09.03
DGM HQ.
DGM Tractor & Compost lot, with some parking…
Look closer I…
II…
For my Sister & I, a pigeon is a good omen; as befitting maternal grandchildren of the Pigeon Racing Champion of Wales 1935-37. This pigeon may not be Lily Of The Valley, but stands in her place.
Bibliotaphistry? Hah! Fragg may not read his books, but I do my best; and a recent-return to considerable reading is the result of a decision to do so. May we note: for a bibliotaphist, the World & his Mother is connected along a bookshelf. So…
This morning’s reading - Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd,
Review by John Carey
Review by Stanley Wells
Review by Luke Reid
links several recent arisings of interest, including the history of the Church of England http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=6200, Fripps, the locality of Bredonborough (where does that Fripp live?), books on shelves, the organization of World HQ & the very old mulberry tree in our garden; and probably all other persons, events & arisings in the history of this particular Creation, if not in the preceding 15 Creations. (According to one tradition, our Creation is the 16th: after 15 screw-ups, God said – all right, let’s have another go!). Whether this attracts any interest beyond myself, and those who love me, holds no relevance for this particular posting.
John Shakespeare’s Recusancy: New Light on an Old Document
by F.W. Brownlow in Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Summer, 1989), pp. 186-191. John was William’s Father.
Shakespeare, Man and Artist by Edgar Innes Fripp and Edgar Innes Fripp’s Shakespeare’s Stratford (digitised here) was recently referred to in this diary.
William bought himself an Ace Pile, New Place, in Stratford (Stratford parish history…) where he planted a mulberry tree, which became famous & well visited. Perhaps, too well visited for its own good.
This diary for September 16th. 2006:
Mulberry trees were introduced to England at the behest of James I, (James VI of Scotland) in the early years of his reign (1607- 9). James, when not viddying bona lallies, was hoping to build a silk industry to rival that of Continental Europe. He failed, because the mulberries introduced were not the white variety that silk worms found to be very, very tasty indeed.
Introducers of Exotic Flowers, Fruits &c
The first mulberry-trees in this country are now standing at Sion-house. By an Harleian MS. it is mentioned that the first general planting of mulberries and making of silk in England was by William Stallenge, comptroller of the custom-house, and Monsieur Verton, in 1608. It is probable that Monsieur Verton transplanted this novelty from his own country... Here the mulberries have succeeded better than the silkworms.
We will return to M. Verton shortly.
http://www.v72.org/medicinal_mulberry.htm
There are many famous Mulberry trees in England. Those of Syon House, Brentford, are of special historical interest and include what is reported to be the oldest tree of its kind in England, said to be introduced from Persia in 1548…
In 1608 James I, being anxious to further the silk industry by introducing the culture of the silkworm into Britain, issued an edict encouraging the cultivation of Mulberry trees, but the attempt to rear silkworms in England proved unsuccessful, apparently because the Black Mulberry was cultivated in error, whereas the White Mulberry is the species on which the silkworm flourishes…
’The Royal edict of James I,’ writes Loudon, ’recommending the cultivation of silkworms and offering packets of Mulberry seeds to all who would sow them, no doubt rendered the tree fashionable, as there is scarcely an old garden or gentleman’s seat throughout the country, which can be traced back to the seventeenth century, in which a Mulberry tree is not to be found... Shakespeare’s famous Mulberry, of which there are descendants at Kew, is referable to this period. Shakespeare is said to have taken it from the Mulberry garden of James I, and planted it in his garden at New Place, Stratford-on-Avon, in 1609…
However, on p. 305 of Peter Ackroyd… in 1609 a Frenchman named Verton distributed young mulberry plants through the midland counties at the request of James I. The author’s inference is that Shakespeare’s mulberry may have been obtained from M. Verton. Our garden is a day’s boating downriver from Stratford; so, perhaps M. Verton is also responsible for the origination of our own tree.
Meanings & Legends of FlowersShakespeare’s famous Mulberry, Malone writes, ’was celebrated in many a poem, one especially by Dibdin, but about 1752, the then owner of New Place, the Rev. Mr. Gastrell, bought and pulled down the house and cut down Shakespeare’s celebrated Mulberry tree, to save himself the trouble of showing it to those whose admiration of the poet led them to visit the ground on which it stood.’
The pieces were made into many snuffboxes and other mementoes of the tree, some of them being inscribed with the punning motto, ~Memento Mori.~ Ten years afterwards, when the freedom of the city was presented to Garrick, the document was enclosed in a casket made from the wood of this tree. A cup was also made from it, and at the Shakespeare Jubilee, Garrick, holding the cup, recited verses, composed by himself, in honour of the Mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare. A slip of it was grown by Garrick in his garden at Hampton Court, and a scion of the original tree is now growing in Shakespeare’s garden.
So, a happy ending-ish, then.
This is our own mulberry tree on 17th. June 2006 with partly-decomposed trunk, plugged with concrete, and my estimate of its age - close to 400 years.
The Minx & I find its black berries exceptionally tasty.
11.17 Day Two of Rocking Out With Roberto.
Or it should be, but only one channel is arriving from the Solar Voyager.
Wherefore art thou, stereo?
Eventual success! Alex is a happy boy, and strips for action.
14.15 One track stomped flat with solos & Soundscapes. It’s all in the feet…
18.02 A second track pumped & squernoed, Alex has gone. He’s had quite enough. The Vicar is upstairs, editing. Stuff has reduced me to dribbling. Dribble.
22.20 E-frenzying enough.
"Never become so popular that the public take an interest in you."
