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640 TWO OTHER VERY
Then me thmketh, you haue in my fancie som
what too many Spondees beside and whereas
Trochee sometyme presumeth m the firste
place, as namely in the second Verse, Make
thy, whyche thy, by youre Maistershippes owne
authontie muste needes be shorte, I shall be
fame to supplye the office of the Arte Memora
true, and putte you in minde of a pretty Fable
in Abstemto the Italian, implying thus much,
or rather thus little in effect
A certaine lame man beyng invited to a
solempne Nuptiall Feaste, made no more adoe,
but sate me hyra roundlye downe foremoste at
the hyghest ende of the Table The Master of
the feast, suddamly spying his presumption,
and hansomely remooumg him from thence,
placed me this haulting Gentleman belowe at
the nether end of the bourd alledgmg for his
defence the common verse Sedes nulla dalur,
praterquam sexta Trodueo and pleasantly
alluding to this foote, which standing vppon
two syllables, the one long, the other short,
(much like, of a like, his guestes feete) is
al wayes thrust downe to the last place, in
a true Hexameter, and quite thrust out of
doores in a pure, and lust Senarie Nowe Syr,
what thmke you, I began to thmke with my
seife, when I began to reade your warrant first
so boldly, and venterously set downe in so
formall, and autentique wordes, as these,
Precisely perfit, and not an inch from the Rulen
Ah Syrrha, and Iesu Lord, thought I, haue we
at the last gotten one, of whom his olde fnendes
and Companions may lustly glory, In eo solum
peccat, quod nihil peccat and that is yet more
exacte, and precise in his English Comicall
Iambickes, than euer M Watson himselfe was
m his Lattin Tragicall Iambickes, of whom
M Ascham reporteth, that he would neuer to
this day suffer his famous Absolon to come
abrode, onely because Anapceslus in Locis
paribus, is twice, or thrice vsed in steade of
Iambus ? A small fault, ywisse, and such a
one in M Aschams owne opinion, as per
chaunce woulde neuer haue beene espyed, no
neither in Italy, nor in Fraunce But when
I came to the curious scanning, and fingering
of euery foote, and syllable Lo here, quoth I,
M Watsons Anapastus for all the worlde
A good horse, that tnppeth not once in a
lourney and M lmmerilo doth, but as
M Watson, and in a manner all other Iambict
haue done before him marry he might haue
spared his preface, or at the least, that same
restrictiue, and streightlaced terme, Precisely,
and all had been well enough: and I assure
you, of my selfe, I beleeue, no peece of a fault
marked at all But this is the Effect of war
rantes, and perhappes the Errour may rather
proceede of his Master, M Dranies Rule, than
of himselfe Howsoeuer it is, the matter is
not great, and I alwayes was, and will euer
continue of this Opinion, Pauca mullis con
donanda vitta Virtulibus, especially these being
no Vitia neither, in a common and hcencious
Iambtcke Verum ista obiter, non qutdem con
traduendi ammo, aut etiam comgendi mihi
crede sed nostro illo Academico, prtslinoque
more ralwcinandt And to saye trliueth, partely
too, to requite your gentle courtesie in begin
nmg to me, and noting I knowe not what
breache in your gorbellyed Maisters Rules
which Rules go for good, I perceiue, and keepe
a Rule, where there be no better in presence
My selfe neither sawe them, nor heard of them
before and therefore will neither praise them,
nor dispraise them nowe but vppon the
suruiewe of them, and farther conference, (both
which I desire) you shall soone heare one mans
opinion too or fro Youre selfe remember,
I was wonte to haue some preiudice of the
man and I still remame a fauourer of his
deserucd, and mat commendation Marry in
these poyntes, you knowe, Partialitie in no
case, may haue a foote and you remember
mine olde Stoicall exclamation Fie on childish
affection, in the discoursing, and deciding of
schoole matters This I say, because you charge
me with an vnknowne authontie which for
aught I know yet, may as wel be either vnsufficient,
or faultie, as otherwise and I dare
more than halfe promise, (I dare not saye,
warrant) you shall alwayes in these kinde of
controuersies, finde me nighe hande answerable
m mine owne defence Reliqua omnia, quœ
de hac supersunt Anghcorum versuum ratwne,
in ahud tempus reseruabtmus, octosum magis
Youre Latme Farewell is a goodly braue
yonkerly peece of work, and Goddilge yee, I
am alwayes maruellously beholding vnto you,
for your bountifull Titles I hope by that time
I haue been resident a yeare or twoo in Italy,
I shall be better quahfyed in this kind, and
more able to requite your lauishe, and mag
nificent liberahtie that way But to let Titles
and Tittles passe, and come to the very pomte
in deede, which so neare toucheth my lusty
Trauayler to the quicke, and is one of the
predoninant humors that raigne in our common
Youths Heus mi tu, bone proce, magne
muhercularum amalor, egregte Pamphile, eum
aliquando tandem, qui te manet, qui muheroses