the mind, only cleared by faith? But truly, now, having named him,
I fear I seem to profane that holy name, applying it to poetry,
which is, among us, thrown down to so ridiculous an estimation. But
they that, with quiet judgments, will look a little deeper into it,
shall find the end and working of it such, as, being rightly
applied, deserveth not to be scourged out of the church of God.

But {11} now let us see how the Greeks have named it, and how they
deemed of it. The Greeks named him [Greek text], which name hath,
as the most excellent, gone through other languages; it cometh of
this word [Greek text], which is TO MAKE; wherein, I know not
whether by luck or wisdom, we Englishmen have met with the Greeks in
calling him "a maker," which name, how high and incomparable a title
it is, I had rather were known by marking the scope of other
sciences, than by any partial allegation. There is no art delivered
unto mankind that hath not the works of nature for his principal
object, without which they could not consist, and on which they so
depend as they become actors and players, as it were, of what nature
will have set forth. {12} So doth the astronomer look upon the
stars, and by that he seeth set down what order nature hath taken
therein. So doth the geometrician and arithmetician, in their
diverse sorts of quantities. So doth the musician, in times, tell
you which by nature agree, which not. The natural philosopher
thereon hath his name; and the moral philosopher standeth upon the
natural virtues, vices, or passions of man; and follow nature, saith
he, therein, and thou shalt not err. The lawyer saith what men have
determined. The historian, what men have done. The grammarian
speaketh only of the rules of speech; and the rhetorician and
logician, considering what in nature will soonest prove and
persuade, thereon give artificial rules, which still are compassed