The Elegant Combat, Title page – Dedication
The Elegant Combat OR, THE Mutuall Entertainement between the two learned and famous Frenchmen Monſeiur Du Moulin and Monſeiur De Balzac.
Extracted out of the originall, By Robert Codrington Maſter of Arts.
And dedicated to the truely ennobled Maſter Anthony Mildemay.
LONDON, Printed by Anne Griffin. 1634.
TO THE TRVE LOVER of all good Learning, and the perfect Mirrour of his owne ranke, the moſt worthy and the moſt accompliſhed, Anthony Mildemay, Eſquire.
SIR,
IF theſe papers liue, it is becauſe they deuote themſelues to you, in whom alone they gratulate the happineſſe of your Family, which is ennobled by ſoe ſafe and ſo pure a Vertue, that as no Enuy dares apapproach it, ſo no Flattery can corrupt it, a Family which hath enioyed the fauour of your Soueraignes by deſcent, and which hath proued your Vertues as hereditary as your honours. But becauſe it did appeare to cheape a glory to be abſolute in that Court which the King doth daily crowne with the diuine examples of his Vertues, and where hee is no Subiect whoſe practiſe expreſſeth not the loyalty of obedience to ſuch his moſt royall inclinations, it hath beene your Buſineſſe to tranſplant them into remote Kingdomes and Courts, who hauehave admired the method of his Gouernment by your Diſcourſe, and beleiued it by your Conuerſation, a Truth which their Jmitation hath illuſtrated, and which the Pirat and the Infidell hath vnderſtood and beene guilty of it, who taken more by the more victorious ſweetneſſe o… your Nature, then you were by their inſolence forgate that they were Turkes and made your Deliuerance as famous as your Wiſdome. You hauehave enioyed by this a reflecting happineſſe, and hauehave improued our Practice at home, by being ſuch a ſtudied and an elaborate Example abroad and teaching diſperſed Nations the Engliſh Vertue, you hauehave made the World indebted to your owne. Theſe are the Garlands which doe crowne your praiſes, which your louelove to learning doth perpetuate & aduance as much in excellence as number, but the modeſt gratitude of learning being Compendious alwaies in the Panegyriks of her liuing Benefactors doth become to them more abſolute and more iuſt by Death, for Eternity being the Obiect and the End of Learning, their Memory muſt rather be her Subiect then themſelues. But your louelove vntounto Religion as it is vnbounded, ſo will your Reward be, which hath inuited Bleſsings to deſcend vponupon you, Bleſsings which ſhall raiſe you high as in their Centre from whence they flow, and leauing your Story a mirrour to Poſterity, ſhall giuegive life vntounto your Epitaph, when the Ruines of your Tombe can remember it no more. This I do not preſage, but demonſtrate, for Fame is but the herauld and the voice of Honour, and Jmmortality rather a Debt then a Reward to Vertue. But I forbeare to afflict you with your praiſes, which are therefore the more due, the more vnwilling you are to heare them. Pardon my impoſed Errour, the aſſurance of your Vertues did giuegive vntounto my knowledge that it was a ſin to conceale them and my inſufficiency to expreſſe that knowledge hath made my language as guilty as my ſilence. But I preſume theſe few leaues deliuered in what forme ſoeuer will be acceptable to you, not for any beauty that this rude hand of mine can lend vntounto them, but for the primitiue excellence of their Authors, who meet as admirably in their eloquence as they differ in their ſence. The ſmallnes of the Preſent ſhall the more ennoble and crowne your Acceptance. The Sea receiueth the ſmalleſt drops with as much acknowledgement as the greateſt Riuers, & the like liberality of entertainment hath renowned the Aſsyrian Monarch, and indeerd him more to Immortality then all the Glory of the Eaſt or the Maieſty of his Empires could. Be pleaſed to entertaine this with your leaſure and your patience, which ſhall oblige mee ere many moneths be expired, to preſent you with a larger volume, as deuoted euer to expreſſe my ſelfe,
The conſtant honourer of your Vertues, R. C.