Prefatory Materials (Folio 3, 1664)

This Figure, that thou here seest put,

_It was for gentle Shakespeare cut;

Wherein the Graver had a strife

_With Nature, to out-doe the Life:

O, could he but have drawn his Wit

_As well in Brasse, as he has hit

His Face; the Print would then surpass

_All, that was ever writ in Brasse.

But since he cannot, Reader, look

_Not on his Picture, but his Book.