Albertus Magnus who in his Commentaries vpon the great Coniunctions of Albumazar obserued that before Noahs flood chanced a coniunction of Iupiter and Saturne in the last degree of Cancer against the constellation since termed Argo's ship out of which he would needs collect that the floud of Noah might haue beene fore-showne because Cancer is a watry signe and the house of the Moone being mistrisse of the Sea and all moist bodyes according to Astrologie which opinion was afterwards confirmed by Petrus de Alliaco who affirmes in his Comment vpon Genesis that although Noah did well know this flood by diuine Reuelation yet this coniunction being so notable hee could not bee ignorant of the causes thereof for those were not only signes but also apparant causes by vertue receiued from the first cause which is God himselfe Further to confirme this assertion hee would haue Moses by the cataracts of Heauen to haue meant the the great watry coniunction of the Planets A reason wherof hee seemes to alleage because it is likely that God would shew some signe in the Heauens by which all men might be warned to forsake their wicked courses But notwithstanding this curious opinion I rather cleaue to those which thinke this Deluge to be meerely Supernaturall which I am induced to belieue for diuers causes vrged by worthy writers First because this is set downe in Holy Scripture for a chiefe token or marke of Noahs extraordinary faith dependance vpon Gods promises which had been much diminished and of small moment had it any way been grounded on the fore-sight of second causes For this was no more then might haue beene discouered to the rest of the wicked worldlings who no doubt would in some sort haue prouided for their safety had they receiued any firme perswasion of this dreadfull Deluge To which others adde a second reason that second causes of themselues without any change or alteration are not able to produce such an admirable effect as the drowning of the whole World for it is not conuenient say they that God the Author of Nature should so dispose and direct the second causes that they might of themselues bee able to inuert the order of the Vniuerse and ouer-whelme the whole Earth which hee gaue man for his habitation But this reason is thought very weake for as much as it seemeth to imply a new creation The conceit of a new Creation is pronounced by a learned Countreyman of ours both vnlearned and foolish for whereas it is written saith hee that the fountaines of the deepe were broken open it cannot otherwise be vnderstood then that the waters forsooke the very bowels of the Earth and all whatsoeuer therein was dispersed made an eruption through the face of the Earth Now if wee compare the height of the waters in this deluge aboue the highest mountaines being onely 15 cubits with the depth of the semi-diameter of the Earth to the Center we shall not find it impossible answering reason with reason that all these waters dispersed vnder the Earth should so far extend as to drowne the whole Earth for the semi-diameter of the Earth as Astronomers teach is not aboue 35 â— miles wherein the waters contained and dispersed may bee sufficient for the hight of the greatest mountaines which neuer attaine 30 miles vpright whereas this distance of 30 miles is found in the depth of the Earth 116 times Secondly the extension of the Ayre being exceeding great it might please God to condensate and thicken a great part thereof which might concurre to this Inundation We willingly assent to the worthy Authour that this Inundation might bee performed without any new creation Notwithstanding we cannot hence collect that it was Naturall But to compose the difference the better and to shew how far Nature had a hand in this admirable effect we will thus distinguish that an effect may be called Naturall two manner of wayes First in regard of the causes themselues Secondly in respect of the Direction and Application of the causes If we consider the meere secondary and instrumentall causes wee might call this effect Naturall because it was partly performed by their helpe and concurrence But if we consider the mutuall application and coniunction of these second causes together with the first cause which extraordinarily set them a worke we must needs acknowledge it to be supernaturall For other particular Inundations in particular Regions we may more safely terme them Naturall as directed and stirred vp by second causes working no otherwise then according to their owne naturall disposition Two causes concurring together are here most notable whereof the first is the great coniunction of watry Planets working on the water their proper subiect the other the weaknes of the bounds and banks restraining the water which by processe of time weare out and suffer breaches both these causes sometimes concurring together cause an Inundation which assertion wee may lawfully accept but with this caution that Almighty God working by second causes neuerthelesse directs them oftentimes to supernaturall and extraordinary ends 2 Particular alterations haue happened to Bounds of Regions by Particular Inundations Howsoeuer some inundation haue not continued long but after a small time leâ—t the Earth to her owne possession yet others haue been of such violence as they haue beene found to haue fretted away or added and so altered the bounds and limits of places which besides diuerse examples produced by vs in our former chapter Aristotle seemes to acknowledge in the 1 booke ofhis Meteors the 14 Chapter where he saith that by such Accidents sometimes the Continent and firme land is turned into the Sea and other-where the Sea hath resigned places to the Land for sith the agitation or mouing of the water depends ordinarily vpon the vertue of Heauenly bodyes if it should happen that those Starres should meet in coniunction which are most forceable and effectuall for stirring vp of Tempests and Flouds the Sea is knowne to rage beyond measure either leauing her ancient bounds or else vsurping new By this meanes as we haue shewed in the former Chapter some Ilands haue been ioyned to the Land and some Peninsula's separated from the Land and made Ilands somewhere the Sea hath beene obserued for a great space to leaue the Land naked as Verstegan coniectures of the most part of Belgia which hee sayes was in ancient time couered with water which besides many other arguments hee labours to proue out of the multitude of fish-shells and fish-bones found euery-where farre vnder ground about Holland and the coasts thereabouts which being digged vp in such abundance and from such depthes could not saith hee proceed from any other cause then the Sea which couered the whole Countrey and strewed it with fishes Lastly that the Sea might seeme as well to get as lose shee hath shewed her power in taking away and swallowing vp some Regions and Cities which before were extant Such fortune had Pyrrha and Antisâ—a about Meotis
first a sepaparation from the place to which it is moued is more quicke expedient by a right line forasmuch as crooked and circular lines turne backe as it were into themselues againe Also the vnion and coniunction of a part with the Spheare of the Earth is most indebted to a right motion because as wee haue declared the way is shorter Secondly it may bee alleaged that Nature is an vniforme and necessary Agent restrained to one only bound or end and therefore can neither strengthen weaken remit or suspend the action but workes alwayes by the same meanes the same effects whence it is that she chuseth a right line being but one betwixt two points whereas crooked lines may bee drawne infinite and the motion directed by crooked lines would proue various and opposite to the prescript of Nature Moreouer should wee imagine that nature at any time wrought by a crooked or circular line it might be demanded from what Agent this obliquity should arise not from Nature it selfe because as wee said shee worketh alwayes to the vtmost of her strength hauing no power to remit or suspend her actioâ—s But a crooked motion ariseth from the remission or slacking of the Agents force and turning it away from the intended end which only findes place in Free and voluntary Agents Neither comes this Deflexion from the medium or Aire because it can haue no such power to resist Thirdly if the motion were not performed in a right line it could haue no opposite or contrary because as Aristotle teacheth To a circular or crooked motion no other motion can bee opposite or contrary in respect of the whole circle but only in regard of the Diameter which is alwayes a right line By this it is plaine that a waighty point considered in it selfe abstractly cannot but be carried to the center in a right line which right line really and Physically points out vnto vs a Radius or Beame drawne from the center to the circumference to shew that the God of Nature in composing the earthly globe both obserued and taught vs the vse of Geometrie 2 A point mouing toward the Center will moue swifter in the end then in the beginning This hath been plainely obserued by experience that a stone let fall from a towre or high place will in motion grow swifter and swifter till it approach the ground or place whereon it falls The reason may bee giuen from the Aire which resist so much the lesse by how much the body descendeth lower toward the Earth or center because when it is higher the distance being greater the parts of the Aire will make more Resistance The reason rendred by Aristotle of this Resistance is because in the beginning of the motion the stone or heauy body findes the Aire quiet and fixed but being once set on motion the higher parts of the Aire successiuely moue those which are vnder being driuen by the violence of the stone so falling and prepare as it were the way for his comming This reason may in some sort content an ingenious wit till a better bee found out 10 So much for the motion of a heauy point or center it remaines that we treate next of the motions and conformity of Magnitudes to the center of the Earth wherein we consider not only the Center or middle point but the whole masse of the magnitude whose motion and conformity shall bee expressed in this Theoreme 1 The motion of a magnitude toward the center is not meerely naturall but mixt with a violent motion This may easily bee demonstrated because no point of any magnitude is moued to the Center naturally but the middle point or center of the magnitude For although the Center bee moued in a perpendicular line which makes right angles with the Horizon yet the extreme parts are moued in lines parallell which cannot possibly make right angles with the Horizon or meet in the Center which may bee showne in this Figure Let there bee a Circle as ABL This done wee will imagine a certaine magnitude hanging in the Aire and tending to the Center C which is signified by the line PEN It is certaine that the Center of the magnitude E will moue and conforme it selfe downeward toward the center of the Earth by the line EC which motion will bee naturall as that which is deriued to a center from a circumference by the direct Radius which is the Rule of all naturall motions But the other parts without the center of this magnitude cannot moue but in so many lines which shall bee parallell the one to the other as for example the point N must needs moue in the line NG and the point P in the line PF which being of equall distance will neuer concurre in the Center and therefore cannot bee esteemed naturall rayes of the circle whence wee may collect that the motion of these parts is not naturall but violent for if any should imagine the motion of these parts to be naturall then should the point N moue to the center of the Earth by the line NC and the point P. by the line PC and so by how much the more any waighty body should approach the Center of the Earth by so much it should bee diminished and curtailed in his quantity so that in the Center it selfe all the parts should concurre in an Indiuisible point which is absurd contradicts all reason 11 Hitherto haue we spoken of the conformity of all Earthly and waighty bodies to the Terrene center as they are taken Absolutely It now remaines that we speake of these bodies as they are taken comparatiuely being compared one with the other This discourse properly belongs to an art which is called Staticke and Mathematicall whose office is to demonstrate the affections of Heauinesse and Lightnesse of all Bodies out of their causes The chiefe sensible Instrument whereon these properties are demonstrated and shewne is the Bilanz or Ballance But these specialties wee leaue to such as haue purposely written of this subiect amongst which the most ancient and chiefe is Archimedes whose heauenly wit ouertooke all such as went before him and out-went all such as followed Enough it will seeme in this Treatise to insert a proposition or two Staticall to shew the Conformity of two magnitudes and their proper Center mouing downeward toward the Globe of the Earth and it's Center 1 The lines wherein the centers of two heauy bodies are moued downeward being continued will meet in the Center of the Earth A heauy point or Center as wee haue demonstrated heretofore in this Chapter is moued toward the Center of the world in a right line which is imagined to bee a Ray of the whole Spheare deriued from the circumference to the Center therfore it is impossible they should bee parallell or Equidistant but concurrent lines But because the whole distance betwixt vs and the Center is very great it must needs happen that in a small space the concurse of
but after 10000 paces it was taken out of sight I would here aske the Geographers quoth Patricius whether in so short a distance wherein the bottome for the whole space surpassed not two foot in depth the water could ascend to 72 foot Had it beene my chance to haue gone with Patricius ouer the lake I might perhaps by obseruation of this experiment haue giuen a more probable coniecture of the cause Neuerthelesse being vnacquainted aswell with the place as the truth of his obseruation I may perhaps guesse somewhat at his errour First then whereas hee auerres that passing along for the space of a 1000 paces a Tower of 72 foot high seemed cut off by the midst which at 10000 vanished out of sight I confesse that in so short a space the swelling of the water inter-posed could not be so great as to hinder the sight and bee the cause of this effect wherefore some other Accidentall cause must bee sought out For the finding out of which to come as neere as I can I would make inquiry whether this passage of the Boat was directly forward from the Tower on the Water no land inter-posed or Indirectly side-wise in such sort as the shoare might be placed betwixt their sight and the Tower mentioned The former no wayes can be imagined foras much as it not only contradicts the grounds of our receiued Philosophie but also of Patricius himselfe for giuing the Earth a plaine surface or Angular or any other forme it were impossible that in so short a distance such an effect should happen out of the figurature of the water If the passage were oblique or indirect in such wise as the shoare might any way inter-pose it selfe betwixt the Boat and the Tower it were easie to imagine how such an experiment should happen for the land by which the Boat might bee carried might haue an ascent by such Degrees as the Tower at 1000 paces might bee for the halfe of it obscured and at last bee altogether taken out of sight This reason then of Patricius seemes rather to bee ascribed to the Land then the Water The third reason of Patricius is drawne from the Homogeneity of the Water If the water saith hee haue a round superficies the parts of it would challenge the like figure because in homogeneall bodies the same reason is to bee giuen of the whole and of the parts But the parts of the water are not Sphericall as may bee proued by diuers instances 1 Because water in the mouth of a pot seemes not to haue any such Sphericall roundnesse for although at the brinke it seeme to bee restrained aboue the pot yet no such swelling appeares in the middle 2ly That riuers are kept in by their bankes which otherwise would flow abroad 3ly That riuers when by the melting of snow they swell so great as they can hardly bee contayned within their bankes doe not seeme higher in the middle then in other places 4ly If any man from one side of the riuer to the other leuels at any marke he may surely hit it which hee should not doe if there were any Sphericall swelling in the midst which might hinder the sight 5ly and lastly it seemes so vnlikely that the water should rise in the midst that it is more probable it should be more hollow in that we plainly obserue that all filth and rubbish carried from the bankes into the riuer is wont to settle and swimme in the midst Notwithstanding all these argumēts of Patricius our ground is yet vnshaken 1 Concerning small drops and water in the mouth of pots it is found to be round and Sphericall though not exactly the reason wherof wee shall declare hereafter This roundnesse I confesse serues not any way to the confirmation of this assertion because the Sphericity and roundnes which wee auerre to be in Water hath for its center the center of the whole Earth and therefore in so small an arch or section as the bredth of a pot or a drop of water cannot possibly haue any sensible appearance or existence And we must needs confesse that this experiment was very fondly vrged to this purpose by some of our Geographers and such as stands not with any demonstration Which granted sufficiently answers all the reasons last vrged by Patricius except the last For as much as he requires in the Water a sensible appearance of this roundnesse in euery riuer or little parcell of water which cannot bee admitted Touching the last thing which hee vrgeth that all the rubbish and filthy matter is from the bankes carryed into the middle whence he would inferre the middle to be hollow and lowest we can answer diuers wayes 1 That this experiment is not alwayes certaine because euery man may oftentimes see the contrary to wit that such filthy rubbish rather vseth to cleaue to the banks of the riuer then to float into the midst 2ly That if any such thing happen it is because of the torrents which run violently from the banks into the midst carrying with it such things as are light the steepnesse of the place being greater the current wider or swifter But nothing here can bee concluded to proue the water according to his naturall force to be either plaine or hollow in the midst which this Aduersary vndertooke to demonstrate CHAP. III. Of the Partiall magneticall affections in the Spheare of the Earth 1 HItherto haue we discoursed of such affections of the Terrestriall Spheare as are Elementary and knowne heretofore to ancient Philosophers It followes in the next place that we treat of Magneticall affections to wit such as follow the magneticall nature of the Earth Of the vertue and propriety of the Load-stone many haue written but few sought out the true nature The inuention of it is attributed to a certaine heards-man who hauing his shooes shod with iron and an iron-pike in his hand resting himselfe on a quarry of Load-stone could hardly remoue himselfe frō thence But this seemes rather a pleasant Poeticall inuention then a true History hauing no good Author to auouch it But to let passe the first Inuention being a matter rather indebted to chance then industrie no small difficulties haue discouered themselues in the inuention and finding out of the causes of Magneticall properties Somewhat I cōfesse hath been written of such magneticall affections as haue been most knowne such as is the vertue Attractiue by which it drawes to it selfe iron or steele as also the vertue Directiue by which a needle touched with the Magnet directs and conformes it selfe North and South The rest of Magneticall proprieties I find in ancient Writers as little knowne as their causes if any matter herein were broached it was merely coniecturall and depending on no certain demōstration neither had we any certaine or satisfactory knowledge of this thing vntill such time as it pleased God to raise vp one of our Countrymen D. Gilbert who to his euerlasting praise hath troden out a new path to
Thee Hast thou been honour'd by my sacred Breath 'Mongst rude Arcadians thus to beg a Death What greater glory can thy ashes haue Then in my flowry groues to dig thy graue Although the least among my learned sonnes Thy fortunes told thee that I lou'd thee once And so doe still although my haplesse Baies Taught thy despaire to spinne out carelesse dayes And to compose thy discontented Head To slumber softly on the Muses Bed Be rul'd by me my poore yet loued Son Trust not their smiles whose wrongs haue thee vndone Thy faire Hopes grounded on thy place of birth Will fly in Atomes or consume in Earth Before within that Hemispheare of thine Thy Deuons Sunne on thee shall euer shine Then trust vnto my bounty turne thy sight From thy darke Confines to my golden light All thy endowments owed to my wombe Returne them back and there erect thy tombe If no Mecenas crowne thee with his Rayes Teach thy content to sleepe out quiet dayes Let Contemplation with transpiercing eyes Mount thee a pitch beyond the starry skyes And there present thee that eternall glasse Wherein the greatnesse of this wondrous masse Shrinkes to an Aâ—ome where my Astrolube Shall shew thee starres beyond thy painted Globe Where thou aloft as from a mountaine steepe Shalt see the greatest men like Antes to creepe Thy dayes shall minister thee choicest Theames Which night shall render in delicious dreames And thy seuere Philosophy the whiles In amourous kinde shall courte thee with her smiles Or if thy nature with constraint descends Below her owne delight to practick endes Rise with my morning Phaebus slight the West Till furrowed Age inuite thee to rest And then perchance thy Earth which seldome gaue Thee Aire to breath will lend thy Corps a graue Soone the last trumpet will be heard to sound And of thy load Ease the Deâ—oâ—ian ground Meane time if any gentle swaine come by To view the marble where thy ashes ly He may vpon that stone in fewer yeeres Engraue an â—â—iâ—â—ph with fretâ—ing teares Then make mens frozen hearts with all his cries Drink in a drop from his distilling eyes Yet will I promise thy neglected bones A firmer monument then speachles stones And when I pinâ— with age and wits with rust Seraphick Angells shall dreserue thy dust And all good men acknowledge shall with me Thou lou'st thy Countrey when she hateth thee This strange reproofe of an indulgent mother I could not entertaine without passion In so much as without feare or wit I aduentured in this sort to answer her in her owne language Ad Matrem Academiam 〈…〉 haue my former yeeres So much 〈…〉 on thy hate or these my teares Thus to diuorce me from my place of birth To be a stranger to my natiue Earth Wilt thou expose him on thy common stage To striue and struggle in an Iron age Whose low ambition neuer learn'd of thee The curious Artes of thriuing policy Thy golden tongue from which my yonger dayes Suckt the sweet musick of thy learned layes Was better taught thy office then my fate To make me thine yet most vnfortunate Why was I fostred in thy learned schooles To study with for the reward of fooles That while I sate to heâ—re the Muses sing The Winter suddenly ore-took my Spring Haue I so played the truant with my howres Or with base riot stained thy sacred Bowres Or as a Viper did I euer striue To gnaw a passage through thy wombe to thriue To pluck me thus from Deuons brest to try What thou canst doe when as thy dugges are dry When my short thread of life is almost spunne Thou biddst me rise vp with thy morning Sun And like a Heliotrope adore the East When my care-hastened Age arriues at West Could I encounter as I once did hope The God of learning in the Horoscope My Phâ—buâ— would auspicious lookes incline On my hard fate and discontents to shine Now lodged in a luckles house reiects My former suites and frownes with sad aspects Had I been borne when that eternall hand Wrapt the infant world in her first swadling band Before Philosophy was taught the way To rock the cradle in which Nature lay My Learning had been Husbandry My Birth Had ow'd no toll but to the virgine Earth Noâ— haâ— I courted for these thiâ—â—y yeeres Thy seuen proud minions with officious teares To liue had been my industry no tongue Had taxt thy honours guilty of my wrong Had I been shepheard on our Westerne plaines I might haue sung amongst those happy swaines Some shepheardesse hearing my melody Might haue been charmed kind as charity And taught me those sad minutes to repriue Which I haue lost in studying how to thriue Had I aduetur'd on the brinish fome And sworne my selfe a stranger to my home Till time the Haruest reapt my youth did owe And Ages winter had spent all her snow Vpon my haires what worser could I haue Then loose thy frownes to find a wished graue The Scythian hewne from Caucasus would aske â—efore my slaughter why a needles taske Of Trauaile I should vndertâ—ke to see Their Countreyes bounds and my sad misery But hearing my harsh bondage vnder thee Would thine vnkindnesse hate and piâ—ty me To see thy Child far seuer'd from thy wombe The Canniball would make himselfe my tombe And till his owne were spent preserue my dust In his deere vrne which thou hast sleightly lost Canst thou neglected see his Age to freeze Whose youth thou dandl'st on indulgent knees The fowle aspersions on my Deuon throwne Thou mightst in right acknowledge for thine owne Only this difference to men wanting worth They sell preferments and thou sends them forth Canst thou be brib'd to honour with a kisse Thy guilded folly which deserues the hisse If thy foâ—'d wants and flattery conspire To sell thy Scarlet to a worthles Squire Or grace with miniuere some proselite Who nere knew artes or reade the Stagirite Yet should thy hand be frugall to preserue That stock for want of which thy sonnes may starue Haue I seru'd out three prentiships yet find Thy trade inferiour to the humblest mind And that outstript by vnthrifts which were sent Free with indentures ere their yeeres were spent Then cease yee sisters of the Thespian springs Thalia burne thy books and breake thy strings And mother make thy selfe a second Tombe For all thy ofspring and so shut thy wombe Accuse not my iust anger but the cause Nature may vrge but fury scornes her lawes I fawn'd too long on Iustice Sith that failes Storme Indignation and blow vp my sailes Ingenious choller arm'd with Scorpions stings Which whipp'st on Pesants and commandest Kings And giu'st each milky soule a penne to write Though all the world turned a parasite O Temper my braines thy bitternesse infuse Descend and dictate to my angry Muse. O pardon mother something checkes my spleene And from thy face takes off my angry teene Reuolted Nature by the same degrees Goes and returnes begges