PROLOGUE

To all the faithful of Christ to whom the tenor of these presents
may come, Richard de Bury, by the divine mercy Bishop of Durham,
wisheth everlasting salvation in the Lord and to present
continually a pious memorial of himself before God, alike in his
lifetime and after his death.

What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards
me? asks the most devout Psalmist, an invincible King and first
among the prophets; in which most grateful question he approves
himself a willing thank-offerer, a multifarious debtor, and one
who wishes for a holier counsellor than himself: agreeing with
Aristotle, the chief of philosophers, who shows (in the 3rd and
6th books of his Ethics) that all action depends upon counsel.

And indeed if so wonderful a prophet, having a fore-knowledge of
divine secrets, wished so anxiously to consider how he might
gratefully repay the blessings graciously bestowed, what can we
fitly do, who are but rude thanksgivers and most greedy
receivers, laden with infinite divine benefits? Assuredly we
ought with anxious deliberation and abundant consideration,
having first invoked the Sevenfold Spirit, that it may burn in
our musings as an illuminating fire, fervently to prepare a way
without hinderance, that the bestower of all things may be
cheerfully worshipped in return for the gifts that He has
bestowed, that our neighbour may be relieved of his burden, and
that the guilt contracted by sinners every day may be redeemed by
the atonement of almsgiving.