The preface. Syr Thomas More to the chrysten readers

IF any man meruayle (as I wene some wyse menne wyll) that euer I wold vouchsaufe to bestow any time about makynge answere to the pacyfyers dyaloge, consyderynge his faynt & his feble reasonyng: I can not in good fayth wel excuse my selfe therin. For as I sodaynly went in hande therwyth, and made it in a breyde: so whā I synnys considered how lytell nede it was, I merueyled myne owne selfe and repented to, that I hadde not regarded the boke as it was wurthy, and without any one worde let it euyn alone.

How be it good reders what one thynge or twayne specyally moued me to make answere to it, and how it happed me to fall in hand therwyth, and to spende and lese a lytell tyme about it, to make the mater the more playne vnto you: that thynge shall I shew you.

As soone as myne apologye was ones come out abrode, anone herde I worde that some were very wrothe therwyth. And yet in my mynde had there no man cause, neyther precher, nor pacyfyer, no nor none heretyke neyther. For I hadde but spoken for my selfe, and for good folke, and for the catholyke fayth / without reproch or reprofe to any mannes person, or wyllyng any man any harme yt were wyllyng to mende. And who so were wyllyng to be nought styll, had cause to be wroth wyth hym self you wote well and not with me.

But all this wolde not serue me / for very wroth were they wyth me. Howbeit theyr causelesse anger dyd not gretely greue me. For I was not so farre vnreasonable, as to loke for reasonable myndes in vnreasonable menne.

But than herde I shortely that thykke & threfolde the pennys went to wurke, and answeres were a makyng, diuerse, by dyuerse very great cūnyng mē. And of this trayuayle of such great moūtayne hyllys, I herd myche speche made, almoste euery weke: so ferforth that at laste it was tolde me for trouth, that vnto one lytell pyece, one greate cunnynge man had made a long answere, of twelue whole shetys of paper, wryten nere to gyther and with a smale hande.

But in good fayth I coulde but laugh at that. For as for that pyece, I was very sure that the cūnyngest man that coulde come therto, neyther in tenne shetys nor in tenne querys neyther, wryte as nere as he coulde, sholde neuer answere it well.

For that pyece was the answere yt in myne apalogye I make, as you se there vnto certayne sermons, wherin my dyaloge was towched for wrytynge agaynst Tyndals false translacyon. And wherin was also defended agaynst my confutacyon, Tyndals wyse chapyter, in which agaynst my dyaloge he laboreth to proue that the worde was before the chyrche / & in all his chapyter neuer towcheth ye poynt / and the sermon that defended hym, walketh as wyde as he.

It was tolde me as I say that answere was made to that place / and what shyfte there was founde to the remanaunt, that coulde I not here. But to the fyrst poynt I herde saye that there was deuysed, 'that where as I reherse that the precher spake of poysoned brede, I rehersed hym wrong. For he spake but of moulden brede. And this pyece it was tolde me that in yt new answere it was reasoned at length, & set forth very luste[…]y

But come the boke abrode onys, I shall sone abate that corage. For fyrst syth he taketh recorde yt he sayd but mouldy brede: yf I brynge wytnesse also that he said poysoned bred, than can his wytnesse stande hym in none other stede, but for to proue for hym that he sayd bothe.

Secundly shall I proue that he sayd poysened brede, by such meanes that men shall se by reason, yt though the tother were possyble: yet was it farre vnlykely.

Finally shal I ferther proue, that though ye man had sayd not poysened brede but onely moulden brede: yet shall I proue I saye, that as the case stode, that same not poysened brede but moulden brede, was yet for all that a very poysened worde.

Heryng therfore that this gaye boke was made of the.xii. shetys of paper, & lacked but ouerloking, & that many mo were ī hand ye shortly shold come out: lyke as an husband, whose wife were in her trauayle, herkeneth euery hande whyle, and fayne wold here good tydynges: so syth I so myche herde of so sore trauayle of so many, so cunnynge, aboute dyuerse answeres, I longed of theyr longe laboure to se some good spede, and some of those fayre babes borne that they trauayled on.

And when these great hyllys had thus trauailed longe, from the weke after Ester tyll as myche afore Myche[…]mas: the good houre came on as god wold, ye one was broughte a bed, with sore labour at laste deliuered of a dede mouse. The moder is yet but grene good soule, & hath nede of good kepyng: women wote what caudell serueth agaynst her after throwes.

Now after that the boke was out and came into myne handes / and that I sawe the maner and the fashyon therof: two thynges onely moued me to wryte and medle wyth yt.

One that I sawe therin folowed and pursewed, the selfe same shrewed malicyouse intent that was purposed in his fyrst boke of diuysyon / that is to wyt to make thordynaryes with fere of slaunder and oloquye, seue theyr dutyes vndone and lette heretyques alone / and ouer that wyth an euyl newe chaunge of good old lawes, labour to putte heretyques in corage, and therby decaye the fayth.

This was in dede the very specyall poynte that made me wryte yet agayne. And yet founde I so lytle reason in hys reasonynge, that me thought yt sholde not nede. For thys wyste I very well, that who so euer had wyt, and wold conferre and compare to gether, the wordes of hys answere wyth the wordes of myne Apologye, sholde sone perceyue that hys answeres were euyn very dull and dede.

But thenne was there a nother thynge that I consydered in yt / whyche poynte vnprouyded for, myghte soon deceyue the reader. For all be yt the pacyfyer hath in some places put in myne owne wordes where yt pleased hym: yet hathe he for the moste parte vsed a prety crafte, to mysse reherse my mater and leue my wordes oute. Ye and besydes this, the man hath in some places lefte oute some of his owne, & mysse rehersed them / to make the reader wene, that in the reprouynge theym, I hadde wryten wronge.

Now had I supposed to remedy those thingꝭ, & make him an answere in thre or foure leues, wyth onely poyntynge the reader to the places, wyth wrytynge in what lefe he shold fynde the mater. For the wordꝭ ones redde: the trouthe sholde shewe yt selfe.

But whyle I was thus mynded and went there about: hys answere in his dialoge had foūden such a way wyth walkynge to & fro, kepynge no maner order, and therwyth makynge me seke so longe for some one place, yt I saw wel I shold soner answere hym all new, then fynde out for many thynges the place that I sholde seke for.

I made therfore in few days[…] this answere that you se. And some suche places yet as I had happed to finde, I haue remytted the reader vnto in myne apologye / where for his redye findyng, I haue nōbred him[…]the lefe. And yet haue I for some folke done somwhat more to. For I se wel surely many men are nowe a dayes so delycate in readynge, and so lothe to labour, that they fare in other bokes as womē fare with theyr primer, which though they be content to saye some tyme ye fyftene psalmys, & ouer yt the psalmys of the passyon to, yf they fynde them al fayre lette out in order at length: yet wyll they rather leue theym all vn sayde, then turne backe to seke theym out in other partyes of theyr prymer.

And therfore leste some readers myghte happe in this boke to do the same: some places of thapologye myche necessarye and not longe, that wyth myche sekynge I fortuned to fynd out, to ease the reders labour, & make all open vnto hym, I haue put in also, into myne answere here. Ye and yet ouer thys in the thynges of moste weyghte, I haue put into thys boke hys owne wordes to. And so shall you good readers wythout any payne of sekynge, haue all the mate[…] playn and open afore your yien, that ye shal well se that I loue the lyght, no lesse thenne thys pacyfyer wolde fayne walke in the darke. For as the darke is in this mater all hys auauntage: euen so ys veryly the lyghte in lyke wyse myne.

And where as there are some that cō mende his answere, for the compendyouse breuite therof and shortnesse: I nothinge therin enuye the mannes prayse. For lyke as no man can make a shorter course then he that lacketh both hys legges: so cā no man make a shorter boke than he that lacketh as wel wordes as mater. And yet when by the places conferred well to gether, the feblenesse of his answere shall appere: then shall he lese the prayse of shortnesse to. For when yt shall wel be sene, yt he sayth nothyng to the purpose: then shall eu[…]ry wise man thynke hys boke to longe by all to gether. And that ye may wel perceyue that so it is in dede, let vs now leue of the preface and fall vnto the mater.