London, Printed by T. J. for Peter Dring, at the ſign of the Sun in the Poultrey; 1666.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE CÆCILIUS LORD BALTEMORE, (see note No. [2]) Absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Provinces of Mary-Land and Avalon (see note No. [3]) in America.
MY LORD,
I Have adventured on your Lordships acceptance by guess; if presumption has led me into an Error that deserves correction, I heartily beg Indempnity, and resolve to repent soundly for it, and do so no more. What I present I know to be true, Experientia docet; It being an infallible Maxim, That there is no Globe like the occular and experimental view of a Countrey. And had not Fate by a necessary imployment, consin’d me within the narrow walks of a four years Servitude, and by degrees led me through the most intricate and dubious paths of this Countrey, by a commanding and undeniable Enjoyment, I could not, nor should I ever have undertaken to have written a line of this nature.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
If I have wrote or composed any thing that’s wilde and confused, it is because I am so my self, and the world, as far as I can perceive, is not much out of the same trim; therefore I resolve, if I am brought to the Bar of Common Law for any thing I have done here, to plead Non compos mentis, to save my Bacon.
There is an old Saying in English, He must rise betimes that would please every one. And I am afraid I have lain so long a bed, that I think I shall please no body; if it must be so, I cannot help it. But as Feltham (see note No. [4]) in his Resolves says, In things that must be, ’tis good to be resolute; And therefore what Destiny has ordained, I am resolved to wink, and stand to it. So leaving your Honour to more serious meditations, I subscribe my self,
My Lord
Your Lordship most
Humble Servant,