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1660-88

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particular facts, and, therefore, all scientific men applied themselves to the task. Already, a reform in agriculture had been commenced; new vegetables were cultivated; new implements of husbandry were employed: new manures were applied to the soil. Under the sanction of the Royal Society, Evelyn wrote his work on the planting of trees; Temple made many experiments in horticulture; and medicine had become an experimental and progressive science, and every day made some advance. Under the influence of this new spirit, also, Boyle made many discoveries in chemistry, and Sloane, numerous researches in botany; Ray made a new classification of birds and fishes, and Woodward studied the nature of shells and fossils; Wallis placed the whole system of statics on a new foundation; Gregory constructed the first reflecting telescope; Halley investigated the properties of the atmosphere, the tides, the laws of Discoveries magnetism, and the course of the comets; and while of Halley the latter mapped the constellations of the southern Flamsteed. hemisphere from the isle of St. Helena, Flamsteed, who compiled the first accurate series of lunar, planetary, and stellar observations, and was the first astronomer royal, superintended the building of Greenwich Observatory, which was founded in 1675. Pre-eminent above all was Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac whose fame, though his genius was then in its meridian, Newton. did not become known till after the Revolution. While England was thus far in advance of her neighbours in science, in art she was far behind them, and the only great name that we can boast of is that of Christopher Wren, the famous sir architect of St. Paul's, and of the finest old churches in Wren. London. The great Fire of London gave him an opportunity, unprecedented in modern history, of displaying his powers; but the greater portion of his works belong to the period after the Revolution. Lely and Kneller, the two chief painters of No native this period, were both Westphalians; the two most sculptors. celebrated sculptors, Cibber and Gibbons, were also foreigners, the former a Dane, the latter a Dutchman; even the designs on our coins were made by French artists; and it was not before the first half of the eighteenth century had expired, that England could glory in either a great painter, or a great sculptor.*

* Macaulay, I., 421-430.

Christopher

painters or

ABEL HEYWOOD, PRINTER, OLDHAM STREET, MANCHESTER.

Crown 8vo, p.p. 496, Price 4s. 6d.

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GOVERNMENT LECTURER IN HISTORY, TRAINING COLLEGE, YORK.

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The work has received numerous encomiums from both public and private critics. "It is a book of knowledge." "It is a work pregnant with the most valuable information." "It is a library in itself." The Athenæum says, "As a text-book for schools and colleges it will be serviceable." The Educational Guardian-"This is an excellent book on English History, and supplies a want which has long been felt by teachers. The arrangement is much to be admired." In a second notice, the same authority speaks of it as "a volume devoted to an important portion of our annals, which it treats with great ability, giving full and clearlyarranged information on its constitutional and social history; carefully tracing national movements, political and social changes, with their causes and effects, and embodying the most important portion of works by the best writers on these subjects." The Bookseller says-"In no one volume that we are acquainted with will the student find so much information as in this. * * Altogether, the work is one of great merit. Mr. Birchall contemplates a second volume, which, if as well done as this, we shall be glad to see."

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MANCHESTER :-ABEL HEYWOOD, 56 & 58, OLDHAM STREET.
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

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