Quicksilver Reading CompanionDaniel Waterhouse assists Robert Hooke in constructing a zenith telescope through the roof of Gresham’s College in 1672, while the city of London continues its slow recovery from the Great Fire.
“The Inquisitive Jesuit RICCIOLI has taken great pains by 77 Arguments to overthrow the Copernican Hypothesis” — Giovanni Battista Riccioli was an Italian Jesuit astronomer who published Almagestum Novum, a massive work that provided a comprehensive overview of 17th-century arguments for and against the heliocentric system.
“sketch out plans for Bedlam” — Hooke designed the grand new building for Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam) at Moorfields, which was completed in 1676 to replace the notorious medieval psychiatric facility.
“write diatribes against Oldenburg” — Henry Oldenburg was the first Secretary of the Royal Society; he managed its international correspondence and founded the Philosophical Transactions, the world’s first scientific journal.
“transact the routine business of the City Surveyor” — Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, Hooke was appointed as one of the City Surveyors responsible for measuring plots and overseeing the massive reconstruction effort.
“But no such parallax had been observed” — Stellar Parallax is the apparent shift in position of a star against the background of more distant stars; its absence was a major scientific argument against the Earth’s motion around the Sun until the 19th century.
“Hooke-watch” — Both Hooke and Christiaan Huygens claimed the invention of the balance spring, a spiral spring that allowed portable watches to keep accurate time for the first time.
“Hooke and Wren could build a monument there” — The Monument to the Great Fire of London is a Doric column designed by Christopher Wren and Hooke that was secretly engineered to serve as a giant zenith telescope.
“converged at the site of the Royal Exchange” — The Royal Exchange acted as the center of commerce in London where merchants and brokers traded goods and stocks.
“once and future St. Paul’s, now a moraine of blackened stones” — The medieval St Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed in the 1666 fire; Christopher Wren spent decades designing and building the iconic domed replacement that stands today.
“fetch copies of Hooke’s Micrographia” — Published in 1665, Micrographia was the first major publication of the Royal Society, featuring Hooke’s detailed, stunning illustrations of objects seen under a microscope.
“could see Bridewell on the far side of it” — Bridewell Palace and Prison was a former royal residence turned into a house of correction where the “idle poor” were forced to perform hard labor like beating hemp.
“because of the Anglo-Dutch War… the third in as many decades” — The Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674) saw England join forces with Louis XIV of France to attack the Dutch Republic.
“Plenty of French gold had entered the country to bring Parliament around to Louis XIV’s side” — This refers to the secret Treaty of Dover, where Charles II promised to assist France against the Dutch in exchange for massive French subsidies.
“ramparts, a bastion, ravelins, and a demilune work” — The evolution of gunpowder led to the Trace Italienne, a style of star-shaped fortification designed to eliminate blind spots and resist heavy cannon fire.
“brokers of East India stocks” — The East India Company was a powerful joint-stock company that eventually became a major political and military power in the Indian Ocean region.
“King Louis XIV” — Known as the “Sun King,” Louis XIV of France established an absolute monarchy and pursued territorial ambitions that dominated European politics for decades.
“Once a man’s been cut for the stone” — Lithotomy was a dangerous, agonizing surgical procedure to remove bladder stones; Samuel Pepys famously survived it and kept his stone in a specially made case.
“Sir Roger L’Estrange, the Surveyor of the Press” — Roger L’Estrange was a staunch Royalist who aggressively censored “seditious” pamphlets and newspapers during the Restoration.
“the apothecary shop of Monsieur LeFebure, King’s Chymist” — Nicaise le Febvre was a renowned French chemist invited to England by Charles II to serve as the Royal Professor of Chemistry.
“John Churchill—possibly the only man in England handsomer than Monmouth” — John Churchill was a brilliant military commander who rose to prominence under the Stuarts and became one of England’s greatest generals.
“an actor had been hired to play the role of D’Artagnan” — D’Artagnan was a real captain of the Musketeers under Louis XIV; he famously died during the Siege of Maastricht in 1673, an event that was actually reenacted as a public spectacle at Windsor.
“branded with the image of the solar disk during his colors experiments” — Newton’s Optics experiments were notoriously dangerous; he once stared at the sun until he nearly blinded himself and poked his own eye with a bodkin to study the nature of light.
“the Spanish Netherlands!” — The Spanish Netherlands were a collection of states in the Low Countries held by the Spanish Crown, serving as a frequent battleground for the era’s major powers.
“tearing open the wrapper on a sheaf of libels” — The 1670s saw a massive rise in anonymous political literature used to sway public opinion through satire and scandal.
Original annotations by: b, bornstein