critic, "The flores of Ouide de arte amandi "with theyr englyfshe afore (i) them;" wherein he would have seen a precedent of forre (j). He, however, difputes the authority; whilft,No power in England

сс

"Can alter a decree establish'd:

" 'Twill be recorded for a precedent!

There are other words in Elizabeth's epiftle, which our pofitive critic thinks equally unprecedented. Maister was the spelling of the word Mafter, at that period, in our Maifter's vocabulary. But, in Dudley's Letter to Stonley, we have, repeatedly, feen Mafter. And he might have read in Spenfer's Three (k) Letters, which he quotes, at times; "But, "Mafter Colin Clout is not every body; and "albeit his olde companions Master Cuddey, "and Mafter Hobbinol, be as little beholding

(i) Imprynted by Wynkyn de Worde, with the types of Caxton, in 1513. This book is the more valuable, as it has an Englyfshe Alphabete.

(j) Sign. A iiii: and fee the Literary Museum of that very chafte editor Mr. Waldron, printed in 1792, forre fomme boune foothe poefye of Maifter Lydgate :

"Forre gyffe you doe me jubylye."

Had our critic perufed this fine fpecimen of genuine orthography, he had faved the trouble of much laborious reading to himself, and of fatiguing perufal to his readers.

(k) Three Proper Letters, imprinted by Bynneman, in 1580. p. 40.

3

❝ to

"to their miftreffe poetrie, as ever you "wift." Hacluyt dedicated his Divers (1) Voyages, "To the right worshipfull and moft "vertuous gentleman Mafter Phillip Sydney

Efquire." Pulton dedicated his Penal (m) Statutes, "To the right worshipfull Sir Wil"liam Cordell, Knight, Mafter of the Roules :" and Pulton treated of Mafter, and Servant. This orthography occurs very frequently in the dedications of books, during the reign of Elizabeth (2). And the fame mode of spelling Maftyr, may be traced back to the times of our Edwards, and Henrys (o). Nothing but

(7) Imprinted by Wodcocke, 1582.

the

(m) It was imprinted by C. Barker the Queen's printer, in 1578.

() Spenfer dedicated his 64th fonnet, to his esteemed friend Mafter James Huifh. See a Type, or Figure, of Friendship, printed, in 1589: and fee Fouldes's Frogs and Mice, 1603 and fee, though laft, not leaft, Afcham's Scolemaster, in 1571.

(0) See Fenn's Letters, every where. In 1460-1, To my Master Pafton, vol. iii. p. 404. In 1461, To the right worshipfull Mat my master-Ib. vol. iv. and in p. 72, the right worshipfull Maftre, my master. In 1468, John Pafton wrote to his mother: "Recommend me to my fifters both "and to the Maftyr my cofyn Dowbeny, Syr Jamys, Syr "John Style and pray him to be good maftyr to lyttle Jak ❝ and to lerne him well." [Fenn's Letters, vol. i. p. 8, 9; and fee Maftras, vol. iv. Fenn, p. 18–130—224.—In the

the film, which fcepticifm has spread over Maifter Critic's eyes, could have prevented him from seeing, every where, in his blackletter library, Mafter, Maftyr, and Maftres; as I have often feen Maifter, and Maistress, in my little collection.. Bishop Hall will furnish the best apology, for all of us, when he says; "It is no fhame, not, to know all things; "but it is a just shame to over-reach in any thing (p)."

But, our candid critic continues to talk about uniform orthography, in an age, which beard of none. He fays, "the omiffion of "the letter r in Chamberlayne is unprece"dented (q)." Whoever told him fo is not very fuccessful, in searching for precedents.

2d vol. p. 295, there is a Love-letter from John Paston to Maftreffe Annes. He repeats Maftreffe fix times: But he never calls her Meiftreffe in the ungallant orthography of our Waldrons, and Malones. I obferve from collation, that Mr. Malone does not fairly print Elizabeth's letter to Sydney [papers, 6-7-8] as it is in the book, which he quoted for the fpelling of Maistres.

(p) Works, 1634, p. 13.

(9) Inquiry 69-70: Yet, fee Lord Burghley's letter of the 22d July 1577, to Lord Shrewsbury, in Lodge's Ill. vol. ii. 159: This morning, the 23, I receaved your L. "of the 21, being here at on[e] Mr Chamb-le-s near « Caxton."-Lord Burghley frequently used the figure of fyncope, which, indeed, was often practised in that age.

He

He anfwers, cogently; " If the Queen had "chofen to omit any letter in that word, it "would have been the m." No: The fnarling letter r was the rough letter, that the "accomplished Elizabeth" would naturally omit, when she wifhed to write, in her best manner Writing an epiftle to a poet, who had gratified her paffion, fhe, who was miftress of eight languages, chofe to Italianize her phrase, according to the fashion of her court; fo, fhe wrote Chambelayne, in order to approach, as near as the idiom of her own tongue would allow, to the Italian Cambellano, and the French Chambellan (r): It was upon this principle, that he omitted the gh in highest, and gave fuch a variety of spelling to (s) fovereign, whatever he may think of the fpelling of that period of her reign.

Yet, is it more material, he fays, to advert to Londonne; thinking London, " lighter in "the (t) mouth ;" and finding "no example " of such orthography." They "who make "fearches into antiquity," fays (u) Howell,

may be faid to pass often through many

(r) See Skinner, 1671, in Vo.-Chamberlain.

(s) Inquiry, 113-14.

(t) Inquiry, 70.

(z) In the advertisement to his LONDINOPOLIS.

G 3

"dark

"dark lobbies, and dufky places, before they "come to aula lucis, the great hall of light." Our celebrated Londinopolis was, in the time, and talk of Tacitus, Londinum copia negotiatorum. Our British ancestors called it, fignificantly, (v) Llongdin, Lhong-porth, or port of fhips. Our Saxon fathers wrote it (w) Lunden-byrig, Lunden-bury, Lunden-ceafter, and Lunden-burgh (x). Our critical inquirer, nevertheless, passes over those varieties of our cuncestors, to get at London, the unmeaning corruption of modern times. But, Elizabeth, who was vain of her British ancestry, and ambitious of learning, as Mr. Malone is ftudious to tell, feized the occafion of inditing a remunerative epistle to a poet, to display her archæology, by writing Londonne, a more fonorous name than London. She found, in the Saxon Chronicle, which fhe, no doubt, read, the archetype of her fpelling, in Lundene, Lundune, and Londone (y). In the course of

his

(v) Strype's Stow, vol, i, p. 5-8; Holland's Camden, 1637. p. 421.

(w) Saxon Chron. edit. Gibson, p. 96-97.

(x) Somner, in Vo.

(y) See Gibfon's Nominum Locorum, in .Vo. Lundene. As Mr. Malone infifts, pofitively, that Elizabeth usually read the books of the privy council; I may reasonably

argue,