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The Rhetorical Tradition in England 700-1600 AD  (main source: Wilbur S. Howell, Logic and Rhetoric in England, 1500-1700 (1956))

Howell's historical definition of rhetoric: "The theory of communication…for guidance of writers and speakers whose audience was the populace, for instruction or persuasion" (64) differentiated from dialectical, scholarly or "scholastic" discourse with specialist audience

Traditional rhetoric in England is Ciceronian, in these ways:

·       It is based on Aristotle and other Greek philosophers and sophists, filtered through Cicero's interpretation and practice in Rome

·       It is also based on texts derived from and attributed to Cicero, as well as his genuine works (De inventione, De oratore, Ad Herennium; Quintilian's Institutio)

The system based on "teachings and practice of Cicero" needed only minor adjustments from about AD 700 to 1573

Three branches can be identified:

·       Ciceronian proper--full five "arts," but invention clearly chief

·       Stylistic--older but less comprehensive than the five arts concept

·       Formulary--forms and samples used as models and even patterns; has dictaminal roots

First Ciceronian text in England: Alcuin's Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus AD 794 (produced for Charlemagne)

Howell: "An attractive little work capturing the spirit of Cicero (i.e., De inventione) well"

Long gap in Cic. tradition (in England/or by English authors) until 1200 and Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria nova which applied Ciceronian arts to written composition (poetic verse)

First printed Cic. rhetoric in England was Lorenzo Traversagni's Nova rhetorica, published by William Caxton (most famous early English printer) in 1479; much like Vincent's medieval treatment, it closely reflects the Ad Herennium in form and content, and includes sacred examples of style like Augustine

Rhetorical tradition in England from the 16th century on becomes part of the Rise of Vernacular Literacy in English

(from 4C's paper "Renaissance Rhetoric Texts and the Rise of English Vernacular Literacy" 1996)

Interest in making teaching on discourse available to English speakers in English began in the sixteenth century and accompanied the development of print culture.  Latin texts produced in Europe were available in England, and learned people had access to them. In rhetoric, the works of Erasmus were popular in England as elsewhere, especially De copia which was written as a textbook for the newly founded St. Paul's humanist school in 1512; De conscribendis epistolis was also universally popular.  Also very much in demand were the rhetorical textbooks of Philipp Melanchthon, especially the Institutiones rhetoricae. Later in the century, the books of Ramus and Talon would find a following. Indeed the whole of the Classical rhetorical tradition was available for translation into the vernaculars of Europe.  In England, though, the works of humanist teachers, as channels for the broadly-Ciceronian classical traditions outlined above by Howell, would influence and inspire companion works in the vernacular.

But at the outset of the sixteenth century, formal rhetorical education was not yet a vernacular enterprise. Rhetoric had always been taught in Latin as a skill for Latin speaking, reading, and writing.  As a process of discourse, it has obvious uses in any language.  "Cross-over" literacy from Latin to the vernacular was always unavoidable, but until the advent of print, no economically significant audience for vernacular rhetoric books existed.  By the early 1500's, however, several factors converged to stimulate production of English rhetoric texts: 

·       wider literacy, which meant an increasing group of persons who would buy and read English books;

·       the growth of the book publishing industry, which voraciously sought printable and salable materials;

·       the strengthening of trades and activities requiring communication skills in this period of relative peace and stability;

·       the expansion of education, which meant more young persons would be in school trying to learn rhetoric

The first book to appear which responded to all these stimuli was The Arte or Crafte of Rethoryke, written by the schoolmaster Leonard Cox and published in 1532.  Wilbur S. Howell describes it as the "earliest English textbook on rhetoric to be published anywhere...[and] a milestone on the long road towards the vernacularization of classical learning."  (Howell 90)  Cox's text follows what Howell calls the Ciceronian tradition in English rhetoric, which involves the teaching of invention and the other four great arts as exemplified in the works of Cicero and Quintilian.  Cox's book reflects some of the traits and imperfections of early attempts at rendering the scholarly tradition into the vernacular.  He deals only partially with his subject, in this case with invention only, however, and what he does say he draws from a Latin source--the popular European textbook by Philip Melancthon, the Institutiones rhetoricae. 

Who was Cox writing for?  A mixed audience, as it would seem from his preliminary remarks.  He wants to assist "yonge studientes" in their learning of rhetoric, and since instruction and class work would have been in Latin, Cox clearly implies that there was room for vernacular parallel textbooks, or "recommended reading," as a pragmatic means of explicating concepts to be learned from more complex Latin texts.  Cox also wants to assist those of the generally learned professions who are using rhetoric in practical affairs and in the church--statesmen, lawyers, and preachers.  Finally, he aims at readers  who have gone on to learn "other scyences" before they have a solid knowledge of Latin.  These undoubtedly  represent tradesmen and other members of the middle class, especially merchants, who are increasingly important in English society through this century. Thus Cox's hoped-for readership appears to be fairly broad, and includes groups within which we would expect to find a high degree of vernacular literacy.  Exactly who bought Cox's book is impossible to tell, but it did run through a second edition in 1535 before fading from the scene.  Since, as a rule of thumb, the Stationers' Company limited their members to about 1,500 copies per press run, The Arte or Crafte of Rethoryke probably sold somewhere around  2,000 copies in all.

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Thomas Wilson (1532-1581)

The audience profile drawn from Cox's book seems to be reasonably accurate for other English rhetoric texts produced in the period, with individual books being more attractive to various subgroups of readers.  The most famous English rhetoric book of the 16th century, Thomas Wilson's The Art of Rhetoric, appeared first in 1553.  It was a great success throughout the rest of the century, running to eight editions in all, or roughly between 7,500 and 10,000 copies.  Wilson offered his readers a high quality text covering all five of the Ciceronian rhetorical arts, and including the doctrine of stasis theory.  He included many extensive examples, some of which he wrote himself, containing strong moral and religious content and undoubtedly contributing to the book's appeal.  Wilson was himself a civil lawyer, and the Art had strong and continuing appeal to his profession.  Most lawyers knew some Latin, but would have preferred a scholarly and reliable English source that offered practical instruction in a skill vital to them.  Preachers, too, would find relevant teaching and examples in the language they usually worked in, and many would have been attracted to Wilson as a Reformation-warrior, tortured for his protestant beliefs by the Inquisition in Rome.

Noteworthy points of his treatment of the Five Arts: (Peter Medine, ed. Thomas Wilson: The Art of Rhetoric Penn State UP: 1994)

Invention: Wilson's first book was about logic (The Rule of  Reason, 1551), rhetoric's counterpart, so it is not surprising that Wilson is fully aware of the dual nature of the invention tradition. He says

Popular (rhetorical) expression provides fuller, more lively arguments as it benefits from the process of Amplification; on the other hand, learned discourse (logic) seeks truth the nearest way, unadorned

W. unifies invention in the application of both traditionally rhetorical and logical topics or "Places"--see 713; Medine 65, 66); practically, they amount to the same process in W's mind

W. stresses the flexibility of invention, in amplification and also arrangement:

"These places help wonderfully to set out any matter and to amplify it to the uttermost, not only in praising and dispraising but also in all other causes where any advisement is to be used. Yet this one thing is to be learned: that it shall not be necessary to use them together, even as they stand in order, but rather as time and place shall best require, they may be used in any part of the oration" (713/Medine 60/23)

In traditional sources, the principal parts of an oration are often given separate invention procedures for arguments; but W. frees up this concept and says arguments based on any of the topics can be used anywhere in the discourse (emotion may be stirred by any topic, for example, and can occur in any part of the speech, not just the conclusion). This variable method was one of W's innovations.

Another innovation--the extended treatment of amplification as a function of invention. Amp. is more than style, it contributes to discovering and providing ample material to make arguments (Melanch. taught this).  Amp. seeks to move affections through pity and even humor; these appeals to emotions are not limited to the peroration or conclusion only, but may occur wherever they are "apt" to use W's favorite word.

Broader issues: Can this unification be a response to Ramist/Agricolan separation of invention from rhetoric?  Ramus insists that the two arts must be taught separately. Wilson's awareness of or thoughts regarding Ramism are not clear, although as a lawyer he would have been possibly more traditional and practical in his approach to speaking, rather than philosophical and pedagogical, as Ramus was. 

Arrangement: He is interested mostly in how invention is distributed throughout a speech, so his consideration of "arrangement" is functional rather than formal, and he slights the formally separate category Arrangement.  He offers a division between "natural arrangement," distributing material among the parts of an oration (he identifies seven), and "discretional," the contextual calculation of what the "time, place, audience, or subject matter" may require; again, W's pragmatism comes forward and he implies throughout that discretional arrangement is most effective since it is most flexible.

Style: Less emphasized than in some treatments, but acknowledges Cicero's stress on its general importance in persuasion. W is most interested in "inventive" aspects of style rather than the schemes and tropes: plainness, decorum, and syntax; these contribute more directly to meaning than the figures of adornment.   W. has a pragmatic approach to style, looking at specific contexts for mostly negative examples of "what not to do" (the famous "inkhorn" letter).

Memory: Wilson aware of and mentions both old "place" theory (viz. Simonides' method) and newer brain faculty science; he teaches the old system but not with enthusiasm or real belief in its power.  Finally, for him practice in reading, writing, and speaking naturally exercises the memory. W. is caught between two worlds here--the old oral, which needed some memory techniques, and the newer chirographic. Writing makes memory arts obsolete' he talks of writing as part of the art (writing on the brain) but does not make the leap to the next phase of bypassing artificial memory altogether on favor of the written record.

Delivery: Nothing new here, follows Cicero on speaking, gesturing, and training children in these techniques

Users of the treatise: Wilson was himself a civil lawyer, and the Art had strong and continuing appeal to his profession.  Most lawyers knew some Latin, but would have preferred a scholarly and reliable English source that offered practical instruction in a skill vital to them.  Preachers, too, would find relevant teaching and examples in the language they usually worked in, and many would have been attracted to Wilson as a Reformation-warrior, tortured for his protestant beliefs by the Inquisition in Rome.  W's attacks on Romish practice and belief no doubt got him into all that trouble in the 1550's.

Other vernacular rhetoric texts well known to modern scholars seem to have appealed to more limited audiences.  At mid-century, Richard Sherry authored two versions of a treatise on rhetorical style--A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes in 1550 and A Treatise of the Figures of Grammer and Rhetorike in 1555.  Sherry's books furnish lists of figures with definitions and examples.  They were in fact reference books meant to be consulted by those who wanted to learn, or brush up on, the many elements or tools of style that were so highly regarded in the sixteenth century.  Direct learning of lists of figures was most usually an activity in Latin grammar schools, where pupils would have to learn the names of schemes and tropes, identify them in their reading, and reproduce them in their compositions.  Sherry was an Oxford graduate and former schoolteacher who no doubt was most familiar with this school context of rhetorical study.  The revised second edition even adds Latin examples alternating with English translations, sure to be useful to school pupils whose main activity was translating into Latin and back again into English. 

Sherry's treatise did not appear again after 1555.  However, it may have inspired a more complete treatment of stylistic devices by Henry Peacham in The Garden of Eloquence, printed in 1577.  Peacham identifies and discusses 295 different schemes and tropes, giving examples of most.  Howell cites The Garden of Eloquence bringing "to full maturity the English stylistic theory of rhetoric" (Howell 133).  Indeed, the sheer number and differentiations of possible word and sentence patterns indicate the value placed on formal structures of language by Peacham's contemporaries.  Yet, the book seems to have had limited appeal beyond the school audience.  It was published once more, in 1593, before fading from the scene.

Several other interesting rhetoric texts appeared in single editions.  The Foundacion of Rhetorike by Richard Reynolds appeared in 1563.  Howell calls this a "formulary" rhetoric because it offers models for imitation, or "formulae" for patterning discourse.  Reynolds book is essentially a translation of a European Latin version of the Progymnasmata by Aphthonius.  It offers English translations of model speeches originating in the ancient world and used ever since in rhetorical education.  These speeches clearly would have their greatest use in a school environment, and undoubtedly aided many pupils with their Latin composition assignments.  Abraham Fraunce's Arcadian Rhetorike appeared in 1588, and is notable for using many passages from Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia as examples of schemes and tropes.  It is also inspired by the Ramistic movement in education, which redefined the realm of rhetoric solely around stylistics, separating invention and argumentation under the art of dialectic.  Ramist rhetoric texts were popular in Latin versions, and perhaps because of this Reynolds' book never was reprinted.

Perhaps the types of rhetoric texts that had the most impact on vernacular literacy were the books on letter writing.  [Letter writing, or epistolography, had been elevated in the ancient world from an off-hand activity to an art possessing theoretical underpinnings and preceptive treatment.  Cicero was the most famous letter writer, although he did not produce a manual on epistolary techniques.  The first teaching on letter writing is contained in the treatise On Style by Pseudo-Demetrius, most likely dating from the first century CE.  Later texts are by Libanius (2nd to 6th cen CE) and a chapter in the Ars rhetorica of Julius Victor from the 4th century.  In the tradition these works present, letter writing is always considered as part of the larger world of rhetoric, occupying a place counterpoising formal, ornate writing just as conversation counterpoises eloquent oratory.  Letters were to be direct and straightforward in style, determined by their purpose and the writer's relationship to the recipient.  During the middle ages, the letter writing part of rhetoric became the separate ars dictaminis, with elaborate formulations of greetings and titles, and even with special and complex Latin prose rhythms developed for epistolary use. ]

In their return to things classical, the Renaissance Humanists reclaimed the Ciceronian tradition in letter writing, and even surpassed the great Tully in turning letter writing into an art-form indispensable to the Humanist vocation.  Erasmus again led in this movement, himself producing thousands of epistles and authoring two influential treatises on the art by 1522.  At about this time, vernacular letter writing manuals began to appear in Europe.  Italian and French versions were popular in England, suggesting that an even greater demand might greet an English book on the subject.  In 1568, one William Fulwood, merchant, published such a work entitled The Enemy of Idleness: Teaching the manner and style how to endite, compose, and write all sorts of epistles and letters. Fulwood's book was an accurate translation of an anonymous French work appearing two years before.  As he announces in the book's preliminaries, he was writing to aid the "unlearned sort" of reader, which means readers who did not know Latin; he also hopes to be of special use to his brother merchants. 

The theory the book introduces in the first part is drawn from the classical sources mentioned above and made ubiquitous by Erasmus and other Humanists.  Most of it, however, consists of models as illustrations of various types of letters; these are taken, as one might expect, from Cicero and Humanists such as Angelo Politano and Pico della Mirandola.  But the third part introduces a new dimension--letters middle-class people would write in the mid-sixteenth century, illustrating life's common activities and concerns.  Paired examples in letter-and-answer format reflect the personal dynamics of family and business relationships.  In one sample letter, a father upbraids his university-student son for writing only to request money, accusing him of "disdaining" his family and neglecting correspondence because his father could only send part of the promised allowance (the sister's dower having taken all available cash in the previous year).  The son gently replies with some philosophy learned in school that "Seneca sweetly writeth that the wise man is temperate and constant...without perturbation."  He then explains that there has been a famine in Paris where he is studying, and he only made urgent requests for money because he could no longer afford to buy food--he even had to pawn his clothing to his landlord for board.

To the collection of examples such as these, Fulwood added something not in his source: love letters.  These appear at the end of the book in tedious verse and, to modern ears, ridiculous terms of rhetorical lovemaking. Yet they only increased readers' interest in a book that offered realistic samples of letters they might well want to send some day.  The Enemy of Idleness was, by the standards of sixteenth-century vernacular rhetoric texts, an extremely popular book, running to ten editions by 1621, or about 10,000 copies.

Equally popular was another more original and more substantial manual on letter writing, The English Secretary by Angel Day.  First printed in 1586, it too ran to ten editions by the early 1600's—possibly as many as 8-10,000 copies.  Day's book still relies on the classical-Humanistic tradition of theory: the first ten chapters are heavily in debt to Erasmus' De conscribendi epistolis. The letter is defined as "the messenger or familiar speech of the absent," (B1r) but this familiar speech can and should be "beautified, adorned, and...transformed by art" (B1v) and "wit is chiefly to be respected" in letter composition. Following the Humanist lead, letter writing theory closely reflects general Ciceronian precepts of rhetoric, including the division into departments of invention, arrangement, and style; use of the three levels of style (the sublime, the humble, and the mediocre); and organization of a letter into the five traditional parts (the exordium, narratio, confirmatio, confutatio, and peroratio).  Day also participates in the Renaissance concern--perhaps better called obsession--with identifying figurative language as a matter of instruction in style.  The second, revised edition of Secretary adds a short declaration or compendium of the major schemes and tropes, which corresponds with the tags printed in the margins of all the example letters identifying instances of their use.  Such a practice was commonplace in the sixteenth century, especially in books used in schools for rhetorical training.

Following the ordering procedure of Renaissance letter theorists, Day divides the types of letters into demonstrative (or epideictic), deliberative, judicial, and familiar; this is the common three-part division of rhetoric made by Aristotle, with the addition of Cicero's class of familiar epistles. Day's rendering of the classical-Humanist theory also shows traces of its more immediate medieval predecessor, the ars dictaminis, in its concern with greetings, farewells, signatures, and addresses.  These secondary but practically important considerations reflect medieval and Renaissance concern with social status and protocol--with the letter as an important mediator of both formal and informal relationships.

Most of The English Secretary concerns itself with providing illustrations of the many different types of letters within the major classes.  Here, instead of relying on Latin models,  Day composes his own English letters that reflect the traditional concerns of Elizabethan middle and upper class life: the pursuit of learning, the development of virtue, proper consideration for family relationships, and proper conduct of courtship and love.  For example, one letter in the "deliberative" class is entitled "An example of a dissuasory epistle wherein one is dissuaded from fruitless vanities to more learned and profitable studies."  Another, of the subgroup "reprehensory," provides "An example. . . wherein a man of wealth sufficient is reprehended for marriage of his daughter to the riches of an old wealthy miser."  [see Misc. letters in pdf]

The final section of the deliberative class presents "epistles amatory." [see Misc. in pdf] Here, a male suitor sings praises to his love in formal, almost Euphuistic phrases.  She in turn responds cautiously but encourages his interest.  There is nothing very racy in this part, but the rhetorical stances of the eager lover and the reluctant but interested lass illustrate the kind of courting relationship, mediated by writing, that middle-class Elizabethans were comfortable with.

These and models of more general purpose provide the reader with many examples of appropriate style that could be studied for patterns and principles, or even copied wholesale.  A particularly original feature of Day's book is an essay entitled "Of the Parts, Place, and Office of a Secretary" which he appended to the revised second edition.  An Elizabethan secretary was much more than the name implies today; the role involved more than merely copying out letters or taking dictation.  A secretary was kind of a public relations officer, speech writer, and confidante combined into one, and was largely responsible for his employer's reputation and general well-being.  Thus Day's main concern in his essay is not, as we might expect, the techniques of the job, but the qualities of trust, fidelity, and confidentiality--he calls it secrecy--that are absolutely requisite in an honorable secretary.  Day apparently worked in this capacity himself, although we do not know when or for whom.

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In this selective survey of sixteenth-century vernacular rhetorical texts, it’s clear that books on letter writing enjoyed the most consistent success among the broader, non-Latin-school public.  Epistolography no doubt retained classical Humanistic and, to some extent, medieval features of theory and practice; their divisions and classifications of letter types were intermeshed with traditional rhetorical precepts, and could engender a good deal of confusion in unprepared readers.   But the practical use to which sample letters could be put exceeded any problem with theory.  Fulwood's and Day's books found the kind of acceptance with readers that surpassed even the best general vernacular arts such as Wilson's or Peacham's. 

The popularity of these letter-writers also tells us something about the readers.  They were increasingly middle-class, and had typical middle-class concerns: family integrity, education, commerce.  Fulwood's dedication of his translation to the merchants of London pinpoints a group where literacy was extremely high, but where practical ends were more important than academic rhetorical considerations.  Day was a member of a new class who made their living not only from professional writing but also from publishing about writing concerns.  Thus at this time in the development of English, classical-Humanist traditions and teaching formats were still attractive as vehicles for people learning about how to use their language effectively; what was essentially born and bred in schools was offered to the general public and met with some degree of acceptance.  But books which adapted the tested precepts of rhetoric to the new literacy environment of readers had the greatest impact, and in the sixteenth century these were the manuals on how to write letters.