_Ite, Britannorum lux O radiosa, Britannum_ _Carmina nostra pium vestrum celebrate Catullum!_ _Dicite, Skeltonis vester Adonis erat;_ _Dicite, Skeltonis vester Homerus erat._ _Barbara cum Latio pariter jam currite versu;_ _Et licet est verbo pars maxima texta Britanno,_ _Non magis incompta nostra Thalia patet,_ _Est magis inculta nec mea Calliope._ _Nec vos pœniteat livoris tela subire,_ _Nec vos pœniteat rabiem tolerare caninam,_ 1530 _Nam Maro dissimiles non tulit ille minas,_ _Immunis nec enim Musa Nasonis erat._ _Lenuoy._ Go, litill quaire, Demene you faire; Take no dispare, Though I you wrate After this rate In Englysshe letter; So moche the better Welcome shall ye 1540 To sum men be: For Latin warkis Be good for clerkis; Yet now and then Sum Latin men May happely loke Vpon your boke, And so procede In you to rede, That so indede 1550 Your fame may sprede In length and brede. But then[1864] I drede Ye[1865] shall haue nede You for to spede To harnnes bryght, By force of myght, Ageyne[1866] enuy And obloquy: And wote ye why? 1560 Not[1867] for to fyght Ageyne dispyght, Nor to derayne Batayle agayne Scornfull disdayne, Nor for to chyde, Nor for to hyde You cowardly; But curteisly That I haue pende 1570 For to deffend, Vnder the banner Of all good manner, Vnder proteccyon Of sad correccyon, With toleracyon And supportacyon Of reformacyon, If they[1868] can spy Circumspectly 1580 Any worde defacid That myght be rasid, Els ye shall pray Them that ye may Contynew still With there good wyll. _Ad serenissimam Majestatem Regiam,[1869] pariter cum Domino Cardinali, Legato a latere honorificatissimo, &c._ _Lautre Enuoy._ _Perge, liber, celebrem pronus regem venerare_ _Henricum octavum, resonans sua præmia laudis._ _Cardineum dominum pariter venerando salutes,_ _Legatum a latere, et fiat memor ipse precare_ 1590 _Prebendæ, quam promisit mihi credere quondam,_ _Meque suum referas pignus sperare salutis_ _Inter spemque metum._ Twene hope and drede My lyfe I lede, But of my spede Small sekernes; Howe be it I rede Both worde and dede Should be agrede 1600 In noblenes: Or els, &c.