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— John Milton

Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein 15

Afford a present to the Infant God?

Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,

To welcome him to this his new abode,

…

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Able to be tolerated or allowed; satisfactory or suitable for a particular purpose or situation.

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42 ROGER ASCHAM

24 lines
Sir Philip Sidney·1554–1586
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et of all thynges that ever I warked of olde authours,either greke or latin, for shaftes to be made of, there isnothing so common as reedes. Herodotus in describyngethe mightie boost of Xerxes doth tell that thre great contriesused shaftes made of a rede, the Aethiopians, the Lycians(whose shaftes lacked fethers, where at I marvayle moste ofall) and the men of Inde. The shaftes in Inde were veryelonge, a yarde and an halfe, as Arrianus doth saye, or at theleast a yarde. as Q. Curtius doth saye, and therfore theygave ye greater strype, but yet bycause they were so long,they were the more unhansome, and lesse profitable to themen of Inde, as Curtius doeth tell. In Crete and Italie, they used to have their shaftes ofrede also. The best reede for shaftes grewe in Inde, andin Rhenus a flood of Italy. But bycause suche shaftes be neyther easie for Englishemen to get, and yf they were gotten scarse profitable forthem to use, I wyll lette them passe, and speake of thoseshaftes whyche Englysh men at this daye moste commonlydo approve and allowe. A shaft hath three principall partes, the stele, the fethers,and the head: whereof e verye one muste be severallyespoken of.^ Steles be made of dy verse woodes. as.
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