Our Man in New York

💡 Did You Know?

Abraham Woodhull observes Robert Townsend talking with Major Hewlett in the coffee house. The next day, Woodhull asks Townsend what they discussed. Townsend says "We talked about some new planet and some book about the Roman Empire." What they discussed was (1) the discovery of Uranus by William Herschel on March 13, 1781 and (2) the publishing of Volumes II and III of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon, also in 1781. Volume I was first published in 1776.