{"id":1527,"date":"2010-03-14T03:29:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T03:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1527"},"modified":"2018-08-06T21:03:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T01:03:51","slug":"sunday-march-14-2010-a-lay-of-ancient-toronto-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1527","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, March 14, 2010 \u2014 A Lay of Ancient Toronto, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Muhlberg\u00ader has been more pro\u00adlif\u00adic in his blog, late\u00adly, and it has fea\u00adtured some fine pieces on the psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy of his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans. Entries such as \u201cIs the past anoth\u00ader coun\u00adtry?\u201d among many, are well worth read\u00ading. I\u2019m remind\u00aded of them when I re-shelve a nice lit\u00adtle book that I recent\u00adly found in a sec\u00adond-hand shop \u2015 an 1882 edi\u00adtion of Macaulay\u2019s Lays of Ancient Rome<\/em>. It\u2019s just the sort of thing that delights any\u00adone who is fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00aded by the past. It\u2019s inscribed twice by ear\u00adly own\u00aders. The first inscrip\u00adtion reads: \u201cDorothea Thor\u00adpe, from Hughey Jnr., March 20, 1884<\/em>\u2033 The sec\u00adond reads: \u201cLavinia Mary Ford, from Dorothea\u2019s Hus\u00adband and in mem\u00ado\u00adry of her. Charn\u00adwood 18th Octo\u00adber 1934, St. Luke\u2019s Day<\/em>\u201d. These excite the his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion in me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorothea must have been a young girl when she received it as a gift from Hughey Junior. But who was this Dorothea, and can any trace of her be found by a 21st cen\u00adtu\u00adry Toron\u00adton\u00adian equipped with the Genie of the Inter\u00adnet? Well, there is indeed a Dorothea Thor\u00adpe known to history.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was the sub\u00adject of a por\u00adtrait (shown above) by the renowned Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Mil\u00adlais, paint\u00aded two years before the inscrip\u00adtion in the book. The por\u00adtrait shows a pret\u00adty girl of about, I would guess, ten years of age. Dorothea Mary Roby Thor\u00adpe grew up and became the wife of God\u00adfrey Ben\u00adson (1864\u20131945), a Lib\u00ader\u00adal politi\u00adcian and man of let\u00adters. In 1911, Ben\u00adson became Baron Charn\u00adwood and his wife was then styled Baroness Charn\u00adwood, and thus she can be accu\u00adrate\u00adly traced through Burke\u2019s Peer\u00adage, which is con\u00adve\u00adnient\u00adly online. Since the book is clear\u00adly inscribed \u201cCharn\u00adwood,\u201d under\u00adlined and with\u00adout sur\u00adname, which is the man\u00adner in which Eng\u00adlish Lords cus\u00adtom\u00adar\u00adi\u00adly signed, there seems no doubt that it belonged to her. How it end\u00aded up in Toron\u00adto is any\u00adbody\u2019s guess. This city has nev\u00ader been a place that Barons and Baroness\u00ades have cho\u00adsen to hang around, let alone dis\u00adpose of their heir\u00adlooms in book\u00adshops for ready cash. Dorothea had a son, who died with\u00adout issue, extin\u00adguish\u00ading the title, and a daugh\u00adter, who mar\u00adried Cyril John Rad\u00adcliffe, 1st Vis\u00adcount Rad\u00adcliffe (a lawyer who devised the Rad\u00adcliffe Line, which par\u00adti\u00adtioned India and Pak\u00adistan). The Rad\u00adcliffes had no chil\u00addren, so there are no sur\u00adviv\u00ading descen\u00addants. Lavinia Mary Ford, the object of the sec\u00adond inscrip\u00adtion, appears as an entry in the Almanach de Gotha<\/em>, the reg\u00adistry of Europe\u2019s roy\u00adal\u00adty, but this sup\u00adplies noth\u00ading but a birth\u00addate of 1913. None of these peo\u00adple appear to have spent any time in Toron\u00adto, or any part of Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorothea was an author and wrote the book An Auto\u00adgraph Col\u00adlec\u00adtion and the Mean\u00ading of It<\/em>, pub\u00adlished in 1930. The Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Toron\u00adto pos\u00adsess\u00ades a copy, entombed in a com\u00adpact stor\u00adage ware\u00adhouse. I have placed an order for its exhuma\u00adtion. Who knows, it may yield some clue to the iden\u00adti\u00adty of the mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous Hughey Junior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, for the book itself. Thomas Bab\u00adbing\u00adton Macaulay was a his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan, poet, and Whig politi\u00adcian of Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Eng\u00adland. He was the dri\u00adving force behind reforms expand\u00ading the fran\u00adchise, abol\u00adish\u00ading legal imped\u00adi\u00adments for Catholics and Jews, and in gen\u00ader\u00adal advanc\u00ading the inter\u00adests of Eng\u00adland\u2019s low\u00ader class\u00ades against the priv\u00adi\u00adleges of the high\u00ader. Lays of Ancient Rome<\/em> is a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of three nar\u00adra\u00adtive poems set in the Roman Repub\u00adlic. The three \u201clays\u201d were pub\u00adlished in 1842, so they were already old stuff when Dorothea got them as a gift.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first poem, Hor\u00adatius, was for gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions a stan\u00addard item in school texts:<\/span><\/p>\n

Lars Pors\u00ade\u00adna of Clusium
By the Nine Gods he swore
That the great house of Tarquin
Should suf\u00adfer wrongs no more.
By the Nine Gods he swore it,
And named a tryst\u00ading day,
And bade his mes\u00adsen\u00adgers ride forth,
East and west and south and north,
To sum\u00admon his array.
\n<\/em>
and so on, to the lines which doubt\u00adless shamed many a guile\u00adless sub\u00adal\u00adtern into fac\u00ading down attack\u00ading Afghans:<\/span><\/p>\n

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Cap\u00adtain of the Gate:
\u201cTo every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than fac\u00ading fear\u00adful odds,
For the ash\u00ades of his fathers,
And the tem\u00adples of his Gods
\n<\/em>
A mod\u00adern read\u00ader is bound to dis\u00admiss this as naive Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan bom\u00adbast. But it\u2019s a com\u00admon error to imag\u00adine that peo\u00adple in the past were dumb\u00ader than our\u00adselves, and to imag\u00adine our\u00adselves blessed with a spe\u00adcial sub\u00adtle\u00adty that they knew not. This is a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar fault of those who trot out the term \u201cmoder\u00adni\u00adty\u201d at every oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty. Macaulay\u2019s career as a polit\u00adi\u00adcal reformer and his prodi\u00adgious learn\u00ading make it unlike\u00adly that his motive was to bang out pleas\u00adant-sound\u00ading verse for school\u00adboys to recite for prizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, read\u00ading the whole set of poems for the first time, I find that they con\u00adsti\u00adtute an incred\u00adi\u00adbly sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded exer\u00adcise in his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Macaulay believed that every suc\u00adcess\u00adful nation had, deeply embed\u00added in its psy\u00adche, a cycle of tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal bal\u00adlads. We know that the ear\u00adly Romans had such bal\u00adlads, from numer\u00adous ref\u00ader\u00adences in the works of the Augus\u00adtan age, but they are lost. What Macaulay was try\u00ading to do was to recre\u00adate, in Eng\u00adlish, a sort of hypo\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal re-incar\u00adna\u00adtion of these lost bal\u00adlads. Their \u201cnaive\u201d qual\u00adi\u00adty is inten\u00adtion\u00adal. They are meant to dupli\u00adcate the effect of pop\u00adu\u00adlar songs com\u00adposed by anony\u00admous Romans before the Empire. What is more, they\u2019re sup\u00adposed to have been com\u00adposed at dif\u00adfer\u00adent times, by dif\u00adfer\u00adent hands, under dif\u00adfer\u00adent polit\u00adi\u00adcal and social circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first poem, Hor\u00adatius<\/em>, recounts events around 500 B.C., when the ear\u00adly Repub\u00adlic was at war with the Etr\u00aduscan Kings. But Macaulay intends its fic\u00adti\u00adtious author to have been a Roman com\u00adpos\u00ading oral\u00adly, more than a cen\u00adtu\u00adry lat\u00ader, and it is full of oblique ref\u00ader\u00adences to that lat\u00ader time. The imag\u00adined author is revealed as a plebe by his crit\u00adi\u00adcal allu\u00adsions to the unfair allot\u00adment of pub\u00adlic lands, and the poem is meant to reflect ple\u00adbeian dis\u00adcon\u00adtent with the dic\u00adta\u00adtor Mar\u00adcus Furius Camil\u00adlus, after Rome\u2019s war with Vei, when he sided against the inter\u00adests of the plebes. At that time, the Gauls had occu\u00adpied the ancient Etr\u00aduscan city of Clu\u00adsi\u00adum, and its cit\u00adi\u00adzens looked to Rome to help them. All this is reflect\u00aded, albeit indi\u00adrect\u00adly, in the poem. Macaulay\u2019s Eng\u00adlish prose, inspired by Scot\u00adtish bal\u00adlads, is meant to sug\u00adgest the rude style of Latin before Greek cul\u00adture had much influ\u00adence on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sec\u00adond poem, The Bat\u00adtle of the Lake Regillus<\/em>, betrays a thin pati\u00adna of Greek learn\u00ading. The imag\u00adined author makes clear, but unnamed ref\u00ader\u00adences to Homer and Herodotus. It\u2019s puta\u00adtive date of com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion is dur\u00ading the joint con\u00adsul\u00adship of Pub\u00adlius Decius Mus (a plebe) and Quin\u00adtus Fabius Max\u00adimus Rul\u00adlianus (a noble), and it is imag\u00adined to have been recit\u00aded dur\u00ading the reli\u00adgious cer\u00ade\u00admonies that accom\u00adpa\u00adnied the reform of the eques\u00adtri\u00adan orders.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third lay, Vir\u00adginia<\/em>, is set in 449 B.C., and recounts the tale of the vir\u00adtu\u00adous ple\u00adbeian maid\u00aden Vir\u00adginia (or Verginia), who was abduct\u00aded by the patri\u00adcian decemvir<\/em>, Appius Claudius Cras\u00adsus. This was rel\u00ade\u00advant to yet anoth\u00ader strug\u00adgle of the class\u00ades in the ear\u00adly Repub\u00adlic. Macaulay imag\u00adines it com\u00adposed sev\u00aden\u00adty years lat\u00ader, by a ple\u00adbeian satirist cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00ading the elec\u00adtion of the reform\u00aders Caius Licinius and Lucius Sex\u00adtius. By this time the Latin verse is strong\u00adly influ\u00adenced by Greek con\u00adven\u00adtions, and the Eng\u00adlish style reflects this.<\/span><\/p>\n

The three poems, togeth\u00ader, con\u00adsti\u00adtute a mul\u00adti-lay\u00adered text that would please the most ardent hermeneu\u00adtic decon\u00adstruc\u00adtivist. Not only does the \u201csim\u00adple folk poet\u00adry\u201d doc\u00adu\u00adment the com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adties of the polit\u00adi\u00adcal, social, and eco\u00adnom\u00adic con\u00adflicts of the Roman Repub\u00adlic, but it is clear\u00adly meant to be tak\u00aden as rel\u00ade\u00advant to the reform issues of Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Eng\u00adland in which Macaulay was deeply embroiled. The work expects of the audi\u00adence a deep under\u00adstand\u00ading of Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal his\u00adto\u00adry and lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, and an equal\u00adly keen inter\u00adest in the pol\u00adi\u00adtics of the day (which Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals saw as inti\u00admate\u00adly linked). With the wan\u00ading of Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal edu\u00adca\u00adtion, this all became unin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgi\u00adble, and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly invis\u00adi\u00adble, to sub\u00adse\u00adquent gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions. The care\u00adful\u00adly craft\u00aded sim\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty of the poems came to be seen as mere doggerel.<\/span><\/p>\n

All in all, it seems a pecu\u00adliar gift for a lit\u00adtle girl, and more pecu\u00adliar still that she would have cher\u00adished it for a life\u00adtime \u2015 which she evi\u00addent\u00adly did, if it was still in her pos\u00adses\u00adsion in 1934, and her hus\u00adband attached such impor\u00adtance to it. I find myself tempt\u00aded to cre\u00adate, at least in my mind\u2019s eye, as elab\u00ado\u00adrate a con\u00adstruc\u00adtion as Macaulay\u2019s to explain the jour\u00adney of this lit\u00adtle vol\u00adume from the hands of the gold\u00aden-haired girl in Mil\u00adlais\u2019 paint\u00ading, through its years on the shelves of aris\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic homes in Europe, and then by some dra\u00admat\u00adic and tor\u00adtu\u00adous route to Toron\u00adto, to final\u00adly find its way into my dis\u00adtinct\u00adly ple\u00adbeian hands. (You can\u2019t get any more ple\u00adbeian than me).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Muhlberg\u00ader has been more pro\u00adlif\u00adic in his blog, late\u00adly, and it has fea\u00adtured some fine pieces on the psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy of his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans. Entries such as \u201cIs the past anoth\u00ader coun\u00adtry?\u201d among many, are well worth read\u00ading. I\u2019m remind\u00aded of them when \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8,946,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-aq-blog-2010","category-b-reading","category-bq-reading-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1527"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3338,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions\/3338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}