The Vertumnus of Vanity

But the moroseness of the Printer, who was constantly citing delays, meanwhile obstructed the otherwise hurried work: so that I was unable to quickly run to meet You then, when you were fatigued by the rough windings of the roads on your journey from Rome and had just returned to your homeland, in order to cleanse the dusty squalor like a sort of purgatorial dew, with a sprinkling of droplets cooling from the little vein of Poetry flowing more languidly than before, to be a more timely greeter of Your Presence.

Defrauded in this way of the opportunity of performing that which I had earnestly desired, I now serve Time; And, with the Year now turning happily, about to undertake the matter not at all disagreeable in my opinion, the Ode of Vanity, sung again with an ancient Lyre, illustrated with Icons under the Scheme of the Changing Vertumnus a reference to the god of transformation, implying the changing nature of vanity, I present it to Your Paternity with a most devoted Dedication as a New Year's Gift.

But why, someone might ask, are the trifles of Vanity the fatigue of a veteran Poet? And why not rather Material more festively agitated about the subtleties of a more worthy object? Let him who confronts me with such a question know that the World of this age acts in such a way, that it asserts examples of daily vicissitude that are less uncertain to the ear and too ridiculous to the eye, as an Antiquarian of innate malice.