Robert Boyle, Georges Pierre Des Clozets, and the asterism: A new source

Early Science and Medicine

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 293-306

  Malcolm, Noel ^a  

^a ALL SOULS COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 70349384739     PISSN: 13837427     EISSN: 15733823     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/1573382043004640     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. R. E. W. Maddison, The Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle F.R.S. (London, 1969), 166-76;
2. L. M. Principe, The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest (Princeton, N.J., 1998), 115-34;
3. R. Boyle, The Correspondence, ed. M. Hunter, A. Clericuzio, and L. M. Principe, 6 vols. (London, 2001), IV: 445-7, 470-9;
4. R. Boyle, The Correspondence, V: 5-14, 17-19, 23-36, 38-70, 72-82, 84-9, 91-5, 97-103, 107-9, 112-16, 121-6.
5. Principe, Aspiring Adept, 116, 281-4;
6. R. Boyle, Works, ed. M. Hunter and E. B. Davis, 14 vols. (London, 1999-2000), IX: 3-17.
7. L. de Bils, The Coppy of a Certain Large Act (Obligatory) of Yonker Louis de Bils ... Touching the Skill of a Better Way of Anatomy of Man's Body (London, 1659); the dedicatory epistle (by Boyle, to Hartlib) states that it was translated 'at my request' by Pell (sig. A2).
8. This translation is reprinted in Boyle, Works, I: 41-50. Boyle had received the Dutch pamphlet from a 'French Gentleman'; the editors of Boyle, Works describe him as 'frustratingly obscure' (I: cxx), but he can be identified as Pierre Guisony
9. (on whom see T. Hobbes, The Correspondence, ed. N. Malcolm, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1994), II: 837-9).
10. See for example British Library [hereafter: 'BL'], MS Add. 4394, fol. 3r (notes by Pell, headed 'Out of a Chinese booke lent me by Mr Robert Boyle Octob 29. 1671'; on the book see Boyle, Correspondence, IV: 235-6); BL, MS Add. 4426, fol. 166r (note dated 5 January '1677' [probably 1678], summoning Pell to a Royal Society committee meeting 'at Mr Boyls'). Pell also frequently attended meetings of the Royal Society throughout this period.
11. BL, MS Add. 4428, fol. 129r. The words (and parentheses) italicized here are underlined in red ink by Pell.
12. On Casteleyn and his newspaper see W. P. Sautijn Kluit, 'De Haarlemsche Courant', Handelingen en mededeelingen van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden (1872-3), 3-132, esp. 4-22
13. and H. F. Wijnman, 'Abraham Casteleyn', in Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 10 vols. (Leiden, 1911-37), IX: cols. 132-4.
14. On the background to this publication see the useful survey by O. Lankhorst, 'Newspapers in the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century', in B. Dooley and S. Baron, eds., The Politics of Information in Early Modern Europe (London, 2001), 151-9.
15. I am extremely grateful to Enschedé for permission to consult materials in their collection, and to the Curator of the Enschedé Museum, Haarlem, Mr Johan de Zoete, for his help during my visit. For a valuable account of other collections containing some issues of the paper, see I. Maier, 'Amsterdamer und Haarlemer Zeitungen ("Couranten") des 17. Jahrhunderts im Niedersächsischen Staatsarchiv zu Oldenburg', Gutenberg-Jahrbuch (2003), 170-91.
16. See T. H. Elliot and F. W. Bond, State Papers Domestic concerning the Post Office in the Reign of Charles II, The Postal History Society, special series, no. 20 (n.p., 1964), 5.
17. For example, the Extraordinaire Haerlemse Donderdaghse Courant of 11 April 1675 (no. 15) contained a report, datelined Marseille, of the arrival of the French envoy M. de Gremonville in Constantinople; the issue of 23 May 1675 (no. 21) contained a report, also datelined Marseille, of the festivities in Constantinople for the circumcision of the Sultan's son and marriage of his daughter.
18. For Smyrna reports see the Oprechte Haerlemse Dingsdaegse Courant of 17 November 1676 (no. 46), the Oprechte Haerlemse Saterdaegse Courant of 12 December 1676 (no. 50), and the Oprechte Haerlemse Dingsdaegse Courant of 26 January 1677 (no. 4); for the Constantinople report, see the Oprechte Haerlemse Dingsdaegse Courant of 13 April 1677 (no. 15) (datelined 29 January).
19. See M. Bulut, Ottoman-Dutch Economic Relations in the Early Modern Period, 1571-1699 (Hilversum, 2001), 174-95.
20. Letters sent during the period 1674-84 by the English chaplain in Aleppo, Robert Huntington, to the genuine Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, Estefan al-Duwayhĩ (see below, n. 16), were delivered to the latter by Dutch merchants: see R. Huntington, Epistolae, et veterum mathematicorum, graecorum, latinorum, & arabum, synopsis, ed. T. Smith (London, 1704), 106, 110, 113.
21. Sautijn Kluit, 'De Haarlemsche Courant', 4: 'de uytnemende fabuleusheydt der Tydingen, die hedendaeghs ons de Beweginghe der woelende Werelt berichten'.
22. Principe raised this possibility, but gave good reasons for rejecting it: Aspiring Adept, 130.
23. Ibid., 129-30.
24. See Aspiring Adept, ibid., 129
25. and D. Attwater, The Christian Churches of the East, 2 vols. (London, 1961), I: 55-6, 147-8, 158-9;
26. D. Attwater, The Christian Churches of the East, II: 31-2.
27. Estefan al-Duwayhĩ was Patriarch from 1670 until his death in 1704: see P. Dib, Histoire de l'église Maronite, 2 vols. (Beirut, 1962), I: 157-62.
28. Robert Huntington, who corresponded with al-Duwayhĩ (see above, n. 11), had also been in contact with Boyle in 1673 (see Boyle, Correspondence, IV: 359-60); if only Boyle had thought of consulting Huntington about Pierre's claims, he would quickly have been alerted to their fraudulence.
29. On the French protection of the Maronites see E. Caron, 'Défense de la chrétienté ou gallicanisme dans la politique de la France à l'égard de l'empire ottoman à la fin du XVIIe siècle', XVIIe siècle, 50 (1998), 359-72; esp. 367.
30. On the Apostolic Vicar see G. Goyau, Un Précurseur: François Picquet, consul de Louis XIV en Alep et évêque de Babylone (Paris, 1942), esp. 168-9, 193-4.
31. 3 ('Requêtes du Palais'); without a full investigation of these, this negative cannot be proved.
32. See M. Ardant, Saint Pierre du Queyroix de Limoges: notice historique et descriptive sur cette église (Limoges, 1851), 52.
33. One écu (the equivalent of three livres tournois) was worth roughly 4s 7d at this time: see J. J. McCusker, Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1978), 88, 90. This identification of Pedro de Cluses with Pierre des Clozets must surely eliminate any possibility that Pierre was not responsible for the newspaper stories, and that his story was merely embroidered, opportunistically, on the contents of newspaper articles he had come across by chance.
34. I am grateful to Professor Principe for pointing out that it also resolves the problem (mentioned above) of the difference between the newspaper and Pell's transcription: since Pierre claimed (in one of the documents he sent to Boyle: see Boyle, Correspondence, V: 42) to be the Precentor of a church in Bordeaux, it folesm9- lows that the newspaper article was referring to just two people at this point, des Camps (pastor at Limoges) and Pedro Cluses (holder of a benefice in Bordeaux).
35. Boyle, Correspondence, IV: 446;
36. Boyle, Correspondence, V: 28. Annotating both passages, the editors describe Borri as the author of the 1681 publication La chiave del gabinetto.
37. This was in fact a spurious work, attributed to him by a third party (see S. Rotta, 'Borri, Francesco Giuseppe', in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, XIII: 4-13; here 12);
38. it was accompanied by another spurious work, a political treatise plagiarized from Ammirato (see R. de Mattei, 'Un plagiario di Scipione Ammirato', Accademie e biblioteche d'Italia, 30 (1962), 289-301).
39. The date of birth varies in different sources; the most reliable account of Borri's life (followed here) is Rotta, 'Borri'. The account given in J. C. Adelung, Geschichte der menschlichen Narrheit, 7 vols. (Leipzig, 1785-8), I: 77-113, though unremittingly hostile, is useful insofar as it is based on a range of early sources.
40. Samuel Hartlib noted that Sir Kenelm Digby 'tels vs to have formerly known the Italian Burrus at Rome and discoursed with him of the higher Arcanum of Chymistry': Hartlib Papers, Sheffield University Library (CD-Rom, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1995; 2nd ed. 2002), 8/3/12B. Digby visited Rome twice as an agent of Queen Henrietta Maria in the period 1643-8. Borri's medical interests were no doubt stimulated by the fact that his father was a famous doctor in Milan. glise Maronite, 2 vols. (Beirut, 1962), I: 157-62.
41. Robert Huntington, who corresponded with al-Duwayhĩ (see above, n. 11), had also been in contact with Boyle in 1673 (see Boyle, Correspondence, IV: 359-60); if only Boyle had thought of consulting Huntington about Pierre's claims, he would quickly have been alerted to their fraudulence.
42. See the account of the trial in BL, MS Sloane 3945, fols. 44-77r; here fol. 46 ('in breue terminarebbe le sue fatiche Chimice con l'acquisto del Lapis Philosophorum'), 50v ('una segreta congregazione'). There are many MS accounts of this trial, which evidently attracted wide publicity: see A. Magnocavallo, 'Notizie e documenti inediti intorno all'alchimista Giuseppe Borri', Archivio storico lombardo, ser. 3, vol. 29 (1902), fasc. 35, 381-400, esp. 383
43. and the version printed in Anon. [G. Leti], L'ambasciata di Romolo a' Romani ... con la vita, processo, e sentenza di Francesco Borri milanese ('Brussels', 1671), 689-720.
44. Detailed and hostile comments on Borri, based on the charges at his trial, were also made by Lucas Holstenius (the scholar and Catholic convert) in letters to J. H. Boecler in 1660, and received wider circulation thereafter (see F. Eyssenhardt, Arzneikunst und Alchemie im siebzehnten Jahrhundert (Hamburg, 1890), 6-12).
45. Hartlib Papers, 27/9/5-6 ('Encomium Eines Burrhi', dated 1 January 1660). Hartlib also received an extract from Holstenius's comments (see above, n. 24): Hartlib Papers, 49/34/2.
46. Boyle, Correspondence, II: 402-3 ('De Monsieur Burrhi et sa deification par le resident de France a Strasbourg'). The editors incorrectly identify this French Resident as Robert de Gravel. The 'Encomium' (see above, n. 25) was signed 'F.R.C.R.'; Jacob Scaller identified him as 'Dominum Residentem Frischmannum', and another version of the 'Encomium' explicated the initials as 'Fredericum [an error for 'Frischmannum'] Regis Christianissimi Residentem' (see Hartlib Papers, 49/34/1A and 8/3/1-2, respectively).
47. Jean Frischmann was French Resident in Strasbourg from 1656 or 1657 to 1675: see L. Bittner et al., Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648), 3 vols. (Oldenburg, Zurich, Graz, 1936-65), I: 241.
48. According to Adelung (Geschichte, I: 93), Frischmann printed the poem (over those initials) as a pamphlet entitled Monumentum in laudem gentis Burrhorum (Strasbourg, 1660).
49. On Borri's reception in the Netherlands see K. O. Meinsma, Spinoza en zijn kring: over Hollandse vrijgeesten (The Hague, 1896), 200-2.
50. For a rich source of information about Borri in Amsterdam, see the travel diary of the chemical writer Ole Borch, who had many discussions with him there in the period 1661-3: O. Borch, Itinerarium, 1660-1665, ed. H. D. Schepelern, 4 vols. (Copenhagen, 1983), I and II, passim.
51. (Cf. also Borch's poems in praise of Borri: F. Rostgaard, ed., Deliciae quorundam poëtarum danorum, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1693), II: 460-6, 475.)
52. On the other hand, the French littérateur and physician Samuel Sorbière, who encountered Borri in Amsterdam in 1663, published a very negative account of him, describing him as a cheat and a charlatan: Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre (Paris, 1664), 187-99.
53. Boyle, Correspondence, II: 40.
54. Boyle, Correspondence, Ibid., II: 532, 534, 539, 543;
55. cf. E. G. E. Van Der Wall, De mystieke chiliast Petrus Serrarius (1600-1669) en zijn wereld (Leiden, 1987), 297.
56. For the contacts between Queen Christine and Borri see her letter of 5 October 1667 in C. Bildt, ed., Christine de Suède et le Cardinal Azzolino: lettres inédites (1666-1668) (Paris, 1899), 392-3.
57. Anon. [Leti], L'ambasciata di Romolo, 725-6;
58. cf. also the anonymous Italian MS (by someone who had known Borri in Amsterdam) quoted in A. Magnocavallo, 'Ancora intorno all'alchimista Giuseppe Borri', Archivio storico lombardo, ser. 3, vol. 30 (1903), fasc. 39, 483-90, esp. 484.
59. E. C. Werlauff, Efterretninger om italieneren G. F. [sic] Borro's ophold ved det danske hof i aarene 1667-70 (Copenhagen, 1817), 3, 22-3 (n.), 27. Borri's letters to Bartholinus on the brain and the eye were published as Epistolae duae ... ad Thomam Bartholinum (Copenhagen, 1669).
60. Boyle, Correspondence, IV: 32, 48.
61. The evidential basis of this claim is not clear; but there is some support for it in the travel diary of Balthazar de Monconys, who, having met Borri in The Hague in 1663, recorded that he was then 'extraordinarily worried and fearful: he was afraid of his enemies and distrusted those who were closest to him, and he talked of withdrawing to Turkey' ('extraordinairement inquiet, & apprehensif ... Il apprehendoit ses ennemis, & se defioit de ses plus affidés, & il parloit de se retirer en Turquie': Iournal des voyages, 3 vols. (Lyon, 1665-6), II: 144-5).
62. See Rotta, 'Borri', esp. 10-13; Magnocavallo, 'Notizie e documenti inediti', esp. 391-400.
63. Borri's letters to Bartholinus (see above, n. 32) had been respectfully reviewed by Henry Oldenburg in the Philosophical Transactions, no. 64 (10 October 1670), 2081-2.
64. Some indication of the reputation Borri enjoyed in England is given by a letter written during the previous year by the young Isaac Newton to his friend Francis Aston: 'There is in Holland one-Bory, who some yeares since was imprisoned by the Pope to have extorted from him some secrets (as I am told) of great worth both as to medicine & profit ... pray enquire wt you can of him' (Correspondence, ed. H. W. Turnbull et al., 7 vols. (Cambridge, 1959-77), I: 11 (18 May 1669)).