The classical element in early New England almanacs The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Gummere, Richard M. 1955. The classical element in early New England almanacs. Harvard Library Bulletin IX (2), Spring 1955: 181-196. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37363523 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Tl1e Classical Element • Ill Early New England Almanacs He readr what Aristotle said, Tben calls tbe Cou1ctsto bis aid. HAT the old chronic]crs used to caHthe l\1atter of Greece and R 01n c i ,v a.s ob vio u s1y fa 1niliar to the pol iti cal~ rel i- giou s~ and 2.ca dcn1 ic lead crs of th c Puritan CoI on y. It plnyred a part in the culture of the Bay Province second only to the Bible. Even in communities ,vhich concerned thcn1sclvcs mainly ,vith crops and ,veather, it js surprising to uotc ho\v far this c]assical heritage penetrated., often in di]uted forn1 but none the less effective. A ,vhi.ff of ancient history· or n1ythology ,vas ,vclco111c.. There are no statisdcs on literacy hefore the Ccnsu.~ of 1870; and the search for those ,vho did or did not 'n1ake their mark, ,vould be a.111attcr of gnes~nvork. The altnanac, ho\ve ver 1 \\ 1as an indjspcnsablc 111cdi 11111 of inf orn1ati on. 1 The educ ati on a.l n orn1 \ v2 s high er tl1 rough out the CoIon ial perj o d in J\·1assachusett~Bg-}r than in any other province, unti1 the interchange of persons and idea~ extinguisl1ed sectiona.]ism and prepared the grou11d for federated activity. A recent interpreter of the Nc,v England n1ind has said: 'The proficieucy. of Ne,v England f ann hands in threading the 111rrzcsof free ,vill, foreordination, 2nd fate around the kitchen fire \vas a never-ending source of adn11ration to visitors~1 :! Evide-ncc exists that there ,vas much reading aloucl of calendars and other books in the 1 The \\'I j ter desj res tu express 11j s than ks to the ::10th or j t1es of the A merj can Anti- qua rfo.n Sncicty, ,,rorcester. 1\1;-issachusctts,for the opportunity of examining their un-riv.:tlcd collection of Am~rjc=.;in alnlanacs, cind to tl1ase of the Harvard Co]lege l..ihrar;v for the use of the valuahle H:i.rvard co11ection, togecher ,vith its series of photosta ts and im port:1 nt co 1lateral m::1.tt:! rial. Indebtedness to certain. of his cul- lcagu ~Ii is ackno,.,~Jedged in th csc f ootnotcs. This s ni d r of a lm-an~cs is pa rt of pro j c ct for research in Co loni a I cl~~sica 1 in fl uenc rs. aided ur a grn n t fro rr1the Am cd- ean PJ 1ilo sop hie al Society. Perry j\•EJler~The 1:-.le-wEuglaud Mind.~1"be Sc'l.Jcutce11thCe1uury ( C:lmbridgc. iHass.i J 954), p. 86. For the ed11cst('.d Pudtan~.s interest in general secular literature sec Sa1nuc1 E. 1\1orjsonj Tbe Puritnn Pronaos (Ne,•/ Yorki r936 }, pp. 127-14 7, nnd the same author's Harvard College in tbe ServenteentbCenturj' (Can)bridge. [936 ), It 1:24-13 2, [96-i.oo!" 13 2-13 5\ etc. Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume IX, Number 2 (Spring 1955) , Harvard Li brar J 1J11Jl etin avcragc Puri tan hon1 e. The aln1 os t ph onc tic n1isspel 1i n g of 'Elick s- san deri and ~zurksscs' in Philip \\ 1alker's CaptainPerre and His Coragios Co111pany( 1676) ,vould indicate this habit. '\\1alkcr <spe'.lledthe ,vay he talked/ as his editor h2s rcnrn.rked/~ There is a pnrallcl instance of this kind, on a lo\v·er level, in Bret Harte's .story, ,vhcrc the Outcasts of r Poker Flat listen to a reading of Hon1er and the exploits of -=Ash-I~Ieels.' This is hazardous guess\vo r k; but the school pro gram;" the first co 11cgc J the activities of the printing press, and the nun1crous bookshops before 1 700 led to a ,vidcspre2d c-a.rry-overof this '?\1attcr of Greece and B... on1c' into quarters ,vhere ra,v inte11igcncc,vas the onl)7 substitute for learning.. Irlere th c aln1an a c, that , vel co me visitor in every· prov·inci a I fa1nii)r-ireigned supren1e. The best e~ited and the most interesting ahnanacs (to ,vhicl1 \Ve sl1~ll devote attention here) are those published durjng the first fifty years and a series ,vhich appeared through the last fifty years of the Bay Colony /i Forty-one out of forty-four Ne,v England issues bcfore 1 687 ,vere edited by I~Iarvard graduates, as a sort of volunteer assignn1cnt~ The outstanding nu1nbers just previous to the Revolution ,vcrc pub- lished by the An1cs farnily of Dcdham1 ,vho planned a combination Eta.ndard sl1itcd to all tJ'pcs of readers. This activity is impressive: -the on 1y other scrj cs ,v h ic h b cgan alrnost con ten1p oran eous ly- 1.vith a prov j n- c ia 1 settle1nent is th-at of the I..,eedsdynasty in the l\1iddle Colonies of '''estJersey and Pennsylvar1ia:t .starting in 1687. !1 J-Jri.ro!dS, Jant7\-in l,Thc First Century of Nc\v F.ngfa11d\Terse/ Proceedtnf,:r of the Auierir.an Antiqu(lrfon Society (hereinafter Proc. A AS}, n. s., Ll 1l ( 194 3 ), :z18- 508. The J)O~Ul1-in nlanus~ript, is in the ]iLrary of the A1ncl'ican Alniquarian Sod~t.y. 4. Ezekiel Chcc\·cr'~ unabrjdgcd A ccide'llce and his Sbort /11troduction to tbe Latin Tongue (Roston, 17n~; copk.s j11 the Harvard College Lihrary) indic~tc cqu~l standr in g \d th the Englfah school re quircln cnts~ F n r th c quality of the g.ra mm1 r-sc hool curriculunl see Kcm1eth B, ~-1urdock._,'The Teaching of Latin and Greek at the Boston L:ttin School in l 712/ Publicationr of tbe Colonial Society of Jl!a!Jacbas-eus ( hcrc~ftcr Puhr. CSAf)~ XXVH ( 1931 ), ? 1-2:9. -a George E. Littl~fidd, ~Notes on the C'J.lend:J.r JJ.nd the Alman~c,' Proc. AAS, n. s., XXIV ( 19 l4), 11--64, for -a general account; Charles L. Nichols, 'Notes on the A] manacs of 1'-·iassachusetts," Proc. A A S1 n. s •1 XX 1I ( 1 9 l i ) "! 1 5- 1 34; Ch rcncc S. Bdgh-a m, An Account of A 1ueTi can A luunm cs-and Tb eir V alua for Historical Study (Y\'orce.stcr, l\1ass .., 1925; reprinted fron1 1R-cport of Libr~rian; f>roc. AAS', n, :s., XXX"'V19-,.5., ~95-209). Georg~ l ... Kittredge, The Old Faruzcr and I-Iis Aln1a11.1ck, l-n<lirnp. (C"1nLridgc:, r..1ass.~19z.o ), deals \ 1lfrh a post-Re\Toludonal)T series.,but offers tnnch of ht~tork:;1l iE"lteresc. Al~o1 Chester N. Greenough~ 'Nc,v England A hnanr-i.c:s, 1766--1775, and the American Re,Tolution,' I'tor. A AS 1 n. s., XL V ( 1935 )~ 2.88-316 (rep.rjnted 1 ,vith four plates, \ Vorcc!:itcr., L\1ass.,J 936). Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume IX, Number 2 (Spring 1955) Tbe ClnrsicalEle1ne11t in Early t-l ew E11glrnzdAlu1a11flcs 18 3 The aln1anacdid not spring l\1incrva-like fron1 the head of sotnc in- dustrious Puritan. Calendars go back to ti1nc in1111c1norial- Bab) 7 lon- ian, Egyptian, Greek., Roman 1 Arabic. The acta diurna of Appius Claudjus, the FnstiA11tiates 1 the Fnstiof Ovid, ,vcrc devised for popu- lar _consumption. Zodiac figures arc co1nparahlc ,vith a Ilon1an far1ncrs' calendar in the Naples l\1useum,sho,ving three Inonths on each of the four sides of a cubct jn Latin, ,vith advice to the planter and tiller: 'Ti1nc to drain the s\vn1npi to cut reeds and \viHo,vs/ 0 Roger BaconJ fa1niliar both ,vith the Arabic and the classica], represents a step in the history of the nln1nnac proper; hut the first rea] exarnple is that of Rcgi om on tan us., ,v ho pu bl isl1 e d the first e ditio n of tl 1c Astron 0111;ca of ManiJius at Nuren1berg in 1472 and an aln1anac in 1476, thus setting the standard and confirming the techniques. The 'J\1an of the Signs,' or the set of Zodiac .symbolsas illustrated by various parts of the human body 1 is older than the descrjption b)7 /\1aniJius. There is plenty of basic Greek and lloman 111atcria1,stcn1- n1ing from Cato 2nd \7arro and l\1anilins,,vhich kept on througl1out the centuries, son1eof ,vhich is current today. The British calendar- aln1anac ,vas in vogue by the seventeenth century. 'Poor Robin' ( J 690) 7 bur]esqued horoscopes as a current fad, offering one for 'l\1r1rch9th, or '-''hen You ,,,nr:in the t,velve corners represented Ly signs of the Zodiac, acco1npanied by n1ysterious symbols., arc the nan1cs of A rjsdppus.,Djogene.s., P]iny., Plato, Aristotle., Socrates, Ana- charsisi llytlu1gorasj Plutarch, Seneca, Solon, and Cato of Utica! One finds cvcry,vhcrc a standard set of Illytho]ogical personifica- tions~ P1uvius bcsto\vs fertilizing sho,vcrs.