I am not totally in agreement with Paul. My father, who was a surgeon in a
small hospital just behind the front during the whole of WW1 would tell us
the story of the airman he operated, who had fallen from his plane during a
bombing exercise (height not stated) and had survived not only the fall but
the bombs of rest of the exercise, his tibiae having shot through his heels.
I am highly interested in the information and opinions on Mary P. as this is
the next item on my list of translations into French.
Max Rives
----- Message d'origine -----
De : Paul Hutchinson <[log in to unmask]>
À : <[log in to unmask]>
Envoyé : dimanche 10 septembre 2000 01:11
Objet : Bateman's, Cheeseman's, vampires
(begin quotation)
we drove through the Sussex clay of a long winding lane and finally reached
the isolated and ancient farmhouse in which [...] dwelt. It was a large,
straggling building, very old in the centre, very new at the wings with
towering Tudor chimneys and a lichen-spotted, high-pitched roof of Horsham
slabs. The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient tiles which
lined the porch were marked with the rebus of a cheese and a man after the
original builder. Within, the ceilings were corrugated with heavy oaken
beams, and the uneven floors sagged into sharp curves.
(end quotation)
I daresay I'm the 157th person, not the first, to notice this description
of the house named Cheeseman's in Conan Doyle's "The Sussex Vampire"
http://www.bakerstreet221b.de/canon/suss.htm , see the photos of Bateman's
at
http://www.kipling.org.uk/batemans.htm , and put two and two together.
I'd be quite interested if someone could fill me in on the relations between
Conan Doyle and Kipling in the 1920's, their common interest in vampires,
and so on. (I'm merely a casual reader, not any sort of specialist.)
I've found that Conan Doyle and Kipling were among the pioneers of golf in
America in the 1890's -
http://www.parkcity.ne.jp/~hirayama/golf.htm - but nothing about them in
the 1920's. Kipling's "The Vampire" can be found at
http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/writings/poems/rktv.htm
In case anyone can comment on the extent to which it resembles Bateman's,
the interior description of Cheeseman's is as follows:
(begin quotation)
An odour of age and decay pervaded the whole crumbling building.
There was one very large central room into which Ferguson led us. Here, in a
huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behind it dated 1670, there
blazed and spluttered a splendid log fire.
The room, as I gazed round, was a most singular mixture of dates and of
places. The half-panelled walls may well have belonged to the original
yeoman farmer of the seventeenth century. They were ornamented, however, on
the lower part by a line of well-chosen modern water-colours; while above,
where yellow plaster took the place of oak, there was hung a fine collection
of South American utensils and weapons, which had been brought, no doubt, by
the Peruvian lady upstairs.
(end quotation)
The other extract of interest is the following.
(begin quotation)
Cheeseman's, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?"
"It is in Sussex, south of Horsham."
"Not very far, eh? And Cheeseman's?"
"I know that country, Holmes. It is full of old houses which are named after
the men who built them centuries ago. You get Odley's and Harvey's and
Carriton's-the folk are forgotten but their names live in their houses.
(end quotation)
Horsham is some 20 or 30 miles from Bateman's and Crowborough.
Paul Hutchinson
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