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TO THE READERS.
I Am not ignorant (good Readers) of the manyfold daungers, wherinto (what so euer he be) he wyllyngly, as yt wer, casteth hym self, who publysheth any thyng to the world in wrytyng. The whych confy deration after that I had well weighed, and deepely de∣bated wyth my self, of what mynde I was touchyng the sendyng abroade of thys lytle treatyfe of myne, any man may easely iudge. For I, besydes those sawcy snaphaunces, and murmuryng momi, whome no mans doyngs can ple∣ase but there owne (which fortune I tooke to be com∣mon to me wyth many) foresawe also my self, not wyth∣out good cause in apparence, ready to fall in to the iust and lawfull reprehension, euen of those, whose iudge∣ments I haue alwayes both loued, and feared: the wyser, the learneder and the better sort also. Whylest after so god∣ly, so graue, so exact a worck, most amply treatyng of the same matter: I, of all other moost vnfyt therefore, should seeme to take pen in hand to wryte agayne.
This one cause, appeared to me to be of such impor∣tance, that I was euen fully resolued to stay my hand, and trauell herein no farder. When sodenly (beholde) emon∣gest dyuerse other, it camme to my mynde to thynck, on the earnest desyre, and godly greedy hunger of my pooer countrymen: (I meane not the Catholykes only, but euen of those whome simplicitie not malice hath caused to stray) whereof I was to my great comfort dayly enfor¦med, wyth what labour they fought for, wyth what dili∣gence they harckened after, wyth what sauory appetyte