History of the Fungi of the Rimini Territory

What, then, are fungi, or what is this little work of mine, that it should dare to approach the inner sanctum of a Cardinal? Surely I would never have dared to offer these things to you, had I not known that you are persuaded that true Wisdom is that which provides men with a deep understanding from the Cedar that is in Lebanon, to the Hyssop that grows out of the wall a biblical allusion to 1 Kings 4:33, signifying the breadth of knowledge from the greatest to the smallest, that is, from the highest mysteries of divine things, which pertain closely to Theology, down to the smallest productions of things, which are the object of Natural History. Therefore, since you have always shown yourself to be such that, whether in the secular offices over which you presided for the people, or in ecclesiastical ones, you displayed a mind superior to all dignities and wonderfully favored Letters: I know for certain that I have chosen you, Most Amplified Prince, as the most absolute patron to whom I might offer this little work, as you nourish your mind opulently not only with the more sublime but also with the lower and physical faculties. You know, moreover, that the science of Botany and natural things has been a delight to the most famous men, even Kings, in almost every age; and there is no part of the cultivated Europe in whose cities and academies this kind of science is not cultivated, the goal of which seems to be to teach by delighting, and to delight by teaching. Indeed, it even seems to be taking root in your own Spain through those famous men, Jo. Ulloa and Georg Juan, who showed that they have joined the science of natural things with their astronomical studies.