B INTRODUCTION. Efpite his promife, fee page 20, Afcham wrote no English work on a great subject. Writing late in life, his Scholemaster, he thus defends his choice in the fubjects of his books: "But, of all kinde of pastimes, fitte for a Ientleman, I will, godwilling, in fitter place, more at large, declare fullie, in my booke of the Cockpitte: which I do write, to fatiffie fom, I truft, with fom reason, that be more curious, in marking other mens doinges, than carefull in mendyng their owne faultes. And fom alfo will nedes bufie them felues in merueling, and adding thereunto vnfrendlie taulke, why I, a man of good yeares, and of no ill place, I thanke God and my Prince, do make choise to spend foch tyme in writyng of trifles, as the schole of fhoting, the Cockpitte, and this booke of the first Principles of Grammer, rather, than to take fome weightie matter in hand, either of Religion, or Ciuill discipline. Wife men I know, will well allow of my choise herein and as for such, who haue not witte of them felues, but must learne of others, to iudge right of mens doynges, let them read that wife Poet Horace in his Arte Poetica, who willeth wisemen to beware, of hie and loftie Titles. For, great shippes, require costlie tackling, and alfo afterward dangerous gouernment: Small boates, be neither verie chargeable in makyng, nor verie oft in great ieoperdie: and yet they cary many tymes, as good and coftlie ware, as greater veffels do. A meane Argument, may easelie beare, the light burden of a small faute, and haue alwaise at hand, a ready excuse for ill handling: And, fome praise it is, if it fo chaunce, to be better in deede, than a man dare venture to seeme. A hye title, doth charge a man, with the heauie burden, of to great a promife, and therfore fayth Horace verie wittelie, that, that Poet was a verie foole, that began hys booke, with a goodlie verse in deede, but ouer proude a promise. Fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum, And after, as wifelie Quantò rectiùs hic, qui nil molitur ineptè. &c. Meening Homer, who, within the compaffe of a smal Argument, of one harlot, and of one good wife, did vtter fo moch learning in all kinde of sciences, as, by the iudgement of Quintilian, he deferueth fo hie a praise, that no man yet deferued to fit in the second degree beneth him. And thus moch out of my way, concerning my purpose in spending penne, and paper, and tyme, vpon trifles, and namelie to aunfwere fome, that haue neither witte nor learning, to do any thyng them felues, neither will nor honestie, to say well of other" * Certain it is, that in both Toxophilus and The Scholemafler (the Cockpitte if ever printed, is now loft); not only are the main arguments interwoven with a most earnest moral purpofe; but they are enlivened by frequent and charming difcurfions, in the which he often lays down great principles, or illuftrates them from the circumstances of his time. So that in these two ways, these works, being not rigidly confined to the technical subjects expreffed by their titles, do 'beare,' both in thofe fubjects and in the paffing thoughts, much of what is the highest truth. If a Yorkshire man-who had become a ripe English Scholer, and was also a fluent English writer as well as converfant with other languages and literatures-were, in the present day, to fit down to write, for the first time, in the defence and praise of Cricket, a book in the Yorkshire dialect: he would be able to appreciate somewhat Ascham's position when he began to write the prefent work. For he lived in the very dawn of our modern learning. Not to speak of the hesitation and doubt that always impedes any novelty, the absence of any antecedent literature left him without any model of style. Accustomed as he had hitherto been to write chiefly in Latin, he must have found English compofition both irksome and laborious. Yet his love for his folios 20. 21. Ed. 1570. country, and his delight, even from childhood, in his native tongue overcame all difficulties. "Althoughe to haue vvritten this boke either in latin or Greeke. had been more easier and fit for mi trade in study, yet neuerthelesse, I fuppofinge it no point of honeftie, that mi commodite should stop and hinder ani parte either of the pleasure or profite of manie, haue vvritten this Englishe matter in the Englishe tongue, for Englishe men." * In fo doing, he has bequeathed to posterity a noble specimen of English language, expreffing genuine English thought, upon a truly English subject. Of the influence of this deliberate choice of Afcham on the literature of his time, Dr. N. Drake thus speaks : "The Toxophilus of this useful and engaging writer, was written in his native tongue, with the view of presenting the public with a specimen of a purer and more correct English style than that to which they had hitherto been accustomed; and with the hope of calling the attention of the learned, from the exclufive study of the Greek and Latin, to the cultivation of their vernacular language. The refult which he contemplated was attained, and, from the period of this publication, the fhackles of Latinity were broken, and compofition in English profe became an object of eager and fuccefsful attention. Previous to the exertions of Afcham, very few writers can be mentioned as affording any model for English ftyle. If we except the Translation of Froiffart by Bourchier, Lord Berners, in 1523, and the Hiftory of Richard III. by Sir Thomas More, certainly compofitions of great merit, we shall find it difficult to produce an author of much value for his vernacular profe. On the contrary, very foon after the appearance of the Toxophilus, we find harmony and beauty in English style emphatically praised and enjoined." + Following Plato both in the form and subtlety of his work, Afcham writes it after the counsel of Aristotle. "He that wyll wryte well in any tongue, mufte folowe thys councel of Ariftotle, to speake as the common people do, to thinke as wife men do: and so shoulde euery man vnderftande hym, and the iudgement of wyse men alowe hym."+ Now, we must leave the reader to liften to the pleasant talk of the two College Fellows, Lover of Learning and Lover of Archery; as they discourse, beside the wheat fields in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, throughout the long fummer's afternoon, upon 'the Booke and the Bowe.' * p. 14. + Shakspeare and his Times. i. 439. Ed. 1817. $ p. 18. 1. 1545. TOXOPHILUS. (a) Issues in the Author's life time. London. I vol. 4to. Editio princeps. Engraved title page, fee oppofite page. The Colophon is as on p. 165. (b) Issues subsequent to the Author's death. As a feparate publication. I. 2. 1571. London. I vol. 4to. 6. 1788. Wrexham. I vol. 8vo. 9. 1864-5. London. 3 vols. [vol. I has 2 parts] 8vo. TOXOPHILUS, The Schole, or partitions of shooting contayned in ij. bookes, written by Roger Afcham, 1544. And now newlye perused. Pleafaunt for all Gentlemen and Yomen of England for theyr paftime to reade, and profitable for their vse to folovve bothe in vvarre and peace. Anno 1571. Imprinted at London in Fleteftreate neare to Saint Dunftones Churche by Thomas Marshe. Same title as No. 2. AT LONDON. Printed by ABELL IEFFES, by the consent of H. Marsh. Anno 1589. The Colophon is AT LONDON, Printed by Abell Ieffes, dwelling in Phillip Lane, at the Signe of the Bell. Anno Domini 1589. Same title as No. 2, of which it is a modernized reprint. Ed. with a Dedication and Preface, by Rev. JOHN WALTERS M. A. Master of Ruthin School, and late Fellow of Jefus College, Oxford. I vol. 8vo. TOXOPHILUS: &c., published The English Works of Roger Afcham, Pre- Same title as No. 4. A new edition. [Ed: by J. G. COCHRANE, and limited to 250 copies. Dr Giles.] No. 7 'was re-iffued fome time afterwards, with a new title and the addition of a halftitle, but without a date.' Dr Giles, Pref. to his Edition No. 9. The Whole Works of Roger Afcham, now first collected and revised, with a life of the author; by Rev. DR GILES, formerly Fellow of C. C. C. Oxford. Toxophilus' occupies ii. 1-165. [This is by far the best edition of A fcham's works.] |