Quicksilver
Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
Chapter One
The Baroque Cycle v. 1: Quicksilver
Book 1: Quicksilver
Those who assume hypotheses as first principles of their
speculations ... may indeed form an ingenious romance, but a
romance it will still be.
- Roger Cotes,
preface to Sir Isaac Newton's
Principia Mathematica,
second edition, 1713
Boston Common
October 12, 1713, 10:33:52 a.m.
Enoch rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the
noose above the woman's head. The crowd on the Common stop
praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands
there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter
heaving a ridge-beam into place. The rope clutches a disk of
blue New England sky. The Puritans gaze at it and, to all
appearances, think. Enoch the Red reins in his borrowed horse
as it nears the edge of the crowd, and sees that the
executioner's purpose is not to let them inspect his knotwork, ... read full excerpt from: Quicksilver ebook
