Charing Cross (pp 167–181)

In 1670, Daniel Waterhouse follows a secretive Isaac Newton through the bustling streets of London, from the intellectual hubs of the Royal Society to the high-stakes intrigue of Whitehall Palace.

“Sir ROBERT MORAY produced a discourse concerning coffee, written by Dr. GODDARD” — Sir Robert Moray was a polymath and a primary founder of the Royal Society who acted as a critical liaison between the scientific community and King Charles II. His collaborator here, Jonathan Goddard, was a physician to Oliver Cromwell and a pioneer in botany and clinical pharmacology.

“Mr. GRAUNT affirmed, that he knew two gentlemen, great drinkers of coffee, very paralytical.” — John Graunt was the founder of the science of demography; he famously used the London Bills of Mortality to create the first statistically based estimates of the city’s population and disease trends.

“Dr. WHISTLER suggested, that it might be inquired, whether the same persons took much tobacco.” — Daniel Whistler was an English physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians and published one of the earliest medical descriptions of rickets.

“Mrs. Green’s coffee-house” — During the Restoration, Coffeehouses became “penny universities” where men of all social classes gathered to trade news, conduct business, and debate the latest scientific findings.

“cabal” — Stephenson’s annotation: “Charles II really did have a CABAL and it really was an acronym for the names of the leading figures (though the word “cabal” is, of course much older). I have changed the names and the people and their roles to suit the requirements of this book.”

“Whitehall Palace” — This sprawling complex was the primary residence of English monarchs until 1698; it was the largest palace in Europe at the time, containing over 1,500 rooms.

“King Carlos II of Spain was both feeble and sick, and not expected to live out the year.” — Charles II of Spain was the final Habsburg ruler of Spain, whose extensive physical and mental infirmities were the result of centuries of royal inbreeding.

“Comenius was dying, too.” — John Amos Comenius was a Czech philosopher often called the father of modern education for his advocacy of universal schooling and pictorial textbooks.

“Anne Hyde, the Duke of York’s wife, was very ill” — Anne Hyde was the first wife of the future James II. Her conversion to Catholicism and her subsequent death in 1671 triggered a major political crisis regarding the royal succession.

“John Locke was writing a constitution for Carolina” — While serving as secretary to the Lords Proprietors of the new American colony, the philosopher John Locke helped draft a complex legal framework that attempted to balance feudalism with religious tolerance.

“Stenka Razin’s Cossack rebellion was being crushed in the Ukraine” — Stenka Razin was a pirate and rebel leader who led a massive uprising against the Russian Tsarist bureaucracy, becoming a folk hero in the process.

“the V.O.C.—the Dutch East India Company—was paying out a dividend of 40 percent.” — The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was the first multinational corporation to issue stock, and its massive profits fueled the Dutch Golden Age while inciting English envy.

“John Churchill was one of the few courtiers who actually did things” — John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough began his career as a page at the Restoration court before becoming one of England’s greatest military commanders.

“blockading Algiers, trying to do something, at long last, about the Barbary Pirates.” — The Barbary Pirates were North African privateers who enslaved thousands of Europeans; the English Navy spent decades attempting to secure the Mediterranean through intermittent blockades and treaties.

“a tubular device about a foot long… The design was Isaac’s” — Newton’s Reflecting Telescope used a curved mirror instead of glass lenses to solve the problem of “chromatic aberration,” where different colors of light fail to focus at the same point.

“apartments of Lady Castlemaine, the King of England’s favorite mistress” — Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland was the most powerful of Charles II’s mistresses, so influential that she was often referred to as the “Uncrowned Queen.”

“sold to Dutchmen. But now the windows were windows again, and the artworks had been bought back” — Following the Commonwealth Sale, Charles II spent much of the Restoration attempting to repurchase the massive art collection his father had amassed before the Civil War.

“face of Sir Winston Churchill—Fellow of the Royal Society” — Sir Winston Churchill (1620–1688) was a staunch Royalist soldier and historian whose service to the crown helped restore his family’s fortunes after the English Civil War.

“at the New Exchange, just a stone’s throw up the Strand” — The New Exchange was London’s premier luxury shopping mall, where the elite gathered to buy lace, gloves, and the latest French fashions.

“King Charles II, who’d mandated… that all courtiers wear black and white” — In an effort to curb the influence of French fashion and support the English wool trade, Charles II introduced a simplified “vest” in 1666, which eventually evolved into the modern three-piece suit.

“Louis XIV’s Croatian mercenaries, les Cravates” — The history of the cravat traces back to the distinctive neck scarves worn by Croatian soldiers; the style was adopted by the French court and quickly spread across Europe.

“rouged and black-patched faces of the Earl’s crowd” — Beauty patches were small pieces of fabric used to emphasize the whiteness of the skin or to conceal scars from the Great Plague or smallpox.

“Meet me tomorrow morning at Tyburn.” — Tyburn was the site of London’s “Triple Tree” gallows, but its open fields also made it a frequent location for illegal duels.

“MONSIEUR LEFEBURE—CHYMIST” — Stephenson’s annotation: ‘There was a Monsieur Lefebure (spellings vary) and there were many Alchemists at the court of Charles II, including the King himself.’ Nicaise le Febure was the royal apothecary and a respected practitioner of “chymistry.”

Original annotations by: stephenson, sinder, elkin