IV. 2.] THE FIRST BOOK. 



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, Exccrabilis ista lurba, quce 

 non novit legeni], 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, the admiration of ancient 

 a uthors. the hate of the schoolmen, the exact stu dy&quot;o^ 

 languages, and the efficacy of preaching, did brin^ in an 

 affectionate study of eloquence andj:opje_of speech, which 

 then began to flourish. This grew speedily to an excess ; 

 for men began to hunt more after ^vvorcis 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.afterjhe _w_eight_ 

 of mattefTwbfth &quot;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, Decent annos consumpsi 

 in legendo Cicerone , and the echo answered in Greek 



