rinting of euery
foolishe thyng in englishe, both of phisicke vnperfectly, and
other matters vndiscretly diminishe the grace of thynges learned
set furth in thesame. But chiefely, because I wolde geue none
example or comforte to my countrie men, (whom I wolde to be now,
as here tofore they haue bene, comparable in learnyng to men of
other countries) to stonde onely in the Englishe tongue, but to
leaue the simplicite of thesame, and to procede further in (5)
many and diuerse knoweleges bothe in tongues and sciences at
home and in vniuersities, to the adournyng of the common welthe,
better seruice of their kyng, & great pleasure and commodite of
their owne selues, to what kinde of life so euer they shold
applie them. Therfore whatsoeuer sence that tyme I minded to
write, I wrate y^e same either in greke or latine. As firste of
all certein commentaries vpon certein bokes of William
framingham, maister of art in Cambrige, a man ot great witte,
memorie, diligence and learnyng, brought vp in thesame scholes
in Englande that I was, euer from his beginnyng vntil his death.
Of the which bokes, ij. of _continentia_ (or continence) wer in
prose, y^e reste in metre or verse of diuerse kindes. One a
comforte for a blinde man, entitled _ad Aemilianum caecum
consolatio_, one other _Ecpyrosis, seu incendium sodomorum_, the
burnyng of Sodome. The thirde _Laurentius_, expressyng the
tormentes of Saincte Laurence. The fourthe, _Idololatria_,
Idolatrie, not after the trade and veine of scripture (wherein
he was also very well exercised) but conformable to scripture
and after the ciuile and humane learnyng, declaryng them to
worshippe _Mars_, that warre, or fight: _Venus_, that lyue
incontinently: _Pluto_, that folowe riches couetousely; and so
forth through all vices vsed in his time. The fiueth boke
_Arete_, vertue: the sixth, Epigrammes, conteined in two bokes,
whiche by an epistle of his owne hand before y^e boke yet
remainyng, he dedicated vnto me, purposyng to haue done many
more prety thynges, but that cruell death preuented, and toke him
away wher he and I was borne at Norwiche, in the yere of our
Lord M.d.xxxvij. the xxix. daie of September, beynge then of the
age of xxv. yeres, vij. Monethes, and vj. daies, a greate losse
of so notable a yonge man. These workes at his death he willed
to comme to my handes, by (6) which occasion after I had viewed
them, and perceiued them ful of al kyndes of learnyng, thinkyng
them no workes for