New Atlantis (utopian novel)

posed, Government. If, in the following description original: "Character"; a popular 17th-century literary genre consisting of a brief descriptive sketch of a person’s qualities of a powerful original: "puissant" and most accomplished Monarch, all your Majesty's princely virtues are not fully portrayed (for I am aware the picture may seem drawn with too much shadow), I shall humbly beg your gracious pardon. This is only the first draft of that immense beauty which a more careful hand perhaps could not have depicted in more vivid colors. In this way, Apelles A famous painter of ancient Greece—by the sudden and accidental drop of his brush original: "pencil"; in the 17th century, this often referred to a fine artist's brush—added those refinements to his admired painting of Venus which (as he himself declared) his best art and judgment could not improve or equal.

Your Majesty, in whose hand the sword of Justice is—God be praised—once again firmly placed, claims this offering original: "Libation"; traditionally a drink offering to a deity, here used metaphorically for the author's written tribute. And I would be an unworthy son of my dear country should I not endea—