606 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
suche thinges, and therfor nowe would also abystayne, not bewray- 
inge to me, anye inklinge of suche your dislike, but muche com- 
mendinge to me, your grave, wise, and gentle carriage of your 
selfe therin, and in all other matters, which as I acknowleged 
with hym; so to saye the truthe, I was very glad you did refuse 
to cumm, for no greater cause, not that in suche a matter, I ought 
to attribute more to the pryvate opinion, of one, or a fewe men 
(thoughe to yours, as muche as to any ones) then to the. common 
iudgment of many others; but because I woulde offende neyther 
a fewe, nor any one man, specialye in suche a trifle, as I take this 
to be. besyde all this, it is most manifest, that the devyse of 
Momus, was conceyved and penned longe before the sendinge of 
that your letter, as many, and amonge others, owre good frende 
you mention, can testifye it. for I showde it hym a monthe before, 
hethertoe I trust appeeres no iust cause in me, why any man, 
and specialy you, should thinke, that vnder the name of Momus , 
you weare taxed in particular. 
And to speake Coram Deo , my meaninge only was, if I had any 
meaninge or purpose at all, partely to move delight in the audy- 
torye, with the noveltye of the invention and the person, beinge 
nowe foreweryed and tyred with the tediusnes of the Tragedye 1 ; 
partely to obiect thos thinges agaynst owre selves, by owre selves, 
which might abate all suspition of any littell vayne glory or selfe 
pleasinge in vs, when thay should vnderstand, that owre dooinges 
displeased no man more, then owre owne selves and so by this 
meanes, as it weare with a slight, to shifte of all occasion of others 
ill speakinge, when we had prevented them with as ill as mought 
be, before, howsoever it was, I assure you I never had any serius 
thought of it, but esteemed it as a iest to serve a turne, littell 
thinkinge it should, or coulde be so taken, suche was my singlenes 
and simplycytye. and therfore I did not greatly care what I made 
hym to saye, as thinkinge any suche thinge became Momus well 
inoughe. whome notwithstandinge I brought not in, so muche in 
that sense, that Aristotle speaketh of, 2 as a reproover <lp. 43> of 
the best and perfitest woorkes, of the most wise and skillfull 
(for I never tooke eyther owre selves, or owre Playes to be suche) 
but, as we commonly take hym, as a carper, and a pincher at all 
thinges that are done with any opinion of well dooinge. summ 
thinges that he obiected, I willingely confesse weare trwe, as thos 
that did concerne owre owne want of skill in suche matters; 
1 Hippolytus, the last of the Shrove-tide tragedies, performed on Tuesday, 
February 7, 1592. 
2 Now ASsopes tale of Momus (as Aristotle sheweth in that your selfe men¬ 
tion of his reproving nature for setting bulles homes upon their heades, not upon 
their shoulders) was devised to checke such as reprove vniustlie the best and 
perfitest works of the most wise and skilfull. [ Overthrow , p. 1.] 
