PRELUDE TO THE EPOCH OF NEWTON. 155 



He was afterwards much employed by the royal 

 party in deciphering secret writings, in which art 

 he had peculiar skill. Yet he was appointed by the 

 parliamentary commissioners Savilian Professor of 

 geometry at Oxford, in which situation he was con- 

 tinued by Charles II. after his restoration. Wren 

 was somewhat later, and escaped these changes. 

 He was chosen Fellow of All-Souls in 1652, and 

 succeeded Ward as Savilian Professor of astronomy. 

 These men, along with Boyle and several others, 

 formed themselves into a club, which they called 

 the Philosophical, or the Invisible College ; and 

 met, from about the year 1645, sometimes in Lon- 

 don, and sometimes in Oxford, according to the 

 changes of fortune and residence of the members. 

 Hooke went to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1653, 

 where he was patronized by Boyle, Ward, and 

 Wallis; and when the Philosophical College re- 

 sumed its meetings in London after the Restoration, 

 as the Royal Society, Hooke was made " curator of 

 experiments." Halley was of the next generation, 

 and comes after Newton; he studied at Queen's 

 College, Oxford, in 1673; but was at first a man 

 of some fortune, and not engaged in any official 

 situation. His talents and zeal, however, made 

 him an active and effective ally in the promotion 

 of science. 



The connexion of the persons of whom we have 

 been speaking has a bearing on our subject, for it 

 led, historically speaking, to the publication of New- 



