ABSTRACT
From the Letter from Francis Beaumont to Thomas Speght prefatory to Speght's edition of Chaucer (1598), sig. Aiiiv : But yet so pure were Chaucers wordes in his owne daies, as Lidgat: that learned man calleth him The Loadstarre of the English languagee and so good they are in our daies, as Maister Spencer, following the counsaile of Tullie in de Oratore, for reuiuing of antient wordes, hath adorned his owne stile with that beauty and grauitie, which Tully speakes of: and his much frequenting of Chaucers antient speeches causeth many to allow farre better of him, than otherWise they would.
