Doubt not but that the title of this treatise all straunge vnto our Englyshe eares, wil cause some men at the fyrst syghte to maruayle what the matter of it should meane: yea, and peraduenture if they be rashe of iudgement, to cal it some newe fangle, and so casting it hastily from thẽ, wil not once vouchsafe to reade it: and if they do, yet perceiuynge nothing to be therin that pleaseth their phansy, wyl count it but a tryfle, & a tale of Robynhoode. But of thys sorte as I doubte not to fynde manye, so perhaps there wyll be other, whiche moued with the noueltye thereof, wyll thynke it worthye to be looked vpon, and se what is contained therin. Sheme and Trope. These words, [Scheme] and [Trope], are not vsed in our Englishe tongue, neither bene they Englyshe wordes. Vse maketh straũge thinges familier. No more be manye whiche nowe in oure tyme be made by continual vse, very familier to most men, and come so often in speakyng, that aswel is knowen amongest vs the meanyng of them, as if they had bene of oure owne natiue broode. Who hath not in hys mouthe nowe thys worde Paraphrasis, homelies, vsurped, abolyshed, wyth manye other lyke? And what maruail is it if these words haue not bene vsed heretofore, seynge there was no suche thynge in oure Englishe tõgue where vnto they shuld be applyed? Good cause haue we therefore to gyue thankes vnto certayne godlye and well learned men, whych by their greate studye enrychynge our tongue both wyth matter and wordes, haue endeuoured to make it so copyous and plentyfull that therein it maye compare wyth anye other whiche so euer is the best. Oure language falsely accused of barbarousnes. It is not vnknowen that oure language for the barbarousnes and lacke of eloquence hathe bene complayned of, and yet not trewely, for anye defaut in the toungue it selfe, but rather for slackenes of our coũtrimen, whiche haue alwayes set lyght by searchyng out the elegance and proper speaches that be ful many in it: as plainly doth appere not only by the most excellent monumentes of our aũciẽt forewriters, Gower. Chawcer. Lidgate. Gower, Chawcer and Lydgate, but also by the famous workes of many other later: Syr Thomas Elyot. inespeciall of ye ryght worshipful knyght syr Thomas Eliot, which first in hys dictionarye as it were generallye searchinge oute the copye of oure language in all kynde of wordes and phrases, after that setting abrode goodlye monumentes of hys wytte, lernynge and industrye, aswell in historycall knowledge, as of eyther the Philosophies, hathe herebi declared the plentyfulnes of our mother toũge, loue toward hys country, hys tyme not spent in vanitye and tryfles. What shuld I speake of that ornamente Syr Thomas Wyat? which beside most excellente gyftes bothe of fortune and bodye, so flouryshed in the eloquence of hys natiue tongue, that as he passed therin those wyth whome he lyued, so was he lykelye to haue bene equal wyth anye other before hym, had not enuious death to hastely beriued vs of thys iewel: teachyng al men verely, no filicitie in thys worlde to be so suer and stable, but that quicklye it may be ouerthrowen and broughte to the grounde. Manye other there be yet lyuynge whose excellente wrytynges do testifye wyth vs to be wordes apte and mete elogantly to declare oure myndes in al kindes of Sciences: and that, what sentence soeuer we conceiue, the same to haue Englyshe oracion natural, and holpẽ by art, wherby it may most eloquẽtly be vttered. The occasion of thys treatise. Of the whych thynge as I fortuned to talke wyth you, Master Brooke, among other matters this present argument of Schemes and Tropes came in place, and offered it selfe, demed to be bothe profitable and pleasaunte if they were gathered together, and handsomelye set in a playne ordre, and wyth theire descriptions hansomely put into our Englishe tongue.
And bicause longe ago, I was well acquaynted with them, when I red them to other in ye Latin, and that they holpe me verye muche in the exposicion of goode authores, I was so muche the more ready to make them speak English, partli to renew the pleasure of mine old studies, and partelye to satysfy your request.
Rodulphus Agricola. ¶ Beside this, I was moued also wyth the authorytye of that famous clarke Rodulphus Agricola, whyche in a certeine epistle wryten vnto a frynde of hys, exhorteth mẽ what soeuer they reade in straunge tongues, diligently to translate the same into their owne language: because that in it we sonar perceiue if there be any faute in our speaking, and howe euerye thynge eyther rightly hangeth together or is darkely, ruggishly, and superfluously wryttẽ. No lerned nacion hath there bene but ye learned in it haue written of schemes & fygures, which thei wold not haue don, except thei had perceyued the valewe.
¶ Wherefore after theyr example obtaynyng a lytle lesure, I red ouer sundrye treatises, as wel of those which wrot long ago, as of other now in our daies: fyndynge amonge them some to haue wrytten ouer brieflye, some confuselye, and falselye some. Mosellain. Mosellane hathe in hys tables shewed a fewe fygures of grammer, and so hathe confoũded them together, that his second order called of Loquucion pertayneth rather to the rhetoricians then to hys purpose. Quintilian. Quintilian briefly hathe wrytten bothe of the Gramatical and rhetorical Shemes, but so that you may soone perceyue he did it by the waye, as muche as serued hys purpose.
Cicero. Cicero in hys boke of an oratour with hys incompetable eloquence hathe so hid the preceptes, that scarselye they may be tryed oute by theyr names, or by theyr exãples. Erasmus. Erasmus in hys double copye of words and thynges, hath made as ye tytle declareth but a comentarye of them bothe, and as it wer a litle bil of remembraũce.
Wherefore to make these thinges more playne to ye students that lyst to reade them in oure tongue, I haue taken a lytle payne, more thorowelye to try the definicions, to apply the examples more aptly, & to make things defused more plaine, as in dede it shal ryght wel apere to the dylygente. I haue not translated them orderly out of anye one author, but runninge as I sayde thorowe many, and vsyng myne owne iudgement, haue broughte them into this body as you se, and set them in so playne an order, that redelye maye be founde the figure, and the vse wherevnto it serueth.
Thoughe vnto greate wittes occupyed with weightye matters, they do not greatelye pertayne, yet to such as perchaũce shal not haue perfecte instructoures, they may be commodious to helpe them selues for ye better vnderstandynge of such good authors as they reade. ¶ For thys darre I saye, no eloquente wryter maye be perceiued as he shulde be, wythoute the knowledge of them: for asmuche as al togethers they belonge to Eloquucion, whyche is the thyrde and pryncipall parte of rhetorique. The common scholemasters be wont in readynge, to saye vnto their scholers: Hic est figura: and sometyme to axe them, Per quam figuram? But what profit is herein if they go no further? In speakynge and wrytynge nothyng is more folyshe than to affecte or fondly to laboure to speake darkelye for the nonce, sithe the proper vse of speach is to vtter the meaning of our mynd with as playne wordes as maye be. A figure not to be vsed but for a cause. But syth it so chaunseth yt somtyme ether of necessitie, or to set out the matter more plaĩly we be compelled to speake otherwyse then after common facion, onles we wil be ignorante in the sence or meaninge of the mater that excellente authors do wryghte of, we muste nedes runne to the helpe of schemes & fygures: which verely come no sildomer in the writing and speaking of eloquente english men, then either of Grecians or Latins. Many thinges might I brynge in to proue not onely a great profyt to be in them but that they are to be learned euen of necessitie, for as muche as not only prophane authors wythout them may not be wel vnderstand, but that also they greatelye profit vs in the readinge of holye scripture, where if you be ignoraunte in the fyguratiue speches and Tropes, you are lyke in manye greate doubtes to make but a slender solucion: Westimerus as ryght wyll do testefy Castelio Vestimerus and Augustinus yt noble doctor saint Augustine. I confesse I haue not made the matter here so perfecte as my wyll and desyer is it shoulde haue ben, and that I haue but brieflye touched, and as it were with my litle fynger poynted to these thinges, which require a lẽger declaracion. For what can be hasted, and absolute to?
But if God spare me lyfe, I truste hereafter to make it an introducciõ, wherbi our youth not onlye shall saue that moste precious Iewell, Time, whyle they wander by them selues, readynge at all aduentures sundry and varyous authors: but that also thei shalbe able better to vnderstande and iudge of the goodlye gyftes and ornamentes in mooste famous and eloquente oratoures. And apte similitude. For as lyke plesure is not to him whiche gooeth into a goodlye garden garnyshed wyth dyuers kindes of herbes and flowers, and that there doeth no more but beholde them, of whome it maye be sayde that he wente in for nothynge but that he wold come out, and to hym which besyde the corporall eie pleasure, knoeth of eueri one the name & propertye: so verelye much difference is there in readynge good authors, and in sundrye sortes of menne that do it: and muche more pleasure, and profit hathe he whiche vseth arte and iudgement, then the other, whiche wyth greate studye in dede turneth them ouer but for lacke of the knowledge of preceptes wanteth also the fruite and delectacyon that he more amplye myghte obtayne. The lyuynge God from whome all good giftes do procede, gyue vs grace so to order all oure words and speache, that it may be to his honour and glory for euer and euer. Amen.
¶ Geuen at London the.
xiii. day of Decembre.
Anno .M.D.L.
