Selected quad for the lemma: master_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
master_n	henry_n	sir_n	thomas_n	17,904	5	9.4195	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68619	The arte of English poesie Contriued into three bookes: the first of poets and poesie, the second of proportion, the third of ornament.	Puttenham, George, d. 1590.; Puttenham, Richard, 1520?-1601?, attributed name.; Lumley, John Lumley, Baron, 1534?-1609, attributed name.	1589 (1589)	STC 20519.5; ESTC S110571	205,111	267

the principall man in this profession at the same time was Maister Edward Ferrys a man of no lesse mirth felicitie that way but of much more skil magnificence in his meeter and therefore wrate for the most part to the stage in Tragedie and sometimes in Comedie or Enterlude wherein he gaue the king so much good recreation as he had thereby many good rewardes In Queenes Maries time florished aboue any other Doctour Phaer one that was well learned excellently well translated into English verse Heroicall certaine bookes of Virgils Aeneidos Since him followed Maister Arthure Golding who with no lesse commendation turned into English meetre the Metamorphosis of Ouide and that other Doctour who made the supplement to those bookes of Virgils Aeneidos which Maister Phaer left vndone And in her Maiesties time that now is are sprong vp an other crew of Courtly makers Noble men and Gentlemen of her Maiesties owne seruauntes who haue written excellently well as it would appeare if their doings could be found out and made publicke with the rest of which number is first that noble Gentleman Edward Earle of Oxford Thomas Lord of Bukhurst when he was young Henry Lord Paget Sir Philip Sydney Sir Walter Rawleigh Master Edward Dyar Maister Fulke Greuell Gascon Britton Turberuille and a great many other learned Gentlemen whose names I do not omit for enuie but to auoyde tediousnesse and who haue deserued no little commendation But of them all particularly this is myne opinion that Chaucer with Gower Lidgat and Harding for their antiquitie ought to haue the first place and Chaucer as the most renowmed of them all for the much learning appeareth to be in him aboue any of the rest And though many of his bookes be but bare translations out of the Latin French yet are they wel handled as his bookes of Troilus and Cresseid and the Romant of the Rose whereof he translated but one halfe the deuice was Iohn de Mehunes a French Poet the Canterbury tales were Chaucers owne inuention as I suppose and where he sheweth more the naturall of his pleasant wit then in any other of his workes his similitudes comparisons and all other descriptions are such as can not be amended His meetre Heroicall of Troilus and Cresseid is very graue and stately keeping the the staffe of seuen and the verse of ten his other verses of the Canterbury tales be but riding ryme neuerthelesse very well becomming the matter of that pleasaunt pilgrimage in which euery mans part is playd with much decency Gower sauing for his good and graue moralities had nothing in him highly to be commended for his verse was homely and without good measure his wordes strained much deale out of the French writers his ryme wrested and in his inuentions small subtillitie the applications of his moralities are the best in him and yet those many times very grossely bestowed neither doth the substance of his workes sufficiently aunswere the subtilitie of his titles Lydgat a translatour onely and no deuiser of that which he wrate but one that wrate in good verse Harding a Poet Epick or Historicall handled himselfe well according to the time and maner of his subiect He that wrote the Satyr of Piers Ploughman seemed to haue bene a malcontent of that time and therefore bent himselfe wholy to taxe the disorders of that age and specially the pride of the Romane Clergy of whose fall he seemeth to be a very true Prophet his verse is but loose meetre and his termes hard and obscure so as in them is litle pleasure to be taken Skelton a sharpe Satirist but with more rayling and scoffery then became a Poet Lawreat such among the Greekes were called Pantomimi with vs Buffons altogether applying their wits to Scurrillities other ridiculous matters Henry Earle of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyat betweene whom I finde very litle differēce I repute them as before for the two chief lāternes of light to all others that haue since employed their pennes vpon English Poesie their conceits were loftie their stiles stately their conueyance cleanely their termes proper their meetre sweete and well proportioned in all imitating very naturally and studiously their Maister Francis Petrarcha The Lord Vaux his commendatiō lyeth chiefly in the facillitie of his meetre and the aptnesse of his descriptions such as he taketh vpon him to make namely in sundry of his Songs wherein he sheweth the counterfait actiō very liuely pleasantly Of the later sort I thinke thus That for Tragedie the Lord of Buckhurst Maister Edward Ferrys for such doings as I haue sene of theirs do deserue the hyest price Th' Earle of Oxford and Maister Edwardes of her Maiesties Chappell for Comedy and Enterlude For Eglogue and pastorall Poesie Sir Philip Sydney and Maister Challenner and that other Gentleman who wrate the late shepheardes Callender For dittie and amourous Ode I finde Sir Walter Rawleyghs vayne most loftie insolent and passionate Maister Edward Dyar for Elegie most sweete solempne and of high conceit Gascon for a good meeter and for a plentifull vayne Phaer and Golding for a learned and well corrected verse specially in translation cleare and very faithfully answering their authours intent Others haue also written with much facillitie but more commendably perchance if they had not written so much nor so popularly But last in recitall and first in degree is the Queene our soueraigne Lady whose learned delicate noble Muse easily surmounteth all the rest that haue writtē before her time or since for sence sweetnesse and subtillitie be it in Ode Elegie Epigram or any other kinde of poeme Heroick or Lyricke wherein it shall please her Maiestie to employ her penne euen by as much oddes as her owne excellent estate and degree exceedeth all the rest of her most humble vassalls THE SECOND BOOKE OF PROPORTION POETICAL CHAP. I. Of Proportion Poeticall IT is said by such as professe the Mathematicall sciences that all things stand by proportion and that without it nothing could stand to be good or beautiful The Doctors of our Theologie to the same effect but in other termes say that God made the world by number measure and weight some for weight say tune and peraduenture better For weight is a kind of measure or of much conueniencie with it and therefore in their descriptions be alwayes coupled together statica metrica weight and measures Hereupon it seemeth the Philosopher gathers a triple proportion to wit the Arithmeticall the Geometricall and the Musical And by one of these three is euery other proportion guided of the things that haue conueniencie by relation as the visible by light colour and shadow the audible by stirres times and accents the odorable by smelles of sundry temperaments the tastible by sauours to the rate the tangible by his obiectes in this or that regard Of all which we leaue to speake returning to our poeticall proportion which holdeth of the Musical because as we sayd before Poesie is a

to one of his priuie chamber who sued for a pardon for one that was condemned for a robberie telling the king that it was but a small trifle not past sixteene shillings matter which he had taken quoth the king againe but I warrant you the fellow was sorrie it had not bene sixteene pound meaning how the malefactors intent was as euill in that trifle as if it had bene a greater summe of money In these examples if ye marke there is no griefe or offence ministred as in those other before and yet are very wittie and spoken in plaine derision The Emperor Charles the fift was a man of very few words and delighted little in talke His brother king Ferdinando being a man of more pleasant discourse sitting at the table with him said I pray your Maiestie be not so silent but let vs talke a little What neede that brother quoth the Emperor since you haue words enough for vs both Or when we giue a mocke with a scornefull countenance as in some smiling sort looking aside or by drawing the lippe awry or shrinking vp the nose the Greeks called it Micterismus Micterismus or the Fleering frūpe we may terme it a fleering frumpe as he that said to one whose wordes he beleued not no doubt Sir of that This fleering frumpe is one of the Courtly graces of hicke the scorner Or when we deride by plaine and flat contradiction Antiphrasis or the Broad floute as he that saw a dwarfe go in the streete said to his companion that walked with him See yonder gyant and to a Negro or woman blacke-moore in good sooth yeare a faire one we may call it the broad floute Or when ye giue a mocke vnder smooth and lowly wordes as he that hard one call him all to nought and say thou art sure to be hanged ere thou dye quoth th' other very soberly Sir I know your maistership speakes but in iest Chariētismus or the Priuy nippe the Greeks call it charientismus we may call it the priuy nippe or a myld and appeasing mockery all these be souldiers to the figure allegoria and fight vnder the banner of dissimulation Neuerthelesse ye haue yet two or three other figures that smatch a spice of the same false semblant Hiperbole or the Ouer reacher otherwise called the loud lyer but in another sort and maner of phrase whereof one is when we speake in the superlatiue and beyond the limites of credit that is by the figure which the Greeks call Hiperbole the Latines Dementiens or the lying figure I for his immoderate excesse cal him the ouer reacher right with his originall or lowd lyar me thinks not amisse now whē I speake that which neither I my selfe thinke to be true nor would haue any other body beleeue it must needs be a great dissimulation because I meane nothing lesse then that I speake and this maner of speach is vsed when either we would greatly aduaunce or greatly abase the reputation of any thing or person and must be vsed very discreetly or els it will seeme odious for although a prayse or other report may be allowed beyōd credit it may not be beyōd all measure specially in the proseman as he that was speaker in a Parliament of king Henry the eights raigne in his Oration which ye know is of ordinary to be made before the Prince at the first assembly of both houses ould seeme to prayse his Maiestie thus What should I go about to recite your Maiesties innumerable vertues euen as much as if I tooke vpon me to number the starres of the skie or to tell the sands of the sea This Hyperbole was both vltra fidem and also vltra modum and therefore of a graue and wise Counsellour made the speaker to be accompted a grosse flattering foole peraduenture if he had vsed it thus it had bene better and neuerthelesse a lye too but a more moderate lye and no lesse to the purpose of the kings commendation thus I am not able with any wordes sufficiently to expresse your Maiesties regall vertues your kingly merites also towardes vs your people and realme are so exceeding many as your prayses therefore are infinite your honour and renowne euerlasting And yet all this if we shall measure it by the rule of exact veritie is but an vntruth yet a more cleanely commendation then was maister Speakers Neuerthelesse as I said before if we fall a praysing specially of our mistresses vertue bewtie or other good parts we be allowed now and then to ouer-reach a little by way of comparison as he that said thus in prayse of his Lady Giue place ye louers here before That spent your boasts and braggs in vaine My Ladies bewtie passeth more The best of your I dare well sayne Then doth the sunne the candle light Or brightest day the darkest night And as a certaine noble Gentlewoman lamēting at the vnkindnesse of her louer said very pretily in this figure But since it will no better be My teares shall neuer blin To moist the earth in such degree That I may drowne therein That by my death all men may say Lo weemen are as true as they Then haue ye the figure Periphrasis holding somewhat of the dissēbler by reason of a secret intent not appearing by the words Periphrasis or the Figure of ambage as when we go about the bush and will not in one or a few words expresse that thing which we desire to haue knowen but do chose rather to do it by many words as we our selues wrote of our Soueraigne Lady thus Whom Princes serue and Realmes obay And greatest of Bryton kings begot She came abroade euen yesterday When such as saw her knew her not And the rest that followeth meaning her Maiesties person which we would seeme to hide leauing her name vnspoken to the intent the reader should gesse at it neuerthelesse vpon the matter did so manifestly disclose it as any simple iudgement might easily perceiue by whom it was ment that is by Lady Elizabeth Queene of England and daughter to king Henry the eight and therein resteth the dissimulation It is one of the gallantest figures among the poetes so it be vsed discretely and in his right kinde but many of these makers that be not halfe their craftes maisters do very often abuse it and also many waies For if the thing or person they go about to describe by circumstance be by the writers improuidence otherwise bewrayed it looseth the grace of a figure as he that said The tenth of March when Aries receiued Dan Phoebus raies into his horned hed Intending to describe the spring of the yeare which euery man knoweth of himselfe hearing the day of March named the verses be very good the figure nought worth if it were meant in Periphrase for the matter that is the season of the yeare which should haue bene couertly disclosed by ambage was by and by blabbed out by naming the day of the