Page:Lettersconcerni01conggoog.djvu/152

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the English Nation.
127

Having by theſe and ſeveral other Arguments deſtroy'd the Carteſian Vortices, he deſpair'd of ever being able to diſcover, whether there is a ſecret Principle in Nature which, at the ſame Time, is the Cauſe of the Motion of all celeſtial Bodies, and that of Gravity on the Earth. But being retir'd in 1666, upon Account of the Plague, to a Solitude near Cambridge; as he was walking one Day in his Garden, and ſaw ſome Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into a profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cauſe of which had ſo long been ſought, but in vain, by all the Philoſophers, whilſt the Vulgar think there is nothing myſterious in it. He ſaid to himſelf, that from what height ſoever, in our Hemiſphere, thoſe Bodies might deſcend, their Fall wou'd certainly be in the Progreſſion diſcover'd by Galileo; and the Spaces they run thro' would be as the Square of the Times. Why may not this Power which cauſes heavy Bodies to deſcend, and is the ſame without any ſenſible

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