CO 
THE 
NATURAL HISTORY 
OF ^ 
Oxford fliire. 
XF 0 RD ^ being not undefervedly by Mr. Camhderi 
ftiled. Our mofl noble Athens^ The Mufes feat ^ and, One 
of Englands Pillars; nay, TheSun^ The Eje^&cc, It 
trotild have occafion'd as ftrange a remark, as any to be men- 
tion'd in this whole Effay, had there not fome eminent Celeftial 
Obfervations been made in this County ; efpecially fince thatftn- 
pendous Mathematical Inftrument, now called the Telefcofe^{eem4 
to have been known here above 300 years ago. But thefe bcin^ 
chiefly matters of Art, relating either to the difcovery of the 
magnitude, figure, or determination of the motions of the Hea- 
venly Bodies, muft be referr'd (as moft proper) to the end of 
this Work • it being my purpofe in this Hijlory of Nature^ to ob-* 
ferve the moft natural method that may be, 
2. And therefore Ifliall confider, firft. Natural Things, fuch 
as either (lie hath retained the fame from the beginning, or freely 
produces in her ordinary courfe ; as Animals^ Plants^ and the 
univerfal furniture of the Worlds Secondly, her extravagancies and 
defeSfs^ occafioned either by the exuberancy of matter, or obfti - 
nacy of impediments, as in Monfers, And then laftly, as (lie is 
reftfained, forced, faftironed, or determined, by Artificial Ope- 
rations. All which, without abfurdity, may fall under the gene-' 
ral notation of a Natural Hijiory^ things of Art (as the Lord 
Bacon a well obferveth) not differing from thofe of Nature in 
form and effence^ but in the efficient only ; Man having no power 
CHAP. L 
A 
