The circles of time: A chronology and its connection to Trinity hall

Earlier this year, the College received an intriguing little book in the post. An accompanying letter explained that it had been found among the possessions of the sender’s relative after their death. They believed it may have been acquired by accident or misadventure during an ancestor’s time at Cambridge, and so they were returning it to Trinity Hall. There is, sure enough, an ownership inscription on the title page which says ‘W. Territt Trinity Hall’, however it was never part of the College library collection!

The book belonged to William Territt (c1768-1836) who matriculated at Trinity Hall in 1786, obtaining a Bachelor in Law in 1792, followed by LLD in 1797. He embarked on a legal career and was to become Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty in Bermuda between 1802 and 1815. He later returned to England to his family seat at Chilton Hall, Suffolk , and died aged 67 in 1836 [1].

Besides Territt, there are traces of one other former owner, Richard Belward(?) who has written his name (none too legibly) on the sides of the frontispiece. His initials ‘R.B’ are also stamped on the cover.

The book is the Chronological Tables of Europe. From the Nativity of our Saviour to the year 1703. [2] The engraved title page identifies ‘Colonel Parsons’ as the author, although, in fact, it is a translation and slight modification of Guillaume Marcel’s Tablettes Chronologiques, first printed in Paris in 1682.

Spotting a money-making opportunity, William Parsons (1658–c1725) a former English army officer, simplified Marcel’s complex layout and symbolic scheme, and reduced its size so that it was easily portable. His new format was a commercial success, and many editions followed, selling 4,000 copies in about a decade.

Each page of this remarkable pocket-sized book represents a century (1^st to 17^th), meticulously detailing the names and dates of monarchs and rulers. But what sets Parsons’ work apart are the mysterious symbols adorning its pages, offering insights into the character and fate of these historical figures. A fold-out chart provides the key so the reader can understand the symbols given in the tables.

Among the symbols, the sun, or sol, reigns supreme. Representing the most glorious of all characters, it signifies a ruler endowed with the greatest perfections—a monarch esteemed as a most accomplished ruler by historians; one example is Elizabeth I.

In contrast, the symbol for Saturn, resembling an ‘h’ shape, paints a grim picture. It denotes a cruel and bloody monarch. This has been applied to Elizabeth’s sister Mary I. Mary’s entry also has the dart and luna symbols (crescent moon) which signify misfortune, marked by adversity and hardship.

The symbol for Mars—a circle with an arrow—signifies a prince of good courage and a warrior who leaves a mark on the annals of history with their bravery. Suleiman the Magnificent is in this category.

The symbols provide an ingenious means to save space. Compact and lightweight, the book was designed for portability—a ready companion for the avid scholar or curious student. Its ingenious layout, paired with symbols for quick reference, made it a practical tool for navigating the complexities of European history. As it says on the title page:

“…digested into so very easie and exact a method, that any one may immediately find out either pope, emperour, or king, and thereby know in what time & kingdom he reign’d, who were his predecessours, contemp[ou]rs, & success[ou]rs, to what virtues or vices he was most inclinable, the good or ill success of his fortune, the manner & time of his death.”

This humble chronology serves as a reminder of our connection to the past. Through its pages, we not only uncover the stories of long-forgotten rulers, but can also trace the previous owners, bound together by a shared quest for knowledge. More than two hundred years after the book was purchased in Cambridge by a student at Trinity Hall, it has once again ‘returned’ to the College.

Jenni Lecky-Thompson

References

[1] Venn, J., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge, 1922.

[2] Marcel, Guillaume. Chronological Tables of Europe…. The VIth. Impression. London: printed for B. Barker at the White-Hart and C. King at the Judges Head in Westminster Hall, 1707.

Bewitching books on the supernatural

As it’s nearly Halloween let’s take a look at some of our spooky early modern books which describe encounters with the supernatural. One of the seminal works on paranormal happenings to found on the shelves is Saducismus Triumphatus or, A Full and Plain Evidence, Concerning Witches and Apparitions , which was first published posthumously in 1681. Trinity Hall has the fourth edition published in 1726 [1]. It was written by a clergyman named Joseph Glanvil (1636-1680) who was a member of the Royal Society.

Glanvil believed in the existence of witchcraft and the supernatural (like many others in the 17^th century) and he set out to provide “full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions”. He thought that without the threat of demons and witches, people would see no reason for religion – and worse – that a lack of belief in the supernatural was akin to atheism. The small book was hugely popular and is considered to have influenced Cotton Mather, a New England preacher who stirred up hysteria about witchcraft during the notorious Salem witch trials (1692-93).

Among the book’s numerous tales of ghosts, witches and demons, it includes one of the first descriptions of poltergeist manifestation in ‘The Drummer of Tedworth’. In Glanvil’s version of the story a landowner from Tedworth (now Tidworth) named John Mompesson brought a case against a vagrant drummer for begging with a forged permit. After he had won the suit and confiscated the drum, Mompesson’s house was plagued by inexplicable drumming, eerie lights, scratching noises and unpleasant sulphurous smells. Over several months in 1663, his children’s beds would shake and levitate into the air by themselves, and objects were thrown violently around the room by unseen hands. The drummer was in prison on a charge of theft for part of this time so could be exonerated as the cause of the disturbances.

Detail of the frontispiece of Saducismus triumphatus showing the Drummer of Tedworth. Wikimedia

The case became well-known, and many people visited Mompesson’s house to witness the strange occurrences for themselves. Glanvil himself visited the family to investigate the disturbances in January 1663, and he describes how he heard a strange noise from the children’s bedroom:

“It was as loud a scratching, as one with long Nails could make upon a Bolster. There were two little modest Girls in the Bed, between Seven and Eleven years old as I guessed. I saw their hands out over the Clothes, and they could not contribute to the noise that was behind their heads.”.

Thinking the children too innocent to be the responsible for the noise and finding no “dog or other creature” in the room, he was persuaded that it was made by “some Dæmon or Spirit.” Despite this, he does not appear to have been unduly afraid.

Later the same year, the drummer was convicted of theft and transported to the colonies never to return, and his drum destroyed. After this, peace returned to the Mompesson household. The general verdict now is that the poltergeist activity was a deception by either the children or the Drummer’s mates. Although the family swore at the time that it was not a fraud.

Another noisy spirit can be found in a book first published in 1705 entitled An Historical, Physiological and Theological Treatise of Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcrafts, and Other Magical Practices [2], which was written by John Beaumont (c.1650–1731), a physician (and geologist). In his book he describes his frequent encounters with genii (spirits) who appeared to him, announcing their presence by ringing a little bell in his ear. He writes:

I ask’d one Spirit which came for some Nights together… what his Name was, who answer’d Ariel… the two that constantly attended my self, appear’d both in Womens Habit, they being of a Brown Complexion, and about Three Foot in Stature; they had both black, loose Network Gowns, tyed with a black Sash about their Middles, and within the Network appear’d a Gown of a Golden Colour, with somewhat of a Light striking thro’ it; their Heads were not drest with Topknots, but they had white Linnen Caps on, with Lace on them, about three Fingers breadth, and over it they had a Black loose Network Hood. (p. 92)

First edition of this early account of the supernatural, with wonderful engraved frontispiece of an “Evil Genius,” “Good Genii” and “Jews Going Out in the Moonshine” by Michael van der Gucht.

Beaumont was a firm believer in the occult and one of his main aims in writing his book was to refute Balthasar Bekker’s 1695 work The World Bewitch’d, which debunked the supernatural. Beaumont collected together many accounts of paranormal experiences from respectable narrators such as clergyman and aristocrats as evidence to support his views. He takes his own visitations from these fashionable ghosts in his stride and notes that the spirits would “disswade me from drinking too freely” (p. 394).  It is possible that these genii (as he called spirits) may well have come out of the bottle.

Whatever the truth, many of our books do contain the ghosts of former owners in the form of their inscriptions or other notes in their books. Our copy of Beaumont’s text has an ink inscription on the title page: Char: Tollet, 1780″. He can be identified as Charles Tollet (died 1796), a landed gentleman who was appointed High Sheriff for Staffordshire in 1782. The book was donated to the College by Lawrence Strangman (1908-1980) who records in pencil at the front of the books that he purchased it in 1927. Strangman collected a wide range of books which he donated to Trinity Hall, which include several on witchcraft and the supernatural. Some of these are currently on display in the Jerwood library reading room if you dare to look.

Jenni Lecky-Thompson

References

1. Glanvill, Joseph, Sadducismus Triumphatus : or, A Full and Plain Evidence, Concerning Witches and Apparitions : in Two Parts. The First Treating of Their Possibility. The Second of Their Real Existence, The fourth edition, with additions.. (London:: printed for A. Bettesworth, and J. Batley, in Pater-noster-Row; W. Meares, and J. Hooke, near Temple-Bar, in Fleet-street, 1726) Old Library J*.7.50
   
2. Beaumont, John. An Historical, Physiological and Theological Treatise of Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcrafts, and Other Magical Practices. London: Printed for D. Browne, at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar; J. Taylor, at the Ship in St. Paul’s Church-Yard; R. Smith, at the Angel without Temple-Bar; F. Coggan, in the Inner-Temple Lane; and T. Browne without Temple-Bar, 1705. Strangman Collection 133 BEA

Further reading

Burns, William E. “Glanvill [Glanville], Joseph (1636–1680), Church of England clergyman.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  January 03, 2008. Oxford University Press. Date of access 18 Oct. 2023, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10790

Mandelbrote, Scott. “Beaumont, John (c. 1640–1731), natural philosopher and collector of geological specimens.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  September 28, 2006. Oxford University Press. Date of access 18 Oct. 2023, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1876/version/1

Prior, M. E. (1932). Joseph Glanvill, Witchcraft, and Seventeenth-Century Science. Modern Philology, 30(2), 167–193. http://www.jstor.org/stable/434078

100 Years of The Hesperides Society

To celebrate the centenary of the Hesperides Society, here is a look at the early years of the society. The actual 100^th anniversary was in March, but better late than never! October 15^th is a fitting alternative date as it happens to be the death day of Robert Herrick, after whose collection of poetry the society took its name.  

Robert Herrick was an alumnus of Trinity Hall in the early 17^th century.  His mangum opus, Hesperides, was a collection of circa 1400 lyrical poems and was published in 1648. It is named after the goddess-nymphs of evening and the golden light of sunsets from Greek mythology. The Hesperides were entrusted with the care of the tree of the golden apples which were given to the goddess Hera on her wedding day by Gaia (the Earth). 

Minutes of the first meeting in March 1923

The Hesperides Society was founded on March 13^th 1923 by Neil McLeod Innes and three other students. They met in Innes’ room to discuss the possibility of creating a society for the discussion of literary and artistic subjects. It was decided that the procedure of the society would be informal and meetings would be opened with the introduction of a pre-arranged subject and then opened up to questions. Happily the society did not go with the first suggested name, which was “The Query Qulub.”  

The first official meeting of the society was held on April 27^th. It was during this meeting that they unanimously agreed upon “Hesperides,” as there was already another Query Club. The first topic of discussion was about whether or not the Mona Lisa was the most famous painting in the world. At the end of the meeting it was agreed that merely suggesting a topic wasn’t enough, but instead a paper should be read, after which there would be questions.  

In the beginning there were only six members. By Michaelmas 1923, they decided to open membership to the entire college and the society grew to 24 members. By winter 1924 there were 59 members.  At the November 7^th 1923 meeting, they decreed that the only subjects that were not to be discussed were “pious religion” and politics. At the following meeting they decided the society’s colours were to be green (to represent the garden of the Hesperides) and gold (for the golden apples). 

Minutes of the talk delivered by J.B. Priestley in 1926

The meetings were often held in a member’s room, unless the talk was expected to attract a large turnout. In which case, the meeting would be held in the J.C.R. and attendance would be opened up to the university and women’s colleges. Within a year, the society began attracting big names from outside the college to give talks. The first notable speaker was Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, a novelist, poet, and literary critic.  

T.S. Eliot as guest of honour at a dinner.

J.B. Priestley, who graduated from Trinity Hall in 1921, returned in 1926 to give a talk to the society. T.S. Eliot was hosted by the society as a guest of honour at a dinner in 1928. He promised to come back to give a talk, but by the time someone contacted him about a couple decades later, he stated he no longer gave talks to student societies. In March 1958, C.S. Lewis gave a talk as well, which unfortunately wasn’t minuted. Owen Chadwick, Dean and fellow of the college in the 1940s, gave a talk about the Philip Nicholls scandal of 1731 and produced some of the historical documents relating to that case that are also held in the Archive.  

Paper delivered by C.S. Lewis

Other famous names who gave talks were Philip Guedalla (who returned several times), Raymond Priestley (the Arctic explorer), Walter de La Mare, Edith and Osbert Sitwell, Arnold Haskell, Rose Macaulay, Leonard Strong, Lionel Britton,  Phyllis Bentley, Naomi Mitchison, and Sir Gerald Kelly. The society also had some famous (and infamous) members as well, such as Donald Maclean, the Soviet spy.

The first iteration of the society disbanded in 1976. However, it was re-founded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and has since heard talks from famous Trinity Hall alumni Sophie Winkleman and Nicholas Hynter.

The Hospital of St Margaret’s, Huntingdon

_{THAR/8/9/2/1/3: 1461 Grant by Edward IV to the Master and Fellows of Trinity Hall of the hospital of St. Margaret’s near Huntingdon}

In honour of World Leprosy Day (which is January 29^th) let’s take a look at Trinity Hall’s own leper house, the hospital of St Margaret, Hungtingdon, and leper houses more generally in the middle ages. The hospital of St Margaret was founded for the purpose of treating lepers by Malcolm IV of Scotland (who was also the Earl of Huntingdon) sometime in the 12^th century. In the 14^th century during the First War of Scottish Independence, the hospital fell into the hands of the English monarchy. From this time onwards the masters of the hospital were the king’s clerks. However, by 1327 it had fallen into such poverty that they had to refuse admission of a leper who was sent to them by the king. By 1461, the hospital was no longer receiving patients or operating for its original purpose, and it was granted to Trinity Hall. The hospital and its lands were given to Trinity Hall as perpetual alms for the support of the inhabitants of the College.

Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, is a complex bacterial infection that mainly affects the nerves, skin, and eyes. In extreme cases it can cause gangrene, blindness, the loss of extremities, and weakening of bones. Although it is treatable today, before the 20^th century it was a life-long condition. Leprosy was present in England by the 4^th century and became quite prevalent by 1050. Between the 11^th and 14^th centuries over three hundred leper houses were established in England. The attitude towards leprosy during the medieval period was generally sympathetic. Lepers were seen as holy and close to God. It was believed God answered their prayers more readily, so lepers and leper hospitals were popular recipients of charity.

_{THAR/8/9/2/1/1: 1355 Inspeximus charter confirming to the Master and the Brethren of the Hospital of St. Margaret in Huntingdon, sundry lands and payments given to it by various persons in Huntingdon.}

Contrary to popular belief, lepers were not always considered outcasts and forced into strict isolation from society. The patients were not locked away; they were allowed to visit family and receive visitors. Admittance to leper houses was actually highly sought after, even by those not suffering from leprosy. Many had to seek the assistance of local nobles to help them gain admission. Leper houses (also known as lazar houses or leprosaria) tended to be located in the outskirts of towns and cities or near major travel routes, because the lepers needed to stay in close contact with society to beg alms, sell religious services such as praying for the souls of benefactors, and trade goods.

One of the oldest surviving leper houses can be found right here in Cambridge, the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene, Stourbridge (just off what is now Newmarket Road). In 1199 King John granted the chapel the permission to hold a fair to raise funds to support the lepers. At its height, the Stourbridge Fair was one of the largest fairs in Europe.

_{Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene: Photograph © Andrew Dunn, 26 December 2004.}

The care lepers received was both physical and spiritual. For the physical care of the patients, emphasis was placed on cleanliness and a varied diet. Clothes were washed twice a week and much of the food served came from the hospital’s own gardens and livestock. Leprosaria generally had fragrant herb gardens the patients could tend to. On the spiritual side, the houses generally comprised of a series of cottages surrounding a central chapel where the patients could pray and attend mass.

However, by the 14^th century fears of contagion due to the outbreak of the Black Death brought about greater restriction and isolation for lepers. Fortunately, leprosy was already on the decline in England at that time, and many leper houses were either disbanded or put to other uses such as almshouses for the sick and poor.

Hopping into 2023

According to the Chinese zodiac 2023 is the year of the rabbit (specifically the Moon rabbit). To mark Chinese New Year we hopped over to the Old Library to see what we could unearth on rabbits from our collections.

The earliest depiction of a rabbit that we have is in the wonderful early 17^th century bestiary The Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts (1607) compiled by Topsell [1]. This work features a charming woodcut of a rabbit pictured below.

At this time, ‘rabbit’ only referred to their young, while ‘cony’ or ‘conies’ was the term used for adult rabbits. Topsell’s description shows that rabbits were primarily viewed as a source of meat (“their flesh is very white and sweet, especially of the young ones”) and fur. What might also surprise you is that, so he tells us, there are accounts of some parts of the world where rabbits are green, although they are usually the more familiar brown! The book contains many mythological creatures, so green rabbits would not be the strangest beast inside this book!

Another more scientific work in the Library which contains rabbits is the monumental 18th century work of natural history Histoire Naturelle, Générale Et Particulière (1749–1788) [2] by French naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707 –1788). This was published in 36 volumes over a period of 50 years, and translated into many languages. The book contains many accurate engraved copperplate illustrations including five of different kinds of rabbits, together with their skeleton and dissections of their anatomy. The ‘domestic rabbits’ pictured below are Dutch rabbits, which were favoured for rearing for meat because they were larger than other breeds.

Unlike Topsell, Buffon ignores outlandish fables in favour of scientific fact. He details experiments that were conducted by others, for example, to see if a rabbit could produce offspring with a hare (they can’t – and the experiments often did not end well!). His main conclusion is that rabbits erm… breed like rabbits.

The final work that we’ll look at concerns a rabbit of the celestial rather than earthly kind. This rabbit is depicted in an illustration of the constellations recorded in a copy of Manilius’ Astronomicon (1739) [3]. Astronomica is a didactic poem in five books about astronomy, but there’s also a few bits and pieces which conform to what we’d consider astrology today. A folded plate contains a celestial chart copied from antiquity which shows fantastic beasts as well as the more mundane rabbit.

The rabbit represents the constellation of Lepus (Latin for hare). It is usually located below the constellation Orion (the hunter), whose hunting dogs (Canis Major and Canis Minor) pursue it. According to legend, Lepus was once a bird who was turned into a hare by Ostara, the Goddess of Spring. Once a year the hare was able to lay eggs. This is thought to be the origin of the Easter Bunny.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this quick hop through our special collections.

May the Year of the Rabbit bring you blessings and success!

References

[1] Topsell, E. The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. London: Printed by William Iaggard, 1607.

[2] Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc. Histoire Naturelle, Générale Et Particulière : Avec La Description Du Cabinet Du Roy. Seconde Édition. ed. A Paris: De L’Imprimerie Royale, 1750-82. 36 volumes.

[3] Manilius, Astronomicon. Londini: Typis Henrici Woodfall, Sumptibus Pauli Et Isaaci Vaillant, 1739.

#ColorOurCollections- 7-11 Feb 2022

Join us once more and take part in the annual tradition of #ColorOurCollections taking place 7-11 February 2022.

#ColorOurCollections is a week-long colouring fest on social media organized by libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions around the world, and was launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library in 2016.

This is our third colouring book. It contains a selection of animals and fantastic beasts from our rare books including a magnificent tiger and some strange human-animal hybrids.

Download the colouring book (and those from many other collections) here, print the sheets and share your images on social media, using the hashtags #colorourcollections (because the campaign launched in America most institutions are using the American spelling of colour!), #trinhall_libs, and tag us in @jerwoodlibrary.

Download Trinity Hall libraries 2022 colouring book

Happy colouring!

The ‘Tyger’ from Topsell’s Foure-footed Beastes (1607)

Fancy a Cycle Ride? Why Not Follow the Trinity Hall Milestones to Barkway

The College Archives present many surprising secrets, some of which require researching at different periods in history in order to fully understand and catalogue – like now! In a box labelled ‘Master’s Photos 2014-15’ are 16 colour photographs of Trinity Hall milestones. They show milestones on the old London Road, from Cambridge to Barkway, all of which carry the Trinity Hall crescent. The first is on Trumpington Road facing Brooklands Avenue, and the last 16 miles away in Barkway village. You may already know about the Trinity Hall milestones, but if not, read on…

The milestones were the creation of William Warren, and he describes how he measured out the miles, and then commissioned and set the stones between 1725 and 1740, in his history of the College which he compiled and prefaced in 1730. The history was never completed and he retired from the College in 1743 and died in Kent in 1744. Warren’s Book was subsequently collated, edited and completed by Alfred Dale much later, in 1910 (Dale had migrated as an undergraduate from Trinity College to Trinity Hall in 1877, and was a tutor here from 1899).

William Warren arrived at Trinity Hall to study Law in 1700. Ordained in 1709, he was elected Fellow in 1712, and in 1717 admitted to the degree of Doctor of Law. He became Bursar and was also Vice-Master at a time when the Master, Nathaniel Lloyd, was not permanently lodged in the College, so his duties probably covered those of the absent Master. The idea of creating the milestones was in line with a responsibility the College had assumed in maintaining the roads and pathways (causeways) leading into Cambridge. The ‘Causey Accounts’ were inaugurated by Dr Mouse (later referred to as Mowse). Robert Hare was Mouse’s executor, a Fellow of Gonville Hall who continued to donate to the fund. Mouse died in 1588 and Hare in 1611. Later Causey accounts from 1743 to 1849 can be accessed in the College archives.

Warren’s history of the College is detailed in terms of its early lists of benefactors, properties and accounts, Masters and Fellows, and Latin inscriptions on its earliest College charters and documents. His own account of the erection of the milestones is very detailed:

“July 2, 1725. I took two men along with me, & with a Chain of 66 feet in Length, we measur’d five miles from the Southwest Buttress of Great St Maries Church Steeple in Cambridge towards Barkway…”

A circular engraving on the south side of the Great St Mary’s still marks the starting point. After the miles had been measured, Warren commissioned the carving from various stonemasons, as shown in the table below.

 “The 1^st stone has Dr Mouse’s Arms, and 16^th stone has Mr Hare’s…Stones 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 are small stones with only the miles cut… Stones 5, 10 & 15 have “Miles to Cambridge AD MDCCXXV” cut in them.”

Warren set small stones on the right hand side of the road as one leaves Cambridge, at each mile, and then between 1728 and 1730 replaced the small stones with taller Portland stones. The 16^th and final stone in Barkway village was set on the anniversary of the birth of Charles II and the restoration of the monarchy, on 29^th May 1728.

Warren’s Milestones

1. Road to Barkway

				Cost
Measuring	Cutting	Story	£	s	d
1725/07/02		Measured from Gt St Mary’s 5 miles to Barkway	00	03	00
		1st – 5th milestones erected
	1725/10/29	Paid Mr Woodward for the 5 mile stone and for cutting letters on the others	02	12	00
1726/04/29		Paid for measuring 5 miles further	00	03	00
		6th – 10th stones and also the stone directing the road to Royston erected
	1726/08/06	Paid Mr Woodward for the 10th stone and erected the 6th– 9th	00	03	00
		6th – 10th milestones and the stone directing the road to Royston erected
1727/05/02		Paid Henry Bridges & Thos: Milton (who had measured the former miles) for measuring the 11th – 16th milestones measured	00	05	00
		Paid Mr Woodward for the 15th stone, and for erecting the 11th – 14th stones	03	10	00

Date	Story
1728/04/25	1st milestone a larger stone replaced smaller one
1728/05/29	16th stone in Barkway (on the anniversary of birth of Charles II and Restoration)
1729/05/06	11th and 3rd milestones erected replacing smaller ones
1729/05/29	4th milestone set up to replace a smaller one
1730/05/29	6th, 7th, 8th & 9th milestones replacing smaller ones
1731/08/25	11th & 12th milestones between Fowlmere & Barley
1732/10/04	13th & 14th milestones replacing smaller ones
1732/10/19	Great St Mary’s steeple buttress marker cut

A further five milestones were erected on Huntingdon Road, and ten on the road to Haverhill, and the project completed in 1740.

2. Road to Haverhill

Measuring	Erecting	Story
1731/05/11		To Gogmagog hills
1736/09/23		4 miles further on towards Haverhill
	1736/10/26	2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th milestones erected
1740/08/02		5 more miles measured and 6th – 10th stones erected

3. Huntingdon Road

Measuring	Erecting	Story
1735/05/15		1st  mile measured
1735/05/19		2nd – 5th miles measured
	1735/05/29	5 stones erected

During World War 2, when signposts were removed in anticipation of a German invasion, the stones were carefully taken out and laid down in the ground. They were re-erected in 1946. 

In 2005 several College Fellows cycled the route to Barkway to check that the milestones were all present and correct, and the photographs in the ‘Master’s Photographs 2014-15’ box were probably taken then. However, that was 17 years ago and it would be useful to check they were still there. A new milestone was cut at the Cardozo Kindersley workshop and erected in the beech hedge on Storey’s Way in 2006 to commemorate the completion of the Wychfield buildings. The term ‘milestones’ has further meaning to the College, being used for various fundraising schemes. For example, the ‘Milestones to the Future’ project was launched in June 2006 to finance the regeneration of rooms in the central College site and bolster the College Endowment fund. Fundraising and philanthropy have always been, right from the beginning, an integral part of the College’s existence, and account for many of its successes.

Top image: Four Trinity Hall milestones to Barkway. The stones all bear the Trinity Hall crescent. The first also bears the arms of Dr Mouse and the last, the arms of Mr Hare. Mouse and Hare kept the ‘Causey Accounts’, philanthropic donations to maintain paths and roads into Cambridge.

Anna Crutchley, College Archivist (Maternity Cover)

References

Crawley, C., Trinity Hall,  CUP 1976 & 1992

Warren, W., Warren’s Book, ed. Dale, A., 1910

Front Row, Issue 13, Summer 2007

Causey Accounts, 1743 – 1849, THAR/2/2/7, College Archives

The perseverance of a ‘harmless drudge’

Engraving of Samuel Johnson from Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson (1884)

‘Perseverence’ has recently been announced as the Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2021. It is defined as “continued effort to do or achieve something, even when this is difficult or takes a long time”. This captures the spirit of people across the world to never give up, despite the challenges and disruption of the pandemic. It might also have been the word of the year chosen by Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) in 1755 to define the mammoth task of compiling his famous Dictionary of the English Language [1].

We are fortunate that we have the first edition of Johnson’s remarkable dictionary at Trinity Hall. The College was unusually prosperous in the mid to latter part of the 18th century and this was a period when most of the books in the library were purchased rather than bequested.

Title page of Johnson’s Dictionary

Johnson certainly needed perseverance to complete his dictionary. It was to take him nearly nine years to complete – over five years longer than he had anticipated. However, compared to the first French dictionary completed in 1694, which took a team of 40 people a total of 55 years to complete, this was remarkably speedy.

Johnson was first approached by a group of booksellers and publishers to create the dictionary in 1746. They hoped that it would standardise the spelling and use of the English language. However, in his book’s preface, Johnson explains how he had found the language to be ‘copious without order, and energetick without rules’. As well as the difficulties of the English language itself, Johnson compiled his dictionary almost single-handedly (he had no more than four helpers at a time). In addition to these practicalities, he was mourning the loss of Tetty, his wife of 17 years, who had died in 1752.

The Dictionary, first published on 15 April 1755 in two large volumes, contains the definitions for 42,773 words. Johnson himself pronounced the book “proud in its great bulk”. It was not the first English dictionary, but could be considered the most significant and extensive of its time. One of Johnson’s important innovations was to include literary quotations, most frequently by Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden, to illustrate the meanings and context of the words. Johnson’s definition of ‘Perseverance’ for example, contains quotes from various literary sources:

Perseve’rance : Persistence in any design or attempt; steadiness in pursuits; constancy in progress. It is applied alike to good and ill.

Definition of perseverance from Johnson’s Dictionary (1755)

Johnson’s feelings on the compilation of the dictionary may be seen from this definition of ‘lexographer’ as a ’harmless drudge’ or “Dull, adjective: Not exhilarating; not delightful: as, to make dictionaries is dull work“. The book, Johnson sums up self-pityingly at the end of his preface, ‘was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amid inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow … I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise.’

Despite the drudgery and difficulties involved we can be thankful that Johnson persevered with his task as his dictionary is a treasure trove of anachronistic words. Three of my favourites are:

“Hotcockles: A play [game] in which one covers his eyes, and guesses who strikes him.”

“Jiggumbob: A trinket; a knick-knack; a slight contrivance in machinery.”

“Fopdoodle: A fool; an insignificant wretch.”

There is also much to enjoy in Johnson’s witty and humorous definitions:

“Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.”

“Politician: A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.”

The dictionary was sold for the extravagant price of 4 pounds, 10 shillings – roughly the equivalent of £350 today. In Johnson’s lifetime five further editions were published, with a sixth edition published a year after his death in 1785. Although he was paid a large sum of money in advance, most of this was eaten up by the time the dictionary was published, so it gave him fame, but unfortunately did not make his fortune.

References

 [1] Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language : In Which the Words Are Deduced from Their Originals, and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers. To Which Are Prefixed, a History of the Language, and an English Grammar. London: Printed by W. Strahan, for J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755.

Further reading

Johnson’s Dictionary Online https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com

Reddick, Allen Hilliard. The Making of Johnson’s Dictionary, 1746-1773. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.

The Natural History of Serpents

In honour of World Snake Day (celebrated every July 16^th) we take a look at an interesting natural history book in our collection: An Essay towards a Natural History of Serpents, by Charles Owen, published in 1742. [1]

Owen was one of a number of clergymen in the 18^th century who wrote books on natural history, which are strange mixture of fact and fable — as much symbolic as scientific. He was not a scientist so he draws on classical, biblical and mythological sources for his information on ‘serpents’. These include not only snakes, but frogs, scorpions and spiders, as well as mythical creatures such as basilisks and dragons. His aim was not just to inform and entertain, but to share his belief that the natural world, as created by God, had moral qualities, which could guide people as to how to live their lives.

So how useful today is Owen’s book to anyone looking for scientific information on reptiles? Trinity Hall student Alex Howard, who is writing her PhD on snakes takes a closer look!

Alex with her snake, Ada

Snakes: Fact or fiction

Although almost 280 years have passed since the publication of this book, and our knowledge of the natural world has increased considerably since then, there are some great passages that show an 18^th Century view on one of the world’s most enigmatic reptiles.

The Adder

The first passage that caught my eye was a section referring to one of the UK’s native species, the only venomous snake found in Great Britain. The European adder, Vipera berus, is a small, secretive viper that is usually found in heathlands and woods. While the bite can be painful, the venom this animal produces is not dangerous to most humans. Preferring instead to hunt lizards and small mammals, adders can grow to a length of 80cm and live up to 15 years.

The Adder

The passage in Owen’s book makes mention of the striking orange eyes of this species:

“The Viper or Adder, a subtle and poisonous Creature, slender in Body, about a Foot and a half long, with fiery and flaming Eyes.” p. 51

Owen also notes the presence of the incredible way that Adders reproduce. While many snakes lay eggs from which the babies hatch (known as being oviparous) and mammals give live birth (known as being viviparous), the Adder incubates it’s young internally. These offspring are still technically within separate ‘eggs’, although the shell is reduced to just a membrane that the babies break out with after being born. This process is known as being ovoviviparous and Owen notes as follows:

“Snakes lay their Eggs, twenty, thirty, fifty, and a hundred sometimes, in one Nest […] whereas Vipers make use of their own Matrix, and bring forth live Vipers: Their young ones come forth wrapt in thin Skins, which break on the third day, and set the little venemous Creatures at liberty, therefore rank’d among the viviparous Animals.” p. 52

Blindsnakes

Pixabay: A blindsnake

Another section that brought me particular joy is one that mentions a group of snakes that take the focus of a part of my PhD, the blindsnakes. These snakes, the scientific name for which are Scolecophidia (which literally translates to worm snake, another common name for this species), are found primarily underground, where they hunt the larvae of social insects such as ants and termites. When most people come across one of these, they usually consider it to be a particularly large worm, unless they see the characteristic forked snake tongue.

Owen remarks on their incredibly small eyes that give them their ‘blind’ moniker:

“The Caecilia or Typhlinus, the blind Worm, as the Greek word imports; not that it wants Eyes, but because they are so little, that he must be furnish’d with good Optics that can discern them.” p. 80

He also notes the presence of viviparity:

“Conradus Gefner tells us, his Wife struct one of these Serpents on the Head, when ‘twas pregnant, and it immediately cast forth its young”.

I find it interesting that he refers to blindsnakes also as “The Caecilian Serpent”. Caecilians as described today are a group of legless amphibians that also spend the majority of their lives underground. Superficially they are very similar to blindsnakes, so it is likely that these two groups of animals were often confused with one another.

Owen on the blindsnake, p. 80

Dragons?!

Two dragons

Finally, it appears that also included in the 18^th Century categorization of snakes, were the mythical dragons. There is a surprising amount of biological information for these animals, given that they don’t exist:

“Among Serpents, Authors place Dragons; Creatures terrible and fierce in Aspect and Nature. They are divided into Apodes and Pedates, some with Feet, and some without them…” .

“Some have observed, that about the Ganges, are Dragons whose Eyes sparkle like precious stones”.

“Dragons are Inhabitants of Africa and Asia; those of India exceed most in Largeness and Longitude: In the Tower of London, is the Skin of one, which is of vast Bulk”. p. 74

While dragons don’t exist, it is possible that these reports are sightings of the large snakes that inhabit these areas. Burmese pythons and reticulated pythons are found across South East Asia, and African rock pythons in Africa. These species are the giants of the snake world, with reticulated pythons reaching over seven and a half metres.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down snake history as much as I did. I’ll leave you with a quote from Charles Owen:

“The Knowledge of mere Animals (who have no School for Arts and Sciences) is most surprising; these, without visible Instructors, know how to perpetuate their Species to the End of the World.” p. 4

How do snakes know things without going to school?!

Reference

 [1] Owen, Charles, An Essay towards a Natural History of Serpents : In Two Parts : I. The First Exhibits a General View of Serpents, in Their Various Aspects; … II. The Second Gives a View of Most Serpents That Are Known in the Several Parts of the World; … III. To Which Is Added a Third Part; Containing Six Dissertations … : The Whole Intermix’d with Variety of Entertaining Digressions, Philosophical and Historical. London: Printed for the Author, Sold by John Gray, at the Cross-Keys in the Poultry, near Cheapside, 1742. Online at: https://archive.org/details/essaytowardsnat00owen

What a Larke!

The Early Modern period of the College’s history is dominated by the likes of Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Preston, and Thomas Bilney, but there is another character from that period who deserves a little attention. Thomas Larke was the College’s 12^th master, immediately preceding Stephen Gardiner. Larke was an exceptional man. He rose from humble origins, being the son of an innkeeper at Thetford, to become one of the chaplains of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey’s confessor, and he aided in brokering peace with France. 

King’s College Chapel South Front by David Loggan, 1690

Little is known about him prior to 1507 when he became one of Henry’s chaplains. Soon after entering Henry’s service, he was charged with supervising the business side of the construction works at King’s College. He was possibly made a fellow of Kings in 1508/9, and by 1511, he was promoted to official surveyor of the site. Around this time, he had also become Cardinal Wolsey’s confessor. Interestingly, his sister, Joan Larke, was Wolsey’s mistress. She bore Wolsey two children before he married her off to a Cheshire gentleman.   

Rather refreshingly, it appears Larke was a genuinely good man. While Larke was living in Cambridge supervising the works at King’s, he became friendly with Desiderius Erasmus, who was lodging near him. In a letter, Erasmus remarked that Larke was “the most civilised and open-hearted” of all he had known in England. He also received praise from Wolsey’s chief agent in Rome who paid tribute to his modesty and virtue.  

Once the building work was completed at King’s, he was employed in a similar capacity over the work being carried out at the palace of Bridewell between 1515 and 1517. Larke became Master of Trinity Hall sometime between 1517 and 1520, around the same time he was made Archdeacon of Sudbury. He held that position from 1517 to 1522, and from 1522 to 1528 he was the Archdeacon of Norwich. A year after he resigned as Master from Trinity Hall in 1525, he was assisting the work at Wolsey’s college in Oxford, now known as Christ’s Church. 

THAR/8/3/2/3: Grant of John Tayllour, John Puregold, and Thomas Pecok to Thomas Larke, Master of Trinity Hall and the Fellows of Trinity Hall of 6 acres of arable land in the Fields of Cambride1523

Regrettably, very little is known about his time as master other than Stephen Gardiner was one of his fellows. It is unlikely Larke ever lived in College, because in 1524-5 his residence in London was the location of secret meetings between Cardinal Wolsey and the ambassador of France, which led to a peace agreement with France in 1525. That year he resigned his Mastership, and he began receiving a pension from the King of France as a reward for his services. He died in 1530.   

References

Alumni cantabrigienses : a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Compiled by John Venn and J.A. Venn. Cambridge : University Press, 1922-54. 

Cobban, Alan. The King’s Hall within the University of Cambridge in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press., 1969. 

Crawley, Charles. Trinity Hall: The History of a Cambridge College, 1350-1975. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. 

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Epistles of Erasmus From His Earliest Letters to His Fifty-first Year, Arranged in Order of Time, vol 2. Translated by Francis Morgan Nichols. London : Longmans, Green, 1904. 

Saltmarsh, John. King’s College Chapel. Cambridge: King’s College, 1967.