_Br. Sar._ Richmond, Septemb. _5th. 1653_. [Illustration: (decorative banner)] To my much Honoured and Ingenuous Cousin, M^r _Richard Ligon_, upon his Relation of his Voyage to the _Barbadoes_. _Since you vouchsafe me sight, I needs must falt, To actuall sin ’gainst your Originall, Should I not more then tacitely expresse It’s worth, as well as mine owne thankfulnesse. Omissive duties, and committed facts In man, you know, an equall guilt contracts. And (though your judge should know the severall Arts, Both what the Colledge and the Court imparts: And Jurates ought to be like the twelve signes, Such Asterismes, where Sol himselfe confines) A common Suffrage nevethelesse may aim, (Not to give verdict) but the gift proclaim. That judgment let me enter. They indite, That here’s vast profit, mixt with high delight; That what’s suppos’d a Narrative, will be To him that reads, a Naturall History. For in that Horison, your pen doth misse, Nor Heaven, Earth, Sea, nor ought that in them is. Not a new Star can scape your Observation, Nor the least Insect passe your Contemplation. Nor use you shortnesse, nor prolixity; But first describe, then speak its property. Me thinks, as_ Pliny, _you are their Relator; And are as_ Adam _too, their_ Nomenclator. _For, to your Insects, Birds, and Vegetives, You give not known, but due Appellatives. Their rich descriptions, when you paint, I see Colours so lively, and such Symmetry: But that I’ve seen the hand, that guides the quill, A Pencill use, ’twere scarce in Limning skill. And when you descant richly, thus, I see Compos’d in severall parts, and all agree, How Chords and Discords too, you do devise, From Sympathies, and from Antipathies. Your Fuges and Poynts into a Canon twine, All true to th’ Ground, that is your main designe: And all Concentring to so sweet an Ayre, Would ravish Philomels, make Swans despair. Your skill above fam’d_ Orpheus _I advance, Since thus your Creatures play, his did but Dance_. _To such as only seek their benefit, You do infallibly discover it: You shew therein_, 3000 l. _will clear No lesse then_ 7000 l. _a year. And that not in a jugling Chymick sense, But drawn from reason and experience_. _The Scite, Clime, Food, the Customs, Laws, and Trade, To each inquisitor is open laid._ _Your Georgick strain seemes to extract the marrow Of_ Marcus, Cato, Columel, _and_ Varro; _As if that there you had the grouth and age Of a_ Palmeto, _to improve each page: And with so great an art and industry, As if you’d studied nought but Husbandry_. _When of your Vegetives you make relation,