thus in substantial agreement that rhetoric was honeyed speech exhibited
at its best in the works of the poets.

The best example of this view of rhetoric is furnished by Stephen Hawes in
his delectable educational allegory of the seven liberal arts which he
calls _The Pastime of Pleasure_ (1506). He begins, of course, with an
apology for

Thys lytle boke, opprest wyth rudenes
Without rethorycke or coloure crafty;
Nothinge I am experte in poetry
As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.[131]

And in another place, again addressing Lydgate, he exclaims:

O mayster Lydgate, the most dulcet sprynge
Of famous rethoryke, wyth balade ryall.[132]

The poem records the experiences of Grande Amour, who, accompanied by two
greyhounds, seeks knowledge. After visiting Grammar and Logic in their
rooms, he goes upstairs to see Dame Rhetoric. Rhetoric sits in a chamber
gaily glorified and strewn with flowers. She is very large, finely gowned
and garlanded with laurel. About her are mirrors and the fragrant fumes of
incense. Grande Amour asks her to paint his tongue with the royal flowers
of delicate odors, that he may gladden his auditors and "moralize his
literal senses." She pretends to understand him, but when he asks her what
rhetoric is,

Rethoryke, she sayde, was founde by reason
Man for to governe wel and prudently;