To the READER.
If you are deſirous, Courteous Reader, to know what I have perform'd in this Edition of the Elements of Euclide, I ſhall here explain it to you in ſhort, according to the nature of the Work. I have endeavor'd to attain two ends chiefly; the firſt, to be very perſpicuous, and at the ſame time ſo very brief, that the Book may not ſwell to ſuch a Bulk, as may be troubleſome to carry about one, in which I think I have ſucceeded, unleſs in my abſence the Printer's care ſhould fruſtrate my Deſign. Some of a brighter Genius, and endued with greater Skill, may have demonſtrated moſt of theſe Propoſitions with more nicety, but perhaps none with more ſuccinctneſs than I have; eſpecially ſince I alter'd nothing in the number and order of the Author's Propoſitions; nor preſum'd either to take the liberty of rejecting, as leſs neceſſary, any of them, or of reducing ſome of the eaſier ſort into rank of Axioms, as ſeveral have done; and among others, that moſt expert Geometrician A. Tacquetus C. (whom I the more willingly name, becauſe I think it is but civil to acknowledge that I have imitated him in ſome Points) after whoſe most acurate Edition I had no Thoughts of attempting any thing of this nature, till I conſider'd that this moſt learned Man thought fit to publiſh only eight of Euclide's Books, which he took the pains to explain and embelliſh, having in a manner rejected and undervalued the other ſeven, as leſs appertaining to the Elements of Geometry. But my Province was
