| Certayne notes of Instruction.
concerning the making of verfe or
ryme in English, written at the request
of Master Edouardo Donati.
by
George Gascoigne (1575). This informal treatise, published
as prefix to the author's Posies, is the first English manual of
versification. The following text is taken from the scan of an 1869
volume prepared by the Internet
Archive. The spelling of that edition has been preserved, but
the typography has been modernized so that s
is used for ſ and u
for v.
Signor Edouardo, since promise is debt,
and you (by the lawe of friendship) do burden me with a promise
that I shoulde lende you instructions towards the making of English
verse or ryme, I will assaye to discharge the same, though not so
perfectly as I would, yet as readily as I may : and therwithall
I pray you consider that Quot
homines, tot Sententice,
especially in Poetrie, wherein (neverthelesse) I dare not challenge
any degree, and yet will I at your request adventure to set downe
my simple skill in such simple manner as I have used, referring
the fame hereafter to the correction of the Laureate. And
you shall have it in these few poynts followyng.
The first and most necessarie poynt that ever
I founde meete to be considered in making of a delectable poeme
is this, to grounde it upon some fine invention. For it is not inough
to roll in pleasant woordes, nor yet to thunder in Rym, Ram,
Ruff, by letter (quoth my master Chaucer) nor yet
to abounde in apt vocables, or epythetes, unlesse the Invention
have in it also aliquid
salis. By this aliquid
salis, I meane some good and fine devise, (hewing the quicke
capacitie of a writer: and where I say some good and fine invention,
I meane that I would have it both fine and good. For many inventions
are so superfine, that they are Vix
good. And againe
many Inventions are good, and yet not finely handled. And for a
general forwarning: what Theame soever you do take in hande, if
you do handle it but tanquam
in oratione perpetua,
and never studie for some depth of devise in ye Invention, and some
figures also in the handlyng thereof: it will appeare to the skilfull
Reader but a tale of a tubbe. To delivef unto you generall examples
it were almoste unpossible, sithence the occasions of Inventions
are (as it were) infinite : neverthelesse take in worth mine opinion,
and perceyve my furder meanyng in these few poynts. If I should
undertake to wryte in prayse of a gentlewoman, I would neither praise
hir christal eye, nor hir cherrie lippe, etc. For these things are
trita et obvia. But I would either finde some supernaturall
cause wherby my penne might walke in the superlative degree, or
els I would undertake to aunswere for any imperfection that shee
hath, and thereupon rayse the prayse of hir commendation. Likewise
if I should disclose my pretence in love, I would eyther make a
strange discourse of some intolerable passion, or finde occasion
to pleade by the example of some historie, or discover my disquiet
in shadowes per Allegoriam, or use the covertest meane
that I could to anoyde the uncomely customes of common writers.
Thus much I adventure to deliver unto you (my freend) upon the rule
of Invention, which of all other rules is most to be marked, and
hardest to be prescribed in certayne and infallible rules, neverthelesse
to conclude therein, I would have you stand most upon the excellencie
of your Invention, and sticke not to studie deepely for some fine
devise. For that beyng founde, pleasant woordes will follow well
inough and fast inough.
[the complete text will be available in Fall 2009]
NOTES
1. “There are as many opinions as there are
men.” – Erasmus
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2. “A pinch of salt,”
salt being in those days before refrigeration both a preservative
(making it last) and a flavoring (to make it tasty).
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3. “Vix” is
Latin for “"scarcely.”
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4. “just as if in
continual oration” (with thanks to Amiel Bowers for a translation).
GG may well be quoting from Cicero.
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