_I have often observed, that where the =Summer-bowers= of Recreation are placed neare the =Church=, it drawes thither more people from the remote =Hamlets=, than would else be there. Now, though I praise not their =Devotion=, yet I am glad if any thing (which is not evill in it selfe) may be made an occasion of =Good=: (because, those things may, perhaps, be continued, at last, for Conscience sake, which were at first begunne upon vaine =occasions=) and, have therefore added =Lotteries= to these =Emblems=, to occasion the more frequent notice of the =Morals=, and good =Counsels= tendred in their =Illustrations=; hoping that, at one time or other, some shall draw those =Lots=, which will make them the better, and the happier, whilest they live. I confesse that this Devise may probably be censured, as unsutable to the gravitie expected in my ripe yeares: and be reputed as great an Indecorum, as erecting an =Ale-house= at the =Church-stile=; yet, the same having had beginning in my younger dayes, I do now resolve not to be ashamed of it, for the Reasons aforementioned. To such as I was, it will be someway avayleable: and perhaps, if the =Wisest= did otherwhile, when they walke abroad, to =Vncertaine purposes=, take up this =Booke=, and (without =Superstitious Conceites=) make tryall what their =Lots= would remember, or give them cause to thinke on; it might, now and then, either occasion better =Proceedings=, or prevent =Mischieves=._ _Some =Games= were ever in use; ever, I thinke, will be, and for ought I know, ever may be without exception. And, I believe, this =Recreation=, will be as harmlesse as any, if it be used according to my Intentions. For, my meaning is not, that any should use it as an =Oracle=, which could signifie, infallibly, what is divinely alloted; but, to serve onely for a =Morall Pastime=. And, that I may no way encourage the secret entertaining of such a =Fantasie=, I doe before hand affirme unto them, that none but =Children=, or =Ideots= may be tollerated to be so foolish, without laughing at._ _Yet, if any one shall draw that =Lot= wherein his =Secret vices= are reproved; or some good Counsels proposed, which in his owne understanding are pertinent to his welfare, let not such as =those=, passe them over as meere =Casualties= to them; for, whatsoever these =Lots= are to =others=, or in =themselves=, they are to all =these=, made pertinent in such cases, both by their particular =Knowledges= and =Occasions=._