PREFACE.

the difficulty of the work, the specific details that I was required to address, and the novelty of the subject, which alone must favor and defend me.

Into new realms rising, and having dared things greater
than my strength,
Nor fearing to go through inaccessible
forests.
original: "In noua surgentem, maioráque viribus ausum, Nec per inaccessos metuentem vadere saltus." This is a Latin poetic fragment, likely echoing the style of Ovid or Virgil, used here to justify the author's intellectual bravery in tackling a new topic.

An ornamental woodcut tailpiece featuring a central winged cherub or grotesque face surrounded by elaborate floral motifs, swags, and hanging tassels or crosses.