At Leicester House
this 18th of October 1580.
Francis Meres, M.A.
_Sketch of English Literature, Painting, and Music, up to September_ 1598.
_A comparative Discourse of our English Poets [Painters and Musicians]
with the Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets [Painters and Musicians]_.
As Greece had three poets of great antiquity, ORPHEUS, LINUS, and
MUSAEUS; and Italy, other three ancient poets, LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, ENNIUS,
and PLAUTUS: so hath England three ancient poets, CHAUCER, GOWER, and
LYDGATE.
As HOMER is reputed the Prince of Greek poets; and PETRARCH of Italian
poets: so CHAUCER is accounted the god of English poets.
As HOMER was the first that adorned the Greek tongue with true quantity:
so [WILLIAM LANGLAND, the author of] _PIERS PLOWMAN_ was the first that
observed the true quantity of our verse without the curiosity of rhyme.
OVID writ a Chronicle from the beginning of the world to his own time;
that is, to the reign of AUGUSTUS the Emperor: so hath HARDING the
Chronicler (after his manner of old harsh rhyming) from ADAM to his time;
that is, to the reign of King EDWARD IV.
As SOTADES Maronites, the Iambic poet, gave himself wholly to write
impure and lascivious things: so SKELTON (I know not for what great
worthiness, surnamed the Poet Laureate) applied his wit to scurrilities
and ridiculous matters; such [as] among the Greeks were called
_Pantomimi_, with us, buffoons.
As CONSALVO PEREZ, that excellent learned man, and secretary to King
PHILIP [II.] of Spain, in translating the "Ulysses" [_Odyssey_] of HOMER
out of Greek into Spanish, hath, by good judgement, avoided the fault of
rhyming, although [he hath] not fully hit perfect and true versifying: so
hath HENRY HOWARD, that true and noble Earl of SURREY, in translating the
fourth book of VIRGIL's _AEneas_: whom MICHAEL DRAYTON in his _England's
Heroical Epistles_ hath eternized for an _Epistle to his fair GERALDINE_.
As these Neoterics, JOVIANUS PONTANUS, POLITIANUS, MARULLUS TARCHANIOTA,
the two STROZAE the father and the son, PALINGENIUS, MANTUANUS,
PHILELPHUS, QUINTIANUS STOA, and GERMANUS BRIXIUS have obtained renown,
and good place among the ancient Latin poets: so also these Englishmen,
being Latin poets; WALTER HADDON, NICHOLAS CARR, GABRIEL HARVEY,
CHRISTOPHER OCKLAND, THOMAS NEWTON, with his _LELAND_, THOMAS WATSON,
THOMAS CAMPION, [JOHN] BRUNSWERD, and WILLEY have attained [a] good
report and honourable advancement in the Latin empire [of letters].
As the Greek tongue is made famous and eloquent by HOMER, HESIOD,
EURIPIDES, AESCHYLUS, SOPHOCLES, PINDARUS, PHOCYLIDES, and ARISTOPHANES;
and the Latin tongue by VIRGIL, OVID, HORACE, SILIUS ITALICUS, LUCANUS,
LUCRETIUS, AUSONIUS, and CLAUDIANUS: so the English tongue is mightily
enriched, and gorgeously invested in rare ornaments and resplendent
habiliments by Sir PHILIP SYDNEY, SPENSER, DANIEL, DRAYTON, WARNER,
SHAKESPEARE, MARLOW, and CHAPMAN.
As XENOPHON, who did imitate so excellently as to give us _effigiem justi
imperii_, "the portraiture of a just empire" under the name of _CYRUS_,
(as CICERO saith of him) made therein an absolute heroical poem; and as
HELIODORUS wrote in prose, his sugared invention of that picture of love
in _THEAGINES and CARICLEA_; and yet both excellent admired poets: so Sir
PHILIP SIDNEY writ his immortal poem, _The Countess of PEMBROKE's
"Arcadia"_ in prose; and yet our rarest poet.
As SEXTOS PROPERTIUS said, _Nescio quid magis nascitur Iliade_: so I say
of SPENSER's _Fairy Queen_; I know not what more excellent or exquisite
poem may be written.
As ACHILLES had the advantage of HECTOR, because it was his fortune to be
extolled and renowned by the heavenly verse of HOMER: so SPENSER's _ELIZA,
the Fairy Queen_, hath the advantage of all the Queens in the world, to be
eternized by so divine a poet.
As THEOCRITUS is famoused for his _Idyllia_ in Greek, and VIRGIL for his
_Eclogues_ in Latin: so SPENSER their imitator in his _Shepherds
Calendar_ is renowned for the like argument; and honoured for fine
poetical invention, and most exquisite wit.
As PARTHENIUS Nicaeus excellently sang the praises of _ARETE_: so DANIEL
hath divinely sonnetted the matchless beauty of _DELIA_.
As every one mourneth, when he heareth of the lamentable plangors
[plaints] of [the] Thracian ORPHEUS for his dearest _EURYDICE_: so every
one passionateth, when he readeth the afflicted death of DANIEL's
distressed _ROSAMOND_.
As LUCAN hath mournfully depainted the Civil Wars of POMPEY and CAESAR:
so hath DANIEL, the Civil Wars of York and Lancaster; and DRAYTON, the
Civil Wars of EDWARD II. and the Barons.
As VIRGIL doth imitate CATULLUS in the like matter of _ARIADNE_, for his
story of Queen _DIDO_: so MICHAEL DRAYTON doth imitate OVID in his
_England's Heroical Epistles_.
As SOPHOCLES was called a Bee for the sweetness of his tongue: so in
CHARLES FITZ-GEFFRY's _DRAKE_, DRAYTON is termed "golden-mouthed," for
the purity and preciousness of his style and phrase.
As ACCIUS, MARCUS ATILIUS, and MILITHUS were called _Tragaediographi_;
because they writ tragedies: so we may truly term MICHAEL DRAYTON,
_Tragaediographus_: for his passionate penning [_the poem of_] the
downfalls of valiant ROBERT of NORMANDY, chaste MATILDA, and great
GAVESTON.
As JOANNES HONTERUS, in Latin verse, wrote three books of Cosmography,
with geographical tables; so MICHAEL DRAYTON is now in penning in English
verse, a poem called _Poly-olbion_ [which is] geographical and
hydrographical of all the forests, woods, mountains, fountains, rivers,
lakes, floods, baths [_spas_], and springs that be in England.
As AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS is reported, among all writers to [have] been of
an honest life and upright conversation: so MICHAEL DRAYTON, _quem toties
honoris et amoris causa nomino_, among scholars, soldiers, poets, and all
sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuous disposition, honest
conversation, and well governed carriage: which is almost miraculous
among good wits in these declining and corrupt times; when there is
nothing but roguery in villainous man, and when cheating and craftiness
are counted the cleanest wit and soundest wisdom.
As DECIUS AUSONIUS Gallus, _in libris Fastorum_, penned the occurrences
of the world from the first creation of it to this time; that is, to the
reign of the Emperor GRATIAN: so WARNER, in his absolute _Albion's
England_, hath most admirably penned the history of his own country from
NOAH to his time, that is, to the reign of Queen ELIZABETH. I have heard
him termed of the best wits of both our Universities, our English HOMER.
As EURIPIDES is the most sententious among the Greek poets: so is WARNER
among our English poets.
As the soul of EUPHORBUS was thought to live in PYTHAGORAS: so the sweet
witty soul of OVID lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued SHAKESPEARE.
Witness his _VENUS and ADONIS_; his _LUCRECE_; his sugared _Sonnets_,
among his private friends; &c.
As PLAUTUS and SENECA are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among
the Latins: so SHAKESPEARE among the English is the most excellent in both
kinds for the stage. For Comedy: witness his _Gentlemen of Verona_; his
[_Comedy of_] _Errors_; his _Love's Labour's Lost_; his _Love's Labour's
Won_ [? _All's Well that Ends Well_] his _Midsummer Night's Dream_; and
his _Merchant of Venice_.
For Tragedy: his _RICHARD II., RICHARD III., HENRY IV., King JOHN, TITUS
ANDRONICUS_, and his _ROMEO and JULIET_.
As EPIUS STOLO said that the Muses would speak with PLAUTUS's tongue, if
they would speak Latin: so I say that the Muses would speak with
SHAKESPEARE's fine filed phrase; if they would speak English.
As MUSAEUS, who wrote the love of HERO and LEANDER, had two excellent
scholars, THAMYRAS and HERCULES; so hath he [MUSAEUS] in England, two
excellent, poets, imitators of him in the same argument and subject,
CHRISTOPHER MARLOW and GEORGE CHAPMAN.
As OVID saith of his work,
_Famque opus exegi, quod nec FOVIS ira, nec ignis,
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas_;
And as HORACE saith of his,
_Exegi monumentum oere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius,
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
Possit disruere, aut innumerabilis
Annorum series, et fuga temporum_:
So I say, severally, of Sir PHILIP SIDNEY's, SPENSER's, DANIEL's,
DRAYTON's, SHAKESPEARE's, and WARNER's works,
_Non FOVIS ira: imbres: MARS: ferrum: flamma: senectus:
Hoc opus unda: lues: turbo: venena ruent.
Et quanquam ad pulcherrimum hoc opus evertendum, tres illi Dii
conspirabunt, CHRONUS, VULCANUS, et PATER ipse gentis.
Non tamen annorum series, non flamma, nec ensis;
AEternum potuit hoc abolere Decus_.
As Italy had DANTE, BOCCACE [BOCCACIO], PETRARCH, TASSO, CELIANO, and
ARIOSTO: so England had MATTHEW ROYDON, THOMAS ATCHELOW, THOMAS WATSON,
THOMAS KYD, ROBERT GREENE, and GEORGE PEELE.
As there are eight famous and chief languages; Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Syriac, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and French; so there are eight notable
several kinds of poets, [1] Heroic, [2] Lyric, [3] Tragic, [4] Comic, [5]
Satiric, [6] Iambic, [7] Elegiac, and [8] Pastoral.
[1] As HOMER and VIRGIL among the Greeks and Latins are the chief Heroic
poets: so SPENSER and WARNER be our chief heroical "makers."
[2] As PINDARUS, ANACREON, and CALLIMACHUS, among the Greeks; and HORACE
and CUTALLUS among the Latins are the best Lyric poets: so in this
faculty, the best among our poets are SPENSER, who excelleth in all
kinds; DANIEL, DRAYTON, SHAKESPEARE, BRETON.
[3] As these Tragic poets flourished in Greece: AESCHYLUS, EURIPIDES,
SOPHOCLES, ALEXANDER AEtolus; ACHAEUS ERITHRIOEUS, ASTYDAMAS Atheniensis,
APOLLODORUS Tarsensis, NICOMACHUS Phrygius, THESPIS Atticus, and TIMON
APOLLONIATES; and these among the Latins, ACCIUS, MARCUS ATILIUS,
POMPONUS SECUNDUS, and SENECA: so these are our best for Tragedy; The
Lord BUCKHURST, Doctor LEG, of Cambridge, Doctor EDES, of Oxford, Master
EDWARD FERRIS, the author[s] of the _Mirror for Magistrates_, MARLOW,
PEELE, WATSON, KYD, SHAKESPEARE, DRAYTON, CHAPMAN, DECKER, and BENJAMIN
JOHNSON.
As MARCUS ANNEUS LUCANUS writ two excellent tragedies; one called
_MEDEA_, the other _De incendio Trojoe cum PRIAMI calamitate_: so Doctor
LEG hath penned two famous tragedies; the one of _RICHARD III._, the
other of _The Destruction of Jerusalem_.
[4] The best poets for Comedy among the Greeks are these: MENANDER,
ARISTOPHANES, EUPOLIS Atheniensis, ALEXIS Terius, NICOSTRATUS, AMIPSIAS
Atheniensis, ANAXANDRIDES Rhodeus, ARISTONYMUS, ARCHIPPUS Atheniensis,
and CALLIAS Atheniensis; and among the Latins, PLAUTUS, TERENCE, NAEVIUS,
SEXTUS TURPILIUS, LICINIUS IMBREX, and VIRGILIUS Romanus: so the best for
Comedy amongst us be EDWARD [VERE], Earl of OXFORD; Doctor GAGER, of
Oxford; Master ROWLEY, once a rare scholar of learned Pembroke Hall in
Cambridge; Master EDWARDES, one of Her Majesty's Chapel; eloquent and
witty JOHN LILLY, LODGE, GASCOIGNE, GREENE, SHAKESPEARE, THOMAS NASH,
THOMAS HEYWOOD, ANTHONY MUNDAY, our best plotter; CHAPMAN, PORTER,
WILSON, HATHWAY, and HENRY CHETTLE.
[5] As HORACE, LUCILIUS, JUVENAL, PERSIUS, and LUCULLUS are the best for
Satire among the Latins: so with us, in the same faculty, these are chief
[WILLIAM LANGLAND, the author of] _PIERS PLOWMAN_, [T.] LODGE, [JOSEPH]
HALL of Emmanuel College in Cambridge [_afterwards Bishop of NORWICH_];
[JOHN MARSTON] the Author of _PYGMALION's Image, and certain Satires_;
the Author of _Skialetheia_.
[6] Among the Greeks, I will name but two for Iambics, ARCHILOCHUS Parius
and HIPPONAX Ephesius: so amongst us, I name but two Iambical poets;
GABRIEL HARVEY and RICHARD STANYHURST, because I have seen no more in
this kind.
[7] As these are famous among the Greeks for Elegies, MELANTHUS, MYMNERUS
Colophonius, OLYMPIUS Mysius, PARTHENIUS Nicoeus, PHILETAS Cous, THEOGENES
Megarensis, and PIGRES Halicarnassoeus; and these among the Latins,
MAECENAS, OVID, TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS, C. VALGIUS, CASSIUS SEVERUS, and
CLODIUS Sabinus: so these are the most passionate among us to bewail and
bemoan the perplexities of love, HENRY HOWARD, Earl of SURREY, Sir THOMAS
WYATT the Elder, Sir FRANCIS BRYAN, Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, Sir WALTER RALEIGH,
Sir EDWARD DYER, SPENSER, DANIEL, DRAYTON, SHAKESPEARE, WHETSTONE,
GASCOIGNE, SAMUEL PAGE sometime Fellow of Corpus Christi College in
Oxford, CHURCHYARD, BRETON.
[8] As THEOCRITUS in Greek; VIRGIL and MANTUAN in Latin, SANNAZAR in
Italian, and [THOMAS WATSON] the Author of _AMINTAE Gaudia_ and
_WALSINGHAM's MELIBOEUS_ are the best for Pastoral: so amongst us the
best in this kind are Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, Master CHALLONER, SPENSER,
STEPHEN GOSSON, ABRAHAM FRAUNCE, and BARNFIELD.
These and many other Epigrammatists, the Latin tongue hath; Q. CATULLUS,
PORCIUS LICINIUS, QUINTUS CORNIFICIUS, MARTIAL, CNOEUS GETULICUS, and
witty Sir THOMAS MORE: so in English we have these, HEYWOOD, DRANT,
KENDAL, BASTARD, DAVIES.
As noble MAECENAS, that sprang from the Etruscan Kings, not only graced
poets by his bounty, but also by being a poet himself; and as JAMES VI.,
now King of Scotland, is not only a favourer of poets, but a poet; as my
friend Master RICHARD BARNFELD hath in this distich passing well recorded,
The King of Scots now living is a poet,
As his _Lepanto_ and his _Furies_ show it:
so ELIZABETH, our dread Sovereign and gracious Queen, is not only a
liberal Patron unto poets, but an excellent poet herself; whose learned,
delicate and noble Muse surmounteth, be it in Ode, Elegy, Epigram; or in
any other kind of poem, Heroic or Lyric.
OCTAVIA, sister unto AUGUSTUS the Emperor, was exceeding[ly] bountiful
unto VIRGIL, who gave him for making twenty-six verses, £1,137, to wit,
ten _sestertiae_ for every verse (which amounted to above £43 for every
verse): so learned MARY, the honourable Countess of PEMBROKE [and] the
noble sister of the immortal Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, is very liberal unto
poets. Besides, she is a most delicate poet, of whom I may say, as
ANTIPATER Sidonius writeth of SAPPHO:
_Dulcia Mnemosyne demirans carmina Sapphus,
Quaesivit decima Pieris unde foret_.
Among others, in times past, poets had these favourers; AUGUSTUS,
MAECENAS, SOPHOCLES, GERMANICUS; an Emperor, a Nobleman, a Senator, and a
Captain: so of later times, poets have [had] these patrons; ROBERT, King
of Sicily, the great King FRANCIS [I.] of France, King JAMES of Scotland,
and Queen ELIZABETH of England.
As in former times, two great Cardinals, BEMBA and BIENA did countenance
poets: so of late years, two great Preachers, have given them their right
hands in fellowship; BEZA and MELANCTHON.
As the learned philosophers FRACASTORIUS and SCALIGER have highly prized
them: so have the eloquent orators, PONTANUS and MURETUS very gloriously
estimated them.
As GEORGIUS BUCHANANUS' _JEPTHAE_, amongst all modern tragedies, is able
to abide the touch of ARISTOTLE's precepts and EURIPIDES's examples: so
is Bishop WATSON's _ABSALOM_.
As TERENCE for his translations out of APOLLODORUS and MENANDER, and
AQUILIUS for his translation out of MENANDER, and C. GERMANICUS AUGUSTUS
for his out of ARATUS, and AUSONIUS for his translated _Epigrams_ out of
[the] Greek, and Doctor JOHNSON for his _Frog-fight_ out of HOMER, and
WATSON for his _ANTIGONE_ out of SOPHOCLES, have got good commendations:
so these versifiers for their learned translations, are of good note
among us; PHAER foi VIRGIL's _AEneid_, GOLDING for OVID's
_Metamorphosis_, HARINGTON for his _ORLANDO Furioso_, the Translators of
SENECA's _Tragedies_, BARNABE GOOGE for PALINGENIUS's [_Zodiac of Life_],
TURBERVILLE for OVID's _Epistles_ and MANTUAN, and CHAPMAN for his
inchoate HOMER.
As the Latins have these Emblematists, ANDREAS ALCIATUS, REUSNERUS, and
SAMBUCUS: so we have these, GEFFREY WHITNEY, ANDREW WILLET, and THOMAS
COMBE.
As NONNUS PANAPOLYTA wrote the _Gospel_ of Saint JOHN in Greek
hexameters: so GERVASE MARKHAM hath written SOLOMON's _Canticles_ in
English verse.
As CORNELIUS PLINIUS writ the life of POMPONUS SECUNDUS; so young CHARLES
FITZ-GEFFERY, that high towering falcon, hath most gloriously penned _The
honourable Life and Death of worthy Sir FRANCIS DRAKE_.
As HESIOD wrote learnedly of husbandry in Greek: so TUSSER [hath] very
wittily and experimentally written of it in English.
As ANTIPATER Sidonius was famous for extemporal verse in Greek, and OVID
for his
_Quicquid conabar dicere versus erat_:
so was our TARLETON, of whom Doctor CASE, that learned physician, thus
speaketh in the Seventh Book and 17th chapter of his _Politics_.
_ARISTOTLES suum THEODORETUM laudavit quendam peritum Tragaediarum
actorem, CICERO suum ROSCIUM: nos Angli TARLETONUM, in cujus voce et
vultu omnes jocosi affectus, in cujus cerebroso capite lepidae facetiae
habitant_.
And so is now our witty [THOMAS] WILSON, who, for learning and extemporal
wit in this faculty, is without compare or compeer; as to his great and
eternal commendations, he manifested in his challenge at the _Swan_, on
the Bank Side.
As ACHILLES tortured the dead body of HECTOR; and as ANTONIUS and his
wife FULVIA tormented the lifeless corpse of CICERO; so GABRIEL HARVEY
hath showed the same inhumanity to GREENE, that lies full low in his
grave.
As EUPOLIS of Athens used great liberty in taxing the vices of men: so
doth THOMAS NASH. Witness the brood of the HARVEYS!
As ACTAEON was worried of his own hounds: so is TOM NASH of his _Isle of
Dogs_. Dogs were the death of EURIPIDES; but be not disconsolate, gallant
young JUVENAL! LINUS, the son of APOLLO, died the same death. Yet GOD
forbid that so brave a wit should so basely perish! Thine are but paper
dogs, neither is thy banishment like OVID's, eternally to converse with
the barbarous _Getae_. Therefore comfort thyself, sweet TOM! with
CICERO's glorious return to Rome; and with the counsel AENEAS gives to
his seabeaten soldiers, _Lib_ 1, _AEneid_.
Pluck up thine heart! and drive from thence both fear and care away!
To think on this, may pleasure be perhaps another day.
_Durato, et temet rebus servato secundis_.
As ANACREON died by the pot: so GEORGE PEELE, by the pox.
As ARCHESILAUS PRYTANOEUS perished by wine at a drunken feast, as
HERMIPPUS testifieth in DIOGENES: so ROBERT GREENE died by a surfeit
taken of pickled herrings and Rhenish wine; as witnesseth THOMAS NASH,
who was at the fatal banquet.
As JODELLE, a French tragical poet, being an epicure and an atheist, made
a pitiful end: so our tragical poet MARLOW, for his Epicurism and Atheism,
had a tragical death; as you may read of this MARLOW more at large, in the
_Theatre of GOD's judgments_, in the 25th chapter, entreating of _Epicures
and Atheists_.
As the poet LYCOPHRON was shot to death by a certain rival of his: so
CHRISTOPHER MARLOW was stabbed to death by a baudy Servingman, a rival of
his, in his lewd love.
_PAINTERS_.
APELLES painted a mare and a dog so lively [_lifelike_], that horses and
dogs passing by would neigh and bark at them. He grew so famous for his
excellent art, that great ALEXANDER came often to his shop to visit him,
and commanded that none other should paint him. At his death, he left
VENUS unfinished; neither was any [one] ever found, that durst perfect
what he had begun.
ZEUXIS was so excellent in painting, that it was easier for any man to
view his pictures than to imitate them; who, to make an excellent table
[_picture_], had five Agrigentine virgins naked by him. He painted grapes
so lively, that birds did fly to eat them.
PARRHASIUS painted a sheet [_curtain_] so artificially, that ZEUXIS took
it for a sheet indeed; and commanded it to be taken away, to see the
picture that he thought it had veiled.
As learned and skilful Greece had these excellently renowned for their
limning; so England hath these: HILIARD, ISAAC OLIVER, and JOHN DE
CREETES, very famous for their painting.
As Greece moreover had these painters, TIMANTES, PHIDIAS, POLIGNOTUS,
PANEUS, BULARCHUS, EUMARUS, CIMON CLEONCEUS, PYTHIS, APPOLLODORUS
Atheniensis, ARISTIDES Thebanus, NICOPHANES, PERSEUS, ANTIPHILUS, and
NICEARCHUS: so in England, we have also these; WILLIAM and FRANCIS SEGAR,
brethren; THOMAS and JOHN BETTES; LOCKEY, LYNE, PEAKE, PETER COLE,
ARNOLDE, MARCUS, JACQUES DE BRAY, CORNELIUS, PETER GOLCHIS, HIERONIMO and
PETER VAN DE VELDE.
As LYSIPPUS, PRAXITELES, and PYRGOTELES were excellent engravers: so we
have these engravers; ROGERS, CHRISTOPHER SWITSER, and CURE.
_MUSIC_.
The loadstone draweth iron unto it, but the stone of Ethiopia called
_Theamedes_ driveth it away: so there is a kind of music that doth
assuage and appease the affections, and a kind that doth kindle and
provoke the passions.
As there is no law that hath sovereignty over love; so there is no heart
that hath rule over music, but music subdues it.
As one day takes from us the credit of another: so one strain of music
extincts [_extinguishes_] the pleasure of another.
As the heart ruleth over all the members: so music overcometh the heart.
As beauty is not beauty without virtue: so music is not music without art.
As all things love their likes: so the more curious ear, the delicatest
music.
As too much speaking hurts, too much galling smarts; so too much music
gluts and distempereth.
As PLATO and ARISTOTLE are accounted Princes in philosophy and logic;
HIPPOCRATES and GALEN, in physic; PTOLOMY in astromony; EUCLID in
geometry; and CICERO in eloquence: so BOETIUS is esteemed a Prince and
captain in music.
As Priests were famous among the Egyptians; Magi among the Chaldeans, and
Gymnosophists among the Indians; so Musicians flourished among the
Grecians: and therefore EPAMINONDAS was accounted more unlearned than
THEMISTOCLES, because he had no skill in music.
As MERCURY, by his eloquence, reclaimed men from their barbarousness and
cruelty: so ORPHEUS, by his music, subdued fierce beasts and wild birds.
As DEMOSTHENES, ISOCRATES, and CICERO, excelled in oratory: so ORPHEUS,
AMPHION, and LINUS surpassed in music.
As Greece had these excellent musicians, ARION, DORCEUS, TIMOTHEUS
Milesius, CHRYSOGONUS, TERPANDER, LESBIUS, SIMON Magnesius, PHILAMON,
LINUS, STRATONICUS, ARISTONUS, CHIRON, ACHILLES, CLINIAS, EUMONIUS,
DEMODOCHUS, and RUFFINUS: so England hath these, Master COOPER, Master
FAIRFAX, Master TALLIS, Master TAVERNER, Master BLITHMAN, Master BYRD,
Doctor TIE, Doctor DALLIS, Doctor BULL, Master THOMAS MUD, sometime
Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Master EDWARD JOHNSON, Master
BLANKES, Master RANDALL, Master PHILIPS, Master DOWLAND, and Master
MORLEY.
_A Choice is to be had in Reading of Books_.
As the Lord DE LA NOUE in the sixth Discourse of his _Politic and
Military Discourses_, censureth the books of _AMADIS de Gaul_; which, he
saith, are no less hurtful to youth than the works of MACHIAVELLI to age:
so these books are accordingly to be censured of, whose names follow.
_BEVIS of Hampton.
GUY of Warwick.
ARTHUR of the Round Table.
HUON of Bordeaux.
OLIVER of Castile.
The Four Sons of AYMON.
GARGANTUA.
GIRELEON.
The Honour of Chivalry.
PRIMALEON of Greece.
PALERMIN DE OLIVA.
The Seven Champions [of Christendom].
The Mirror of Knighthood.
BLANCHARDINE.
MERVIN.
OWLGLASS.
The Stories of PALLADIN and PALMENDOS.
The Black Knight.
The Maiden Knight.
The History of CAELESTINA.
The Castle of Fame.
GALLIAN of France.
ORNATUS and ARTESIA.
&c_.
_Poets_.
As that ship is endangered where ail lean to one side; but is in safety,
one leaning one way and another another way: so the dissensions of Poets
among themselves, doth make them, that they less infect their readers.
And for this purpose, our Satirists [JOSEPH] HALL [_afterwards Bishop of
NORWICH_], [JOHN MARSTON] the Author of _PYGMALION's Image and Certain
Satires_, [JOHN] RANKINS, and such others, are very profitable.