of thy steward shippe [steward shypp], for thou mayste [maiest] be no longer [my] stewarde. The stewarde [steward] sayd with in [within] him selfe, What shall I do [shal I doo]? for my master will [wil] take awaye [away] from me the stewarde shippe [my stewardshypp]. I cannot digge [dygge], and to begge I am a shamed [ashamed]. I woote [wot] what to do, that when [whan] I am put out of the stewardshippe [my stewardship], they may receave [receyue] me into their houses. Then called he all [al] his master's detters, and sayd [said] vnto the fyrst [firste], How moche [muche] owest thou vnto my master? And he sayd [said], An hondred [an c.] tonnes of oyle [oile]. And he sayd to [said vnto] him, Take thy bill [byl], and syt donne [sit down] quickly, and wryte fiftie [write l.]. Then sayd he to another, What owest thou? And he sayde [sayd], An hondred [an c.] quarters of wheate [wheat]. He sayd to him [said vnto hym], Take thy bill [byl] and write foure scoore [lxxx.]. And the lorde [lord] commended the uniust stewarde [steward], because he had done wysly [don wisely]. For the chyldren [children] of this worlde [thys world] are in their kynde wyser [kind wiser] then the chyldren [children] of lyght [light]. And I saye [say] also vnto you, make you frendes [frindes] of the wiked Mammon, that, whan ye shall departe [shall haue nede], they may receave [receyue] you into everlastinge [in euerlasting] habitacions.

18. Sonnet by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey :about 1545.

The soote' season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale ;
The nightingale with feathers new she sings;
The turtle to her make hath told her tale;
Summer is come, for every spray now springs;

The hart hath hung his old head on the pale;
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings;
The fishes fleet with new-repaired scale;
The adder all her slough away she flings;
The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale;3
The busy bee her honey now she mings; 4
Winter is worn that was the flowers bale;
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs! *
2 Mate. • Small. 4 Mingles.

1 Sweet.

The spelling is modernised in this specimen.

IV. Period of Modern English :-A.D. 1550

19. Commencement of Sackville's Induction to the Third Part of "The Mirror for Magistrates:"-1559.

The wrathfull winter, proching' on apace,
With blustering blasts had all ybarde the treen,
And old Saturnus, with his frosty face,

2

With chilling cold had pearst the tender greene;
The mantles rent, wherein enwrapped beene
The gladsom groues that now lay ouerthrowne,
The tapets torne and every blome downe blowne.

The soyle, that erst so seemly was to seene,
Was all despoyled of her beauties hewe;

And soote-fresh flowers, wherewith the sommers

queene

Had clad the earth, now Boreas blasts downe blewe;
And small foules, flocking, in theyr song did rewe
The winters wrath, wherewith ech thing defaste
In woefull wise bewayld the sommer past.

1 Approaching.

2 Bared the trees. ' Hangings, leaves.

20. From Ascham's "Schoolmaster:"— about 1563.

Quick wits commonly be apt to take, unapt to keep; soon hot, and desirous of this and that; as cold and soon weary [as soon cold and weary ?] of the same again; more quick to enter speedily than able to pierce far; even like over-sharp tools, whose edges be very soon turned. Such wits delight themselves in easy and pleasant studies, and never pass far forward in high and hard sciences. And therefore the quickest wits commonly may prove the best poets, but not the wisest orators; ready of tongue to speak boldly, not deep of judgment either for good counsel or wise writing. Also for manners and life, quick wits commonly be in desire newfangled; in purpose unconstant; light to promise any thing; ready to forget every thing, both benefit and injury; and thereby neither fast to friend nor fearful to foe; inquisitive of every trifle; not secret in the greatest affairs; bold with any person; busy in every matter; soothing such as be present; nipping any that is absent; of nature, also, always flattering their betters, envying their equals, despising their inferiors; and, by quickness of wit, very quick and ready to like none so well as themselves.*

*The spelling is modernised in this specimen.

21. From Sir Philip Sidney's " Apologie for Poetrie:"about 1580.

The Philosopher, therefore, and the Historian are they which would win the gole; the one by precept, the other by example. But both, not hauing both, do both halte. For the Philosopher, setting downe with thorny argument the bare rule, is so hard of vtterance, and so mistie to bee conceiued, that one that hath no other guide but him shall wade in him till hee be olde before he shall finde sufficient cause to bee honest: for his knowledge standeth so vpon the abstract and generall, that happie is that man who may vnderstande him, and more happie that can applye what hee dooth vnderstand. On the other side, the Historian, wanting the precept, is so tyed, not to what shoulde bee, but to what is, to the particuler truth of things, and not to the generall reason of things, that hys example draweth no necessary consequence, and therefore a lesse fruitful doctrine.

Now dooth the peereless Poet performe both; for, whatsoeuer the philosopher sayth should be doone, hee giueth a perfect picture of it in some one by whom hee presupposeth it was doone; so as he coupleth the generall notion with the particuler example. A perfect picture, I say; for he yeeldeth to the powers of the minde an image of that whereof the Philosopher bestoweth but a woordish description, which dooth neyther strike, pierce, nor possesse the sight of the soule so much as that other dooth. For as, in outward things, to a man that had neuer seene an elephant or a rinoceros, who should

L