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He thus defcribes the literary and ornamental qualifications of a young nobleman which were then in fashion, and which he exemplifies in the characters of his lamented pupils, Henry duke of Suffolk and lord Charles Brandon his brother'. "I maie "commende hym for his learnyng, for his skill in the French "or in the Italian, for his knowlege in cofmographie, for his "fkill in the lawes, in the hiftories of al countrees, and for "his gift of enditing. Againe, I maie commende him for playing at weapons, for running vpon a great horse, for char" gyng his staffe at the tilt, for vauting, for plaiyng upon in"ftrumentes, yea and for painting, or drawing of a plat, as in "olde time noble princes muche delited therin ".’ And again, "Suche a man is an excellent fellowe, faithe one, he can fpeake "the tongues well, he plaies of inftrumentes, fewe men better, "he feigneth to the lvte marveilous fweetlie", he endites ex"cellentlie: but for al this, the more is the pitee, he hath his faultes, he will be dronke once a daie, he loues women "well, &c *."

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The following paffage acquaints us, among other things, that many now studied, and with the highest applause, to write elegantly in English as well as in Latin. "When we haue learned

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vfuall and accvftomable wordes to fet forthe our meanynge, we ought to ioyne them together in apte order, that the eare "maie delite in hearyng the harmonie. I knowe fome Eng

lifhemen, that in this poinct haue fuche a gift in the Englishe "as fewe in Latin haue the like; and therefore delite the Wife "and Learned fo muche with their pleafaunte compofition,

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"that many reioyce when thei maie heare fuche, and thinke "muche learnyng is gotte when thei maie talke with them "." But he adds the faults which were fometimes now to be found

in English compofition, among which he cenfures the excess of alliteration." Some will bee fo fhorte, and in fuch wife cur

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He commends Dr. Haddon's latinity, which is not always of the pureft caft. "There is no better Latine man within England, except Gualter Haddon the "lawier." fol. 63. a. Again, he commends a profopopeia of the duchess of Suffolk, in Haddon's Oratio de vita et obitu fratrum Suffolcienfium Henrici et Caroli Brandon. [edit. Hatcher, Lond. 1577. 4to. p. 89. viz. LUCUBRATIONES G. Haddon.] fol. 94. a.

He mentions John Heiwood's PROVERBS. [See fupr. p. 91.] "The Eng. "lishe Proverbes gathered by Jhon Hei.. "woode helpe well in this behaulfe [alle

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gory], the which commonlie are nothyng "els but Allegories, and dark deuifed fen"tences." fol. 90. a. Again, for furnishing fimilitudes, "The Prouerbes of Hei"wood helpe wonderfull well for thys pur"pofe." fol. 96. b.

He condemns, in an example, the growing practice of mothers who do not fuckle their own children, which he endeavours to prove to be both against the law of nature and the will of God. fol. 56. a. Here is an early proof of a cuftom, which may feem to have originated in a more luxurious and delicate age.

To thefe mifcellaneous extracts I fhall only add, that our author who was always esteemed a fincere advocate for proteftantifm, and never fufpected of leaning to popery, fpeaking of an artificial memory, has this theory concerning the ufe of images in churches. "When I fee a lion, the "image thereof abideth fafter in my minde, "than if I fhould heare fome reporte made "of a lion. Emong all the fences, the "iye [eye] fight is moft quicke, and con"teineth the impreflion of thinges more "affuredlie than any of the other fences "doe. And the rather, when a manne "both heareth and feeth a thing, (as by "artificiall memorie he doeth almoft fee

"thinges

"tall their fentences, that thei had neede to make a commen

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66

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tary immediatelie of their meanyng, or els the moste that "heare them fhal be forced to kepe counfaile. Some wil speake "oracles, that a man can not tell, which waie to take them. "Some will be so fine, and fo poeticall withall, that to their feming there fhall not ftande one heare [hair] amiffe, and yet euery bodie els fhall think them meter [fitter] for a ladies "chamber, than for an earneft matter in any open affembly. -Some vfe overmuche repetition of one letter, as pitifull povertie prayeth for a penie, but puffed prefumpcion paffeth not a poinct, pamperyng his panche with peftilent pleasure, procuryng "his passeport to pofte it to hell pitte, there to be punished with paines perpetuall." Others, he blames for the affectation of ending a word with a vowel and beginning the next with another. "Some, he says, ende their fentences al alike, makyng their "talke [style] rather to appere rimed meter, than to feme plaine fpeache. I heard a preacher delityng muche in this kinde "of compoficion, who vsed so often to ende his fentence with "woordes like vnto that which went before, that in my iudge"mente, there was not a dofen fentences in his whole fermon "but thei ended all in rime for the mofte parte. Some, not " beft difpofed, wifhed the Preacher a Lute, that with his "rimed fermon he might vfe fome pleafaunte melodie, and fo "the people might take pleasure diuers waies, and daunce if "thei lifte." Some writers, he obferves, difturbed the natural arrangement of their words: others were copious when they should be concife. The most frequent fault feems to have been, the rejection of common and proper phrafes, for those that were more curious, refined, and unintelligible *.

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The English RHETORIC of Richard Sherry, school-master of Magdalene college at Oxford, published in 1555, is a jejune and a very different performance from Wilfon's, and feems intended only as a manual for school-boys. It is entitled, "A "treatise of the figures of grammar and rhetorike, profitable to "all that be ftudious of eloquence, and in especiall for fuch as "in grammar fcholes doe reade mofte eloquente poetes and "oratours. Wherevnto is ioygned the Oration which Cicero "made to Cefar, geuing thankes vnto him for pardonyng and reftoring again of that noble man Marcus Marcellus. Sette "fourth by Richarde Sherrye Londonar, 1555." William Fullwood, in his Enemie of idleness, teaching the manner and ftyle bowe to endyte and write all jorts of epiftles and letters, fet forth in English by William Fullwood merchant, published in 1571o, written partly in profe and partly in verse, has left this notice. "Whofo "will more circumfpectly and narrowly entreat of such matters, "let them read the retorike of maifter doctour Wilfon, or of "maifter Richard Rainolde ". I have never feen Richard Rainolde's RHETORIC, nor am I fure that it was ever printed. The

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the year 1595, which has been affigned as
the original of the Two GENTLEMEN OF
VERONA. He could hardly be our author,
unless that verfion was one of his early ju-
venile exercises. This tranflator Wilson I
prefume is the perfon mentioned by Meres
as a poet, "Who for learning and extem-
"porall witte in this facultie is without
66 compare or compeere, as to his great
" and eternall commendations he manifeft-
"ed in his challenge at the Swanne on the
"Bank fide." WITS TREAS. edit. 1598.
12mo. ut fupr. fol. 285. p. 2. Again, he
mentions one Wilfon as an eminent dra-
matic writer, perhaps the fame. Ibid. fol.
282. There is, by one Thomas Wilfon,
an EXPOSITION ON THE PSALMS, Lond.
1591. 4to. And an EXPOSITION ON THE
PROVERBS, Lond. 1589. 4to. Among the
twelve players fworn the queen's fervants
in 1583, were
"" two rare men, viz. Tho-
"mas Wilson for a quicke, delicate, refi-

VOL. III.

"ned extemporall witte, and Richard "Tarleton, &c." Stowe's ANN. edit. 1615. fol. 697.

b But there feems to have been a former edition by Richard Day, 1550, in octavo. For Richard Tottell. 12mo. In 74 leaves.

In four books, 12mo. It is dedicated to the mafter, wardens, and company of Merchant Taylors London. "Think not "Apelles painted piece." PR. "The an"cient poet Lucanus." The fame person tranflated into English, THE CASTLE OF MEMORIE, from William Gratarol, dedicated to lord Robert Dudly, master of the horfe to the queen, Lond. for W. Howe in Fleetftreet, 1573. 8vo. DED. begins, "Syth noble Maximilian kyng." Fol. 7. a. In 1562, "the Boke of "Retoryke," of which I know no more, is entered to John Kyngefton, REGISTR. STATION, A. fol. 87. b.

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The author, Rainolde, was of Trinity college in Cambridge, and created doctor of medicine in 1567 f. He wrote also a Latin tract dedicated to the duke of Norfolk, on the condition of princes and noblemen: and there is an old CRONICLE in quarto by one Richard Reynolds ". I truft it will be deemed a pardonable anticipation, if I add here, for the fake of connection, that Richard Mulcafter, who from King's college in Cambridge was removed to a Studentship of Christ-church in Oxford about the year 1555, and foon afterwards, on account of his diftinguished accomplishments in philology, was appointed the first master of Merchant-Taylor's school in London', published a book which contains many judicious criticisms and observations on the English language, entitled, "The firft "The first part of the ELEMENTARIE, which entreateth chefely of the right writing of "the English tung, fett forth by Richard Mulcafter, Lond. 1582." And, as many of the precepts are delivered in metre, I take this opportunity of obferving, that William Bullokar published a "Bref grammar for English, Imprinted at

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MSS. Cat. Graduat. Univ. Cant. MSS. Stillingfl. 160. "De ftatu no“bilium virorum et principum."

Of the Emperors, from Julius Cefar to Maximilian. Licenced to T. Marshe, in 1566. REGISTR. STATION. A. fol. 154. b.

In 1561. It was then just founded as a profeminary for faint John's college Oxford, in a houfe called the Manour of the Rofe in faint Lawrence Pounteney, by the company of Merchant-Taylors. Saint John's college had been then established about seven years, which Mulcafter foon filled with excellent fcholars till the year 1586. In the Latin plays acted before queen Elifabeth and James the firft at Oxford, the ftudents of this college were dif tinguished. This was in confequence of their being educated under Mulcafter. He was afterwards, in 1596, mafter of faint Paul's fchool. He was a prebendary of Salisbury, and at length was rewarded by the queen with the opulent rectory of Standford-Rivers in Effex, where he died in

1611. He was elected scholar of King's college Cambridge in 1548. MSS. Hatcher. And Contin. Hatch. Celebrated in its time was his CATECHISMUS PAULINUS in ufum Schola Paulina confcriptus, Lond. 1601. 8vo. &c. It is in long and short verfe. Many of Mulcafter's panegyrics in Latin verfe may be feen prefixed to the works of his cotemporaries. A copy of his Latin verses was fpoken before queen Elifabeth at Kenilworth-caftle in 1575. See G. Gascoyne's NARRATIVE, &c. Signat. A. iij.

* Moft elegantly printed, in the white letter, by Thomas Vautrollier in quarto. It contains 272 pages. The fecond part never appeared. His "POSITIONS, where"in thofe primitive circumftances be exa"mined which are neceff rie for the train"ing vp of children either for skill in "their booke or health in their bodies," [Lond. 1581. 1587. 4to.] have no connection with this work.

"London

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