Sentence:  But the contempt of all other knowledge, as if it were nothing in comparison of law or physic, of astronomy or chemistry, or perhaps some yet meaner part of knowledge, wherein I have got some smattering, or am somewhat advanced, is not only the mark of a vain or little mind; but does this prejudice in the conduct of the understanding, that it <WSD>coops</WSD> it up within narrow bounds, and hinders it from looking abroad into other provinces of the intellectual world, ... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To shut up or confine in a narrow space; to cramp.