I Was determined, most worthy Gent. for so I must tearme the mathematicall Clients: to haue freely bestowed vpon you sun­dry conclusions in the Quadri­uials, both pleasant, profitable, and necessarie: which I haue by my reading and long practise: (for I take thirty yeares to be a large stitch in a short age,) gathered, experienced, and so sorted together, as I had thereupon after the homliest fashion framed, and prepared my ingre­dience thereunto. But perceiuing that the wor­king, setting out, and cutting, of the same to the Presse, would be full of charges: that your selues first trained and taught therein by briefe, apt, and liuely demonstrations, shall the beeter vn­derstand and carrie, what hereafter may be writ­ten, as also through some other especiall conside­rations mouing me heereunto, I haue altered the whole course of my passage, and am resolued to stay the same in my pen, vntil better oportunitie, only giuing you now a tast herby of the differēce of certaine Instruments vsed in our practise, wher­by [Page 2] you may so make your choise of the same, as you shall neither bee wearied with tediousnes, nor defrayed, and put of with vncertaintie and errour. Why I had determined before, and doe now set downe as followeth, groweth vpon the infinite and extreame imperfections, that I finde in most places where I become, to be daily com­mitted, aswell in measure, as platting of lande to any vse, or purpose whatsoeuer: which are such and so manie, as the people generally beginne to doubt, whether there be any certainety, and per­section, in the operation of such instruments as are applied thereunto, yea, or not. The practise hereof for surueigh of lands and tenements, is but new, and scarsely established: notwithstanding I doe affirme and vndertake, that it is certaine, per­fect, and true, without any want or defect: and to the saide vse of Surueigh of all other deuices by bookes or otherwise most sure and lasting. It were then an exceeding losse to the common weale, a dangerous harming of peace betweene the Lord and his tenants, between neighbor and neighbour &c. which otherwise by such Serueighs might bee kept sound and inuiolate: and a foule blemish vnto learning and knowledge, if this ex­cellent practise should bee ouerthrowne, and de­stroid by abusing the same. And although my hast and vnreadines to this my alteration, are like­ly to performe but an homly admonition, the one bringing forth a blind birth, and the other an vn­shapen lump: yet may nine daies cherishing giue [Page 3] light to the first, and nine howers licking put fa­shion to the laste. And your selues (if you please) make such fauorable regard, & acceptation therof as it may bee sufficient and full to the purpose whereunto it is bent: assuring all persones whatso­euer, that myne intention is not to the offence of any one, but onely for the preferring of trueth in these actions. That I may auoid confusion in de­liuery of your cates, and wanne hope of better cheare, at our meeting, then you are likely to find. I will briefely set downe, what shal be your fare. You shal first haue a plain table, faire spread, with white couer: which may peraduenture, in see­ming promise vnto you many dainties, although vpon triall, it will hardely performe sufficient ne­cessaries. It is so plaine, smooth, and square, with­out hilles or dales, ascentes or descentes, bread rising or drinke sinking: as it offereth not so much as a Proficiat with the smoothnes, nor the perfect closing of a Circular conclusion with the square­nes. Ther is also the staffe, Astrolabe, Square, Ring Ruler, Circumferentor, Sector, and halfe protrac­tor, with infinite such other, framed after the fan­tasie of the Deuisor: all which scarcely perfect parcels and lims of the Sphericall mouer, I do e­steeme, and regard for their vses in demonstration accordingly. And the plaine table, and some of the rest, for platting and forming of summe plain parcels of land, to the measure, I alow and mis­like not. But for exact workmāship of almaner of euen and vnleuel subiects Ad infinitum, for sur­ueigh [Page 4] and entrie of euidence, for perpetuitie: neither the one of them, or the other, as they are yet prepared, is meete and sufficient.

Take lastly therefore the Theodolite, or Sphe­ricall Instrument fully furnished, with her partes, aptly appoynted, for the through, and exact ac­complishment both by Sea & land, of all practise for measure whatsoeuer: and in the same inclu­ded, the perfection of al maner of platting, leading you with facility, expeditiō, & pleasure, by leuels & plaines, hilles & dales, rough & smooth where­soeuer. Now it resteth that I craue fauorable pati­ence of al Surueighors, stewards, & land measu­res, vsing the former Instruments only for a feaw wordes, promising my selfe readie, not onely to heare, but also to be reformed, if I shall report a­ny thing amisse. Twentie and fiue yeares past or there abouts I vsed the said table, sometime dire­cted by needles, sometime by the former Station, as is nowe vsed, sometime in the middle of the cloase, some time by the bounders &c. I cōsidered hir defectes, neglected the same, and tooke mee wholy to thee Theodolite, whereupon, I haue euer since practised, to the daily increase of my liking, as well for perfection, and expedition, as for the infinite, and rare vses thereof, being accor­dingly prepared. The table through her lightnes, and shrinking to the wether, is tottering, and vn­sure, and oftentimes dangerous: euen by the hea­uy and grosse handling thereof. The pointes, lines, and other obseruations, are againe often so [Page 5] blemished, and blurred with wette, as their vse is thereby cleane taken away: and the same other­while, so put downe in hast, for feare of a storme, as maketh great difference in a smal scale, neyther is there any comparison in a poynt, lyne, angle or measure wrought in the fieldes and foule we­ther, vnto the operations, framed in a well lighted house, vpon a faire leuell, and smooth table: the eye & hand hanging plumme ouer the worke, to be set downe vpon Angles, measures, & all other regardes curiously taken, and noted abroad. The Stations made by the bourd, are commonly short and therefore the more errors. The sightes of her Index are in many of them more than a foote e­rected from the base, and I haue often tried the perpendicular of the radius, or visual line to fault a straw bredth from the fiduciall side of their Scale: which happeneth aswell by the great di­staunce aforesaid, as also in that their saide Scale, is sometime thicker on the one side, then on the other: besides the sturring and vntrue placing of the same vnto their last line drawne on their pa­per. If they haue not large and perfect needles (which they seldome or neuer vse) they direct their instrument from their last station, wher they leaue commonly one standing: and there is also an errour, through the thicknes, or sturring of that person, besides doubling of the same fault, in their next Angle, taken likewise vppon their for most measurer. And one errour committed in these practises, suffereth a multiplication infinite [Page 10] in asmuch as is after sollowing and depending: And in great labors, of fiue or sixe weekes in the fieldes: the charges of such one needlesse person, is more then noted of such honest gentle men, as would willingly but beare the necessarie expen­ces of a perfect Surueigh, as is also the losse of time, made by that whole companie in a tempe­stious season. Againe, they are tied to their Scale, and cannot alter the same at their pleasure, ney­ther take they aduantage of all places within the Circuit of their charge, taking vp their trauayle at Randon, for their ease, and most aduantage: but must begin where they left: and if they make an intollerable fault, they are inforced to worke and worke ouer againe. Moreouer it is a difficult toyle and almost impossible to knit and fasten togither exactly as they ought their seueral labors, in sin­gle papers made of the fieldes and closes particu­larly taken, although there be that in certain passa­ges, cutteth and crosseth ouer the whole worke, (which is as as vncertaine as the rest) with sundry other inconueniences as them selues do confesse. But the thing indeede which causeth their ineuitable errors, & hath perswaded many wise and excellent persons, to doubt whether there be perfection in mapping of landes and tenements for Surueigh, yea or not, is the vneuenes of the groundes, by their great difference, in hill and dale, from a leuell superficies, in that wee are ne­cessarily compelled to put downe our practise vp­vpon bookes that are leuel and smooth, Hpcopus [Page 11] est hic labor. Here is the hardnes of the Prouince, the roote of the sore, & pinch of the Shooe Here (as children skipp where they cannot read) they are driuen at an ouerclose, to draw out their line, and at an vndershut, onely by ayme and ran­don, to take in the same, they woat not where, ne­ther skilleth it much, for the fault is euery where. To module, & imbosse their books, after the na­ture of the ground, were tedious, difficult, infinit, & almost impossible: And if al these preceeding defectes, wants, & inconueniences were not inci­dent vnto the Table, and instruments aforesaide, yet should this mine errour (if it be any) be draw­en into a heresie: because I assure you, I haue not hitherto seene any one thing for Surueigh, by that, or like instrument perfectly concluded, but commonly the hedges and bounders laid straight or little better, from angle to angle, are extreeme­ly differing both in forme, measure and content, frō their original it selfe. And I haue seen seueral measuremēts takē by the plain table, & set down particularly vnder sūdry mens hands, differing xv acres, from the most vnto the least, in the summe of one hundred and twenty, valued and sold, at nine pounds, and ten shillings, for euery acre. And in my cōming to London, this last Tearme, I saw a plaine Table, man (mary he was a plum­ber, and had learned from a Painter) in lesse than an acre and halfe, of leuell marrish grounde taken by some [...]oure, stations fel short at his cloase two pearches at the least. And an ancient country [Page 8] measurer at the same time, a man highly regarded among his neighbors, for his vndoubted skill: dif­fered in one hundred & ten akers, two and twen­ty at the least, in two seuerall measures, taken and set downe onely by himselfe. But they saie the table is easie and plaine. It is so indeed, as many do vse it, and a boy of twelfe yeares of age, may in three houres learne as much as some of them doe performe vpon the same. But, Aspera ad virtutem via, & quò pulchrius eo difficilius. Would they come by so sweete a curnell, without cracking of the Nutte? They are termed Surueighors, if they but once shewe forth a plaine table: and are content to arrogate and challenge that name to them selues: but they must turne a new leafe, and take forther an other lesson before they finish a good and perfit Surueigh of a manner or Lord­ship in all parts as are requisite and meete: I speake onely of such as haue not the toungs, lear­ning, experience and other abiliments necessarie thereunto. And now to the Theodolite: Let the same be massie, & transparant (if you may) large & perfectly deuided, close & ful vpon the supporter or staffe, with an Index equally mouing, & needle true, and well hanging, togither such other fur­niture, as I will ad to the same, and it shall not on­ly remooue euerie defect, and inconuenience of the plaine table, and all other instruments a­foresaid but also readily accomplishe in mea­sure & Platting, whatsoeuer you may wish, and duely desire. Enter then your practise for a coun­try, [Page 9] manner, Lordship &c. In the middle, or where you best like, obserue, and quote your Angles e­uery way as they light: sometime halfe a dozen at a station, more or lesse, and follow on for your most aduantage, so as if the inclosures, & grounds be but indifferently readie, and handsome: you may make a particular dispatch dayly of foure or fiue hundred acres at the least. You shall in your passage vpon long stations (if the subiect so ser­ueth) readily obserue euery curue, bending, & de­clination of your hedges, bounders, watercourses, or other tractes whatsoeuer. Also the scites of buildings, with their lengthes, bredthes & forms: togither with gates, stiles, barres, waterings, plumpes of trees, tofts, banckes, turnes of ditches, and whatsoeuer else meete to be considered. And besides in vnleauell and vneuen grounds, the dif­ference of the superficiall and essentiall line, from the horizontal and base: which line you shall skillfully sincke, or erect vpon your booke, vnto your first intēded leuel (for of necessity that must bee done) so as the iust content of such vneuen grounds be not any way harmed: neither the par­cels contigue, or adioyning maymed, or defor­med: and yet euery mans seueral interest, clayme, and demaund, perfectly bounded and preserued, yea although in time to come, al maner of hedges and diuisions should bee cleane pluckt vp by the rootes. Finally, the saide instrument hole, and vn­halting, as it carrieth the forme of the first mo­uer, which commandeth all inferior creatures, [Page 14] and is preferred as most perfect and capeable, by the wisedome and ordinance of the Creator: so in vse and operation (if ye looke skilfully there­into, this Theodolite commandeth euerie one of her subiects. It carieth in it selfe all manner of of Angles, measures, numbers and proportions, I might say waight, for myne is neere twentie pounds Troie (see howe I trifle.) It enforceth grounds in what quantitie soeuer, be it ten thou­sand acres vnto the forme, likenes and similitude of any figure in the worlde, varying againe the same any way at your pleasure, so full and ex­actly, as any Artificer may set out his deuise with ruler and compasse: It presently deuideth, such or any other quantity of land into so manye equal, or limited differing parts, as you would de sire: & euery one of thē, into what forme or forms your selfe shal best like of, which is also necessarie for Surueighors, Builders, Imparkers, Gardners, Planters and such like. Touching many wordes, and much a doe about Reduction of figures, after Euclides demonstrations: I tell you truely the same Ingine carrieth in it selfe Euclide, Pithagoras, Archimedes, Architas, and the rest, with their points, Draughtes, Lines, Theoremes, Theoricks, Propositions, Figures, and Mathe­maticall conclusions, not in Elements, shewes, speculations, and demonstrations, but in the work & operation it selfe, wherunto they were de­uised & framed. And I wil not doubt, in such or & any other quantity of land, as is aforsaid, forme & set out in portraiture (if you shew me his shape) [...] wel Euclid himselfe, as euery one of his works [Page 15] and conclusions. And whereas a skilfull person (vnto me vnknowne, yet duely regarded, for re­port of his learning,) was lately imployed (as I I heare) in bounding the libertie for the Vniuer­sitie of Oxford, touching their prouision to bee taken in markets there, without inpeachment of her Maiesties Officers &c. I doubt not but that hee in tracting his limited distance (whether of foure or fiue miles, in a straight line from his cen­ter, caried himselfe in a Circular motion equally distaunt from the same, vnto his first Circumfe­rential station, for the accomplishment thereof: for (in my opinion,) that was both the best, and readiest way, for the well performance of so rare and worthie an exployt. And this said instrument prepared as before, for the regard of vneuen, and vnleuell grounds, doth artificially frame & rayse vp, Hilles, Mountes and walkes whether for, for­tification or pleasure, so diuersely wel formed as may yeeld an especiall lyking and contentment to the beholders thereof: and is a secreat in the Theodolite, so lately by me found out, as I haue not yet any wher practised the same. For platting of groūds inaccessible, grounds surrounded with water, with gaging their difference, in ascent, & discent &c. true forming the frontiers & coasts of any country in your Sea passage, lying within your kenning, & infinit such other conclusions, as they are incident and necessary to surueigh, so may they by that instrument be aptly performed in measure of all sortes, superficiall, and solide, Regular and irregular, acessible and in acessible, [Page 12] it commandeth so roundly and full, as I haue not yet knowen any mensurable subiect, priueledged and freed from the force of the same: whether in celestiall or terrestriall regions. And I thinke it a matter both pleasant and profitable, that but once seated in the middle of a quadrangle sump­tuously builded about, I may take (by pitching & fastning my instrument onely in that place) all manner of measures there subiect to myne eye whatsoeuer, aswell for the regard of the woorke­mens labour, of all sortes (knowing their alow­ance,) as for the carrying away of a perfect plat, for framing the like. I haue also prepared my in­strument for the erection of Dials horizontal, murall &c. aswell for finding the meridian, and all other plagues, as the declination, and difference of walles and other perpendiculars, from the same, which in such actions, are especi­ally to bee regarded. And thus much for the in­strument, which some peraduenture will thinke to bee spoken confidently, peremptorilie, and with a touch of presumption: as if I had or would haue some prettie skill in the same: But if I haue therein taken a note aboue Ela, or drawne be­yond the nocke, I haue but abounded in my sence, and been partiall in commending for my choyse and best liking: The maner how to vse this instrument to the purposes aforesaid, and such other like: The method for taking, and setting downe of the notes, and quotations, of all things therein to be obserued: The perfect and [Page 13] pleasant waie of protracting the same, with the forme of your instrument, so readie and apt to that purpose, as you may well laie out and worke in one daie so much as you shall be able to take abroade in fiue: and heerein is to bee considered, that you may keep your said quotations sor­ted and filed vp in order, as you may set them out by any scale at all times, when you please: the calendring & re­ariuing of euidence, the trying and beating out of doubts & concealments, on your plat, much readier than in the fields the quickning & reuiuing of landes, rents, seruices, heriots, &c. the drawing & preparing of tenants to a wil­lingnes for information, where euidence are scant▪ the reading and vnderstanding of ancient records, of al sorts, with renuing the olde letter, worne, blemished, & oblite­rate: the cleane, readie, and exact taking awaie of your paper boooke thus finished, into velom maps, although it were of a duzen or sixteen skinnes put together, which I haue in my time performed (for so wold the owner haue it) and yet but by a small & competent scale: the ingros­sing and perfecting vp of the same, with all your entries accordingly: the pullishing, washing, and trimming vp your booke, with all things to a full Surueigh appertain­ing, (for all this ought to bee done and finished by your selues, and no stranger ought to be made priuie to such e­uidence: the charge of a court of Surueigh, Court Baron and Leet: the best and readiest manner of contracting all differing scales into greater or lesser formes: the manner of taking Longitudes, Latitudes, Altitudes, and Profun­dities redily, without anie knowen instrument or Engine of price: the vse of the Globe and Cosmographers glasse: the framing of Dials, Horizontals, Murals, Nocturnalls, &c: the preparing of the Astronomers staffe, the sea or Ia­cobs staffe, with their mother and ground from whence [Page 14] they are truely pricked, the frames for building, and mo­duling the same, with sundry necessarie points in per­spectiue, for setting out of your plats besides Arethme­ticke, and Geometrie for the performance of the premis­ses: I will in a very short time (by Gods helpe) shew, and deliuer vnto you. Neither may I heere omit to saie some what touching the vse, benefite, and commoditie of a Surueigh so perfected, & done. First it setteth downe the scituation and place of the whole Manner or Lordship it selfe, with the scite of the courte or maner house, or hall place, mesuages, Tenements, Curtilages, Mylles, Doue­houses, Barnes, Stables, Cotages, Tostes, Rouels &c. built or decayed, in their full number, measure and forme: Chasses, Parkes, Warranes, Woodes, Fieldes, Closes, Pa­stures, Pikles, and euery parcel of Land, lying within the boundes, thereof, in their exact measure: fashion and quantitie, with differing the Meadowes, Pastures a­rable, and Woode seuerally by themselues, wherein the bounders and abbuttals of euery praticular is so wholy put downe, as no booke may bee comparable with the same. There are also obserued the deuisions betweene parcel and parcel, whether by Wall, Pale, Hedge, ditch, Watercourse, Stantile, or meere. Item all Riuers, Brooks, Grindels, Pittes, Waterings, Waies, Lanes, Chases, Drifts, Packewaies, Pathes, Gates, Barres, and Stiles what soeuer. The true placing whereof, bringeth perfection to the woorke, and may in time to come bee many waies most necessarie and profitable. Heere haue you also eue­ry parcel ready measured, to all purposes: you may also see vpon the same, how conueniently this or that ground may be layd to this or that tenement or messuage, aswel in regard of waies, water, floud, or otherwise: which is a thing much helping and conducing to a partition, or [Page 15] deuision of such manner, or Lordship. If you will seuer any fielde or cloase into two or more parcels: the Scale will readily bewray how many perches, & feet shall per­forme the same, and where may be the rediest cut, and with what charge accomplished. If you should happen to buye any land, lying within that Circuit, and no part of the maner, the scituation and content of the same is al­so apparent. If you wil regard the groweth of the woods, and value thereof, that may you doe also vpon the Plat, hauing kept proportion in the same also by your Scale as you ought. And lastely, wheras infinite lands and tene­ments, and in the same, rents, seruyces, heriots &c. are de­cayed and concealed in sundry Honors, Castels, Lord­ships and Manners, aswel by turning arable into pasture, &c. as by blemishing and plucking vp of bounders and and meeres: besides altering and changing the names of furlongs, waies, chases and pathes, yea and taking away the vse of the same, notwithstanding their auncient and faire bookes, for the abbuttals thereof: the surueigh by plat, suffereth no such inconuenience, but shall be for continuall euidence, and perpetuall preseruation of all Landes and tenements, vnto the owners thereof, that are contayned and set downe in the same. And therefore vp­on the perfecting of any such surueigh, you may make a faire parchment booke with a large margent, you may enter, & ingrosse the same from the saide Plat, & giue it date accordingly. At euery alienation & change of Te­naunts, landelolders, and Farmours, their names shal be registred and quoted in the same margent, concurring with their tenures, by the steward, surueighor or clark of the lands, for the time being: wherby all concealements and other abuses (if any shal be practised) shall not onely at al times here after plainly appeare, but also be readyly [Page 16] and truely helped and reformed: although euery deuy­tion and bounder we re clearely remoued. A bout twen­ty yeares since, in the controuersie for a sheeps course or walke, my hap was to be imployed for laying out of the mariners compasse, which directed the circuit & bounds of the same course, by measures of pearches, & the points of that instrument: I tracted the same by my Theodolite, in such sort, as I fitted the booke, found truly the bounds, & lighted vpon the dooles, that were sunke two or three foot into the ground, wherby I considered of what force a bounder by plat might be in time to come, which carri­eth the hedges at a haire breadth by a circular diuision of infinite parts. This Instrument then being most necessa­rie vnto all noble, rare, & excellent practise with Geome­trie, Arithmetike, and Cosmographie, her especial atten­dants, are of al persons generally highly to be regarded, as the principles and grounds of all skil whatsoeuer, conclu­ding in a worde, that to attempt the performaunce of an high and loftie exploit without these things, is but to la­bor and toile for the purity of a speech, without rules and direction set downe for the same. Heereof Plato, Aristo­tle, Galen, Hipocrates, and other the princes of their pro­fessions, did separate an expload from the schools of their practise such as were ignorant in Geometrie & Arithme­tike, as vncapable and vnmeet of and for the apprehensi­on of knowledge. And if ye consider the natures, places, and motions of the celestiall parts, together with the cie­ation, forme & order of the inferior bodies, you shall well perceiue that neither waight, number, measure and pro­portion is omitted in the one, or anie maner of way wan­ting in the other. And from the first part of Architecture, euen to the daubing vp of the wals (for they saie there is cunning in daubing) all these partes are necessarily to be [Page 17] had & obserued. For, omitting the foundations, studdes, sels, dormors, sparres, and couer, if the dauber fitteth not his escotchbars to the studs, his splent to the scotchbas, his cllay to the splents, and pergit to the clay accordingly the wals shall cause you either to sit a cold in winter with their tightnes, or shrinke & vtterly fall downe in summer with their heauinesse. And because the vse is so generall, (not that I would haue you to be daubers) and the proc­tise so plesant (for no exercise can be more delicious to an heroicall mind) I doubt not but you will the rather haue regard to my words & willingnes to skil. Touching these sundry deuices of smal instruments, almost infinit, which they pull out of their purses, pockets, sleeues, &c. I see no great vse of the same, more than for a fewe demonstrati­ons: and in the infancie of my practise, I also trifled with the like. I hope they meane not to contend in contracti­on or abreuiation, for then I am with them to bring, as old as I am, yet is the eie the first member that decaieth, as the finest die is the first cloth that staineth: but in earnest the assiduate practise of the Mathematiks will require two of the best that you haue. I thought vppon the shew of the same they haue surfeted with abundaunce of know­ledg, as banqueters trifle with their trencheis when their bellies are full: or such as swim in diuersitie of opinions, being glutted with gladnes: but I found it far otherwise, and vpon regard of their yeeres, practise, and other abili­ments for learning, I suspected it but a deuice to hold on their clients. But to the purpose. As these studies are the grounds & mother of al perfection in operation, so wold I haue such Engines in vse (for the larger are the surer) as might performe their actions fully and whole. And in platting of a Countie or Shire, except (ouer and aboue the sight of the parish church, & tract of the riuers (which [Page 18] are hardly obserued) they doo laie out the true bounder, purrell, and procession of the same: the waies running thorough, and forme of the buildings there, with obser­uation of chases, parkes, woods, and such like to be regar­ded for the scituation of the place (which may bee done neere as readily as the first, and in volume small inough) I finde no such vse of the thing as may counteruaile the charge. And the like regard I make in setting out a Citie, Borough, and Towne, except you so laie out the streets, waies, and allies, as may serue for a iust measure for pa­uing thereof, distance betweene place and place, and such other thinges of vse: the buildings of all sortes in their number, measure, forme & proportion, as each mans in­terest, claim, and demand may truly appeare, with a per­fect regarde of waters, bridges, fields, cloases, orchardes, gardens, walkes, &c. lying and beeing within the bounds and limits of the same. And whereas I lately complained of the great and intollerable abuses daily committed in platting & measuring of landes, as wel for demise & sale, as for setting downe of euidence, which (in my opinion) would by authority be preuented and met with, as are o­ther inconueniences in things far baser than land) I was answered by a master in that profession, that the falt only rested in such schollers as would not abide and tarrie out sufficient instructions: and that no doubt (besides the in­sufficiencie of their instruments (as is aforesayd) may bee some part of the cause. For, the Mathematikes (without great heed and discretion) breedeth ouermuch seueritie in olde folks, & exceeding selfe liking in such as are yong. And I wot not from whence it hath happened, that anie should vndertake to teach The Art of Arithmetike (which I take to be the summe of all knowledge Arithmetical) and if they could performe so much in waight, measure, [Page 19] and proportion, they might certainly vndertake the ac­complishment of more than I dare now for to speake of. It is sayde that so much as wee maye attaine vnto of the same, was deliuered from God vnto Adam, and from him vnto his posteritie, and the thing it selfe, with the partes aforesayd, are so full of perfection & continuance as they may not be thought to be the inuention of mor­talitie and corruption. And in shutting vp this point, to haue sayd, That an acre of land may not be layd square, in a li­mited line of numerall denominators, was vnder the ordi­narie and common practise of Arithmetike, yet dyd the partie confesse that it might by instrument bee lineallye performed: as if there were anie line to bee made that were not commensurable. Item, to haue confidently af­firmed, that placed in the eleuation of 60. and mouing from thence vnto the East, wee must of necessitie come vnto the equi­noctiall, accordeth not with the knowledge of the sphere & vse of the gloabe, for we shall then come into the East when wee are once in the Tropike of Cancer, which children knowe to bee more than xxiij. degrees from the Equinoctiall Northward. And to be of opinion that in platting of vneuen & vnleuell grounds, the difference of the superficiall or essentiall line from the Horizontall or base, is to bee considered and helped onely by discre­tion, is no more but nicely to offend, and willingly to erre in an aimed proportion. For teaching the vse and demon­stration of all manner of Geometricall instruments, and the vse of all instruments fitting for nauigation, &c. I saie, Quod nemo didicit, nemo docere potest: more peremptorie than Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici. But who so vndertaketh to leape or hee look, may happē to hurt himself by lighting vpon things that hee neyther seeth, knoweth, nor vnderstand­eth. And I coulde happilye shewe somewhat my [Page 20] selfe in those matters, that a scholler of good yeres would in smiling sort confesse, and saie, Beati qui intelligunt. Wel, God so loue mee, as I loue and loue agayne all louers of knowledge, especiallye in these matters. And for anie thing heerein by mee promised, I hope (with Gods assistance) fully to performe, and heereafter for helpe of your memories, and benefit of other (if al things may fit) I will (notwithstanding the charges of grounding and framing the conclusions, besides cutting them to the presse) giue forth to the world so much as in my time by reading and practise haue fallen vnto my lot, and maye come to remembrance. Meane while I remaine at your pleasures, for the purpose aforesayd, not doubting but to satisfie your desire farre beyonde your expectation, and home to your liking. At mine entrie hereinto, I doubted of the shortnes of my store, for so straighted an argumēt, but or I wist, I had exceeded the forme of a Bill, and was almost come to the fashion of a booke. I perceiued then I was drawing of Circles. But least I should finde no ende in my circle, as the blind Iade in the horsemill knoweth no measure of his turning, I will heere cease circling for this time, wishing vnto you generally all maner of good, and in your desire of skill the perfection of knowledge in the dighest degree.