Saturday 22 June 1661

Annotations

• N Josh on Tue 22 Jun 2004, 11:48pm. Flag this

  Does the plot of Jonson’s play incorporate one great hope of alchemy, the transmutation of base metals into gold? Would come in handy for Sam, now and always.

• N daniel on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 01:34am. Flag this

  what pleasant entry.

  a little theatre, a spot of wine (or two) and keeping up with the Jones’ and at end of day the satisfaction of a tidy house.

• N dirk on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 03:02am. Flag this

  “The Alchymist”

  Full text at:
  http://www.hollowaypages.com/jonson1692alchemist.htm

  Reading through the fist act I found the phrase: “The heat of Horse-dung, under Ground, in Cellars”

  Does anybody know if this refers to some 17th c. method of central heating previously unknown to me - or just garbage disposal in the cellar?
  

• N vicente on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 03:07am. Flag this

  Fortune , that favours fools The Alchemist 1610 prolog” or Fortuna favet fatuis
  THE ALCHYMISTS; or, Searchers for the Philosopher’s Stone
  and the Water of Life

  for ben jonson output
  http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp?CRID=ben_jonson&OFFID=se1&KEY=johnson_alchemist
  T H E A R G U M E N T.
  T_ he Sickness hot, a Master quit, for fear,
  H_ is House in Town, and left one Servant there.
  E_ ase him corrupted, and gave means to know
  A_Cheater, and his Punk; who, now brought low,
  L_eaving their narrow Practice, were become
  C_os’ners at large; and only wanting some
  H_ouse to set up, with him they here contract,
  E_ach for a Share, and all begin to act.
  I_n casting Figures, telling Fortunes, News,
  S_elling of Flies, flat Bawd’ry, with the Stone;
  Y_ill it, and they, and all in Fume are gone.
  http://www.hollowaypages.com/jonson1692alchemist.htm
  to rest of the plays etc by BJ
  http://www.hollowaypages.com/Jonson.htm
  P R O L O G U E
  F Ortune, that favours Fools, these two short Hours
  We wish away, both for your sakes, and ours,
  Judging Spectators; and desire in place,
  To th’ Author Justice, to our selves but Grace.
  Our Scene is London, ‘cause we would make known,
  No Countries Mirth is better than our own:
  No Clime breeds better Matter for your Whore,
  Bawd, Squire, Impostor, many Persons more,
  Whose Manners, now call’d Humours, feed the Stage
  to rest of the plays etc by BJ
  http://www.hollowaypages.com/Jonson.htm

• N vicente on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 03:11am. Flag this

  Dung is Muck. Bacon said money is like Muck, it should spread around or like dung will blow up if heaped up. Remember waste was the sauce of gun powder.

• N Xjy on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 10:56am. Flag this

  “Abroad all the morning about several businesses”
  Interesting countable use of the word to mean “pieces of business”. Wonder when it became uncountable in this sense. Anyone like to check?

• N PHE on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 12:56pm. Flag this

  Horse dung for heating?
  Very interesting dirk. A websearch shows: Dried dung has often been used for heating by burning. Using its fermentation heat is far less common, but the following link shows that it was traditionally used in gardening - an idea resurrected at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall.
  http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/SouthWest/ContentPlace_2588.html

  Relevance to Pepys’s? - that the idea leads one to wonder whether the practice of storing ‘domestic’ waste in the cellar contributed in anyway to home warming.

• N Frank G on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 04:18pm. Flag this

  “Horse dung for heating?”

  My father, when I was young, used to cultivate mushrooms in our then roomy cellars. One of the most sought-after ingredients for healthy mushrooms appears to horse dung. Could Sam have been in any way involved with mushroom cultivation, or would that be anachronistic?
  

• N Bob T on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 05:10pm. Flag this

  Horse dung for heating?

  I don’t know what this “was traditionaly used in gardening” stuff is all about. Last week I spread four sack loads of “road chesnuts” as they used to be called, on my Wife’s garden. If it is allowed to age there is no smell. Anyway, it came from my Wife’s favorite horse Chocolate, so it was perfect in every way. I’m sure that Martha would have approved :-)

• N Ruben on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 05:34pm. Flag this

  Horse dung for heating?
  It is so natural to use manure for different purposes.
  not only Chocolate chips in the fiels and champignon. In South America and in India horse manure is being used (with a gassifier) to produce gas and electricity. In India and some parts of China you let dry the manure, put it in your sack and take it with you as fuel to prepare your tea. In other parts it is used, combined with mud to make huts.
  Then they are those beetles that use dung to keep their eggs warm…

• N vicente on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 07:21pm. Flag this

  M_ uch Company they draw, and much abuse :—-left out sorry!

• N vicente on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 08:00pm. Flag this

  Every thing was recyled, dung was spread around. Note: Dung wharf next to Puddle dock Stairs down from St Andrews Wardrobe.

• N Ruben on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 08:04pm. Flag this

  Dung Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City

• N Sjoerd on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 09:07pm. Flag this

  The “Equi clibanum” that precedes the dung line apparently means something like “horses oven”…. ?

• N Jesse on Wed 23 Jun 2004, 10:17pm. Flagged

  “to the Theatre,

• N Hic Retearius on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 12:52am. Flagged

  Chocolate

• N Australian Susan on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 01:21am. Flag this

  Dung & darkness
  In the context of the play, the horse dung comes up when Subtle is berating Face. He reminds Face that had it not been for the “education” (of a dubious nature) which he, Subtle, had given Face, he would be in very dark places. Two examples are given: the “equi clibanum” (clibanum = “oven; earthen/iron vessel w/small holes/broad bottom for baking/serving bread;”)
  and an “Alehouse darker than deaf John’s” Both of these comparisons have lost their allusive value today. Anyone know what they would have referred to? “deaf John’s” sounds proverbial.

• N dirk on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 03:23am. Flag this

  Dung etc.

  I found at least two 17th/18th c. uses of horse manure for heating.

  (1) In alchemy - so that’s probably why it comes up in Jonson’s play:
  “If you would make a heat with horse dung, the manner is this, viz., make a hole in the ground. Then lay one course of horse dung a foot thick, then a course of unslaked lime a foot thick, and then another of dung, as before. Then set in your vessel, and lay around it lime and horse dung mixed together. Press it down very hard. You must sprinkle it every other day with water. When it ceases to be hot, then take it out and put in more.”
  http://www.alchemywebsite.com/jfren_1.html

  From:
  John French - “The Art of Distillation. Or, A Treatise of the Choicest Spagyrical Preparations Performed by Way o

• N vicente on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 03:33am. Flag this

  Great work Dirk. In summer time we did keep foods in an eathern cellar cool by using Hay. To keep potatoes and other roots from spoilage, we used an earthern mound [clamp]over said veggies and dug them out when required. Moist hay etc. left unattended had a habit of overheating and bursting into flames. Mucking out is great fun?

• N vicente on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 03:51am. Flag this

  Dirks refs: a must read for all chemist old and young
  and as for how to get pickled see the last one it appears to be a his and her bath: http://www.alchemywebsite.com/fren-ap4.html

• N vicente on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 04:04am. Flag this

  A picture of vegetable storage clamp
  http://www.greenchronicle.com/gardening/storage_clamp.htm
  

• N vicente on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 04:15am. Flag this

  PHE: There are many old fuddy duddy methods of heat and cooling that can be investigated and used to save modern dependance of fuels and also recyleable. My father use to use old disguarded clear sheeting to lay on over his seedlings [ be frost free and very warm] so that he could be the first to have early spring veggies.

• N Australian Susan on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 04:34am. Flag this

  The Alchemist
  Getting back to the play: I think it is clear (pun intended) that Dirk’s reference to shutting out all light, thus making it a very dark place is what Subtle is getting at in this simile. He is making out that Face without benefit of Subtle has a mind and intellect as dark as a cellar prepared for heating with horse dung or, and we haven’t ferretted out the meaning of this yet people - still more work to be done - “an Alehouse darker than deaf John’s” Anyone know what this is?

• N vicente on Thu 24 Jun 2004, 04:37am. Flagged

  “

• N vicente on Fri 25 Jun 2004, 04:08am. Flag this

  “an Alehouse darker than deaf John

• N Ruben on Fri 25 Jun 2004, 06:39am. Flag this

  Dung:
  This is a disgression:
  Whilst browsing the internet I ran across some of the sayings
  of Will Rogers. .. thought I’d share one of them with you
  “Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.”
  

• N upper_left_hand_corner on Fri 25 Jun 2004, 05:47pm. Flag this

  Hic Retearius —

  The connection you make is not as unknown as you might think: “What’s brown and sounds like a bell?”

• N Nigel Pond on Fri 25 Jun 2004, 06:10pm. Flag this

  The “dung discussion” reminds me of a great expression from the north of England:

  “Where there’s muck, there’s brass”