ea Saree THE FIRST BOOK. 29 
liberty to coin and frame new terms of art to express 
their own sense, and to avoid circuit of speech, without 
regard to the pureness, pleasantness, and (as I may call 
it) lawfulness of the phrase or word. And again, because _ 
the great labour then was with the people (of whom the 
Pharisees were wont to say, Lxecrabilis ista turba, que. 
non novit legem), for the winning and persuading of them, 
there grew of necessity in chief price and request elo- 
quence and variety of discourse, as the fittest and forci- 
blest access into the capacity of the vulgar sort: so that © 
these four causes concurring Mhe admiration of ancient, 
authors{jthe hate of the schoolmen,-the exac of 
languages, andthe efficacy of preaching, did bring in an 
affectionate study of eloquence and copie | ‘of speech, which” 
then began to flourish. This grew speedily to an excess; 
for men began to hunt more after words than matter; 
more after the choiceness of the phrase, and the round 
and clean composition of the sentence, and the sweet 
falling of the clauses, and the varying and illustration of 
their works with tropes and figures, than after the weight 
of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life | 
of invention, or depth of judgement. Then grew the 
flowing and watery vein of Osorius, the Portugal bishop, 
to be in price. Then did Sturmius spend such infinite 
and curious pains upon Cicero the Orator, and Hermo- 
genes the Rhetorician, besides his own books of Periods 
and Imitation, and the like. Then did Car of Cam- 
bridge and Ascham with their lectures and writings 
almost deify Cicero and Demosthenes, and allure all 
young men that were studious unto that delicate and 
polished kind of learning. Then did Erasmus take oc- 
casion to make the scoffing echo, Decem annos consumpst 
in legendo Cicerone; and the echo answered in Greek 
3 44 a 
-> _- x 
