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to diminish the strength of her Maiesties Navy, and to enrich the pride and glorie of the enemie. The Foresight of the Queenes commanded by M. Th. Vavisor, performed a verie great fight, and stayd two houres as neere the Revenge as the wether wold permit him, not forsaking the fight, till hee was like to be encompassed by the squadrons, and with great difficultie cleared himselfe. The rest gave divers voleies of shot, and entred as far as the place permitted and their own necessities, to keep the weather gage of the enemy, untill they were parted by night. A fewe daies after the fight was ended, and the English prisoners dispersed into the Spanish and Indy ships, there arose so great a storme from the West and Northwest, that all the fleet was dispersed, as well the Indian fleet which were then come unto them as the rest of the Armada that attended their arrivall, of which 14 saile togither with the Revenge, and in her 200 Spaniards, were cast away upon the Isle of S. Michaels. So it pleased them to honor the buriall of that renowned ship the Revenge, not suffring her to perish alone, for the great honour she achieved in her life time. On the rest of the Ilandes there were cast away in this storme, 15 or 16 more of the ships of war; and of a hundred and odde saile of the Indie fleet, expected this yeere in Spaine, what in this tempest, and what before in the bay of Mexico, and about the Bermudas there were 70 and odde consumed and lost, with those taken by our ships of London, besides one verie rych Indian shippe, which set her selfe on fire, beeing boorded by the Pilgrim, and five other

taken by Master Wats his ships of London, between the Havaua and Cape S. Antonio. The 4 of this month of November, we received letters from the Tercera, affirming yat there are 3000 bodies of men remaining in that Iland, saved out of the perished ships and that by the Spaniards own confession, there are 10000 cast away in this storm, besides those that are perished betweene the Ilands and the maine. Thus it hath pleased God to fight for us, and to defend the iustice of our cause, against the ambicious and bloudy pretenses of the Spaniard, who seeking to devour all nations, are themselves devoured. A manifest testimonie how iniust and how displeasing their attempts are in the sight of God, who hath pleased to witnes by the successe of their affaires, his mislike of their bloudy and iniurious designes, purposed and practised against all Christian Princes, over whom they seeke unlawful and ungodly rule and Empery.

To conclude, it hath ever to this day pleased God, to prosper and defend her Maiestie, to breake the purposes of malicious enimies, of foresworne traitours, and of unjust practises and invasions. She hath ever beene honoured of the worthiest Kinges, served by faithfull subjects, and shall by the favor of God, resist, repell, and confound all what soever attempts against her sacred Person or kingdome. In the meane time, let the Spaniard and traitour vaunt of their successe; and we her true and obedient vassalles guided by the shining light of her vertues, shall alwaies love her, serve her, and obey her to the end of our lives.

III. TRAINING FOR EMPIRE

THE EDUCATION OF MEN WHO ARE TO RULE SIR THOMAS ELYOT

[From The Boke of the Governour, 1534]

Nowe wyll I somwhat declare of the chiefe causes why, in our tyme, noble men be nat as excellent in lernying as they were in olde tyme amonge the Romanes and grekes. Surely, as I haue diligently marked in dayly experience, the principall causes be these. The pride, avarice, and negligence of parentes, and the lacke or fewenesse of suffycient maysters or teachers.

As I sayd, pride is the first cause of this inconuenience. For of those persons be some, which, without shame, dare affirme, that to a great gentilman it is a notable reproche to be well lerned and to be called a great clerke: whiche name they accounte to be of so base estymation, that they neuer haue it in their mouthes but when they speke any thynge in derision, whiche perchaunce they wolde nat do if they had ones layser to rede our owne cronicle of Englande, where they shall fynde that kynge Henry the first, sonne of willyam conquerour, and one of the moste noble princes that euer reigned

in this realme, was openly called Henry beau clerke, whiche is in englysshe, fayre clerke, and is yet at this day so named. And wheder that name be to his honour or to his reproche, let them iuge that do rede and compare his lyfe with his two bretherne, william called Rouse, and Robert le courtoise, they both nat hauyng semblable lernyng with the sayd Henry, the one for his dissolute lyuyng and tyranny beynge hated of all his nobles and people, finally was sodaynely slayne by the shotte of an arowe, as he was huntynge in a forest, whiche to make larger and to gyue his deere more lybertie, he dyd cause the houses of lii parisshes to be pulled downe, the people to be expelled, and all beyng desolate to be tourned in to desert, and made onely pasture for beestes sauage; whiche he wolde neuer haue done if he had as moche delyted in good lerning as dyd his brother.

The other brother, Robert le Courtoise, beyng duke of Normandie, and the eldest sonne of wylliam Conquerour, all be it that he was a man of moche prowesse, and right expert in martial affayres, wherfore he was electe before Godfray of Boloigne to haue ben kyng of Hierusalem; yet natwithstandynge whan he inuaded this realme with sondrie puissaunt armies, also dyuers noble men aydinge hym, yet his noble brother Henry beau clerke, more by wysdome than power, also by lernynge, addyng polycie to vertue and courage, often tymes vaynquisshed hym, and dyd put him to flyght. And after sondry victories finally toke him and kepte hym in prison, hauyng none other meanes to kepe his realme in tranquillitie.

It was for no rebuke, but for an excellent honour, that the emperour Antonine was surnamed philosopher, for by his moste noble example of lyuing, and industrie incomparable, he during all the tyme of his reigne kept the publike weale of the Romanes in suche a perfecte astate, that by his actes he confirmed the sayeng of Plato, That blessed is that publike weale wherin either philosophers do reigne, or els kinges be in philosophie studiouse.

These persones that so moche contemne lernyng, that they wolde that gentilmen's children shulde haue no parte or very litle therof, but rather shulde spende their youth alway (I saye not onely in huntynge and haukyng, whiche moderately used, as solaces ought to be, I intende nat to disprayse) but in those ydle pastymes, whiche, for the vice

that is therin, the commaundement of the prince, and the uniuersall consent of the people, expressed in statutes and lawes, do prohibite, I meane, playeng at dyce, and other games named unlefull. These persones, I say, I wolde shulde remembre, or elles nowe lerne, if they neuer els herde it, that the noble Philip kyng of Macedonia, who subdued al Greece, aboue all the good fortunes that euer he hadde, most reioysed that his sonne Alexander was borne in the tyme that Aristotle the philosopher flourisshed, by whose instruction he mought attaine to most excellent lernynge.

Also the same Alexander often tymes sayd that he was equally as moche bounden to Aristotle as to his father kyng Philip, for of his father he receyued lyfe, but of Aristotle he receyued the waye to lyue nobly.

Who dispraysed Epaminondas, the moost valiant capitayne of Thebanes, for that he was excellently lerned and a great philosopher? Who euer discommended Julius Cesar for that he was a noble oratour, and, nexte to Tulli, in the eloquence of the latin tonge excelled al other? Who euer reproued the emperour Hadriane for that he was so exquisitely lerned, nat onely in greke and latine, but also in all sciences liberall, that openly at Athenes, in the uniuersall assembly of the greatteste clerkes of the worlde, he by a longe tyme disputed with philosophers and Rhetoriciens, whiche were estemed mooste excellent, and by the iugement of them that were present had the palme or rewarde of victorie? And yet, by the gouernance of that noble emperour, nat only the publik weale flourisshed but also diuers rebellions were suppressed, and the maiesty of the empire hugely increased. Was it any reproche to the noble Germanicus (who by the assignement of Augustus shulde haue succeeded Tiberius in the empire, if traitorous enuy had nat in his flourysshynge youth bireft hym his lyfe) that he was equal to the moost noble poetes of his time, and, to the increase of his honour and moost worthy commendation, his image was set up at Rome, in the habite that poetes at those dayes used? Fynally howe moche excellent lernynge commendeth, and nat dispraiseth, nobilitie, it shal playnly appere unto them that do rede the lyfes of Alexander called Seuerus, Tacitus, Probus Aurelius, Constantine, Theodosius, and Charles the gret, surnamed Charlemaine, all being emperours,

and do compare them with other, whiche lacked or had nat so moche of doctrine. Verily they be ferre from good raison, in myne opinion, whiche couaite to haue their children goodly in stature, stronge, deliuer, well synging, wherin trees, beastes, fysshes, and byrdes, be nat only with them equall, but

also ferre do excede them. And connynge, wherby onely man excelleth all other creatures in erthe, they reiecte, and accounte unworthy to be in their children. What unkinde appetite were it to desyre to be father rather of a pece of flesshe, that can onely meue and feele, than of a childe that shulde have the perfecte fourme of a man? What so perfectly expresseth a man as doctrine? Diogines the philosopher seing one without lernynge syt on a stone, sayde to them that were with him, beholde where one stone sytteth on an other; whiche wordes, well considered and tried, shall appere to contayne in it wonderfull matter for the approbation of doctrine, wherof a wyse man maye accumulate ineuitable argumentes, whiche I of necessite, to auoide tediousnes, must nedes passe ouer at this tyme.

The seconde occasion wherfore gentylmens children seldome haue sufficient lernynge is auarice. For where theyr parentes wyll nat aduenture to sende them farre out of theyr propre countrayes, partely for feare of dethe, whiche perchance dare nat approche them at home with theyr father; partely for expence of money, whiche they suppose wolde be lesse in theyr owne houses or in a village, with some of theyr tenantes or frendes; hauyng seldome any regarde to the teacher, whether he be well lerned or ignorant. For if they hiare a schole maister to teche in theyr houses, they chiefely enquire with howe small a salary he will be contented, and neuer do inserche howe moche good lernynge he hath, and howe amonge well lerned men he is therin estemed, usinge therin lasse diligence than in takynge seruantes, whose seruice is of moche lasse importance, and to a good schole maister is nat in profite to be compared. gentilman, er he take a cooke in to his seruice, he wyll firste diligently examine hym, howe many sortes of meates, potages, and sauces, he can perfectly make, and howe well he can season them, that they may be bothe pleasant and nourishynge; yea and if it be but a fauconer, he wyll scrupulously enquire what skyll he hath in feedyng, called

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diete, and kepyng of his hauke from all sickenes, also how he can reclaime her and prepare her to flyght. And to suche a cooke or fauconer, whom he findeth expert, he spareth nat to gyue moche wages with other bounteous rewardes. But of a schole maister, to whom he will committe his childe, to be fedde with lernynge and instructed in vertue, whose lyfe shall be the principall monument of his name and honour, he neuer maketh further enquirie but where he may haue a schole maister; and with howe litel charge; and if one be perchance founden, well lerned, but he will nat take paynes to teache without he may haue a great salary, he than speketh nothing more, or els saith, What shall so moche wages be gyuen to a schole maister whiche wolde kepe me two seruantes? to whom maye be saide these wordes, that by his sonne being wel lerned he shall receiue more commoditie and also worship than by the seruice of a hundred cokes and fauconers.

The thirde cause of this hyndrance is negligence of parentes, whiche I do specially note in this poynt; there haue bene diuers, as well gentillmen as of the nobilitie, that deliting to haue their sonnes excellent in lernynge haue prouided for them connynge maysters, who substancially haue taught them gramer, and very wel instructed them to speake latine elegantly, wherof the parentes haue taken moche delectation; but whan they haue had of grammer sufficient and be comen to the age of xiiii yeres, and do approche or drawe towarde the astate of man, whiche age is called mature or ripe, (wherin nat onely the saide lernyng continued by moche experience shal be perfectly digested, and confirmed in perpetuall remembrance, but also more seriouse lernyng contayned in other lyberall sciences, and also philosophy, wolde than be lerned) the parentes, that thinge nothinge regarding, but being suffised that their children can onely speke latine proprely, or make verses with out mater or sentence, they from thens forth do suffre them to liue in idelnes, or els, putting them to seruice, do, as it were, banisshe them from all vertuous study or exercise of that whiche they before lerned; so that we may beholde diuers yonge gentill men, who in their infancie and childehode were wondred at for their aptness to lerning and prompt speakinge of elegant latine, whiche nowe, beinge men, nat onely haue forgotten their congruite, (as in the commune worde),

and unneth can speake one hole sentence in true latine, but, that wars is, hath all lernynge in derision, and in skorne therof wyll, of wantonnesse, speake the moste barberously that they can imagine.

Nowe some man will require me to shewe myne opinion if it be necessary that gentilmen shulde after the age of xiiii yeres continue in studie. And to be playne and trewe therein, I dare affirme that, if the elegant speking of latin be nat added to other doctrine, litle frute may come of the tonge; sens latine is but a naturall speche, and the frute of speche is wyse sentence, whiche is gathered and made of sondry lernynges.

And who that hath nothinge but langage only may be no more praised than a popiniay, a pye, or a stare, whan they speke featly. There be many nowe a dayes in famouse scholes and uniuersities whiche be so moche gyuen to the studie of tonges onely, that whan they write epistles, they seme to the reder that, like to a trumpet, they make a soune without any purpose, where unto men do herken more for the noyse than for any delectation that therby is meued. Wherefore they be moche abused that suppose eloquence to be only in wordes or coulours of Rhetorike, for, as Tulli saith, what is so furiouse or mad a thinge as a vaine soune of wordes of the best sort and most ornate, contayning neither connynge nor sentence? Undoubtedly very eloquence is in euery. tonge where any mater or acte done or to be done is expressed in wordes clene, propise, ornate, and comely: whereof sentences be so aptly compact that they by a vertue inexplicable do drawe unto them the mindes and consent of the herers, they beinge therwith either perswaded, meued, or to delectation induced. Also euery man is nat an oratour that can write an epistle or a flatering oration in latin: where of the laste, (as god helpe me,) is to moche used. For a right oratour may nat be without a moche better furniture. Tulli saienge that to him belongeth the explicating or unfoldinge of sentence, with a great estimation in gyuing counsaile concerninge maters of great importaunce, also to him appertaineth the steringe and quickning of people languisshinge or dispeiringe, and to moderate them that be rasshe and unbridled. Wherfore noble autours do affirme that, in the firste infancie of the worlde, men wandring like beastes in woddes and on mountaines, regardinge neither the religion due unto god,

nor the office pertaining unto man, ordred all thing by bodily strength: untill Mercurius (as Plato supposeth) or some other man holpen by sapience and eloquence, by some apt or propre oration, assembled them to geder and perswaded to them what commodite was in mutual conuersation and honest maners. But yet Cornelius Tacitus describeth an oratour to be of more excellent qualities, saynge that, an oratour is he that can or may speke or raison in euery question sufficiently elegantly: and to persuade proprely, accordyng to the dignitie of the thyng that is spoken of, the oportunitie of time, and pleasure of them that be herers. Tulli, before him, affirmed that, a man may nat be an oratour heaped with praise, but if he haue gotten the knowlege of all thynges and artes of greatest importaunce. And howe shall an oratour speake of that thynge that he hath nat lerned? And bicause there may be nothynge but it may happen to come in praise or dispraise, in consultation or iugement, in accusation or defence: therfore an oratour, by others instruction perfectly furnisshed, may, in euery mater and lernynge, commende or dispraise, exhorte or dissuade, accuse or defende eloquently, as occasion hapneth. Wherfore in as moche as in an oratour is required to be a heape of all maner of lernyng: whiche of some is called the worlde of science, of other the circle of doctrine, whiche is in one worde of greke Encyclopedia: therfore at this day may be founden but a very few oratours. For they that come in message from princes be, for honour, named nowe oratours, if they be in any degre of worshyp: onely poore men hauyng equall or more of lernyng beyng called messagers. Also they whiche do onely teache rhetorike, whiche is the science wherby is taught an artifyciall fourme of speykng, wherin is the power to persuade, moue, and delyte, or by that science onely do speke or write, without any adminiculation of other sciences, ought to be named rhetoriciens, declamatours, artificiall spekers, (named in Greeke Logodedali), or any other name than oratours. Semblably they that make verses, expressynge therby none other lernynge but the craft of versifyeng, be nat of auncient writers named poetes, but onely called versifyers. For the name of a poete, wherat nowe, (specially in this realme,) men haue suche indignation, that they use onely poetes and poetry in the contempte of elo1 prop, support

was

quence, was in auncient tyme in hygh estimation: in so moche that all wysdome was supposed to be therin included, and poetry was the first philosophy that euer knowen: wherby men from their childhode were brought to the raison howe to lyue well, lernynge therby nat onely maners and naturall affections, but also the wonderfull werkes of nature, mixting serious mater with thynges that were pleasaunt: as it shall be manifest to them that shall be so fortunate to rede the noble warkes of Plato and Aristotle, wherin he shall fynde the autoritie of poetes frequently alleged: ye and that more is, in poetes was supposed to be science misticall and inspired, and therfore in latine they were called Vates, which worde signifyeth as moche as prophetes. And therfore Tulli in his Tusculane questyons supposeth that a poete can nat abundantly expresse verses sufficient and complete, or that his eloquence may flowe without labour wordes wel sounyng and plentuouse, without celestiall instinction, whiche is also by Plato ratified.

"THE RANK IS BUT THE GUINEA'S STAMP"

SIR THOMAS ELYOT

[From The Boke of the Governour, 1534]

Nowe it is to be feared that where maiestie approcheth to excesse, and the mynde is obsessed with inordinate glorie, lest pride, of al vices most horrible, shuld sodainely entre and take prisoner the harte of a gentilman called to autoritie. Wherfore in as moche as that pestilence corruptethe all sences, and makethe them incurable by any persuation or doctrine, therfore suche persones from their adolescencie (which is the age nexte to the state of man) ought to be persuaded and taughte the true knowlege of very nobilitie in fourme folowing or like.

Fyrst, that in the begynnyng, whan priuate possessions and dignitie were gyuen by the consent of the people, who than had all thinge in commune, and equalitie in degree and condition, undoubtedly they gaue the one and the other to him at whose vertue they meruailed, and by whose labour and industrie they received a commune benefite, as of a commune father that with equall affection loued them. And that promptitude or redinesse in employinge that benefite was than named in englisshe gentilnesse, as it was in latine benignitas, and in other tonges

after a semblable signification, and the persones were called gentilmen, more for the remembraunce of their vertue and benefite, than for discrepance of astates. Also it fortuned by the prouidence of god that of those good men were engendred good children, who beinge brought up in vertue, and perceiuinge the cause of the aduauncement of their progenitours, endeuoured them selfes by imitation of vertue, to be equall to them in honour and autoritie; by good emulation they retained stille the fauour and reuerence of people. And for the goodnesse that proceded of suche generation the state of them was called in greke Eugenia, whiche signifiethe good kinde or lignage, but in a more briefe maner it was after called nobilitie, and the persones noble, whiche signifieth excellent, and in the analogie or signification it is more ample than gentil, for it containeth as well all that whiche is in gentilnesse, as also the honour or dignitie therefore received, whiche be so annexed the one to the other that they can nat be seperate.

It wold be more ouer declared that where vertue ioyned with great possessions or dignitie hath longe continued in the bloode or house of a gentilman, as it were an inheritaunce, there nobilitie is mooste shewed, and these noble men be most to be honored; for as moche as continuaunce in all thinge that is good hath euer preeminence in praise and comparison. But yet shall it be necessary to aduertise those persones, that do thinke that nobilitie may in no wyse be but onely where men can auaunte them of auncient lignage, an auncient robe, or great possessions, at this daye very noble men do suppose to be moche errour and folye. Wherof there is a familiare example, whiche we beare euer with us, for the bloode in our bodies beinge in youthe warme, pure, and lustie, it is the occasion of beautie, whiche is euery where commended and loued; but if in age it be putrified, it leseth his praise. And the goutes, carbuncles, kankers, lepries, and other lyke sores and sickenesses, whiche do procede of bloode corrupted, be to all men detestable.

And this persuasion to any gentilman, in whom is apte disposition to very nobilitie, wyll be sufficient to withdrawe hym from suche vice, wherby he maye empayre his owne estimation, and the good renoume of his auncetours.

If he haue an auncient robe lefte by his auncetor, let him consider that if the first

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