PT. m. Progress and Civilisation. 157 



tion were preserved during the long eclipse which 

 preceded the revival of the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries. The great movement of that period was 

 imparted to a society which these influences had 

 rendered worthy to receive and extend it. Four 

 centuries have passed since that great epoch four 

 centuries which, by their achievements in art, in 

 science, and in learning, have completely changed 

 the position of Man upon this globe. It is needless 

 to enumerate them ; they must be present to the 

 minds of all persons of ordinary education. Half 

 the World was then unknown to us : every portion 

 of it has now been explored, surveyed, and mapped. 

 Millions of colonists have planted new empires in 

 what where unknown wildernesses. The Arts and 

 Sciences have explored the secrets of nature and 

 extended our knowledge to worlds beyond our own. 

 All this vast movement which originated in these 

 centuries" is continuing in our own time with un- 

 abated force. It seems startling to reflect, that in 

 the latter half of the last century, just a hundred 

 years ago, New Zealand was unknown, and the bare 

 existence, but not the size or extent, of Australia, 

 recognised. It is curious to refer to the charts 

 published previous to the voyages of Captain Cook, 



