The Discovery of a World in the Moone

truth, and causes that to be rejected. How did the incredulous world gaze at Columbus when he promised to discover another part of the earth! He could not for a long time, by his confidence or arguments, induce any of the Christian princes either to assent to his opinion or go to the charges of an experiment. Now, if he—who had such good grounds for his assertion—could find no better entertainment among the wiser sort and the upper end of the world, it is not likely then that this opinion which I now deliver shall receive anything from the men of these days, especially our vulgar wits, but misbelief or derision. It has always been the unhappiness of new truths in philosophy to be derided by those who are ignorant of the causes of things, and rejected by others whose perverseness ties them to the contrary