APPENDIX C. 141 



very course which has obtained for science the 

 enlarged boundary she now possesses ; and to the 

 Society which first made the cause of science a 

 national question, and under whose auspices 

 England has attained an eminence which all 

 her sons must ardently pray she may never 

 lose. 



A passage near the commencement of the 

 " Discourse of Earth," is so characteristic of the 

 style of writing of the period, that it is worth 

 extracting. After a modest disclaiming of his 

 own powers, Evelyn goes on to say, " There 

 are few here I presume, who know not upon 

 how innocent and humble a subject I have long 

 since diverted my thoughts ; and, therefore, I 

 hope they will not be displeased, or think it un- 

 worthy of their patience, if from their more 

 sublime and noble speculations (and which do 

 often carry them to converse among the brighter 

 orbs and heavenly bodies) they descend awhile, 

 and fix their eyes upon the earth, which I make 

 the present argument of my discourse. I had 

 once indeed, pitched upon a subject of some- 

 what of a more brisk and lively nature; for 

 what is there in nature so sluggish and dull as 

 earth? What more spiritual and active than 

 vegetation, and what the earth produces ? But 

 this, as a province becoming a more steady hand 

 and penetrating wit than mine to cultivate, (un- 



