The Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke

Excerpt

¶ To the reuerende father in god
& his singuler good lorde / the lorde Hugh
Faryngton Abbot of Redynge / his pore
client and perpetuall seruaunt Leonarde
Cockes desyreth longe & prosperouse lyfe
with encreace of honour.

Onsiderynge my spe[-]
ciall good lorde how great[-]
ly and how many ways I
am bounden to your lord-
shyp / and among all other
that in so great a nombre
of counynge men whiche are now within
this region it hath pleased your goodnes
to accepte me as worthy for to haue the
charge of the instruction & bryngynge vp
of suche youth as resorteth to your gra-
mer schole / foГ…В«ded by your antecessours in
this your towne of Redynge / I studied a
longe space what thyng I myght do next
the busy & diligent occupienge of my selfe
in your sayd seruyce / to the whiche bothe
conscience and your stipende doth straytly
bynde me / that myght be a significacion
of my faithfull and seruysable hart which
I owe to your lordeshyp / & agayne a long
memory bothe of your singuler and bene-
ficiall fauour towarde me: and of myn in-
dustry and diligence employed in your ser-
uyce to some profite: or at the leest way to
some delectacion of the inhabitauntes of
this noble realme now flouryshynge vn-
der the most excellent & victorious prynce
our souerain Lorde kyng Henry the .viii.

¶ And whan I had thus long prepensed
in my mynde what thynge I myght best
chose out: non offred it selfe more conue-
nyent to the profyte of yonge studentes
(which your good lordshyp hath alwayes
tenderly fauoured) and also meter to my
p[ro]fession: than to make som proper werke
of the right pleasaunt and persuadible art
of Rhetorique / whiche as it is very neces-
sary to all suche as wyll either be Aduoca[-]
tes and Proctours in the law: or els apte
to be sent in theyr Prynces Ambassades /
or to be techers of goddes worde in suche
maner as may be moost sensible & accepte
to theyr audience / and finally to all them
hauynge any thyng to purpose or to speke
afore any companye (what someuer they
be) So contraryly I se no science that is
lesse taught & declared to Scolers / which
ought chiefly after the knowlege of Gra-
mer ones had to be instructe in this facul[-]
tie / without the whiche oftentymes the
rude vtteraunce of the Aduocate greatly
hindereth and apeyreth his cliētes cause.
Likewise the vnapt disposicion of the pre-
cher (in orderyng his mater) confoundeth
the memory of his herers / and briefly in
declarynge of maters: for lacke of inuen-
cion and order with due elocucion: great
tediousnes is engendred to the multitude
beyng present / by occasion wherof the spe[-]
ker is many tymes ere he haue ended his
tale: either left almost aloon to his no li-
tle confusiГ…ВЌ: or els (which is a lyke rebuke
to hym) the audience falleth for werynes
of his ineloquent language fast on slepe.

¶ Wyllynge therfore for my parte to help
suche as are desirouse of this Arte (as all
surely ought to be which entende to be re-
garded in any comynaltie) I haue parte-
ly translated out a werke of Rhetorique
wryten in the Latin tongue: and partely
compyled of myn owne: and so made a ly-
tle treatyse in maner of an Introductyon
into this aforesayd Science: and that in
our Englysshe tongue....