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 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
Saint Apollonia. Woodcut. Saint of Toothache Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. She is shown with forceps, extracted tooth and the martyr’s palm.
The 9th of February is the Feast of St Apollonia. She was martyred at Alexandria in 249 AD during the persecution of Emperor Decius. (see also my post on St Agatha) She was attacked during an anti-Christian riot and struck around the face knocking her teeth out. Then, she was taken to a bonfire and told they would throw her in if she did not renounce her faith. So, without waiting, she spoke a prayer and walked into the fire. This information is recorded in a near-contemporary letter from St Dionysius of Alexandria. This is rare well documented martyrdom. Because her teeth were knocked out she is, therefore, Saint of Toothache.
Suicide or Martyrdom?
St Augustine of Hippo touches on this spat of martyrs, often young women, killing themselves rather than losing their virginity, or like St Apollonia embracing death in the face of violent persecution. His answer is that like Samson, they are commanded by God to take their own lives, which is ok. Elsewhere, he condemns suicide as it is against the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. He explains that God did not add ‘thy neighbour’ to it so it also forbids killing oneself. By contrast, it was added to ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. The rest of St Augustine’s argument comes from Plato’s Phaedo. The introduction to the book on the Project Gutenberg web site sums up the arguments:
According to one explanation, because man is a prisoner, who must not open the door of his prison and run away—this is the truth in a ‘mystery.’ Or (2) rather, because he is not his own property, but a possession of the gods, and has no right to make away with that which does not belong to him.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phaedo, by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett
Cloves for Toothache
I can remember my Grandmother prescribing cloves for me when I had toothache. And this was, and is, a common remedy. In my case, we would keep a clove or two in the mouth close to the site of the pain. According to Natural Ways to Sooth an Toothache cloves contain
‘Eugenol, a natural form of anaesthetic and antiseptic that helps get rid of germs. Eugenol is still used in dental materials today’
Dr John Hall, Shakespeare’s son-in-law, tended to use a pill to soothe sore gums. He also used an oil from a wood called ‘Ol. Lig. Heraclei’ which may be oil from the Bay Tree. (‘John Hall and his Patients’ by Joan Lane). Most of his tooth cases seem to be sore gums. This suggests to me Dr John Hall did not generally do dental work.
Death by Toothache
To get a tooth drawn you could go to a Barber Surgeon, a Blacksmiths or specialist Tooth Drawer. It would be terrifyingly painful. Probably only done when the pain was unbearable. Just think what a premium you would pay for a really competent drawer? The drawers would not have any formal training, but the skills would be passed on by the drawer to his apprentice or assistant. ‘Teeth’ was a common cause of death – most likely from infection or an abscess.
List of causes of death, London during the plague of 1665. Teeth killed 11 people
Magic and Toothache
John Aubrey, an erudite and educated 17th Century writer, reports on the use of Magick for tooth care. When he relates these unlikely cures he often provides information that the person who told him the story is worthy of belief. So he seems to give some credence to the efficacy of these magical ‘cures’. But, judge for yourself; this is what he wrote:
To Cure the Tooth-ach.
Take a new Nail, and make the Gum bleed with it, and then drive it into an Oak. This did Cure William Neal, Sir William Neal’s Son, a very stout Gentleman, when he was almost Mad with the Pain, and had a mind to have Pistoll’d himself.
To Cure the Tooth-ach, out of Mr. Ashmole’s Manuscript Writ with his own Hand.
Mars, hur, abursa, aburse. Iesu Christ for Marys sake, Take away this Tooth-ach.
Write the words, Three times; and as you say the Words, let the Party burn one Paper, then another, and then the last.
He says, he saw it experimented, and the Party immediately Cured
May, Williams and Bishop at the Old Bailey accused of murder in pursuit of bodysnatching
Teeth and the Body-Snatchers
In 1832, in London Bishop, Williams, and May were accused of body snatching. After killing the Italian Boy (wonderful book by Sarah Wise ‘The Italian Boy‘) they jemmied out his teeth. Then, took the teeth to a South London Dentist. with whom they bargained for a good price. (They used the term ‘cheapened’ – I cheap, you cheap, we are cheapening: meaning to barter). The dentist wanted to use the dead boy’s teeth for false teeth for his patients. If memory serves, he paid £1 for them.
The teeth were used as evidence in the trial of the murderers. When the trial was over and the accused punished, the dentist asked for the teeth back! Two of the murderers were hanged but the third freed for turning King’s Evidence. Thereafter, the teeth were released back to the Dentist. He promptly put them in the window of his surgery as an advert for his professional skills!
Earlier, one of the Borough Boys Resurrectionist gang (based in Southwark, London) toured the battlefields of the Peninsular Wars collecting teeth. He made a substantial sum selling them to dentists as false teeth. They became known as Waterloo Teeth.
When I first wrote this in I added ‘How things have changed!’ But in recent years there have been reports of people undertaking their own dental work, if they cannot get access to an NHS dentist. Effectively, it seems that the Conservative Government was allowing dentistry to slip out of the NHS just like it did with eye health. For a study in what has happened to Dentistry in the UK in recent years, please look at this report here.
On This Day
1907 – the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS or Suffragists) organised the so-called the Mud March. This was the ‘first large procession’ in support of votes for women. It was called the Mud March because of the downpour of rain on the day.
1916 – Conscription started in World War 1 with the call-up of unmarried men aged between 18 – 41.
1933 – The Oxford Union passed the resolution ‘the House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country.’
Bird of the Month The Blackbird. The common Blackbird is a true Thrush. The male is black with a yellow beak and the female is dark brown with a yellow beak. The Blackbird begins to sing as early as January, and is one of the birds who sing first early in the morning. British Blackbirds do not migrate, but Northern European Blackbirds often migrate to the UK in the winter for warmer weather. Viruses have put the species under some threat and they need help to get through the winter. ArkWildlife suggests this is what you should feed blackbirds:
‘Mealworms A top choice, mimicking their natural insect diet.
Is an 18th Century nursery rhyme which refers to the medieval habit of baking a pie crust, and putting it over a bowlful of live birds. When it was opened all the birds, well sing the song to remind yourself what they do?
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house Counting out his money The queen was in the parlor Eating bread and honey The maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes When down came a blackbird And pecked off her nose
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
A stinging Cure for Lust
Another story told of the Blackbird is a similar tale I have told before about holymen and temptation. So St Benedict was pecked on the cheek by a Blackbird. Next day he finds himself assailed with lust. It was the Devil disguised as the Blackbird he decides that infected the Monk. Then Benedict did what a number of saints did in similar circumstances. He threw himself, naked, in a patch of nettles and brambles and rolled around, until his body was sore afflicted. But he had overcome his lust.
Then St Kevin held out his hand and a blackbird laid her eggs in it. So he stayed still for the two weeks it took the fledglings to hatch! (for more on St Kevin see my post here)
Icy Sedgwick has an excellent website on the folklore of Birds, containing a nice podcast, which for those who love a north-east accent will enjoy.
Saint Agatha, detail from a painting of Francisco de Zurbarán – she is carrying her severed breasts
She is a Sicilian Saint, who refused to sleep with a powerful Roman (Quintianus) in the third Century. St Agatha was imprisoned, tortured, had her breasts pincered off, and still refused to sleep with him and died in prison. She is remembered in Sicily by cakes shaped as breasts eaten on her feast day (I kid you not).
Minne di Sant’Agata, Sicilian (Wikipedia)
St Agatha Patronage
Her patronage springs from the usual mixture of deep and simplistic identifications. So she is ‘the patron saint of rape victims, breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, and bakers.’ As she is from Sicily ‘she is invoked against eruptions of Mount Etna.’ And therefore also against fire and earthquakes.’ (Wikipedia).
Bell Founders and Bakers? So, the bakers and bell founders, it is suggested, may have mistaken the trays of breasts as bells or loaves? Unlikely in my opinion, as Google image search shows they look clearly like breasts. They are cakes, of course, so that can help explain the Bakers, but the Bell Founders?
She was martyred, at the age of 20 (231-251AD), in the last year of the reign of Emperor Decius (Emperor 249 to June 251 AD). Thus, she is an early martyr whose cult was established in antiquity. But many of the details of her life and death are, as usual, apocryphal and from later traditions.
Results of a search for images of St Agatha in Google
St Agatha’s Church, Kingston on Thames
St Agatha and Etna
Detail of a Portrait of St Agatha by Cariana (Paintedin 1516-17). In the backgrouns is Catania
A year after her death, Mount Etna erupted. According to the story, the Christians of her home town of Catania lifted the Martyr’s veil towards the flowing lava. And the City was saved as the lava flow stopped. Hence, she protects against eruptions and by extension, earthquakes, and fire. This part of the story I got from my friend Derek who sent me the link to a piece written by Father Patrick van der Vorst. This also has the full image of the detail of painting by Cariani I show here.
2 BC – Caesar Augustus is granted the title Father of the Country (pater patriae) by the Roman Senate. Ovid celebrated this day in his alamanac poet Fasti. He seems to be praising Augustus mentioning him with the divine Julius Caesar, and Romulus and Reamus, founders of Rome.
Book II: February 5: Nones
Now I wish for a thousand tongues, and that spirit Of yours, Homer, you who celebrated Achilles, While I sing the sacred Nones in alternating verse. This is the greatest honour granted to the calendar. My wit deserts me: the burden ís beyond my strength, This special day above all I am to sing. Why did I wish, foolishly, to lay so great a task On elegiac verse? This was a theme for the heroic stanza. Sacred Father of the Country, this title has been conferred On you, by the senate, the people, and by us, the knights. Events had already granted it. Tardily you received Your true title, you’d long been Father of the World. You have on earth the name that Jupiter owns to In high heaven: you are father of men, he of gods. Romulus, give way: Caesar by his care makes your walls Mighty: you made such as Remus could leap across. Tatius, and the little towns of Cures and Caenina, Knew you: under this Leader all the sun sees is Roman.
But suddenly the verse turns dark, and the references to Augustus are now slights and accusations. He continues:
You owned a little patch of conquered land: Caesar possesses all beneath Jupiter’s heavens. You raped married women: under Caesar they are ordered To be chaste: you permitted the guilty your grove: he forbids them. Force was acceptable to you: under Caesar the laws flourish. You had the title Master: he bears the name of Prince. Remus accused you, while he pardons his enemies. Your father deified you: he deified his father. Already Aquarius shows himself to the waist, And pours the gods flowing nectar mixed with water, And you who shrink from the north wind, be pleased, A softer breeze is blowing from the West.
Ovid only finished the first 5 chapters of his calendar poem. He was exiled from Rome by Augustus, we don’t know why. But perhaps this is why he was exiled, because he was willing to defame the Godly Tyrant, Augustus, who had destroyed the Roman Republic. Dictators demand flattery, not criticism. Ovid paid the price. For more on Ovid’s exile please read my post on his abandonment of the Fasti here.
1811 – The Prince of Wales appointed Prince Regent during his dad’s, George III, mental incapacity
1924 – The famous pips, the time signal, first broadcasted by the BBC from Greenwich
1944 – War time diarist, Joan Wyndham receives letter from Norwegian lover Hans Gundersen. It confirms he is still alive and that she loves him. Follow the link to read his drunken letter and Joan’s reaction.
1953 – Last foodstuffs taken off Rationing in the UK. From this day forward, people could eat as many sweets and as much chocolate as they wanted. In the War they were limited to 2oz per person, and post war 6oz per person per week.
1990 – the last pips broadcasted from Greenwich by the BBC, henceforth the BBC generated their own pips.
First published in 2024, and republished in 2025, Ovid section added 2026
19th Century illustration of St Blaise’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
The Blessing of St Blaise helps protect the throat. The way it is works is that blessed candles are made into a cross. These are then touched against the throat of the afflicted one. Why? Because a story was told that Blaise, on his way to martyrdom, cured a boy who had a fish bone stuck in his throat. So, he is the patron Saint of Sores Throats.
Blaise is thought to have been an Armenian Bishop of Sebaste, martyred (316AD) in the persecution of the Emperor Licinius.
Sage Advice for Sore Throats:
Salvia officinalis. Lamiaceae By Kurt Stüber [1] – caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/mavica/index.html part of www.biolib.de, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8109
In the spirit of St Blaise, here is advice for care of your throats.
Sage Tea is said to be excellent for many things, including dental hygiene and alleviating sore throats. The Kalendar of Shepherds tells us how to treat our throats:
Good for the throat honey, sugar, butter with a little salt, liquorice, to sup soft eggs, hyssop, a mean manner of eating and drinking and sugar candy. Evil for the throat: mustard, much lying on the breast, pepper, anger, things roasted, lechery, much working, too much rest, much drink, smoke of incense, old cheese and all sour things are naughty for the throat.
The Kalendar of Shepherds 1604
The Martyrdom of St Blaise
Internet Archive book illustrations collection on Flickr. (from wovember see below)
So far, an uplifting, healing story. However, the Medieval Church’s propensity for the gruesome and its peculiar need to allocate a unique method of martyrdom to each early saint leads us to Blaise being pulled apart by wool-combers irons. Then he was beheaded.
Hence, he is also the patron saint of wool-combers, and by extension, sheep. Wikipedia tells me that ‘Combing: was a regular form of torture.
Combing, sometimes known as carding (despite carding being a completely different process) is a sometimes-fatal form of torture in which iron combs designed to prepare wool and other fibres for woollen spinning are used to scrape, tear, and flay the victim’s flesh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combing_(torture)
Gory Martyrdoms Explained?
I am horrified by the goriness of these martyrdoms, and it needs some explanation. If we believe in Richard Dawkins idea of the meme we can find an explanation. Allocating a different and gory death to each and every saint has advantages for the survival of the cult. It brings a uniqueness to the story of the Saint. Particular details of death suggests authenticity. The extreme death creates an example of stoicism in the face of challenge to faith, and provokes empathy and piety. There is, also, we have to accept, a very human attraction in the bloodthirstiness of stories.
But, there is, I suspect, a financial interest too. In order for these cults to survive, they need adherents, acolytes, worshippers, donors, patrons. They require income streams that can help support the expensive clergy and the fabric of the Church or chapel. One source of income is from the wealthy, but in the medieval town, urban wealth was held within the booming guild structure. If the martyred Saint, could attract a particular Guild then (the sponsoring Priests, or Church) were quids in.
Wool was the mainstay of the economy in the medieval period. A martyr like St Blaise would prosper wherever there were people working with wool, cloth or sheep. So, is it too cynical to suggest someone with an eye for the main chance added the detail of the wool combing death to attract donations from rich wool merchants? As a successful meme, it spread throughout Europe.
Also, there were any number of endemic diseases and occupational hazards for which there was no clear cure. So if the Saint can become the Saint of common, preferably chronic, illnesses, he/she can attract all those who suffer from that or similar diseases.
Of course, it may not always be a cynical drive for more income. In exchange, the Church offered the sufferer comfort in the face of suffering. This quality is not only of great use on its own, but it would have maximised the placebo effect. The effect has been scientifically measured. And would often be more effective a cure as than the available, often bizarre, medieval remedies.
Blaise’s hagiography suggests he was a physician. The cult was able to grow into being not only the Saint for Sore Throats and Sheep but one of the go-to saints for diseases in both humans and animals.
His cult came to Britain when King Richard I was ship wrecked on Crusade. Richard was helped by Bishop Bernard of Ragusa where Richard was washed up. When the Bishop was deposed he sought sanctuary in Britain and was made Bishop of Carlisle where he promoted the cult of Blaise. Several churches in the UK founded churches named for him.
St Blazey in Cornwall is named after his Church and celebrates him by a procession of a ram and a wicker effigy of the Saint. Milton, in Berkshire, dedicated its Church to St Blaise, probably because the village’s wealth depended on sheep. The village held a feast on the third Sunday after Trinity, and the day after held the Tadpole Revels at Milton Hall. Tadpole is thought to be a corruption from the word ‘Tod’ which means cleaned wool.
Blaise in London
Westminster Abbey has a chapel dedicated to Blaise (see image at top of page). In the Bishop’s Palace at Bromley is St Blaise’s Well. It is thought to have begun as a spring when the Palace ‘was granted to Bishop Eardwulf by King Ethelbert II of Kent around 750 AD.’ A well near the spring became a place of pilgrimage and an Oratory to St Blaise was set up. In the 18th Century, the chalybeate waters of the well were considered to be useful for health. It still exists today.
On February 3rd, St Etheldreda’s Church in London holds the Blessing of the Throats ceremony. It was a Catholic Church in the medieval period, then, in Reformation was used for various purposes until returned to the Catholic Church in 1876. It has memorials for Catholic Martyrs killed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
One of London’s oldest guilds is the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, first mentioned in 1180, when fined, for operating without a license, by Richard 1’s dad, Henry II.
1870 – The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. It prohibits the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude”. What I don’t understand is how this is compatible with all the many ‘abridgements’ of a citizen’s right to vote which seem to flourish. In particular, Gerrymandering. Isn’t it effectively an abridgement of the right to vote, if the electoral districts are so artificially engineered as to make that vote meaningless? Maybe it’s ok if the abridgement is not about race, colour etc.? (OK as in ‘get away with subverting democracy’.
1917 – World War I: The USA enters the War (unrestricted submarine warfare being one of the causes)
1933 – The policy of Lebensraum announced by Adolf Hitler. This might be explained as one powerful country saying it is entitled to take over less powerful countries because they can?
Many plants can be used for hedges, but hawthorn is the most common. It can be planted as bare-root from Autumn to Spring, so January is as good a time as any. It can also be grown from the seeds from its red berries. But this takes 18 months to achieve. Interspersed along the hedge line are often other trees—either trees for timber, or fruit trees perhaps crab-apples or pear-stocks. Trees were also useful as markers. Before modern surveys, property would be delineated by ancient trees. Hedges could be removed. Trees were more difficult to eradicate.
Hawthorn hedges are an oasis for insects, mammals and migrating birds (who eat the berries). It is a lovely plant for May. In fact, it is also called May, or the May Flower or May Tree and also whitethorn. The berries are called ‘haws’ hence hawthorn. For more on this, look at https://whisperingearth.co.uk.
Hawthorns & Folklore
A ‘Quarry’ of Stained Glass showing the Crown, a hawthorn Bush and initials representing Henry VII and his, Queen, Elizabeth of York. Possibly from Surrey. Early 16th Century and from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain).
Hawthorn produces white flowers in Spring. So, it is one of the great pagan fertility plants, its flowers forming the garlands on May Eve. One of the chemicals in the plant is the same as one given out in decay of flesh. It is, therefore, associated with death in folklore, and not to be brought into the house.
It was also said to be the thorn in the Crown of Thorns, so sacred. A crown from the helmet of the dead King Richard III was found on a hawthorn bush at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The victorious Henry VII adopted it for a symbol. . For more on the plant, https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
The virtues of Hawthorn
John Worlidge, wrote in 1697
‘And first, the White-thorn is esteemed the best for fencing; it is raised either of Seeds or Plants; by Plants is the speediest way, but by Seeds where the place will admit of delay, is less charge, and as successful, though it require longer time, they being till the Spring come twelvemonth ere they spring out of the Earth; but when they have past two or three years, they flourish to admiration.’
Hawthorn is an excellent wood for burning, better than oak. It has the hottest fire so that its charcoal could melt pig-iron without the need of a blast. It is also good for making small objects such as boxes, combs, and tool-handles. The wood takes a fine polish, so also used for veneers and cabinets. For advice on the best wood to burn read my post here.
Hawthorn has many medicinal benefits according to herbalists. Mrs Grieve’s Herbal suggests it was used as a cardiac tonic, to cure sore throats and as a diuretic. (But don’t try any of these ancient remedies without medical advice!)
What to plant in late January
This is the time, according to Moon Gardeners, to plant and sow plants that develop below ground. So rhubarb and garlic, fruit trees, bushes, bare-root plants and hedging plants.
On This Day
1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London. London first Business centre since the Roman Forum, creating the first Bourse in the UK
1785 – ‘Boys play on the Plestor at marbles & peg-top. Thrushes sing in the Coppices. Thrushes & blackbirds are much reduced.’ From the Garden Calendar in Gilbert White’s Year. the Plestor is the village green; peg-top is a spinning top game. For more on Gilbert White,the inspirer of Darwin, see my post.
1375, French Caesarian Birth, (caesarians at this time would have killed the mother or be performed when she was already dead or dying.)
When Britain reluctantly joined the Gregorian Calendar, in 1752, we lost 11 days. So if you add 11 to 31st December you get to New Year’s Eve Old Style. You can do this with any festival date, and when celebrating, feel you are being really authentic.
So, anything you did on the New Year’s Eve New Style (31st Dec), you can do today New Year’s Eve Old Style. Except, of course, when you call in sick because of a hangover, you will need to convince your boss of the illegitimacy of the Gregorian Calendar! In case you have forgotten what you should be doing on New Year’s Eve you can look at my post here to find out.
Witchy New Year’s Eve Old Style
It’s a particularly ‘witchy’ evening because it is the traditional Eve, not the newfangled Gregorian one. Reginald Scot in his ‘Discovery of Witchcraft’ first published in 1584 reports on a way to find witches:
‘a charm to find who has bewitched your cattle. Put a pair of breeches upon the cow’s head, and beat her out of the pasture with a good cudgel upon a Friday and she will run right to the witch’s door and strike it with her horns‘
Reginald Scott’s book is available here and is a fascinating read. But, perhaps I need to say: don’t try this at home, as scientific research does not support it as a valid method!
Campaign against the slaughter of ‘poor, aged and the infirm’ as Witches
When I first posted this, I did not, to my shame, know the background to the book. I assumed the book was advocating this sort of nonsense. On the contrary. Reginald Scot was trying to debunk the absurd claims for witchcraft and magic. His book tries to prove that witchcraft and magic were rejected both by reason and religion. He believed that manifestations of either were ‘wilful impostures or illusions due to mental disturbance in the observers’.
The book is evidence that the large number of people who were executed as witches in the 16th and 17th Century, were the victims of a QAnon-style conspiracy, which was rejected by many educated and rational people. Please have a read of the cover of this 17th Century edition of Reginald Scot’s book. It gives a good idea of what he was setting out to counteract. Scot was a member of Parliament for New Romney, in Kent.
This is some of the text in the image below, which makes clear the prejudices at play in the campaign to execute witches:
‘For the preservation of poor, aged, deformed, ignorant people, frequently taken, arraigned, condemned and executed for witches, when, according to a right understanding and a good conscience, physic, food and necessaries should be administered to them.’
Carmentalia
Carmenta or Nicostrata , Goddess of Prophecy, Childbirth, Midwives and Technical Innovations. Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589) – “Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum”
It is also Carmentalia, the festival for Carmenta, the Roman Goddess of prophecy and childbirth. She was a much loved Goddess in the Roman pantheon. But little is known about her, perhaps because she has no clear match in the Greek pantheon? However, she was thought to be a nymph of the Arcadians, called Themis.
She has a long history in the story of Rome. She was the mother of Evander. Who is he? I hear you shouting! Well, he is the founder of Pallantium. Where on earth is that? You cry! It is the City on the site of Rome (on the Palatine Hill) that predated Rome! Who knew that? (The people at Vindolanda Roman Fort know, and they have a great page on Carmentalia here). The City was supposed to be of Greek origin, founded 60 years before the fall of Troy. Later, it was absorbed into Rome.
Carmenta
Carmenta had two sidekicks who were her sisters and attendants. Postvorta and Antevorta, They might be explained by Past and Future. (or, After and Before) as part of her role in prophecy. Or the two figures could represent babies that are either born head or legs first. She was an important enough Deity to command one of the fifteen flamens. These were priests of the state-sponsored religions. One of Carmenta’s flamen’s jobs was to ensure no one came to the temple wearing anything of leather. Leather was created from death, and not suitable for the Goddess of Childbirth, who was all about life.
The Vindolanda post makes the point that 2% of pre-modern births are likely to have caused the death of the mother. Because there was a high child mortality, the Roman Mother would have to have 5 children on average to keep the population stable. With a 2% death rate, and 5 children, they estimate that each mother had a 12% chance of death by giving birth. Good reason to have a Goddess on the Mum’s side. She is also the Goddess of Midwives.
Nicostrata
Carmenta was originally known as Nicostrata (which is Greek and means “victory-army”). She was credited with creating the Latin Alphabet by adding additional letters to the Greek one. So, she is also the Goddess of Technological Innovation. Some Goddess! . When she left Arcadia in Greece for Italy she took 15/16 letters of the Greek Alphabet, and joined them with local letters forming the original Latin alphabet. Later other letters were added. For more on Nicostrata see here. Her name was changed to Carmenta which comes from the word for song or spell or prophecy.
Old Archaic Latin Alphabet, founded by Nicostrata aka Carmenta from Wikipedia
On This Day
1869 The Anglo-Zulu War began
1963 Whisky-A-Go-Go, the first discotheque opened in Los Angeles or so says my copy of the Chambers Book of Days. But research suggest there was an earlier Whisky-A-Go-Go opened in 1958 in Chicago. And that the name sprang from the Whisky à Gogo, established in Paris in 1947. It got its name from the famous Ealing Comedy Film Whisky Galore which was marketed in Paris as ‘Whisky a Gogo‘. (à gogo, meaning, in French, “in abundance”, “galore”) (Wikipedia)
You can rent the film on YouTube but here is a little excerpt from Whisky Galore! where the Islanders start to sample the Whisky they have rescued from a War time ship wreck.
First published in Jan 2022, revised January 2024, 2025. Nicostrata and Whisky Galore! added 2026
Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat. Castle to the left, St Giles the ’rounded’ spire in the middle, and Salisbury Crags to the right
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
This is my select booklist for Edinburgh, one of my favourite towns. Strangely, heading it up is a book based in London, and written in Bournemouth. However, Stephenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a very Edinburgh book but published in London on January 9th 1886.
What makes it fit for an Edinburgh booklist? Firstly, Edinburgh is the best place for a science-based Gothic Horror Novella. A City made for Ghost Tours, but with a scientific legacy arguably second to none. One of the inspirations for the book was the story of Deacon Brodie. He was a cabinetmaker who rose to be Deacon (president) of the craft of cabinetmaking. Therefore, he had wealthy clients and was impeccably respectable. When he went to his clients houses, or made them locked cabinets, he would copy the locks using wax moulds. Then he and his team would rob the house. He hid a cache of keys underneath Salisbury Crags which you can see above.
To cut a long story short, he made an attempt on robbing the Excise Office in Canongate, Edinburgh, on March 5th 1788. The heist failed, one of the robbers turned King’s Evidence. So Brodie fled to one of his mistresses in London, then to the Continent. But he was relentlessly pursued and captured in Amsterdam. He was brought back to face trial, found guilty, and hanged on a new scaffold, which he may just have had a part in designing.
Stevenson had cabinets made by William Brodie and as a young man produced a play about him. He was intrigued by the idea of a wealthy man having a dual life. The idea itself, seems obvious but the expression a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character is still often used to describe someone with two opposing sides to their characters. The idea of duality provides many ways to look at the book. Edinburgh itself was a duality. There was the old, filthy, higgledy-piggledy Old Town on top of the Volcanic Ridge, with the spacious New Town in the Valley below, with modern wealthy houses providing healthy homes for the rich. The idea of Two Cities, of the rich and the poor; the good and the evil; rationality and sensuality; hetero and homosexual fits well with Victorian Britain, but perhaps best into Victorian Edinburgh, the City of Burke and Hare. These famous Edinburgh serial killers were working for one of Europe’s greatest medical centres, where debate about Darwinism, and the powers of the brain were hotly debated in a City with a strong Presbyterian background.
In Bournemouth, Stevenson befriended the former Reverend Walter Jekyll, younger brother of gardener Gertrude Jekyll. He was probably homosexual and the author borrowed the name for the rational part of Jekyll and Hyde. At a time when to be gay was a crime, most gay people had to live a Jekyll and Hyde existence. In fact, Sodomy was a capital offence in Scotland until the year after the publication of the ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Strangely, in a book list I would encourage you to watch the 1920 silent film starring John Barrymore to enjoy its ghastly atmosphere. You can watch it for free on YouTube here.
Ian Rankin’s Rebus
Ian Rankin is a typographical author of the highest rank. Every story brings Edinburgh, its people and its history to life. And yet set in a very readable crime fiction envelope. The Rebus I chose was ‘Set in Darkness‘ because it has the Scottish Parliament at its heart. It begins with a body found in Queensbury House, which is being preserved and incorporated into the new Scottish Parliament buildings. Please read my post on the book (link below).
Queensberry House to the right, with the Scottish Parliament in the background. Royal Mile, Cannongate in the foreground. (Photo: K. Flude)
Recently published is ‘Edinburgh a New History’ by Alistair Moffat. This is an excellent summary of Edinburgh’s History. He has written a large number of books about Scotland. I particularly liked ‘Reivers‘ which is a great book about the border raiders, both North English and Scottish who raided the borderlands between Edinburgh and York during the 13th to the 17th Centuries. They inspired the young Walter Scott, who collected Reivers ballads before inventing the Historical Novel.
As to Walter Scot, our Blue Badge Guide for Edinburgh, considers his long descriptive passages unreadable. But I’m not so convinced, having read Ivanhoe and Rob Roy as a boy. But if I were to recommend a Walter Scot, it would be Heart of Midlothian as it is set in Edinburgh and deals with crime, poverty, urban riots and other manifestations of life in Edinburgh in the 18th Century.
Midlothian is the country around Edinburgh, named after the legendary Celtic King Loth. The Heart of Midlothian, is Edinburgh or more precisely, a heart marked out in the cobbles. It is located outside of St Giles, on the Royal Mile, where the Tollboth (townhall and prison) and execution site for the City used to be. To this day, Edinburghers (or more correctly, Dunediners) are supposed to spit on the heart for good luck.
Old Print of the Tollbooth with St Giles to the right of the print.
It is hard to exaggerate the importance of Walter Scot. Byron said he had read his books 50 times, and never travelled without them. Goethe said ‘he was a genius who does not have an equal.’ Pushkin said his influence was ‘felt in every province of the literature of his age. Balzac described him as ‘one of the noblest geniuses of modern times’. Jane Austen and Dickens loved his books. The point is he invented the Historical Novel, and for the first time, as Carlyle wrote, he showed that history was made by people ‘with colour in their checks and passion in their stomachs.’ The only other person I can think of who was held in such universal regard was Tolstoy. There is also sense in which Scott invented our modern idea of Scotland, with its kilts and bagpipes.
The Scottish Enlightenment
A walk through the centre of Edinburgh has so many statues of people who made the modern world it is astonishing. So you should read: ‘The Scottish Enlightenment – the Scots Invention of the modern world‘ by Arthur Herman.
Burke and Hare: The True Story Behind the Infamous Edinburgh Murderers by Owen Dudley-Edwards
The story of Burke and Hare is well known, but it shows how important Edinburgh was as a medical centre in the early 19th Century. Bodies were shipped to Edinburgh from the London docks, such was the demand for bodies for anatomy teaching. Arthur Conan Doyle got his medical training here from a man called Joseph Bell, whose logical mind was the model for Sherlock Holmes.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
My last choice is Murial Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie set in a school in Edinburgh where the teacher singles out 6 of her pupils for special education. She wants to give them a cultured outlook in life which includes her own fascistic views. Made into a wonderful film starring Maggie Smith, but also a great book. It also, in a strange way, reinforces the huge legacy of the Scottish Education system. It is said that the Reformation brought to the Scots the idea that everyone should be educated enough to read the Bible in their own language. But it seems to me the Scots had a particular understanding of the importance of Education before the Reformation. St Andrews University was founded in 1410, Glasgow in 1410, Aberdeen in 1495 and Edinburgh in 1510.
Of course, you should read some poetry by Burns, and I would begin with Tam O’Shanter the story of Tam, Maggie his horse and Nannie, the witch with the short skirt (Cutty Sark). The version above (see link) is read over a comic novel of the poem. But if you prefer the words, this is the one I read for my groups where I ruin the Scots dialect, and disgrace myself, but oh how I enjoy it! www.poetryfoundation.org tam-o-shanter
Marble statue of Bacchus from the Temple of Mithras London. The inscription reads ‘hominibus vagis vitam’ Translation … (give) life to men who wander. Bacchus is in the middle, the little old man on the left is Silenus. The drunken tutor to Bacchus.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 8 Maids a Milking; 7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying 5 Golden Rings 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Closing Time
The 8th day, New Years Day, is the day of the Throbbing Head. In ‘Closing Time’ Leonard Cohen wrote about drinking to excess. I like to think he refers to Christmas and New Year’s Day:
‘And the whole damn place goes crazy twice And it’s once for the devil and it’s once for Christ But the boss don’t like these dizzy heights We’re busted in the blinding lights of closing time.
Trouble is the song mentions summer. Oh well. You can enjoy the official video on YouTube below:
Hangover Cure
What you need is a hangover cure. Nature provides many plants that can soothe headaches. And in the midst of the season of excess, let’s start with a hangover cure.
Common ivy Photo by Zuriel Galindo from unsplash
Ivy and Bacchus
Ivy, ‘is a plant of Bacchus’…. ‘the berries taken before one be set to drink hard, preserve from drunkenness…. and if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, the speediest cure is to drink a draft of the same wine, wherein a handful of ivy leaves (being first bruised) have been boiled.’
Culpeper Herbal 1653 quoted in ‘the Perpetual Almanac’ by Charles Kightly
Bacchus often wore an ivy crown around his head. Romans used Ivy to fend off hangovers.
Bacchus and Wine Making
The image of Bacchus, at the top of the post, is from a fascinating article by the Museum of London on wine making in Roman Britain. It suggests wine in Britain was first made in Brockley Hill, in South East London as little as 20 or 30 years after the Roman Conquest of AD43. The evidence was the discovery of Roman Wine Amphora made locally. This is taken as evidence that the amphorae were made to contain local wine. Direct evidence of a vineyard has been found in Northamptonshire but fron the 2nd Century AD.
Bacchus is the Roman version of the God Dionysus who was the God of ‘wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.’ Essentially anything that could make you loss your head, and escape your inhibitions. But he could also relieve pain, reduce anxiety, free you from subjugation and therefore he was subversive. The Roman State suppressed and regulated the Bacchanalian Festivals.
Skullache, and Willow,
Crack Willow Trees on the Oxford Canal, August 2021
Now, if that gives you a headache, one of the best documented folk hangover cures is willow bark, useful for headaches, earaches, and toothaches. Here is a record of how simple it was to use:
‘I am nearly 70 years old and was born and bred in Norfolk… My father, if he had a ‘skullache’ as he called it, would often chew a new growth willow twig, like a cigarette in the mouth.’
‘A Dictionary of Plant Lore by Roy Vickery (Pg 401)
In the 19th Century, they discovered that Willow contained salicylic aciacid, from which aspirin was derived. As a child, I remember chewing liquorice sticks in a similar way. We chewed, supposedly for the pleasure and the sweetness, not for the medicinal virtues of the plant.
Country Weather
January 1st’s weather on the 8th Day of Christmas was cold, but bright in the morning, a little bit of rain at lunch time, and a dry but cloudy afternoon. So, according to Gervase Markham, the 8th Month, August, will be sunny to begin with, with some rain in the middle, and cloudy end of the month. (source: ‘The English Husbandman’ of 1635.)
On this Day
Today, is the Day the Nymphs in Greece dedicated to Artemis, Andromeda, Ariadne, Ceres. (according to the Goddess Book of Days by Diane Stein.)
First Published in 2024, republished in 2025, 2026
