Walk Rounds Research Articles

The Renaissance Epitaph

John Gait once wrote: 'The attainment of honours and dignities is not enjoyed without a portion of trouble and care, which, like a shadow, follows temporalities.' Very sensible of the honour which the Association has bestowed on me, I am also aware of the need, as it were, of singing for my supper; there is ever difficulty in choosing a subject of sufficient range to fit this occasion. On reflection, the Renaissance epitaph seemed to me to be one that met our requirements: the genre exerts its appeal upon us all, inevitable candidates for such an honour; it often carries a morbid humour; it attracts those who are addicted to walking round graveyards and take pleasure in what has been called 'church-crawling'. And by taking the subject into the past and over more than one century, I shall hope to provide it with the trappings of scholarship. In one sense the epitaph is of minor value except perhaps to antiquarians and historians, for, as Dr Samuel Johnson pointed out, 'the greater part of mankind no character at all .2 What really does interest me is why and how the epitaph became, to such a startling degree, a prominent Renaissance genre define genre as we may; Nashe complained that writers of epitaphs 'swarmed like crows to a dead corpse'. Many critics were happier indulging what a nineteenth-century novelist called 'the flatulence of theoretical opinions' than bringing the genre to the heel of definition. The term itself was loosely used to cover various types of funereal verse; and the epitaph, highly porous, invaded and was invaded by a host of neighbouring genres or subgenres. The yardstick of length turns out to be illusory; though one type, going back to classical times, may conform to the criteria ofbrevitas and argutia, this is unduly restrictive. Other factors come into play: some, for instance, are of popular origin and have found their way into church practice and the semi-literary ploys of monastic orders. The Renaissance for its part will bring its own social and literary pressures. But what are we to make of the following text, much quoted in sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century anthologies, and found in a churchyard at Marle ('apud Minores Tornacenses')? Ci git le Fils, ci git la Mere, Ci git la Fille avec le Pere, Ci git la Soeur, ci git le Frere, Ci git la Femme et le Mary, Et n'y a que trois corps icy.3

On the Structure of International Disdain

A binary relation R is a collection of ordered pairs (x,y). The relation R of international disdain is defined operationally by means of the joking relationship which occurs frequently among primitive tribes studied by anthropologists (1). For example the ordered pair (USA, Poland) is in R since i n America, one frequently hears the derogatory joke, Q1: How many Poles does it cake ro change a light bulb? A l : Three. One holds the light bulb and the other two lift him by the legs and walk round and round. During a visit to Poland, one may hear the identical response to the modified question in which Poles are replaced by policemen. In England, the replacement is Irishmen; in France, Belgians; in Germany, Prussians; in Canada, Newfier (meaning people from Newfoundland, and these people also tell Newfie jokes as verified by the first author during extensive field work to gather reliable data). This relation can be modeled by a directed graph ( 4 ) , just as the story of Mozart's opera 'Cosi fan Tutte' was structured by Harary ( 2 ) ; additional examples are given by Harary ( 3 ) . Four other variations of this joke follow: 4 2 HOW many Californians are needed to change a light bulb? A2 Elcven. One actually changes che bulb and the other ten share the experience. Q3. How many psychiatrists, etc.? A3: Jusr one, but the bulb must really want to be changed.

Class and the local state: a reply

If anyone ever made money in Gateshead, they must have taken great care not to spend any of it in the town. And if nobody ever did make money in the town, what is it there for? It cannot be there for fun. Gateshead is not Somebody's Folly. How is it that a town can contain one hundred and twenty five thousand persons and yet look like a sprawling swollen industrial village? The answer is that this is a dormitory for the working class. Perhaps at first they wanted nothing better, and now, by the time that some of them want something a great deal better, there is no money.… Every future historian of modern England should be compelled to take a good long slow walk round Gateshead. After that he can at his leisure fit it into his interpretation of our national growth and development.

GENERAL PARALYSIS OF THE INSANE

A 45-year-old, right-handed man was electively admitted to a London hospital following an illness of at least 7 years' duration. On admission, he was described as exhibiting ‘unusual’ behaviour, but was not thought to be a risk to himself or others. He was prone to walking round ‘screaming’ and complained of auditory hallucinations. His admission was prompted by social concerns, as he was unable to manage his activities of daily living. The clinicians performed no tests, recorded no treatments in his case notes, and he died within 2 years of admission. It was 1912 and Abraham Raphael had general paralysis of the insane (GPI).

Origins of Human Graphic Art

YOUR note on the "Origins of Human Graphic Art" reminds me of observations I made some years ago at Matheran, near Bombay. Large numbers of large long-tailed monkeys romp about this little hill station and afford much amusement to visitors. I frequently saw such monkeys trace the outline of one of their hands in the dust, using a twig held almost as one would hold a pencil. Other monkeys inspected the traced outlines with a show of interest, walking round and round the spot with what seemed to be an anxious manner.

The Uses of Metal

IN a branch of engineering that has only been born just over twenty‐five years, nine years is a long time. The Seventh International Aero Exhibition held in London this year was separated by that interval from its predecessor, and it is therefore small matter for surprise that it proved even more interesting than was expected. In comparison with the show at Berlin last year, and similar experiences in Paris, it was on the whole poorly attended by the general public, but since the time has not yet come when casual visitors can be expected to purchase aeroplanes, this did not perhaps matter very much. The important point was that it was extraordinarily well attended by those technically interested from all parts of the world, and it was impossible to walk round without meeting familiar faces from one's own as well as other countries. This led to valuable interchange of views and ideas in a way that has not hitherto been possible to the same extent in England, and hardly perhaps elsewhere.

Russell D. Carman: A Personal Appreciation

For many years we had corresponded, but it was not till 1921 that I met Carman in a New York hotel. Personalities are often so ill expressed by the written word that it was almost a shock to find the man so different from my mental picture. A man of big physique, with a firm and steady hand shake, a look that quietly and without hurry took good stock of one, and a smile that slowly spread over his kindly face. It was a peculiar smile, almost habitual; one that might easily have been disconcerting had it not been for the personality behind it—an enigmatic smile that always ended in a kindly welcome, a kindly thought and the assurance of good will. We talked far into the night on many subjects, but it was always borne in on one that this man lived, moved and had his being and would spend his every effort in radiology. He was almost afraid of diversions lest they should take him off his trail, for he sought to have his mind running on a single track. Last year, over here, we had been having some music and a walk round among the flowers on a summer evening, and as he left he said, rather pathetically, I thought, “You are lucky to have all these things, but I don't envy them to you —my work is my one hobby.” In fact, in spite of his keen enjoyment of everything he seemed to allow himself only one regular diversion, motoring. One day we went together to see some motor races. His child-like enthusiasm and absorbed interest showed that he was perfectly right in limiting his activities to the one aim and object of his life, for he would so easily have gone off at a tangent and become absorbed in whatever he took up. His powers of organization were well suited to such an institution as the Mayo Clinic, where he had built up a department that was dealing most efficiently with about 60,000 diagnostic cases a year. Everything was reduced, as far as possible, to elemental simplicity, and to see him deal with thirty or forty stomach examinations in an afternoon, palpating each one with routine thoroughness, was to realize the physical and mental stamina of which he was made. And then to go with him at eight o'clock each morning from one operating theatre to another, checking up his cases, was to appreciate something of the thoroughness that has placed the diagnostic work of this clinic on such a high plane. There are very few men like Carman in this world, and in his untimely death radiology has lost a great personality, one which will leave its impress for many years, and many of us have lost a true friend.

The Library World Volume 6 Issue 5

IT is with peculiar pleasure that I find myself once more engaged in University Extension work under the presidency of Lord Goschen. Until your well‐remembered tenure of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer drew you from active service with us, my lord, you presided for many years over the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching, and therefore, over myself as a humble member of the Council. I trust you have as pleasant memories of us, as obedient and diligent workers, as we have of you as an energetic and enthusiastic chairman. Many changes have come since then. The London Society is a thing of the past, absorbed into my own University, which itself has changed almost beyond recognition. One of the members in your time is now a Bishop, another rules South Africa, you, yourself, no longer sway the House of Commons. If we still existed and had now to hold a sub‐committee in the chamber of our colleague Milner, we should have to travel many hundreds of miles instead of walking round to Duke Street, St. James's, as you will remember we did in those old days.

Some Local Names for certain Plants in Golden Valley Herefordshire

379. The Banjaras of the Deccan.-Reprint of a pamphlet by Mr. Cumberlege (I2 pp.). A gipsy tribe. Their castes and divisions; dress; rites; religion. The following are some subheadings: Afathurias.-Marriage: Money paid to bride's father; groom's father gives a feast to bride's village. Betrothal takes place in early childhood, and after it the girl can marry no other than her betrothed. The boy and all adults who can, ride to the bride's hamlet; a feast takes place. Clothes of the pair knotted together, with money and rice in the knot. Walking round a curtain. The pair change seats. When the girl goes to her groom's hamlet she draws water, which is mixed with water drawn by one of his female relations; with this, food is cooked; the bride, hitherto considered of no caste at all, becomes one of her groom's caste. Funeral: If a male die before the sacred thread has been put on, he is buried; if after, burnt. Unmarried girls buried, wives burnt.

XLII. Some Notes on a Fossiliferous Shale, a little way below the Cloch Lighthouse

One day in October of last year while walking round by the Cloch, I happened to take a look at the rock sections seen near the shore in that neighbourhood. Being aware that the sandstone rocks exposed for a considerable distance along our coast line—that is south-westwards, from Greenock and Gourock—belong to the calciferous sandstone series, and being also aware that organic remains have been found in this series of rocks in different parts of Scotland, the thought often occurred to me that vegetable or animal remains might be found in the similar strata here. I was thus often tempted, while botanizing by the shore, to take a look at the rocks in passing, and on the day mentioned I examined some alternating beds of sandstone and shale exposed near the shore, about a quarter of a mile below the lighthouse. Some of the sandstones contained carbonaceous matter, which was quite structureless, but on carefully examining one of the beds of shale I found part of it crowded with vegetable remains, consisting for the most part of ferns and calamites—one species of fern, the Sphenopteris affinis, being in great abundance in some parts, and Calamites cannœformis equally plentiful in other parts; while very sparingly appeared the fern, Pecopteris dentata. On the top of the fossiliferous part of the shale I found a piece of tree stem, but not sufficiently preserved to allow of it being identified. I wish here to say that I am much indebted to Mr. John Young, This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

Walking round a church

Walking round a church Get access H. H. C. H. H. C. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s2-X, Issue 259, 15 December 1860, Page 463, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s2-X.259.463e Published: 15 December 1860