24 THE ARTE OR CRAFTE OF RHETHORYKE
so in most of his predecessors we frequently find appeal made not only to direct classical authority, but occasionally also to mediaeval authority, and to that of the fathers of the Church, especially the Greek fathers, as Origen, Basil, and Chrysostom.
Most interesting for the history of English Rhetoric, however, is
the first Rhetoric printed in England, which was also " the first book
First Rhetoric printed at St. Albans," the Latin treatise of Traver-
Printed sanus entitled [incipit] Fratris laurencii guilelmi de in England, saona .... prohemium in novam rhetoricam. The colophon is : Compilatum autem fuit hoc opus in alma uni- versitate Cantabrigiae. Anno domini 1478 .... sub protectione .... Regis Anglorum Eduardi quarti. Impressum fuit hoc pre- sens opus Rhetoricae facultatis apud villam sancti Albani. Anno domini M.CCCC.LXXX. The work follows in general the divi- sions of the ancient rhetorics (especially Cicero. Cf. D ii recto.),
Disposition, and their parts and loci ; then at length of Elocutio, and of Tropes and Figures.
(e) De primis apud rhetoretn exercitationibus prceceptiones P. Mosellani in stu- diorum usum comparatae. Cologne 1523. A book of rhetorical exercises in each kind, with models, for the use of schools. De Fabula (model : the Fable of the Grasshopper and the Ant), De Narratione (An example from Aulus Gellius), De Refutatione, De Confirmation^, De Laudatione, De Vituperatione, De Locis Com- munibus, etc. The plan is similar to that of Rainolde's Foundation of Rhetoric (see infra p. 33).
(/) See also the Rhetorics of Melanchthon, discussed infra, pp. 29-31.
Rhetorics of the second class, dealing chiefly with matters of style and diction (" Elocutio ") were :
(g") [Incipit] " Summa Rhetoricae condita per egregium P. de la Hazardiere nacionis normanise " (Paris circa 1475). "Rhetorica est ars arcium ceterarum expositiva. Cujus officium est apposite dicere ad suadendum." Cites Cicero, Quintilian, and Aristotle. Treats only of Elocutio and its three parts,*elegantia, compositio, and dignitas.
(A) Joannes Balbus, Catholicon. Venetiis 1506. A monkish compendium widely used. The Grammar, part IV, treats of figures and tropes.
(i) Earzizius, De Eloquentia. Colophon : Explicit opusculum domini Gas- parini [Barzizii] Pergamensis de Eloquentia congrue dictum. Circa 1498.
(j ) Le grant et vray artdepleine Rhetorique, compose par maistre Pierre Fabri. Rouen 1521. Book I, a Rhetoric of Prose for those who wish to learn how to com- pose " Descriptions .... Oraisons, Lettres .... Sermons, Recitz," etc. Book II, of Poetics. Compare with Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, 1589.
(k) De Elocutionis Imitatione. Autore Jacobo Omphalio. Paris 1537. The rhetoric of style. With exercises.
(/) Andomari Talaoei Rhetorica. Paris 1552 (fifth ed.) Widely used.
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