Oculatum

First noted from the time of the Fire of London, some three hundred years ago, this present interpretation of the textbook "Oculatum" melds both the known and the surmised to hold true to the intent of the original.

The devastation of the fire caused consternation and chaos to the citizens and they were forced to flee for their lives. There was much foreboding, for in the previous year the city had been decimated by the plague and now the portents had turned worse.

To the east of the city, at the Friary on Blackheath, among those seeking respite from the flames was a family group most familiar with life's hardship, but more familiar with life's hope. Their patriarch was Johannes Van dar Lippen, whose great, great grandfather had led a similar family group to sanctuary in England some ninety years prior. Then the escape was from the fire of persecution in Europe and Van dar Lippen kept about him a memento of his forebear. It had been given to him by his father, who had received it from his father, who had received from his father before him. Van dar Lippen referred to it often as it always gave strength, and hope, and comfort.

It was a "smallest book or folio" that "would allow several ways for reading".  It contained " various writings" of "several hands" and was "much tattered and rough with use". There was "much good thought" and "wisdom within". It was "The Oculatum 636".