‘All dress’d, both fish and flesh, in M. Papin’s Digestors, by which the hardest bones of beef itselfe and mutton were made as soft as cheese, without water or any other liquor, and with lesse than eight ounces of coales producing an incredible quantity of gravy; and, for close of all, a jelly made of the bones of beef, the best for clearness and good relish, and the most delicious that I had seene or tasted. We eat pike and other fish bones, and all without impediment; but nothing exceeded the pigeons, which tasted just as if baked in a pie, all these being stewed in their own juice, without any addition of water, save what swam about the Digestor, as in balneo; the natural juice of these provisions acting on the grosser substances, reduced the hardest bones to tenderness; but it is best descanted with more particulars for extracting tinctures, preserving and stewing fruite, and saving fuel, in Dr. Papin’s booke[176] published and dedicated to our Society, of which he is a member.... This philosophical supper caus’d much mirth amongst us, and exceedingly pleased all the company. I sent a glass of the jelly to my wife, to the reproch of all that the ladies ever made of the best hartshorn.’
SIR JOHN HOSKYNS.
The Royal Society had another foreign visitor, M. Chardin,[177] the Persian traveller. Sir Christopher, Sir John Hoskyns, and Evelyn[178] went to visit him when he arrived in England in 1680, and invited him to honour the Royal Society with his company. They found him dressed in his Eastern habit, speaking Latin, and understanding Greek, Arabic, and Persian from his eleven years of travel in those parts. He was a well-bred, modest man ‘not inclined to talk wonders.’ Chardin was a fair draughtsman and had besides taken two artists with him to draw landscapes, to measure and design the palaces and temples burnt at Persepolis. He was then on his way to France, but on his return promised to show the drawings. He returned, finding the persecution of the Protestants still hot in France, and Sir Christopher proposed him as a member of the Royal Society. His book, ‘Travels of Sir John Chardin,’ was published in London and is still in high esteem both for its special interest and the accuracy of its statements. Evelyn assisted him in engraving the plates and in the translation of the book. Charles II. made him a knight, and he was employed in Holland as the agent of the English East India Company.
At the meeting of the Royal Society on November 30, 1681, Wren was re-elected President and chose Sir John Hoskyns as Vice-president.[179] Sir John Hoskyns, who, like Wren, had been educated at Westminster, was a Master in Chancery highly thought of for his legal attainments and his integrity; he and Wren appear always to have been friends; and when Wren resigned the presidency, Sir John succeeded him. Tradition[180] says that Sir John
‘affected plainness in his garb, walked in the street with a cudgel in his hand and an old hat over his eyes. That he was often observed to be in a reverie; but when his spirits were elevated over a bottle, he was remarkable for his presence of mind and quickness of apprehension and became a most agreeable and instructive companion.’ It also says that he bore an irreproachable character.
The great western front of Christ Church, Oxford, was at this time occupying Wren’s attention. Wolsey had laid the foundations of the gateway, but it had been left unfinished until Wren took it in hand and built the grand gateway and noble tower which are among the features of Oxford.
The churches which at this time were building in London were All Hallows, Bread Street; the original church dated back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. Lyndwode, the author of the ‘Provincial Constitutions,’ was rector there in 1418. The poet Milton was baptized there December 20, 1608. An inscription on a tablet at the west end of the church recorded this, and also Dryden’s lines:—
Three Poets in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn;
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,