Page:Fumifugium - John Evelyn (1661).djvu/23



T is not without some considerable Analogy that sundry of the Philosophers have nam'd the Aer the Vehicle of the Soul, as well as that of the Earth, and this frail Vessell of ours which contains it; since we all of us finde the benefit which we derive from it, not onely for the necessity of common Respiration and functions of the Organs; but likewise for the use of the Spirits and Primigene Humors, which doe most neerly approach that Divine particle. But we shall not need to insist, or refine much on this sublime Subject; and, perhaps it might scandalize scrupulous Persons to pursue to the height it may possibly reach (as Diogenes and Anaximenes were wont to Deifie it) after we are past the Ætherial, which is a certain Aer of Plato's denomination, as well as that of the lesse pure, more turbulent and dense, which, for most part we live and breath in, and which comes here to be examin'd as it relates to the design in hand, the City of London, and the environs about it.

It would doubtlesse be esteem'd for a strange and extravagant Paradox, that one should affirme, that the Aer it selfe is many times a potent and great disposer to Rebellion; and that Insulary people, and indeed, most of the Septentrion Tracts, where this Medium is grosse and heavy, are extremely versatile and obnoxious to change both in Religious and Secular Affaires: Plant the Foote of your Compasses on the very Pole, and extend the other limb to 50 degrees of Latitude: bring it about 'till it describe the Circle, and then reade the Histories of those Nations inclusively and Rh