Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922)

More information here.

Pioneers, O Pioneers

Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Jews
Suffered from new and original views,
He crawled on his hands and knees, it's said,
With grass in his mouth and a crown on his head.
     With a wowtyiddly, etc.

Those in traditional paths that trod
Thought the thing was a curse from God,
But a Pioneer men always abuse
Like Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Jews.

Black Lord Foulon the Frenchman slew
Thought it a Futurist thing to do.
He offered them grass instead of bread.
So they stuffed him with grass when they cut off his head.
     With a wowtyiddly, etc.

For the pride of his soul he perished then -
But of course it is always of Pride that men,
A Man in advance of his Age accuse,
Like Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Jews.

Simeon Scudder of Styx, in Maine,
Thought of the thing and was at it again.
He gave good grass and water in pails
To a thousand Irishmen hammering rails.
     With a wowtyiddly, etc.

Appetites differ; and tied to a stake
He was tarred and feathered for Conscience' Sake.
But stoning the prophets is ancient news,
Like Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Jews.

(G.K.C.)

Ármin Vámbéry (1832-1913)

More information here, but the only thing you really need to know is that he is considered by some to be the model for Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula (1897).

On the Goodness of the Supreme Being

Orpheus, for so the Gentiles call'd thy name,
Israel's sweet Psalmist, who alone couldst wake
Th'inanimate to motion; who alone
The joyful hillocks, the applauding rocks,
And floods with musical persuasion drew;
Thou who to hail and snow gav'st voice and sound,
And mad'st the mute melodious! — greater yet
Was thy divinest skill, and rul'd o'er more
Than art or nature; for thy tuneful touch
Drove trembling Satan from the heart of Saul,
And quell'd the evil Angel: — in this breast
Some portion of thy genuine spirit breathe,
And lift me from myself, each thought impure
Banish; each low idea raise, refine,
Enlarge, and sanctify; — so shall the muse
Above the stars aspire, and aim to praise
Her God on earth, as he is prais'd in heaven. […]

For the rest, see here.

I saw the world...

I saw the world a great orchestra filled with angels whose instruments were of gold. And I saw the organ on the top of the axis round which all should turn, but nothing turned and nothing moved and the angels stirred not and all was as still as a stone, and I was myself also, like the rest, as still as a stone.
Then I saw some huge, cloud-like forms nearing, and behold! it was the Lord bringing two of his children by the hand.
"O Papa!" said one, "isn't it pretty?"
"Yes, my dear," said the Lord, "and if you drop a penny into the box the figures will work."
Then I saw that what I had taken for the keyboard of the organ was no keyboard but only a slit, and one of the little Lords dropped a plaque of metal into it. And then the angels played and the world turned round and the people began killing one another and the two little Lords clapped their hands and were delighted.

September is Etymology Month (30)

ПОДКУЗЬМИТЬ [podkuz'mit'] 'to do someone a bad turn'. From the festival of Sts. Kuz'ma and Dem'jan (17th October, OS), at which deals were concluded and accounts settled between employer and employee, originally 'to dispel hopes connected with St. Kuz'ma's Day'. Cf. объегорить 'to cheat', originally referring to the practice of reneging on similar deals struck before St. George's Day (Егор(ий) from Георгий, patron saint of agriculture), 26 November NS.

September is Etymology Month (8)

ЦЕРКОВЬ [cérkov'] 'church'. In origin the acc. case (цьркъвь) of 11th-century цьркы, probably from late Gk. kurikón 'God's house', from earlier (4th century AD) adj. kuriakón 'the Lord's', which was substantivised as 'communion' (from kuriakón deipnon, id., lit. 'the Lord's meal') then 'church' (ellipsis for to (doma) kuriakón 'House of the Lord'). Ultimately from Gk. kúrios 'lord' (Kúrios 'Christ'), with k- changing to ц- (for k- to ч- by first palatalisation of velars, cf. Bulg. черква, alongside църква 'church'). Possibly via. Goth. *kirikô, id. or OHG kiricha, id. (cf. Ger. Kirche, id.). Cf. also cognate куролесить 'to play tricks'.

Current Favourite Mental Collapse

'The previous year, Carlota had returned to Europe to plead for support for her husband's failing regime. Napoleon III was unwilling to back up his Mexican ambitions with the necessary military force, so Carlota went to Rome to beg for help from the Pope. On the way she began behaving strangely. Modern psychiatry would doubtless have a more precise diagnosis, but the language of her day seems more appropriate. Carlota went mad. She became convinced that an organ grinder on the street was a Mexican colonel in disguise, and that spies of every sort were trying to poison her. As a precaution she ate only oranges and nuts, checking the peels and the shells for signs of tampering. She made her coachman stop at Rome's Trevi fountain so that she could fill a crystal pitcher with water certain not to be poisoned. In her hotel suite she kept a small charcoal stove and, tied to table legs, several chickens, to be slaughtered and cooked only in her sight. With her obedient staff in despair, her rooms slowly filled with feathers and chicken droppings.

Flushed and weeping, Carlota burst in on the Pope one morning as he was finishing breakfast, dipped her fingers in his hot chocolate, and licked them hungrily, crying, "This at least is not poisoned. Everything they give me is drugged, and I am starving, literally starving!" A cardinal and the commander of the Papal Guards manoeuvred her out of the room, whereupon Carlota gave the guards' commander a list of her staff members who should be arrested for treachery.'

Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost (1999)

Thomas Struth (1954- )

More information here.

Rosario de Velasco Belausteguigoitia (1904-1991)

Adán y Eva (1932). More information (in Catalan) here.

Frederick Rolfe (1860-1913)

More information here.

September is Etymology Month (4)

cloth (n.) O.E. clað "a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one," hence, "garment," from P.Gmc. *kalithaz (cf. O.Fris. klath, M.Du. cleet, Du. kleed, M.H.G. kleit, Ger. Kleid "garment"), of obscure origin. The cloth "the clerical profession" is from 17c.

Giovanni Leone (1908-2001)

Former President of Italy, seen here (poor PR) making a an apotropaic gesture to ward off misfortune while visiting cholera patients in Naples. More information here.

Papas (1927-2000)

The major bonus of Pressburger's novel was that it was illustrated by the great Papas, which is enough to make even the most predictable prose enjoyable. Below: fascists and priests.

Simnel Cake

My parents, purveyors of high-class baked goods, are visiting this weekend. As well as six Florentines (well, it was six Florentines for about ten minutes, now it's a number you can cound on the fingers of only one hand) they brought a simnel cake. Traditional simnel cakes have balls of marzipan on top: either eleven (to represent the twelve apostles minus Judas) or thirteen (to represent the twelve apostles plus Christ). This variant has thirty-nine chocolate Easter eggs. Aside from the troubling theological implications (unless this was a deliberate homage to the 39 Articles), I think this is an improvement.

Aleijadinho (1730/38 - 1814)

Brazilian sculptor. More information here.

Antonio Galván Espárrago (1944- )

Our local bijou bookshop / winebar, Tipos Infames, has an exhibition on of drawings by this Badajoz-born artist, who is great.

Iain Lom (c.1625-c.1710)

Scots Gaelic poet, author of the the resonant description of wicked John Menteith, the 'stripped tree of the false apples, Neil’s son of woeful Assynt'. More information here and here.

José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913)

More information here. A little belated, but, ¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

Current Favourite Sentences

Fourthly, without regard of them, or of us, I say, that even in regard of Himselfe, Hoc erit Signum. Would there be a proportion between the Signe and the Signatum? There is so. This, holds good proportion with the ensuing course of his life, and death. And, (all considered), it is even Signum adaequatum. We may well begin with Christ in the Cratch: We must end with Christ on the Crosse. The Cratch is a Signe of the Crosse. They that write de rusticâ, describe the forme of making a Cratch Crosse-wise. The Scandal of the Cratch is a good preparative, to the Scandal of the Crosse. To be swadled thus, as a Child, doth that offend? What then, when ye shall see him pinion'd and bound as a Malefactor? To lye in a manger, is that so much? how then, when ye shall see Him hang on the Crosse? But so,-primo ne discrepet imum; that His beginning and His end may suit well and not disagree; Sic oportuit Christum nasci, thus ought Christ to be borne and this behoved to be His Signe.