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THE AUTHORS PREFACE.
RUscelli (an Italian Author) saith, that it belongeth onely to the most ex∣cellent wits and best refined Iudg∣ments to undertake the making of Devises, and that it is a quality which hath been sought and desired by many, but very few have been able to put it in execution. Paulus Jovius (one of the choicest wits of his time, and the first that enriched us with this Art) confesseth ingenu∣ously, that of himselfe he could never make any one whereof he could be entirely satisfyed. Johannes Andreas Palazzi inferrs from thence, that if it be a difficult matter to frame a Devise, compleated with all its properties, That à Fortiori it is a hard thing to prescribe precepts, and score out the Way to attaine to that perfection. As for my selfe I confesse freely, that being moved unto and instructed by my late Vncle Ro∣bert Estienne in making Devises, eight and twenty yeares agoe, I made a greater quantity then and found it a lesse labor, then now, that I know the excellency and