convert these blotted sheets into a clear flame."
His commentary on the Fae7j Queen stanza was
thrown off in a hurry. " The same Discourse I
made upon it the first half quarter of an hour that
I saw it, I send you there, without having reduced
it to any better form, or added anything at all to
it." And so for the better-known and interesting
Observations on * Religio 'Medici.^ Browne reproached
him for his review of a pirated edition. Digby
replied he had never authorised its publication,
written as it was in twenty-four hours, which in-
cluded his procuring and reading the book — a truly
marvellous tour deforce ; for the thing is still worth
perusal. He was always the improvisor — ready,
brilliant, vivid, imperfect. He must give vent to
the ideas that came upon him in gusts. " The im-
pressions which creatures make upon me," he says,
" are like boisterous winds." He fully recognised
his own limitations. " I pretend not to learning,"
he declares, with exaggerated modesty. Amateur
and improviser of genius, let us praise him as such.
The spacious, generous minds that can find room
for all the ideas and culture of an epoch are never
numerous enough. There is no one like such
amateurs for bridging two ages ; and Digby, with
one hand in Lilly's and the other in Bacon's, joins
the mediaeval to the modern world. Nor is a
universal amateur a genius who has squandered
his powers ; but a man exercising his many tal-
ents in the only way possible to himself, and gener-
ally with much entertainment and stimulus to
others. It was Ben Jonson, too great a man to
xl INTRODUCTIOJ^
be one of his detractors on this score, who wrote
of him :
" He is built like some imperial room
For that ^ to dwell in, and be still at home.
His breast is a brave palace, a broad street,
Where all heroic ample thoughts do meet ;
Where nature such a large survey hath ta'en
As other souls to his, dwelt in a lane."
There was nothing singular in his interest in as-
trology and alchemy. Lilly and Booker, both of
them among his acquaintances, were ordered to
attend the parliamentary army at the siege of Col-
chester, " to encourage the soldiers with predictions
of speedy victory." Still — though he believed in
greater absurdities — his attitude towards such mat-
ters was that of his chosen motto, Vacate et Videte.
" To rely too far upon that vaine art I judge to be
rather folly than impiety." As with regard to spirits
and witches, he says, " I only reserve my assent."
That he was not altogether absorbed in the trans-
mutation of metals in his laboratory practice, and
yet that he dabbled in it, makes him historically
interesting. In him better than in Newton do we
realise the temper of the early members of the
Royal Society.
In this tale of his other activities I have not for-
gotten The Closet Opened. Of all Digby's many
interests the most constant and permanent was
medicine. How to enlarge the span of man's life
was a problem much meditated on in his age. We
1 All virtue.
INTRODUCTIOD^ xH
have seen how Descartes's mind ran on it ; and
in Bacon's Natural History there is reference to a
Page 15
Presented as published in 1910. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
convert these blotted sheets into a clear flame." His commentary on the Fae7j Queen stanza was thrown off in a hurry. " The same Discourse I made upon it the first half quarter of an hour that I saw it, I send you there, without having reduced it to any better form, or added anything at all to it." And so for the better-known and interesting Observations on * Religio 'Medici.^ Browne reproached him for his review of a pirated edition. Digby replied he had never authorised its publication, written as it was in twenty-four hours, which included his procuring and reading the book — a truly marvellous tour deforce ; for the thing is still worth perusal. He was always the improvisor — ready, brilliant, vivid, imperfect. He must give vent to the ideas that came upon him in gusts. " The impressions which creatures make upon me," he says, " are like boisterous winds." He fully recognised his own limitations. " I pretend not to learning," he declares, with exaggerated modesty. Amateur and improviser of genius, let us praise him as such. The spacious, generous minds that can find room for all the ideas and culture of an epoch are never numerous enough. There is no one like such amateurs for bridging two ages ; and Digby, with one hand in Lilly's and the other in Bacon's, joins the mediaeval to the modern world. Nor is a universal amateur a genius who has squandered his powers ; but a man exercising his many talents in the only way possible to himself, and generally with much entertainment and stimulus to others. It was Ben Jonson, too great a man to
xl INTRODUCTION
be one of his detractors on this score, who wrote of him :
" He is built like some imperial room For that ^ to dwell in, and be still at home. His breast is a brave palace, a broad street, Where all heroic ample thoughts do meet ; Where nature such a large survey hath ta'en As other souls to his, dwelt in a lane."
There was nothing singular in his interest in astrology and alchemy. Lilly and Booker, both of them among his acquaintances, were ordered to attend the parliamentary army at the siege of Colchester, " to encourage the soldiers with predictions of speedy victory." Still — though he believed in greater absurdities — his attitude towards such matters was that of his chosen motto, Vacate et Videte. " To rely too far upon that vaine art I judge to be rather folly than impiety." As with regard to spirits and witches, he says, " I only reserve my assent." That he was not altogether absorbed in the transmutation of metals in his laboratory practice, and yet that he dabbled in it, makes him historically interesting. In him better than in Newton do we realise the temper of the early members of the Royal Society.
In this tale of his other activities I have not forgotten The Closet Opened. Of all Digby's many interests the most constant and permanent was medicine. How to enlarge the span of man's life was a problem much meditated on in his age. We 1 All virtue.
INTRODUCTION xH
have seen how Descartes's mind ran on it ; and in Bacon's Natural History there is reference to a