To the Reader.
This Figure, that thou here ſeeſt put,
It was for gentle Shakeſpeare cut;
Wherein the Graver had a ſtrife
VVith Nature, to out-doo the life:
O, could he but have drawne his VVit
As well in Braſſe, as he hath hit
His Face; the Print vvould then ſurpaſſe
All, that was ever vvrit in Braſſe.
But, ſince he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke.
B. I.
