A history of the English Language

Rhetorique
to stande wholie upon darke wordes, and hee that can catche 
an ynke horne terme by the taile, him they coumpt to be a fine 
Englisheman, and a good 
Rhetorician
. And the rather to set out this foly, I 
will adde suche a letter as William Sommer himselfe, could not make a 
better for that purpose. Some will thinke and sweare it too, that there was 
never any such thing written: well, I will not force any man to beleeve it, 
but I will say thus much, and abide by it too, the like have been made 
heretofore, and praised above the Moone.
A letter devised by a Lincolneshire man, for a voyde benefice, to a 
gentleman that then waited upon the Lorde Chauncellour, for the time 
being. 
The renaissance, 1500-1650 203

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Pondering, 
expending,
10
and 
revoluting
with my selfe, your 
ingent
11
affabilitie,
and 
ingenious capacity
for 
mundaine
affaires: I cannot but 
celebrate, & extol
your 
magnifical dexteritie
above all other. For how 
could you have 
adepted
12
such 
illustrate
prerogative, and 
dominicall 
superioritie,
if the fecunditie of your 
ingenie
13
had not been so
 fertile
and 
wonderfull pregnant. Now therefore being 
accersited
14
to such 
splendente
renoume and dignitie 
splendidious:
I doubt not but you will 
adjuvate
15
such poore 
adnichilate
16
orphanes, as whilome ware 
condisciples
17
with 
you, and of 
antique
familiaritie in Lincolneshire. Among whom I being a 
scholasticall panion,
18
 obtestate
19
your 
sublimitie,
to 
extoll
mine 
infirmitie. There is a Sacerdotall dignitie in my 
native
Countrey, 
contiguate
to me, where I now 
contemplate:
which your worshipfull 
benignitie could sone 
impetrate
20
for mee, if it would like you to extend 
10 
weighing mentally (L. 
expendere
) 
11 
huge (L. 
ingens
) 
12 
attained (L. 
adeptus
) 
13 
mind, intellect (L. 
ingenium
) 
14 
brought (L. 
accersitus
) 
15 
aid (L. 
adjuvare
) 
16 
reduced to nothing (L. 
ad nihil
) 
17 
fellow-students 
18 
companion 
19 
call upon (L. 
obtestari, 
to call upon as a witness) 
20 
procure (L. impetrare) 
A history of the english language 204

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your sedules, and 
collaude
21
me in them to the right honourable Lord 
Chauncellor, or rather 
Archgrammacian
of Englande. You know my 
literature, you knowe the 
pastorall
promotion. I 
obtestate
your 
clemencie,
to 
invigilate
22
thus much for me, according to my 
confidence,
and as you 
knowe my condigne merites for such a 
compendious
living. But now I 
relinquish 
to
 fatigate
your intelligence, with any more
 frivolous 
verbositie,
and therfore he that rules the climates, be evermore your 
beautreux, your fortresse, and your bulwarke. 
Amen
. 
Dated at my 
Dome
23
or rather Mansion place in Lincolnshire, the 
penulte
of the moneth Sextile. 
Anno Millimo, quillimo, trillimo.
Per me Johannes Octo.
What wiseman reading this Letter, will not take him for a very Caulf that 
made it in good earnest, and thought by his ynke pot termes to get a good 
Parsonage? 
In the letter included in the above passage the italicized words were new in Wilson’s day 
and therefore somewhat strange and obscure—dark, as he says—to the ordinary reader. 
Of the forty-five, thirty are not found before the sixteenth century, and the remaining 
fifteen are of such infrequent occurrence as to be considered by him inkhorn terms. It is 
interesting to note in passing that many of them are in common use today.