Of all the works which we have yet considered, Latin was an essential
element: whether the object was, as in the glossaries and vocabularies
before the fifteenth century, to explain the Latin words themselves,
or as in the _Promptorium_ and _Catholicon_, the _Abecedarium_ and the
_Alvearie_, and other works of the sixteenth century, to render
English words into Latin. But a new stage of development was marked by
the appearance of dictionaries of English with another modern
language. In 1521, the 'Introductory to write and to pronounce
Frenche,' by Alexander Barclay, author of the 'Ship of Fooles,' was
issued from the press of Robert Coplande; and about 1527 Giles du Guez
or du Wes (anglicized Dewes), French teacher to the Lady Mary,
afterwards Queen Mary, published his 'Introductorie for to lerne to
rede, to pronounce and to speke French trewly.' In addition to
grammatical rules and dialogues, it contains a select vocabulary
English and French. In 1514, Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VIII,
became the unwilling bride of Louis XII of France. To initiate the
princess in her husband's tongue, John Palsgrave, a native of London
and graduate of Cambridge, who had subsequently studied in Paris, was
chosen as her tutor, and accompanied her to France.
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