David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
In our previous post, we quoted Henry Blofield's description of the bowlers' run-up marks chalked on the green at either end of the Lord's wicket.
"It's like a crossword puzzle that had, perhaps, a drink too much."
We have been much entertained since, imagining the antics of drunken crosswords.
Not quite that, but not far off, is this early 2oth century crossword puzzle from the archive of our Paris office. Concours de perspicacité No.3 (literally Insight Competition No.3).
click image to enlarge
We imagine it re-captioned : "Members of Lord's scramble to decipher drunken crossword."
We imagine, too, that 'Blowers' gets there first and, seeing it to be a meta-map, declares: "My dear old things, it appears we are here already!"
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
