TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND EXCELLENT

PRINCE CHARLES,

SON AND HEIR OF HIS MOST SERENE MAJESTY, KING JAMES.

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Most Illustrious and Excellent Prince,

THE first fruits of my Natural History I most humbly offer to your Highness; a thing like a grain of mustard-seed, very small in itself, yet a pledge of those things which by the grace of God will come hereafter. For I have bound myself as by a vow every month that the goodness of God (whose glory is sung as in a new song) shall add to my life, to complete and set forth one or more parts of it, according as they be more or less difficult or extensive. It may be also that others will be stirred by my example to a like industry; especially when they shall fully understand what it is that we are about. For a sound and well-ordered Natural History is the key of all knowledge and operation. That God may long preserve your Highness in His keeping is the prayer of

Your Majesty's humble and devoted Servant,

FR. ST. ALBAN.

TITLES OF THE HISTORIES AND INQUIRIES

DESIGNED FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS.

History of the Winds.

History of Dense and Rare, and of the Contraction and

Expansion of Matter in Space.

History of Heavy and Light.

History of the Sympathy and Antipathy of Things. History of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.

History of Life and Death.