Editing John Wilkins

{{Short description|English natural philosopher (1614–1672)}}
{{Other people}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Reverend]]
| name = John Wilkins
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100|country=GBR|FRS}}
| image = Bp John Wilkins.jpg
| caption = 
| title = [[Bishop of Chester]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of Chester]]
| term = 1668–1672 (death)
| predecessor = [[George Hall (bishop of Chester)|George Hall]]
| successor = [[John Pearson (bishop)|John Pearson]]
| other_post = [[Dean of Ripon]] (1663–1672)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1614|02|14|df=y}}<ref>{{Citation|first=Cliff S.L.|last=Davies| year =2004|contribution=The Family and Connections of John Wilkins, 1614–72|title=Oxoniensia|volume=LXIX}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Fawsley, Northamptonshire]]<ref name=DNB>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Wilkins, John|first=Francis|last=Sanders|volume=61}}</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|1672|11|19|1614|02|14|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Chancery Lane]], [[London]]<ref name="DNB" />
| buried = [[St Lawrence Jewry]], [[London]]<ref name="DNB" />
| nationality = [[English people|English]]
| religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| residence = 
| parents = 
| spouse = Robina Cromwell (m.1656)<ref name="DNB" />
| children = 
| profession = [[Anglican ministry|Clergyman]], [[natural philosophy|natural philosopher]], author, administrator
| education = 
| alma_mater = [[New Inn Hall]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]<br/>[[Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]<ref name="DNB" />
| consecration = 15 November 1668
| consecrated_by = [[Gilbert Sheldon]]
}}
[[File:John Wilkins Escutcheon.png|thumb|Arms: Argent on a pale engrailed cotised plain Sable three martlets Or.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/bishops/ |title=The Armorial Bearings of the Bishops of Chester |accessdate=9 February 2021 |publisher=Cheshire Heraldry Society}}</ref>]]

'''John Wilkins''' {{post-nominals|size=100|country=GBR|FRS}} (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an English [[Anglican ministry|Anglican clergyman]], [[Natural philosophy|natural philosopher]], and author, and was one of the founders of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stimson |first=Dorothy |date=1931 |title=Dr. Wilkins and the Royal Society |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1898891 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=539–563 |doi=10.1086/235790 |jstor=1898891 |issn=0022-2801}}</ref> He was [[Bishop of Chester]] from 1668 until his death.

Wilkins is one of the few persons to have headed a college at both the [[University of Oxford]] and the [[University of Cambridge]]. He was a [[polymath]], although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in [[English Interregnum|Interregnum]] Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Protestant Nonconformists]]. He was one of the founders of the new [[natural theology]] compatible with the [[Modern science|science of the time]].<ref>[[Alister E. McGrath]], ''A Scientific Theology: Nature'' (2001), p. 242.</ref>  He is particularly known for ''[[An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language]]'' (1668) in which, amongst other things, he proposed a [[universal language]] and an integrated system of measurement, similar to the [[metric system]].

Wilkins lived in [[History of Christianity in Britain#English Reformation|a period of great political and religious controversy]], yet managed to remain on working terms with men of all political stripes; he was key in setting the [[Church of England]] on the path toward comprehension for as many sects as possible, "and toleration for the rest". [[Gilbert Burnet]] called him "the wisest clergyman I ever knew.  He was a lover of mankind, and had a delight in doing good."<ref>{{Cite book| edition = 2nd| publisher = James Duncan| last = Burnet| first = Gilbert| title = Lives, Characters, and an Address to Posterity| page = [https://archive.org/details/livescharactersa00burnrich/page/304 304]| location = London, England| url = https://archive.org/details/livescharactersa00burnrich| date = 1833| df = dmy-all}}</ref> His stepdaughter married [[John Tillotson]], who became [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in 1691.

== Early life ==
He was probably born at [[Canons Ashby]], [[Northamptonshire]], though some sources say [[Fawsley]]; his father Walter Wilkins (died 1623) was a [[goldsmith]] and his mother Jane Dod was daughter of [[John Dod]], a well-known [[conforming Puritan]]. His mother then remarried to Francis Pope, and their son, [[Walter Pope]] was a half-brother.<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004">{{Cite ODNB|last=Henry|first=John|title=Wilkins, John|id=29421}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Russell Richards Treasure|title=Who's who in British History: A-H|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLeeV-mqlJMC&pg=PA1309|date=January 1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-90-9|pages=1309–|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213080417/https://books.google.com/books?id=fLeeV-mqlJMC&pg=PA1309|archive-date=13 February 2018}}</ref>

Wilkins was educated at a school in Oxford run by Edward Sylvester, and matriculated at [[New Inn Hall]]. He then moved to [[Magdalen Hall, Oxford]] where his tutor was [[John Tombes]], and graduated with a BA degree in 1631, an MA degree in 1634.<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004"/> He studied astronomy with [[John Bainbridge (astronomer)|John Bainbridge]].<ref>{{Citation|first=Mordechai|last=Feingold|contribution=Mathematical Sciences and New Philosophies|page=380|editor-first=Nicholas|editor-last=Tyacke|title=The History of the University of Oxford|volume=IV Seventeenth-century Oxford|year=1997}}</ref>

Wilkins went to Fawsley in 1637, a sheep-farming place with little population, dominated by the [[Knightley family]], to whom he and then Dod may have ministered; [[Richard Knightley (died 1639)|Richard Knightley]] had been Dod's patron there. He was ordained a priest of the [[Church of England]] in [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford|Christ Church Cathedral]] in February 1638.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara J. Shapiro|title=John Wilkins, 1614–1672: An Intellectual Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap/page/257 257]|id=GGKEY:BA7AHU7B3TC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/knightley-richard-1593-1639|title=''Knightley, Richard (1593–1639), of Fawsley, Northants.'' History of Parliament Online|access-date=28 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910133548/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/knightley-richard-1593-1639|archive-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> He then became chaplain successively to [[William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele|Lord Saye and Sele]], and by 1641 to [[George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley|Lord Berkeley]]. In 1644 he became chaplain to Prince [[Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine|Charles Louis]], nephew of King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], who was then in England.<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004"/>

==In London, Oxford and Cambridge==
[[File:Rev John Wilkins, Chester.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|An 18th-century engraving of John Wilkins, Chester]]
Wilkins was one of the group of savants, interested in experimental philosophy, who gathered round [[Charles Scarburgh]], the royalist physician who arrived in London in summer 1646 after the fall of Oxford to the parliamentarian forces. The group included [[George Ent]], [[Samuel Foster]], [[Francis Glisson]], [[Jonathan Goddard]], [[Christopher Merrett]], and [[John Wallis]].

Others of Scarburgh's circle were [[William Harvey]] and [[Seth Ward (bishop)|Seth Ward]]. This London group, the [[Gresham College group of 1645]], was described much later by Wallis, who mentions also [[Theodore Haak]], anchoring it also to the Palatine exiles; there are clear connections to the Wilkins [[Oxford Philosophical Club]], another and less remote precursor to the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Citation|author-link=Adrian Tinniswood|first=Adrian|last=Tinniswood|title=His Invention So Fertile: A life of Christopher Wren|year=2001|pages=23–24}}.</ref>

From 1648 Charles Louis was able to take up his position as [[Elector of the Palatinate]] on the [[Rhine]], as a consequence of the [[Peace of Westphalia]]. Wilkins travelled to continental Europe, and according to [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]] visited [[Heidelberg]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara J. Shapiro|title=John Wilkins, 1614–1672: An Intellectual Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap/page/23 23]|id=GGKEY:BA7AHU7B3TC}}</ref>

In 1648 Wilkins became [[Warden of Wadham College]] in Oxford, and under him the college prospered. He fostered political and religious tolerance and drew talented minds to the college, including [[Christopher Wren]].<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004"/> Although he was a supporter of [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Cavalier|Royalist]]s placed their sons in his charge. From those interested in experimental science, he drew together a significant group known as the [[Oxford Philosophical Club]], which by 1650 had been constituted with a set of rules. Besides some of the London group (Goddard, Wallis, Ward, and Wren who was a young protégé of Scarburgh), it included (in the account of [[Thomas Sprat]]) [[Ralph Bathurst]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[William Petty]], [[Lawrence Rooke]], [[Thomas Willis]], and [[Matthew Wren (1629-1672)|Matthew Wren]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Margery | last = Purver | title = The Royal Society: Concept and Creation | year = 1967 | page = 205}}.</ref> [[Robert Hooke]] was gradually recruited into the Wilkins group: he arrived at [[Christ Church, Oxford]] in 1653, working his way to an education, became assistant to Willis, became known to Wilkins (possibly via [[Richard Busby]]) as a technician, and by 1658 was working with Boyle.<ref>{{Citation | author-link = Lisa Jardine | first = Lisa | last = Jardine | title = The Curious Life of Robert Hooke | year = 2003 | pages = 63–75}}.</ref>

In 1656, Wilkins married Robina French (née Cromwell), youngest sister of Oliver Cromwell, who had been widowed in 1655 when her husband Peter French, a canon of [[Christ Church, Oxford]], had died. Wilkins thereby joined a high stratum of Parliamentary society, and the couple used rooms in [[Whitehall Palace]]. Shortly before his death, Oliver Cromwell arranged for Wilkins a new appointment as Master of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 | title = The Master of Trinity | publisher = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | place = UK | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080319025839/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 | archive-date = 19 March 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{acad |id=WLKS639J|name=Wilkins, John}}</ref> an appointment that was confirmed by [[Richard Cromwell]] who succeeded his father as [[Lord Protector]]. Wilkins was there long enough to befriend and become a patron of [[Isaac Barrow]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Mordechai | last = Feingold | title = Before Newton: The Life and Times of Isaac Barrow | year = 1990 | pages = 52–3}}.</ref>

==After the Restoration==
[[File:Royal Society - Council Minutes of the Royal Society 6.jpg|thumb|Wilkins' signature as Secretary, signing off the 1667 accounts of the [[Royal Society]], from the minutes book]]
Upon the [[English Restoration|Restoration]] in 1660, the new authorities deprived Wilkins of the position given him by Cromwell; he gained appointment as [[prebendary]] of York and [[rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of [[Cranford, London|Cranford]], [[Middlesex]].  In 1661, he was reduced to preacher at [[Gray's Inn]], lodging with his friend [[Seth Ward (bishop of Salisbury)|Seth Ward]]. In 1662, he became vicar of [[St Lawrence Jewry]], London. He suffered in the [[Great Fire of London]], losing his vicarage, library and scientific instruments.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26674/26674-h/26674-h.htm|title=Project Gutenberg|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927181647/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26674/26674-h/26674-h.htm|archive-date=27 September 2008}}.</ref>

Possessing strong scientific tastes, Wilkins was a founding member of the [[Royal Society]] and was soon elected fellow and one of the Society's two secretaries: he shared the work with [[Henry Oldenburg]], whom he had met in Oxford in 1656.<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004"/><ref>{{Citation|editor1-first=Daniel|editor1-last=Garber|editor2-first=Michael|editor2-last=Ayers|title='The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-century Philosophy|year=2003|volume=II|page=1455}}.</ref>

==Bishop==
Wilkins became vicar of [[Polebrook]], Northamptonshire, in 1666; [[prebendary]] of [[Exeter Cathedral|Exeter]] in 1667; and in the following year, prebendary of [[St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]] and bishop of [[Chester]]. He owed his position as bishop to the influence of [[George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham]]. Buckingham's approach to the religious problem of the day was [[comprehension (Church of England)|comprehension]], something less than [[religious tolerance]] but aimed at least at bringing in the [[Presbyterians]] among the nonconformists to the [[Church of England]] by some peaceful form of negotiation and arrangement. Wilkins too thought along these lines.<ref>{{Citation|first=NH|last=Keeble|title=The Restoration: England in the 1660s|year=2002|page=123}}.</ref> He had been a sympathetic reader of [[John Humfrey]]'s 1661 justification of his acceptance of re-ordination by [[William Piers (bishop)|William Piers]], having already once been ordained in the Presbyterian style by a [[classis (religion)|classis]].<ref>{{Citation|title=Dictionary of National Biography|contribution=Humfrey, John}}</ref>

As Wilkins was ordained, he spoke out against the use of penal laws, and immediately tried to gather support from other moderate bishops to see what concessions to the nonconformists could be made.<ref>{{Citation|first=John|last=Marshall|contribution=Locke and Latitudinarianism|page=257|editor1-first=Richard W.F.|editor1-last=Kroll|editor2-first=Richard|editor2-last=Ashcraft|editor3-first=Perez|editor3-last=Zagorin|title=Philosophy, Science, and Religion in England, 1640–1700|year=1991}}.</ref>

A serious effort was made in 1668 to secure a scheme of comprehension, with [[William Bates (1625-1699)|William Bates]], [[Richard Baxter]] and [[Thomas Manton]] for the dissenters meeting Wilkins and [[Hezekiah Burton]]. Wilkins felt the Presbyterians could be brought within the Church of England, while the Independent separatists were left outside. It fell through by late summer, with Manton blaming [[John Owen (theologian)|John Owen]] for independent scheming for general toleration with Buckingham, and Baxter pointing the finger at the House of Lords.<ref>{{Citation|first=William M.|last=Lamont|title=Richard Baxter and the Millennium|year=1979|page=220}}</ref>

==Death==
Wilkins died in London, most likely from the medicines used to treat his [[kidney stone]]s and [[urinary retention]].<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Stephen | last=Inwood | year=2005
 | title=The Forgotten Genius: The Biography of Robert Hooke 1635–1703
 | url=https://archive.org/details/forgottengeniusb0000inwo | url-access=registration | publisher=MacAdam/Cage Publishing
 | isbn=1-59692-115-3 }}</ref>

==Works==

His numerous written works include:
{{columns-list|colwidth=27em|
*''The Discovery of a World in the Moone'' (1638)<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/cromwells-moonshot-how-one-jacobean-scientist-tried-to-kick-off-the-space-race-535171.html |title=Cromwell's moonshot: how one Jacobean scientist tried to kick off the space race |department=This Britain |work=[[The Independent]] |place=UK |date=10 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509103750/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/cromwells-moonshot-how-one-jacobean-scientist-tried-to-kick-off-the-space-race-535171.html |archive-date= 9 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = History | chapter = 14; The Discovery of a World in the Moon | chapter-url = http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/brunof14.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010906004046/http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/brunof14.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 September 2001 | publisher = Positive atheism }}</ref>
*''A Discourse Concerning a New Planet'' (1640)
*''[[Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger]]'' (1641), the first English-language book on [[cryptography]]
*''Ecclesiastes'' (1646)
*''[[Mathematical Magick]]'' (1648)
*''A Discourse Concerning the Beauty of Providence'' (1649)
*''A discourse concerning the gift of prayer: shewing what it is, wherein it consists and how far it is attainable by industry'' (1651)
*''Vindiciae academiarum'' (1654), with Seth Ward
*''[[An Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language]]'' (1668), in which he proposes a new universal language for the use of [[natural philosopher]]s.
* {{Citation|url=https://archive.org/details/principlesanddu01lloygoog|title=Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion|place=London, UK|year=1675|publisher=Archive}}
}}

[[File:Wilkins - Mathematical magick, 1691.tiff|thumb|upright|''Mathematical magick'', 1691]]
[[File:Wilkins An Essay towards a real.jpg|thumb|upright|Frontispiece of John Wilkins "An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language" (1668)]]

The early scientific works were in a popular vein, and have links to the publications of [[Francis Godwin]]. ''The Discovery of a World in the Moone'' (1638) was followed up by ''A Discourse Concerning a New Planet'' (1640). The author highlights the similarities between the Earth and the Moon. Based on these similarities, he proposes the idea that the Moon would house living beings, the [[Selene|Selenites]].<ref>Bouyre Claire, «  Vivre et Aller sur la Lune en 1640 ? Les sciences du vivant dans le discours sur la pluralité des Mondes, à partir de l’œuvre de John Wilkins: The Discovery Of A New World (1640) » Bulletin d’Histoire et d’épistémologie des Sciences de la vie, 2014, 21 (1), pp. 7–37.</ref><ref>In 1701 ''The Discovery of a World in the Moone'' was included in the Vatican list of condamned books [https://bibofthedamned.com/2018/08/28/the-discovery-of-a-world-in-the-moone-1638/ Library of Condamned books]</ref> Godwin's ''The Man in the Moone'' was also published in 1638. In 1641 Wilkins published an anonymous treatise entitled ''Mercury, or The Secret and Swift Messenger''.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=Light of truth|url=http://www.light-of-truth.com/Secret_Messenger/secret.html|title=MERCVRY: The secret and swift Messenger|type=scan of original book|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904210148/http://www.light-of-truth.com/Secret_Messenger/secret.html|archive-date=4 September 2009}}.</ref> This was a small work on [[cryptography]]; it may well have been influenced by Godwin's ''Nuncius inanimatus'' (1629).<ref name="Knowlson">{{citation|last=Knowlson|first=James R.|title=A Note on Bishop Godwin's "Man in the Moone:" The East Indies Trade Route and a 'Language' of Musical Notes|journal=[[Modern Philology]]|year=1968|volume=65|issue=4|pages=357–91|jstor=435786|doi=10.1086/390001|s2cid=161387367}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Godwin, Francis |volume=12 |page=176}}</ref> His ''Mathematical Magic'' (1648) was divided into two sections, one on traditional mechanical devices such as the [[lever]], and the other, more speculative, on machines. It drew on many authors, both classical writers and moderns such as [[Guidobaldo del Monte]] and [[Marin Mersenne]].<ref>{{Citation|url=http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/westbury/paradigm/fauvel1.html|title=Fauvel|publisher=UIUC|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813150013/http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/westbury/paradigm/fauvel1.html|archive-date=13 August 2009|access-date=16 February 2009}}</ref> It alludes to Godwin's ''The Man in the Moone'', for bird-powered flight.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.newberry.org/renaissance/conf-inst/2007proceedings.pdf|title=Proceedings|publisher=Newberry|page=25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224234027/http://www.newberry.org/renaissance/conf-inst/2007proceedings.pdf|archive-date=24 February 2009}}</ref> These were light if learned works and admitted both blue-sky thinking, such as the possibility of the Moon being inhabitable, and references to figures on the "occult" side: [[Trithemius]], [[John Dee]], the [[Rosicrucians]], [[Robert Fludd]].<ref>{{Citation|first=Noel E.|last=Brann|title=Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe|year=1999|page=233}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author-link=Frances Yates|first=Frances|last=Yates|title=The Rosicrucian Enlightenment|year=1986|page=284}}</ref>

''Ecclesiastes'' (1646) is a plea for a plain style in preaching, avoiding rhetoric and scholasticism, for a more direct and emotional appeal.<ref>{{Citation|first=Richard Foster|last=Jones|title=The Seventeenth Century: Studies in the History of English Thought and Literature from Bacon to Pope|year=1951|page=78}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|first=Paul|last=Goring|title=Rhetoric of Sensibility in Eighteenth-century Culture|year=2005|page=37}}</ref> It analysed the whole field of available Biblical commentary, for the use of those preparing sermons, and was reprinted many times. It is noted as a transitional work, both in the move away from [[Ciceronian]] style in preaching, and in the changing meaning of [[elocution]] to the modern sense of vocal production.<ref>{{Citation|first=I.M.|last=Green|title=Print and Protestantism in Early Modern England|year=2000|page=109}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|editor-first=Theresa|editor-last=Enos|title=Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age|year=1996|page=764}}</ref>

''A Discourse Concerning the Beauty of Providence'' (1649) took an unfashionable line, namely that [[divine providence]] was more inscrutable than current interpreters were saying. It added to the reputation of Wilkins, when the Stuarts returned to the throne, to have warned that the short term reading of events as managed by God was risky.<ref>{{Citation|title=Providence and the Invention of the United States, 1607–1876|last1=Guyatt|first1=Nicholas|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2007|page=43|isbn=978-0-521-86788-7|quote=<nowiki>[Wilkins]</nowiki> urged his readers to 'remember <nowiki>[that]</nowiki> we are but short-sighted, and cannot discern the various references, and dependences, amongst the great affairs in the world, and may therefore be easily mistaken in our opinion of them.'...  After the Restoration, Wilkins's words seemed particularly prescient.}}</ref>

In 1654, Wilkins joined with Seth Ward in writing ''Vindiciae academiarum'', a reply to [[John Webster (minister)|John Webster]]'s ''Academiarum Examen'', one of many attacks at the time on the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and their teaching methods. This attack had more clout than most: it was dedicated to [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]], a top military figure, and was launched during [[Barebone's Parliament]], when radical change seemed on the cards. Wilkins (as NS) provided an open letter to Ward; and Ward (as HD, also taking the final letters of his name therefore) replied at greater length. Wilkins makes two main points: first, Webster is not addressing the actual state of the universities, which were not as wedded to old scholastic ways, [[Aristotle]], and [[Galen]], as he said; and secondly Webster's mixture of commended authors, without fuller understanding of the topics, really was foolish.  In this approach Wilkins had to back away somewhat from his writings of the late 1630s and early 1640s.  He made light of this in the way of pointing to [[Alexander Ross (writer)|Alexander Ross]], a very conservative Aristotelian who had attacked his own astronomical works, as a more suitable target for Webster.  This exchange was part of the process of the new experimental philosophers throwing off their associations with occultists and radicals.<ref>{{Citation|author-link=Allen G. Debus|first=Allen G.|last=Debus|title=Science and Education in the Seventeenth Century: The Webster-Ward Debate|year=1970}}</ref>

In 1668 he published his ''[[An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language|Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language]]''. In it he attempted to create a universal language to replace Latin as a completely unambiguous tongue with which scholars and philosophers could communicate.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html|title=The Analytical Language of John Wilkins|publisher=Alamut|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202011631/http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html|archive-date=2 February 2006}}</ref> One aspect of this work was the suggestion of an integrated system of measurement, similar to the [[metric system]] but which was never promoted.<ref name=Rooney>{{cite book
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=5O67iqeIHZ8C&q=Naughtin+wilkins+2007&pg=PA65
 |title       = The History of Mathematics
 |first1      = Anne
 |last1       = Rooney|author-link=Anne Rooney
 |publisher   = Rosen Publishing Group
 |location    = New York
 |isbn        = 978-1-4488-7227-5
 |year        = 2013
 |page        = 65
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160516120236/https://books.google.com/books?id=5O67iqeIHZ8C&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Naughtin+wilkins+2007&source=bl&ots=zBtxsKaSPb&sig=f8V3S_r34OU7U9H0KGGkaDHn0m0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zXFXUuvcDsrF0QWgn4DgCw&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=Naughtin%20wilkins%202007&f=false
 |archive-date = 16 May 2016
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref><ref name=Treese-2018>{{Cite book |last=Treese |first=Steven A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-77577-7 |title=History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units |date=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-77576-0 |location=Cham |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-77577-7}}</ref>{{rp|85}}

In his lexicographical work he collaborated with [[William Lloyd (bishop of Worcester)|William Lloyd]].<ref>{{Citation|url=http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/batmult/Natascia-final-report.htm|title=Natascia final report|publisher=UIB|place=NO|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014145349/http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/batmult/Natascia-final-report.htm|archive-date=14 October 2006}}</ref> The ''[[s:Ballad of Gresham College|Ballad of Gresham College]]'' (1663), a gently satirical ode to the Society, refers to this project:

{{quote|<poem>
A Doctor counted very able
Designes that all Mankynd converse shall,
Spite o' th' confusion made att Babell,
By Character call'd Universall.
How long this character will be learning,
That truly passeth my discerning.<ref>{{Citation|last=Stimson|first=Dorothy|contribution=Ballad of Gresham College|title=Isis|volume=18|number=1|year=1932|pages=103–17}}</ref></poem>}}

==See also==
*''[[The Analytical Language of John Wilkins]]'' (essay by [[Jorge Luis Borges]])

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book | first = Patrick Arkley | last = Wright Henderson | title = The Life and Times of John Wilkins | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26674 | publisher = Project Gutenberg}}
* {{Cite book | first = O | last = Funke | year =1959 | contribution = On the Sources of John Wilkins' philosophical language | title = English Studies | volume = XL | number =208}}
* {{Cite book | first = Barbara J | last = Shapiro | year = 1968 | title = John Wilkins 1614–1672: An Intellectual Biography}}.
* {{Cite book | first = Fredric | last = Dolezal | year = 1985 | title = Forgotten But Important Lexicographers: John Wilkins and William Lloyd. a Modern Approach to Lexicography Before Johnson}}
* {{cite book|last=Slaughter|first=M. M.|title=Universal Languages and Scientific Taxonomy in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mn6Aejr8ZLkC|date= 1982|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-24477-0}}
* {{Cite book | editor-first = JL | editor-last = Subbiondo | year = 1992 | title = John Wilkins and 17th-Century British Linguistics}}
* {{Cite journal | first = JL | last = Subbiondo | author-mask = 8 | title = Educational Reform in Seventeenth-Century England and John Wilkins' Philosophical Language | journal = Language & Communication | volume = 21 | number =3 | pages = 273–84 | date = July 2001| doi = 10.1016/S0271-5309(00)00014-8 }}
* {{Cite journal | first = Cliff S L | last = Davies| year =2004 | title = The Family and Connections of John Wilkins, 1614–72 | journal = Oxoniensia | volume = LXIX}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons|John Wilkins}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Cite web | url = http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Wilkins.html | last = MacTutor | type = biography | title = Wilkins | publisher = St Andrews | place = UK}}
* {{Cite web | url = http://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=158 | publisher = Hertford College | title = Wilkins | type = biography | place = Oxford, UK}}
* {{Cite web| url = http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/wilkins.html | title = Galileo Project {{!}} Wilkins | publisher = [[Rice University]]}}
* {{Cite web | url = http://www.bishopwilkins.co.uk/ | last = Bishop Wilkins | title = Bishop Wilkins | publisher = Bishop Wilkins College | place = UK}}
* {{Cite web | url = http://skymania.com/wp/2009/07/17th-century-mission-to-moon.html | title = A 17th Century Mission to the Moon | publisher = Skymania News | date = 18 July 2009 | access-date = 29 June 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160317145348/http://www.skymania.com/wp/2009/07/17th-century-mission-to-moon.html/ | archive-date = 17 March 2016 | url-status = dead }}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=8467| name=John Wilkins}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Wilkins}}
* {{Cite web| url = http://shtukoviny.ru/wilkins/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090522032213/http://shtukoviny.ru/wilkins/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 May 2009 | first = John | last = Wilkins | title = Musical Alphabet | type = online service | publisher = Shtukoviny | place = RU }}
* {{Cite web | url = https://archive.org/details/mathematicaland00wilkgoog | title = Mathematical and Philosophical Works | first = Right Rev. John | last = Wilkins | year = 1802 | volume = 1 | publisher = Archive | author-mask = 4}}
* {{Cite web | url = https://archive.org/details/mathematicaland01wilkgoog | title = Mathematical and Philosophical Works | first = Right Rev. John | last = Wilkins | year = 1802 | volume = 2 | publisher = Archive | author-mask = 4}}
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/fabyan.19070.1 Mercury; or, The Secret and Swift Messenger] From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/073.html George Fabyan Collection] at the [[Library of Congress]]

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[[Category:1614 births]]
[[Category:1672 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:17th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bishops of Chester]]
[[Category:Constructed language creators]]
[[Category:Deans of Ripon]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:English scientists]]
[[Category:Founder fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Natural philosophers]]
[[Category:People from West Northamptonshire District]]
[[Category:17th-century cryptographers]]
[[Category:Wardens of Wadham College, Oxford]]