Boston Stump

Although Noel Coward once wittily declared, 'Very Flat Norfolk', in fact large tracts of Norfolk are slightly undulating in landscape and even downright hilly in places. Surely the much-loved Norwich poet and performer Timothy Sillence (1944-2002) conveyed a much deeper understanding of the intimate and mystical nature of the Norfolk landscape when humorously writing-  

Norfolk

is a flat land

within easy reach 
of the Himalayas.

Recently on a rare excursion out of the county of  'bootiful Norfolk', I had the pleasure to travel through the Fens, the geographical region of England which is definitely 'Very Flat'. The Fens are a vast expanse of fertile agricultural land situated predominately in the counties of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Travelling through the many square miles of low-laying land effectively drained and reclaimed from the sea by Dutch engineering in the seventeenth century, one senses how much the Fen landscape with its huge domed skies must have affected the psychology of its inhabitants. This thought is reinforced once arriving at Boston in Lincolnshire and viewing the enormous tower of Saint Botolph's. Long known as Boston Stump or just The Stump, the medieval architects of the extraordinary Perpendicular style tower utilized the flat landscape of Lincolnshire to make their House of God into a bold, enduring statement. Like the so-called 'Ship of the Fens', Ely Cathedral, Boston Stump dominated the landscape during the Middle Ages and was visible from great distance.

The 202 steps and 83 metres which lead up the Boston Stump collectively and discreetly enquire  upon one's assumed fitness, but the views are well worth  the effort !

The windmill (centre) was working with its sails rotating. Its said that from Boston Stump with good visibility and powerful binoculars one can  see the back of one's head ! ( Actually it's claimed one can see over thirty miles from the tower).

The river Haven stretches into the distance. Boston was a thriving sea-port during the Middle Ages until access to the port silted-up over the centuries. As with much of Fenland, Boston is home to a network of rivers, canals and  inter-connecting drainage conduits.

Wiki -link   St. Botolph's Church Boston 

Norfolk Chalk Reef

Photo:Rob Spray

The ancient coast-line of East Anglia, once the furthest extent of retreating glaciers during the last Ice Age, continues to reveal astounding evidence of early man's activities and prehistoric nature. The North Norfolk coast-line in particular is a rich source of geological and archaeological wonders. These include the Cromer Ridge, a terminal glacial moraine formed during the last Ice Age; the discovery of a fossilised skeleton of a steppe mammoth approximately 600,000 years old in the cliffs of West Runton in 1990, and  a circular arrangement of over fifty split oak tree trunks, an early man-made ritual monument named  Seahenge, dated circa 2100 BCE, which was first exposed at Holme-next-the-Sea in 1998.

It's recently  been announced that the world's longest chalk reef, over 20 miles in length, stretching from Cley to Trimingham along the Norfolk coast, complete with massive two metre high arches and deep gullies has been discovered.  So far three species never recorded before have been found in the Chalk reef including the Leopard Spotted Goby, two rare anemones and an obscure purple-coloured sponge.  The Chalk Reef was the subject of a BBC regional TV  programme which was spectacular in viewing. Here's the link for a 3 minute filmed dive through the Norfolk chalk Reef . The discovery of the Chalk reef was made by Rob Spray who runs the Marine Conservation Society survey project with a team of volunteers.

Even during my hedonistic and ecstatic summers of youth, swimming, sunbathing and reading on the  beach, I never dreamed of a submarine world some 300 million years old just half a mile out from the shore and  just eight metres below  the surface of the North sea.

However, the seventeenth century doctor and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne did dream of submarine worlds. His miscellaneous tract   Museum Clausum  or Bibliotheca Abscondita  identified by W.G. Sebald  in his Rings of Saturn  (1998) as a  curious minor masterpiece of the imagination,  includes among its inventory of lost, rumoured or imagined books, pictures and objects-

9. A Sub Marine Herbal describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea, with many sorts of Alga, Fucus, Quercus, Polygonum, Gramens and others not yet described.

The world of the submarine must have been of great interest to Browne as included in his miscellaneous tract under the entries of  pictures, one reads the worthy doctor dreaming of -

3. Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the Prairie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Deserts, the Subterraneous Vents and Passages at the bottom of that Sea ; 

Goodwood Races

Racehorses owned by the Duke of Richmond exercising at Goodwood 1759

Because of its setting, Goodwood race-course is often described as the most scenic of all race-courses; from the Grandstand there is a superb view of the rolling Sussex Downs landscape. Day two of the five day Glorious Goodwood meeting includes the much anticipated match between two horses at the peak of their powers, 'Frankel', trained by the recently knighted Sir Henry Cecil and 'Canford Cliffs', trained by Richard Hannon. Although the weather forecast is none too brilliant I'm sure that the meeting will be awash with classy fashion, Pimms and the tradition of free strawberries. As ever the meeting is being broadcast by the excellent team of Channel 4 Racing.

As stated before, in many ways horse-racing was until the advent of football in the 20th century, the true national sport of England. For centuries the best thoroughbred horse-racing in the world was held in England, ever since the introduction of three Arabian stallions in 1759.

British horse-racing remains greatly indebted to three major Arabian sponsors, namely Sheikh Mohammed, his brother Hamdan-Al-Maktoum and Prince Khalid Abdullah. Without their patronage for over 30 years now, horse-racing in England would have been a much less exciting affair, with smaller, inferior quality fields. It's in no way guaranteed that these wealthy Arabian horse owners will continue to send their  very best horses to England for training. The high quality horse-racing which the English public enjoy throughout both the Flat and National Hunt season is seriously threatened. Because of poor management, weak sponsorship and prize money, along with a sometimes indifferent to all but profit betting industry, horse-racing  in England is in serious decline.  Other nations continue to develop blood-lines and breeding stock to match those of English stud-breeding. Other sports compete with horse-racing for gambling and spectator participation. As with life itself, there is no absolute guarantee that the present-day status quo will continue especially during the present-day economic depression. Even though attendances continue to rise at race-meetings, the industry continues to decline because of the aforementioned factors.

The sport of horse-racing is highly conscious of its public image and at present the spotlight is on the jockey's whip and whether its use should continue. There are already strict rules about how frequently the whip may be used. With video-recording every aspect of a jockey's ride can be analysed and judged by the stewards. Those who accuse the sport of animal cruelty have little idea of the loving care and attention each and every horse in training receives from stable-staff, trainer and jockey. As ever its a case of wanting to score a point in political correctness, or in this case, animal welfare, without any real understanding of the high quality of care and enthusiasm of the sport throughout the horse-racing industry.

View of Sussex Downs at Goodwood

Cromer

Because it has a rail connection to Norwich Cromer is  probably the coastal resort I've frequented most. It's been a while since I visited the 'Gem of the Norfolk Coast', which is situated some twenty-odd miles north of Norwich. A barmy summer of crab sandwiches, swimming and putting on the green, now long gone.

Cromer is also the place where over many years I've read innumerable books while on the beach. These days I have a small tent with me in readiness for the vastly differing weather conditions between  hinterland and coast. 

I'd almost forgotten how relaxing it is to turn the pages accompanied by the  sound of  surf  and waves breaking. As ever there was an fairly stiff off-shore wind from an icy North sea, but the quality of light, bracing air and immensity of space, easily compensated. Geographically, the Norfolk coast is famous for being a place where facing due north there is no land between oneself and the frozen ice of the Arctic. A little too early in the year for a swim in the sea.

At low-tide one begins to sense the prehistory of the coast-line. In fact much of the beach was once part of a prehistoric forest bed which was formed between 780,000 to 450,000 years ago.  Known  as the  geological era of  the Cromerian Stage, during the last ice-age or Pleistocene, the Cromerian Interglacial is the benchmark that all European countries use when studying their own  geological  deposits. 

The fossilized skeleton of a steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) an elephant some 600,00 years old was discovered not far from Cromer,  at West Runton in 1990.

Further along the coast is the site of  Seahenge,  an early man ceremonial ritual site marked by a circle of wood beams with an upturned tree-root at its centre dated  circa 2100 BCE (scroll down to earlier May post for pics of Seahenge).

It's very pleasant on a summer's evening to sit on Cromer Pier with a drink and watch the sun sink into the sea.

Cromer by James Stark (1794-1859) 'Norwich School'

Wiki-links
West Runton Elephant
Cromerian Stage
Seahenge
Norwich School

King's Lynn

                 
Custom House and statue of George Vancouver

The historic Norfolk market-town of King's Lynn is well worth visiting. King’s Lynn Custom house  (above) was built in 1683 by Henry Bell  and modeled upon Dutch architecture which occupied the site previously. In fact, the influence of  the Dutch  permeates the cultural history of Norfolk. Evidence of the Dutch influence in trade, migration and immigration and even dialect can be found in the place names, family surnames and architecture of  Norfolk including King's Lynn. 

The architecture of King's Lynn's  historic quarter affords a generous insight into its  medieval past and hints of  voyages  of  trade, exploration and  pilgrimage made by its citizens. Situated forty miles due west from Norwich at the mouth of the River Ouse and  the Wash estuary,  sheltered  from the North Sea yet within easy sailing distance to the coast-line of  Scandinavia, North Germany,  Flanders and the Baltic, King's Lynn's  location meant that it became a busy and prosperous  sea-port during the Middle Ages.  Inland it's geographical position to the Midlands and Norfolk meant that it also exported large quantities of  British produce including wool and pottery.

Such was Lynn's sea-trading importance that it was once a member of the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League, a confederation of sea-ports radiating around the  Baltic Sea, traded in commodities such as  amber, resins, furs,  rye and wheat. Individual Hanseatic ports had their own representative merchant  warehouses.  There was a Hanseatic representative  in the English cities of Boston, Bristol, Hull, Ipswich, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and York. However, the only surviving example of a Hanseatic warehouse in England can be found standing close to the harbour at King's Lynn.

Nikolaus Pevsner, author of the authoritative guide to the architecture of England,  was  an admirer  of King's Lynn. Pevsner stated that the walk from the Tuesday Market Place to the River by the Customs House was one of the finest in the world. Near the market-place is the medieval Guildhall. Like Norwich's medieval Guildhall its facade has a chequer-pattern design, a symbolic reminder that it was once where revenues were collected, payments placed upon  a table of the same chequer pattern, like a Chess-board. In Britain, the Minister for finance is known as  the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  a  title which retains a  remnant of the  money-collecting tradition.

The church of Saint Margaret’s has some remarkable, ornately-carved pews known as misericords, (folding chairs which flip upwards as in cinemas). They were made for monks to support them standing during long church services and date from circa 1370.

Also in King’s Lynn there’s the  Red Mount, a  peculiar 15th century chapel   described by the architect  Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the most perfect buildings ever built' and 'unique'. In a flat landscape it was a prominent land-mark and  stop-over point for  religious pilgrims en route to the holy shrine of Walsingham.

King's Lynn's most famous pilgrim  of the Middle Ages was  Margery Kempe. The daughter of a Lynn mayor, Margery Kempe (c.1373 -1440) was a remarkable woman. In addition to bearing fourteen children when married, she  embarked upon pilgrimages throughout England and Europe to Aachen, Venice, Rome, Spain, Norway,  and even made pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in 1414. A dramatic enactment of Kempe's recorded visit to Julian of Norwich was recently realised by a UEA drama group in their re-construction of their medieval mystery play Mary's Step's.

Margery Kempe's religious mysticism  was portrayed as all accounts of her agree, with  emotional, volatile and fervent  piety, not untypical of much religious sentiment of the Middle Ages. Although she was unable to read or write Margery Kempe dictated her life's events to produce one of the earliest European autobiographies and an informative travelog of the age.

King’s Lynn was also  the birth-place of George Vancouver (1757- 1798). A statue of  the sea-port's  most famous citizen was erected nearby the Custom House. Vancouver was an officer in the British  Royal Navy who explored and charted North America's northwestern  Pacific  Coast, including the coast of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands and  even the southwest coast of Australia.

It's also in King's Lynn ( in a museum adjacent to the Bus-Station ) that  an important  prehistoric artifact is now on display. It's the so-called 'Seahenge', a timber circle with an upturned tree root at its centre, which was first detected during an exception low-tide in 1998. It's estimated that Seahenge was constructed in the twenty-first century BCE,  over 4000 years ago during the early Bronze Age in Britain.  Like its more famous Stonehenge, the wooden circle of tree-trunks were most probably constructed for religious and  ritual purposes.

                             Seahenge at  Holme-next-the-sea, 1998.

. 
An artist's impression of how Seahenge may have looked 4000 years ago.

Sir Thomas Browne on America

Because America accounts for  approximately  40% of visitors to  this Sir Thomas Browne centred blog, I thought it would be a nice gesture to record a few facts about his interest in America.

It’s an extraordinary fact and testimony to his curiosity that each of Sir Thomas Browne's major writings makes mention of America. It was during Browne’s lifetime that mass emigration to America from Europe began. According to Wikipedia, itself a great American success story, the first successful English settlements were the Virginia colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrim’s’ Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610’s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies. Another source of early American settlers, were those known as religious dissenters. Because England’s King Charles  believed that his rule was a God-given right he felt justified in persecuting those who disagreed with him. Waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded multiple colonies.

It was against this historical background, one of political and religious ferment in England under Charles I’s rule that the newly qualified medical doctor Thomas Browne penned his Religio Medici, a Montaigne-like discourse upon the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. In its labyrinthine digressions, he made the zoological query -

'How America abounded with beasts of prey, and noxious Animals, yet contained not in it that necessary creature, a Horse, is very strange'.

In fact America was the home of the horse until its eventual extinction in the last Ice Age. Not until the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century was the horse re-introduced to the continent of America. Today,  a little more than a quarter (28%) of the entire world's horses are stabled in the USA.

Throughout his life Browne was a keen geographer, botanist and zoologist; it was therefore inevitable that he would lend an eager ear to the numerous reports about the New World which sporadically arrived in England. In his encyclopedic endeavor Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646-76) he refers to America on several occasions. Indeed its very opening address describes his painstaking labors in not only compiling an encyclopedia but also in debunking common fallacies as - 'but oft-times fain to wander in the America and untravelled parts of truth'.

Throughout his encyclopedia Browne includes reports from America, including mention of the giant phalanges spider, speculation as to why the skin-pigmentation of American natives differs from African natives as well as making a geographical comparison of the Gulf of California to the Red Sea. Browne also noted in Pseudodoxia Epidemica that the Swiss alchemist-physician Paracelsus symbolically equated America as the hind-quarters of the world noting-

'…of the Geography of Paracelsus, who according to the Cardinal points of the World, divideth the body of man; and therefore working upon humane ordure, and by long preparation rendering it odiferous, he terms it Zibeta Occidentalis, Western Civet; making the face the East, but the posteriors the America or Western part of his Microcosm'. 

Browne’s encyclopedia was a European best-seller, translated into several languages and reprinted with additions and amendments no less than six times in his life-time. His refutation of common or ‘vulgar errors’ found itself upon the book-shelves of many educated English families. Its  work-in-progress  nature paved the way for the reception of future scientific journalism.

Throughout his life Browne kept abreast of the latest developments in scientific enquiry. Although not credited for making any significant scientific discovery himself, he did however coin many new technical words useful to scientific and medical debate. The words ‘electricity’ ‘pathology’ and ‘hallucination’ for example, are just a few of the many neologisms he introduced into the English language. Indeed, a careful scrutiny of the Oxford dictionary reveals that Browne’s name occurs as the source or first usage of a word in the English language more than any other author. His informed reading also made him an appreciative supporter of William Harvey's recent medical discovery. In correspondence to a young student he wittily advised -

'be sure you make yourself master of Dr Harvey's piece De Circul. Sang (Of the circulation of the blood); which discovery I prefer to that of Columbus, (i.e. that of America)'.

The demands of his medical profession and the need to provide an income to support his large family allowed Browne little leisure-time for writing, yet in the decade of the 1650’s, under the newly-established Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, he once more put pen to paper to produce his celebrated literary work, the two Discourses of 1658, ‘Urn-Burial’ and ‘The Garden of Cyrus’. The two Discourses were fully intended to be one whole literary work, their polarity in theme, imagery, symbolism  and  epistemology makes this abundantly clear, yet modern publishers continue to divide and print them separately; an act initiated by the Victorians love of the stoicism and funereal pomp of ‘Urn-Burial’, but wholly against the artistic intentions of their creator  yet modern publishers erroneously perpetuate this error.

 The opening lines of Hydriotaphia, also known as, ‘Urn Burial or a brief discourse upon the sepulchrall Urnes lately found in Norfolk’, notes how America was undetected by European explorers for centuries, comparing its 'discovery' to that of an archaeological find.

'That great antiquity America lay buried for a thousand years; and a large part of the earth is still in the Urn unto us'.

In the dedicatory epistle of The Garden of Cyrus (1658) Browne with characteristic subtle humour remarks to his patron upon the great volume of printed information on American botany which was being published at the time, joking thus-

'you who know that three full Folio's are yet too little, and how New Herballs fly from America upon us, from persevering enquirers'.

It’s also in ‘The Garden of Cyrus’ that Browne employs proper-place names as highly evocative symbols; for example, the place-name of Persia is invariably employed to symbolize pagan antiquity, in contrast, the proper-place name of America is used to represent the new,  unknown and exotic. At the conclusion of the Discourse Browne contemplates the fact that the world consists of time-zones and prophetically connects Persia (modern-day Iran ) with America thus:

'The Huntsmen are up in America, and they are already past their first sleep in Persia'.

‘The Garden of Cyrus’ has been likened as a work of prophecy, and compared to the Biblical Book of Revelation by the American literary scholar, Frank Huntley. Indeed it has been American scholarship which has fruitfully interpreted Browne throughout the 20th century, notably by the aforementioned Frank Huntley, along with Jeremiah Finch, Dean Emeritus of Yale University whose life-long study of Browne included an introduction to the facsimile of the 1711 Sales Auction catalogue of Browne’s library. In addition, Browne’s major works have been made available online via the University of Chicago. 

It was sometime in the 1670’s when introduced to the prophecies of Nostradamus that Browne made his most astounding observations and predictions upon America’s future.  In his miscellaneous tract – ‘A prophecy concerning the future State of Several Nations’ (Miscellaneous Tract 12) a quasi-oracular pastiche style of the Lyons physician's barely intelligible predictions, Browne questioned the morality of the growing Slave-trade, almost two centuries before the eventual abolition of slavery, declaiming-

'When Africa shall no longer sell out its Blacks to be Slaves and drudges to the American Tracts'.

Equally remarkable Browne 'predicted’ in his ‘prophecy’ that sometime in the future America would protect its wealth to be a Nation vigorously pursuing happiness, employing the highly-original phrase, ‘American Pleasure’.

'When America shall cease to send out its treasure but employ it instead in American Pleasure'.

Ever the helpful assistant for his perplexed reader Browne added the explanatory note:

'That is when America shall be better civilized, new policied and divided between great Princes, it may come to pass that they will no longer suffer their Treasure of Gold and Silver to be sent out to maintain the Luxury of Europe and other parts: but rather employ it to their own advantages, in great Exploits and Undertakings, magnificent Structure, Wars, or Expeditions of their own'.

But perhaps most extraordinary of all, at a time when America was only a fledgling colony Browne prognosticated  it would one day become an economic equal of Europe-

'When the New World shall the old invade, nor count them their Lords but their Fellows in Trade'.

Once more helpfully expounding his ‘prophecy’ with the foot-note-

'That is, When America shall be so well peopled, civilized and divided into Kingdoms, they are likely to have so little regard of their Originals, as to acknowledge no subjection unto them: they may also have a distinct commerce between themselves, or but independently with those of Europe, and may hostilely and pyratically assault them, even as the Greek and Roman Colonies after a long time dealt with their Original Countries'.

And here one must include Browne, who was a devout Christian, thoughts upon war, which remains humanity’s greatest inhumanity against humanity. In correspondence to his youngest son, Browne, moralises upon why all wars begin- 

'The cause of this war was that of all wars, excess of prosperity. As wealth arises spirits rise, and lust and greed of power appear; thence men lose their sense of moderation, look with distaste on the prosperity of others, revolve disquiet in their mind, and throw over all settlement, for fear lest their enemies’ wealth be firmly established, they put their own to risk; and finally (as happens in human affairs) fall into slavery when they seek to impose it, and earnestly courting good fortune, experience disaster'.

Browne’s observations upon the New World’s botany, zoology, geography and its political future are remarkable for their extreme earliness in history; from reports of the superabundance of her natural resources, geographical size and the sheer determination of her founding settlers, one seventeenth century European thinker, although far away in his Norwich study,  he perceived America to be a land with a bright future.

See also -

Thomas Browne and China

Thomas Browne and Japan

Peruvian Bark

Because throughout history to the present-day malaria is a world-wide killer of thousand of lives, the discovery of Peruvian Bark is a well-documented chapter in the history of medicine. The ability of bark from the cinchona tree to combat the symptoms of malaria, its eventual synthesizing as Quinine, and its subsequent world-wide usage is a vast subject. However one small footnote on Peruvian Bark in the history of British medicine may yet be added.

The discovery of Peruvian Bark's medicinal properties is attributed to several people. The Jesuit priest Agostino Salumbrino (1561–1642) who had trained as an apothecary is credited as among the first to observe that the indigenous Quechua or Inca people used a diffusion of the bark from the cinchona tree to alleviate the symptoms of malaria. Indeed the original Inca word for the cinchona tree bark, 'quina' or 'quina-quina' roughly translates as 'bark of bark' or 'holy bark'. It's also recorded that in 1638, the countess of Chinchon, the wife of a Peruvian viceroy used the bark of the cinchona tree to relieve the fever-induced shivering symptoms experienced during the onset of malaria to remedy a 'miracle cure'.

While its effect in treating malaria and also malaria-induced shivering was unrelated to its effect to control shivering from rigors, Peruvian Bark was nevertheless hailed as a successful medicine for malaria. Modern science has detected that the bark of the cinchona tree contains a variety of alkaloids, including the anti-malarial compound quinine which interferes with the reproduction of malaria-causing protozoa, and also quinidine, an antiarrhythmic.

It was the Renaissance maverick alchemist Paracelsus who first urged the physician to examine and analyse substances from the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms in search of new medicines. By the seventeenth century with the colonization of South America by the Spanish and Portuguese, as well as migration to North America, an abundance of published reports upon the flora and fauna of the American continent became available to the physician. Foremost amongst such reports were those of the Jesuit missionaries who collected facts on all manner of botanical, geographical and social phenomena they encountered in their imperial-orientated colonization; including the discovery of the Cinchona tree's medical properties. For these reasons Peruvian Bark was also widely-known as 'Jesuits' powder'.

In 1658 the English weekly Mercurius Politicus announced that: 'The excellent powder known by the name of 'Jesuits' powder' may be obtained from several London chemists'. However Peruvian Bark did not achieve full official approval and was not entered into the British Pharmacopoeia until 1677. This was mostly due to religious prejudices. Because it was known as 'Jesuits' Powder' it was associated with Catholicism. Even seemingly well-educated persons such as King Charles II, who took an active interest in the scientific inquiries of his age, sanctioning approval for the Royal Society was wary of 'Jesuit's Powder' because of its presumed association with Catholicism. However when suffering from malarial fever Charles II consulted Mr Robert Talbor, who had found fame for his miraculous cure of malaria. Talbor was obliged to give the King the bitter bark decoction in great secrecy. The treatment completely relieved the King from malarial fever and he rewarded Talbor with a life-times membership of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians.

Incidentally its alleged that Oliver Cromwell died of Malaria, refusing Jesuit's Powder as a remedy, simply because of his hatred of Catholicism! But as autopsy's were inaccurate in the seventeenth century, this allegation may simply be nothing more than Royalist propaganda enhancing the virtue of 'progressive monarchy' in contrast to the anti-monarchist Republic which was established by Cromwell.

Many physicians throughout England in the seventeenth century were interested in reports of the healing qualities of Peruvian Bark, in particular those who lived in regions prone to the spread of malaria; East Anglia with its many marshes, broads and Fens; geographic areas whose large tracts of low-laying land and many slow-flowing or stagnant stretches of water were ideal for the spread of the insect-borne virus. In correspondence dated 1667 to his youngest son, Dr. Thomas Browne of Norwich requested-

When you are at Cales, see if you can get a box of the Jesuits' powder at easier rate, and bring it in the bark, not in powder.

Its suggestive from this letter in his request to his son to obtain Jesuits' powder from a Continental source and not from London, that Dr.Browne may have been wary  the thriving trade in Peruvian Bark could be vulnerable to dilution by apothecaries. Its also evident from his preference to obtain it from a continental source and insistence on  bark and not powder that he was well-familiar with Peruvian Bark's composition.

Incidentally, it was for the entertainment and education of his youngest son Thomas that Sir Thomas Browne penned the Latin work Nauchmachia, a descriptive account of a Sea-battle in antiquity. Tragically however, young Midshipman Thomas was listed as lost at sea, presumed dead shortly after receiving this letter, he was most probably a  fatality in the Anglo-Dutch naval-battle of Lowestoft in 1665.

But by far the most detailed document in British medical history of a physician's assessment of Peruvian Bark occurs in an undated and untitled note concerning the Cortex Peruvianus or Quinana Peruve by Dr.Browne.

I am not fearful of any bad effect from it nor have I observed any that I could clearly derive from that as a true cause: it doth not so much good as I could wish or others expect, but I can lay no harm unto its charge, and I have known it taken twenty times in the course of a quartan. In such agues, especially illegitimate ones, many have died though they have taken it, but far more who have not made use of it, and therefore what ever bad conclusions such agues have I cannot satisfy myself that they owe their evil unto such medicines, but rather unto inward tumours inflammations or atonie of parts contracted from the distemper.   Source: Brit. Mus. Sloane MS 1895

 

Because the above statement is undated with no addressee, there's no evidence for who, where or when Dr. Browne penned his assessment of Peruvian Bark. One would like to imagine that it was an assessment made for the benefit of King Charles II who had met and knighted Browne in 1671. It could theoretically have been surreptitiously passed onto Charles II via Browne's eldest son Edward who resided in London, had access to the Royal Court and was later President of the Royal College of Physicians. But it could as easily have been written for the benefit of any enquiring member of the gentry. In any case it demonstrates that not only was Dr. Browne well informed of the latest medical discoveries, even aware of excessive and 'illegitimate' usage of 'Jesuits' Powder', but was also able to independently assess such discoveries.

Flower of Chinchona pubescens

Glorious Goodwood

Time to enjoy summer on the Sussex Downs for the 5 days of the Glorious Goodwood meeting; awash with strawberries and cream, Pimms, Panama hats, classy fashion and of course, classy thoroughbred horses, at what must be the most scenic of all British race-courses. Sadly, I'm only there in spirit this year, following the meeting on TV.

Notre-Dame de Paris

Esmeralda and Quasimodo

Last night I watched 'Notre-Dame de Paris' on DVD ( TDK 1996). Based upon the famous nineteenth century novel by Victor Hugo, 'The Hunch-back of Notre-Dame' (1831), Hugo's story has undergone numerous adaptions in various genres throughout the centuries.

Roland Petit (1924-2011) has made a brilliant choreographic adaptation of Hugo's novel. Attracted to stories in which 'beings apart' be they wretched or hideous who fall prey to femmes fatales, the seductive face of death, as in his earliest masterpieces ' The young Man and Death', (1946) and 'Carmen (1949), it's not too surprising that Hugo's tale of love and death should attract the attention of Petit's choreographic skills.

The essentially menage-a-trois story of Esmeralda the gypsy girl, the Arch-Deacon Frollo and the hunch-back Quasimodo is given a fresh and original interpretation by the celebrated French ballet-master. First performed in 1965, Petit's ballet is a hybrid of traditional ballet and modern dance movement. In particular the hand and the many gestures its able to express is liberated by his choreography.

The part of Quasimodo is amazingly danced by Nicolas Le Riche. It requires some considerable balletic skill to dance the part of a deformed and alienated individual. It also adds to one's appreciation of how athletic and graceful the corps de ballet are. The vivid costume colours enhance the crowd scenes which are powerful and dramatic. Equally brilliant is the dancing of Isabelle Guerin as Esmeralda. The music composed by Maurice Jarre adequately supports the action without ever being original enough to be a focus in its own right. The staging at the Opera national de Paris incorporates stark but impressive sets. With a story which is set in medieval Paris, not so geographically remote from the Paris Opera House itself, Roland Petit's choreographic interpretation of Hugo's masterpiece is likely to remain in the repertoire of the National Ballet of Paris for a long time.

A Day at the Races

Champion jockey Hayley Turner aboard Collect Art

Yesterday I had a rare excursion out of the city to the sea-side race-track of Great Yarmouth. Pictured is the champion female flat jockey Hayley Turner aboard Collect Art in the Parade ring, just minutes before winning the race in a finish in which Collect Art rallied gamely to regain the lead near the line by a head. An exciting finish on a day which was a speculative financial disaster for myself. However as I've been attending the race-track on and off for 20 years now there are plenty of glory days to recollect and sustain oneself through such a bleak day.

The general mood of the day was coloured by the fact that after several hot sunny days of temperatures reaching 27 Celsius last week, this week the mercury plunged to 16 Celsius for the day. As sometimes happens due to the close proximity of the sea, a sea-fret rolled in restricting visibility to just the last 2 furlongs for several races. One of the largest off-shore wind-farms consisting of over 30 wind-turbines can be seen from the Grandstand (photo bottom page) but not on the day I attended due to the weather.

Situated on Norfolk's east coast, Great Yarmouth was once a major sea-port. It has a literary association with Charles Dickens (1812-1870) who wrote of his childhood memories when resident there in 'David Copperfield', and with the Norfolk-born naval hero, Lord Horatio Nelson (1758-1805). In fact many pubs, clubs, conference centres and hotels throughout Norfolk including the new Grandstand at Yarmouth race-track are named after the distinguished imperial pirate. There's been horse-racing at Yarmouth since 1770, primarily due to its relatively close distance to the home of thoroughbred-racing, Newmarket, Suffolk, also known simply as H.Q. (Headquarters) around the world by racing aficionado's.

Due to the current economic climate the old lamentation about the perilous state and condition of British Flat racing is wailed once more. The fact is that there is simply too much low-grade racing like today's card at Yarmouth. The big betting firms, Ladbrokes, Corals, William Hills etc. are simply milking the industry for all it's worth, not caring whether the sport survives or not, true to the colours of international capitalism which also is indifferent about the human cost of unemployment. As long as these institutions get their pound of flesh, they will remain complacent, until the corpse is placed on their door-mat. Besides, horse-racing now accounts for a lesser percentage of profit for the gambling industry, online activities such as poker and betting on football is where the big money is; its a sad state of affairs, for in many ways horse-racing was for centuries the National sport of Britain until eclipsed by the more mass-minded participation sports of cricket and football.

Ever since the 1760's when three Arabian thoroughbreds arrived in Britain, the British have engaged in genetically modifying the thoroughbred horse for the sport of racing. Historically speaking thoroughbred horse racing, for good or ill, like many other pastimes was introduced to the rest of the world by Britain.

British horse-racing has for over thirty years been greatly supported by big horse owners such as Sheik Mohammed and his brother Hamdan al Maktoum along with Prince Khalid Abdullah, (the owner of this year's Derby winner Workforce). These owners, recognizing the skill of the British trainer and the Brits love of horse-racing, have generously provided many horses for trainers for decades. Without their continued support British racing would have been considerably poorer long ago in both quality and quantity.

Labyrinth of Crete

During the seventeenth century many English gentlemen studied antiquities, that is historical artefacts. One of the easiest forms of access for the antiquarian to the ancient world was through the study of numismatics, that is coins from Classical antiquity or early modern Europe. Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) was an antiquarian and an avid collector, of books, bird-eggs, curio's and of coins and medals. Indeed the diarist John Evelyn on a visit to Browne's home observed-

'[the whole house & Garden [is] a Paradise & Cabinet of rarities, & that of the best collection, especially Medails, books, Plants, natural things...

The source of the Greek myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth noted in chapter two of The Garden of Cyrus is from a publication by Leonardo Agostini (1593–1669) an Italian antiquary appointed by Pope Alexander VII as superintendent of antiquities in the Papal States. In 1649 Agostini issued a new edition of Sicilian Medals, with engravings of 400 specimens. He also published a work on antique engraved gems. The book listed in the Library of Sir Thomas Browne is entitled - Ant. Agostini Dialoghi intorno alle Medaglie, Inscrissioni & altre Antichita Romanze tradotti di Lingua Spagnola in Italiana da D Ottav. Sada, e dal Medisimo accresciuti, con Annot. & illustrati con disegni di molte Medaglie &c. Rome 1650 .But I think Browne just enjoyed looking at the engravings in this book rather than improving his Italian! He describes the 'elegant medall of Agostino' thus-

And, though none of the seven wonders, yet a noble piece of Antiquity, and made by a Copy exceeding all the rest, had its principal parts disposed after this manner, that is, the Labyrinth of Crete, built upon a long quadrate, containing five large squares, communicating by right inflections, terminating in the centre of the middle square, and lodging of the Minotaur, if we conform unto the description of the elegant medal thereof in Agostino.

The most famous maze in Classical antiquity was the labyrinth, the Cretan palace in which King Minos stabled the minotaur and from which, according to Greek myth, Theseus was able to escape from, because of the thread which Ariadne gives him. The Cretan labyrinth may well have a solar significance because of the double axe, of which it may have been the palace which is carved on many Minoan remains. The bull shut in the labyrinth is also a solar symbol. Indeed the very name labyrinth which means palace of the axe, reminds us that in the palace at Knossos, the mythical stall of the minotaur was pre-eminently the shrine of the double axe.

The symbol of the Labyrinth occurs once more at the apotheosis of The Garden of Cyrus in which Browne names the combined forces of Reason and Empiricism as the essential tools to aid a successful weaving through the 'Labyrinth of Truth'.

affording delightful Truths, confirmable by sense and ocular Observation, which seems to me the surest path, to trace the Labyrinth of Truth

But is in his companion Discourse of 1658 Discourse Urn-Burial, that great hymn to antiquity and the unknowing of the human condition, that Browne displays his numismatic knowledge most. In particular , his description of an Iceni coin which he describes thus-

Besides, the Norman, Saxon, and Danish pieces of Cuthred, Canutus, William, Matida, and others, some British Coynes of gold have been dispersively found; And no small number of silver pieces near Norwich; with a rude head upon the obverse, and an ill formed horse on the reverse, with Inscriptions Ic. Duro. T. whether implying Iceni, Dutotriges, Tascia, or Tribobantes, we leave to higher conjecture.




Clearly Sir Thomas Browne knew his coins. He's off again a page later-

Nor is it strange to finde Romane Coynes of Copper and Silver among us; of Vespasian, Trajan, Adrian, Commodus, Antonius, Severus, &c. But the greater number of Dioclesian, Constantine, Constans, Valens, ...

Browne acted as a magnet for any curio's or object of antiquity which surfaced throughout the county. In a revealing foot-note to Urn-Burial he acknowledged the source of his numismatic finds thus-

'most at Caster by Yarmouth, found in a place called East-bloudy-burgh furlong, belonging to Mr Thomas Wood, a person of civility, industry and knowledge in this way, who hath made observation of remarkable things about him, and from whom we have received divers Silver and Copper Coynes'.

Click on link for an excellent site on numismatics

Mozart in Paris

When the 22 year-old Mozart arrived in Paris in March 1778 he had high hopes of making a name for himself. However he discovered Parisian society to be fickle, inconsiderate and exploitative; Spring-time in Paris was not a happy affair for the young Mozart. He found himself disrespected, treated indifferently and worse of all, his honour and pride as a musician wounded. He described such treatment in a letter to his father-

A week went by without any news whatsoever. However, she had told me to call after the lapse of a week so I kept my word and presented myself to her. On my arrival I was made to wait half an hour in a great ice-cold unwarmed room, unprovided with any fire-place. At length the Duchess de Charbot came in, greeted me withe greatest civility, begged me to make the best of the clavier since it was the only one in order, and asked me to try it. "I am very willing to play" , said I, "but momentarily my hands are numb with cold," and begged she would at least conduct me to a room with a fire. "Oh , oui monsieur, vous avez raison, " was all the answer I received, and thereupon she sat down and began to sketch, continuing for a whole hour in company with a party of gentlemen who sat in a circle round a big table. The windows and the doors stood open, and not only my hands, but my whole body and my feet were chilled. My head began to ache...I did not know what to do for cold, headache and tedium. I kept on thinking, "If it were not for Monsieur Grimm I would leave this instant". At last to be brief I played the wretched, miserable pianoforte. Most vexing of all, however, Madame and her gentlemen never ceased their sketching for a moment, but remained intent upon it , so that I had to play to the chairs, tables and walls.Under these vile conditions I began to lose patience.....

In the same letter to his father, Wolfgang describes the difficulties of establishing himself socially in Paris and his problems living in the City-

You write that I ought to be assiduous in paying visits to form new acquaintances and revive the old ones. But this is not possible. The distances are too great for walking - or else the roads too dirty, for the filth of Paris is indescribable. As to driving - one has the honour of expending four to five livres a day - and all in vain; people return your compliments and there's an end. ...At first I wasted money enough in this way - and often entirely in vain, for i found the people from home. If one were not here one could not believe how hopeless it is ! Altogether Paris is greatly changed. The French are not as polite as fifteen years ago. Their manners border on coarseness and they are terribly discourteous. Letter dated May 1 1778

Ever hopeful, a month later he breaks some potentially good news to his father-

I am not merely to write an act for an opera, but an entire one in 2 acts. The poet has completed the first act. Noverre with whom I dine as often as I please, managed this, and indeed, suggested the 'idea' April 5 1778

Hope of collaboration with Noverre in a large-scale theatrical production was still in the air another month later, as he informed his father-

I shall soon, I believe, get the libretto for my opera en deux acts and shall first of all have to show it to the director Monsieur de Huime, for his approval. there is not a doubt of that, however, for it comes from Noverre and De Huime has Noverre to thank for his new post. Noverre is about to design a new ballet and i am to compose music for it. Letter dated 14 th May 1778

The ballet-master Jean-George Noverre (1727-1810) had already written his major treatise upon dance in 1760. In it he argues that consideration for movement of the dancer is essential. Any costume which restricted the movement of the dancer was discouraged, the ballet d'action was first and foremost to be centred upon displaying the skills of the dancer ; furthermore the story-line was to engage in simple, clear, unambiguous emotions, assisted by appropriate music which empathized with setting, dance and action. Noverre's treatise effectively paved the way for the birth and development of modern ballet as we know it today.

When Noverre met the young Mozart in Paris he was nearly thirty years the young composer's senior and wise to the fickleness of the Parisian audience. Its not improbable that while dining with the young Mozart the well-traveled Chevalier may have recollected his travels, including his years resident in England, 1754-56 when resident at London and Norwich. Noverre may well have witnessed the completion of the latest building by Thomas Ivory, architect of his Norwich home, now the Assembly Rooms and one-time Noverre cinema. Ivory's architectural masterpiece was however, the Octagonal chapel at Colegate, Norwich-over-the-water which was completed in the year of Mozart's birth, 1756. Its Neo-classical facade and geometrical architecture would not be incongruous as the back-drop to a Mozart opera; its Octagonal shape and imposing entrance a fitting setting for the Masonic rituals of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute.

It's still very much the same tune from Wolfgang in a letter to his father 3 months later-

'Noverre, too is soon to arrange a new ballet, for which I am to write the music. July 3rd 1778

The resultant fruits of Mozart's collaboration with Noverre was a Suite of Ballet-music entitled Les Petit Riens K299b. It was performed just six times without mention of the composer's name in either billing or programme. The Symphony in D major K.297 now known as the "Paris" symphony was a greater compositional achievement and concert-hall success. Written in the festive and civic social key of D major in an easy-pleasing style and scored with the added luxury of 2 clarinets, a pungent air of the flamboyant, the vigorous and athletic pervades its mood. The Wood-wind scoring in particular of a rich harmony due to the addition of a pair of clarinets, the first time Mozart had written for the relatively new instrument. After a successful performance Mozart celebrated with a walk in the park and a Sherbet after having said his rosary.

But it was also during his Paris visit that personal tragedy was to strike the young composer . On the night of the 2nd/3rd July 1778, after a short illness, his mother died.

From this bereavement came the composition marking the emotional rite-de-passage, his Sonata for Violin and pianoforte K 304; the only time Mozart wrote in the key of E minor. There's a real traumatized, heart-wrenching grief of the recently-bereaved expressed in the sobbing opening bars of this sonata; its second movement is calmer, more like grief in reflection upon the memory of his departed mother. Paris had produced fruits in composition, but not how Mozart had imagined in the form of opera. Half a year since his arrival in Paris , Mozart had the measure of how his talent was vulnerable to time-wasting exertion without economic reward, writing to his father-

I ought to write an opera now (having said that I am going away), but I said to Noverre, "If you will guarantee me its production as soon as it is finished and will tell me exactly what you will pay me for it, i will stay another three months and write it". they did not agree to these terms , however, and I knew before-hand that they would not and could not, since they are not according to usage here. Here, as perhaps you know, an opera is examined on its completion, and if the "stupid Frenchmen " do not approve of it, it is not given and the composer has written in vain.. Letter dated 11th September 1778

When Mozart left Paris he must surely have shook the dust from his feet and muttered 'Never again' under his breath; indeed he never returned to Paris. The six month sojourn had produced relatively few compositions, the manuscript of Le Petit Riens was lost, only to be 'rediscovered' in 1873; the Paris symphony marks one more rung climbed in symphonic development for the composer. There were also 4 flute concerto's and an insipid-sounding Flute and Harp Concerto in C major K 299 , composed during his stay, both were instruments Mozart cared little for.

The young composer returned to the service of Archbishop Colleredo in Salzburg. A position of servitude he endured for 3 more years, before a final break. He still however had one last laugh at his would-be Parisian sponsors. His prodigious musical genius shines through in his letter declaration en route to Salzburg to his father-

The result is that I am bringing no finished work with me save my sonatas - for Le Gros bought the two overtures and the symphony concertante . He thinks he has them all to himself, but it is not so - they are still fresh in my head and as soon as I am home I shall write them out again! -Oct 3 1778

There were greater compositions, greater concert-hall and theatrical triumphs awaiting the young composer in Vienna and Prague, but not in Paris.

Thorpe Water Frolic

The masterwork of Joseph Stannard (1797-1830). The Norwich School of painters lost one its greatest artists with his early death.

The Thorpe Water Frolic was an idea of the wealthy merchant Thomas Harvey from his witnessing water-festivities at Venice while on the Grand tour of Europe. Begun in 1824 the Thorpe Water-Frolic attracted crowds of over 30,000 when the population of Norwich was at that time little more than 10,000. A welcome day of rest for the many weavers of Norwich who often worked in cramped conditions, the Water-frolic was enjoyed as a rare day of recreation in the fresh air.

The division of the social classes was maintained throughout the event with gentry and aristocracy upon the left-bank, and workers to the right-bank of the canvas. Harvey who commissioned the painter Joseph Stannard to record the events of the Water-Frolic can be seen standing centre-left as if wading. Stannard has placed himself in the painting wearing red, shading his eyes and looking towards Harvey.

There appears to be several weather conditions depicted in the bright and busy sky-scape. A storm may be just clearing and better weather arriving. In any event its been suggested that Stannard was influenced by the writings of Berchem and his observations upon light and clouds. Stannard had also traveled to Holland in 1821 and and may well have seen the master-works by Dutch painters such as Ruisdael and Hobbema.

Water frolics held a special interest for Stannard beyond the aesthetics and social. He was a skilled oarsman and owned a prize-winning boat, the Cytherea, a four-oared skiff...It was certainly on view at the frolic of 1824, steered by an urchin and rowed by four youths in a uniform of blue-netted waistcoats, scarlet belts, white trousers and yellow straw hats with a laurel leaf and Cytherea in gold...If the Thorpe water frolics were really great pageants , as the Norwich Mercury suggested, and if the multitudes who attended were all actors, then Stannard played his part thoroughly. The Cytherea in 1825 appeared richly transformed:

'its colour is purple; the inside is adorned with an elegant gilt scroll, which completely encircles it; on the back-board where the coxswain sits, is a beautiful and spirited sea piece, representing a stiff breeze at sea, with vessels sailing in various directions, painted in oils are nearly covered with gilt dolphins.....

(from article by Trevor Fawcett-Roper in Norfolk Archaeology 1976)