Morgan Library

American banker J.P. Morgan was born on April 17^th, 1837.  Aside from founding his bank, Morgan is important to Walter Scott fans for many reasons.  Morgan was a major collector of original manuscripts, and the Morgan Library in New York City contains nine of Scott’s novels.  Scott’s journal was on display recently as part of a diary exhibition.   Anyone considering a trip to New York this summer would do well to stop by the Morgan.  It’s also a fun place to relax with music and a drink.

A View of Calais

'...The Vice-Admiral dined with us, and in the afternoon my Lord called me to give him the commission for him, which I did, and he gave it him himself. A very pleasant afternoon, and I upon the deck all the day, it was so clear that my Lord’s glass shewed us Calais very plain, and the cliffs were as plain to be seen as Kent, and my Lord at first made me believe that it was Kent...'

On April 17, 1660, Samuel Pepys records (in his diary) enjoying the sight of Calais through a glass.  The telescope had been around for about 50 years at this time.  As Calais lies so close to England, it has seen its share of military action, as well as sight-seeing.  Walter Scott alludes to Calais' situation as a portal as part of the setting of "Quentin Durward":

'But the excitement of the moment presently gave way to the host of political considerations, which, at that conjuncture, rendered an open breach with Burgundy so peculiarly perilous. Edward IV, a brave and victorious king, who had in his own person fought thirty battles, was now established on the throne of England, was brother to the Duchess of Burgundy, and, it might well be supposed, waited but a rupture between his near connexion and Louis, to carry into France, through the ever open gate of Calais, those arms which had been triumphant in the English civil wars, and to obliterate the recollection of internal dissentions by that most popular of all occupations amongst the English, an invasion of France. To this consideration was added the uncertain faith of the Duke of Bretagne, and other weighty, subjects of reflection. So that, after a deep pause, when Louis again spoke, although in the same tone, it was with an altered spirit. "But God forbid," he said, "that aught less than necessity should make us, the Most Christian King, give cause to the effusion of Christian blood, if anything short of dishonour may avert such a calamity. We tender our subjects' safety dearer than the ruffle which our own dignity may receive from the rude breath of a malapert ambassador, who hath perhaps exceeded the errand with which he was charged. — Admit the envoy of Burgundy to our presence."...'

The Canterbury Tales

CHAPTER II


A Monk there was, a fayre for the maistrie,
An outrider that loved venerie;
A manly man, to be an Abbot able,
Full many a daintie horse had he in stable :
And whan he rode, men might his bridle hear
Gingeling in a whistling wind as clear,
And eke as loud, as doth the chapell bell,
There as this lord was keeper of the cell.

Chaucer

Walter Scott employed the above passage from the prologue to "The Canterbury Tales" as the motto to Chapter II of  "Ivanhoe".  April 17 has two resonances with Chaucer's work.  In 1397, Chaucer told "The Canterbury Tales" for the first time, in the court of English King Richard II.  It is also the date the pilgrimage to Canterbury is supposed to have begun, in 1387.