ardian_, throws light on a question which is not only
of great interest in itself, but which has been brought into prominence
through the controversies excited by Macaulay's famous picture of the
clergy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Last comes what is by
general consent acknowledged to be one of the most valuable contributions
ever made to the literature of proverbs, Franklin's summary of the maxims
in _Poor Richard's Almanack_.

Our first excerpt is the preface to a work which is entitled to the
distinction of being the first systematic contribution to literary
criticism written in the English language. It appeared in 1553, and was
entitled _The Art of Rhetorique, for the use of all suche as are studious
of eloquence, sette foorthe in Englishe by Thomas Wilson_, and it was
dedicated to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. Thomas Wilson--erroneously
designated Sir Thomas Wilson, presumably because he has been confounded
with a knight of that name--was born about 1525, educated at Eton and
subsequently at King's College, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. in
1549. In life he played many parts, as tutor to distinguished pupils,
notably Henry and Charles Brandon, afterwards Dukes of Suffolk, as
diplomatist and ambassador to various countries, as a Secretary of State
and a Privy Councillor, as one of the Masters of Requests, and as Master
of St. Catherine's Hospital at the Tower, at which place and in which
capacity he terminated a very full and busy life on June 16th, 1581. The
pupil of Sir John Cheke and of Sir Thomas Smith, and the intimate friend
of Roger Ascham, Wilson was one of the most accomplished scholars in
England, being especially distinguished by his knowledge of Greek. He is
the author of a translation, of a singularly vigorous translation, of the
_Olynthiacs_ and _Philippics_ of Demosthenes, published in 1570. His most
popular work, judging at least from the quickly succeeding editions,
appears to have been his first, _The Rule of Reason, conteinynge the Art
of Logique set forth in Englishe_, published by Grafton in 1551, and
dedicated to Edward VI. _The Art of Rhetorique_ is said to have been
published at the same time, but the earliest known copy is dated January
1553. The interest of this Art of Rhetoric is threefold. It is the work
of a writer intelligently familiar with the Greek and Roman classics, and
it thus stands beside Elyot's _Governour_, which appeared two years
before, as one of the ear