Such that, the morals of her people having
become progressively corrupt, her provinces
rebellious, her Leaders disunited, and her
strength diminished; Rome herself, being
finally taken, and retaken, shamed and befouled,
had often to endure sack and sword, fire and
ruin, beneath which the arts were left dead and
buried; and the Earth was thereby covered with
ignorance and barbarity. Such that the eclipse of
this august city brought darkness upon the world.
Since then, God has reinvested the world with
ornaments more illustrious than these early triumphs,
and revived the vigour of men's minds: some, bursting
with truly sublime new ideas, have in the last few
centuries fathered inventions more subtle and more
useful than any known to previous ages; while others,
given over only to the study of things past, have
unearthed the old monuments of great books, made dead
tongues speak once more, and restored to ancient
learning its former splendour and dignity. Which
has made the letters of today flourish as if in a
spacious and delicious garden, where we must first
pluck the sacred fruits of Holy Writ as celestial
food for our soul, and