XXVlll PREFACE. 



&quot; but a natural body, rarified to a proportion, and 

 &quot; included in the tangible parts of bodies, as in an 

 &quot; integument. And they be no less differing one 

 &quot; from the other, than the dense or tangible parts : 

 &quot; and they are in all tangible bodies whatsoever, 

 &quot; more or less ; and they are never (almost) at rest : 

 &quot; and from them, and their motions, principally 

 &quot; proceed arefaction, colliquation, concoction, matu- 

 &quot; ration, putrefaction, vivification, and most of the 

 &quot; effects of nature.&quot; 



One of his maxims of government for the enlarge 

 ment of the bounds of empire is to be found in his 

 comment upon the ordinance. * &quot; That all houses of 

 &quot; husbandry, that were used with twenty acres of 

 &quot; ground and upwards, should be maintained and 

 &quot; kept up for ever ; together with a competent pro- 

 &quot; portion of land to be used and occupied with 

 &quot; them ;&quot; and which is thus stated in the treatise 

 &quot; De Augmentis&quot; which was published in the year 

 1623. &quot; Let states and kingdoms that aim at great- 

 &quot; ness by all means take heed how the nobility, and 

 &quot; grandees, and that those which we call gentlemen, 

 &quot; multiply too fast ; for that makes the common 

 &quot; subject grow to be a peasant and base swain driven 

 &quot; out of heart, and in effect nothing else but the 

 &quot; noble man s bond-slaves and labourers. Even as 

 &quot; you may see in coppice-wood, if you leave your 

 &quot; studdles too thick, you shall never have clean un- 

 &quot; derwood, but shrubs and bushes : so in a country, 



See page 235. 



