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
And they be of diuerse sorts and vpon diuerse occasions growne one the chiefe was for the publike peace of a countrie the greatest of any other ciuill good And wherein your Maiestie my most gracious Soueraigne haue shewed your selfe to all the world for this one and thirty yeares space of your glorious raigne aboue all other Princes of Christendome not onely fortunate but also most sufficient vertuous and worthy of Empire An other is for iust honourable victory atchieued against the forraine enemy A third at solemne feasts and pompes of coronations and enstallments of honourable orders An other for iollity at weddings and marriages An other at the births of Princes children An other for priuate entertainements in Court or other secret disports in chamber and such solitary places And as these reioysings tend to diuers effects so do they also carry diuerse formes and nominations for those of victorie and peace are called Triumphall whereof we our selues haue heretofore giuen some example by our Triumphals written in honour of her Maiesties long peace And they were vsed by the auncients in like manner as we do our generall processions or Letanies with bankets and bonefires and all manner of ioyes Those that were to honour the persons of great Princes or to solemnise the pompes of any installment were called Encomia we may call them carols of honour Those to celebrate marriages were called songs nuptiall or Epithalamies but in a certaine misticall sense as shall be said hereafter Others for magnificence at the natiuities of Princes children or by custome vsed yearely vpon the same dayes are called songs natall or Genethliaca Others for secret recreation and pastime in chambers with company or alone were the ordinary Musickes amorous such as might be song with voice or to the Lute Citheron or Harpe or daunced by measures as the Italian Pauan and galliard are at these daies in Princes Courts and other places of honourable or ciuill assembly and of all these we will speake in order and very briefly CHAP. XXIIII The forme of Poeticall lamentations LAmenting is altogether contrary to reioising euery man saith so and yet is it a peece of ioy to be able to lament with ease and freely to poure forth a mans inward sorrowes and the greefs wherewith his minde is surcharged This was a very necessary deuise of the Poet and a fine besides his poetrie to play also the Phisitian and not onely by applying a medicine to the ordinary sicknes of mankind but by making the very greef it selfe in part cure of the disease Nowe are the causes of mans sorrowes many the death of his parents frends allies and children though many of the barbarous nations do reioyce at their burials and sorrow at their birthes the ouerthrowes and discomforts in battell the subuersions of townes and cities the desolations of countreis the losse of goods and worldly promotions honour and good renowne finally the trauails and torments of loue forlorne or ill bestowed either by disgrace deniall delay and twenty other wayes that well experienced louers could recite Such of these greefs as might be refrained or holpen by wisedome and the parties owne good endeuour the Poet gaue none order to sorrow them for first as to the good renowne it is lost for the more part by some default of the owner and may be by his well doings recouered againe And if it be vniustly taken away as by vntrue and famous libels the offenders recantation may suffise for his amends so did the Poet Stesichorus as it is written of him in his Pallinodie vpon the disprayse of Helena and recouered his eye sight Also for worldly goods they come and go as things not long proprietary to any body and are not yet subiect vnto fortunes dominion so but that we our selues are in great part accessarie to our own losses and hinderaunces by ouersight misguiding of our selues and our things therefore why should we bewaile our such voluntary detriment But death the irrecouerable losse death the dolefull departure of frendes that can neuer be recontinued by any other meeting or new acquaintance Besides our vncertaintie and suspition of their estates and welfare in the places of their new abode seemeth to carry a reasonable pretext of iust sorrow Likewise the great ouerthrowes in battell and desolations of countreys by warres aswell for the losse of many liues and much libertie as for that it toucheth the whole state and euery priuate man hath his portion in the damage Finally for loue there is no frailtie in flesh and bloud so excusable as it no comfort or discomfort greater then the good and bad successe thereof nothing more naturall to man nothing of more force to vanquish his will and to inuegle his iudgement Therefore of death and burials of th'aduersities by warres and of true loue lost or ill bestowed are th' onely sorrowes that the noble Poets sought by their arte to remoue or appease not with any medicament of a contrary temper as the Galemstes vse to cure contraria contrarijs but as the Paracelsians who cure similia similibus making one dolour to expell another and in this case one short sorrowing the remedie of a long and grieuous sorrow And the lamenting of deathes was chiefly at the very burialls of the dead also at monethes mindes and longer times by custome continued yearely when as they vsed many offices of seruice and loue towardes the dead and thereupon are called Obsequies in our vulgare which was done not onely by cladding the mourners their friendes and seruauntes in blacke vestures of shape dolefull and sad but also by wofull countenaunces and voyces and besides by Poeticall mournings in verse Such funerall songs were called Epicedia if they were song by many and Monodia if they were vttered by one alone and this was vsed at the enterment of Princes and others of great accompt and it was reckoned a great ciuilitie to vse such ceremonies as at this day is also in some countrey vsed In Rome they accustomed to make orations funerall and commendatorie of the dead parties in the publique place called Procostris and our Theologians in stead thereof vse to make sermons both teaching the people some good learning and also saying well of the departed Those songs of the dolorous discomfits in battaile and other desolations in warre or of townes saccaged and subuerted were song by the remnant of the army ouerthrowen with great skrikings and outcries holding the wrong end of their weapon vpwards in signe of sorrow and dispaire The cities also made generall mournings offred sacrifices with Poeticall songs to appease the wrath of the martiall gods goddesses The third sorrowing was of loues by long lamentation in Elegie so was their song called and it was in a pitious maner of meetre placing a limping Pentameter after a lusty Exameter which made it go dolourously more then any other meeter CHAP. XXV Of the solemne reioysings at the natiuitie of Princes children TO returne
from sorrow to reioysing it is a very good hap and no vnwise part for him that can do it I say therefore that the comfort of issue and procreation of children is so naturall and so great not onely to all men but specially to Princes as duetie and ciuilitie haue made it a common custome to reioyse at the birth of their noble children and to keepe those dayes hallowed and festiuall for euer once in the yeare during the parentes or childrens liues and that by publique order consent Of which reioysings and mirthes the Poet ministred the first occasion honorable by presenting of ioyfull songs and ballades praysing the parentes by proofe the child by hope the whole kinred by report the day it selfe with wishes of all good successe long life health prosperitie for euer to the new borne These poemes were called in Greeke Genetliaca with vs they may be called natall or birth songs CHAP. XXVI The maner of reioysings at mariages and vveddings AS the consolation of children well begotten is great no lesse but rather greater ought to be that which is occasion of children that is honorable matrimonie a loue by al lawes allowed not mutable nor encombred with such vaine cares passions as that other loue whereof there is no assurance but loose and fickle affection occasioned for the most part by sodaine sights and acquaintance of no long triall or experience nor vpon any other good ground wherein any suretie may be conceiued wherefore the Ciuill Poet could do no lesse in conscience and credit then as he had before done to the ballade of birth now with much better deuotion to celebrate by his poeme the chearefull day of mariages aswell Princely as others for that hath alwayes bene accompted with euery countrey and nation of neuer so barbarous people the highest holiest of any ceremonie appertaining to man a match forsooth made for euer and not for a day a solace prouided for youth a comfort for age a knot of alliance amitie indissoluble great reioysing was therefore due to such a matter and to so gladsome a time This was done in ballade wise as the natall song and was song very sweetely by Musitians at the chamber dore of the Bridegroome and Bride at such times as shal be hereafter declared and they were called Epithalamies as much to say as ballades at the bedding of the bride for such as were song at the borde at dinner or supper were other Musickes and not properly Epithalamies Here if I shall say that which apperteineth to th' arte and disclose the misterie of the whole matter I must and doe with all humble reuerence bespeake pardon of the chaste and honorable eares least I should either offend them with licentious speach or leaue them ignorant of the ancient guise in old times vsed at weddings in my simple opinion nothing reproueable This Epithalamie was deuided by breaches into three partes to serue for three seuerall fits or times to be song The first breach was song at the first parte of the night when the spouse and her husband were brought to their bed at the very chamber dore where in a large vtter roome vsed to be besides the musitiēs good store of ladies or gētlewomen of their kinsefolkes others who came to honor the mariage the tunes of the songs were very loude and shrill to the intent there might no noise be hard out of the bed chāber by the skreeking outcry of the young damosell feeling the first forces of her stiffe rigorous young man she being as all virgins tender weake vnexpert in those maner of affaires For which purpose also they vsed by old nurses appointed to that seruice to suppresse the noise by casting of pottes full of nuttes round about the chamber vpon the hard floore or pauemēt for they vsed no mattes nor rushes as we doe now So as the Ladies and gentlewomen should haue their eares so occupied what with Musicke and what with their handes wantonly scambling and catching after the nuttes that they could not intend to harken after any other thing This was as I said to diminish the noise of the laughing lamenting spouse The tenour of that part of the song was to congratulate the first acquaintance and meeting of the young couple allowing of their parents good discretions in making the match thē afterward to sound cherfully to the onset and first encounters of that amorous battaile to declare the cōfort of childrē encrease of loue by that meane cheifly caused the bride shewing her self euery waies well disposed and still supplying occasions of new lustes and loue to her husband by her obedience and amorous embracings and all other allurementes About midnight or one of the clocke the Musicians came again to the chamber dore all the Ladies and other women as they were of degree hauing taken their leaue and being gone to their rest This part of the ballade was to refresh the faint and weried bodies and spirits and to animate new appetites with cherefull wordes encoraging thē to the recontinuance of the same entertainments praising and commēding by supposall the good conformities of them both their desire one to vanquish the other by such frēdly conflictes alledging that the first embracementes neuer bred barnes by reason of their ouermuch affection and heate but onely made passage for children and enforced greater liking to the late made match That the second assaultes were lesse rigorous but more vigorous and apt to auance the purpose of procreation that therefore they should persist in all good appetite with an inuincible courage to the end This was the second part of the Epithalamie In the morning when it was faire broad day that by liklyhood all tournes were sufficiently serued the last actes of the enterlude being ended that the bride must within few hours arise and apparrell her selfe no more as a virgine but as a wife and about dinner time must by order come forth Sicut sponsade thalamo very demurely and stately to be sene and acknowledged of her parents and kinsfolkes whether she were the same woman or a changeling or dead or aliue or maimed by any accident nocturnall The same Musicians came againe with this last part and greeted them both with a Psalme of new applausions for that they had either of them so well behaued them selues that night the husband to rob his spouse of her maidenhead and saue her life the bride so lustely to satisfie her husbandes loue and scape with so litle daunger of her person for which good chaunce that they should make a louely truce and abstinence of that warre till next night sealing the placard of that louely league with twentie maner of sweet kisses then by good admonitions enformed them to the frugall thriftie life all the rest of their dayes The good man getting and bringing home the wife sauing that which her husband should get therewith to be the better able
to keepe good hospitalitie according to their estates and to bring vp their children if God sent any vertuously and the better by their owne good example Finally to perseuer all the rest of their life in true and inuiolable wedlocke This ceremony was omitted when men maried widowes or such as had tasted the frutes of loue before we call them well experienced young women in whom there was no feare of daunger to their persons or of any outcry at all at the time of those terrible approches Thus much touching the vsage of Epithalamie or bedding ballad of the ancient times in which if there were any wanton or lasciuious matter more then ordinarie which they called Ficenina licētia it was borne withal for that time because of the matter no lesse requiring Catullus hath made of thē one or two very artificiall and ciuil but none more excellent then of late yeares a young noble man of Germanie as I take it Iohānes secundus who in that and in his poeme Debasis passeth any of the auncient or moderne Poetes in my iudgment CHAP. XXVII The manner of Poesie by which they vttered their bitter taunts and priuy nips or witty scoffes and other merry conceits BVt all the world could not keepe nor any ciuill ordinance to the contrary so preuaile but that men would and must needs vtter their splenes in all ordinarie matters also or else it seemed their bowels would burst therefore the poet deuised a prety fashioned poeme short and sweete as we are wont to say and called it Epigramma in which euery mery conceited man might without any long studie or tedious ambage make his frend sport and anger his foe and giue a prettie nip or shew a sharpe conceit in few verses for this Epigramme is but an inscription or writting made as it were vpon a table or in a windowe or vpon the wall or mantell of a chimney in some place of common resort where it was allowed euery man might come or be sitting to chat and prate as now in our tauernes and common tabling houses where many merry heades meete and scrible with ynke with chalke or with a cole such matters as they would euery mā should know descant vpō Afterward the same came to be put in paper and in bookes and vsed as ordinarie missiues some of frendship some of defiaunce or as other messages of mirth Martiall was the cheife of this skil among the Latines at ahese days the best Epigrāmes we finde of the sharpest conceit are those that haue bene gathered among the reliques of the two muet Satyres in Rome Pasquill and Marphorir which in time of Sede vacante when merry conceited men listed to gibe iest at the dead Pope or any of his Cardinales they fastened them vpon those Images which now lie in the open streets and were tollerated but after that terme expired they were inhibited againe These inscriptions or Epigrammes at their begining had no certaine author that would auouch them some for feare of blame if they were ouer saucy or sharpe others for modestie of the writer as was that disticke of Virgil which he set vpon the pallace gate of the emperour Augustus which I will recite for the breifnes and quicknes of it also for another euente that fell out vpon the matter worthy to be remembred These were the verses Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane Diuisum imperium cum loue Caesar habet Which I haue thus Englished It raines all night early the shewes returne God and Caesar do raigne and rule by turne As much to say God sheweth his power by the night raines Caesar his magnificence by the pompes of the day These two verses were very well liked and brought to th' Emperours Maiestie who tooke great pleasure in them willed the author should be knowen A sausie courtier profered him selfe to be the man and had a good reward giuen him for the Emperour him self was not only learned but of much munificence toward all learned men whereupon Virgill seing him self by his ouermuch modestie defrauded of the reward that an impudent had gotten by abuse of his merit came the next night and fastened vpon the same place this halfe metre foure times iterated Thus. Sic vos non vobis Sic vos non vobis Sic vos non vobis Sic vos non vobis And there it remained a great while because no man wist what it meant till Virgill opened the whole fraude by this deuise He wrote aboue the fame halfe metres this whole verse Exameter Hos ego versiculos feci tulit alter honores And then finished the foure half metres thus Sic vos non vobis Fertis aratra boues Sic vos non vobis Vellera fertis oues Sic vos non vobis Mellificatis apes Sic vos non vobis Indificatis aues And put to his name Publius Virgilius Maro This matter came by and by to Th'emperours eare who taking great pleasure in the deuise called for Virgill and gaue him not onely a present reward with a good allowance of dyet a bonche in court as we vse to call it but also held him for euer after vpon larger triall he had made of his learning and vertue in so great reputation as he vouchsafed to giue him the name of a frend amicus which among the Romanes was so great an honour and speciall fauour as all such persons were allowed to the Emperours table or to the Senatours who had receiued them as frendes and they were the only men that came ordinarily to their boords solaced with them in their chambers and gardins when none other could be admitted CHAP. XXVIII Of the poeme called Epitaph vsed for memoriall of the dead AN Epitaph is but a kind of Epigram only applied to the report of the dead persons estate and degree or of his other good or bad partes to his commendation or reproch and is an inscription such as a man may commodiously write or engraue vpon a tombe in few verses pithie quicke and sententious for the passer by to peruse and iudge vpon without any long tariaunce So as if it exceede the measure of an Epigram it is then if the verse be correspondent rather an Elegie then an Epitaph which errour many of these bastard rimers commit because they be not learned nor as we are wont to say their catftes masters for they make long and tedious discourses and write them in large tables to be hanged vp in Churches and chauncells ouer the tombes of great men and others which be so exceeding long as one must haue halfe a dayes leasure to reade one of them must be called away before he come halfe to the end or else be locked into the Church by the Sexten as I my selfe was once serued reading an Epitaph in a certain cathedrall Church of England They be ignorāt of poesie that call such lōg tales by the name of Epitaphes they might better call them Elegies as
of two long and a short the amphimacer of two short and a long The word of foure sillables they called a foote of foure times some or all of them either long or short and yet not so content they mounted higher and because their wordes serued well thereto they made feete of sixe times but this proceeded more of curiositie then otherwise for whatsoeuer foote passe the trissillable is compounded of his inferiour as euery number Arithmeticall aboue three is cōpounded of the inferiour numbers as twise two make foure but the three is made of one number videl of two and an vnitie Now because our naturall primitiue language of the Saxon English beares not any wordes at least very few of moe sillables then one for whatsoeuer we see exceede commeth to vs by the alterations of our language growen vpon many conquestes and otherwise there could be no such obseruation of times in the sound of our wordes for that cause we could not haue the feete which the Greeks and Latines haue in their meetres but of this stirre motion of their deuised feete nothing can better shew the qualitie thē these runners at common games who setting forth from the first goale one giueth the start speedely perhaps before he come half way to th' other goale decayeth his pace as a mā weary fainting another is slow at the start but by amending his pace keepes euen with his fellow or perchance gets before him another one while gets ground another while loseth it again either in the beginning or middle of his race and so proceedes vnegally sometimes swift somtimes slow as his breath or forces serue him another sort there be that plod on will neuer change their pace whether they win or lose the game in this maner doth the Greeke dactilus begin slowly and keepe on swifter till th' end for his race being deuided into three parts he spends one that is the first slowly the other twaine swiftly the anapestus his two first parts swiftly his last slowly the Molossus spends all three parts of his race slowly and egally Bacchius his first part swiftly two last parts slowly The tribrachus all his three parts swiftly the antibacchius his two first partes slowly his last third swiftly the amphimacer his first last part slowly his middle part swiftly the amphibracus his first and last parts swiftly but his midle part slowly so of others by like proportiō This was a pretie phantasticall obseruation of them yet brought their meetres to haue a maruelous good grace which was in Greeke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence we haue deriued this word ryme but improperly not wel because we haue no such feete or times or stirres in our meeters by whose simpathie or pleasant cōueniēcie with th' eare we could take any delight this rithmus of theirs is not therfore our rime but a certaine musicall numerositie in vtterance and not a bare number as that of the Arithmeticall cōputation is which therfore is not called rithmus but arithmus Take this away from them I meane the running of their feete there is nothing of curiositie among them more then with vs nor yet so much CHAP. III. How many sorts of measures we vse in our vulgar TO returne from rime to our measure againe it hath bene sayd that according to the number of the sillables contained in euery verse the same is sayd a long or short meeter and his shortest proportion is of foure sillables and his longest of twelue they that vse it aboue passe the bounds of good proportion And euery meeter may be aswel in the odde as in the euen sillable but better in the euen and one verse may begin in the euen another follow in the odde and so keepe a commendable proportion The verse that containeth but two silables which may be in one word is not vsuall therefore many do deny him to be a verse saying that it is but a foot and that a meeter can haue no lesse then two feete at the least but I find it otherwise aswell among the best Italian Poets as also with our vulgar makers and that two sillables serue wel for a short measure in the first place and midle and end of a staffe and also in diuerse scituations and by sundry distances and is very passionate and of good grace as shal be declared more at large in the Chapter of proportion by scituation The next measure is of two feete or of foure sillables and then one word tetrasillable diuided in the middest makes vp the whole meeter as thus Rēuē rēntlīe Or a trissillable and one monosillable thus Soueraine God or two bissillables and that is plesant thus Restore againe or with foure monossillables and that is best of all thus When I doe thinke I finde no sauour in a meetre of three sillables nor in effect in any odde but they may be vsed for varietie sake and specially being enterlaced with others the meetre of six sillables is very sweete and dilicate as thus O God vvhen I behold This bright heauen so hye By thine ovvne hands of old Contriud so cunningly The meter of seuen sillables is not vsual no more is that of nine and eleuen yet if they be well composed that is their Cesure well appointed and their last accent which makes the concord they are cōmendable inough as in this ditty where one verse is of eight an other is of seuen and in the one the accent vpon the last in the other vpon the last saue on The smoakie sighes the bitter teares That I in vaine haue wasted The broken sleepes the woe and feares That long in me haue lasted Will be my death all by thy guilt And not by my deseruing Since so inconstantly thou wilt Not loue but still be sweruing And all the reason why these meeters in all sillable are alowable is for that the sharpe accent falles vpon the penultima or last saue one sillable of the verse which doth so drowne the last as he seemeth to passe away in maner vnpronounced so make the verse seeme euen but if the accent fall vpon the last and leaue two flat to finish the verse it will not seeme so for the odnes will more notoriously appeare as for example in the last verse before recited Not loue but still be sweruing say thus Loue it is a maruelous thing Both verses be of egall quantitie vidz seauen sillables a peece and yet the first seemes shorter then the later who shewes a more odnesse then the former by reason of his sharpe accent which is vpō the last sillable and makes him more audible then if he had slid away with a flat accent as the word swéruing Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable which therefore makes him go ill fauouredly and like a minstrels musicke Thus sayd one in a meeter of
be true iwis And tenders thee and all thy heale And vvisheth both thy health and vveale And is thine ovvne and so she sayes And cares for thee ten thousand vvayes Ye haue another maner of speach drawen out at length and going all after one tenure and with an imperfit sence till you come to the last word or verse which cōcludes the whole premisses with a perfit sence full periode Irmus or the Long loose the Greeks call it Irmus I call him the long loose thus appearing in a dittie of Sir Thomas Wyat where he describes the diuers distempers of his bed The restlesse state renuer of my smart The labours salue increasing my sorrow The bodies ease and troubles of my hart Quietour of mynde mine vnquiet foe Forgetter of paine remembrer of my woe The place of sleepe wherein I do but wake Be sprent with teares my bed I thee forsake Ye see here how ye can gather no perfection of sence in all this dittie till ye come to the last verse in these wordes my bed I thee forsake And in another Sonet of Petrarcha which was thus Englished by the same Sir Thomas Wyat. If weaker care if sodaine pale collour If many sighes with little speach to plaine Now ioy now woe if they my ioyes distaine For hope of small if much to feare therefore Be signe of loue then do I loue againe Here all the whole sence of the dittie is suspended till ye come to the last three wordes then do I loue againe which finisheth the song with a full and perfit sence When ye will speake giuing euery person or thing besides his proper name a qualitie by way of addition whether it be of good or of bad it is a figuratiue speach of audible alteration Epitheton or the Qualifier so is it also of sence as to say Fierce Achilles wise Nestor wilie Vlysses Diana the chast and thou louely Venus With thy blind boy that almost neuer misses But hits our hartes when he leuels at vs. Or thus commending the Isle of great Brittaine Albion hugest of Westerne Ilands all Soyle of sweete ayre and of good store God send we see thy glory neuer fall But rather dayly to grow more and more Or as we sang of our Soueraigne Lady giuing her these Attributes besides her proper name Elizabeth regent of the great Brittaine I le Honour of all regents and of Queenes But if we speake thus not expressing her proper name Elizabeth videl The English Diana the great Britton mayde Then is it not by Epitheton or figure of Attribution but by the figures Antonomasia or Periphrasis Ye haue yet another manner of speach when ye will seeme to make two of one not thereunto constrained which therefore we call the figure of Twynnes the Greekes Endiadis thus Endiadis or the Figure of Twinnes Not you coy dame your lowrs nor your lookes For your lowring lookes And as one of our ordinary rimers said Of fortune nor her frowning face I am nothing agast In stead of fortunes frowning face One praysing the Neapolitans for good men at armes said by the figure of Twynnes thus A proud people and wise and valiant Fiercely fighting with horses and with barbes By whose provves the Romain Prince did daunt Wild Affricanes and the lavvlesse Alarbes The Nubiens marching vvith their armed cartes And sleaing a farre vvith venim and vvith dartes Where ye see this figure of Twynnes twise vsed once when he said horses and barbes for barbd horses againe when he saith with venim and with dartes for venimous dartes CHAP. XVI Of the figures which we call Sensable because they alter and affect the minde by alteration of sence and first in single wordes THe eare hauing receiued his due satisfaction by the auricular figures now must the minde also be serued with his naturall delight by figures sensible such as by alteration of intendmentes affect the courage and geue a good liking to the conceit And first single words haue their sence and vnderstanding altered and figured many wayes to wit by transport abuse crosse-naming new naming change of name This will seeme very darke to you vnlesse it be otherwise explaned more particularly Metaphora or the Figure of transporte and first of Transport There is a kinde of wresting of a single word from his owne right signification to another not so naturall but yet of some affinitie or conueniencie with it as to say I cannot digest your vnkinde words for I cannot take them in good part or as the man of law said I feele you not for I vnderstand not your case because he had not his fee in his hand Or as another said to a mouthy Aduocate why barkest thou at me so sore Or to call the top of a tree or of a hill the crowne of a tree or of a hill for in deede crowne is the highest ornament of a Princes head made like a close garland or els the top of a mans head where the haire windes about and because such terme is not applyed naturally to a tree or to a hill but is transported from a mans head to a hill or tree therefore it is called by metaphore or the figure of transport And three causes moues vs to vse this figure one for necessitie or want of a better word thus As the drie ground that thirstes after a showr Seemes to reioyce when it is well iwet And speedely brings foorth both grasse and flowr If lacke of sunne or season doo not let Here for want of an apter and more naturall word to declare the drie temper of the earth it is said to thirst to reioyce which is onely proper to liuing creatures and yet being so inuerted doth not so much swerue from the true sence but that euery man can easilie conceiue the meaning thereof Againe we vse it for pleasure and ornament of our speach as thus in an Epitaph of our owne making to the honourable memorie of a deere friend Sir Iohn Throgmorton knight Iustice of Chester and a man of many commendable vertues Whom vertue rerde enuy hath ouerthrowen And lodged full low vnder this marble stone Ne neuer were his values so well knowen Whilest he liued here as now that he is gone Here these words rered ouerthrowen and lodged are inuerted metaphorically applyed not vpon necessitie but for ornament onely afterward againe in these verses No sunne by day that euer saw him rest Free from the toyles of his so busie charge No night that harbourd rankor in his breast Nor merry moode made reason runne at large In these verses the inuersion or metaphore lyeth in these words saw harbourd run which naturally are applyed to liuing things not to insensible as the sunne or the night yet they approch so neere so cōueniently as the speech is thereby made more commendable Againe in moe verses of the same Epitaph thus His head a source of grauitie and sence His memory a shop of ciuill arte
His tongue a streame of sugred eloquence Wisdome and meekenes lay mingled in his harte In which verses ye see that these words source shop flud sugred are inuerted from their owne signification to another not altogether so naturall but of much affinitie with it Then also do we it sometimes to enforce a sence and make the word more significatiue as thus I burne in loue I freese in deadly hate I swimme in hope and sinke in deepe dispaire These examples I haue the willinger giuē you to set foorth the nature and vse of your figure metaphore which of any other being choisly made is the most commendable and most common Catachresis or the Figure of abuse But if for lacke of naturall and proper terme or worde we take another neither naturall nor proper and do vntruly applie it to the thing which we would seeme to expresse and without any iust inconuenience it is not then spoken by this figure Metaphore or of inuersion as before but by plaine abuse as he that bad his man go into his library and fet him his bowe and arrowes for in deede there was neuer a booke there to be found or as one should in reproch say to a poore man thou raskall knaue where raskall is properly the hunters terme giuen to young deere leane out of season and not to people or as one said very pretily in this verse I lent my loue to losse and gaged my life in vaine Whereas this worde lent is properly of mony or some such other thing as men do commonly borrow for vse to be repayed againe and being applied to loue is vtterly abused and yet very commendably spoken by vertue of this figure For he that loueth and is not beloued againe hath no lesse wrong than he that lendeth and is neuer repayde Metonimia or the Misnamer Now doth this vnderstanding or secret conceyt reach many times to the only nomination of persons or things in their names as of men or mountaines seas countries and such like in which respect the wrōg naming or otherwise naming of them then is due carieth not onely an alteration of sence but a necessitie of intendment figuratiuely as when we cal loue by the name of Venus fleshly lust by the name of Cupid bicause they were supposed by the auncient poets to be authors and kindlers of loue and lust Vulcane for fire Ceres for bread Bacchus for wine by the same reason also if one should say to a skilfull craftesman knowen for a glutton or common drunkard that had spent all his goods on riot and delicate fare Thy hands they made thee rich thy pallat made thee poore It is ment his trauaile and arte made him wealthie his riotous life had made him a beggar and as one that boasted of his house-keeping said that neuer a yeare passed ouer his head that he drank not in his house euery moneth foure tonnes of beere one hogshead of wine meaning not the caskes or vessels but that quantitie which they conteyned These and such other speaches where ye take the name of the Author for the thing it selfe or the thing cōteining for that which is contained in many other cases do as it were wrong name the person or the thing So neuerthelesse as it may be vnderstood it is by the figure metonymia or misnamer And if this manner of naming of persons or things be not by way of misnaming as before but by a conuenient difference Antonomasia or the Surnamer and such as is true or esteemed and likely to be true it is then called not metonimia but antonomasia or the Surnamer not the misnamer which might extend to any other thing aswell as to a person as he that would say not king Philip of Spaine but the Westerne king because his dominiō lieth the furdest West of any Christen prince and the French king the great Vallois because so is the name of his house or the Queene of England The maiden Queene for that is her hiest peculiar among all the Queenes of the world or as we said in one of our Partheniades the Bryton mayde because she is the most great and famous mayden of all Brittayne thus But in chaste stile am borne as I weene To blazon foorth the Brytton mayden Queene So did our forefathers call Henry the first Beauclerke Edmund Ironside Richard coeur de lion Edward the Confessor and we of her Maiestie Elisabeth the peasible Then also is the sence figuratiue when we deuise a new name to any thing consonant as neere as we can to the nature thereof Onomatopeia or the New namer as to say flashing of lightning clashing of blades clinking of fetters chinking of mony as the poet Virgil said of the sounding a trumpet ta-ra-tant taratantara or as we giue special names to the voices of dombe beasts as to say a horse neigheth a lyō brayes a swine grunts a hen cackleth a dogge howles and a hundreth mo such new names as any man hath libertie to deuise so it be fittie for the thing which he couets to expresse Epitheton or the Quallifier otherwise the figure of Attribation Your Epitheton or qualifier whereof we spake before placing him among the figures auricular now because he serues also to alter and enforce the sence we will say somewhat more of him in this place and do conclude that he must be apt and proper for the thing he is added vnto not disagreable or repugnant as one that said darke disdaine and miserable pride very absurdly for disdaine or disdained things cannot be said darke but rather bright and cleere because they be beholden and much looked vpon and pride is rather enuied then pitied or miserable vnlesse it be in Christian charitie which helpeth not the terme in this case Some of our vulgar writers take great pleasure in giuing Epithets and do it almost to euery word which may receiue them and should not be so yea though they were neuer so propre and apt for sometimes wordes suffered to go single do giue greater sence and grace than words quallified by attributions do But the sence is much altered the hearers conceit strangly entangled by the figure Metalepsis Metalepsis or the Farrefet which I call the farfet as when we had rather fetch a word a great way off thē to vse one nerer hād to expresse the matter aswel plainer And it seemeth the deuiser of this figure had a desire to please women rather then men for we vse to say by manner of Prouerbe things farrefet and deare bought are good for Ladies so in this manner of speach we vse it leaping ouer the heads of a great many words we take one that is furdest off to vtter our matter by as Medea cursing hir first acquaintance with prince Iason who had very vnkindly forsaken her said Woe worth the mountaine that the maste bare Which was the first causer of all my care Where she might aswell
an impression as a more multitude of words to the purpose discreetely and without superfluitie vttered the minde being no lesse vanquished with large loade of speech than the limmes are with heauie burden Sweetenes of speech sentence and amplification are therfore necessarie to an excellent Orator and Poet ne may in no wise be spared from any of them And first of all others your figure that worketh by iteration or repetition of one word or clause doth much alter and affect the eare and also the mynde of the hearer and therefore is counted a very braue figure both with the Poets and rhetoriciens and this repetition may be in seuen sortes Repetition in the first degree we call the figure of Report according to the Greeke originall Anaphora or the Figure of Report and is when we make one word begin and as they are wont to say lead the daunce to many verses in sute as thus To thinke on death it is a miserie To thinke on life it is a vanitie To thinke on the world verily it is To thinke that heare man hath no perfit blisse And this writtē by Sir Walter Raleigh of his greatest mistresse in most excellent verses In vayne mine eyes in vaine you wast your teares In vayne my sighs the smokes of my despaires In vayne you search th' earth and heauens aboue In vayne ye seeke for fortune keeps my loue Or as the buffon in our enterlude called Lustie London said very knauishly and like himselfe Many a faire lasse in London towne Many a bavvdie basket borne vp and downe Many a broker in a thrid bare gowne Many a bankrowte scarce worth a crowne In London Ye haue another sort of repetition quite contrary to the former when ye make one word finish many verses in sute Antistrophe or the Counter turne and that which is harder to finish many clauses in the middest of your verses or dittie for to make them finish the verse in our vulgar it should hinder the rime and because I do finde few of our English makers vse this figure I haue set you down two litle ditties which our selues in our yonger yeares played vpon the Antistrophe for so is the figures name in Greeke one vpon the mutable loue of a Lady another vpon the meritorious loue of Christ our Sauiour thus Her lowly lookes that gaue life to my loue With spitefull speach curstnesse and crueltie She kild my loue let her rigour remoue Her cherefull lights and speaches of pitie Reuiue my loue anone with great disdaine She shunnes my loue and after by a traine She seekes my loue and saith she loues me most But seing her loue so lightly wonne and lost I longd not for her loue for well I thought Firme is the loue if it be as it ought The second vpon the merites of Christes passion toward mankind thus Our Christ the sonne of God chief authour of all good Was he by his allmight that first created man And vvith the costly price of his most precious bloud He that redeemed man and by his instance vvan Grace in the sight of God his onely father deare And reconciled man and to make man his peere Made himselfe very man brief to conclude the case This Christ both God and man he all and onely is The man brings man to God and to all heauens blisse The Greekes call this figure Antistrophe the Latines conuersio I following the originall call him the counterturne because he turnes counter in the middest of euery meetre Take me the two former figures and put them into one and it is that which the Greekes call symploche the Latines complexio or conduplicatio Symploche or the figure of replie and is a maner of repetition when one and the selfe word doth begin and end many verses in sute so wrappes vp both the former figures in one as he that sportingly complained of his vntrustie mistresse thus Who made me shent for her loues sake Myne owne mistresse Who would not seeme my part to take Myne owne mistresse What made me first so well content Her curtesie What makes me now so sore repent Her crueltie The Greekes name this figure Symploche the Latins Complexio perchaunce for that he seemes to hold in and to wrap vp the verses by reduplication so as nothing can fall out I had rather call him the figure of replie Ye haue another sort of repetition when with the worde by which you finish your verse Anadiplosis or the Redouble ye beginne the next verse with the same as thus Comforte it is for man to haue a wife Wife chast and wise and lowly all her life Or thus Your beutie was the cause of my first loue Looue while I liue that I may sore repent The Greeks call this figure Anadiplosis I call him the Redouble as the originall beares Ye haue an other sorte of repetition Epanalepsis or the Eccho sound otherwise the slow return when ye make one worde both beginne and end your verse which therefore I call the slow retourne otherwise the Eccho sound as thus Much must he be beloued that loueth much Feare many must he needs whom many feare Vnlesse I called him the eccho sound I could not tell what name to giue him vnlesse it were the slow returne Ye haue another sort of repetition when in one verse or clause of a verse ye iterate one word without any intermission as thus Epizeuxis the Vnderlay or Coocko-spel It was Maryne Maryne that wrought mine woe And this bemoaning the departure of a deere friend The chiefest staffe of mine assured stay With no small griefe is gon is gon away And that of Sir Walter Raleighs very sweet With wisdomes eyes had but blind fortune seene Than had my looue my looue for euer beene The Greeks call him Epizeuxis the Latines Subiunctio we may call him the vnderlay me thinks if we regard his manner of iteration would depart from the originall we might very properly in our vulgar and for pleasure call him the cuckowspell for right as the cuckow repeats his lay which is but one manner of note and doth not insert any other tune betwixt and sometimes for hast stammers out two or three of them one immediatly after another as cuck cuck cuckow so doth the figure Epizeuxis in the former verses Maryne Maryne without any intermission at all Ploche or the Doubler Yet haue ye one sorte of repetition which we call the doubler and is as the next before a speedie iteration of one word but with some little intermissiō by inserting one or two words betweene as in a most excellent dittie written by Sir Walter Raleigh these two closing verses Yet vvhen I savve my selfe to you vvas true I loued my selfe bycause my selfe loued you And this spoken in common Prouerbe An ape vvilbe an ape by kinde as they say Though that ye clad him all in purple array Or as we once sported vpon a fellowes name who was
called Woodcock and for an ill part he had plaid entreated fauour by his friend I praie you intreate no more for the man Woodcocke vvilbe a vvoodcocke do vvhat ye can Now also be there many other sortes of repetition if a man would vse them but are nothing commendable and therefore are not obserued in good poesie as a vulgar rimer who doubled one word in the end of euery verse thus adieu adieu my face my face And an other that did the like in the beginning of his verse thus To loue him and loue him as sinners should doo These repetitioÌ„s be not figuratiue but phantastical for a figure is euer vsed to a purpose either of beautie or of efficacie and these last recited be to no purpose for neither can ye say that it vrges affection nor that it beautifieth or enforceth the sence nor hath any other subtilitie in it and therfore is a very foolish impertinency of speech and not a figure Prosonomasia or the Nicknamer Ye haue a figure by which ye play with a couple of words or names much resembling and because the one seemes to answere th' other by manner of illusion and doth as it were nick him I call him the Nicknamer If any other man can geue him a fitter English name I will not be angrie but I am sure mine is very neere the originall sence of Prosonomasia and is rather a by-name geuen in sport than a surname geuen of any earnest purpose As Tiberius the Emperor because he was a great drinker of wine they called him by way of derision to his owne name Caldius Biberius Mero in steade of Claudius Tiberius Nero and so a iesting frier that wrate against Erasmus called him by resemblance to his own name Errans mus and are mainteined by this figure Prosonomasia or the Nicknamer But euery name geuen in iest or by way of a surname if it do not resemble the true is not by this figure as the Emperor of Greece who was surnamed Constantinus Câ—pronimus because he beshit the foont at the time he was christened and so ye may see the difference betwixt the figures Antonomasia Prosonomatia Now when such resemblance happens betweene words of another nature and not vpon mens names yet doeth the Poet or maker finde prety sport to play with them in his verse specially the Comicall Poet and the Epigrammatist Sir Philip Sidney in a dittie plaide very pretily with these two words Loue and liue thus And all my life I will confesse The lesse I loue I liue the lesse And we in our Enterlude called the woer plaid with these two words lubber and louer thus the countrey clowne came woed a young maide of the Citie and being agreeued to come so oft and not to haue his answere said to the old nurse very impatiently Iche pray you good mother tell our young dame Woer Whence I am come and what is my name I cannot come a woing euery day Quoth the nurse They be lubbers not louers that so vse to say Nurse Or as one replyed to his mistresse charging him with some disloyaltie towards her Proue me madame ere ye fall to reproue Meeke mindes should rather excuse than accuse Here the words proue and reproue excuse and accuse do pleasantly encounter and as it were mock one another by their much resemblance and this is by the figure Prosonomatia as wel as if they were mens proper names alluding to each other Then haue ye a figure which the Latines call Traductio and I the tranlacer Traductio or the Tranlacer which is when ye turne and tranlace a word into many sundry shapes as the Tailor doth his garment after that sort do play with him in your dittie as thus Who liues in loue his life is full of feares To lose his loue liuelode or libertie But liuely sprites that young and recklesse be Thinke that there is no liuing like to theirs Or as one who much gloried in his owne wit whom Persius taxed in a verse very pithily and pleasantly thus Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter Which I haue turned into English not so briefly but more at large of purpose the better to declare the nature of the figure as thus Thou vveenest thy vvit nought vvorth if other vveet it not As vvel as thou thy selfe but o thing vvell I vvot Who so in earnest vveenes he doth in mine aduise Shevv himselfe vvitlesse or more vvittie than vvise Here ye see how in the former rime this word life is tranlaced into liue liuing liuely liuelode in the latter rime this word wit is translated into weete weene wotte witlesse witty wise which come all from one originall Ye haue a figuratiue speach which the Greeks cal Antipophora I name him the Responce and is when we will seeme to aske a question to th' intent we will aunswere it our selues Antipophora or Figure of responce and is a figure of argument and also of amplification Of argument because proponing such matter as our aduersarie might obiect and then to answere it our selues we do vnfurnish and preuent him of such helpe as he would otherwise haue vsed for himselfe then because such obiection and answere spend much language it serues as well to amplifie and enlarge our tale Thus for example Wylie vvorldling come tell me I thee pray Wherein hopest thou that makes thee so to svvell Riches alack it taries not a day But vvhere fortune the fickle list to dvvell In thy children hovv hardlie shalt thou finde Them all at once good and thriftie and kinde Thy vvife ô faire but fraile mettall to trust Seruants what theeues what treachours and iniust Honour perchance it restes in other men Glorie a smoake but wherein hopest thou then In Gods iustice and by what merite tell In his mercy ô now thou speakest vvel But thy lewd life hath lost his loue and grace Daunting all hope to put dispaire in place We read that Crates the Philosopher Cinicke in respect of the manifold discommodities of mans life held opinion that it was best for man neuer to haue bene borne or soone after to dye Optimum non nasci vel citò mori of whom certaine verses are left written in Greeke which I haue Englished thus What life is the liefest the needy is full of woe and awe The wealthie full of brawle and brabbles of the law To be a maried man how much art thou beguild Seeking thy rest by carke for houshold wife and child To till it is a toyle to grase some honest gaine But such as gotten is with great hazard and paine The sayler of his shippe the marchant of his ware The souldier in armes how full of dread and care A shrewd wife brings thee bate wiue not and neuer thriue Children a charge childlesse the greatest lacke aliue Youth witlesse is and fraile age sicklie and forlorne Then better to dye soone or neuer to be
with his mistresse Were it for grace or els in hope of gaine To say of my deserts it is but vaine For vvell in minde in case ye do them beare To tell them oft it should but irke your eare Be they forgot as likely should I faile To vvinne vvith vvordes vvhere deedes can not preuaile Then haue ye a figure very meete for Orators or eloquent perswaders such as our maker or Poet must in some cases shew him selfe to be Merismus or the Distributer and is when we may conueniently vtter a matter in one entier speach or proposition and will rather do it peecemeale and by distributiō of euery part for amplification sake as for exāple he that might say a house was outragiously plucked downe will not be satisfied so to say but rather will speake it in this sort they first vndermined the groundsills they beate downe the walles they vnfloored the loftes they vntiled it and pulled downe the roofe For so in deede is a house pulled downe by circūstances which this figure of distribution doth set forth euery one apart and therefore I name him the distributor according to his originall as wrate the Tuscane Poet in a Sonet which Sir Thomas Wyat translated with very good grace thus Set me vvhereas the sunne doth parch the greene Or vvhere his beames do not dissolue the yce In temperate heate vvhere he is felt and seene In presence prest of people mad or vvise Set me in hye or yet in low degree In longest night or in the shortest day In clearest skie or where clouds thickest bee In lustie youth or when my heares are gray Set me in heauen in earth or els in hell In hill or dale or in the foming flood Thrall or at large aliue where so I dwell Sicke or in health in euill fame or good Hers will I be and onely with this thought Content my selfe although my chaunce be naught All which might haue bene said in these two verses Set me wheresoeuer ye vvill I am and vvilbe yours still The zealous Poet writing in prayse of the maiden Queene would not seeme to wrap vp all her most excellent parts in a few words them entierly comprehending but did it by a distributor or merismus in the negatiue for the better grace thus Not your bewtie most gracious soueraine Nor maidenly lookes mainteind vvith maiestie Your stately port vvhich doth not match but staine For your presence your pallace and your traine All Princes Courts mine eye could euer see Not your quicke vvits your sober gouernaunce Your cleare forsight your faithfull memorie So sweete features in so staid countenaunce Nor languages with plentuous vtterance So able to discourse and entertaine Not noble race farre beyond Caesars raigne Runne in right line and bloud of nointed kings Not large empire armies treasurs domaine Lustie liueries of fortunes dearst darlings Not all the skilles fit for a Princely dame Your learned Muse vvith vse and studie brings Not true honour ne that immortall fame Of mayden raigne your only owne renowne And no Queenes els yet such as yeeldes your name Greater glory than doeth your treble crowne And then concludes thus Not any one of all these honord parts Your Princely happes and habites that do moue And as it were ensorcell all the hearts Of Christen kings to quarrell for your loue But to possesse at once and all the good Arte and engine and euery starre aboue Fortune or kinde could farce in flesh and bloud Was force inough to make so many striue For your person which in our world stoode By all consents the minionst mayde to wiue Where ye see that all the parts of her commendation which were partitularly remembred in twenty verses before are wrapt vp in the two verses of this last part videl Not any one of all your honord parts Those Princely haps and habites c. This figure serues for amplification and also for ornament and to enforce perswasion mightely Sir Geffrey Chaucer father of our English Poets hath these verses following in the distributor When faith failes in Priestes sawes And Lords hestes are holden for lawes And robberie is tane for purchase And lechery for solace Then shall the Realme of Albion Be brought to great confusion Where he might haue said as much in these words when vice abounds and vertue decayeth in Albion then c. And as another said When Prince for his people is wakefull and wise Peeres ayding with armes Counsellors with aduise Magistrate sincerely vsing his charge People prest to obey nor let to runne at large Prelate of holy life and with deuotion Preferring pietie before promotion Priest still preaching and praying for our heale Then blessed is the state of a common-weale All which might haue bene said in these few words when euery man in charge and authoritie doeth his duety executeth his function well then is the common-wealth happy The Greeke Poets who made musicall ditties to be song to the lute or harpe Epimone or the Loueburden did vse to linke their staues together with one verse running throughout the whole song by equall distance and was for the most part the first verse of the staffe which kept so good sence and conformitie with the whole as his often repetition did geue it greater grace They called such linking verse Epimone the Latines versus intercalaris and we may terme him the Loue-burden following the originall or if it please you the long repeate in one respect because that one verse alone beareth the whole burden of the song according to the originall in another respect for that it comes by large distances to be often repeated as in this ditty made by the noble knight Sir Philip Sidney My true loue hath my heart and I haue his By iust exchange one for another geuen I holde his deare and mine he cannot misse There neuer was a better bargaine driuen My true loue hath my heart and I haue his My heart in me keepes him and me in one My heart in him his thoughts and sences guides He loues my heart for once it was his owne I cherish his because in me it bides My true loue hath my heart and I haue his Many times our Poet is caried by some occasion to report of a thing that is maruelous Paradoxon or the Wondrer and then he will seeme not to speake it simply but with some signe of admiration as in our enterlude called the Woer I woonder much to see so many husbands thriue That haue but little wit before they come to wiue For one would easily weene who so hath little wit His wife to teach it him vvere a thing much vnfit Or as Cato the Romane Senatour said one day merily to his companion that walked with him pointing his finger to a yong vnthrift in the streete who lately before had sold his patrimonie of a goodly quātitie of salt marshes lying neere vnto Capua shore Now is it not a wonder to behold Yonder gallant skarce