A Light to Grammar and All Other Arts and Sciences, Title page 1 – Dedication
A Light to GRAMMAR, AND All other ARTS and SCIENCES.
OR, THE RULE OF PRACTISE Proceeding by the Clue of Nature, and Conduct of right Reaſon, ſo opening the doore thereunto.
The firſt Part CONCERNING GRAMMAR, the preparatories thereto; Rules of Practiſe through the ſame; clearing the Method all along.
Intellectus meus eſt quicquid in me boni eſt. Scal. Exerc. 307. Sect. 6.
Printed at London by M. F. for Iohn Bantlet, at the ſigne of the gilt Cup, neere S. Auſtins gate in Pauls Churchyard. 1641.
TO THE HIGH AND mighty Prince CHARLES.
SIR,
YOur Highneſſe cannot want Preſents, nor Preſidents, nor Precepts; theſe all waite upon you at every hand, and the choyceſt of theſe: You muſt have the creame, the extract, the quinteſſence of all thoſe Simples. Moſt fit you ſhould; For in the perfecting your Copy, every hand is taught: and in the advancing your good, the whole land is promoted. God bleſſe every hand, and inſpire every mouth, that is ingaged upon this worke, for great is the worke. Proſper the ſame good Lord, ſhine upon thoſe endeavours, which would make you excellently good, as you are great. Amen.
I am in ſome feare, that it will ſeeme boldneſſe to add to ſuch a full heape; and yet my feare will be over, if your Highneſſe ſhall daigne to read unto the bottome. There may come a mite to your treaſury, and take up no roomth there: And ever, the more Candles in a roome, the more light: and the wider is the gate, the more eaſie is the entrance. I took notice of a light (cleare enough as ſuch materials could make it) ſet up before your Princely eye, aA Light to Lilly, dedicated to your Highneſſe, Anno 1637.thereafter to ſteere your courſe; A dim light before the luſter of your Star.
I ſaw alſo a Port opened before you: bPorta Ling: given to your Princely hand by Ancho…an. 1633.(the Author of the Dedication (he was Author of no more) had heard more thereof, had hee not ſome ſhort time after taken Sanctuary at the grave) This and that I have ſeen; And I aſſure your Highneſſe upon as good ſecurity, as the concluſion of experience, teſtimony of the graveſt Authors, judgment truly made, can give you; That here is a light not to Lillie onelyonly, but to all the Grammars neceſſary in the world: And a gate opened here (that is the proper word) whereat all Arts and Sciences muſt enter, elſe they enter like a Thiefe by the wrong way, and will quickly out at the Back-doore; And it were a great impeachment of judgement ſo to enter, for it were as if I ſhould climbe up a Caſtle by the outſide, when I can ſtand on the ground, and find no leſſe then five faire gates for entrance, and being entred, goodly ſtayres to aſcend thereby. With your Princely leave I take two things granted. 1. That at theſe low points, your Highneſſe hath an unerring guide, who hath given you good conduct by this very light, and through theſe very gates; And yet he will not deſpiſe, what a very low perſon holds out unto him, for the clearing of the way, wherein (no diſhonour to him, nor honour to my ſelfe) he may not be ſo knowing, and experimentall as I am: For, as a poore Muſitian once ſaid to a great King, God forbid Sir, that your fortune ſhould bee ſo bad, as to know theſe things better then I.
2. Becauſe one ſaith (as hee did Aene…s Silv.wiſh) Princes doe prize learning like Pearles; which Noblemen eſteeme but like Gold; popular men, like ſilver; and more inferiour perſons yet but like lead: I ſuppoſe alſo, that your Highneſſe is well forward in your way, which muſt be compendious, (to Princes) a very ſhort cut. Then I preſume your leading ſenſe was the beſt light to Grammar (a good Non debet qu ſquā ubi maxima rerū mom…nta verſantur, de verbis eſſe ſolicitus &c. Quint. 8. 3.helpe to other learning, but in compariſon a toy) where you ſtayed not neither, but haſted to Authors moſt ſenſuall, materiall, practicall, the moſt compendious and neareſt cut to language, (ſetting uſe aſide) in the world.
And yet what if your Highneſſe ſpeake with tongues? you are ſhewen a more excellent way. Things doe foreign Cl. Alex. I. 1. p. 215.moſt accompliſh, for they are as the fleſh and ſinews; Words as they may expreſſe things, for they are but as the garment of the body. To all, your Highneſſe findeth an eaſie ſlide, and paſſe to a quick underſtanding of them, by thoſe lights, or great Intelligencers you alwaies carry about with you.
From thoſe lights I have kindled mine which ſhines dim; nay, being ſo low, it is not poſsible it ſhould ſhine at all: yet certaine it is, your Highneſſe hath not a truer light to goe by, though greater, and brighter you may have. They are the gates, (that is the other Metaphor) opened before you; I preſume you have no other way to enter, for through them, all the world of diſciplines muſt come in. And now that your Highneſſe is entred with the Clue of Nature in your Princely hand, it muſt needs be that in ſhort time, many will preſſe to follow after the ſame way; nor any diſhonour this, that in the beſt way you ſhould have the moſt company.
This is my ambition: and it is ſo, that our lower ranks may not run out good part of their ſpan, and then graſpe but a ſhadow in the end. This is all I ſeeke after: for if your Highneſſe ſhould pleaſe to give me admittance, to ſtoop at your foote, & to kiſſe your princely hand, I ſhould do it, haply, ſomewhat rudely, having never had ſo much honour here; (beyond the Sea I had, where were ſome Branches from the ſame royall Stock) but yet certainly with all the Reverence that could be: And when that were done, I ſhould home againe as faſt as I came forth, and with as good a will, having as little minde to ſtay at Court, as worth to commend me thither. I can pray for your Highneſſe at home: by Gods grace ſo I will: God make your name precious, and your throne great in His appointed time. Amen and Amen.
Your Highneſſe moſt humbly devoted Woodward.