W_e see there is a necessity for our travailing in the common road or_ High-way _of_ Prefacing; _as if the Reader could neither receive nor digest the_ Pabulum mentis, _or fatten by the mental nourishment, without a preparatory. And yet we think it savours neither of civility, nor good manners to fall on without saying something of a grace; but we do not love that it should be so tedious, as to take away your stomack from the meat, and therefore that we may not be condemned for that prolixity we mislike in others, we shall briefly tell you how little we value the favour of such_ Readers, _who take a pride to blast the_ Wits _of others, imagining thereby to augment the reputation of their own: What unexpected success we have obtained in the publication of the former parts, will keep us from despairing, that in this we shall be less fortunate than in the other. But although our_ Books _have been generally received with great applause, and read with much delight and satisfaction, at home and abroad, (having travailed many thousand miles) yet we do not imagine them to be without their_ Errata’s, _for which they have suffered very hard Correction; this is a younger brother to the former, lawfully begotten, and if you will compare their faces, you will find they resemble one another very much: Or else match this pattern with the former cloth, you will find it of the same colour, wool, and spinning, only it having passed the curious hands of an excellent_ Artist, _he hath by shearing and dressing it made it somewhat thinner, and withall finer, than was intended; however we hope it will prove a good_ lasting piece, _and serviceable. You cannot imagin the charge and trouble we have been at, in raising this building, which we must acknowledg was erected upon an old foundation. From the actions of others we gather’d matter, which materials we methodized, and so formed this structure. We challenge nothing but the order; it may be called ours, as the_ Bucentauro _may be now called the same it was some hundred of years since, when the Pope therein first married the_ Duke _of_ Venice _to the_ Seas, _having been from that time so often mended and repaired, as that it is thought, there is not left a chip of her primitive building. So what remarkable stories, and strange relations we have taken up on trust, by hear-say, or otherwise, we have so altered by augmentation, or deminution, (as occasion served) that this may be more properly called a new Composition, rather than an old Collection, of what witty_ Extravagancies _are therein contained. As to the verity of those ingenious Exploits, Subtle Contrivances, crafty projects, horrid villanies_, &c. _we have little to say, but though we shall not assert the truth of them all, yet there are none, which carry not circumstances enough to make apparent their probability. And you may confidently believe, that most of them have been lately acted, though not by one, two, three, a score, nay many more.