What fun, for you, Marianne. On the solstice: thanks to the genius of
the Gregorian Calendar, rejected by Elizabeth's bishops (she herself
had been willing, and Dr. Dee had reluctantly agreed with her--he
preferred a March 25 equinox)) but eventually operative, the solstice
now is pretty much what it was then and the precession of the equinox
doesn't really affect it. In Spenser's day, of course, the solstice
was on the same day from an angel's point of view as it was in Rome
but the names of the day (c. June 11, c. June 21) differed. To be
sure, the solstices wobble a bit in both calendars, if not by more
than a day or so. In any case, from what I can make out in my
desultory researches into such matters, his solstice and modern
Cork's solstice would be so close to the same as to make no
nevermind. Thank you, Gregory XIII and Father Clavius, S.J.! It
remains poignant for me to think that Spenser is using the Julian
calendar there in a country that, had history been different, would
by the 1590s, have been using the new calendar. Similarly for John
Donne, who could call St. Lucy's day the year's midnight only because
he was using the old Julian calendar of his nation and not the new
one launched by the head of his former church. It sounds as though
you had a wonderful trip. Anne
On Jun 28, 2008, at 3:11 PM, Marianne F Micros wrote:
> Hi, everyone. I had the pleasure of being in Cork during the
> solstice; this made me think, of course, of the "Epithalamion." I
> remember Kent Hieatt's work on the poem and remember that it was
> discovered that that particular day, when Spenser and Elizabeth
> Boyle got married, had 16 1/4 hours of daylight. I don't know how
> different those hours would be today, due to changes, I guess in
> the earth's rotation, etc. -- but it did not get dark this year
> until close to 10:30 -- and the sun rose at about 4:30! That is
> much more daylight than in Spenser's day. I wonder if anyone knows
> anything about this.
>
> Second topic: I tried to visit Kilcolman Castle. I was at the
> conference in 1999 and was fortunate to be allowed entrance into
> the ruins. I've also heard the archeologist speak twice about what
> he has discovered there. I knew that I wouldn't get access without
> special permission but thought I could get a glance at Kilcolman.
> First of all, it was impossible to find. A man at the nearby
> wildlife sanctuary told us where to stand in order to see it in the
> distance -- but said that we could not get there because of the
> electric fences and livestock. So, I did see it, but only from a
> distance. I was told by someone that there has been controversy
> because of that sanctuary -- fear that tourism to the Castle might
> disrupt the environment.
> Perhaps Tom Herron can answer my questions about this. The Castle
> looked so neglected! The odd thing was that there were signs in
> Doneraile saying "Kilcolman Castle, home of Edmund Spenser" or
> something like that -- pointing to the direction to take. But the
> signs soon stopped with no further information. It was hard to find!
> And wasn't there some talk about holding the next Spenser
> conference in Cork?
>
> Thanks, everyone.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: risa bear <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:05:29 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: Upton's Spenser available for free download
>
> None. Zip. Zilch.
>
> I /could /have scanned the 19c Grosart FQ, whose font is
> acceptable; but
> this was 1992 and I was poor; so I typed it. (!!)
>
> What one /can /do is scan (with permission) from a more modern-font
> text
> and then proofread it with a 17c copy in hand.
>
> risa b
>
> John Geraghty wrote:
>>
>> If anyone has had any luck with OCR and 17th century texts, I'd
>> appreciate hearing about it.
>>
>
> --
> risa stephanie bear, m.s., m.a.
> digital content coordinator, document center
> university of oregon libraries
> <[log in to unmask]> (541) 346-0763
> oregon newspapers index
> <http://libweb.uoregon.edu/govdocs/indexing/>
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