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Chapter Six Utopian & Learned Societies in England CHAPTER SIX UTOPIAN & LEARNED SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND INTHE1650S To conclude, I would have my Readerknow, that the Philosophersβtiding this life subjected to Necesntie, and that Necessity was inconsistant with the Nature of the Soul, they did therefore look upon Man, as a Creature originally ordained for some better State then the present, for this was not agreeable with his spirit. This thought made them seek the Ground of his Creation, that if possible, they might take hold of Libertie, and transcend the Dispensations of that Circle, which they Mysteriously cal'd Fate. Now what this really signifies not one m ten thousand knows, and yet we are all Philosophers. Advertisement to the Reader, The Fame & Confession of the Fraternity ofR: C: (1652) Of the Antilian Society the smoke is over, but the fire is not altogether ex­ tinct. It may be it will flame in due time, though not in Europe. Hartlib to Worthington, 1661 letter The last decade of the Interregnum was one of the most intellectu­ ally turbulent in early modern England, with more treatises on chemistry, natural magic, and hermeticism appearing than in the entire century before. In addition, thirty-four Utopian works ap­ peared throughout Europe during the 1650s, including a continua­ tion of Bacon's New Atlantis (dedicated to Charles II) by "R. H.," who extolled the virtues of episcopacy, monarchy, and the law but also celebrated, in a central episode, the triumphal elevation of an inventor into the Fraternity of Solomon's House. The gospel ac­ cording to Bacon-national prosperity through scientific discoveries and inventions-was thus made widely available again.1 During this same decade, projectors, as they were at times called, devised nu­ merous schemes for advancing learning. While the Utopian brother­ hoods or learned societies formed by men who were in some way New Atlantis. Begun by the Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Albon's: and Continued by R. H. Esquire. Wherein is Set forth a Platform of Monarchical Government (London 1660), was proba­ bly written by Richard Haines. For Utopian works published in that decade, see Glenn Negley, Utopian Uterature: A Bibliography (Lawrence: Regents Ρ of Kansas, 1977), p. 224. l82 CHAPTER SIX associated with the Hartlib circle is the main subject of this chapter, a brief account of these other schemes will help contextualize their activities. Since the story of the Royal Society's origins has made the name of the Oxford Experimental Philosophicall Clubbe already prominent, we can deal succinctly with that society.2 About 1645 John Wallis, John Wilkins, and Samuel Foster, the Gresham Professor of Astron­ omy, began to meet weekly with others at Gresham College or a nearby tavern to discuss scientific experiments. These meetings con­ tinued in London, but Wallis andWilkins returned to Oxford about 1649, where the first scientific organization in England was formed at Wadham College. The Oxford Experimental Philosophicall Clubbe had formal regulations, maintained a laboratory for experiments, and kept minutes.3 Hartlib, as we would expect, kept abreast of the Oxford "Club-men" through William Petty, who told him that they were making "Medullas of all Authors in reference to Experimental Learning" and a catalogue of the Oxford library.4 Prominent mem­ bers included Seth Ward, Ralph Bathurst, Petty, and Boyle. The nucleus of the Royal Society (formally constituted on 28 November 1660 at Gresham College) was drawn from the Oxford and Gresham groups. Because the so-called Invisible College, which provided the initia­ tion into science for the nineteen-year old Boyle, had Utopian aspi­ rations, it is worth noting a few of its salient features even though its history is well known.5 Boyle first mentioned this collegium in a letter to his former tutor, then in Geneva. He wrote that he was devoting his energies to "natural philosophy, the mechanics, and husbandry, according to the principles of our new philosophical 2 One can begin with Sprat's History of the Royal Society. For more balanced accounts, see R. H. Syfret, "The Origins of the Royal Society," Notes and Records of the Royal Society 5 (I947):75"I375 Marie Boas Hall, "Sources for the History of the Royal Society in the Seventeenth Century," History of Science 5 (io,66):62-76; Margery Purver, The Royal Society: Concept and Creation (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967); and Charles Webster, "The Origins of the Royal Society," History of Science 6 (1967): 106-28. 3 For their regulations, see Bodleian Library MS, Ashmole 1810. Hartlib, Ephemerides (1653), SUL H 28.2.78b, noted "They are now erecting a Colledge for Ex­ periments of Mechanicks at Oxf[ord] towards wch Dr Wilkins hath given 200 lb." * Ephemerides (1651), SUL H 28.2.5b; 28.2.6b. 5 For an account that clarifies the many errors surrounding this group, see Charles Webster, "New light on the Invisible College: The Social Relations of English Science in the Mid-Seventeenth Century," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 24 (1974): 19- 42. .
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