SOURCE: Wilson, H. S. “Gabriel Harvey's Orations on Rhetoric.” ELH 12, no. 3 (September 1945): 167-82.

In the following essay, Wilson offers a comparative analysis of two lectures by Harvey, Rhetor and Ciceronianus, and judges them “fine examples of polished Renaissance Latinity that compare favorably with the best Latin orations published on the continent.”

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Gabriel Harvey's three Latin orations on rhetoric, published by the well-known London printer, Henry Bynneman, in 1577 under the titles of Ciceronianus and Rhetor, afford one of the most significant clues to the rhetorical ideas and practices of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Ciceronianus was published first, in June of 1577, and the two orations which compose the Rhetor¹ in November of the same year.² Actually, however, the Rhetor was delivered as a lecture at Cambridge University in the spring of 1575, probably at the Bachelors' Commencement, which took place in March; and the Ciceronianus about a year later...