to himself such
stores of Knowledge as we cannot look upon without Amazement. His
Capacity seems to have grasped All that was revealed in Books before his
Time; and not satisfied with that, he began to strike out new Tracks of
Science, too many to be travelled over by any one Man, in the Compass of
the longest Life. These, therefore, he could only mark down, like
imperfect Coastings in Maps, or supposed Points of Land, to be further
discovered, and ascertained by the Industry of After-Ages, who should
proceed upon his Notices or Conjectures.

The Excellent Mr. _Boyle_ was the Person, who seems to have been
designed by Nature to succeed to the Labours and Enquiries of that
extraordinary Genius I have just mentioned. By innumerable Experiments
He, in a great Measure, filled up those Planns and Out-Lines of Science,
which his Predecessor had sketched out. His Life was spent in the
Pursuit of Nature, through a great Variety of Forms and Changes, and in
the most rational, as well as devout Adoration of its Divine Author.

It would be impossible to name many Persons who have extended their
Capacities so far as these two, in the Studies they pursued; but my
learned Readers, on this Occasion, will naturally turn their Thoughts to
a _Third_ [1], who is yet living, and is likewise the Glory of our own
Nation. The Improvements which others had made in Natural and
Mathematical Knowledge have so vastly increased in his Hands, as to
afford at once a wonderful Instance how great the Capacity is of a Human
Soul, and how inexhaustible the Subject of its Enquiries; so true is
that Remark in Holy Writ, that, _though a wise Man seek to find out the
Works of God from the Beginning to the End, yet shall he not be able to
do it_.

I cannot help mentioning here one Character more, of a different kind
indeed from these, yet such a one as may serve to shew the wonderful
Force of Nature and of Application, and is the most singular Instance of
an Universal Genius I have ever met with. The Person I mean is _Leonardo
da Vinci_, an _Italian_ Painter, descended from a noble Family in
_Tuscany_, about the beginning of the sixteenth Century. In his
Profession of History-Painting he was so great a Master, that some have
affirmed he excelled all who went before him[. It is certain], that he
raised the Envy of _Michael Angelo_, who was his Contemporary, and that
from the Study of his Works _Raphael_ himself learned his best Manner of
Designing. He was