OXFORD , being not undeservedly by Mr. Cambden stiled , Our most noble Athens , The Muses seat , and , One of Englands Pillars ; nay , The Sun , The Eye , &c. It would have occasion'd as strange a remark , as any to be mention'd in this whole Essay , had there not some eminent Celestial Observations been made in this County ; especially since that stupendous Mathematical Instrument , now called the Telescope , seems to have been known here above 300 years ago . But these being chiefly matters of Art , relating either to the discovery of the magnitude , figure , or determination of the motions of the Heavenly Bodies , must be referr'd ( as most proper ) to the end of this Work ; it being my purpose in this History of Nature , to observe the most natural method that may be .

2. And therefore I shall consider , first , Natural Things , such as either she hath retained the same from the beginning , or freely produces in her ordinary course ; as Animals , Plants , and the universal furniture of the World . Secondly , her extravagancies and defects , occasioned either by the exuberancy of matter , or obstinacy of impediments , as in Monsters . And then lastly , as she is restrained , forced , fashioned , or determined , by Artificial Operations . All which , without absurdity , may fall under the general notation of a Natural History , things of Art ( as the Lord Bacon a a De Augm Scient. Lib. 2. cap. 2. well observeth ) not differing from those of Nature in form and essence , but in the efficient only ; Man having no power over Nature , but in her matter and motion , i. e. to put together , separate , or fashion natural Bodies , and somtimes to alter their ordinary course .

3. Yet neither shall I so strictly tie my self up to this method , but that I shall handle the two first , viz. The several Species of natural things , and the errors of Nature in those respective Species , together ; and the things Artificial in the end apart : Method equally begetting iterations and prolixity , where it is observed too much , as where not at all . And these I intend to deliver as succinctly as may be , in a plain , easie , unartificial Stile , studiously avoiding all ornaments of Language , it being my purpose to treat of Things , and therefore would have the Reader expect nothing less then Words : Yet neither shall my Discourse be so jejune , as wholly to consist of bare Narrations , for where the subject has not at all , or but imperfectly been handled , I shall beg leave either to enlarge , or give my opinion .

4. Since then the Celestial Bodies are so remote , that little can be known of them without the help of Art , and that all such matters ( according to my proposed method ) must be referred to the end of this Book : I have nothing of that kind to present the Reader with , that 's local , and separate from Art , but the appearance of two Parhelia or mock-Suns , one on each side of the true one , at Ensham on the 29th of May , early in the morning , in the year 1673. With them also appeared a great circle of light concentrical to the true Sun , and passing through the disks of the spurious ones , as in Tab. 1. Fig. 1. which though I saw not the Phaenomenon , is as truly drawn ( for so it was confest by some that did ) as I could possibly have done it if personally present ; and yet so incurious was the amazed multitude , that they could not so much as give me ground to guess at the diameter of the circle , much less whether it were interrupted in some of its parts , or intersected ( as they usually are ) with any other circles of a fainter colour .

5. Whether these appearances are caused by reflection or refraction in the Clouds , according to the old Philosophy ; or by both , in a great annulary cake of Ice and Snow , as Des Cartes ; or by semiopaque Cylinders , as M. Hugens de Zulichem , will be too too tedious hereto dispute . Let it therefore at present suffice , that this Phaenomenon is worthy our notice , in regard , 1. That no circle passes through the true Suns disk , nor the spurious ones found in the intersection of two Irides , as in those that appeared at Rome , March 20. 1629. b b Des Cartes Meteor . cap. 10. & Gassend . in Ep. ad Renerium . and in France , April 9. Anno 1666. c c Philos. Trans . num. 13. 2. That whereas generally such mock-Suns appear not so bright , nor are so well defined as the true one is ; these according to the agreement of all , appeared of so even and strong a light , that 't was hard to distinguish the true from the false , and perhaps might not be inferior to the Parhelia mention'd by Cardan d d De rerum Varietate lib. 14. c. 70. , or that lately were seen in Hungary . e e Philos. Trans . numb . 47.

6. When they appear thus bright and illustrious , Astrologers heretofore always presaged a Triumvirate : thus the Triumvirate of Antonius , Augustus , and Lepidus , with all the evils that attended it , was referred to the Parhelia seen a little before ; and herein Cardan is so positive , that he fears not to assert , That after such an appearance , we seldom ( if ever ) fail of one , and therefore refers the Parhelia seen by himself to the Triumvirate of Henry the second King of France , Charles the fifth , and Solyman the Turkish Emperor . And truly , were not these to be more than suspected of vanity , it were easie to adapt a Triumvirate to ours : But my Religion , and that God that hath exhorted us , not to be dismayed at the signs of Heaven , and solemnly professes , that 't is even He that frustrates the tokens of the Lyars , and makes the Diviners mad f f Isa. 44. v. 24 , 25. , has taught me to forbear . I shall therefore add no more concerning these things , but that though most commonly the Parhelia with the true Sun , appear but three in number , yet that somtimes more have been seen ; as four g g Philos. Trans . numb . 13. in France , Anno 1666. five h h Des Cartes , Meteor . cap. 10. at Rome , Anno 1629. five i i Matthew Paris , 17 Henr. III. in England , Anno 1233. and six k k Des Cartes Meteor . cap. 10. & Fromond . Meteor . Lib. 6. Art. 2. Anno 1525. by Sigismund the first , King of Poland ; which are the most that we read were ever seen at a time , though Des Cartes endeavors to shew 't is possible there may be seven .

7. And indeed this had been all I thought I should have mentioned concerning the Heavens , but that even now while I am writing this , at Oxon : on the 23d of November , Anno 1675. about 7 at night , behold the Moon set her Bow in the clouds , of a white colour , entire and well determined , which continued so for about half an hour after I first saw it . The reason why such appear not of divers colours , as Rain-bows do that are made by the Sun , has been alwaies ascribed by Philosophers , to the weakness of the Moons raies , not entring so deeply into the opacity of the clouds . But if we may give credit to l l Sennertus in Epitom . Phys. Dan: Sennertus , it has once to his knowledge happened otherwise , viz. in the year 1593 , when after a great storm of Thunder and Lightning , he beheld an Iris Lunaris adorned with all the colours of the Rain-bow . As for ours , though I could not perceive in any part of it , that it had the least shade of any colour but white ; however , I thought it not unworthy our notice , not only for the infrequency of the thing ( they never happening but at or near the Moons full , and then but so very seldom too , that m m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Meteor . lib. 3. cap. 2. Aristotle professes , that he saw but two in above fifty years ; and I know several learned and observing Men , that never saw such an Iris in their lives ) but also because of the great clemency of the weather , that followed upon it at that time of the year ; there falling not one drop of rain , nor any wind stirring for sixteen days after , but so great a serenity , that the waies were as clean and passable then , as we could wish or ever enjoyed them at Mid-summer .

8. From the Firmament ( waving all considerations of the pure Aether , of which we know so little , that I shall say nothing ) I naturally descend to the lowest Heaven , I mean that subtile Body that immediatly incompasses the Earth , and is filled with all manner of exhalations , and from thence commonly known by the name of the Atmosphere . Whether beside these exhalations , there be any peculiar simple body , called Air , I leave to the more subtile Philosophers , and consider it here only , as 't is the subject of storms , of thunder and wind , of Echo's , and as it has relation to sickness and health .

9. As to Tempests that have happen'd in this County , though perhaps there have been some heretofore attended with as deplorable effects as any where else ; yet because they are no where transmitted to posterity , I shall only mention two within our memory , viz. The storm of wind that happen'd one night in February , Anno 1661/2 , which though general ( at least all over England ) yet was remarkable at Oxon : in these two respects . 1. That though it forced the stones inwards into the cavity of All-hollows Spire , yet it over-threw it not . And 2 ly , That in the morning , when there was some abatement of its fury , it was yet so violent , that it laved water out of the River Cherwell , and cast it quite over the Bridge at Magdalen College , above the surface of the River near 20 foot high ; which passage , with advantage of holding by the College walls , I had then the curiosity to go see my self , which otherwise , perhaps , I should have as hardly credited as some other persons now may do . But those that have sailed to the Indies can inform them what force Hurricane's and Turbo's have , with what violence and impetuosity they take up whole Seas of water , and furiously mount them into the air . n n It was observed by an able Sea-man of Bristol , that this wind was the fag-end of a Hurricane , which began in New - England about three hours before it came hither ; the Sea-men observ'd that it went directly towards England . Now that such as these may also happen at Land ( though perhaps for the most part of less strength ) I think we have little reason to doubt , since our own Chronicles inform us , that in Q. Maries time , within a mile of Nottingham , all the houses of two little Parishes , with their Churches , were wholly born down by such a Tempest ; and the water , with the mud from the bottom of the River Trent , that ran between them , carryed a quarter of a mile and cast against Trees , with the violence whereof they were torn up by the roots .

10. Of much such another Land Hurricane , Bellarmin gives us a relation so incredible , that he himself premiseth , Quod nisi vidissem non crederem . Vidi ( saies he ) à vehementissimo vento effossam ingentem terrae molem , eamque delatam super pagum quendam , ut fovea altissima conspiceretur unde eruta fuerat , & pagus totus coopertus & quasi sepultus manserit , ad quem terra illa divenerat o o Bellarmin . de ascens . ment. in Deum , Grad. 2. cap. 4. . Which being sufficient ( I suppose ) to evince the possibility of my story , I proceed to

11. The second tempest of Thunder and Lightning , on the 10th of May , 1666. which though terrible enough to all parts adjacent to Oxford , yet was mischievous only at Medley , a well known House , about a mile or somwhat more distant from it ; two Scholars of Wadham College , alone in a boat , and new thrust off shore to come homewards , being struck off the head of the boat into the water , the one of them stark dead , and the other stuck fast in the mud like a post , with his feet downward , and for the present so disturbed in his senses , that he neither knew how he came out of the boat , nor could remember either Thunder or Lightning that did effect it . Others , in another boat about ten or twenty yards distance from the former , felt a disturbance and shaking in their boat , and one of them had his chair struck from under him , without hurt . But of this no more , a full relation of the accident being already given by the Reverend and Learned Dr John Wallis Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford , and publish'd in our English Philosophical Transactions p p Philosoph . Transact . Numb. 13. .

12. What hapned before or after those Tempests , I was not so curious in those days to observe , but it might indeed be wish'd , as the learned and observing Dr Beale advises q q Philosoph . Transact . Num. 90. , that some old Almanacks were written instead of new ; that instead of the conjectures of the weather to come , some ingenious and fit Persons would give a faithful account from divers parts of the world , not only of the Storms , with the antecedents and consequents of them , but of the whole weather of the years past , on every day of the month : as it was industriously begun above 300 years ago , by William Merle Fellow of Merton College , who observed the weather at Oxford for every day of the month for 7 years together ; viz. from January Anno Dom. 1337 , to January Anno Dom. 1344. the MS copy of which Observations yet remain in the Bodleyan Library r r MS. Digby , fol. 176. : For from hence in time we might examine upon some grounds , as the learned Dr Beale well remarks , how far the positions of Planets , or other symptoms or concomitants , are indicative of weathers , and probably be forewarn'd of Dearths , Famines , Epidemical Diseases , &c. and by their causes be instructed for remedies , or prevention . Certainly from such Calendars we might learn more in few years , then by Observations at random all the days of our lives ; and if they might be had from foreign and remote parts * * Such observations of the weather every day of the month through the whole year 1671. were made by Erasmus Bartholine , and are printed inter Acta Medica Tho. Bartholini Obs. 130. , we should then be in some hopes of true Investigations of heats and colds , and of the breadth and bounds of coasting Rains and Winds .

13. Next the Tragedies ( it being as agreeable to my Method , as seasonable to the Discourse ) it will not be amiss to present the Reader with some of the sports of Nature , and entertain him awhile with the Nymph Echo ; a Mistress she is indeed that is easily spoke with , yet known to few : if therefore I take pains to acquaint him with her , I hope I shall not perform a thankless office .

14. First therefore , that Philechus may not be out in his choice , whenever he attempts to court her in Oxford-shire , he must know that of these there are several sorts , and may best , I suppose , be distinguish'd by their Objects , which are , either Single , such as return the voice but once ; and these again are either Polysyllabical , such as return many syllables , words , or a whole sentence . Tonical , such as return the voice but once , nor that neither , except adorned with some peculiar Musical note . Manifold , and these return syllables and words , the same oftentimes repeated , and may therefore be stiled Tautological Echo's , which are caused either by Simple Double Reflexion .

15. As for Polysyllabical articulate Echo's , the strongest and best I have met with here , is in the Park at Woodstock , which in the day time , little wind being stirring , returns very distinctly seventeen syllables , and in the night twenty : I made experiment of it with these words , — Quae nec reticere loquenti , Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis Echo . In the day it would return only the last verse , but in the night about twelve by the clock , I could also hear the last word of the former Hemistick [ loquenti . ] The object of which Echo , or the Centrum phonocampticum , I take to be the hill with the trees on the summit of it , about half a mile distant from Woodstock town , in the way thence to the Right Honorable the Earl of Rochester's Lodge : And the true place of the Speaker , or Centrum phonicum , the opposite Hill just without the gate at the Towns end , about thirty paces directly below the corner of a wall inclosing some hay-ricks , near Chaucers house : some advantage I guess it receives from the rivulet that runs as it were in a direct line between the two centers , and from the pond at the foot of the object hill ; as also from two other hills that run obliquely up to it : Which may better be apprehended by the prospect of the place , as in Tab. 1. Fig. 2.

16. That this Echo makes return of so many syllables , and of a different number in the day and night , being indisputable and matter of fact ; I proceed in the next place to the reasons of these certainties , which possibly to every body may not be so plain . First then , the causes why some Echo's return more , and some fewer syllables , I take to lye in the different distances of the objects ( returning the voices ) from the places of the speakers : for by experience 't is found , that if the speaker be too near the object , the return is made so quick upon him , that the Echo is as it were drowned in the voice : but if he remove farther from it , then it begins to be clear and distinct ; and if it be a polysyllabical one , it first repeats one syllable , then two , three , four , five , or more , according as the speaker removes farther off it , which I take to be the only true way of measuring the proportions of the spaces of the ground , requisite for the return of one or more syllables . That this is true , I shall use no arguments to perswade , because the experiment is subject to every mans tryal ; and if so , it must necessarily be admitted , that the reason why this Echo returns so much , is because of the great distance of the object from the speaker .

17. What distance is required to the return of each syllable , is best indeed determined by such a procedure , where the object is fore-known , and the condition of the place will admit of the experiment : but both these being wanting here ( Echo's themselves being generally first known , and not the objects ) I was forced to make use of a new analytical method , and find out the object by the number of syllables already returned , which being seventeen in the day time , and twenty by night ; and having before found by frequent experience , that according to Blancanus s s Blancani Echometria Theorem 5. , no one syllable will be returned clearly , under the distance of 24 Geometrical paces , or 120 feet , I guess'd that the object could not be removed less than 400 of the former , and 2000 of the latter . For the better understanding of which Analysis , and for the Readers more secure finding of the true distance of the speaker in any other place , it may be convenient that he take notice , that all Echo's have some one place whither they are returned stronger , and more distinct than any other , and is always the place that lies at right angles with the object , and is not too near , or too far off : for if a man stand at oblique angles with it , the voice is better returned to some other person at another place , than to the speaker ; and so if he stand too near , or far off , although he do stand at right angles with it , which is plain by the diagram , Tab. 1. Fig. 3. where a. is the true place of the speaker . a b. the vocal line falling at right angles on the object . c d. places on each hand the true place , and oblique to the object . e f. places above and below the object , whence also the voice comes obliquely to it . g h. places whence ( 't is true ) the voice goes in right angles to the object , but g is too far off , and h too near . Now the speaker standing in a , and his voice going in the straight line a b , and striking upon the object so as to make right angles with it , must needs return to the speaker again in the same line , and no farther , because he is suppos'd to stand at the two extreams of the whole mix'd line of action : but if he stand too near at h , then the Echo repeats more syllables , and distincter at g than either at h or a , because g is now the extream of the line of action ; for by how much the nearer the speaker is to the object , by so much the more forcible he strikes it , which causes the rebound to be so much beyond him : and thus if he stand as much too far off , as at g , then the Echo repeats more syllables and distincter at h , then either at a or g , because the distance being too great from g to b , and the reflexion weak , the Echo must needs terminate so much the shorter at h ; all these being supposed to take up the whole line of the voices direct and reflex action . Again , if the speaker stand in c obliquely to the object , the Echo is better heard at d , than either at a or c ; and so if he stand at d , it is better heard at c then any other place : thus if he stand at e above the object , the Echo is best heard in the valley f , & vice versâ . All which , may be well enough made out by throwing a ball against a wall , to which , if it be thrown in an oblique line , it returns not to the thrower but to another place ; and though the projicient do so throw it , that it strikes at right angles with the wall , yet ( like as in the voice ) if he stand too far off , it will fall as much too short in the rebound , as it will exceed if he stand too near .

18. According to these grounds I carefully examined this Echo , and found , upon motion backward , forward , and to each hand , the true centrum phonicum , or place of the speaker , to be upon the hill at Woodstock towns end , about thirty paces below the corner of the wall aforesaid , directly down toward the Kings Majesties Manor : from whence by measure to the brow of the hill , on which my Lord Rochesters Lodge stands , are 456 Geometrical paces , or 2280 feet ; which upon allowance of 24 Geometrical paces , or 120 feet to each syllable , to my great satisfaction I found to be agreeable to the return of 19 syllables , viz. one fewer than it returns in the night , and two more than in the day .

19. The measure I must confess had been much more easie and natural , could I have began from the object , and so removed backward accordingly as the Echo gradually increased in the repetition of more syllables ; for then I could have given the due proportion to each , if I had found any inequality upon the increase , which I guess there may be , because the allowance of an equality seems to set the object too far off by a syllable or two . But it not being feasible in this place , I was forced to take the former course ; for in the valley between the two hills , being the whole medium through which the voice passes , and the Echo returns it , there is scarce any such thing as an Echo to be found ; nay , if you stand at the Manor it self , which is not far from the true place of the speaker , and situate almost as high , and direct your voice toward the place of the object , you shall not have the least return ; whence 't is most evident that I could not use that procedure here , and therefore must desire to be held excused from giving the proportions of space , which I suppose , according to Kircher t t Magia Phonocamptica , probl. 5. may decrease , according as the number of syllables increase , till I meet with an Echo fit for the purpose .

20. The reason of the difference between day and night , why it should return seventeen syllables in the one , and twenty in the other , may lie , I suppose , in the various qualities , and constitution of the medium in different seasons ; the Air being much more quiet , and stock'd with exhalations in the night than day , which somthing retarding the quick motion of the voice to the object , and its return to the speaker somwhat more , ( by reason the voice must needs be weakned in the reflexion ) must necessarily give space for the return of more syllables .

21. Amongst other tryals of this Echo , I discharged a Pistol , which made a return much quicker then my voice , and ( at which I still wonder ) with a much different sound from that the Pistol made , whence I can only conclude , that the more forcibly the Air is stricken , ( as also in the projection of a ball ) the sooner the response is made , and that possibly there may be some sounds more agreeable to every Echo , than others . And it being my Lord Bacon's opinion , That there are some letters that an Echo will hardly express , and particularly the letter S , which , saies he , being of an interior and hissing sound , the Echo at Pont Charenton would not return u u Nat. Hist. Cent. 3. Numb. 251. ; hereupon I tryed , as well as his Lordship , with the word Satan , beside many others of the same initial , but found the Echo here neither so modest or frighted , but that , though the Devil has been busie enough hereabout ( as shall further be shewn near the end of this History ) it would readily enough make use of his name .