what we thus _freely give_, we hope as _freely_ to _receive_. Thus have I endeavour’d to _Vindicate_ the _Royal Society_ from some _Aspersions_ and _Incroachments_ it hitherto has suffer’d; and shew’d under what _Weights_ and _Pressure_ this _Palm_ does still emerge: And if for all this I fall short of my _Attempt_, I shall yet have this satisfaction, That tho I derive no _Glory_ from my own _Abilities_ (sensible of my great _Defects_) I shall yet _deserve_ their _pardon_ for my _Zeal_ to its _Prosperity_. _Epictetus_, κθ. Φιλοσοφίας ἐπιθυμεῖς‧ παρασκευάζου αὐτόθεν, &c. Wouldst thou be a _Philosopher_; Prepare thy self for _Scoffs_: What, you are setting up for a _Virtuoso_ now? Why so proud I pray? Well, be not thou proud for all this; But so persist in what seems _best_ and _laudable_; as if _God_ himself had plac’d thee there; and _remember_, that so long as thou _remain’st_ in that _State_ and _Resolution_, thy _Reproachers_ will in time _admire_ thee: But if once through _Inconstancy_ thou _give out_ & _flinch_, διπλοῦν προσλήψῃ καταγέλωτα, Thou _deservest_ to be doubly _laugh’d_ at. Lord _Verulam_, Instaur. Scient. Some Men (like _Lucian_ in _Religion_) seek by their _Wit_, to _traduce_ and _expose useful things_; because to arrive at them, they converse with _mean Experiments_: But those who _despise_ to be _employ’d_ in _ordinary_ and _common matters_, never arrive to _solid Perfection_ in _Experimental Knowledge_. * * * * * The changes and _Alterations_ in the several _Chapters_ and Parts throughout this _Discourse_, with the _Additions_ and _Improvements_, have often oblig’d me to alter the _Method_, and indeed to make it almost a _New Work_. _J. Evelyn._ FOOTNOTES: {lxxviii:1} See _Petrarch de Remed. utriusque fortunae L. 1. Dial. 57_. {lxxix:1} _Vide & Curtium_, l. 7. &c. {lxxx:1} _De R. R._ {lxxx:2} _In agris erant tunc Senatores._ Cic. _de_ Senect. {lxxx:3} _Silvae sunt Consule dignae. See this of the _Poet_ Interpreted, _Scaliger l. 2. c. 1._ Poet. _P. Nennius, Sueton. Jul._ in Lipsium. _Tacit, iv. Annal. 27._ concerning the _Quæstor’s_ Office._ {lxxxii:1} _Palissy, le Moyen de devenir Riche._ {lxxxiii:1} _Praefat ad P. Silvinum_; which I earnestly recommend to the serious perusal of our _Gentry_. _Et mihi ad sapientis vitam proximè videtur accedere._ Cic. _de Senectute_. {lxxxv:1} _Ne silvae quidem, horridiorque naturae facies medicinis carent, sacra illa parente rerum omnium, nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina, fieret etiam solitudo ipsa, &c. Hinc nata Medicina, &c. Haec sola naturae placuerat esse remedia parata vulgo, inventu facilia, ac sine impendio, ex quibus vivimus_, &c. Plin. l. 24. c. 1. {lxxxvii:1} Consult _Hist. Roy. Soc._ and their _Registers_. The Laws of _Motion_, and the Geometrical streightning of _Curve Lines_ were first found out by Sir _Christopher Wren_ and Mr. _Thomas Neile_.