MOST REVEREND FATHER.

A large ornamental woodcut initial "V". The interior of the letter and its rectangular frame depict a classical architectural setting, possibly a theater or a lyceum with tiered seating and columns. Small figures in 17th or 18th-century dress are standing at the base of the structure.

The old custom of our Lyceum original: "Lycei"; a term for a school or academy, derived from the site in Athens where Aristotle taught., by which every year a field is accustomed to be opened here, as it were, to the talents and diligence of the youth, so that they may test what those talents are worth and what progress they have made throughout the whole course of the year, is both commonly known, and to me—who am undertaking this kind of exercise original: "exercitationis genus"; referring to the public defense of a thesis or an academic debate. for the third time—it must be very well known. In these exercises (just as was done in the ancient athletic, musical, and poetic contests original: "agonibus"; a Greek-derived term for formal competitions., in which