PRŒMIUM TO THE SECOND PART
It happened that searching lately among the works of those who have writ things pertinent to this philosophy I found in the third volume of the Noctes Nebulosæ of Dummerkopfius some very notable and ingenious versicles that seemed to me well worthy of a place in this book, so I here annex them as a manner of Preface to my Second Part.
"The lazy Earth doth steam amain,
And fumes and smokes beneath the rain:
The Rivers, Brooks, and Rivulets are
No less in smoke particular
At nightfall: and the storm blast loud
Is often wont to blow a cloud
Around the Mountain-tops, and they
Do take delight in this same way;
And send a fiery fume from out
Their angry heights, and such a rout
Of burnt-up ashes, that do strow
Great cities in the plains below.
The setting Sun is oft made dim
With smoky mists that circle him.
So all the World's on smoking bent,
And puffs and fumes to its content:
Fill up the bowl then, fill it high,
Fill all the gaping pipes, for why
Should every creature smoke but I;
Why, man of morals, tell me why?"
This, as it seems to me, contains an exceeding just view of the subject, in so far as is compatible with the poetical and metaphorical diction, although it wants that exact and philosophical minuteness which is to be desired. But yet I esteem it of great weight in testifying to the Macrocosmical doctrines entertained by many and weighty doctors, notably by Vanderhorstius, De Solutione Nebularum, Lugd. Bat., 1634; also by Thomas Schelsegensis, De Gigabilitate, De Idolis Limi, &c., so its place here is sufficiently warranted.
Now, since the First Part treated of the matter, it follows that the Second Part treats of the manner, as was observed in Chapter I. of what I have already written. What precedes, therefore, is Absolute, and what succeeds Relative, which latter member may be further divided into the following categories:—
I. Substantia. II. Ubi. III. Quando. IV. Relatio.—Substance, Place, Time, and Relation.[1] And these categories constitute the base of this latter part, and will serve for heads, as it were, of discourse. But let it be noted with regard to substance (which might seem rather to pertain to the First Part) that we shall consider it metaphysically alone, and not physically. And as in the former Part we dissected and examined it as a chirurgeon dissects and examines the brain, so now we shall examine it as a metaphysician examines the mind.
So much, then, by way of Preface to the things which are about to be said.
- ↑ And for the assistance of unfaithful memories in the following lines these categories are illustrated and exemplified:—
"Johannes tabacum tubulo nunc fumat ad horam
Nonam: nam cymbæ corpus mandatur et umbræ:
Spectat et in ripis spatiantes sæpe puellas."For in the first line we have Substantia "tabacum tubulo," and next Quando (Time), ad nonam horam, at 3 p.m.; thirdly, Ubi (Place), cymbæ et umbræ—in a boat, which is not exposed to the heat of the sun; fourthly, Relatio (Relation), Spectat et in ripis spatiantes sæpe puellas. And he often gazes at the girls strutting along the banks. To this last line it is objected that it is base Latinity, inasmuch as spatior is said to be appropriately applied when speaking of those who walk on their own property, but so much the more fitting it seems to me in the present case, since, though the river banks, doubtless, did not belong to these maidens, yet is it the custom of the female sex to walk alway with a certain insolence, and as if the whole "orbis terrarum" was subject to their pleasure.