XVI PREFACE. 



bread and wine, which are the characters of tem 

 poral blessings and sacraments of eternal, I hope, 

 by God s holy providence, will be ripened by Caesar s 

 star. 



Your majesty shall not only do to myself a sin 

 gular favour, but to your business a material help, if 

 you will be graciously pleased to open yourself to 

 me in those things, wherein you may be unsatisfied. 

 For though this work, as by position and principle, 

 doth disclaim to be tried by any thing but by expe 

 rience, and the results . *. experience in a true way ; 

 yet the sharpness and profoundness of your majesty s 

 judgment ought to be an exception to this general 

 rule ; and your questions, observations, and admo 

 nishments, may do infinite good. 



This comfortable beginning makes me hope far 

 ther, that your majesty will be aiding to me, in 

 setting men on work for the collecting of a natural 

 and experimental history ; which is &quot; basis totius 

 negotii,&quot; a thing, which I assure myself will be, from 

 time to time, an excellent recreation unto you ; I 

 say, to that admirable spirit of yours, that delighteth 

 in light : and I hope well, that even in your times, 

 many noble inventions may be discovered for man s 

 use. For who can tell, now this mine of truth is 

 opened, how the veins go ; and what lieth higher, 

 and what lieth lower ? But let me trouble your ma 

 jesty no further at this time. God ever preserve and 

 prosper your majesty. 



October 19, 1620. 



