"All his Errors and Blemishes were more than made amends for, by the Greatness and Extent of his natural and acquired Parts, and more than common, if not wonderful Sagacity, in diving into the most hidden secrets of Nature, and in contriving proper Methods of forcing her to confess the Truth. ...There needs no other Proof for this than the great number of Experiments he made, with the Contrivances for them, amounting to some hundreds; his new and useful Instruments and Inventions, which were numerous, his admirable Facility and Clearness, in explaining the Phænomena of Nature, and demonstrating his Assertions; his happy Talent in adapting Theories to the Phænomena observ'd, and contriving easy and plain, not pompous and amusing, Experiments to back and prove those Theories; proceeding from Observations to Theories, and from Theories to farther trials, which he often asserted to be the most proper method to succeed in the interpretation of Nature. For these, his happy Qualifications, he was much respected by the most learned Philosophers both at home and abroad: And as with all his Failures, he may be reckon'd among the great Men of the last Age, so had he been free from them, possibly, he might have stood in the Front. But humanum est errare."