HOOKE AND WESTMINSTER by Edward Smith Under Master, Westminster School In the library of Westminster School is a first edition of the History of the Royal Society1. The copy epitomises the vitality and the central position of the institution that was Westminster in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The author was the Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Rochester, Thomas Sprat, he was also ex officio the chairman of the Governing Body of the School. The book had been a gift of William Lord Brereton to his friend, the mathematician, John Pell, who is the author of the marginal corrections. John Pell in turn left this and a large part of his library to his close friend Richard Busby, the Head Master (and indeed a Prebendary of the Abbey after the Restoration) of whom he was a constant visitor and regular correspondent. On page 232 is An Account of a Dog dissected by the Old Westminster, Robert Hooke, whose circle of friends and colleagues encompassed these and a large part of educated London society, again a friend and frequent visitor of Dr Busby. The one of those named who was not a Fellow of the Royal Society, Richard Busby, was to play a very significant role in education in the second half of the seventeenth century. Around 1650 Robert Hooke had the good fortune to join Westminster School; the influence upon him of the School and, in particular, of its Head Master was to be profound. It is my intention in what follows to throw a little light on this largely unexplored part of Hooke’s story. I hope to demonstrate that during his time at the school he had the best education that was available, and, importantly, that he would have been encouraged to develop his scientific skills. So that when Hooke arrived at Christ Church in, perhaps, 1655, his potential would already have been recognised, his talents developed, and he would have been aware of the profound changes overtaking the world of experimental philosophy. He was able very quickly, as a result, to gain acceptance in that world, which was to be pivotal in his life. But his relationship with his old headmaster did not end when he left Westminster School; I shall review some of Dr Busby’s building projects in which he was helped by Hooke. It is necessary first to explore the significance of Busby and Westminster School at this time, so that specific academic details can be set in context. Busby was Head Master for over 55 years, the stability that his longevity afforded would, alone, have established his importance. His remarkable abilities, both in teaching and in encouraging independence of mind in his pupils, inspired two generations. Despite the pressures Dr Richard Busby, Head Master, and pitfalls around him, he never allowed the Westminster School 1639-95 responsibility of his office nor his 1 personal beliefs to be compromised. That Busby held uncompromisingly to his principles was to inspire and bind his pupils to him so strongly that they seldom wished to break away completely. Though there was turmoil on its doorstep, through the latter part of the seventeenth century the School produced a huge range of talented men2. During this time of political and religious foment, on the one hand Matthew Wren had sent his son to Busby because he perceived his Royalist allegiance, and on the other, though the Dryden household had the celebrated Puritan preacher Dod as a member, it did not feel uncomfortable about the son’s education at Westminster. During the Commonwealth, an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons abolished the roles of the Dean and Chapter of ‘The College of St Peter in Westminster’ and invited Puritan divines to conduct series of sermons in the Abbey; nevertheless the Arminian tendencies of Richard Busby were tolerated in the shadow of the same church. Indeed the Lord Protector himself can hardly have been unaware of the high church Anglicanism of Dr Busby3 on which he never compromised, to the point of being entered as ‘sickly’4 when he should have been taking the Covenant. The very special qualities that Busby had were too important to be lost to the nation. The early 18th- century essayist Sir Richard Steele5 was to say ‘I must confess that I am of the opinion Busby’s Genius for education had as great an Effect upon the age he lived in, as that of any ancient Philosopher, without excepting one, had on his Contemporaries’. His intolerance of indolence may well have been considered excessive even then6, but he also encouraged individual talent and freedom of debate at every opportunity7. The biographer of the Non-Conformist divine and diarist, Philip Henry writes: ‘I have heard him tell how much he surprised the Doctor, the first time he waited upon him after he was turn’d out by the Act of Uniformity: For when the Doctor asked him, Pr’ythee (Child) what made thee a Nonconformist? Truly Sir, saith Mr Henry, you made me one; for you taught me those things that hindered me from conforming’ .The divine, Robert South, in the Sermon8 that he wrote to preach to Old Westminsters, but which was never delivered because of the king’s death, and in which he says that the School publicly prayed for King Charles I not two hours before his execution, gives advice to teachers based on his own experience at Westminster: ‘Where they find a youth of spirit, let them endeavour to govern that spirit, without extinguishing it.’ How broad was the curriculum that Robert Hooke followed is hard to discover. Indeed there are few sources to give us a clear overview of what was taught in schools in the mid seventeenth century, and it is often suggested that many subjects would be taught by private tutors, with the only formal teaching being in Classics. For Westminster there is no single document of the right period that explores the full range of subjects. There are three well-known manuscripts (the Laudian, Frowick’s and the Shaftesbury)9, but these give us insight almost exclusively into the Classical curriculum that was taught up School. That latter phrase needs further explanation: in Westminster’s private language that means ‘in the main School Hall’, where all the formal class instruction took place until 1884. So Aubrey’s statement, ‘I have heard Sir Richard Knight (who was his school-fellow) say that he seldome sawe him in the schoole’, could be interpreted to mean that, rather than up School, he studied either in Dr Busby’s house, where he boarded, or possibly in the Museum (Library), under the direction, but not necessarily close supervision, of a tutor. The few mentions, in the three references above, to books and subjects other than the classics, are to Hunter’s Rudimenta Cosmographica and to Aratus’s Φαινοµενα. John Locke had purchased George Abbot’s A briefe description of the whole world. Wherin is particularly described all the monarchies, empires and kingdomes of the same, etc. in 164910 which indicates that the study of geography 2 begun at Westminster under Head Master Osbaldeston had continued under Busby. Aratus’s work is largely based on Eudoxus. It was probably studied for the verse rather than the astronomy, but that astronomy was studied is very evident from the number of works on the subject in the Busby Library, which the School still maintains11. In the library there are multiple copies of Sacro Bosco (John Hollywood): Sphaera Emendata, which suggests that it might have been a standard pupil text. The mathematical texts that are to be found in the Library, are all one might expect, and include William Oughtred (eg Circle of Proportions, 1632), of course, and perhaps twenty different editions of Euclid. A number of the latter are octavo (eg Isaac Barrow’s edition), and are perhaps school boy pocket size. A detailed breakdown of the mathematical works in Busby’s collection during Hooke’s time awaits a re-cataloguing that notes the large gift of John Pell’s works to the Library later in the century. We can confirm from Pell’s correspondence that at least a few years after Hooke, mathematics was enthusiastically studied by Busby and his pupils: Pell assisted Thomas Brancker in the translation of Rahn’s Introduction to Algebra, which was avidly read by Head Master and pupils12. The central position of mathematics in the curriculum is confirmed by the 1688 edition of the Latin Grammar which becomes Rudimentum Anglo-Latinum Grammaticae Literalis & Numeralis with the addition of 93 pages of arithmetic. Of oriental languages that are mentioned in Waller13 we can only speculate. However the Elizabethan Statutes of the School required that Latin, Greek and Hebrew were taught. The Greek and Latin Grammars that Busby used were produced from his own teaching, under his own supervision, and seemingly rewritten by each new generation of pupils. Similarly he produced for his pupils a Hebrew Grammar14, it remained unprinted, but was regularly transcribed and updated by the pupils. That Hebrew was well established is clear from John Locke’s letter to his father about his oration for Election to Christ Church15. A little later we have confirmation from Evelyn16 that Arabic too is taught: ‘I heard and saw such exercises at the election of scholars at Westminster School to be sent to the University in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, in themes and extemporary verses, as wonderfully astonished me in such youths, with such readiness and wit, some of them not above twelve, or thirteen years of age’.