TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
HIS SI N GV LA R GOOD LORD AND 
MASTER, SIR William Cecil KNIGHT, BARON OF 
Burghley, Matter of :he Court of Wards andLiueries, Chancellor of the 
Vniuerlitie of Cambridge, Knight of the mod noble Order ofthe Garter, 
one of the Lords of her Maiefties moft honorable Priuy Coun- 
ccll, and Lord high Treafurer of England. 
Mong the manifold creatures ofGod (right Honora- 
ble, and mv lingular good Lord) that haue all in all 
ages diuerfly entertained many excellent wits, and 
drawnethem to the contemplation ofthe diuine wif- 
dome, none haue prouoked mens ftudies more,or fa- 
tisfied their defires fo much as Plants haue done, and 
that vpon iuft and worthy caules : For ifdelight may 
prouoke mens labor, what greater delight is there than 
to behold the earth apparelled with plants, as with a 
robe of embroidered worke, fet with Orient pearles, 
and garnifhed with great diuetfitie of rare and coftly iewc!s?tt this varietie and 
perfection of colours may affeCf the eye, it is fuch in herbs and floures, that no A - 
pe/kf,noZ«mreuercouldby any artexpreffe the like ; if odours oriftatte may 
Worke fatisfaftion,ihey are both fo foueraigne in plants, and fo comfortable,that 
no confeCtion of th*pothecaries can equall their excellent vertue. But thefe 
delights are in the outward fences: theprincipall delightis in theminde,fingu- 
larly enriched with the knowledge of thefe vifible things. Letting forth to vs the 
inuifible wifedome and admirable workmanfhip of almighty God. The delight 
is great, but the vfe greater, and ioyned often with neceffity. In thefirft ages of 
the world they were the ordinarie meate of men, and haue continued euer fince 
ofneceflarie vfe both for meates to maintaine life, and tor medicine to recouer 
health. The hidden vertue of them is fuch, that (as Pliny noteth) the very bruite 
beaft s haue found it out : and(which is another vfe that he ob(erues)from thence 
the Dyars tooke the beginningof their Art. 
Furthermore, the necefl'ary vfe of thefe fruits of the earth doth plainly appeare 
by the great charge and care ofalmoft all men in planting and maintaining of gar- 
deris, not as ornaments onely, but as a neceflarieprouifion alfo to their houfes. 
And here befide the fruit, to fpeake againe in a word of delight, gardens, efpecial- 
ly fuch as your Honor hath, furmfhed with many rare Simples, do Angularly de- 
light, when in them a man doth behold a flourifhing (hew of Sommer beauties 
in the midft of Winters force, and a goodly fpring of floures, when abroad a leafe 
is notto befeene. Befides thefe and other caufes, there are many examples of 
thofe that haue honored this fcience : for to pafle by a multitude of the Philofo- 
phers, it may pleafe your Honor to cal 1 to remembrance that which you know of 
fome noble Princes, that haue ioyned this ttudy with their moft important mat- 
«T 4 ~ 
Pli.li. 8 . ca. 27 , 
ibid.li.zz.c.s. 
