The fyrst chapyter

SO well stād I not (I thanke god) good reader in myne own conceyte, & thereby so myche in myne owne lyghte, but that I can somwhat with egall iudgement and an euyn yie, byholde and cōsyder both my selfe and myne owne. Nor I vse not to folowe the condycion of Isopes ape, y• thought her own babes so b[…]utuouse, & so farre passyng in all goodly feature and fauour / nor the crow that accompted her own byrdes the fayrest of all the fowles that flew. But like as some (I se well) there are, that can somwhat lesse thē I, that yet for all that put oute theyr workes in wrytynge: so am I not so blynde vppon the tother syde, but that I very well perceyue, very many so farre in wyt and erudicyon aboue me, that in such mater as I haue any thyng wryten, yf other men, as many wolde haue take yt in hand as could haue done yt better, yt myght myche better haue becomē me to let the mater alone, then by wrytyng to p̄sume any thing to medle therwyth.

And therfore good reader, syth I so well know so many mē so farre excell & passe me, in all such thynges as are requyred in hym that myght aduenture to put his workes abrode, to stand and abyde the iudgemēt of all other men: I was neuer so farre ouer[…]ne, as eyther to loke or hope that […]ch fautes as in my writyng sholde by myne ouersyght escape me, coulde […] the […] of all other men […] forth vnspyed / but […] both by […] percey[…]d / […] amo[…] so many […]adde bre[…]erne as I wy[…] well wold be […]oth wyth th[…] ̄, shold be both sought out and syfted to the vtte[…]most flake of branne, and largely theruppon controlled and reproued.

But yet agaynste all thys […]eare this one thynge recomforted me, that syth I was of one poynte very faste and sure, that such thynges as I w[…]yte are consonaunt vnto the comen catholyque fayth & determynacyons of Chrystes catholyque chyrch, & are clere confutacions of false blasphemouse heresyes by Tyndale and Barons pu[…] forthe vnto the cōtrarye / any great faute and intoll[…]rab[…]e sholde they none finde, of such maner sort and kynde as y• re[…]ders shold in theyr soules peryshe and be destroyed by / of whyche poysened fautes myne aduersa […]yes bokes be full.

Now then as for other fautes of lesse w[…]yght and tolerable / I nothynge douted nor do, but that euery good chrysten reader wyll be so reasonable and indyfferent, as to pardon in me the thyng that happeth in all other mē / and that no suche man wyll ouer me be so sore an audytour, & ouer my bokes suche a sore controller, as to charge me with any great losse, by gatherynge to gether of many such thynges as are wyth very fewe men aughte regarded / and to loke for suche exa[…]te cyrcumspeccy on and sure syght to be by me vsed in my wrytynge, as except the prophetis of god, and Cryste and his apostles, hath neuer I wene be founden in any mannes elles byfore / that is to wit to be perfyte in euery poynte clene from all maner of fautes / but hath alway […]en holden for a thyng excusable, though the reader in a longe worke perceyue that the wry […]er haue as Horace sayth of Homere, here and there some tyme f[…]llen in a litle slomber / in whyche places as the reader seeth that the writer slept, so vseth he of courtesy yf he can not slepe, yet for cōpany at the leste wyse to nappe and wynke with him, and leue his dreme vnchekked. whyche kynde of courtesy yf I sholde shew how often I haue vsed wyth Tyndale and Barons both, wynkynge at theyr tolerable fautes, and suche as I rather thought neglygently escaped them of ouersyght or foly, then dylygently deuysed of wyly falsed or malyce: y[…] I wolde adde all those fautes to theyr other, then sholde I double in lēgth all my bokes, in whyche the bretherne fynd for the speciall faute, that they be to longe all redy.

But all be it that whan I wrote I was (as I haue tolde you) bolded and encoraged by the comon custume of all indyfferēt readers, which wold I wyst well perdō and holde excused suche tolerable ouersyght in my wrytyng, as men may fynde some in any mannys all moste that euer wrote before: yet am I now myche more glad and bolde, whan I se y• those folke whiche wolde faynest fynde my fawtes, can not yet happen on them / but after longe sekynge and serchynge for them, for all theyr bysynesse taken there aboute, are fayne to put for fawtes in my wrytynge, suche thynges as well consydered shall appere theyr owne fawtes for the fyndynge.

For they fynde fyrste for a great fawte, that my writyng is ouer longe, and therfore to tedyouse to rede. For whyche cause they say they will neuer onsvouchsaufe to loke therō.

But than say they ferther, that suche places of theym as are loked on by those that are lerned and can skyll, be soone perceyued for nought, & my reasons of lytell force. For they bost mych that they here somtyme diuers partes of my bokes answered and cōfutedfully in sundry of some mennes sermons, though my name be forborne / & than they wysshe me there they saye, for that it wolde do theyr hartes good to se my chekes redde for shame.

And ouer thys they fynde a greate fawte, that I handle Tyndale and Barons theyr two newe gospellers, with no fayrer wordes nor in no more courteyse maner.

And ouer thys I wryte they say in such wyse, that I shew my selfe suspecte in the mater & parciall toward the clergy.

And than they saye that my wurkes were wurthy myche more credence, yf I had wryten more indyfferentely, and had declared and made open to the peple the fawtes of the clergy.

And in this poynt they laye for a sample the goodly and godly mylde & g[…]ntle fashyon vsed by hym who so euer he was, that now lately wrote y• boke of the deuisyon bytwene the temporaltye and the spy […]ytualty / whyche charytable mylde maner they say that y[…] I had vsed, my wurkes wold haue ben redde both of many mo, & wyth mych better wyll.

And yet they saye bysydes […]ll thys, that I do but pyke oute pyeces at my pleasure, suche as I maye mo[…]te easely […]eme to soyle / & leue out what me lyste, and suche as wolde playnely proue the mater agaynste me. And so they saye that I vse but crafte & fraude agaynst Tyndale. For as for […]rere Barons I perceyue by sundry wayes, that the bretherhed […]peke myche lesse of hym, eyther for that they find hym in theyr owne myndes well and fully answered, or ellys y• they take him in respec[…] of Tindale but for a man of a secunde sor[…]e. And that may[…] peraduenture be, bycause he leueth out […]omwhat that Tindale taketh in, that is to wy[…] the makynge of mockes and mowys agaynste the masse, & the blessed sacrament of the aulter.

But fynally they […]aye ferther yet, that I haue not fulfylled my promyse. For I promysed they saye in my preface of my confutacyon, y• I wold proue the chyrche / and that they saye I haue not done.