ranslated into
English by another hand, but his _History of Edward V._ was not a mean
contribution to English prose. Tyndale's _New Testament_ had given a new
and powerful impulse to the reading of English; Elyot's _Governor_ had set
the example of treating serious subjects in a style not unworthy of them,
and Leland's quaint _Itinerary_ the example of describing more or less
faithfully if somewhat uncouthly. Hall had followed Fabyan as an English
historian, and, above all, Latimer's _Sermons_ had shown how to transform
spoken English of the raciest kind into literature. Lord Berners's
translations of Froissart and of divers examples of late Continental
romance had provided much prose of no mean quality for light reading, and
also by their imitation of the florid and fanciful style of the
French-Flemish _rhetoriqueurs_ (with which Berners was familiar both as a
student of French and as governor of Calais) had probably contributed not a
little to supply and furnish forth the side of Elizabethan expression which
found so memorable an exponent in the author of _Euphues_.

For our purpose, however, Roger Ascham may serve as a starting-point. His
_Toxophilus_ was written and printed as early as 1545; his _Schoolmaster_
did not appear till after his death, and seems to have been chiefly written
in the very last days of his life. There is thus nearly a quarter of a
century between them, yet they are not very different in style. Ascham was
a Yorkshire man born at Kirbywiske, near Northallerton, in 1515; he went to
St. John's College at Cambridge, then a notable seat of learning, in 1530;
was elected scholar, fellow, and lecturer, became public orator the year
after the appearance of _Toxophilus_, acted as tutor to the Princess
Elizabeth, went on diplomatic business to Germany, was Latin secretary to
Queen Mary, and after her death to his old pupil, and died on the 30th
December 1568. A treatise on Cock-fighting (of which sport he was very
fond) appears to have been written by him, and was perhaps printed, but is
unluckily lost. We have also Epistles from him, and his works, both English
and Latin, have been in whole or part frequently edited. The great interest
of Ascham is expressed as happily as possible by his own words in the
dedication of _Toxophilus_ to Henry VIII. "Although," he says, "to have
written this book either in Latin or Greek ... had been more easier and fit
for my trade in study, yet ... I have written this Engl