THE WORKS OF ART. Perdita. For I have heard it said, There is an art, which in their piedness shares Pol. Say there be, Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean; So over that art, which you say adds to nature, Is an art that nature makes; you see, sweet maid, By bud of nobler race. This is an art Which does mend nature, change it rather; but WE admire, says a favourite author, the industry and skilfulness of the bee in gathering honey out of the flowers, carrying it home and disposing of it in several cells ingeniously contrived for the purpose; the wisdom of the little ant in a hundred a See note N at the end of this tract. particular instances of her polity and managery of business;-the curious embroidery and network of the busie spider in making webs, and pursuing her game;-the strange artifice of the poor silk-worm, which, by the impulse of mere nature, works herself out of breath, and spends herself to clothe nobles. But let us sit awhile at home, and call back our rambling thoughts, and view ourselves, and we shall certainly find the human intellectuals pitching upon more noble objects, propounding more excellent ends, and pursuing them with proper and apt methods; insomuch that we shall find ourselves astonished at our own powers, and the wisdom of him that made us. If we do but cast our eyes backward to those works already attained, are they not like so many fair provinces conquered and taught a new language? Have there not lately been discovered certain glasses, by means whereof, as by boats or little ships of intelligence, a nearer commerce is opened and carried on with the celestial bodies? Does not the mariner also find, by the help of a small magnet, a safe path in the waters, and wing his way to the harbour as surely as doth heaven's own bird? Have we not also by the industry of good Mr. Caxton, who, going out into foreign lands to cloathe men's bodies, hath brought home and perfected what shall exceedingly cloathe and ornament their minds, that ingenious art of printing, condemned in other countries as a work of darkness, but exalted here to a place of sanctity, being carried on in God's own house, a work worthy of that holy place, for thereby are the poor taught, a charity deemed so great as to be one proof of the divineness of Christ's mission.-And the fabrick which sustains this device, without which help ignorance would be but half conquered: the very paper from which you are now reading is in itself no mean contrivance; for, if well observed, artificial matters are either merely wove with direct and transverse threads, as silk, cloth, linen, &c. or made of concreted juices, a See note T at the end of this tract. as brick, clay, glass, enamel, porcelane, and the like; which, if well united, shine; but if less united, prove hard, but bear no polish; and all these latter substances made of concreted juices are brittle, and do not hold well together. On the other hand, paper is a tenacious substance that may be cut or torn, so that it resembles, and in a manner rivals, the skin or membrane of some animal, the leaves of some plant, or the like production of nature: for 'tis neither brittle as glass, nor thready as cloth; for though it has its fibres, yet it has no distinct threads; but doth exactly resemble the texture of natural matters: insomuch that the like can hardly be found again among artificial things. And here, which doth ill-suit the tranquil scholar, who is, for the most part, willing only to commend the fair arts of peace, I am in some sort bound to mention the lately discovered powder, so inflammable that it may be kindled by the smallest spark, and yet withal so potent that it can discharge thorow metal tubes divers heavy substances, and with such mortal vio lence as might seem to imitate Jove's own thundera. Surely when we set before us the condition of these times, and withal diligently behold with what various supplies and supports we are furnished; the height and vivacity of many wits, the excellent monuments of ancient writers, which as so many great lights shine before us; the art of printing, which communicates books with a liberall hand to men of all fortunes; the travel'd bosome of the ocean and of the world, opened on all parts, whereby multitudes of experiments unknown to the ancients have been disclosed; and naturall history, by the accesse of an infinite masse advanced: the leasure wherewith the kingdomes and states of Europe every where abound; and the inseparable property which attends time it selfe, which is, ever more and more to disclose truth:-when we think, I say, on these advantages, and contemplate the wonderful phænomena of art the world is furnished a See note O at the end of this tract. |