Tottel sig. Aiv

[sig. Aiv]

To the reder.

T Hat to haue wel written in verse, yea and in small parcelles, deserueth great praise, the woorkers of diuers Latines, Italians, & other, doe proue sufficiently. That our tong is able in (5) that kinde to do as praise worthelye as the rest, the honorable stile of the noble earle of Surrey, and the weightinesse of the depe witted sir Tho- mas Wiat the elders verse, with seueral graces in sondry good Englishe writers, do show abun(10) dantly. It resteth now ( gentle reder) that thou thinke it not euil don, to publishe, to that honor of the eng- lish tong, and for profit of the studious of Eng- lishe eloquence, those workes which the vngentle+horders vp of such tresure haue heretofore enui- (15) ed the. And for this point (good reder) thine own profit and pleasure, in these presentlye, & in moe hereafter, shal answer for my defence. If parhap- pes some mislike the statelinesse of stile remoued from the rude skil of common earee: I aske help of (20) the learned to defende their learned frendes, the authors of this woork. And I exhort the vnlear- ned , by reding to learne to be more skilfull, and to purge that swinelike grossenesse, that ma- keth the swete maierome not to smell (25) to their delight.