TO 

 OUR MOST SERENE AND MIGHTY PRINCE AND LORD 



JAMES, 



BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, 



FRANCE, AND IRELAND, DEFENDER 



OF THE FAITH, ETC. 



MOST SERENE AND MIGHTY KING, 



YOUR Majesty will, perhaps, accuse me of theft, in that 

 I have stolen from your employments time sufficient for this 

 work. I have no reply, for there can be no restitution of 

 time, unless, perhaps, that which has been withdrawn from 

 your affairs might be set down as devoted to the perpetuating 

 of your name and to the honour of your age, were what I 

 now offer of any value. It is at least new, even in its very 

 nature ; but copied from a very ancient pattern, no other 

 than the world itself, and the nature of things, and of the 

 mind. I myself (ingenuously to confess the truth) am 

 wont to value this work rather as the offspring of time than 

 of wit. For the only wonderful circumstance in it is, that 

 the first conception of the matter, and so deep suspicions 

 of prevalent notions should ever have entered into any 

 person s mind ; the consequences naturally follow. But, 

 doubtless, there is a chance (as we call it), and something 

 as it were accidental in man s thoughts, no less than in his 

 actions and words. I would have this chance, however 

 (of which I am speaking), to be so understood, that if there 

 be any merit in what I offer, it should be attributed to the 

 immeasurable mercy and bounty of God, and to the felicity 

 of this your age ; to which felicity I have devoted myself 



