W_e see there is a necessity for our travailing in the common road or_
High-way _of_ Prefacing; _as if the Reader could neither receive nor
digest the_ Pabulum mentis, _or fatten by the mental nourishment,
without a preparatory. And yet we think it savours neither of civility,
nor good manners to fall on without saying something of a grace; but we
do not love that it should be so tedious, as to take away your stomack
from the meat, and therefore that we may not be condemned for that
prolixity we mislike in others, we shall briefly tell you how little we
value the favour of such_ Readers, _who take a pride to blast the_ Wits
_of others, imagining thereby to augment the reputation of their own:
What unexpected success we have obtained in the publication of the
former parts, will keep us from despairing, that in this we shall be
less fortunate than in the other. But although our_ Books _have been
generally received with great applause, and read with much delight and
satisfaction, at home and abroad, (having travailed many thousand miles)
yet we do not imagine them to be without their_ Errata’s, _for which
they have suffered very hard Correction; this is a younger brother to
the former, lawfully begotten, and if you will compare their faces, you
will find they resemble one another very much: Or else match this
pattern with the former cloth, you will find it of the same colour,
wool, and spinning, only it having passed the curious hands of an
excellent_ Artist, _he hath by shearing and dressing it made it somewhat
thinner, and withall finer, than was intended; however we hope it will
prove a good_ lasting piece, _and serviceable. You cannot imagin the
charge and trouble we have been at, in raising this building, which we
must acknowledg was erected upon an old foundation. From the actions of
others we gather’d matter, which materials we methodized, and so formed
this structure. We challenge nothing but the order; it may be called
ours, as the_ Bucentauro _may be now called the same it was some hundred
of years since, when the Pope therein first married the_ Duke _of_
Venice _to the_ Seas, _having been from that time so often mended and
repaired, as that it is thought, there is not left a chip of her
primitive building. So what remarkable stories, and strange relations we
have taken up on trust, by hear-say, or otherwise, we have so altered by
augmentation, or deminution, (as occasion served) that this may be more
properly called a new Composition, rather than an old Collection, of
what witty_ Extravagancies _are therein contained. As to the verity of
those ingenious Exploits, Subtle Contrivances, crafty projects, horrid
villanies_, &c. _we have little to say, but though we shall not assert
the truth of them all, yet there are none, which carry not circumstances
enough to make apparent their probability. And you may confidently
believe, that most of them have been lately acted, though not by one,
two, three, a score, nay many more. To conclude, (least we tire your
patience with tedious preambles) it is our desire that you will have a
charitable opinion of us, and censure not our writings according to
their desert; we are ready to condemn them, before you examine their
faults, what would ye more? We are not insensible, that_ ours _are many,
and are forc’t to bear the burden of the_ Printers _too; we know the
stile is mean and vulgar, so are the Interlocutors, and therefore most
requisite and allowable; the Subject is Evil, (you say) and may vitiate
the Reader; the_ Bee _gathers honey from the worst of weeds; and the_
Toad _poison, from the best of Herbs. An ignorant young_ Plowman
_learn’d from a Sermon how to steal an Ox, by the Parsons introducing a
Simile; even as_ the stubborn Horn is made soft, pliable, and to be
shaped as you please, by laying a Hot loaf thereon; _so is &c. which he
trying so effectually chang’d the form of the_ Ox-head, _that the right
Owner knew not his own Beast. There is no matter so good, but may be
perverted, which is worst of all, for_, Corruptio optimi est pessima;
_and there is no Subject so bad, out of which some good may not be
collected; this drolling discourse, will, I question not, in the
reading, prove not only facetious, but profitable, which if you find, we
have obtain’d our desired end._
(_Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci._)
_And subscribe our selves_