NATHAN BAILEY
It would seem that we really have no clue as yet, as to when or where Nathaniel Bailey had been born!
“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1691
Nathaniel Bailey was accepted as a Seventh Day Baptist.
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
Nathan Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1721
Nathan Bailey’s AN UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY, the 2d to be written by a professional lexicographer (John Kersey the Younger’s A NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY of 1702 having been the 1st). In a later edition, this dictionary would begin to provide some indication of the proper pronunciation of the terms defined. Some of the definitions provided might not be considered by today’s standards to be adequate, while others might be considered to be overly inventive. • cucumber “a well-known fruit” • dog “a well-known creature, also an Andiron” • horse “a beast well-known” • lady “a Person of Quality’s Wife or Daughter” • Spontaneous Action [with Philosophers and Physicians] “an Action that does not depend on the Will, as the Beating of the Pulse, the Circulation of the Blood, &c.” • Back-staff, or Back quadrant [in Navigation] “an Instrument by the French, called the English Quadrant, invented by Captain Davis: Being the simplest and exactest Instrument hitherto invented for taking the Sun’s Zenith Distance at Sea, by the Help of which the Latitude is presently known. It consists of two Arches, the Arch x of the least Radius contains 60 degrees, and that of y having the largest Radius contains three Degrees. It has also three Vanes; the Vane at h is called the Horizon Vane, that at S the Shadow Vane, and the Vane at E is called the Sight Vane. • Cai´sson [Gunnery] “a wooden chest, containing 4 or 6 Bombs; or filled only with Powder, which the Besieged bury under Ground, in order to blow up a Work that the Besiegers are like to be Masters of. Thus after the Bonnet has been blown up by the Mine, they lodge a caisson under the Ruins of it, and when the Enemy has made a Lodgement there, they fire the caisson by the help of a saucis, and blow up that Post a second time. •Dark Cully “a married Man, who keeps a Mistress, and steals to her by Night-time, for Fear of a discovery.” • Envy [Hieroglyphically] “an envious person was represented by the water-serpent Hydra, because of its proceeding from corruption and mud; intimating, that persons that entertain this ungrateful passion in their breasts, are of such sordid disposition, that they seem to be made up of mud and baseness.” • Fairy Circle, or Fairy Ring “an appearance pretty frequently seen in the fields, &c. being a kind of round, supposed by the vulgar to be traced by fairies in their dances. There are 2 sorts of these rings or circles; one of them is about 7 or 8 yards in diameter, being a round bare path about a foot in breadth, having green grass in the middle; the other is of different sizes, being encompassed with a circumference of grass, much fresher and greener than that in the middle.The philosophers supposed these rings to be made by lightening, and this opinion seems to be confirmed, in that they are most frequently found after storms, and the colour and brittleness of the grassy roots is a further confirmation. The second kind of circle they suppose to arise originally from the first, HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
in that the grass that had been burnt up by lightening, usually grows more plentifully afterwards; some authors say, that these fairy rings are formed by ants; these insects being sometimes found travelling in troups therein.” • Gala´xy [γαλαηiαβ (Gr.)] “that long, white, luminous Tract which seems to encompass the Heavens like a Swathe or Girdle, and which is perceivable in a clear Night, especially when the moon does not appear. • Hermetical Philosophy “that which pretends to solve and explain all the phænomena of Nature, from three Chymical Principles, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.” • I´mages [in Discourse] “any Thoughts proper to produce Expressions and which present a kind of Picture to the Mind; or, in a more limited Sense, such Discourses as some Persons, when by a kind of Enthusiasm or extraordinary Emotion of the Soul, they seem to see Things whereof they speak.” • Kyphonism [of κyζονι (Greek) a piece of wood whereon criminals were stretch’d and tormented] “it was thus, the body of the person to be tormented was anointed with honey, and exposed to the sun, in order to attract the flies and wasps, it was for a certain number of days, and some authors say, sometimes for twenty. Sometimes the person was stretched on the ground, with his arms ty’d behind him; sometimes only ty’d to a stake; sometimes hung up in the air in a basket. This punishment has been frequently inflicted on the martyrs in the primitive times.” • Magical Lanthorn [in Opticks] “an instrument that by means whereof, little painted images are represented on an opposite wall of a dark room, magnified to any bigness at pleasure.” • Meekness [in Painting and Sculpture] “represented by a beautiful damsel crowned with olive, leaning with her right hand upon an elephant.” • Nudi´ties [in Painting and Sculpture] “used to signify those parts of a human figure, not covered with any drapery, or those parts where the carnations appear.” • Ork [ourque (French) the first, orca (Italian), hourque (French), the second] “a monstrous fish usually called a whirlpool; also a kind of hulk or large sea vessel; also a but for wine or figs.” • To Pig “to bring forth Pigs; also [with the Vulgar] to lie together.” • Rackoo´n “a New England animal something like a badger, having a tail like a fox, being cloathed with a thick and deep furr. It sleeps in the day-time in a hollow tree, and goes out a-nights, when the moon shines, to feed on the sea-side, where it is hunted by dogs.” • Seam of Corn [seam (Saxon)] “8 bushels.” • A Train [in Watch-work] “the number of beats which a watch makes in an hour.” • Unle´ttered [of un (L.) and Litera (L.)] “illiterate, not having letters on the back as books.” • To give one the Wall “a compliment paid to the female sex, or those to whom one would show respect, by letting them go nearest the wall or houses, upon a supposition of its being the HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
cleanest. This custom is chiefly peculiar to England, for in most parts abroad they will give them the right hand, tho’ at the same time they thrust them into the kennel.” • Xochaitototle “a bird in America like a sparrow, having feathers of several colours, called the Hang-nest.” • Yoke-Fellow “one engaged or tied to another, in the same band of union or fellowship; a husband or wife.” • Ze´bra “an Indian beast like a mule.”
We do not know which of the almost 30 editions of this dictionary was available to Henry Thoreau in his room under the roof of the family boardinghouse. Here for purposes of illustration, merely because it is what has just recently been made available to us by Google Books, is the 24th edition. BAILEY’S ENGLISH
LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1730
Nathan Bailey’s DICTIONARIUM BRITANNICUM: OR A MORE COMPLETE UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY THAN ANY EXTANT.
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1742
June 27, Sunday (Old Style): Nathaniel Bailey died at Stepney near London (where he had his school). HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1755
Samuel Johnson received an honorary degree, a MA, from Oxford University. His new degree would appear on the title page of his A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, published during this year.
He posted his famous letter to Lord Chesterfield.
The notice you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent and cannot enjoy it, till I am solitary and cannot impart it, till I am known and do not want it. HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
Dr. Johnson defined a cod as “any case or husk in which seeds are lodged” on the basis of the Middle English etymology in which a cod is a sack or pouch. cod Pronunciation: ’k‰d Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural cod also cods Etymology: Middle English Date: 14th century 1 : any of various bottom-dwelling fishes (family Gadidae, the cod family) that usually occur in cold marine waters and often have barbels and three dorsal fins: as a : one (Gadus morhua) of the No. Atlantic that is an important food fish b : one (Gadus macrocephalus) of the Pacific Ocean 2 : any of various bony fishes resembling the true cods
Words are the daughters of earth, and things are the sons of heaven. — Samuel Johnson (paraphrasing Samuel Madden), A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 1755, as quoted on page 8 of William Least Heat-Moon’s PrairyErth (a deep map) [Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991].
Henry Thoreau would hypothesize on the basis of such etymology (perhaps in Johnson’s dictionary if not in his shelf edition of Nathan Bailey’s AN UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY) that the cod might have received its name on account of the female containing such a large quantity of eggs:
CAPE COD: I suppose that the word Cape is from the French cap; which is from the Latin caput, a head; which is, perhaps, from the verb capere, to take, –that being the part by which we take hold of a thing:–Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by. And as for Cod, that was derived directly from that “great store of codfish” which Captain Bartholomew Gosnold caught there in 1602; which fish appears to have been so called from the Saxon word codde, “a case in which seeds are lodged,” either from the form of the fish, or the quantity of spawn it contains; whence also, perhaps, codling (“pomum coctile”?) and coddle, –to cook green like peas. (V. Dic.) HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1779
In Philadelphia, General Benedict Arnold, a member of a very distinguished Rhode Island family, began a sub rosa correspondence with the British enemy. (The structure from which General Arnold initiated this treasonous correspondence now houses our Liberty Bell. Feel free, Ben, to correspond with the enemy: we believe in liberty.)
WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF
Nathan Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1853
January 16, Sunday: André Jules Michelin was born.
In the Tabernacle of Great Salt Lake City, Brigham Young discoursed on Salvation:
The plan of salvation, or, in other words, the redemption of fallen beings, is a subject that should occupy the attention of all intelligence that pertains to fallen beings. I do not like the term fallen beings, but I will say, subjected intelligence, which term suits me better — subjected to law, order, rule, and government. All intelligences are deeply engaged in this grand object; not, however, having a correct understanding of the true principle thereof, they wander to and fro, some to the right, and some to the left. There is not a person in this world, who is endowed with a common share of intellect, but is laboring with all his power for salvation. Men vary in their efforts to obtain that object, still their individual conclusions are, that they will ultimately secure it. The merchant, for instance, seeks with unwearied diligence, by night and by day, facing misfortunes with a determined and persevering resistance, enduring losses by sea and by land, with an unshaken patience, to amass a sufficient amount of wealth to enable him to settle calmly down in the midst of plenty in some opulent city, walk in the higher classes of society, and perchance receive a worldly title, or worldly honor, and enjoy a freedom from all anxiety of business, and constraint by poverty, throughout the remainder of his life. He then supposes he has obtained salvation. Descend from the busy, wealth-seeking middle classes, to the humbler grade of society, and follow them in their various occupations and pursuits, and each one of them is seeking earnestly that which he imagines to be salvation. The poor, ragged, trembling mendicant, who is forced by hunger and cold to drag his feeble body from under some temporary shelter, to seek a bit of bread, or a coin from his more fortunate fellow mortal, if he can only obtain a few crusts of bread to satisfy HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
the hunger-worm that gnaws his vitals, and a few coppers to pay his lodgings, he has attained to the summit of his expectations, to what he sought for salvation, and he is comparatively happy, but his happiness vanishes with the shades of night, and his misery comes with the morning light. From the matchmaker up to the tradesman, all have an end in view, which they suppose will bring to them salvation. King, courtier, commanders, officers, and common soldiers, the commodore, and sailor before the mast, the fair-skinned Christian, and the dark-skinned savage, all, in their respective grades and spheres of action, have a certain point in view, which, if they can obtain, they suppose will put them in possession of salvation. The Latter-day Saint, who is far from the bosom of the Church, whose home is in distant climes, sighs, and earnestly prays each day of his life for the Lord to open his way, that he may mingle with his brethren in Zion, for he supposes that his happiness would then be complete, but in this his expectations will be in a measure vain, for happiness that is real and lasting in its nature cannot be enjoyed by mortals, for it is altogether out of keeping with this transitory state. If a man’s capacity be limited to the things of this world, if he reach no further than he can see with his eyes, feel with his hands, and understand with the ability of the natural man, still he is as earnestly engaged in securing his salvation, as others are, who possess a superior intellect, and are also pursuing the path of salvation, in their estimation, though it result in nothing more than a good name, or the honors of this world. Each, according to his capacity — to the natural organization of the human system, which is liable to be operated upon by the circumstances and influences by which it is surrounded, is as eager to obtain that which he supposes is salvation, as I am to obtain salvation in the Eternal world. The object of a true salvation, correctly and minutely understood, changes the course of mankind. Persons who are taught by their teachers, friends, and acquaintances, are traditionated, from their youth up, into the belief that there is no God, or intelligent beings, other than those that they see with the natural eye, or naturally comprehend; that there is no hereafter; that at death, all life and intelligence are annihilated. Such persons are as firm in their belief, and as strenuous in argument, in support of those doctrines, as others are in the belief of the existence of an Eternal God. The early customs and teachings of parents and friends, to a greater or less degree, influence the minds of children, but when they are disposed to inquire at the hands of Him who has eternal intelligence to impart to them, when their understandings are enlarged, when their minds are enlightened by the Spirit of truth, so that they can see things that are unseen by the natural eye, they may then be corrected in their doctrine and belief, and in their manner of life, but not until then. How difficult it is to teach the natural man, who comprehends nothing more than that which he sees with the natural eye! How HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
hard it is for him to believe! How difficult would be the task to make the philosopher, who, for many years, has argued himself into the belief that his spirit is no more after his body sleeps in the grave, believe that his intelligence came from eternity, and is as eternal, in its nature, as the elements, or as the Gods. Such doctrine by him would be considered vanity and foolishness, it would be entirely beyond his comprehension. It is difficult, indeed, to remove an opinion or belief into which he has argued himself from the mind of the natural man. Talk to him about angels, heavens, God, immortality, and eternal lives, and it is like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal to his ears; it has no music to him; there is nothing in it that charms his senses, soothes his feelings, attracts his attention, or engages his affections, in the least; to him it is all vanity. To say that the human family are not seeking salvation, is contrary to my experience, and to the experience of every other person with whom I have any acquaintance. They are all for salvation, some in one way, and some in another; but all is darkness and confusion. If the Lord does not speak from heaven, and touch the eyes of their understanding by His Spirit, who can instruct or guide them to good? Who can give them words of eternal life? It is not in the power of man to do it; but when the Lord gives His Spirit to a person, or to a people, they can then hear, believe, and be instructed. An Elder of Israel may preach the principles of the Gospel, from first to last, as they were taught to him, to a congregation ignorant of them; but if he does not do it under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, he cannot enlighten that congregation on those principles, it is impossible. Job said that, “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Unless we enjoy that understanding in this probation, we cannot grow or increase, we cannot be made acquainted with the principles of truth and righteousness so as to become exalted. Admit that the Spirit of the Lord should give us understanding, what would it prove to us? It would prove to me, at least, and what I may safely say to this congregation, that Zion is here. Whenever we are disposed to give ourselves perfectly to righteousness, to yield all the powers and faculties of the soul (which is the spirit and the body, and it is there where righteousness dwells); when we are swallowed up in the will of Him who has called us; when we enjoy the peace and the smiles of our Father in Heaven, the things of His Spirit, and all the blessings we are capacitated to receive and improve upon, then are we in Zion, that is Zion. What will produce the opposite? Hearkening and giving way to evil, nothing else will. If a community of people are perfectly devoted to the cause of righteousness, truth, light, virtue, and every principle and attribute of the holy Gospel, we may say of that people, as the ancient Apostle said to his brethren, “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates;” there is a throne for the Lord Almighty to sit and reign upon, there is a resting place for the Holy Ghost, there HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
is a habitation of the Father and the Son. We are the temples of God, but when we are overcome of evil by yielding to temptation, we deprive ourselves of the privilege of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, taking up their abode and dwelling with us. We are the people, by our calling and profession, and ought to be by our daily works, of whom it should be truly said, “Ye are the temples of our God.” Let me ask, what is there to prevent any person in this congregation from being so blessed, and becoming a holy temple fit for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost? Has any being in heaven or on earth done aught to prevent you from becoming so blessed? No, but why the people are not so privileged I will leave you to judge. I would to God that every soul who professes to be a Latter-day Saint was of that character, a holy temple for the indwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but it is not so. Is there any individual within the sound of my voice today, that has received the Holy Ghost through the principles of the Gospel, and at the same time has not received a love for them? I will answer that question. Wait and see who it is that falls out by the way; who it is in whom the seed of truth has been sown, but has not taken root; and then you will know the individuals who have received the truth, but have never received a love of it — they do not love it for itself. What a delightful aspect would this community present if all men and women, old and young, were disposed to leave off their own sins and follies, and overlook those of their neighbors; if they would cease watching their neighbors for iniquity, and watch that they themselves might be free from it! If they were trying with all their powers to sanctify the Lord in their hearts, and would prove, by their actions, that they had received the truth and the love of it! If all individuals would watch themselves, that they do not speak against the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, nor in short against any being in heaven or on earth. Strange as this may appear, there have been men in this Church that have done it, and probably will be again! If this people would be careful not to do anything to displease the spirits of those who have lived on the earth, and have been justified, and have gone to rest, and would so conduct themselves, that no reasonable being upon the face of the earth could find fault with them, what kind of society should we have? Why every man’s mouth would be filled with blessings, every man’s hand would be put forth to do good, and every woman and child in all their intercourse would be praising God, and blessing each other. Would not Zion be here? It would. What hinders you from doing this? What is the Lord or the people doing to cause this one and that one to commit sin with a high hand, in secret and in the open streets? If Elders of Israel use language which is not proper for the lips of a Saint, such Elders are under condemnation, and the wrath of God abides upon them, those who do it have not the love of truth in their hearts, they do not love and honor the truth because it is the truth, but because it is powerful, and they wish to join with the strongest party. Do they love light because HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
it is light? Virtue because it is virtue? Righteousness because it is righteousness? No. But these principles are almighty in their influence, and like the tornado in the forest, they sweep all before them, no argument can weigh against them, all the philosophy, knowledge, and wisdom of men may be set in array against them, but they are like chaff before a mighty wind, or like the morning dew before the sun in its strength such Elders embrace truth because it is all-powerful. When a man of God preaches the principles of the Gospel, all things give way before it, and some embrace it because it is so mighty. But by and by those characters will fall out by the way, because the soil has not depth to nourish the seeds of truth. They receive it, but not the love of it; it dies, and they turn away. If every person who has embraced the Gospel would love it as he loves his life, would not society wear a different aspect from that of the present? I do not intend to enter into a detailed account of the acts of the people, they are themselves acquainted with them; people know how they themselves talk, and how their neighbors talk; how husband and wife agree in their own houses, and with their neighbors; and how parents and children dwell together. I need not tell these things, but if every heart were set upon doing right, we then should have Zion here. I will give you my reason for thinking so. It is because I have had it with me ever since I was baptized into this kingdom. I have not been without it from that day to this. I have, therefore, a good reason for the assertion I have made. I live and walk in Zion every day, and so do thousands of others in this Church and kingdom, they carry Zion with them, they have one of their own, and it is increasing, growing, and spreading continually. Suppose it spreads from heart to heart, from neighborhood to neighborhood, from city to city, and from nation to nation, how long would it be before the earth would become revolutionized, and the wheat gathered from among the tares? The wheat and tares, however, must grow together until harvest. I am not, therefore, disposed to separate them yet, for if we pluck up the tares before the harvest, we may destroy some of the good seed, therefore let them grow together, and by and by the harvest will come. There is another thing, brethren, which I wish you to keep constantly before your minds, that is with regard to your travels in life. You have read, in the Scriptures, that the children of men will be judged according to their works, whether they be good or bad. If a man’s days be filled up with good works, he will be rewarded accordingly. On the other hand, if his days be filled up with evil actions, he will receive according to those acts. This proves that we are in a state of exaltation, it proves that we can add to our knowledge, wisdom, and strength, and that we can add power to every attribute that God has given us. When will the people realize that this is the period of time in which they should commence to lay the foundation of their exaltation for time and eternity, that this is the time to conceive, and bring forth from the heart fruit HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
to the honor and glory of God, as Jesus did — grow as he did from the child, become perfect, and be prepared to be raised to salvation? You will find that this probation is the place to increase upon every little we receive, for the Lord gives line upon line to the children of men. When He reveals the plan of salvation, then is the time to fill up our days with good works. Let us fill up our days with usefulness, do good to each other, and cease from all evil. Let every evil person forsake his wickedness. If he be wicked in his words, or in his dealings, let him forsake those practices, and pursue a course of righteousness. Let every man and woman do this, and peace and joy will be the result. A few words more upon the subject of the eternal existence of the soul. It is hard for mankind to comprehend that principle. The philosophers of the world will concede that the elements of which you and I are composed are eternal, yet they believe that there was a time when there was no God. They cannot comprehend how it is that God can be eternal. Let me ask this congregation, Can you realize the eternity of your own existence? Can you realize that the intelligence which you receive is eternal? I can comprehend this, just as well as I can that I am now in possession of it. It is as easy for me to comprehend that it will exist eternally, as that anything else will. I wish to impress upon your minds the reality that when the body which is organized for intelligence to dwell in, dies, and returns to its mother earth, all the feelings, sensibilities, faculties, and powers of the spirit are still alive, they never die, but in the absence of the body are more acute. They are organized for an eternal existence. If this congregation could comprehend that the intelligence that is in them is eternal in its nature and existence; if they could realize that when Saints pass through the veil, they are not dead, but have been laying the foundation in these tabernacles for exaltation, laying the foundation to become Gods, even the sons of God, and for crowns which they will yet receive — they would receive the truth in the love of it, live by it, and continue in it, until they receive all knowledge and wisdom, until they grow into eternity, and have the veil taken from before their eyes, to behold the handiworks of God among all people, His goings forth among the nations of the earth, and to discover the rule and law by which He governs. Then could they say of a truth, We acknowledge the hand of God in all things, all is right, Zion is here, in our own possession. I have thus summed up, in a broken manner, that which I desired to speak. We are not able to comprehend all things, but we can continue to learn and grow, until all will be perfectly clear to our minds, which is a great privilege to enjoy — the blessing of an eternal increase. And the man or woman who lives worthily is now in a state of salvation. Now, brethren, love the truth, and put a stop to every species of folly. How many there are who come to me to find fault with, and enter complaints against, their brethren, for some trifling thing, when I can see, in a moment, that they have received no HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
intentional injury! They have no compassion on their brethren, but, having passed their judgment, insist that the criminal shall be punished. And why? Because he does not exactly come up to their standard of right and wrong! They feel to measure him by the “Iron Bedstead principle” — “if you are too long, you must be cut off; if too short, you must be stretched.” Now this is the height of folly. I find that I have enough to do to watch myself. It is as much as I can do to get right, deal right, and act right. If we all should do this, there would be no difficulty, but in every man’s mouth would be “May the Lord bless you.” I feel happy, as I always told you. Brother Kimball has known me thirty years, twenty one of which I have been in this Church; others have known me twenty years; and there are some here who knew me in England; I had Zion with me then, and I brought it with me to America again, and I now appeal to every man and woman if I have not had Zion with me from first entering into the Church, to the present time! Light cleaves to light, and truth to truth. May God bless you. Amen.
January 16th 53: Cold with blustering winds drifting the snow. Yesterday the hounds were heard– It was a hunters day– All tracks were fresh– The snow deep & light– I met Melvin with his bag full. Trench says that “‘Rivals’, in the primary sense of the word, are those who dwell on the banks of the same stream” or “on opposite banks” but as he says, in many words, since the use of water rights is a fruitful source of contention between such neighbors, the word has acquired this secondary sense. My friends are my rivals on the Concord – in the primitive sense of the word– There is no strife between us respecting the use of the stream. The Concord offers many privileges but none to quarrel about. It is a peaceful not a brawling stream– It has not made Rivals out of neighbors that lived on its banks – but friends. My friends are my Rivals we dwell on opposite banks of the stream – but that stream is the Concord – which flows NATHAN BAILEY without a ripple or a murmer – without a fall or a brawl & offers no petty priveleges to quarrel about. Bailey I find has it “Rival [Rivalis L. q. d. qui juxta eundem rivum pascit.]” my friends my rivals are BAILEY’S DICTIONARY
CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT
Nathan Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1854
February 9, Thursday: Henry Thoreau went to Pine Hill at 9 AM. He read Marcus Terentius Varro, Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella’s DE RE RUSTICA, REI RUSTICAE AUCTORES...
and William Howitt’s THE BOOK OF THE SEASONS; OR,THE CALENDAR OF NATURE.
There were a great many holidays at Plumfield, and one of the most delightful was the yearly apple-picking, — for then the Marches, Laurences, Brookes, and Bhaers turned out in full force, and made a day of it. Five years after Jo’s wedding, one of these fruitful festivals occurred. — A mellow October day, when the air was full of an exhilarating freshness which made the spirits rise and the blood dance healthily in the veins. The old orchard wore its holiday attire; golden-rod and asters fringed the mossy walls; grasshoppers skipped briskly in the sere grass, and crickets chirped like fairy pipers at a feast. Squirrels were busy with their small harvesting; birds twittered their adieux from the alders in the lane; and every tree stood ready to send down its shower of red or yellow apples at the first shake. Everybody was there, — everybody laughed and sang, climbed up and tumbled down; everybody declared that there never had been such a perfect day or such a jolly set to enjoy it, — and every one gave themselves up to the simple pleasures of the hour as freely as if there were no such things as care or sorrow in the world. Mr. March strolled placidly about, quoting Tusser, Cowley, and Columella to Mr. Laurence, while enjoying “The gentle apple’s winey juice.”
Feb. 9. High wind in the night and now, the rain being over. Does it not usually follow rain-storms at this season, to dry up the water? It has cleared off very pleasant and is still quite warm. 9 A.M. —To Pine Hill. Some of these thaws succeed suddenly to intensely cold weather, and the sky that was tense like a bow that is bent is now relaxed. There is a peculiar softness and luminousness in the air this morning, perhaps the light being diffused by vapor. It is such a warm, moist, or softened, sunlit air as we are wont to hear the first bluebird's warble in. And the brightness of the morning is increased tenfold by the sun reflected from broad sheets of rain and melted snow- water, and also, in a peculiar manner, from the snow on the sides of the Deep Cut. The crowing of cocks mid the voices of the school-children sound like spring. I hear the sound of the horses’ feet on the bared ice as on pavements; and the sun is reflected from a hundred rippling sluices of snow-water finding its level in the fields. Are not both sound and light condensed or contracted by cold? The jays are more lively than usual. That lichen with a white elastic thread for core is like a tuft of hair on the trees, sometimes springing from the centre of another, larger, flat lichen. There are show-fleas, quite active, on the half-melted snow on the middle of Walden. I do not hear Therien's axe far of late. The moment I came on his chopping-ground, the chickadees flew to me, as if glad to see me. They are a peculiarly honest and sociable HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
little bird. I saw them go to his pail repeatedly and peck his bread and butter. They came and went a dozen times while I stood there. He said that a great flock of them came round him the other day while he was eating his dinner and lit on his clothes “just like flies.” One roosted on his finger, and another pecked a piece of bread in his hand. They are considerable company for the woodchopper. I heard one wiry phe-be. They love to hop about wood freshly split. Apparently they do not leave his clearing all day. They were not scared when he threw, down wood within a few feet of them. When I looked to see how much of his bread and butter they had eaten, I did not perceive that any was gone. He could afford to dine a hundred. l see some chestnut sprouts with leaves on them still. The hollows about Walden, still bottomed with snow, are filled with greenish water like its own. I do not find any willow catkins started, though many have lost their scales. I have brought home some alder and sweet-gale and put there in water. The black birch has a slender sharp bud, much like the shadbush. In Stow's meadow by railroad causeway, saw many dusky flesh-colored, transparent worms, about five eighths of an inch long, in and upon the snow, crawling about. These, too, must be food for birds. I have seen two red squirrels and heard a third since the snow covered the ground. I have seen one gray one, but traces of many. HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
After “putabant” in Varro, four pages back, comes “Itaque annum ita diviscrunt, ut nonis modo diebus urbanas res usurparent, reliquis VII ut rura colerent. (Therefore they so divided the year as to attend to town affairs on the ninth day only, that they might cultivate the fields on the other days).” Hence nundinae means a fair, and oppidam nundinarium (a ninth-day town) is a market town, and forum numlinarium is the market-place. Columella, referring to Varro, hives the same reason for the setting aside of the ninth day only, and adds: “Illis enim temporibus proceres civitatis in agris morabantur; et cum consilium publicum desiderabatur, a villis arcessebantur in senatum. Ex quo qui eos evocabant, Viatores nominati sunt. (For in those days the chief men of the state stayed on their farms; and when a public council was wanted they were sent for from their villas to the senate. Whence they who called them out were named Road-men.)” These were the times which all Romans loved to praise. But now, so far as the rulers of the State are concerned, the city for the most part, instead of being a ninth-day town, gets six days, while the country gets only one day and the nights at most. We go to market every day. The city is not a ninth-day place but an every-day place, and the country is only a night or Sunday place. In a Yankee’s estimation, it is perhaps the greatest satire on a New England country village to say that it has an air of quietness which reminds him of the Sabbath. He loves the bustle of a market, where things are bought and sold, and sometimes men among the rest. The boys swop jack-knives on Sunday, and their fathers, perchance, barter their own souls. Howitt describes the harvest moon in August. Did I not put it in September? He speaks of “willow-holts on the NATHAN BAILEY banks of rivers.” Bailey defines “holt, — small wood or grove.” Does not our “holt” on the river answer to this? It is in this case a poke-logan. THE BOOK OF THE SEASONS My ink was frozen last month, and is now pale. Howitt says that in Britain the law “is opposed to tracking game in a snow.” I feel some pity for the wild animals when I see how their tracks betray them in calm weather after a snow-storm, and consider what risks they, run of being exterminated. Is not January alone pure winter? December belongs to the fall: is a wintry -November: February, to the spring: it is a snowy March. The water was several inches deep in the road last evening, but it has run nearly dry by morning. The illustrious farmer Romans who lived simply on their land, to whom Columella refers, are Q. Cincinnatus, C. Fabricius, and Curius Dentatus. BAILEY’S DICTIONARY HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
1855
February 13, Tuesday: At 10 AM Henry Thoreau walked to Walden Woods. It was not cold but the sky was somewhat overcast.
February 13. In A. M.—To Walden Woods Not cold; sky somewhat overcast The tracks of partridges [Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus (Partridge)] are more remarkable in this snow than usual, it is so light, being at the same time a foot deep. I see where one has waddled along several rods, making a chain-like track about three inches wide (or two and a half), and at the end has squatted in the snow, making a perfectly smooth and regular oval impression, like the bowl of a spoon, five inches wide. Then, six inches beyond this, are the marks of its wings where it struck the snow on each side when it took flight. It must have risen at once without running. In one place I see where one, after running a little way, has left four impressions of its wings on the snow on each side extending eighteen or twenty inches and twelve or fifteen in width: In one case almost entire wing was distinctly impressed, eight primaries and five or six secondaries. In one place, when alighting, the primary quills, five of them, have marked the snow for a foot. I see where many have dived into the snow, apparently last night, on the side of a shrub oak hollow. In four places they have passed quite underneath it for more than a foot; in one place, eighteen inches. They appear to have dived or burrowed into it, then passed along a foot or more underneath and squatted there, perhaps, with their heads out, and have invariably left much dung at the end of this hole. I scared one from its hole only half a rod in front of me now at 11 A. M. These holes seen sidewise look thus:]— It is evidently a hardy bird, and in the above respects, too, is like the rabbit, which squats under a brake or bush on the snow. I see the traces of the latter in hollows in the snow in such places, — their forms In the Journal of the Rev. William Adams (afterward settled in Dedham), written apparently in and about Cambridge, Mass. (he graduated in 1671 at Cambridge), he says under “Dece 1” (1670), “This day was the first flight of snow this winter it being hardly over shoes.” And 1671, November “24. The first great snow this winter being almost knee deep.” (Hist. Coll., 4th Series, vol. I.) An English antiquarian says, “May-Flower was a very favorite name with English seamen, and given by them to vessels from almost every port in England.” (Ibid. p. 85.) NATHAN BAILEY “Hurts” is an old English word used in heraldry, where, according to Bailey, it is “certain balls resembling hurtle berries.” One of these pigweeds in the yard lasts the snowbirds all winter, and after every new storm they revisit it. How inexhaustible their granary! To resume the subject of partridges, looking further in an open place or glade amid the shrub oaks and low pitch pines, I found as many as twenty or thirty places where partridges had lodged in the snow, apparently the last night or the night before. You could see commonly where their bodies had first struck the snow and furrowed it for a foot or two, and six inches wide, then entered and gone underneath two feet and rested at the further end, where the manure is left. Is it not likely that they remain quite under the snow there, and do not put their heads out till ready to start? In many places they walked along before they went under the snow. They do not go under deep, and the gallery they make is mostly filled up behind them, leaving only a thin crust above. Then invariably, just beyond this resting-place, you could see the marks made by their wings when they took their departure: These distinct impressions made by their wings, in the pure snow, so common on all hands, though the bird that made it is gone and there is no trace beyond, affect me like some mystic Oriental symbol, — the winged globe or what-not, — as if made by a spirit. In some places you would see a furrow and hollow in the snow where there was no track for rods around, as if a large snowball or a cannon-ball had struck it, where apparently the birds had not paused in their flight. It is evidently a regular thing with them thus to lodge in the snow. Their tracks, when perfectly distinct, are seen to be almost in one straight line thus, trailing the middle toe: about five inches apart. In one place I saw where one had evidently trailed the tips of the wings, making two distinct lines five or six inches apart, one on each side the foot-tracks; probably made by a male In the same place were many great tracks of the white rabbit. The earliest, made while the snow was very soft, were very large and shapeless, somewhat like the marks made by snow falling from the trees. More recent ones HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
had settled and broken the slight crust around them, leaving a large indentation. The distinct track was like this: the front tracks, which are the largest, being about two and a half inches in diameter, and the whole track of the four feet often one foot long. These impressions so slight (though distinct) it is hard to realize that so heavy an animal made them. I see where the squirrels have been eating the pitch pine cones since the last snow. BAILEY’S DICTIONARY
“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING, HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this “read-only” computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright 2014. Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems— allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith — and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Please contact the project at
“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.” – Remark by character “Garin Stevens” in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST
Prepared: May 19, 2014 HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT
GENERATION HOTLINE
This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested that we pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such a request for information we merely push a button. HDT WHAT? INDEX
NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY
Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and recompile the chronology — but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary “writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.
First come first serve. There is no charge. Place requests with