38 THE NEW SCIENCE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE 



Atoms" must needs be in vain. There is for Denham no inspira 

 tion in the new philosophy. The dearth of new ideas in his lines 

 is striking. From all the discoveries of science he had caught these 

 two figures ; besides, in an abstract way, man 's body had become to 

 him a "microcosm" of the new philosophy. The influence of the 

 new science upon him is negligible ; the attempt to give poetic ex 

 pression to what he must have known is slight. He did not, or 

 could not, adjust himself to the new conditions. 



Another member of this group, though remarkable in many 

 ways, may be dismissed with a few words. The Duchess of New 

 castle found an insatiable interest in philosophy. It is known 

 that she once paid a visit to the Royal Society, a fact which caused 

 a great flutter in London social circles. 46 Long before this she had 

 made up a fairly complete system of philosophy, for herself (1655). 

 Her method was simple in the extreme. She took from Descartes 

 and Hobbes the two fundamental principles of all creation outside 

 of man himself, matter and motion. She held, therefore, that all 

 physical forms were made by an infinite variety of motion. An 

 animal would, according to her system, differ from a stone because 

 of the different motion of the particles that compose the bodies. 

 There was, also, the "innate" motion which gave life and spirit 

 to men. It is, however, impossible to take her seriously. She 

 has characterized her own mind as aptly as any satire could do it : 

 "I dance a measure with the Muses, feast with the Sciences, or sit 

 and discourse with the Arts". 47 Not in such a manner can either 

 the arts or sciences be advanced, nor thus can the Muses be highly 

 honored. The Duchess was, in fact, merely an indefatigable scrib 

 bler; her mind was "ever bubbling over with phantasies". "Doc 

 tor", said the Duchess of Newcastle to Wilkins regarding his Dis 

 covery of a New World, "where am I to find a place for baiting 

 at, in the way up to that planet?" "Madam", replied Wilkins, 

 ' * of all the people in the world, I never expected that question from 

 you, who have built so many castles in the air, that you may be 

 every night at one of your own". 48 



46 Pepys's Diary, May 30, 1667. 



47 Duch. of Newcastle, The Philosophical and Physical Opinions of, 28. 



48 Burnet's History of his own Times, p. 128. 



