Published inAdam’s Notebook·15 hours agoChatGPT and the AcademyThis week is induction week at my university: new and returning students, gearing up for the coming academic year. Yesterday myself and some colleagues addressed the first, second and third years in consecutive lecture halls, to talk them through what to expect, explain the processes and so on. One thing…University2 min readUniversity2 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·6 days agoGwenllian Phillips, née Bevan, of TrebrynWondering about the date of the above photo, which was forwarded to me by my mother, Merryl (herself born in 1941): ‘The lady sitting with a baby on her lap is my grandmother’s mother: Gwenllian Phillips, née Bevan, of Trebryn. She is surrounded by some of her 14 children. Her…Evan Bevan2 min readEvan Bevan2 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Sep 9‘Hobbit’Tolkien scholars are divided on the likelihood that Tolkien actually read the Denham Tracts, a group of pamphlets published between 1846 and 1859 by Yorkshire tradesman and folklorist Michael Aislabie Denham, afterwards republished as one book. He might have done, and in doing so might have come across the word…Hobbit2 min readHobbit2 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Sep 7William Morris, ‘The Story of the Glittering Plain’ (1894)In a paper he read before a meeting of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in July 1889, Morris defined romance as ‘the capacity for a true conception of history, a power of making the past part of the present.’ [May Morris, William Morris: Writer, Artist, Socialist (Oxford…William Morris11 min readWilliam Morris11 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Sep 6‘Dover Beach’, by Matt Queue ArnoldThe ferry docks tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Look through the windshield: starlit is the night-air! Only, from the long line of cars Where halt holds lorries…Dover Beach2 min readDover Beach2 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Sep 3Dickens, Not a Man of Words (1806)Our man, of course, was not born until 1812. Who’s this, then, in 1806? Well, he’s a character from this diverting novel (fourth edition 1806, so first edition probably a year or so earlier, but I can’t seem to trace that).Dickens1 min readDickens1 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Aug 31Vincent Bourne, ‘A Cat’s Nine Lives’ (1734)Here’s an 8-line poem by Vincent Bourne about a cat. Bourne was a moderately successful English neo-Latin poet of the 18th-century (there’s not much known about his life), whose popularity sparked somewhat during the Romantic period. Charles Lamb translated eight of Bourne’s Latin poems into English, and recommended him to…Vincent Bourne2 min readVincent Bourne2 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Aug 30Latham’s Birds: ScannedThe Google Books scan-in of John Latham’s General Synopsis of Birds (1801) gives us the text accurately, but has done something rather splendid to the coloured illustrations of the actual birds that interleave the volume. Something to do with the scanner misreading and flattening the colours, and blocking chunks of the plates, gives us these splendid, stylised rouge-et-noir images. A kind of Modernism ahead of time. Lovely! All hail Google Books.1 min read1 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Aug 30Macmillan and the End of EmpireFrom the vantage point of 2023 the end of the British Empire seems an inevitability, a good and necessary thing. The surprise, perhaps, is that it took as long as it did to happen. By 1960, when Macmillan delivered his ‘Winds of Change’ speech in South Africa, the process was…Harold Macmillan3 min readHarold Macmillan3 min read
Published inAdam’s Notebook·Aug 25George Buchanan, Sylvae 6: ‘On the Horse: Inscription’ (?1550)Here’s another of Buchanan’s poems from Sylvae (1567) — for the meaning of the collection title ‘Sylvae’, see here — to add to my versions of Sylvae 2, Sylvae 3 and the immense Sylvae 4. This, you’ll be pleased to hear, is much shorter: a sixteen line poem in praise…George Buchanan2 min readGeorge Buchanan2 min read