Though there were many Giants of old in Physick and Philosophy, yet I say with Didacus Stella, A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a Giant may see farther then a Giant himself; I may likely add, alter, and see farther then my predecessors; And it is no greater prejudice for me to endite after others, then for Ælianus Montaltus that famous Physitian, to write de morbis capitis after Jason Pratensis, Heurnius, Hildesheim, &c. Many horses to run in a race, one Logician, one Rhetorician, after another. Oppose then what thou wilt, Allatres licet usq; nos & usque, Et gannitibus improbis lacessas.

I solve it thus. And for those other faults of barbarism, Dorick dialect, extemporanean stile, tautologies, apish imitation, a rapsodie of rags gathered together from several dung-hils, excrements of authors, toyes and fopperies confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgment, wit, learning, harsh, raw, rude, phantastical, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull and dry; I confesse all (tis partly affected) thou canst not think worse of me then I do of my self. Tis not worth the reading, I yield it, I desire thee not to lose time in perusing so vain a subject, I should be peradventure loth my self to reade him or thee so writing, tis not operæ pretium.

All I say, is this, that I have presidents for it, which Isocrates cals perfugium iis qui peccant, others as absurd, vain, idle, illiterate, &c. Nonnulli alii idem fecerunt, others have done as much, it may be more, and perhaps thou thy self, Novimus & qui te, &c. we have all our faults; scimus, & hanc veniam, &c. thou censurest me, so have I done others, and may do thee, Cedimus inque vicem, &c. tis lex talionis, quid pro quo. Go now censure, criticize, scoffe and rail.

Nasutus sis usque licet, sis denique nasus: Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas, Ipse ego quam dixi, &c. Wer’st thou all scoffs and flouts, a very Momus. Then we our selves, thou canst not say worse of us. Thus, as when women scold, have I cried whore first, and in some mens censures, I am afraid I have overshot my self, Laudare se vani, vituperare stulti, as I do not arrogate, I will not derogate. Primus vestrûm non sum, nec imus, I am none of the best, I am none of the meanest of you.

As I am an inch, or so many feet, so many parasanges, after him or him, I may be peradventure an ace before thee. Be it therefore as it is, well or ill, I have assayed, put my self upon the stage, I must abide the censure, I may not escape it. It is most true, stylus virum arguit, our stile bewrayes us, & as hunters find their game by the trace, so is a mans genius descried by his works, Multo melius ex sermone quam lineamentis, de moribus hominum judicamus; ’twas old Catos rule. I have laid my self open (I know it) in this treatise, turned mine inside outward, I shall be censured, I doubt not, for to say truth with Erasmus, nihil morosius hominum judiciis, theres naught so peevish as mens judgments, yet this is some comfort, ut palata, sic judicia, our censures are as various as our palats.

Tres mihi convivæ prope dissentire videntur Poscentes vario multum diversa palato, &c. Our writings are as so many dishes, our readers guests, our books like beauty, that which one admires, another rejects; so are we approved as mens fancies are inclined. Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli. That which is most pleasing to one is amaracum sui, most harsh to another. Quot homines, tot sententiæ, so many men, so many mindes: that which thou condemnest he commends. Quod petis, id sane est invisum acidumque duobus.

He respects matter, thou art wholly for words, he loves a loose and free stile, thou art all for neat composition, strong lines, hyperboles, allogories; he desires a fine frontispiece, entising pictures, such as Hieron:Natali the Jesuite hath cut to the Dominicals, to draw on the Readers attention, which thou rejectest; that which one admires, another explodes as most absurd and ridiculous.

If it be not point blank to his humor, his method, his conceit, Si quid forsan omissum, quod is animo conceperit, si quæ dictio, &c. If ought be omitted, or added, which he likes, or dislikes, thou art mancipium paucæ lectionis, an idiot, an asse, nullus es, or plagiarius, a trifler, a trivant, thou art an idle fellow; or else tis a thing of meer industry, a collection without wit or invention, a very toy. Facilia sic putant omnes quæ jam facta, nec de salebris cogitant, ubi via strata, so men are valued, their labours vilified by fellows of no worth themselves; as things of nought, who could not have done as much? unusquisque abundat sensu suo, every man abounds in his own sense; and whilest each particular party is so affected, how should one please all?

Quid dem, quid non dem? Renuis tu quod jubet ille. How shall I hope to expresse my self to each mans humor and conceit, or to give satisfaction to all? Some understand too little, some too much, Qui similiter in legendos libros, atq; in salutandos homines irruunt, non cogitantes quales, sed quibus vestibus induti sint, as Austin observes, not regarding what, but who write, orexin habet authores celebritas, not valuing the mettle, but stamp that is upon it, Cantharum aspiciunt, non quid in eo.

If he be not rich, in great place, polite and brave, a great doctor, or full fraught with grand titles, though never so well qualified, he is a dunce, but as Baronius hath it of Cardinal Caraffa’s works, he is a meer hog that rejects any man for his poverty. Some are too partial, as friends to overween, others come with a prejudice to carp, vilifie, detract, and scoffe; (qui de me forsan, quicquid est, omni contemptu contemptius judicant) some as bees for honey, some as spiders to gather poyson. What shall I do in this case?