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erature, as well as some things also from Cicero and the classics. Not only does Cox add to Mclai- but he ! its and
condenses as suits IMS purpose. Thus, as already stated, he omits the whole of Hooks II and III, on Dispositio and Klocutio. Melanchthon's own direct prototypes seem to be Hermogenes or Trape/umius (the latter he refers to with approval), Cicero, and
itilim. All of these, except the last, are expressly named by Cox as trustworthy authorities.
Cox's Rhetoric doubtless served its turn with its own generation,
but any direct influence from it on later English rhetorical writers
can scarcely be traced. Cox's work helped to teach
Service of Cox's better order and method in public speaking, an aim
Rhetoric. which also inspires his next important successor, -
Thomas Wilson; but with anything beyond the struc- tural part of composition Cox is hardly concerned. The preoccu- pation with style < omes in with the next generation.
Cox's own prose has some historical value among the none too numerous monuments of English prose in the first half of the six- teenth century. His style is of purpose extremely sim- Cox's Prose pie and plain, in order to meet the understanding of Style. -young beginners;" but joined with his simplicity
there is a certain rudeness which is not the strong and eloquent rudeness of I .a timer, and a certain awkwardness of phrase and syntax which prevent our placing him as a writer of English anywhere near his great predecessor, Malory, his great con- temporaries, More, Colet, Tyndale and Coverdale, and Elyot, or his great successors, Aschani and Wilson. He writes purely didactic prose, it is true, in which there is no opportunity for >tyle ; he saves himself from excessive Latinisms ; his manner i> straightforward and to the point; but little more than this can be said for him as a writer of English. In Cox's d.. h prose is but in the mak-
ing, and with few, except one or two original spirits, does it advance to style. And ( O\ is not one of the originators. Nevertheless, in liis way, by precept if not by example, he contributed to the forma- tion of the new art, and so is to be reckoned with in the history of English prose.
The next ' and the only other important English Rhetoric of the sixteenth century after Cox was The Arte of Rhetorique* for the
1 But see note A at the end of this Introduction, p.
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