52 THE NEW SCIENCE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE 



But here our interest ends, for, though private belief may long have 

 continued,"^ there was a virtual victory for scientific scepticism. 



This controversy shows the limitations of Glanvil's mind, but 

 within his field of appreciation he had remarkable power. Far 

 beyond any of the contemporary poets is Glanvil's use of the 

 inventions and discoveries of the new science for imaginative ma- 

 terial. "The world of God, no doubt, is another thing, than the 

 world of sense is ; and we can judge but little of its amplitude and 

 glory by the imperfect idea we have of it. From this narrowness 

 of our senses it is, that we have been so long ignorant of a world 

 of Animals that are with us, and about us, which now at last the 

 Glasses, that in part cure this Imperfection have discovered; and 

 no doubt, there is yet a great variety of living Creatures that our 

 best Instruments are too gross to disclose; There is prodigious 

 fineness and subtilty in the Works of Nature; And sometimes I 

 fear that we scarce yet see anything as it is".^^* And the "seeker 

 in Philosophy" spoke forth with valiant courage in defiance of 

 ancient authority in these words; " 'Twas never a Heresie to out- 

 limn Apelles; or to out- work the Obelisks; Galileo without Crime, 

 out-saw all Antiquity, and was not afraid to believe his Eyes, in 

 reverence to Aristotle and Ptolemy. 'Tis no disparagement to 

 those famous Optick Glasses that the Ancients never us'd them, 

 nor are we shy of their Information, because they were hid from 

 the Ages. We believe the polar virtues of the loadstone without 

 certificate from the days of old, and do not confine ourselves to 

 the sole conduct of the stars, for fear of being wiser than our 

 Fathers ".^^5 



There is no well-constructed system in Glanvil's scientific ideas. 

 Nor is there reason for wonder at this, even when his clear mind 

 and sane judgment are known. He lived in a period of transi- 

 tion when an old system was crumbling and a new one was just 

 floating into definition. Glanvil is at a stand about the movement 

 of the earth, for the great Newton had not yet spoken; but his 

 mind was open to conviction and ready to receive the demonstra- 

 tion of new ideas. When a man admits a grave doubt he cannot 



*■* John Wesley and Samuel Johnson are said to have believed in witches. 

 ^^*Eesay I, p. 17. 

 ^^^ Essay I, p. 26. 



