Part 59 (1/2)
”As do I,” said Newton easily, and then sat down-with conspicuous stiffness-in the side chair indicated by Caroline. Now it was Caroline in the big throne-like armchair next the globe, symmetrically flanked by Newton and Leibniz. Waterhouse prowled about the dim periphery, like a furtive librarian or, as it were, a philosophick Butler.
Caroline broke the ice-which was pa.s.sing thick and cold-with small talk of the last days' events in London. Were the rumors true?
This was just just the gambit to use on Sir Isaac, who desired more than anything to set the new Dynasty's mind at ease about the coinage of their Realm. the gambit to use on Sir Isaac, who desired more than anything to set the new Dynasty's mind at ease about the coinage of their Realm.
”Jack Shaftoe is ours!” he proclaimed. ”The Coiner shall coin no more in this this world.” world.”
”If our understanding of the thing is correct,” said Caroline, ”then this is momentous news indeed, and I am surprised I have not heard more of it.”
”Ah, but your royal highness, I did not know you were in London until I stepped over the threshold of this room-otherwise your royal highness should have been notified within the hour of Mr. Shaftoe's arrest.”
”That is not what I meant. I refer to the fact that we have not heard anything of it from Grub Street.”
”He was taken in the back room of a certain Clubb, only a few minutes' walk from here, frequented by Tories-many of whom, you may be sure, are sorely embarra.s.sed. Certain Whigs would make political hay of it-and presently shall shall. I bear most of the men of this Clubb no ill-will and did not wish to expose them to obloquy. The true villain of the piece is a certain Tory Lord who was the first man in England for a time-”
”I know who you mean.”
”He may deserve exposure and shame, but this is not to be achieved without grave embarra.s.sment to the entire Realm. The matter is delicate-” and here Isaac looked, uncharacteristically, to one who would know more about it: Daniel Waterhouse, Lord Regent. may deserve exposure and shame, but this is not to be achieved without grave embarra.s.sment to the entire Realm. The matter is delicate-” and here Isaac looked, uncharacteristically, to one who would know more about it: Daniel Waterhouse, Lord Regent.
Daniel responded by raising his voice in the direction of a side door of the library, which stood ajar. ”Bring it in,” he commanded.
The door was drawn open by some unseen servant. Another servant, a butler, came in gripping a tray mostly covered by a blue velvet cus.h.i.+on. Bedded in that were two ingots of metal, deeply wrought with intricate circular depressions, made so that they could be clapped together like a huge locket. These were borne over to the Princess so that she could inspect them; Newton and Leibniz stole sidelong glances. ”It is my honor,” said Daniel, ”to present to your royal highness the Seals that are used by His Majesty's Secretary of State on his official correspondence. Until yesterday these were, of course, in the possession of my lord Bolingbroke. But as your royal highness may have heard, Bolingbroke has decided to spend more time with his family.”
”Yes-in France,” said Caroline drily.
”He was last seen southbound at a speed normally seen only among men who have been projected from high cliffs,” Daniel allowed. ”Of course, being a man of honor, he first gave the Seals of his former office to one of His Majesty's Regents. I had the privilege of catching them when they slipped from his sweaty and trembling hands, and now present them to your royal highness. They are your family property. You may take them back to Hanover or-”
”They shall be ever so much more useful here,” said Caroline. ”You and the other Regents will look after them, won't you?”
”We shall consider it our honor and our privilege, highness.”
”Very well. Then since Bolingbroke appears to have departed the stage, I would that these be set aside, and I would hear more of Jack Shaftoe. Did he fight?”
The butler backed away and set the Seals on a library table near Daniel, then backed out of the room bowing. This gave Newton some moments to frame a response. Isaac, who until now had been at pains to respond instantly to the Princess's every word and gesture, bated for a moment before answering. Daniel searched his face and thought he perceived a quiver of triumph-a rare self-indulgence for a Puritan. He was sitting at the right hand of the Princess of Wales telling the tale of how he'd caught the arch-villain Jack the Coiner, and, as a soupcon, the Seals of his most terrible persecutor had been brought in as a sort of trophy. Only Bolingbroke's scalp on a stick would have given satisfaction more complete.
”Fight? No. Rather, he feigned a sort of boredom, or so I am told by the bailiffs who arrested him.”
”Boredom?”
”Yes, highness, as if he had known all along that he was walking into a trap.”
”Is he in the Tower of London, then?”
Isaac could not prevent a patronizing smile from spreading across his face. ”As Mr. Shaftoe is a traitor and an important one, your royal highness antic.i.p.ates, correctly, that he shall be held in the Tower. In this case, however, there are extenuating circ.u.mstances that have dictated a less conventional accommodation. Jack the Coiner and his gang seized the Tower complex in an elaborate coup de main coup de main some months ago. It was hushed up, explained away. But the fact is that he did it; from which we may conclude that he had, and has, many confederates among the people who dwell there, and that he knows its secrets all too intimately. Effective control of the Tower is still vested in Charles White, captain of the King's Messengers, and he is an old crony of Bolingbroke.” some months ago. It was hushed up, explained away. But the fact is that he did it; from which we may conclude that he had, and has, many confederates among the people who dwell there, and that he knows its secrets all too intimately. Effective control of the Tower is still vested in Charles White, captain of the King's Messengers, and he is an old crony of Bolingbroke.”
”I should have thought the Regents might have found another man for such a position,” said Caroline, s.h.i.+fting her attention to Daniel.
”In England such changes are not made lightly or swiftly,” said Daniel, ”and rarely without cause. We have no firm evidence against Mr. White-though this might change-”
”If Jack talks to us, and tells us what he knows,” Newton concluded.
”I see,” said Caroline, ”which is yet another reason to keep him out of the Tower, and out of the Power, of Charles White. Where then is he?”
”He is in Newgate Prison,” said Newton, ”and others of his gang are in Fleet Prison. We deemed it wisest not to put all of them together in one building.”
”Indeed,” said Caroline, looking a little dismayed. ”But is Newgate not a very common pit? Can he be kept close in such a place?”
”Newgate is several prisons lumped into one,” said Daniel. ”The most notorious part of it is indeed an execrable dungeon. But connected with it is the Press-Yard and Castle, where Persons of Quality are held, if they can afford it.”
”We are paying the Gaolers of Newgate to keep him in an apartment there, heavily ironed,” Newton announced.
”Can Jack not pay them even more?”
”Perhaps. But if they collude in his escape, the gaolers lay themselves open to charges of High Treason. And, working as they do at Newgate, and discoursing with Jack Ketch every day, they know better than most what is the penalty for that that crime.” crime.”
”I thank you, Sir Isaac, and Dr. Waterhouse, for acquainting me with these things,” said Caroline, in a tone of voice, and with a s.h.i.+ft of posture, that made it plain that this part of the conversation was at an end. ”Now I would hear of matters far more important.” She settled back in her chair, letting its padded arms support her elbows, and as she talked, her right hand strayed over to rest upon the antique globe and nudge it this way and that in its felt-lined cradle. Her pose recalled that of a Monarch with one hand on an Orb, though the other hand seemed to be missing its Sceptre. ”As you may know, Sir Isaac, I have known Baron von Leibniz for many years, and learned from him much of what I know of Mathematicks, Metaphysicks, and the younger discipline of Natural Philosophy. Concerning the first of these, reports have reached me of an unpleasant dispute concerning the origin of the Calculus. The particulars are tedious. Lesser minds, confronted with such complexities, have seized on simple explanations. One such is that you stole the calculus from Freiherr von Leibniz; another is that he stole it from you. I find both of these hypotheses unconvincing.”
During Caroline's remarks Daniel had observed a change in the weather pa.s.s across Isaac's face. If he had expected lavish thanks and praise, he had been disappointed; Caroline had found the news of Jack and Bolingbroke interesting but, in the end, not all that remarkable. 'Twas as if the exhausted and bloodied Knight had dragged a pair of freshly slain dragons into the forecourt of the Princess's castle, and after a look-see and a polite question or two, she had gone back to filing her nails. Isaac had been irked for a moment, then resigned himself to it. 'Twas ever thus, for Isaac. Everything he had done had been under-appreciated and over-criticized. The pink flush of victory, which earlier had been so plain on his face, had vanished, to be replaced by the visage he was used to wearing: gray and stiff as the figurehead on a worn-out s.h.i.+p.
”Your royal highness knows Leibniz better than I,” said Newton. ”As you have confided your view in me, highness, I shall accept it, and say nothing against it, either here, or in public. Of course, I have no power to compel other philosophers to adopt that, or any other, view.”
”Then let us wash our hands of the Calculus Dispute and move on to Metaphysicks and Natural Philosophy. For I have long suspected-and Dr. Waterhouse will support me on this-that the Calculus Dispute was really an epiphenomenon of a far more profound, interesting, and momentous debate. Baron von Leibniz has served my House well as court philosopher; Sir Isaac, I trust, is desirous of doing likewise.”
”It is chief among my aspirations, highness,” Newton responded. This elicited a slight eye-roll from Leibniz, who glanced toward Daniel for support, but Daniel affected not to notice, and remained grave of aspect.
”I wonder if any royal House in the history of this world has enjoyed the distinction of being served, at the same time, by two such eminent philosophers! It is a rare thing, and I mean to make the most of it. You are both Christians, believers in a living and active G.o.d. You both hold that humans are made in G.o.d's image, possessing free will. In Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy, your interests run on very similar lines. And yet there is between you a schism as deep as that between Scylla and Charybdis-a fundamental divergence of views that makes it impossible for you to collaborate with each other. Which were not such a bad thing, perhaps, if I were still Princess of Ansbach or some other tiny place, and you, sir, a Librarian and you, sir, a Vicar. But I am Princess of Wales. The House you both now serve is a great one-some would say, second only to the House of Bourbon. If the philosophy of that House is confused, why, it shall have dreadful consequences, dificult to foretell. A year ago, I asked Dr. Waterhouse to journey hither from Boston, that we might go to work healing this breach. That you, Sir Isaac, and you, Baron von Leibniz, are here together in this room now, is all his doing; but he did it at my command. His part in the thing is done and he has my grat.i.tude forever. Your Your parts, gentlemen, begin now.” parts, gentlemen, begin now.”
”Highness,” said Newton, ”I am grateful to you for having stated with such clarity the truth truth of my views on G.o.d, the human spirit, and free will. For Baron von Leibniz, I am sorry to report, has disseminated the slander that I am some sort of Atheist. While it is true that I reject the doctrine of the Trinity, please know that I do so only out of a belief that the h.o.m.oousian doctrine promulgated at the Council of Nicaea was an error, a straying from what Christians had believed until then, and ought to believe now-” of my views on G.o.d, the human spirit, and free will. For Baron von Leibniz, I am sorry to report, has disseminated the slander that I am some sort of Atheist. While it is true that I reject the doctrine of the Trinity, please know that I do so only out of a belief that the h.o.m.oousian doctrine promulgated at the Council of Nicaea was an error, a straying from what Christians had believed until then, and ought to believe now-”
”Any person who seeks slander slander need not look so far afield, nor delve so deep!” Leibniz exclaimed, rising to his feet so forcefully that he had to take half a step toward Newton to steady himself. ”I saved this man's life three days ago, and gossip has already reached my ears that I am guilty of need not look so far afield, nor delve so deep!” Leibniz exclaimed, rising to his feet so forcefully that he had to take half a step toward Newton to steady himself. ”I saved this man's life three days ago, and gossip has already reached my ears that I am guilty of a.s.saulting a.s.saulting him! These willful distortions, sir, do nothing to bring us nigher true Philosophy!” him! These willful distortions, sir, do nothing to bring us nigher true Philosophy!”
”I cannot imagine any slander more base than that I am an Atheist!” returned Newton. Because of his ribs, it was much more difficult for him to rise from his chair, but now he got his walking-stick under his folded hands as if he were about to give it a go.
”An Atheist? No. Never would I spread such a calumny-on my honor! But spreading doctrines that incline others toward Atheistical views spreading doctrines that incline others toward Atheistical views is another matter. Of that you are, I regret to say, culpable.” is another matter. Of that you are, I regret to say, culpable.”
”Can one believe the incoherence of the man?!” Newton burst out, and regretted it, for it hurt to speak so vehemently. As long as his ribs were complaining anyway, he rose to his feet, then continued the outburst in a voice distorted by pain. ”I am not an Atheist, he claims to admit-then he turns around and accuses me of spreading Atheism! It is typical of his slippery discourse, his slippery metaphysics!”
They were interrupted, but only for a moment, by a thud emanating from the floor between them. For Princess Caroline, disgruntled and bored, had used the palm of her hand to roll the globe up out of its cradle and over the rim of the felt-padded Great Circle that held it captive. It had tumbled to the rug between Newton and Leibniz. She put a foot up on it-a most undignified posture, for a Princess-and began to roll it back and forth idly as the argument went on.
”I do not think it is the least bit slippery,” said Leibniz. ”You may be the most sincere Christian in the world, sir, but if you publish doctrines that are obscure, incoherent, contradictory, and impossible for readers to follow, why, they may go a-stray in their thinking and tend towards doctrines you would never espouse.”
”This is how you make amends for a false accusation of Atheism-by saying my life's work is incoherent and contradictory? Pray do not make any more such apologies, sirrah, or I I shall have to make amends to shall have to make amends to you you by challenging you to a duel!” by challenging you to a duel!”
Princess Caroline gave the globe a hard shove, and it rolled for a few yards across the carpet and scored a goal, as it were, in a large fireplace that accounted for most of one wall of the room. The hearth was slightly lower than the floor of the room, so the globe lodged there, and came to a stop between two andirons. ”That globe will never do, for a modern Monarch,” she announced. ”When the Prince of Wales and I move to this house, it shall have to be replaced by a new one, with more of geography and fewer of monsters and mermaids. One that shall be ready to receive Lines of Longitude whensoever that Roger Comstock finds someone to award his Prize to.” She rose now to her feet, and Newton and Leibniz, finally remembering their manners, turned to track her as she walked toward the fireplace. First, though, she wrenched a burning taper from a chair-side candelabrum. ”As a rule I am averse to burning things found in Libraries, but this must be reckoned no loss at all, compared to the damage that the two of you are inflicting on Philosophy by your bickering.” She bent her knees and executed a graceful descent until she was sitting on the floor beside the hearth, skirts arranged around her. ”I see things sometimes, in dreams or in day-dreams-some of them I quite fancy, for they seem to carry meaning. Those I remember, and think back on. There is one such vision that has got stuck in my head, quite as melodies often do, and I can't seem to get rid of it. I shall try to do justice to it thusly.” And she reached out with the candle and let its flame lave the underside of the globe. The globe was of wood, and too heavy to catch fire readily; but paper gores printed with images of continents had been pasted over it. The paper caught fire, and a ragged flame-ring began to spread, consuming the cartographer's work and leaving behind it a blackened and featureless sphere. ”Sophie kept trying to tell me, before she died, that a new System of the World was being made. Oh, it is not a terribly novel thing to say. I know, and Sophie knew, that the third volume of your Principia Mathematica Principia Mathematica bears that name, Sir Isaac. Since she died, I have become quite convinced that she was correct-and moreover that the System is to be born, not at Versailles, but here-that this shall be its Prime Meridian, and all else shall be reckoned, and ruled, from here. It is a pleasing notion that there is to be such a System, and that I might play some small part in being its midwife. I think of the globe, with its neat parallels and meridians, as the Emblem of this System-what the Cross is to Christianity. But I am troubled by the vision of such a Globe in flames. What you are looking at here is a poor rendition of it; in my nightmares, it is ever so much more lovely and dreadful.” bears that name, Sir Isaac. Since she died, I have become quite convinced that she was correct-and moreover that the System is to be born, not at Versailles, but here-that this shall be its Prime Meridian, and all else shall be reckoned, and ruled, from here. It is a pleasing notion that there is to be such a System, and that I might play some small part in being its midwife. I think of the globe, with its neat parallels and meridians, as the Emblem of this System-what the Cross is to Christianity. But I am troubled by the vision of such a Globe in flames. What you are looking at here is a poor rendition of it; in my nightmares, it is ever so much more lovely and dreadful.”
”What do you suppose that vision signifies, highness?” asked Daniel Waterhouse.
”That this System, if it is set up wrong, might be doomed from the start,” said Caroline. ”Oh, it shall be a wonder to behold at first, and all shall marvel at its regularity, its oeconomy, and the ingenuity of them who framed it. Perhaps it shall work as planned for a decade, or a century, or more. And yet if it has been made wrong at the beginning, it shall burn, in the end, and my vision shall be realized in a manner infinitely more destructive than this this.” She gave the smoking globe a nudge. It had been wholly scoured by the flames and become a trackless black orb.
Daniel now stepped over and gave her a hand up. ”I do not concern myself so much,” said Caroline, turning toward Leibniz and Newton, ”with bankers, merchants, clock-makers, or Longitude-finders, and their roles in the creation of this System. Or even with Astronomers and Alchemists. But I am terribly concerned with my Philosophers, for if they they get it wrong, then the System get it wrong, then the System is is flawed, and flawed, and shall shall burn, in the end. Stop your bickering and get to work.” burn, in the end. Stop your bickering and get to work.”