On June 7, 1761, the civil engineer John Rennie was born. Rennie had a facility for mechanical work, and as a youth spent time in Andrew Meikle's (inventor of threshing machine) workshop. Rennie attended Edinburgh University between 1780 and 1783. In 1784, he visited James Watt, who offered him a position. Rennie accepted, moving to London to work on a steam engine being built by Boulton & Watt.
Rennie worked on several projects in London, including canals (Kennet and Avon), docks (London docks), harbors (Holyhead harbor), and bridges (London bridge). He is also credited with designing and building the Bell Rock Lighthouse.
Rennie received early schooling in Prestonkirk. Walter Scott drew upon this area, including Haddington for some of his character inspiration. Some of these are detailed in "Reminiscences of the royal burgh of Haddington and old East Lothian agriculturists". For example (West Port):
...Witches of old were burned in the Gallows Green. Sir Walter Scott had no doubt these atrocious events in his eye when, in his novel of the Bride of Lammermoor, he describes an interview betwixt old Alice, Ravenswood, Henry and Lucy Ashton, in the following words :
— ** * They think,' said Henry Ashton, who came up at that moment, and whispered into Ravenswood's ear,
* that she is a witch that should have been burnt with them that suffered at Haddington.'
" ' What is that you say,' said Alice, turning towards the boy, her sightless visage inflamed with passion ;
* that I am a witch, and ought to have suffered with the helpless old wretches who were murdered at Haddington.?'" ...
WRS
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Joseph Bonaparte Crowned King of Spain
On June 6, 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte made his older brother Joseph I, King of Spain. Joseph's rule was challenged immediately by revolt against the French, which was the beginning of the Peninsular War. England and Portugal joined Spanish guerrillas, ultimately throwing off the French yoke. Joseph abdicated the throne after the Battle of Vitoria (1813), which was led by Arthur Wellington.
Walter Scott covers Joseph in his "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte", including these comments:
"...In accepting the crown of Spain at the hands of Napoleon, Joseph, who was a man of sense and penetration, must have been sufficiently aware that it was an emblem of borrowed and dependant sovereignly, gleaming but with such reflected light as his brother's imperial diadem might shed upon it. He could not but know, that in making him King of Spain, Napoleon retained over him ail his rights as a subject of France, to whose emperor, in his regal as well as personal capacity, he still, though a nominal monarch, was accounted to owe all vassalage. For this he must have been fully prepared. But Joseph, who had a share of the family pride, expected to possess with all others, save Bonaparte, the external appearance at least of sovereignty, ana was much dissatisfied with the proceedings of the marshals and generals sent by his brother to his assistance. Ench of these, accustomed to command his own separate corps d armee, wilh no subordination save that to the emperor only, proceeded to act <>n his own authority, and his own responsibility, levied contributions at pleasure, and regarded the authority of King Joseph as that of a useless and in•effective civilian, who followed the march along with the impedimenta and baggage of the camp, and to whom hide honour was reckoned due, and no obe•dience. In a word, so complicated became the slate of the war and of the government, so embarrassing the rival pretensions set up by the several French generals, against Joseph and against each other, that wlien Joseph came to Paris to assist at the marriage of Napoleon and Maria Louisa, he made an express demand, that all the French troops in Spain should be placed under his own command, or rather that of his major-general; and in case this was declined, he proposed to abdicate the crown, or, what was equivalent, that the French auxiliaries should be withdrawn from Spain. Bonaparie had, on a former occasion, named his brother generalissimo of the troops within his pretended dominions; he now agreed that the French generals serving in Spain should be subjected, without exception, to the control of Marshal Jourdan, as major-general of King Joseph. But as those commanders were removed from Bonaparte's immediate eye, and were obliged to render an account of their proceedings both to the intrusive king and to Napoleon, it was not difficult for them to contrive to play off the one against the other, and in fact to conduct themselves as if independent of both..."
Walter Scott covers Joseph in his "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte", including these comments:
"...In accepting the crown of Spain at the hands of Napoleon, Joseph, who was a man of sense and penetration, must have been sufficiently aware that it was an emblem of borrowed and dependant sovereignly, gleaming but with such reflected light as his brother's imperial diadem might shed upon it. He could not but know, that in making him King of Spain, Napoleon retained over him ail his rights as a subject of France, to whose emperor, in his regal as well as personal capacity, he still, though a nominal monarch, was accounted to owe all vassalage. For this he must have been fully prepared. But Joseph, who had a share of the family pride, expected to possess with all others, save Bonaparte, the external appearance at least of sovereignty, ana was much dissatisfied with the proceedings of the marshals and generals sent by his brother to his assistance. Ench of these, accustomed to command his own separate corps d armee, wilh no subordination save that to the emperor only, proceeded to act <>n his own authority, and his own responsibility, levied contributions at pleasure, and regarded the authority of King Joseph as that of a useless and in•effective civilian, who followed the march along with the impedimenta and baggage of the camp, and to whom hide honour was reckoned due, and no obe•dience. In a word, so complicated became the slate of the war and of the government, so embarrassing the rival pretensions set up by the several French generals, against Joseph and against each other, that wlien Joseph came to Paris to assist at the marriage of Napoleon and Maria Louisa, he made an express demand, that all the French troops in Spain should be placed under his own command, or rather that of his major-general; and in case this was declined, he proposed to abdicate the crown, or, what was equivalent, that the French auxiliaries should be withdrawn from Spain. Bonaparie had, on a former occasion, named his brother generalissimo of the troops within his pretended dominions; he now agreed that the French generals serving in Spain should be subjected, without exception, to the control of Marshal Jourdan, as major-general of King Joseph. But as those commanders were removed from Bonaparte's immediate eye, and were obliged to render an account of their proceedings both to the intrusive king and to Napoleon, it was not difficult for them to contrive to play off the one against the other, and in fact to conduct themselves as if independent of both..."
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Adam Smith
The author of "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), and the man responsible for the economic concept of the invisible hand of the marketplace, was born on June 5, 1723. Smith was born in Kirkaldy, Scotland. A major figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, he became a friend of David Hume, among others.
Walter Scott includes a reference to Adam Smith in the introduction to "The Fortunes of Nigel", in which the fictional Captain Clutterbuck interviews the Author of Waverly:
"...Captain. You are determined to proceed then in your own system ? Are you aware that an unworthy motive may be assigned for this rapid succession of publication ? You will be supposed to work merely for the lucre of gain.
Author. Supposing that I did permit the great advantages which must be derived from success in literature to join with other motives in inducing me to come more frequently before the public, that emolument is the voluntary tax which the public pays for a certain species of literary amusement; it is extorted from no one, and paid, I presume, by those only who can afford it, and who receive gratification in proportion to the expense. If the capital sum which these volumes have put into circulation be a very large one, has it contributed to my indulgences only ? or can I not: say to hundreds, from honest Duncan the paper-manufacturer to the most snivelling of the printer's devils, "Didst thou not share ? Hadst thou not fifteen pence ?" I profess I think our Modern Athens much obliged to me for having established such an extensive manufacture; and when universal suffrage comes in fashion, I intend to stand for a seat in the House on the interest of all the unwashed artificers connected with literature.
Captain. This would be called the language of a calicomanufacturer.
Author. Cant again, my dear son : there is lime in this sack, too ; nothing but sophistication in this world ! I do say it, in spite of Adam Smith and his followers, that a successful author is a productive laborer, and that his works constitute as effectual a part of the public wealth as that which is created by any other manufacturer. If a new commodity, having an actually intrinsic and commercial value, be the result of the operation, why are the author's bales of books to be esteemed a less profitable part of the public stock than the goods of any other manufacturer ? I speak with reference to the diffusion of the wealth arising to the public, and the degree of industry which even such a trifling work as the present must stimulate and reward, before the volumes leave the publisher's shop. Without me it could not exist, and to this extent I am a benefactor to the country. As for my own emolument, it is won by my toil, and I account myself answerable to Heaven only for the mode in which I expend it. The candid may hope it is not all dedicated to selfish purposes; and, without much pretensions to merit in him who disburses it, apart may "wander, heaven-directed, to the poor."
Captain. Yet it is generally held base to write from the mere motives of gain.
Author. It would be base to do so exclusively, or even to make it a principal motive for literary exertion. Nay, I will venture to say that no work of imagination, proceeding from the mere consideration of a certain sum of copymoney, ever did, or ever will, succeed. So the lawyer who pleads, the soldier who fights, the physician who prescribes, the clergyman—if such there be—who preaches, without any zeal for his profession, or without any sense of its dignity, and merely on account of the fee, pay or stipend, degrade themselves to the rank of sordid mechanics. Accordingly, in the case of two of the learned faculties at least, their services are considered as unappreciable, and are acknowledged, not by any exact estimate of the services rendered, out by a honorarium, or voluntary acknowledgment. But let a client or patient make the experiment of omitting this little ceremony of the honorarium, which is cense to be a thing entirely out of consideration between them, and mark how the learned gentleman will look upon his case. Cant set apart it is the same thing with literary emolument. No man of sense, in any rank of life, is, or ought to be, above accepting a just recompense for his time, and a reasonable share of the capital which owes its very existence to his exertions. When Czar Peter wrought in the trenches, he took the pay of a common soldier; and nobles, statesmen and divines, the most distinguished of their time, have not scorned to square accounts with their bookseller..."
Walter Scott includes a reference to Adam Smith in the introduction to "The Fortunes of Nigel", in which the fictional Captain Clutterbuck interviews the Author of Waverly:
"...Captain. You are determined to proceed then in your own system ? Are you aware that an unworthy motive may be assigned for this rapid succession of publication ? You will be supposed to work merely for the lucre of gain.
Author. Supposing that I did permit the great advantages which must be derived from success in literature to join with other motives in inducing me to come more frequently before the public, that emolument is the voluntary tax which the public pays for a certain species of literary amusement; it is extorted from no one, and paid, I presume, by those only who can afford it, and who receive gratification in proportion to the expense. If the capital sum which these volumes have put into circulation be a very large one, has it contributed to my indulgences only ? or can I not: say to hundreds, from honest Duncan the paper-manufacturer to the most snivelling of the printer's devils, "Didst thou not share ? Hadst thou not fifteen pence ?" I profess I think our Modern Athens much obliged to me for having established such an extensive manufacture; and when universal suffrage comes in fashion, I intend to stand for a seat in the House on the interest of all the unwashed artificers connected with literature.
Captain. This would be called the language of a calicomanufacturer.
Author. Cant again, my dear son : there is lime in this sack, too ; nothing but sophistication in this world ! I do say it, in spite of Adam Smith and his followers, that a successful author is a productive laborer, and that his works constitute as effectual a part of the public wealth as that which is created by any other manufacturer. If a new commodity, having an actually intrinsic and commercial value, be the result of the operation, why are the author's bales of books to be esteemed a less profitable part of the public stock than the goods of any other manufacturer ? I speak with reference to the diffusion of the wealth arising to the public, and the degree of industry which even such a trifling work as the present must stimulate and reward, before the volumes leave the publisher's shop. Without me it could not exist, and to this extent I am a benefactor to the country. As for my own emolument, it is won by my toil, and I account myself answerable to Heaven only for the mode in which I expend it. The candid may hope it is not all dedicated to selfish purposes; and, without much pretensions to merit in him who disburses it, apart may "wander, heaven-directed, to the poor."
Captain. Yet it is generally held base to write from the mere motives of gain.
Author. It would be base to do so exclusively, or even to make it a principal motive for literary exertion. Nay, I will venture to say that no work of imagination, proceeding from the mere consideration of a certain sum of copymoney, ever did, or ever will, succeed. So the lawyer who pleads, the soldier who fights, the physician who prescribes, the clergyman—if such there be—who preaches, without any zeal for his profession, or without any sense of its dignity, and merely on account of the fee, pay or stipend, degrade themselves to the rank of sordid mechanics. Accordingly, in the case of two of the learned faculties at least, their services are considered as unappreciable, and are acknowledged, not by any exact estimate of the services rendered, out by a honorarium, or voluntary acknowledgment. But let a client or patient make the experiment of omitting this little ceremony of the honorarium, which is cense to be a thing entirely out of consideration between them, and mark how the learned gentleman will look upon his case. Cant set apart it is the same thing with literary emolument. No man of sense, in any rank of life, is, or ought to be, above accepting a just recompense for his time, and a reasonable share of the capital which owes its very existence to his exertions. When Czar Peter wrought in the trenches, he took the pay of a common soldier; and nobles, statesmen and divines, the most distinguished of their time, have not scorned to square accounts with their bookseller..."
Friday, June 4, 2010
Dudley Marries Amy Robsart
The heroine of Walter Scott's "Kenilworth" was Amy Robsart. Amy was the daughter of Sir John Robsart and Elizabeth Scott. Amy Robsart and Robert Dudley, son of Earl John Dudley of Warwick, married on June 4, 1550.
Amy Robsart is most famous for her mysterious death. She died of a broken neck (1560), and was found at the bottom of a set of stairs at Cumnor Place. Supposition has it that she was either murdered, to make way for a marriage between Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I. Another possibility is suicide.
In "Kenilworth", Scott portrays the marriage between Dudley and Robsart as secret; necessarily so due to Dudley's position at Elizabeth's court:
"...Varney kneeled down, and replied, with a look of the most profound contrition, "There had been some love passages betwixt him and Mistress Amy Robsart."
Leicester's flesh quivered with indignation as he heard his dependant make this avowal, and for one moment he manned himself to step forward, and, bidding farewell to the court and the royal favour, confess the whole mystery of the secret marriage. But he looked at Sussex, and the idea of the triumphant smile which would clothe his cheek upon hearing the avowal sealed his lips. "Not now, at least," he thought, "or in this presence, will I afford him so rich a triumph." And pressing his lips close together, he stood firm and collected, attentive to each word which Varney uttered, and determined to hide to the last the secret on which his court-favour seemed to depend. Meanwhile, the Queen proceeded in her examination of Varney.
"Love passages!" said she, echoing his last words; "what passages, thou knave? and why not ask the wench's hand from her father, if thou hadst any honesty in thy love for her?"..."
Amy Robsart is most famous for her mysterious death. She died of a broken neck (1560), and was found at the bottom of a set of stairs at Cumnor Place. Supposition has it that she was either murdered, to make way for a marriage between Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I. Another possibility is suicide.
In "Kenilworth", Scott portrays the marriage between Dudley and Robsart as secret; necessarily so due to Dudley's position at Elizabeth's court:
"...Varney kneeled down, and replied, with a look of the most profound contrition, "There had been some love passages betwixt him and Mistress Amy Robsart."
Leicester's flesh quivered with indignation as he heard his dependant make this avowal, and for one moment he manned himself to step forward, and, bidding farewell to the court and the royal favour, confess the whole mystery of the secret marriage. But he looked at Sussex, and the idea of the triumphant smile which would clothe his cheek upon hearing the avowal sealed his lips. "Not now, at least," he thought, "or in this presence, will I afford him so rich a triumph." And pressing his lips close together, he stood firm and collected, attentive to each word which Varney uttered, and determined to hide to the last the secret on which his court-favour seemed to depend. Meanwhile, the Queen proceeded in her examination of Varney.
"Love passages!" said she, echoing his last words; "what passages, thou knave? and why not ask the wench's hand from her father, if thou hadst any honesty in thy love for her?"..."
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Weaver Poet
Robert Tannahill, the weaver poet, was born in Paisley on June 3, 1774. Tannahill's nickname derives from his being apprenticed at age 12 to his father, a silk weaver. Tannahill was contemporary with Burns and Scott. According to Rampant Scotland, Tanahill established a Burns club in Paisley (1803), and among his guests there was Walter Scott's friend James Hogg.
Tannahill shares space in statue form in the Wallace Monument at Stirling with Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
The Braes of Balquhidder (Wild Mountain Thyme)
(Robert Tannahill)
Will ye go, lassie, go, to the braes o' Balquhidder
Where the blueberries grow, 'mang the bonnie bloomin' heather;
Where the deer and the ram, lightly bounding together,
Sport 'he lang summer day 'mang the braes o' Balquhidder
Will ye go, lassie, go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder!
Where the blueberries grow,
'Mang the bonnie bloomin' heather
I will twine thee a bower by the clear siller fountain
An' I'll cover it o'er wi' the flowers o' the mountain;
I will range through the wilds, an' the deep glens sae dreary.
An' return wi' their spoils to the bower o' my dearie
When the rude wintry win' idly raves round our dwellin',
An' the roar o' the linn on the night-breeze is swellin'
Sae merrily we'll sing as the storm rattles o'er us,
Till the dear sheeling ring wi' the light liltin' chorus.
Now the summer is in prime, wi' the flowers richly bloomin'
An' the wild mountain thyme a' the moorlands perfumin'
To our dear native scenes let us journey together
Where glad innocence reigns 'mang the braes of Balquhidder
Tannahill shares space in statue form in the Wallace Monument at Stirling with Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
The Braes of Balquhidder (Wild Mountain Thyme)
(Robert Tannahill)
Will ye go, lassie, go, to the braes o' Balquhidder
Where the blueberries grow, 'mang the bonnie bloomin' heather;
Where the deer and the ram, lightly bounding together,
Sport 'he lang summer day 'mang the braes o' Balquhidder
Will ye go, lassie, go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder!
Where the blueberries grow,
'Mang the bonnie bloomin' heather
I will twine thee a bower by the clear siller fountain
An' I'll cover it o'er wi' the flowers o' the mountain;
I will range through the wilds, an' the deep glens sae dreary.
An' return wi' their spoils to the bower o' my dearie
When the rude wintry win' idly raves round our dwellin',
An' the roar o' the linn on the night-breeze is swellin'
Sae merrily we'll sing as the storm rattles o'er us,
Till the dear sheeling ring wi' the light liltin' chorus.
Now the summer is in prime, wi' the flowers richly bloomin'
An' the wild mountain thyme a' the moorlands perfumin'
To our dear native scenes let us journey together
Where glad innocence reigns 'mang the braes of Balquhidder
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Prince Henry Sinclair Lands in Nova Scotia in 1398
"...This adventurous huntsman married Elizabeth, daughter of Malice Spar, Earl of Orkney and Stratherne, in whose right their son Henry was, in 1379, created Earl of Orkney, by Haco, king of Norway. His title was recognized by the Kings of Scotland, and remained with his successors until it was annexed to the crown, in 1471, by act of Parliament. In exchange for this earldom, the castle and domains of Ravenscraig, or Ravensheuch, were conferred on William Saintclair, Earl of Caithness " (Scott).
From the notes to Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel", which contains several St. Clair references.
Not all are convinced that Prince Henry Sinclair's voyage to what later became America occurred, but today, June 2, in 1398, is the date credited with Prince Henry's landing at Chadebucto Bay (now Trin Bay), in Nova Scotia (http://sinclair.quarterman.org/timeline.html).
From the notes to Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel", which contains several St. Clair references.
Not all are convinced that Prince Henry Sinclair's voyage to what later became America occurred, but today, June 2, in 1398, is the date credited with Prince Henry's landing at Chadebucto Bay (now Trin Bay), in Nova Scotia (http://sinclair.quarterman.org/timeline.html).
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Battle of Drumclog
June 1, 1679 saw the Battle of Drumclog being fought, in South Lanarkshire. The battle pitted covenanting forces against John Graham of Claverhouse. June 1st was a Sunday that year, and the fighting commenced when Covenanters, at Sunday services, learned that Graham and his troops had moved near the area.
The Covenanters under Robert Hamilton took up a position at Drumclog, which Claverhouse and his troops could not get through, due to its boggy nature. William Cleland attacked for the Covenanters as Graham was mired, and won the day.
Walter Scott included this battle in his novel "A Tale of Old Mortality":
"...The company had not long left the Howff, as Blane's public-house was called, when the trumpets and kettle-drums sounded. The troopers got under arms in the market-place at this unexpected summons, while, with faces of anxiety and earnestness, Cornet Grahame, a kinsman of Claverhouse, and the Provost of the borough, followed by half-a-dozen soldiers, and town-officers with halberts, entered the apartment of Niel Blane.
"Guard the doors!" were the first words which the Cornet spoke; "let no man leave the house.--So, Bothwell, how comes this? Did you not hear them sound boot and saddle?"..."
The Covenanters under Robert Hamilton took up a position at Drumclog, which Claverhouse and his troops could not get through, due to its boggy nature. William Cleland attacked for the Covenanters as Graham was mired, and won the day.
Walter Scott included this battle in his novel "A Tale of Old Mortality":
"...The company had not long left the Howff, as Blane's public-house was called, when the trumpets and kettle-drums sounded. The troopers got under arms in the market-place at this unexpected summons, while, with faces of anxiety and earnestness, Cornet Grahame, a kinsman of Claverhouse, and the Provost of the borough, followed by half-a-dozen soldiers, and town-officers with halberts, entered the apartment of Niel Blane.
"Guard the doors!" were the first words which the Cornet spoke; "let no man leave the house.--So, Bothwell, how comes this? Did you not hear them sound boot and saddle?"..."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)