AL be it (righte excellente prince (your affabilltye and cle­mencie is such, and so great, that all people of euery state and de­gree, as well poore as riche, maye at all conueniente times haue free accesse to your grace, and haue their reasonable suites complayntes, and peticions be­nignely heard, and accordynge to equitee, iustice and good conscience depeched, so that therby it is verye likely that the true knowledge of the state and condicion of the weale publike, is at all tymes to your grace reueled & opened: Yet because (well nere) in all common weales, and aboute all suche noble and good princes, there haue ben some, which for their owne commoditee, aduancement, displeasure or other affecti­on, haue so letted and hindered true report, that it could not frankly come foorthe, it is a thyng much to be fea­red, and with all wisedome and prudence to be foresene, lest any such might perchance hereafter couertly crepe in fauour, as by flatterye and dissimulacion, would en­deuour to abuse your godly gentilnesse, as suche haue dooen the like natures of other most vertuous and worthie gouernours before tyme: and by that meanes not onely blemyshe greatly the immortal prayses that your grace shoulde moost woorthily deserue of all men, for your godly and politike gouernaunce, but also tourne [Page] this noble realme to muche trouble and hindrance. For neuer did there chaunce greatter mischiefe to any com­m [...]n weale, neuer were the vertuous natures of greate rulers so soone corrupted, as either when they haue ben misinstructed and wronge infourmed by flatterers, or els when those that were in moste fauour and credyte, dissimu [...]ing the trueth, in stede of equitee & iustice, haue wrought their owne purposes. Was not the good kyng Darius by wicked persuasiōs induced, euen against his conscience, to committe Daniel the prophete of god, to the daunger of the cruell and hungrie lions? had not the diuelish counsaile of Haman persuaded Assuerus with­out cause to destroy the whole nacion of the Iewes, for malice that he bare to Mardocheus, ne had the singuler prouydence of God in Hester preserued theim? to what misgouernaunce and vicious liuyng did Perennius, Cleander, & other bring the emperour Commodus, notwith­standing the graue and sage counsailours lefte hym by his father Marcus Antonius? did any thing so much cor­rupte the nature of the valiant conqueroure Alexander, and so greatly blemish his fame and glorye, as that he had his eares so open to flatterers? whiche made hym to thinke, that he was the sonne of their greate god Iu­piter? yea almoste that he was a god and no mortall man. Wherfore the wyse emperour Gordian had good cause to saie, that he was a wretched prince, from whom v ertuous counsaile & the trueth of matters was hidde by flatery. Yea (& in mine opinion) it were farre more tolle­rable, that the soueraine were euyll him selfe, then that hys nere friendes, seruauntes, or famylyars, whome he trusteth, should bee flatterers, couetous, or malisyous. For suche persons shal not onely theim selfes dooe mu­che euyl, but also by false informacion, corruptinge the high ruler (if it be possible) allure hym to dooe the lyke, to the peryll and daunger bothe of hym selfe and of the weale publike. Therfore wisemen haue alwayes iudged them most worthie, to be extremely punished, to the example of al other, like as the noble emperour Alexander [Page] for his sharpe iustice named Seuerus, caused Vetronnis Thurinus with smoke to be smuddered to death, because in matters of suite he had taken bribes for false reporte of the emperours fauour. For the noble gouernour suspecting no such eueil to be in them, (for how long wold it be, ere the wilie waies of such subtile re [...]nardes maye be spyed out) may lightly be misledde and do the more [...]o he wold not, if he wist surely how the truth went. And this daunger hath alwayes bene so much the thynge be feared, as that witty men perceyuyng thinges to be in suchewise mishandled by theim that were in great fauour with their princes, durst not, or at the least wold not speake and discouer the greuous hurtes of the com­men weale: some, for feare to be hindred by those fami­liars, & so to lose their dignitees, offices, & auctoritees: some for great hope that they had, to be by their reporte commended, and therby aduaunced to some promocion or high roome in the common weale. So that I gather hereby (righte excellente prince) that of all other it is a thinge mooste difficile and harde to rule well, and for a chiefe magistrate and gouernour to be truly and with­out dissimulacion informed in euerye case, as the nota­ble saying of king Antiochus, doth well declare: who on a time of hunting, being strayed from his company and benighted, was fayne to take for his harborowe, a poore cotage of the countrey, and there, as he was vn­knowen at supper with the vplandishe people, through communication, heard diuers thinges frelye talked of his owne behauour Therfore on the morow, when his ministers brought to him his purpre raiment and dia­deme, he tourning to those ensignes sayed. Sins the time I first began to were you, yesterday only and neuer before I herd the truth frankly spoken. Wherfore the best and most sure waye for a noble gouernour, after the coun­saile of the excellent philosopher Demetrius, is to reade such bookes, as most wittily and pithilye treate of the states of common weales, and namely histories in the which he shall playnelye see sette foorth before his eyes [Page] what best beseemeth him to dooe, what to eschew: what maye aduaunce the state of his common weale, what maye hurte and hynder the same: howe and by what meanes hatred and grudge is bredde toward him, and howe and by what wayes he maye wynne loue and fa­uour: What maketh his realme weake, what maketh it stronge: What maketh it wealthye and riche, what maketh it poore and beggarly: what maketh it floryshe many yeres▪ what maketh it miserable in short space: in bookes shall he lerne to know the wilie flattering foxes, from his sure and trustye friendes: good and faythfull ministers, from false feigning dissemblers: Whom and how he ought to chose his counsaylours, how and what lawes he ought to make. Thus (I saye) he shall learne out of bookes to bee him selfe to him selfe, the best the trustest and surest counsaylour. And for thys consyde­racion wold I wish, that the summes of all such lerned workes, were drawen out into short brigementes, to the ende that prudent gouernours (whych for theyr many­folde affayres and businesses, haue but small tyme of leisure) myghte in liew of other playes, passe the tyme therwyth, like as the Epitome or brigemente of crony­cles is, whych not many yeeres passed was begunne by a studious yong man named Thomas Lanquet, & nowe of late by me finished▪ and continued, from the incarnacion of Christ, to the seconde yere of the reigne of our soueraine lord king Edvvard the sixt. In [...]che forme and ordre that a diligent reader may as in a mirrour behold the state and condicion of all realmes at all times, and know what gouernours ruled theim, how many yeres they reygned, and what notable actes were done in the time of their reigne, whan the Britaines, & likewyse the Scottes, came fyrste into thys lande, with the succession of their kinges, and the whole discourse of the historyes of both countreis: so that ye may perceiue, what notable acte was done in any realme vnder euery king of Eng­land, and what yere of his reigne. For the yeres of the kinges of this land be noted in the margent, wyth the [Page] yere of the worlde and of Christe. In the computacyon wee haue folowed the moste sure accompte of the byble and Hebrews, whiche dyffereth muche from Eusebius and other latine Croniclers. These my labours (suche as they be) most excellent prince, I thought most conue­nient to publish in your Graces name, not for the wel handling of the same, nor yet because I iudged it wor­thie so noble a Prince: but onely as I dyd of late exhi­bite the correction of sir Thomas Eliotes Dictionarie to the kinges most royall maiestee, to testifie my louing and obedient herte toward his highnesse, so doe I nowe offer this symple gyfte to your Grace, as a witnesse or testimonie of the good zeale and loue, whiche all men ought (as well as I) to beare toward you, for your christian and vertuous gouernance, and especial­ly for your godly zeale in aduancyng the true religion of christ: wishing continually with most hertie prayer, that you gouerning vs so benignely, so mercifully, so god­ly, mought alwaye liue in moste happy felicitee, and bringe this diuersitee of opini­ons to a perfite vnite [...] and concorde in Christes doc­trine, that wee with mutuall loue and charitee, and hertye obedience towarde our prince, may geue condigne honour and worshyp vnto god, and im­mortall prai­ses to your name. A­men.