Of OXFORDSHIRE. i,j 



the Fourth, to whom he made complaint not only of his hard 

 ufage, and fequeftration of his Books, but charge of his Experi- 

 ments, fome whereof he tells him, efpecially concerning burning 

 things at any diftance, would amount at leaft to a thoufandmarks-, 

 Et certe combufiio in omni dislantia confiaret plufquam mille marcat, 

 antequam fyecula fufficientiafierent ad hoc q , are his very words, And 

 at.another place fpeaking of Mathematical Lnftruments,Inslrumentd 

 hctcnon funt facia apud Latinos, nee fierent pro ducentisnec trecentis 

 libr's r , that they would not be made for two or three hundred 

 pounds : great fums indeed in Bacons time, yet fcarce bearing pro- 

 portion with his greater attempts. 



7. Which made them at laft fo jealous of him, that notwith- 

 ftanding he wrote a whole Treatife againft the ufe of Magickjj 

 they would fuffer none to come near him, nor his Books to have 

 place in their Libraries, infomuch that it almoft repented him of 

 his Inventions \ which in all probability (not to mention the 

 humor of the Age, very careful of breaking the Heavenly Seal (as 

 they called it) which obfeured their myjleries from tne uriWorthy 

 multitude) was the caufe why he left us no particular Phenomena. 

 of the motions of the Planets, nor any thing of newfiars ; the 

 difclofing (uchfecrets producing many inconveniencies. Which 

 alfo was thereafon (as guefs'd by Dr. Dee u ) why he never re- 

 vealed his fecret of Gun-powder ; not but he efteemed it a confi- 

 derable Invention, but becaufe he fore-faw the many evils attend- 

 ing it, which thefe latter ages have feverely felt ; fince brought 

 into practice by Bertholdut Swartz^ of which more fully in its pro- 

 per place. 



8. So far then was John Lipperfein of Zeland, Metim of Alckr 

 mar, or Galil*ws himfelf from being the Invent or of the Telefiope i 

 or firft appljer of it to the Heavens that perhaps had not Bacon 

 left his Books to poiterity, with fuch pregnant Indications how' 

 much might be done that way ; he had been as little able to make 

 thofe advancements he d\d , as Paulws Middleburgenfis, or Coper- 

 nicuthzd been, to give occafion for the correction of the Julian 

 Calendar, or Tropical Tear, confiding of 365 days and 6 hours 

 (firft contrived, as Bacon informs us, by one Falix w , and only 



* InGperif Mitt. part.-], cap. 13. MS.in~Bib.Bod. hieadem Op. Min.part.^.cap 11. Contra tfecro- 

 manticos five denullitate May*, t Vid. Hift. & Antiq.XJniverf.Oxon. Lib. i./>. 138. u Dr. Dee's Annoi'. 

 in Epift. ad Varlfienfem. * In Liho Fratris Rog. Bacon. Computus Naturalium, diclo^cap.% MS. in Bib/. 

 Cell.Vmverfitatu Oxon. 



E e per* 



