• Samuel Butler died (18-6-1902)

    From Ross Clark@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 19 15:07:52 2024
    That means it's the _Erewhon_ Butler. The one born 1835, author of the satirical utopian (satopian? utirical?) novel _Erewhon_, some of which
    was based on his five years in New Zealand (1859-64), much of it
    managing a sheep station called "Mesopotamia" in the South Island high
    country.
    "Butler went there, like many early British settlers of materially
    privileged origins, to maximise distance between himself and his family."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)

    Frequently confused (by me) with the _Hudibras_ Butler (no relation), (1613-1680), author of the "vigorous mock-heroic satirical poem"
    _Hudibras_, which remained popular for centuries after its publication.
    Long enough for me to be exposed to a little bit of it at an early age:

    In Mathematicks, he was greater
    Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:
    For he, by Geometrick scale,
    Could take the size of Pots of Ale;
    Revolve by Signs and Tangents streight,
    If Bread or Butter wanted weight;
    And wisely tell what hour o'th'day
    The Clock doth strike, by Algebra.

    It's a satire on the puritans of the Interregnum. It "delighted the
    royalists but was less an attack on the puritans than a criticism of
    antiquated thinking and contemporary morals, and a parody of
    old-fashioned literary form."

    Might be time to read the whole thing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(poet)

    Back to Erewhon Butler: Crystal concentrates on some aphorisms about
    language. This is the shortest:

    "Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in
    actual use."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Athel Cornish-Bowden@21:1/5 to Ross Clark on Wed Jun 19 10:15:31 2024
    On 2024-06-19 03:07:52 +0000, Ross Clark said:

    That means it's the _Erewhon_ Butler. The one born 1835, author of the satirical utopian (satopian? utirical?) novel _Erewhon_, some of which
    was based on his five years in New Zealand (1859-64), much of it
    managing a sheep station called "Mesopotamia" in the South Island high country.
    "Butler went there, like many early British settlers of materially
    privileged origins, to maximise distance between himself and his
    family."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)

    Frequently confused (by me) with the _Hudibras_ Butler (no relation),

    Also with his grandfather of the same name, on whom Charles Darwin was
    not keen.

    (1613-1680), author of the "vigorous mock-heroic satirical poem"
    _Hudibras_, which remained popular for centuries after its publication.
    Long enough for me to be exposed to a little bit of it at an early age:

    In Mathematicks, he was greater
    Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:
    For he, by Geometrick scale,
    Could take the size of Pots of Ale;
    Revolve by Signs and Tangents streight,
    If Bread or Butter wanted weight;
    And wisely tell what hour o'th'day
    The Clock doth strike, by Algebra.

    It's a satire on the puritans of the Interregnum. It "delighted the
    royalists but was less an attack on the puritans than a criticism of antiquated thinking and contemporary morals, and a parody of
    old-fashioned literary form."

    Might be time to read the whole thing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(poet)

    Back to Erewhon Butler: Crystal concentrates on some aphorisms about language. This is the shortest:

    "Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use."


    --
    Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
    in England until 1987.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)