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To the Right Honourable
JOHN
Lord Somers
of Evesham
Lord High-Chancellor of England,
and President of the Royal-Society.
My Lord,
T he Idea and Plan of the Royal-Society having been firſt conceiv'd and delineated by a Great and Learned Chancellor, which High Office your Lordſhip deservedly bears; not as an Acquiſition of Fortune, but your Intellectual Endowments; [pg] Conſpicuous (among other Excellencies) by the Inclination Your Lordſhip diſcovers to promote Natural Knowledge: As it juſtifies the Diſcernment of that Aſſembly, to pitch upon Your Lordſhip for their Preſident, ſo does it no leſs diſcover the Candor, yea, I preſume to ſay, the Sublimity of your Mind, in ſo generouſly honoring them with your Acceptance of the Choice they have made.
A [1]Chancellor, and a very Learned Lord, was the Firſt who honoured the Chair; and a no leſs Honorable and Learned Chancellor, reſigns it to Your Lordſhip: So as after all the Difficulties and Hardſhips the Society [pg] has hitherto gone through; it has thro' the Favour and Protection of its Preſidents, not only preſerv'd its Reputation from the Malevolence of Enemies and Detracters, but gone on Culminating, and now Triumphantly in Your Lordſhip: Under whoſe propitious Influence, I am perſwaded, it may promiſe it ſelf That, which indeed has hitherto been wanting, to juſtifie the Glorious Title it bears of a ROYAL SOCIETY. The Emancipating it from ſome Remaining and Diſcouraging Circumſtances, which it as yet labours under; among which, that of a Precarious and unſteady Abode, is not the leaſt.
This Honor was reſerv'd for Your Lordſhip; and an Honor, permit me [pg] to call it, not at all unworthy the Owning of the Greateſt Person living: Namely, the Eſtabliſhing and Promoting Real Knowledge; and (next to what is Divine) truly ſo called; as far, at leaſt, as Humane Nature extends towards the Knowledge of Nature, by enlarging her Empire beyond the Land of Spectres, Forms, Intentional Species, Vacuum, Occult Qualities, and other Inadequate Notions; which, by their Obſtreperous and Noiſy Diſputes, affrighting, and (till of late) deterring Men from adventuring on further Diſcoveries, confin'd them in a lazy Acquieſcence, and to be fed with Fantaſms and fruitleſs Speculations, which ſignifie nothing to the ſpecifick Nature of Things, [pg] solid and uſeful knowledge; by the Inveſtigation of Cauſes, Principles, Energies, Powers, and Effects of Bodies, and Things Viſible; and to improve them for the Good and Benefit of Mankind.