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Title: Notes of advice for writers of English history, being a "Second or finall Addresse" in fourteen paragraphs or sections; containing notes on the several periods into which the history may be divided, the methods in which it may be treated, the authors to be read for formation of style, the dangers to be avoided, and, finally, some short criticisms on a few English historians.
Date: ca. 1616
Repository: Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Call number and opening: MS Rawl. D. 1, fols. 11r-v, 13v-15v
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[fol. 13v]
Yet as Sir Henry Savils in the be=
fore said famous Epistle pronounceth
of those old Historians of England ;
Malmesbury, Huntington, Hoveden
and the other two more antient
Ethelwardus the noble, and
Ingulphus that howsoeuer rude
and homely for these, yet they
weere fide rerum interpretes, and
Camden affirmes of Honorable
Bede that hee was veri aman=
tissimus, Soe shall the on pre=
uidicated reader finde this to
be true that the old Historians of
our Country are brightest in
that Essentiall quallitie and not
to be convinced of any appa=
rent much lesse of any wilfull
falshood./
11
The Choise As for Example language, and
of English style (the apparell of matter) hee
who would penn our affaires in
English, and compose vnto vs an
entire
[fol. 14r]
14
entire ..... body of them, ought
to haue a singuler Care therof:
for albeit our tongue hath not
receiued Dialects or accentuall
notes as the Greek nor any
certaine or established rule either
of Gramer or true writing, is
notwithstanding very Ioyious,
and fewe there be who haue the
most proper graces thereof;
for which the rule cannot be
variable, ffor asmuch as the
peoples Iudgmentes are vn=
certaine, The bookes also
out of which wee gather the
most warrantable English
are not many to my Remem=
brance, of which in regard
they require a particuler and
Curious tract, I forbeare to
speake at this present . Butt
among the choise, or rather
the choise are in my opinion
these./
Sir Thomas
[fol.14v]
Moore. Sir Thomas Moores workes some
fewe outworne or antiquated
wordes excepted./
Sidney The Arcadia of Sir Phillip
Sidney is worthiely most famous
for with corceipt, and splendor
of Courtly expressions which
are not to be vsed by any Historian
but very rarely and with great
Iudgement, as one whose style
should haue glosse, and Lustre,
but otherwise soliditie, and
fluencie rather then odd no
=tions, full of affected newnes
proper to Oratours and Poets./
Queene Elizabeth.
Sauile. Sir Henry Savile his end of
Nero and begining of Galba./
Earl of Essex Robert Earle of Essex his Apologie
and letters to Roger Earle of
Rutland./
Hooker Mr Hooker his preface to his
booke of Ecclesiasticall Pollicy./
Sir
[fol. 15r]
15
Sir Iohn Heyward his Henry the Heyward.
fourth some fewe thinges excepted./
Sir Walter Raleigh Raleigh.
Sir Francis Bacon Lord Viscount Bacon.
Saint Alban in his Summarie of
King Henry the seauenths life
especially./
King James some fewe Scotti=
cismes excepted./
Cardinall Allens Apologie a Allen
rare esteemed peece of
English./
Edmund Spencer (the most Spencer.
Learned Poet of our Nation)
very litle for the vse of History./
George Chapmans first seauen Chapman
bookes of Iliades./
Samuell Danyell./ Danyell.
Michaell Drayton his Heroicall Drayton.
Epistles of England./
Marlowe his Excellent frag= Marlowe
ment of Hero & Leander./
Shakespere, Mr Francis Beamont Shakspeere
and innumerable other writers Beamont.
for
[fol. 15v]
for the stage and presse tenderly
to be vsed in this Argument./
Southwell, Parsons and some fewe
other of that sort./
Constable. Henry Constable a rare Gentleman./
Earl Dorsett. Richard Earle of Dorset the
myrrour of Magistrates and in
his Tragedies of Gorboduck./
Earl of Surrey Henry Earle of Surrey and Sir
& Wyatt Thomas Wyatt of old./
Earl of Northampton Henry Earle of Northampton
sonne of that Surrey for some
fewe thinges, a man other=
wise too Exuberant and
wordfull./
Greuile. Grevile Lord Brooke in his
impious Mustapha./
Iohnson Beniamin Iohnson Sir Henry
&
Wotton. Wotton./
Sir Lord Beaumont The learned and truely
noble Sir Iohn Beaumont
Barronet in all his et cetera and late
Dictionaries some publique speaches
some Sermons et cetera./
12
Sources
E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, Volume II, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930), 225.
Last updated August 1, 2021