BOOKS OF SECRETS. I5 



in its widest aspect, previous to the introduction of the more recent system 

 of observation and experiment. To the ordinary man the world is full of 

 marvels and secrets which he does not understand and of forces which he 

 cannot always control. These phenomena in the course of time were 

 observed, sometimes accurately, and interpreted in many ways, not always 

 conclusively. The familiar authorities from classical times are, of course, 

 Aristotle, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Seneca and others. For the 

 medieval writers, Pliny was the chief guide, but all sources were drawn upon 

 by those who compiled, for popular delectation, narratives of strange appear- 

 ances and events. Such were the "Liber Aggregationis" of Albertus Magnus, 

 already alluded to, and in the sixteenth century the "Prodigies" of 

 Polydore Vergil and of JuHus Obsequens, the " Histoires Prodigieuses " of 

 Boaistuau, the "Occulta Naturae Miracula " of Levinus Lemnius of 

 Zierikzee, Johnson's " Cornucopise," and the "Secrets and Wonders of 

 the World abstracted out of Pliny" in English in 1587. 



At the same time Arthur Golding translated Solinus and Pomponius 

 Mela, both of whose histories are storehouses of marvels. There were the 

 " Contemplation of Mysteries " compiled by Thomas Hill and printed by 

 Denham about 157 1, and the natural history of John Maplet of Cambridge, 

 called "A greene Forest," published in 1567. As early as 1563, 

 Dr. William Fulke, the controversialist and divine, wrote a book about 

 meteors. What is called the second edition appeared at London long after 

 in 1634 in a little black letter volume entitled " A most pleasant Prospect 

 into the Garden of Naturall Contemplation." It is divided- into five 

 sections and describes meteors, fiery meteors, ayry impressions, watry 

 impressions, such as clouds, rain, snow, springs, lakes, rivers, the sea, and 

 earthly meteors, such as metals and stones. Hill's book resembles Fulke's 

 sufficiendy to make it worth while comparing them. 



A century later, about 1670, came the popular manuals with the initials 

 R.B., or the name R. Burton, published by Nath. Crouch and indeed 

 assigned to Crouch himself as the author. 



