3
then, will any man tell me, that the art of riddling is not of the utmost consequence to society?
I shall conclude this preface in the words of a great author: As this science contains the sum of all human policy, and as there is no passage through the world without sometimes mixing with fools and knaves; who would not chuse to be master of the enigmatical art, in order an proper occasions, to be able to lead aside craft and impertinence from their aim by the convenient artifice of a prudent disguise.
Riddle Book.
A CROWN
How many millions for my sake have dy’d,
What frauds and villanies have not been try’d;
And all the grandeur which my race adorns,
Is like the rose beset around with thorns;
Nay, when possess’d, such your enjoyments are,
I to my owners trouble bring and care,
Ev’n they, by whom I am so highly priz’d,
If good are hated, and if had despis’d,
Thus ’twixt the plague of getting me and losing,
By some I’m thought not worth a wise man’s chasing
A BOOK
With words unnumber'd I abound,
In me mankind take much delight,
In me great store of learning’s found,
