Chao. I. and wintering in Charlton Ifland, 43 5 
“ demians, whofe Excdlency, in all kind of Learning, 
all foreign Univerfities do admire, and none attain 
“ unto. I here prefent you a Voyage to Cholcos^ though 
“ not the Golden Fleece with it. The Search I mean, but 
“ not the finding, of that fo much talked of, fo often 
“ fought for, North-wcfl Pajfage^ and nearer Way into 
the South Sea. That wherein fo much 'Time and Trea~ 
fure hath been expended, fo many brave Spirits em- 
“ ployed, and yet none difcovered. Perchance there is 
“ no fuch Pajfage to be found ; and that the Spaniards., 
by the Gullery of their falfe Sea Cards., and the Fable 
“of an old Greek Pilots have but diverted our Englijh 
“ and Dutch Seamen from the Golden Indies. This Plot 
“ of theirs has taken for thefc many Years, and it 
“ appears to be but a Plot ; ' for that themfelves never 
“ made ufe of this Pajfage. For mine own Part, I fup- 
pofe that the PhilofopheP s Stone is in the North-weft 
“ Pajfage. My Argument for it is, that there is fo 
“ much Philojophy in the Way to it. 
“ So much and fuch Variety, and that fo vari- 
“ oils (I think) from v;hat is received in the Schools., 
“ that it were well worth the Difquifition of an Uni- 
“ verftty (and I wifh you the firlt Honour of it) 
“ either to find out how thefe Obfervations may be re- 
“ duced to Ariftotle's Philcfophy, or whether they need 
any other Enquiry, and ought to be examined by 
“ fome other Rules than Ariftotle hath yet lit upon. 
“ This is my Purpofe of inferibing it unto you. Of 
“ this one thing am I confident. That you are all fo 
“ rational and ingenuous, as to prefer Truth before Au- 
“ thority ; Amicus Plato, amicus Ariftoteles, but magis 
“ arnica veritas. Your Sciences then being liberal, your 
“ Studies 1 know have fo far pafifed into your Manners, 
“ that your Minds are fo too; and that fuch as have 
“ already profited beyond the Qredulity required in a 
“ young Learner, and are themfelves prompted to be , 
“ Mafters of the Arts,, though they ftill reverence their 
“ old Greek Tutor, yet they v/ill not fuffer that of Pytha- 
“ goras’s School, fo to domineer in AriftotUs, as to let an 
“ ipfe dixit go away with it ; much lefs allow it the A.u- 
“ thority of a MayoPs Hammer, with one Knock to fi- 
“ lence all Arguments. 
“ Upon this Confidence, I, with all due Refpefts, 
“ here prefer two Propofitions unto your difeuffing. 
“ The firft this, Whether thefe Rules of Ariftotle’.^ Philo- 
“ fophy he to he allozved fo univerfal, that they hold all the 
“ World over. The fecond this. Whether they ought to 
he fo magifterial as to preferibe againft all other Exa- 
minations. The firft of thefe I fhall but problemati- 
“ cally propound unto you ; but in the fecond, I hope 
“ a Man ot my cloathing may be allowed the Free- 
dom of being fomething more earneft. 
“ But that I may not come with Prejudice to the 
*' making of thefe Motions, or be thought upon fome 
“ Ignorance or Ambition to fpeak againft the incomparable 
“ Ariftotle, I fliali defire all my/r/Zew Academians to -A- 
low me fo much Diferetion, as to know, That he that 
“ fhall in your Flearings, oppofe your Ariftotle, does 
“ like the Ship here fpoken of, run againft a Rock, en- 
“ danger his ov/n Bulge, and the ftaving of his Veffel. 
“ No, I fo far honour the old Ariftotle, that I will allow 
“ him to be Mafter and Moderator of the Schools ; and 
“ that there is the fame Refpecl due to him in the Schools, 
“ which, by Reafcn of long Cvftom, is due to one of the 
“ King’s Ships in the narrow Seas. That in Acknowledg- 
“ ment of Sovereignty, every ‘other Name ought to ftrike 
Sail to him. Ariftotle (it muft be confefTed) hath made 
“ all Learning beholding to him. No Man hath learned 
“ to confute him, but by him, and unlefs he hath plow- 
“ ed with his Heifer. He had the moft incomparable 
“ Wit, and was the moft logical and demonftrative 
Deliverer of himfelf, of all the Sons of Nature. One 
who beft of all deferved to be called principal Se- 
“ cretary : One who not only adorns a Library, but 
“ makes it ^li habet Ariftatdem, habet Bihliothecam, is 
“ truer ot him than of the great Comparer. This is my 
“ Opinion ot him, and I wifli him more ftudied. 
“ ’ Pis not therefore the Name, or the Authority, of 
“ the great that my Propofitions meddle with- 
“ al ; but whether his Propofitions, gathered out of this 
“ Part of the World alone, could, like a royal Pafs, 
“ or a Commijfton, carry a Man all the World over. 
“ It muft be confefTed, that in refpedf to the Equi- 
“ noliial, and the Latitude that Ariftotle lived in, he was 
“ but a Northern Man, and it was his own Rule, that 
“ nihil agit extra Spharam aliivitatis fuce, fo then it 
“ would be put to Voices to confider, whether he 
“ that knew but thofe Northern Parts, and the MedF 
“ terranean Sea, could poffibly make fuch Colledfions 
“ by what was there to be learned, as fhould be infalli- 
“ ble in the SouthernHemifphere, and the two Indies. Plain- 
“ ly, thofe that are converfant in the Navigations and 
“ Books of Voyages into thofe Parts, have round fo many 
“ Contrarieties to obferve, that it was rather tedious than 
“ difficult to fill up a Not e-Book with them. 
“ The Ancients we know (as if they had meafured the 
“ World by the Yard-Wand) reftrained the Limits of 
“ Temperature and Habitation by the five Zones, without 
“ Confideration of any interloping or concurring Caufes, 
“ which Experience hath now found out to have quite alter- 
“ ed their Obfervations. I add, that a good Leifure and Di- 
“ ligence might obferve how, in a contrary Part of the 
“ World, there be found clean contrary Caufes and Effebis 
“ unto thefe in this Part of the World. The South Wind 
“ there brings Cold, and Winter ; and the North is the 
“ rainy Wmd. How will the Thunder and Windht made 
“ to agree with Ariftotle’ s, Diftinblion of a Meteor ? In 
“ fome Places of the Mountains Andes, by Peru, it 
“ thunders ever. The Eaft hidies have their Monfons, 
“ and their Steady Winds, conftant for fix Months toge- 
“ ther, and Who fhall affign their Caufes ? Then the 
“ Dobirines of the Tides, nothing fo uncertain which ebb 
“ and flow in fome Places different, and in others con- 
“ trary to the Moon and her Motions. This (as I re- 
“ member) is Ariftotle’ Diftinddon of a Meteor ; that it 
“ is an imperfebl mixed Body generated out of an infirtn and 
“ incenftant Concretion of Elements, which therefore can- 
“ not be durable. Now the Monfons are both conftant in 
“ their Continuance this Year ; and in their Return next 
“ Year, moft conftantly keeping their Seafons half Year 
“ one Way and half another Way, for all Ages nothing 
“ more conftant and durable, and therefore nothing like 
“ Ariftotle’^ Meteor. And fo for the Thunder upon the 
“ Andes ; it is firft perpetual,; and fecondly, not caufed 
“ by a dry Exhalation (as Ariftotle wills) ; but hanging 
“ over fuch Hills as are covered with Snow, and a per- 
“ petual Winter ; witnefs the Thunder on the Alps alfo ; 
“ yea, and that in the Middle of the Sea, five hundred 
“ Leagues from Shore, or any thing that is dry ; 
“ nay, it frequently both fnows and thunders upon the 
“ Andes ztth.s^ fameinftant ; and in dry Places, that are 
“ hard by, fcarce ever thundering. 
“But not to pafs the Line for it : You fee in this little Book 
“ how Charlton IJland, which is no more northerly than 
“ your Cambridge, yet is fo imfufferably cold that it is not 
“ habitable, and that there encounter fo many different (at 
“ leaft fo feeming) Occurrences of Nature, as were well 
“ worthy Ihe Difquifition of a Philofopher. I could (in 
“ my fmall Reading) inftance in many other Particulars, 
“ which I had rather fhould be found out by fome in- 
“ duftrious Searchers after Nature in the modern Relations 
“ of our Difeoverers, than in this my fhort Propofition. 
“ ' ’Tis not to be doubted but that the careful reading of 
“ our Books of Voyages would more iiluftrate the Hiftory 
“ of Nature, and more conduce to the Improvement of 
“ Philofophy than any Thing that hath been lately thought 
“ upon. Thefe Navigations have in part fulfilled that of 
“ of the Prophet : Many fhall pafs to and fro, and Know- 
“ ledge fhall be increafed. This I fuppofe might be ob- 
“ ferved from this Study, That the great and infinite 
“ Creator hath fo difpofed and varied every thing, that 
“ it is irnpoffible for Man’s Reafon and Obfervation to 
“ conclude him ; and therefore though the vulgar and 
“ received Philofophy may give a Man a general Hint 
“ all the World over ; yet no univerfal and unfailing 
“ Certainty. 
“ This brings me to my fecond Propofition: That feeing 
“ God v/iil not have his Works (no more than his King- 
“ dom) 
