to the ensuing stanzas of my worthy friend Alexander Barclay, the priest. But to assemble these fooles in one bande, For if all these fooles were brought into one barge, The sayles are haused, a pleasant coole doth blowe, They runne to our ship, eche one doth greatly feare, And now, friend reader, will I close these prefatory lines, supplicating the interposition of Wisdom in thy favour, that her bright radiance may so expand around thee, as to dissipate from thy reason the noxious vapours of ignorance and folly, urging thee to discard bells, cap, and ladle; assuming in their stead the dazzling spear of Minerva to affright thine adversaries; while, firm in the sacred cause, thou mayest act in unison with myself, and henceforth exclaim, Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum. |