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Show To the Reader. Hedifaftrous times, but much more wretched and percverfe men have fo farreprevailed againft my intendedpurpofe,and promife, in exhibiting this Worketo the publicke view of all; that their extreame covetoufnefJe bad well nigh deprived my Country ofthefruition: But having atlaf, though long and with much adoe, broken through. all obftacles oppofing tandem rodiitinlucem. And alchough by the revolution oftime st hath chane 152564 intending toexclude many of thof@ things that were notproperforit, this including a tot quot dici poterint. Forfinding inmy Profe/Sion many flips and errors crept therein and incident thereto, it ftirredup a defire in me, baving rightly weighed them, feriouJly to confiderhowfuch acuplomary evill could be left offand amended , yet nat doubting ofthe effect, by the religsousinclination of my (country when juft reafans fhall be foewed therefore, (although fome delight to be obftinate, and becaufe they were bred up in errors, they will not. be wiferthentheir Fathers, but together live and dye in them, yea and. condemnethat light that others bave,becaufe they thinke their darkeneffe better ) both to.avoyd and amend them: but toaccomplifh this, hic labor hoc.opus erat, this was a taske layfomewhat hearuy on me toundergoe, and tooke up no fmall time to finifh, howfoever Mafter lobnfonsagility couldieafily wade through with it, and hisyounger yeares carry away greater burdens, forfaith be,beavy taskes are, orf? borne by them that are leaft able, but bis quickefpeed may conclude with this. adage Canis feftinans coecos paritcatullos : dut how and in whatfore it is done 7 leacveto judicious cenfare, not te fharpe toothed and tonguedfelfe-gnawing envy, that will traduce all others workes to magnifie their owne ; for mine owne part, although I boaft not ofgreat learning, fuch as might better have illuftrated this ‘worke, yetfeeing my genius hath ecver driven me to thefefiudies, andmy many yeares J thinke hathgiven me alittle more experience, being folong verft chereabout, F hope my time bath not beeneill {pent ifwell taken both in the deteétion and direction, as alfa that it syill prove more ufefull and certaine in rem publicam Botanicam,then fome others, havegone before me) yet ifanyafter me can Without envy, having younger and clearer eyes and morefet- led judgement withall, amend ought that havefet amiffe, or notfully declared,per melicet. F know that whofoever (hall runne through fomany Fields, Woods, Hils,¢xc. as this worke ins cludeth, andfhall trip at no time, hic eritmihi magnus Apollo, F will crowne himwith fuch a Garland as neither his antecefforsor fucceffours ever did or fhall weare ; yet let not anyes pre/umptuous[pirit malice or menacethe Authour,ifbe have laid open fomeof theirerrors, as if they-onelywere free, or thinke themfel-ves better then Theophraftus, Diofcorides,Galen, Pliny,&c. of the Ancients ; or, Tragus,Marchiolus,Clufius,Lobel,Bauhinus, of the Mo dernes, Whofe flips and errors I wafold likewife, whono doubt ifnow alive, being rightly informed,would rather embrace thenfpurne theftone thatftroke them, One bout more with Momus in a Bookefellers fhop, for more roome 7 muft not over[lipthat would teare this Worke in peeces becaufe 1 have not followed Gerards method, infetting Letters to the feverall vertues of the Plants, and muft therefore be villifyed as if no other method were comparablethereto. 7 verily fay |