A general collection of discourses of the virtuosi of France, upon questions of all sorts of philosophy, and other natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris, by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent.

I. Whether the World grows old.

WEre we in those Commonwealths where the voice of the people is admitted, this Question would be very easie to resolve; there being no body but proclaims that the world is declining, and thinks that we are now in the very dregs of Time. 'Tis the ordinary discourse of old men. But possibly herein they resemble the old woman, who when she was grown blind, said the Sky was overcast; or those who sailing from the shore think that the earth retreats back, while 'tis themselves that are in motion. These good people no longer finding the same gust and pleasure in the delights of the world, that they found in their youth, lay the fault upon the world instead of imputing the same to themselves. Indeed their accusation is too old to be receivable, having been from all time, which made Horace say, that to represent an old man right, he must be introduc'd praising the time past. Yet we may give their rea∣sons the hearing. They affirm that every thing which hath had a beginning, and must have an end, grows old. That since all the parts of the world are variously corrupted, the same ought to be believ'd of the whole. That as for the Heavens, all the observations of Ptolomy are found at this day false, unless they be rectifi'd by the addition of certain motions of Trepidation which cause all the rest to vary. In the Air, the inconstancy of it, and the irregularity of the Seasons makes us not know when we are sure of any; the Spring sometimes appearing in Winter (as at present) and Winter in Autumn. In the Sea, you see it dismembers Provinces, gains and loses whole Countries by its inundations and recessions. And as for the Earth, it is very probably shown that in time it must naturally return to its first state in which it was all cover'd with water, and consequently void of men and most part of animals and plants, which make the three noblest parts of the Universe. For they who endea∣vour the raising of low grounds know that the same is accom∣plish'd

by giving entrance to the slime which the water brings thi∣ther, and which gathers together at the bottom; whence it comes to pass that Valleys through which torrents and brooks of rain-water pass, grow hollower daily; the impetuousness of the water sweeping the surface of the earth into rivers, and thence into the Sea. Wherefore though the world should not end by Conflagration, as it must do; since all the rain-waters, those of rivers and brooks go into the Sea, and carry thither with them the upper parts of the Earth, which is that that makes the waters so troubled and muddy, it is necessary that this earth in time fill up the cavities of the Sea, and reduce it to exact roundness; and then the water having no longer any channel must as necessarily cover the whole surface of the earth, except∣ing perhaps some points of rocks, which will decay and fall down in time, as about fifteen years ago a mountain in Suizzer∣land by its fall crush'd under its ruines the Town of Pleurs,* 1.1 which by that means made good the importance of its name. And although this may not come to pass till after divers thou∣sands of years if the world should last so long, yet it is not the less feasible, since it is a doing at the present, though by little and little.

The second said, That since the end of the world is to be su∣pernatural, it shall not proceed from old age; that though the earth were all cover'd over with waters, yet the world would not perish for all that, since the Elements would subsist; yea the same earth and the winds by succession of time would come to imbibe and dry up those waters, and so again discover the face of the earth. That if one of the Elements be diminish'd, another increases; if the water evaporate, the air is augment∣ed; if the air be condens'd, it addes to the water, and so the world cannot fail by all the alterations and changes which hap∣pen in simple and mixt bodies. For its order consists in the al∣ternative succession of various dispositions (and not in one sole disposition) like a circle which being finite in its parts is infinite in its whole. Moreover, if the world perish, it must be either by the annihilation of its whole, or of its parts; or else by their transmutation into some matter which cannot be part of the world. Not the first; for there needs no less a miracle to anni∣hilate then to create; and therefore nothing is annihilated. Not the second; for mixt bodies cannot be chang'd but either into other mixt bodies or into the Elements; now these are transmuted one into another; wherefore in either case they are still parts of the world. The most active of the Elements, Fire, without the miracle of the last conflagration, if you consider it in the Sphere which some have assign'd to it, it cannot burn the rest; for should it act in its own Sphere, which it doth not, it would at length be extinguish'd for want of air, into which con∣sequently part of it would be converted: or if you place it in the subterranean parts, the vapours and the exhalations which it

would raise from the Sea and the Earth, being resolv'd into water and air, would always preserve the being of those Elements. More∣over, the world would not serve at the day of judgement (as Philo the Jew saith) for a Holocaust to its author, if it were then found defective in any of its parts.

The third said, If you take the world for all the inferiour bo∣dies contain'd under the concave of the Moon, it is certain that it changeth. For the Heavens are not alter'd according to their substance, though they be according to their places. But it is impossible that the Elements acting so powerfully one against another by their contrary qualities be not at length weakned, and their activities refracted and impair'd, and particularly the earth wherein those subterranean fires do the same thing that na∣tural heat doth in animals when by the consumption of their radical humidity it makes them grow dry and old. External Agents (as the Air, and the Celestial Bodies, which in time un∣dermine Palaces of Marble, Brass and other bodies) contribute greatly to this alteration of the earth, which is the mark and but of actions of the superiour bodies, by whom it suffers in∣cessantly. This declination is observ'd in Plants, which had greater vertues in times past then they have at the present (as it is found, amongst others, in that Antidote made of tops of Rue, a Nut and a Fig, wherewith Mithridates preserv'd himself from all poysons, and which is now out of credit) but much more in man then other animals. For besides the diminution which befalls him as a mixt body, because he draws his nourish∣ment from the substance of plants and animals, he hath besides in himself a double ground of this decay of his strength, every thing partaking of nature and its food. Hence it is that we are much more short-liv'd then our fathers of old, who in the flower of the world's age (to speak with Plato, who makes it an animal) liv'd almost a thousand years; and since the Deluge by the cor∣ruption which its waters overflowing the earth caus'd in the whole Universe, they liv'd six hundred years, but at present few attain to eighty: Nor do we see any Gyants now a days, though they were very frequent in old time. Men's minds likewise have a great share of this deterioration, in the exercise of ver∣tues and arts. Besides, that there was never so great a multi∣tude of Laws and Ordinances, which are certain evidence of the depravation of manners.

The fourth said, Besides that 'tis dubious whether the years of our first Fathers were of equal length with ours, the cause of their long life may be attributed to a special priviledge of God, to the end they might by their long experience invent Arts and Sciences, and people the world. Moreover, 'tis above 4000 years since the term of 70 and 80 years became the common standard of humane life. Our age is not more corrupted then the first, made infamous by Fratricides, Sodomites, Incests, Treasons, and such other enormous sins, so much the more de∣testable

in that they had no example of them, as their posterity hath had since. And as for the inferior bodies, since their acti∣ons are at present altogether the same with what they perform'd in the beginning of the world; the Fire (for example) not burning less, nor the Water cooling less, then in Adam's time; it must be concluded that they are not chang'd, but remain al∣ways in the same state.

The Fifth said, That as in the Microcosme we may judge of the corruption of the Body by the least alteration of its parts, and fore-tell its death by the disorder observ'd in the most noble; so we may make the like Judgement in the Maerocosme, in which we see no Mixt Bodies, but what are corruptible. For things are no longer then they act, action being the measure of their being. And therefore seeing nothing can act perpetually, be∣cause the virtue of every thing is bounded and finite, nothing can be perpetual. As Knives, and the like instruments, are blunted with much cutting; so the qualities incessantly acting must of necessity be weakned, and at length become impotent. But the surest sign of the worlds corruption is the annihilation of corporeal formes, the noblest parts of the universe. For as for spiritual formes, when they are separated from the Body they are no longer consider'd as parts of the world.

The Sixth confirm'd this opinion by the abundance of new diseases sprang up in these last Ages, and unknown to the preced∣ing; as the Neapolitane Malady, the Scurvy, and sundry others, which cannot proceed but from the corruption of Humours and Tempers, and this from that of the Elements.

The Seventh said, That the world is so far from growing worse, that on the contrary it becomes more perfect; as 'tis pro∣per to things created from a small beginning, to increase, and at length attain their perfection; which the world having attain'd doth not decline, because it is not an organiz'd body, whose pro∣perty it is to do so after it hath attain'd its State. This is visible in Metals, and particularly in Gold, which the longer they re∣main in the Earth the more concoction and perfection they ac∣quire. Moreover, the Wits of Men are more refin'd then ever. For what could be more ignorant then the Age of our first Pa∣rents, for whom God himself was fain to make Clothes; those of their own making being onely fig-leaves. In the Ages follow∣ing, you see nothing so gross as what was then accounted the highest degree of subtlety, as the Learning of the Rabbins among the Jews, and the Druids among the Gauls; the best skill'd of whom might come to school to our Batchelors. But their gross ignorance in Handy-crafts appears, amongst others, in our Flowers de Luce, the figure whereof, stamp'd on their Coin, resembles any thing rather then a Flower de Luce.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Sign. Weep∣ing.