I said before and then ought neither to be engrauen nor hanged vp in tables I haue seene them neuertheles vpon many honorable tombes of these late times erected which doe rather disgrace then honour either the matter or maker CHAP. XXIX A certaine auncient forme of poesie by which men did vse to reproch their enemies AS frendes be a rich and ioyfull possession so be foes a continuall torment and canker to the minde of man and yet there is no possible meane to auoide this inconuenience for the best of vs all he that thinketh he liues most blamelesse liues not without enemies that enuy him for his good parts or hate him for his euill There be wise men and of them the great learned man Plutarch that tooke vpon them to perswade the benefite that men receiue by their enemies which though it may be true in manner of Paradoxe yet I finde mans frailtie to be naturally such and alwayes hath beene that he cannot conceiue it in his owne case nor shew that patience and moderation in such greifs as becommeth the man perfite and accomplisht in all vertue but either in deede or by word he will seeke reuenge against them that malice him or practise his harmes specially such foes as oppose themselues to a mans loues This made the auncient Poetes to inuent a meane to rid the gall of all such Vindicatiue men so as they might be a wrecked of their wrong neuer bely their enemie with slaunderous vntruthes And this was done by a maner of imprecation or as we call it by cursing and banning of the parties and wishing all euill to a light vpon them and though it neuer the sooner happened yet was it great easment to the boiling stomacke They were called Dirae such as Virgill made aginst Battarus and Ouide against Ibis we Christians are forbidden to vse such vncharitable fashions and willed to referre all our reuenges to God alone CHAP. XXX Of short Epigrames called Posies THere be also other like Epigrammes that were sent vsually for new yeares giftes or to be Printed or put vpon their banketting dishes of suger plate or of march paines such other dainty meates as by the curtesie custome euery gest might carry from a common feast home with him to his owne house were made for the nonce they were called Nenia or apophoreta and neuer contained aboue one verse or two at the most but the shorter the better we call them Posies and do paint them now a dayes vpon the backe sides of our fruite trenchers of wood or vse them as deuises in rings and armes and about such courtly purposes So haue we remembred and set forth to your Maiestie very briefly all the commended fourmes of the auncient Poesie which we in our vulgare makings do imitate and vse vnder these common names enterlude song ballade carroll and ditty borrowing them also from the French al sauing this word song which is our naturall Saxon English word The rest such as time and vsurpation by custome haue allowed vs out of the primitiue Greeke Latine as Comedie Tragedie Ode Epitaphe Elegie Epigramme and other moe And we haue purposely omitted all nice or scholasticall curiosities not meete for your Maiesties contemplation in this our vulgare arte and what we haue written of the auncient formes of Poemes we haue taken from the best clerks writing in the same arte The part that next followeth to wit of proportion because the Greeks nor Latines neuer had it in vse nor made any obseruation no more then we doe of their feete we may truly affirme to haue bene the first deuisers thereof our selues as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not to haue borrowed it of any other by learning or imitation and thereby trusting to be holden the more excusable if any thing in this our labours happen either to mislike or to come short of th'authors purpose because commonly the first attempt in any arte or engine artificiall is amendable in time by often experiences reformed And so no doubt may this deuise of ours be by others that shall take the penne in hand after vs. CHAP. XXXI Who in any age haue bene the most commended writers in our English Poesie and the Authors censure giuen vpon them IT appeareth by sundry records of bookes both printed written that many of our countreymen haue painfully trauelled in this part of whose works some appeare to be but bare translatiōs other some matters of their owne inuention and very commendable whereof some recitall shall be made in this place to th' intent chiefly that their names should not be defrauded of such honour as seemeth due to them for hauing by their thankefull studies so much beautified our English tong as at this day it will be found our nation is in nothing inferiour to the French or Italian for copie of language subtiltie of deuice good method and proportion in any forme of poeme but that they may compare with the most and perchance passe a great many of them And I will not reach aboue the time of king Edward the third and Richard the second for any that wrote in English meeter because before their times by reason of the late Normane conquest which had brought into this Realme much alteration both of our langage and lawes and there withall a certain martiall barbarousnes whereby the study of all good learning was so much decayd as long time after no man or very few entended to write in any laudable science so as beyond that time there is litle or nothing worth commendation to be founde written in this arte And those of the first age were Chaucer and Gower both of them as I suppose Knightes After whom followed Iohn Lydgate the monke of Bury that nameles who wrote the Satyre called Piers Plowman next him followed Harding the Chronicler then in king Henry th' eight times Skelton I wot not for what great worthines surnamed the Poet Laureat In the latter end of the same kings raigne sprōg vp a new company of courtly makers of whom Sir Thomas Wyat th' elder Henry Earle of Surrey were the two chieftaines who hauing trauailed into Italie and there tasted the sweete and stately measures and stile of the Italiā Poesie as nouices newly crept out of the schooles of Dante Arioste and Petrarch they greatly pollished our rude homely maner of vulgar Poesie from that it had bene before and for that cause may iustly be sayd the first reformers of our English meetre and stile In the same time or not long after was the Lord Nicholas Vaux a man of much facilitie in vulgar makings Afterward in king Edward the sixths time came to be in reputation for the same facultie Thomas Sternehold who first translated into English certaine Psalmes of Dauid and Iohn Hoywood the Epigrammatist who for the myrth and quicknesse of his conceits more then for any good learning was in him came to be well benefited by the king But
from the owne signification neuerthelesse applied to another not altogether contrary but hauing much cōueniencie with it as before we said of the metaphore as for example if we should call the common wealth a shippe the Prince a Pilot the Counsellours mariners the stormes warres the calme and hauen peace this is spoken all in allegorie and because such inuersion of sence in one single worde is by the figure Metaphore of whom we spake before and this manner of inuersion extending to whole and large speaches it maketh the figure allegorie to be called a long and perpetuall Metaphore A noble man after a whole yeares absence from his ladie sent to know how she did and whether she remayned affected toward him as she was when he left her Louely Lady I long full sore to heare If ye remaine the same I left you the last yeare To whom she answered in allegorie other two verses My louing Lorde I will well that ye wist The thred is spon that neuer shall vntwist Meaning that her loue was so stedfast and cōstant toward him as no time or occasion could alter it Virgill in his shepeherdly poemes called Eglogues vsed as rusticall but fit allegorie for the purpose thus Claudite iam riuos pueri sat prata biberunt Which I English thus Stop vp your streames my lads the medes haue drunk ther fill As much to say leaue of now yee haue talked of the matter inough for the shepheards guise in many places is by opening certaine sluces to water their pastures so as when they are wet inough they shut them againe this application is full Allegoricke Ye haue another manner of Allegorie not full but mixt as he that wrate thus The cloudes of care haue coured all my coste The stormes of strife do threaten to appeare The waues of woe wherein my ship is toste Haue broke the banks where lay my life so deere Chippes of ill chance are fallen amidst my choise To marre the minde that ment for to reioyce I call him not a full Allegorie but mixt bicause he discouers withall what the cloud storme waue and the rest are which in a full allegorie should not be discouered but left at large to the readers iudgement and coniecture We dissemble againe vnder couert and darke speaches when we speake by way of riddle Enigma of which the sence can hardly be picked out but by the parties owne assoile as he that said Enigma or the Riddle It is my mother well I wot And yet the daughter that I begot Meaning it by the I se which is made of frozen water the same being molten by the sunne or fire makes water againe My mother had an old womā in her nurserie who in the winter nights would put vs forth many prety ridles whereof this is one I haue a thing and rough it is And in the midst a hole I wis There came a yong man with his ginne And he put it a handfull in The good old Gentlewoman would tell vs that were children how it was meant by a furd glooue Some other naughtie body would peraduenture haue construed it not halfe so mannerly The riddle is pretie but that it holdes too much of the Cachemphaton or foule speach and may be drawen to a reprobate sence We dissemble after a sort when we speake by cōmon prouerbs Parimia or Prouerb or as we vse to call them old said sawes as thus As the olde cocke crowes so doeth the chick A bad Cooke that cannot his owne fingers lick Meaning by the first that the young learne by the olde either to be good or euill in their behauiours by the second that he is not to be counted a wise man who being in authority and hauing the administration of many good and great things will not serue his owne turne and his friends whilest he may many such prouerbiall speeches as Totnesse is turned French for a strange alteration Skarborow warning for a sodaine commandement allowing no respect or delay to bethinke a man of his busines Note neuerthelesse a diuersitie for the two last examples be prouerbs the two first prouerbiall speeches Ye doe likewise dissemble when ye speake in derision or mockerie that may be many waies as sometime in sport sometime in earnest and priuily and apertly and pleasantly and bitterly Ironia or the Drie mock but first by the figure Ironia which we call the drye mock as he that said to a bragging Ruffian that threatened he would kill and slay no doubt you are a good man of your hands or as it was said by a French king to one that praide his reward shewing how he had bene cut in the face at a certain battell fought in his seruice ye may see quoth the king what it is to runne away looke backwards And as Alphonso king of Naples said to one that profered to take his ring when he washt before dinner this wil serue another well meaning that the Gentlem◠had another time takē thē because the king forgot to aske for them neuer restored his ring againe Sarcasmus or the Bitter taunt Or when we deride with a certaine seueritie we may call it the bitter taunt Sarcasmus as Charles the fift Emperour aunswered the Duke of Arskot beseeching him recompence of seruice done at the siege of Renty against Henry the French king where the Duke was taken prisoner and afterward escaped clad like a Colliar Thou wert taken quoth the Emperour like a coward and scapedst like a Colliar wherefore get thee home and liue vpon thine owne Or as king Henry the eight said to one of his priuy chamber who sued for Sir Anthony Rowse a knight of Norfolke that his Maiestie would be good vnto him for that he was an ill begger Quoth the king againe if he be ashamed to beg we are ashamed to geue Or as Charles the fift Emperour hauing taken in battaile Iohn Frederike Duke of Saxon with the Lantgraue of Hessen and others this Duke being a man of monstrous bignesse and corpulence after the Emperor had seene the prisoners said to those that were about him I haue gone a hunting many times yet neuer tooke I such a swine before Asteismus or the Merry scoffe otherwise The ciuill iest Or when we speake by manner of pleasantery or mery skoffe that is by a kinde of mock whereof the sence is farrefet without any gall or offence The Greekes call it Asteismus we may terme it the ciuill iest because it is a mirth very full of ciuilitie and such as the most ciuill men doo vse As Cato said to one that had geuen him a good knock on the head with a long peece of timber he bare on his shoulder and then bad him beware what quoth Cato wilt thou strike me againe for ye know a warning should be geuen before a man haue receiued harme and not after And as king Edward the sixt being of young yeres but olde in wit saide
had bene to lye at any of his subiects houses or to passe moe meales then one he that would take vpon him to defray the charge of his dyet or of his officers and houshold he would be maruelously offended with it saying what priuate subiect dare vndertake a Princes charge or looke into the secret of his expēce Her Maiestie hath bene knowne oftentimes to mislike the superfluous expence of her subiects bestowed vpon her in times of her progresses Likewise in matter of aduise it is neither decent to flatter him for that is seruile neither to be to rough or plaine with him for that is daungerous but truly to Counsell to admonish grauely not greuously sincerely not sourely which was the part that so greatly commended Cineas Counsellour to king Pirrhus who kept that decencie in all his perswasions that he euer preuailed in aduice and carried the king which way he would And in a Prince it is comely to giue vnasked but in a subiect to aske vnbidden for that first is signe of a bountifull mynde this of a loyall confident But the subiect that craues not at his Princes hand either he is of no desert or proud or mistrustfull of his Princes goodnesse therefore king Henry th' eight to one that entreated him to remember one Sir Anthony Rouse with some reward for that he had spent much and was an ill beggar the king aunswered noting his insolencie If he be ashamed to begge we are ashamed to giue and was neuerthelesse one of the most liberall Princes of the world And yet in some Courts it is otherwise vsed for in Spaine it is thought very vndecent for a Courtier to craue supposing that it is the part of an importune therefore the king of ordinarie calleth euery second third or fourth yere for his Checker roll and bestoweth his mercedes of his owne meere motion and by discretiō according to euery mans merite and condition And in their commendable delights to be apt and accommodate as if the Prince be geuen to hauking hunting riding of horses or playing vpon instruments or any like exercise the seruitour to be the same and in their other appetites wherein the Prince would seeme an example of vertue and would not mislike to be egalled by others in such cases it is decent their seruitours subiects studie to be like to them by imitation as in wearing their haire long or short or in this or that sort of apparrell such excepted as be only fitte for Princes and none els which were vndecent for a meaner person to imitate or counterfet so is it not comely to counterfet their voice or looke or any other gestures that be not ordinary and naturall in euery common person and therefore to go vpright or speake or looke assuredly it is decent in euery man But if the Prince haue an extraordinarie countenance or manner of speech or bearing of his body that for a common seruitour to counterfet is not decent and therefore it was misliked in the Emperor Nero and thought vncomely for him to counterfet Alexander the great by holding his head a little awrie neerer toward the tone shoulder because it was not his owne naturall And in a Prince it is decent to goe slowly and to march with leysure and with a certaine granditie rather than grauitie as our soueraine Lady and mistresse the very image of maiestie and magnificence is accustomed to doe generally vnlesse it be when she walketh apace for her pleasure or to catch her a heate in the colde mornings Neuerthelesse it is not so decent in a meaner person as I haue obserued in some counterfet Ladies of the Countrey which vse it much to their owne derision This comelines was wanting in Queene Marie otherwise a very good and honourable Princesse And was some blemish to the Emperor Ferdinando a most noble minded man yet so carelesse and forgetfull of himselfe in that behalfe as I haue seene him runne vp a paire of staires so swift and nimble a pace as almost had not become a very meane man who had not gone in some hastie businesse And in a noble Prince nothing is more decent and welbeseeming his greatnesse than to spare foule speeches for that breedes hatred and to let none humble suiters depart out of their presence as neere as may be miscontented Wherein her Maiestie hath of all others a most Regall gift and nothing inferior to the good Prince Titus Vespasianus in that point Also not to be passionate for small detriments or offences nor to be a reuenger of them but in cases of great iniurie and specially of dishonors and therein to be very sterne and vindicatiue for that sauours of Princely magnanimitie nor to seeke reuenge vpon base and obscure persons ouer whom the conquest is not glorious nor the victorie honourable which respect moued our soueraign Lady keeping alwaies the decorum of a Princely person at her first comming to the crowne when a knight of this Realme who had very insolently behaued himselfe toward her when she was Lady Elizabeth fell vpon his knee to her and besought her pardon suspecting as there was good cause that he should haue bene sent to the Tower she said vnto him most mildly do you not know that we are descended of the Lion whose nature is not to harme or pray vpon the mouse or any other such small vermin And with these exāples I thinke sufficient to leaue geuing you information of this one point that all your figures Poeticall or Rhethoricall are but obseruations of strange speeches and such as without any arte at al we should vse cōmonly do euen by very nature without discipline But more or lesse aptly and decently or scarcely or aboundantly or of this or that kind of figure one of vs more thē another according to the dispositiō of our nature cōstitutiō of the heart facilitie of each mans vtterāce so as we may conclude that nature her selfe suggesteth the figure in this or that forme but arte aydeth the iudgement of his vse and application which geues me occasion finally and for a full conclusion to this whole treatise to enforme you in the next chapter how art should be vsed in all respects and specially in this behalfe of language and when the naturall is more commendable then the artificiall and contrariwise CHAP. XXV That the good Poet or maker ought to dissemble his arte and in what cases the artificiall is more commended then the naturall and contrariwise ANd now most excellent Queene hauing largely said of Poets Poesie and about what matters they be employed then of all the commended fourmes of Poemes thirdly of metricall proportions such as do appertaine to our vulgar arte and last of all set forth the poeticall ornament cōsisting chiefly in the beautie and gallantnesse of his language and stile and so haue apparelled him to our seeming in all his gorgious habilliments and pulling him first from the carte to the schoole and
haue written for pleasure a litle brief Romance or historicall ditty in the English tong of the Isle of great Britaine in short and long meetres and by breaches or diuisions to be more commodiously song to the harpe in places of assembly where the company shal be desirous to heare of old aduentures valiaunces of noble knights in times past as are those of king Arthur and his knights of the round table Sir Beuys of Southampton Guy of Warvvicke and others like Such as haue not premonition hereof and consideration of the causes alledged would peraduenture reproue and disgrace euery Romance or short historicall ditty for that they be not written in long meeters or verses Alexandrins according to the nature stile of large histories wherin they should do wrong for they be sundry formes of poems and not all one CHAP. XX. In what forme of Poesie vertue in the inferiour sort vvas commended IN euerie degree and sort of men vertue is commendable but not egally not onely because mens estates are vnegall but for that also vertue it selfe is not in euery respect of egall value and estimation For continence in a king is of greater merit then in a carter th' one hauing all oportunities to allure him to lusts and abilitie to serue his appetites th' other partly for the basenesse of his estate wanting such meanes and occasions partly by dread of lawes more inhibited and not so vehemently caried away with vnbridled affections and therfore deserue not in th' one and th' other like praise nor equall reward by the very ordinarie course of distributiue iustice Euen so parsimonie and illiberalitie are greater vices in a Prince then in a priuate person and pusillanimitie and iniustice likewise for to th' one fortune hath supplied inough to maintaine them in the contrarie vertues I meane fortitude iustice liberalitie and magnanimitie the Prince hauing all plentie to vse largesse by and no want or neede to driue him to do wrong Also all the aides that may be to lift vp his courage and to make him stout and fearelesse augent animos fortunae saith the Mimist and very truly for nothing pulleth downe a mans heart so much as aduersitie and lacke Againe in a meane man prodigalitie and pride are faultes more reprehensible then in Princes whose high estates do require in their countenance speech expence a certaine extraordinary and their functions enforce them sometime to exceede the limites of mediocritie not excusable in a priuat person whose manner of life and calling hath no such exigence Besides the good and bad of Princes is more exemplarie and thereby of greater moment then the priuate persons Therfore it is that the inferiour persons with their inferiour vertues haue a certaine inferiour praise to guerdon their good with to comfort them to continue a laudable course in the modest and honest life and behauiour But this lyeth not in written laudes so much as in ordinary reward and commendation to be giuen them by the mouth of the superiour magistrate For histories were not intended to so generall and base a purpose albeit many a meane souldier other obscure persons were spoken of and made famous in stories as we finde of Irus the begger and Thersites the glorious noddie whom Homer maketh mention of But that happened so did many like memories of meane men by reason of some greater personage or matter that it was long of which therefore could not be an vniuersall case nor chaunce to euery other good and vertuous person of the meaner sort Wherefore the Poet in praising the maner of life or death of anie meane person did it by some litle dittie or Epigram or Epitaph in fewe verses meane stile conformable to his subiect So haue you how the immortall gods were praised by hymnes the great Princes and heroicke personages by ballades of praise called Encomia both of them by historicall reports of great grauitie and maiestie the inferiour persons by other slight poemes CHAP. XXI The forme wherein honest and profitable Artes and sciences were treated THe profitable sciences were no lesse meete to be imported to the greater number of ciuill men for instruction of the people and increase of knowledge then to be reserued and kept for clerkes and great men onely So as next vnto the things historicall such doctrines and arts as the common wealth fared the better by were esteemed and allowed And the same were treated by Poets in verse Exameter sauouring the Heroicall and for the grauitie and comelinesse of the meetre most vsed with the Greekes and Latines to sad purposes Such were the Philosophicall works of Lucretius Carus among the Romaines the Astronomicall of Aratus and Manilius one Greeke th' other Latine the Medicinall of Nicander and that of Oprianus of hunting and fishes and many moe that were too long to recite in this place CHAP. XXII In what forme of Poesie the amorous affections and allurements were vttered THe first founder of all good affections is honest loue as the mother of all the vicious is hatred It was not therefore without reason that so commendable yea honourable a thing as loue well meant were it in Princely estate or priuate might in all ciuil common wealths be vttered in good forme and order as other laudable things are And because loue is of all other humane affections the most puissant and passionate and most generall to all sortes and ages of men and women so as whether it be of the yong or old or wise or holy or high estate or low none euer could truly bragge of any exemptiō in that case it requireth a forme of Poesie variable inconstant affected curious and most witty of any others whereof the ioyes were to be vttered in one sorte the sorrowes in an other and by the many formes of Poesie the many moodes and pangs of louers throughly to be discouered the poore soules sometimes praying beseeching sometime honouring auancing praising an other while railing reuiling and cursing then sorrowing weeping lamenting in the ende laughing reioysing solacing the beloued againe with a thousand delicate deuises odes songs elegies ballads sonets and other ditties moouing one way and another to great compassion CHAP. XXIII The forme of Poeticall reioysings PLeasure is the chiefe parte of mans felicity in this world and also as our Theologians say in the world to come Therefore while we may yea alwaies if it coulde be to reioyce and take our pleasures in vertuous and honest sort it is not only allowable but also necessary and very naturall to man And many be the ioyes and consolations of the hart but none greater than such as he may vtter and discouer by some conuenient meanes euen as to suppresse and hide a mans mirth and not to haue therein a partaker or at least wise a witnes is no little griefe and infelicity Therfore nature and ciuility haue ordained besides the priuate solaces publike reioisings for the comfort and recreation of many
eleuen very harshly in mine eare whether it be for lacke of good rime or of good reason or of both I wot not Now sucke childe and sleepe childe thy mothers owne ioy Her only sweete comfort to drowne all annoy For beauty surpassing the azured skie I loue thee my darling as ball of mine eye This sort of compotition in the odde I like not vnlesse it be holpen by the Cesure or by the accent as I sayd before The meeter of eight is no lesse pleasant then that of sixe and the Cesure fals iust in the middle as this of the Earle of Surreyes When raging loue with extreme payne The meeeter of ten sillables is very stately and Heroicall and must haue his Cesure fall vpon the fourth sillable and leaue sixe behinde him thus I serue at ease and gouerne all with woe This meeter of twelue sillables the French man calleth a verse Alexandrine and is with our moderne rimers most vsuall with the auncient makers it was not so For before Sir Thomas Wiats time they were not vsed in our vulgar they be for graue and stately matters fitter than for any other ditty of pleasure Some makers write in verses of foureteene sillables giuing the Cesure at the first eight which proportion is tedious for the length of the verse kepeth the eare too long from his delight which is to heare the cadence or the tuneable accent in the ende of the verse Neuerthelesse that of twelue if his Cesure be iust in the middle and that ye suffer him to runne at full length and do not as the common rimers do or their Printer for sparing of paper cut them of in the middest wherin they make in two verses but halfe rime They do very wel as wrote the Earle of Surrey translating the booke of the preacher Salomon Dauids sonne king of Ierusalem This verse is a very good Alexandrine but perchaunce woulde haue sounded more musically if the first word had bene a dissillable or two monosillables and not a trissillable hauing his sharpe accent vppon the Antepenultima as it hath by which occasion it runnes like a Dactill and carries the two later sillables away so speedily as it seemes but one foote in our vulgar measure and by that meanes makes the verse seeme but of eleuen sillables which odnesse is nothing pleasant to the eare Iudge some body whether it would haue done better if it might haue bene sayd thus Robóham Dauids sonne king of Ierusalem Letting the sharpe accent fall vpon bo or thus Restóre king Dáuids sonne vntó Ierúsalém For now the sharpe accent falles vpon bo and so doth it vpon the last in restóre which was not in th' other verse But because we haue seemed to make mention of Cesure and to appoint his place in euery measure it shall not be amisse to say somewhat more of it also of such pauses as are vsed in vtterance what commoditie or delectation they bring either to the speakers or to the hearers CHAP. IIII. Of Cesure THere is no greater difference betwixt a ciuill and brutish vtteraunce then cleare distinction of voices and the most laudable languages are alwaies most plaine and distinct and the barbarous most confuse and indistinct it is therefore requisit that leasure be taken in pronuntiation such as may make our wordes plaine most audible and agreable to the eare also the breath asketh to be now and then releeued with some pause or stay more or lesse besides that the very nature of speach because it goeth by clauses of seuerall construction sence requireth some space betwixt thē with intermissiō of sound to th' end they may not huddle one vpon another so rudly so fast that th' eare may not perceiue their difference For these respectes the auncient reformers of language inuented three maner of pauses one of lesse leasure then another and such seuerall intermissions of sound to serue besides easmēt to the breath for a treble distinction of sentēces or parts of speach as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sence The shortest pause or intermissiō they called comma as who would say a peece of a speach cut of The secōd they called colon not a peece but as it were a member for his larger length because it occupied twise as much time as the comma The third they called periodus for a cōplement or full pause and as a resting place and perfection of so much former speach as had bene vttered and from whence they needed not to passe any further vnles it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale This cannot be better represented then by exāple of these cōmō trauailers by the hie ways where they seeme to allow thēselues three maner of staies or easements one a horsebacke calling perchaunce for a cup of beere or wine and hauing dronken it vp rides away and neuer lights about noone he commeth to his Inne there baites him selfe and his horse an houre or more at night when he can conueniently trauaile no further he taketh vp his lodging and rests him selfe till the morrow from whence he followeth the course of a further voyage if his businesse be such Euen so our Poet when he hath made one verse hath as it were finished one dayes iourney the while easeth him selfe with one baite at the least which is a Comma or Cesure in the mid way if the verse be euen and not odde otherwise in some other place and not iust in the middle If there be no Cesure at all and the verse long the lesse is the makers skill and hearers delight Therefore in a verse of twelue sillables the Cesure ought to fall right vpon the sixt sillable in a verse of eleuen vpon the sixt also leauing fiue to follow In a verse often vpon the fourth leauing sixe to follow In a verse of nine vpon the fourth leauing fiue to follow In a verse of eight iust in the middest that is vpon the fourth In a verse of seauen either vpon the fourth or none at all the meeter very ill brooking any pause In a verse of sixe sillables and vnder is needefull no Cesure at all because the breath asketh no reliefe yet if ye giue any Comma it is to make distinction of sense more then for any thing else and such Cesure must neuer be made in the middest of any word if it be well appointed So may you see that the vse of these pawses or distinctions is not generally with the vulgar Poet as it is with the Prose writer because the Poetes cheife Musicke lying in his rime or concorde to heare the Simphonie he maketh all the hast he can to be at an end of his verse and delights not in many stayes by the way and therefore giueth but one Cesure to any verse and thus much for the sounding of a meetre Neuerthelesse he may vse in any verse both his comma colon and interrogatiue point as well as in prose But our auncient rymers
Fraunce The word became not the greatnesse of her person and much lesse her sex whose chiefe vertue is shamefastnesse which the Latines call Verecundia that is a naturall feare to be noted with any impudicitie so as when they heare or see any thing tending that way they commonly blush is a part greatly praised in all women Yet will ye see in many cases how pleasant speeches and sauouring some skurrillity and vnshamefastnes haue now and then a certaine decencie and well become both the speaker to say and the hearer to abide but that is by reason of some other circumstance as when the speaker himselfe is knowne to be a common iester or buffon such as take vpon them to make princes merry or when some occasion is giuen by the hearer to induce such a pleasaunt speach and in many other cases whereof no generall rule can be giuen but are best knowen by example as when Sir Andrew Flamock king Henry the eights standerdbearer a merry conceyted man and apt to skoffe waiting one day at the kings heeles when he entred the parke at Greenewich the king blew his horne Flamock hauing his belly full and his tayle at commaundement gaue out a rappe nothing faintly that the king turned him about and said how now sirra Flamock not well knowing how to excuse his vnmanerly act if it please you Sir quoth he your Maiesty blew one blast for the keeper and I another for his man The king laughed hartily and tooke it nothing offensiuely for indeed as the case fell out it was not vndecently spoken by Sir Andrew Flamock for it was the cleaneliest excuse he could make and a merry implicatiue in termes nothing odious and therefore a sporting satisfaction to the kings mind in a matter which without some such merry answere could not haue bene well taken So was Flamocks action most vncomely but his speech excellently well becōming the occasion But at another time and in another like case the same skurrillitie of Flamock was more offensiue because it was more indecent As when the king hauing Flamock with him in his barge passing from Westminster to Greenewich to visite a fayre Lady whom the king loued and was lodged in the tower of the Parke the king comming within sight of the tower and being disposed to be merry said Flamock let vs rime as well as I can said Flamock if it please your grace The king began thus Within this towre There lieth a flowre That hath my hart Flamock for aunswer Within this hower she will c. with the rest in so vncleanly termes as might not now become me by the rule of Decorum to vtter writing to so great a Maiestie but the king tooke them in so euill part as he bid Flamock auant varlet and that he should no more be so neere vnto him And wherein I would faine learne lay this vndecencie in the skurrill and filthy termes not meete for a kings care perchance so For the king was a wise and graue man and though he hated not a faire woman yet liked he nothing well to heare speeches of ribaudrie as they report of th'emperour Octauian Licet fuerit ipse incontinentissimus fuit tamen incontinente seuerissimus vltor But the very cause in deed was for that Flamocks reply answered not the kings expectation for the kings rime commencing with a pleasant and amorous propositiō Sir Andrew Flamock to finish it not with loue but with lothsomnesse by termes very rude and vnciuill and seing the king greatly fauour that Ladie for her much beauty by like or some other good partes by his fastidious aunswer to make her seeme odious to him it helde a great disproportion to the kings appetite for nothing is so vnpleasant to a man as to be encountred in his chiefe affection specially in his loues whom we honour we should also reuerence their appetites or at the least beare with them not being wicked and vtterly euill and whatsoeuer they do affect we do not as becōmeth vs if we make it seeme to them horrible This in mine opinion was the chiefe cause of the vndecencie and also of the kings offence Aristotle the great philosopher knowing this very well what time he put Calistenes to king Alexāder the greats seruice gaue him this lesson Sirra quoth he ye go now from a scholler to be a courtier see ye speake to the king your maister either nothing at all or else that which pleaseth him which rule if Calistenes had followed and forborne to crosse the kings appetite in diuerse speeches it had not cost him so deepely as afterward it did A like matter of offence fell out betweene th'Emperour Charles the fifth an Embassadour of king Henry the eight whō I could name but will not for the great opinion the world had of his wisdome and sufficiency in that behalfe and all for misusing of a terme The king in the matter of controuersie betwixt him and Ladie Catherine of Castill the Emperours awnt found himselfe grieued that the Emperour should take her part and worke vnder hand with the Pope to hinder the diuorce and gaue his Embassadour commission in good termes to open his griefes to the Emperour and to expostulat with his Maiestie for that he seemed to forget the kings great kindnesse and friendship before times vsed with th'Emperour aswell by disbursing for him sundry great summes of monie which were not all yet repayd as also by furnishing him at his neede with store of men and munition to his warres and now to be thus vsed he thought it a very euill requitall The Embassadour for too much animositie and more then needed in the case or perchance by ignorance of the proprietie of the Spanish tongue told the Emperour among other words that he was Hombre el mas ingrato enel mondo the ingratest person in the world to vse his maister so The Emperour tooke him suddainly with the word and said callest thou me ingrato I tell thee learne better termes or else I will teach them thee Th'Embassadour excused it by his commission and said they were the king his maisters words and not his owne Nay quoth th'Emperour thy maister durst not haue sent me these words were it not for that broad ditch betweene him me meaning the sea which is hard to passe with an army of reuenge The Embassadour was cōmanded away no more hard by the Emperor til by some other means afterward the grief was either pacified or forgotten all this inconueniēce grew by misuse of one word which being otherwise spoken in some sort qualified had easily holpen all yet th'Embassadour might sufficiently haue satisfied his commission much better aduaunced his purpose as to haue said for this word ye are ingrate ye haue not vsed such gratitude towards him as he hath deserued so ye may see how a word spokē vndecently not knowing the phrase or proprietie of a language maketh a whole matter many times miscarrie
nobleman and Counseller in this Realme was secretlie aduised by his friend not to vse so much writing his letters in fauour of euery man that asked them specially to the Iudges of the Realme in cases of iustice To whom the noble man answered it becomes vs Councellors better to vse instance for our friend then for the Iudges to sentence at instance for whatsoeuer we doe require them it is in their choise to refuse to doe but for all that the example was ill and dangerous And there is a decencie in chusing the times of a mans busines and as the Spaniard sayes es tiempo de negotiar there is a fitte time for euery man to performe his businesse in to attēd his affaires which out of that time would be vndecent as to sleepe al day and wake al night and to goe a hunting by torch-light as an old Earle of Arundel vsed to doe or for any occasion of little importance to wake a man out of his sleepe or to make him rise from his dinner to talke with him or such like importunities for so we call euery vnseasonable action and the vndecencie of the time Callicratides being sent Ambassador by the Lacedemonians to Cirus the young king of Persia to contract with him for money and men toward their warres against the Athenians came to the Court at such vnseasonable time as the king was yet in the midst of his dinner and went away againe saying it is now no time to interrupt the kings mirth He came againe another day in the after noone and finding the king at a rere-banquet and to haue taken the wine somewhat plentifully turned back againe saying I thinke there is no houre fitte to deale with Cirus for he is euer in his banquets I will rather leaue all the busines vndone then doe any thing that shall not become the Lacedemonians meaning to offer conference of so great importaunce to his Countrey with a man so distempered by surfet as hee was not likely to geue him any reasonable resolution in the cause One Eudamidas brother to king Agis of Lacedemonia cōming by Zenocrates schoole and looking in saw him sit in his chaire disputing with a long hoare beard asked who it was one answered Sir it is a wise man and one of them that searches after vertue and if he haue not yet found it quoth Eudamidas when will he vse it that now at this yeares is seeking after it as who would say it is not time to talke of matters when they should be put in execution nor for an old man to be to seeke what vertue is which all his youth he should haue had in exercise Another time comming to heare a notable Philosopher dispute it happened that all was ended euen as he came and one of his familiers would haue had him requested the Philosopher to beginne againe that were indecent and nothing ciuill quoth Eudamidas for if he should come to me supperlesse when I had supped before were it seemely for him to pray me to suppe againe for his companie And the place makes a thing decent or indecent in which consideration one Euboidas being sent Embassadour into a forraine realme some of his familiars tooke occasion at the table to praise the wiues and women of that country in presence of their owne husbands which th'embassadour misliked and when supper was ended and the guestes departed tooke his familiars aside and told them that is was nothing decent in a strange country to praise the women nor specially a wife before her husbands face for inconueniencie that might rise thereby aswell to the prayser as to the woman and that the chiefe commendation of a chast matrone was to be knowen onely to her husband and not to be obserued by straungers and guestes And in the vse of apparell there is no litle decency and vndecencie to be perceiued as well for the fashion as the stuffe for it is comely that euery estate and vocation should be knowen by the differences of their habit a clarke from a lay man a gentleman from a yeoman a souldier from a citizen and the chiefe of euery degree frō their inferiours because in confusion and disorder there is no manner of decencie The Romaines of any other people most seuere cēsurers of decencie thought no vpper garment so comely for a ciuill man as a long playted gowne because it sheweth much grauitie also pudicitie hiding euery member of the body which had not bin pleasant to behold In somuch as a certain Proconsull or Legat of theirs dealing one day with Ptolome king of Egipt seeing him clad in a straite narrow garment very lasciuiously discouering euery part of his body gaue him a great checke for it and said that vnlesse he vsed more sad and comely garments the Romaines would take no pleasure to hold amitie with him for by the wantonnes of his garment they would iudge the vanitie of his mind not to be worthy of their constant friendship A pleasant old courtier wearing one day in the sight of a great councellour after the new guise a french cloake skarce reaching to the wast a long beaked doublet hanging downe to his thies an high paire of silke netherstocks that couered all his buttockes and loignes the Councellor marueled to see him in that sort disguised and otherwise than he had bin woont to be Sir quoth the Gentleman to excuse it if I should not be able whan I had need to pisse out of my doublet and to do the rest in my netherstocks vsing the plaine terme all men would say I were but a lowte the Councellor laughed hartily at the absurditie of the speech but what would those sower fellowes of Rome haue said trowe ye truely in mine opinion that all such persons as take pleasure to shew their limbes specially those that nature hath cōmanded out of sight should be inioyned either to go starke naked or else to resort backe to the comely and modest fashion of their owne countrie apparell vsed by their old honorable auncestors And there is a decēcy of apparrel in respect of the place where it is to be vsed as in the Court to be richely apparrelled in the countrey to weare more plain homely garmēts For who who would not thinke it a ridiculous thing to see a Lady in her milke-house with a veluet gowne and at a bridall in her cassock of mockado a Gentleman of the Countrey among the bushes and briers goe in a pounced dublet and a paire of embrodered hosen in the Citie to weare a frise Ierkin and a paire of leather breeches yet some such phantasticals haue I knowen and one a certaine knight of all other the most vaine who commonly would come to the Sessions and other ordinarie meetings and Commissions in the Countrey so bedect with buttons and aglets of gold and such costly embroderies as the poore plaine men of the Countrey called him for his gaynesse the golden knight Another for the like
cause was called Saint Sunday I thinke at this day they be so farre spent as either of thē would be content with a good cloath cloake and this came by want of discretion to discerne and deeme right of decencie which many Gentlemen doe wholly limite by the person or degree where reason doeth it by the place and presence which may be such as it might very well become a great Prince to weare courser apparrell than in another place or presence a meaner person Neuerthelesse in the vse of a garment many occasions alter the decencie sometimes the qualitie of the person sometimes of the case otherwhiles the countrie custome and often the constitution of lawes and the very nature of vse it selfe As for example a king and prince may vse rich and gorgious apparell decently so cannot a meane person doo yet if an herald of armes to whom a king giueth his gowne of cloth of gold or to whom it was incident as a fee of his office do were the same he doth it decently because such hath alwaies bene th'allowances of heraldes but if such herald haue worne out or sold or lost that gowne to buy him a new of the like stuffe with his owne mony and to weare it is not decent in the eye and iudgement of them that know it And the country custome maketh things decent in vse as in Asia for all men to weare long gownes both a foot and horsebacke in Europa short gaberdins or clokes or iackets euen for their vpper garments The Turke and Persian to weare great tolibants of ten fifteene and twentie elles of linnen a peece vpon their heads which can not be remooued in Europe to were caps or hats which vpon euery occasion of salutation we vse to put of as a signe of reuerence In th' East partes the men to make water couring like women with vs standing at a wall With them to congratulat and salute by giuing a becke with the head or a bende of the bodie with vs here in England and in Germany and all other Northerne parts of the world to shake handes In France Italie and Spaine to embrace ouer the shoulder vnder the armes at the very knees according the superiors degree With vs the wemen giue their mouth to be kissed in other places their cheek in many places their hand or in steed of an offer to the hand to say these words Bezo los manos And yet some others surmounting in all courtly ciuilitie will say Los manos los piedes And aboue that reach too there be that will say to the Ladies Lombra de sus pisadas the shadow of your steps Which I recite vnto you to shew the phrase of those courtly seruitours in yeelding the mistresses honour and reuerence And it is seen that very particular vse of it selfe makes a matter of much decencie and vndecencie without any countrey custome or allowance as if one that hath many yeares worne a gowne shall come to be seen weare a iakquet or ierkin or he that hath many yeares worne a beard or long haire among those that had done the contrary and come sodainly to be pold or shauen it will seeme onely to himselfe a deshight and very vndecent but also to all others that neuer vsed to go so vntill the time and custome haue abrogated that mislike So was it here in England till her Maiesties most noble father for diuers good respects caused his owne head and all his Courtiers to be polled and his beard to be cut short Before that time it was thought more decent both for old men and young to be all shauen and to weare long haire either rounded or square Now againe at this time the young Gentlemen of the Court haue taken vp the long haire trayling on their shoulders and thinke it more decent for what respect I would be glad to know The Lacedemonians bearing long bushes of haire finely kept curled vp vsed this ciuill argument to maintaine that custome Haire say they is the very ornament of nature appointed for the head which therfore to vse in his most sumptuous degree is comely specially for them that be Lordes Maisters of men and of a free life hauing abilitie leasure inough to keepe it cleane and so for a signe of seignorie riches and libertie the masters of the Lacedemonians vsed long haire But their vassals seruaunts and slaues vsed it short or shauen in signe of seruitude and because they had no meane nor leasure to kembe and keepe it cleanely It was besides combersome to them hauing many businesse to attende in some seruices there might no maner of filth be falling from their heads And to all souldiers it is very noysome and a daungerous disauantage in the warres or in any particular combat which being the most comely profession of euery noble young Gentleman it ought to perswade them greatly from wearing long haire If there be any that seeke by long haire to helpe or to hide an ill featured face it is in them allowable so to do because euery man may decently reforme by arte the faultes and imperfections that nature hath wrought in them And all singularities or affected parts of a mās behauiour seeme vndecēt as for one man to march or iet in the street more stately or to looke more solēpnely or to go more gayly in other coulours or fashioned garmēts then another of the same degree and estate Yet such singularities haue had many times both good liking and good successe otherwise then many would haue looked for As when Dinocrates the famous architect desirous to be knowen to king Alexander the great and hauing none acquaintance to bring him to the kings speech he came one day to the Court very strangely apparelled in long skarlet robes his head compast with a garland of Laurell and his face all to be slicked with sweet oyle and stoode in the kings chamber motioning nothing to any man newes of this stranger came to the king who caused him to be brought to his presence and asked his name and the cause of his repaire to the Court He aunswered his name was Dinocrates the Architect who came to present his Maiestie with a platforme of his owne deuising how his Maiestie might buylde a Citie vpon the mountaine Athos in Macedonia which should beare the figure of a mans body and tolde him all how Forsooth the breast and bulke of his body should rest vpon such a flat that hil should be his head all set with foregrowen woods like haire his right arme should stretch out to such a hollow bottome as might be like his hand holding a dish conteyning al the waters that should serue that Citie the left arme with his hand should hold a valley of all the orchards and gardens of pleasure pertaining thereunto and either legge should lie vpon a ridge of rocke very gallantly to behold and so should accomplish the full figure of a man The king asked him what commoditie of
soyle or sea or nauigable riuer lay neere vnto it to be able to sustaine so great a number of inhabitants Truely Sir quoth Dinocrates I haue not yet considered thereof for in trueth it is the barest part of all the Countrey of Macedonia The king smiled at it and said very honourably we like your deuice well and meane to vse your seruice in the building of a Citie but we wil chuse out a more commodious scituation and made him attend in that voyage in which he conquered Asia and Egypt and there made him chiefe Surueyour of his new Citie of Alexandria Thus did Dinocrates singularitie in attire greatly further him to his aduancement Yet are generally all rare things and such as breede maruell admiration somewhat holding of the vndecent as when a man is bigger exceeding the ordinary stature of a man like a Giaunt or farre vnder the reasonable and common size of men as a dwarfe and such vndecencies do not angre vs but either we pittie them or scorne at them But at all insolent and vnwoonted partes of a mans behauiour we find many times cause to mislike or to be mistrustfull which proceedeth of some vndecency that is in it as when a man that hath alwaies bene strange vnacquainted with vs will suddenly become our familiar and domestick and another that hath bene alwaies sterne and churlish wil be vpon the suddaine affable and curteous it is neyther a comely sight nor a signe of any good towardes vs. Which the subtill Italian well obserued by the successes thereof saying in Prouerbe Chi me sa meglio che non suole Tradito me ha o tradir me vuole He that speakes me fairer than his woont was too Hath done me harme or meanes for to doo Now againe all maner of conceites that stirre vp any vehement passion in a man doo it by some turpitude or euill and vndecency that is in them as to make a man angry there must be some iniury or contempt offered to make him enuy there must proceede some vndeserued prosperitie of his egall or inferiour to make him pitie some miserable fortune or spectakle to behold And yet in euery of these passions being as it were vndecencies there is a comelinesse to be discerned which some men can keepe and some men can not as to be angry or to enuy or to hate or to pitie or to be ashamed decently that is none otherwise then reason requireth This surmise appeareth to be true for Homer the father of Poets writing that famous and most honourable poeme called the Illiades or warres of Troy made his commēcement the magnanimous wrath and anger of Achilles in his first verse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sing foorth my muse the wrath of Achilles Peleus sonne which the Poet would neuer haue done if the wrath of a prince had not beene in some sort comely allowable But when Arrianus and Curtius historiographers that wrote the noble gestes of king Alexander the great came to prayse him for many things yet for his wrath and anger they reproched him because it proceeded not of any magnanimitie but vpon surfet distemper in his diet nor growing of any iust causes was exercised to the destruction of his dearest friends and familiers and not of his enemies nor any other waies so honorably as th 'others was and so could not be reputed a decent and comely anger So may al your other passions be vsed decently though the very matter of their originall be grounded vpon some vndecencie as it is written by a certaine king of Egypt who looking out of his window and seing his owne sonne for some grieuous offence carried by the officers of his iustice to the place of execution he neuer once changed his countenance at the matter though the sight were neuer so full of ruth and atrocitie And it was thought a decent countenance and constant animositie in the king to be so affected the case concerning so high and rare a peece of his owne iustice But within few daies after when he beheld out of the same window an old friend and familiar of his stand begging an almes in the streete he wept tenderly remembring their old familiarity and considering how by the mutabilitie of fortune and frailtie of mās estate it might one day come to passe that he himselfe should fall into the like miserable estate He therfore had a remorse very comely for a king in that behalfe which also caused him to giue order for his poore friends plentiful reliefe But generally to weepe for any sorrow as one may doe for pitie is not so decent in a man and therefore all high minded persons when they cannot chuse but shed teares wil turne away their face as a countenance vndecent for a man to shew and so will the standers by till they haue supprest such passiō thinking it nothing decent to behold such an vncomely countenance But for Ladies and women to weepe and shed teares at euery little greefe it is nothing vncomely but rather a signe of much good nature meeknes of minde a most decent propertie for that sexe and therefore they be for the more part more deuout and charitable and greater geuers of almes than men and zealous relieuers of prisoners and beseechers of pardons and such like parts of commiseration Yea they be more than so too for by the common prouerbe a woman will weepe for pitie to see a gosling goe barefoote But most certainly all things that moue a man to laughter as doe these scurrilities other ridiculous behauiours it is for some vndecencie that is foūd in them which maketh it decent for euery man to laugh at them And therefore when we see or heare a natural foole and idiot doe or say any thing foolishly we laugh not at him but when he doeth or speaketh wisely because that is vnlike him selfe and a buffonne or counterfet foole to heare him speake wisely which is like himselfe it is no sport at all but for such a counterfait to talke and looke foolishly it maketh vs laugh because it is no part of his naturall for in euery vncomlinesse there must be a certaine absurditie and disproportion to nature and the opinion of the hearer or beholder to make the thing ridiculous But for a foole to talke foolishly or a wiseman wisely there is no such absurditie or disproportion And though at all absurdities we may decently laugh when they be no absurdities not decently yet in laughing is there an vndecencie for other respectes sometime than of the matter it selfe Which made Philippus sonne to the first Christen Emperour Philippus Arabicus sitting with his father one day in the theatre to behold the sports giue his father a great rebuke because he laughed saying that it was no comely countenance for an Emperour to bewray in such a publicke place nor specially to laugh at euery foolish toy the posteritie gaue the sonne for that cause the name of Philippus