Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/51

Rh Ground open and clear for us; they have remov'd the Rubbish; which, when one great Fabrick is to be pull'd down, and another to be erected in its stead, is always esteem'd well nigh half the whole Work: Their Adventure was bold, and hazardous: They touch'd Men's Minds in their tenderest Part, when they strove to pluck off those Opinions, which had, by long Custom, been so closely twin'd about them: They freed our Understandings from the Charms of vain Apparitions, and a Slavery to dead Men's Names. And we may well guess, that the absolute Perfection of the true Philosophy is not now far off, seeing this first great and necessary Preparation for its coming, is already taken off our Hands. For methinks there is an Agreement, between the Growth of Learning, and of Civil Government. The Method of the Rise and Increase of that, was this: At first in every country there prevailed nothing but Barbarism and Rudeness: All places were terrible with Giants, and Enchantments, and insolent Usurpers: Against these there first arose some mighty Heroes, as Hercules, Theseus, and Jason: These scowred the World, redress'd Injuries, destroy'd Monsters; and for this they were made Demi-gods. But then they gave over, and it was left to the great Men, who succeeded them, as Solon, and Lycurgus, to accomplish the Work, to found Common-wealths, to give Laws, to put Justice in its Course: And why may I not now presume, (as many others have done before me) to reduce these Stories to a philosophical Sense? First then, the Phantasms, and Fairies, and venerable Images of Antiquity, did long haunt the World; against these we have had our Champions; and without all question, they had the better of the Rh