Page:Arte or Crafte of Rhethoryke - 1899.djvu/28

 26 THE ARTE OR CRAFTE OF RHETHORYKE

[D iii recto] Rethoryke is a scyence to cause another man by speche or by wrytynge to beleue or to do that thynge whyche thou woldest haue hym for to do. To the which thou must fyrst deuyse some wey to make thy herers glad & wel wyllyng to here. The which thynge to brynge to passe thou must deuyse dyuers weys. The fyrst is that thou pn?myse hym some meruelous thynge, or some other strange thyng, or some thyng touchyng hym self or some thynge touchyng his fryndes or his enemyes.

^[Also whan thou haste made hym gladde to here the, thou must take hede that in the matter which thou shewest thou must vse. V. maner thynges. The fyrst is : inue;zcio/z, as to ymagyn the mater which thou intendest to shew, which must be of trew thynge, or lyke to be trew & to note well how many thynges in that mater ought to be spoken. ^[The. ii. thynge is disposicion, which is to shew euery thyng of thy matter in ordre, as whan thou haste inuewtyd & appoynted in thy mynd how many thynge thou wylte speke of, than thou must dyspose euery thyng \n ordre & which mater shalbe fyrst spoken & whiche shalbe last.

^[The third thing is eloqu<?;zs, as whan thou haste disposed how euery poynt & mater shalbe shewed in ordre than thou must vtter it with fayre eloquent wordes, and not to vse many curyous termes, for sup<?rfluyte in euery thyng is to be dyspraysed ; And it hyndreth the sentence. And whan a man delatith his matter to long or that he vtter the effecte of h'is sentence, though it be neuer so well vtteryd, it shalbe tedyous vnto the herers ; for euery man naturally that hereth a nother, desyreth moste to know the effecte of his reason that tellyth the tale, as the philosopher seith (omms homo naturaliter scire desiderat). Therfor the pryncypall poynt of eloquens reityth [restyth] euer in the quycke sentence. And therfor the lest poynt belongyng to Rethorike is to take hede that the tale be quycke & sentencious.

A passage on "Ars memoratiua, Or Memory " and one on voice and gesture follow.

Equally curious are the chapters in Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure

(chs. 7-13) T in which we are told how Graunde Amoure " was re-

ceyved of Rethoryke, and what rethoryke is ; Of the first

part, called Invencion, and a commendacion of poetes ;

Of Disposition, the .ii. part of rethorike ; Of Elocution, the thirde

part of rethoryke, with colouryng of sentences ; Of Pronunciation,

the. iiii. part of rethoryke : of Memory, the .v. part of rethorike," and

1 Written about 1506, and printed 1517. See reprint of edition of 1555 in the Percy Society Publications, 1845.

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