To the Reader.
powder and ſhot: for then we will goe vpon theſe venemous Adders, Serpents, and Snakes, and tread and trample them vnder our feete: for I haue knowne many ſtung with ſome of theſe Scorpions, and therefore I warne all men to beware the Scorpion. I know women will bite the lip at me, and cenſure hardly of me, but I feare not the curſt Cow, for ſhe commonly hath ſhort hornes: let them cenſure of me what they will, for I meane not to make them my Iudges, and if they ſhoote their ſpite at me, they may bit themſelues, and ſo I will ſmile at the, as at the fooliſh Flye, which burneth her ſelfe in the candle. And ſo friendly Reader, if thou haſt any diſcretion at all, thou mayſt take a happy example by theſe moſt laſciuious and crafty, whoriſh, theeuiſh, and knauiſh women, which were the cauſe of this my idle time ſpending: and yet I haue no warrant to make thee beleeue this which I write to be true. But yet the ſimple Bee gathereth Honey where the venemous Spider doth her poyſon. And ſo I will conclude, leſt thou haue cauſe to ſay, that my Epiſtles are longer then my Booke: a Booke I may call it I hope without offence: for the Collier cals his Horſe a Horſe, and the Kings great Steed is but a Horſe.
If thou read by the beginning of a Booke, thou canſt giue no iudgement of that which enſueth: therefore I ſay as the Fryer, who in the midſt of his Sermon ſaid often, that the beſt was behinde: And ſo, if thou reade it all ouer, thou ſhalt not be deluded, for the beſt is behinde. I thinke I haue ſhot ſo neere the white that ſome will account me for a good Archer: And ſo I pray thee to looke to thy feet, that thou run not ouer thy ſhooes, and ſo be paſt recouery before my ſecond Booke come.
Thy friend
Ioſeph Swetnam.