The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia/Dedication

Ere now haue you (moſt deare, and moſt worthie to bee moſt deare Ladie) this idle work of mine: which I feare (like the Spiders webbe) will bee thought fitter to bee swept away, then worne to any other purpoſe. For my part, in very trueth (as the cruell fathers among the Greekes, were wont to doe to the babes they would not foſter) I could well find in my heart, to caſt out in ſome deſert of forgetfulnes this child, which I am loth to father. But you deſired me to do it, and your deſire, to my heart is an abſolute commandement. Now, it is done onely for you, onely to you: if you keepe it to your ſelfe, or to ſuch friends, who will weigh errors in the ballance of good will, I hope, for the fathers ſake, it will be pardoned, perchance made much of, though in it ſelfe it haue deformities. For indeed, for ſeuerer eyes it is not, being but a trifle, and that triflingly handled. Your deare ſelfe can beſt witnes the maner, being done in looſe ſheetes of paper, most of it in your preſence, the rest, by ſheetes, ſent vnto you, as faſt as they were done. In ſumme, yong head, not to well ſtaied as I would it were, (and ſhall bee when God ​will) hauing many many fancies begotten in it, if it had not been in ſome way deliuered, would haue growne a monſter, and more ſory might I be that they came in, then that they gat out. But this chiefe ſafety, ſhall be the not walking abroad; and his chiefe protection, the bearing the liuerie of your name; which (if much much good will do not deceiue me) is worthy to be a ſanctuary for a greater offender. This ſay I, becauſe I know the vertue ſo, and this ſay I, becauſe it may be euer ſo, or to ſay better, becauſe it will be euer ſo. Reade it then at your idle times, and the follies your good iudgement will finde in it, blame not, but laugh at. And ſo, looking for no better ſtuffe, then, as in a Haberdaſhers ſhop, glaſſes, for eathers, you will continue to loue the writer, who doth exceedingly loue you, and moſte moſte heartilie praies you may long liue, to be a principall ornament to the familiy of the Sidneis.