1802. ] From the Port-falio 
_ [Car il ne veaut faire ce que dictus filt 
de cui Oraces dit. ‘“¢ I] ne -veaut torner 
Ja lumiere en fumee mais Ja fumee fera il 
lumiere.””] 
As the Friar ftudied fome time in Paris, 
he could make himfelf well underftood in 
the language of France. [En Romans 
felonc le patois de France. ] 
Friar Roger Bacon is a Cordelier, of 
the Order of St. Francis; he is a Dostor 
ef Divinity, a good Phyfician, and the 
greateft Chymift, Aftrologer, and Mathe- 
matician of the prefent age. He is more- 
over, a profound philofopher, and has 
made many ditcoveries which have unhap- 
pily brought upon him the imputation of 
dealing in forcery and magic. 
I find this abfurd notion refpeGting Friar 
Bacon prevailing, not only amongft the 
common people, and the generality of the 
fiudents, but even with the Do&ors, who 
ought to know better. This has made 
the good Friar exceedingly cautious be- 
fore whom he exhibits his experiments. 
But he affured me that he had carefully 
regiftered his feveral difcoveries, and that 
they would be found amongtt his writings 
after his death; ‘* for (fays he) they do 
not fuit the times we live in, which are loft 
in the vain ftudy of abftrufe {peculations, 
producing nothing ufeful.”’ ADD 
I told him the ftory which you and I 
have both of us frequently heard, of the 
Brazen Head; how that he and his bro- 
ther in religion, Friar Thomas Bungey, 
fhould have laboured feven years to com- 
plete one, in order to obtain an an{wer to 
this enquiry, ** whether it would not be 
poffible to inclofe England within a wall 
and rampart,’? which anfwer they failed 
in receiving, becaufe, not expecting it fo 
foon, they were out of the way, and did 
not hear the reply which the oracle had 
made. The good Friar fhook his head 
Eo) AE ee Eee ares 
race, with whofe writings he appears to have 
been intimately acquainted, and from which 
he has accordingly made numerous quotations, 
He fpeaks of the Siege of Troy in thefe 
words :—*¢ Ci] Priams roi de Troie fu pere 
au bon Heétor et de Paris qui ravi Heliene 
la feme MeneJaus le Roi’ de Grece por ven- 
gance de ce que je vos ai devife fu le por quoi 
Troie fu deftruite finaument et li rois ocis et 
tuit fi fill felonc ce que vos pores trover ou 
grant livre de Troie.” This Priam, King of 
Troy, was the father of the brave He€or 
and of Paris, who ravifhed Helen, the wife 
of Menelaus, King of Greece, to revenge 
which rape Troy was at laft deftroyed, and 
. the King flain, together with both his fons, 
according as you find it related in the Great 
Beak of Troy, The Tranflator. 
of a Man of Letters. 
hereat ; and obferved to me in the words 
of Laétantius, ‘* Vulgus indoctum pompis 
inanibus gaudet, animisque puerilibus [pectat 
omnia, obleétatur frivolis, nec pouderare 
fecum unamquamque rem poteft;* whicla 
fignifies, that ‘¢the ignorant vulgar, 
delighting im empty fhews, view every 
thing with the fimplicity of children, and 
are belt pleafed with trifles, as they are 
not able to form a proper judgment of 
things.’’ It is very certain that the Friar 
has invented many wonderful machines ; 
in particular, a head framed of brafs, 
which utters certain founds. ‘This is un- 
doubtedly the Brazen Head, which gave 
rife to the ftory of the Oracle. 
He fhewed me many curious mirrors of 
his invention; one fort which fets fire to any 
combuftible, if expofed to the fun’s rays ; 
another, in which figures are made to ap- 
pear and difappear at pleafure; and a 
third, which, being looked through, enables 
a perfon to difcover objeéts at a great dif- 
tance which are not to be difcerned with 
the naked eye. In the purfuit of thee 
difcoveries he has expended much money 3 
but this he can wel! do, as he is defcended 
from a wealthy family, and has fucceeded 
to a plentiful inheritance. =” 
He told me that he knew a method of 
combining falt-petre with charcoal and 
fulphur, in certain proportions; of which 
if but a very fmall quantity be touched 
with the leaft fpark of fire poffible, moft 
wonderful effects will be inftantly pro- 
duced. J had no opportunity of wit. 
neffing this experiment; but fome perfons, 
in whofe prefence he had made it, affured 
me, that it had the neareft poffible re- 
femblance to thunder and lightning. It 
is, I fuppofe, on account of the great 
noife attending this experiment, that the 
good Friar is fo cautious of making any 
trial of it, except in retired places, la- 
bouring as he does under the fufpicion 
of being a necromancer and magician. 
He further fhewed me a black ugly 
ftone, called a magnet, which has the fur- 
prifing property of drawing iron to it; 
and upon which if a needle be rubbed, 
and afterwards faftened toa ftraw, {o as 
it fhall {wim upon water, the needle wili 
inftantly turn towards the Pole-ftar: there- 
fore, be the night ever fo dark, fo as nei- 
ther moon or ftar be vifible, yet fhali the 
mariner be able, by the help of this needle, 
to ftcer his veffel aright. [La magnete 
piere laide et noire. Ob ele ter volenters 
fe joint. Lon touchet cb uneaguilet. Et 
en feltue lon fifchie. Puis lon mette en 
laigue et fe tient defus. Et la point fe 
torne contre leftuille, Quant ja nuit feic 
tencbrous 
449 
