in the
merit of his invention which inspired the marquis--and in this strange
faith, like a prophecy, even more than in his invention itself,
considering the way in which he probably came by it, do we recognize
that Genius which rises here and there in the past history of the Aryan
races, and that so all-sidedly and confidingly as to seem miraculous. I
confess that when I look closely and deeply into the knowledge of Dante
and Lionardo da Vinci, of Fiar Bacon, and the Cavalier Marquis of
Worcester, an awe comes over me. All of them seem to have been so
great, some of their order so _unearthly_ great; and they held the keys
to so many mysteries, and to doors of science which were not unlocked
for long centuries after their death; and there was in all of them such
a strange sympathy and knowledge with the other great men as yet unborn,
who were to come after them, and for whom they seem to have labored, and
to whom they talked with the confidence of friends. I never pause before
a certain passage in Dante's 'Inferno,' without the feelings of one
standing before a great prophet--some marvellous earthly ancient of
days, who foresaw all to come:

'Di la fosti cotanto quant'io scesi:
Quando mi volsi, tu possasti 'l punto
Alqual si troggon d'ogni parte i pasi.'

'Thou wast on the other side so long as I
Descended; when I turned thou didst o'erpass
That point to which from every part is dragged
All heavy unbalance!'

It was well thought by Monti that, had this passage been noted by
Newton, it might have given him a better hint than the falling apple.
Perhaps it did, for Newton was no poet, and it is the poetic,
associative-minded men of genius who have always preceded the greatest,
strictly scientific minds, and far surpassed the latter in the
comprehensiveness of their views. Bear with me, ye men of Induction, for
I believe in the coming age, at whose threshold we even now stand, when
ye and the poets shall be one.

The Marquis of Worcester was not like the indifferentist philosopher, so
well set forth by Charles Woodruff Shields in his _Philosophia
Ultima_,[4] as one who would not invade, but only ignore the province of
revelation, regarding its mysteries as matters entirely too vague to be
taken into the slightest account in his exact science. For our good Lord
Herbert thought Heaven had a great deal to do with his inventions, as is
proved by his 'ejaculatory and extemporary Thanksgiving Prayer, w