"Majestati naturae par ingenium."

PROFILE OF A WARRIOR (BRITISH MUSEUM)
PHOTO, Autotype Company

If the eye is required to look at an object placed too near to it, it cannot judge of it well—as happens to a man who tries to see the tip of his nose.

Shadow is the obstruction of light.

The more brilliant the light given by a luminous body, the deeper will the shadows be cast by the objects it illuminates.

No white or black is transparent.

The variety of colour in objects cannot be discerned at a great distance, excepting in those parts which are directly lighted up by the solar rays.

A man when he lies down is reduced to 1/9 of his height.

The scars on trees grow to a greater thickness than is required by the sap of the limb which nourishes them.

No sooner is Virtue born than Envy comes into the world to attack it; and sooner will there be a body without a shadow than Virtue without Envy.

An arch breaks at the part which lies below half way from the centre.

Our life is made by the death of others.

Each man is always in the middle of the surface of the earth and under the zenith of his own hemisphere, and over the centre of the earth.

All inland seas and the gulfs of those seas, are made by rivers which flow into the sea.

To make the great canal, first make the smaller one and conduct into it the waters which by a wheel will help to fill the great one.

Just as on a frozen river a man may run without moving his feet, so a car might be made that would slide by itself.

Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature.

Cheerfulness is proper to the cock, which rejoices over every little thing, and crows with varied and lively movements.

My Lord the love which your Excellency has always shown me and the benefits that I have constantly received from you I have hitherto…