JOHN HEATH 89 



unto us, & D. Opsopoeus some by comparing of y" Palatine copies, 

 these, I say, and y' without choice, I have thought fitt to set upon 

 y^ margent, y' it might be free for every man to judge of them, 

 and vvithall some Animadversions & Corrections of Interpreters, 

 adding still y^ names of everie one out of whom wee tooke them, y*^ 

 wee might not seem to defraud any one of his desert. But wee 

 have placed our own notes at y" end of y® worck, in which for the 

 most part, there is a reason given of our different interpretation 

 from others, as also there are sett downe our divers conjectures 

 upon Dioscorides. And also you may finde many thinges inci- 

 dently, &, as it were by y*" way, noted upon divers Authors, but 

 especially upon Theophrastus & Plinie, as they came under mine 

 hand. 



Finally wee doe propose, velut, ef e7r6/.terpj^, i. by way of 

 Additament, the severall, & discrepant opinions, whether of y^ old 

 or new writers concerning Medicinall Matter, & some tymes wee 

 reconcile them, & besides, wee endeavour to resolve & cleare many 

 doubts which wee met with everie where. But yet I would have 

 you to understand, y' I did chiefly cavell heereat with all my 

 labour, y' I might restore, illustrate, & explaine y"" most corrupted, 

 obscure, & difificult places of Dioscorides himself. And soe you 

 have been given to understand (Gentle Reader) what thinges have 

 been performed by us in this Edition, out of which if I shall percieve, 

 y"^ you have got any fruit, it will encourage mee peradventure to 

 divulge other more great & more profitable matters. 



In the meane space, Farewell. 



[Goodyer MS. 6*, ff. 5-8 



The text of the work is written out on pp. 13-292 of the 



MS., which ends abruptly with Book 4, chap. 6 1 , the last 



line being dated '2 Octob. 1656', and then follows an 



ominous note, which evidently refers to his collaborator. 



'Johannes Heath Clericus obijt 25*'^ die Novembris 1656.' 



This must have been Goodyer's neighbour, the Rev. 



John Heath, who was presented by the Earl of Worcester 



to the rectory of Clanfield,^ in or soon after 161 7. He 



may have been the John Heath who came up to Christ 



Church as a Westminster Student in 1607, and who 



matriculated in 1610 aged 19.^ 



^ Clanfield is about three miles south-west of Buriton, and six from Petersfield. 

 ^ Foster, Alumni Oxon. 



