To the Most High Prince,

JAMES,

Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, etc.

And who, by the singular brilliance of his own name,

surpasses all titles, all honor and renown:

CHARLES II

The Most Serene and Wise KING of the Britains, restored by a single miracle of Providence,

perpetually preserved, most certain friend, and own brother.

MOST HIGH PRINCE,

SINCE the muscles are the foundations of human strength, to whom should this treatise which we have established concerning them be dedicated with better right than to you, the pillar and prop of British affairs? Your heroic body possesses a divine strength, and your mind, in doubtful or afflicted circumstances, has displayed such unshaken firmness by land and by sea that no nation is found so barbarous, so remote, or so alienated from the fame of your glory, that the vast admiration of your name, joined with a certain awe and dread, has not pervaded it. The SPANIARDS recognize your FORTITUDE and PRUDENCE as they ought; the FRENCH have felt them; and the BELGIANS tremble in every limb at even the slightest mention or memory of them. Indeed, although you are joined to the King by blood, you appear even more joined to him by royal virtues.