ALbeit vnto a gentle minde there is nothing lesse proper,Exordium. then a reproching of benefittes: nor any thing more contrarying, then to bee touched with discurtesies: yet respecting the weight of the manifold wrongs done vnto me, & most iniurious deuises, wherein thou hast contrary to all lawes of nature, vertue, or honestie, gone about to abuse mee,Hyperbole. rewarding not euill, but worse then mischiefe it selfe, for good, and doing that which all men hate, and the most discreet doe abhorre in requitall of that which I chieflie deserued of thee, I hold my selfe neither to be touched in gentlenes, nor deemed at all in discurtesie,Allegoria. if to such a Camelion I giue his due colours, of so vile a viper doe bewray the feature, to so ingratefull a wretch doe blaze forth his picture, and of so vglie a beast do yeeld his due portraiture, to the ende that at least it may appeare vnto thy selfe, howe vnlike to that thou hast euer seemed vnto me,Antithesis. I haue nowe found thee, and how contrarying to that my selfe haue manifoldly bounde thee, thou hast now shewed thy selfe vnto me.
To the opening whereof let mee call to remembraunceMerismus. that beeing here a great while sithence a straunger, spoiled of that thou haddest, laden with sicknesse,Brachiologa. pursued of thy foes, burdensome to thy friends, subiect to a number of casualties, of death, pouertie, hatred, penurie,Asyndeton. griefe, trouble, and want, I tooke thee, I kept thee, I relieued thee, I prouided for thee, and that at such time as when forsaken of all others, thou wast onely compassed with extremitie, had not this one curtesie,Anthipophora. nay rather vnaccustomed kindnes, beene sufficient alone, wherewith to haue bound thee? Questionlesse it had, rested there at al any sparke of good condition within thee, yet had this been all that I had done for thee, happilie could I then haue contented my selfe, and haue thought that thou haddest therein alone dealt but ingratefullie.
Abhorrest thou notErotema. in the perusing hereof to thinke howe thou hast vsed mee?Commoratiō. Well knowest thou that on this hie point of curtesie, I stucke not alone with thee, for after a recouery by my meanes had, and restitutions of thine estate, vnto thy wonted possessions, health, freedome and libertie, I not only so setled thee, but beeing haled thy selfe (as it were) out of the Lions iawes,Asyndeton. I made thine aduersaries a praie vnto thee, I fauored thee, I loued thee, I esteemed thee when none would regard thee, when all men despised thee. Were not these benefits sufficient,Erotema.
Aporia.
Allegoria. to haue yoked any good or honest disposition vnto me? What Viper may I then terme thee? what monster or hellish imp that not onely hast not vouchsafed so much as to requite, but scornest in apparance so much as to beare a good opinion towardes me? Is it possible that man than a Serpent, or than the very Crocodile it selfe should become more malicious,Paradoxon. yet hast thou in far greater quantitie then these contained thy venome,Hyperbole. the Hydra was not answerable vnto thy propertie, the very Sauages themselues could not equall thee, thou art infine beyond all, and there are none beyond thee, for both men and beasts do abhor thy treachery.
What then auaileth that of such a one I haue merited so highlie?Erotema. Whereto serueth it to haue extended on him so greate and vnused bounty? The dog fawneth by kinde where he is loued, the Tyger by gentlenes is from his cruelty disturned,Sententia. the Lion wil not suffer a kindnes vnregarded. But thou (hatefull of all others) degenerating from all nature both of men and beasts weighest not of friendship, reiectest fauors,Pleonasmus. hatest all gentlenes, regardest no kindnes, contemnest merits, and kindlesse of all kinds,Polyptoton. or rather sequestred from any kinde, giuest thy selfe to rewarde the best deseruinges, with vnauoidable and most destestable villanies.
Had I not too much deserued as I haue done at thy handes,Epizeuxis. it might in some sort haue sufficed me.Anaphora. Had I by any known or pretended euill, euer pursued thee, had I meant at any time badly vnto thee, it might yet haue cōtented me, that forgetfull of al that before passed, thou shouldest in this hatefull manner haue dealt with mee. But hauing onely heaped on thy head a multitude of fauors,Merismus. receiued thee as I haue done with so sundrie curtesies, imbraced thee as thou knowest with infinite contentmentes, deliuered thee from death, and verie hellish tormentors,Antithesis. what kindnesse could be more, or what merite so ample? And contrariwise, what requitall so slender, what acknowledgement so bad, or what recompence so euill, then wherewith besides all course of iustice and equitie thou hast most vnnaturally acquited me?Epiphonema. One only comfort resteth, that of all honest minds thou art hated deseruedly, and out of all gentle company art excluded perpetually, wherin hauing the only solace vnto my grieued conceits, that for the present may be acquired, I liue in hope to see thee once againe to haue neede of mee, when according to thy demerits I shall thinke of thee, and in the meane while esteeme of thy fashions, as thou hast giuen me cause to accompt of them.
Of Letters inuectiue.
Chap. 5.
O these Exprobratorie epistles, doth next follow the title inuectiue. A sharpe and bitter inueighing against the person, déedes, or behauiours of men, occupied altogether in condemning, disabling, and wresting, whatsoeuer maie bee collected to the reproofe, diminution, or impugning of anie one, and that by all maner of quips, tauntes, reproches, blames, imputations, or designmentes that maie bee of euils. And yet this not by a disordered, malicious or railing humour, vniustlie and without great and forcible cause to be pursued, but by a learned, discreete, lawfull, or reasonable toleration to be followed, which in all maner of directions is principallie to be required. The conueiance is as full of Art as anie others, that heretofore haue beene exampled vnto you, and as well for rife and quicke inuention, as orderlie disposition, enforcementes, and neate deliuerie, hath his speciall commendation.
An example of an Epistle Inuectiue of a father
against his sonne.
THe sight of your letters,Exordium. and message receiued by your seruant haue (good Coosen) bred to mee in perusing and harkening vnto the same, no small matter of disquiet, not that your letters or messages for themselues are,Metonoia. or haue beene at anie time ill welcome to my hands, but in respect of him for whom they come, whom in truth I neuer recke if I heare of,Epiphonema. so filled haue I beene long since with the euils by him committed.Liptote. I am nothing ignorant that of loue and meere good will you beare to mee and mine, you framed your speeches vnto me, which with how much tediousnes I haue considered of, and with what willingnes I could haue omitted to answere them, no one can so wel giue testimony,Periphrasis. as the burthen of mine owne sorrow beareth witnes vnto me.