And is theyr worke also extynguyshible? Nay, truely, for it doth shyne ryght cleere Thrugh cloudes derke unto the odyble, To whom truely it may nothyng appeere Where connyng fayleth, the scyence so deere Ignoraunce hateth wyth fervent envy, And unto connyng is mortall ennemy.
O ygnoraunce, wyth slouth so opprest, Open thy curtayne, so ryght dymme and derke, And evermore remembre the behest Of thy labour to understande thy werke, Of many a noble and ryght famous clerke. Fy upon slouth, the nourysher of vyce, Whych unto youth doth often prejudice.
Who in youth lyst nothyng to lerne, He wyl repent hym often in hys age, That he the connynge can nothynge decerne; Therfore now youth, with lusty courage, Rule thy fleshe and thy slouth aswage, And in thy youth the scyence engender That in thyne age it may the worship render.
Connyng is lyght and also pleasaunt, A gentyll burden wythout grevousnes, Unto hym that is ryght well applyaunt For to bere it wyth al his besenes; He shal attaste the well of frutefulnes, Which Vyrgyl claryfied, and also Tullyus, Wyth Latyn pure, swete, and delicyous.
From whense my mayster Lydgate veryfyde The depured rethoryke in Englysh language; To make our tongue so clerely puryfyed, That the vyle termes should nothing arage As like a pye to chatter in a cage, But for to speke wyth rethoryke formally, In the good order, wythouten vylany.
And who his bokes lyst to here or se, In them he shall fynd elocucyon, With as good order as any may be, Kepyng ful close the moralyzacyon Of the trouth of his great intencyon, Whose name is regestred in remembraunce For to endure by longe contynuaunce.
Nowe after this, for to make relacyon Of famous rethoryke so in this party, As to the fourth part, Pronouncyacyon, I shal it shew anone ryght openly, Wyth many braunches of it sykerly; And how it taketh the hole effect In every place, degre, and aspecte.
CAP. XII. OF PRONUNCIATION, THE IV. PART OF RETHORIKE.
Whan the matter is founde by invencyon, Be it mery or yet of grete sadnes, Sette in a place by the disposycyon, And by elocucyons famous clerenes Exornate well and redy to expres, Then pronouncyacyon, wyth chere and countenance, Convenyently must make the utteraunce.