CAXTON'S PREFACE.
ALLE vertuouse doctryne techynge had & lerned of suche as haue endeuoured them to leue for a remembraunce after theyr dethe to vs, by whiche we ben enfourmed in scyence, wysedom, and vnderstandyng of knowleche, hou we ought to rewle our self in this present lyf, haue caused vs to know many good reules & vertuouse maners to be gouerned by. Emonge al other this book is a special doctryne & techyng, by which al yong gentyl wymen specially may lerne to bihaue them self vertuously, as wel in their vyrgynyte as in their wedlok & wedowhede, as al along shal be more playnly said in the same; which boke is comen to my handes by the request and desyre of a noble lady which hath brougt forth many noble & fayr douzters which ben vertuously nourisshed & lerned; and for very ziele & loue that she hath alway had to her fayr children, & yet hath for to haue more knouleche in vertue, to thēde y they may alwey perseuere in ye same, hath desired & required me to träslate & reduce this said book out of frenssh in to our vulgar englissh, to thëde that it may the better be vnderstöde of al suche as shal rede or here it. Wherfor, atte cotemplacion of her good grace, after the lytel connyng that god hath sent me, I have endeuoyred me to obeye her noble desyre & request, in whiche werk i fynd many vertuous good enseygnementis & lernynges, by euydent histories of auctorite & good ensāples for al maner peple in generally, but
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