Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/80

 by the the miserable Distractions of that fatal Year; till the Continuance of their Meetings there might have made them run the Hazard of the Fate of Archimedes: For then the place of their Meeting was made a Quarter for Soldiers. But, to make haste through those dreadful Revolutions, which cannot be beheld upon Paper without Horror, unless we remember, that they had this one happy Effect, to open Men's Eyes to lookout for the true Remedy; upon this follow'd the King's Return; and that wrought by such an admirable Chain of Events, that if we either regard the Easiness, or Speed, or blessed Issue of the Work, it seems of itself to contain Variety and Pleasure enough, to make Recompence for the whole twenty Years Melancholy that had gone before. This I leave to another kind of History to be describ'd. It shall suffice my purpose, that Philosophy had its Share in the Benefits of that glorious Action: For the Royal Society had its beginning in the wonderful pacifick Year, 1660. So that if any Conjectures of good Fortune, from extraordinary Nativities, hold true, we may presage all Happiness to this Undertaking. And I shall here join my solemn Wishes, that as it began in that Time, when our Country was freed from Confusion and Slavery; so it may, in its Progress, redeem the Minds of Men from Obscurity, Uncertainty, and Bondage.

These Gentlemen therefore finding the Hearts of their Countrymen inlarg'd by their Joys, and fitted for any noble Proposition; and meeting with the Concurrence of many worthy Men, who, to their immortal Honour, had follow'd the King in his Banishment, Mr. Erskin, Sir Robert Moray, Sir Gilbert