[Before the edition 1578.]
Gentle Reader, I trustyng in thy accustomed kyndnesse, haue published this booke, entituled, The Second part of the Mirrour for Magistrates, the authour whereof, is now beyond the seas, and wyl marueile at his returne to find thys imprinted. For his intent was but to profite and pleasure one priuate man, as by his Epistle may appeare. But I fyndyng the copie by chaunce, shewing it vnto diuers men, both learned and wise: and findyng a booke alredy in print, entituled The first and third part of the Mirrour for Magistrates, I was moued diuersly of diuers men, by printyng this latter woorke, to make perfite the former booke. It may be (good reader) that the friendely acceptyng hereof wyll encourage the authour to set thynges of greater price in print: yet esteeme thou this as a lanterne, hauyng lyght sufficient to guyde thy wandryng steppes, both vnto the happynesse of this worlde, and of the world to come. Whiche happynesse God graunt wee all may enioye.
THE AUTHOUR’S EPISTLE
VNTO HIS FRIENDE.
[Before the edition 1578.]
Sir, it woulde be too manifest an argument of a nature degeneratyng from al gentrie, if I shoulde not consider of your request, you asking and vrging both honest and profitable thyngs. I therfore to ensure you, that I am not forgetful of your demaund, presumyng like blynd Bayard to this my boldnesse, haue not with Apolloe’s pensile, but with Pan’s pleasantlesse pen, indeuoured to endite that which you are so desirous to haue done. And although I once translated for you, Ouid, De remedio amoris, as you said, to your contentation, we beyng then in Cambridge, where aske helpe, and haue helpe, might be had: yet nowe I wyl ensure you, lyke one amazed, I haue strayned my strength vnto the vttermost, being desirous to finish this woorke. You know that loue matters be agreeing with Caliope’s quill; euery apprentise can, of such matter, make a meter. But how hard a thing it is to compell Clio, with her boysterous banners, to couch vnder the compasse of a few metered lines, I referre you vnto the good Turberuile, who so soone as he began to take the terrible treatise of Lucan in hand, he was inforst to vnyoke his steeres, and to make holy day.[1164] Shal I then with Bochas pen declare the falles of the vnfortunate Princes of the olde worlde? O, intollerable presumption, that timorous Tyro shoulde dare to deale with menasing Mars: or that a young infant should offer to put on the buskins of Hercules: shall I then with silence ceasse to accomplish your request? O, singuler ingratitude, that any friend should refuse to sweate, to pleasure and profite his friend. Doo you not consider, that al the fine wyts that England hath inioyed these many yeres, haue busied their braynes very much, to make an English Mirrour for Magistrates, which booke is left euen vnto this day, like the vnperformed image of Venus, paynted by Apelles? no man is able to finish the work, which they with Homer’s hawtie heroycal style haue begunne: and yet you woulde haue me (the least of the poets,) to make trial what I am able to doo therin. But me thinke I do heare you say, as you were woont, we being conuersant together: “What meane al these wordes? thou knowest that the vayne of thy verse doth most delight my humor. And seeing it is but for my priuate study, what meane you to allege all these allegations, as though Orestes were Zoilus?” Syr, I confesse al this to be true: yet this I speake, to signifie vnto you, howe willyng the good wyl I doo beare vnto you hath made me, being otherwise vnwillyng to beare a sayle in such rough weather, where euery sea is ready to deuoure me. And when with sayles and oares (as they say,) I with al my diligence endeuoured to compasse the thing nowe accomplished, I founde myselfe euen in the myddest of the matter, clapt close with Theseus, in a returnable labarinth, to fight with despayre that miserable Minotaur: where, when I could finde no Ariadne, to lende me a bottome of twist, I looked that Parcæ shoulde haue shread my twyne before my returne. Yet at the last wandring Erato, with her sister Terpsichore perceiuing me with such diligence to trauise that maze, they willing to helpe the desyres of my mynd, said thus vnto me:
Come forth thou wandring wight this way,
Doo followe vs outright:
We geue thee leaue, with poets’ penne,
On Princes’ falles to write.
Wherewith they leadyng me vnto the fountayne Permestus, I without any further determination, gallopped through the rest, whiche when leysure shall geue you leaue to reade, ceasse then to thinke on the L. Buchurst, or Sackuyll,[1165] let Gascon and Churchyarde be forgotten. And if you chaunce to see the meter, or matter, not so well polished, as beseemeth, then remember that they whose falles I haue here penned, were not of late tyme, but suche as lyued presently after the incarnation of Christe: and I haue not thought it decent, that the men of the olde worlde shoulde speake with so garnished a style, as they of the latter tyme.