In the composition of the “Century,” we notice several peculiarities which may sometimes be accounted for by the writer having caught the style of certain English authors. In a letter dated 30th of August, 1646, he quotes the proverb, “a _child_ burned dreads the fire,” and in the “Century” we find the word “_child_” occurring six times to indicate little power or strength being required. The word “_conceited_” is used three times in the sense of ingeniously contrived. All these modes of expression are also peculiar to Bate, Plat, and the translation of Van Etten. The “_twinkling of an eye_” is an expression used twice. The article No. 15, is “A boat _driving_ against wind and tide;” in _Humane Industry_, 1661, appears--“a way to _drive_ their ships without oar.” The term “_admirable_” is common to Bate and to the Marquis; and so is another, that of the word “_force_,” peculiarly used in article No. 68, when he speaks of the “vessels” being “strengthened by the _force_ within them:” really meaning no more, as appears, than some kind of pump-force or plunger acting the part of a valve to diminish any superabundant steam pressure; and not, as is perplexingly supposed, that he had some contrivance for making the expansive force of the steam within the boiler act of itself to strengthen the vessel! When we read in article No. 56, the expression, “A most incredible thing if not seen,” and find Dr. Dee, in his preface to Euclid, expressing himself on a kindred subject, that it is--“A thing almost incredible,” we cannot refuse to believe from internal evidence that the author was from natural inclination well acquainted with that early English translation. The range of such studies as he delighted in, taken from the reign of Elizabeth to the troubled times of Charles the First, or even later, was very restricted; therefore a course of scientific reading would soon be exhausted by an indefatigable inquirer, who would then probably settle down to being satisfied with a small but chosen collection of his favourite authors. It is not only in traits of language that we see a resemblance in such early authors, but equally do we find a certain agreement in their matter. John Bate, for example, mingles the great with the small, the serious with the ludicrous; he has philosophical experiments, a great water-work, amusive toys, pyrotechny, drawing, and medical recipes arranged in four books; and the several editions appear to have enjoyed an amount of popularity which has made any of them very scarce in a perfect form.