SOLEMN ADDRESS

To the

Truth-seeking

R E A D E R .

A decorative woodcut initial letter 'E' at the start of the text, featuring ornate floral and scrollwork designs within a square border.

AND do not think, truth-seeking reader, that the little creature which I describe in the following pages under the name of the Mayfly original: "Haft"; a Dutch term for the Ephemeron or Mayfly. is only short-lived, and that it finishes its course with pleasure and without hardships. No, by no means: for it is perhaps the most miserable creature that lives in the world, and subject to more difficulties than any other types of animals known to me. So much so that Water, Air, and Earth seem as if uniformly armed to devour it, both before its birth, as well as during and after the same.

For which reasons I have not hesitated to present this little insect as a true likeness original: "Afbeeldingh"; meaning an image, portrait, or representation. of human life: which is nothing other than a dark and very short night, in view of the manifold and infinite mis- The text breaks here; the catchword "lenden" completes the word "ellenden," meaning miseries or afflictions.