mented and proued the certaintie and profite, in the eaſe and readineſſe of the ſayde newe maner of teaching, to the comfort of diuers which are extant and liuing, to certifie ſuch as maye doubt therof: and ſo the ſame is moſt profitable for ſuch as can not read, and are otherwiſe out of al hope euer to be able to attain to read. Yet I wrote my ſayde Treatiſe for the learned ſort to conſider of, to proue what they woulde like or miſlike thereof: and finding that few haue thought it worth their labour to reade, and fewer, yet ſome ſuch as to their learning are of greater experience & acquaintance with ye vulgare tongues of our Southerly neighbors, haue ſounded it ſo deepely as to foreſee the commodity which may come by the renuing, and haue wiſhed the meanes were deuiſed and put in execution, for the general vſe therof: which they themſelues could not begin, except they knew others (to whome they might write) were in likewiſe perfite therein. And the other ſort finding themſelues ſerued, haue no regarde to the multitude, liuing nor for to come. It is manifeſt that no priuate man, or any one profeſſion of men, eyther of the Uniuerſities, or of the Innes of Court, or of Marchaunts, or Scriueners, are able vpon a ſodaine to chaunge a peoples manner of writing, no more than of their ſpeaking: and yet time and occaſions haue done both, and that much in England within theſe few hundreds of yeares. And if a certaintie, order, and reaſon may by experience be found to be profitable for the vnlearned ſort, it may in ſhort time preuaile generally: for the effect of writing conſiſteth not in the letter, but to ſhew what is ment by the letter. So that, as there is no thankes nor benifite to be hoped for, in the continuaunce of ſuch letters as our prediceſſors vſed: no more ſhall it offende or grieve any reaſonable creature liuing, to ſée other letters vſed, than ſuch as hée hath learned, nor is any man bounde to the ſhape of this or that letter, but that which is eaſieſt to be written, and beſt giueth the Reader the vnderſtanding of the writers meaning, and is moſt eaſieft to be taught, to the ignorant of all letters, that is to be accounted the beſt maner of writing. And therefore, when the learned ſort of all poſeſſions ſhall ſée the experience, how eaſily, andin
