Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/97



39. Reign of Edward IV,--from 1483 to 1461.--Example written in 1463.

"Forasmoche as we by divers meanes bene credebly enformed and undarstand for certyne, that owr greate adversary Henry, naminge hym selfe kynge of England, by the maliceous counseyle and exitacion of Margaret his wife, namynge hir selfe queane of England, have conspired," &c.--EDWARD IV: Letter of Privy Seal.

40. Examples for the reign of Henry VI,--from 1461 back to 1422.

"When Nembroth [i.e. Nimrod] by Might, for his own Glorye, made and incorporate the first Realme, and subduyd it to hymself by Tyrannye, he would not have it governyd by any other Rule or Lawe, but by his own Will; by which and for th' accomplishment thereof he made it. And therefor, though he had thus made a Realme, holy Scripture denyd to cal hym a Kyng, Quia Rex dicitur a Regendo; Whych thyng he did not, but oppressyd the People by Myght."--SIR JOHN FORTESCUE.

41. Example from Lydgate, a poetical Monk, who died in 1440.

"Our life here short of wit the great dulnes   The heuy soule troubled with trauayle,    And of memorye the glasyng brotelnes,    Drede and vncunning haue made a strong batail    With werines my spirite to assayle,    And with their subtil creping in most queint    Hath made my spirit in makyng for to feint." JOHN LYDGATE: Fall of Princes, Book III, Prol.

42. Example for the reign of Henry V,--from 1422 back to 1413.

"I wolle that the Duc of Orliance be kept stille withyn the Castil of Pontefret, with owte goyng to Robertis place, or to any other disport, it is better he lak his disport then we were disceyved. Of all the remanant dothe as ye thenketh."--Letter of HENRY V.

43. Example for the reign of Henry IV,--from 1413 back to 1400.

"Right heigh and myghty Prynce, my goode and gracious Lorde,--I recommaund me to you as lowly as I kan or may with all my pouer hert, desiryng to hier goode and gracious tydynges of your worshipful astate and welfare."--LORD GREY: Letter to the Prince of Wales: Bucke's Classical Gram., p. 145.

VI. ENGLISH OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

44. Reign of Richard II, 1400 back to 1377.--Example written in 1391. "Lytel Lowys my sonne, I perceve well by certaine evidences thyne abylyte to lerne scyences, touching nombres and proporcions, and also well consydre I thy besye prayer in especyal to lerne the tretyse of the astrolabye. Than for as moche as a philosopher saithe, he wrapeth hym in his frende, that condiscendeth to the ryghtfull prayers of his frende: therefore I have given the a sufficient astrolabye for oure orizont, compowned after the latitude of Oxenforde: vpon the whiche by meditacion of this lytell tretise, I purpose to teche the a certame nombre of conclusions, pertainynge to this same instrument."--GEOFFREY CHAUCER: ''Of the Astrolabe''.

45. Example written about 1385--to be compared with that of 1555, on p. 87.

"And thus this companie of muses iblamed casten wrothly the chere dounward to the yerth, and shewing by rednesse their shame, thei passeden sorowfully the thresholde. And I of whom the sight plounged in teres was darked, so that I ne might not know what that woman was, of so Imperial aucthoritie, I woxe all abashed and stonied, and cast my sight doune to the yerth, and began still for to abide what she would doen afterward."--CHAUCER: ''Version from Boëthius: Johnson's Hist. of E. L.'', p. 29.

46. Poetical Example--probably written before 1380.

"O Socrates, thou stedfast champion;     She ne might nevir be thy turmentour,    Thou nevir dreddist her oppression,      Ne in her chere foundin thou no favour,      Thou knewe wele the disceipt of her colour,      And that her moste worship is for to lie,    I knowe her eke a false dissimulour,      For finally Fortune I doe defie."--CH