TO THE

Most Illustrious and Most Excellent

PRINCE

CHARLES,

PRINCE of WALES,

DUKE of CORNWALL,

EARL of CHESTER, etc.

IT MAY PLEASE YOUR HIGHNESS,

N part of my acknowledgment to your Highness,

IN

I have endeavoured to do honour to the memory of the last King of England, that was ancestor to the King your father and yourself; and was that 5 King to whom both unions may in a sort refer: that of the roses being in him consummate, and that of the kingdoms by him begun: besides, his times deserve it. For he was a wise man, and an excellent King; and yet the times were rough, and full of to mutations, and rare accidents. And it is with imes, as it is with ways: Some are more up-hill and downhill, and some are more flat and plain; and the one

is better for the liver, and the other for the writer. I have not flattered him, but took him to life as well as I could, sitting so far off, and having no better light. It is true, your Highness hath a living pat5 tern, incomparable, of the King your father: But it is not amiss for you also to see one of these ancient pieces. God preserve your Highness.

Your Highness's most humble