| Title: | Copy Letters In Hand ?, Benjamin Worsley To ? |
|---|---|
| Dating: | 22 June And 27 [June?] 1648 |
| Ref: | 8/27/1A-14B: 8A-B, 14A-B BLANK |
| Notes: | Two copies of the second letter, one dated June and the other dated July by Hartlib; scribal errors have been retained; another copy at 42/1/1. |
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Copies of Mr Worslys Letters 22 Iuny 1648.
When I writt my last this day 7 night I was a litle dull, neither had I much time; our Morian that day inviting Dr Kifler, & his wife to dine with me, at his house & therefore if any thing was amisse pray pardon me; I ought then to have told you of Fromantill, whom I invited to my chamber & vsed as civilly as I could, had much talke with him about many (but could not intreat of his modesty a Catalogue,) of his Inventions, he went away this day 7 night, in so much hast, as I saw him not, only he sent one to excuse him, (which was soone done) Among his other ingenuityes (which I could not but a litle admire) having it [Beemes?] formerly made caser for Drebble his glasses, he lately fell to grinding those glasses himselfe, & brought over hither 4 of them, & heere sold them at 12 & 15 guyldres a peece. And I comparing them with miner, & with one a gentleman hath here of Mr Drebble his owne making, found Fromantills glasses not <at> all inferiour. Here vpon (having received more pleasure & satisfaction at spare howres by locking all small & minute bodies in these glasses, then almost from anything & finding also that Vse of these microscopes that the vulgar of men, or schollers do not dreame of, & out of my extreame
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delight to them, having beene at the charge to sett the best workman I can finde in these parts a grinding; to see if I could better their clarenesse[H? alters], or greatnesse) I entertayned some large discourse about these glasses more particularly; he telling me all the tryalls he had made to improve or exalt them, & his severall successes, & so taking me of from prosecuting my grinding, promising me he would fall upon making of some more, as soone as he came home, & that if any happened to fall out in the grinding to be extraordinary good eyther for clearnesse or greatnesse of the object, I should have them; I on the other side promised him what price he would aske for them. In reference to all which, & because my dearest freind you can not please a child in a toy more then you will please yor freind in this (excuse my foolishnesse) Lett me earnestly begg of you, to fulfill my desire herein To putt him in mind of his promise and to give him a great charge therein. If he finds a good one, if he bestow a Case better then ordinary (for matter of work=[catchword: manshyp]
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manshyp) on it I Shall be well pleased at it: But because I heare neyther this, that I have, which cost me 25sh in London at a shop over against the Excharge, nor any of this, Sort, are so good as some that [ne?] made in France, and that Mr Petty did assure me severall times, he had such a one, which he valewed as I take it at 3 lb sterl. Mr Hobbs of Paris giving it to him. Lett me intreat you as from yourselfe to entertayne some talke with Petty about optickes grinding of glasses, & about these microscopes, & never leave solliciting of him, till you can a sight of his; & which having lett me begg of you, to gett one of Fromantills glasses to compare it with Pettyes, and if you find Mr Pettyes much to exceed Fromantills in goodnesse give Mr Petty from your selfe what price he will have for it, if he will by no meanes sell it, shew it to Fromantill & lett him take out the mold of the glasses, which is easy & grind such that if it be possible wee may advance this Art in England, & this excellent & pleasurable Instrument 50 highly magnified by Peiresckius, Gassendus, Kircherus
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& others & yett excelling (as vse may be yett made of it) all their commendation.
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Amsterdam 1648. 27 Juny.
For Fromantills glasses it ther ere a necessity of doirig it, I could in respect of my owne desire every day renew my petition to you about them, every day more & more desiring them, having found 2 Vses of them, not mentioned by others, The one to prove a Maxim which I think more setts out the immensity of the wisedome of God then any other, & proves that nothing was done by chance or occasion, viz that as man, so all & Singular Individualls in all & singular even the least species, have not only a numericall forme, barely as the schooles say, but an outward, visible externall, character or difference to distinguish them one from another, so that wee may say, not evey man only but evey beast, or fowle of the same, species, yea every sand is knowne by its name. I having taken up sand I know not how many places, on purpose, which though to appearance in the hand, are no way different; yet being putt into the glasse and distinctly & accu-[catchword: ratly]
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ratly marked, the discrimen is playne, & easy to be discerned. Some being of one colour, some of another, some of one magnitude, some of another, some opacous, some cleare, & diaphanous, some more some lesse angular, and though they all seeme round in the hand, yet in the glasse I could ne ver find one perfectly round: so in small seeds of plants, where not the least difference can be made by the eye alone, a very great & manifest difference is found, which putts me in mind of a 2d vse that the signatures of plants, In the Investigatione of which, wee have certainly least reason to [leare?] out the inspection of their seeds & flowres, being the truly repræsentative & most admirable parts cannot be perfected
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merable number) of perfect flowres in one. So that to omitt more particulars or their vse toward Insects, or discerning the figures of salts. I beleeve it would imploy many yeares, & fill a good volume, to discover to the world this lithe Atlantis, or Vnknowne part of the Creation, hitherto not well looked after by Any This also makes me by so much the more to admire Dr Goddard & Hevelius, their Curiosity: no 2. particulars Arts being certainly so excellent, as the Optickes & Chymia. I thanke you therefore for the coppy of that Letter; though you may assure Dr Goddard those <2> glasses I speake of exceeds much any of Hevelius. There being a great [Scholter?] whose letter I had the favour to see that hath assured one heere, he himselfer saw in one of them, the Shadow of a Tree & the Tree distinctly upon a Mountayne: above Ten German miles distance, which is 40 English miles having the advantage of the sunn, & the cleernesse of the day. Another Senator of a City in Germany, writes also he him. [Selhe?] had Seene a man so distinctly as to [catchword: discerne]
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discerne what [hind?] of habitt he wore, at above 6 german miles distance, which is 24 of ours. Here is one in Amsterdam, treating about the buying one of them, As supposing it a Present for the greatest Prince in Christendom. The disadvantage is they are 12 foot long. beeing drawne if this be to be accounted a disadvantage. I Confesse I honour Dr Kynner the more because he is all for Experimentall learning. For I now having abdicated much reading of Bookes, vulgare received Tradiditions, & common or [schocle?]-opinions, have divided knowledge into Divine & humane. For divine I acknowledge none to be the necessary Rule of fayth but what the spiritt of god hath sett doune plainely, in symple, & vnivocall tearmes & easy to the vnderstanding of any, looking vpon all poynts controverted, as the opinions but at best, if not the Inventions & pryde of men. Bewayling mens vnhappy esteeme of them selves, the writing volumes in this kind, end every man proclayming his darknesse to be light: by which we come to be divided into [seets?],
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& Schismes; whoras I have few Particulars to learne, a Certainty and not opinion of them, can converse without distinction with any that agree in the same, & being evident in themselvs, have the more time to thinke[altered] of conforming to them, & practising them, then to dispute, or find Arguments about them. neyther thinking it a shame to be ignorant of many places of scripture I meane the infallible sensie of them, or that the spiritt of God, when given to any, must necessarily have a power to open them. Seing if this were so: wee should have no difference of opinion among good men, which we see to the contrary. The spiritt of God being wee know but one & must be alwayes the same. For humane Knowledge I honour only that which is immediately deduced from, or built vpon Reall, & certayne Experiments; & those so many, as to make an infallible vniversall; Seing according to the Schooles science is not of particulars. All men there fore sedulous in Experi=[catchword: ments]
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ments, I honour alike whether they be physicall or naturall, medicinall, Astronomicall, opticall or any way mechanicall, or Chymicall; all knowlegdge carefully grounded[altered] upon these, beeing not only certaine, or Reall but Vsefull. This calls to mind Purchase his workes, which I wonder extreamly, is so neglected or [racher?] scorned by our great Bookemen, wheras there is scarse a Genius lives, that may not find some delight in them, lett him be addicted to what study he will. I have often wished, that as he himselfe digested all the discourses of manners, policy, & Religion, into one which he calls his Pilgrimage: And as others have digested some other parts of his discourses, of the norwest passage of Chynæ, & of other parts, according to their particular fancies; That some would collect all his Naturall History, with out abbreviating or Epitomizing it for this would spoyle, which had I not beene prevented, I had long agoe vndertaken. As having vpon severall occasions, had recourse thither, & found much satisfaction. nor is to be omitted, that
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with this subject in the Indies alone, Eusebius Norinbergius hath filld a large volumen, and [Laët?] hath made his History much more pleasand, & acceptable. Neyther is it matter if some things seeme fabulous, for so wee have esteemed many Truths vnknowne to us. Beside; the Authors, to
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some what; & their deficiency or in generall all their excesses and all their defects in things naturall convenient or pleasurable for mans vse or in things hurtfull & Inconvenient. where there may be excellent variety, & judgement & tending to an Admirable Vse. So likewise in generall the Ingenuity or backwardnesse of People of such or such a Country to Arts, & what Arts are found with them, & what not. So for Rivers their length their arise / their increase / their depth / the condition of their water / their fluxe or reflux / & the gentlenesse or swiftnesse of the streame / The countries for pleasure, convenience, or Inconvenience, that it runnes by / The fish remarkeable in it / or what other things is nourish / how taken / and in what plenty, wherein also I have observed Incomparable variety. Also how farr navigable, or not navigable / & the causes whether by reason of falls, a of Sholes, or of moveable sands, or of some great Rock. So for the Sea bordering upon such & such
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Countrie, whether shallow and full of sands / or Rockes or variety or Constancy of serene, or Tempestuous weather / dangerous or safe / & in what seasons most / what fish it abounds with most / & how taken. Thus for the more generall & conteyning parts: for the particular species contayned / whither Animalls vegetables or mineralls, & in Animals whether creatures perfect, as flying [foube?], [Beapts?], reptilia, Insecta, or those of an Amphibious Kind I would have first their description / & what is [remarl-wolle?] eyther i for magnitude of the whole / or for exiguity / or for the disproportion of some part only, of the first wee have an Example in the spider of Brasill / & in the Crabrones of different shapes & greatnesse in those parts over ours; of the last in the tongue of the Chameleon / which not only / it schape differs from all other, but in length is equall to the length of the whole body or 2dy for figure / or some Anatomicall observation / 3dy for colour / of the whole / or of some part only / the manner of generation / & bringing forth / Its [catchword: food]
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food / & Kind of lyfe / & habitation / its naturall sagacity in some thing or other / Its vse / in whole, or in some part of it, only, eyther for some physicall property of agreement or disagreement, energy or power, so its vse medicinall, Oeconomicall & mechanicall eÿther by the Inhabitans or by other Countries. Lastly its manner of taking and the way of preservation./ Many of these things may be transferd to the other 2 Tribes of vegetables & mineralls / As In vegetables; the manner of this springing at first / the time of its growing / or coming to perfection / where most plentifull / where most esteemed or most vsefull/. Its melioration / The things remarkeable in the manner a time of its growing or being come to perfection / The time & manner of its gathering Curing ordering / Its physicall pro-perty or energy in the whole, or some part / Its medicinall vse oeconomicall or mechanicall for the service of any man or of any other part of the Creation / Things [remarhealls?] in the color /
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figure / tact or smell or in the vse among the Inhabitants or among other nations / where most plentifull, where most desired./ So for mineralls where they are, how to bee discovered or knowne, how deepe they lie or how shallow, with what ease or [diffionly?] gott out, or wrought & brought into perfection Their vse physicall, medicinall, oeconomicall or mechanicall for the necessity or for the pleasur & delight of man where most plentifull & where most wanting.
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[Hartlib's hand:] Amsterdam 1648. 27. [Iulj?].
[symbol? in right margin]
[scribal hand:]
For Fromantills glasses if ther[altered from theer] were[altered from where] a necessity of doinig[altered] it, I could in respect of my owne desire every day renew my petition to you about them, every day more & more desiring them, having found 2 Vses[H capitalizes] of them, not mentioned by others, The one to prove a Maxim[altered] which I[altered] think more setts out the immensity of the wisedome of God then any other & proves that nothing was done by chance or occasion, viz.[H? alters] that as man, so all & Singular[altered] Individualls in all & singular even the least species, have not only a numericall forme, barely as the schooles say, but an outward, visible, externall, character or difference to distinguish them one from another, so that wee may say, not evey man only but evey beast, or fowle of the same. species, yea every sand is knowne by[altered] its name. I having taken up sand in I know not how many places, on purpose, which though to appearance in the hand, are no way different, yet being putt into the glasse <H: and> [distinctily? altered] & accuratly[altered] marked, the discrimen is playne, & easy to be discerned. Some being of one colour, some of another, some of one magnitude, some of another, some opacous, some cleare, & diaphanous, some more some lesse angular, and though they all seeme round[H? alters] in the hand, yet in the glasse I could never find one perfectly[H alters] round[H? alters]:
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So in small seeds of plants, where not the least difference can be made by the eye alone, a very great & manifest difference is found, which putts me in mind of a 2d Vse[H capitalizes] that the signatures of plants, In the Investigation of which, wee have certainly least reason to/leave[H? alters] out the inspection of their seeds & flowers, being the truly repræsentative & most admirable parts, cannot[H alters] <H: bee> perfected without the [helpe? altered] of these: I having found first. in Seeds[H capitalizes] those wonderfull figures, & shapes, as are
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Any. This also makes me by so much the more to admire Dr Goddard[H alters] & Hevelius, their Curiosity: no 2. particular[altered] Arts being certainly so excellent, as the Optickes & Chymia. I thanke you therefore for the coppy of [
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I Confesse I honour Dr Kynner the more because he is all for Experimentall learning. For I now having abdicated much reading of Bookes, vulgare received Traditions, & common or [schocle?]-opinions, have divided knowledge into Divine & humane. For divine I acknowledge[altered] none to be the necessary Rule of fayth but what the spiritt of god hath [sett?] doune plainely[H alters], in symple, & vnivocall tearmes & easy to the vnderstanding[H alters] of any, looking upon all poynts controverted, as the opinions but at best, if not the Inventions & pryde of men. Bewayling mens vnhappy esteeme of themselves, the writing volumes in this kind[H alters], & every[H alters] man proclayming[altered] his darknesse to be light: by which we come to be divided into sects[altered] & schismes; wheras I have few [
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Scripture I meane the infallible sensie of them, or that the Spiritt[H capitalizes] of[H's hand] God[H capitalizes], when given to any, must necessarily have a power to open them. seing if this were so: wee should have no difference[H alters] of opinion among good men, which we see to the contrary. The Spirit[H alters from spiritt?] of God being wee know but one & must be alwayes the same. For humane knowledge I honour only that which is immediately[H? alters] deduced from, or built[H's hand] vpon[H alters] Reall[H alters], & certayne Experiments[H capitalizes]; & those so many,
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wished, that as he himselfe digested all the discourses of manners, policy, & Religion, into one[H? alters], which he calls his Pilgrimage: And as others have digested some other parts of his discourses, of the norwest passage of Chynæ, & of other parts, according to their particular fancies; That some would collect all his Naturall[H capitalizes] History, with out abbreviating or Epitomizing[H? alters] it. for this would spoyle, which had I[altered] not beene prevented, I had long agoe vndertaken. As having vpon severall occasions, had recourse thither, & found much satisfaction. Nor is to be omitted, that
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at some seasons; its healthynesse or unhealthynesse / in some places or only as some seasons / The winds, their constancy inconstancy / violence or [
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also I have observed Incomparable variety. Also how farr navigable, or[altered] not navigable / & the causes, whether by reason of falls, a of Sholes, or of moveable sands, or of some great Rock. so for the Sea bordering upon such & such Countrie, whether shallow[altered]
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[right margin: ama?] length of the whole body: or 2dy for figure / or some Anatomicall observation / 3dy for colour / of the whole / or of some part only / the manner[altered] of generation / & bringing forth / Its food / & kind of lyfe[H alters?] / & habitation / its naturall sagacity in some thing or other / Its vse[H alters] / in whole, or in some part of it, only, eyther[H alters] for some[H alters] physicall property of agreement or disagreement[H alters] energy or power, so its vse[H alters] medicinall, Oeconomicall & mechanicall eÿther[H alters] by the Inhabitants or by other Countries. Lastly its manner of taking,
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sicall property or energy in the whole, or some part / Its medicinall vse oeconomicall or mechanicall for the service any<TRANS SWITCH="2"></TRANS> of<TRANS SWITCH="1"></TRANS> man<TRANS SWITCH="3"></TRANS>[<TRANS SWITCH="1"></TRANS>?] or of any other part of the Creation / Things [remarheable? altered] in the color[altered] / figure / tact or smell or in the vse[H alters] among the Inhabitants or among other nations / where most plentifull[H alters], where most desired./ so for mineralls where they are, how to bee discovered or knowne, how deepe they lie or how shallow, with what ease or difficulty[altered] gott out, or wrought & brought[altered] into perfection. Their vse[H alters] physicall, medicinall, oeconomicall or mechanicall for the necessity[altered] or for the pleasure[altered] & delight of man where most plentifull[altered] & where most wanting.