Lily's Grammar

INTRODUCTION

Ilaria Pernici

The book we commonly call “Lily’s Grammar”, written in the first decades of the sixteenth century and published between 1540 and 1542, is one of the most representative grammar books of the early Renaissance, and one of the most enduring outcomes of a cultural season characterized, among many other things, by a remarkable importance given to the concepts of language and literature. To learn and speak Latin was a major issue to live and work in a society in which communication still heavily relied upon what was considered to be the most elegant and universal language due to religious, economic, and literary questions. But it was also a codification matter: while in near countries like Italy or France vernacular languages were already established spelling-wise, English was still unstable and less prestigious, and its codification was felt more and more necessary for the stability of the reign. King Henry VIII, who ruled from 1509 to 1547, understood that language was a priority to contribute to the advancement and formation of a growing country, and he realised that the development of vernacular English had to start from Latin – and from schools. Young pupils attending Grammar Schools and Universities were taught Latin, both in Latin and in English, in order to receive the most adequate preparation through the study of grammar, literature, poetry, and the Seven Liberal Arts at the most advanced stages of learning. The text we call “Lily’s grammar” perfectly shows this cultural and scholastic season, highly attentive to the education of the future core of an ever-growing society. The great importance of this text lies especially in its being the first and only textbook of a Latin grammar, written both in English and in Latin, authorized with a royal proclaim by King Henry VIII himself to be printed and used in all the schools and universities of England. This decision was prompted by the acknowledgment of the importance of a grammar to be taught uniformly through a common teaching method and a common book for the pupils. “Lily’s grammar” was in fact the result of multiple layers of previous studies, here merged: classical grammar studies, as Priscian’s Institutiones Grammaticae (Vth century) or Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria (90-96 AD), the Medieval grammar tradition, as Ælfric’s works[1], or the first printed grammars from the fifteenth or first sixteenth century, as Long Parvula[2] or John Stanbridge’s Long Accidence[3], converge in this text we usually to refer to as if it was by a single author, William Lily. Actually, the textbook is the outcome of a compilation made by several hands: literary personalities such as John Colet and Desiderius Erasmus, who wrote one of the texts comprised in the Grammar, were also part of this project.

1. William Lily: Life and Works

Even if William Lily did not author on his own the Grammar bearing his name, he was undoubtedly one of the major personalities to circulate around schools and universities, and one of the most influential ones if the King chose to use, among all the grammars which were available at that moment, the one written also by Lily.

We do not have a great amount of information about his life, especially concerning his early years. We know nothing about his parents, and we can only assume that he was born in 1468. What we know for certain is that he studied at Magdalene College in Oxford, and that he travelled across Europe, especially to Rhodes, where he learned Greek, and to Rome, where he met inspiring scholars such as Thomas Linacre, Joannes Sulpitius Verulanus, or Julius Pomponius Laetus. In the first years of the sixteenth century, Lily befriended Thomas More, not without some literary competition as it is shown by Progymnasmata Thomae Mori et Guilielmi Lilii sodalium, a work published in 1518 in Basel containing the same Greek epigrams translated into Latin by both authors, and More’s Utopia. In these same years he also got closer to Desiderius Erasmus who in 1513 revised, under John Colet’s request,  Lily’s Libellus de constructione octo partium orationis, a short grammar book on Latin syntax written in Latin, and wrote a preface to another revised edition in 1515, whereto he added a letter expressing his esteem for Lily. Among other works by Lily we can find Antibossicon, some Latin verse letters, and Carmen de moribus – an eighty-six line pedagogical treatise in elegiac verse addressed to the pupils of St Paul’s School in London, where he had been appointed first high master by Colet in 1510 – which would become part of “Lily’s Grammar” and thus will be used in the schools all over England. One of his most renowned works was the Rudimenta grammatices, written around 1510 and printed since 1529 with the title Rudimenta grammatices et Docendi methodus in a volume containing Colet’s Aeditio and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s Methodus, a timetable written in 1528 for the school of Ipswich to give instructions both to the students and the teachers of the reign. The fact that these texts were printed in multiple copies and used in the schools of the whole country (around 10000 copies printed in one year as opposed to the average 1250 of a common book) shows both the popularity of the authors involved and a growing grammar book trade, while making clear the increasingly perceived need for a common, uniform education – and a common, uniform language. Above all, this widespread distribution vindicates King Henry’s decision to appoint “Lily’s Grammar” as the sole official text for pupils, a text which became the basis of learning for the pupils of different social classes, and the starting point for the writing of William Bullokar’s Pamphlet for Grammar in 1586, considered to be the first English grammar written in English.

2. “Lily’s Grammar”

In the first decades since its publication, the text was not commonly referred to as “Lily’s Grammar” as it is today, although it became to be consistently called with reference to William Lily’s name since the end of the sixteenth century. Several scholars had been entrusted with compiling the grammar both by writing new pieces or by putting different books or parts of books together, some of them being already published, or appeared into different shapes. Among the most likely names for compilers involved, we find that of Richard Cox (c. 1500-1581), headmaster of Eton College and Prince Edward’s instructor, or David Talley (c.1506-1558), scholar, physician, and Master of Arts at the University of Oxford. Certainly, the book was assembled by a team of grammarians, as can be read in the royal proclaim contained in the English section:

And to the intent that hereafter they may the more readily and easily attain the rudiments of the Latin tongue without the great hindrance, which heretofore hath been through the diversity of grammars and teachings, we will and command, and straightly charge all you schoolmasters and teachers of grammar within this our realm, and other our dominions, as ye intend to avoid our displeasure and have our favour to teach and learn your scholars this English introduction here ensuing, and the Latin grammar annexed to the same and none other.[4]

In any case, it was William Lily’s name to be destined to leave a mark in literary and grammar history.

The first extant text of “Lily’s Grammar” which is considered to be complete is the one preserved in the British Library and stored with the shelf-mark C.21.b.4. It is made of three independent books printed in quarto, each one numbered separately, beginning with a different title page, and printed on vellum by the Royal Printer Thomas Berthelet: the only printer who had been authorized to publish and sell the book in the whole reign until 1547. It is very likely that this 1542 copy was a particularly important one, destined to be presented to King Henry VIII and Prince Edward, as the chapters begin with a decorated initial.

2.1. First Book: Alphabet and Prayers

The first book is entitled Alphabetum Latino Anglicum, printed in 1543, consisting of four leaves containing different Christian prayers – among which the Ave Maria, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments – and the alphabet opening the book, which is particularly relevant as it shows the different typographic characters in italics, Roman, and gothic, both lowercase and uppercase, and especially it shows some special characters and scribal abbreviations, such as “ũ” for “um”, or “ꝙ” for “quod”. The aim of this book is to introduce pupils to the English and Latin alphabets and to the most common prayers, which they probably already knew in oral form, in order to prepare them to be able to take the first steps into learning; at the same time, the book also aims to contribute to the codification of the two languages both in written and oral forms. It is not easy to know how the lessons took place exactly, but we can confidently say that this and the other books were intended as a basis for explanations and exercises: transcripts, translations, memorisations, and so on, modeled on the pupils’ needs and grades of understanding.

2.3. Second Book: The English Part

The second book, printed in 1542, is entitled An Introduction of the Eight Parts of Speech, and the Construction of the Same, Compiled and Set Forth by the Commandment of our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord the King, often referred to as “English Accidence”, “English Rudiments”, or “The English Lily”. It consists of thirty-six leaves divided into eight different texts: the first one, occupying one page, contains the royal proclamation by King Henry VIII. The second text is another official document, addressed “To the Reader” and printed in three pages, containing a deeper explanation of reasons and purposes lying behind this grammar, which is defined as “brief, plain, and uniform”, designed specifically for pupils learning Latin and English. This is followed by the statement of the King’s will, a list of the pupils’ effective needs, and some considerations on the  intent to pass down the book and its content to the future students of England. It also clarifies that the whole book has been put together for schoolmasters as well as for students, so that they could apply themselves “to trade and bring up [their] scholars in good manners, in knowledge of tongues and sciences”, to instruct the “tender babes of England” with a uniform, standard, and authorized text, whose foundations lie –  as one can gather from the first book as well – in language, literature, and religion. The third text, contained in one page, is Ad Pubem Anglicam Hexasticon, a six-line poem addressed “to the boys of England” where its author glorifies the King for having offered “dulcia nectareae pocula grammaticae” (“the sweet cups of nectarean grammar”) to the pupils, who will improve their studies if they drink from these sweet containers of knowledge. Below the text, there is a woodcut showing two little putti holding a crowned coat of arms, protected by two columns and a garland. Under the illustration, we read the Latin inscription “Arma Regis Angliae et F.”, meaning “the arms of the King of England and France”; under the woodcut, the standard phrase “GOD SAVE THE KING” confirming the royal authority and prestige of the text.

An Introduction of the Eight Parts of Speech follows. It is the most important part of the book containing the proper grammar instructions: the eight parts of speech – noun, pronoun, verb, participle, adverb, conjunction, preposition, interjection – are thoroughly discussed. Both explanations and examples are provided for each part, especially for nouns and verbs, in order to give pupils the most complete and fundamental instructions, apt for beginners attending the Grammar School. Before the last part of the grammar, which contains a set of rules on concord and furnished with the usual explanations and examples and titled The Concords of Latin Speech, we can find a collection of English sentences and their translation in Latin. These forty sentences are collected under the title Godly Lessons for Children, and serve the main purpose of offering exercises to practice translation from one language to the other while enhancing bilingualism; at the same time, they shed light on the pedagogical principles and strategies chosen by the compilers and on the attention given to religious matters, as the title suggests. These sentences are in fact a collection of proverbs or popular advice, like “do reverence to age” (“coram cano capite assurge”), or phrases with an important biblical resonance, like “Christ is the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” (“Christus est agnus dei, qui tollit peccata mundi”). This part proves to be particularly important since it supports both the pupils in the first steps of the learning process, helping absorption of words, meanings, constructs, concepts, and the teachers, who can dispose of such collection for their explanations and oral tests. This text made up of sentences, and the proper grammar parts, seem to be a new compilation, or at least a collection reshaping  previous models, while the next and last two texts of this second book already circulated before being included into “Lily’s Grammar”, and printed before this 1542 authorised version.

The first book is titled Guilielmi Lilii ad suos discipulos monita, paedagigica, seu carmen de moribus, usually known as Carmen de moribus, as already mentioned, addressed to the children of St Paul, and of the reign in general. Written by Lily, here we can find the duties of the children, both specifically concerning Latin and learning, and concerning the behaviour they were expected to have in order to attend the school in general. The second and last book is Christiani Hominis Institutum, written by Desiderius Erasmus in 1514, containing Christian prayers and religious principles: pupils will have acquired them while learning the language.

2.4. Third Book: The Latin Part

The third book is entitled Institutio compendiaria totius grammaticae, quam et eruditissimus atque idem illustrissimus Rex noster hoc nomine evulgari iussit, ut non alia quam haec una per totam Angliam pueris praelegeretur. It was printed in London by Thomas Berthelet in 1540, even though in the first complete edition the date has been corrected to 1542 by pen both in the titlepage and in the colophon, probably to align the content with the English part. This book is in fact generally referred to as “Latin Accidence”, “Brevissima institutio”, “The Latin Lily”, or “The Latin Part”, as the grammar is entirely explained in Latin, while some Greek sentences appear here and there to enrich the text. The first and most important difference with the English part is that this one is addressed to the most advanced stages of learning. Another characteristic that can be immediately noticed is that the Latin has been written with the scribal abbreviations typical of the manuscript and medieval tradition which could be found in the first book: “q̱̃” for “quam”, “q;” for “que”, “^Ꝯ” for “us”, “ę” for “ae”, just to give some examples.

The book opens with a royal proclamation, mirroring the English part, but now written in Latin. Addressed to the “Totius angliae ludimagistris ac grammaticae praeceptoribus” (“schoolmasters and grammar teachers of all England”), it opens with a defence of grammar from the “slenderers” (“Grammaticae calumniatores”), probably in reference to the so called ‘grammarians’ war’, an ideological battle fought to defend different ways of thinking and teaching Latin. It immediately moves on to quoting in full an epigram called In grammaticum, written between the fourth and fifth century CE in a pagan literary environment gravitating towards Symmachus and Ausonius. The proclamation goes on alluding to Quintilian, the first classical author to be mentioned, thus showing from the very beginning of the book the importance of literature connected to the language. Then, it exalts the King’s intellectual openness, kindness and generosity towards the young students of his reign, helped in their duties by his benevolence and by this authorised book. What follows is Ad Lectorem, a letter to the reader, subtitled “Εγϰὼμιον τοῦ βασιλέοσ”, a praise to the King, where the author starts with a quote from Plato’s Republic, and goes on by praising both the King and Christ. This part of the book is particularly important, as it perfectly illustrates the historical, religious and political moment at which the book was printed and distributed all over the reign, to instruct young subjects both on Latin and on kingdom matters. Before entering the proper Latin part, we find a section entitled Errata insigniora (“The most glaring mistakes”), a list of mistakes indicated with folio, page, line, and the caption “lege vel dele” (“read or delete”), to help the reader understand the meaning with the corrected statement. The proper grammar text is entitled De Grammatica et eius partibus, and it comprises the following sections: De orthographia, De etymologia, Syntaxis, De constructione octo partium, De prosodia. All these parts are richly furnished with Latin examples, both single words, sentences, and whole passages to be memorized by the students, as well as with sections on verbs and conjugations. These texts seem to be quite difficult to learn, but the rhymes were pedagogically useful and specifically pondered to help the students assimilate and remember the desinences both of nouns and of verbs. The principal didactic strategy to learn single words seems to be instead a visual one, that is, the schematisation in more or less complex tables, surely used by teachers to build their explanations and exercises. The great part of the very copious sentences used to provide examples for the different parts of grammar seem to come instead from classical literature: Terence (Heautontimorumenos; Andria; Eunuchus; Phormio; Adelphoe; Hecyra), Ovid (Ars amatoriae; Metamorphoses; Tristia; Heroides; Fasti; Epistulae ex Ponto), Juvenal (Saturae), Horace (Ars poetica; Sermones; Epistulae), Vergil (Aeneid; Eclogues; Georgicon), Ennius (Annals), Nevius (Bellum poenicum), Cicero (Familiares; Pro Sestio oratio; Ad Atticum; Ad Brutum; Ad Quintum fratrem; De natura deorum; De re publica; De officiis; De oratore), Sallust (Bellum Iughurtinum; Bellum Catilinae), Lucan (De bello civili), Persius (Saturae), Propertius (Elegiae), Martial (Epigrammaton), Pliny (Epistolae), Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia), Seneca (Naturales quaestiones), Seneca the younger (De naturales quaestiones; Agamennon), Plautus (Mercator; Truculentus; Menaechmi; Cistellaria), just to quote the most important sources.

Thanks to this pedagogical strategy, students were able to learn grammar and, at the same time, get acquainted with the great names of classical literature, which in some cases provided a starting point for the literary profession of some talented students, including William Shakespeare.

 “Lily’s Grammar” has been in use for centuries: it was confirmed as the only official grammar text of the reign by Queen Elizabeth I and printed in huge numbers until the nineteenth century: a compelling book essential to understand the employment of Latin and the evolution of both English grammar and language.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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[1] Ælfric of Eynsham was also known with different names like Ælfric the Grammarian or Alfricus Grammaticus given the importance of grammar works he wrote, among them the Glossary, the Colloquy, and especially the Grammar: translating the Latin grammar into English he produced what is considered the first vernacular Latin grammar during the Middle Ages.

[2] Long Parvula. Enprynted at London : In Fletestrete at the sygne of the sonne by Wynkyn de Worde, prynter vnto my lady the kynges graundame, Anno d[omi]ni M.CCCCC.ix., printed in 1509, is sometimes attributed to John Stanbridge, it is a 2-leaf fragment of a Latin grammar written in English. It contains some grammatical rules illustrated by English and Latin sentences.

[3] Long Accidence, or Accedence, or The longe accydence newly correcte. Prynted at westmynstre: In Caxtons hous by wynkyn de worde, [1499], is a grammar, now in fragments, attributed to John Stanbridge. Here the English example is provided before the Latin one.

[4] Quotes from the English part of “Lily’s Grammar” are in the modernized spelling; for the quotes from the Latin part the English translation has been used. Page numbers are only indicated if present in the copy-text.

This edition of “Lily’s Grammar” is divided into three different versions of the text: the semi-diplomatic edition, the modernized text, and the translation of the Latin parts. For the semi-diplomatic version, we used as copy-text the EEBO edition of the printed text available at the British Library and stored with the shelf-mark C.21.b.4. In the Latin part the gothic characters, used for English, are transcribed with Roman, while italics, used for Latin, is preserved. In the Latin part both the italics and the Roman are maintained.

The following parts from the copy-text are omitted: the whole first book containing the alphabet and prayers, and the two texts Carmen de moribus and the Godly Lessons for Children from the second book (the English part).

Pages are numbered following the copy-text, in braces or with the acronym {n. p.}, standing for “not paginated”.

Some pages are missing in the EEBO edition: in the English book the pages corresponding to {C. i.} (r/v), as well as pages {E} (r/v) have been transcribed using as copy-text the edition published in 1543 and digitalized by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007. In the Latin edition the pages from {H. iii.} to {K} excluded are scanned in a wrong order: to compare and correctly order the pages we used the EEBO copy of the 1546 edition, reproduced by courtesy of University of Glasgow Library. This edition has been also used to make a comparison with the 1542 copy where it was not possible to read words or entire sentences properly.

For the English part the Oxford edition of the text, edited and commented by Hedwig Gwosdek in 2013, has been used as control text. There is not to date a corresponding edition for the Latin part.

For the references to classical quotations contained in the text, especially in the Latin part, the following online databases have been used: The Latin Library (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/), Perseus Digital Library (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/), Loeb Classical Library (https://www.loebclassics.com/).