And though he be not taken notice of by Bale nor Pits, yet for his admirable Translation of David's Psalms into English Meeter, and other Poetical Writings, Leland forbears not to compare him to Dante and Petrarch, by giving him this large commendation.
Bella suum merito jactet Florentia Dantem
Regia Petrarchæ carmina Roma probat,
His non inferior Patrio Sermone Viattus
Eloquii secum qui decus omne tulit.
Let Florence fair her Dantes justly boast,
And royal Rome her Petrarchs number'd feet,
In English Wiat both of them doth coast:
In whom all graceful eloquence doth meet.
The renowned Earl of Surrey in an Encomium upon his Translation of David's Psalms, thus writes of him,