THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1752

December 8, Friday: Vicesimus Knox II was born at Newington Green, Middlesex.1 He was the son of the Reverend Vicesimus Knox, LL.B., a fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford2 who was a Master3 of Merchant Tailors’ School. He would receive an excellent education until the age of 14 at home with his father, and then in a high class at a grammar school run by Livery Companies, known as Merchant Taylors’ School.

Benjamin Franklin had designed a flexible catheter and had one constructed by a Philadelphia silversmith, out of a coil of silver wire covered with gut, with joints to allow flexibility. On this day he posted the device to Boston because his brother John Franklin was having a problem of urine retention due to bladder stones.

1. “Vicesimus” is Latin for 20th. Vicesimus or Vicesima would be the name given to the 20th child in a Roman family, depending on whether the infant was male or female. Although the Reverend Vicesimus Knox was not the 20th child of his father, his father’s name was Vicesimus. 2. St John’s, a well endowed school, had been founded in 1555 by a merchant, Sir Thomas White, in the buildings of an old Cisterian school, the College of St Bernard, shuttered since King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. The college was initially for the training of Anglican clergymen although it is now known for law and medicine. 3. Note: a Master, not the Headmaster — which was the Reverend James Townley, author of HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS. HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1771

Just before his 19th birthday, Vicesimus Knox II was elected to a fellowship at his father’s alma mater, St. John’s College of University. He would remain at this institution for an unusually long period, eight years, studying the classics like a man possessed. HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1777

As recommended by Dr. Johnson, the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s educational ideas appeared anonymously in this year in one volume as ESSAYS, MORAL AND LITERARY, ON A LARGE LETTER (: Printed for E. and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry), prepared on the basis of the outstanding essays he had ESSAYS, MORAL AND LITERARY

submitted as a scholar at St. John’s College, Oxford4 (in the following year these would be reprinted in two volumes, and eventually they would become three volumes and the author’s name would no longer be suppressed). Soon he would receive in the international mail, from Philadelphia, without solicitation or warning, an American diploma for the degree of Doctor of Divinity in appreciation of this fine volume of essays (we do not know what educational institution it was in Philadelphia that had forwarded its diploma).

NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

4. Some of his mentors had been distressed that he had taken church orders, because they resented that this brilliant scholar would be wasting precious time in routine church duties that might better be spent preoccupied with matters of classical scholarship. HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1778

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox, LL.D. had resigned his position as headmaster of Tonbridge School and died at the age of 49. In this year his son was elected as the new headmaster. Soon he would get married, with the only daughter of Dr. Miller, a surgeon of Tunbridge. While headmaster for 33 years he would preach often on behalf of philanthropic causes and against war, arguing that “If the Christian religion in all its purity, and in its full force, were suffered to prevail universally, the sword of offensive war must be sheathed for ever, and the din of arms would at last be silenced in perpetual peace” and that “The total abolition of war, and the establishment of perpetual and universal peace, appear to me to be of more consequence than any thing ever achieved, or even attempted, by mere mortal man, since the creation.” His success as a teacher would be reflected in an increase in the number of scholars in the school, from 20 to 80.

NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1781

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s educational ideas appeared again, in ON A LIBERAL EDUCATION, OR, A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE METHODS OF ACQUIRING USEFUL AND POLITE LEARNING (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). This included his views on female education which he considered of importance since women were so influential in the pre-school education of their offspring. The author was an outspoken champion of the grammar schools in which he himself had been educated, run by Livery Companies. (This would be expanded to two volumes in 1785.)

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 Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1783

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s ELEGANT EXTRACTS; OR, USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING PASSAGES IN PROSE SELECTED FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOLARS AT CLASSICAL & OTHER SCHOOLS, IN THE ART OF SPEAKING, IN READING, THINKING, COMPOSING AND IN THE CONDUCT OF LIFE. TO THIS EDITION IS ADDED A SHORT SYSTEM OF GEOGRAPHY FROM SHARPES TRANSLATION OF HOLBERGS INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSAL HISTORY AND A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF REMARKABLE EVENTS, DISCOVERIES & INVENTIONS ... (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry).

ELEGANT EXTRACTS, PROSE This would be recommended by George Austen to one of his sons, Francis, when he would leave home for a career in the navy. His daughter, the novelist Jane Austen, would own a copy which she would gift to her niece HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

Anna. This volume would appear in the novel EMMA.

THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1784

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s ELEGANT EXTRACTS, IN POETRY, SELECTED FROM VARIOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS; BEING SIMILAR IN DESIGN TO THE PROSE EXTRACTS (London: Printed for E. and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry).

THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1787

Publication of a series of the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s miscellaneous papers, WINTER EVENINGS: OR, LUCUBRATIONS ON LIFE AND LETTERS (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry).

WINTER EVENINGS

CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

Vicesimus Knox “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1792

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s ELEGANT EPISTLES; OR, A COPIOUS COLLECTION OF FAMILIAR AND AMUSING LETTERS, SELECTED FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF YOUNG PERSONS, AND FOR GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). Also, his SERMONS, CHIEFLY INTENDED ELEGANT EPISTLES

TO PROMOTE FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A PREPARATORY PERSUASIVE TO THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER; A SERMON, PREACHED AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry).

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

Vicesimus Knox “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1793

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s PERSONAL NOBILITY: OR, LETTERS TO A YOUNG NOBLEMAN, ON THE CONDUCT OF HIS STUDIES, AND THE DIGNITY OF THE PEERAGE (London: Printed for Charles Dilly). PERSONAL NOBILITY

The Reverend Knox’s A NARRATIVE OF TRANSACTIONS RELATIVE TO A SERMON, PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF BRIGHTON, AUGUST 18, 1793: WITH SHORT EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMON, AND OCCASIONAL REMARKS (London: Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry).5 THE SERMON CONTROVERSY

The 2d edition of the Reverend Knox’s ELEGANT EXTRACTS; OR, USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING PASSAGES IN PROSE (Dublin: P. Byrne).

A copy of this would be found in the personal library of Henry Thoreau. (By means of the buttons below, you can display the volume’s table of contents, in order to appreciate the sorts of materials Henry was able, by

5. Although this amounts to 190 pages, the version of the sermon which it contains is not complete. HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

means of this volume, to have at his ready disposal in his garret accommodation in Concord.) ELEGANT EXTRACTS, PROSE ELEGANT EXTRACTS, PROSE ELEGANT EXTRACTS, PROSE ELEGANT EXTRACTS, PROSE

August 18, Sunday: At the gateway to Belgian Flanders and the Lys Valley, the village of Linselles was seized by English forces under the Prince Frederick of the House of Hanover, Duke of York and Albany. Of the 1,100 Guards, 187 officers and men were killed and wounded, with the gain from the action being the capture of 12 guns, 70 prisoners, and a color standard.

At an Anglican church in Brighton, the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D. preached “The prospect of perpetual and universal peace to be established on the principle of Christian philanthropy.” The minister endeavored to divest war of those assumed splendors, and that appearance of gaiety and happiness, which do not belong to it, but which seduce the unthinking to view it as a pastime. The minister made a careful distinction between offensive war, which he construed as “a high crime against humanity and Christianity,” and defensive war in which only the militia was concerned, which he considered might well be legitimate and appropriate.6 Some 30 to 40 subaltern officers of the militia in attendance at this sermon in uniform were so offended that, later on that day, when they saw the reverend with his wife and young children in a box at the theatre, they began to chant “A Democrat, a Democrat, a damned Democrat. Out with the Democrat — no Democrats,” called for the minister to be hanged, and even jostled his wife while the couple were making their hurried exit. For these officers, to be a pacifist was equivalent to being a Jacobin, which is to say, was equivalent to siding with the French enemy of the English nation. I was led to the choice of this subject from observing the EXTREME BITTERNESS expressed ... against a great part of our 6. We cannot say what particular remarks elicited such animosity, as the full sermon was never published. HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

fellow-creatures; from the almost daily accounts in the newspapers of slaughtered thousands, and the eagerness with which war had been adopted by all the nations concerned, when NEGOTIATION might have effected every desirable purpose, without expence, and without CARNAGE. THE SERMON CONTROVERSY Subsequent to this incident there was a temporary decrease in enrollment in the Tonbridge School, as British parents became fearful that their young sons might be being taught to oppose war. After awhile, however, as no scholars came home on holiday singing “Kumbaya” or “Frère Jacques,” school enrollment would return to normal.

WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF

Vicesimus Knox “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1794

7 The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s THE COMPLAINT OF PEACE; TO WHICH IS ADDED, ANTIPOLEMUS ; OR, THE PLEA OF REASON, RELIGION, AND HUMANITY, AGAINST WAR. TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN OF THE CELEBRATED ERASMUS (Published by Charles Williams, Boston; and D. Allinson, Burlington, New-Jersey). Also, his anonymous THE SPIRIT OF DESPOTISM (Philadelphia).8 Also, his FAMILY LECTURES; OR, DOMESTIC THE SPIRIT OF DESPOTISM

DIVINITY, BEING A COPIOUS COLLECTIONS OF SERMONS, SELECTED FROM THE POLITE WRITERS AND SOUND DIVINES OF THE PRESENT CENTURY (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). Also, his CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE AND EFFICACY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER (London: Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry).9

THE LORD’S SUPPER

7. Erasmus’s title had been BELLUM DULCE INEXPERTIS. 8. In addition to being anonymous this was printed in America rather than in . For much of his life the Reverend Knox would seek to dissociate himself from the volume. HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

9. This cheap edition was published at the request of Bishop Samuel Horsley. HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1795

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s 2-volume CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY: OR, AN ATTEMPT TO DISPLAY, BY INTERNAL TESTIMONY, THE EVIDENCE AND EXCELLENCE OF REVEALED RELIGION. WITH AN APPENDIX, ON MR. PAINE’S PAMPHLET, ON PRAYER, ON PSALMODY, AND A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS FOR THE USE OF THE PLAIN OR UNLEARNED READER… (London: Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry). CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1807

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s A SERMON, PREACHED AT THE OPENING OF THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY IN ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS. The Reverend would also prepare A PAMPHLET ON THE NATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASSICAL LEARNING. HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1812

The Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D. retired and, no longer having the use of the parsonage, left Tunbridge for London, where he purchased the beautiful residence of Owen williams, Esq. M.P. upon the Adelphi Terrace. HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1821

Due to the fact that the Parliament was withdrawing funding from the teaching of the classics toward instruction in mere reading, writing, and arithmetic, the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D. published a pamphlet against the DEGRADATION OF GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, in which he argued against Milton, against Locke, and against Bacon, because they had recommended that boys be taught “things” rather than abstractions.

September 6, Thursday: After his retirement and after the deaths of his wife, a son, and a daughter, the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II had resided upon the Adelphi Terrace in London.

At this point he died of an obstruction of the bowels in the 69th year of his age, while paying a visit to one of his two surviving sons, the Reverend Thomas Knox, in Tonbridge in Kent where this son had succeeded him as headmaster at the Tonbridge School. His remains would be deposited in the chancel of the parish church on the 13th and eventually a memorial would be positioned there: HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

TO THE MEMORY OF VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D. MASTER OF TUNBRIDGE SCHOOL, AND RECTOR OF RUNWELL AND RAMSDEN CRAYS IN ESSEX. BORN DEC. 8, 1752. — DIED, SEPT. 6, 1821. ————— A SOUND DIVINE, AN ELEGANT AND PROFOUND SCHOLAR, A POLISHED AND POWERFUL WRITER, AN ELOQUENT, ZEALOUS, AND PERSUASIVE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL, HE EMPLOYED HIS HIGH ENDOWMENTS TO THE GLORY OF GOD, AND THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT OF MAN. ANXIOUS EVER TO ADVANCE THE HAPPINESS OF HIS FELLOW-CREATURES, UPON THE PUREST PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY, WITH A LOFTY SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE, AND A RARE DISINTERESTEDNESS IN CONDUCT, HE DISREGARDED THE ORDINARY OBJECTS OF WORLDLY AMBITION, AND SHEWED HIMSELF ON ALL OCCASIONS THE ENEMY OF PUBLIC ABUSES, THE FRIEND OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, THE OPPONENT OF OFFENSIVE WAR, THE PROMOTER OF PEACE, AND THE ADVOCATE OF ALL THE CLAIMS OF HUMANITY. ————— “HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH.”

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 5th day 6 of 9 M / Our Meeting was larger than usual a number of Strangers were present some that were & some that were not Members. — Jonathon & Hannah Dennis both delivered short testimonies - & I thought it was a pretty good meeting. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

1823

James Ferguson’s THE LIFE OF THE REV. VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D. At some point the following would make their appearance:

•ANALECTA LATINA: CONſIſTING OF CHAPTERS ſELECTED FROM THE GOſPELS OF [THEODORE] BEZA’S LATIN TEſTAMENT, ACCORDING TO DR. [ANTHONY] BLACKWALL’S DIRECTIONS; OF FIFTY COLLOQUIES FROM CORDERY, &C. (London: Printed for E. and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). •ANALECTA GRÆCA EVANGELICA: OR, CHAPTERS ſELECTED FROM THE GREEK GOſPELS, ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTION OF DR. [ANTHONY] BLACKWALL (London: Printed for E. and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). •THE BIBLE EPITOMIZED; BOOK I. FROM THE NEW TEſTAMENT. BOOK II. FROM THE OLD TEſTAMENTS. BOOK III. FROM THE APOCRYPHA ... ILLUſTRATED WITH A MAP OF THE HOLY LAND (London: Printed for E. and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry). HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

1834

April 23, Wednesday: At the top of Ladder Hill, the Royal Standard was hoisted over the island of St. Helena (everybody got all misty-eyed).

David Henry Thoreau checked out, from Harvard Library, the 1st volume of the Reverend Vicesimus Knox II, D.D.’s ELEGANT EXTRACTS: OR, USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING PIECES OF POETRY, SELECTED FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF YOUNG PERSONS: BEING SIMILAR IN DESIGN TO ELEGANT EXTRACTS IN PROSE (London: C. Robinson; Weybridge: S. Hamilton?, 1800). He also checked out an unidentified volume labeled both “Lewis & Clapperton” and “10.1.4.” This volume, the first of a series, may have consisted of some publication by Meriwether Lewis and/or some publication by Hugh Clapperton (such as the JOURNAL OF A SECOND EXPEDITION INTO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA which he had published in London in 1829), bound together or put out as a series of volumes. HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

2005

Laurence M. Vance’s VICESIMUS KNOX: MINISTER OF PEACE.

“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Vicesimus Knox HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

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 2015. 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: March 12, 2015 HDT WHAT? INDEX

VICESIMUS KNOX THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D.

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

THE REVEREND VICESIMUS KNOX II, D.D. VICESIMUS KNOX

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 . Arrgh.