A rectangular decorative headpiece at the top of the page featuring an intricate, symmetrical woodcut pattern of interlacing vines and stylized scrolling foliage.

To the Well-Born and

Noble Lords, Lord Philip Ernst and

Lord Hans Ludwig, Brothers, Counts

of Gleichen, Spiegelberg, and Pyrmont,

Lords of Tonna, etc. my Gracious

Counts and Lords.

Well-born and Noble Lords, my humble and ever-modest services are at the disposal of Your Noble Graces The original German uses "E. E. Gr. Gr. Gn. Gn.," a highly formal abbreviation for "Euer Edel-Grafliche Gnaden" or Your Noble-Countly Graces with the utmost diligence. Gracious Counts and Lords: It is manifest and undeniable that all things—fortune and every good gift—come from God. No one will be able to deny, and indeed every sensible person must confess, that many secret—