5. Phosphore Redde Diem!

This chapter embraces the period from 1658 until the death of Hartlib in March 1662. For Hartlib this was a phase of mounting hardship and anguish. Of outside events, the death of Cromwell in 1658 and the arrival of Charles II in 1660 progressively exacerbated the hardship of Hartlib and most of his close friends. This chapter opens with a general review of Hartlib’s family relations and his health, which was a long-term problem, but virtually disabled him in his later years. The adverse impact of ill-health was reflected in the decline in his ability to maintain his daybooks, or Ephemerides, which had begun in 1634 and continued with some gaps until June 1660. This final year comprised only a dozen pages. The Ephemerides as a whole, amounting to about 1,200 densely packed ages, constitutes an invaluable documentary record of its times. This chapter contains a variety of case studies. The longest of these concerns the Office of Address project, which achieved little in the short term, but was prosecuted in different forms for a long period. The desired state support for this scheme would have furnished a secure income for Hartlib. Regardless of such disappointments, as indicated by the robustness of his correspondence, his undiminishing friendship circle, and his ever-expanding range of intellectual initiatives, the momentum of Hartlib’s work was maintained until it was rudely interrupted by his sudden death. As Hartlib’s death approached, his correspondents despaired that he would be irreplaceable on the national and indeed international stage. Accordingly, their first priority became the preservation of the Hartlib Papers, a rescue endeavour that is at last becoming recognized as being an event of momentous importance.