Iohn~ More to the chrysten reader.

IT happened me 1
but late good chrysten 2
reader, to receyue 3
and reade in 4
a booke of a vertuouse 5
connynge man called 6
Fryderyk Nausea, a booke of 7
sermones, surely meruelouse 8
mete for the season. For as 9
lenton is a tyme wherof our 10
sauyour Chryste hym selfe 11
sheweth vs the ensample that 12
ought esspecyally to be spent 13
in fastynge, dyuyne seruyce, 14
and sermones: so shall not I 15
thynke a man lyghtly fynde 16
many sermons made of late, 17
more frutefull and godly, tha~ 18
I fynde many of hys in that 19
one booke. Dyuers wherof 20
after I had onys perused & 21
redde / and that they so specyally 22
well lyked me, that I determyned 23
vtterly wyth my 24
selfe to translate into oure 25
tongue some one for mo the 26
shortnesse of tyme wolde not 27
suffer before thys insta~t feast 28
of Easter so nere commynge 29
vppon before the booke came 30
to my hand but when I had 31
so determyned, then fared I 32
wyth all those as doth some 33
yonge lewde scatterloue that 34
went a woynge / whyche hauynge 35
the choyse of dyuerse, 36
so indifferently and therwith 37
so well lyked the~ euerychone, 38
that wottynge not whyche to 39
chose fayn wold wedde them 40
all, and is sory that he maye 41

a ii.

wedde but one. So I, though 42
bothe I lyked the tother no 43
lesse then thys, and as fayne 44
wolde haue translated them 45
all as thys one: yet syns I 46
coulde not do any mo in the 47
tyme / vppon consyderacyon 48
that thys sermon most agreed 49
wyth thys blessed feast of 50
Easter at hande, as beynge 51
grounded vppon these wordes: 52
Hoc facite in mei commemorationem, 53
I left the rest and choyse 54
me thys to torne. whyche yet 55
surely I wolde myche rather 56
haue wysshed to haue be tra~slatyd 57
by some other, that better 58
coulde haue handeled it.59
For who had ben able as wel 60
to haue sette it forth in oure 61
to~gue & as lyuely as Nausea 62
hath done it in ye laten, sholde 63
haue done a thyng very worthy 64
prayse. But for as myche 65
as that perfeccyo~ in lernynge 66
and eloquence, neyther is in 67
me, no skant can in so yonge 68
a man be lokyd for: I 69
muste hu~bly requyre 70
you all good chrysten 71
readers, to 72
accepte my 73
good 74
wyll, and 75
take thys worke 76
in good 77
worth.78