ABSTRACT
Thomas Wilson was the son of prosperous Lincolnshire farming folk who were in a place to send him to Eton and then to King's College, Cambridge. Wilson's earliest work completed in Latin while acting as a tutor in Cambridge, but he followed this with the first English handbook on logic, and two years later he produced his Arte of Rhetorique, the first complete work on rhetoric in the English language. After suffering persecution during the reign of Queen Mary, he studied in Italy, gained legal qualifications and returned to England with Queen Elizabeth. His Arte of Rhetorique reprinted in 1560. Rhetoric is that art which instructs on how to make effective legal and political speeches, and, by extension, how to express one's view effectively in any circumstances. Instruction in rhetoric considered a necessary skill for public life. Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique, which adapted traditional Latin treatment of rhetoric interests of his own time, proved popular, and went through eight editions.
