This post is about the Works and Days which is a farmer’s Almanac written for the brother of Hesiod. But today is also another Friday the Thirteenth so please read my post here to find out about the unlucky days of the year..
Hesiod’s Works and Days has a mixture of seasonal good advice and moralising. He is, one of the first great poets of the western world, and near contemporary with Homer. The poem is an important source for Greek Myths. For example, it tells us that the stories of Prometheus and Pandora are the reasons the Gods cannot give us a simple, wholesome life. He also describes the ages of humanity. These are: Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Heroic Age, and his own modern day – the decadent Iron age. This idea was borrowed by C. J. Thomsen at the National Museum of Denmark in the early 19th Century. He created our modern Three Age System of Stone, Bronze and Iron Age. Our system is perhaps more optimistic with a progressive trend, while the Greek system degenerates through successive eras.
Hesiod’s Grecian Spring
Hesiod sees Spring as a time to begin trading by sea. He warns us not to put all our eggs in one vessel as Spring can bring nasty nautical surprises.
‘Spring too grants the chance to sail. When first some leaves are seen On fig-tree-tops, as tiny as the mark A raven leaves, the sea becomes serene For sailing. Though spring bids you to embark, I’ll not praise it – it does not gladden me. It’s hazardous, for you’ll avoid distress With difficulty thus. Imprudently Do men sail at that time – covetousness Is their whole life, the wretches. For the seas To take your life is dire. Listen to me: Don’t place aboard all your commodities – Leave most behind, place a small quantity Aboard. To tax your cart too much and break An axle, losing all, will bring distress.
Be moderate, for everyone should take An apt approach. When you’re in readiness, Get married. Thirty years, or very near, Is apt for marriage. Now, past puberty Your bride should go four years: in the fifth year Wed her. That you may teach her modesty Marry a maid. The best would be one who Lives near you, but you must with care look round Lest neighbours make a laughingstock of you. A better choice for men cannot be found Than a good woman,’
In Rome, early March is taken up with celebrations of the Great God Mars. His favour enabled the Romans to conquer most of the known world. But let the poet Horace explain:
Winter’s grip is loosening at the welcome turn of spring and the West Wind As windlasses haul empty hulls to the sea. Cattle no longer feel contented in their stables nor the farmer by his hearth, And no morning frosts are leaving a white sheen on the fields. Now Cytherean Venus leads the dance under a moon hanging high, And hand in hand nymphs and beauteous Graces, With rhythmic feet, stamp the ground, while busy, glowing Vulcan Tends the massive forges of the Cyclopes. Now ’tis time to wreathe our glistening locks with green myrtle And with flowers borne by the unshackled earth; Now ’tis time to make sacrifice in shadowy groves to Faunus, Whether he demands a lamb or a kid if he prefers
For the Anglo-Saxon their poetry shows Spring as a great release when the ‘fetters of frost’ fall off and allow a welcome return to sailing on the high seas
The Seafarer
The woods take on blossoms, towns become fair, meadows grow beautiful the world hastens on; all these things urge the eager mind, the spirit to the journey, in one who thinks to travel far on the paths of the sea.….
So now my spirit soars out of the confines of the heart, my mind over the sea flood; it wheels wide over the whale’s home,
Poem from the Exeter Book known as the Seafarer, quoted in Eleanor Parker’s ‘Winters in the World a journey through the Anglo Saxon year’.
The store cupboards are getting denuded of the fruits, nuts, preserves, pickles, salted and dried foods saved from the summer and autumnal abundance. Of course, this is alleviated by the reduced consumption of the Lenten fast. (I’m continuing my lenten practice of giving up, giving up things for Lent). But nettles are budding. I take a regular cup of nettle tea. Normally, provided by the excellent Cowan’s tea emporium in the Covered Market in Oxford. But I’m running out and not due to visit Oxford for a month or so. So Charles Kightley in his Perpetual Almanac tells me that young stinging nettles are appearing and this is the time to collect own young, juicy nettles.
Here is a video about collecting them.
YouTube Video on making Nettle Tea
Nettle Beer
Or better still, change up the tea for a nettle beer:
Take a gallon measure of freshly gathered young nettles washed well dried and well packed down. Boil them in a gallon of water for at least a quarter of an hour. Then strain them, press them and put the juice in an earthenware pot with a pound of brown sugar and the juice and grated skin of a lemon. Stir well, and before it grows cool put in an ounce of yeast dissolved in some of the liquid. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for four or five days and strain again and bottle it, stopping the bottles well. It’ll be ready after a week, but better if left longer.
Nettle Beer was brewed for old people against ‘gouty and rheumatic pains’.
Nettle: Detecting Virgins
A more sinister use is provided by William Coles who gives a method of detecting virginity.
‘Nettle tops are usually boiled in pottage in the Springtime, to consume the Phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of the winter have left behind. And it is said that if the juice of the roots of nettles be mixed with ale and beer, and given to one that suspected to have lost her maidenhood, if it remain with her, she is a maid, But if she’s spews forth, she is not.‘
William Cole’s Adam in Eden 1657.
Flagellation with Nettles?
William Camden reported that Roman soldiers used nettles to heat up their legs in the cold of a British winter. (from Mrs Greaves’ ‘A Modern Herbal). Perhaps, I should have sent that idea to PM Keir Starmer? He might have suggested the method to Senior Citizens to alleviate the loss of their Winter Fuel Allowance? (which he has now restored). Flogging with nettles was a cure for rheumatism and the loss of muscle power in the early modern period. Nettles were also added to horse feed to make their coats shine. It was used as a hair tonic for humans.
Nettle Fabrics
The 18th century poet Thomas Campbell is quoted on the virtues of nettles:
“I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other linen.”
In 2012, a Danish Bronze Age Burial was found to be dressed in a shroud made of Nettle. Strangely, the nettle was not local, perhaps being made in Austria where other objects in the rich burial came from. However, the person was thought to be Scandinavian. For more have a look at this article on www.nbcnews.com.
In the Irong Age, also in Denmark, Huldremose Woman was found buried in a bog. She had a severed arm and was buried in elaborate sheep and goat skin clothes, but underneath:
‘she wore a white inner garment made from plant fibres that reached from the shoulders to below the knees. The type of plant fiber is unclear but other evidence from the time period suggests that it could have been made of nettle.’
Greaves tells us that the German and Austrians had a shortage of cotton during the blockade of World War 1. They turned to nettles to replace cotton production believing it to be the only effective substitute. It was also substituted for sugar, starch, protein, paper and ethyl alcohol.
YouTube Video on making fabric from nettles
Nettle Pudding
Pepys ate Nettle Pudding in February 1661 and pronounced it ‘very good’. Here is more on Nettles in history AND a recipe for Nettle Pudding! I can see I’m going to have to get out there and carefully pick myself some nettles! ( For Folklore of Nettles look here).
Remember, none of the above is necessarily good advice as far as medicine is concerned. For smoking herbs see my post coltsfoot-smoking-cholera
March Weather
In the early modern almanacs there is much weather and horticultural advice to be had (Weather Lore. Richard Inwards).
‘March damp and warm Will do farmer much harm‘
or
‘In March much snow to plants and trees much woe‘
On This Day
March 10th is St Kessog Day. He is associated with Luss on Loch Lomond, and was Robert the Bruce’s rallying cry. St Kessog and Scotland!
241 BC – The Battle of the Aegates in which the Carthaginian fleet is sunk, and the First Punic War ends. Carthage was destroyed in the Third Punic War in 146BC. Rebuilt as a Roman City 100 years later.
1629 – Parliament is dissolved by Charles I. This was followed by a Royal dictatorship which lasted 11 years, and then led to Civil War.
1906 – Bakerloo Line Opened. The name originated from the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway. It goes from Harrow &Wealdstone in the NW to Elephant & Castle in the South East, via the Central London section which goes from Bakers Street to Waterloo, Sherlock Holmes didn’t use the Tube very much (see this post here for those times he did). There is a proposed extension from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham.
1969 – James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years in jail for murdering Martin Luther King. While Ray was a segrationalist and a supporter of George Wallace, he maintained he was set up as the scapegoat. He died in prison in 1998.
St Chad’s Church, Hackney. Statue of Bishop (I’m guessing St Chad!) Photo K Flude
St Chad
Today, is the Feast Day of St Chad who died on 2nd March 672. St Chad’s Church, Hackney is 400 yards from my house. It is a massive late 19th Century Church. Grade 1 listed built by James Brooks in 1869 in ‘his austere and muscular red-brick Gothic.’
photo of St Chad’s Church Haggerston, London. Photo K FludeSt Chad’s Vicarage, 1870 St Chad’s Church, Hackney. Photo K. Flude
Chad was possibly of Celtic origins but associated with the Anglian nobility in Northumberland. He was a pupil of St Aidan who set up the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. As a young man, he spent time in Ireland, then became an Abbot, Bishop to the Northumbrians at York, and to the Mercians at Lichfield. His brother was St Cedd, who was important in early Christian Essex and Yorkshire.
Chad was very humble, refusing to ride around his diocese, preferring to walk, Whenever there was a violent storm, he would prostrate himself to pray to save his people. The weather, he believed, was one of the ways God communicated. This might reflect Chad’s Celtic origins. Chad is the patron saint of medicinal springs according to one source. St. Chad’s Day (2 March) is said to be the best time to sow broad beans in England. You see he is a humble man.
March & Pisces
From the zodiac from kalendar of shepherds
Roman Months, Weeks (hours, minutes and 24/7, 60/360)
I have been discussing the way the Roman Calendar used to work. Now it is our turn to look at the week. A week is a division of a month.
Oxford Languages says that the month derives from:
Old English mōnath, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch maand and German Monat, also to Moon.
Its length is roughly the length the moon takes to complete its cycle. So the obvious division of the month is into the phases of the Moon. The early Romans chose to keep the lunar associations with their division of the month. Their month was divided according to the Moon’s phases into the Kalends, the Nones and the Ides, as I describe in my Ides of March post here. Note that these Roman divisions divide only half the cycle. That is from new moon to full moon. The next 15 days are one block ‘before the Kalends’. So, not weeks as we know them! Although alongside Kalends, nones and ides, the Romans had 8 day market ‘weeks’.
Julius Caesar’s successful calendar reforms, restored the Calendar to alignment with the Sun, but stopped any pretence that months were linked to actual movements of the moon. So, I’m not sure why he kept the moon based Kalends system.
In the 4th Century, after re-uniting the Roman Empire, supreme leader, Constantine the Great, wanted to make his own contribution to the rationalisation of the calendar. So, he got rid of the moon based Kalends, Ides and Nones, and established the week as the main subdivision of the month.
To please the Christians, he swopped the day of leisure from old man Saturn’s Day to the Son of God’s Day, Sunday. This is the day Jesus ascended to heaven, but it was also the day for Mithras and the Unconquered Sun, so keeping some pagans happy. He then established the 7 day week. 7 was a sacred number and the number of the ‘planets’ in the Solar System as the Romans understood it (5 planets plus the sun and moon).
In Britain, we clung to some of our pagan names for the weeks. So Saturday, Sunday and Monday are Roman in origin. The Latin origins of the days of the week are obvious in the Romance languages, French, Spanish and Italian. Lundi from the moon, Mardi from Mars, Mecredi from Mercury, Jeudi from Jupiter, and Vendredi from Venus. Samedi came from Saturn. Dimanche from dies Dominica which means the Lord’s Day.
Tuesday – Friday are Anglo Saxon, named after the deities: Tiv, Woden, Thor, and Freya. Thank God its Freya’s Day, they probably didn’t say! (because they worked on Saturn’s Day.)
The Heavens and the Zodiac
The order of the days comes from their position in the sky. Not in their position around the Sun but their position in the zodiac. Babylon created the scheme of a division of the sky into 24 hour long sections, a god presided over each division. This is where we get our hours from. And half of 24 is 12 so the 12 signs of the Zodiac.
It is too complicated to explain but there were 7 deities and 24 divisions, so the deities rotated and did more than one shift. Babylon used the numerical base of 60. So we have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circumference.
Other societies ignored hours until we had clocks to measure them. In Chaucer’s time, hours were a 12th of the Day and a 12th of the Night, so in summer, day time hours were longer, and nighttime hours shorter, and vice versa in winter. Those hours were called ‘artificial hours’. This makes a sort of sense – in winter, daytime hours are precious, so you get a shift on to get essential work done in the short hours of daylight. In summer, you have a long day, long hours, so you can take it a little easier. Therefore, your productivity in a winter hour might be similar to your productivity in a longer summer hour? Anglo-Saxons divided days by tides; morningtide, eventide and nighttide.
Ages of man
As I have mentioned before, prophecy often sees a connection between the yearly calendar and future events. For example, if it rains on the fourth day of the twelve days of Christmas, then it will rain during the fourth month (they say). The Kalendar of Shepherds illustrates this method, giving a comparison between the ages of man and the months of the year. Twelve months in a year, Twelve ages of man in six year blocks. So March represents ages twelve to eighteen, as it says, below, this is the ‘time to learn doctrine and science’.
Kalendar of Shepherds (translation from French 15th Century original)
On This Day
1836 – The Republic of Texas is set up as an independent State. The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836, but the Texans soon defeated the Mexicans and made the Republic a reality. It was annexed by the United States on December 29, 1845 and soon made a State.
While researching my Jane Austen’s London Walk I was delighted to find this plaque on a wall in Mayfair.
Plaque on Wall in Pickering Place, London (near Pall Mall) for Texas Legation (close up of photo by K Flude)Plaque on Wall in Pickering Place, London (near Pall Mall) for Texas Legation (photo by K Flude)
1969 – First flight of the Concorde, first supersonic aeroplane
1970 – the Republic of Rhodesia was set up by the Southern Rhodesian colonial government of Ian Smith. They declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965 in order to stop the transition to Black Majority Rule. The Republic of Zimbabwe took over on April 18th, 1980, after a bloody war.
First written in March 2023 revised on 2nd March 2024, St Chad added 2025, On This Day added 2026
John Evelyn is, with Pepys and Wren, one of the great figures of 17th Century London. Unlike Pepys, he was an avowed Royalist who hated Oliver Cromwell and all he stood for. He went into exile with his King and gives a great description of Paris (see below).
Like Pepys, John Evelyn was a diarist and a writer. And they, like Wren, were alumni of the Royal Society, one of the great scientific societies. John Evelyn was a founding fellow. It was innovative in that it employed an experimenter. This was Robert Hooke – one of the great early Scientists, who also worked with Wren rebuilding London after the Great Fire. The Royal Society encouraged scientists to experiment, write up their observations, and submit their theories for peer review. This is the foundation of modern Science, and a bedrock of the Enlightenment.
Frontispiece of ‘the History of the Royal-Society of London by Thomas Sprat. John Evelyn was a founder member
Evelyn the Writer.
John Evelyn has a place in my history because, in the 1980’s I worked. with Paul Herbert, on a project to create an interactive history of London. It was financed by Warner Brothers, and in cooperation with the short-lived ‘BBC Interactive TV Unit’. One part of it was a Literary Tour of London. The first half of this Tour is the basis for my book ‘In Their Own Words’ (To buy click here ) And this is where I came across John Evelyn using several of the quotations on this page.
Evelyn was a prolific traveller and a polymath. He wrote on the need to improve London’s architecture and air in Fumifugium (or The Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated). Here is an extract from his Furmifugium.
‘That this Glorious and Antient City, which from Wood might be rendred Brick, and (like another Rome) from Brick made Stone and Marble; which commands the Proud Ocean to the Indies, and reaches to the farthest Antipodes, should wrap her stately head in Clowds of Smoake and Sulphur, so full of Stink and Darknesse, I deplore with just Indignation.
That the Buildings should be compos’d of such a Congestion of mishapen and extravagant Houses; That the Streets should be so narrow and incommodious in the very Center, and busiest places of Intercourse: That there should be so ill and uneasie a form of Paving under foot, so troublesome and malicious a disposure of the Spouts and Gutters overhead, are particulars worthy of Reproof and Reformation; because it is hereby rendred a Labyrinth in its principal passages, and a continual Wet-day after the Storm is over. ‘
And he was an expert on trees. Author of: Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees (1664). He lived at Sayes Court in Depford near Greenwich, which he ill-advisedly rented to Peter the Great of Russia. Letting to Peter was a lot-like inviting a 1960s Rock Band to trash your mansion.
John Evelyn the Exile
Here is a taste of Evelyn’s time as an Exile. It is a short extract from a long entry on the splendid Palaces in and around Paris.
27th February, 1644. Accompanied with some English gentlemen, we took horse to see St. Germains-en-Laye, a stately country house of the King, some five leagues from Paris. By the way, we alighted at St. Cloud, where, on an eminence near the river, the Archbishop of Paris has a garden, for the house is not very considerable, rarely watered and furnished with fountains, statues,[and groves; the walks are very fair; the fountain of Laocoon is in a large square pool, throwing the water near forty feet high, and having about it a multitude of statues and basins, and is a surprising object. But nothing is more esteemed than the cascade falling from the great steps into the lowest and longest walk from the Mount Parnassus, which consists of a grotto, or shell-house, on the summit of the hill, wherein are divers waterworks and contrivances to wet the spectators; this is covered with a fair cupola, the walls painted with the Muses, and statues placed thick about it, whereof some are antique and good. In the upper walks are two perspectives, seeming to enlarge the alleys, and in this garden are many other ingenious contrivances.
This was Evelyn’s reaction when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660,
May 29th 1660:
This day came in his Majestie Charles the 2d to London after a sad, and long exile… this was also his birthday, and with a Triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy; the wayes strawed with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with Tapisry, fountains running with wine: ‘
‘The mayor, Aldermen, all the companies in their liveries, chaines of gold, banners, Lords and nobles, cloth of Silver, gold and velvet every body clad in, the windows and balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpetes, Musik, and myriads of people … All this without one drop of bloud …it was the Lords doing…
1661 – ‘Ash Wednesday. Preached before the King the Bishop of London (Dr. Sheldon) on Matthew xviii. 25, concerning charity and forgiveness.‘
John Evelyn’s Diary Dr Sheldon, the Bishop of London mentioned above, went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a friend of Wren’s Father, and commissioned Wren to build the Sheldonian Theatre, in Oxford.
1782 – OK! Let’s give up! The House of Commons votes against continuing the war with Revolutionary America.
1900 – The Labour Party is founded. And today, the UK woke up to a by-election in a safe Labour seat won by the Greens (40%) with Reform 2nd (29%) and the Labour Party third (26%) Conservatives fourth (2%). So, clearly a progressive vote determined to beat Reform, Labour won about 50% of the vote last time, so a disaster for them. Not a success for Reform, and bad result for the Conservatives.
1933 – Reichstag burns down. Hitler uses it to suspend Civil Liberties, and attack the German Communist Party which was falsely blamed for the fire.
First Published 2024, republished 2025, Making Lardy Cake moved to Fat Thursday and On This Day added 2026
Photo Mohammad Amiri from unsplash. Notice the crimson stigma and styles, called threads, Crocus is one of the characters in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
The story of Crocus and Smilax is in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The book tells the story of myths which involve the metamorphosis of a person to a flower, or to a constellation, or to an echo or some supernatural change in being. This poem is one of the most famous in the world, written in about 6 AD. It influenced Dante, Bocaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats, Bernard Shaw, and me. Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes have translated modern versions of some of the tales.
The mechanicals in ‘The Midsummers Night Dream’ perform Ovid’s story of Pyramus and Thisbe, Titian painted Diana and Actaeon. Shaw wrote about Pygmalion, and we all know the story of Arachne. She claimed to be better than Athene at weaving. And then was turned into a spider.
The poem is about love, beauty, change, arrogance and is largely an Arcadian/rural poem. This is a contrast to Ovid’s ‘Art of Love’ which I use for illustrations of life in a Roman town. The stories are all about metamorphoses, mostly changes happening because of love. But it is also an epic as it tells the classical story of the universe from creation to Julius Caesar.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Crocus
‘Crocus and his beloved Smilax were changed into tiny flowers.’ Ovid tell us, but chooses to give us no more details. So we have to look elsewhere. There are various versions. In the first, Crocus is a handsome mortal youth, beloved of the God Hermes (Mercury). They are playing with a discus which hits Crocus on the head and kills him. Hermes, distraught, turns the youth into a beautiful flower. Three drops of his blood form the stigma of the flower. In another version, Crocus and the nymph Smilax, fall in love. And are rewarded by immortality as a flower. One tale has Smilax turned into the Bindweed.
Morning Glory or Field Bindweed photo Leslie Saunders unsplash
Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Bindweed
It turns out that Smilax means ‘bindweed’ in Latin. Bindweed is from the Convolvulus family, and I have grown one very successfully in a pot for many years. But they have long roots. According to the RHS ‘Bindweed‘ refers to two similar trumpet-flowered weeds. Both of which twine around other plant stems, smothering them in the process. They are difficult to remove. This, could suggest that Smilax is either punished for spurning Crocus, or that she smothered him with love. Medically, Mrs Grieve’s Modern Herbal says all the bindweeds have strong purgative virtues, perhaps another insight into Smilax’s psychology?
The Metamorphosis of Data and the correct use of the plural
Apparently, in the UK some say crocuses and others use the correct Latin plural, croci. On an earlier version of this post I used the incorrect plural crocii.
On the subject of Roman plurals, the Financial Times editorial department made an earth-shattering decision, a couple of years ago. They updated their style guide to make the plural word data (datum is the singular form) metamorphise into the singular form.
So it is now wrong to say ‘data are’ but right to say ‘data is’. For example, it was correct to say: ‘the data are showing us that 63% of British speakers use crocuses as the plural’ but now, it is better to write ‘the data is showing us that 37% of British people prefer the correct Latin form of croci’.
Violets and Crocuses
Violets and crocuses are coming out. They often come out for St Valentine’s Day, and so obviously associated with Love. White croci usually represented truth, innocence, and purity. The purple variety imply success, pride and dignity. The yellow type is joy.’ according to www.icysedgwick.com/, which gives a fairly comprehensive look at the Crocus.
Crocus & Saffron
The autumn-flowering perennial plant Crocus sativus, is the one whose stigma gives us saffron. Roman civilisation spread the plants around Europe. They used it for medicine, as a dye, and a perfume. It was much sought after as a protection against the plague, and extensively grown in the UK. Saffron Walden was a particularly important production area in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Saffron in London
Snowdrop, Crocus, Violet and Silver Birch circle in Haggerston Park. (Photo Kevin Flude, 2022)
The Bishop of Ely grew Saffrom in his beautiful Gardens just outside of the City of London. The area remembered by the London street name: Saffron Hill. It is home to the fictional Scrooge. This area became the London home of Christopher Hatton, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1. His garden was on the west bank of the River Fleet, in London EC1, in the area now known as Hatton Garden. (For more on Christopher Hatton see my post on nicknames Queen Elizabeth I gave to her favourites).
I found out more about Saffron from listening to BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question time and James Wong.
Croydon (on the outskirts of London) means Crocus Valley. A place where Saffron was grown. The Saffron crops in Britain failed eventually because of the cost of harvesting, and it became cheaper to import it. So, we now import it from Spain, Iran, and India amongst other places. But it is being reintroduced in Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, and Sussex. These are – the hot and dry counties. The plant enjoys a South-facing aspect. But it needs protection from squirrels and sparrows who love it. To grow it, look at this post from the Garden Doctor.
Saffron Photo by Vera De on Unsplash
Violets
Viola odorata CC BY-SA 2.5 Wikipedia
The Celts used Violets as cosmetics; the Athenians to moderate anger; the Iranians for insomnia, and are loved by all because of their beauty and fragrance. They have been symbols of death for the young, and used as garlands, nosegays posies, which Gerard says are ‘delightful’.
For more on Ovid, use the search facility (click on menu) or read my post here.
On This Day
197 – The Battle of Lugdunum sees the victory of Septimius Severus over Clodius Albinus reputedly the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. The previous emperor Pertinax died in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. Three main contenders emerged Severus who was African, Niger was from Central Italy, Albinus was the Governor of Britain.
1800 – Napoleon proclaims himself First Consul making him the dictator of France.
1846 – The Republic of Texas officially transfers power to the State of Texas government and becomes part of the United States.
1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima began with the landing of 30,000 US troops.
The Independent January 2021 The Raven the Palladium of Britain
The Raven – the Palladium of Britain
Corvus corax is hatching. An early nesting bird, the Raven is the biggest of the Corvids. They were pushed to the west and north by farmers and game keepers but are making a comeback. Ravens are finding towns convenient for their scavenging habits. So they, again, cover most of the UK except the eastern areas. The Raven is one of the Palladiums of Britain.
A Palladium is something that keeps a city or country safe, They are named after a wooden statue of Pallas Athene, which protected Troy. Perceiving this, Odysseus and Diomedes stole the Palladium from Troy shortly before the Trojan Horse episode. Troy fell and the palladium went to Italy (I’m guessing with Diomedes who is said to have founded several cities in Italy). It ended up in Rome.
The Romans claimed to be descendants of Trojan exiles led by Aeneas. So it was back with its rightful owners. It protected Rome until it was transferred to the new Roman capital at Constantinople. It then disappeared, presumably allowing the Ottoman Turks to conquer the City of Caesar? To read of London Stone as a Palladium see my post here.
The Ravens habits (it is said they know where the battlefields are before they are fought) and their black plumage have made them harbingers of death. In poetry, Ravens glut on blood like the warriors whose emblem they are. Here is a very famous quotation from Y Gododdin, a medieval poem but thought to derive from a poem by the great poet Aneirin from the 7th Century.
‘He glutted black ravens on the rampart of the stronghold, though he was no Arthur.’
This is one of the much argued-about references to King Arthur in the ‘Was he a real person’ trope. The point being, it doesn’t make sense to mention Arthur if King Arthur wasn’t a real person. The story at the Tower of London is that the Ravens kept in the Tower, with clipped wings, keep Britain safe from Invasion. (But see below).
Bran’s Head – the original Palladium of Britain?
By Sonny Mauricio from Unsplash
The Raven was also the symbol of the God-King Bran. Bran was one of the legendary Kings of Britain. His sister, Branwen, was married to the King of Ireland. To cut a long story short, Branwen was exiled by her Irish husband to the scullery. She trained a starling to smuggle a message to her brother, to tell of her abuse.
So Bran took an army over the Irish Sea to restore her to her rightful state. But the ships were becalmed. Mighty Bran blew the boats across the sea – he was that much a hero. Bran was mortality wounded in the fighting that followed. This was a problem because he had previously given away his cauldron of immortality. He gave it to the Irish King in recompense for the insults given to the Irish by Bran’s brother, who hated anyone not British.
Bran’s Head Returns to London
So, the dying Bran, told his companions to cut off his own head and take it back to the White Hill in London. His head was as good a companion on the way back as it was on the way out, and the journey home took 90 years.
At last, they got to London, where Bran told his men to bury his head on the White Hill. As long as it stays here, he said, Britain would be safe from foreign invasion. The White Hill is said to be Tower Hill with its summit at Trinity Gardens, although Primrose Hill is sometimes offered as an alternative.
This was one of the Three Fortunate Concealments and is found in ‘the Triads of the Island of Britain.’ The Triads are from medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of folklore, mythology and history. They are grouped in groups of three.
Arthur and Bran’s Head
But many years later, King Arthur saw no need for anybody or anything other than himself to protect the realm. So he had the head dug up. Calamity followed in the shapes of Sir Lancelot and Mordred which led to the end of the golden age of Camelot and conquest of Britain by the Saxons. This was one of the Three Unfortunate Disclosures.
If we want a rational explanation for the story, there is evidence that Celtic cultures venerated the skull, and palladiums play a part in Celtic Tales.
So what was Arthur doing destroying the palladium that kept Britain safe? Vanity is the answer the story gives. But, perhaps, it’s a memory of Christian rites taking over from pagan rituals? God, Arthur might have thought, would prefer to protect his people himself rather than Christians having to rely on a pagan cult object.
Ravens in the Tower of London
The story of Bran’s head is inevitably linked to the Ravens in the Tower who, it is still said, keep us safe from invasion. As you can see from the photo at the top we still get in a tizz when one goes missing.
Sadly, and I am probably sadder about this than most, the link between the Tower, Bran, and the Ravens cannot be substantiated. Geoffrey Parnell, who is a friend of mine, told me that while working at the Tower of London he searched the records assiduously for the story of the ravens. He found no evidence of the Raven myth & the Tower before the 19th Century, and concluded that it was most likely a Victorian invention. IanVisits has a 2025 story about the Ravens, and also concurs that the Ravens are a recent myth.
The Welsh Triads give a total of two palladiums for Britain, a couple of nationalistic fighting dragons.
The Head of Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, which was concealed in the White Hill in London, with its face towards France. And as long as it was in the position in which it was put there, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island; The second Fortunate Concealment: the Dragons in Dinas Emrys, which llud son of Beli concealed; And the third: the Bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed, in the Chief Ports of this Island. And as long as they remained in that concealment, no Saxon Oppression would ever come to this Island.
All good but then came:
The Three Unfortunate Disclosures:
And there were the Three Unfortunate Disclosures when these were disclosed. And Gwrtheyrn the Thin disclosed the bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed for the love of a woman: that was Ronnwen the pagan woman; And it was he who disclosed the Dragons; And Arthur disclosed the head of Bran the Blessed from the White Hill, because it did not seem right to him that this Island should be defended by the strength of anyone, but by his own.
Gwrtheyrn is Vortigen, the leader of the Britons after the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain, one or two leaders before Arthur. Vortigern, which means something like strong leader in Welsh was a real person in so far as he, unlike Arthur, is mentioned by Gildas a near contemporary source.
The story of the dragons is supposedly from the pre-Roman Iron Age. Every May Day, the Dragons made a terrible noise, causing miscarriages and other misfortunes. So, King Ludd, whom legends says gave his name to London (Ludd’s Dun or Ludd’s walled City), drugged the dragons. He had them buried in a cavern at Dinas Emrys in Eryri (Snowdonia). The Red Dragon represented the Britons (also called the Welsh) and White Dragons the Saxons.
Vortigern, Merlin and Vortimer
Hundreds of years later, (five hundred?) after the Romans had come and gone. Vortigern was trying to build a castle in Eryri at Dinas Emrys. But the walls keep falling down. ‘You need the blood of a boy born not of man’, his necromancers say. They find a boy called Ambrosius aka Merlin whose mother had lain with an incubus. Merlin accused the necromancers of ignorance and explains the wall collapse is caused by two dragons. They find the cavern and let the dragons go. The walls now stand undisturbed. But the Welsh Red Dragon and the Saxon White Dragon can not now be at peace, and the Britons are defeated by the Saxons.
Vortigern betrayed his own people for the lust of Rowena the daughter of Hengist, the Saxon. Hengist was given the province of Kent as his reward, and thus began the Anglo-Saxon take over.
Vortigern’s son is Gwerthefyr (or Vortimer). He was a better man than his dad and fought to keep the Saxons out. After Vortimer’s death his bones were buried at the chief ports on the South Coast. Here they acted as a palladian and they kept the country safe. But they were moved to Billingsgate, in London and put in a Tower. The loss of the palladium allowed the Saxons to land safely on the Kent coast and consolidate their increasing hold over Britain and turning it into England.
Birds in Love
Here is a lovely little medieval poem. It was found in 1931 in the end leaf of a manuscript where someone had been testing their goose quill and scribbled these three lines:
Why it is so wet in the UK at the moment (February 18th)? The answer seems to be that there is a block of cold weather over the States that is moving the Jet Stream south, bringing lots of wet weather. But there is also another block of cold weather over Scandinavia. This means that the low pressures being driven by the Jet Stream, have no where to go and are stopping and dumping their rain all over the UK.
3102 BC – the death of Krishna starts Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism.
1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, traitor to his Brother, Edward IV, was executed in private at the Tower of London. It is said he was drowned in a vat of Malmsey Wine.
1678 – First Part of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan published.
1991 – The IRA plant bombs at Paddington station and Victoria station in London. The IRA gave warnings, and the Victoria bomb went off at 4.20am and caused no casualties. At or just before 7am, the IRA warned that all London Stations were to be bombed in 45 minutes time. The Authorities were slow to clear the stations and at Paddington a bomb went off at 7:40am. 1 person was killed and 38 people were injured. 11 days earlier, the IRA attacked Downing St with a mortar bomb attack.
Written on February 21 revised in February 18th 23, 24, 25, Birds in Love, Wet Weather and On This Day added in 2026
For this was St. Valentine’s Day When every bird came there to chose their mate. Of every type, that men think may And that so huge a noise did they make That earth and sea and tree and every lake So full was, that hardly was there space For to stand so full was the place.
St Valentine’s Patronage
This is the first reference to St Valentine’s as a romantic day. And some people charge Chaucer with making the whole thing up! St Valentine, is supposed to have been martyred in the 3rd Century (290AD) on the Via Flaminia on February 14. He refused to stop marrying people in the Christian rites. Therefore, he is the patron Saint of lovers. Valentine is also the patron Saint of epileptics, fainting and beekeepers. According to legend, he taught a young blind girl how to look after Bees, and, sometime later, her eyesight was restored. He also is said to have treated a young man of epilepsy. Epilepsy was sometimes called the Falling Sickness, and so he is also the Saint of Fainting.
But until Chaucer, there was no particular link with romance. In fact, there are at least three Saint Valentines who were martyred in the Roman period. Their relics are scattered around Europe (have a look at this National Geographic article for the full S.P.). These include bones in Glasgow and his heart in Dublin. There are in total 11 Saints called Valentine in the list of Catholic Saints.
Another theory is that St Valentine has taken over the aspect of the God Cupid, as a Christian attempt to create a holy festival to replace the Lupercalia. See my post on the Lupercalia here.
St Valentine’s Day and Birds
Chaucer’s poem suggests one possible route to the link with romance. Early February is about the time when birds pair off. If they want to have their chicks at the optimal time, then they need to get going before spring has really sprung.
When I think of love, I don’t think of birds. Maybe, this is because I live by a Canal. Outside my garden, I frequently see and hear a Coot chasing his pair across the water before violently mounting her. But then they are fiercely monogamous and defend their nest, fearlessly, against much bigger birds. And swans glide by in beautiful family groups. But Magpies are my favourite lovebird because you see one, and then look around, and you very often see the partner. I have adopted an old tradition that you are supposed to say:
‘Hello, Mr Magpie! Where’s Mrs Magpie?’
And look for the mate. It is good luck if you see her and bad luck if you don’t. (Please feel free to assign your own favourite gender!)
‘One for Sorrow’ is a well-known nursery rhyme found in many variations, and is an example of ‘ornithomancy superstition’ whereby the number of Magpies you see determines some aspect of your future. Magpies normally mate for life, and are not gregarious during the nesting season, but thereafter, they ‘join together in large wintering flocks of more than 20 or so birds.‘. So, perhaps we need at least another seven lines for the rhyme? So, far I have never seen a flock of them. If you have a photo of a flock, please send it to me!
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told. Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss, Eleven for health, Twelve for wealth, Thirteen beware it’s the devil himself.
As to the likelihood of seeing thirteen magpies together – well I have seen them often in pairs, occasionally in threes and often alone.
Here is another, more dangerous version of the rhyme (you are more likely to see the Devil)
One for sorrow, Two for mirth Three for a funeral, Four for birth Five for heaven Six for hell Seven for the devil, his own self
For details of the history of versions of this poem, click here:
Bad Birds
Magpies don’t have a good reputation, traditionally being regarded as thieves and scavengers with untidy nests and eating habits. They are supposed to be attracted to shiny things, but Exeter University did some research which found that they have the normal Corvid’s curiosity for objects. But they are as happy to snatch a dull object as a shiny one. So, we can see they are very intelligent as well as faithful lovers. For me, a good-omened bird (as long as I see the two of them).
44BC – Julius Caesar was appointed dictator in perpetuum. Or perpetual dictator of the Roman Republic. Coins were issued with the phrase DICT PERPETVO.
1400 -Richard II died shortly after Epiphany Rising, a failed plot to restore him to the throne. Some think he was starved to death in captivity in Pontefract Castle. Or he starved himself. His body was taken to London and put on display in St Paul’s Cathedral on 17 February. His remains were taken to one of his favourite palaces at King’s Langley Priory on 6 March. Henry V had his remains ‘translated’ to Westminster Abbey. King’s Langley was a Royal Palace lived in by Eleanor of Aquitaine and Edward II, as well as Richard II. It is near Slough.
‘The accepted tale of the king’s death is that in despair and grief at the death of his friends, King Richard refused to eat or drink, although a few say he was purposely starved to ensure he died as if from a natural death. Another rumour is that when an esquire mentioned the words ‘King Henry’ while he was eating dinner, Richard struck him with the knife he was using. Guards charged in and the king, pushing the table away, took a bill out of one man’s hand and managed to slay four of them but one leapt onto the chair he had vacated and felled him with a stroke of his poleaxe.’
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone
1895 – The Importance of Being Earnest, first produced at the St James’s Theatre, London
1918 – Russia finally adopts the Gregorian calendar. see my post here.
First Published in February 2023, revised and updated in February 2024, 2025 On This Day added 2026
The Greeat Freeze. ‘Skating on the Serpentine’ by Lucien Davis Antique wood-engraved print. Illustrated London News double page from 2 March 1895 (print owned by K Flude)
The Great Freeze
London, February 12, (1895). There is no abatement of the abnormally cold weather which has prevailed in northern Europe for the last week. The Upper Thames is frozen over, and huge blocks of ice breaking away from the mass are floating down the river, causing much damage to the smaller shipping craft. Water traffic is consequently at a complete standstill.
Many cases of death from cold and exposure are reported, the privation and distress in the East End of the city being particularly severe. The cold is so intense that birds are found frozen to death on the branches of the trees, and thousands are perishing. The severe weather has also directly caused considerable mortality, a number of deaths from exposure having been reported among postmen, omnibus drivers, cabmen, and labourers.
Winter of 1895 Limehouse to left, Tower of London to right. Images from Isle of Dogs blog.
The year 1895 was the culmination of a decade of particularly cold winters (and for some the end of the so-called Little Ice Age). On the 11th February, the coldest day in British History was recorded at Braemar at −27.2 °C. February 1895 was the second coldest on record, with the lowest minimum temperatures on record. Shipping in the biggest port in the world was stopped. Therefore, many workers were laid off, and had to resort to what were then called ‘soup kitchens’ and now ‘food banks’. Winter death rates were said to be doubled, with people dying in the street and in unheated homes.
Record minima were set for these dates in February 1895:
7th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
8th: −25.0 °C or −13.0 °F
9th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
10th: −25.6 °C or −14.1 °F
11th: −27.2 °C or −17.0 °F
12th: −20.6 °C or −5.1 °F
13th: −21.9 °C or −7.4 °F
14th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
16th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
17th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
18th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
19th: −22.2 °C or −8.0 °F
Source Wikipedia.
On the flip side people resorted to ponds around London particularly the Serpentine which had 6 inches of ice and 50,000 skaters, with speed skating competitions.
1554 – Lady Jane Grey was executed after a trial at the Guildhall. Her husband was executed on the same day. Her adoption as heir to the throne was ordered by her cousin Edward VI. His minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, (and Jane’s Father-in-Law) arranged for the Privy Council to accept Jane as the next monarch. They were trying to prevent Henry VIII’s Catholic daughter, Mary taking the throne. Jane was Queen for 9 Days. The Privy Council swapped sides as support for Jane collapsed. Jane was the Great-granddaughter of Henry VII and cousins to Mary, Elizabeth and Edward VI.
1993 – The South African Government agrees with the African National Congress to form an elected interim government comprised of both black and white members.
Published February 12th 2024, and republished 2025, 2026
Daffodils & Narcissus. In 2023, I saw my first Daffodil in Hackney in a Council Estate on 12 January. My first daffodil in 2024 was outside my first floor window in early February. On February 11th, 2025, I saw the shoots of Daffodils in my garden but nothing blooming. However, there were daffodils on another Council Estate. In 2026, my first daffodil came out in early January. And the Estates and Parks around have been showing daffodils since late January. They bring such joy and hope for the return of the Sun.
12 Jan 2023. Hackney, London, the first Daffodil.
Narcissus the Flower
Their formal name is Narcissus. The Roman natural historian, Pliny tells us that the plant was:
‘named Narcissus from narkē not from the fabulous boy.’
Narkē is the Greek word from which we derive the word narcotic. It is a reference to the narcotic properties of the narcissus. An extract of the bulb applied to open wounds produced numbness of the whole nervous system and paralysis of the heart. The flowers are also slightly poisonous. So, they were used as an emetic. They brought on vomiting when it was felt necessary that the stomach be emptied. It was used to treat hysteria and epilepsy. They treated children with bronchial catarrh or epidemic dysentery. Among Arabian doctors, it was used to cure baldness and as an aphrodisiac. (Source: A Modern Herbal by Mrs M Grieve.) Please remember these are not recommendations for use medicinally, but are historic uses and may be dangerous.
The Fabulous Boy
The fabulous boy, mentioned by Pliny, was Narcissus. He, according to the Roman Poet Ovid, met the nymph Echo, and she fell in love with the beautiful boy. He spurned her, and she faded until all that remained of her was her voice – the echo we hear.
Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge (the one with the fiery sword) decided on revenge upon the handsome boy. She lured the thirsty youth to a fountain, where, in the pool around the fountain, he saw an image of a breathtakingly handsome boy. He fell instantly in love with such beauty. But it was an image of himself. Realising he would never meet anyone as fabulous as himself, he faded from life. He eventually metamorphised into a white and yellow flower, which was named after him.
Nemesis, with her fiery sword, from the painting on the Staircase at Hampton Court by Antonio Verrio, Photo K Flude
Daffodils & Shakespeare
Daffodils are mentioned in a list of Spring Flowers by Shakespeare in the pastoral play The Winter’s Tale:
(Please note that as you read Shakespeare’s words below that Prosperpina is the wife of Pluto, the God of the Underworld, Dis, is another name for him, Cytherea is the Goddess of Beauty and Love. Phoebus is the Sun God. And the Spring Flowers are Daffodils, violets, primroses, oxlips (primula), Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), Lilies, flower-De-luce (Iris)
Perdita to Camillo
Out, alas! You’d be so lean that blasts of January Would blow you through and through. (To Florizel) I would I had some flowers o’th’ spring, that might Become your time of day – (to the Shepherdesses) That wear upon your virgin branches yet Your maidenheads growing. O Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let’st fall From Dis’s waggon! Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried ere they can behold Bright Phoebus in his strength – a malady Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one: O, these I lack To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend To strew him o’er and o’er!
WT IV.iv.110.2
The reference to Daffodils suggests that for Shakespeare they are around to withstand the March Winds before the Swallows arrive in April. With selective breeding, early flowering species have been developed. Now February and even January are within the scope of the glorious bulb. (here is a post on winter flowering varieties). For my post on Shakespeare & Winter see here.
Once a noisy Nymph, (who never held her tongue when others spoke, who never spoke till others had begun) mocking Echo, spied him as he drove, in his delusive nets, some timid stags.—For Echo was a Nymph, in olden time,—and, more than vapid sound,—possessed a form: and she was then deprived the use of speech, except to babble and repeat the words, once spoken, over and over. Juno confused her silly tongue, because she often held that glorious goddess with her endless tales, till many a hapless Nymph, from Jove’s embrace, had made escape adown a mountain.
But for this, the goddess might have caught them. Thus the glorious Juno, when she knew her guile; “Your tongue, so freely wagged at my expense, shall be of little use; your endless voice, much shorter than your tongue.” At once the Nymph was stricken as the goddess had decreed;—and, ever since, she only mocks the sounds of others’ voices, or, perchance, returns their final words.
One day, when she observed Narcissus wandering in the pathless woods, she loved him and she followed him, with soft and stealthy tread.—The more she followed him the hotter did she burn, as when the flame flares upward from the sulphur on the torch. Oh, how she longed to make her passion known! To plead in soft entreaty! to implore his love! But now, till others have begun, a mute of Nature she must be. She cannot choose but wait the moment when his voice may give to her an answer. Presently the youth, by chance divided from his trusted friends, cries loudly, “Who is here?” and Echo, “Here!” Replies. Amazed, he casts his eyes around, and calls with louder voice, “Come here!” “Come here!” She calls the youth who calls.—He turns to see who calls him and, beholding naught exclaims, “Avoid me not!” “Avoid me not!” returns. He tries again, again, and is deceived by this alternate voice, and calls aloud; “Oh let us come together!” Echo cries, “Oh let us come together!” Never sound seemed sweeter to the Nymph, and from the woods she hastens in accordance with her words, and strives to wind her arms around his neck.
He flies from her and as he leaves her says, “Take off your hands! you shall not fold your arms around me. Better death than such a one should ever caress me!” Naught she answers save, “Caress me!” Thus rejected she lies hid in the deep woods, hiding her blushing face with the green leaves; and ever after lives concealed in lonely caverns in the hills. But her great love increases with neglect; her miserable body wastes away, wakeful with sorrows; leanness shrivels up her skin, and all her lovely features melt, as if dissolved upon the wafting winds—nothing remains except her bones and voice—her voice continues, in the wilderness; her bones have turned to stone. She lies concealed in the wild woods, nor is she ever seen on lonely mountain range; for, though we hear her calling in the hills, ’tis but a voice, a voice that lives, that lives among the hills.
Thus he deceived the Nymph and many more, sprung from the mountains or the sparkling waves; and thus he slighted many an amorous youth.—and therefore, some one whom he once despised, lifting his hands to Heaven, implored the Gods, “If he should love deny him what he loves!” and as the prayer was uttered it was heard by Nemesis, who granted her assent.
There was a fountain silver-clear and bright, which neither shepherds nor the wild she-goats, that range the hills, nor any cattle’s mouth had touched—its waters were unsullied—birds disturbed it not; nor animals, nor boughs that fall so often from the trees. Around sweet grasses nourished by the stream grew; trees that shaded from the sun let balmy airs temper its waters. Here Narcissus, tired of hunting and the heated noon, lay down, attracted by the peaceful solitudes and by the glassy spring.
There as he stooped to quench his thirst another thirst increased. While he is drinking he beholds himself reflected in the mirrored pool—and loves; loves an imagined body which contains no substance, for he deems the mirrored shade a thing of life to love. He cannot move, for so he marvels at himself, and lies with countenance unchanged, as if indeed a statue carved of Parian marble. Long, supine upon the bank, his gaze is fixed on his own eyes, twin stars; his fingers shaped as Bacchus might desire, his flowing hair as glorious as Apollo’s, and his cheeks youthful and smooth; his ivory neck, his mouth dreaming in sweetness, his complexion fair and blushing as the rose in snow-drift white. All that is lovely in himself he loves, and in his witless way he wants himself:—he who approves is equally approved; he seeks, is sought, he burns and he is burnt.
And how he kisses the deceitful fount; and how he thrusts his arms to catch the neck that’s pictured in the middle of the stream! Yet never may he wreathe his arms around that image of himself. He knows not what he there beholds, but what he sees inflames his longing, and the error that deceives allures his eyes. But why, O foolish boy, so vainly catching at this flitting form? The cheat that you are seeking has no place. Avert your gaze and you will lose your love, for this that holds your eyes is nothing save the image of yourself reflected back to you. It comes and waits with you; it has no life; it will depart if you will only go.
Nor food nor rest can draw him thence—outstretched upon the overshadowed green, his eyes fixed on the mirrored image never may know their longings satisfied, and by their sight he is himself undone. Raising himself a moment, he extends his arms around, and, beckoning to the murmuring forest; “Oh, ye aisled wood was ever man in love more fatally than I? Your silent paths have sheltered many a one whose love was told, and ye have heard their voices. Ages vast have rolled away since your forgotten birth, but who is he through all those weary years that ever pined away as I?
Alas, this fatal image wins my love, as I behold it. But I cannot press my arms around the form I see, the form that gives me joy. What strange mistake has intervened betwixt us and our love? It grieves me more that neither lands nor seas nor mountains, no, nor walls with closed gates deny our loves, but only a little water keeps us far asunder. Surely he desires my love and my embraces, for as oft I strive to kiss him, bending to the limpid stream my lips, so often does he hold his face fondly to me, and vainly struggles up. It seems that I could touch him. ‘Tis a strange delusion that is keeping us apart. Whoever thou art, Come up! Deceive me not! Oh, whither when I fain pursue art thou? Ah, surely I am young and fair, the Nymphs have loved me; and when I behold thy smiles I cannot tell thee what sweet hopes arise. When I extend my loving arms to thee thine also are extended me—thy smiles return my own.
When I was weeping, I have seen thy tears, and every sign I make thou cost return; and often thy sweet lips have seemed to move, that, peradventure words, which I have never heard, thou hast returned. No more my shade deceives me, I perceive ‘Tis I in thee—I love myself—the flame arises in my breast and burns my heart—what shall I do? Shall I at once implore? Or should I linger till my love is sought? What is it I implore? The thing that I desire is mine—abundance makes me poor. Oh, I am tortured by a strange desire unknown to me before, for I would fain put off this mortal form; which only means I wish the object of my love away. Grief saps my strength, the sands of life are run, and in my early youth am I cut off; but death is not my bane—it ends my woe.—I would not death for this that is my love, as two united in a single soul would die as one.”
He spoke; and crazed with love, returned to view the same face in the pool; and as he grieved his tears disturbed the stream, and ripples on the surface, glassy clear, defaced his mirrored form. And thus the youth, when he beheld that lovely shadow go; “Ah whither cost thou fly? Oh, I entreat thee leave me not. Alas, thou cruel boy thus to forsake thy lover. Stay with me that I may see thy lovely form, for though I may not touch thee I shall feed my eyes and soothe my wretched pains.” And while he spoke he rent his garment from the upper edge, and beating on his naked breast, all white as marble, every stroke produced a tint as lovely as the apple streaked with red, or as the glowing grape when purple bloom touches the ripening clusters.
When as glass again the rippling waters smoothed, and when such beauty in the stream the youth observed, no more could he endure. As in the flame the yellow wax, or as the hoar-frost melts in early morning ‘neath the genial sun; so did he pine away, by love consumed, and slowly wasted by a hidden flame. No vermeil bloom now mingled in the white of his complexion fair; no strength has he, no vigor, nor the comeliness that wrought for love so long: alas, that handsome form by Echo fondly loved may please no more.
But when she saw him in his hapless plight, though angry at his scorn, she only grieved. As often as the love-lore boy complained, “Alas!” “Alas!” her echoing voice returned; and as he struck his hands against his arms, she ever answered with her echoing sounds. And as he gazed upon the mirrored pool he said at last, “Ah, youth beloved in vain!” “In vain, in vain!” the spot returned his words; and when he breathed a sad “farewell!” “Farewell!” sighed Echo too. He laid his wearied head, and rested on the verdant grass; and those bright eyes, which had so loved to gaze, entranced, on their own master’s beauty, sad Night closed. And now although among the nether shades his sad sprite roams, he ever loves to gaze on his reflection in the Stygian wave. His Naiad sisters mourned, and having clipped their shining tresses laid them on his corpse: and all the Dryads mourned: and Echo made lament anew. And these would have upraised his funeral pyre, and waved the flaming torch, and made his bier; but as they turned their eyes where he had been, alas he was not there! And in his body’s place a sweet flower grew, golden and white, the white around the gold.
Elbridge signed a bill which created a voting district packed with voters for the Democratric-Republican Party. It was said to be shaped like a salamander, and so by joining his name to the last part of salamander the name gerrymandering was created. Gerry was Vice-President under Madison. Please, could someone tell me how gerrymandering is at all compatible with Democracy and the Constitution of the United States? And why it is tolerated in so brazen a fashion?
1826 – University College London was founded.
It was originally called London University. Until this time, England only had Oxford and Cambridge as Universities. In order to attend or teach, the candidates had to belong to the Church of England. ‘No Catholics, No Jews, no Hindus’. But UCL was created to be open to all faiths. This alarmed conservatives so much that they founded King’s College in London as a counterweight. This created a collegiate University of London, which now has 17 constituent colleges. Imperial College left the federation to become a separate University in 2007. It now brands itself as ‘A world-leading university. 2nd in the world, 1st in the UK and Europe’. Here is a promo for the 200th Anniversary of UCL. I’m proud to have been an honorary lecturer for a few years.
1945 – Yalta Conference agrees to set up the United Nations to help prevent future World Wars.
1975 – Mrs Thatcher defeats Ted Heath to become leader of the Conservative Party.
First published in February 2023, revise and republished in February 2024, 2025, 2026
The Goddess Book of Days’ has the 7th as the Day of Selene and other Moon Goddesses. Of course the Full Moon is the proper time to celebrate her.
Selene is one of the most beguiling of Goddesses as she is the epitome of the Moon (Romans knew her as Luna). She, who gives that silvery, ethereal light to dark days. And appears and disappears to a routine few of us really understand. Selen is therefore beautiful, beguiling, unknowable. The Goddess of Intuition. The bringer of tides and the monthly periods. A Goddess of power as well as fertility, pregnancy and so love, and mothers, and babies.
Selene and the Parthenon
To my mind, far more powerful than Aphrodite, Selene seems much more independent. On the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum she is shown with her brother Helios, the Sun God; with Hercules – the epitome of male strength. Demeter and Persephone, representing the earth and underworld (or life and death). Athene and her father, Zeus; Iris, the messenger Goddess. Hestia, the Goddess of the home, and Dione with her daughter ,Aphrodite, representing love. At one end, Helios brings up the sun with his Chariot and Horse. While at the other, Selene’s horse sinks exhausted in Oceanus after a glorious night of moon shine. It’s a wonderful arrangement, which suggests the scheme was to show a balanced cosmos between female and male forces, framed by the Sun and the Moon.
Cartoon of Elgin Marble, showing Selene’s Horse at the right hand end
I did a longer piece on this pediment of the Parthenon Marbles here
Selene – Moon Goddess by Mike Petrucci -unsplash
I have used several of Natalie Tobert’s photos in my post which I pluck from Natalie’s face facebook feed which is a veritable visual feast. She worked, as an archaeologist, at the Museum of London at the same time as me. She is an excellent potter, photographer and artist. Natalie was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of Society of Designer Craftsmen. You can see more of her pictures here.
First published in 2022, and revised February 2024, 2026
![Chad is the patron saint of medicinal springs,[37] although other listings[38] do not mention this patronage.
St. Chad's Day (2 March) is traditionally considered the most propitious day to sow broad beans in England.](https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/haggerston_may_2020.jpg)
