atte bowe."

Lastly, quaint old Fuller shall lend an appropriate Epilogue. "I
stand ready," said he (1672), "with a pencil in one hand, and a spunge
in the other, to add, alter, insert, efface, enlarge, and delete,
according to better information. And if these my pains shall be
found worthy to passe a second Impression, my faults I will
confess with shame, and amend with thankfulnesse, to such as will
contribute clearer intelligence unto me."

1895.

[xiii]

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

On its First Reading, a Bill drafted in Parliament meets with
acquiescence from the House on both sides mainly because its
merits and demerits are to be more deliberately questioned when it
comes up again in the future for a second closer Reading,
Meanwhile, its faults can be amended, and its omissions supplied:
fresh clauses can be introduced: and the whole scheme of the Bill
can be better adapted to the spirit of the House inferred from its
first reception.

In somewhat similar fashion the Second Edition of "Herbal
Simples" is now submitted to a Parliament of readers with the
belief that its ultimate success, or failure of purpose, is to depend
on its present revised contents, and the amplified scope of its
chapters.

The criticism which public journalists, not a few, thought proper to
pass on its First Edition have been attentively considered herein. It
is true their comments were in some cases so conflicting as to be
difficult of practical appliance. The fabled old man and his ass
stand always in traditional warning against futile attempts to
satisfy inconsistent objectors, or to carry into effect suggestions
made by irreconcilable censors. "_Quot homines, tot [xiv]
sententioe_," is an adage signally verified when a fresh venture is
made on the waters of chartered opinion. How shall the perplexed
navigator steer his course when monitors in office accuse him on
the one hand of lax precision throughout, and belaud him on the
other for careful observance of detail? Or how shall he trim his
sails when a contemptuous Standard-bearer, strangely uninformed
on the point, ignores, as a leader of any repute, "one Gerard," a
former famous Captain of the Herbal fleet? With the would-be
Spectator's lament that Gerard's graphic drawings are regrettedly
wanting here, the author is fain to concur. He feels that the
absence of appropriate cuts to depict the various herbs is quite a
deficiency: but the hope is inspired that a s