ABSTRACT
The members of the so-called Hartlib circle, a London-based international correspondence network surrounding Samuel Hartlib, Jan Amos Kaminski and John Dury, comprised one of the most active and intellectually diverse groups dedicated to realizing socio-religious reform. Their plans for social and educational development were fuelled by a Protestant impulse to transform England into a utopian godly society, thereby making the Hartlib circle representative of the larger religious, political and scientific climate of Interregnum England. The educational reformer Samuel Hartlib employed this philosophy by organizing an extensive intelligence network and cultivating a reputation as an ambassador for open communication. William Eamon has shown that the virtuosi developed this identity in contrast to both scholars and the vulgar sort, linking curiosity and experimental natural philosophy with civility and gentle manners. Recent research into Robert Boyle has exposed him to be a more complicated man than was previously supposed and future research on Samuel Hartlib and his associates may offer similar complexities.
