TO THE EVER FOR-

TUNATE AND EXALTED LADY

CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, NOW

THE MOST WORTHY QUEEN OF

FRANCE.

HER MOST DEVOUT

Servant Innocentio Ringhieri.

Large ornamental woodcut initial 'M' featuring two figures in a rural landscape, one of whom appears to be playing a musical instrument.

MAGNANIMOUS and Sacred original: "Sacra"; in the 16th century, this was a standard formal address for royalty, emphasizing their divine right to rule.
Queen, even though the wives of
great Kings as you are, for the most part,
attend to high thoughts and noble deeds,
as those who are endowed with the loftiest
powers of discernment and all those di-
vine qualities that the whole world clearly recognizes in you; nevertheless, because minds occupied by great affairs sometimes seek to rest in honorable pastimes and in joyful quiet—much like a troubled and weary pilot original: "nochiero"; a frequent Renaissance metaphor comparing a ruler to a ship's captain navigating the "ship of state." who longingly awaits the port—therefore, so that you may enjoy in part, among your other infinite delights, the labors of my weak Intellect, I proposed to dedicate these one hundred Liberal Games Liberal Games: intellectual parlor games involving riddles, storytelling, and social wit, intended for the "liberated" or noble classes. and games of wit to your Majesty, certain that you would accept them with that royal courtesy which corresponds to my devotion and to the height of such