E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Steven Gibbs, Rory OConor, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Transcriber's note: Text enclosed between curly brackets was Greek in the original and has been transliterated into Latin characters. [Illustration] THE LIVES OF THE III. NORMANS, _KINGS OF_ ENGLAND: WILLIAM the first. WILLIAM the second. HENRIE the first. Written by I. H. MART. _Improbe facit qui in alieno libro ingeniosus est._ [Illustration] IMPRINTED AT LONDON BY _R.B._ _ANNO 1613._ [Illustration] TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE _CHARLES_ _Prince of Wales._ MOST _Illustrious_ PRINCE: Ovr late, too late borne, or too soone _dying Prince, HENRY of famous memorie, your deceased brother, sent for mee, a few monethes before his death. And at my second comming to his presence, among some other speeches, hee complained much of our Histories of England; and that the English Nation, which is inferiour to none in Honourable actions, should be surpassed by all, in leauing the memorie of them to posteritie. For this cause hee blamed the negligence of former ages: as if they were ignorant of their owne deseruings, as if they esteemed themselues vnworthie of their worth._ _I answered, that I conceiued these causes hereof; One, that men of sufficiencie were otherwise employed; either in publicke affaires, or in wrestling with the world, for maintenance or encrease of their priuate estates. Another is, for that men might safely write of others in a tale, but in maner of a History, safely they could not: because, albeit they should write of men long since dead, and whose posteritie is cleane worne out; yet some aliue, finding themselues foule in those vices, which they see obserued, reproued, condemned in others; their guiltinesse maketh them apt to conceiue, that whatsoeuer the words are, the finger pointeth onely at them. The last is, for that the Argument of our English historie hath bene so soiled heretofore by some vnworthie writers, that men of qualitie may esteeme themselues discredited by dealing in it._