



Produced by Chris Curnow, Chris Jordan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net with
transcriptions from Stephen Rowland and Louise Hope









=Transcriber's notes:=

In the section "To The Reader" our author writes:

_There be, no doubt, some faults committed by the =Printer=, both
Literall and Materiall, and some Errors of the =Gravers= in the
=Figures=, (as in the =Tetragrammaton=; in the Figure of =Arîon=; and
in the =Proprieties= due to some other =Hieroglyphicks=); but, for the
most part, they are such, as =Common-Readers= will never perceive; and
I thinke, that they who are =Judicious= will so plainly finde them to
be no faults of mine; that, leaving them to be amended by those, to
whom they appertaine; and, =You=, to accept of these =Play-games= as
you please: I bid you =Farewell=._

Therefore all oddities and inconsistencies have been left unchanged.
They have been noted at the end of the transcription.

An addendum of transcriptions and translations of the mottoes engraved
around each emblem has been added to the final note as a convenience to
the reader.




A PREPOSITION to this FRONTISPIECE.


    This BOOKE contayning EMBLEMS, ’twas thought fit,
    A _Title-page_ should stand to usher it,
    That’s Emblematicall: And, for that end,
    Our AVTHOR, to the _Graver_ did commend
    A plaine Invention; that it might be wrought,
    According as his Fancie had forethought.
    Insteed thereof, the _Workeman_ brought to light,
    What, here, you see; therein, mistaking quite
    The true _Designe_: And, so (with paines, and cost)
    The first intended FRONTISPIECE, is lost.
      The AVTHOR, was as much displeas’d, as Hee
    In such Adventures, is inclin’d to bee;
    And, halfe resolv’d, to cast this PIECE aside,
    As nothing worth: but, having better ey’d
    Those _Errors_, and _Confusions_, which may, there,
    Blame-worthy (at the first aspect) appeare;
    Hee saw, they fitted many Fantasies
    Much better, then what _Reason_ can devise;
    And, that, the _Graver_ (by meere _Chance_) had hit
    On what, so much transcends the reach of _Wit_,
    As made it seeme, an Object of _Delight_,
    To looke on what, MISFORTVNE brought to light:
    And, here it stands, to try his _Wit_, who lists
    To pumpe the secrets, out of _Cabalists_.
      If any thinke this _Page_ will, now, declare
    The meaning of those _Figures_, which are there,
    They are deceiv’d. For, _Destinie_ denyes
    The utt’ring of such hidden _Mysteries_,
    In these respects: First, _This_ contayneth nought
    Which (in a proper sense) concerneth, ought,
    The _present-Age_: Moreover, tis ordain’d,
    That, none must know the _Secrecies_ contain’d
    Within this PIECE; but, they who are so wise
    To finde them out, by their owne _prudencies_;
    And, hee that can unriddle them, to us,
    Shall stiled be, the second OEDIPVS.
      Tis, likewise, thought expedient, now and then,
    To make some _Worke_, for those _All-knowing men_,
    (To exercise upon) who thinke they see
    The _secret-meanings_, of all things that bee.
      And, lastly, since we finde, that, some there are,
    Who best affect _Inuentions_, which appeare
    Beyond their understandings; _This_, we knew
    A _Representment_, worthy of their view;
      And, here, wee placed it, to be, to these,
      A FRONTISPIECE, in any sense they please.

[Illustration: EMBLEMES. _Illustrated by_ Geo: Wither.]




                                   A
                              COLLECTION
                                  OF
                               EMBLEMES,
                              ANCIENT AND
                               MODERNE:

                               Quickened
                  With METRICALL ILLVSTRATIONS, both
               _Morall_ and _Divine_: And disposed into
                              LOTTERIES,

      That _Jnstruction_, and _Good Counsell_, may bee furthered
                by an Honest and Pleasant _Recreation_.

                          _By_ GEORGE WITHER