Iohn~ More to the chrysten reader.

IT happened me
but late good chrysten
reader, to receyue
and reade in
a booke of a vertuouse
connynge man called
Fryderyk Nausea, a booke of
sermones, surely meruelouse
mete for the season. For as
lenton is a tyme wherof our
sauyour Chryste hym selfe
sheweth vs the ensample that
ought esspecyally to be spent
in fastynge, dyuyne seruyce,
and sermones: so shall not I
thynke a man lyghtly fynde
many sermons made of late,
more frutefull and godly, tha~
I fynde many of hys in that
one booke. Dyuers wherof
after I had onys perused &
redde / and that they so specyally
well lyked me, that I determyned
vtterly wyth my
selfe to translate into oure
tongue some one for mo the
shortnesse of tyme wolde not
suffer before thys insta~t feast
of Easter so nere commynge
vppon before the booke came
to my hand but when I had
so determyned, then fared I
wyth all those as doth some
yonge lewde scatterloue that
went a woynge / whyche hauynge
the choyse of dyuerse,
so indifferently and therwith
so well lyked the~ euerychone,
that wottynge not whyche to
chose fayn wold wedde them
all, and is sory that he maye

a ii.

wedde but one. So I, though
bothe I lyked the tother no
lesse then thys, and as fayne
wolde haue translated them
all as thys one: yet syns I
coulde not do any mo in the
tyme / vppon consyderacyon
that thys sermon most agreed
wyth thys blessed feast of
Easter at hande, as beynge
grounded vppon these wordes:
Hoc facite in mei commemorationem,
I left the rest and choyse
me thys to torne. whyche yet
surely I wolde myche rather
haue wysshed to haue be tra~slatyd
by some other, that better
coulde haue handeled it.
For who had ben able as wel
to haue sette it forth in oure
to~gue & as lyuely as Nausea
hath done it in ye laten, sholde
haue done a thyng very worthy
prayse. But for as myche
as that perfeccyo~ in lernynge
and eloquence, neyther is in
me, no skant can in so yonge
a man be lokyd for: I
muste hu~bly requyre
you all good chrysten
readers, to
accepte my
good
wyll, and
take thys worke
in good
worth.