We all pay an involuntary homage to antiquity – a “blind homage,” as Bacon calls it in his “Novum Organum,” which tends greatly to the obstruction of… - Charles Mackay

A traveller on a dusty road
⁠Strewed acorns on the lea;
And one took root and sprouted up,
⁠And grew into a tree.
Love sought its shade at evening-time,
⁠To breathe its early vows;
And Age was pleased, in heights of noon,
⁠To bask beneath its boughs.
The dormouse loved its dangling twigs,
⁠The birds sweet music bore — It stood a glory in its place,
⁠A blessing evermore.

In February 1720 an edict was published, which, instead of restoring the credit of the paper, as was intended, destroyed it irrecoverably, and drove the country to the very brink of revolution...

During seasons of great pestilence men have often believed the prophecies of crazed fanatics, that the end of the world was come. Credulity is always greatest in times of calamity