PREFATORY ADDRESS. 



DELIGHT and Pleasure are so fast rivetted and firmly 

 rooted in the heart of man, that I suppose there are 

 none so morose or melancholy, that will not only pre- 

 tend -to, but plead for an interest in the same, most 

 being so much enamoured therewith, that they judge 

 that life but a living death, which is wholly deprived 

 or abridged of all pleasure -, and many pursue the same 

 with so much eagerness and importunity, as though 

 they had been born for no other end, as that they not 

 only consume their most precious time, but also totally 

 ruin their estates thereby : for in this loose and licen- 

 tious age, when profuse prodigality passes for the cha- 

 racteristical mark of true generosity and frugality, 

 I mean not niggardliness ; is branded with the ignomi- 

 nious blot of baseness. I expect not that this under- 

 valued subject, though it propound delight at an easy 

 rate, will meet with any other entertainment than 

 neglect, if not contempt, it being an art which few 

 take pleasure in, nothing passing for noble or delight- 

 ful which is not costly j as though men could not gra- 

 tify their senses, but with the consumption of their 

 fortunes. 



Hawking and Hunting- have had their excellencies 

 celebrated with large encomiums by divers pens, and 

 although I intend not any undervaluing to those noble re- 



