CO 



THE 



NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



Oxford ftiire. 



.i ' ' ' i 



CHAP. J. 



Of the Heayens and Jin '. 



OXF RD , being not undefervedly by Mr. Cambdert 

 ftiled, Our mosl noble Athens , The Mufes feat, and, One 

 of Englands Pillars ; nay, The Sun, The Eye, &c. It 

 would have occafion'd as ftrange a remark, as any to be men- 1 

 tion'd in this whole Eflay, had there not fome eminent Celeftiai 

 Obfervations been made in this C ounty ; efpecially fince that ftu- 

 pendous Mathematical Inftrument, now called the Telefedpe,kems 

 to have been known here above 300 years ago. But thefe being 

 chiefly matters of Art, relating either to the difcovery of the 

 magnitude, figure, or determination of the motions of the Hea- 

 venly Bodies, mult be referr'd (as moft proper) to the end of 

 this Work y if "being my purpofe in this Hifiory of Nature, to ob- 

 ferve the moft natural method that may be. 



2. And therefore I (ball confider, firft, Natural Things, fuch 

 as either the hath retained t|ie fame from the beginning, or freely 

 produces in her ordinary courfe ; as Animals, Plants, and the 

 univerfal furniture of the World. Secondly, her extravagancies and 

 defefts, occafioned either by the exuberancy of matter, or obfti- 

 nacy of impediments, as in Monfiers. And then laftly, as (he is 

 reftrained, forced, falliioned, or determined, by Artificial Ope- 

 rations. All which, without abfurdity, may fall under the gene- 

 ral notation of a Natural Hifiory, things of Art (as the Lord 

 Bacon a well obferveth) not differing from thofe of Nature in 

 form and ejjence, but in the efficient only ; Man having no power 



De Augm Scient, '&. cup 2. 



A over 



