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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61893	A reply unto the letter written to Mr. Henry Stubbe in defense of The history of the Royal Society whereunto is added a Preface against Ecebolius Glanville, and an answer to the letter of Dr. Henry More, containing a reply to the untruthes he hath publish'd, and a censure of the cabbalo-pythagorical philosophy, by him promoted.	Stubbe, Henry, 1632-1676.; Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713. History of the Royal Society of London.	1671 (1671)	Wing S6063A; ESTC R31961	66,995	80

not so much a holy reverence as a stupid folly They pronounce as in a former instance so on this that no few shall have a part in the world to come who shall spit out when he names God or shall speak the Tetragrammaton in a forreigne tongue out of the Sanctuary There is one thing at the end of your censure which is very unkind and contrary to the law of common humanity I speak of your sharp reflexion on an excellent person deceased Mr. Cowley these younger fancies ought not after death to becomes his reproach especially since he left a charge that what was offensive in his Poems might be omitted though it was judged by others that he had written nothing but what with his own sober correction of himself and an equitable allowance of charity might well pa§ abroad in publique You know that those who weeded out the worst of Beza's youthful verses and presented them in one bundle to the world purchasd more shame to themselves then to the Poet. It is now time that I should put an end to this tedious Letter and I must request that you would excuse my plain dealing do not suspect that upon some account of friendship or acquaintance I am too inclinable to vindicate the Authour of this History I dare assure you I know him not otherwise then by face and Printed books one of which is against Sorbiere whom though a piece of a Virtuoso he handles very smartly examining the condition of his life and actions What apprehensions then might you have least if he should happen to have nothing else to doe be should write the History of your life and herein as is usuall describe your person and enquire into Physiognomy what temper of mind you must profess and give a Catalogue of Books written by you and shew in how many press-warrs you have served as a volunteer But now that I have done I have time to think what a deal of needless labour I have bestowed to write more then what you will have patience to read I therefore take leave and am your c. FINIS A Defence of the Censure of the History of the Royal Society against the Reply of the Virtuosi AFter so many Moneths respite so much deliberation in a case nearly relating to the welfare of the Religion and good Learning of this Monarchy and even of the Government it self I expected at least from the Virtuosi something of Wit and Solidity in their Reply I knew the justice of my side too well and the grounds I proceeded upon to fear it might be worsted but I thought it no unreasonable matter to promise my self florid Language and a plausible though not satisfactory Apology But though an entire Cabala of the R. S. did consult upon this responsory Letter though a Learned Person of that Society did peruse it yet can I find nothing in it that should have deserved my serious Animadversions except the quality of those Persons who revised and allowed it and 't is my respect to their dignity that I put once more Pen to Paper about this subject 'T is out of a regard to their quality not performances and I more suspected they would interpret my silence as a contempt then my answer as arrogant It had been more prudential for them not to have entermedled a second time in this Contest but to have enjoyed the benefit of that distinction which I made betwixt the Honorary Members of the R. S. and the Comediants then to mix with so insipid a Generation whose thoughts are not to be elevated by indignation and whom Learning it self should it change Parties could not rescue or protect I must renew those Protestations which their Ignorance hath made me so frequently to use and avow that 't is a troublesome affair to deal with Men that understand so little they know neither how to state a Case nor how to oppose or answer pertinently I am affronted with naked Assertions of Men that deserve no credit my Conclusions are denyed and the premises not invalidated and to convince the World how little I injure them herein I Reprint the first Censure upon their History their Defense and my present Rejoynder The Anonymous Author of the Letter begins with an Admiration that I should have so mighty a Zeal for any one Religion and why against Popery But that I know weak Persons are surprised at small Occurrents and that their astonishment doth not proportion it self to the greatness of the cause but the deficiencies of their Intellectuals I profess it would trouble me that having lived a life hitherto as the Age goes not very culpable and having always professed my self of the Reformed Religion and having united my self to the Church of England upon its restauration preserving always before that a non-communion with the several Schismaticks and Sects of this Nation that it should still be wondered at why I should be concern'd for any Religion or engage in opposition to Popery But this surmise argues onely the vanity and folly of the Objectors for were it in general indifferent unto me what Religion were National amongst us yet considering our Circumstances and that dismal Revolution which impends over my native Country upon the restitution of that Religion a Man who is concern'd for his own repose and tranquility and desires not to be involved in the Calamities of a Change can not want prudential Motives to induce him to oppose such an Alteration Any Man that hath but reflected seriously upon the Consequences which have attended the Change of Religion especially into Popery any Man who is not unacquainted with our English Histories or ignorant of the Politick Cautions which wise States-men have left unto us upon Record will justifie my demeanour without further inspecting into my Conscience But to allow these Men of no reading or consideration to allow them as ignorant of these things as of the Sweating Sickness why should they wonder at my being concern'd against Popery since I had united my self to the Church of England Is there any thing more repugnant to our Liturgy Articles of Religion and Homilies of our Church Was there ever any action of my life could give them ground for this Conjecture that I would openly adhere to any thing and avow my doing so and yet desert it rashly I do not use to deliberate after Resolutions taken whatever I do before It had better become those of the R. S. who are under many Obligations to confront the Romish Religion to have acted my part in this Contest then to malign discourage and disparage me for a work which the Apostle would have congratulated me for though I had attempted it meerly out of envy strife or pretence Beyond this Reply I know not what to answer unto this Passage because I have to do with Adversaries with whom Protestations Appeals to God and Conscience are ridiculous and more insignificant then a sobriety of life taken up neither out of

did not publickly and personally read it I am apt to grant The Comediants had not patience to read it or any Book of that bulk but as in other cases gave their assent and applauds upon trust But that the R. S. did own it any man knows that was in London at its publication not to mention the Character which Mr. Glanvill and the Transactor fix on it Moreover when the first brute of my designing to write against the R. S. did reach London Sir R. M. writ to the Lady E. P. to inform them of my intentions adding That there was nothing in which the R. S. as a Body could be concern'd excepting this History and if I would civilly represent unto them any defaults therein they would take it kindly and amend them Hereupon I writ unto Him as a Person whom I greatly honor and who hath in all his undertakings and employments which have been neither mean nor facile expressed a wit prudence and conduct that is uncommon to which if I adde those other Imbellishments which his Mathematical and other Natural Studies have qualifyed him with this Age can hardly equal Him To Him I writ complaining of the Indignities put upon my faculty by Mr. Glanvill and their History represented the Pernicious tendency of those Books in reference to the Monarchy Religion and Learning of this Kingdom and DEMANDED that the R. S. should disclaim both of them by some authentick Declaration or I would not desist whatsoever might befall me But no repeated desires or Sollicitations of mine could prevail with them to disclaim the History the other they were less concerned for saying He was a Private Person and that the sense of the R. S. was not to be collected from the Writings of every single Member Thus could I not extort from their grandeur any just Declaration whereby to satisfie either the Kingdom in general or to oblige the Physicians in particular After that they had denyed me the returns of Common Equity I proceeded in that manner which I need not relate The Concerns they all along express'd were more then a little tenderness for a Fellow of the R. S. The menaces they made and which were noised thorow Court and City shewed that I had greater Opponents then the Author of the History What meant the Resolution I do not say Vote of the R. S. to give me no other answer but that three or four of their ingenious young-men should write my Life How comes this great concern for a Book in which they are not interested When the Censure came out why did several eminent Members presently report and represent to the ___ that I had thereby libelled His Majesty and pressed to have me whipped at a Carts-tail through London That Censure touches not the R. S. but only reflects on the Historian and that modestly though severely And to what heighth their exasperations and power might have carryed things I know not but a generous Personage altogether unknown to me being present bravely and frankly interposed saying to this purpose That whatever I was I was a Roman that English-men were not so precipitously to be condemned to so exemplary a punishment as to be whipped thorow London That the representing of that Book to be a Libel against the King was too remote and too prejudicial a consequence to be admitted of in a Nation Free-born governed by Laws and tender of ill presidents Thus spake that excellent English man the great ornament of this Age Nation and House of Commons He whose single worth ballanceth much of the Debaucheries Follies and Impertinences of the Kingdom in whose breast that Gallantry is lodged which the prevalence of the Virtuosi made me suspect to have been extinguished amongst us After all this who can judge that the R. S. is so little engaged in the Controversie as this Pamphlet suggests But to see to what a period they have brought things The whole effects of the Victory are yielded unto me for the Design I pursued and which I said I would make them to doe was the disclaiming of their History and having done this I am sure I have performed a considerable service to my Country and all other Disputes are but Circumstantial and such as Conquerors often meet with after an entire Rout to be encumbred with some Parties of the scattered Enemy and to be amused with Retrenchments and Passes But this Renunciation contents not me because it is not avowed nor solemn and in such form as to conclude them beyond their pleasure I will make them not only to disown the Book but the Contents thereof as not containing their Sentiments and to adde that they condemn all such as under pretence of new and Experimental Philosophy or any Mechanical Education do decry all Learning and vary that breeding which is absolutely necessary to the welfare of our Monarchy Religion and Kingdom Let Them but declare this effectually and I shall impose a Silence upon my self and willingly sink under their malice and obloquy for the publick utility Having thus acknowledged that the R. S. are not concern'd to avow the History my Adversaries proceed to give some account of the Passages I had chosen to censure In the first Passage I am to complain that since the Author of the History and another eminent Person read over this Piece yet the sence of them which writ the History is not represented the Question still remaining What the Authors meant 'T is here said I will grant that this is not the necessary but the possible meaning of this Historian yet at least if the contrary intimation be so hainous good nature should oblige to understand the Phrase in the most favorable meaning ___ If that the Historian had not been of the champerty this Passage had been more plausible but Oh! Virtuosi have a care how you mention Good nature it had been an excess of Charity and culpable whil'st that our Jealousies are such as they are and that the credit of the History remained entire to have passed by those words which were so inconsistent with our Church and the Religion established without demanding an Explication or renunciation of them I adde That the sense of my Adversaries is not consistent with the words and therefore not possible nor could any goodness of Nature but meer insensibility subject a Man to this construction If that by Communion may be meant without further import a Friendly and charitable action then by the doctrine of Equipollency if those words be substituted instead of the other the sense will be entire but our Experimentators never essayed this I will assist them in this as in other cases It is natural to mens minds when they perceive others to arrogate more to themselves then is their share to deny them even that which else they would confess to be their right And of the truth of this we have an instance of far greater concernment then that which is before us And that is in Religion

and that is in Mr. Evelyns Book of Forrest trees I think I may with confidence aver from his own Cidermaker that the account of Sir P. N's Cider is not perfect right I am sure that sundry Persons of Quality have spoiled much Cider within this three Years in following the directions of that Book which was read to the R. S. and published by their special Command But whether it be exact now I have not had leisure to enquire There are also a multitude of Errors and Impertinencies in that Book which I have not time to pursue being continually interrupted by the attendance upon my present Practice yet to shew how much they have fail'd in their undertaking I will instance in the sap of the Birch-Tree as a Liquor I have had the opportunity to consider and frequently use these fourteen Years having tapped seventy and eighty at one time Though none be more communicative naturally them my self yet the R. S. having not merited any Civilities from the hands of a Physician or a Protestant I hope I shall be excused from not divulging more then is pertinent to the matter Mr. Evelyn saith he is credibly informed That out of the aperture there will in twelve or fourteen days distill so much of the sap as will preponderate and out-weigh the whole Tree it self Body and Roots I never saw any ground for an Opinion approaching near to this except you make the exposition to be this That if the collection of all that runs in many Years be computed together it may amount to so much which I believe may be true but this seems not the Genuine import of his words and in no other sense are they to be verified I have in large Trees inserted two taps yet did they not run twenty gallons His account is very defective the time he proposes to draw it is about the beginning of March but I avow that who stays so long may sometimes lose his opportunity I have known in an early Spring when the beginning of February hath been warm the Tree to run on the tenth of that Moneth and usually about the Twenty fourth day 't is time to look after it but in the Great Frost when I came first to the Lord Mordant's at Parsons-Green I could not get them to run till the thaw and warm weather prevail'd which was in the end of March or beginning of April then the sap ascended speedily ran thicker and in greater quantities but lasted I think but ten days The truth is the ascent of the Sap and its running depends much when it runs upon the Weather it abates intermits and multiplies as that varies of which these Observators speak not a word There is also which is contrary to Mr. Evelyn a great difference in the taste and colour and consistence of the Sap of several Trees some differs not from common water and whatever he say hath neither smell nor taste of the Tree some is a little vinous some more milky and resembling Aqua Lactis His Friend from whom he promiseth much says he never met with the Sap of any Tree but what is very clear and sweet As to other Trees I cannot tell but as to this 't is certain he little understands the Birch Tree for some at first have run lacteous all that ever I saw towards the latter end run thick have a fracid or sowre smell and taste and at last in a geltinous Body stop the tap for the truth hereof I appeal to that Ingenious observing Person Mr. Willoughby who seconded my Observations with his own in the presence of the Lord Bishop of Chester at Astrop-wells I adde That this Water or Sap contains in it such a saccharine essence that if one evaporate it or consider the faeces upon distillation they will appear in consistence and taste as a most perfect Syrup and if you adde Yeast to a quantity thereof and set it to work it will cast off a great deal off black Barm and come to an Alish drink and sometimes resemble a little the Mum of Brunswick to be kept as other Ale in Bottles but 't is no longer Saccharine or like Metheglin which I purposed to produce by this Experiment This Saccharine quality degenerating into an acidity is that which renders the keeping of it so difficult if not impossible to set it in the Sun whatever Mr. Evelyns Friend say is the way to hasten its degenerateness for I have an hundred times set it in the Sun in Bottles close stopped and it turns sowre and smells fracid suddenly and on the top there gathers a concretion of the Birchy Particles white with which the Liquor was impregnated which I have known turn ligneous I shall not give any account of what I have brought it to by long insolation nor what way may be propos'd to stop its degeneration into acidity in order to its brewing which is no difficulty nor by what ways it may be brought to a Wine without heterogenous mixtures by a peculiar sermentation of its own in certain Vessels 't is enough to have shewed that the prefixing of great Names cannot secure us when a Virtuoso writes I now entreat my Readers pardon for this Digression which is very material to the main Controversie though not so much to the Paragraph instanced in and I proceed to examine the credit of this History In the Year 1664. in September Theodorus Jacobi a Silesian writes to his Friends in Germany from London where he had a great familiarity with Theodor. Haak Mr. Oldenburgh and many others of the R.S. He having told his Friends much of this most glorious Institution addes Interim lucem brevi videbit tractatus Anglice conscriptus in quo rationem instituti sui Orbi literario reddere decreverunt If any have a mind to entertain himself with the Fabulous Representations by which they insinuated themselves into the esteem of Foreigners let him read the Passages in Sachsius till any one can oblige the World with the Original Letter of Theodorus facobi that abused Silesian This Tractate which they promised to him in English was no other then this History of which such expectation was raised and such Miracles spoken before it came out as all England knows But to convince the World further about this History take the Authors own Words They thought it necessary to appoint two Secretaries who are to Reply to all Addresses from abroad and at home and to publish whatever shall be agreed upon by the Society These are at present Dr. Wilkins and Mr. Oldenbourgh from whom I have not usurp'd this first employment of that kinde for it is only my Hand that goes the substance and direction came from one of them How much one of those two were interessed in the compiling of this History doth appear hence and from that Character with which He recommended it to the World of which none but the deaf and insensible can be ignorant That the R. S.

and yet other Observators pretend to see them every day yet doth Mr. Boyle professe that he neither wanted the conveniency of excellent Telescopes nor omitted any circumstance requisite to the Enquiry Thus the Animadverter and hence he is sure that Mr. B. is in the same Error with Mr. C. that Telescopes are fallacious Let this be an instance how this Swaggerer quotes Authors and let the Reader look into the place cited from Mr. Boyle If he do so he will see that that Honorable Person saith nothing there that tends to the proving the deceitfulness of Telescopes much less that he believes them fallacious I have not the Latine Translation of those Essays but in the second Edition of the Original English I find the Discourse to which Mr. Stubbe refers p. 103. Where the excellent Author imputes it not to the Glasses that he could not for several Moneths see the Maculae or Faculae Solares but seems a little to blame those Astronomers who have so written of the Spots and more shining parts as to make their Readers to presume that at least some of them are almost always to be seen there which he conjectured was occasioned by their so often meeting such Phaenomena in the Sun ibid. But these for many Moneths our Learned Author could not discover by his Telescopes not because of their fallaciousness but because for so many Moneths they appeared so much seldomer then it seems they did before These are the Words of that Honorable Gentleman ubi sup And now how doth it appear hence that Mr. Boyle is in the same Error about the deceitfulness of Telescopes with Mr. Cross Is it sure that he thought those Glasses fallacious because he could not see the Maculae and Faculae in the Sun when they were not there What are we to expect from this Man in reference to the other Authors he cites when he so grosly and impudently mis-reports so known a one of our own who is yet alive and sees how maliciously the Caviller perverts him I shall examine his carriage to other Writers in my next Book and in that shew that most of the Arguments he brings to argue the fallaciousness of Telescopes prove only the Diversity and Changes of Mediums and of the Celestial Phaenomena not the deceit of those Glasses I have repeated Mr. Glanvills Words at large that the solidity of my Answer may appear for 't is not my intention to abuse the Reader with false Citations or amuse him with great confidence grounded upon a bare Reference to an Author which he hath not at hand thus these Virtuosi may prepossess the unwary into an ill Opinion of their Adversaries whereas they that know them as well as I do will suspend their Assent till more diligent enquiry convince them Haveing informed my Reader that this Book Caesalpinus Sir H. Savils Lectures and many others have no Index's I proceed to repeat the entire Discourse of Mr. Boyle out of the Edition my Antagonist follows pag. 102 103. But to say no more of the contingent Observations to be taken notice of in tryals Medical I could tell you that I have observed even Mathematical Writers themselves to deliver such Observations as do not regularly hold true For although it hath been looked upon as their Priviledge and Glory to affirm nothing but what they can prove by no less than Demonstration and though they use to be more attentive and exact then most other Men in making almost any kind of Philosophical Observations yet the Certainty and Accurateness which is attributed to what they deliver must be restrained to what they teach concerning those purely-Mathematical Disciplines Arithmetick and Geometry where the affections of Quantity are Abstractedly considered But we must not expect from Mathematicians the same accurateness when they deliver Observations concerning such things wherein 't is not only Quantity and Figure but Matter and its other Affections that must be considered And yet less must this be expected when they deliver such Observations as being made by the help of material Instruments framed by the Hands and Tooles of Men cannot but in divers cases be subject to some if not many Imperfections upon their account Divers of the Modern Astronomers have so written of the Spots and more shining Parts or as they call them Faculae that appear upon or about the Sun as to make their Reader presume that at least some of them are almost always to be seen there And I am willing to think that it was their having so often met with such Phaenomena in the Sun that made them to write as they did And yet when I first applyed my self to the Contemplation of these late Discoveries though I wanted neither good Telescopes nor a dark Room to bring the Species of the Sun into yet it was not till after a great while and a multitude of fruitless Observations made at several times that I could detect any of those Solar spots which having dured many Moneths at least appear'd so much seldomer then it seems they did before that I remember a most Ingenious Professor of Astronomy excellently well furnished with Dioptrical Glasses did about that time complain to me that for I know not how long he had not been able to see the Sun spotted And as for the Faculae which are written of as such ordinary Phaenomena I must profess to you Pyrophilus that a multitude of Observations made with good Telescopes at several places and times whil'st the Sun was spotted has scarce made me see above once any of the so look'd for Brightnesses And as the nature of the Material Object wherewith the Mathematician is conversant may thus deceive the Expectations grounded on what he delivers so may the like happen by reason of the imperfection of the Instruments which he must make use of in the sensible Observations whereon the mixt Mathematicks as Astronomy Geography Opticks c. are in great part built This is but too manifest in the disagreeing Supputations that famous Writers as well Modern as Ancient have given us of the circuit of the Terrestrial Globe of the distance and bigness of the fixed Stars and some of the Planets nay and of the heighth of Mountains which disagreement as it may oftentimes proceed from the different Method and unequal skill of the several Observers so it may in divers cases be imputed to the greater or less exactness and manageableness of the Instruments employed by them And on this occasion I cannot omit that sober Confession and Advertisement that I met with in the Noble Tycho who having laid out besides his Time and Industry much greater sums of Money on Instruments then any Man we have heard of in latter Times deserves to be listned to on this Theam concerning which he hath among other things the following Passage Facile saith he lapsus aliquis pene insensibilis in Instrumentis etiam majoribus conficiendis subrepit qui inter observandum aliquot scrupulorum primorum jacturam