LET. VI.

Kepler and Galileo.

called

le, orgivenfornd soheld,i, wasat at-f faith

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such fantastical learning could not long prevail jtime will always produce some lovers of truth,who will penetrate through clouds of error toattain it. After a long night of the most pro-[ found darkness, Copernicus again revived thetrue system of Pythagoras and his followers, andflic wed it to be the only one which was agreeableto reason and observation.

But the greatest champion of useful learningthat had hitherto appeared in the world, was SirFrancis Bacon, Lord Verulam, who by his supe-rior knowledge and eminent abilities, overthrewthe establishment of ignorance and error, andconvinced the infatuated world, that opinionssupported by the authority of Aristotle and an-tiquity, were not infallible. By clear incontro-vertible arguments, supported by reason andscience, he refuted their errors, and shewed thatthe only method of obtaining a true knowledgein philosophy was by observation and mechanicalexperiments.

It was now that men began to discern truth

I from falsehood, and disregarding hypothesis andconjecture, to investigate the works of naturefrom their effects and appearances. Matter and[motion were observed to constitute the principalphænomena of the visible world, and as the pro-perties and affections of these are the subject ofmchanics, that science grew into esteem, and wasG 2 cul-