Vicomt St. Alban 



furveys with diligence all the variety of Books, wherein 

 :Arts and Scievcef triumph , fliall every where find infi- 

 nite repetitions of the fame matter, for manner of De- 

 livery divers, but for Invention ftale and preoccupare 5 fo 

 aswhatatfirft viewfeem'd numerous, after examination 

 taken, are found much abated. § As for profit, I may con- 

 fidently avouch it. That the wifdom we have extraf^ed , 

 chiefly from the Grecians, fcems to be a Child-hood of 

 Knowledge, and to participate that which is proper to 

 children, namely, that it is apt for talh^ y but itupotent And 

 immature for propagation : for it is of^ Controverlies rank 

 and fertile, but of works barren and fruitlefs. So that 

 the Fable and Fiftion of ScyUa,*{eems to be a lively Image 

 of the State of Learnings as now it is, which for the up- 

 per parts had the face and countenance of a comely Vir- 

 gin i* but was from the w^omb, downward circled and en- 

 wrapt with barh^ng Mongers. So the Sciences wherein we 

 are trained up, contain in them certain Generalities fpeci- 

 ous and plaulible, but wh^in ye»u defoenduoto particu- 

 lars, as to the Parts of Generation, expe^ing folideffeds, 

 and fubftantial operation s<, then, Contentions and Barking 

 Altercations ariCe, wherein they clofe^ and which fupply 

 the place of a fruitful womb. § Again , if thcfe kinds 

 of Sciences were not altogether a mete livelcfs Thing, 

 methinks itfhould not have fain out, which now for many 

 Ages hath continued, thatW^ey fhould thusftandat aftay, 

 in a manner immoveable in their firft Footings, without any 

 Augment atio7% worthy the Race of Mankind , in fuch a 

 dull Improficience, that ucrt: only AiTertion remains Af- 

 fertion, but Queftion reft s ftill, Qii eft ion , which by Dif- 

 putcs is not determined, but fixt and cherifht : and all 

 Tradition and Succeflion of Pifcipline delivered from 

 hand to hand, prefents and exhibits the Perfon of Teacher 

 and Scholar, not of inventor;, or of one fhould add fome- 

 thing of note to what is invented. § But in Arts Mecha- 

 chanical We fee the contrary hath come to pafs, which as 

 if they were infpired by the Vital breath and prolifick in- 

 fluence of a thriving Air , are daily Propagated and Per- 

 feSied; and which in their firft Authors appeared, for the 

 moft part rude and even burthenfome and Formlefs, have 



afterward 



