An English Garner Author:Edward Arber Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 10 Francis Meres, M. A.. Sketch of English Literature, Painting, and Music, up to September 1598. A comparative Discourse of our English Poets [Painters... more » and Musicians] with the Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets [Painters and Musicians]. JS Greece had three poets of great antiquity, Orpheus, Linus, and Mus.eus; and Italy, other three ancient poets, Livius Andronicus, Ennius, and Plautus: so hath England three ancient poets, Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate. As Homer is reputed the Prince of Greek poets; and Petrarch of Italian poets: so Chaucer is accounted the god of English poets. As Homer was the first that adorned the Greek tongue with true quantity: so [william Langland, the author of] Piers Plowman was the first that observed the true quantity of our verse without the curiosity of rhyme. .] English Writers Of Latin Verse, n Ovid writ a Chronicle from the beginning of the world to his own time; that is, to the reign of Augustus the Emperor: so hath Harding the Chronicler (after his manner of old harsh rhyming) from Adam to his time; that is, to the reign of King Edward IV. As Sotades Maronites, the Iambic poet, gave himself wholly to write impure and lascivious things: so Skelton (I know not for what great worthiness, surnamed the Poet Laureate) applied his wit to scurrilities and ridiculous matters; such [as] among the Greeks were called Pantomimi, with us, buffoons. As Consalvo Perez, that excellent learned man, and secretary to King Philip [II.] of Spain, in translating the " Ulysses " [Odyssey] of Homer out of Greek into Spanish, hath, by good judgement, avoided the fault of rhyming, although [he hath] not fully hit perfect and true versifying : so hath Henry Howard, that true and noble Earl of Surrey, in translating the fourth book of Virgil's jEneas :...« less