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Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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David Quidnunc Link to this
Fascinating figure
A mathematician and divine, Wilkins (1614-72) was about 56 years old when he first shows up in the diary on 25 November 1660.
During the Interregnum, Wilkins's connection to Oliver Cromwell, his brother-in-law, "had done much to protect Oxford from political interference. His written works, composed in language notable for its simplicity and clarity, included forecasts of submarines and interplanetary travel," says his entry in the L&M Companion volume (source of all the information in this annotation).
Pepys's library eventually contained at least seven of Wilkins's books, including his "Essay towards ... a philosophical language" (1668), in which the author created a universal language in the form of symbols. Pepys made some criticisms of the naval section of the book.
David Quidnunc Link to this
Correction:
Wilkins had his 46th birthday 1660. Not 56th.
David Quidnunc Link to this
Career
(his age, roughly, in parentheses below)
1614 -- born
1648-59 (34-45)
Warden of Wadham College, Oxford
1659-60 (45-46)
Master of Trinity College, Cambridge
1662-onward (48- )
Vicar of "St. Lawrence Jewry"
1663-onward (49- )
Dean of Ripon
1663-68 (49-54)
One of the two secretaries of the Royal Society
1668-72 (54-58)
Bishop of Chester
1672 -- died (58)
-- L&M Companion volume
David Quidnunc Link to this
Wilkins's standing & where he stood
"One of the most original scholars of his day; a founder of the Royal Society," he was a "liberal" divine who strongly favored keeping moderate Presbyterians in the Church of England and advocated toleration for Nonconformists.
-- L&M Companion
David Quidnunc Link to this
Wilkins on the web
The L&M Companion only hints at Wilkins's extraordinary life. He had connections both to some of the highest members of English society during the Interregnum and the Restoration. He was the (popular) head of Oxford and Cambridge universities at different times, and was influential in the groupings of scholars who eventually founded the Royal Society. He invented various mechanical devices, speculated on others that would be invented in the next few centuries and wrote pioneering books in ciphers and symbolic language.
Imagine a kind of 17th century clerical Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, in terms of their holding of high office, intellect, originality, literary output and interest in tolerance.
Links to some informative web pages:
Much more detailed resume:
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Fi...
Excellent online biographical essay:
http://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/alumni/wilkins.htm
Many links to Wilkins-related web pages:
http://reliant.teknowledge.com/Wilkins/
David Quidnunc Link to this
Wilkins's airy speculation ...
"Yet I do seriously and on good grounds affirm it possible to make a flying chariot in which a man may sit and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through the air. And this perhaps might be made large enough to carry divers men at the same time, together with food for their viaticum and commodities for traffic. It is not the bigness of anything in this kind that can hinder its motion, if the motive faculty be answerable thereunto. We see a great ship swims as well as a small cork, and an eagle flies in the air as well as a little gnat
David Quidnunc Link to this
Jorge Luis Borges on Wilkins's language book
Borges here is writing about "An Essay Towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language" (600 pages in large quarto, 1668) by Wilkins (the translation seems a little rough at points):
"He divided the universe in forty categories or classes, these being further subdivided into differences, which was then subdivided into species. He assigned to each class a monosyllable of two letters; to each difference, a consonant; to each species, a vowel. For example: de, which means an element; deb, the first of the elements, fire; deba, a part of the element fire, a flame. ... The words of the analytical language created by John Wilkins are not mere arbitrary symbols; each letter in them has a meaning ..."
"[I]t is clear that there is no classification of the Universe not being arbitrary and full of conjectures. ... The impossibility of penetrating the divine pattern of the universe cannot stop us from planning human patterns, even though we are conscious they are not definitive. The analytic language of Wilkins is not the least admirable of such patterns. The classes and species that compose it are contradictory and vague; the nimbleness of letters in the words meaning subdivisions and divisions is, no doubt, gifted. The word salmon does not tell us anything; zana, the corresponding word, defines (for the man knowing the forty categories and the species of these categories) a scaled river fish, with ruddy meat."
From: "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins"
A short essay by Jorge Luis Borges
http://alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWi...
David Quidnunc Link to this
Head of colleges at both Cambridge and Oxford
There's a mistake in my "Wilkins on the web" annotation. He didn't head up both universities, but colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. I misread a sentence at this web page, which has another very good biographical essay on Wilkins.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/wilkins/wilkins....
Aqua Link to this
See added notes for contacts and writings by some leaned Gents.http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/23/
Aqua Link to this
Saw the error of my ways
See added notes for contacts and writings by some learned Gents. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/23/
Terry Foreman Link to this
A DISCOVERY OR, A DISCOURSE Tending to prove, that 'tis Probable there may be another Habitable W O R L D in the MOON.
With a Discourse Concerning the Probability of a Passage thither. Unto which is Added, A Discourse Concerning a New Planet, Tending to prove, That 'tis Probable Our Earth is one of the Planets.
In Two Parts.
By John Wilkins, late Lord Bijkop of Chester.
The Fourth Edition Corrected and Amended.
L 0 N D 0 N, Printed by f. M & J. A. for John Gilltbrand at the Golden-Ball St. Pauls Church-Yard MDCLXXXIV.
http://goo.gl/chhYH