THE CONFLICT OF OLD AND NEW IDEAS 35 



ham, tlie Duchess of Newcastle, ]\Iilton and Dryden.''^ The prob- 

 lem presented is two-fold; — (1) To what extent the poets were 

 influenced by the new ideas, and (2) how adequately they gave 

 literary expression to them. 



Cowley was early an ardent advocate of the new scientific in- 

 quiries, and took an active part in their encouragement. Like Mil- 

 ton and Evelyn, he was interested in educational reform and pub- 

 lished in 1661, A Proposition for the Advancement of Learning. 

 This is a prose essay in which the author has outlined specifically 

 a plan for a new technical school. He has even given the number 

 of instructors to be employed and the salaries to be paid them, and 

 the number of students to be enrolled. By means of this institu- 

 tion he hoped, according to the preface, to encourage "the inquisi- 

 tion into the nature of God's Creatures, and the application of 

 them (principles discovered) to Humane Uses (especially the lat- 

 ter".)''^ It may thus be seen that Cowley was brought fairly into 

 contact with the new science ; he knew its method, its spirit of 

 inquiry, and its early achievements. 



The passages in his poetry, however, that reveal any influence 

 of the new philosophy are surprisingly few. Such admiration as 

 he expressed was for the character and work of Bacon and Harvey. 

 In his Ode to the Royal Society, he praises Bacon for his revolt 

 against the power of ancient authority. — 



"Authority made 



Children and superstitious men afraid. 

 The orchard's open now and free; 

 Bacon has broke the Scare-crow Deitie".^* 

 This great scientist, like another Moses, has led men forth from 

 the bondage of scholasticism; like a new star that "does to Fools 

 a Meteor .show", he has added new beauty to the heavens. But 

 through all the extravagant flattery of this "unnavigable" poem, 

 one may clearly see that the quality in the work of Bacon which 

 Cowley best understood and by which he was most attracted w^as not 



** Courthope, W. .J., Ilistory of English Poetry: — "No more lively or characteristic 

 representative can be found of the thought of an age when the traditions of an ancient 

 faith met in full encounter with the forces of the new philosophy". — On Donne, vol. 

 Ill, p. 168. 



^A Proposition for the Advancement of Learning, Preface. 



>* Ode to the Royal Society. 



