e that would say king _Philip_ shrewdly harmed the towne of
_S. Quinaines_, when in deede he wanne it and put it to the sacke, and
that king _Henry_ the eight made spoiles in _Turwin_, when as in deede he
did more than spoile it, for he caused it to be defaced and razed flat to
the earth, and made in inhabitable. Therefore the historiographer that
should by such wordes report of these two kings gestes in that behalfe,
should greatly blemish the honour of their doings and almost speake
untruly and iniuriously by way of abbasement, as another of our bad rymers
that very indecently said.
_A misers mynde thou hast, thou hast a Princes pelfe._

A lewd terme to be giuen to a Princes treasure (_pelfe_) and was a little
more manerly spoken by _Seriant Bendlowes_, when in a progresse time
comming to salute the Queene in Huntingtonshire he said to her Cochman,
stay thy cart good fellow, stay thy cart, that I may speake to the Queene,
whereat her Maiestie laughed as she had bene tickled, and all the rest of
the company although very graciously (as her manner is) she gaue him great
thanks and her hand to kisse. These and such other base wordes do greatly
disgrace the thing & the speaker or writer: the Greekes call it
[_Tapinosis_] we the [_abbaser._]

[Sidenote: Bomphiologia, or Pompious speech.]
Others there be that fall into the contrary vice by vsing such bombasted
wordes, as seeme altogether farced full of winde, being a great deale to
high and loftie for the matter, whereof ye may finde too many in all
popular rymers.

[Sidenote: _Amphibologia_, or the Ambiguous.]
Then haue ye one other vicious speach with which we will finish this
Chapter, and is when we speake or write doubtfully and that the sence may
be taken two wayes, such ambiguous termes they call _Amphibologia_, we
call it the _ambiguous_, or figure of sence incertaine, as if one should
say _Thomas Tayler_ saw _William Tyler_ dronke, it is indifferent to
thinke either th'one or th'other dronke. Thus said a gentleman in our
vulgar pretily notwithstanding because he did it not ignoratnly, but for
the nonce.
_I sat by my Lady soundly sleeping,
My mistresse lay by me bitterly weeping._

No man can tell by this, whether the mistresse or the man, slept or wept:
these doubtfull speaches were vsed much in the old times by their false
Prophets as appeareth by the Oracles of _Delphos_ and and of the _Sybille_
prophecies deuised by the religious persons of those d