Our first excerpt is the preface to a work which is entitled to the distinction of being the first systematic contribution to literary criticism written in the English language.  It appeared in 1553, and was entitled The Art of Rhetorique, for the use of all suche as are studious of eloquence, sette foorthe in Englishe by Thomas Wilson, and it was dedicated to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick.  Thomas Wilson—­erroneously designated Sir Thomas Wilson, presumably because he has been confounded with a knight of that name—­was born about 1525, educated at Eton and subsequently at King’s College, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. in 1549.  In life he played many parts, as tutor to distinguished pupils, notably Henry and Charles Brandon, afterwards Dukes of Suffolk, as diplomatist and ambassador to various countries, as a Secretary of State and a Privy Councillor, as one of the Masters of Requests, and as Master of St. Catherine’s Hospital at the Tower, at which place and in which capacity he terminated a very full and busy life on June 16th, 1581.  The pupil of Sir John Cheke and of Sir Thomas Smith, and the intimate friend of Roger Ascham, Wilson was one of the most accomplished scholars in England, being especially distinguished by his knowledge of Greek.  He is the author of a translation, of a singularly vigorous translation, of the Olynthiacs and Philippics of Demosthenes, published in 1570.  His most popular work, judging at least from the quickly succeeding editions, appears to have been his first, The Rule of Reason, conteinynge the Art of Logique set forth in Englishe, published by Grafton in 1551, and dedicated to Edward VI. The Art of Rhetorique is said to have been published at the same time, but the earliest known copy is dated January 1553.  The interest of this Art of Rhetoric is threefold.  It is the work of a writer intelligently familiar with the Greek and Roman classics, and it thus stands beside Elyot’s Governour, which appeared two years before, as one of the earliest illustrations of the influence of the Renaissance on our vernacular literature.  It is one of the earliest examples, not only of the employment of the English language in the treatment of scholastic subjects, but of the vindication of the use of English in the treatment of such subjects; and, lastly, it is remarkable for its sound and weighty good sense.  His friend, Ascham, had already said:  ’He that wyll wryte well in any tongue muste folowe thys councel of Aristotle, to speake as the common people do, to think as wise men do, and so shoulde every man understande hym.  Many English writers have not done so, but usinge straunge words, as Latin, French, and Italian, do make all thinges darke and harde.’  And it is indeed by no means improbable that this work, which is written to inculcate all that Ascham upheld, may have been suggested by Ascham.  It is in three books, and draws largely on Quintilian, the first two books being substantially little more than a compilation, but a very judicious one, from the Institutes of Oratory.  But Wilson is no pedant, and has many excellent remarks on the nature of the influence which the classics should exercise on English composition.  One passage is worth transcribing—­