_Madam_,
Your Authours opinion is,[1] that _when a thing lies still, unless
somewhat else stir it, it will lie still for ever; but when a thing is
in motion, it will eternally be in motion, unless somewhat else stay
it; the reason is,_ saith he, _because nothing can change it self_;
To tell you truly, _Madam_, I am not of his opinion, for if Matter
moveth it self, as certainly it doth, then the least part of Matter,
were it so small as to seem Individable, will move it self; 'Tis true,
it could not desist from motion, as being its nature to move, and no
thing can change its Nature; for God himself, who hath more power then
self-moving Matter, cannot change himself from being God; but that
Motion should proceed from another exterior Body, joyning with, or
touching that body which it moves, is in my opinion not probable; for
though Nature is all Corporeal, and her actions are Corporeal Motions,
yet that doth not prove, that the Motion of particular Creatures or
Parts is caused by the joining, touching or pressing of parts upon
parts; for it is not the several parts that make motion, but motion
makes them; and yet Motion is not the cause of Matter, but Matter is
the cause of Motion, for Matter might subsist without Motion, but not
Motion without Matter, onely there could be no perception without
Motion, nor no Variety, if Matter were not self-moving; but Matter, if
it were all Inanimate and void of Motion, would lie as a dull, dead
and senseless heap; But that all Motion comes by joining or pressing
of other parts, I deny, for if sensitive and rational perceptions,
which are sensitive and rational motions, in the body, and in the mind,
were made by the pressure of outward objects, pressing the sensitive
organs, and so the brain or interior parts of the Body, they would
cause such dents and holes therein, as to make them sore and patched
in a short time; Besides, what was represented in this manner, would
always remain, or at least not so soon be dissolved, and then those
pressures would make a strange and horrid confusion of Figures, for
not any figure would be distinct; Wherefore my opinion is, that the
sensitive and rational Matter doth make or pattern out the figures
of several Objects, and doth dissolve them in a moment of time; as
for example, when the eye seeth the object first of a Man, then of a
Horse, then of another Creature, the sensitive motions in the eye move
first into the figure of the Man, then straight into the figure of
the Horse, so that the Mans figure is dissolved and altered into the
figure of the Horse, and so forth; but if the eye sees many figures at
once, then so many several figures are made by the sensitive Corporeal
Motions, and as many by the Rational Motions, which are Sight and
Memory, at once: But in sleep both the sensitive and rational Motions
make the figures without patterns, that is, exterior objects, which
is the cause that they are often erroneous, whereas, if it were the
former Impression of the Objects, there could not possibly be imperfect
Dreams or Remembrances, for fading of Figures requires as much motion,
as impression, and impression and fading are very different and
opposite motions; nay, if Perception was made by Impression, there
could not possibly be a fading or decay of the figures printed either
in the Mind or Body, whereas yet, as there is alteration of Motions in
self-moving Matter, so there is also an alteration of figures made by
these motions. But you will say, it doth not follow, if Perception be
made by Impression, that it must needs continue and not decay; for if
you touch and move a string, the motion doth not continue for ever, but
ceaseth by degrees; I answer, There is great difference between Prime
self-motion, and forced or Artificial Motions; for Artificial Motions
are onely an Imitation of Natural Motions, and not the same, but caused
by Natural Motions; for although there is no Art that is not made by
Nature, yet Nature is not made by Art; Wherefore we cannot rationally
judg of Perception by comparing it to the motion of a string, and its
alteration to the ceasing of that motion, for Nature moveth not by
force, but freely. 'Tis true, 'tis the freedom in Nature for one man
to give another a box on the Ear, or to trip up his heels, or for one
or more men to fight with each other; yet these actions are not like
the actions of loving Imbraces and Kissing each other; neither are
the actions one and the same, when a man strikes himself, and when
he strikes another; and so is likewise the action of impression, and
the action of self-figuring not one and the same, but different; for
the action of impression is forced, and the action of self-figuring
is free; Wherefore the comparison of the forced motions of a string,
rope, watch, or the like, can have no place here; for though the rope,
made of flax or hemp, may have the perception of a Vegetable, yet not
of the hand, or the like, that touched or struck it; and although the
hand doth occasion the rope to move in such a manner, yet it is not
the motion of the hand, by which it moveth, and when it ceases, its
natural and inherent power to move is not lessened; like as a man,
that hath left off carving or painting, hath no less skill then he
had before, neither is that skill lost when he plays upon the Lute or
Virginals, or plows, plants, and the like, but he hath onely altered
his action, as from carving to painting, or from painting to playing,
and so to plowing and planting, which is not through disability but
choice. But you will say, it is nevertheless a cessation of such a
motion. I grant it: but the ceasing of such a motion is not the ceasing
of self-moving matter from all motions, neither is cessation as much as
annihilation, for the motion lies in the power of the matter to repeat
it, as oft it will, if it be not overpowred, for more parts, or more
strength, or more motions may over-power the less; Wherefore forced,
or artificial and free Natural motions are different in their effects,
although they have but one Cause, which is the self-moving matter, and
though Matter is but active and passive, yet there is great Variety,
and so great difference in force and liberty, objects and perceptions,
sense and reason, and the like. But to conclude, perception is not
made by the pressure of objects, no more then hemp is made by the
Rope-maker, or metal by the Bell-founder or Ringer, and yet neither
the rope nor the metal is without sense and reason, but the natural
motions of the metal, and the artificial motions of the Ringer are
different; wherefore a natural effect in truth cannot be produced from
an artificial cause, neither can the ceasing of particular forced or
artificial motions be a proof for the ceasing of general, natural, free
motions, as that matter it self should cease to move; for there is no
such thing as rest in Nature, but there is an alteration of motions and
figures in self-moving matter, which alteration causeth variety as well
in opinions, as in every thing else; Wherefore in my opinion, though
sense alters, yet it doth not decay, for the rational and sensitive
part of matter is as lasting as matter it self, but that which is
named decay of sense, is onely the alteration of motions, and not an
obscurity of motions, like, as the motions of memory and forgetfulness,
and the repetition of the same motions is called remembrance. And thus
much of this subject for the present, to which I add no more but rest
Madam,
_your faithful Friend,_
_and Servant._
[1] _Leviathan, Part._ 1. _c._ 2.