"part haue bene alwayes moft redye to write. And they which "had leaft hope in Lattine haue bene moft bould in Englishe: "when furelye euerye man that is moft ready to talke, is not "most able to write. He that will write well in any tongue, "must folow this counsell of Aristotle; to speake as the com"mon people do, to thinke as wife men do. And fo fhoulde

euerye man vnderstand him, and the iudgement of wise men "alowe him. Manye Englifhe writers haue not done fo; but vfinge ftraunge wordes, as Lattine, French, and Italian, do "make all thinges darke and harde. Ones I communed with a "man, which reasoned the Englishe tongue to be enriched and "encreased thereby, fayinge, Who will not prayse that feast "where a man fhall drincke at a dinner both wyne, ale, and beere? Truly, quoth I, they be al good, euery one taken by "himselfe alone; but if you put Malmefye and facke, redde wyne and white, ale and beere, and al in one pot, you shall "make a drinke neither eafye to be knowen, nor yet holsome

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for the bodye. Cicero in folowing Ifocrates, Plato, and De"mofthenes, encreased the Lattine tongue after another fort. "This way, because diuers men that write do not know, they "can neyther folow it because of their ignoraunce, nor yet will

prayse it for uery arrogancy: two faultes feldome the one out "of the others companye. Englishe writers by diuerfitie of 66 tyme haue taken diuers matters in hand. In our fathers time "nothing was red, but bookes of fayned cheualrie, wherein a "man by readinge fhould be led to none other ende but only "to manflaughter and baudrye. If anye man suppose they "were good enough to paffe the time withall, he is deceiued. "For furely vaine wordes do worke no fmal thinge in vaine, "ignorant, and yong mindes, specially if they be geuen any thing thervnto of their owne nature. These bookes, as I "haue heard fay, were made the most part in abbayes and mo"nafteries, a very likely and fit fruite of fuch an ydle and blind

"kind of liuing. In our time now, whan euery man is geuen "to know much rather than liue wel, very many do write, but "after such a fashion as very many do fhoote. Some shooters "take in hande stronger bowes than they be able to maintaine. "This thinge maketh them sometime to ouershoote the marke, "fometime to shoote far wyde and perchance hurt föme that "loke on. Other, that neuer learned to fhoote, nor yet know"eth good shaft nor bowe, will be as bufie as the best '. Afcham's example was followed by other learned men. But the chief was Thomas Wilson, who published a system of LOGIC and RHETORIC both in English. Of his LOGIC I have already spoken. I have at prefent only to speak of the latter, which is not only written in English, but with a view of giving rules for compofing in the English language. It appeared in 1553, the first year of queen Mary, and is entitled, THE ARTE OF RHETORIKE for the vfe of all fuche as are ftudious of Eloquence, fette forthe in Englife by THOMAS WILSON . Leonarde Cox, a schoolmaster, patronised by Farringdon the last abbot of Reading, had published in 1530, as I have obferved, an English tract on rhetoric, which is nothing more than a technical and elementary manual. Wilfon's treatise is more liberal, and difcurfive; illuftrating the arts of eloquence by example, and examining and ascertaining the beauties of compofition with the fpeculative skill and fagacity of a critic. It may therefore be justly confidered as the first book or system of criticism in our language. A few ex

66

e

this treatife during the last summer vacation in the country, at the house of fir Edward Dimmoke. And that it originated from a late converfation with his lordship, monge other talke of learnyng." It was reprinted by Jhon Kynfton in 1570. Lond. 4to. With "A Prologue to the Reader," dated Dec. 7. 1560. Again, 1567. 4to. And 1585. 4to. In the PROLOGUE, he mentions his escape at Rome, which I have above related: and adds, "If others neuer gette more by bookes than I have "doen, it wer better be a carter than a "fcholar, for worldlie profite."

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tracts

tracts from so curious a performance need no apology; which will also serve to throw light on the present period, and indeed on our general fubject, by displaying the state of critical knowledge, and the ideas of writing, which now prevailed.

I must premife, that Wilson, one of the most accomplished scholars of his times, was originally a fellow of King's College, where he was tutor to the two celebrated youths Henry and Charles Brandon dukes of Suffolk. Being a doctor of laws, he was afterwards one of the ordinary masters of requests, master of faint Katharine's hospital near the Tower, a frequent embaffador from queen Elisabeth to Mary queen of Scots, and into the Low countries, a fecretary of state and a privy counsellor, and at length, in 1579, dean of Durham. He died in 1581. His remarkable diligence and dispatch in negotiation is faid to have resulted from an uncommon ftrength of memory. It is another proof of his attention to the advancement of our English style, that he tranflated feven orations of Demofthenes, which, in 1570, he dedicated to fir William Cecill".

Under that chapter of his third book of RHETORIC which treats of the four parts belonging to elocution, Plainneffe, Aptneffe, Compoficion, Exornacion, Wilson has these observations on fimplicity of ftyle, which are immediately directed to those who write in the English tongue. Among other leffons this "should first be learned, that we neuer affect any ftraunge ynke"horne termes, but to speake as is commonly receiued: neither seking to be ouer fine, nor yet liuing ouer careleffe, vfing our fpeache as mofte men do, and ordering our wittes as the fewest "haue doen. Some feke fo farre for outlandishe Englishe, that they forget altogether their mothers language. And I dare

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Admitted fcholar in 1541. A native

of Lincolnshire. MS. Hatcher.

• Which had been alfo tranflated into Latin by Nicholas Carr. To whose verfion Hatcher prefixed this diftich. [MSS. More. 102. Carr's Autograph. MS.] Hæc eadem patrio Thomas fermone polivit

Wilfonus, patrii gloria prima foli.

Wilfon published many other things. In Gabriel Harvey's SMITHUS, dedicated to fir Walter Mildmay, and printed by Binneman in 1578, he is ranked with his learned cotemporaries. See SIGNAT. D iij.-E ij.—I j.

"fweare

"fweare this, if some of their mothers were aliue, thei were "not able to tel what thei faie: and yet these fine Englishe "clerkes wil faie thei fpeake in their mother tongue, if à man "should charge them for counterfeityng the kinges Englishe. "Some farre iournied gentlemen at their returne home, like as "thei loue to go in forrein apparel, fo thei will pouder their "talke with ouerfea language. He that cometh lately out of "Fraunce will talke Frenche Englishe, and neuer blushe at the "matter. Another choppes in with Englishe Italianated, and

applieth the Italian phraife to our Englishe speakyng: the "whiche is, as if an Oration that profeffeth to vtter his mynde "in plaine Latine, would needes fpeake Poetrie, and farre "fetched colours of ftraunge antiquitie. The lawier will store "his ftomacke with the prating of pedlers. The auditour, in "makyng his accompt and reckenyng, cometh in with fife fould, “ and cater denere, for vj. s. and iiij. d. The fine courtier will "talke nothyng but CHAUCER. The misticall wifemen, and

poeticall clerkes, will speake nathyng but quainte prouerbes, "and blinde allegories; delightyng muche in their owne dark"neffe, efpecially when none can tel what thei do faie. The "vnlearned or folishe phantasticall, that smelles but of learnyng " (fvche fellowes as haue feene learned men in their daies) will "fo Latine their tongues, that the fimple cannot but wonder at "their talke, and thinke furely thei speake by some reuelacion. "I know Them, that thinke RHETORIKE to ftande wholie

vpon darke wordes; and he that can catche an ynkehorne "terme by the taile, hym thei compt to be a fine Englishman " and a good rhetorician. And the rather to fet out this folie,

f Puttenham, in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE, where he treats of ftyle and language, brings fome illuftrations from the practice of oratory in the reign of queen Mary, in whofe court he lived: and although his book is dated 1589, it was manifeftly written much earlier. He refers to fir Nicholas Bacon, who began to be high in the departments of the law in queen Mary's time, and died in 1579

Having told a flory from his own knowledge in the year 1553, of a ridiculous oration made in parliament by a new fpeaker of the houfe, who came from Yorkshire, and had more knowledge in the affairs of his county, and of the law, than gracefulness or delicacy of language, he proceeds," And though graue and wife "counfellours in their confultations do not "vfe much fuperftitious eloquence, and "alfo.

"I will adde here fvche a letter as William Sommer himself, "could not make a better for that purpose,—deuifed by a Lin