wife doe féele great anguish for the losse of our goodes which through our mutual amytie we suppose to be our losse and assuredly we greatly lament also the vexation which you susteyne by the hands of the Soldiers wherof we haue vnderstanding by your letter God of his goodnesse delyuer you from them c. One friende vvriteth in a nothers behalfe ALthough worthy syr I know that it is not lauful to molest your wisedome in any thing appertayning vnto Iustice neuerthelesse to satisfie the dutie which I owe to this bearer vnto whome through the fidelitie and affection that is betwene vs I am bound to doe euen that which I would doe if it were for myne owne cause I therfore beseche your worthinesse that you will without delay make a iust ende of his sute And so doing I shall remayne alwayes bound vnto you c. The aunswere vnto his frende WHat nedeth it y t you should write vnto me in the behalfe of him whome I equally loue aswell as you So great are his vertues that of euerie man of what estate soeuer he be he is worthy to be beloued and defended I beleue y t through his great wisdome he will demaunde me nothing which shalbe against the dignitie of myne offyce for which cause and for the dutie of Iustice I am boūd to administer vnto him and euery one fauorable and lawful audience But though there were no cause at all yet thy auncient amitie would constraine me to ayde and fauour him for which cause be well assured that I will so vse the matter that he shal plainly perceiue that thy requestes haue not ben brought in vayne c. To write vnto a Prince in a Prisoners Behalfe I Haue heretofore cōtinually knowne and now at this present more than euer do know of what force true amitie and frendship is the which constraineth a man to be gētle and amiable euen vnto the person whome he hateth therby to satisfie his frende that entreateth for him therfore knowing y e fauour which your highnesse beareth vnto me I dout not to request you in the behalf of Cleophas Orillat who although through his crymes he deserue to receiue no pardon yet bicause VVilliam Ardiller of whom I haue receiued infinit plesures and am bounde vnto him for euer doeth force me so harde by Letters and messangers and knoweth certainly what I can doe with your Maiestie y t there shold be no domage done neither vnto his persō nor goods I therfore most hūbly besech you for the inestimable loue y t beare vnto you y t he may plainely perceiue of what force strength that goodnesse of yours is towards me and so trust at this presēt to make experiēce of the great affection which is betwixt vs through our auncient and singular loue c. The aunswere of the Prince declaring the demaund to be vnhonest ALthough I haue in times past had perfect intelligence and knowledge what thing frendship and good will hath ben and is so that the demaunde of a friende ought to be satisfied especially whē it is iust yet neuerthelesse it ought alwayes to be foreseene that the demaunde be honest and frendly For if the demaunde be made against true Iustice and honest lyfe it is nedeful many tymes to leaue the good will least we fail of Iustice Otherwise many wicked examples should be giuen to diuers and infinite persons to do euil I vnderstand your Letter by the which you pray me that I wold graūt to release your frend out of captiuitie not peraduenture considering the great crime excesse by him cōmitted the whiche is so great and abhominable that he deserueth not death in his person onely but also therewith cruell tormentes whereof I am sory for the mutual affection that is betwene vs bicause I can not of myne honour in this case pleasure you Though your demaunde be not lawfull nor honest yet loue and frendship moueth you to demaund and to speake for that which all law denieth And for that malefactours ar to be punished the good to be exalted and safely to goe abrode in the world I pray you though I doe not satisfie your demaunde yet at this time haue me excused bicause that Iustice doth force me to denie that request c. The excuse for that the demaund vvas against Iustice I Consider that many tymes the loue affection of one friende vnto another harmeth the conscyence and suffreth it not to discerne the truth of reason and Iustice but when
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
reasons arguments in diuers places dispersed are reduced together to be the better fixed and imprinted in the memory of the AudieÌ„ce as to say Right honorable and worshipful what will you that I say vnto you I haue first told you such a thing and such a thing c. and haue proued it by such reasons c. The conclusion demonstratiue is made as if a man should saye thus For the excellent beuties of women which are of such Angelicall shape hauing the booke of such ardent liuelyhood and the speach so gracious do passingly enamour the myndes of men Furthermore it is to be noted that diuers Epistles may begin with a perfect sentence authoritie or common prouerbe prouided that it be altogether agreeable to the purpose that we entend to perswade or disswade as for Example Denys the tyrant vvriteth to the Burgesses of Naples WHosoeuer denieth his soueraigne that which iustly to him is due is altogether vnexcusable For the soueraigne Lord may and ought for the affaires of him and his cuntrey demande ayde of his subiectes for to coÌ„serue them in peace seing that for them he daily hazardeth him selfe in a thousand perils of death Now so it is that I haue demanded of you an hundreth thousand duckats and ten thousand men for to make warre vpon the king of Chipre which demaund you wold not or else haue disdayned to vnderstand much lesse to accomplish 1 waying then the othe that you made vnto me I thought you wold haue kept promise and fealtie 2 considering also that you are not ignorant of the great necessitie y t I haue bothe of men money for the which I haue ofteÌ„ sommoned and required you Therefore seing your infidelitie and rebellion I accompt you as enimies and haue determined to extend vpon you myne indignation and crueltie euen to the abandoning and ransacking of you and your Citie by fyer and sworde and generall pillage of all your goods without any fauor or pardoÌ„ the which thing you might haue auoyded by loue fidelitie and obedience An answere to the same in like maner and foâ—rme THe Law of impossibilitie is so great most high and redouted soueraigne that thereby euery man ought to be and is lawfully excused and frée of all somoning and request for there as is not wherewithall neither dominion nor payment taketh place according to the common prouerbe where nothing is to be had the King loseth his right And as loÌ„g as we had wherwithal our good wil and loyall corage hath alwayes obeyed you plainely manifesting vnto you our fidelitie and obedience euen to the very consummation of our goods and slaughter of the strong men and youth of our Citie in such sort that now we haue nothing remaining vnto vs but onely the good will Beseching you most humbly to mitigate and assuage your anger and fury considering the great pittie and pouertie of vs. Note that in all Letters or in moste parte of them three things ought to bee obserued To wit that the demaunde be iuste that it bee possible and to shew the possibility assigning the rewarde of the benefit if these things be not expresly set then are they vnderstanded For if a poore man write vnto a rich to lend him money it is not nedeful to declare his demaund to be iust nor to declare his possibilitie but it suffiseth to praise the rich man of his vertue liberalitie whereby he helpeth the poore which are succourlesse Also he that demaÌ„deth to bynd himselfe nedeth not to speake of the rewarde of the plesure nor likewise wheÌ„ the Father writeth to his sonne or the Master to his seruant nor when a man writeth to his frende And here are to be noted foure things which let hinder the demaundant from being granted The first is to demand a thing to great more thaÌ„ a man ought wherefore saith Cato Quod iustum est petito aske thy duetie and no more The second is the tyme as to demaunde yee in soÌ„mer or that one should paie an obligation or rente before the time be expired The thrd is the place as if my debter should owe me x. pound to be payde in Paules Church I should demaunde it of him in Westminster Hall The fourth is the cause as to demaund that which hath been promised notwithstanding any thing that is done or sayd within the certain time that it be not satisfied As for Example O Lorde Christ I ought to haue and possesse heauen I am a ChristiaÌ„ I craue it of thée truely he wil say I haue giuen thée heauen if it be so that thou accomplish the will of my Father which is in heauen Moreouer if it happen that in Letters it be nedefull to make partes anb diuisions let it be don with breuitie and likewise if there be a NarracioÌ„ as of newes froÌ„ the court or of wars it must be dispatcht very briefly plainly in vsing coÌ„mon termes without long clauses or parentheses Thus hauing now declared set forth at large most part of the necessary precepts which belong to the well composing and endyting of Epistles and Letters I say necessary for if a man should make compose an Epistle well either in English or in any other language it were good to haue the perfect vnderstanding of all the rules both of Gramar Rethorike presently shalbe described the Style and fourme of certain letters And first wheÌ„ one maÌ„ writeth for an other commeÌ„ding him to the ende he might obtaine some dignity or prefermeÌ„t such a letter must containe .iiij. partes The first way to get beneuolence is in praising of him vnto whom we write for his liberalitie his bountifulnesse his iustice his vertue c. The second waie to purchase beneuolence vnto him for whome we write is to say that he is modest gentle to euery one a man not voide of knowledge The third is to make the demand honestly modestly which must be deuoide of the foure lets and impedimentes whereof we lately made mention and in so doing that it be iust honest facill and for the which he vnto whom we write may haue either honor or profit by graunting it The fourth to promise him all seruice and perpetuall obedience saying that what soeuer is demaunded for and in the fauor of such a man is estemed as though it were for our selfe as in this Example A Letter vvritten to the King in fauor of one pretending the order of Knighthode IT behoueth me not most Christian King to write familiarly to your sacred Maiestie for so might I be noted of presumption and â—olish hardinesse but considering your benignitie and humanitie whereby you giue fauor and supportacion euen vnto them that haue fully deserued it and vnto strangers For this cause therefore I haue taken audacitie to write vnto you vnder hope to obtaine that which I ernestly and most humbly require It is in the behalfe of
it behoueth to deuide the letters into foure parts First to get beneuolēce shewing y t we know not howe to begin to render him condigne thanks by reason of our insufficiencie Secondly the beneuoleuce must be consented vpon the thing for we must say that it is very cōmodious profitable for vs. Thirdly we must render thanks after the best maner that may bee declaring all due recompense offering our selues c. The Example I Know not right wise and learned Aduocate by reason of the smalnesse of my vnderstanding how I might expresse or write the fourme to render you condigne thanks and worthy prayse for the benefit that I haue receiued of you in that you haue not onely with a good will taken the charge to conduct and folow my processe whereof I wrote vnto you but briefly haue made expedition therein to my profit with such apparant diligēce that you are greatly to be commended and vnto you belong immortall thanks praises ouer bisides my recōpēce rewards What greater ioy could come vnto me than to be out of care and trouble which I was in for this processe considering y e torment wrōg y t mine aduersarie offered wold haue done vnto me wherof your careful diligēce hath deliuered me made me ioyful quiet this considered I know not how I may worthily reward you which notwithstāding I desyre to the vttermost of my power Nowe seing that I esteme the goodnesse which I haue receyued of you to be perpetuall and immortall reason wold that I should render you perpetuall and immortal thāks which is impossible for me therefore bicause I can not do it I offer you my body goods my selfe myne to remaine to you in continuall seruice c. How to request a Corporall benefit AS cōcerning the maner howe to demaund corporal things as a booke a horse or such lyke the Letter must be diuided into foure partes First we must get the good will of him to whome we write ▪ by praising his liberality and principally of the power authoritie that he hathe ouer the thing that he is demaunded Secondly we muste declare our demaund request to be honest necessary without the which we cānot atcheue to our determinate ende purpose Thirdly that the request is easy to be granted cōsidering his abilitie and that in a more difficil thing his liberalitie is ordinarily expressed Fourthly to promise recompence as golde siluer or some kinde of seruice ¶ The Example I Haue knowen of long time most renoumed Doctor your zele towardes y e poore louers of learning knowledge which you manifest by imparting to thē not onely your Doctrine most effectuously with good corage but also doe not spare to distribut euē to y e vnknowē your temporall faculties wherein you shew your wysdom and worthinesse getting therby praise in the world diuine grace innumerable merits You know right skilfull Doctor that I haue a long time sayled in the déepe sea of Theologicall facultie ordinarily hearing your sacred Lectures but the want of bookes doeth much hinder me from profiting in that faculty and I haue no assured recourse sauing to your liberalitie without the which I shold be cōstrained to frustrate myne endeuor to abandon my studie The matter is not greatly difficill vnto you to ayde me in this my great affaire vrgent necessitie no more than to wil may for you haue in like maner kept diuers other from falling downe haue erected them to high dignitie For this cause I besech you to lend me your boke of Sentēces that I may escape the perils of diuers vncertainties dark ignorances in so doing I wil not shew my self vngrate towards you in ministring such thāks seruice as for me is possible How to answere granting a Corporal benefit HE that will decently aunswer Letters requiring a corporall thing must deuide it onely into three parts First to get the good wil declaring vnto him to whom he writeth that he is affected to please him and to do him seruice Secondly it shall be good somewhat to praise the gift graunt without boasting or vayneglory declaring that it is not only done for that the graunt is profitable but for that he perceiueth that such a graunt is acceptable and pleasant vnto him to whome he writeth and that therefore he desireth to do it for him Thirdly in offring the gift or graunt he declareth him selfe to be readie to do any thing that hee knoweth might pleasure him The Example THe Letters that I haue lately receiued from you my singular perfecte frende haue giuen me great ioye and spiritual recreation for amongst y e cares and waighty businesse wherewith you know that I am ordinarily occupyed I take pleasure and consolacion to heare of your newes chiefly that you should be studious to the end you might attayn to the perfection of a skilfull and learned man which thing I coniecture wil come to passe for I sée fewe that in studying are more diligent than you wherein you employ your selfe by continual vigilacion not losing one Lecture nor disputacion You write vnto me that I shold send you my booke of Sentences and seing the earnest affection that you haue to profit in lerning as you haue written vnto me I do easely and with a good wil condescend vnto you and fauoring your request I send you by this berer the said booke to y e ende that hauing receiued it you may study at your pleasure and for your profit which shall be greatly to my contentation especially if God so graūt that I may once sée you a worthy doctor in y e facultie And I instantly desyre you y t if in any other matter you haue neede of any thing y t I may helpe you withall that you wold not spare me but cōmand it and by Gods grace I will acomplish it with a good will c. How to giue thanks for a Corporall gift receiued TO render thāks for the gift of a corporall thing receiued the letters must be deuided into three partes First to get beneuolēce by reason of the thing giuen Secondly to get beneuolēce by reasō of our selfe saying that we haue neither wit strength nor goodes nor any other thing sufficient to answer vnto the gift the good will c. Thirdly to render thāks in the best sort that we can offrīg al things at his cōmandemēt c. The Example COnsidering with my self your great liberalitie right honorable Doctor and waying the magnificence of the gift which it hath pleased you to impart vnto me I know not as one altogether abashed what thing I eyther might or ought to do For if I should not render you great thanks for the good turne that you haue done me I were worthy to be noted of to much ingratitude or if I should take vpon me to thanke you all my wordes would not be able to suffice that which my heart willeth
vs with a faulte LEtters repugning as well to frend as enemie excusing our selues or denieng the matter are made in two sorts For if it be our frend that peraduenture doth accuse vs secretly it behoueth to vse modest language by maner of excuse But if it be our enimie we must defend our selues playnely frely of y e cryme by him imposed in both sortes we must deuide our letters into three parts First we shall say we are to be excused either for that it is not so or that through imprudencie malice or enuie he hath inuented that matter against vs. Secondly be it to frend or enimie we shall say to our frende vnder correction and to our enimie freely stoutly that he himselfe may be repreheÌ„ded of the like case or of the very same yea or else of a greater infamie saying y t he ought ratâ—â—r to haue regard vnto himselfe than to entermedle with blamiÌ„g a nother Thirdly if the Letters be to our frende and vnder correction we must promise neuer to returne to commit such a thing exhorting him likewise to take heede vnto him selfe for the matter whereof we haue enformed him Yf it be to our enimie we shall playnely exhort him to leaue of his detracting and that if he coÌ„tinue to say what he will he shall heare what he wolde not And if we write vnto a third we must praye him to admonish our enemie to holde his peace and shall excuse our selues saying that we would not haue him offended although we haue spokeÌ„ yll of our enimie for it hath not ben for malice or yll will but onely for to cause his malice and ill report to cease The Example wherein Catilina purgeth himselfe to the Senate of Rome for the cryme of coniuration imposed against him by Cicero IT is always my custome condition Notable Lordes and Fathers to flée wicked detractours and to haue in great horrour the diffâ—mers who like wolues rauish the good renowne of good people and there is nothing that séemeth vnto me more detestable more dishonest nor more abhominable than in the absence of a man to dilacerate and teare in péeces his honour and against them doe I manfully fight this notwithstanding I can not hinder their Serpentyne Viperous tonges from committing such iniuries In number of whom and of my flatterers is this wicked enuious serpeÌ„tyne Cicero enimie to God good men and to the publike weale who incessantly inuenteth new dreames against mée I haue refrayned asmuch as I could to aunswer vnto his sclanderous lyes bycause I would not be noted as he is to be a babler and of dishonest language And bycause that from day to day his venom encreaseth is vomited out from yl vnto worse vnder your corrections my Lords in your preseÌ„ce I haue thought good to discharge me of two labours The one to aunswer vnto him and to purge my selfe of the crimes by him falsly imposed against me and the other to giue you to vnderstand and to declare vnto you his execrable maners vices cursed conditions to the ende that you might heare and vnderstaÌ„d his deceitfull and crafty enuies not giue credit vnto his words This wicked enuiour and seducer of the whole publike weale sayth euery where that I who with out boasting my selfe am loyall haue conspired against my cuntrey and publike weale this wicked stranger and sower of all sedition crieth against me who am a patron and member of the common weale that I would destroy it euen as though the members should destroy the body is it credible ought a maÌ„ to beleue it And neuerthelesse he publisheth it as though it were true I woulde faine know by what coniectures or by what signes he could perceiue it if he would not say that he had dremed it But this wicked persoÌ„ turneth such lyke other euils as are in him vpon me Certes my lords he is so stuffed with iniquities y e he must néedes burst vomit out his poyson He neuer did good in this Citie he neuer loued any but day by daye he spyeth how he may worke displeasure and damage to some good maÌ„ or other Take héede therfore how you giue credit to this wicked damnable man It is not yet long ago since he came into this Citie his féete all dusty vnder colour of vanitie and of a litle Rethorike that he hath which he vseth he hath conuerted a great quantitie of poore people whom he hath by his arte fraude and deceyt despoyled of their goods and by that meanes is growne vp to great ryches Which way shold there haue come vnto him so many houses pessessions seruants so lightly as he hath them had he not spoyled and robbed the poore people But by this vnrighteousnesse and riches he is become so proude that he which is but newly come wolde chase me out of my Citie and destroy me And of him surely I could say innumerable euils were it permitted me to speake fréely and that I douted not to displease you For many tymes it doth good men more hurt to heare recyted the euill of an other than it doeth this other himselfe he being euil wicked Therefore pleaseth it you of your grace to deliuer your poore Citizen and Burgesse from the false throte of this cursed Serpent How to write inuectiue Epistles of contention rerehending another for ignorance in studie EPistles and letters Inuectiue of contention dispraise must be deuided into three partes But in this case there are two ways either to write vnto him whome we mynde to reprehend or else better to write vnto a third person as iudge or arbitratour First to declare that it is not our vse to moue coÌ„trouersie for we demand nothing but peace Ye and although that we be oftentimes iniured by our enimies that they say all the worst that they can yet neuerthelesse we would giue to vnderstand that the insolencie of our aduersaries is so presumptuous and so tending to destroie our estimation that we can not any longer kepe sylence but haue thought good to write to the end that he might be iudge Secondly to expresse briefly and plainely wherevpon the controuersie dependeth afterwardes to recite our reasons and to coÌ„firme them and to confute those of our aduersary Thirdly that we might say many other things whereof we wil kepe sylence to the ende that we would not be thought to procede ratherby enuie thaÌ„ to speake the truth prayiÌ„g beseching him vnto whom we write to iudge of the ignoraÌ„ce of our aduersary recoÌ„mending our selues vnto him The Example wherein a certain Barber writeth to a Doctor of Physick concerning his aduersary a Chirurgian THere was neuer thing more detestable vnto me nor which I had more in horrour worshipfull Doctor than to see a man reioyce in detractions and euil reportes of an other for thereby are wicked people knowne And although I haue diuers times of many ben iniured flâ—uted skorned
place scrued and although he shall meddle to speake more of mée yet sir you may iudge of the whole for you know wel what part beareth ignorāce and innocencie Wholly offeryng my humble seruice to you and yours c. Howe to write Domestical and familiar Letters or Epistles DOmestical or houshold letters are more in vse than any other forsomuch as of their nature they are very necessary to let our frendes vnderstande of our estate and of our businesse be it of helth prosperitie sicknesse aduersitie or any other domesticall and familiar thyngs and in such matters the Letters or Epistles must be deuided into thre partes If we write of our owne estate health or sicknesse or of the healthe or sickenesse of an other First following Tullie and others we may as they do adde the Latin sentence Si vales bene est ego quidem valeo If you be in good helth god be praised for it for thanks be to God I am Secondely wee shall recite our owne health or the causes of the amendment thereof and also the helth or sicknesse of our frend whiche we shall esteme euen as our owne gladde of his recouerie or prosperitie rendring thankes vnto god who hath so disposed it likewise if there be hapned vnto vs any fortune or misfortune we shall write the state therof be it riches or pouertie dignitie or depression to admonyshe oure friende either to reioyce or sorow with vs. Thirdly we say cōmonly Thus not hauing wherewith further to enlarge at this present but beseeching the Lorde to keepe and preserue you in his holy tuition we finish From such a place c. By yours altogither to command c. or otherwise as shal please the enditer The Example of a common Style in that case IF you be in health and mery I am very glad for great thanks to be giuen to God on my behalfe I fynde my selfe in very good health and welfare You do peraduenture greatly maruell for that I was wont to write often vnto you of late haue deferred so to do wherof it may be that you woulde accuse me of negligence howebeit it hath not bene through negligence for an ague hath so weakened me of late that I had small hope to haue escaped without treading the trace out of this worlde into another yea I was brought so low that euen the Physitions had quite giuen me ouer and I had no hope saue onely in God to whose good aide I still committed my selfe Secondly his soueraigne bountie hath brought me to my former helth notwithstanding it hath not ben without great expense of money Beholde therefore the causes why I coulde not write vnto you but frō henceforth I will write vnto you more oftener if God grant me time and space so to do Thirdly I shall desire you to write vnto me of your prosperitie and of such a one assuring you that if there be any thing that I may do for you do but cōmaund me and I will do myne indeuor to accomplish it God to frende whome I besech to graunt vnto you your harts desire From such a place c. How to write other domestical Letters of familiar businesse WE must deuide thē into thre partes First Secondly as in the other going before Thirdly shal be put the conclusion saying that we haue thought good to aduertise hym of suche businesse bycause hee is oure very friende The Example wherin one Friend aduertiseth an other of the processe that he hath wonne IF it bée well with you my singular friende then is it very wel with me For euen as I am God be praised in good health so woulde I desire that it shoulde be lykewise with you And bicause I know that the loue betwixt vs two hath alwayes made vs equall in our fortunes therefore haue I thought good to write vnto you of my businesse and affaires bicause in déede you might be the more ioyfull Secondly you are aduised of the time trouble cost that I was at in the sute that I had against such a one and how oftē I haue cursed the houre whensoeuer I heard talke of it euen ready many tymes to gyue it quite ouer Yet neuerthelesse by trauel and diligence and by importunate sute my good right vpon Tuisday last notwithstanding any clamor that my aduersarie made to his greate confusion I obteined sentence to my profite wherof I render immortall thankes to Almighty God Thirdly I know well that of my profite honour and ioy you are as ioyfull as my selfe and séeing that my aduersities do bryng you desolation it is good reason that my prosperities should bring you consolation Therfore I pray you do it to vnderstāde to all our friends there to the ende that they may participate of oure ioy And if there be any thing that it will please you to commaunde me be you well assured that of me you shall haue an infallible friende And thus end I at this present beséeching our Lorde c. How to visit our Frend with Letters not hauing any great matter to write OFten times it chaunceth that we haue no matter to write to our frend yet we would gladly visit him with our Letters speaking of him or of his businesse such Letters must containe three partes First to get boneuolence on our owne behalfe saying that bicause we loue him we thought it good to write vnto him and to recreate him by communicating vnto hym our Letters to the end that we may take plesure in that which he shall write vnto vs again cōsidering that there is nothing more appropriate vnto frēdes than often to write to fro Secōdly we shal say that we are in health and good estate desiring to know of his helth and prosperitie praying vnto God to keepe and preserue him from all euill Thirdly we shal desire him to visit vs often with his Letters to this end that hering of his helth prosperitie we may haue cause of consolation offring our selues c. The Example of the Style in that case ALthough I haue no mater to write vnto you my deare friend for that I knowe not of any newes hereabouts chaunced yet neuerthelesse the greate loue equall betwixt vs will not suffer me to lette passe any messanger that I know goeth towards you without sending you Letters by him for I beleue verily that you haue as great ioy to rede my Letters as I haue to reade yours Secondly my friend you shall vnderstand that I and all my familie are god be praised in good health earnestly desiring to know of your prosperitie and howe all our frendes thereaboutes doe For I assure you there is nothing vnto vs more pleasant ioyfull nor agreable than to vnderstande of your health good fortune and prosperitie but this causeth loue my frende bicause that from the time of our youth we haue ben ioyned together with that bande And therfore my deare and perfect friend I earnestly request you that it would
please you to visite me often with your Letters to the ende that notwithstanding the distaunce of the place betwixte vs our mindes may yet reioyce be comforted together praying you with all my heart to commaund me in your affaires euē as he that is always ready to do you seruice God to frend to whō c. How to write of some small affaires businesse or newes HAuing a matter of great importaunce to write yet many times we ar desirous to write of som smal businesse or newes of litle importāce so doing y e letters must cōtain .iij. parts First to declare the cause that moueth vs as in the stile before Secondly to salute him gētly telling some pretie mery newes Thirdly to offer him our seruice with hartie cōmendations vnto him others The example wherin one friende vvriteth to an other of certain small newes ALthough it bée long since I wrote vnto you right dere perfect frend yet is is it not for y e I had forgotten you but bycause I had not any matter to write vnto you therfore hauing now found a trustie Messanger I haue thought good to write vnto you these Letters whereby you might vnderstand y e god be praised who disposeth al things we are here in good helth beseching him y t it be so w t you all our frends there I haue bethought me considered with my selfe whereof I might write vnto you and haue founde none other thing saue onely to certifie you that by the cōmaundement of the King and the ordinance of the Court this day was made a great generall Iustice which was a wonderfull excellent thing to beholde considering the order that there was kept you haue heretofore séene but I thincke not so passingly well handled nor better ordred for surely the chalengers especially with so valiant corage and strength enforced themselues in the Iustice that wonder it was to sée and on the contrary side appeared also such manly hearts and boldned stomacks that great commendations obtayned both partes of all the assistants but yet in fine after many sturdie strokes on both sides the chalengers woon the price c. Thirdly if I had knowen any other newes I would haue written them vnto you praying you that you will still beare me good wil and often times write vnto me Recommending me especially to you and to such a one and to all our other frendes thereaboutes Beseching our Lord to send you comfort and health c. How to write letters contayning some pleasant Iestes of oure selues besydes other matter THere are yet other sortes of letters for these before written may be called simple now testeth there to expresse the composition of some mixed Letters which are of two or moe things And first we wil shew the style of a mery letter prouoking to laughter or reioycing yea and it oftentymes falleth that in weightye matters there is to be mingleh some pretie cōceate be it through iesting of our selues or of some other And such Letters must be deuided into three partes First we must pleasantly expresse the mery iestes or conceyte that we entend to vtter our honesty and reputation still obserued for that which we write is only to reioice our frend Secondly to leaue the iest or mery cōceit to change into some other matter to the ende that it be not sayd that we be altogether scoffers Thirdly to offer our whole seruice as in the letters before The Example wherin a Souldier writeth to his Captayne IT is no maruell redouted Captayne though you make great account of me for if I shold be in any réencōter against our enimies where it were necessary to part it with blowes you should sée how I would handle my selfe yea the grat feare that I haue of it doeth make me already trouble and quake considering y e I neuer fought but vnder the curtaine and with the pot and the spiggot I beleue I durst not assault the snayle if she were armed with hir shell and hornes for as hardy a felow am I as euer was drawne out of a bowease yea in such a matter I woulde loue well the sound of the retraicte and if euer you sawe man of warre play better with a two footed swoord then say boldly that I am a lyar for I would runne with the formost to the forewarde of a good Tauerue there to giue the onset Secondly my Captayne all this I haue written but onely in iest For in déede to saye the truth none dispraysed there is no man in the whole companie that more willingly or more coragiously woulde aduenture himselfe in the battayle than I woulde doe For by the faythe that I owe vnto the King and to you I haue so much before mine eyes the publike weale and haue so much pitie of the misery and calamytie of the poore people that at all houres both day and night I am purposed to hazard my life in the defending thereof and repulsing of the enimies to the ende that folowing the steps of other valiant Champions I may purchase honor renowne Thirdly neuerthelesse valiāt Captain I pray you not to put your selfe in danger without a cause but if you sée that it be nedefull either for your owne defense or otherwise you shall fynd in me such facts as I wil not vtter with mouth always prest and redy to obey your good pleasure and commaundement How to write Letters concerning mery iestes or taunts by some other IF we would merily taunt him vnto whome we write or some other of whom we write it must be done euen as in the style before written sauing that in the second part we must ernestly cōtinue on the matter The example wherin Cicero iesteth with Valerius COnsidering with my selfe at this present my perfect frends Valerius the great negligence that is in you that synce your departure you haue written nothing vnto me I can not excuse you but to say that you haue the palsey or else the seuer lurden and that the hands which were wont to write often vnto me can now no longer holde the penne If it be so recommend your selfe to the Saints of Paradise or if not learne so write with your féete euen as you haue well done with your handes Secondly although iesting bourding yet knowe I not any other thing which might be more gratefull vnto me or wherin you might doe me more pleasure than now amongst the great affaires that I haue for the publike weale to giue me some consolation by your letters to the ende that I may be certayne of your health You know my heart how I loue you doe not request any other thing of you at this present if not that it wold please you to write often vnto me Thirdly as for me if there be any thing wherein I may imploye my selfe to pleasure you you may command me euen as him y e is gladly redy to accōplish your good desyre How to write letters
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
we beholde the estate of men who by the crimes haue deserued all kynde of punishments then is it nedefull that Iustice take place therby to giue example to other men from liuing euil notwithstanding I haue done the dutie which beloÌ„geth vnto a frend And although that with smal consideration and wisdome I entreated for Cleophas yet I besech your maiesty to excuse and pardon me not somuch for mine ignorance as for the loue that I bare vnto my frende writing in the behalfe of that transgressour of true Iustice as plainly your prudence expresseth vnto me the which may be an excuse of my vnworthie demaunde c. To ayde thy frende being in prison for deâ—â—e I Thank God for that I neuer requested any thing of your Lordship which you graunted me not now I yet hope to obtayne this the which is a woork of pitie Within these few dâ—yes was imprisoned Iames Barre my perfect frende who is in so much extremitie that it is scarce able to be expressed and hath a great sort of children for whome he labored bothe day and night to get bread to susteyne them but now being absent your lordship may consider how his pitifull family should liue Wherefore I humbly besech you that you would both for the loue of God also for my sake open your eares vnto my request and giue him some day of paiment in such sort that the poore maÌ„ may be deliuered out of prison to comfort and relieue his poore family the which can not be in greater calamitie plaint and misery And thus hauing sundry tymes receiued benefits from your honour I presently am bold by to great presumptioÌ„ to haue recourse vnto you teÌ„derly beseching you that you wold vouchsafe to deliuer him out of prison Thus doing I shal receiue a singular pleasure from your wysdom And shall pray for a continuall preseruation of you and all yours c. To shew thy selfe sorowfull for the misfortune of thy friende WE ought alwayes to participate with our frends of euery fortune that hapneth vnto them Hauing therefore within these few dayes had vnderstaÌ„ding that you were robbed I receiue such displeasure and griefe as of dutie ought euery good perfect frend one for another But bicause I know y t it is not nedefull to comfort them which are of them selues by wisdome comforted I will not enlarge any further but onely desyre you to haue pacience in such misfortune as requireth your singular prudence wherunto I commit you c. The exhortation of a Captaine vnto his Souldiers ALthough Nature alwayes appoynteth some puissant person for necessarie occasion to gouerne the subiect people in due obseruance of order yet synce the tyme that I haue ben amongst you in the administration of warfare I do not esteme my selfe your superiour but equal for that no exercise hath more néede of skill and counsel than warfare You therfore my soueraigne Souldiers enforce your selues with all louing diligence to subdue and bring downe these barbarous people not so furious as peruerse at all tymes and in all places our great enimies For which occasion in this warre shew your selues not onely frendes and defenders of our King but also tutours and carefull prouiders for your selues preseruers of your wiues children and goods c. To demaund enterteinment of a great Captaine COuragious Captain the celebrated renoume of wysdome prudence honesty and vertue in chiualry woÌ„derfully exercised by your lordship in our time do inuite prouoke me to appeale vnto your presence offering thereunto my whole seruice redie at all times and in all places Many men of great fame in warfare are at this present of me very well knowne of all which none of them in heart counsell manhood nor prudence may be compared vnto your excelleÌ„cie therfore all y e true champions of France and other men of armes are desirous to submit themselues vnto your lordship amongst which number as one of the meanest I humbly request to be admitted c. To excuse thy selfe for being negligent in writing vnto thy friende IF in tymes past I haue not written vnto you as my dutie was it hath ben for the vrgent businesse great affaires that letted me yet therefore it is not but that my whole trust and fidelitie in euery kynde of thing hath alwayes remayned in you and especially when I recorde with my self the singular loue which you haue always shewed vnto me in déedes and effectes And bicause it is better to expresse some parte of my duetie late thaÌ„ neuer I am moued to write vnto you these presents that you may participate with me of my profit prosperitie as you haue heretofore of my hindrance and aduersitie ayding couÌ„selling and fauoring me more than euer I halfe deserued toward you c. To put thy frend in remembrance of thy businesse ASsured I am that no negligeÌ„ce hath at any time kept you backe from satisfying of my demauÌ„ds which through your humanitie you haue always reputed to be your owne and not onely the offer which you haue many times made vnto me but also the experience which I haue had of you doeth bolden me now to write vnto you My vrgent businesse therfore together constraining me and knowing that no affaires of myne for the loue and affection that you beare vnto me shalbe accompted troublesom vnto you I now agayne put you in remembraunce of that whereunto my busynesse compelleth mée hoping to be pleasured of you as of him in whome I fixe my full trust fidelitie in al things and who also may dispose of me as of a deere and perfect frende c. To require ayde at thy frendes hand THe hope fidelitie which I haue had in you and in the offers which many times with an effectionate mynde you haue made vnto me doeth comfort me moue me in this my businesse and necessitie to haue recourse vnto you being very certain for the humanitie and affection that you here vnto me that your effectes wil be correspondent vnto your wordes and that you will ayde me with that which I shal demaund which thing wilbe very acceptable vnto me which thing also you may easely graunt me for it lyeth aswell in your possibilitie to giue it as in myne to aske it And though my pouertie be great wherein I fynde my selfe at this present yeat doth euery man know that it is not by my fault but by the impetuositie of fortune who casteth downe to ground ech persoÌ„ whom she listeth for siknesses debates change of time and a thousand contrarieties as euery man knoweth haue throweÌ„ me downe so low that heÌ„ceforth with my .xij. chiloren I haue more dout for dyeng of hunger than hope for to liue if your humanitie do not succour me in this my aduersitie And thus I commit my selfe vnto your charitable pitie c. To write vnto an Aduocate I Dout not but that your worship doeth accompt me for a negligent man seing that in a
first hereafter to take héede Finis ê™ W. F. ¶ A Table of the principall matters conteyned in this boke The Epistle dedicatorie The Epistle to the Reader The bokes verdicte The contents of the first Boke INstitutions how to endyte Epistles and Letters c. Folio 1. The diffinitioÌ„ of an Epistle or letter eodeÌ„ Example of an Epistle of Doctrine 8 Example of an Epistle of Mirth 9 Example of an Epistle of Grauitie eodeÌ„ The Diuision of an Epistle or letter 10 The first Style or maner wherin the cause is specified eodem The second Stile wherin the cause is first afterward the intent and then the conclusion 11 The third style in this order the intent the cause and the conclusion 12 The fourth style in this order the conclusion the cause and the intent eodem Denys the Tyrant writeth to the Burgesses of Naples 15 The aunswer in lyke fourme eodem A letter written to the King in fauor of one pretending the order of Knighthode 18 How to write in a mans behalfe for a Ciuill cause 20 The Example 21 How to write in ones behalfe for an offence or criminal cause eodem The Example 22 How to request the counsell of an aduocate 23 The Example 24 How to answere such a lyke matter 25 The Example eodem How to thanke an Aduocate for a cause by him conducted 26 The Example eodem How to request a corporall benefit 27 The Example eodem How to aunswere graunting a corporall benefit 28 The Example 29 How to giue thanks for a corporrll gift receiued eodem The Example 30 How to write vnder the demoÌ„stratiue geÌ„der in the praise of some bodies 33 The Example eodem How to write vnder the demonstratiue gender blaming or dispraysing another 35 The Example wherein a certaine man writeth to Cicero touching the conspiracie of Catiline eodem How to write by maner of complaynt or lamentation for an iniury receiued 36 The Example wherin Appius writeth to Caesar of the iniurie done him by Cicero 37 How to write when one friende comforteth an other for an iniury receiued 38 The Example wherin Caesar comforteth Appius touching the contents of the Letters before written eodem How to write a letter of complaint for a missefortnne demaunding counsell of consolation 39 The Example wherin a Father lamenting the death of his sonne writeth to a frende of his How one frende should aunswere another comforting him for his losse 41 The example wherein one friende comforteth an other for the death of his sonne eodem How to write letters being in exile vnder hope to obteyne restitution ayd counsell or comfort 43 The Example wherein Cicero lamenteth to Lentulus that for the hatred of Clodius he is exiled eodem How to coÌ„fort our frend in his exyle 45 The example wherein Lentulus comforteth Cicero who through the malyce of Clodius was exiled eodem How to write expositiue Letters certifying the witnesse or notice of a thing 46 The example wherin Cicero testifieth vnto the Iudges that Clodius was at Rome the same daye that the sacred things of Vesta were violated 47 How to certify some newes lately hapned eodem The example wherin one frende wryteth vnto another of nevves of the Courte 48 How to aduertise one of the conditions of another 49 The example wherein Cicero declareth vnto Caesar the conditions of Apolonius of Rhodes Orator 50 How to write a proficiat or congratulation for an office or dignitie 51 The example wherein one friend reioyceth with an other of the office that the king hath giuen him eodem How to vvrite Letters reioycing for our friends health or safe returne 52 The example wherin one friend reioiceth of anothers recouery to health eodem How to exhort to vertue c. 53 The example wherein a friend exhorteth a yong man to obtayne vertue eodeÌ„ How to disuade our friende from reioycing vnaduisedly or folishly 55 The example wherin Cicero diswadeth Curio from reioicing that Caesar is made Emperour eodem How to write letters exhorting to lamentation 56 The examplâ—â— wherein Cicero exhorteth Plautuâ— to lament the oppressioÌ„ of the publike weale 57 How to diswade from sorow 58 The example wherein Brutus diswadeth Marcus Antonius from sorowing for the death of Caesar eodem How to write Inuectiue letters reprehending either friende or enimie for some cryme or ignorance 59 The example wherein Cicero inueyeth against Lucius Catilina who conspyred against the publike weale 50 How to write expugning letters either to friend or enimie for charging vs with a faulte 61 The exaÌ„ple wherin Catilina purgeth him self to the Senate of Rome for the crime of coniuration imposed against him by Cicero 63 How to vvrite inuectiue Epistles of contention reprehending another for ignorance in studie 64 The example wherin a certayne Barber writeth to a Doctor of Phisicke concerning his aduersarie a Chyrurgian 65 How to write a defeÌ„ce in a contention 67 The example wherin the Chirurgian defeÌ„deth him self to the Phisition against his aduersarie the Barber eodâ—â— Hovv to vvrite domesticall and familiar Letters or Epistles 69 The Example of a common style in that case 70 How to write other domesticall letters of familiar busynesse 71 The example wherein one frend aduertiseth an other of the processe that he hath won eodem How to visit our frends with Letters not hauing any great matter to write 72 The example of the style in that case 73 How to write of some small affayre businesse or newes eodem The example wherin one friend writeth to an other of certain smal newes 74 Hovv to vvrite Letters conteyning some pleasant iestes of our selues besydes other matter 75 The Example wherin a Souldier writeth to his captaine eodem How to write Letters conteyning mery iestes or tauntes by some other 76 The example wherin Cicero iesteth with Valerius 77 How to write letters giuing general commission and charge of businesse or affaires eodem The example wherin Cicero committeth to Scipio his authoritie ouer all his businesse in Rome 78 Hovv to vvrite Letters giuing particular commission for some affayres 79 The example wherein Appius constituteth Cicero his receiuer in Sicilia eodeÌ„ How to write certain mixed letters 80 The example wherin Cicero writeth to Curio concerning his busynesse 81 How to write letters conteining diuers sundry matters 82 The example wherein Tully vvriteth to Pompilius of comforting graue and domesticall matters eodem Hovv a Prince faythfully certifyeth the worthy qualities of a man 83 The example vvherein the Duke of Venise certifieth the wisdome and science of G. A. 84 How a great Prince vvriteth of peace or warres 85 The Example wherin the Emperor maketh pece with the king of Hungary 86 How a noble man writeth Letters for the promotion of a man 87 The Example vvherein the Counte of Pauie vvriteth in the promotion of A. eodem Hovv a Prynce Eclesiasticall or Temporall vvriteth Letters forbidding a thing 88 The example wherein the Pope forbiddeth King Ferrand the building of a Castell 89
The contents of the second booke HIrmolaus Barbarus writeth vnto George Merula 91 Hirmolaus Barbarus writeth to Angelus Politianus 93 Marsilius Ficinus writeth vnto Angelus Politianus 94 Politianus aunswereth vnto Marsilius Ficinus 95 Innocent Pope to Angelus Politianus eodem Innocent the eight Pope to his welbeloued Sonne Laurentius de Medicis 96 Angelus Politianus to Innocent the .viij. Pope rendreth salutation eodem A certain man writeth to a Bookebinder of Paris 97 An epistle of Angelus Politianus to Laurentius de Medicis his Vncle. 98 Angelus Politianus to a certaine friende of his 100 Politian to his friende eodem Politian to an enuious person eodem Politian to a slanderer detracter 101 Politian to his friende Caesar Carmente eodem Politian to Iames Modeste eodem Politian to an vnconstant person eodem Angelus Politian to Picus Mirandula eodem Politian to a friende of his 102 Politian to a promise breaker eodem Politian to his friende eodem Politian to Picus Mirandula 103 Politian to a certaine frend of his eodem An epistle of Iohannes Picus Mirandula to his deare frende Iacobus Antiquarius eodem The contents of the third boke A Father writeth vnto his sonne 105 The aunswere of the Sonne vnto his Father 107 The Father writeth vnto the Sonne 108 The Sonne maketh aunsvvere vnto his Father eodem The wife writeth vnto hir husband 110 The aunswer of the Husband vnto his wife 111 A Sister writeth vnto hir brother 112 The aunswer of the brother vnto his Sister eodem A motâ—er writeth vnto hir daughter 113 The daughter maketh aunswer vnto hir mother 114 One Lord writeth vnto another 115 The aunswere of one Lorde vnto another eodem A Gentleman writeth vnto a noble Captaine 116 The aunswere of the Captaine vnto the Gentleman eodem One gentleman writeth vnto another 117 The aunsvvere of one Gentleman vnto another eodem One Marchant writeth vnto another 118 The aunsvver of one Marchant vnto another eodem A Marchant writeth vnto his Factor 119 The aunsvvere of the Factor vnto the Marchant 120 One Cashier writeth vnto another 121 One Cashyer vnto another eodem One frende writeth vnto another eodem The aunsvvere of one friende vnto another 122 One friend writeth in anothers behalf 123 The aunswere vnto his frende eodem To write vnto a Prynce in a prisoners behalfe eodem The aunswer of the Prynce declaring the demaund to be vnhonest 124 The excuse for that the demaunde was against Iustice 125 To ayde thy friende being in prison for det eodem To shew thy selfe sorowfull for the misfortune of thy friende 126 The exhortation of a captaine vnto his Souldiers eodem To demaunde entertaynement of a great Captaine 127 To excuse thy selfe for being negligent in writing vnto thy friende eodem To put thy friende in remembraunce of thy busynesse 128 To require ayde at thy friends hand eo To write vnto an Aduocate 129 To aunswere thy friende hauing praysed thee eodem The replie vnto the same 130 To shew thy selfe thankfull for a benefit receiued eodem The same after an other maner 131 The contents of the fourth boke EVrialus writeth vnto Lucresia 131 A certaine louer writeth vnto his Ladie 133 A louer requesteth his ladies loue eodem The aunswere of his Ladie 134 The Reply of the louer 135 A louer writeth to his Ladie 136 A constant louer doeth expresse his gryping grief which still encreaseth 137 A louer pearst with Cupids bowe thinks long till he be rid from woe 138 A secret louer writes his will by story of Pigmalions ill 139 A louer hath his Ladies hart and writes to hir as is his part 141 A louer sick for very loue to pitie doth his Lady moue 142 A faythfull louer feeling smart doeth nippe his Lady false of hart 143 FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Bynneman dwelling in Knightrider strete at the signe of the Mermaide For Leonard Maylerd Anno. 1568. Appelles Pigmalions The Cause The Intent The Conclusion The Inteut The Cause The Conclusion Conclusion Cause Intention Why the Epiloge is made A Confirmation An other Confirmation which is in forme of the Minor Two other reasons coÌ„firming and augmeÌ„ting that which goeth before Conclusion The Minor A prouerbe The Conclusion A three fold coÌ„sideration to be had in all Letters 4. things to be noted