I | UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORN/A I 
 
 I SAN DIEGO J
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 
 
 IA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA 
 
 I
 
 SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. 
 
 AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE. 
 
 1595. > 
 
 CAREFULLY EDITED BY 
 
 EDWARD ARBER, 
 
 Affbciate, King's Collegt, London, F.S.A., F.R.G.S., &*c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 5 QUEEN SQUARE, BLOOMSBURV, V. 
 
 Ent. Stnt. Hall.} .1 April 1868 [All Rights referred.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHRONICLE of the Life, &c., of Sir P. Sidney . . 3 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 7 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY, 13 
 
 AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE t 15 
 
 1. To the Reader 16 
 
 2. Four Sonnets by Henry Conflable . . . . 17 
 
 3. ARGUMENTAND DEFINITIONS. John Pietro Pugliano. 19 
 
 Poetry is ofall human learning the moft ancient, and of 
 moft fatherly an tiquity.Fromitfprangall other knowledge. 20 
 
 Poetry is fo univerfal, that no learned nation defpifes 
 it, and no barbarous nation is without it. . . . 22 
 
 Etymology oj "Poetry, pp. 23 29. The Pfalms [=fongs] 23 
 
 Both Romans and Greeks gaue divine names to it, 
 the one of prophecyirig, the other of making . . 24 
 
 Indeed, that name of making is fit for Poefy . Whereas 
 other arts retain themfelvcs within their fubjecT:, and 
 receive as it were their being from it ; the Poet only, 
 brings his own fluff, does not learn a conceit out of 
 a matter, but makes matter for a conceit ... 24 
 
 Poefy is an art of imitation, for fo Ariftotle terms it 
 in his word Mimefis, i. e. a reprefenting, counterfeiting 
 or figuring forth ; to fpeake metaphorically, a fpeaking 
 picture : wilh this end to teach and delight. . . 26 
 
 Of this there have been three kinds. I. Sacred poe- 
 try, in the Scriptures and hymns to the Heathen gods. 
 2. Philofophical poetiy. 3. ' The right poets,' they 
 which moft properly do imitate to teach and delight. 27 
 
 ' Verfe is but an ornament and no caufe to Poetry. ' . 28 
 
 Although indeed, the Senate of Poets have chofen 
 verfe as their fitteft raiment ; meaning, that as in matter, 
 they parted all in all, fo in manner to go beyond them 29 
 
 A natomyoftheeffeflsof Poetry, pp. 29-43. ' This puri- 
 fyingofwit, enriching of memory, enabling of judgement 
 andenlargingofconceit, whichcommonlywecalllearning' 29 
 
 Theenclingendofallearthlyleamingisvertuousaclion. 
 In this moft excellent work, Poetry is the moft excellent 
 workman ^9 
 
 Anatomy of the parts of Poetry, pp. 43 48 
 
 Obuftions to Poetry anfwered t ?-p- 4860. 
 
 I /I Obj. A man might better fpend his time. Ans. ' I 
 utterly deny there is fprung out a more fruitful knowledge ' 5 > 
 
 2nd Obj. It is the mother of lies. Ans. The Poet 
 affirms nothing, and therefore never lies . . . 51 
 
 yd Obj. It is the nurse of abufe. Ans. Man's wit 
 abufes Poetry, not Poetry man's wit . . . . 53 
 
 ^th Obj. Plato banifhed Poets out of his republic. 
 Ans. He banifliedtheabufeof Poetry, notthethingitfelf :6 
 
 Criticifm of the then exiling Engliili poetry, pp. 60 7 1 - 
 
 Its matter p. 60. Its diction .... 68 
 
 Peroration ........ 7*
 
 CHRONICLE 
 
 of 
 
 fome of the principal events 
 in the 
 
 LIFE, WORKS, and TIMES 
 
 of 
 Master, afterwards Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, 
 
 Courtier, Ambassador, Poet, Romancist, Critic, and Soldier. 
 
 * Probable or approximate dates. 
 
 1553. Sulp 6- fBarp succeefls to tiie croton. 
 
 '$54- J u 'y 2 5- Queen Mary marries Philip, King of Spain. 
 
 Nov. 29. PHILIP SIDNEY 'was son of Sir Hen. Sidney by the lady 
 Mary his wife, eldest daughter of Joh. Dudley duke of 
 Northumberland, was born, as 'tis supposed, at Penshurst 
 in Kent, 29 Nov. 1554, and had his Christian name given 
 to him by his father, from K. Philip, then lately married 
 to Queen Mary.' Wood, Ath. Oxon. i. 517. Ed. 1813. 
 Philip is the eldest of three sons, and four daughters. 
 
 1558- floti- 17. lli>atctf) ttflins to reign. 
 
 I j6o. Sir Henry Sidney is made Lord President of Wales, 
 
 which office he holds till his death. He resides, when 
 in the Principality, chiefly at Ludlow. He is three 
 times Lord Deputy of Ireland, between 1565-67, 1568-71 
 and 1577-78. He is installed K. G. May 14. 1564. 
 
 1564. Oct. 17. Philip Sidney and Fulke Greville, both of the same age, 
 set. 9. and who became friends for life, enter Shrewsbury School 
 on the same day. 'Anno Domini 1564. 16 Cal. Nov. 
 
 I'hilippiis Sidney filius et hares Henrici Sidney 
 Militis de Pensarst in Cotnit. Cantios, tt Domini Prae- 
 sidis confinium Cambriae, nee non Ordinis Garterii 
 Militis. 
 
 Foulkus Greyvell filius et haeres Foulki Greyvell 
 Armigeri de Becntchamp Courts in Coniit. Warwici. 
 eodetn die. School Register : see Sidneiana Roxburghe 
 Clube 1837. Fulke Greville thus testifies of his 
 schoolfellow "of whose Youth I will report no other 
 wonder, but thus; That though I lived with him, and 
 knew him from a child, yet I never knew him other than 
 a man : with such staiednesse of mind, lovely, and fami- 
 liar gravity, as carried grace, and reverence above greater 
 years. His talk ever of knowledge, and his very play 
 tending to enrich his mind : So as even his teachers 
 found something in him to observe, and learn, above 
 that which they had usually read, or taught. Which 
 eminence, by nature, and industry, made his worthy 
 Father stile Sir Philip in my hearing (though I unseen 
 Lmiicn familiiz sua. F. Greville, in his posthumous 
 LifeofSirP. Sidney, p. ?. Ed. 1652. 
 
 1568* Midsummer. " While he was very young, he was sent to Christ 
 a:t. 13 Ch. to be improved in all sorts of learning, and was con- 
 temporary there with Rich. Carew author of The Sur- 
 vey of Cornwall, where continuing till he was about 17 
 years of age, under the tuition of Dr. Tho. Thornton, 
 canon of that house." Wood, idem.
 
 CHRONICLE. 
 
 2. May 25. The Queen grants Philip Sidney, license to go abroad 
 at. 17. with three servants and four horses: (May 26) Leaves 
 London, in the train of the Earl of Lincoln, Ambassador 
 to the French King : (Aug. 9) Charles ix. makes him 
 one of the gentlemen of his Chamber: (Aug. 24) The 
 Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Sidney being in the 
 house of the English Ambassador, Sir Francis Walsing- 
 ham, is safe ; He however soon leaves Paris, journeys 
 by Heidelberg to Frankfort, where he meets Hubert 
 Languet, set. 54. He stays at Frankfort about nine 
 iS73. Summer, months. They two then go to Vienna : where, after some 
 trips to Hungary, Sidney leaves Languet, and spends 
 eight months in Italy ; chiefly in Venice, Padua, and 
 . . 4. Genoa. He returns to Vienna in Nov. Spends his 
 
 1575. May 31. winter there (see p. 19), and coming home through the 
 f Low Countries; reaches England (May 31. i$7j). 
 
 1575. set. 20. Introduced to Court, by his uncle, the E. of Leicester. 
 
 See p. 6. 
 
 July 9-27. Is at the famous reception given by his uncle to the 
 Queen, at Kenilworth. The Court moves to Chartley 
 castle, where Philip is supposed first to have seen Stella 
 (Penelope, act. 13, daughter of Lord Essex, and after- 
 wards Lady Rich). The sonnets Astropfiel aiid Stella 
 go on for the next five or six years. 
 
 1 5?7- set. 22. Sidney is sent as Ambassador, with messages of condo- 
 
 Feb. *22. lence to Rodolph II. the new Emperor of Germany, at 
 
 June 8. Prague ; and to the two sons of the Frederic III. late 
 
 g I Elector Palatine : viz. Lewis (now Elector) and John 
 
 efi I Casimir, at Heidelberg. 
 
 1378. May. On the Court coming to his uncle's, at Wanstead, Sidney 
 
 writes a masque The Lady of the May. 
 
 Sidney becomes acquainted with Gabriel Harvey, and 
 through him with Edmund Spenser. 
 
 1^79. August. Stephen Gosspn publishes the Tlte Schoole of Abuse. 
 Oct. 16. E. Spenser writes to G. Harvey, Sidney's idea of it. 
 Dec. [Ent. Stat. Hall 5 Dec.] Spenser's Sheplterds Cale'idar. 
 
 1580. Sidney writes to the Queen, against her marrying the 
 
 Duke of Anjou. 
 
 Jointly with his sister Mary, translates PsalmsoJ "David. 
 Writes The A rcadia. 
 
 i$8o. Oct. 18. Sidney writing from Leicester House, to his brother 
 set. 25. Robert, set. 17. (afterwards Earl of Leicester) then 
 travelling in Germany ; gives him, in a long and brotherly 
 letter, his ideas on the study of history. This confi- 
 dential letter shows that Sidney's mind was, at this time, 
 much occupied with the consideration of subjects dealt v 
 with in the Apologie, to which it may be considered as a 
 forerunner. 
 
 'For the Method of writing Historic, Boden hath 
 written at large, yow may reade him, and gather out of 
 many Wordes some Matter. This I thinke in Haste, a 
 Story is either to be considered as a Storie, or as a 
 Treatise, which, besides that, addeth many Thinges for 
 Profile and Ornament ; as a Story, he is nothing but a 
 Narration of Thinges done, with the Begimngs, Cawses, 
 and Appendences thereof. .... In that Kinde yow 
 haue principally to note the Examples of Vertue or Vice, 
 with their good or evell Successes, the Establishments 
 or Ruines of great Estates, with the Cawses, the Tyme, 
 and Circumstances of the Lawes then write of, the 
 Entrings and Endings of Warrs, and therein, the Strata- 
 gems against the Enimy, and the Discipline vpon the 
 Soldiour ; and thus much as a very Historiographer.
 
 I 
 
 CHRONICLE. 5 
 
 Besides this, the Historian makes himstlfe a Discourser 
 for Profile, and an Orator, yea a Poet sometimes for 
 Ornament. An Orator, in making excellent Orations, e 
 re nata, which are to be marked, but marked with the 
 Note of Rheloricall Remembrances : A Poel in painting 
 forth the Effects, the Motions, the Whisperings of the 
 People, which though in Disputation, one might say 
 were true, yet who will make them well, shall finde them 
 taste of a Poetical Vaine, and in that Kinde are gallantly 
 to be marked, for though perchance they were not so, 
 yet it is enough they might be so. The last PoyiU 
 which tendes to teach Profile, is of a Discourser, which 
 Name I giue to who soeuer speakes, Non simpliciter de 
 facto, sedde quatitatibus et circumstantijs factj ; and 
 that is it which makes me, and many others, rather note 
 
 much with our Penn ihen with our Minde This 
 
 write I to yow in greate Hast, of Method without 
 Method, but with more Leysure and Studie (if I doe 
 nol finde some Booke lhal satisfies) I will venter to 
 write more largely vnto yow." .... Arthur Collin't 
 Letters and Memorials of State, \. 283-5. Ed. 1746. 
 158:. Jan. i6-Mar.i8. Parltamenlsits. Sidney is for the first time a Member. 
 Sept. 30. Languet dies al Antwerp. 
 
 Sidney wriles An Apologie for Poetrie. 
 
 1583. Jan. 8. The Queen knighls him. 
 
 * Mar. set. 29. He maries Frances, daughler of Sir F. Walsingham. 
 
 1584. Nov. 23. -1585. Mar. 29. Parliament sits. Sidney a second time a 
 
 member. 
 
 Writes Discourse in Defence of the Earl of Leicester. 
 
 His daughter Elizabeth born [afterward the Countess 
 of Rutland]. 
 
 Projecls an expedilion to America, with Sir F. Drake. 
 
 Nov. f. Is appointed Governor of Flushing : Nov. 16. Leaves 
 England for the last lime : Nov. 21. Assumes his office. 
 6. May 5. His father Sir H. Sidney dies at Worcester. 
 
 July 6. Sidney, with 3000 men, surprises Axel. 
 
 Aug. 9. His mother Lady Mary Sidney dies. 
 Sept. 22. At the fight at Zulphen, Sidney 'receyved a sor. 
 
 Wounde upon hisThighe, ihree Fingers above his Knee, 
 the Bone broken quite in Peeces. . . . He was carried 
 afterwards in my barge lo Arnheim.' E. of Leicester. 
 See Collitis Memoirs of the Sidneys, p. 105. 
 
 Oct. 17. Sidney lingers 26 days. His wife and brother join 
 
 2 p.m. set. 31. him. His last words were Love my Memorie, cherish 
 my Friends, their Faith to me may assure you thty 
 were honest. But above all, governyour Will and Affec- 
 tions, by tlie Will and Word of your Creator; in me, 
 beholding the end of this World, with all her Vanities. 
 His body was removed (Oct. 24) to Flushing; embarked (Nov. l) there 
 for conveyance to London ; landed (Nov. 5) at Tower-hill, and taken to a 
 house in the Minories, without Aldgate : where it remained, until the public 
 funeral (Feb. 16. 1587) at St. Paul's. England goes into mourning for him. 
 
 In place of fuller delails of Sidney's life, which will be found in he works 
 of A. Collins, Dr. T. Zouch, and H. R. F. Bourne, we may obtain a betler 
 impression of his character, by adducing the independent testimony of four 
 contemporaries, all competent to know the truth, and none apparently ex- 
 aggerating it. 
 
 The firsl ihree come to us through Fulke Greville. See Life, pp. 31-34. 
 
 I. William of Nassau, 'William the Silent,' Prince of Orange, requested 
 Greville to lell his Queen " thai if he could judge, her Majesly had one of 
 the ripest, and grealest Counsellors of Estate in Sir Philip Sidney, that at 
 this day lived in Europe ; to the trial! of which hee [the Prince] was pleased 
 to leave his owne credit engaged, untill her Majesly might please to employ 
 this Gentleman, either amonsst her friends or enemies."
 
 6 CHRONICLE. 
 
 a. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, his uncle, "told me (after Sir 
 Philips, and not long before his own death) that when he undertook the 
 government of the Low Countries, he carryed his Nephew over with him, as 
 one amongst the rest, not only despising his youth for a Counsellor, but 
 withall bearing a hand over him as a forward young man. Notwithstanding 
 in short time he saw this Sun so risen above his Horizen, that both he and all 
 his Stars were glad to fetch light from him. And in the end acknowledged 
 that he held up the honor of his casual authority by him, whilst he lived, 
 and found reason to withdraw himself from that burthen, after his death." 
 
 3. Sir Francis Walsingham, his Father-in-law "that wise and active 
 
 Secretarie often confessed to my self, that his Pkilip did so far 
 
 overshoot him in his own Bow, as those friends which at first were Sir 
 Philip's for this Secretaries sake, within a while became so fully owned, and 
 possest by Sir Philip, as now he held them at the second hand, by his 
 Son-in-laws native courtesie." 
 
 4. Sir Robert Naunton [b. 1563, d. Mar. 27, 1635], Master of the 
 Court of Wards, in his posthumous work, entitled F*~agmenta Regalia, 
 or Observations on the late Queen Elizabeth, her times and favourites 
 [First edition 1641, corrupt. Second edition 1642], gives us the following 
 clear though brief account of Sidney. It is the best contemporary sketch 
 of him that has come down to us. 
 
 " He was sonne to Sir Henry Sydney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Pre- 
 sident of Wales, a person of great parts, and in no mean grace with the 
 Queen : his mother was sister to my Lord of Leicester, from whence we may 
 conjecture, how the Father stood up in the place of honour, and employment, 
 so that his descent was apparently noble on both sides : For his education, it 
 was such as travell, and the University could afford, or his Tutors infuse, for 
 after an incredible proficiency in all the species of Learning, he left the 
 Academicall life for that of the Court, whither he came by his Vncles invita- 
 tion, famed afore-hand by a noble report of his accomplishments, which to- 
 gether with the state of his person, framed by a natural! propension to Arms, 
 he soon attracted the good opinion of all men, and was so highly prized in 
 the good opinion of the Queen, that she thought the Court deficient without 
 him : And whereas (through the fame of his deserts) he was in the election 
 for the Kingdome of Pole, she refused to further his advancement, not out of 
 emulation, but out of fear to lose the Jewell of her times : He married the 
 daughter and sole heir of Sir Francis Walsingliam, then Secretary of State, 
 a Lady destinated to the Bed of honour, who (after his deplorable death at 
 Zutphen in the Netherlands, where he vyas Governour of Flushing, at the 
 time of his Vncles being there) was married to my Lord of Essex, and since 
 his death, to my Lord of Saint Albons, all persons of the sword, and other 
 wise of great honour and vertue. 
 
 They have a very quaint and factious figment of him, That Mars and 
 Mercury fell at variance whose servant he should be ; And there is an Epi- 
 grammist that saith, That Art and Nature had spent their excellencies in his 
 fashioning, and fearing that they should not end what they begun, they 
 bestowed him on Fortune, and Nature stood musing, and amazed to behold 
 her own work. But these are the petulancies of Poets. 
 
 Certain it is, He was a noble and matchlesse Gentleman, and it may be 
 justly said without hyperbolyes of fiction, as it was of Cato Vticensis, that 
 he seemed to be born to that onely which he went about. Versafilis ingenii, as 
 Plutarch hath it, but to speak more of him, were to make him lesse." 
 pp. 18 19. Ed. 1642. 
 
 At p. 17. of the same work, he gives us an insight of Elizabeth's ideas on 
 Sidney's death. 
 
 " I can here adde a true, and no impertinent Story, and that of the last 
 Mountioy, who having twice or thrice stol[e]n away into Brittain\y\ (where 
 under Sir lohn Norris he had then a Company) without the Queen's leave 
 and privity ; she sent a Messenger unto him, with a strict charge to the 
 General! to see him sent home : when he came into the Queens presence, 
 she fell into a kinde of reviling, demanding how he durst go over without her 
 leave ; Serve me so (quoth she) once more, and I will lay you fast enough 
 for running; You will never leave it untill you are knockt on the head, as 
 that inconsiderate fellow Sidney was ; You shall go when I send you, in the 
 mean time see that you lodge in the Court (which was then at White-Hall] 
 where you may follow your Book, read and discourse of the \V;irs."
 
 AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [HE reference, at page 62, to Spenfer's 
 Shepherd's Calendar as ' printed ; proves 
 inconteflably,that Sidney wrote his Apolo- 
 gie fubfequent to the 5th December, 1579, 
 the date of the Hcenfmg upon entry at 
 Stationer's Hall, of Spenfer's work ; the firft edition of 
 which bears the date of 1579, the fecond 1581, and 
 the third 1586. 
 
 The earliefl date affignable to the prefent reprint is 
 therefore 1580. Some time mould, however, be 
 allowed for the Shepherd's Calendar to attain to its 
 acknowledged reputation. The date ufually given for 
 the competition of the Apologie for Poetrie, viz., 1581, 
 may therefore be taken as approximately correcl:. 
 
 For the motive to its production is known. It is a 
 carefully prepared anfwer to portions of two works 
 dedicated to Sidney, by another poet, Stephen Goffon ; 
 who had but recently forfaken the Stage for the 
 Pulpit. Thefe works were The Schoole of Abufe, which 
 appeared about Auguft 1579, and An Apologie of the 
 Schoole of Abufe, which was publifhed in the following 
 November. 
 
 Edmund Spenfer, writing from Leicefter Houfe, on 
 the 1 6th October of the fame year, to his friend 
 Gabriel Harvey at Cambridge, incidentally gives us 
 Sidney's opinion of Goffon's firfl work. 
 
 " Newe Bookes I heare of none, but only of one, 
 that writing a certaine Booke, called The Schoole of 
 Abufe, and dedicating it to Maifter Sidney, was for 
 hys labor fcorned : if at.leafte it be in the goodnefle
 
 8 Tntrodvflion. 
 
 of that nature to fcorne. Suche follie is it, not to 
 regarde aforehande the inclination and qualitie of him, 
 to whom we dedicate oure Bookes."* 
 
 The latefl date that can poffibly be affigned to this 
 work, is 1 6th November, 1585, when Sir P. Sidney 
 left England for the laft time. The probability how- 
 ever is, that the vindication followed foon upon the 
 attack. 
 
 It were an eafy tafk, to trace in detail the line of 
 affault and defence; but for this we have here no 
 fpace. Both works being now within eafy reach of 
 all, fuch a comparifon may be made by any. It 
 will be better to rife from the temporal controverfy 
 to the general principles difcuffed in the prefent work : 
 merely noting that the ultimate point at iffue between 
 Sidney and Goffon, feems to have been, whether un- 
 cleannefs, falfity, and effeminacy were feparable or 
 infeparable from poetry. 
 
 The Apologie is four times the length of thofe por- 
 tions of Gofibn's tracts which dealt with the abufes 
 of Poetry. For Sidney took advantage of the occa- 
 fion, ' with quiet judgment looking a little deeper into 
 it,' to eftablim, to his own fatisfaclion at leaft,the reafons 
 for the exiftence at all of Poetry, and the demon ftra- 
 tions of its fuperlative excellence. Some of thefe apply 
 lefs forcibly now than in his own time, through the 
 general fpread of the power of reading among the 
 people; but there is much expofition of that which 
 will remain for all time. 
 
 A book of criticifm on poetry is itfelf but a text- 
 book of further endlefs critical difcuffion. Anything 
 like a confideration here of the subject-matter of the 
 Apologie is not poffible to us : but it may be well to 
 notice Sidney's ufe of the word Poet and its modern 
 acceptation. 
 
 * Three proper and wittie, f ami- ser] and G. H. p. 4. London [Ent. 
 >.inr Letters ; by IMMERITO [Spen- Siat. Hall, 30 June] 1580.
 
 Sidney would have called Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
 Progrefs, Fenelon's TelemacJms, and Defoe's Robinfon 
 Crufoe, poems. He defignates Xenophon's Cyro- 
 padia ' an abfolute Heroic poem.'* Accepting the 
 word Poet in its original anduniverfal fenfe of maker; 
 he fays ' There haue beene many mofl excellent Poets, 
 that neuer verfified.'* ' One may bee a Poet without 
 verfing, and a verfifier without Poetry ;'f ' Verfe being 
 but an ornament and no caufe to Poetry :'* and gives 
 this criterion, 'It is that fayning notable images of 
 vertues, vices, or what els, with that delightfull teach- 
 ing which muft be the right defcribing note to know 
 a Poet by.'J So that in the Apologie, Sidney is really 
 defending the whole art and craft of Feigning. 
 
 The fcience of definitions progreffed after Sidney's 
 death ; and the Idea of Poet became limited to that 
 of Imaginator in verfe. Ben Jonfon, in a pofthumous 
 work printed fixty years later than the compofition 
 of the Apologie entitled Timber: or Difcoveries; Made 
 vpon Men and Matter: as they have flow' d out of his 
 daily Readings ; or had their refluxe to his peculiar 
 Notion of the Times, propofes and anfwers three 
 queflions : and in fo doing, eftablifhes and expreffes 
 *he modern limitation of the Idea. 
 
 What is a. Poetl 
 
 "A Poet is that, which by the Greeks is call'd 
 KUT' f.oxi)v, 6 HoirjTTjc, a Maker, or a fainer : His Art, 
 an Art of imitation, or faining ; expreffing the life 
 of man in fit meafure, numbers, and harmony, 
 according to Ariflotle : From the word TTOIEIV, which 
 fignifies to make or fayne. Hence, hee is call'd a 
 Poet, not hee which writeth in meafure only; but 
 that fayneth and formeth a fable, and writes things 
 like the Truth. For, the Fable and Fiction is (as it 
 were) the forme and Soule of any Poeticall worke, or 
 Poeme. 
 
 P. as. t p. 49. t p 29.
 
 io Introduction. 
 
 What meane you by a Poeme ? 
 
 A Poeme is not alone any worke, or compofition of 
 the Poets in many or few verfes ; but even one alone 
 verfe fometimes makes a perfedl Poeme. As, when 
 Aeneas hangs up, and confecrates the Arnies of Abas, 
 with this Infcription ; 
 
 Aeneas hczc de Danais vicloribus anna* And calls 
 it a Poeme or Carmen. Such are thofe in Martiall. 
 Omnia, Caftor, emis : ficfiet, ut omnia vendas. 
 And Pauper videri Cinna vult, et eft pauper. \ 
 
 So were Horace his Odes call'd, Carmina ; his 
 Lirick, Songs. And Liicretius defignes a whole booke, 
 in his fixt : 
 
 Quo d in primo quccque carmine claret. 
 And anciently, all the Oracles were call'd, Carmina ; 
 or, what ever Sentence was exprefs'd, were it much, or 
 little, it was call'd, an Epick, Dramatlck, Lirike, 
 Elegiake, or Epigrammatike Poeme. 
 
 But, how differs a Poeme from what wee call Poesy ? 
 
 A Poeme, as I have told you is the worke of the 
 Poet; the end, and fruit of his labour, and fludye. 
 Poefy is his fkill, or Crafte of making ; the very Fiction 
 it felfe, the reafon, or forme of the worke. And thefe 
 three voices differ, as the thing done, the doing, and 
 the doer ; the thing fain'd, the faining, and the fainer : 
 fo the Poeme, the Poesy, and the Poet."% 
 
 It is to be defired that that word Feigner were re- 
 leafed from its prefent degradation; and that ennobled, 
 it might become the modern equivalent to Sidney's 
 ufe of the word Poet : a generic term embracing 
 Poets, Allegorifts, Fabulifls, Romancifts, Novelifts ; 
 all who " imitate to teach and delight, and to imitate, 
 borrow nothing of what is, hath been, or mail be : but 
 range onely rayned with learned difcretion, into the 
 diuine confideration of what may be, and mould be." 
 
 * Virgilius Aeneid, lib. 3. t Workcs, ii. 1*5, 126. Ed. 1641. 
 
 t Lib. 8, Epig. 19. p. 38.
 
 Introduction. 1 1 
 
 Sidney's want of appreciation either of the difficulty 
 or excellence of great Profe for he feems to have 
 thought 'the weighing of each word in just propor- 
 tion, according to the dignity of the fubjecl ' peculiar 
 to verse ; and the diffatisfaction of himfelf and Goffon 
 in Englifh poetry ; mull be confidered in connection 
 with the dates of their refpective compofitions. They 
 were both (landing on the very threfhold of our 
 modern national literature. The men were then 
 alive, who mould, within a generation within the fpan 
 of Goffon's life, for Sidney was prematurely cut off 
 do more to fix our language and to immortalize our 
 literature, than had been or has fince been done. 
 The golden age of Englifh fong was juft beginning. 
 Shakefpeare and Spenfer, the founders of two diflincl: 
 fchools of poetry ; Ben Jonfon, Fairefax, .and a hofl 
 of minor dramatifls, fonneteers, tranflators, and the 
 like ; endowed England with noble Verfe. Hooker, 
 Knolles, Bacon, Raleigh, the Tranflators of the author- 
 ized Englifh verfion of the Scriptures, and many others 
 of leffer degree, gave us a not lefs worthy Profe. 
 The intellectual life of that generation is a prodigy in 
 our hiflory. What other Chriflian country has pro- 
 duced three contemporaries, such as Shakefpeare, 
 Spenfer, and Bacon ? It was an age not only of 
 difcovery all the world round ; but of high attainment 
 to new truths both in fac~l and opinion : not only of 
 the eflablifhment of new proceffes of arriving at 
 Truth ; but alfo of the invention of new forms for its 
 expreffion. All that is romantic, chivalrbus, frefh, 
 cluflers and concentrates round the lafl of the Tudors. 
 With the incoming of the Stuarts, with the pafling 
 away of that generation, Englifh Hiflory begins to 
 become flat and flale, foon to pafs into the florm of 
 the Civil Wars, in the midfl of which, this outburfl of 
 the true old chivalry finally dies out. 
 
 But from Goffon and Sidney all this was hidden. 
 They could only look back over the drearinefs of Englifh 
 poetry to Chaucer and Gower : and there was nothing 
 to fhow, that the future might not be even as the pafl.
 
 1 2 Introduction, 
 
 Accepting their works as the current criticifm of 
 the day ; we may obtain a meafure of the originality 
 of thefe after-writers. In nothing is this more con- 
 fpicuous, than in the doctrine of the Unities of action, 
 time and place, in dramatic competition ; fet forth by 
 Ariftotle, and reafferted moft ftrongly, at page 63 of 
 the prefent work. This doctrine the subfequent 
 Englifh dramatifls refufed to obey as a compulfory 
 law ; for recognifing unity of action as the moft obli- 
 gatory, they neglected or ufed the other two, at their 
 will and pleafure. 
 
 One parting teftimony. The Apologie bears abun- 
 dant evidence to the ethereal refinement of Sidney's 
 nature, and to his ecftatic delight in Poefy ; in the 
 epithets and epithetic phrafes he gives ' to the peer- 
 leffe Poet.' He but defcribes himfelf, in defcribing 
 David, as ' a passionate louer, of that vnfpeakable and 
 euerlafting beautie to be feene by the eyes of the minde, 
 onely cleered by fayth.'* Adopting his own definition 
 of Poefy, may we not, in fome degree at leaft, apply 
 to him, his own description of ' our Poet the Monarch.' 
 
 " He dooth not only (how the way, but giueth fo 
 fvveete a profpect into the way, as will intice any man 
 to enter into it. Nay, he dooth as if your iourney 
 mould lye through a fayre Vineyard, at the firft giue 
 you a clufter of Grapes : that full of that tafte, you may 
 long to paffe further. He beginneth not with obfcure 
 definitions, which muft blur the margent with inter- 
 pretations, and load the memory with doubtfulneffe : 
 but hee commeth to you with words sent in delight- 
 full proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared 
 for the well inchaunting skill of Muficke; and with a 
 tale forfooth he commeth vnto you : with a tale which 
 holdeth children from play, and old men from the 
 chimney corner. And pretend jng no more, doth in- 
 tende the winning of the mind from wickedneffe to 
 vertue."| 
 
 * p. 24. t p. 40.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 AN APOLOGIE FOR P O E T R I E. 
 
 * Editions not feen. 
 (a) Issues In tfic 3utfjor's life time. 
 
 None. 
 
 (tj Issues since tfte author's Oratf). 
 I. As a feparate publication. 
 
 1. 1595. London. 
 
 I vol. 4to. 
 20. 1752. Glafgow. 
 
 i vol. 8vo. 
 22. 1810. London. 
 
 I vol. 4to. 
 
 25. I April 1868. 
 
 London. I vol. 8vo. 
 
 Editio princeps : fee title on page 15. 
 
 The Defence of Poefy ' by Sir Philip 
 Sidney, Knt. 
 
 ' The Defence of Poefy,' the author 
 Sir Philip Sidney, Knight. [Ed. by 
 Lord THURLOW, ' who, after giving a 
 few copies to his friends, fuppreffed the 
 remainder' M.S. note in copy in Britijh 
 Mufeum "JQ.f. 22.] 
 
 Englifli Reprints : fee title at page I. 
 
 II. With other works. 
 
 2. 1598. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 3 - * I 599- Edinburgh. 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 4. 1605. London. 
 
 I voL fol. 
 
 5. 1613. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 6. 1621. Dublin. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 7. *l623 London. 
 [1621?] i vol. fol 
 
 8. * 1622. London. 
 
 i vol. fol. 
 
 The Covnteffe of Pembrokes Arcadia. 
 Written by Sir Philip Sidney Knight. 
 Now the third time publifhed, with 
 fundry new additions of the fame Au- 
 thor. Imprinted for William Pon- 
 fonbie. ' The Defence of Poefie ' oc- 
 cupies pp 491 $18. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 third time publifhed. &c. Publifhed by. 
 Robert. Walde-graue. Lownd. p. 2395. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 fovrth time pvblifhed &c. Imprinted 
 forMATTHEyv. LOVVNES. 'The De- 
 fence of Poefy' occupies pp 491 518. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 fovrth time publifhed &c. Imprinted 
 for H. L. for Simon Water/on. ' The 
 Defence of Poefie' occupies pp49i-5i8. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 fift time publifhed &c. Printed by the 
 Societie of STATIONERS. ' The De- 
 fence of Pojfie' occupies pp 503 530. 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 fifth time publifhed. Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the fixt 
 time publifhed Imprinted by H. L. 
 for S. Waterfon. Lowndes.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 9. * 1627. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 10. * 1629. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 11. 1633. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 12. * 1638. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 13 * 1655. London. 
 I voL 
 
 14. * 1662. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 15. * 1674. London. 
 
 I vol. foL 
 
 16. 1674. London. 
 
 I vol. fol. 
 
 17. * 1683. - 
 
 18. 1724-5. London. 
 
 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 fol. 
 
 19. * 1739. Dublin. 
 
 3 vols. I2mo. 
 21. 1787. London. 
 
 I vol. Svo. 
 
 23. 1829. Oxford. 
 
 i vol. Svo. 
 
 24. i86o. Boston, U.S 
 I voL Svo. 
 
 Printed for 
 R. YOUNG. 
 occupies pp 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 fixt time published. Imprinted by W. 
 S. for S. Waterfon Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 feventh time publifhed. Printed for H. 
 L. and R. V. Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 eighth time publifhed. 
 SIMON WATERSON and 
 'The Defence of Poefie' 
 540566. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Now the 
 ninth time publifhed Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Tenth edition 
 Printed for Du GARD. Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Eleventh 
 edition. Lowndes. 
 
 The fame title as No. 2. Twelfth 
 edition. LOWNDES. 
 
 The Countefs of Pembroke's Arcadia 
 written by Sir Philip Sidney, Knight. 
 The Thirteenth Edition With his Life 
 and Death ; a brief Table of the prin- 
 cipal Heads, and fome other new Addi- 
 tions. Printed for George Calvert. 
 c The Defence of Poefie' occupies pp. 
 540566. 
 
 Watts quotes an edition of the Ar- 
 cadia, &c., of this year. Lowndes. 
 
 The works of the Honourable Sir 
 Philip Sidney; KL The Fourteenth 
 Edition. ' The Defense of Poefy' occu- 
 pies iii. I 52 : the pagination recom- 
 mencing, in the middle of this volume, 
 with it. 
 
 The Works, in Profe and Verfe. 
 Lowndes. 
 
 Sir Philip Sydney's 'Defence of 
 Poetry '.-and ' Obfervations on Poetry 
 and Eloquence' from the ' Difcoveries ' 
 of Ben Jonfon [Ed, by Dr JOSEPH 
 WARTON.] 
 
 The mifcellaneous works of Sir 
 Philip Sidney, Knt. Ed. by WILLIAM 
 GRAYS of Magdalen College, and the 
 Inner Temple. ' The Defence of 
 Poefy' occupies pp I 66. 
 
 A reprint of No. 23. Lowndes.
 
 AN 
 
 APOLOGIE 
 
 for Poetrie. 
 
 Written by the right noble, vertu- 
 ous, and learned Sir Phillip 
 Sidney, Knight. 
 
 Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo 
 
 AT LONDON, 
 
 Printed for Henry Olney, and are to be fold at ' 
 his fhop in Paules Church-yard, at the figne 
 of the George, neere to Cheap-gate. 
 Anno. 1595.
 
 16 
 
 To the Reader. 
 
 THE ftormie Winter (deere Chyldren of the Mufes, 
 which hath fo long held backe the glorious Sun- 
 fhine of diuine Poefie, is heere by the facred 
 pen-breathing words of diuine Sir Philip Sidney, not 
 onely chafed from our fame-inuiting Clyme, but vtterly 
 for euer banifht eternitie : then gracioufly regreet the 
 perpetuall fpring of euer-growing inuention, and like 
 kinde Babes, either enabled by wit or power, help to 
 fupport me poore Midwife, whofe daring aduenture, 
 hath deliuered from Obliuions wombe, this euer-to-be- 
 admired wits miracle. Thofe great ones, who in them- 
 felues haue interr'd this bleffed innocent, wil with 
 Aejculapius condemne me as a detractor from their 
 Deities: thofe who Prophet-like haue but heard prefage 
 of his coming, wil (if they wil doe wel) not onely defend, 
 but praife mee, as the firft publique bewrayer of Poefies 
 Mefsias. Thofe who neither haue feene, thereby to 
 interre, nor heard, by which they might be inflamed 
 with defire to fee, let them (of duty) plead to be my 
 Champions, fith both theyr fight and hearing, by mine 
 incurring blame is feafoned. Excellent Poefie, (focreated 
 by this Apologie,) be thou my Defendrefle ; and if any 
 wound mee, let thy beautie (my foules Adamant) recure 
 mee: if anie commend mine endeuored hardiment, 
 to them commend thy mofl diuineft fury as a winged 
 incouragement ; fo malt thou haue deuoted to thee, 
 and *o them obliged 
 
 Henry Olney.
 
 Foure Sonnets written by Henrie Conjlable 
 to Sir Phillip Sidneys foule. 
 
 Glue pardon (bleffed Soule) to my bold cryes 
 If they (importund) interrupt thy fong, 
 Which nowe with ioyfull notes thou iing'ft, among 
 The Angel-Quiriflers of heau'nly fkyes : 
 
 Giue pardon eake (fweet Soule) to my flow cries, 
 That fmce I faw thee now it is fo long, 
 And yet the teares that vnto thee belong, 
 To thee as yet they did not facrifice : 
 
 I did not know that thou wert dead before, 
 I did not feele the griefe I did fufteine, 
 " The greater flroke aftonifheth the more, 
 " Aftonifhment takes from vs fence of paine, 
 
 I flood amaz'd when others teares begun, 
 
 And now begin to weepe, when they haue doone. 
 
 SWeet Soule which now with heau'nly fongs doofltel 
 Thy deare Redeemers glory, and his prayfe, 
 No meruaile though thy fkilful Mufe, affayes 
 The fongs of other foules there to excell : 
 
 For thou didfl learne to fing diuinely well, 
 
 Long time before thy fayre, and glittering rayes 
 Encreas'd the light of heau'n, for euen thy layes 
 Mod heauenly were, when thou on earth didft dvvel : 
 
 When thou didfl on the earth fing Poet-wife, 
 Angels in heau'n pray'd for thy company, 
 And now thou fing'ft with Angels in the fides, 
 Shall not all Poets praife thy memory ? 
 
 And to thy name mall not their works giue fame 
 
 When as their works be f \veetned by thy name? 
 
 B
 
 EVen as when great mens heires cannot agree : 
 So eu'ry vertue now for part of thee doth fue, 
 Courage prooues by thydeath thyhart to be his due, 
 Eloquence claimes thy tongue, and fo doth courtefy, 
 Inuention knowledge fues, Judgment fues memory, 
 Each faith thy head is his, and what end fhall enfue 
 Of this ftrife know I not, but this I know for true, 
 That whofoeuer gaines the fute, the loffe haue wee 
 Wee, (I meane all the world) the lofle to all pertaineth, 
 Yea they which gaine doe loofe, and onely thy 
 
 foule gaineth, 
 
 For loofmg of one life, two Hues are gained then : 
 Honor thy courage mou'd, courage thy death did 
 
 giue, 
 
 Death, courage, honor, makes thy foule to Hue, 
 Thy foule to Hue in heau'n, thy name in tongues of men. 
 
 GReat Alexander then did well declare 
 How great was his vnited Kingdomes might, 
 When eu'ry Captaine of his Army might 
 After his death with mighty Kings compare : 
 
 So now we fee after thy death, how far 
 
 Thou doft in worth furpaffe each other Knight, 
 When we admire him as no mortall wight, 
 In whom the leaft of all thy vertues are : 
 
 One did of Macedon the King become, 
 Another fat in the Egiptian throne, 
 But onely Alexanders felfe had all : 
 So curteous fome, and fome be liberall, 
 
 Some witty, wife, valiaunt, and learned fome, 
 
 But King of all the vertues thou alone. 
 
 Henry Conflable.
 
 An Apologie for Poetrie. 
 
 >Hen the right vertuous Edward 
 Wotton, and I, were at the Emperors 
 Court together, wee gaue our felues to 
 learn e horfemanfhip of John Pietro 
 _ Pugliano : one that with great com- 
 
 mendation had the place of an Efquire in his flable. 
 And hee, according to he fertilnes of the Italian 
 wit, did not onely afoord vs the demonftration of his 
 praclife, but fought to enrich our mindes with the 
 contemplations therein, which hee thought mofl 
 precious. But with none I remember mine eares 
 were at any time more loden, then when (either 
 angred with flowe paiment, or mooued with our 
 learner-like admiration,) he exercifed his fpeech in the 
 prayfe of his facultie. Hee fayd, Souldiours were the 
 nobleft eftate of mankinde, and horfemen, the nobleft 
 of Souldiours. Hee fayde, they were the Maifters of 
 warre, and ornaments of peace : fpeedy goers, and 
 ftrong abiders, triumphers both in Camps and Courts. 
 Nay, to fo vnbeleeued a poynt hee proceeded, as that 
 no earthly thing bred fuch wonder to a Prince, as to 
 be a good horfeman. Skill of gouernment, was but a 
 Pedanteria in comparison : then would hee adde cer- 
 taine prayfes, by telling what a peerleffe beaft a 
 horfe was. The onely feruiceable Courtier with- 
 out flattery, the beaft of mod beutie, faithfulnes, 
 courage, and fuch more, that if I had not beene a 
 peece of a Logician before I came to him, I think he 
 would haue perfwaded mee to haue wifhed my felfe a 
 horfe. But thus much at lead with his no fewe words 
 hee draue into me, that felfe-loue is better then any 
 guilding to make that feeme gorgious, wherein our 
 felues are parties. Wherein, if Pugliano his flrong
 
 20 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 affection and weake arguments will not fatisfie you, I 
 wil giue you a neerer example of my felfe, who (I 
 knowe not by what mifchance) in thefe my not old 
 yeres and ideleft times, hauing dipt into the title of a 
 Poet, am prouoked to fay fomthing vnto you in the 
 defence of that my vnelecled vocation, which if I 
 handle with more good will then good reafons, beare 
 with me, fith the fcholler is to be pardoned that 
 foloweth the fleppes of his Maifter. And yet I mufl 
 fay, that as I haue iuft caufe to make a pittiful defence 
 of poore Poetry, which from almofl the higheft efti- 
 mation of learning, is fallen to be the laughingftocke 
 of children. So haue I need to bring fome more 
 auaileable proofes : fith the former is by no man 
 barred of his deferued credite, the filly latter hath 
 had euen the names of Philofophers vfed to the 
 defacing of it, with great danger of ciuill war among 
 the Mufes. And firft, truly to al them that profefsing 
 learning inueigh againfl Poetry, may iuftly be ob- 
 jected, that they goe very neer to vngratfulnes, to 
 feek to deface that, which in the nobleft nations and 
 languages that are knowne, hath been the firft light- 
 giuer to ignorance, and firft Nurfe, whofe milk by 
 little and little enabled them to feed afterwards of 
 tougher knowledges: and will they now play trie Hedg- 
 hog, that being receiued into the den, draue out his 
 hoft ? or rather the Vipers, that with theyr birth kill 
 their Parents ? Let learned Greece in any of her 
 manifold Sciences, be able to mew me one booke, 
 before Mufaus, Homer, and Hefiodus, all three nothing 
 els but Poets. Nay, let any hiftorie be brought, that 
 can fay any Writers were there before them, if they 
 were not men of the fame skil, as Orpheus, Linns, 
 and fome other are named : who hauing beene the 
 firft of that Country, that made pens deliuerers of 
 their knowledge to their poflerity, may iuftly chal- 
 lenge to bee called their Fathers in learning: for not 
 only in time they had this priority (although in it felf 
 antiquity be venerable) but went before them, as
 
 FOR rOETRIE. n 
 
 caufes to drawe with their charming fweetnes, the wild 
 vntamed wits to an admiration of knowledge. So as 
 Amp/iion was fayde to moue Hones with his Poetrie, 
 to build Thebes. And Orpheus to be liftened to by 
 beaftes, indeed, flony and beallly people. So among 
 the Romans were Liuius, Andronicus, and Ennins. So 
 in the Italian language, the firfl that made it afpire to 
 be a Treafure-houfe of Science, were the Poets Dante, 
 Boccace, and Petrarch. So in our Englifh were Gower 
 and Chawcer. 
 
 After whom, encouraged and delighted with theyr 
 excellent fore-going, others haue followed, to beautifie 
 our mother tongue, as wel in the fame kinde as in 
 other Arts. This did fo notably fhewe it felfe, that 
 the Phylofophers of Greece, durft not a long time 
 appeare to the worlde but vnder the masks of Poets. 
 So Thalt's, Empedochs, and Partmnides, fange their 
 naturall Phylofophie in verfes : fo did Pythagoras and 
 Fhorilides their morral counfells : fo did Tirteus in war 
 matters, and Solon in matters of policie : or rather, 
 they beeing Poets, dyd exercife their delightful vaine 
 in thofe points of higheft knowledge, which before 
 them lay hid to the world. For that wife Solon was 
 directly a Poet, it is manifeft, hauing written in verfe, 
 the notable fable of the Atlantick Hand, which was 
 continued by Plato. 
 
 And truely, euen Plato, whofoeuer well confider- 
 eth, fhall find, that in the body of his work, though 
 the infide and flrength were Philofophy, the fkinne as 
 it were and beautie, depended mofl of Poetrie : for 
 all ftandeth vpon Dialogues, wherein he faineth many 
 honeft Burgeffes of Athens to fpeake of fuch matters, 
 that if they had been fette on the racke, they would 
 neuer haue confeffed them. Befides, his poetical de- 
 fcribing the circumflances of their meetings, as the 
 well ordering of a banquet, the delicacie of a walke, 
 with enterlacing meere tales, as Giges Ring, and 
 others, which who knoweth not to be flowers of Poe- 
 trie, did neuer walke into Appolos Garden.
 
 22 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 And euen Hifloriographers, (although theyr lippes 
 founde of things doone, and veritie be written in theyr 
 fore-heads,) haue been glad to borrow both fafhion, 
 and perchance weight of Poets. So Herodotus enti- 
 tuled his Hiftorie, by the name of the nine Mufes . 
 and both he and all the reft that followed him, either 
 ilole or vfurped of Poetrie, their paffionate describing 
 of pafsions, the many particularities of battailes, which 
 no man could affirme : or if that be denied me, long 
 Orations put in the mouthes of great Kings and Cap 
 taines, which it is certaine they neuer pronounced. 
 So that truely, neyther Phylofopher nor Hiftoriogra- 
 pher, coulde at the firft haue entred into the gates of 
 populer Judgements, if they had not taken a great paf- 
 port of Poetry, which in all Nations at this day wher 
 learning florifheth not, is plaine to be feene : in all 
 which they haue fome feeling of Poetry. In Turky, 
 befides their lawe-giuing Diuines, they haue no other 
 Writers but Poets. In our neighbour Countrey Ire- 
 land, where truelie learning goeth very bare, yet are 
 theyr Poets held in a deuoute reuerence. Euen 
 among the mofl barbarous and fimple Indians where 
 no writing is, yet haue they their Poets, who make 
 and fing fongs which they call Areytos, both of theyr 
 Aunceftors deedes, and praifes of theyr Gods. A fuffi- 
 cient probabilitie, that if euer learning come among 
 them, it muft be by hauing theyr hard dull wits foft- 
 ned and fharpened with the fweete delights of Poe- 
 trie. For vntill they find a pleafure in the exercifes 
 of the minde, great promifes of much knowledge, will 
 little perfwade them, that knowe not the fruites of 
 knowledge. In Wales, the true remnant of the 
 auncient Brittons, as there are good authorities to 
 fhewe the long time they had Poets, which they called 
 Bardes : fo thorough all the conquefts of Romaines, 
 Saxons, Danes, and Normans, fome of whom did feeke 
 to mine all memory of learning from among them, yet 
 doo their Poets euen to this day, laft ; fo as it is not 
 more notable in foone beginning then in long continu-
 
 FOR POETRIE. 23 
 
 ing. But fmce the Authors of moft of our Sciences 
 were the Romans, and before them the Greekes, let 
 vs a little fland vppon their authorities, but euen fo 
 farre as to fee, what names they haue giuen vnto this 
 now fcorned flcill. 
 
 Among the Romans a Poet was called Vates, which 
 is as much as a Diuiner, Fore-feer, or Prophet, as by 
 his conioyned wordes Vaticinium and Vaticinari, is 
 manifeft : fo heauenly a title did that excellent people 
 bellow vpon this hart-rauiming knowledge. And fo 
 farre were they carried into the admiration thereof, 
 that they thought in the chaunceable hitting vppon any 
 fuch verfes, great fore-tokens of their following fortunes 
 were placed. Whereupon grew the worde of Sortes 
 Virgiliana, when by fuddaine opening Virgils booke, 
 they lighted vpon any verfe of hys making, whereot 
 the hiftories of the Emperors liues are full: as ol 
 Albinus the Gouernour of our Hand, who in his childe- 
 hoode mette with this verfe 
 
 Anna amens capio nee fat rationis in armis. 
 
 And in his age performed it, which although it were 
 a very vaine, and godles fuperflition, as alfo it was to 
 think that fpirits were commaunded by fuch verfes, 
 whereupon this word charmes, deriued of Carmina 
 commeth, fo yet ferueth it to mew the great reuerence 
 thofe wits were helde in. And altogether not with- 
 out ground, fmce both the Oracles of Delphos and 
 Sibillas prophecies, where wholy deliuered in verfes. 
 For that fame exquifite obferuing of number and 
 meafure in words, and that high flying liberty of con- 
 ceit proper to the Poet, did feeme to haue fome 
 dyuine force in it. 
 
 And may not I prefume a little further, to mew the 
 reafonablenes of this worde Vatesl And fay that the 
 holy Dauids Pfalmes are a diuine Poem ? If I doo, I 
 fhall not do it without the teflimonie of great learned 
 men, both auncient and moderne : but euen the name 
 Pfalmes will 1'peake for mee, which being interpreted,
 
 24 AN ATOLOGIE 
 
 is nothing but fonges Then that it is fully written in 
 meeter, as all learned Hebricians agree, although the 
 rules be not yet fully found. Laflly and principally, his 
 handeling his prophecy, which is meerely poetical. 
 For what els is the awaking his muficall inflruments ? 
 The often and free changing of perfons ? His notable 
 Profopopcias, when he maketh you as it were, fee God 
 comming in his Maieftie. His telling of the Beaftes 
 ioyfulnes, and hills leaping, but a heauenlie poefie : 
 wherein almoft hee fheweth himfelfe a pafsionate louer, 
 of that vnfpeakable and euerlafting beautie to be feene 
 by the eyes of the minde, onely cleered by fayth. 
 But truely nowe hailing named him, I feare mee I 
 feeme to prophane that holy name, applying it to 
 Poetrie, \yhich is among vs tlirowne downe to fo 
 ridiculous an eftimation : but they that with quiet 
 Judgements will looke a little deeper into it, mail finde 
 the end and working of it fuch, as beeing rightly ap- 
 plyed, deferueth not to bee fcourged out of the Church 
 of God. 
 
 But now, let vs fee how the Greekes named it, and 
 howe they deemed of it. The Greekes called him a 
 Poet, which name, hath as the mod excellent, gone 
 thorough other Languages. It commeth of this word 
 Poiein, which is, to make : wherein I know not, 
 whether by lucke or wifedome, wee Englifhmen haue 
 mette with the Greekes, in calling him a maker: 
 which name, how high and incomparable a title it is, 
 I had rather were knowne by marking the fcope ot 
 other Sciences, then by my partiall allegation. 
 
 There is no Arte deliuered to mankinde, that hath 
 not the workes of Nature for his principall obiect, 
 without which they could not confift, and on which 
 they fo depend, as they become Actors and Players as 
 it were, of what Nature will haue set foorth. So doth 
 the Aflronomer looke vpon the flarres, and by that -he 
 feeth, fetteth downe what order Nature hath taken 
 therein. So doe the Geometrician, and Arithmetician, 
 in their diuerfe forts of quantities. So doth the
 
 FOR POETRIE. 25 
 
 Mufitian in times, tel you which by nature agree, 
 which not. The naturall Philofopher thereon hath his 
 name, and the Morrall Philofopher ftandeth vpon the 
 naturall vertues, vices, and pafsions of man ; and fol- 
 lowe Nature (faith hee) therein, and thou (halt not 
 erre. The Lawyer fayth what men haue determined. 
 The Hiflorian what men haue done. The Grammarian 
 fpeaketh onely of the rules of fpeech, and the Retho- 
 rician, and Logitian, considering what in Nature will 
 fooneft proue and perfwade, thereon giue artificial rules, 
 which ftill are compaffed within the circle of a ques- 
 tion, according to the propofed matter. The Phifition y. 
 waigheth the nature of a mans bodie, and the nature 
 of things helpeful, or hurtefull vnto it. And .the Meta- 
 phifick, though it be in the feconde and abflracl: no- 
 tions, and therefore be counted fupernaturall : yet doth 
 hee indeede builde vpon the depth of Nature : onely 
 the Poet, difdayning to be tied to any fuch fubieclion, 
 lifted vp with the vigor of his owne inuention, dooth 
 growe in effect, another nature, in making things either >( 
 better then Nature bringeth forth, or quite a newe 
 formes fuch as neuer were in Nature, as the Heroes, 
 Demigods, Cyclops, Chimeras, Furies, and fuch like : 
 fo as hee goeth hand in hand with Nature, not in- 
 clofed within the narrow warrant of her guifts, but freely 
 ranging onely within the Zodiack of his owne wit. 
 
 Nature neuer fet forth the earth in fo rich tapiflry, 
 as diuers Poets haue done, neither with plefant riuers, 
 fruitful trees, sweet smelling flowers : nor whatsoeuer 
 els may make the too much loued earth more louely. 
 Her world is brafen, the Poets only deliuer a golden : 
 but let thofe things alone and goe to man, for whom 
 as the other things are, fo it feemeth in him her vtter- 
 moft cunning is imployed, and knowe whether fiiee 
 haue brought foorth fo true a louer as Theagincs, so 
 conftant a friende as Piladcs, fo valiant a man as 
 Orlando, fo right a Prince as Xenophons Cyrus: fo 
 excellent a man euery way, as Virgils Aaieas : neither 
 let this be iestingly conceiued, becaufe the works of
 
 26 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 the one be effemiall : the other, in imitation or fiction, 
 for any vnderftanding knoweth the fkil of the Artificer: 
 flandeth in that Idea or fore-conceite of the work, and 
 not in the work it selfe. And that the Poet hath that 
 Idea, is manifeft, by deliuering them forth in fuch 
 excellencie as hee hath imagined them. Which de- 
 liuering forth also, is not wholie imaginatiue, as we 
 are wont to fay by them that build Caflles in the 
 ayre : but so farre fubftantiallyit worketh, notonely to 
 make a Cyrus, which had been but a particuler excel- 
 lencie, as Nature might haue done, but to beflow a 
 Cyrus vpon the worlde, to make many Cyrus's, if they 
 wil learne aright, why, and how that Maker made 
 him. 
 
 Neyther let it be deemed too fawcie a comparifon 
 to ballance the higheft poynt of mans wit with the effi- 
 cacie of Nature : but rather giue right honor to the 
 heauenly Maker of that maker : who hauing made 
 man to his owne likenes, fet him beyond and ouer all 
 the workes of that fecond nature, which in nothing 
 hee fheweth fo much as in Poetrie : when with the force 
 of a diuine breath, he bringeth things forth far sur- 
 paffing her dooings, with no fmall argument to the 
 incredulous of that firft accurfed fall of Adam : fith 
 our erected wit, maketh vs know what perfection is, 
 and yet our infected will, keepeth vs from reaching 
 vnto it. But thefe arguments wil by fewe be vnder- 
 stood, and by fewer granted. Thus much (I hope) will 
 be giuen me, that the Greekes with some probabilitie of 
 reafon, gaue him the name aboue all names of learn- 
 ing. Now let vs goe to a more ordinary opening of 
 him, that the trueth may be more palpable : and fo I 
 hope, though we get not fo vnmatched a praife as the 
 Etimologie of his names wil grant, yet his very des- 
 cription, which no man will denie, (hall not iuflly be 
 barred from a principall commendation. 
 
 Poefie therefore is an arte of imitation, for so Aris- 
 totle termeth it in his word Mimefis, that is to say, a 
 reprefenting, counterfetting, or figuring Yoorth : to
 
 FOR FOE TRIE, 27 
 
 fpeake metaphorically, a fpeaking picture : with this 
 end, to teach and delight ; of this haue beene three 
 feuerall kindes. The chiefe both in antiquitie and , 
 excellencie, were they that did imitate the inconceiuable 
 excellencies of GOD. Such were, Dauid in his 
 Pfalmes, Salomon in his song of Songs, in his Eccle- 
 siaftes, and Prouerbs : Mofes and Debora in theyr 
 Hymnes, and the writer of lob ; which befide other, 
 the learned Emanuell Tremillus and Franrifciis litmus, 
 doe entitle the poeticall part of the Scripture. Againfl 
 these none will fpeake that hath the holie Ghoft in due 
 holy reuerence. 
 
 In this kinde, though in a full wrong diuinitie, were 
 Orpheus, Amphion, Homer in his hymes, and many 
 other, both Greekes and Romaines : and this Poefie 
 muft be vfed, by whofoeuer will follow S. lames his 
 counfell, in fmging Pfalmes when they are merry : 
 and I knowe is vfed with the fruite of comfort by fome, 
 when in forrowfull pangs of their death-bringing 
 finnes, they find the confolation of the neuer-leauing 
 goodneffe. 
 
 The fecond kinde, is of them that deale with 
 matters Philofophicall ; eyther morrall, as Tirtcus, 
 Phodlides and Cato, or naturall, as Lucretius and 
 Virgils Georgicks : or Ailronomicall, as Manilius, and 
 Pontanus : or hiftorical, as Lucan : which who miflike, 
 the faulte is in their iudgements quite out of tafte, 
 and not in the fweet foode of fweetly vttered know- 
 ledge. But becaufe thys fecond forte is wrapped 
 within the folde of the propofed fubiect, and takes 
 not the courfe of his owne inuention, whether they 
 properly be Poets or no, let Gramarians difpute : 
 and goe to the thyrd, indeed right Poets, of whom ' 
 chiefly this queftion arifeth ; betwixt whom, and thefe 
 fecond is fuch a kinde of difference, as betwixt the 
 meaner fort of Painters, (who counterfet onely fuch 
 faces* as are fette before them) and the more excel- 
 lent : who hauing no law but wit, beftow that in 
 cullours vpon you which is fitted for the eye to fee :
 
 28 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 as the conflant, though lamenting looke of Lucrecia, 
 when me punifhed in her felfe an others fault. 
 
 Wherein he painteth not Lucrecia whom he neuei 
 fawe, but painteth the outwarde beauty of fuch a 
 vertue : for thefe third be they which mofl properly 
 do imitate to teach and delight, and to imitate, borrow 
 nothing of what is, hath been, or mall be : but range 
 onely rayned with learned discretion, into the diuine 
 confideration of what may be, and mould be. Thefe 
 bee they, that as the firft and mofl noble forte, may 
 iuftly bee termed Vates, fo thefe are waited on in the 
 excellence] ft languages and bell vnderilandings, with 
 the fore defcribed name of Poets : for thefe indeede doo 
 meerely make to imitate : and imitate both to delight 
 and teach : and delight to moue men to take that good- 
 nes in hande, which without delight they would flye as 
 from a ftranger. And teach,>to make them know that 
 goodnes whereunto they are mooued, which being the 
 nobleft fcope to which euer any learning was directed, 
 yet want there not idle tongues to barke at them. 
 Thefe be fubdiuided into fundry more fpeciall deno- 
 minations. The moft notable bee the Heroick, Lirick, 
 Tragick, Comtek, Salirick, latnbick, Elcgiack, Paflorall, 
 and certaine others. Some of thefe being termed 
 according to the matter they deale with, fome by the 
 forts of verfes they liked beft to write in, for indeede 
 the greateft part of Poets have apparelled their poeticall 
 inuentions in that numbrous kinde of writing which is 
 called verfe : indeed but apparelled, verfe being but 
 an ornament and no caufe to Poetry : fith there haue 
 beene many moft excellent Poets, that neuer verfified, 
 and now f \varme many verfifiers that neede neuer 
 aunfwere to the name of Poets. For Xenophon, who 
 did imitate fo excellently, as to giue vs effigicm iufti 
 imperij, the portraiture of a iull Empire vnder the 
 name of Cyrus, (as Cicero fayth of him) made therein 
 an abfolute heroicall Poem. 
 
 So did Heliodorus in his fugred inuention of that 
 picture of loue in Thea%ines and Cariclea, and yet
 
 FOR POETRIE. 29 
 
 both thefe writ in Profe : which I fpeak to mew, that 
 it is not riming and verfing that maketh a Poet, no 
 more then a long gowne maketh an Aduocate : who 
 though he pleaded in armor fhould be an Aduocate 
 and no Souldier. But it is that fayning notable images 
 of vertues, vices, or what els, with that delightt'ull 
 teaching which mufl be the right defcribing note to 
 know a Poet by : although indeed the Senate of Poets 
 hath chofen verfe as their fitted rayment, meaning, as 
 in matter they pafled all in all, fo in maner to goe 
 beyond them : not fpeaking (table talke fafhion or 
 like men in a dreame,) words as they chanceably fall 
 from the mouth, but peyzing each fillable of each 
 worde by iuft proportion according to the dignitie of 
 the fubiect. 
 
 Nowe therefore it mall not bee amiffe firfl to waigh 
 this latter fort of Poetrie by his works, and then by 
 his partes; and if in neyther of thefe Anatomies hee be 
 condemnable, I hope wee mail obtaine a more fauour- 
 able fentence. This purifing of wit, this enritching 
 of memory, enabling of Judgment, and enlarging of 
 conceyt, which commonly we call learning, vnder 
 what name ibeuer it com forth, or to what immediat 
 end foeuer it be directed, the final end is, to lead 
 and draw vs to as high a perfection, as our degenerate 
 foules made worfe by theyr clayey lodgings, can be 
 capable of. This according to the inclination of the 
 man, bred many formed imprefsions, for fome that 
 thought this felicity principally to be gotten by know- 
 ledge, and no knowledge to be fo high and heauenly, 
 as acquaintance with the ftarres, gaue themfelues to 
 Aflronomie ; others, perfwading themfelues to be Demi- 
 gods if they knewe the caufes of things, became naturall 
 and fupernaturall Philofophers, fome an admirable 
 delight drew to Muficke : and fome, the certainty of 
 demonftration, to the Mathematickes. But all, one, 
 and other, hailing this fcope to knowe, and by know- 
 ledge to lift vp the mind from the dungeon of the 
 body, to the enioying his owne diuine effence. But
 
 30 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 when by the ballance of experience it was found, that 
 the Aftronomer looking to the ftarres might fall into a 
 ditch, that the enquiring Philofopher might be blinde 
 in himfelfe, and the Mathematician might draw foorth 
 a flraight line with a crooked hart : then loe, did 
 proofe the ouer ruler of opinions, make manifeft, that 
 all thefe are but feruing Sciences, which as they haue 
 each a priuate end in themfelues, fo yet are they all 
 directed to the higheft end of the miftres Knowledge, 
 by the Greekes called Arkitecktonike, which {lands, (as 
 I thinke) in the knowledge of a mans felfe, in the 
 Ethicke and politick confideration, with the end of 
 well dooing and not of well knowing onely ; euen as 
 the Sadlers next end is to make a good faddle : but 
 his farther end, to ferue a nobler facultie, which 
 is horfemanfhip, fo the horfemans to souldiery, and 
 the Souldier not onely to haue the fkill, but to per- 
 forme the praclife of a Souldier : fo that the ending 
 end of all earthly learning, being vertuous action, 
 thofe fkilles that mod ferue to bring forth that, haue 
 a moft iuft title to bee Princes ouer all the reft: 
 wherein if wee can fhewe the Poets noblenes, by set- 
 ting him before his other Competitors, among whom 
 as principall challengers flep forth the morrall Philo- 
 fophers, whom me thinketh, I fee comming towards 
 me with a fullen grauity, as though they could not 
 abide vice by day light, rudely clothed for to witnes 
 outwardly their contempt of outward things, with 
 bookes in their hands agaynll glory, whereto they 
 fette theyr names, fophiftically fpeaking againft fub- 
 tility, and angry with any man in whom they fee the 
 foule fault of anger: thefe men calling larges as they 
 goe, of Definitions, Diuifions, and Diftinclions, with 
 a fcornefull interogatiue, doe foberly aske, whether 
 it bee pofsible to finde any path, fo ready to leade 
 a man to vertue, as that which teacheth what vertue 
 is? and teacheth it not onely by deliuering forth 
 his very being, his caufes, and effects : but alfo, by 
 making known his enemie vice, which mufl be de-
 
 FOR POETRIE. 31 
 
 flroyed, and his comberfome feruant Pafsion, which 
 muft be maiftered, by mewing the generalities that 
 contayneth it, and the fpecialities that are deriued from 
 it. Laflly, by playne fetting downe, how it extendeth 
 it felfe out of the limits of a mans own little world, 
 to the gouemment of families, and maintayning of 
 publicjue focieties. 
 
 The Hiftorian, fcarcely giueth leyfure to the Mo- 
 ralift, to fay fo much, but that he loden with old 
 Moufe-eaten records, authorifmg himfelfe (for the 
 moft part) vpon other hiflories, whofe greateft 
 authorities, are built vpon the notable foundation of 
 Heare-fay, hauing much a-doe to accord differing 
 Writers, and to pick trueth out of partiality, better 
 acquainted with a thoufande yeereS a goe, then with 
 the prefent age : and yet better knowing how this 
 world goeth, then how his owne wit runneth : curious 
 for antiquities, and inquifitiue of nouelties, a wonder 
 to young folkes, and a tyrant in table talke, denieth 
 in a great chafe, that any man for teaching of ver- 
 tue, and vertuous aclions, is comparable to him. 
 I am Lux vita, Temporum Magijlra, Vita memories, 
 Nuncia vetuflatis. &*c. 
 
 The Phylofopher (fayth hee) teacheth a difputa- 
 tiue vertue, but I doe an acliue : his vertue is ex- 
 cellent in the dangerleffe Academic of Plato, but mine 
 fheweth foorth her honorable face, in the battailes of 
 Marathon, Pharfalia, Poitiers, and Agincourt. Hee 
 teacheth vertue by certaine abftracl confiderations, 
 but I onely bid you follow the footing of them that 
 haue gone before you. Olde-aged experience, goeth 
 beyond the fme-witted Phylofopher, but I giue the 
 experience of many ages. Laflly, if he make the 
 Song-booke, I put the learners hande to the Lute : 
 and if hee be the guide, I am the light. 
 
 Then woulde hee alledge you innumerable ex- 
 amples, conferring florie by florie, how much the 
 wifeft Senatours and Princes, haue beene directed by 
 the credite of hiftory, as Brutus, Alphonfus Q{ Aragon, 
 and who not, if need bee ? At length, the long lyne
 
 ? ,2 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 of theyr difputation maketh a poynt in thys, that the 
 one giueth the precept, and the other the example. 
 
 Nowe, whom mail wee finde (fith the queflion 
 ftandeth for the higheft forme in the Schoole of learn- 
 ing) to bee Moderator? Trulie, as me feemeth, the 
 Poet ; and if not a Moderator, euen the man that 
 ought to carrie the title from them both, and much 
 more from all other feruing Sciences. Therefore 
 compare we the Poet with the Hiftorian, and with the 
 Morrall Phylofopher, and, if hee goe beyond them both, 
 no other humaine fkill can match him. For as for the 
 Diuine, with all reuerence it is euer to be excepted, 
 not only for hauing his fcope as far beyonde any of 
 thefe, as eternitie exceedeth a moment, but euen for 
 pafsing each of thefe in themfelues. 
 
 And for the Lawyer, though his bee the Daughter 
 of luftice, and luftice the chiefe of Vertues, yet 
 becaufe hee feeketh to'make men good, rather Formi- 
 dinepancz, then Virtutis amore, or to fay righter, dooth 
 not indeuour to make men good, but that their euill 
 hurt not others : hauing no care fo hee be a good Citti- 
 zen ; how bad a man he be. Therefore, as our wick- 
 edneffe maketh him necefsarie, and necefsitie maketh 
 him honorable, fo is hee not in the deepeft trueth to 
 ftande in rancke with thefe ; who all indeuour to take 
 naughtines away, and plant goodneffe euen in the 
 fecreteft cabinet of our foules. And thefe foure are 
 all, that any way deale in that confideration of mens 
 manners, which beeing the fupreme knowledge, they 
 that beil breed it, deferue the beft commendation. 
 
 The Philofopher therfore and the Hiftorian, are 
 they which would win the gole : the one by precept, 
 the other by example. But both not hauing both, 
 doe both halte. For the Philofopher, fetting downe 
 with thorny argument the bare rule, is fo hard ot 
 vtterance, and fo miftie to bee conceiued, that one 
 that hath no other guide but him, mall wade in him 
 till hee be olde, before he fhall finde fufficient caufe to 
 bee honeft : for his knowledge ftandeth fo vpon the 
 abftrac"l and generall, that happie is that man who
 
 FOR POETRIE. 33 
 
 may vnderflande him, and more happie, that can 
 applye what hee dooth vnderfland. 
 
 On the other fide, the Hiftorian wanting the precept, 
 is fo tyed, not to what fhoulde bee, but to what is, to the 
 particuler truth of things, and not to the general rea- 
 fon of things, that hys example draweth no neceffary 
 confequence, and therefore a leffe fruitfull doctrine. 
 
 Nowe dooth the peerelefie Poet performe both : for 
 whatfoeuer the Philofopher fayth fhoulde be doone, 
 hee giueth a perfect picture of it in fome one, by 
 whom hee prefuppofeth it was done. So as hee coup- 
 leth the general! notion with the particuler example. 
 A perfect picture I fay, for hee yeeldeth to the powers 
 of the minde, an image of that whereof the Philofo- 
 pher befloweth but a woordifh defcription : which 
 dooth neyther strike, pierce, nor poffeffe the fight of 
 the foule, fo much as that other dooth. 
 
 For as in outward things, to a man that had neuer 
 feene an Elephant or a Rinoceros, who fhould tell him 
 moil exquifitely all theyr fhapes, cullour, bigneffe, and 
 perticular markes : or of a gorgeous Pallace, the 
 Architecture, with declaring the full beauties, might 
 well make the hearer able to repeate as it were by 
 rote, all hee had heard, yet mould neuer fatiffie his in- 
 ward conceits, with being witnes to it felfe of a true 
 liuely knowledge : but the fame man, as foone as hee 
 might fee thofe beafts well painted, or the houfe wel 
 in moddel, fhould ilraightwaies grow without need of 
 any defcription, to a iudicial comprehending of them, 
 fo no doubt the Philofopher with his learned definition, 
 bee it of vertue, vices, matters of publick policie, or 
 priuat gouernment, replenifheth the memory with many 
 infallible grounds of wifdom : which notwithftanding, 
 lye darke before tlfe imaginatiue and Judging powre, 
 if they bee not illuminated or figured foorth by the 
 ipeaking picture of Poefie. 
 
 Tullie taketh much paynes and many times not 
 without poeticall helpes, to make vs knowe the force 
 loue of our Countrey hath in vs. Let vs but heare 
 c
 
 34 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 old Anchifes fpeaking in the middeft of Troyes flames, 
 or fee Vliffes in the fulnes of all Calipfds delights, 
 bewayle his abfence from barraine and beggerly 
 Ithaca. Anger the Stoicks say, was a short maddnes, 
 let but Sophocles bring you Aiax on a ftage, killing 
 and whipping Sheepe and Oxen, thinking them the 
 Army of Greeks, with theyr Chiefetaines Agamemnon 
 and Menelaus, and tell mee if you haue not a more 
 familiar infight into anger, then finding in the Schoole- 
 men his Genus and difference. See whether wifdome 
 and temperance in Vliffes and Diomedes, valure in 
 Achilles, friendfhip in JVz/kr, and Eurialus, euen to 
 an ignoraunt man, carry not an apparent fhyning : 
 and contrarily, the remorfe of confcience in Oedipus, 
 the foone repenting pride of Agamemnon^ the felfe- 
 deuouring crueltie in his Father Atrcus, the violence 
 of ambition in the two Thcban brothers, the fowre- 
 fweetnes of reuenge in Medcea, and to fall lower, the 
 Terentian Gnato, and our Chaucers Pandar, fo ex- 
 preft, that we nowe vfe their names to fignifie their 
 trades. And finally, all vertues, vices, and pafsions, 
 so in their own naturall feates layd to the viewe, that 
 wee feeme not to heare of them, but cleerely to fee 
 through them. But euen in the mod excellent deter- 
 mination of goodnes, what Philofophers counfell can 
 fo redily direct a Prince, as the fayned Cyrus in 
 Xenophont or a vertuous man in all fortunes, as Aeneas 
 in Virgillt or a whole Common-wealth, as the way of 
 Sir Thomas Moores Eutopia ? I fay the way, becaufe 
 where Sir Thomas Moore erred, it was the fault of the 
 man and not of the Poet, for that way of patterning a 
 Common-wealth was moft abfolute, though hee per- 
 chaunce hath not fo abfolutely perfourmed it : for the 
 queflion is, whether the fayned image of Poefie, or 
 the regular inflruclion of Philofophy, hath the more 
 force in teaching : wherein if the Philofophers haue 
 more rightly fhewed themfelues Philofophers, then 
 the Poets haue obtained to the high top of their pro- 
 feffion, as in truth,
 
 FOR POETRIE. 35 
 
 -Mediocribns effepoctis, 
 
 Non Dij\ non homines, non conceffere Columnce : 
 It is I fay againe, not the fault of the Art, but that 
 by fewe men that Arte can bee accomplifhed. 
 
 Certainly, euen our Sauiour Chrift could as well haue 
 giuen, the morrall common places of vncharitablenes 
 and humblenes, as the diuine narration of Diues and 
 Lazarus : or of difobedience and mercy, as that 
 heauenly difcourfe of the loft Child and the gratious 
 Father; but that hys through -fearching wifdom, 
 knewe the eflate of Dives burning in hell, and of 
 Lazarus being in Abrahams bofome, would more 
 conftantly (as it were) inhabit both the memory and 
 judgment. Truly, for my felfe, inee feemes I fee be- 
 fore my eyes the loft Childes difdainefull prodi'gality, 
 turned to enuie a Swines dinner : which by the learned 
 Diuines, are thought not hiftoricall acts, but inflru cling 
 Parables. Forconclufion, I fay the Philofopherteacheth, 
 but he teacheth obfcurely, fo as the learned onely can 
 vnderftande him : that is to fay, he teacheth them that 
 are already taught, but the Poet is the foode for the 
 tendereft flomacks, the Poet is indeed the right 
 Popular Philofopher, whereof Efops tales giue good 
 proofe : whofe pretty Allegories, ftealing vnder the 
 formal] tales of Beaftes, make many, more beaftly 
 then Beads, begin to heare the found of vertue from 
 thefe dumbe fpeakers. 
 
 But now may it be alledged, that if this imagining 
 of matters be fo fitte for the imagination, then mufl 
 the Hiftorian needs furpaffe, who bringeth you images 
 of true matters, fuch as indeede were doone, and not 
 fuch as fantaftically or falfely may be fuggefted to 
 haue been doone. Truely Ariflotle himfelfe in his 
 difcourfe of Poefie, plainely determineth this queftion, 
 faying, that Poetry is Philofophoteron and Spoudaioterbn, 
 that is to fay, it is more Philofophicall, and more 
 ftudioufly ferious, then hiftory. His reafon is, becaufe 
 Poefie dealeth with Katholou, that is to lay, with the 
 vniuerfall confideration ; and the hiftory with Kathe-
 
 36 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 kajlon, the particular ; nowe fayth he, the vniuerfali 
 waves what is fit to bee fayd or done, eyther in likeli- 
 hood or necefsity, (which the Poefie confidereth in his 
 impofed names,) and the perticuler, onely mark's, 
 whether Aldbiades&A^ or fuffered, this or that. Thus 
 farre Ari/lotle : which reafon of his, (as all his) is moll 
 full of reafon. For indeed, if the queflion were whether 
 it were better to haue a perticular acte truly or falfly 
 fet down : there is no doubt which is to be chofen, no 
 more then whether you had rather haue Vefpafians 
 picture right as hee was, or at the Painters pleafure 
 nothing refembling. But if the queftion be for your 
 owne vfe and learning, whether it be better to haue it 
 fet downe as it mould be, or as it was : then certainely 
 is more doctrinable the fained Cirus QlXenophon then 
 the true Cyrus in lujline: and the fayned Aeneas in 
 Virgil, then the right Aeneas in Dares Phrigius. 
 
 As to a Lady that defired to fafhion her counten- 
 ance to the beft grace, a Painter mould more benefite 
 her to portraite a moft fweet face, wryting Canidia 
 vpon it, then to paynt Canidia as fhe was, who Horace 
 fweareth, was foule and ill fauoured. 
 
 If the Poet doe his part a-right, he will mew you in 
 Tantalus, Atreus, and fuch like, nothing that is not to 
 be fhunned. In Cyrus, Aeneas, Vliffes, each thing to 
 be followed ; where the Hiftorian, bound to tell things 
 as things were, cannot be liberall (without hee will be 
 poeticall) of a perfect patterne : but as in Alexander 
 or Scipio himfelfe, mew dooings, fome to be liked, fome 
 to be mifliked. And then how will you difcerne what to 
 followe but by your owne difcretion, which you had 
 without reading Quintus Curtius ? And whereas a 
 man may fay, though in vniuerfali confideration of 
 doctrine the Poet preuaileth ; yet that the hiftorie, in 
 his faying fuch a thing was doone, doth warrant a man 
 more in that hee (hall follow. 
 
 The aunfwere is manifeft, that if hee ftande vpon 
 that was ; as if hee mould argue, becaufe it rayned 
 yefterday, therefore it fhoulde rayne to day, then
 
 FOR POETRIE. 37 
 
 indeede it hath fome aduantage to a grofe concelte : 
 but if he know an example onlie, informes a 
 coniedlured likelihood, and fo goe by reafon, the 
 Poet dooth fo farre exceede him, as hee is to frame 
 his example to that which is mofl reafonable : be it in 
 warlike, politick, or priuate matters ; where the His- 
 torian in his bare VVas, hath many times that which 
 wee call fortune, to ouer-rule the beft wifedome. 
 Manie times, he muft tell euents, whereof he can 
 yeelde no caufe : or if hee doe, it muft be poeticall ; 
 for that a fayned example, hath afmuch force to teach, 
 as a true example : (for as for to mooue, it is cleere, 
 fith the fayned may bee tuned to the higheft key of 
 pafsion) let vs take one example, wherein a Poet and 
 a Hiftorian doe concur. 
 
 Herodotus and lufline do both teftifie, that Zopirus, 
 King Darius faithful feruaunt, feeing his Maifter long 
 refifted by the rebellious Babilonians, fayned himfelfe 
 in extreame difgrace of his King : for verifying of 
 which, he caufed his own nofe and eares to be cut off: 
 and fo flying to the Babylonians, was receiued : and 
 for his knowne valour, fo far credited, that hee did 
 finde meanes to deliuer them ouer to Darius. Much 
 like matter doth Liuie record of Tarquinius and his 
 fonne. Xenophon excellently faineth fuch another 
 flratageme, performed by Abradates in Cyrus behalfe. 
 Now would I fayne know, if occafion bee prefented 
 vnto you, to ferue your Prince by fuch an honeft 
 difsimulation, why you doe not as well learne it of 
 Xenophons fiction, as of the others verity : and truely fo 
 much the better, as you fhall faue your nofe by the 
 bargaine : for Abradates did not counterfet fo far. So 
 then the beft of the Hiftorian, is fubiecl to the Poet ; 
 for whatfoeuer a<5tion, or faction, whatfoeuer counfell, 
 pollicy, orwarre ftratagem, the Hiftorian is bound to 
 recite, that may the Poet (if he lift) with his imitation 
 make his own ; beautifying it both for further teaching, 
 and more delighting, as it pleafeth him : hauing all, 
 from Dante his heauen, to hys hell, vnder the authoritie
 
 33 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 of his penne. Which if I be asked what Poets haue 
 done fo, as I might well name fome, yet fay I, and fay 
 againe, I fpeak of the Arte, and not of the Artificer. 
 
 Nowe, to that which commonly is attributed to 
 the piayfe of hiftories, in refpecl: of the notable 
 learning is gotten by marking the fucceffe, as though 
 therein a man fhould fee vertue . exaK.-d, and vice 
 punifhed. Truely that commendation ij peculiar to 
 Poetrie, and farre of from Hiftory. For indeede 
 Poetrie euer fetteth vertue fo out in her beft cullours, 
 making Fortune her wel-wayting hand-mayd, that one 
 muft needs be enamored of her. Well may you fee 
 Vliffes in a ftorme, and in other hard plights ; but 
 they are but exercifes of patience and magnanimitie, 
 to make them fhine the more in the neere-follovving 
 profperitie. And of the contrarie part, if euill men 
 come to the ftage, they euer goe out (as the Tragedie 
 Writer anfwered, to one that mill iked the fhew of 
 fuch perfons) fo manacled, as they little animate 
 folkes to followe them. But the Hiftorian, beeing cap- 
 tiued to the trueth of a foolifh world, is many times a 
 terror from well dooing, and an incouragement to vn- 
 brideled wickednes. 
 
 For, fee wee not valiant Mihiades rot in his fetters ? 
 The iuft Phocion, and the accomplifhed Socrates, put 
 to death like Traytors? The cruell Seuerus Hue 
 profperoufly? The excellent Seuerus miferably mur- 
 thered ? Sylla and Marius dying in theyr beddes ? 
 Pompey and Cicero flaine then, when they would 
 haue thought exile a happineffe ? 
 
 See wee not vertuous Cato driuen to kyll himfelfe ? 
 and rebell Ccefar fo aduaunced, that his name yet after 
 1600. yeares, lafteth in the higheft honor ? And marke 
 but euen Ccefars own words of the fore-named Sylla, 
 (who in that onely did honeflly, to put downe his 
 difhonefl tyrannic,) Liter as ncfciuit, as if want of 
 learning caufed him to doe well. Hee meant it not 
 by Poetrie, which not content with earthly plagues, 
 deuifeth new punifliments in hel for Tyrants : nor yet
 
 FOR POETRIE. ^ 
 
 by Philofophie, which teacheth Occidendos ejfe, but no 
 doubt by fkill in Hiflorie : for that indeede can affoord 
 your Cipfclus, Periander, Phalaris, Dionifius, and I 
 know not how many more of the fame kennell, that 
 speede well enough in theyr abhominable vniuflice 
 or vfurpation. I conclude therefore, that hee excel- 
 leth Hiflorie, not onely in furnifhing the minde with 
 knowledge, but in fetting it forward, to that which 
 deferueth to be called and accounted good : which fet- 
 ting forward, and moouing to well dooing, indeed fet- 
 teth the Lawrell crown e vpon the Poet as victorious, 
 not onely of the Hiftorian, but ouer the Phylofopher : 
 howfoeuer in teaching it may bee queftionable. 
 
 For fuppofe it be granted, (that which I fuppofe 
 with great reafon may be denied,) that the Philofo- 
 pher in refpect of his methodical proceeding, doth 
 teach more perfectly then the Poet : yet do I thinke, 
 that no man is fo much Philophilofophos, as to compare 
 the Philofopher in moouing, with the Poet. 
 
 And that moouing is of a higher degree then 
 teaching, it may by this appeare : that it is wel nigh 
 the caufe and the effect of teaching. For who will 
 be taught, if hee bee not mooued with defire to be 
 taught ? and what fo much good doth that teaching 
 bring forth, (I fpeak ftill of morrall doctrine) as that 
 it mooueth one to doe that which it dooth teach ? for 
 as Arijlotle fayth, it is not Gnofis, but Praxis muft be 
 the fruit. And howe Praxis cannot be, without being 
 mooued to practife, it is no hard matter to confider. 
 
 The Philofopher fheweth you the way, hee infor- 
 meth you of the particularities, as well of the tedious- 
 nes of the way, as of the pleafant lodging you fhall 
 haue when your iourney is ended, as of the many by- 
 turnings that may diuert you from your way. But 
 this is to no man but to him that will read him, and 
 read him with attentiue ftudious painfulnes. VVhich 
 conflant defire, whofoeuer hath in him, hath already 
 pad halfe the hardnes of the way, and therefore is be- 
 holding to the Philofopher but for the other halfo.
 
 40 AN APOLOCIE 
 
 Nay truely, learned men haue learnedly thought, that 
 where once reafon hath fo much ouer-maflred paision, 
 as that the minde hath a free defire to doe well, the 
 inward light each minde hath in it selfe, is as good as 
 a Philofophers booke ; feeing in nature we know it is 
 wel, to doe well, and what is well, and what is euill, 
 although not in the words of Arte, which Philofophers 
 beftowe vpon vs. For out of naturall conceit, the 
 Philofophers drew it, but to be moued to doe that 
 which we know, or to be mooued with defire to knowe, 
 Hoc opus : Hie labor eft. 
 
 Nowe therein of all Sciences, (I fpeak ftill of 
 humane, and according to the humane conceits) is 
 our Poet the Monarch. For he dooth not only fliow 
 the way, but giueth fo fweete a profpect into the way, 
 as will intice any man to enter into it. Nay, he dooth 
 as if your iourney should lye through a fayre Vineyard, 
 at the firft giue you a clufter of Grapes : that full of 
 that tafte, you may long to paffe further. He begin- 
 neth not with obfcure definitions, which mufl blur the 
 margent with interpretations, and load the memory 
 with doubtfulneffe : but hee commeth to you with words 
 sent in delightfull proportion, either accompanied with, 
 or prepared for the well inchaunting skill of Muficke ; 
 and with a tale forfooth he commeth vnto you : with a 
 tale which holdeth children from play, and old men 
 from the chimney corner. And pretending no more, 
 doth intende the winning of the mind from wicked- 
 neffe to vertue : euen as the childe is often brought to 
 take mod wholfom things, by hiding them in such 
 other as haue a pleafant taft : which if one mould 
 beginne to tell them, the nature of Aloes, or Rubarb 
 they fhoulde receiue, woulde fooner take their Phificke 
 at their eares, then at their mouth. So is it in men 
 (mofl of which are childifh in the befl things, till they 
 bee cradled in their graues,) glad they will be to heare 
 the tales of Hercules, Achilles, Cynis, and Aeneas: 
 and hearing them, mufl needs heare the right defcrip- 
 tion of wifdom, valure, and iuflice ; which, if they had
 
 FOR POETRTE. 41 
 
 been barely, that is to fay, Philofophically fet out, 
 they would fweare they bee brought to fchoole againe. 
 
 That imitation wlierof Poetry is, hath the mod con- 
 ueniency to Nature of all other, in fomuch, that as 
 Ariflotle fayth, thofe things which in themfelues are 
 horrible, as cruell battailes, vnnaturall Monfters, are 
 made in poeticall imitation delightfull, Truely I haue 
 knowen men, that euen with reading Amadis de Gaule, 
 (which God knoweth wanteth much of a perfect 
 Poefie) haue found their harts mooued to the exercife 
 of courtefie, liberalitie, and efpecially courage. 
 
 Who readeth Aeneas carrying olde Anchifes on his 
 back, that wifheth not it were his fortune to perfourme 
 fo excellent an acte ? Whom doe not the words of 
 Turnus mooue ? (the tale of Turnus, hauing planted his 
 image in the imagination,) 
 
 -FugUntem htzc terra videbit, 
 
 Vfque adcone mori miferumejll- 
 
 Where the Philofophers, as they fcorne to delight, fo 
 mud they bee content little to mooue : fauing wrang- 
 ling, whether Vertue bee the chiefe, or the onely good : 
 whether the contemplatiue, or the actiue life doe ex- 
 cell : which Plato and Bocthins well knew, and there- 
 fore made Miftres Philofophy, very often borrow the 
 mafking rayment of Poefie. For euen thofe harde 
 harted euill men, who thinke vertue a fchoole name, 
 and knowe no other good, but indulgere genio, and 
 therefore defpife the auftere admonitions of the Philo- 
 fopher, and feele not the inward reafon they ftand 
 vpon ; yet will be content to be delighted : which is 
 al, the good felow Poet feemeth to promife : and fo 
 fteale to fee the forme of goodnes (which feene they 
 cannot but loue) ere themfelues be aware, as if they 
 tooke a medicine of Cherries. Infinite proofes of the 
 ftrange effecls of this poeticall inuention might be 
 alledged, onely two mail ferue, which are fo often 
 remembred, as I thinke all men knowe them. 
 
 The one of Mcncnius Agrifpa, who when the whole
 
 42 AN A POLO G IE 
 
 people of Rome had refolutely deuided themfelues 
 from the Senate, with apparant fhew of vtter ruine : 
 though hee were (for that time) an excellent Qratour, 
 came not among them, vpon trufl of figuratiue 
 fpeeches, or cunning infmuations : and much leffe, 
 with farre fet Maximes of Phylofophie, which (efpecially 
 if they were Platonick^) they mufl haue learned 
 Geometric before they could well haue conceiued : 
 but forfooth he behaues himfelfe, like a homely, and 
 familiar Poet. Hee telleth them a tale, that there 
 was a time, when all the parts of the body made a 
 mutinous confpiracie againfl the belly, which they 
 thought deuoured the fruits of each others labour: 
 they concluded they would let fo vnprofitable a fpen- 
 der starue. In the end, to be fhort, (for the tale is 
 notorious, and as notorious that it was a tale,) with 
 punifhing the belly, they plagued themfelues. This 
 applied by him, wrought fuch effect in the people, as 
 I neuer read, that euer words brought forth but then, fo 
 fuddaine and fo good an alteration ; for vpon rea- 
 fonable conditions, a perfect reconcilement enfued. 
 The other is of Nathan the Prophet, who when the 
 holie Daidd had fo far forfaken God, as to confirme 
 adulterie with murther : when hee was to doe the ten- 
 dereft office of a friende, in laying his owne mame 
 before his eyes, fent by God to call againe fo chofen a 
 feruant : how doth he it? but by telling of a man, 
 whose beloued Lambe was vngratefullie taken from 
 his bofome : the applycation moil diuinely true, but 
 the difcourfe it felfe, fayned : which made Dauid, (I 
 fpeake of the fecond and inftrumentall caufe) as in a 
 glaffe, to fee his own filthines, as that heauenly Pfalme 
 of mercie wel teflifieth. 
 
 By thefe therefore examples and reafons, I think it 
 may be manifeft, that the Poet with that fame hand of 
 delight, doth draw the mind more effectually, then any 
 other Arte dooth, and fo a conclufion not vnfitlie 
 enfueth : that as vertue is the moil excellent refting 
 place for all worldlie learning to make his end of: fo
 
 FOR POETRIE. 43 
 
 Poetrie, beeing the moft familiar to teach it, ana rnoft 
 princelie to moue towards it, in the mod excellent 
 work, is the mofl excellent workman. But I am 
 content, not onely to decipher him by his workes, 
 (although works in commendation or difprayfe, mufl 
 euer holde an high authority,) but more narrowly will 
 examine his parts : fo that (as in a man) though al- 
 together may carry a prefence ful of maieftie and 
 beautie, perchance in fome one defections peece, we 
 may find a blemifh : now in his parts, kindes, or 
 Species, (as you lift to terme them) it is to be noted, 
 that fome Poefies haue coupled together two or three 
 kindes, as Tragicall and Comicall, wher-vpon is rifen, 
 the Tragi-comicall. Some in the like manner haue 
 mingled Profe and Verfe, as Sanazzar and Boetius. 
 Some haue mingled matters Heroicall and Paflorall. 
 But that commeth all to one in this queftion, for if 
 feuered they be good, the coniunction cannot be hurt- 
 full. Therefore perchaunce forgetting fome, and leaning 
 fome as needleffe to be remembred, it mail not be 
 amiffe in a worde to cite the fpeciall kindes, to fee 
 what faults may be found in the right vfe of them. 
 
 Is it then the Paflorall Poem which is mifliked? 
 (for perchance, where the hedge is lowed, they will 
 foonefl leape ouer.) Is the poore pype difdained, 
 which fometime out of Melibens mouth, can fhewe the 
 miferie of people, vnder hard Lords, or rauening Soul- 
 diours? And again, by Titirus, what bleffednes is 
 deriued to them that lye lowed from the goodneffe ot 
 them that fit higheft ? Sometimes, vnder the prettie tales 
 of Wolues and Sheepe, can include the whole con- 
 fiderations of wrong dooing and patience. Sometimes 
 fhew, that contention for trifles, can get but a trifling 
 viclorie. Where perchaunce a man may fee, that euen 
 Alexander and Darius, when they draue who mould 
 be Cocke of thys worlds dunghill, the benefit they got, 
 was, that the after-liners may fay. 
 
 HCKC memini ct viElum fnijlra contendere Thirfin: 
 Ex illo Coridon^ Coridon ejl tcmpore noils.
 
 44 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 Or is it the lamenting Elegiack, which in a kinde 
 hart would mooue rather pitty then blame, who bewailes 
 with the great Philofopher Heraclitus, the weakenes of 
 man-kind, and the wretchednes of the world : who 
 furely is to be prayfed, either for compafsionate accom- 
 panying iuft caufes of lamentation, or for rightly pay nt- 
 ing out how weake be the pafsions of wofulneffe. Is 
 it the bitter, but wholfome lambick, which rubs the 
 galled minde, in making fhame the trumpet of villanie, 
 with bolde and open crying out againft naughtines ; Or 
 the Satirick, who . 
 
 Omne vafer mthtm, ridenti tangit amico ? 
 
 Who fportingly neuer leaueth, vntil hee make a man 
 laugh at folly, and at length afhamed, to laugh at him- 
 felfe : which he cannot auoyd, without auoyding the 
 follie. Who while 
 
 Circum prcccordia ludit. 
 
 giueth vs to feele, how many head-aches a paffionate 
 life bringeth vs to. How when all is done, 
 
 Eft vlubris animus ft nos non deficit ccquus ? 
 
 No perchance it is the Comick, whom naughtie 
 Play-makers and Stage -keepers, have iuflly made 
 odious. To the argument of abufe, I will anfwer after. 
 Onely thus much now is to be faid, that the Comedy 
 is an imitation of the common errors of our life, which 
 he reprefenteth, in the moil ridiculous and fcornefull 
 fort that may be. So as it is impofsible, that any be- 
 holder can be content to be fuch a one. 
 
 Now, as in Geometry, the oblique muft bee knowne 
 as wel as the right : and in Arithmetick, the odde 
 afwell as the euen, fo in the actions of our life, who 
 feeth not the filthines of euil, wanteth a great foile to 
 perceiue the beauty of vertue. This doth the Comedy 
 handle fo in our priuate and domeflical matters, as 
 with hearing it, we get as it were an experience, what 
 is to be looked for of a nigardly Demea ; of a crafty 
 Danus; of a flattering Gnato: of a vaine glorious
 
 FOR POETRIE. 45 
 
 Thrafo : and not onely to know what eife<5ts are to be 
 expelled, but to know who be fuch, by the fignifying 
 badge giuen them by the Comedian. And little 
 reafon hath any man to fay, that men learne euill by 
 feeing it so fet out : fith as I fayd before, there is no man 
 liuing, but by the force trueth hath in nature, no fooner 
 feeth thefe men play their parts, but wifheth them in 
 Pijlrinum : although perchance the fack of his owne 
 faults, lye fo behinde hys back, that he . feeth not 
 himfelfe daunce the fame meafure : whereto, yet no- 
 thing can more open his eyes, then to finde his own 
 aclions contemptibly fet forth. So that the right vfe 
 of Comedy will (I thinke) by no body be blamed, and 
 much leffe of the high and excellent Tragedy, that 
 openeth the greateft wounds, and fheweth forth the 
 Vicers, that are couered with Tiffue : that maketh 
 Kinges feare to be Tyrants, and Tyrants manifeft their 
 tirannicall humors : that with fturring the affe<5ls of 
 admiration and commiferation, teacheth, the vncer- 
 tainety of this world, and vpon how weake foundations 
 guilden roofes are builded. That maketh vs knovve, 
 
 QniJ "ceptra fceuus, duro imperio regit, 
 Timet timcutcs, mctits in authorcm redit. 
 
 But how much it can mooue, Plutarch yeeldeth a 
 notable teftimonie, of the abhominable Tyrant, 
 Alexander P/ierceus ; from whofe eyes, a Tragedy wel 
 made, and reprefented, drewe aboundance of teares : 
 who without all pitty, had murthered infinite nombers, 
 and fome of his owne blood. So as he, that was not 
 afhamed to make matters for Tragedies, yet coulde not 
 refill the fweet violence of a Tragedie. 
 
 And if it wrought no further good in him, it was, 
 that he in defpight of himfelfe, withdrewe himfelfe 
 from harkening to that, which might mollifie his 
 hardened heart. But it is not the Tragedy they doe 
 miflike : For it were too abfurd to caft out fo excel- 
 lent a reprefentation of whatfoeuer is moft worthy to 
 be learned. Is it the Liricke that moil difpleafeth,
 
 46 AN A PO LOG IE 
 
 who with his tuned Lyre, and wel accorded voyce, 
 giueth praife, the reward of vertue, to vertuous acls ? 
 who giues morrall precepts, and naturall Problemes, 
 who fometimes rayfeth vp his voice to the height of 
 the heauens, in finging the laudes of the immortall 
 God. Certainly I muft confeffe my own barbaroufnes, 
 I neuer heard the olde song of Percy and Dug/as, that 
 I found not my heart mooued more then with a 
 Trumpet : and yet is it fung but by fome blinde 
 Crouder, with no rougher voyce, then rude flile : 
 which being fo euill apparrelled in the duft and cob- 
 webbes of that vnciuill age, what would it worke 
 trymmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar'? In 
 Hungary I haue feene it the manner at all Feafts, 
 and other fuch meetings, to haue fonges of their Aun- 
 ceftours valour ; which that right Souldier-like Nation 
 thinck the chiefeft kindlers ofbraue courage. The 
 incomparable Lacedemonians, did not only carry that 
 kinde of Muficke euer with them to the field, but euen 
 at home, as fuch fongs were made, fo were they all 
 content to bee the fingers of them, when the lufly men 
 were to tell what they dyd, the olde men, what they 
 had done, and the young men what they wold doe. 
 And where a man may fay, that Pindar many times 
 prayfeth highly victories of fmall moment, matters 
 rather of fport then vertue : as it may be aunfwered, it 
 was the fault of the Poet, and not of the Poetry ; fo 
 indeede, the chiefe fault was in the tyme and cuftome 
 of the Greekes, who fet thofe toyes at fo high a price, 
 that Phillip of Macedon reckoned a horfe-race wonne 
 at Olimpus, among hys three fearefull felicities. But 
 as the vnimitable Pindar often did, fo is that kinde 
 moft capable and mofl fit, to awake the thoughts 
 from the fleep of idlenes, to imbrace honorable enter- 
 prifes. 
 
 There refts the Heroicall, whofe very name (I 
 thinke) mould daunt all back-biters ; for by what 
 conceit can a tongue be directed to fpeake euill of 
 that, which draweth with it, no leffe Champions
 
 FOR POETRIE. 47 
 
 then Achilles, Cyrus, Aeneas, Turnus, Tidens, and 
 Rinaldo ? who doth not onely teach and moue to a 
 truth, but teacheth and mooueth to the mofl high and 
 excellent truth. Who maketh magnanimity and iuf- 
 tice mine, throughout all mifly fearefulnes and foggy 
 defires. Who, if the faying of Plato and Tullie bee 
 true, that who could fee Vertue, would be wonderfully 
 rauifhed with the loue of her beauty : this man fets 
 her out to make her more louely in her holyday 
 apparell, to the eye of any that will daine, not to dif- 
 daine, vntill they vnderfland. But if any thing be 
 already fayd in the defence of fweete Poetry, all con- 
 curreth to the maintaining the Heroicall, which is not 
 onely a kinde, but the beft, and moft accomplimed 
 kinde of Poetry. For as the image of each action 
 ftyrreth and inftrucleth the mind, fo the loftie image 
 of fuch Worthies, moft inflameth the mind with defire 
 *o be worthy, and informes with counfel how to be 
 worthy. Only let Aeneas be worne in the tablet 
 of your memory, how he gouerneth himfelfe in the 
 raine of his Country, in the preferuing his old Father, 
 and carrying away his religious ceremonies : in obey- 
 ing the Gods commandement to leaue Dido, though 
 not onely all pafsionate kindenes, but euen the 
 humane confideration of vertuous gratefulnes, would 
 haue craued other of him. How in ftorms, howe in 
 fports, howe in warre, howe in peace, how a fugitiue, 
 how victorious, how befiedged, how befiedging, howe 
 to ftrangers, howe to allyes, how to enemies, howe to 
 his owne : la(lly,how in his inward felfe, and how in his 
 outward gouernment. And I thinke, in a minde not 
 prejudiced with a preiudicating humor, hee will be found 
 in excellencie fruitefull : yea, euen as Horace fayth 
 
 Melius Chrifippo et Crantore. 
 
 But truely I imagine, it falleth out with thefe Poet- 
 whyppers, as with fome good women, who often are 
 ficke, but in fayth they cannot tel where. So the 
 name of Poetrie is odious to them, but neither his 
 caufe, nor effects, neither the fum that containes him,
 
 |3 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 nor the particularities clefcending from him, giue ary 
 fail handle to their carping difprayfe. 
 
 Sith then Poetrie is of all humane learning the moft 
 auncient, and of moft fatherly antiquitie, as from 
 whence other learnings haue taken theyr beginnings : 
 fith it is fo vniuerfall, that no learned Nation dooth 
 defpife it, nor no barbarous Nation is without it : fith 
 both Roman and Greek gaue diuine names vnto it: 
 the one of prophecying, the other of making. And 
 that indeed e, that name of making is fit for him ; con- 
 fidering, that where as other Arts retaine themfelues 
 within their fubiecl, and receiue as it were, their 
 beeing from it: the Poet onely, bringeth his owne 
 ftuffe, and dooth not learne a conceite out of a matter, 
 but maketh matter for a conceite : Sith neither his 
 defcription, nor his ende, contayneth any euill, the 
 thing defcribed cannot be euill : Sith his effects be fo 
 good as to teach goodnes and to delight the learners : 
 Sith therein, (namely in morrall doctrine, the chiefe 
 of all knowledges,) hee dooth not onely farre paffe the 
 Hiflorian, but for inftrucling, is well nigh comparable 
 to the Philofopher : and for mouing, leaues him 
 behind him : Sith the holy fcripture (wherein there 
 is no vncleannes) hath whole parts in it poeticall. 
 And that euen our Sauiour Chrift, vouchfafed to vfe 
 the flowers of it : Sith all his kindes are not onlie in 
 their vnited formes, but in their feuered directions 
 fully commendable, I think, (and think I thinke 
 rightly) the Lawrell crovvne appointed for tryumphing 
 Captaines, doth worthilie (of al other learnings) honor 
 the Poets tryumph. But becaufe wee haue eares afwell 
 as tongues, and that the lighteft reafons that may 
 be, will feeme to weigh greatly, if nothing be put 
 in the counter-ballance : let vs heare, and afwell as 
 wee can ponder, what objections may bee made againft 
 this Arte, which may be worthy, eyther of yeelding, or 
 anfwering. 
 
 Firft truely I note, not onely in thefe Myfomoufot 
 Poet-haters, but in all that kinde of people, who feek
 
 FOR POETRIE, 49 
 
 a prayfe by difprayfing others, that they doe prodi- 
 gally fpend a great many wandering wordes, in quips, 
 and fcoffes; carping and taunting at each thing, 
 which by flyrring the Spleene, may flay the braine 
 from a through beholding the worthines of the 
 fubiecl,. 
 
 Thofe kinde of obieclions, as they are full of very 
 idle eafmes, fith there is nothing of fo facred a ma- 
 ieflie, but that an itching tongue may rubbe it felfe 
 vpon it : fo deferue they no other anfwer, but in fleed 
 of laughing at the ieft, to laugh at the iefler. Wee 
 know a playing wit, can prayfe the difcretion of an 
 Affe ; the comfortablenes of being in debt, and the 
 iolly commoditie of beeing fick of the plague. So of 
 the contrary fide, if we will turne Quids verfe, 
 
 Vt latcat virtus, proximitate malt, 
 that good lye hid in neereneffe of the euill : Agrippa 
 will be as merry in fhewing the vanitie of Science, as 
 Erafmus was in commending of follie. Neyther mail 
 any man or matter efcape fome touch of thefe fmyling 
 raylers. But for Erafmus and Agrippa, they had 
 another foundation then the superficiall part, would 
 promife. Mary, thefe other pleafant Fault-finders, 
 who wil correct the Verbe, before they vnderftande 
 the Noune, and confute others knowledge before 
 they confirme theyr owne : I would haue them onely 
 remember, that fcoffing commeth not of wifedom. So 
 as the beft title in true Englifh they gette with their 
 merriments, is to be called good fooles : for fo haue 
 our graue Fore-fathers euer termed that humorous 
 kinde of iefters : but that which gyueth greateft fcope 
 to their fcorning humors, is ryming and verfing. It 
 is already fayde (and as I think, trulie fayde) it is not 
 ryming and verfing, that maketh Poefie. One may 
 bee a Poet without verfing, and a verfifier without 
 Poetry. But yet, prefuppofe it were infeparable (as 
 indeede it feemeth Scaligcr iudgeth) truelie it were an 
 infeparable commendation. For if Oratio, next to 
 Ratio, Speech next to Reafon, bee the greateft gyft 
 
 D
 
 to AN APOLOG1E 
 
 beftowed vpon mortalitie : that can not be praifeleffe, 
 which dooth mofl pollifh that blefsing of fpeech, which 
 confiders each word, not only (as a man may fay) 
 by his forcible qualitie, but by his- beft meafured 
 quantitie, carrying euen in themfelues, a Harmonic : 
 (without (perchaunce) Number, Meafure, Order, Pro- 
 portion, be in our time growne odious.) But lay a 
 iide the iufl prayfe it hath, by beeing the onely fit 
 fpeech for Mufick, (Mufick I fay, the mofl diuine 
 ftriker of the fences :) thus much is vndoubtedly true, 
 that if reading bee foolifh, without remembring, 
 memorie being the onely treafurer of knowled[g]e, 
 those words which are fitted for memory, are likewife 
 mofl conuenient for knowledge. 
 
 Now, that Verfe farre exceedeth Profe in the knit- 
 ting vp of the memory, the reafon is manifeft. The 
 words, (befides theyr delight which hath a great affi- 
 nitie to memory,) beeing fo fet, as one word cannot 
 be loft, but the whole worke failes : which accufeth 
 it felfe, calleth the remembrance backe to it felfe, and 
 fo mofl flrongly confirmeth it ; befides, one word fo as it 
 were begetting another, as be it in ryme or meafured 
 verfe, by the former a man mall haue a neere geffe to the 
 follower : laftly, euen they that haue taught the Art of 
 memory, haue fhewed nothing fo apt for it, as a certaine 
 roome deuided into many places well and throughly 
 known e. Now, that hath the verfe in effect perfectly : 
 euery word hauing his naturall feate, which feate, muft 
 needes make the words remembred. But what needeth 
 more in a thing fo knowne to all men ? who is it that 
 euer was a fcholler, that doth not carry away fome verfes 
 of Virgill, Horace, or Cato, which in his youth he learned, 
 and euen to his old age ferue him for howrely leffons ? 
 but the fitnes it hath for memory, is notably proued by 
 all deliuery of Arts : wherein for the mofl part, from 
 Grammer, to Logick, Mathematick, Phifick, and the 
 reft, the rules chiefely neceffary to bee borne away, 
 are compiled in verfes. So that, verfe being in it felfe 
 fweete and orderly, and beeing beft for memory, the
 
 FOR POETRIE. 51 
 
 onely handle of knowledge, it muft be in iefl that any 
 man can fpeake againft it. Nowe then goe wee to 
 the moft important imputations laid to the poore 
 Poets, for ought I can yet learne, they are thefe, firft, 
 that there beeing many other more fruitefull know- 
 ledges, a man might better fpend his tyme in them, 
 then* in this. Secondly, that it is the mother of lyes. 
 Thirdly, that it is the Nurfe of abufe, infecting vs with 
 many peftilent defires : with a Syrens fvveetnes, draw- 
 ing the mind to the Serpents tayle of finfull fancy. 
 And heerein efpecially, Comedies giue the largeft 
 field to erre, as Chaucer sayth : howe both in other 
 Nations and in ours, before Poets did foften vs, we 
 were full of courage, giuen to martiall exercifes ; the 
 pillers of manlyke liberty, and not lulled a fleepe in 
 fhady idlenes with Poets paftimes. And laftly, and 
 chiefely, they cry out with an open mouth, as if they 
 out fliot Robin Hood, that Plato banifhed them out ot 
 hys Common-wealth. Truely, this is much, if there 
 be much truth in it. Firft to the firft : that a man 
 might better fpend his tyme, is a reafon indeede : but 
 it doth (as they fay) but Petere principium : for if it be 
 as I affirme, that no learning is fo good, as that which 
 teacheth and mooueth to vertue ; and that none can 
 both teach and moue thereto fo much as Poetry : 
 then is the conclufion manifeft, that Incke and Paper 
 cannot be to a more profitable purpofe employed. 
 And certainly, though a man fhould graunt their firfl 
 affumption, it fhould followe (me thinkes) very unwill- 
 ingly, that good is not good, becaufe better is better. 
 But I ftill and vtterly denye, that there is sprong out 
 of earth a more fruitefull knowledge. To the fecond 
 therefore, that they fhould be the principall lyars ; I 
 aunfwere paradoxically, but truely, I thinke truely ; that 
 of all VVriters vnder the funne, the Poet is the leaft 
 Her : and though he would, as a Poet can fcarcely be 
 a Iyer, the Aftronomer, with his cofen the Geometri- 
 cian, can hardly efcape, when they take vpon them to 
 meafure the height of the flarres.
 
 52 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 How often, thinke you, doe the Phifitians lye, \viien 
 they auer things, good for ficknefles, which after\vards 
 fend Charon a great nomber of foules drown[e]d in a 
 potion before they come to his Ferry. And no leffe of 
 the reft, which take vpon them to affirme. Now, for 
 the Poet, he nothing affirmes, and therefore neuer 
 lyeth. For, as I take it, to lye, is to affirme that to be 
 true which is falfe. So as the other Artifts, and efpe- 
 cially the Hiftorian, affirming many things, can in the 
 cloudy knowledge of mankinde, hardly efcape from 
 many lyes. But the Poet as (I fayd before) neuer 
 affirmeth. The Poet neuer maketh any circles about 
 your imagination, to coniure you to beleeue for true 
 what he writes. Hee citeth not authorities of other 
 Hiftories, but euen for hys entry, calleth the fweete 
 Mufes to infpire into him a good inuention : in troth, 
 not labouring to tell you what is, or is not, but what 
 fhould or mould not be : and therefore, though he re- 
 count things not true, yet becaufe hee telleth them not 
 for true, he lyeth not, without we will fay, that Nat/ian, 
 lyed in his fpeech, before alledged to Dauid. Which 
 as a wicked man durft fcarce fay, fo think I, none fo 
 fimple would fay, that Efope lyed in the tales of his 
 beafts : for who thinks that Efope writ it for actually 
 true, were well worthy to haue his name c[h]ronicled 
 among the beaftes hee writeth of. 
 
 What childe is there, that comming to a Play, and 
 feeing Thebes written in great Letters vpon an olde 
 doore, doth beleeue that it is Thebest If then, a man 
 can ariue, at that childs age, to know that the Poets 
 perfons and dooings, are but pictures what fhould be, 
 and not flories what haue beene, they will neuer giue 
 the lye, to things not affirmatiuely, but allegorically, 
 and figuratiuelie written. And therefore, as in Hiftorie, 
 looking for trueth, they goe away full fraught with falf- 
 hood : fo in Poefie, looking for faction, they fhal vfe 
 the narration, but as an imaginatiue groundplot of a 
 profitable inuention. 
 
 But heereto is replyed, that the Poets gyue names
 
 FOR POETRIE. 53 
 
 to men they write of, which argue th a conceite of an 
 acluall truth, and fo, not being true, prooues a falfhood. 
 And doth the Lawyer lye then, when vnder the names 
 of lohn a Jlik and lohn a noakes, hee puts his cafe ? 
 But that is eafily anfwered. Theyr naming of men, is 
 but to make theyr piclure the more liuely, and not to 
 builde any hiflorie : paynting men, they cannot leaue 
 men nameleffe. We fee we cannot play at Cheffe, but 
 that wee mud giue names to our Cheffe-men ; and yet 
 mee thinks, hee were a very partiall Champion of truth, 
 that would fay we lyed, for giuing a peeceofwood, the 
 reuerend title of a Bifhop. The Poet nameth Cyrus 
 or Aeneas, no other way, then to fhewe, what men ot 
 theyr fames, fortunes, and eftates, fhould doe. 
 
 Their third is, how much it abufeth mens wit, trayn- 
 ing it to wanton fmfulnes, and luflfull loue : for indeed 
 that is the principall, if not the onely abufe I can heare 
 alledged. They fay, the Comedies rather teach, then 
 reprehend, amorous conceits. They fay, the Lirick, is 
 larded with pafsionate Sonnets. The Elegiack, weepes 
 the want of his miftreffe. And that euen to the Hero- 
 ical, Cupid hath ambitioufly climed. Alas Loue, I 
 would, thou couldeft as well defende thy felfe, as thou 
 canfl ofifende others. I would thofe, on whom thou 
 dooft attend, could eyther put thee away, or yeeldc 
 good reafon, why they keepe thee. But grant loue of 
 beautie, to be a beaftlie fault, (although it be very hard, 
 fith onely man, and no bead, hath that gyft, todifcerne 
 beauty.) Grant, that louely name of Loue, to deferue 
 all hatefull reproches : (although euen fome of my 
 Maifters the Phylofophers, fpent a good deale of theyr 
 Lamp-oyle, in fetting foorth the excellencie of it.) 
 Grant, I fay, what foeuer they wil haue granted ; that 
 not onely loue, but luft, but vanitie, but, (if they lift) 
 fcurrilitie, poffeffeth many leaues of the Poets bookes : 
 yet thinke I, when this is granted, they will finde, theyr 
 fentence may with good manners, put the laft words 
 foremofl : and not fay, that Poetrie abufeth mans wit, 
 but that, mans wit abufeth Poetrie.
 
 54 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 For T will not denie, but that mans wit may make 
 Poefie, (which mould be Eikaftike, which fome learned 
 haue defined, figuring foorth good things,) to be 
 Phantaflike : which doth contrariwife, infect the fancie 
 with vnworthy obiedts. As the Painter, that fhoulde 
 giue to the eye, eyther fome excellent perfpecliue, or 
 fome fine picture, fit for building or fortification : or 
 contayning in it fome notable example, as Abraham^ 
 facrificing his Sonne Ifaack, ludith killing Holofernes, 
 Dauid fighting with Goliah, may leaue thofe, and 
 pleafe an ill-pleafed eye, with wanton fhewes of better 
 hidden matters. But what, mall the abufe of a thing, 
 make the right vfe odious ? Nay truely, though I 
 yeeld, that Poefie may not onely be abufed, but that 
 beeing abufed, by the reafon of his fvveete charming 
 force, it can doe more hurt then any other Armie of 
 wcrds : yet fhall it be fo far from concluding, that the 
 abufe, mould giue reproch to the abufed, that contrari- 
 wife it is a good reafon, that whatfoeuer being abufed, 
 dooth mod harme, beeing rightly vfed : (and vpon the 
 right vfe each thing conceiueth his title) doth moftgood. 
 
 Doe wee not fee the fkill of Phifick, (the beft 
 rampire to our oflen-affaulted bodies) beeing abufed, 
 teach poyfon the re oft violent deilroyer ? Dooth not 
 knowledge of Law, whofe end is, to euen and right 
 all things being ab'ufed, grow the crooked fofterer of 
 horrible injuries ? Doth not (to goe to the higheft) 
 Gods word abufed, breed herefie ? and his Name 
 abufed, become blafphemie ? Truely, a needle cannot 
 doe much hurt, and as truely, (with leaue of Ladies 
 be it fpoken) it cannot doe much good. With a 
 fword, thou maift kill thy Father, and with a fword 
 thou maift defende thy Prince and Country. So that, 
 as in their calling Poets the Fathers of lyes, they say 
 nothing : fo in this theyr argument of abufe, they 
 prooue the commendation. 
 
 They alledge heere-with, that before Poets beganne 
 to be in price, our Nation, hath fet their harts delight 
 vpon action, and not vpon imagination : rather doing
 
 FOR POETRIE. 55 
 
 things worthy to bee written, then writing things fitte 
 to be done. What that before tyme was, I thinke 
 fcarcely Sphinx can tell : Sith no memory is fo auncient, 
 that hath the precedence of Poetrie. And certaine 
 it is, that in our plaineft homelines, yet neuer was 
 the Albion Nation without Poetrie. Mary, thys argu- 
 ment, though it bee leaueld againft Poetrie, yet is it 
 indeed, a chaine-fhot againft all learning, or book- 
 ifhnes, as they commonly tearme it. Of fuch minde 
 were certaine Gothes, of whom it is written, that 
 hauing in the fpoile of a famous Citie, taken a fayre 
 librarie : one hangman (bee like fitte to execute the 
 fruites of their wits) who had murthered a great 
 number of bodies, would haue fet fire on it : no fayde 
 another, very grauely, take heede what you doe, for 
 whyle they are bufie about thefe toyes, wee mall with 
 more leyfure conquer their Countries. 
 
 This indeede is the ordinary doctrine of ignorance, 
 and many wordes fometymes I haue heard fpent in 
 it : but becaufe this reafon is generally againftall 
 learning, afwell as Poetrie ; or rather, all learning but 
 Poetry : becaufe it were too large a digreision, to han- 
 dle, or at leaft, to fuperfluous : (flth it is manifeft, 
 % that all gouernment of action, is to be gotten by know- 
 ledg, and knowledge beft, by gathering many know- 
 ledges, which is, reading,) I onely with Horace, to him 
 that is of that opinion, 
 
 lubco fl-iiltum efie libenter : 
 
 for as for Poetrie it felfe, it is the ireeft from thys ob- 
 ieclion. For Poetrie is the companion of the Campes. 
 I dare vndertake, Orlando Furiofo, or honeft King 
 Arthur, will neuer difpleaie a Souldier : but the quid- 
 dity of Ens, and Prima materia, will hardely agree 
 with a Corflet : and therefore, as I faid in the begin- 
 ning, euen Turks and Tartares are delighted with 
 Poets. Homer a Greek, florifhed, before Greece 
 florifhed. And if to a flight conieclure, a conieclure 
 may be oppofed : truly it may feeme, that as by him, 
 their learned men, tooke almoft thei r firfl light of
 
 56 AN APOLOGZE 
 
 knowledge, fo their acliue men, receiued their firft 
 motions of courage. Onlie Alexanders example may 
 ferue, who by Plutarch is accounted of fuch vertue, 
 that Fortune was not his guide, but his foote-ftoole : 
 whofe acts fpeake for him, though Plutarch did not : 
 indeede, the Phoenix of warlike Princes. This Alex- 
 ander, left his Schoolemaifter, \\mv\gAriflotle, behinde 
 him, but tooke deade Homer with him : he put the 
 Philofopher Califlhcnes to death, for his feeming philo- 
 fophicall, indeed mutinous flu bburnnes. But the chiefe 
 ihing he euer was heard to wifli for, was, that Homer 
 had been aliue. He well found, he receiued more 
 brauerie of minde, bye the patterne of Achilles, then 
 by hearing the definition of Fortitude : and therefore, 
 if Cato mifliked Fuluius, for carying Ennius with him 
 to the fielde, it may be aunfwered, that if Cato mifliked 
 it, the noble Fuluius liked it, or els he had notdoone 
 it: for it was not the excellent Cato Vticenfis, (whofe 
 authority I would much more haue reuerenced,) but 
 it was the former : in truth, a bitter punifher of faults, 
 but elfe, a man that had neuer wel facrificed to the 
 Graces. Hee mifliked and cryed out vpon all Greeke 
 learning, and yet being 80. yeeres olde, began to 
 learne it. Be-like, fearing that Pluto vnderflood not 
 Latine. Indeede, the Romaine lawes allowed, no 
 perfon to be carried to the warres, but hee that was 
 in the Souldiers role : and therefore, though Cato 
 mifliked his vnmuftered perfon, hee mifliked not his 
 worke. And if hee had, Scipio Nafica iudged by com- 
 mon confent, the beft Romaine, loued him. Both the 
 other Scipio Brothers, who had by their vertues no 
 leffe furnames, then of Afia, and Ajfrick, fo loued him, 
 that they caufed his body to be buried in their Sepul- 
 cher. So as Cato, his authentic being but againft his 
 perfon, and that aunfwered, with fo farre greater then 
 himfelfe, is heerein of no validitie. But now indeede 
 my burthen is great ; now Plato his name is layde 
 vpon mee, whom I muft confeffe, of all Philofophers, 
 J. haue euer efteemed moft worthy of reuerence, and
 
 FOR POETRIE. 57 
 
 with great rcafon : Sith of all Philofophers, he is the 
 mod poeticall. Yet if he will defile the Fountaine, 
 out of which his flowing ftreames haue proceeded, let 
 vs boldly examine with what reafons hee did it. Firfl 
 truly, a man might malicioufly obiecl, that Plato being 
 a Philofopher, was a naturall enemie of Poets : for 
 indeede, after the Philofophers, had picked out of the 
 fvveete mifleries of Poetrie, the right difcerning true 
 points of knowledge, they forthwith putting it in 
 method, and making a Schoole-arte of that which the 
 Poets did onely teach, by a diuine delightfulnes, begin- 
 ning to fpurne at their guides, like vngratefull Prentifes, 
 were not content to fet vp mops for themfelues, but 
 fought by all meanes to difcredit their Maiflers. 
 Which by the force of delight beeing barred them, the 
 leffe they could ouerthrow them, the more they hated 
 them. For indeede, they found for Homer, feauen Cities 
 flroue, who fhould haue him for their Citizen : where 
 many Citties banifhed Philofophers, as not fitte mem- 
 bers to liue among them. For onely repeating certaine 
 of Euripides verfes, many Athenians had their lyues 
 faued of the Siracitfians : when the Athenians them- 
 felues, thought many Philofophers, vnwoorthie to liue. 
 Certaine Poets, as Simonides, and Pindants had fo 
 preuailed with Hiero the firft, that of a Tirant they 
 made him a iufl King, where Plato could do fo little 
 with Dionifius, that he himfelfe, of a Philofopher, was 
 made a flaue. But who should doe thus, I confeffe, 
 fhould requite the obieclions made againfl Poets, 
 Avith like cauillation againfl Philofophers, as likewife 
 one fhould doe, that fhould bid one read Phcednts, or 
 Symposium in Plato, or the difcourfe of loue in flu- 
 tarch, and fee whether any Poet doe authorize abhomin- 
 able filthines, as they doe. Againe, a man might aske 
 out of what Common-wealth Plato did banifli them ? 
 infooth, thence where he himfelfe alloweth communi- 
 tie of women : So as belike, this banifhment grewe 
 not for effeminate wantonnes, fith little should poeti- 
 call Sonnets be hurtfull, when a man might haue what
 
 58 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 woman he lifted. But I honor philofophicall inflruc- 
 tions, and bleffe the wits which bred them : fo as they 
 be not abufed, which is likewife flretched to Poetrie. 
 S. Paule himfelfe, (who yet for the credite of Poets) 
 alledgeth twife two Poets, and one of them by the 
 name of a Prophet, fetteth a watch-word vpon Philo- 
 fophy, indeede vpon the abufe. So dooth Plato, 
 vpon the abufe, not vpon Poetrie. Plato found fault, 
 that the Poets of his time, filled the worlde, with wrong 
 opinions of the Gods, making light tales of that vn- 
 fpotted effence ; and therefore, would not haue the 
 youth depraued with fuch opinions. Heerin may 
 much be faid, let this fuffice : the Poets did not in- 
 duce fuch opinions, but dyd imitate thofe opinions 
 already induced. For all the Greek flories can well 
 teftifie, that the very religion of that time, floode vpon 
 many, and many-fafhioned Gods, not taught fo by the 
 Poets, but followed, according to their nature of imita- 
 tion. Who lift, may reade in Plutarch, the diicourfes 
 of Ifis, and OJlris, of the caufe why Oracles ceafed, of 
 the diuine prouidence : and fee, whether the Theo- 
 logie of that nation, flood not vpon fuch dreames, 
 which the Poets indeed fuperfticioufly obferued, and 
 truly, (nth they had not the light of Chrift,) did much 
 better in it then the Philofophers, who making off 
 fuperftition, brought in Atheifme. Plato therefore, 
 (whofe authoritie I had much rather iuflly confter, 
 then uniuftly refift,) meant not in general of Poets, in 
 thofe words of which lulius Scaliger faith Qua autho- 
 ritate, barbari quidam, atque hifpidi, abuti velint, ad 
 Poetas e rcpublica exigendos : but only meant, to driue 
 out thofe wrong opinions of the Deitie (whereof now, 
 without further law, Chriftianity hath taken away all 
 the hurtful beliefe,) perchance (as he thought) norifhed 
 by the then efteemed Poets. And a man need goe 
 no further then to Plato himfelfe, to know his mean- 
 ing : who in his Dialogue called Jon, giueth high, and 
 rightly diuine commendation to Poetrie. So as Plato, 
 banifhing the abufe, not the thing, not baniming it,
 
 FOR POETRIE. 59 
 
 but giuing due honor vnto it, fhall be our Patron, and 
 not our aduerfarie. For indeed I had much rather, 
 (fith truly I may doe it) fhew theyrmiftaking of Plato, 
 (vnder whofe Lyons flcin they would make an Affe- 
 like braying againfl Poefie,) then goe about to ouer- 
 throw his authority, whom the wifer a man is, the 
 more iufl caufe he fhall find to haue in admiration : 
 efpecially, fith he attributeth vnto Poefie, more then 
 my felfe doe ; namely, to be a very inspiring of a 
 diuine force, farre aboue mans wit ; as in the afore- 
 named Dialogue is apparant. 
 
 Of the other fide, who wold fhew the honors, haue 
 been by the befl fort of iudgements granted them, a 
 whole Sea of examples woulde prefent themfelues. 
 Alexanders, Ccefars, Scipios, al fauorers of Poets. 
 Lelins, called the Romane Socrates, himfelfe a Poet : 
 fo as part of Heautontimorumcnon in Terence, was fup- 
 pofed to be made by him. And euen the Greek 
 Socrates, whom Apollo confirmed to be the onely wife 
 man, is fayde to haue fpent part of his old tyme, in 
 putting Efops fables into verfes. And therefore, full 
 euill fliould it become his fcholler Plato, to put fuch 
 words in his Maifters mouth, againfl Poets. But what 
 need more ? Arijlotle writes the Arte of Poefie : and 
 why if it fliould not be written ? Plutarch teacheth 
 the vfe to be gathered of them, and how if they fhould 
 not be read ? And who reades Plutarchs eyther hif- 
 torie or philofophy, mall finde, hee trymmeth both 
 theyr garments, with gards of Poefie. But I lift not 
 to defend Poefie, with the helpe of her vnderling, 
 Historiography. Let it fuffife, that it is a fit foyle for 
 prayfe to dwell vpon : and what difpraife may fet vpon 
 it, is eyther eafily ouer-come, or transformed into iufl 
 commendation. So that, fith the excellencies of it, 
 may be fo eafily, and fo iuftly confirmed, and the low- 
 creeping obieclions, fo foone troden downe ; it not 
 being an Art of lyes, but of true doctrine : not of 
 effeminatenes, but of notable flirring of courage : not 
 of abufing mans witte, but of flrengthning mans wit :
 
 60 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 not banifhed, but honored by Plato : let vs rather 
 plant more Laurels, for to engarland our Poets heads, 
 (which honor of beeing laureat, as befides them, onely 
 tryumphant Captaines weare, is a, fufficient authority, 
 to fhewe the price they ought to be had in,) then 
 fuffer the ill-fauouring breath of fuch wrong-fpeakers, 
 once to blowe vpon the cleere fprings of Poefie. 
 
 But fith I have rurme fo long a careere in this 
 matter, me thinks, before I giue my penne a fulle 
 flop, it flialbe but a little more loft time, to in- 
 quire, why England, (the Mother of excellent mindes,) 
 mould bee growne fo hard a ftep-mother to Poets, who 
 certainly in wit ought to paffe all other : fith all onely 
 proceedeth from their wit, being indeede makers of them- 
 felues, not takers of others. How can I but exclaime, 
 
 Mufa mihi caufas memora, quo numine Iccfo. 
 Sweete Poefie, that hath aunciently had Kings, 
 Emperors, Senators, great Captaines, fuch, as be- 
 fides a thoufand others, Dauid, Adrian, Sophocles, 
 Germauicus, not onely to fauour Poets, but to be 
 Poets. And of our neerer times, can prefent for her 
 Patrons, a Robert, king of Sicil, the great king 
 Francis of France, King lames of Scotland. Such 
 Cardinals as Bembus, and Bibiena. Such famous 
 Preachers and Teachers, as Beza and Melanfthon. 
 So learned Philofophers, as Fracajtoriiis and Scaliger. 
 So great Orators, as Pont amis and Muretus. So 
 piercing wits, as George Buchanan. So graue Coun- 
 fellors, as befides many, but before all, that Hofpitah 
 of Fraunce : then whom, (I thinke) that Realme 
 neuer brought forth a more accomplifhed Judgement : 
 more firmely builded vpon vertue. I fay thefe, with 
 numbers of others, not onely to read others Poefies, 
 but to poetife for others reading, that Poefie thus em- 
 braced in all other places, fhould onely fmde in our time, 
 a hard welcome in England, I thinke the very earth 
 lamenteth it, and therfore decketh our Soyle with 
 fewer Laurels then it was accuflomed. For heerto- 
 fore, Poets haue in England alfo florifhed. And which
 
 FOR POETRIE. 61 
 
 is to be noted, euen in thofe times, when the trumpet 
 of Mars did founde loudefl. And now, that an ouer- 
 faint quietnes mould feeme to flrew the houfe for 
 Poets, they are almofl in as good reputation, as the 
 Mountibancks at Venice. Truly euen that, as of the 
 one fide, it giueth great praife to Poefie, which like 
 Venus, (but to better purpofe) hath rather be troubled 
 in the net with Mars, then enioy the homelie quiet 
 of Vulcan : fo ferues it for a peece of a reafon, why 
 they are leffe gratefull to idle England, which nowe 
 can fcarce endure the payne of a pen. Vpon this, 
 neceffarily followeth, that bafe men, with feruile wits 
 vndertake it : who think it inough, if they can be 
 rewarded of the Printer. And fo as Epaminondas is 
 fayd, with the honor of his vertue, to haue made. an 
 office, by his exercifmg it, which before was con- 
 temptible, to become highly refpected : fo thefe, no 
 more but fetting their names to it, by their owne dif- 
 gracefulnes, difgrace the moft gracefull Poefie. For 
 now, as if all the Mufes were gotte with childe, to 
 bring foorth baftard Poets, without any commifsion, 
 they doe pofte ouer the banckes of Helicon, tyll they 
 make the readers more weary then Poft-horfes : while 
 in the mean tyme, they 
 
 Qi/cis mdiore Into finxit prcccordia Titan, 
 are better content, to fuppreffe the out-flowing of their 
 wit, then by publifhing them, to bee accounted Knights 
 of the same order. But I, that before euer I durft afpire 
 vnto the dignitie, am admitted into the company of 
 the Paper-blurers, doe finde the very true caufe of our 
 wanting eftimation, is want of defert: taking vpon vs 
 to be Poets, in defpight of Pallas. Nowe, wherein 
 we want defert, were a thanke-worthy labour to ex- 
 preffe : but if I knew, I mould haue mended my felfe. 
 But I, as I neuer defired the title, fo haue I neglected 
 the meanes to come by it. Onely ouer-maftred by 
 fome thoughts, I yeelded an inckie tribute vnto them. 
 Mary, they that delight in Poefie it felfe, mould feeke 
 to knowe what they doe, and how they doe; and
 
 62 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 efpecially, looke themfelues in an vnflattering Glafle of 
 reafon, if they bee inclinable vnto it. For Poefie, mufl 
 not be drawne by the eares, it muft bee gently led, or 
 rather, it muft lead. Which was partly the caufe, that 
 made the auncient-learned affirme, it was a diuine 
 gift, and no humaine skill : fith all other knowledges, 
 lie ready for any that hath ftrength of witte : A Poet, 
 no Industrie can make, if his owne Genius bee not 
 carried vnto it : and therefore is it an old Prouerbe, 
 Orator Jit ; Poeta nascitur. Yet confeffe I alwayes, that 
 as the firtileft ground muft bee manured, so muft the 
 higheft flying wit, have a Dedahis to guide him. That 
 Dcdalns,. they fay, both in this, and in other, hath 
 three wings, to beare it felfe vp into the ayre of due 
 commendation : that is, Arte, Imitation, and Exercife. 
 But thefe, neyther artificiall rules, nor imitatiue pat- 
 ternes, we much cumber our felues withali. Exercife 
 indeede wee doe, but that, very fore-backwardly : for 
 where we should exercife to know, wee exercife as 
 hauing knowne : and fo is oure braine deliuered of much 
 matter, which neuer was begotten by knowledge. For, 
 there being two principal parts, matter to be expreffed 
 by wordeSj and words to expreffe the matter, in neyther, 
 wee vfe Arte, or Imitation, rightly. Our matter is Quod- 
 libit indeed, though wrongly perfourming Quids verfe. 
 
 ( Quicquid conabar dicere verfus erit :) 
 neuer marfhalling it into an affured rancke, that almoft 
 the readers cannot tell where to finde themfelues. 
 Chaucer, vndoubtedly did excellently in hys Troy- 
 *'" his and Creffeid; of whom, truly I know not, whether 
 to meruaile more, either that he in that miftie time, 
 could fee fo clearely, or that wee in this cleare age, 
 walke fo ftumblingly after him. Yet had he great 
 wants, fitte to be forgiuen, in fo reuerent antiquity. I 
 account the Mirrour of Magiftrates, meetely furnifhed 
 of beautiful parts ; and in the Earle of Surries Liricks, 
 many things tafting of a noble birth, and worthy of a 
 noble minde. The Sheapheards Kalender, hath much 
 Poetrie in his Eglogues : indeede worthy the reading
 
 FOR POETRIE. 63 
 
 if I be not deceiued. That fame framing of his flile, 
 to an old ruflick language, I dare not alo\ve, fith 
 neyther Theocritus in Greeke, Virgill in Latine, nor 
 Sanazar in Italian, did affect it. Befides thefe, doe I 
 not remember to haue feene but fewe, (to fpeake 
 boldely) printed, that haue poeticall fmnewes in them : 
 for proofe whereof, let but moil of the verfes bee put ^ 
 in Profe, and then aske the meaning ; and it will be 
 found, that one verfe did but beget another, without 
 ordering at the firft, what fliould be at the laft : 
 which becomes a confufed maffe of words, with a ting- 
 ling found of ryme, barely accompanied with reafon. 
 
 Our Tragedies, and Comedies, (not without caufe 
 cried out againft,) obferuing rules, neyther of honefl 
 citiilitie, nor of fkilfull Poetrie, excepting Gorboduck, 
 (againe, I fay, of thofe that I haue feene,) which not- 
 withflanding, as it is full of (lately fpeeches, and well 
 founding Phrafes, clyming to the height of Seneca his 
 ftile, and as full of notable moralitie, which it doth 
 mod delightfully teach ; and fo obtayne the very end 
 of Poefie : yet in troth it is very defeclious in the 
 circumftaunces ; which greeueth mee, becaufe it 
 might not remaine as an exact model of all Tragedies. 
 For it is faulty both in place, and time, the two necef- 
 fary companions of all corporall actions. For where 
 the ftage fliould ahvaies reprefent but one place, and 
 the vttermofl time prcfuppofed in it, fliould be, both 
 by Arijlotles precept, and common reafon, but one 
 day : there is both many dayes, and many places, in- 
 artificially imagined. But if it be fo in Gorbodiuk, 
 how much more in al the reft ? where you dial haue 
 Afia of the one fide, and A J) rick of the other, and fo 
 many other vnder-kingdoms, that the Player, when he 
 commeth in, mull euer begin with telling where he is: 
 or els, the tale wil not be conceiued. Now ye fhal 
 haue three Ladies, walke to gather flowers, and then 
 we muft beleeue the ftage to be a Garden. By and 
 by, we heare newes of fhipwracke in the fame place, and 
 then wee are to blame, if we accept it not for a Rock.
 
 64 AN APOLOCIL 
 
 Vpon the backe of that, comes out a hidious Mon- 
 fler, with fire and fmoke, and then the miferable 
 beholders, are bounde to take it for a Caue. While 
 in the mean-time, two Armies flye in, reprefented 
 v/ith foure fwords and bucklers, and then what harde 
 heart will not receiue it for a pitched fielde ? Now, 
 of time they are much more liberall, for ordinary it is 
 that two young Princes fall in loue. After many 
 trauerces, me is got with childe, deliuered of a faire 
 boy, he is loft, groweth a man, falls in loue, and is 
 ready to get another child, and all this in two hours 
 fpace : which how abfurd it is in fence, euen fence 
 may imagine, and Arte hath taught, and all auncient 
 examples iuftified : and at this day, the ordinary 
 Players in Italic, wil not erre in. Yet wil fome bring 
 in an example of Eunnchus in Terence, that con- 
 taineth matter of two dayes, yet far fhort of twenty 
 yeeres. True it is, and fo was it to be playd in two 
 daies, and fo fitted to the time it fet forth. And though 
 Plautus hath in one place done amiffe, let vs hit with 
 him, and not miffe with him. But they wil fay, how 
 then fhal we fet forth a ftory, which containeth both 
 many places, and many times ? And doe they not 
 knowe, that a Tragedie is tied to the lawes of Poefie, 
 and not of Hiftorie ? not bound to follow the ftorie, 
 but hauing liberty, either to faine a quite newe mat- 
 ter, or to frame the hiftory, to the moft tragicall con- 
 ueniencie. Againe, many things may be told, which 
 cannot be fhewed, if they knowe the difference betwixt 
 reporting and reprefenting. As for example, I may 
 fpeake, (though I am heere) of Peru, and in fpeech, 
 digreffe from that, to the defcription of Calicut : but 
 in action, I cannot .reprefent it without Pacolets horfe : 
 and fo was the manner the Auncients tooke, by fome 
 JVundus, to recount thinges done in former time, or 
 other place. Laftly, if they wil reprefent an hiftory, 
 they muft not (as Horace faith) beginne Ab ouo : but 
 they muft come to the principall poynt of that one 
 action, which they wil reprefent By example this
 
 FOR POE7RIE. 65 
 
 wil be befl exprefled. I haue a flory of young Poli- 
 dorus, deliuered for fafeties fake, with great riches, by 
 his Father Priamus to Politnneftor king of Thrace, in 
 the Troyan war time : Hee after fome yeeres, hearing 
 the ouer-throwe of Priamus, for to make the treafure 
 his owne, murthereth the child: the body of the child 
 is taken vp Hecuba, fhee the fame day, findeth a 
 flight to bee reuenged mofl cruelly of the Tyrant : 
 where no\ve would one of our Tragedy writers begin, 
 but with the deliuery of the childe ? Then mould 
 he fayle ouer into Thrace, and fo fpend I know not 
 how many yeeres, and trauaile numbers of places. 
 But where dooth Euripides ? Euen with the rinding 
 of the body, leauing the reft to be tolde by the fpirit 
 of Polidorus. This need no further to be inlarged, 
 the dulleft wit may conceiue it. But befides thefe 
 groffe abiurdities, how all theyr Playes be neither 
 right Tragedies, nor right Comedies : mingling Kings 
 and Clownes, not becaufe the matter fo carrieth it : 
 but thruft in Clownes by head and moulders, to play 
 a part in maieflicall matters, with neither decencie, 
 nor difcretion. So as neither the admiration and 
 commiferation, nor the right fportfulnes, is by their 
 mungrell Tragy-comedie obtained. I know Apuleius 
 did fome-what fo, but that is a thing recounted with 
 fpace of time, not reprefented in one moment : and I 
 knowe, the Auncients haue one or two examples of 
 Tragy-comedies, as Plantus hath Amphitrio : But if 
 we marke them well, we (hall find, that they neuer, or 
 very daintily, match Horn-pypes and Funeralls. So 
 falleth it out, that hauing indeed no right Comedy, in 
 that comicall part of our Tragedy, we haue nothing 
 but fcurrility, vnwoorthy of any chart, eares : or fome 
 extreame mew of doltifhnes, indeed fit to lift vp a 
 loude laughter, and nothing els : where the whole 
 tract of a Comedy, fhoulde be full of delight, as the 
 Tragedy fhoulde be ftill maintained, in a well railed 
 admiration. But our Comedians, thinke there is no 
 delight without laughter, which is very wrong, for 
 E
 
 66 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 though laughter may come with delight, yet commeth 
 it not of delight : as though delight fliould be the 
 caufe of laughter, but well may one thing breed both 
 together : nay, rather in themfelues, they haue as it 
 were, a kind of contrarietie : for delight we fcarcely 
 doe, but in things that haue a conueniencie to our 
 felues, or to the generall nature : laughter, almoft euer 
 commeth, of things moft difproportioned to our felues, 
 and nature. Delight hath a ioy in it, either permanent, 
 or prefent. Laughter, hath onely a fcornful tickling. 
 
 For example, we are rauifhed with delight to fee a 
 faire woman, and yet are far from being moued to 
 laughter. We laugh at deformed creatures, wherein 
 certainely we cannot delight. We delight in good 
 chaunces, we laugh at mifchaunces ; we delight to heare 
 the happines of our friends, or Country ; at which he 
 were worthy to be laughed at, that would laugh ; wee 
 (hall contrarily laugh fometimes, to finde a matter quite 
 miftaken, and goe downe the hill agaynft the byas, in 
 the mouth of fome fuch men, as for the refpect of 
 them, one flialbe hartely forry, yet he cannot chufe 
 but laugh ; and fo is rather pained, then delighted with 
 laughter. Yet deny I not, but that they may goe well 
 together, for as in Alexanders picture well fet out, wee 
 delight without laughter, and in twenty mad Anticks 
 we laugh without delight : fo in Hercules, painted with 
 his great beard, and furious countenance, in womans 
 attire, fpinning at Omphales commau^xlement, it breed- 
 eth both delight and laughter. For the reprefenting of 
 fo ftrange a power in loue, procureth delight : and the 
 fcornefulnes of the action, ftirreth laughter. But I 
 fpeake to this purpofe, that all the end of the comicall 
 part, bee not vpon fuch fcornefull matters, as ftirreth 
 laughter onely : but mixt with it, that delightful teach- 
 ing which is the end of Poefie. And the great fault 
 euen in that point of laughter, and forbidden plainely 
 byAriftotle, is, that theyftyrre laughter in finfull things ; 
 which are rather execrable then ridiculous : or in 
 miferable, which are rather to be pittied than fcorned.
 
 FOR POETRIE. 67 
 
 For what is it to make folkes gape at a wretched Beg- 
 ger, or a beggerly Clowne? or againfl lawe of hofpitality, 
 to left at ftraungers, becaufe they fpeake not Englifh fo 
 well as wee doe ? what do we learne, fith it is certaine 
 (Nil habet infalix paupcrtas durius infe,) 
 
 Quam quod ridiailos homines facit. 
 
 But rather a bufy louing Courtier, a hartles threatening 
 Thrafo. A felfe-wife-feeming fchoolemafter. A awry- 
 transformed Traueller. Thefe, if we fawe walke in 
 ftage names, which wee play naturally, therein were de- 
 lightfull laughter, and teaching delightfulnes : as in the 
 other, the Tragedies of Buchanan, doe iuftly bring 
 forth a diuine admiration. But I haue lauifhed out 
 too many wordes of this play matter. I doe it becaufe 
 as they are excelling parts of Poefie, fo is there none 
 fo much vfed in England, and none can be more pitti- 
 fully abufed. Which like an vnmannerly Daughter, 
 mewing a bad education, caufeth her mother Poefies 
 honefty, to bee called in queftion. Other forts of Poetry 
 almoft haue we none, but that Lyricall kind of Songs 
 and Sonnets : which, Lord, if he gaue vs fo good 
 mindes, how well it might be imployed, and Avith howe 
 heauenly fruite, both priuate and publique, in fmging 
 the prayfes of the immortall beauty : the immortall 
 goodnes of that God, who gyueth vs hands to write, 
 and wits to conceiue, of which we might well want 
 words, but neuer matter, of which, we could turne our 
 eies to nothing, but we mould euer haue new budding 
 occafions. But truely many of fuch writings, as come 
 vnder the banner of vnrefiftable loue, if I were a 
 Miftres, would neuer perfwade mee they were in loue : 
 fo coldely they apply fiery fpeeches, as men that had 
 rather red Louers writings ; and fo caught vp certaine 
 fwelling phrafes, which hang together, like a man 
 which once tolde mee, the winde was at North, Weft, 
 and by South, becaufe he would be fure to name windes 
 enovve : then that in truth they feele thofe pafsions, 
 which eafily (as I think) may be bewrayed, by that fame 
 forciblenes, or Encrgia, (as the Greekes ca) it) of the
 
 68 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 writer. Butletthisbeeafufficient, though fhort note, that 
 wee miffe the right vfe of the materiall point of Poefie. 
 
 Now, for the out-fide of it, which is words, or (as I 
 may tearme it) Diftion, it is euen well worfe. So is 
 that honny-flowing Matron Eloquence, apparelled, or 
 rather difguifed, in a Curtizan-like painted affectation : 
 one time with fo farre fette words, they may feeme 
 Monfters: but muft feeme flraungers to any poore 
 Englifh man. Another tyme, with courfing of a Let- 
 ter, as if they were bound to followe the method of a 
 Dictionary : an other tyme, with figures and flowers, 
 extreamelie winter-ftarued. But I would this fault 
 were only peculier to Verifiers, and had not as large 
 poffeffion among Profe-printers ; and, (which is to be 
 meruailed) among many Schollers ; and, (which is to 
 be pittied) among fome Preachers. Truly I could 
 wifh, if at leaft I might be so bold, to wifh in a thing 
 beyond the reach of my capacity, the diligent imita- 
 tors of Tullie, and Dcmofthenes, (moft worthy to be 
 imitated) did not fo much keep, Nizolian Paper-bookes 
 of their figures and phrafes, as by attentiue tranflation 
 (as it were) deuoure them whole, and make them wholly 
 theirs : For nowe they caft Sugar and Spice, vpon euery 
 dim that is ferued to the table ; Like thofe Indians, not 
 content to weare eare-rings at the fit and naturall place 
 of the eares, but they will thruft Jewels through their 
 nofe, and lippes becatife they will be fure to be fine. 
 
 Tiillie, when he was to driue out Catetine, as it were 
 with a Thunder-bolt of eloquence, otten vied that 
 figure of repitition, Viuit viuit ? tmo Senatum vemt fyc. 
 Indeed, inflamed with a well-grounded rage, hee 
 would haue his words (as it were) double out of his 
 mouth : and fo doe that artificially, which we fee 
 men doe in choller naturally. And wee, hauing noted 
 the grace of thofe words, hale them in fometime to a 
 familier Epiftle, when it were to too much choller to 
 be chollerick. Fow for fimilitudes, in certaine printed 
 difcourfes, I thinke all Herbarifts, all {lories of Beafts, 
 FouJes, and .Kiihes, are rifled vp, that they come in
 
 FOR FOE TRIE. 69 
 
 multitudes, to waite vpon any of our conceits ; which 
 certainly is as abfurd a furfet to the eares, as is pofsible : 
 for the force of a fimilitude, not being to prooue any- 
 thing to a contrary Difputer, but onely to explane to a 
 willing hearer, when that is done, the reft is a mort 
 tedious pratling : rather ouer-fwaying the memory 
 from the purpofe whereto they were applyed, then 
 any whit informing the iudgement, already eyther fatis- 
 fied, or by fim'ilitudes not to be fatif-fied. For my 
 part, I doe not doubt, when Antonius and Craffus, 
 the great forefathers of Cicero in eloquence, the one 
 (as Cicero teftifieth of them) pretended not to know 
 Arte, the other, not to fet by it : becaufe with a playne 
 fenfiblenes, they mightwin credit of popular eares; which 
 credit, is theneereftftep to perfwafion: which perfwafion, 
 is the chiefe marke of Oratory; I doe not doubt (I fay) 
 but that they vfed thefe tracks very fparingly, which who 
 doth generally vfe, any man may fee doth daunce to 
 his owne mufick : and fo be noted by the audience, 
 more careful to fpeake curioufly, then to fpeake truly. 
 
 Vndoubtedly, (at lead to my opinion vndoubtedly,) 
 I haue found in diuers fmally learned Courtiers, a more 
 founde ftile, then in some pro feflbrs of learning: of which 
 I can gefle no other caufe, but that the Courtier following 
 that which by prac~life hee findeth fitted to nature, there- 
 in, (though he know it not,) doth according to Art, though 
 not by Art : where the other, vfing Art to shew Art, and 
 not to hide Art, (as in thefe cafes he mould doe) flyeth 
 from nature, and indeede abufeth Art. 
 
 But what ? me thinkes I deferue to be pounded, foi 
 (Iraying from Poetrie to Oratorie : but both haue fuch 
 an affinity in this wordifh confideration, that I thinke 
 this' digrefsion, will make my meaning receiue the 
 fuller vnderftanding : which is not to take vpon me to 
 teach Poets hovve they mould doe, but onely finding 
 my felfe fick among the reft, to fhewe fome one or 
 two fpots of the common infection, growne among the 
 moft part of Writers : that acknowledging our felues 
 fomewhat awry, we may bend to the right vfe both of
 
 70 AN APOLOGIE 
 
 matter and manner ; whereto our language gyueth vs 
 great occafion, beeing indeed capable of any excellent 
 exercifing of it. I know, fome will fay it is a mingled 
 language. And why not fo much the better, taking 
 the beft of both the other? Another will fay it 
 wanteth Grammer. Nay truly, it hath that prayfe, 
 that it wanteth not Grammer : for Grammer it might 
 haue, but it needes it not; beeing so eafie of it 
 felfe, and fo voyd of thofe cumberfome differences of 
 Cafes, Genders, Moodes, and Tenfes, which I thinke 
 was a peece of the Tower of Babilons curfe, that a man 
 mould be put to fchoole to learne his mother-tongue. 
 But for the vttering fvveetly, and properly the conceits 
 of the minde, which is the end of fpeech, that hath it 
 equally with any other tongue in the world : and is parti- 
 culerly happy, in compofitions of two or three words 
 together, neere the Greeke,farbeyondthe Latine : which 
 is one of the greatefl beauties can be in a language. 
 
 Now, of verfifying there are two forts, the one 
 Auncient, the other Moderne : the Auncient marked 
 the quantitie of each filable, and according to that, 
 framed his verfe : the Moderne, obferuing onely 
 number, (with fome regarde of the accent,) the chiefe 
 life of it, ftandeth in that lyke founding of the words, 
 which wee call Ryme. VVhether of thefe be the 
 moft excellent, would beare many fpeeches. The 
 Auncient, (no doubt) more fit for Mufick, both words 
 and tune obferuing quantity, and more fit liuely to 
 expreffe diuers pafsions, by the low and lofty founde 
 of the well-weyed filable The latter likewife, with hys 
 Ryme, ilriketh a certain e mufick to the eare : and in 
 fine, fith it dooth delight, though by another way, it 
 obtaines the fame purpofe : there beeing in eyther 
 fweetnes, and wanting in neither maieflie. Truely the 
 Englifli, before any other vulgar language I know, is 
 fit for both forts : for, for the Ancient, the Italian is fo 
 full of Vowels, that it muft euer be cumbred with 
 Elifions. The Dutch, fo of the other fide with Confo- 
 nants, that they cannot yeeld the fvveet flyding, fit for
 
 FOR POETRIE. 71 
 
 a Verfe. The French, in his whole language, hath 
 not one word, that hath his accent in the lafl filable, 
 fauing two, called Antepenultima, and little more hath 
 the Spanifh : and therefore, very gracelefly may they vfe 
 DaEliles. The Englifh is fubiect to noneof thefe defects. 
 Nowe, for the ryme, though wee doe not obferue 
 quantity, yet wee obferue the accent very precifely : 
 which other languages, eyther cannot doe, or will not 
 doe fo abfolutely. That Ccefura, or breathing place 
 in the middeft of the verfe, neither Italian nor Spanifh 
 haue, the French, and we, neuer almofl fayle of. 
 Laftly, euen the very ryme it felfe, the Italian cannot 
 put in the laft filable, by the French named the Mas- 
 culine ryme, but ftill in the next to the lafl, which the 
 French call the Female; or the next before that, 
 which the Italians terme Sdrucciola. The example of 
 the former, is Buono, Suono, of the Sdrucciola, Fcmina, 
 Semina. The French, of the other fide, hath both the 
 Male, as Bon, Son, and the Female, as Plaife, Taife. But 
 the Sdrucciola, hee hath not: where the Englifh hath all 
 three, as Due, True, Father, Rather, Motion, Potion; with 
 much more which might be fayd, but that I find e already, 
 the triflingnes of this difcourfe, is much too much en- 
 larged. So that fith the euer-praife-worthy Poefie, is full of 
 vertue-breeding delightfulnes, and voyde of no gyfte, 
 that ought to be in the noble name of learning : fith 
 the blames laid againfl it, are either falfe, or feeble : 
 fith the caufe why it is not efleemed in Englande, is 
 the fault of Poet-apes, not Poets : fith laftly, our 
 tongue is moil fit to honor Poefie, and to bee honored 
 by Poefie, I coniure you all, that haue had the euill 
 lucke to reade this incke-wafling toy of mine, euen in 
 the name of the nyne Mufes, no more to fcorne the 
 facred mifleries of Poefie : no more to laugh at the 
 name of Poets, as though they were next inheritours 
 to Fooles : no more to iefl at the reuerent title of a 
 Rymer : but to beleeue with Ariflotle, that they were 
 the auncient Treafurers, of the Graecians Diuinity. 
 To beleeue with Bembus, that they were firfl bringers
 
 72 AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE. 
 
 in of all ciuilitie. To beleeue with Scaliger, that no 
 Philofophers precepts can fooner make you an honefl 
 man, then the reading of Virgill. To beleeue with 
 Clauferus, the Tranflator of Cornutus, that it pleafed 
 the heauenly Deitie, by Hefiod and Homer, vnder the 
 vayle of fables, to giue vs all knowledge, Logick, 
 Rethorick, Philofophy, naturall, and morall ; and Quid 
 nan? To beleeue with me, that there are many 
 mifleries contained in Poetrie, which of purpofe were 
 written darkely, lead by prophane wits, it fliould bee 
 abufed. To beleeue with Landin, that they are fo beloued 
 of the Gods, that whatfoeuer they write, proceeds of a 
 diuine fury. Laftly, to beleeue themfelues, when they 
 tell you they will make you immortall, by their verfes. 
 Thus doing, your name fhal florifh in the Printers 
 fhoppes ; thus doing, you mail bee of kinne to many 
 a poeticall Preface ; thus doing, you (hall be moft 
 fayre, moft ritch, moft wife, moft all, you fhall dwell 
 vpon Superlatiues. Thus dooing, though you be Liber- 
 tino patre natus, you fhall fuddenly grow Hercules proles : 
 
 Si quid mea carmina poffunt. 
 
 Thus doing, your soule fhal be placed with Dantes 
 Beatrix, or Virgils Anchifes. But if, (fie of fuch a 
 but) you be borne fo neere the dull making Cataphraft 
 of Nilus, that you cannot heare the Plannet-like Mufick 
 of Poetrie, if you haue fo earth-creeping a mind, that 
 it cannot lift it.felfe vp, to looke to the fky of Poetry: 
 or rather, by a certaine rufticall difdaine, will become 
 fuch a Mome, as to be a Momus of Poetry : then, 
 though I will not wifh vnto you, the Affes eares of 
 Midas, nor to bee driuen by a Poets verfes, (as 
 Bubonax was) to hang himfelfe, nor to be rimed to 
 death, as is fayd to be doone in Ireland: yet thus much 
 curfe I muft fend you, in the behalfe of all Poets, that 
 while you liue, you liue in loue, and neuer get fauour, 
 for lacking fkill of a Sonnet : and when you die, your 
 memory die from the earth, for want of an Epitaph. 
 
 FINIS. '
 
 STH ADDRESS. IST DECEMBER 1869. 
 
 Many shall run to and fro, and knwledge shall be increased. 
 
 E assumption, in May last, of the publication in addition to 
 the editing of the Series ; while it has ensured its perpetuation 
 and increase, has inevitably somewhat slackened the appear- 
 ance of new works. Nevertheless in the present year, 9 Re- 
 prints containing about 1350 pages will have been issued, as 
 
 compared with 12 Reprints and 1592 pages in 1868. The aggregate 
 
 21 books containing the entire texts of 33 publications originally printed 
 
 between 1482 and 1712, A.D. 
 
 In addition : the Large Paper Edition has been commenced and 
 
 brought down to The Monk of Evesham. Many lovers of choice books 
 
 have bestowed emphatic approval upon the issue in this form, quite 
 
 apart from its v$ry low price. 
 
 My most grateful thanks are due and tendered, for a large assistance 
 
 and suppoit constantly afforded to me, as well in the Production as in 
 
 the Sales. 
 
 5OOKING forward : I have on this occasion to announce further 
 growth in the Series ; and in so doing to invite attention to 
 sizes of pages and the like. 
 
 I. OOlgCapSrjO. THE ORDINARY ISSUE. Seven Reprints, 
 originally announced for this year, being carried on to 1870; I propose 
 unforeseen obstacles not preventing undertaking, if possible, the fol- 
 lowing 8vo works, in the undermentioned order, and at the prices stated at 
 pp. 8-14; which prices are approximate within a sixpence per work, as it 
 is not easy to forecast exactly the varying expenses of so many books : 
 
 W. HABINGTON. Castara. 1640. 
 
 R. ASCHAM. The Scholemaster. 1570. 
 
 Tottel's Miscellany. Songes and Sonnettes by H. HOWARD, and other. 1557 
 
 Rev. T. LEVER. Scnnons. 1550. 
 
 W. WEBBE. A Discourse of English Poetrie. 1586. 
 
 Sir W. RALEIGH and G. MARKHAM. The Fight in the ' Re^'aige.' 1590-5. 
 
 T. SACKVILLK and T. NORTON. Ferrex and l^orrex. 1560. 
 
 J. HALL. Hora: Vacivcr. 
 
 T. TUSSER. Fine Hundred Points of Husbandrie. 1580. 
 
 MILTON. Reason of Church Government. 1641. Letter to Hartlib. 1644. 
 
 Rev. P. STUBHES. The Anatoinie of Abuses. 1583. 
 
 Sir T. ELYOT. The Gwernoitr. 1531. 
 
 Two large works will be interpolated, when ready the "Harmony 
 of Hacon's Essayes" 33., which is partially done. This, when finished, 
 will be followed by J. Howell's Epistohe ffo-Eliana, which will be 
 issued at 6s. The prices in all instances being proportionate to the 
 i'liilc of the work.
 
 FIFTH ADDRESS. 
 
 II. The $ OOlgtap 4^0, ' Large Paper Edition,' will be continued 
 from time to time, at prices corresponding to the 8vo Issue. 
 
 I have now to introduce two new sizes. 
 
 III. )emg 4tO. Previous to the first 'English Reprint' Milton's 
 Areopagitica being sent to press, it was foreseen that the size then 
 adopted fcap. 8vo though possessing many advantages, would be 
 inconvenient in cases where a Reprint would exceed 800 or 1000 pages 
 in that size. Subsequent observation and experiment would seem to 
 show Demy 410, to be as small a form of page capable of carrying a host 
 of letters, and yet at the same time clear, readable, handy and hand- 
 some, as may perhaps be found. 
 
 In this size, I purpose issuing, from time to time, works that now 
 most of us never dream of possessing ; either from the scarcity of the 
 original texts, or the cost of any existing reprints. In fact, to reproduce 
 an old folio or bulky quarto, at the price of an ordinary modern book ; 
 as 55., 75. 6d., IDS., 155., and the like. The present scale of cheapness 
 being maintained. 
 
 Initial letters have been specially engraved for these 4tos. One 
 alphabet, from the Gothic designs of JUAN DE YCIAR in his scarce 
 OrtJwgrapJiias praclicas, published at Saragossa in 1^.8 and again in 
 1550: and other letters from those in use by our own early printers, 
 from JOHN DAY to the two BARKERS. Altogether, with the best modern 
 printing, these 4tos will be both beautiful and excessively cheap. 
 
 They will be issued in stiff covers, uncut edges. 
 
 Their contents will interest even more than their appearance. The 
 pioneer volume, now in preparation, contains two translations, &c. by 
 RICHARD EDEN : which are criteria as to the general Cosmical know- 
 ledge in England in 1553, and in 1555. 
 
 (i.) The Treatyse of Newe India, a translation from SEBASTIAN 
 MUNSTER'S Cosi/iograpkict, was published at an anxious time in 1553. 
 The English fleet, under Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor 
 consisting of the Bona Speranza, I2O tons : the Ed-ward Bonarmture, 
 1 60 tons ; the Bona Confidentia, 90 tons sent out 'by the right wor- 
 shipfull M. Sebastian Cabota, Esquier, gouernor of the mysterie and 
 companie of the marchants adventurers for the discouerie of Regions, 
 Dominions, Islands and places unknowen,' had not long left the English 
 shores Willoughby never to return in its attempt to reach Cathay by 
 the North-East. While there was no news, but a continual anxiety ; 
 Eden thus shows his purpose in his Dedication of this work : 
 
 Yet sure I am aswel they which set forthe or take vpon them this viage, as also 
 they which shal hereafter attempt ye lyke, may in this small boke as in a little glasse, 
 see some cleare light, not only how to learne by the example, dawmage, good suc- 
 cesse, and aduentures of others, how to behaue them selues and direct theyr viage to 
 their vtmost commoditie, but also if due successe herein should not chaunce according 
 vnto theyr hope and expectation (as oftentimes chanceth in great affaires) yet not for 
 one foyle or fal, so to be dismayed as wyth shame and dishonor to leave with losse, but 
 rather to the death to persist in a godly honeste, and lawful purpose, knowing that 
 whereas one death is dewc to nature, the same is more honourably spent in such 
 attemptes as may be to the glory of God and commoditie of our countrey, then in 
 soft beddes at home, among the teares and weping of women. 
 
 (2.) Under the title of The decades of the newe world or west India,
 
 FIFTH ADDRESS. 
 
 Eden compiled a number of translations from the works of PETER 
 MARTYR ANGI.KRIA, OVIEDO Y VAI.DKS, LOPEZ UE GOMARA, PIGA- 
 I-'ETTA and others : giving striking and fresh accounts of the discovery 
 and subjection of the New \\ 'oriel and of the Circumnavigation of the 
 Globe. Intermixed with these; are the first accounts of the two English 
 voyages to Guinea in 1553 and 1554; and the earliest English notices 
 of Russia, with the exception of the account of R. Chancellor's voy- 
 age, omitted by Eden because of Clement Adam's recent narration of it, 
 from Chancellor's own mouth. 
 
 For the multifarious contents of this first Demy 4(0 Reprint equal in 
 quantity to over 1200 Fcap. 8vo pages see//. 4-6. The price will be IDS. 
 
 IV. Imperial Jf Olio. Yet a fourth form for large illustrated works 
 is in contemplation. The first Reprint in this size will be of a work 
 which has nearly perished out of mind, but which strikingly illustrates 
 a subject that thrills every Englishman. 
 
 The engraver AUGUSTINE RYTHER published in 1590 a somewhat 
 condensed translation from the Italian of the Florentine PIKTRO UBAL- 
 DINI (formerly Illuminator to Edward VI., but then a resident in 
 London), Concerning the Spanishe fleets inuadinge Englande in the yeare 
 1588 and ouerthroivne by Her Maiestifs Nauie, &c. 6-v. 
 
 For this small 410 tract, Ryther engraved eleven Plates to scale, 
 showing the positions of the fleets (by the representation of the ships) in 
 the several actions. These plates are now being engraved in facsimile : 
 and though the progress is slow, even to tediousness, I am in hopes that 
 this volume will appear in 1870 ; and if possible be published for IDs. 6d. 
 
 It is therefore hoped, that, in one or other of these forms, the Series 
 may be adequate to the production of any English book. 
 
 In conclusion: I shall as heretofore be thankful for any suggestions. 
 
 Every month or six weeks at most ought, to see some fresh Reprint. 
 Should a longer interval occur : that is not to be imputed to an imaginary 
 cessation of the Series, of which the books now just clearing expenses 
 I have no anticipation whatever : but to my limited leisure time and 
 to difficulties in production. 
 
 < )nce more I remit the Sales to the ceaseless advocacy of every Sup- 
 porter. 
 
 These Reprints come to us, like Ships out of the darkness and 
 oblivion of the Past, laden with a varied and precious freight. Exact 
 transcripts of the English language, skilled productions of English minds, 
 ancient deed-rolls of English heroes, and photographs of English 
 manners, are their burden. The speech, thought, and work of Old 
 England are thus being imported into these later ages. Of such wealth 
 may there ever be Store and enough for all English-reading races, both 
 for Now and Aye. 
 
 EDWARD ARBER. 
 
 5 QUEEN SQUARE, BLOOMSBURY, 
 LONDON, W.C.
 
 4 ANALYSIS OF RICHARD EDEN'S WORKS, 1553, 1555. 
 
 4to. 
 
 Will be ready about March 1870, in one Volume, IDS. 
 RICHARD EDEN. 
 
 I. A treatyse OF THE NEWE INDIA, WITH 
 OTHER NEW FOUNDE LANDES AND IS- 
 LANDS, A SWELL EASTWARDS AS WEST- 
 WARDED as they are knowen and found in these oure 
 dayes, after the descripcion of SEBASTIAN MUNSTER, in his 
 boke of vniuersall Cosmographie, &c. [London, 1553.] 
 
 j. Dedication to the Duke of Northumberland. 
 
 2. Rychard Eden to the reader. 
 
 3. C Of the newe India, as it is knowen and found in these our dayes. In the 
 
 yeare of oure Lorde M.D.L.III. After the description of Sebastian Minister 
 in his Booke of the vniuersall Cosmographie, Libr. v. De terris Asice Maieris. 
 And translated into Englishe by Richard Eden. 
 
 4. C Of the newe India and Ilandes in the West Ocean sea, how, when, and by 
 
 whom they were found. 
 
 IT. The First English Collection of Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries. -- 
 THE DECADES OF THE NEW WORLD OR 
 WEST INDIA, &c. &c. [by Peter Martyr of Angleria.] 
 [Translated, compiled, &c. by Richard Eden.] f[ Londini, 
 Anno 1555. 
 
 1. The [Dedicatory] Epistle [to King Philip and Queen Mary.] 
 
 2. Richard Eden to the Reader. 
 
 3. The [ist, 2d, and 3d only of the 8] Decades of the newe worlde or 
 westlndia, Conteynyngthenauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardcs, 
 with the particular description of the rnoste ryche and large lands and 
 Ilandes lately founde in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of 
 the kinges of Spayne. In the which the diligent reader may not only 
 consyder what commoditie may hereby chaunce to the hole Christian 
 world in tyme to come, but also learne many secreates touchynge the 
 lande, the sea, and the starres, very necessarie to be knowen to al such 
 as shal attempte any nauigations, or otherwise haue delite to behokle 
 the strange and woonderful woorkes of god and nature. Wrytten in the 
 Latine tounge by PETER MARTYR of Angleria, and translated into 
 Englysshe by RYCHARDE EDEN. 
 
 (1) The first Decade [in ten Books]. Of the Ocean. 
 
 (2) The second Decade [in ten Books.] Of the supposed Continent or finne lande. 
 
 (3) The Third Decade [in ten Books.] The new south. Ocean, &c. &c. 
 
 (4) O/ t 'lie Landes and Ilandes lately founde : and of the matters of the inlialit- 
 
 auntes of the same. 
 
 4. The Bull of Pope Alexander VI. in 1493, granting to the Spaniards 
 1 the Regions and Ilandes founde in the Weste Ocean" by them. 
 
 5. The Hystorie of the West Indies by GoNgALO FERNV NDEZ OVIEDO 
 y VALDES. 
 
 Of the ordinary navygation from Spayne to the Weste Indies.
 
 ANALYSIS OF RICHARD EDEN'S WORKS, 1553, 1555. 5 
 
 Of twoo notable thynges as touchyng the West Indies : And of the great rychesse 
 brought from thense into Spayne. 
 
 Of the mynes of golde, and the manner of workynge in tlieym. 
 
 Of the maner of fysshinge for perlas. 
 
 Of the familiaritie which certeyne of the Indians haue wyth the detiyll, and how 
 they receaue answere of hym of thynges to coome. 
 
 Of the temperature of the regions vnder or neare to' the burnt lyne cauled Torricia 
 sona or the Equinoctial!: and of the dyuers seasons of the yearc. 
 
 Of dyuers particular thynges, as woormes, serpentes, bcastes, foules, trees, &c. 
 
 Of trees, fiuites, and plantes. Of Reedes or Canes. 
 
 Of venemous apples wherwith they poyson theyr arrowes. 
 
 Of fysshes and of the maner of fysshynge. 
 
 Of th[e]increase and decrease, (that isj rysynge and faullynge ol our Ocean and 
 Southe sea caulied the sea of Sur. 
 
 Portugales sayle into East India. 
 
 Howe thynges that are of one kynde, dyfier in orme and qualitie, accordynge to 
 the nature of the place where they are engendred or growe. And of the beastes 
 cauled Tygers. 
 
 Of the maners and customes of the Indians of the firme lande, and of theyr women. 
 
 Of the chiefe Ilandes Hispaniola and Cub.i. [firme lande. 
 
 Of the lande of Ba.coa.leos cauled Baccalearum, situate on the North syde of the 
 
 6. Of other notable things gathered out of dyuers autors. 
 (i) Of the vniuersal carde and newe worlde. 
 
 ,2) Of the vyage made by the Spanyardes rounde abowte the worlde [by Ferdinand 
 MAGKLHABNS: Written in Italian by ANTONIO PIGAFETTA.] 
 
 (3) Of the prices of precious stones and Spices, with theyr weightes and measures 
 
 as they are accustomed to be soulde bothe of the Moores and the gentyles : 
 And of the places where they giowe. 
 
 (4) The debate and stryfe betwene the Spanyardes and Portugales, for the diuision 
 
 of the Indies and the trade of Spices. [Written in Spanish by FRANCISCO 
 
 LOPEZ DE Go.MAKA.] 
 
 (5) Of the Pole Antartike and the starres abowt the same, &c. [From AMERICUS 
 
 VESPUTIUS, ANDREA DE CORSALI, ALOISIUS CAUAMUSTUS.] 
 
 7. Of Moscouie and Cathay. 
 
 (i) A discourse of dyuers vyages and wayes by the whiche Spices, Precious stones, 
 and guide were brought in owlde tyme from India into Europe and other 
 partes of the world. 
 
 Also of the vyage to CATHAY and East India by the north sea: And of 
 certeyne secreates touchynge the same vyage, declared by the duke of Mos- 
 couie his ambassadour to an excellent lerned gentelman of Italic, named 
 GALEATIUS BUTRIGAKIUS. 
 
 Lykewyse of the vyages of that woorthy owlde man Sebastian Cabote, yet 
 liuynge in Englande, and at this present thegouernourof thecoompany of the 
 'iiarchantcsof Cathay in the citie of London. Isriikand IACOBUS BASTALDUS. 
 
 {2) A briefe description of Moscouia after the later wryters, as SKBASTIAN Mi'N- 
 
 ji Of the North regions and of the moderate and continuall lieate in coulde regions 
 
 aswell in the nyght as in the day in soomer season. Also howe those regions 
 
 are habitable to th[e]inhabitauntes of the same, contrary to th[e]opinion of 
 
 the owlde wryters. 
 
 4 The historic written in the latin toonge by PAULAS lours bysshoppeof Nuceria 
 in Italic, of the legation or ambassade of greate Kasilius Prince of Moscouia, 
 to pope Clement the. vii. of that name: In which is conteyncd the descrip- 
 tion of Moscmiia with the regions confininge abowte the same euen vnto the 
 great and ryche Empire of Cathay. [SioisMUNDi'S LIBERUS. 
 
 fs) Other notable thynges concernynge Moscouia gathered owt of the bookes of 
 
 [After which Eden tells us. "As concernynge Moscouia and Cathay, I was mynded 
 to haue added hereunto dyuers other thynges, but that for certeyne considerations I 
 was persuaded to proceade no further. Vnto whose requeste, herein satisfyngo 
 rather other then my selfe, wyllynge olherwyse to haue accomplyssed this booke to 
 further perfeccio!i, 1 was content to agree lor two cajises especially mouynge me 
 whereof the one ii, th t as touchynge these trades and vyages, as'in maner in al
 
 6 ANALYSIS OF RICHARD EDEN'S WORKS, 1553, 1555. 
 
 other sciences, there are certeyne secreates not to bee publysshed and made common 
 to all men. The other cause is, that the parteners at whose charge this booke is 
 prynted, although the copy whereof they haue wrought a longe space haue cost them 
 nought doo not neuerthelesse cease dayly to caule vppon me to make an end and 
 proceade no further ; affirmynge that the booke wyll bee of to great a pryce and not 
 euery mans money : fearyng rather theyr owne losse and hynderaunce, then careful] 
 to bee beneficiall to other, as is nowe in manner the trade of all men. Which ordin- 
 arie respecte of priuate commoditie hath at thys tyme so lyttle moued me, I take god 
 to wytnesse, that for my paynes and trauayles taken herein such as they bee, I may 
 vppon iust occasion thynke my selfe a looser manye wayes, except such men of good 
 inclination as shall take pleasure and feele sum commoditie in the knowleage of these 
 thynges, shall thynke me woorthy theyr good woorde, wherewith I shal repute my 
 selfe and my trauayles so abundantly satysfyed, that I shall repute other mens 
 gaynes a recompense for my losses, as they may bee indeede, yf men bee not vr.thanke- 
 full, which only vice of ingratitude hath hyndered the worlde of many benefites."] 
 (6) The letters missiue of EDWARD VI. in 1553. 
 
 8. Other notable thynges as totichynge the Indies [chiefly out of the 
 books of FRANCISCO LOPEZ DE GOMARA, ' and partly also out of the 
 carcle made by SEBASTIAN CABOT.'] 
 
 Of the foreknowledge that the poet Seneca had of the fyndynge this newe worlde 
 and other regions not then knowen. 
 
 Of the great Ilande which Plato cauled Atlantica or Atlantide. 
 
 Of the colour of the Indians. Why they were cauled Indians. 
 
 The fyrste discouerynge of the Weste Indies. [ledge of the Indies. 
 
 What manner of man Chrystopher Colon was: and howehecame fyrst to the know- 
 
 What labour and trauayle Colon tooke in attemptyng his fyrst vyage to the Indies. 
 
 Of newe Spayne cauled Nona Hispana, or Mexico. Of Peru. 
 
 Of the great ryuer cauled Rio de la Plata (that is) the ryuer of syluer. 
 
 Of the hygher East India cauled India Tercera or Trecera. 
 
 Of the landes of Laborador and Baccalaos, lyinge west and northwest from Eng- 
 lande, and beinge parte of the firme lande of the West Indies. 
 
 The discouerynge of the lande of Floryda. [abowt the same. 
 
 An opinion that Europa, Africa, and Asia, are Ilandes : and of certayne nauigations 
 
 That the Spanyardes haue sayled to the Antipodes (that is) suche as go fiete to fiete 
 ageynst vs, &c. 
 
 Who fyrst founde the needle of the compasse, and the vse thereof. 
 
 The Situacion and byggenes of the earth. What degrees are. 
 
 9. The Booke of Metals. 
 
 (1) Of the generation of metalles and theyr mynes with the maner of fyndinge ths 
 
 same: written in the Italien lounge by VANNUCCIUS BIRINGUEZIUS in his 
 booke cauled Pyrotechnia. 
 
 (2) Of the myne of golde and the qualitie thereof in particular. 
 
 (3) Of the myne of siluer and the qualitie thereof. 
 
 (4) The maner of workynge in golde mynes of Egipte in owld tyme. 
 
 10. The description of the two viages made ovvt of England into 
 Guinea in Affricke [in 1553, 1554]. 
 
 [Eden here writes. " That these vyages to Guinea are placed after the booke of 
 Metals as separate from other vyages, the cause hereof is, that after I had delyuered 
 the sayde booke of metalles to the handes of the printers, I was desyred by certeyne 
 my frendes to make snmme mention of these viages, that summemorie thereof myght 
 remaine to our posteritie." 
 
 He thus concludes his description, " And to haue sayde thus much of these vyages 
 t may suffice. For (as I haue sayd before) Whereas the parteners at whose charges 
 this book is prynted, wold longe sence haue me proceaded no further, I had not 
 thought to haue written any thynge of these vyages but that the liberalise of master 
 Toy encoraged me to attempt the same. Which I speake not to the reproche of other 
 in whome I thynke there lacked no good wyll, but that they thought the booke wolde 
 be to chargeable."] 
 
 n. The maner of fyndynge the Longitude of regions. 
 INDEX.
 
 prints. 
 
 CAREFULLY EDITED BY 
 
 EDWARD ARBER, 
 
 Associate, King's College, London, F.R.G.S., &*c. 
 
 Any Work or Volume may be obtained separately- -being simpr^- numbered herein 
 for the sake of distinction through any Bookseller, or, if more convenient, by Post, 
 on remitting Stamps. 
 
 Post Office Orders should be made on HIGH HOLBORN Office ; Cheques crossed 
 LONDON AND COUNTY BANK. 
 
 IMPERIAL FOLIO. 
 
 1. ipetrucdo cUbalbmt lUrgmsthte fijither. 
 
 A Discourse concerninge the Spanishe fleete inuadinge 
 Englande in the yeare 1588 and ouerthrowne by her Maies- 
 ties Nauie vnder the conduction of the Right-honorable the 
 Lorde Charles Howarde highe Admirall of Englande : 
 written in Italian by PETRUCCIO VBALDINO citizen of Flor- 
 ence, and translated for A. RYTHER: vnto the which discourse 
 are annexed certaine tables expressinge the generall exploites, 
 and conflictes had with the said fleete. 
 
 These bookes with the tables belonginge to them are to be 
 solde at the shoppe of A. RYTHER, being a little from Leaden 
 hall next to the Signe of the Tower. [1590.] [In preparation. 
 
 DEMY QUARTO. 
 
 1. ISicharl) (foett. 
 
 (1) A treatyse of the newe India, with other new founde 
 landes and Ilandes, aswell eastwarde as westwarde, as they 
 are knowen and found in these oure dayes, after the descrip- 
 cion of SEBASTIAN MUNSTER in his boke of vniuersall Cos- 
 mographie : . . . . Translated out of Latin into Englisshe. 
 By Rycharde Eden. [Lond. 1553.] 
 
 (2) The Decades of the newe worlde or west India, Con- 
 teynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes 
 of the moste ryche and large landes and Ilandes lately founde 
 in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of the 
 Kinges of Spayne. 
 
 Wrytten in the Latine tounge by Peter Martyr of Angleria, 
 and translated into Englysshe by Richarde Eden. C LON- 
 DINI. In cedibus Guilhelmi Powell. ANNO 1555. 
 Ten Shillings. [To appear about March 1870. 
 
 Published at 5 Queen Square, London, W.C.
 
 TITLES, PRICES, &c. &c. 
 
 FOOLSCAP. 
 
 ORDINARY ISSUE, in 8vo. 
 
 Published in Stiff Co-cers, with either cut or uncut edges. 
 Copies with, cut edges issued, unless otherwise ordered. 
 HANDSOME AND DURABLE CASE FOR THE SAME, IN ROXBORGHE STYLE, is. 
 
 * BOUND VOLUMES, in 8vo. 
 
 Also, two or three of such Works collected into occasional Volumes, in green cloth, 
 red edges, usually about Half a. Crown each. 
 
 LARGE PAPER EDITION, in 4to. 
 
 TJie same texts, beautifully printed on thick toned paper: issued in Stiff Covers, 
 uncut edges, at very low prices. Issued (in Dec. 1869) as far as No. iS : to be con- 
 tinued from time to time, T, 
 
 n tl Fcap. 8vo. 
 
 Fcap. 4to- __ _5 _ 
 
 Large TITLES, PRICES, &c. &c. Stiff-Covers, 
 
 Paper either cut or Cloth. 
 
 Edition. uncut edges. 
 
 s. d. 1. fofyit |ttiltott. f . j.-. 
 
 (1) A decree of the Starre- Chamber, concern- 
 ing Printing, made the eleuenth day of July last 
 past. London, 1637. 
 
 (2) An Order of the Lords and Commons as- 
 sembled in Parliament for the regulating of 
 Printing, &c. London, 14 June, 1643. 
 
 (3) AREOPAGITICA : A speech of Mr. 
 John Milton for the liberty of Vnlicenc'd Print- 
 ing, to the Parlament of England. London. [24 
 
 i 6 November]. 1644 ....... 06 
 
 2. IJttgl) IDatimer, Ex-Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 SERMON ON THE PLOUGHERS. A 
 
 > 
 
 notable Sermon of ye reuerende father Master 
 Hughe Latimer,whichehe preached in ye Shrouds 
 at paules churche in London, on the xviii daye of 
 i 6 Januarye. C The yereof our Loorde MDXLviii. o 6 
 3. te'pl)m (gossJon, stud. Oxon. 
 
 (1) THE SCHOOLE OF ABUSE. Con- 
 teiningapleasaunt invective against Poets, Pipers, 
 Plaiers, Jesters, and such like Caterpillers of a ! 2/0 
 Commonwealth ; Setting up the Flagge of De- 
 fiance to their mischievous exercise, and ouer- 
 throwing their Bulwarkes, by Prophane Writer?, 
 Naturall reason, and common experience. A 
 discourse as pleasaunt for gentlemen that fauour 
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 MICRO-COSMOGRAPHIE, or a Peece of 
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 13. |jttgl) attmer, Ex-Bishop of Worcester. \ 
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 VI. (i) C The fyrste sermon of Mayster Hugh 
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 _,. ^ UTOPIA. A frutefull pleasaunt, and wittie j. a 
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 of the new yle, called Utopia : written in Latine, 
 by the right worthie and famous Sir Thomas More 
 knyght, and translated into Englishe by RAPHE 
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 College in Oxford, and nowe by him at this se- 
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 2 6 London. [1556]. . . . . . I oJ 
 
 15. (George fjnttenliam. _: a 
 THE ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE. | >| 
 
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 Collated with the edition of 1650 ; and in its j > 
 
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 17. The earliest known English comedy. 
 
 ^tel)Ola:S SEliall, Master of Eton. 
 ROISTER DOISTER, [from the unique copy 
 
 1 6 at Eton College]. 1566. . . .061' 
 
 18. THE REVELATION TO THE MONK " 
 OF E VESHAM. Here begynny th a mervelous = ^ 
 revelacion that was schewyd of almighty god by 
 
 sent Nycholas to a monke of Euyshamme yn the 
 
 days of Kynge Richard the fyrst. And the yere , , 
 
 of our lord. M.C.Lxxxxvi. [From the unique 
 
 2 6 copy, printed about 1482, in the British Museum], i o 
 
 19. 3& mc ^9E- of Scotland, I. of England. 
 
 (1) THE ESS A YES OF A PRENTISE, 
 IN THE DIVINE ARTE OF POESIE. 
 Edinburgh 1585. 
 
 (2) A COUNTER BLASTE TO TO- 
 
 2 6 BACCO. London. 1604. . . . i oj 
 
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 and Favourites. [Third Edition. London] 
 
 i 6 1653. [/ Dec. 1 869. o 6 
 
 21. 5Tl)Oma!S SHatgOtt, Student at law. 
 
 (i) 77/jE" E/fctro/UTraO/a or Passionate Cen- 
 turie of Loue. Divided into two parts : whereof, 
 the first expresseth the Authors sufferance in 
 J.oue : the latter, his long farewell to Loue and 
 all his tyrannic. Composed by Thomas Wat- i c - 
 
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 certaine Gentlemen his very frendes. London 
 [1582.] 
 
 (2) MELIBCEUS T. Watsoni, sive, Ecloga 
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 (3) AN ECLOGUE, &c., Written first in 
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 (4) THE TEARS OF FANCY, or Loue 
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 2/6 
 
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 22. ^Rilltam Habingtott. -^ 
 
 CASTARA. The third Edition. Corrected 
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 the ryght honorable Lorde H ENRV H AWARD, late J ' 
 5 Earle of Surrey, and other. [London, June] 1557. 2026 
 
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 Master of St. Johns College, Cambridge. 
 SERMONS, (i) A fruitfull Sermon made in 
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 seconde of Februari. 1550. 
 
 (2) A Sermon preached the thyrd Sunday in 
 
 Lent before the Kynges Maiestie,and his honour- ^ 
 
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 (3) A Sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the 
 
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 A DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POE- 
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 2 6 London. 1586 i o 
 
 FIGHT IN THE 'REVENGE.' '(i) A 
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 uenge, one of her Maiesties Shippes, And an 
 Armada of the King of Spaine. London. 1591. 
 (2) The most Honorable Tragedie of Sir Ri- 
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 i 6 known, Mr. Grenville's cost .40.] . . .06 
 
 28. (1) The earliest known English tragedy; and also the -g^ 
 
 earliest English play in blank verse. JS X 
 
 <Ll)Oin.l jeatkuillc, afterwards Lord 
 
 Buckhtirst, and Earl of Dorset : and <z 
 
 5Tl)01Tta)S ^lorton, of Sharpenhoe (Beds). \ -g^s 
 
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 29. |ohn Hall. 
 
 HORsE VACIVAL, or Essays. Some occa- 
 
 1 6 sionall considerations. London. 1646. . .06 
 
 3O- <Ll)onta# (ucr. 
 
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 31. |ol)ti JEilton. 
 
 (1) The Life of M r John Milton [by his nephew 
 EDWARD PHILLIPS]. From 'Letters of State 
 written by Air. John Milton, bet. 1649-59.' 
 London. 1694. 
 
 (2) THE REASON ON CHURCH-GO- 
 VERNEMENT urg'd against Prelacy. By Mr. 
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 (3) Milton's Letter OF EDUCATION. To 
 
 2 6 Master Samuel Hartlib. [London. 5 June 1644.] \ o 
 
 32. flea. fll)Ulip ^tnbbejs. 
 
 (1) THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES : 
 conteyning a discoverie or briefe Summarie of 
 such Notable Vices and Imperfections, as now 
 raigne in many Christian Countreyes of the 
 World : but especialieinaveriefamous ILANDE 
 called AILGNA [i.e. Anglia] : Together with 
 
 most fearefull Examples of Gods ludgementes, 
 executed vpon the wicked for the same, aswell in 2/6 
 
 AILGNA of late, as in other places, elsewhere 
 . . . London, i Maij. 1583. 
 
 (2) The Second part of THE ANA TOMIE 
 
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 THE GO VERNOR. The boke named the *\ _.* 
 
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 Londini M.D.xxxi. Collated with subsequent i ^ 
 
 5 o editions 20] 2/6 
 
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 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 English Works included or to be included in the Series. 
 
 Each distinct original publication is separately quoted. 
 
 THE dates iu the first column are those with which the several works 
 should certainly, or in all probability, be associated in the History and 
 Literature of England. When these dates are asterisked *, the work was 
 anterior to the date. If the date of composition, &c. differs from that of 
 the particular edition reprinted, the latter is shown in a second column. 
 
 Works already (Dec. 1869) reprinted, are followed by their numbers 
 in the preceding list : otherwise the works are intended to appear in 
 1870. See previous pages. 
 
 1196. 1486. The Revelation to the Monk of Eve/Jiam. . 18 
 
 Icnrg WII. 
 
 1516. 1556. Sir T. MORE. Utopia. ... 14 
 
 1545. R. ASCIIAM. Toxophihis. ... 7 
 
 (Cbtoari) BI. 
 
 1549. Bp. H. LATIMER. The Ploughers. . . 2 
 
 1549. lip. II. LATIMER. Seven Sermons before Ed. VI. 13 
 
 1550. Rev. T. LEVER. Sermon in the Shrouds of St. Pauls. 
 1550. Rev. T. LEVER. Sermon before Ed. VI. 
 
 1550. . Rev. T. LEVER. Sermon at Paul's Cross. 
 * '553- 1566. N. UDALL. Roister Doister. ... 17 
 1553. R.EDEN. Translation from SEBASTIAN MUNSTER (1532). 
 
 |)l)Uip anft Jttarj). 
 
 1555. R. EDEN. Translations from PETER MARTYR (1516), 
 
 OVIEDO Y VALDES (1521), A. PIGAFETTA (1532), etc. 
 
 1557. TotteFs Miscellany. Songes and Sonettes by HENRY 
 
 HAWARD, Earle of Surrey and other. 
 
 1561. 1571. T. SACKVILLE and T. NORTON. Ferrex and Porrex. 
 
 1563. T. SACKVILLE. The Induction, c. 
 
 1570. R. ASCHAM. The Scholemaster . 
 
 '575- ^- GASCOIGNE. Cerlayne notes of Instruction in 
 
 English verse. . . . .11 
 
 1576. G. GASCOIGNE. The complaynt of Philomcne. . 11 
 
 1576. G. GASCOIGNE. The Stele Glasse. . . 11 
 
 1577. G. \YHETSTONK. A Remembra nee of G. f Gascoigne. 11 
 !579- J- LVLY. Engines. The Anatomy of Wit. . 9 
 1579. S. GOSSON. The Schoole of Abuse. . . 3 
 
 1579. S. GOSSON. An Apologiefor the School of Abuse. 3 
 
 1580. J. LYLY. Euphues and his England. . . 9 
 1557-1580. T. TUSSER. Fine Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie.
 
 1 6 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 'ENGLISH REPRINTS.' 
 - , - __ - 
 1582.1595. Sir P. SIDNEY. An Apologie for Poetrie. . 4 
 
 1582. T. WATSON. The EKaro/jLtraGia. . . 21 
 
 1583. Rev. P. STUBBES. The Anatomic of Abuses. 
 
 1583. Rev. P. STUBBES. Second Part of The Anatomie of Abuses. 
 
 1585. JAMES VI. The Essayes of a Prentise in.... ...... Poesie. 19 
 
 1586. "W. WEBBE. A Discourse of English Poetry. 
 
 1589. G. PUTTENHAM. The Arte of 'English Poesie. . 15 
 
 1590. P. UBALDINI. A. RYTHER. A 'discourse dtuerynge 
 
 the Spanislie fleete. 
 
 1590. T. WATSON. Alelibaus. . . . .21 
 
 1590. T. WATSON. An Eclogue, &c. . . -21 
 
 1590. E. WEBBE. His Wonderful Trauaih's. . . 5 
 
 1591. Sir W. RALEIGH. The Fight in the ' Revenge. ' 
 
 1592. 1593. T. WATSON. The Teares of Fancy or Loue disdained. 21 
 ] 595- G. MARKHAM. The Tragedie of Sir R. Grcnville. 
 
 * ] 597- F. BACON. Essayes. 
 
 fame* $. 
 
 1604. [JAMES I.] A Counterblaste to Tobacco. . . 19 
 
 ? 1653. Sir R. NAUNTON. Fragmenta Regalia. . . 2O 
 
 1607-12. Sir F. Bacon. The Writings, &c. &c. Ilarl. MS. 5106. 
 1612. The Essaies of Sir F. BACON, Knt. 
 
 1625. Francis Lord VERULAM, Viscount ST. ALBANS. 
 
 Essayes or Counsels, Ciuil or Morall. 
 
 1628-33. Bp. J. EARLE. Microcosmografhie. . . 12 
 
 1625-45. 1689. J. SELDEN. Table Talk. ... 6 
 
 1630-40. 1640. W. HABINGTON. Castara. 
 1637. STAR CHAMBER. Decree concerning Printing. . 1 
 
 1641. J. MiLTON. The Reason of Church Government, elc. 
 
 1642. J. HOWELL. Instructions for Forreine Travell. 
 
 1643. LORDS AND COMMONS. Order regulating of Printing. 1 
 
 1644. J, MILTON. On Education* 
 
 1644. J. MILTON. Areopagitica. ... . 1 
 
 1645. J. HOWELL. Epistoltz flo-EIianee. Book I. 
 
 1646. J. HALL. Horce Vacive. 
 
 1647. J. HOWELL. Epistola Ho-EliancE. Book II. 
 
 Commontocaltl). 
 
 1650. J. HOWELL. Epistola Ho-Eliana. Book III. 
 
 1650. J. HOWELL. Instructions for travelling into Turkey. 16 
 
 1655. J. HOWELL. Epistola- Ho-Eliance. Book IV. 
 
 Cljarle* M. 
 
 1671.1672. G. VILLIERS, Duke of Buckingham. The Rehearsal. 1O 
 1694. E.PHILLIPS. Life of John Milton. 
 
 1712. J. ADDISON. Criticism on Paradise Lest. 
 
 LONDON : 5 QUEEN SQUARE, BLOOMSBUET, W,0.
 
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