Yet doth not the exception so framed upon any ground or rule to which it is annexed , impeach the credit of the said ground , but as Sir Edward Coke , and Sir John Doderidge , firmat regulam in omnibus casibus non exceptis , Coke com . Dod. E. Laws f. 210. corroborateth the rule in all cases which are not excepted .

Melancton in his Logick addeth another ground and principle which exceedeth the Phylosophers apprehension , to wit , principium patefactionis divinae , the principle of divine revelation , which our Law also holdeth to be the prime principle , and ground of all the rest , for as Prisot a principal Justice of the common Pleas saith , 24. H. 8. 46. 1. we ought to give credit to all such Laws as are taken out of the holy Scriptures , for that it is the common Law upon which all Lawes are founded , and from which all other Lawes doe proceed , and therefore may be called divine Lawes as they are conjoyned with the morall Law , and have divine authority , as also humane Lawes as men by their knowledge doe judge all humane affaires .

It followeth that we now inquire , of the manner of considering the grounds and rules of our Lawes , which is by the extraction of them out of the roote , and fountaine of other Acts , and Sciences , for as reason is the mother of the rules , and grounds of all Acts , and Sciences , so are they by the same reason united , and cemented together , as that the grounds and rules of one Science are adjuvant , and auxiliary to another , which the Author hath fully & expresly demonstrated in the preamble , and frontispice of the first Book of this treatise , to which he referreth the Reader ; And to which may be annexed the method which also may be called a manner , and forme of considering , concerning which the Judges and Sages of our Laws doe dissent and vary , whether any , or what manner of method is to be used in the sustemes and digests of our Lawes , for the antique , and neoterique reporters and writers of our Lawes respect more the matter then the method ; And Sir Edward Coke , being advised by King James at some opportune time to reduce the common law into a more commodious method , Coke l. 4. Ep. ad lectorem . did much doubt of the fruites of his labour , if he should undertake it , and so doth Sir Francis Bacon freely professe , that though he could have digested the rules of our Lawes into a certaine method , and order , yet doth he of purpose avoid so to doe , but Sir Henry Finch hath endeavoured , In his preface to his rules and maximes of the Law . and fairely proceeded in reducing not onely the body of our Lawes into a compendious method , but also the grounds and rules of the same into an Academicall order , for which rarity he hath merited this Elogy , rara avis in lege rubicula .

Order being the ornament of all things , and method the best art of memory to which purpose Sir John Doderidge asserteth , that if there be any way extant , Dod. E. Law . 253. to purge the English Lawes , from the great confusions of tedious , and superfluous reiterations ; wherewith the reports are infested , it may be brought to passe by the way of grounds and rules , or by none , for by rules and exceptions , all Sciences are , and have been published , put downe and delivered , and whereas Galene proposeth three wayes , reasons , and methods of teaching and learning , the one way by composing , and proceeding from the parts to the whole , and the other by resolving the whole into parts , and the third by defining , which by explication of the nature of the whole , examineth every particular appertaining to the whole . This third and latter may aptly be applyed to the grounds and rules of Sciences ; as in Physick , to the Aphorismes of Hippocrates , and more especially to the grounds and rules of the Law , which by the newer Civilians is taken for a definition , who accordingly do define a rule to be a short definition , or a sentence , whenas indeed many like cases are concluded in a short delivery , not by the expression of the particular cases , but by the assignation of the same reason , and is nothing else but a compendious oration , Br. in regulas juris , f. f. 15. & 346. wherein many things are breifly and absolutely delivered and declared , and so doe the Greeke interpreters call a definition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which also may be orderly disposed into a Methodicall , and an Alphabeticall Table , fit and convenient both for the speedy finding of that we would seek , and wish for which the Author in the Table of this treatise hath accurately observed .

And besides hath been diligent to reduce them into a more artificiall order , by drawing the grounds and rules of our free and Municipall Laws , from the Springs and Heads of the liberall Arts and Sciences , and by that meanes hath brought them into a more convenient forme , and method , which he ingenuously acknowledgeth to have borrowed of Sir Henry Finch , and Mr. Noy , quia ingenuum duxi , profiteri per quos profecissem , and to which according to his slender skill he hath added , a copious amplification , seriously upon mature , deliberation , conceiving that all the Grounds , and Principles of our Lawes may be placed , disposed , and contained under some of those Heads ; and consequently every particular case under the generall , and severall grounds in every one of them , for as Sir Edward Coke , principium est quasi primum caput , Coke com . f. 345. a. a principle is the prime Head , from the which many cases have their beginning , and originall , and therefore hath the Author disposed as many particular and severall cases under every generall and severall Heads , as he could conveniently collect , and accumulate having learned of the said Author , that there is no particular case in the Law so sterill , but that the Student at one time , or another may make use of it , for the defect of which Sir Francis Bacon taxeth the Civilians in his preface to his Maximes , which though the Author hath not compleated , yet hath he endeavoured so to doe , and made way for others to effect it , Et sit nobis voluisse fat .

But now Gentlemen the Author turneth his stile towards you who are the coronides of his labors , and lucubrations , and to whom they are devoted , and directed ; for yee are legum nostrarum alumni , fed and nourished with the teates and tra●●ates of the Law , and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as proper and idoneous auditors of the Grounds and Principles thereof , and did forbeare to commende them to the Rabbies , and Papinians of our ●awes for that were to instruct Minerua , or to submit them to the Judgement of illiterate Lozels , for they would contemne what they did not conceive , so as he may say of these writings , as Caius Lucilius did of his quod ea que scriberet , neque ab indoctissimis , Cicer. de oratore l. 2. neque a doctissimis legi velle , quod alteri nihil intelligerent , alteri plus fortasse quam ipse de se , that those things , which he should write , would not be read of those were most learned , nor of those were not learned at all , because these understood nothing , and the others perhaps more then himselfe , & sic , Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libellis ,

To youre therefore indifferent and debonaire Judgements hath the Author destinated this discourse , as the immediate , and adequate object of the same , it neither transcending , or surmounting your capacities , nor being inferior , or subordinate to your conditions , or proficiencies whence he is used to presume on your affable and gracious acceptance , because by nature all men are rapaces similium , and covetous of those things are conformable to their conceptions and conditions , and for this reason confidently assumeth to himselfe , that the consideration of these grounds and principles will be consonant and pleasing to your affections , especially when you shall perceive the great and various utility , which from the election of them may proceed , for as in naturall operations , the necessity , and utility of the thing is predominant , so in morall and civill affaires , the use and commodity is prevalent , and as Galen in all things , Vincat utilitas ,

The prime use therefore which accrueth from the collection of these Grounds & Principles , is the confirmation of our memory , which is the treasury and perfection of all learning and erudition , for whereas our annalls , and reports doe consist of particular cases , and every particular case hath his severall circumstance , and circumstances are singular , and in regard of us infinite , and therefore hardly , if not impossible to be retained in memory , according to the dictate of Bracton , omnia in memoria tenere divinum est potius quam humanum , yet by these Grounds and Principles , is this oblivious defect salved and re-remedied , for by the observation of these grounds , he will be instructed to remember the reason of them , by which he shall resolve all doubts of like degree , as if he had remembred the expresse cases from which the same reason and ground is reduced ; so as by their brevity they strengthen us , and coroborate the memory : Quintil. l. 2. For as Quintilian , sententiae feriunt animum , & uno ictu frequenter impellunt , & ipsa brevitate magis haerent , Sentences strike the mind & with one blow , commonly conquer it , and by their brevity stick more firmely , that , is in the memory : And therefore did Pythagoras , and the ancient Philosophers deliver their morall and civill Discipline by Aphoristicall Precepts , and Laconicque sentences , that they might more easily apprehend and retain them in memory , which also may appear by the Proverbs of Solomon , and by the Aphorismes of Hyppocratis , and the Precepts of Theognis , Bacon in his Preface to his Rules and Maximes . & Phocilides , but chiefly as Sir Francis Bacon observeth by the Praecedents of the Roman Civill Law , who have taken the same course with their Rules : Dod. E. l. f. 56. From whence as Sir John Dodridge collecteth that many Axioms & Rules are borrowed and usually frequented in our Law , which do more aptly and fitly expresse the same reason in shortnesse of speech : which by Mr. Ployden are sometimes cited and called the Text of the civil Law , Ployd . f. 368. & by Sir Ed. Coke oftner , but for the most part by him concealed , in sometimes altered , which may be observed or the passages of the Author , who commonly conjoyneth the Civill Rule , with our Common Law ground .

Besides , it is not unknown almost to every Puny , what a laudable and difficult task it is to argue a case accurately upon a Quaere , or Demurrer in Law , wherein by the election of Grounds and Maximes , the Lawyer is taught to abound in matter fit for Argument ; For as Mr. Ployden , Ployd . f. 27. b. there are two principall things upon which Arguments may be made , to wit , Maximes and reason the Mother of all Laws : and Maximes , saith he , are the foundations of Lawes , and conclusions of reason ; whereby is manifested the help and assistance , that Grounds and Maxims do yeild in the discussing of such Arguments , which consist in the apt application of the said Grounds and Maximes , unto such particular Cases falling in debate .

To which the Author will onely add one Vse more , least he should exceed the limits of a better , which according to Cicero's example , ought to be short and pithy , and that is the accumulation of the Grounds and Maixms , into a breviary , and compendium collected out of the classick and authentick Authors of our Lawes , which as Politian eligantly , Laboriosius ille fuit quam sibillae folia colligere , was more laborious to him , then to collect the scattered leaves of the Sibils : and in framing of which he may say with the witty Poet , Saepe caput scaberet & vivos roderet ungues . And of which he may not unfitly say with Lucretius , Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant , Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta , Aurea perpetua semper dignissima vita .

All which though through the brevity of time and importunity of the Presse , he could not compose into a compendious lump , yet hath he gathered together the chiefest and choicest of them , and more then any other Collector before him , to the number two a hundred .

All which comprised , Tanquam in pala annuli , into a little compass the Author affectionately presenteth to your benigne animadversion , which you have here , Ad manum , prepared to your hand , to make use of them upon any fit and opportune occasion .

But now is it high time for the Author to appeare on the Stage , who though in the flowre of his age was initiated into the honourable house of the Middle Temple , and for the space of these twenty Summers , hath principally devoted his studies to the knowledge and pract●ce of our Lawes : Et sic tractent fabrilia fabri : yet doth he modestly acknowledge , that the theme of this Tractate , is an Obje● too high for his inferior flight , and not to be reached by a Musket , or a Sparrow-Hawk , but by an Eagle , or Birds of a more soaring , or surmounting flight . Howsoever proposing unto himself the Pattern and Protestation of Cicero , Quod omnes ii sumus , Cic. l. 2. de Orat. ut sine studiis nullam vitam esse dicamus , That we are all of that opinion , that without study and labour there is no life : And the advice of Sir Edward Coke , Omnes debere jurisprudentiae libris componedis animum adjicere , That all men ought to addict their mindes to the composing of Books of the Law . He did rather choose to incur the censure of temerity and audacity , then to undergo the ignominy of oscitation and idlenesse , of which , as Cato saith , Every one ought to give a reasoable account , especially those who are stepped into years , in whom nothing is more dishonourable , and ignominious , according to the sentence of Sedulous Seneca , Cricitas de hon. dis. l. 1. c. 8. Nihil est turpius , quam grandis natu senex , qui nullum habet vitae suae argumentum , quo diu se vixisse dicat , praeter aetatem , There is nothing more fowle and filthy then a very aged man , who hath no other argument of his life , by which he may signifie he hath lived , beside his old age . And though it is the observation of the Philosopher , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . All men love their own Works , Arist. 4. Eth. c. 1. as Parents and Poets do : yet doth the Author acknowledge with Cicero , Quod nihil meorum magnopere miror , That he never admired any of his own works , but saith with Ovid , Ipse mihi nunquam Judice me placui . That he could never as yet by his own Judgment please himself , though it alwaies hath been his ambition to please others , according to the option of the Consular Poet , Optabam ut placeam , sin minus ut taceam . And this modest lesson hath the Author learned of the great Legist Sir Edw. Coke , Nulla scientia , Coke com . f. 494. nulla virtus locum suum , & dignitatem conservare potest sine modestia , no science , nor virtue can preserve its place , and dignity without modesty , and accordingly doth he close up his discourse with the conclusion of Bracton , postulans a Lectore , Brac. l. 1. f. 1. ut siquid superfluum , vel perperam positum in hoc opere invenerit , illud corrigat , vel emendet , vel connuiventibus oculis pertranseat , requesting this of the Reader , that if he shall finde any thing superfluous or placed amisse in this worke , that he will either correct or amend it , or with conniving eyes passe it by .

Or rather with our great Master Littleton .

That he would not have you beleive , that all that he hath said in this Booke is Law , for he will not presume to take that upon him , but of such things , which are not Law enquire , and learne of his Sage Masters learned in the Law .