To the 'Reader. 
planting and preferuing of all thefe. In this Worke he hath not fuperficially handled 
thefe things, but accurately defcended to the very varieties in each fpecies : wherefore I 
haue now and then referred my Reader addicted to thele delights, to this worke efpecial- 
ly in floures and fruits, wherein I was loth to fpend too much time,efpecially feeing I 
could adde nothing to what he had done vpon that fubiect before. Healfo there promi- 
fed another worke, the which I thinke by this time is fit for the Prefie. 
Now am I at length come to this prefent Worke, whereof I know you will expetft I 
fhould fay fomewhat •, and I will not fruftrate your expe (Station, but labour to fatisfie you 
in all I may, beginning with the Author, then his worke, what it was, and laftly what it 
now is. 
For the Author M r ./«^»GetWI can fay little, but what you alio may gather out of ubnGerni, 
thisworke; which is, he was borne in the yeare 1545. in Che (hire, at Namptwich,from 
whence hee came to this city, and betooke himfelfe to Surgerie, wherein his endeauours 
were fuch, as he therein attained to be a Mafter of that worthy profeffion : he liued fome 
ten yeares after the publifhing of this worke, and died' about the yeare 1607. Hischiefe 
commendation is, that he out ofapropenfe good will to the publique aduancement of 
this knowledge, endeauoured to performe therein more than he could well accomplifh ; 
which was partly through want of fufficient learning, as (befides that which he himfelfe 
faith ofhimfelfe in the chapter of Water Docke)may be gathered by the mandating of See the far- 
diners places out of the Aduerfaria - as this for one in the defeription of * t^ifier t^itticus, ™thcp!«« 
Cattles pedales term nut qitaterm : whichisrendred,A ftalkefoure or fiue foot long. Healfo htrementia- 
by the fame defeat called burnt Barky, * Horde urn difiichon ; and diuided the titles of ho- 
nour from the name of the perfon whereto they did belong, making two names thereof, 3? *' 
beginning one claufe with * lulius Alexmdnnus faith, &c. and the next with, Cafarius Ar- P-’ *7- 
(hotter faith. Healfowasvery little conuerfant in the writings of the Antients, neither, 
as it may feeme by diners palfages, could hee well diftinguifh betweenetheantient and 
moderne writers : for he in one place faith, [* Neither by Diofcorides,Ftuhfius, or any other P? 18 - 
antient writer once remembred. j Diuers fuch thereare, which I had rather paffe ouer in 
filence, than here fet downe : neither fhould I willingly haue touched hereon, but that I 
haue met with fome that haue too much admired him, as the only learned and iudicious 
writer. But let none blame him for thefe defers, feeing he was neither wanting in pains 
nor good will, to performe what he intended; and there are nonefo Ample but know, 
that heauy burthens are with moft paines vndergone by theweakeft men : and although 
there were many faults in the worke, yet iudge well of the Author; for as a late writer 
well faith, Falli & hallucinari humanum efi-foliti/dinem quarat oportet,qni vult am perfeflis om.li.t.ct.f 
viuere. Penfanda vittjs bona cuiufquefuttt , efr qua maiorpars ingenij Jletit , ea iudicandum de ho- de 
mine eft , 
Now let me acquaint you how this Worke was madevp. Dodcn.eushh Pemp cades 
comming forth Anno 1583, were fhortly after tranllated into Englifh by D r . Pnefi a phy- 
fition of London, who died either immediately before’or after the finifhing of this tran- 
flation. This I had firft by the relation of one who knew D'. Pnefi and M'. Gerard: and 
it is apparant by the worke it felfe, which you fhall finde to containe the Pemptades of 
rWwawr tranllated, fo that diuers chapters haue fcarcea word more or lefle than what 
is in him. But I cannot commend my Author for endeauouring to hide this thing from 
vs,cauiIling(though commonly vniuftly)with-D0i!/(OT,£«r,wherefoeucr he names him, ma- 
king it a thing of heare-fay,* that D’.Priefi tranllated Dodonans : when in the Epiftle of SechisEpUiic- 
his friend M r . Bredwetl , prefixed before this worke, are thefe words : [The firft gatherers t0 ‘ 1 >cR.cad«. 
out of the Antients,and augmentersby their owne paines, haue already fpred the odour 
oftheirgood names through all the lands of learned habitations : D r . Priefi for tranfla- 
ting fo much as Dodon&us, hath hereby left a tombe for his honorable fepulture. M r . Ge- 
ra>vfcornming laft, but not the leaft, hath many waies accommodated the whole worke 
vntoour Englilh Nation, &c.] But that which may lerue to cleare all doubts, ifany can 
be in a thing fo manifeft, is a place in Labels Annotations vpon Rondcletius his Pharmaco- 
peia, where pag.^g. he findes fault with Dodonans, for vfingbarbaroully the word Seta for 
Sericum • and with D r . Priefi, who (faith he) at the charges of M r . Norton tranllated Dodo- 
vaus, and deceiuedby this word Seta, committed an abfurd errourin tranflating it a bri- 
ftle, when as it fhould haue been filke. This place fo tranllated is to be feen in the chap- 
ter of the SkarletOke, at the letter F. And Lobel well knew thatitwas D r . Priefi that 
committed this error, and therefore blames not M r . Gerard, to whom hee made fhew of 
friendlhip, and who was yet liuing :butyethe couertly gauevstovnderftand,thatthe 
worke wherein that error wascommitted, was a tranflation of Dodonans, and that made by 
Hfir D \ Priefi 
