{"id":1443,"date":"2019-04-29T03:55:15","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T03:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/142.150.46.75\/poemsandfancies\/?p=1443"},"modified":"2019-05-03T14:18:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T14:18:39","slug":"to-the-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/?p=1443","title":{"rendered":"To the Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n

I desire all those which read this part of my book to consider that it is thick of fancies, and therefore requires the more study. But if they understand them not,<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> I desire they would do as those which have a troubled conscience, and cannot resolve themselves of some doubts, and therefore<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> are required by the church to go to a minister<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to have them explained, and not to interpret them<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> according to their own imaginations. So I entreat those that cannot find out the conceit of my fancies to ask a poet where the conceit lies before they censure, and not to accuse my book for nonsense, condemning it with a false construction, through an ignorant zeal of malice. But I desire them not to<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> mistake and<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> ask a rhymer instead of a poet, lest<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> I be condemned as a traitor to sense through the blindness of the judge\u2019s understanding. But<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> if the judge be learned in the laws of poetry and honesty, and is free from<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> bribes of envy, I shall not need to fear but that the truth will be found out, and its innocence will be freed<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> at the bar of censure and be sent home with the acquittance<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> of applause. Yet pray<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> do not think I am so presumptuous as to<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span> compare myself<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to the church; I only<\/span>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span> compare truth to the church, and truth may be compared from the lowest subject<\/span>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to the highest.<\/p>\n

At last I must entreat you<\/span>18<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to read this part of my book very slowly,<\/span>19<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and to observe very strictly every word you<\/span>20<\/sup><\/a><\/span> read, because in most of these poems, every word is a fancy. Wherefore if you<\/span>21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> lose by not marking, or skip by too hasty reading, you<\/span>22<\/sup><\/a><\/span> will entangle the sense of the whole poem.<\/span>23<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I desire all those which read this part of my book to consider that it is thick of fancies, and therefore requires the more study. But if they understand them not, I desire they would do as those which have a troubled conscience, and cannot resolve themselves of some doubts, and therefore are required by … Continue reading To the Reader<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,236],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-part3","category-prefatory-material-part3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1444,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions\/1444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library2.utm.utoronto.ca\/poemsandfancies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}