George Wheler, Christian Traveler and Philosopher

GEORGE WHELER, CHRI STJ AN TRAVELER AND PH I LOSOPHER by C. W. J. ELIOT Early in April, 1676, a young Englishman with his guide and horses arrived at the Monastery of St. Luke at Stiria in Boeotia. Whether the stories of Turkish oppression told by his host the night before in an otherwise deserted town still lingered in his mind, or whether it was the morning's ride, hard going with water springing up under the horses' hooves at every step, and the unexpected meeting with that most feared of brigands, the Collector of the Poll Tax, whatever the reason, George Wheler was in a reflective mood. I>loreover, he had been travelling for two and a half years; a month before he had parted from his daily companion of almost a year; and in a few days he would begin a long and uncertain journey homewards. The monastery itself did not hold Wheler long: he had visited it the previous January. Instead, he walked a mile and a half down the valley that led to the sea, climbed to a ridge in the shadow of Helicon, and sought out an aged hermit. After I had discoursed sometime with this good Old Man, whom they esteem a Saint, I was conducted below his Garden, between it and the River, to another Hutt; where two other Catoyez>s live, and look to a Garden, well planted with Beans and Pease; and another just by it, furnished with four or five hundred Stocks of Bees. Place near as pleasant as the other above; being just upon the Banks of the River. The good Cawyez> presently went, and took a Stock of Bees, and brought me a Plate of delicate white Honeycombs , with Bread and Olives, and very good Wine: To which he set us down in his Hutt, and made us a Dinner, with far greater satisfaction , than the most Princely Banquet in Europe could afford us. For the Quiet and Innocency of Their Life, the natural Beauty of the Place, the Rocks, Mountains, Streams, Woods, and curious Plants, joyn'd with the Harmonious Notes of Nightingales, and other Birds, in whole Quires, celebrating, and as it were, welcoming that forward Spring, to speak the truth, so charmed my melancholick Fancy for a time, that I had almost made a Resolution never to part with so great a Happiness, for whatever the rest of the World could present me with. But, in conclusion, it prov'd too hard a Task for me, so soon to wean my self from the World. What was the world of George Wheler from which he was tempted to withdraw by the loveliness and still of a spring day? Being determined royalists, Charles and Anne Wheler, of Charing in the county of Kent, chose exile rather than life in the Conunonwealth. Thus their eldest son George was born at Breda in Holland, on January 20, 1650. Two years later, however, family affairs dictated their return to England, where for some time Mr. Wheler "Lived always as a Gentleman Tho in somewhat streight circumstances." As for George, at the age of fifty he described his childhood as a time of indulgence, in which "I remember I had a very early sence of the Divinity, tho' my notions were very rude and unpolished yet of Infinite space 14 C. W. J. ELIOT or ubiquity." Then followed "the misfortune of Bad schools for my Grammatticall Education," good enough, nevertheless, to rouse a strong desire to learn, for at seventeen he was able to claim that "I proceeded to Hesiod and Learned about 500 verses in him, not only to construe. but also without Book, by the Spring after the ffire of London." Finally because he was "of a slender and weak Composure of Body" and so "never inclined to County Sports, hunting or shooting," he developed other interests. In addition to the pursuits of love and frugality, Wheler recorded that "~ty greatest inclination was bent towards Gardening, Plants, and fflowers; lOch began from my Infancy, in Coats, and never left me to this day." His concern with Theology was to prove equally long abiding. Wheler's formal education might...