Original Papers in the British Mnsctimt 



18 Iff.] 



jiow thus bould to intreate your honor 

 to send his Lordshipe the rest of it, 

 TV'" I have before now, for the most 

 part of it, read unto you ; humbly pray- 

 ing you to delyver your favorable cen- 

 sure of it, at least so farr that it is 

 pleasant and harmless. 



And, for the devyse itselfe, I knovre 

 my Lord would not leave yt yf yt were 

 at Tiballs (as I say merely in the book, 

 the 118 page) for 1000/.; and, to doc his 

 Lordsliip service, I will i-yde tliither and 

 cntruste his workmen to do yt for lesse 

 than a thousand pence. 



And, that I may coufesse trewly and 

 frankly to you (my best Lady, that have 

 even liora my childhood ever so spe- 

 cially favored mc,) I was the willinger 

 to write sudi a toye as this, because I had 

 layne me thought almost buryed in the 

 country these 3 or four yeares, and £ 

 thought this would give some occasion 

 to have me thought of, and talked of, 

 jiot as he tljat burned the Temple of 

 Diana to make him famous, nor as Ab- 

 solom tJiat burned Joab's corne to make 

 him come to speech v,'^ him; but rather 

 as Sophocles, to save himself from a 

 writt of dotage, show'd the work he 

 was presently in hand with. 



I observe this, that ia all common- 

 wealthes, the gown and the sword rule 

 all ; and, that the pen is above the 

 sword, they tliat Avear plumes above 

 their hellmetts doe therein (although 

 they know yt not) confesse accordynge 

 to tiie saying, Cadant anna toga:. My 



marian in tlie beginning of the 16'" 

 century. At that time granmiar and 

 rhetoric were held in so estimable re- 

 pule, that the Universities, in ordw to 

 encourage these studies, gave degrees 

 in each of them. Thus Rob'- Why- 

 tington, of Oxford, making a consider- 

 able progress in logic and philosophy, 

 and being esteemed excellent iu tlje 

 teaching of youth, " in 1513 supplicated 

 the venerable congregation of Regents, 

 under the name and title of Rob-- Why- 

 tington, a secular Chaplain, and a scholar 

 of the Art of Rhetoric; that whereas 

 he had spent 14 years in the study of th^ 

 said Ai't, and 12 years in the infurming 

 of Boys, it might he stifficieiit for him 

 tlmt he he Laureated. I'his supplication 

 being granted, he was (after he had 

 composed 100 verses, which were stuck 

 up in public places, especially on the 

 door or doors of S^* Mary's Church,) 

 very solemnly crcmned, or his temples 

 adorned with a wreath of laurel; that is, 

 doclorated in the Arts of Granunar and 

 Rhetoric, July 4, the same year. At 

 the same time he was admitted also to 

 the reading of any of the Logical Rooks 

 of Aristotle, that is, to the degree of 

 Bachelor of Arts, which was then es- 

 teemed equal with the degree of Gram- 

 mar or Rhetoric."* A fter this ceremony 

 he always stiled himself Protovates 

 Anglice, and Poet Laurcat. Tims, in 

 some of his grammatical tracts, he ad- 

 dresses himself to the reader in this 

 manner, Rohertus Whitentoims, Lich- 



education hath -fein suche, and I truste fieldiensis,Grammatices Map-ister in Flo- 



my limmcs aiiJ spirit both arc suche, 

 ^s neither shall be defectyve to y' ser- 

 Tice of my prince and country, whether 

 it be with v, ryting or weapon ; only my 

 desire is, my service may be accepted, 

 and I doubt not but it shall be accep- 

 table, to the which his Lo" good con- 

 ceyt of me, I count would be a good 

 •stepp, and to that good conccyt your 

 lienor's commendation I perswade mec 

 would be a good meanes. So I humbly 

 take my leave, this 14'" of August, 1596. 

 Your honor's most bound, 



John Haryngton. 

 To the Right Honoralle 



Ladtf Russcl, Dowager 



of the Lord John Russel. 

 LXlv. The Drivelling Sycophants, cidled 

 Poet Laiireats. 



The indusliious Anthony Wood tells 

 us, that the drivelling sycophants called 

 Poel Laareats, possessed an University 

 Degree equal to that of Bachelor of 

 Arts ; and ho instances the ease of one 

 fiobtrt Wliytington, an tiuiiiicut {^rani- 



revtissima Academia Laureatus, Lectori- 

 hus Salutcm dicit, S)-c. ; and, in his trans- 

 lation of a Tract of Erasmns, in 1532, 

 he tluis stiles himselt; Rolert Whyling- 

 ton, Laureate-Poete ; and, in the sauis 

 manner, in the preface of Caxton's trans- 

 ialjon of the ^neid, printed in 1490, 

 there is mention of Mayster John Skel- 

 ton, late created Poet Laureate in the 

 Universitye of Oxetiforde. I'Voni what 

 has been said. Dr. Knight draws this 

 inference: — " This," says^ lie, "iuay dis- 

 cover the error of some, who not consi- 

 dering the crown of laurel as the ensign 

 of a degree, have been apt to think that 

 a poet laurcat of old, as weil as of late, 

 liad (hat tide and pension with it from 

 the Prince, when it came from the Uni- 

 versity in commencing the degree of 

 Doctor of Grammar ; as it came thus to 

 Bernard Andreas, tutor to Prince Arthur; 



• Wood's Atlienae Oxoaieusis, vol. i. 

 p. 24; tdit. Loud. nn. 



