boured to
speak as worthy persons do.

Behold, Reader, that which I had to say to you, but what defence
soever, I have imployed, I know that it is of works of this nature,
as of a place of War, where notwithstanding all the care the
Engineer hath brought to fortifie it, there is alwayes some weak
part found, which he hath not dream'd of, and whereby it is
assaulted; but this shall not surprize me; for as I have not forgot
that I am a man, no more have I forgot that I am subject to erre.

THE

Secret History

OF

Queen _ZARAH_,

AND THE

_Zarazians_;

BEING A

Looking-glass

FOR

----- --------

In the Kingdom of

_ALBIGION_.

Faithfully Translated from the _Italian_ Copy now lodg'd in the
_Vatican_ at _Rome_, and never before Printed in any Language.

_Albigion_, Printed in the Year 1705.

Price Stitch'd 1 _s._ Price Bound 1 _s._ 6 _d._

TO THE

READER.

_The Romances in_ France _have for a long Time been the Diversion
and Amusement of the whole World; the People both in the City and at
Court have given themselves over to this Vice, and all Sorts of
People have read these Works with a most surprizing Greediness; but
that Fury is very much abated, and they are all fallen off from this
Distraction: The Little_ Histories _of this Kind have taken Place
of_ Romances, _whose Prodigious Number of Volumes were sufficient to
tire and satiate such whose Heads were most fill'd with those
Notions._

_These little Pieces which have banish'd_ Romances _are much more
agreeable to the Brisk and Impetuous Humour of the_ English, _who have
naturally no Taste for long-winded Performances, for they have no
sooner begun a Book, but they desire to see the End of it: The
Prodigious Length of the Ancient_ Romances, _the Mixture of so many
Extraordinary Adventures, and the great Number of Actors that appear
on the Stage, and the Likeness which is so little managed, all which
has given a Distaste to Persons of good Sense, and has made Romances
so much cry'd down, as we find 'em at present. The Authors of
Historical Novels, who have found out this Fault, have run into the
same Error, because they take for the Foundation of their History
no more than one Principal Event, and don't overcharge it with_
Episodes, _which wou'd extend it to an Excessive Length; but they
are run into another Fault, which I cannot Pardon, that is, to
please by Variety the Taste of the Reader, they mix particular
Stori