sounde, and not to deuise any counterfaite fan- | the same sorte: sometime Monosyllaba, some. tasticall Accent of oure owne, as manye, other- time Polysyllaba. wise not vnlearned haue corruptely and ridiculouslye done in the Greeke.

Nowe for your Heauen, Seauen, Eleauen, or the like, I am likewise of the same opinion: as generally in all words else: we are not to goe a little farther, either for the Prosody, or the Orthography, (and therefore your Imaginarie Diastole nothing worthe) then we are licenced and authorized by the ordinarie vse, and custome, and proprietie, and Idiome, and, as it were, Maiestie of our speach: whiche I accounte the only infallible, and soueraigne Rule of all Rules. And therefore hauing respecte therevnto, and reputing it Petty Treason to reuolt therefro: dare hardly eyther in the Prosodie, or in the Orthography either, allowe them two sillables in steade of one, but woulde as well in Writing, as in Speaking; haue them vsed, as Monosyllaba, thus: heavn, seavn, a leavn, as Maister Ascham in his Toxophilus doth Yrne, commonly written Yron:

Vp to the pap his string did he pull, his shafte to the harde vrne.

Especially the difference so manifestly appearing by the Pronunciation, betweene these twoo, a leavn a clocke and a leaven of Dowe, whyche lea-ven admitteth the Diastole, you speake of. But see, what absurdities thys yl-fauoured Orthographye, or rather Pseudography, hathe ingendred: and howe one errour still breedeth and begetteth an other. Haue wee not, Mooneth, for Moonthe: sithence, for since whilest, for whilste: phantasie, for phansie: euen, for evn: Diuel, for Divl: God hys wrath, for Goddes wrath and a thousande of the same stampe: wherein the corrupte Orthography in the moste, hathe beene the sole, or principall cause of corrupte Prosodye in ouer many?

To conclude both pointes in one, I dare sweare priuately to your selfe, and will defende publiquely againste any, it is neither Heresie, nor Paradox, to sette downe, and stande vppon this assertion, (notwithstanding all the Preiudices and Presumptions to the contrarie, if they were tenne times as manye moe) that it is not, either Position, or Dipthong, or Diastole, or anye like Grammer Schoole Deuice, that doeth, or can indeede, either make long or short, or encrease, or diminish the number of Sillables, but onely the common allowed, and receiued Prosodye taken vp by an vniuersall consent of all, and continued by a generall vse, and Custome of all. Wherein neuerthelesse I grant, after long aduise, and diligent obseruation of particulars, a certain Uniform Analogie, and Concordance, being in processe of time espyed out. Sometime this, sometime that, hath been noted by good wits in their Analyses, to fall out generally alyke? and as a man woulde saye, regularly in all, or moste wordes: as Position, Dipthong, and the like: not as firste, and essentiall causes of this, or that effecte, (here lyeth the point) but as Secundarie and Accidentall Signes, of this, or that Qualitie.

It is the vulgare, and naturall Mother Prosodye, that alone worketh the feate, as the onely supreame Foundresse, and Reformer of Position, Dipthong, Orthographie, or whatsoeuer else: whose Affirmatiues are nothing worth, if she once conclude the Negatiue: and whose secundæ intentiones muste haue their whole allowance and warrante from hir primæ. And therefore in shorte, this is the verie shorte, and the long: Position neither maketh shorte, nor long in oure Tongue, but so farre as we can get hir good leaue. Peraduenture, vppon the diligent suruewe, and examination of Marry, I confesse some wordes we haue Particulars, some the like Analogie and Uniindeede, as for example, fayer, either for beauti-formity, might be founde oute in some other full, or for a Marte: ayer, bothe pro aere, and pro hærede, for we say not Heire, but plaine Aire for him to, (or else Scoggins Aier were a poore iest) whiche are commonly, and maye indifferently be vsed eyther wayes. For you shal as well, and as ordinarily heare fayer, as faire, and Aier, as Aire, and bothe alike: not onely of diuers and sundrye persons, but often of the very same: otherwhiles vsing the one, otherwhiles the other: and so died, or dyde: spied, or spide: tryed, or tride: fyer, or fyre: myer, or myre: wyth an infinyte companye of

respecte, that shoulde as vniuersally and Canonically holde amongst vs, as Position doeth with the Latines and Greekes. I saye, (peraduenture,) bycause, hauing not yet made anye speciall Obseruation, I dare not precisely affirme any generall certaintie: albeit I presume, so good and sensible a Tongue, as ours is, beeyng wythall so like itselfe, as it is, cannot but haue something equipollent, and counteruaileable to the beste Tongues, in some one such kinde of conformitie, or other. And this forsooth is all the Artificial Rules and Pre

To the VVorshipfull his very singular good friend, Maister G. H,Fellovv of Trinitie Hall in Cambridge.

Ood Master G. I perceiue by your most | hote, it is good striking, and minds of Nobles

will to be no lesse in deed, than I alwayes esteemed. In recompence wherof, think I beseech you, that I wil spare neither speech, nor wryting, nor aught else, whensoeuer, and wheresoeuer occasion shal be offred me: yea, I will not stay, till it be offred, but will seeke it, in al that possibly I may. And that you may perceiue how much your Counsel in al things preuaileth with me, and how altogither I am ruled and ouer-ruled thereby: I am now determined to alter mine owne former purpose, and to subscribe to your aduizement: being notwithstanding resolued stil, to abide your farther resolution. My principal doubts are these. First, I was minded for a while to haue intermitted the vttering of my writings: leaste by ouer-much cloying their noble eares, I should gather a contempt of my self, or else seeme rather for gaine and commoditie to doe it, for some sweetnesse that I haue already tasted. Then also me seemeth the work too base for his excellent Lordship, being made in Honour of a priuate Personage vnknowne, which of some yl-willers might be vpbraided, not to be so worthie, as you knowe she is: or the matter not so weightie, that it should be offred to so weightie a Personage: or the like. The selfe former Title stil liketh me well ynough, and your fine Addition no lesse. If these, and the like doubtes, maye be of importaunce in your seeming, to frustrate any parte of your aduice, I beeseeche you, without the leaste selfe loue of your own purpose, councell me for the beste: and the rather doe it faithfullye, and carefully, for that, in all things I attribute so muche to your judgement, that I am euermore content to adnihilate mine owne determinations, in respecte thereof. And indeede for your selfe to, it sitteth with you now, to call your wits, and senses togither, (which are alwaies at call) when occasion is so fairely offered of Estimation and Preferment. For, whiles the yron is

I pray you bethinke you well hereof, good Maister G. and forthwith write me those two or three special points and caueats for the nonce, De quibus in superioribus illis mellitissimis, longissimisque Litteris tuis. Your desire to heare of my late beeing with hir Maiestie, muste dye in it selfe. As for the twoo worthy Gentlemen, Master Sidney, and Master Dyer, they haue me, I thanke them, in some vse of familiarity of whom, and to whome, what speache passeth for youre credite and estimation, I leaue your selfe to conceiue, hauing alwayes so well conceived of my vnfained affection, and zeale towardes you. And nowe they haue proclaimed in their así rá, a generall surceasing and silence of balde Rymers, and also of the verie beste to: in steade whereof,they haue by autho(ri)tie of their whole Senate, prescribed certaine Lawes and rules of Quantities of English sillables, for English Verse: hauing had thereof already greate practise, and drawen mee to their faction. Newe Bookes I heare of none, but only of one, that writing a certaine Booke, called The Schoole of Abuse, and dedicating it to Maister Sidney, was for hys labor scorned: if at leaste it be in the goodnesse of that nature to scorne. Suche follie is it, not to regarde aforehande the inclination and qualitie of him, to whome wee dedicate oure Bookes. Suche mighte I happily incurre, entituling My Slomber, and the other Pamphlets, vnto his honor. I meant them rather to Maister Dyer. But I am, of late, more in loue wyth my Englishe Versifying, than with Ryming: whyche I should haue done long since, if I would then haue followed your councell. Sed te solum iam tum suspicabar cum Aschamo sapere: nunc Aulam video egregios alere Poetas Anglicos. Maister E. K. hartily desireth to be commended vnto your Worshippe: of whome, what accompte he maketh, youre selfe shall hereafter perceiue,