songS oF innocencE & experiencE: May 2019

Day 88: 5/11/19

Yep, I decided that I wasn't ready to exit The Buckle Universe just yet. So after spending 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Special Olympics Regional Track and Field meet...and another couple of hours taking the kids out for some Mother's Day shopping...and 3 1/2 hours watching the first four episodes of Netflix's version of Lucifer...I picked up my Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume I and read until I hit page xx.

And it was good stuff. I'm still in the introductory portion (hence the Roman number), so no actual Buckle writing, but there was some biographical information that was interesting and at times touching.

Should have about a hundred days or so before I finish all three volumes of this one.
🌶𒁮!

Day 89: 5/12/19

One of the things that was interesting about yesterday's reading, btw, was that it had a couple of excerpts from Buckle's diaries. It was mostly a summary of what he was reading--and it looks like he read a lot, like three hundred or more pages per day--but it also showed that he took two walks per day, a thirty minute morning walk and a ninety minute late afternoon walk. Pretty impressive.

Today's reading showed that he had a really close relationship with his mom--in fact, that they were really only apart for a couple of months when he took a trip to Germany. From what I can discern, he didn't really have too many other relationships in his life. Hell, how could he? He was reading and walking most of his waking hours! He also was not very healthy, so I'm sure that limited him quite a bit. Also revealed was that for fun he would play chess, and would sometimes indulge in seven hours of straight up playing. And if I remember correctly, he was really good--like could beat international champions good.

Still in the introduction, so no new Buckle writings yet. I think I'm going to take my reading down to ten pages a day, though, as these pages have a lot more words than History of Civilization in England did. (My ten pages today took me around 25 minutes, so that's enough for a daily devotional, I think. Subject to change, of course.)

xxx

Day 90: 5/13/19

Day 91: 5/14/19

I've found my readings in Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works interesting from the get-go, but today upped the ante considerably...primarily because the emphasis shifted from narration about Buckle to some excerpts from Buckle's letters. There were some very touching references to his love for his mother, for instance, which showed how vital her presence was to him:

Confessing that he saw himself as standing "alone in the world" and without a future without his mother is really poignant for me.

His thoughts about his mother also led, surprisingly, to his acknowledgement in his belief in an afterlife:

Those are much stronger statements than anything he said in any of the volumes of History of Civilization in England. Speaking of which, I also learned that no publisher was interested in his book at first, so he had to put the money up for its publication himself, but that once it was published it was a big hit, which comforts me. He didn't live very long after that publication (five years), and it's good to know that he knew that his work had been appreciated before he died.

Day 92: 5/15/19

I couldn't stand it any more more, so when I finished the Introduction (and my ten pages for the day), I kept right on going into the first Buckle essay..."The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge." This was one of only three essays Buckle published during his lifetime, and was apparently the text for the only public lecture he ever gave. I still have a ways to go in it, but it is pretty impressive in terms of Buckle's prescience.

Oh, also there's a bit of high praise for Shakespeare (Shakspeare) thrown in. Buckle was writing about Newton ("the greatest natural philosopher the world has yet seen"), but felt the need to compare that great mind to Shak(e)speare's:

I like that in a man.

Day 93: 5/16/19

Finished the first Buckle essay in the book--"The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge"--and it was a humdinger, for sure. Buckle was WAY ahead of the curve with respect to his thoughts on women, for sure. In fact, I think he's still way ahead of where most people (especially of the male persuasion) are today. He also seems way ahead of where the science of the 19th century was...but that's conjecture on my part, of course, since I don't have intimate knowledge of the scientific discourse of that time period. But check this out:

"...we do not even know if matter, in the ordinary sense of the word, can be said to exist; we have as yet only broken the first ground, we have but touched the crust and surface of things."

I mean, really?

Here are some other bits I especially liked.

More Shakespeare love:

More Literature love:

And a little What the Bleep Do We Know? thrown in for good measure.

Yeah, man, this Buckle is alright.

Day 94: 5/17/19

More Shake-speare love:

Day 95: 5/18/19

Still reading the second Buckle essay in this collection, "Mill on Liberty." It's got some moments, for sure...see below...but on the whole it is just not up to the standard of Buckle's other works. For one thing, it's kind of bo-ring. For another, he goes off on a tirade about how writers should not be supported by "charity," and that if they can't earn their own damn way they should go do something else. Which is just kind of ironic, ennit? I mean, Buckle spent the majority of his life not earning any money, living off the largesse of his deceased dad...so I don't think he has much room to throw stones here.

But here are some good bits.

"While statesman confine themselves to questions of detail, and to short views of immediate expediency, their judgment should be listened to with respect. But beyond this, they are rarely to be heeded. It constantly, and indeed usually happens, that statesmen and legislators who pass their whole life in public affairs, know nothing of their own age, except what lies on the surface, and are therefore unable to calculate, even approximately, remote and general consequences."

Published in May 1859, still valid today. I mean...can you say Global Warming?

And here's a bit of a footnote that I liked a lot, especially for the phrasing of the last sentence.

"Whoever upon any subject...sets up a fixed and prospective limit, gives the surest proof that he has not investigated that subject even as far as the existing resources allow; for he proves that he has not reached that point where certainty ends, and where the dim outline, gradually growing fainter, but always indefinite, teaches us that there is something beyond, and that we have no right to pledge ourselves respecting that undetermined tract. On the other hand, those who stop before they have reached this shadowy outline, see everything clearly because they have not advanced to the place where darkness begins."

Day 96: 5/19/19

Um...I'm more than a little uncomfortable with this:

I mean...of all the possible examples Buckle could have used here, why this one? And as if that wasn't enough, still there is more:

It's not exACTly racist...but it sure does seem unnecessary.

On the other hand, here's some fine advice via Mill which the anti-abortion rights guys should consider:

Day 97: 5/20/19

Much better reading experience today. Not only no wooly hair, but some actual good stuff, like this:

"Experience alone has never improved either mankind or individuals. Experience, before it can be available, must be sifted and tested. This is done by discussion, which brings out the meaning of experience, and enables us to apply the observations that have been made, and turn them to account."

And this:

"The more...that the majority discourage the opinions of the minority, the smaller is the chance of the majority holding accurate views. But if, instead of discouraging the opinions, they should suppress them, even that small chance is taken away, and society can have no option but to go on from bad to worse, its blunders becoming more inveterate and more mischievous, in proportion as that liberty of discussion which might have rectified them has been the longer withheld."

There was also some excellent stuff on why religions are at their best when they are being assaulted by society, but I'll leave it at that.

Day 98: 5/21/19

Day 99: 5/22/19

Today's Daily Devotional included the third "essay" in Volume I, "A Letter to a Gentleman Respecting Pooley's Case"...which is particularly significant in that these three essays, along with the three volumes of History of Civilization in England, represent the total of Buckle's works published during his lifetime. So that's a little sad. On the happier side, I still have a couple of thousand pages's worth of posthumously published works, which should keep me in Buckle Land for two or three hundred more days. So there's that.

This letter was quite excellent en toto, but here's a bit which I found particularly interesting:

In fact, I think that I'm going to pop over to Google Docs and put this in as a Chapter Quotation for then there is no mountain...the novel I was working on before I lost my way. (There's something about an NDE which takes the fight out of a guy. Or maybe it's just me, but hey...I'm stuck with me, so I've just got to figure it out from there.) Maybe even squeeze out a few minutes of work on a scene for said novel which has been nipping at my heels for the past few days....

ANYway...I read a few "extra" pages after I finished The Letter, so my journey into The Posthumous Buckle has already begun.

Day 100: 5/23/19

Can you say Anti-Abortion Legislators? Buckle can:

Day 101: 5/24/19

100

Also, when I looked to see how many pages were in this Volume I, I saw this on the endpaper:

So that was quite a markdown. I checked to see if this was what I'd actually paid, and it looks like it more or less was--

So there you have it.

P.S. Lack of other commentary is indicative of a shitty heart and a shittier state of mind, not any dissatisfaction with my ten pages of Buckle.

Day 102: 5/25/19

While I read, Jet finds a comfortable spot:

A little passage which bounced my perception of Buckle's thoughts on religion around yet again:

"Poetry, painting, architecture, nay, even music itself, were employed by her as engines to exalt the senses and subjugate the reason of mankind."

I mean...the ornateness of the Catholic church...the incense...the cathedral organ...the beautiful singing...those are the things that bring me INTO the realm of the Christian universe. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

110

Day 103: 5/26/19

In order to illustrate how stupid and uneducated some of the Protestant preachers were, Buckle tells this story:

("Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani is Aramaic for "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")

120

Day 104: 5/27/19

Sorry, Mr. Buckle, it's not you: you are as fascinating as ever. I am just in no shape to comment on your work. But here's a cute picture of my cat sitting on Volume I:

130

Day 105: 5/28/19

140

Day 106: 5/29/19

Buckle's most straightforward declaration of religious belief:

I wasn't sure what these "fragments" actually were, but it's become clear that they were notes for Buckle's book:'

150

Day 107: 5/30/19

160

Day 108: 5/31/19

170

Day 109: 6/1/19

180

Day 110: 6/2/19

190

Day 111: 6/3/19

200

Day 112: 6/4/19

210

Day 113: 6/5/19

My reading buddy.

220

Day 114: 6/6/19

230

Day 115: 6/7/19

240

Day 116: 6/8/19

250

Day 117: 6/9/19

Funny...but not ha ha funny...every day I think, "This book is no History of Civilization in England, but it is really enjoyable to read, and there is almost always a thing or two that I'd like to write down to remember or reflect on right now, even." But I've just been feeling so shitty lately that I haven't worked up to doing it. Which gives the impression, I'm sure, that I'm just slogging through the book. But that's not true at all. I'm just slogging through my life. Looking into that swirling blackness and thinking that I was an inch away from ceasing to be has really fucked with my head. It no doubt sounds corny, but I'd have to say that reading Buckle every day has helped me to keep pushing myself through these days. Just having that purpose, you know? Not much of a purpose, I suppose, but it's a thing I feel is worth doing, so good enough for me.

A big part of my reticence is the feeling that I don't have anything worth saying anymore. And that nobody cares about anything I have to say as well. In the past, I've been able to overcome that shit. I'm hoping that before too long I can get back to that overcoming.

Meanwhile...

260

Day 118: 6/10/19

270

Day 119: 6/11/19

280

Day 120: 6/12/19

Check this out:

Heavy shit, huh?

And here's some super heavy shit: "The reason is supreme when it acts by itself; but the moment the me intervenes--i.e. the moment we reflect, the reason becomes fallible. The criterion then of truth is neither the opinion of men nor the opinion of the individual, but it is spontaneous perception. As to sensation, Cousin says that it is the faculty of knowing of the exterior world whatever falls under our senses, and he denies the existence of matter, and follows Maine de Beer Biran in saying that the external world only consist of forces."

How was it even possible to think about stuff like this in the 19th century?

And oh...hey, look. I'm back.

290

Day 121: 6/13/19

300

Day 122: 6/14/19

"...it is safer and more advisable for a man to expose himself twice to the dangers of the seas then to the hazards of a second wife."

Diodorus Siculus

Yep.

310

Day 123: 6/15/19

Buckle got around to Africa...and then specifically to Egypt, wherein he quoted Heroductus as saying,

"In whatever house a cat dies of a natural death, all the family shave their eyebrows only; but if a dog die they shave the whole body and the head."

Well...who fucking KNEW?

320

Day 124: 6/16/19

I think that this would make a good book or story title: "the passion of rude people for large buildings." Buckle quotes someone named Wilson (Horace Hayman Wilson, Esquire...Wilson's Theatre Of The Hindus) for this gem.

330

Day 125: 6/17/19

340

Day 126: 6/18/19

350

Day 127: 6/19/19

I already wrote about it in a separate post, but just for the record, here's something Buckle had to say about farmers that I found

(A) interesting

(B) disturbing

(D) all of the above

"His views are confined to one country, and often to one place in that country. What he gains in intensity he loses in grasp. His interests, his views, his very aspirations are small and cramped; and, unless he be a man of considerable natural power, he dwindles away in point of intellect to a gaping rustic who cultivates his soil. Now look at history. In every struggle for freedom, in every struggle for onward progress, the merchants and the inhabitants of towns have thrown themselves into the breach, and often have led the forlorn hope. But the agriculturists, the inhabitants of the country, always have been and still are in the rear of their age. Their voices have always been lifted against improvement; and they have but too often succeeded in drowning by clamour what they never could hope to convince by reason. Thus, too, a nation of agriculturists is more liable to superstition than a nation of traders or manufacturers. The farmer is very dependent on nature. A single unfavourable season will baffle the most scientific calculations that he can make. Hence, we find that they resort to astrology, &c. But the manufacturer is not so much operated on by the whims of nature. Whether it is wet or dry, whether it is cold or warm, little matters to the success of his operations. He learns to rely on himself. He puts his faith in his own skill and in his own right arm; nor is he very anxious about the prognostication of the astrologer, or the prayer of the priest . Besides this, in manufactures the inventive powers are infinitely more used than in agriculture. A very obvious consideration will explain the cause of this. In agriculture the principal, I may say the sole expense, is that incurred by producing the raw material, the corn; but in manufacture, the price of the raw material is generally much less than the value of the labour by which that raw material is worked up. Now, it is a well-known law, that the produce of land increases in a diminishing ratio to the quantity of labour employed. But, to the productiveness of manufacturing labour a precisely opposite law is applicable. The consequence is that manufactures are much more susceptible of mechanical improvement than agriculture, and therefore to them mechanical improvements are oftener applied."

360

Day 128: 6/20/19

370

Day 129: 6/21/19

380

Day 130: 6/22/19

Cup-a-la things:

(1) He refers to the United States of America as "...that wretched burlesque of an ancient Republic which possesses the forms of democracy without the spirit of liberty." Which is pretty strong stuff. I don't think he ever went anywhere near that kind of statement in History of Civilization in England when he made reference to the USoA.

(2) He then goes on to a discussion of dueling, which apparently was a pretty big thing in early 19th century America. One of the things he says there struck me as particularly interesting: "The object of dueling was to punish injuries which the law left unpunished." Not particularly profound or even original, but it made me think that maybe the reasons Americans like shooting each other so much more than the denizens of any other country * on Earth is because we have such a fucked up justice system.

______________________________

* Well...more or less. I did a fact check on this and found out that the USoA is actually 2nd in the number of gun deaths. According to pbs.org, the top 6...who account for one-half of all gun deaths in the world go like this:

Brazil 43,200

USA 37,200

Mexico 15,400

Venezuela 13,300

Colombia 12,800

Guatamala 5,090

That's particularly noteworthy in that Brazil has over 100 million fewer people than the USA...so those folks are really going at it. But I'm going to bet that Brazil's justice system isn't humming along like a rotary engine, either, y'know?

390

Day 131: 6/23/19

400

Day 132: 6/24/19

Well...sorry to say that for the first time since my ER visit, I missed my Buckle goal for the day. Kind of funny. I was doing my day's reading, and it was kind of rough, as it was talking about diseases, and when I got to page 406 I put in the bookmark

406

and thought, "I think I'm going to make this my Bed Book for awhile. Y'know, read it before I go to sleep, when I wake up in the middle of the night, when I wake up too early in the morning (pretty much every morning) and don't want to get out of bed yet. I'm sure I can easily put away ten pages a day via that method. Maybe even more." And I put the book in my bed and promptly forgot about it until midway through my second cup of coffee the next morning.

So maybe that wasn't such a good plan.

Before I pooped out, I did encounter this bit, which I thought was interesting (and kind of disgusting):

"A lady cured herself of gravel by eating more than a pound of sugar every day for six weeks."

I mean...that's a lot of sugar. I also had no idea what "gravel" was, so I looked into that. And found

"Gravel: a disease characterised by small stones which are formed in the kidneys, passed along the ureters to the bladder, and expelled with the urine. See also stranguary. Synonym: kidney stone. Sandy matter concreted in the kidneys."

(from GLOSSARY OF MEDICAL TERMS USED IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES, which I found @ https://www.thornber.net/medicine/html/medgloss.html)

So yeah...I've had gravel. A bunch of times. Not for awhile, though, thank God.

Day 133: 6/25/19

Decided I'd pick up those missed four pages from yesterday and had only read a few lines before I happened upon this interesting bit:

"In 1700, Locke, who had studied medicine, writes: 'A diabetes is a disease so little frequent that you will not think it strange if I should ask whether you and your great practice ever met with it.'" (page 406)

I don't know who Locke was writing to...presumably a doctor...but isn't this an interesting bit of medical history? I just did a check, and according to the CDC, "as of 2015, 30.3 million Americans – 9.4 percent of the U.S. population –have diabetes."

(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html)

We've come a long way on that one, haven't we?

Also...

Buckle is writing about 19th century England, but this quote seems very apropos for 21st century America as well: "The bigotry of Puritanism has left a living sting which still corrodes the very heart of the nation."

And...

420

So back in the saddle again.

Day 134: 6/26/19

Had another go at the Bed Book approach. Finished my ten pages shortly after seven a.m. So there's that.

430

Day 135: 6/27/19

440

Day 136: 6/28/19

A Big Day...A Really Big Day...because for the first time, Mr. Henry Thomas Buckle has made a reference to Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford!

And thanks to the wonders of the internet, it only took me a few seconds to track down the pertinent parts of that letter...both in French and in English translation. I don't really understand what Buckle meant by saying that "the earl of Oxford was very much suspected by Elizabeth," though, as the letter itself just says that Elizabeth told Oxford that he was too important a person to go to serve in the French wars, as he had asked to do. (You can read the whole thing here if'n you want to: http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/DocumentsOther/Fenelon_March_1570.pdf

It's pretty ironic, given the fact that Buckle had effusive praise for Shake-speare, and yet Edward de Vere, who was Shake-speare, only comes in (at least thus far) as a brief aside...in a desultory reference.

Yep, God is an iron. (Just ask Spider Robinson.)

450

Day 137: 6/29/19

460

Day 138: 6/30/19

Oops. Forgot to crop.

470

Ahh. Much better.

Day 139: 7/1/19

480

Day 140: 7/2/19

"A government is never so secure as when it allows to its opponents the liberty, and even the abuses of the press. The more people talk, the less they will do."

490

Day 141: 7/3/19

Slightly less than 100 pages to go in Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume I !

Meanwhile...there was a malfunction on Facebook today, so when I tried to pull up my picture of book and bookmark, I got this:

Interesting interpretation, huh? So I did the email route to get the picture to the computer instead. Here you go.

500

Day 142: 7/4/19

Thomas Reid says that a man who denies the existence of substance "is not fit to be reasoned with." (from Reids Essays, 1808)

Hmpf.

510

Day 143: 7/5/19

Somebody named Wilkie says, "If art were but an exact representation of nature, it could be practice with absolute certainty and assurance of success; but the duty of art is of a higher kind.... Art is only art when it adds mind to form."

Somebody = David Wilkie, who did some lovely work. Here are a few (all public domain):

...and my personal favorite...

That one is entitled "Josephine and the Fortune-Teller" (1837), and doesn't it just let you right into the story?

Also, there was this lovely little aside by Buckle:

Seems pretty obvious that this was before the success of History of Civilization in England had hit, don't you think?

520

Day 144: 7/6/19

530

Day 145: 7/7/19

So if you turn on the news and it turns your stomach, if you get in your car and drive and it drives you crazy, if you walk through a store and it makes you wonder if there are any sane (or even polite) people left in the world...and if you think, "Oh, how I wish I had lived centuries ago when people were polite and there were no cars or news"...well, here's this:

"In 1561, the queen was obliged to issue a proclamation forbidding persons to 'shoot any handgun or dag* within the cathedral church of St. Paul.' In 1571, the archbishop of York was obliged to order throughout his diocese that no minstrels or morrice** dancers should be allowed to perform in the churches during 'the time of divine service or of any sermon.' In 1562 the bishop of Exeter presented a paper to the ecclesiastical synod in which he requested 'that there be some order taken for the punishment of them that do walk and talk in the church at time of common prayer and
preaching, to the disturbance of the ministers, and offence to the congregation.'”

Well. There are a few things that you didn't think needed being said, hmmm?

So I guess the (im)moral of the story is that people have always been rude, inconsiderate, and scatologically inclined. More's the pity.

* Which is, according to Merriam-Webster, "matted or manure-coated wool." https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dag

** Some kind of folk dancing dancers...no manure involved this time.

540

Day 146: 7/8/19

550

Day 147: 7/9/19

Hmmm. This: "In 1675 it was considered remarkable that the blood of a negro should be red instead of black." (from Ray's Correspondence, by Dr. Lankester, 8 vo, 1848, page 120)

If I want to note them, I often dictate lines from this book into my phone so that it's easier to post them (no need to transcribe, as there is if I take pictures). Sometimes this leads to some interesting malformations, such as this one:

I'll leave it to you to figure that one out.

560

Day 148: 7/10/19

570

Day 149: 7/11/19

580

Day 150: 7/12/19

Well, only 8 pages left in volume I, so barring accidental death and / or dismemberment, I should be able to finish it up tomorrow. And then straight on into volume II, of course. The Bad News: the amount of Buckle left for me to read is shrinking.