About the author

Francis Meres (1565–1647), a rector in Rutland who ran the local school, authored one of the first contemporary print sources to mention Shakespeare and list recent plays.

About the text

This is the second part of Politeuphoria, Wit's Commonwealth (1597), an earlier and extremely popular collection of moral sayings gathered from classical authors, anecdotes of famous people and historical epitomes, all arranged by topical headings (attributed to John Bodenham). Meres's version formed the basis of a third augmentation, Robert Allott's Wit's Theatre of the Little World (1599), and a fourth, Wisdom's Palace (1604).

The arts of memory

Meres creates a set of commonplaces drawn from already existing epitomes. Following the precedent set by Aristotle and Cicero, it is organised by topics, such as ‘virtue’, ‘poets’, ‘studies’ and (excerpted here) ‘memory’. The quotations grant mnemonic access points to nuggets of wisdom mined from the usual source texts. These terse cues gave readers exactly what they were looking for in just such a collection. In effect, the book creates a pre-digested memory on paper for those who might not otherwise have had access to this backlog of information.

Textual notes

Francis Meres, Palladis tamia, Wits Treasvry (London, 1598), Ii6v–Ii7v.

Palladis tamia

Memory

As books are consumed with worms that are never looked upon; so memory perisheth except it be renewed. Seneca

Little fishes slip through nets, but great fishes are taken; so small things slip out of memory, when as great matters stay still. Erasmus

As pies have a wonderful desire to imitate the voice of man, so that through extreme endeavour they sometimes kill themselves; so it is marvellous pleasant and delightsome to many to learn by heart problems, songs and sonnets, and to sing them, albeit they understand them not. Conradus Lycosthenes Rubeaquensis

As Lupus Ceruarius, a beast engendered of a hind and a wolf, doth in the time of hunger and famine forget his food if so he see anybody; so from many that presently slip out of memory which they purposed to speak of when as they hear words spoken to another. Plin.lib.8.cap.22

Cast anything into a standing water and circles will arise, which put out one another; so when one thing cometh into the memory, another thing is thrust out, therefore the memory is always to be repaired, that as matter passeth, another may be present.