Text of 31 Hover Notes for Editor’s Introduction to Thomas Tryon’s The Planter’s Speech to his Neighbours & Country-Men of Pennsylvania, East & West-Jersey ... (1684)

#1 (of 31)

the Silesian mystic Jakob Böhme (or Boehme, 1575–1624) — The ecosocialist, Joel Kovel, has described Jacob Böhme as “the first, and perhaps the greatest, Protestant mystic.” “Being ‘theosophic,’ Böhme’s language was turned to speaking of nature as a manifestation of God.... [T]his was not an idealist replacement of nature, rather, an intuitive and symbolic way of describing the awesomeness of nature that could stand in, so to speak, until the physics of general relativity and quantum mechanics could catch up to it. Böhme’s God is not some daddy in the sky, but the very unfolding of universal formativity. His genius was to realize that God itself had to come into being — formativity is itself formed from within nature. Böhme’s God does not create heaven and earth, It (though called ‘He’) is itself created from non-being — the ‘Unground’ — in a process that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Big Bang of current cosmological theory.” (J. Kovel, “A Materialism Worthy of Nature,” 77) ::

#2 (of 31)

his bootstrapping work ethic — “Being one of a large family he was set to work spinning and carding, at which he became expert, producing 4 lb of wool a day and earning 2s. a week. But every Sunday and on all holidays he would take to the hills and mind sheep. At the age of thirteen he finally persuaded his father to buy him a small flock ‘to which the keeping and management whereof I betook myself with much satisfaction and delight as well as care’.... The following year he taught himself to read and write. Tryon managed his flock so well that when at the age of eighteen he ‘grew weary of shepherdizing, and had a earnest desire to travel’, he was able to sell it at a profit of £3....” (V. Smith, ODNB entry for Thomas Tryon, n. pag.) ::

#3 (of 31)

even when judged by his own age with its Baroque sensibilities — In 17th-century diction, Tryon was deemed “singular,” as recorded by the publisher (Tace Sowle) of his posthumously-printed Memoirs: “... neither did he confine his Charity, or good Offices, to the Necessitous of his own Family, but in whatsoever Neighbourhood he dwelt, though many of them may carp at him for the Singularity, as they call it, of his Way of Living; yet the Poor will all testifie his Charity, and Poor and Rich, his just, friendly, peaceable and neighbourly Behaviour.” (Some Memoirs of the Life Mr. Tho. Tryon, 1705, 69) ::

#4 (of 31)

“the first professional woman writer.” — This is the common claim, but I believe the first professional woman writer to have been a medical practitioner, with a shorter literary career than Behn, who authored almanacs, rather than belles lettres: Sarah Jinner.
  Jinner’s almanacs, published from 1658 to 1664 (as far as we know, since these are the only years for which there are surviving copies), were primarily directed at women, but still had significant cross-gender appeal, partly because of Jinner’s proven ability to predict the future, and partly because of her willingness to tackle delicate subjects in reproductive medicine. Readers clearly liked what Jinner delivered since her last known printed almanac of 1664 “had a substantial print run of 8000 copies,” and a “casual reference in 1673 by the professional soldier Captain Henry Herbert, linking Jinner with the famous astrologer Richard Saunders (1613–1675), shows that her name remained well known” into the 1670s among men and women alike. (Bernard Capp, ODNB entry for Sarah Jinner, n. pag.)
  While not attaining artistic stature, almanacs were the most popular genre of the 17th century, often the only “book” to be found in farm or cottage apart from the Bible. By the 1660s, when Jinner was writing for the market, English men and women purchased an average of 400,000 astrological almanacs a year. ::

#5 (of 31)

“his later book” — Woodcock is confused here. Behn’s commendatory poem was 1st published with Tryon’s The Way to Make All People Rich: or, Wisdoms Call to Temperance and Frugality in a Dialogue between Sophronio and Guloso ... (1685). Tryon later reprinted Behn’s verses for inclusion with the 3rd edn. (1697) of his The Way to Health, Long Life, and Happiness. Had she transgressed as many of “the Laws of Innocency and Cleanness” (Some Memoirs of the Life Mr. Tho. Tryon ..., 1705, 90) as rumor made out, Tryon, who believed in “practising and speaking for the Truth with courage and boldness, before Superiors and Inferiors” (Some Memoirs of the Life Mr. Tho. Tryon ..., 1705, 16), would never have linked their names and printed works in this manner. ::

#6 (of 31)

his works eulogizing the benefits of a moderate diet, and abstinence from drink and luxurious living — Thomas Tryon was 48 when he began publishing his popular self-help and advice books, so it wasn’t until 1682 that his first published works appeared: A Treatise of Cleanness in Meats and Drinks, of the Preparation of Food, the Excellency of Good Airs, and the Benefits of Clean Sweet Beds ..., followed by Healths Grand Preservative: or the Womens Best Doctor.
  Aphra Behn suffered from poor health for much of her life, but it was in 1686 that she became very ill and began her precipitous decline, developing trouble walking and writing. ::

#7 (of 31)

“making Beavers to Success” — This refers to Tryon’s prosperous trade as a hatter (maker of and/or dealer in hats). A “beaver” was a hat made of beaver’s fur, or some imitation (beaver hats were sometimes “falsified” with goat’s-wool, etc.). On 27 June 1661, Samuel Pepys paid Joseph Holden, haberdasher of St. Bride’s Lane, “4l-5s-0d” for a new beaver hat (S. Pepys, Diary, ed. R. Latham and W. Matthews, 11 vols., 1970–83, 2.127). A little over 2 years later, the status-conscious Pepys was at Holden’s again, this time to check out his “new Low crowned beaver, according to the present fashion, made” (S. Pepys, Diary, ed. R. Latham and W. Matthews, 11 vols., 1970–83, 4.280).
  Beaver hats were expensive. For purposes of comparison, the same year he splurged on his first “beaver,” Pepys visited Holden’s on 28 Jan. 1661 and “bought a hat, cost me 35s” (Diary, 2.25); on 21 May 1661 he was at Holden’s again, and this time “did buy a new hatt, cost between 20 and 30s.” (Diary, 2.104) When Tryon started out as an apprentice hatter in 1652, working pretty much non-stop, he earned 5–7 shillings per week. ::

#8 (of 31)

“the Lord manifested himself to me most wonderfully, and taught and shewed me many great mysteries” — This describes Tryon’s mystical ecstasy, which Ephraim Chambers neatly defined as “a refined and sublime kind of Divinity, profess’d by the Mystics. It consists in a Knowledge of God, and Divine things, not acquir’d in the common way, but infused immediately by God, and which has the Effect to move the Soul in an easy, calm, devout, affective manner; to unite it intimately to God; to illumine the Understanding, and warm and enliven the Will in an extraordinary manner.” (E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 2 vols., 1728, s.v. Mystic Theology, 2.612) ::

#9 (of 31)

Tryon’s books and Pythagorean lifestyle — Pythagoreans like Tryon not only adhered to the ancient Greek’s religious reverence and cosmology — including belief in God’s government through natural physical forces, and belief that the entire universe is governed by numbers and their mystical relationships: “[God] made and created all Things and Beings; not accidentally, or by chance, but from a solid Basis, and undeniable Principles of Number, Weight and Measure” (T. Tryon, Some Memoirs of the Life Mr. Tho. Tryon, 1705, 73) — but were strict vegetarians as well. “Pythagoras’s regimen, which, for obscure reasons, banned beans as well as meat, was so exemplary that for more than two thousand years those who abstained at least from flesh were called Pythagoreans.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#10 (of 31)

Tryon pressed for a shortened, 6-hour work day — Cf. part 3 in the posthumously-published Some Memoirs of the Life Mr. Tho. Tryon ... (1705), where Tryon recommends a 9-hour work day: “Nine Hours in 24, is sufficient for Labour or Work, be the Art or Trade what it will; the rest of thy time, thou shalt imploy in good Conversation, Meditation and Worship.” (Memoirs, 108) And, of course, there was no work on the Sabbath, “which Day shall be Sunday, or any other Day that the publick Government has ordained.” (Memoirs, 101) ::

#11 (of 31)

“Apprentice to a Castor-maker” — Refers to the trade of hat-making. Castor is Latin for beaver, and haberdashers started using the term “castor” to describe hats made of beaver’s fur (or a less-pricey substitute) in the early-17th century. By the end of the century, the shopkeeper’s jargon had changed yet again: a “caster” (slightly different spelling) was distinguished from a “beaver,” with the caster supposed to be made of rabbit’s fur. ::

#12 (of 31)

“a man of equall condicion and [graphic symbol] to herself” — This is Aubrey’s symbol for “fortune.” Instead of writing out the word in his manuscript book, Aubrey drew this symbol. ::

#13 (of 31)

Her cure for snakebite was passed to Royal Society scientists by the Rev. Dr. John Clayton — Given the common occurrence of bites from snakes and rabid dogs, with their high mortality rates, the Royal Society had been tasked with developing antidotes for various poisons. Clayton was in attendance when Robert Boyle “made certain Experiments of Curing the Bite of Vipers, with certain East-India Snake-stones, that were sent him by King James the Second, the Queen, and some of the Nobility, purposely to have him try their Vertue and Efficacy,” so Clayton knew that his audience would have great interest in his clinical observations from Virginia, including his account of the Pamunkey Indian whose instantaneous “Method of Cure” by “actual Cautery” — upon being bitten “very sharply betwixt the Fingers” by a rattlesnake, “he roared out; but stretch’d his Arm out as high as he could, calling for a string, wherewith he bound his Arm as hard as possibly he could, and clapt a hot burning Coal thereon, and singed it stoutly, whereby he was cured, but looked pale a long while after” — Boyle had approved as “the most certain Cure” of all then available (J. Clayton, “A Continuation of Mr. John Clayton’s Account of Virginia,” 127–8). ::

#14 (of 31)

“Oriental Bezoar” — “This is the same with what is otherwise called bezaar, or bezehard; by the Persians pazar; by the Indians bezar, or bazar; by the Arabs Hager; by the Jews belzuar.... The first mention made of bezoar is in Avenzour, an Arab physician of the 10th century, who gives a very romantic account of its origin. The first genuine account we owe to Garcias ab Horto, physician to the Portuguese vice-roy of the Indies.” (E. Chambers, rev. by George Lewis Scott, et al., A Supplement to Mr. Chambers’s Cyclopædia, 2 vols., 1753, 1 s.v. Bezoar)
  The medicinal “stone”, found in the stomach or intestines of wild goats and other animals, is formed of concentric layers of animal matter deposited round some foreign substance (the stone of a fruit, straws, hair, marcasites, pebbles, talc, sand, etc.) which serves as a nucleus. It was long “esteem’d a Sovereign Counter-Poison, and an excellent Cardiac. ’Tis also given in Vertigo’s, Epilepsies, Palpitation of the Heart, Jaundice, Cholick, and so many other Diseases, that were its real Virtues answerable to its reputed ones, it were doubtless a Panacea. Indeed, its Rarity, and the peculiar Manner of its Formation, have, perhaps, contributed as much to its Reputation, as any intrinsick Worth. At present it begins to be prized less, and a great many able Physicians discard it, as of no Use or Efficacy at all.” (E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 2 vols., 1728, s.v. Bezoar, 1.98)
  Because of its expense and exotic origins, several types of bezoar-stone, natural and artificial, and of varying quality, were sold, with counterfeits common. In addition, several kinds of Occidental Bezoar (from 4 animal species indigenous to the South American region then known as Peru) were marketed, but Clayton notes that the “Female Doctress” in Virginia preferred the Oriental Bezoar typically imported from Hyderabad, India (the capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh) and the city of Cannanore (Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala). “The true oriental bezoars were [in the 1670s–1680s] so common in Cononor, that those of the bigness of a pigeon’s egg were frequently brought to market at six or seven reals a piece, and those of the bigness of a hen’s egg at twelve reals.” During the first decades of the 18th century, “A Stone of one Ounce is sold in the Indies for 100 Franks, and one of four Ounces for 2000 Livres.” (E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 2 vols., 1728, 1.98) ::

#15 (of 31)

“the aforesaid Dittany” — I.e., Cunila Mariana (family Labiatae). Clayton further notes for the researchers at the Royal Society that “the Herb which they call Dittany” has “a great Traditionary Vertue for the Cure of Poisons” in Virginia. To concentrate the medicinal virtues of the herb, “they pounded it, and adding a little Water, express’d the Juice,” which preparation was then given to the patient. (J. Clayton, “A Continuation of Mr. John Clayton’s Account of Virginia,” 133) ::

#16 (of 31)

Part 2 — This is my designation. In Tryon’s The Planter’s Speech to his Neighbours & Country-Men of Pennsylvania, East & West-Jersey ..., the text of what I’m calling part 2 is headed “CHAP. V.”: a hold-over from Part 2’s original publication as Chapter 5 in The Country-Man’s Companion (1684). ::

#17 (of 31)

“millions are seen together” — The reverend John Clayton, minister at Jamestown between 1684 and 1686, passed the Royal Society in 1688 another story of unimaginably dense flocks of birds in North America: “There’s the strangest Story of a vast number of these Pidgeons that came in a Flock a few Years before I came thither; they say they came through New England, New York and Virginia, and were so prodigious in number as to darken the Sky for several Hours in the place over which they flew, and brake massie Bows where they light; and many like things which I have had asserted to me by many Eye-witnesses of Credit, that to me it was without doubt, the Relaters being very sober Persons, and all agreeing in a Story: nothing of the like ever happen’d since, nor did I ever see past Ten in a Flock together that I remember. I am not fond of such Stories, and had suppressed the relating of it, but that I have heard the same from very many.” (J. Clayton, “... His Letter to the Royal Society,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 17.206, Dec. 1693, 992–3) ::

#18 (of 31)

the divine harmony and purity of bird song — In “A Dialogue of Birds,” Cavendish expressed the common view that “all their Songs were Hymnes to God on high, / Praising his Name, blessing his Majesty. / And when they askt for Gifts, to God did pray, / He would be pleas’d to give them a faire day.” (M. Cavendish, “A Dialogue of Birds,” in Poems and Fancies, 1st edn., 1653, 75) ::

#19 (of 31)

the new science, which continued to be intrigued by Pythagoras’ study of sound — Indeed, Pythagoras’ study of sound and pitch-relationships based on simple arithmetical ratios (music) “was the one branch of physics in which Greek views remained unaltered in modern times.” “The greatest scientific success attributed to Pythagoras was in his study of sound. He found that the strings of musical instruments delivered sound of higher pitch as they were made shorter. Furthermore he found that the relationship of pitch could be simply correlated with length. For instance, if one string was twice the length of another, the sound it emitted was just an octave lower. If the ratio of the strings was three to two, the musical interval called a fifth was produced, and if it was four to three, the interval called a fourth was produced. Increasing the tension of the strings also raised the pitch.” (I. Asimov, Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 2nd rev. edn., 1982, 5)
   Today, we still acknowledge his discovery of the diatonic scale with such nominal intervals as “Pythagorean hemitone” and “Pythagorean third.” ::

#20 (of 31)

the condition Cavendish named “the Female Slavery” — This descriptive epithet is from Margaret Cavendish’s play, Bell in Campo (1662). As spoken by Lady Victoria, “Tutoress” and “Generalless” of the victorious “Effeminate Army,” a group of 5000 or 6000 women warriors: “Noble Heroickesses, I have intelligence that the Army of Reformations begins to flag, wherefore now or never is the time to prove the courage of our Sex, to get liberty and freedome from the Female Slavery, and to make our selves equal with men: for shall Men only sit in Honours chair, and Women stand as waiters by? shall only Men in Triumphant Chariots ride, and Women run as Captives by? shall only men be Conquerors, and women Slaves? shall only men live by Fame, and women dy in Oblivion? no, no, gallant Heroicks raise your Spirits to a noble pitch, to a deaticall height, to get an everlasting Renown, and infinite praises, by honourable, but unusual actions ... if you Arm with Courage and fight valiantly, may men bow down and worship you, birds taught to sing your praises, Kings offer up their Crowns to you, and honour inthrone you in a mighty power.” (M. Cavendish, Playes Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle, 1662, 609-610)
  Margaret’s husband, the 1st duke of Newcastle, owned a racehorse named Bell in Campo, but it’s not known to me whether his horse or her play had the name first. ::

#21 (of 31)

regional Native Americans as festive and “merry” partners in trade and commerce — A similar message was marketed almost a century later by the geographer John Ogilby (1600–1676).
  Unlike the more hostile tribes of the New England, New York, and Virginia colonies, “the Natives of Carolina,” recorded Ogilby, “are in their Tempers a merry, frollick, gay People, and so given to Jollity, that they will Dance whole Nights together, the Women sitting by and Singing, whilest the Men Dance to their Ayrs, which though not like ours, are not harsh or unpleasing, but are something like the Tunes of the Irish” (J. Ogilby, America, 1670–1, 209).
  Moreover, their leaders so “admir’d” English-style development of the West Indies (a development model which relied on institutionalized slavery), that when the “skilful and wary sort of Planters” of Barbados & Bermudas sought to expand their West-Indian holdings to Carolina, local tribes competed among themselves for English plantations, offering whatever “they judg’d might allure the English to their Neighborhood.” (J. Ogilby, 208 and 210) ::

#22 (of 31)

a more androcentric argument than Cavendish had made earlier — Cf. her prior comment on this subject, printed in 1655: “That which makes Man seem so Excellent a Creature above other Animal Creatures, is nothing but the Straitness and Uprightness of his Shape; for being strait-breasted, and his Throat so equal to his Breast, and his Mouth so equal to his Throat, makes him apt for Speech, which other Creatures have not; for either their Legs, Belly, or Neck, Mouth and Head, are uneven, or unequally set: And this Shape doth not onely make Man fit for Speech, but for all sorts of Motion, or Action; which gives him more Knowledge, by the Experience thereof from the Accidents thereby, than all other Animals, were they joyned together. Thus Speech and Shape make Men Gods, or Rulers over other Creatures.” (M. Cavendish, “Of Upright Shape,” in The Worlds Olio, 1st edn., 1655, 138). ::

#23 (of 31)

“Dr. Moulin” — I.e., the surgeon and anatomist, Allen Mullin (1653/4–1690), an early expert on ovarian cancer, elected F.R.S. in 1683, and one of the founders of the Dublin Philosophical Society. Several of his articles on the anatomy of the heads of fowls were published in the London Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions.
  This physician, with a thriving clinical practice, is reputed to have died from binge drinking during a stop-over at Barbados, en route to Jamaica — the very sort of thing Tryon warned against in his books on diet and drink for English transplants and travelers to the Americas. ::

#24 (of 31)

“it is unlawful to swear, or to bear Arms” — The prohibition on bearing arms was not absolute. In 1530s Westphalia, “The Anabaptists, to the Number of forty thousand, ravaged all the Places wherever they came. John of Leiden, who headed ’em, declar’d himself their King; and never stirr’d out or appear’d in publick, without a large Retinue of principal Officers: Two young Men always rode immediately after him, the one bearing in his Hand a Crown, and the other a naked Sword.—Their Pretence was to establish the new Reign of Jesus Christ on Earth, by force of Arms; condemning all use of Arms for other Purposes.” (E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 2 vols., 1728, s.v. Anabaptists, 1.81) ::

#25 (of 31)

cross-over between Quakers and Pythagoreans — Pythagorean teachings are quite compatible with core Quaker beliefs. E.g., Pythagoras taught “That God is one; that he is a most simple, incorruptible, and invisible Being; and therefore only to be worshipped with a pure Mind, with the simplest Rites, and those prescribed by himself.” “Pythagoras also asserted a Metempsychosis, or Transmigration of Souls; and therefore the immortality of the Soul.” “Pythagoras further taught, that there is a Relation or Kin-ship between the Gods and Man; and therefore the Gods take care of Man-----Which, Clemens Alexandrinus says, is apparently borrow’d from the Christian Doctrine of Providence.” Indeed, doctrinal similarities were so striking that some early scholars even endeavored “to prove, that Pythagoras borrow’d his Philosophy from that of the Jews; to this end producing the Authorities of many of the Fathers, and antient Authors; and even pointing out the Tracks and Footsteps of Moses in several parts of Pythagoras’s Doctrine.”
  Pythagorean teachings concerning the way to health & well-being were also appealing to Quakers. E.g., “He taught, that Virtue is Harmony, Health, and every good thing; and that God, and therefore every thing, consists of Harmony.” And Pythagoras stressed that “Exercises of the Body” contributed to human harmony, which was not only consonant with the Quaker work ethic, but dignified the physical labor of the many 17th-century sectarians of the middling classes who worked in agriculture and the trades. (E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 2 vols., 1728, s.v. Pythagoreans, 2.921) ::

#26 (of 31)

died a Quaker — “His death, on 10 September 1676, and interment were recorded in the burial register of the Westminster monthly meeting of the Society of Friends, which described him as a corn chandler and Quaker of St Giles-in-the-Fields. His interest in Quakerism may have gone back to the mid-1650s when, in 1654, Edward Burrough, the Quaker leader, noted a ‘Wilstandley’ assisting him in London; or it may have been his second wife who was the driving force in this connection. What is noteworthy is Winstanley’s reabsorption into a responsible role in the governance of his adopted community, immediately prior to and during the Restoration, and that community’s willingness to accept him in a position of some authority.” (J. C. Davis & J. D. Alsop, ODNB entry for Gerrard Winstanley, n. pag.) ::

#27 (of 31)

“the visionary Jane Lead” — Jane Lead was, like Tryon, a mystic and disciple of Jakob Böhme (aka Jacob Boehme). She wrote 15 books, some of which were issued in multiple editions. Tace Sowle published 2 books by Jane Lead, The Laws of Paradise and The Wonders of God’s Creation Manifested in the Variety of Eight Worlds, in 1695.
  Lead’s “spiritual household became the nerve centre of the international theosophical movement known as the Philadelphian Society, an ecumenical and millenarian movement whose main aim was to work together to build a culture of peace, receptive to the coming of Virgin Wisdom.” Her writings contain a “provocative revelation about the revolutionary power of divine compassion,” moving “beyond what had been revealed by Boehme to declare the doctrine of apocatastasis, the universal restoration of all creation to its original harmony; this was to include the apostatized angels, once their term of punishment was up.” (S. Bowerbank, ODNB entry for Jane Lead, n. pag.)
  Jane Lead died of stomach cancer, at age 80, in 1704. ::

#28 (of 31)

“Sowle Raylton” — This was her married name. In 1706, Tace Sowle married Thomas Raylton (1666/7–1723), but rather than give up the well-established Sowle name, she “instead used the compound Tace Sowle Raylton. Thomas Raylton was not a member of the Stationers’ Company and he had no training or experience as a printer. While he assisted with warehousing and accounting, Tace continued to oversee the printing business as she had done for sixteen years before she was married, and as she would do for another twenty-six years after she was widowed.” (P. McDowell, ODNB entry for Tace Sowle, n. pag.) ::

#29 (of 31)

the Defeat of Monmouth in the West — This is a reference to Monmouth’s Rebellion, an insurrection in southwest England against James II, led by James Scott (1649–1685), duke of Monmouth (illegitimate son of Charles II) in 1685.
  Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis in Dorset, and was proclaimed king at Taunton, but could muster only limited support for the radical reforms demanded by the Monmouth rebels in 1683 and 1685. Monmouth failed to take Bristol and, with forces inferior in training, experience, and equipment to the king’s army, was routed at Sedgemoor. Monmouth was captured a few days later and executed, while his followers were severely punished in a series of trials (the Bloody Assizes) conducted by the lord chief justice in the centers of western England most affected by the rebellion. In 1685, 1,400 prisoners were brought before Judge Jeffreys, who hanged 300 of them, and sold another 800 more as slaves in the colonies. Such harsh sentences helped to mobilize the West Country against James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89.
  In 1689, John Dunton printed an account of those who had suffered under Judge Jeffreys, a piece of whig propaganda entitled The Bloody Assizes, which sold 6,000 copies. ::

#30 (of 31)

Cunetia, a Germane Lady, that lately did set out Tables of the Planets Motion — I.e., the Polish astronomer, Maria Cunitz (or Cunitia, 1610–1664). She was the first woman to attempt to correct Kepler’s Rudolphine Tables of planetary motion — a significant problem for 17th-century science. Her Urania Propitia (Frankfurt, 1650) corrected many errors in the original sources, but introduced a number of new errors because Cunitz, a refugee from the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) who lacked financial resources and observational instruments, had to make manual calculations. ::

#31 (of 31)

Ogilby presented Carolina’s government ... as a “model” — One interesting innovation was the 60-year time limit placed on Carolina legislation: “There is to be a Biennial Parliament, consisting of the eight Proprietors, the Landgraves and Casiques, and one out of every Precinct, that is the six neighboring Colonies, for the People, chosen by the Freeholders; these are to sit and Vote altogether for the making of Laws, which shall be in force no longer than sixty years after their Enacting, the great mischief of most Governments, by which not onely the People are mightily entangled by multiplicity of Rules and Penalties, and thereby laid open to the Malice and Designs of troublesom Men and cunning Projectors; but, which is far worse, the whole frame of the Government in tract of time comes to be remov’d from its original Foundation, and thereby becomes more weak and tottering.” (J. Ogilby, America, 1670–1, 212) ::

 

For detailed bibliographic information on the sources cited above, see the annotated list of references for this aside’s calling page.