FOUR TERMS OF ITALIAN UNDER PIETRO BACHI

The first records we have of the Bachi family are from the earlyRenaissance, in an iron-working village in Val Seriana.This family was evidently of Khazar extraction, because a “bac”in that language is the pouch in which a worker carries his tools— the name evidently originated as indicating the sort of workerwho wears a tool-pouch (thus the image above, of a carpenter’sleather pouch). Since the bulk of the people who left the Khazarculture during that era were Jews, we may suspect that PietroBachi was not only of Sicilian extraction (Palermo), but alsoof Jewish extraction. At an unknown point Albert Gallatin Hoit(1809-1856) painted a portrait of this Harvard College languageinstructor and the details accompanying that portrait allegethat Bachi was also called “Ignasio Batolo.”

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Pietro Bachi

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Pietro Bachi was born in Sicily. After graduating from the University of Padua with the degree of J.U.D., he would become a lawyer.

NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

1787

Pietro Bachi “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

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The French army occupied Rome, and invaded Spain seizing Barcelona and Madrid. Joseph Bonaparte, who had been King of Naples, became King of Spain, and General Joachim Murat, began to rule in Naples in his stead (he would hold that job until 1815). There were widespread uprisings in Spain, and British troops landed in Portugal. Henry Crabb Robinson, sent by the Times of London to report on the Peninsular War, became the 1st war correspondent (Margaret Fuller, 1st female war correspondent, wasn’t yet born).

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

1808

#1 Male #1 Female

Pietro Bachi “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

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General Joachim Murat deserted the Emperor Napoléon I and joined the Allies. Allied armies defeated the French and entered Paris on March 30th. Napoleon abdicated and was banished to Elba. Louis XVIII entered Paris and took up the throne.

1814

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With Napoleon Bonaparte’s abdication, France was opened once again to the importation of cane sugar from abroad and its domestic beet sugar, produced, of necessity, without the use of slave labor, became, of necessity, noncompetitively expensive.

Walter Savage Landor and his wife had gone to the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel off the coast of France, but there they quarreled and when he set off for the mainland he was on his own. Eventually she would rejoin him, at Tours, as would his younger brother Robert Landor. At Tours they met up with Francis George Hare of Herstmonceux, East Sussex, and Gresford, Flintshire, Wales.

LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD?— NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES.

LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.

SWEETS

WITHOUT

SLAVERY

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Pietro Bachi

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The attorney Pietro Bachi, implicated in General Joachim Murat’s failed attempt to seize the throne of the two Sicilies, was forced to flee Palermo, Sicily. He would wind up in England and then in the United States. Since we have a notation that sometimes Bachi was known as “Ignasio Batolo,” we may suspect that some of this traveling was accomplished, for safety, under an assumed name.

Giacomo Costantino Beltrami received the Medaglia d’Onore di Napoli from the Istituto da Napoleone. Here is a photograph of a gentleman’s red oiled-silk umbrella from the period 1815-1820:1

1815

1. Note that if Giacomo was already sporting his signature red umbrella during this period –something which we do not know– then its color, since the color associated with the clergy was black, would have been taken on the Italian peninsula to be an assertion of an anticlerical politics — and indeed Giacomo’s politics were anticlerical (as anticlerical as, in a later generation, the politics of the red-shirted supporters of Giuseppi Garibaldi).

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Until 1825, Ferdinand I would be the “King of the Two Sicilies.”

1816

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July 20, Thursday: In Glasgow, Scotland, James Wilson and six of his colleagues in the “Radical War” went on trial for treason. Five of the colleagues were found Not Guilty and the 6th was discharged. The jury found Wilson Not Guilty on three counts of treason but Guilty on the fourth, “compassing to levy war against the King in order to compel him to change his measures,” recommending mercy. The judge sentenced Wilson to execution.

There was an insurrection in Palermo, Sicily that would be reported in the USA on October 3rd in the Philadelphia newspaper The Union — United States Gazette and True American For the Country. The insurrection was said to have begun because a general named Church caused a “yellow cockade” to be removed from the hat of a Sicilian:

WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MINDYOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF

1820

Pietro Bachi “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

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Pietro Bachi, who had fled the Italian peninsula after General Joachim Murat failed in his attempt to seize the throne of the two Sicilies, sailed from England to the United States.

CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

1825

Pietro Bachi “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

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Pietro Bachi found work in the United States as a teacher of Italian and Spanish at Harvard College, at a salary of $500 per year.

Benjamin Peirce, Senior became Harvard’s librarian.

Doctor John White Webster compiled A MANUAL OF CHEMISTRY.

Richard Hildreth graduated from Harvard and would teach school for one year, at the Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, before deciding to follow the example of Sir Walter Scott and pursue a career in law and literature.

In about this year Nathaniel Baker arrived at the age of 80 and sold his portion of the Baker farm to Amos Baker’s son James Baker.

Elizur Wright, Junior graduated at Yale College and went to teach in a school at Groton.

THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

1826

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Pietro Bachi

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Pietro Bachi’s SCELTA DI PROSE ITALIANE, TRATTE DA’ PIÙ CELEBRI SCRITTORI ANTICHI ET MODERNI, PER USO DEGLI STUDIOSI DI QUEST LINGUA. (Cambridge: per Carlo Folsom). This book, a required textbook during Henry Thoreau’s college education, would become part of Thoreau’s permanent library.

(This author would prepare also SCELTA DI POESIE ITALIANE, TRATTE DA’ PIÙ CELEBRI SCRITTORI ANTICHI ET MODERNI, PER USO DEGLI STUDIOSI DI QUEST LINGUA, a companion volume to the author’s 1828 volume SCELTA DI PROSE ITALIANE, the two volumes together being intended to constitute a complete ITALIAN READER.)

1828

SCELTA DI PROSE ITALIANE

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Pietro Bachi’s A GRAMMAR OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE... (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little and Wilkins) and TEATRO SCELTO ITALIANO: CONTENENTE L’AMINTA DI TASSO, L’ARTASERSE DI METASTASIO, LA GRISELDA DI GOLDONI, LA MEROPE DI MAFFEI, IL SAUL DI ALFIERI, E L’ARISTODEMO DI MONTI; WITH NOTES, &C... (Cambrigia: Hilliard e Brown, Librai del’ Universita). These books, required textbooks during David Henry Thoreau’s college education, would become part of his permanent library.

THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

1829

GRAMMAR OF ITALIAN

TEATRO SCELTO ITALIANO

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Pietro Bachi

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Pietro Bachi’s A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LANGUAGES; OR, AN EASY METHOD OF LEARNING THE PORTUGUESE TONGUE FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY ACQUAINTED WITH THE SPANISH (Cambridge: Hilliard & Brown).

1831

SPANISH VS. PORTUGUESE

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Pietro Bachi’s MRS BARBAULD’S HYMNS FOR CHILDREN, IN ITALIAN; A NEW EDITION, CORRECTED AND IMPROVED (Boston: Carter, Hendee & Co.). His RUDIMENTS OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE; OR EASY LESSONS IN SPELLING AND READING. WITH AN ABRIDGEMENT OF THE GRAMMAR; ADAPTED TO THE CAPACITY OF CHILDREN (Boston: Carter, Hendee & Co.). His A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE ITALIAN & SPANISH LANGUAGES, OR AN EASY METHOD OF LEARNING THE SPANISH TONGUE. FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY ACQUAINTED WITH THE ITALIAN (Boston: Cottons and Barnard). This last book, a required textbook during Henry Thoreau’s college education, would become part of Thoreau’s permanent library.

(The button above does not direct you as usual to a PDF file stored in the Kouroo Contexture at www.kouroo.info. Instead it directs you to an internet source from which you can purchase the actual copy once owned by Thoreau, complete with his signature and his pencilled annotations! The asking price from <robertsconsultan> by way of Amazon.com as of January 29, 2009 is $165 plus shipping.)

1832

ITALIAN VS. SPANISH

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March 16, Sunday: While Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka and his sister were in Berlin, they received word that their father had died. They would immediately return to Russia. This would be Glinka’s 1st return to his homeland in almost four years.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

1st day 16th of 3rd M 1834 / Morning Meeting Silent — In the Afternoon Wm Almy was here the first time in about three Months he preached from the text “That which makes manifest is light”

From this day to the 28th, those institutionalized at Harvard College would be composing a petition to “the Honourable Faculty” of that institution, as follows:

We have no doubt that the original design of this system wasgood. But at the present time instead of being as it was probablyintended by those who introduced it a consequence resulting fromlabour with higher and nobler motive in view, it has become ina great degree the primary and sole object and with itsattainment, in whatever manner, all exertion ceases. That thissystem tends to produce envy and jealousy among those whoseinterests require that they should at least in some degree beunited we think is evident. We believe moreover that the timehas arrived when literary standing must depend on something morethan mere college rank, when a nobler motive must prompt thestudent to action than the petty emulation of the schoolboy,when he must have a higher standard of action than the mere marksof his instructor. Again we think the direct tendency of thissystem to produce superficial scholars is a strong argument infavour of its abolition.... Impressed with these views we submitthem to your consideration with the request that some measuresmay be taken for the abolition of that system which has producedso universal disatisfaction [sic].

From this point in time into July, during the 3d term of his Freshman year, David Henry Thoreau would be studying the Italian language under the Harvard instructor Pietro Bachi. (Thoreau would be enrolled in the study of Italian for four terms, in the study of French for four terms, in the study of German for four terms, and in the study of Spanish for two terms under an instructor named Sales.)

DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES.This is at present under the superintendence of George Ticknor,A.M., Smith Professor of the French and Spanish Languages andLiterature, and Professor of Belles Lettres; assisted by fourInstructers, Viz. Francis Sales, Esq., Instructer in French andSpanish; Pietro Bachi, A.M., J.U.D., Instructer in Italian;Charles Follen, J.U.D., Professor of the German Language and

1834

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

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Literature; and Francis M.J. Surault, Instructer in French.The principles which regulate the study of the modern languagesare these: 1. No student is compelled to study anyone of them.2. A student choosing to study any one, is bound to persevere;be is not permitted to quit the study until he has learnt thelanguage. 3. Those, who enter upon the study of any language,are formed into sections, and carried forward according to theirproficiency, without reference to the distinction of Classes.4. The Instructers are paid only for one half their time, andthe days of instruction are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.The Recitations are held generally during study hours; or A.M.from Study Bell till 12 o’clock, and P.M. from 2 o’clock tillprayers; but, to avoid interference with recitations in otherbranches, some sessions have been heard from 12 to 1 o’clock,and some in the evening, during the past year.Two things should be borne in mind, when considering the stateof this department during the academical year of 1832-3.1. Neither Freshmen nor Seniors attended in it, except asvolunteers; that is, the Students pursuing the study of somelanguage entirely beyond the regular course. The regularStudents, therefore, were all either Sophomores or Juniors, whochose some Modern Language, as a substitute for other prescribedstudies.2. The Graduates attending on the instructions of thisdepartment, whose number is considerable, are not noted.

First Statement.Number of Undergraduates taught during each term; the languagesin which they were instructed; and the proportion of regularStudents and Volunteers.

Fr. Sp. It. German. Pg. Volunteers. Regular. Total.

First Term 112 15 46 39 7 112 107 = 219

Second Term 109 22 55 49 5 132 108 = 240

Third Term 80 27 71 63 3 129 115 = 244

The system of volunteer study was begun in this Department withthirteen students in 1826; has constantly increased ever since;and is now of more consequence than the system of regular study,embracing large numbers and advancing further.

Second Statement.Examination was held in each of the terms by the Committee ofthe Overseers, who attended punctually and examined the studentscarefully themselves; and there were passed during the year, ashaving learned French 47; Spanish 16; Italian 21; German 18;Portuguese 2; Total 104.

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September 1, Monday: David Henry Thoreau went back to Harvard College for the 1st term of his Sophomore year, living in 32 Hollis Hall with James Richardson, Jr. Ellery Channing (William Ellery Channing II) was matriculating there, but he would soon depart because otherwise he would have been expelled due to a very low point accumulation.

At some point Henry and his room-mate needed to write to Oliver Sparhawk, the steward of the building:

Mr SparhawkSirThe occupants of Hollis 32 would like to have that room paintedand whitewashed, also if possible to have a new hearth put inyours respectfullyThoreau & Richardson

Until November 30th, David Henry would be studying the Italian language under instructor Pietro Bachi.

(Thoreau would be enrolled in the study of Italian for four terms, in the study of French for four terms, in the study of German for four terms, and in the study of Spanish for two terms under Francis Sales.)

THOREAU RESIDENCES

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Holden Chapel

Harvard Hall

Massachusetts Hall

Sto

ug

hto

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allH

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all

Fello

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Ba

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Harvard College awarded its beloved French and Spanish instructor, Francis Sales, who was self-educated but had been teaching there loyally in a non-tenure-track position for almost two decades, the honorary AM master’s degree. “Old Sales,” as the students called him, had become a jovial, robust balding man with what was left of his white hair in a pigtail, with students taking notice that they could always expect traces of hair powder on the back of his coat. He characteristically would laugh and exclaim “Ha! Ha! Ha! By Jorge!” Sometimes he needed to recruit help to maintain order in his classroom.2

Pietro Bachi’s CONVERSAZIONE ITALIANA, OR A COLLECTION OF PHRASES AND FAMILIAR DIALOGUES IN ITALIAN AND ENGLISH (Boston: J. Munroe and Company).

Also, his RACCOLTA DI FAVOLE MORALI: OR A COLLECTION OF ITALIAN FABLES IN PROSE AND VERSE, SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF THE BEST ITALIAN FABULISTS, WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLATIONS AND EXPLANATION OF

1835

2. In that era modern languages such as French and Spanish, as electives, did not count in computing one’s academic ranking.

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IDIOMS.

The Italian dictionary that would be found in Henry Thoreau’s personal library, obviously the one he had used for four terms of Bachi’s classes in the Italian language at Harvard, was printed in this year in Boston, Ciuspanio Graglia’s ITALIAN POCKET DICTIONARY: IN TWO PARTS: I. ITALIAN AND ENGLISH: — II. ENGLISH AND ITALIAN PRECEDED BY AN ITALIAN GRAMMAR. BY C. GRAGLIA. 1ST AMERICAN, FROM THE 14TH LONDON ED., WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, and company, 1835).

November 30, Monday: Samuel Langhorn Clemens was born in the town of Florida, near Hannibal, Missouri.

David Henry Thoreau passed the final examination in French at Harvard College.

RACCOLTA DI FAVOLE ...

ITALIAN POCKET DICTIONARY

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March 20, Sunday: David Henry Thoreau was back at Harvard College for the 3d term of his Junior year, enrolling in courses in Greek, Latin, English, Italian, mathematics, and possibly chemistry. (Thoreau would be enrolled in the study of Italian for a total of four terms, in the study of French for four terms, in the study of German for four terms, and in the study of Spanish for two terms under Francis Sales.) The Italian studies would, as always, be under the instructor Pietro Bachi. This term would continue for Thoreau only until about May 28th, when he would be obliged by illness to suspend his college studies.

The University of Leipzig conferred an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree on Felix Mendelssohn.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

1st 20th of 3 M / Our Meetings were both silent & very solid quiet opportunities - for which I was thankfulAunt Stanton fell this Afternoon & hurt her hip very badly, but it does not seem as if any bone is broken or out

1836

THOREAU RESIDENCES

NEW “HARVARD MEN”HARVARD 1836 REPORT

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

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September 1836 to March 20: During the 1st and 2d terms of his Senior year at Harvard College, David Henry Thoreau would be studying Italian under the Harvard instructor Pietro Bachi.

It seems clear that under Bachi he read Dante Alighieri’s INFERNO (presumably, while studying under Professor Longfellow, he also encountered the PURGATORIO and PARADISO3 — this despite the fact that his favorite poet was said to be Torquato Tasso). It was as a student of Bachi that Thoreau was presented for his final examination in Italian.

3. Thoreau had in his personal library a 3-volume set of Dante Alighieri’s LA DIVINA COMMEDIA. CON ARGOMENTI, ED ANNOTAZIONI SCELTE DA’ MIGLIORI COMMENTATORI. NUOVA EDIZIONE COL’ACCENTO DI PROSODIA (Avignone: F. Sequin aîné, 1816) as well Dr. John Aitken Carlyle’s DIVINE COMEDY: THE INFERNO. A LITERAL PROSE TRANSLATION WITH THE TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL COLLATED FROM THE BEST EDITIONS, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES (New York: Harper & brothers, 1849).

LA DIVINA COMMEDIA

CARLYLE’S THE INFERNO

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October: Harvard College language instructor Pietro Bachi –a low-status “native informant” sort despite his being a master of numerous modern European languages, whose mind in the language classrooms was constantly available as a play-mate for the privileged college lads– donated a piece of black coral from the Mediterranean Sea to the Boston Society of Natural History.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came home from his 2d extended privileged sojourn in Europe for the study of various modern European languages, to take over the position of George Ticknor as Smith Professor of French and Spanish Languages and Literatures at Harvard. He reflected upon his plight:

He rented one room of the Craigie House, the high-status historic old mansion at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge.

Perhaps the worst thing in a College Life is thishaving your mind constantly a play-mate for boys.

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Two-thirds of the Longfellow House is in Minnesota!

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April 3, Monday: David Henry Thoreau passed the final exams in German and in Italian at Harvard College (he took the Italian exam along with 13 other students who also had been brought forward by Pietro Bachi).

After this slam-dunk he checked out Waldo Emerson’s NATURE from the library of his debating club,

1837

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“Institute of 1770” (soon he would purchase a copy for himself).

Thoreau supplemented his borrowings by at the same time checking out from his club’s library the 1st and 2d of the dozen volumes of Edward Gibbon’s THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (London 1807, 1820, 1821),4

and the 1st of the three volumes of Thomas Carlyle’s translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel WILHELM MEISTER’S APPRENTICESHIP (Edinburgh, 1824) (Thoreau would have in his personal library the edition that had been printed in Boston by Wells and Lilly in 1828).

John Burroughs was born near Roxbury, New York.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

2nd day 3rd of 4 M / This day, I believe this day, I have paid all my debts of a pecuniary nature, which I owe on my own account - it is a comfortable thing to feel clear of the World & I believe I am truly thankful therefor — My God has been very good

4. We have reason to believe that this was as far as Thoreau got into the famous or infamous “Decline & Fall,” before becoming so distressed with Gibbon that he would switch over entirely to other historical sources having to do with the Roman Empire, and this of course brings to mind the Duke of Gloucester’s remark to Edward Gibbon, upon being presented in 1787 with this 2d volume: “Another damned thick square book! Always scribble scribble scribble — eh, Mr. Gibbon?”

GIBBON, DECLINE & FALL IGIBBON, DECLINE & FALL II

WILHELM MEISTER IWILHELM MEISTER IIWILHELM MEISTER III

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to me all my life long

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December: Henry Thoreau sent Miss Ellen Devereux Sewall’s father, the Reverend Edmund Quincy Sewall, Sr., the newly published volume of Jones Very’s poems. (Ellen, tactful little sweetheart that she was, would respond politely that the poems had been enjoyed by the entire family.)

In his journal, Thoreau made a reference to Dante’s LA DIVINA COMMEDIA.

Waldo Emerson commented about Amos Bronson Alcott to his journal:

(We trust that he would share this observation with B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z, but never with A.)

1840

LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, ILA DIVINA COMMEDIA, IILA DIVINA COMMEDIA, III

A. is a tedious archangel.

Nature ever flows; stands never still. Motion or change is her mode of existence. The poetic eye sees in Man the Brother of the River, and in Woman the Sister of the River. Their life is always transition. Hard blockheads only drive nails all the time; forever remember; which is fixing. Heroes do not fix, but flow, bend forward ever and invent a resource for every moment. A man is a compendium of nature, an indomitable savage; as long as he has a temperament of his own, and a hair growing on his skin, a pulse beating in his veins, he has a physique which disdains all intrusion, all despotism; it lives, wakes, alters, by omnipotent modes, and is directly related there, amid essences and billets doux; to Himmaleh mountain chains, wild cedar swamps, and the interior fire, the molten core of the globe.

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February 20, Sunday: Henry Thoreau commented in his journal that “In Homer and Æschylus and Dante I miss a nice discrimination of the important shades of character.”

1841

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January 2, Sunday: Henry Thoreau commented in his journal, in regard to the time period of Geoffrey Chaucer, that “Dante, though just departed, still exerted the influence of a living presence,” a remark he would later insert into A WEEK.

1842

A WEEK: There is no wisdom that can take place of humanity, andwe find that in Chaucer. We can expand at last in his breadth,and we think that we could have been that man’s acquaintance.He was worthy to be a citizen of England, while Petrarch andBoccacio lived in Italy, and Tell and Tamerlane in Switzerlandand in Asia, and Bruce in Scotland, and Wickliffe, and Gower, andEdward the Third, and John of Gaunt, and the Black Prince, werehis own countrymen as well as contemporaries; all stout andstirring names. The fame of Roger Bacon came down from thepreceding century, and the name of Dante still possessed theinfluence of a living presence. On the whole, Chaucer impressesus as greater than his reputation, and not a little like Homerand Shakespeare, for he would have held up his head in theircompany. Among early English poets he is the landlord and host,and has the authority of such. The affectionate mention whichsucceeding early poets make of him, coupling him with Homer andVirgil, is to be taken into the account in estimating hischaracter and influence. King James and Dunbar of Scotland speakof him with more love and reverence than any modern author of hispredecessors of the last century. The same childlike relation iswithout a parallel now. For the most part we read him withoutcriticism, for he does not plead his own cause, but speaks forhis readers, and has that greatness of trust and reliance whichcompels popularity. He confides in the reader, and speaks privilywith him, keeping nothing back. And in return the reader has greatconfidence in him, that he tells no lies, and reads his story withindulgence, as if it were the circumlocution of a child, but oftendiscovers afterwards that he has spoken with more directness andeconomy of words than a sage. He is never heartless,

“For first the thing is thought within the hart, Er any word out from the mouth astart.”

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

DANTE

GOWER

PEOPLE OFA WEEK

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(Thoreau would also comment, in A WEEK, that Chaucer “rendered a similar service to his country to that which Dante rendered to Italy.”)

Thoreau would also cite, in A WEEK, the CONFESSIO AMANTIS (IV, 2427-2432) of “Poet Laureate” John Gower:

A WEEK: Chaucer had eminently the habits of a literary man and ascholar. There were never any times so stirring that there werenot to be found some sedentary still. He was surrounded by thedin of arms. The battles of Hallidon Hill and Neville’s Cross,and the still more memorable battles of Cressy and Poictiers, werefought in his youth; but these did not concern our poet much,Wickliffe and his reform much more. He regarded himself always asone privileged to sit and converse with books. He helped toestablish the literary class. His character as one of the fathersof the English language would alone make his works important, eventhose which have little poetical merit. He was as simple asWordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous Saxon tongue,when it was neglected by the court, and had not yet attained tothe dignity of a literature, and rendered a similar service tohis country to that which Dante rendered to Italy. If Greeksufficeth for Greek, and Arabic for Arabian, and Hebrew for Jew,and Latin for Latin, then English shall suffice for him, for anyof these will serve to teach truth “right as divers pathes leadendivers folke the right waye to Rome.” In the Testament of Love hewrites, “Let then clerkes enditen in Latin, for they have thepropertie of science, and the knowinge in that facultie, and letteFrenchmen in their Frenche also enditen their queinte termes, forit is kyndely to their mouthes, and let us shewe our fantasies insoche wordes as we lerneden of our dames tonge.”

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

DANTE

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January 2, Sunday. The ringing of the church bell is a much more melodious sound than any that isheard within the church. All great values are thus public, and undulate like sound through the atmosphere.Wealth cannot purchase any great private solace or convenience. Riches are only the means of sociality. I willdepend on the extravagance of my neighbors for my luxuries, for they will take care to pamper me if I will beoverfed. The poor man who sacrificed nothing for the gratification seems to derive a safer and more naturalenjoyment from his neighbor’s extravagance than he does himself. It is a new natural product, from thecontemplation of which he derives new vigor and solace as from a natural phenomenon.In moments of quiet and leisure my thoughts are more apt to revert to some natural than any human relation.Chaucer’s sincere sorrow in his latter days for the grossness of his earlier works, and that he “cannot recall andannul” what he had “written of the base and filthy love of men towards women; but alas they are now continuedfrom man to man,” says he, “and I cannot do what I desire,” is all very creditable to his character.Chaucer is the make-weight of his century, — a worthy representative of England while Petrarch and Boccacciolived in Italy, and Tell and Tamerlane in Switzerland and Asia, and Bruce and Rienzi in Europe, and Wickliffeand Gower in his own land. Edward III and John of Gaunt and the Black prince complete the company. Thefame of Roger Bacon came down from the preceding century, and Dante, though just departed, still exerted theinfluence of a living presence.’ With all his grossness he is not undistinguished for the tenderness and delicacyof his muse. A simple pathos and feminine gentleness is peculiar to him which not even Wordsworth can match.And then his best passages of length are marked by a happy and healthy wit which is rather rare in the poetryof any nation. On the whole, he impresses me as greater than his reputation, and not a little like Homer andShakespeare, for he would have held up his head in their company. Among the earliest English poets lie is theirlandlord and host, and has the authority of such. We read him with affection and without criticism, for he pleadsno cause, but speaks for us, his readers, always. He has that greatness of trust and reliance which compelspopularity. He is for a whole country and country [sic] to know and to be proud of. The affectionate mentionwhich succeeding early poets make of him, coupling him with Homer and Virgil, is also to be taken into theaccount in estimating his character. King James and Dunbar of Scotland speak with more love and reverence of

A WEEK: These modern ingenious sciences and arts do not affect meas those more venerable arts of hunting and fishing, and even ofhusbandry in its primitive and simple form; as ancient andhonorable trades as the sun and moon and winds pursue, coeval withthe faculties of man, and invented when these were invented. We donot know their John Gutenberg, or Richard Arkwright, though thepoets would fain make them to have been gradually learned andtaught. According to Gower, —

“And Iadahel, as saith the boke, Firste made nette, and fishes toke. Of huntyng eke he fond the chace, Whiche nowe is knowe in many place; A tent of clothe, with corde and stake, He sette up first, and did it make.”

Also, Lydgate says: —

“Jason first sayled, in story it is tolde, Toward Colchos, to wynne the flees of golde. Ceres the Goddess fond first the tilthe of londe;Also, Aristeus fonde first the usageOf mylke, and cruddis, and of honey swote; Peryodes, for grete avauntage, From flyntes smote fuyre, daryng in the roote.”

GOWER

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him than any cotemporary poet of his predecessors of the last century. That childlike relation, indeed, does notseem to exist now which was then.

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December 1, Monday: At Naples, the signing of a treaty between the United States of America and the monarch of kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Documentation of the international slave trade, per W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: “Report of the Secretary of the Navy.” –HOUSE DOCUMENT, 29 Cong. 1 sess. I. No. 2, p. 645.

1845

READ THE FULL TEXT

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Pietro Bachi was dismissed from his teaching assignment at Harvard College on account of a substance abuse problem with ethanol.

It is very likely that he would harbor a resentment against Professor Longfellow on account of this (on a following screen is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as depicted in this year in crayon and chalk on paper by Eastman Johnson).

1846

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The initial installment of what Dr. John Aitken Carlyle intended to become a translation of the entirety of Dante Alighieri’s DIVINA COMMEDIA appeared as DIVINE COMEDY: THE INFERNO. A LITERAL PROSE TRANSLATION WITH THE TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL COLLATED FROM THE BEST EDITIONS, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES (NY: Harper & brothers).5

This volume would be in Henry Thoreau’s personal library.

1849

CARLYLE’S THE INFERNO

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August 22, Monday: Pietro Bachi died in Boston.

5. There have been over the years a very great many attempts to accomplish this:1782 Charles Rogers’s INFERNO only (blank verse)1785-1802 Reverend Henry Boyd’s DIVINE COMEDY (rhymed six-line stanzas)1805-1806 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s INFERNO only (blank verse)1812 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s DIVINE COMEDY (blank verse)1807 N. Howard’s INFERNO only1833-1840 I.C. Wright’s DIVINE COMEDY

1836 Odoardo Volpi’s ten cantos of INFERNO in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1842 C. Hindley’s INFERNO only (in prose)1843 Reverend John Dayman’s INFERNO only1849 Dr. John Aitken Carlyle’s INFERNO only (in prose)1850 Patrick Bannerman’s DIVINE COMEDY

1851-1854 C.B. Cayley’s DIVINE COMEDY

1852 E. O’Donnell’s DIVINE COMEDY (in prose)1854 T. Brooksbank’s INFERNO only1854 Frederick Pollock’s DIVINE COMEDY

1846 James Henry Leigh Hunt’s STORIES FROM THE ITALIAN POETS, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1859 J.W. Thomas’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1859 Bruce Whyte’s INFERNO only1862 “Hugh Bent” (nom de plume)’s INFERNO only1862 W.P. Wilkie’s INFERNO only1862/1863 Mrs. Ramsay’s DIVINE COMEDY

1865 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 17 cantos of INFERNO

1865 James Ford’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1865 Reverend John Dayman’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1865 William Michael Rossetti’s INFERNO only1865/1866 Reverend H.F. Cary’s INFERNO only, illustrated by G. Doré1867 Dr. John Aitken Carlyle’s INFERNO only (in prose) (2d edition)1867 Thomas William Parsons’s first canticle of INFERNO only1867 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s DIVINE COMEDY

1867 Reverend Henry F. Cary’s DIVINE COMEDY

1867/1868 D. Johnston’s DIVINE COMEDY

1871 Miss Rossetti’s SHADOW OF DANTE, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1871 Ernest Ridsdale Ellaby’s ten cantos of INFERNO in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1876 J.W. Parsons’s nine cantos of PURGATORIO

1877 Mrs. Oliphant’s FOREIGN CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1892 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s INFERNO with illustrations by Gustave Doré1899 Thomas Okey (PURGATORIO), Dr. John Aitken Carlyle (INFERNO), and Philip H. Wicksteed

(PARADISO) DIVINE COMEDY

1980 C.H. Sisson’s DIVINE COMEDY

1994 Robert Pinsky’s THE INFERNO OF DANTE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

1853

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August 22: I hear but a few notes of birds these days: no singing, but merely a few hurried notes orscreams or twittering or peeping. I will enumerate such as I hear or see this still louring and showery afternoon.A hurried anxious note from a robin. Heard perhaps a dozen afterward. They flit now, accompanied by theiryoung. A sharp, loud che-wink from a ground-robin. A goldfinch twitters over; several more heard afterward.A blue jay screams, and one or two fly over, showing to advantage their handsome forms, especially theirregular tails, wedge-formed. Surprised to hear a very faint bobolink in the air; the link, link, once or twice later.A yellow-bird flew over the river. Swallows twittering, but flying high, –the chimney swallows and what I taketo be the bank ditto. Scared up a green bittern from an oak by the riverside Hear a peawai whose note is morelike singing – as if it were still incubating – than any other. Some of the warble of the golden robin. A kingfisher,with his white collar, darted across the river and alighted on an oak. A peetweet flew along the shore and utteredits peculiar note. Their wings appear double as they fly by you, while their bill is cumbrously carried downwardin front. The chipping of a song sparrow occasionally heard amid the bushes. A single duck scared up. And twonighthawks flying high over the river. At twilight many bats after the showers. These birds were heard or seenin the course of three or four hours on the river, but there were not sounds enough to disturb the general stillness.

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THE DIVINE COMEDY OF Dante Alighieri / translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Boston: Ticknor and Fields; Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Authorized edition Leipzig: B. Tauchnitz, 18676

1867

6. There have been over the years a very great many attempts to accomplish this:1782 Charles Rogers’s INFERNO only (blank verse)1785-1802 Reverend Henry Boyd’s DIVINE COMEDY (rhymed six-line stanzas)1805-1806 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s INFERNO only (blank verse)1812 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s DIVINE COMEDY (blank verse)1807 N. Howard’s INFERNO only1833-1840 I.C. Wright’s DIVINE COMEDY

1836 Odoardo Volpi’s ten cantos of INFERNO in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1842 C. Hindley’s INFERNO only (in prose)1843 Reverend John Dayman’s INFERNO only1849 Dr. John Aitken Carlyle’s INFERNO only (in prose)1850 Patrick Bannerman’s DIVINE COMEDY

1851-1854 C.B. Cayley’s DIVINE COMEDY

1852 E. O’Donnell’s DIVINE COMEDY (in prose)1854 T. Brooksbank’s INFERNO only1854 Frederick Pollock’s DIVINE COMEDY

1846 James Henry Leigh Hunt’s STORIES FROM THE ITALIAN POETS, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1859 J.W. Thomas’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1859 Bruce Whyte’s INFERNO only1862 “Hugh Bent” (nom de plume)’s INFERNO only1862 W.P. Wilkie’s INFERNO only1862/1863 Mrs. Ramsay’s DIVINE COMEDY

1865 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 17 cantos of INFERNO

1865 James Ford’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1865 Reverend John Dayman’s DIVINE COMEDY in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1865 William Michael Rossetti’s INFERNO only1865/1866 Reverend H.F. Cary’s INFERNO only, illustrated by G. Doré1867 Dr. John Aitken Carlyle’s INFERNO only (in prose) (2d edition)1867 Thomas William Parsons’s first canticle of INFERNO only1867 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s DIVINE COMEDY

1867 Reverend Henry F. Cary’s DIVINE COMEDY

1867/1868 D. Johnston’s DIVINE COMEDY

1871 Miss Rossetti’s SHADOW OF DANTE, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1871 Ernest Ridsdale Ellaby’s ten cantos of INFERNO in the original Terza Rima of Dante’s Italian1876 J.W. Parsons’s nine cantos of PURGATORIO

1877 Mrs. Oliphant’s FOREIGN CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS, portions of DIVINE COMEDY

1892 Reverend Henry Francis Cary’s INFERNO with illustrations by Gustave Doré1899 Thomas Okey (PURGATORIO), Dr. John Aitken Carlyle (INFERNO), and Philip H. Wicksteed

(PARADISO) DIVINE COMEDY

1980 C.H. Sisson’s DIVINE COMEDY

1994 Robert Pinsky’s THE INFERNO OF DANTE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

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Boston: J.R. Osgood, 1869-1871, [Volume 1, 1871]Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1870Boston: James R. Osgood & Company, 1875Boston and NY: Houghton, Mifflin and company 1882Boston and NY: Houghton, Mifflin and company, [1886]With an introd. by Henry Morley. London: G. Routledge, 1886Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., [1888, c1867]

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March: The Reverend Edward Everett Hale’s “My College Days,” The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 71, pages 361-2:

I have spoken of Bachi, the teacher of Italian, a gentleman whodied without leaving any literary work to be preserved oncatalogues, and who will not, therefore, get into any historyof the men of letters of his time. There was said to be somemystery attending him, or we boys thought so; very likely therewas really none. But what we knew was that here was a charming,well-educated gentleman, who was willing to be our friend, andwho made us at ease and at home in the resources of Italianliterature.

The recitation-room, barrack though it was in all externalfixtures, as at that time every recitation-room in Cambridgewas, excepting the one which I have described, was, like that,a place of meeting of intelligent young men, who had one leaderwhose subject was given him for an hour. That subject was theItalian language and Italian literature. Before the collegecourse was over, Longfellow read, nominally as lectures, thewhole of Dante with us, and we were well prepared for this by

1893

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what we had read with Bachi. So that Bachi is another of thenames which I hold in respect and honor since college days.

“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others,such as extensive quotations and reproductions ofimages, this “read-only” computer file contains a greatdeal of special work product of Austin Meredith,copyright 2014. Access to these interim materials willeventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup someof the costs of preparation. My hypercontext buttoninvention which, instead of creating a hypertext leapthrough hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems—allows for an utter alteration of the context withinwhich one is experiencing a specific content alreadybeing viewed, is claimed as proprietary to AustinMeredith — and therefore freely available for use byall. Limited permission to copy such files, or anymaterial from such files, must be obtained in advancein writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo”Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Pleasecontact the project at <Kouroo@kouroo.info>.

PIETRO BACHI

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Pietro Bachi

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over untiltomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.”

– Remark by character “Garin Stevens”in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

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Prepared: September 1, 2014

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ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by ahuman. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested thatwe pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of theshoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What thesechronological lists are: they are research reports compiled byARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term theKouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such arequest for information we merely push a button.

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Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obviousdeficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored inthe contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then weneed to punch that button again and recompile the chronology —but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary“writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of thisoriginating contexture improve, and as the programming improves,and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whateverhas been needed in the creation of this facility, the entireoperation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminishedneed to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expectto achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring roboticresearch librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge.Place requests with <Kouroo@kouroo.info>. Arrgh.

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