_So much of them, as (without darkning the matter, to them who most need instruction) may be made use of, to stirre up the =Affections=, winne =Attention=, or help the =Memory=, I approve and make use of, to those good purposes, according as my leisure, and the measure of my =Facultie= will permit; that, =Vanitie= might not, to worse ends, get them wholly into her =Possession=. For, I know that the meanest of such conceites are as pertinent to some, as =Rattles=, and =Hobby-horses= to Children; or as the =A. B. C.= and =Spelling=, were at first to those =Readers=, who are now past them. And, indeed, to despise =Meane Inventions=, =Pleasant Compositions=, and =Verball Elegancies=, (being qualified as is aforesaid) or to banish them out of the world, because there be other things of more excellencie, were as absurd, as to neglect and root out all =Herbes=, which will not make =Pottage=; Or, to destroy all =Flowers=, which are lesse beautifull than the =Tulip=, or lesse sweet than the =Rose=._ _I (that was never so sullenly wise) have alwaies intermingled =Sports= with =Seriousnesse= in my =Inventions=; and, taken in =Verball-conceites=, as they came to hand, without =Affectation=; But, having, ever aymed, rather to profit my =Readers=, than to gaine their praise, I never pumpe for those things; and am, otherwhile, contented to seeme =Foolish=, (yea, and perhaps, more foolish than I am) to the =Overweening-Wise=; that, I may make others =Wiser than they were=: And, (as I now doe) am not ashamed to set forth a =Game at Lots=, or (as it were) a =Puppet-play= in =Pictures=, to allure men to the more serious observation of the profitable =Morals=, couched in these =Emblems=. Neverthelesse, (if some have sayd, and thought truly) my =Poems= have instructed, and rectified many People in the Course of =Honest-living=, (which is the best =Wisedome=) much more than the =Austerer Volumes= of some criticall =Authors=; who, are by the =Common-sort=, therefore onely, judged Wise, because they composed =Books=, which few understand, save they who need them not._ _In these =Lots= and =Emblems=, I have the same ayme which I had in my other =Writings=: and, though I have not dressed them sutably to curious =Fancies=, yet, they yield wholsome nourishment to strengthen the constitution of a =Good-life=; and, have solidity enough for a =Play game=, which was but Accidentally composed; and, by this =Occasion=._