te mighte please
them all, then should thei be thankfull vnto me for this kind of
matter. For nother is there anie matter more straunge in the
englishe tungue, then this whereof neuer booke was written
before now, in that tungue, and therefore oughte to delite all
them, that desire to vnderstand strange matters, as most men
commonlie doo. And againe the practise is so pleasaunt in
vsinge, and so profitable in appliynge, that who so euer dothe
delite in anie of bothe, ought not of right to mislike this
arte. And if any manne shall like the arte welle for it selfe,
but shall mislyke the fourme that I haue vsed in teachyng of it,
to hym I shall saie, Firste, that I dooe wishe with hym that
some other man, whiche coulde better haue doone it, hadde shewed
his good will, and vsed his diligence in suche sorte, that I
myght haue bene therby occasioned iustely to haue left of my
laboure, or after my trauaile to haue suppressed my bookes. But
sithe no manne hath yet attempted the like, as far as I canne
learne, I truste all suche as bee not exercised in the studie of
Geometrye, shall finde greate ease and furtheraunce by this
simple, plaine, and easie forme of writinge. And shall perceaue
the exacte woorkes of Theon, and others that write on Euclide,
a great deale the soner, by this blunte delineacion afore hande
to them taughte. For I dare presuppose of them, that thing which
I haue sette in my selfe, and haue marked in others, that is to
saye, that it is not easie for a man that shall trauaile in a
straunge arte, to vnderstand at the beginninge bothe the thing
that is taught and also the iuste reason whie it is so. And by
experience of teachinge I haue tried it to bee true, for whenne
I haue taughte the proposition, as it is imported in meaninge,
and annexed the demonstration with all, I didde perceaue that it
was a greate trouble and a painefull vexacion of mynde to the
learner, to comprehend bothe those thinges at ones. And therfore
did I proue firste to make them to vnderstande the sence of the
propositions, and then afterward did they conceaue the
demonstrations muche soner, when they hadde the sentence of the
propositions first ingrafted in their mindes. This thinge caused
me in bothe these bookes to omitte the demonstrations, and to
vse onlye a plaine forme of declaration, which might best serue
for the firste introduction. Whiche example hath beene vsed by
other learned menne before nowe, for not only Georgius Ioachimu