The Epiſtle, &c.
it doth ſo cloy their ſtomackes, that they cenſure hardly of women euer afterwards: wronged men will not be tongue-tyed: therefore if you doe ill, you muſt not thinke to heare well; for although the world be bad, yet it is not come to that paſſe that men ſhould beare with all the bad conditions that are in ſome Women.
I know I ſhall be bitten by many becauſe I touch many: but before I goe any further, let me whiſper one word in your eares, and that is this; whatſoeuer you thinke priuatly, I wiſh you to conceale it with ſilence, leſt in ſtarting vp to find fault, you prooue your ſelues guiltie of theſe monſtrous accuſations, which are herefollowing againſt ſome women; & thoſe which ſpurne, if they feele themſelues touched, proue thēſelues ſtark fooles in bewraying their galled backes to the world: for this booke toucheth no ſort of women, but ſuch as when they heare it, will goe about to reproue it. For although in ſome part of this booke, I trip at your heeles, yet will I ſtay you by the hand ſo that you ſhall not fall farther then you are willing; although I deale with you after the manner of a ſhrew, which cannot otherwiſe eaſe her curſt heart but by her vnhappy tongue: If I be too earneſt, beare with me a little, for my meaning is not to ſpeake much of thoſe that are good & I ſhall ſpeake too little of thoſe that are naught; but yet I will not altogether condemne the bad; but hoping to better the good by the naughty examples of the bad, for there is no woman ſo good, but hath one idle part or other in her, which may be amended; for the cleareſt riuer that is, hath ſome durt in the bottome: Iewels are all precious, but yet they are not all of one price, nor all of one vertue: gold is not all of one picture, no more are women all of one diſpoſition: women are al neceſſary euils, and yet not al giuen to wickedneſſe, and yet many ſo bad that in my conceite, if I ſhould ſpeake the worſt that I know by ſome women, I ſhould
