CHAPTER V

THE NEW SCIENCE AND PROSE

In the work of Sir Francis Bacon "the English language first became the vehicle for scientific expression". His predecessors, "whether in science or philosophy, used the common language of learned men', which was of course Latin.1 But Bacon's influence was not immediately felt; the old ornate style with its "involved and artificial intricacies and copious classical quotations" continued in Burton, Browne, Milton, Fuller, Taylor, and others. Even in the Restoration period the English scientific writers did not have full confidence in their mother tongue; Willughby, Ray, Grew and Sydenham used Latin for their serious work; Newton's Principles first appeared in the same language, as did Burnet's Sacred Theory. A new simplicity and directness, however, may be found in Wilkins's New World in the Moon (1638) and later in Walton's Complete Angler (1655). This new prose art, "the clear and naked style approaching mathematical plainness"," was caught up by certain of the virtuosi and became the ideal of the Royal Society. With this model before them the new philosophers made a spirited effort to chronicle the new observations of science in the best literary form of the age. This effort lasted through the last forty years of the seventeenth century, and then gave way to a satiric exploitation by the group of brilliant Queen Anne wits. During these early years of the eighteenth century natural science developed its own direct, non-literary exposition and found only incidental representation in literary prose.

3

Three distinct phases, therefore, are to be found in the study of the new science and the prose of this period. First, there is an early effort to give an enthusiastic literary expression, beginning with Wilkins and ceasing practically with the end of the century; secondly, there is a satiric exploitation of the new interest reaching from John Eachard, the schoolmaster, to Ward, the London Spy; thirdly, there is an incidental representation in the philosophers, and a direct, non-literary exposition from the scientists themselves.

1 The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. IV, p. 308.

2 Sprat, Thomas, History of the Royal Society, p. 113.

Elton, Oliver, The Augustan Ages, p. 419.

I

The influence of the new study of physiology had early appeared in the titles, at least, of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy and Towgood's Zootomia. But it was the astronomical studies, especially the new telescope and the recent discoveries of Galileo, that stimulated Wilkins, one of the eldest of the group at Gresham College, to write his New World in the Moon. He was, like the Duchess of Newcastle, bubbling over with "Phantasies", one of which led him to discuss with an appearance of scientific method the vexed question as to whether or not the moon was an inhabited world.

This writer was in full sympathy with the new scientific spirit, became a charter member of the Royal Society, and was active in its work. His book was made the butt of much ridicule during the succeeding years, especially his Proposition XIV where he discourses on the art of flying. This passage together with the introduction to Hooke's Micrographia made the new science responsible for these absurd claims for fifty years. But the style of the book is free from ornateness and approaches the "naked style" of the later scientists. There is little else of value in the work except as it shows that at this early date a man, thoroughly imbued with the new scientific spirit, attempted to give a literary expression to his observations.

And

Walton's Complete Angler, too, has a share in the new scientific movement; the expert speaks in him as well as the enthusiast. His knowledge of the different species of fish and insects is the same as that underlying the work of Willughby, Ray, and Grew. The power of ancient authority is still strong upon him; his most frequent references are to Aristotle, Pliny, Gesner, and Dubratius, and "vulgar errors" find a too ready acceptance with him.* yet he has looked with his own eyes, too; he has come to know thoroughly the habitats of the various kinds of fish; he has learned their anatomy, their ways of life, their methods of breeding. He has come under the influence of Bacon's Natural History and is familiar with the work of the Royal Society." Walton himself had The Complete Angler, p. 75, 97.

"Ibid. pp. 74, 97, 118, 159.

The Complete Angler, pp. 74, 97, 118, 159.

made experiments after the manner of the new scientists. "I have seen," he says, "and may therefore affirm it". There were some things that were required to have the confirmation of his senses to gain his belief. "And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I think exceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear, pleasant brooks, and store of Trouts, they used to catch Trouts in the night, by the light of a Trout-spear, or other ways. This kind of way they catch very many; but I would not believe it till I was an eyewitness of it".s

8

This lover of sport understands the passion for curiosities that actuated the antiquaries. "These, to any that love learning, must be pleasing" The monument of Livy, "the humble house in which St. Paul was content to dwell", the bay-trees on the tomb of Virgil are pleasing and profitable to see.10 There is no astonishment, therefore, to discover that he is acquainted with the writings of Meric Casaubon and is familiar with the collection of rarities made by John Tradescant.11

This gentleman angler is an antiquarian and naturalist, living to a great extent under the domination of ancient authority and yet looking out upon rural England from the shade of his beloved sycamore or from the shelter of his favorite hedge with open eyes and with keen and accurate observation. "It may not be improper here to take notice, that in this, and several other parts of the book, the facts related by the author do most remarkably coincide with later discoveries of the most diligent and sagacious naturalists" 12 There is a simplicity here that Sprat would praise; there is a quaintness, too, that gives distinction and personality; and in many places there is a realism struggling with ornateness for free expression. "But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make mankind to think miracles are not yet ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the 7 The Complete Angler, p. 96.

8 Ibid. p. 117.

Ibid. p. 34.

10 Ibid. p. 42.

11 Ibid.

12 The Complete Angler, Editor, p. 123.

13

natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say, 'Lord, what music hast thou provided for the Saints in Heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music on earth' "'18 In Walton there is a partial fulfilment of Sprat's injunction to walk in nature as in a garden, and to taste of its plenty. "There I sat viewing the silver streams glide silently towards their centre, the tempestuous sea; yet sometimes opposed by rugged roots and pebble-stones, which broke their waves, and turned them into foam, and sometimes I beguiled time by viewing the harmless lambs; some leaping securely in the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the sun".14 Thus with the eyes of a scientist and the feeling of a poet, Piscator has combined the delightful qualities of accuracy and a sense for beauty. He would not have felt himself out of place among the group of scientists at Gresham College, nor would they have despised his fund of accurate information. Part scientist, part poet, and wholly an honest gentleman, Izaak Walton finds his early place in this new influence.

Aside from all controversies between sects, or between theology and philosophy, is the quiet and interested study by John Evelyn of the forest trees in England (Silva). The task was imposed upon Evelyn by royal request, but the genius of the man was such that the resulting book, instead of being a dull report, is yet alive with the pleasure of the writer. New knowledge has led to new interest; intimacy with nature has begotten enthusiasm; and a bulletin has been made a piece of literature.

The book deals with the familiar trees of the English forests and with those that have been and may be imported. The genera are treated upon a common plan,-kinds, care, habitat, and uses. The oak, elm, walnut, beech, ash, maple, sycamore, cherry, hazel, birch, and many others are described. The uniformity of the plan gives a touch of monotony to the book, yet a sense of freshness attends almost every description. At times the author injects an element of personal feeling into the passage. Of the holly he writes, "Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, than an impregnable hedge of about four

13 Ibid. p. 26. 14 Ibid. p. 96.

hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five in diameter, which I can show in my now ruined Gardens at Sayes Court at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves? The taller standards at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral: It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, or hedgebreakers."'15

The new science may claim the content and inception of this book. Its purpose is practical, its method is scientific; if literature claims it all at the last the reason is that the pleasure of the author has been imparted through its pages to the reader. Silva is one of those rare instances where a delight is given by sugar-coating instruction. There is plenty of learning in the book; botanical names and Latin phrases abound. And there is the emotion of a discoverer and of a religious observer who wonders at the infinite handiwork of God. "And what Mortal is there so perfect an Atomist, who will undertake to detect the one thousandth part, or point, of so exile a Grain, as that in sensible rudiment

which brings forth the lofty Fir-tree and the spreading Oak? That trees of so enormous an height and magnitude, as we find some Elms, and Cypresses; that others hard as iron and solid as marble should be swaddled and involved within so weak and feeble a substance, without the least luxation, confusion, and disorder of parts! That when they are buried in the moist womb of Earth, which so easily dissolves and corrupts substances so much harder, yet this should be able in time to displace and rend asunder whole rocks of stone, and sometimes to cleave them beyond the force of iron wedges, so even to remove mountains! That our trees, like man (whose inverted symbol he is) being sown in corruption, rise in glory, and little and little ascending into an hard erect figure of comely dimensions, become a solid tower, as it were! And that which but lately a single ant could easily have borne to his little cavern, should now become capable of resisting the fury, and braving the rage of the most impetuous storms.

9916

This early and splendid appreciation the new philosophy found in Walton and Evelyn. These two books are among the "renowned victories of peace". They have the merits of spontaneity,

15 Silva, p. 386.

18 Silva, p. 645.