That it is cōmendable in a gentyllman to paint and kerue exactly, if nature ther to doth induce hym. Cap. viii.
IF the chylde be of nature inclyned (as many haue ben) to peynte with a pen, or to fourme images in stoone or tree: he shulde not be therfrom with drawen, or na∣ture Page [unnumbered] be rebuked, whiche is to hym beniuo∣lent: but puttynge one to hym, whiche is in that crafte, wherin he deliteth, most ex∣cellente, in vacant tymes from other more serious lernynge, he shulde be in the moste pure wyse enstructed in payntynge or ker∣uinge. And nowe per chance some enuious reder wyll here of take occasyon to scorne me, sayinge, that I hadde well hyed me, to make of a noble man, a mason or peynter.
And yet if eyther ambition or voluptuouse idelnes wolde haue suffered that reder to haue sene histories, he shuld haue founden excellent princis, as wel in payntyng as in keruynge, equal to noble artificers: Suche were Claudius Citus, the sonne of Uaspa∣sian, Hadriane, both Antonines, and diuers other emperours and noble princis: whose warkes of longe tyme remayned in Rome and other cities, in suche places, where al men mought beholde them: as monumen∣tes of theyr excellent wittes and vertuous occupation, in eschewynge ofydelnes.
¶ And not without a necessary cause, prin∣cis were in theyr chyldhode so instructed: for it serued them afterwarde for deuysing ofingynes for the warre: or for makynge them better, that be all redy deuysed. For as Uitruuius (whiche writeth of buyldyng to the emperour Augustus) sayth: Al tur∣mentes Page 24 of warre, whiche we call ingyns, were fyrste inuented by kynges or gouer∣nours of hostes: or if they were deuysed by other, they were by them made moche better.
¶ Also by the feate of portraiture or pain∣tynge, a capitayne maye dyscriue the coū∣trey of his aduersary, wherby he shall es∣chewe the daungerous passages with his hoste or nauie: also perceyue the placis of aduātage, the forme of embataylyng of his ennemyes, the situation of his campe, for his most suretie, the strength or weakenes of the towne or fortresse, whiche he inten∣deth to assaulte. And that, whiche is moste specially to be considered, in visitynge his owne dominions, he shall sette them out in figure, in suche wyse, that at his eie shal ap¦pere to hym, where he shal employ his stu¦dy and treasure, as well for the saufegarde of his countrey, as for the commodite and honour therof, hauynge at all times in his sight the suretie and feblenes, auauncemēt and hyndrance of the same. And what ple∣sure and also vtilitie is it to a man, which in tendeth to edifie, hym selfe to expresse the fygure of the warke that he purposeth, ac∣cordynge as he hath conceyued it in his owne fantasie, wherin by often amendinge and correcting, he fynally shall so perfecte Page [unnumbered] the warke vnto his purpose, that there shal neyther ensue any repentaunce, nor in the employment of his money he shall be by o∣ther dysceyued.
¶ More ouer the feate of portrayture shal be an allectiue to euery other study or exer¦cise. For the wit therto disposed, shal alway coueite congruent matter, wherin it maye be occupyed, And whan he happeneth to rede or here any fable or history, forthwith he apprehendeth it more desircusly, and re teyneth it better than any other, that lac∣keth the sayd fcate: by reason that he hath founde matter apte to his fantasy. Fynally euery thynge that portraiture maye com∣prehend, wyll be to hym delectable to rede or here. And where the lyuely spirite, and that which is called the grace of the thing, is perfectely expressed, that thynge more perswadeth and stereth the beholder, and soner instructeth hym, than the declarati∣on in writynge or speakyng doth the reder or hercr. Experiēce we haue ther of in ler∣nynge of geometry, astronomy, and cosmo¦grophy, called in englysshe the discription of the worlde. In whiche studies I dare af∣fyrme, a man shal more profyte in one wike by figures and cartis, well and perfectely made, than he shall by the onely redyng or herynge the rules of that scyence, by the Page 25 space of halfe a yere at the leaste. Wherfore the late writers deserue no small commen∣dation, which added to the autors of those sciences apt and propre figures.
¶ And he that is perfectely instructed in portrayture, and hapneth to rede any no∣ble and excellent historie, wherby his cou∣rage is inflamed to the imitation of vertue, he forthwith taketh his pen or pensyl, and with a graue and substanciall study, gathe∣rynge to hym al the partes of imagination, endeuoureth hym selfe to expresse lyuely, and (as I mought say) actually, in portrai∣ture, not onely the faicte or affayre, but al∣so the sondry affectiōs of euery personage in the historie recited, whiche moughte in any wyse appere or be perceyued in theyr visage, countenance, or gesture: with lyke diligence, as Lysippus made in metal king * Alexander, fightynge and struggling with a terrible lyon of incomparable magnitude and fiersenes: whom, after longe and dyf∣ficulte batayle, with wonderfull strengthe and cleane might, at the last he ouerthrewe and vainquished. Wherin he soo expressed the similitude of Alexander, and of his lor∣des standinge about hym, that they all se∣med to lyue. Among whom the prowes of Alexander appered excellynge all other, the resydue of his lordes after the value Page [unnumbered] and estimation of theyr courage, euery man set out in suche forwardnes, as they than semed more promte to the helpyng of their maister, that is to saye, one lasse aferd than an other.
¶ Phidias the Atheniense, whom all wry∣ters * do commende, made of yuory the simu lachre or image of Iupiter, honoured by the gentiles, on the hyghe hille of Dlym∣pus: whiche was done so excellently, that Pandenus, a counnynge paynter, therat admaruaylynge, required the craftis man, to shewe hym where he had the example, or paterne of so noble a warke. Than Phi∣dias answered, that he had taken it out of thre verses of Homere the poete: the sen∣tence wherof ensueth as well as my poore wytte can expresse it in englishe.
¶ Where it is to be noted, that Thetis the mother of Achilles, desired Iupiter to in∣cline his fauour to the part of the Troiās.
¶ Howe (as I haue before sayd) I intend not by these examples, to make of a prynce or noble mannes sonne a commune payn∣ter or keruer, whiche shal present hym selfe openly, stained or embrued with sondry co∣lours, Page 26 or poudered with the duste of stones that he cutteth, or perfumed with tedy∣ous sauours of the mettalles by him yoten. But veryly myne intente and meanynge is onely, that a noble chylde, by his owne na∣turall disposition, and not by coertion, may be induced, to receyue perfect instruction in these sciences.
