Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment D

by Jack Brummet, Poetry Editor 

Kit Smart's Jubilate Agno is one of my very favorite poems of all time.  He wrote it in an insane asylum.  A "Commission of Lunacy" was taken out against Christopher Smart, and he was admitted in St. Luke's Hospital on May 6, 1757 as a "Curable Patient" by his wife Anna's stepfather John Newbery.  

There is evidence that an incident took place in St. James’s Park in which he "routed all the company" (Jubilate Agno B89), an incident which may have caused his lockup.  During this time, Christopher was left alone, except for his cat Jeoffrey and the occasional visitor or onlooker. 

With nothing to do, he devoted himself to God and to writing this fantastic poem. He was released from the asylum on January 30, 1763, but his poem was not to be published until 1939.  

This is our last installment. To read the poem in order click on:

Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment A
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B1
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B2
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B3
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B4
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment C
Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment D

Fragment D

Let Dew, house of Dew rejoice with Xanthenes a precious stone of an amber colour.

Let Round, house of Round rejoice with Myrmecites a gern having an Emmet in it.

Let New, house of New rejoice with Nasamonites a gem of a sanguine colour with black veins.

Let Hook, house of Hook rejoice with Sarda a Cornelian -- blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus by hook.

Let Crook, house of Crook rejoice with Ophites black spotted marble -- Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus by crook. The Lord enable me to shift.

Let Lime, house of Lime rejoice with Sandareses a kind of gem in Pliny's list.

Let Linnet, house of Linnet rejoice with Tanos, which is a mean sort of Emerald.

Let Hind, house of Hind rejoice with Paederos Opal -- God be gracious to Mrs Hind, that lived at Canbury.

Let Tyrrel, house of Tyrrel rejoice with Sardius Lapis an Onyx of a black colour. God speed Hawke's Fleet.

Let Moss, house of Moss rejoice with the Pearl-Oyster behold how God has consider'd for him that lacketh.

Let Ross, house of Ross rejoice with the Great Flabber Dabber Flat Clapping Fish with hands. Vide Anson's Voyage and Psalm 98th ix.

Let Fisher, house of Fisher rejoice with Sandastros kind of burning stone with gold drops in the body of it. God be gracious to Fisher of Cambridge and to all of his name and kindred.

Let Fuller, house of Fuller rejoice with Perileucos a precious stone with a white thread descending from its face to the bottom.

Let Thorpe, house of Thorpe rejoice with Xystios an ordinary stone of the Jasper-kind.

Let Alban, house of Alban rejoice with Scorpites a precious stone in some degree of the creatures.

Let Wand, house of Wand rejoice with Synochitis a gem supposed by Pliny to have certain magical effects.

Let Freeman, house of Freeman rejoice with Carcinias a precious stone the colour of a sea-crab. The Lord raise the landed interest.

Let Quince, house of Quince rejoice with Onychipuncta a gem of the jasper kind.

Let Manly, house of Manly rejoice with the Booby a tropical bird.

Let Fage, house of Fage rejoice with the Fiddlefish -- Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus in the fish's mouth.

Let Benning, house of Benning rejoice with the Sea-Egg. Lord have mercy on the soul of Benning's wife.

Let Singleton, house of Singleton rejoice with the Hog-Plumb. Lord have mercy on the soul of Lord Vane.

Let Thickness, house of Thickness rejoice with The Papah a fruit found at Chequetan.

Let Heartly, house of Heartly rejoice with the Drummer-Fish. God be gracious to Heartly of Christ, to Marsh, Hingeston and Bill.

Let Sizer, house of Sizer rejoice with Trichros a precious stone black at bottom, white atop and blood-red in the middle.

Let Chetwind, house of Chetwind rejoice with Hammocrysos, a gem with gold sands on it.

Let Branch, house of Branch rejoice with Hæmatites -- Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus THE BRANCH.

Let Dongworth, house of Dongworth rejoice with Rhymay the Bread-fruit. God be gracious to the immortal soul of Richard Dongworth.

Let Randall, house of Randall rejoice with Guavoes. God give Randall success.

Let Osborne, house of Osborne rejoice with Lithizontes a sort of carbuncle. God be gracious to the Duke of Leeds and his family.

Let Oldcastle, house of Oldcastle rejoice with Leucopthalmos. God put it in heart of king to repair and beautify Dover Castle.

Let Beeson, house of Beeson rejoice with Pyropus, carbuncle opal. God be gracious to Masters of Yoke's Place.

Let Salmon, house of Salmon rejoice with Sapinos a kind of Amethyst.

Let Crutenden, house of Crutenden rejoice with Veneris Gemma a kind of amethyst.

Let Bridges, house of Bridges rejoice with Jasponyx, which is the Jasper-Onyx.

Let Lane, house of Lane rejoice with Myrmecias a precious stone with little knots in it.

Let Cope, house of Cope rejoice with Centipedes. God give me strength to cope with all my adversaries.

Let Sutton, house of Sutton rejoice with Cholos a gem of the Emerald kind.

Let Pelham, house of Pelham rejoice with Callimus in Taphiusio one stone in the body of another. God bless the Duke of Newcastle.

Let Holies, house of Holies rejoice with Pyriasis a black stone that burns by friction. The Lord kindle amongst Englishmen a sense of their name.

Let Lister, house of Lister rejoice with Craterites a very hard stone. The Lord hear my prayer even as I attend unto his commandments.

Let Ash, house of Ash rejoice with Callaica a green gem. God be gracious to Miss Leroche my fellow traveler from Calais.

Let Baily, house of Baily rejoice with Catopyrites of Cappadocia. God be gracious to the immortal soul of Lewes Baily author of the Practice of Piety.

Let Glover, house of Glover rejoice with Capnites a kind of Jasper -- blessed be the memory of Glover the martyr.

Let Egerton, house of Egerton rejoice with Sphragis green but not pellucid.

Let Reading, house of Reading rejoice with Synodontites found in the fish Synodontes. 27th July N.S. 1762 Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul.

Let Bolton, house of Bolton rejoice with Polygrammos, a kind of Jasper with white streaks.

Let Paulet, house of Paulet rejoice with Chalcites, a precious stone of the colour of Brass.

Let Stapleton, house of Stapleton rejoice with Scythis a precious stone -- the Lord rebuild the old houses of England.

Let Newdigate, house of Newdigate rejoice with Sandaserion a stone in India like Green Oil.

Let Knightly, house of Knightly rejoice with Zoronysios a gem supposed by the ancients to have magical effects. Star -- word -- herb -- gem.

Let Fellows, house of Fellows rejoice with Syrites a gem found in a Wolf's bladder.

Let Ascham, house of Ascham rejoice with Thyitis a precious stone remarkably hard. God be gracious to Bennet.

Let Mowbray, house of Mowbray rejoice with The Black and Blue Creeper a beautiful small bird of Brazil.

Let Aldrich, house of Aldrich rejoice with the Trincalo or Tricolor, a leaf without a flower or the flower of a leaf.

Let Culmer, house of Culmer rejoice with Phloginos a gem of a fire-colour.

Let Catesby, house of Catesby rejoice with Cerites a precious stone like wax.

Let Atterbury, house of Atterbury rejoice with Eurotias a black stone with the appearance of mould on it.

Let Hoare, house of Hoare rejoice with Crysopis a precious stone of a gold-colour. God be gracious to John Rust.

Let Fane, house of Fane rejoice with Chalcedonius Lapis a sort of onyx called a Chalcedony.

Let Lorman, house of Lorman rejoice with Cheramites, a sort of precious stone.

Let Flexney, house of Flexney rejoice with Triopthalmos -- God be gracious to Churchill, Loyd and especially to Sheels.

Let Gavel, house of Gavel rejoice with Phlogites a precious stone of a various flame-colour.

Let Hederick, house of Hederick rejoice with Pyritis a precious stone which held in the hand will burn it; this is fixed fire.

Let Pleasant, house of Pleasant rejoice with The Carrier Fish -- God be gracious to Dame Fysh.

Let Tayler, house of Tayler rejoice with the Flying Mole -- God keep him from the poor man's garden. God be gracious to William Tayler Sen and Junr.

Let Grieve, house of Grieve rejoice with Orites a precious stone perfectly round. Blessed be the name of the Man of Melancholy, for Jacob Grieve.

Let Bowes, house of Bowes rejoice with the Dog Fly. Lord have mercy upon me and support me in all my plagues and temptations.

Let Alberton, house of Alberton rejoice with Paneros a precious stone good against barrenness.

Let Morgan, house of Morgan rejoice with Prasius Lapis of a Leek-green colour.

Let Powell, house of Powell rejoice with Synochitis a precious stone abused by the ancient sorcerers.

Let Howell, house of Howell rejoice with Ostracias a gem like an oyster.

Let Close, house of Close rejoice with Chalcophonos a gem sounding like brass. O all ye gems of the mine bless ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever.

Let Johnson, house of Johnson rejoice with Omphalocarpa a kind of bur. God be gracious to Samuel Johnson.

Let Hopgood, house of Hopgood rejoice with Nepenthes an herb which infused in wine drives away sadness -- very likely.

Let Hopwood, house of Hopwood rejoice with Aspalathus the Rose of Jerusalem.

Let Benson, house of Benson rejoice with Sea-Ragwort or Powder'd Bean. Lord have mercy on the soul of Dr Benson Bsp. of Gloucester.

Let Marvel, house of Marvel rejoice with Brya a little shrub like birch.

Let Hull, house of Hull rejoice with Subis a bird called the Spight which breaks the Eagle's eggs.

Let Mason, house of Mason rejoice with Suberies the Capitol Cork Tree. Lord be merciful to William Mason.

Let Fountain, house of Fountain rejoice with Syriacus Rephanus a sweet kind of Radish.

Let Scroop, house of Scroop rejoice with Fig-Wine -- Palmi primarium vinum. Not so -- Palmi-primum is the word.

Let Hollingstead, house of Hollingstead rejoice with Sissitietaeris herb of good fellowship. Praise the name of the Lord September 1762.

Let Moyle, house of Moyle rejoice with Phlox a flame-colour'd flower without smell, tentanda via est. Via, veritas, vita sunt Christus.

Let Mount, house of Mount rejoice with Anthera a flowering herb. The Lord lift me up.

Let Dowers, house of Dowers rejoice with The American Nonpareil a beautiful small-bird.

Let Cudworth, house of Cudworth rejoice with the Indian Jaca Tree, which bears large clusters of fruit like apples.

Let Cuthbert, house of Cuthbert rejoice with Phyllandrian a good herb growing in marshes -- Lord have mercy on the soul of Cornelius Harrison.

Let Chillingworth, house of Chillingworth rejoice with Polygonoides an herb with leaves like laurel long and thick good against serpents.

Let Conworth, house of Conworth rejoice with Nenuphar a kind of Water Lily.

Let Ransom, house of Ransom rejoice with Isidos Plocamos a sea shrub of the Coral kind, or rather like Coral.

Let Ponder, house of Ponder rejoice with Polion an herb, whose leaves are white in the morning, purple at noon, and blue in the evening.

Let Woodward, house of Woodward rejoice with Nerium the Rose-Laurel -- God make the professorship of fossils in Cambridge a useful thing.

Let Spincks, house of Spinks rejoice with Struthiomela a little sort of Quinces -- The Lord Jesus pray for me.

Let Peacock, house of Peacock rejoice with Engalacton an herb good to breed milk.

Let Nason, house of Nason rejoice with Errhinum a medicine to clear the nose.

Let Bold, house of Bold rejoice with the Hop-Hornbeam. God send me a neighbour this September.

Let Spriggings, house of Spriggings rejoice with Eon the Tree of which Argo was built.

Let Bear, house of Bear rejoice with Gelotophyllis an herb which drank in wine and myrrh causes excess of laughter.

Let Sloper, house of Sloper rejoice with Gelotophye another laughing plant.

Let Tollfree, house of Tollfree rejoice with Fern of Trees -- Lord stave off evil this day.

Let Clare, house of Clare rejoice with Galeotes a kind of Lizard at enmity with serpents. Lord receive the soul of Dr Wilcox Master of Clare Hall.

Let Wilmot, house of Wilmot rejoice with Epipetros an herb coming up spontaneous (of the seed of the earth) but never flowers.

Let Anstey, house of Anstey rejoice with Eumeces a kind of balm. Lord have mercy on Christopher Anstey and his kinswoman.

Let Ruston, house of Ruston rejoice with Fulviana Herba, ab inventore good to provoke urine. Lord have mercy upon Roger Pratt and his family.

Let Atwood, house of Atwood rejoice with Rhodora with leaves like a nettle and flower like a rose. God bless all benefactors of Pembroke Hall.

Let Shield, house of Shield rejoice with Reseda herb dissolving swelling, and imposthumes.

Let Atkins, house of Atkins rejoice with Salicastrum Wild Wine upon willows and osiers.

Let Pearson, house of Pearson rejoice with the American Aloe. I pray for the soul of Frances Burton.

Let Hough, house of Hough rejoice with Pegasus The Flying Horse there be millions of them in the air. God bless the memories of Bsp. Hough and of Peter.

Let Evelyn, house of Evelyn rejoice with Phu a Plinian shrub sweet-scented. I pray God for trees enough in the posterities.

Let Wing, house of Wing rejoice with Phlomos a sort of Rush. I give the glory to God, thro Christ, for taking the Havannah. Septr 30th 1762.

Let Chace, house of Chace rejoice with Papyrus. God be gracious to Sr Richard and family.

Let Pulteney, house of Pulteney rejoice with Tragion a shrub like Juniper.

Let Abdy, house of Abdy rejoice with Ecbolia a medicine to fetch a dead child out of the womb. God give me to bless for Gulstone and Halford.

Let Hoadley, house of Hoadley rejoice with Dryos Hyphear which is the Oak-Missletoe.

Let Free, house of Free rejoice with Thya a kind of Wild Cypress.

Let Pink, house of Pink rejoice with Trigonum herb used in garlands -- the Lord succeed my pink borders.

Let Somner, house of Somner rejoice with the Blue Daisie -- God be gracious to my neighbour and his family this day, 7th Octr 1762.

Let Race, house of Race rejoice with Osiritis Dogshead. God be praised for the eighth of October 1762.

Let Trowell, house of Trowell rejoice with Teuchites kind of sweet rush.

Let Tilson, house of Tilson rejoice with Teramnos a kind of weed. Lord have mercy on the soul of Tilson, Fellow of Pembroke Hall.

Let Loom, house of Loom rejoice with Colocasia, an Egyptian Bean of whose leaves they made cups and pots.

Let Knock, house of Knock rejoice with Condurdon which bears red flowers in July and worn about the neck is good for scrophulous cases.

Let Case, house of Case rejoice with Coctanum a Syrian Fig. The Lord cure my cough.

Let Tomlyn, house of Tomlyn rejoice with Tetralyx a kind of herb.

Let Bason, house of Bason rejoice with Thelypteris which is Sea-Fern.

Let Joslyn, house of Joslyn rejoice with Cotonea a Venetian herb.

Let Mace, house of Mace rejoice with Adipsos a kind of Green Palm with the smell of a quince.

Let Potts, house of Potts rejoice with Ulex an herb like rosemary with a quality of attracting gold.

Let Bedingfield, house of Bedingfield rejoice with Zygia, which is a kind of maple.

Let Tough, house of Tough rejoice with Accipitrina. N.B. The hawk beat the raven St Luke's day 1762.

Let Balsam, house of Balsam rejoice with Chenomycon an herb the sight of which terrifies a goose. Lord have mercy on William Hunter his family.

Let Graves, house of Graves rejoice with Cinnaris the Stag's antidote -- the persecuted Christian is as the hunted stag.

Let Tombs, house of Tombs rejoice with Acesis Water Sage -- God be gracious to Christopher Charles Tombs.

Let Addy, house of Addy rejoice with Crysippea a kind of herb so called from the discoverer.

Let Jump, house of Jump rejoice with Zoster a Sea-Shrub. Blessed be the name of Christ for the Anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt 1762.

Let Bracegirdle, house of Bracegirdle rejoice with Xiris a kind of herb with sharp leaves.

Let Girdlestone, house of Girdlestone rejoice with Crysocarpum a kind of Ivy.

Let Homer, house of Homer rejoice with Cinnabar which makes a red colour.

Let Lenox, house of Lenox rejoice with Achnas the Wild Pear Tree. God be gracious to the Duke of Richmond.

Let Altham, house of Altham rejoice with the Everlasting Apple-Tree.

Let Travell, house of Travell rejoice with Ciborium The Egyptian Bean.

Let Tyers, house of Tyers rejoice with Ægilops a kind of bulbous root. God give good will to Jonathan Tyers and his family this day. All Saints. N.S. 1762.

Let Clever, house of Clever rejoice with Calathiana a sort of Autumnal flower.

Let Bones, house of Bones rejoice with The Red-Crested Black and Blue Bird of Surinam.

Let Pownall, house of Pownall rejoice with the Murrion a creature of the Beaver kind.

Let Fig, house of Fig rejoice with Fleawort. The Lord magnify the idea of Smart singing hymns on this day in the eyes of the whole University of Cambridge. Novr 5th 1762. N.S.

Let Codrington, house of Codrington rejoice with Thelyphonon an herb whose root kills scorpions.

Let Butler, house of Butler rejoice with Theombrotios a Persian herb. God be gracious to the immortal Soul of the Duke of Ormond.

Let Bodley, house of Bodley rejoice with Tetragnathius a creature of the Spider kind.

Let Acton, house of Acton rejoice with Theangelis an herb used by the Ancients for magical purposes.

Let Peckwater, house of Peckwater rejoice with Tettigonia a small kind of Grashopper.

Let Sheldon, house of Sheldon rejoice with Teucrion an herb like Germander.

Let Breckock, house of Brecknock rejoice with Thalassegle an herb. God be merciful to Timothy Brecknock.

Let Plank, house of Plank rejoice with the Sea Purslain -- God be gracious to Thomas Rosoman and family.

Let Goosetree, house of Goosetree rejoice with Hippophaes a kind of teazle used in the dressing of cloth. God exalt the Soul of Captain Goosetree.

Let Baimbridge, house of Baimbridge rejoice with Hippophæstum of the same kind. Horses shou'd be dock'd in winter. -- Bambridge praise the name of the Lord.

Let Metcalf, house of Metcalf rejoice with Holcus Wall-Barley -- God give grace to my adversaries to ask council of Abel.

Let Graner, house of Graner rejoice with Hircules Bastard Nard. The Lord English Granier and his family.

Let Cape, house of Cape rejoice with Orgament an herb.

Let Oram, house of Oram rejoice with Halus an herb like unto Orgament.

Let Sykes, house of Skyes rejoice with Hadrobolum a kind of sweet gum.

Let Plumer, house of Plumer rejoice with Hastula Regia an herb resembling a spear.

Let Digby, house of Digby rejoice with Glycryhiza Sweetroot. God be gracious to Sr Digby Legard his Son and family.

Let Otway, house of Otway rejoice with Hippice an herb which being held in an horse's mouth keeps him from hunger.

Let Cecil, house of Cecil rejoice with Gnaphalium an herb bleached by nature white and soft for the purpose of flax. God bless Lord Salisbury.

Let Rogers, house of Rogers rejoice with Hypelates a kind of Laurel -- God be gracious to Rogers and Spilsbury with their families.

Let Cambden, house of Cambden rejoice with Glischromargos a kind of white marl.

Let Conduit, house of Conduit rejoice with Greecula a kind of Rose. God be gracious to the immortal soul of Sr Isaac Newton.

Let Hands, house of Hands rejoice with Hadrosphserum kind of Spikenard with broad leaves.

Let Snipe, house of Snipe rejoice with Hæmotimon a kind of red glass. Blessed be the name of Jesus for the 29th of Novr.

Let Aylesworth, house of Aylesworth rejoice with Glinon which is a kind of Maple.

Let Aisley, house of Aisley rejoice with Halicastrum which is a kind of bread corn.

Let Ready, house of Ready rejoice with Junco The Reed Sparrow. Blessed be the name of Christ Jesus Voice and Instrument.

Let Bland, house of Bland rejoice with Lacta a kind of Cassia. God be gracious to Bland of Durham and the Widow George.

Let Abington, house of Abington rejoice with Lea a kind of Colewort praise him upon the sound of the trumpet.

Let Adcock, house of Adcock rejoice with Lada a shrub, which has gummy leaves.

Let Snow, house of Snow rejoice with Hysginum a plant dying Scarlet.

Let Wardell, house of Wardell rejoice with Leiostreum a smooth oyster. God give grace to the black trumpeter and have mercy on the soul of Scipio.

Let Herring, house of Herring rejoice with Iberica a kind of herb. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for Miss Herring.

Let Dolben, house of Dolben rejoice with Irio Winter Cresses, Rock Gentle or Rock Gallant.

Let Oakley, house of Oakley rejoice with the Skink a little amphibious creature found upon Nile.

Let Owen, house of Owen rejoice with the Shag-green a beast from which the skin so called is taken.

Let Twist, house of Twist rejoice with Neottophora a little creature that carries its young upon its back.

Let Constant, house of Constant rejoice with the Musk-Goat -- I bless God for two visions of Anne Hope's being in charity with me.

Let Amos, house of Amos rejoice with The Avosetta a bird found at Rome.

Let Humphreys, house of Humphreys rejoice with The Beardmanica a curious bird.

Let Busby, house of Busby rejoice with The Ganser a bird. God prosper Westminster-School.

Let Alured, house of Alured rejoice with the Book-Spider -- I refer the people of both Universitys to the Bible for their morality.

Let Lidgate, house of Lidgate rejoice with The Flammant a curious large bird on the coast of Cuba. God make us amends for the restoration of the Havannah.

Let Cunningham, house of Cunningham rejoice with The Bohemian Jay. I pray for Peace between the K. of Prussia and Empress Queen.

Let Thornhill, house of Thornhill rejoice with The Albicore a Sea Bird. God be gracious to Hogarth his wife. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus at Adgecomb.

Let Dawn, house of Dawn rejoice with The Frigate Bird which is found upon the coasts of India.

Let Horton, house of Horton rejoice with Birdlime -- Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus against the destruction of Small Birds.

Let Arne, house of Arne rejoice with The Jay of Bengal. God be gracious to Arne his wife to Michael and Charles Burney.

Let Westbrooke, house of Westbrooke rejoice with the Quail of Bengal. God be gracious to the people of Maidstone.

Let Allcock, house of Allcock rejoice with The King of the Wavows a strange fowl. I pray for the whose University of Cambridge especially Jesus College this blessed day.

Let Audley, house of Audley rejoice with The Green Crown Bird. The Lord help on with the hymns.

Let Bloom, house of Bloom rejoice with Hecatompus a fish with an hundred feet.

Let Beacon, house of Beacon rejoice with Amadavad a fine bird in the East Indies.

Let Blomer, house of Blomer rejoice with Halimus a Shrub to hedge with. Lord have mercy upon poor labourers this bitter frost Deer 29 N.S. 1762.

Let Merrick, house of Merrick rejoice with Lageus a kind of Grape. God all-sufficient bless and forward the Psalmist in the Lord Jesus.

Let Appleby, house of Appleby rejoice with Laburnum a shrub whose blossom is disliked by bees.

Let Waite, house of Waite rejoice with the Shittah-Tree -- blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for the musicians and dancers this holiday-time.

Let Stedman, house of Stedman rejoice with Jacobasa St James's Wort. God be merciful to the house of Stuart.

Let Poet, house of Poet rejoice with Hedrychum a kind of ointment of a sweet smelling savour. God speed the New Year thro' Christ 1763.

Let Jesse, house of Jesse rejoice with the Lawrey a kind of bird. God forward my version of the psalms thro' Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let Clemison, house of Clemison rejoice with Helix a kind of Ivy. God be praised for the vision of the Redcap and packet.

Let Crockatt, house of Crockatt rejoice with Emboline an Asiatic Shrub with small leaves an antidote. I pray for the soul of Crockatt the bookseller the first to put me upon a version of the Psalms.

Let Oakley, house of Oakley rejoice with Haliphasus a tree with such bitter fruit that nothing but swine will touch it.

Let Preacher, house of Preacher rejoice with Helvella a small sort of cabbage. God be merciful to the immortal soul of Stephen Preacher.

Let Heron, house of Heron rejoice with the Tunal-Tree on which the Cochineal feeds.

Let Kitcat, house of Kitcat rejoice with Copec the Pitch-Stone. Janry 8th 1763 Hallelujah.

Let Gisbourne, house of Gisbourne rejoice with Isocinnamon an herb of a sweet smelling savour.

Let Poor, house of Poor rejoice with Jasione a kind of Withwind -- Lord have mercy on the poor this hard weather. Jan: 10th 1763.

Let Eccles, house of Eccles rejoice with Heptapleuros a kind of Plantain. I pray for a musician or musicians to set the new psalms.

Let Moseley, house of Moseley rejoice with Spruce -- I bless God for Old Foundation Day at Pemb. Hall.

Let Pass, house of Pass rejoice with Salt -- The Lord pass the last year's accounts in my conscience thro' the merits of Jesus Christ. New Year by Old Stile 1763.

Let Forward, house of Forward rejoice with Immussulus a kind of bird -- the Lord forward my translation of the psalms this year.

Let Quarme, house of Quarme rejoice with Thyosiris yellow Succory -- I pray God bless all my Subscribers.

Let Larkin, house of Larkin rejoice with Long-wort or Torch-herb -- God give me good riddance of my present grievances.

Let Halford, house of Halford rejoice with Siren a musical bird. God considered thou me for the baseness of those I have served very highly.

Let Ayerst, house of Ayerst rejoice with the Wild Beet -- God be gracious to Smith, Cousins, Austin, Cam and Kingsley and Kinleside.

Let Decker, house of Decker rejoice with Sirpe a Cyrenian plant yielding an odoriferous juice.

Let Cust, house of Cust rejoice with Margaris a date like unto a pearl.

Let Usher, house of Usher rejoice with Condurdon an herb with a red flower worn about the neck for the scurvy.

Let Slingsby, house of Slingsby rejoice with Midas a little worm breeding in beans.

Let Farmer, house of Farmer rejoice with Merois an herb growing at Meroe leaf like lettuce and good for dropsy.

Let Affleck, house of Affleck rejoice with The Box-thorn. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Emanuel.

Let Arnold, house of Arnold rejoice with Leucographis a simple good against spitting of blood.

Let Morris, house of Morris rejoice with Lepidium a Simple of the Cress kind.

Let Crane, house of Crane rejoice with Libanotis an herb that smells like Frankinsense.

Let Arden, house of Arden rejoice with Mew an herb with the stalk and leaves like Anise.

Let Joram, house of Joram rejoice with Meliphylla Balm Gentle God be gracious to John Sherrat.

Let Odwell, house of Odwell rejoice with Lappago Maiden Lips. Blessed be the name of Jesus in singularities and singular mercies.

Let Odney, house of Odney rejoice with Canaria a simple called Hound's-grass.

---o0o---

FLOTUS Michelle Obama blows off the barn doors

By Pablo Fanque, ATIT National Affairs Editor



I have lived under eleven First Ladies, from Mamie Eisenhower to Michelle Obama.  A few of them I had a good vibe from but nothing like how I've felt about Michelle Obama--from day one. And tonight?  Wow.  FLOTUS blew the doors off the barn and rocked the house. Is this great, or what? Wisdom, grace, a little bit of fire, sadness, love, warmth and devotion, with a theme of compassion and giving running through it like a river.  

At long, long last, the Democratic office holders, who have been sitting on their hands, finally came out swinging. We hear often from people like David Axelrod and James Carville and other partisan surrogates from the inner circle. Tonight, we saw people who actually face voters themselves slough away their timidity and come out swinging. Mayors Castro and Rahm Emanuel, Governors Patrick and O'Malley, Ex-Governor Ted Strickland. Finally. At last. Standing fast. Standing tall.


Ed's note 1 [editor-in-chief jack]:
OK. It just gets better after tonight. Or is this just the celebratory Bourbon talking? From Day One, I've thought the first lady is critical to BHO's success. And she has never failed to be just awesome every step of the way.
Ed's note [2] - from Rahm Emmanuel's speech tonight:

"There was no blueprint for how to manual for preventing in global financial meltdown, an auto crisis, two wars and a great recession all at the same time. Believe me, if it existed, I would have found it."

"Each crisis was so deep and so dangerous. Anyone of them would have defined another presidency. We faced a once in a generation moment in American history, and fortunately for all of us, we have a once in a generation president."

 ---o0o---

Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment C

by Jack Brummet, Poetry Editor 

Kit Smart's Jubilate Agno is one of my very favorite poems of all time.  He wrote it in an insane asylum.  A "Commission of Lunacy" was taken out against Christopher Smart, and he was admitted in St. Luke's Hospital on May 6, 1757 as a "Curable Patient" by his wife Anna's stepfather John Newbery.  

There is evidence that an incident took place in St. James’s Park in which he "routed all the company" (Jubilate Agno B89), an incident which may have caused his lockup.  During this time, Christopher was left alone, except for his cat Jeoffrey and the occasional visitor or onlooker. 

With nothing to do, he devoted himself to God and to writing this fantastic poem. He was released from the asylum on January 30, 1763, but his poem was not to be published until 1939.  

by Christopher Smart

Let Ramah rejoice with Cochineal.

Let Gaba rejoice with the Prickly Pear, which the Cochineal feeds on.

Let Nebo rejoice with the Myrtle-Leaved-Sumach as with the Skirret Jub. 2d.

Let Magbish rejoice with the Sage-Tree Phlomis as with the Goatsbeard Jub: 2d.

Let Hashum rejoice with Moon-Trefoil.

Let Netophah rejoice with Cow-Wheat.

Let Chephirah rejoice with Millet.

Let Beeroth rejoice with Sea-Buckthorn.

Let Kirjath-arim rejoice with Cacalianthemum.

Let Hadid rejoice with Capsicum Guiney Pepper.

Let Senaah rejoice with Bean Cape.

Let Kadmiel rejoice with Hemp-Agrimony.

Let Shobai rejoice with Arbor Molle.

Let Hatita rejoice with Millefolium Yarrow.

Let Ziha rejoice with Mitellia.

Let Hasupha rejoice with Turky Balm.

Let Hattil rejoice with Xeranthemum.

Let Bilshan rejoice with the Leek. David for ever! God bless the Welch March 1st 1761. N.S.

Let Sotai rejoice with the Mountain Ebony.

Let Sophereth rejoice with White Hellebore.

Let Darkon rejoice with the Melon-Thistle.

Let Jaalah rejoice with Moly wild garlick.

Let Ami rejoice with the Bladder Sena in season or out of season bless the name of the Lord.

Let Pochereth rejoice with Fleabane.

Let Keros rejoice with Tree Germander.

Let Padon rejoice with Tamnus Black Briony.

Let Mizpar rejoice with Stickadore.

Let Baanah rejoice with Napus the French Turnip.

Let Reelaiah rejoice with the Sea-Cabbage.

Let Parosh rejoice with Cacubalus Chickweed.

Let Hagab rejoice with Serpyllum Mother of Thyme. Hosanna to the memory of Q. Anne. March 8th N.S. 1761 -- God be gracious to old Windsmore.

Let Shalmai rejoice with Meadow Rue. --

Let Habaiah rejoice with Asteriscus Yellow Starwort.

Let Tel-harsa rejoice with Aparine Clivers.

Let Rehoboam rejoice with Folium Montanum. God give grace to the Young King.

Let Hanan rejoice with Poley of Crete.

Let Sheshbazzar rejoice with Polygonatum Solomon's seal.

Let Zeboim rejoice with Bastard Dittany.

Let The Queen of Sheba rejoice with Bulapathon Herb Patience.

Let Cyrus rejoice with Baccharis Plowman's Spikenard. God be gracious to Warburton.

Let Lebanah rejoice with the Golden Wingged Flycatcher a Mexican Small Bird of Passage.

Let Hagabah rejoice with Orchis. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for my seed in eternity.

Let Siaha rejoice with the Razor-Fish. God be gracious to John Bird and his wife.

Let Artaxerxes rejoice with Vanelloes. Palm Sunday 1761. The Lord Strengthen me.

Let Bishlam rejoice with the Cotton-bush.

Let Mithridath rejoice with Balsam of Tolu.

Let Tabeel rejoice with the Carob-Tree.

Let Ariel rejoice with Balsam of Peru, which sweats from a tree, that flowers like the Foxglove.

Let Ebed rejoice with Balsam of Gilead. God be gracious to Stede.

Let Jarib rejoice with Balsam of Capivi. The Lord strengthen my reins.

Let Shimshai rejoice with Stelis Missletoe on Fir.

Let Joiarib rejoice with Veronica Fluellen or Speedwell.

Let Tatnai rejoice with the Barbadoes Wild Olive.

Let Ezra rejoice with the Reed. The Lord Jesus make musick of it. Good Friday 1761.

Let Josiphiah rejoice with Tower-Mustard. God be gracious to Durham School.

Let Shether-boznai rejoice with Turnera. End of Lent 1761. No. 5.

Let Jozadak rejoice with Stephanitis a vine growing naturally into chaplets.

Let Jozabad rejoice with the Lily-Daffodil. Easter Day 22nd March 1761.

Let Telem rejoice with Hart's Penny-royal.

Let Abdi rejoice with Winter-green. God be gracious to Abdy.

Let Binnui rejoice with Spotted Lungwort or Couslip of Jerusalem. God give blessing with it.

Let Aziza rejoice with the Day Lily.

Let Zabbai rejoice with Buckshorn Plaintain Coronopus.

Let Ramoth rejoice with Persicaria.

Let Athlai rejoice with Bastard Marjoram.

Let Uel rejoice with Lysimachia Loose-strife which drinks of the brook by the way.

Let Kelaiah rejoice with Hermannia.

Let Elasah rejoice with Olibanum White or Male Frankinsense from an Arabian tree, good against Catarrhs and Spitting blood from which Christ Jesus deliver me.

Let Adna rejoice with Gum Opopanax from the wounded root of a species of panace Heracleum a tall plant growing to be two or three yards high with many large wings of a yellowish green -- good for old coughs and asthmas.

Let Bedeiah rejoice with Gum Sagapenum flowing from a species of Ferula which grows in Media. Lord have mercy on my breast.

Let Ishijah rejoice with Sago gotten from the inward pith of the breadtree. The Lord Jesus strengthen my whole body.

Let Chelal rejoice with Apios Virginian Liquorice Vetch.

Let Miamin rejoice with Mezereon. God be gracious to Polly and Bess and all Canbury.

Let Zebida rejoice with Tormentil good for hæmorrhages in the mouth even so Lord Jesus.

Let Shemaria rejoice with Riciasides.

Let Jadau rejoice with Flixweed.

Let Shimeon rejoice with Squills.

Let Sheal rejoice with Scorpioides. God be gracious to Legg.

Let Ramiah rejoice with Water-Germander.

Let Jeziah rejoice with Viper's Grass.

Let Machnadebai rejoice with the Mink, a beast.

Let Meremoth rejoice with the Golden Titmouse of Surinam.

Let Mattenai rejoice with Hatchet Vetch.

Let Chelluh rejoice with Horehound.

Let Jaasau rejoice with Bird's foot.

Let Maadai rejoice with Golden Rod.

Let Sharai rejoice with Honey-flower.

Let Shashai rejoice with Smyrnium.

Let Hananiah the son of an apothecary rejoice with Bdellium.

Let Hassenaah rejoice with the White Beet. God be gracious to Hasse and all musicians.

Let Hachaliah rejoice with Muscus Arboreus.

Let Sanballat rejoice with Ground Moss found sometimes on human skulls.

Let Col-hozeh rejoice with Myrobalans, Bellerica, Chebula, Citrina, Emblica and Indica.

Let Meah rejoice with Varias, a kind of streaked panther. April 8th praise the name of the Lord.

Let Eliashib rejoice with Shepherd's Purse.

Let Azbuk rejoice with Valerianella Corn Sallet.

Let Geshem (which is Rain) rejoice with Kneeholm. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for Rain and his family and for the plenteous rain this day. April 9th 1761. N.S.

Let Bavai rejoice with Calceolus Ladies Slipper.

Let Henadad rejoice with Cacalianthemum.

Let Shallun rejoice with Mullein Tapsus barbatus good for the breast.

Let Ophel rejoice with Camara.

Let Meshezabeel rejoice with Stephanomelis. Old April bless the name of the Lord Jesus.

Let Zadok the son of Baana rejoice with Viburnum.

Let Vaniah rejoice with Pug in a pinner. God be gracious to house of Vane especially Anne.

Let Besodeiah rejoice with the Nettle.

Let Melatiah rejoice with Adonis Bird's eye.

Let Jadon rejoice with Borrage.

Let Palal rejoice with the female Balsamime. God be gracious to my wife.

Let Ezer rejoice with Basella Climbing Nightshade.

Let Uzai rejoice with Meadow Sweet.

Let Zalaph rejoice with Rose-bay.

Let Halohesh rejoice with Ambrosia, that bears a fruit like a club.

Let Malchiah Son of Rechab rejoice with the Rose-colour'd flow'ring Rush.

Let Sia rejoice with Argemone Prickly Poppy.

Let Lebana rejoice with Amaranthoides Globe Amaranth.

Let Rephaiah the Son of Hur rejoice with the Berry-bearing Angelica.

Let Harhaiah of the Goldsmiths rejoice with Segullum, the earth that detects the mine.

Let Harumaph rejoice with the Upright Honeysuckle.

Let Hashabniah rejoice with the Water Melon. Blessed be the manuscripts of Almighty God.

Let Phaseah rejoice with the Cassioberry Bush.

Let Nephishesim rejoice with Cannacorus Indian Reed.

Let Tamah rejoice with Cainito Star-Apple -- God be praised for this Eleventh of April o.s. in which I enter into the Fortieth Year of my age. Blessed. Blessed. Blessed!

Let Siloah rejoice with Guidonia with a Rose-Colour'd-Flower.

Let Benjamin a Rebuilder of Jerusalem rejoice with the Rock-Rose. Newton, bless!

Let Malchijah Son of Harim rejoice with Crysanthemoides.

Let Besai rejoice with Hesperis Queen's Gilly-Flow'r.

Let Perida rejoice with Podded Fumitory.

Let Tabbaoth rejoice with Goldy Locks. God be merciful to my wife.

Let Bakbuk rejoice with Soft Thistle.

Let Hodevah rejoice with Coronilla.

Let Tobiah rejoice with Crotolaria. God be praised for his infinite goodness and mercy.

Let Mehetabeel rejoice with Hsemanthus the Blood Flower. Blessed be the name of the Blood of the Lord Jesus.

Let Bazlith rejoice with the Horned Poppy.

Let Hagaba rejoice with the Turnsole. God be gracious to Cutting.

Let Shalmai rejoice with Lycopersicum Love-apple. God be gracious to Dunn.

Let Arah rejoice with Fritillaria the Chequer'd Tulip.

Let Raamiah rejoice with the Double Sweetscented Pione.

Let Hashub Son of Pahath-moab rejoice with the French Honeysuckle.

Let Ananiah rejoice with the Corn-Flag.

Let Nahamani rejoice with the May-apple. God give me fruit to this month.

Let Mispereth rejoice with the Ring Parrakeet.

Let Nehum rejoice with the Artichoke.

Let Ginnithon rejoice with the Bottle Flower.

Let Zidkijah rejoice with Mulberry Blight. God be gracious to Gum my fellow Prisoner.

Let Malluch rejoice with Methonica Superb Lily.

Let Jeremiah rejoice with Hemlock, which is good in outward application.

Let Bilgai rejoice with Tamalapatra Indian Leaf.

Let Maaziah rejoice with Chick Pease. God be gracious to Harris White 5th of May 1761.

Let Kelita rejoice with Xiphion the Bulbous Iris.

Let Pelaiah rejoice with Cloud-Berries. God be gracious to Peele and Ferry.

Let Azaniah rejoice with the Water Lily.

Let Rehob rejoice with Caucalis Bastard Parsley.

Let Sherebiah rejoice with Nigella, that bears a white flower.

Let Beninu rejoice with Heart-Pear. God be gracious to George Bening.

Let Bunni rejoice with Bulbine -- leaves like leek, purple flower.

Let Zatthu rejoice with the Wild Service.

Let Hizkijah rejoice with the Dwarf American Sun-Flower.

Let Azzur rejoice with the Globe-Thistle.

Let Hariph rejoice with Summer Savoury.

Let Nebai rejoice with the Wild Cucumber.

Let Magpiash rejoice with the Musk.

Let Hezir rejoice with Scorpion Sena.

---o0o---

The Democratic National Convention, and the best speech ever given there: Mario Cuomo's 1984 barnburner keynote speech: A Tale Of Two Cities

By Jack Brummet, Democratic Party Editor


I am always happy when the Democratic National Convention rolls around.  Call me naive, but I still believe.  I am still a Yellow Dog Democrat,  And when the dem convention rolls around, I always think back on the best speech I've ever heard in my life--(in a close heat with Bobby Kennedy's speech the night MLK was assassinated)--Mario Cuomo's thrilling speech to the 1984 Democratic Convention.

I was living in San Francisco in 1984 when Mario delivered this barnburner speech to the Democratic Convention. It was thrilling  to be a block away from the action; by my proximity to this great and man. I had never been so thrilled by a speech in my life. In my New York City years, I had the enormous pleasure of listening to both Mario Cuomo and Jean Shepherd's local radio shows.

When I was younger, I was extremely moved by some of the speeches Bobby Kennedy made in the last few months of his life. But Mario Cuomo pulled it off in a different way--he did not have that fragility Bobby had, but he had something almost as good. Bobby loved poets and poetry. Mario could make poetry on the podium. Kevin Curran and I have had several exchanges here about "What if. . .?" Kev and I are among Mario's biggest fans. What it Mario had become King? Where would we be now? I don't know for sure, but I do know that that parts of this speech are among the greatest ever given. In fact, Great Speeches, the three CD collection of American speeches (well, it also includes a bit of DeGaulle and Churchill) includes a long excerpt from the speech. What if?!

The American Rhetoric web site has both the audio of this speech, and a video as well.





Mario Cuomo's
1984 Democratic National Convention
Keynote Address

Thank you very much.

On behalf of the great Empire State and the whole family of New York, let me thank you for the great privilege of being able to address this convention. Please allow me to skip the stories and the poetry and the temptation to deal in nice but vague rhetoric. Let me instead use this valuable opportunity to deal immediately with the questions that should determine this election and that we all know are vital to the American people.


click Mario to enlarge

Ten days ago, President Reagan admitted that although some people in this country seemed to be doing well nowadays, others were unhappy, even worried, about themselves, their families, and their futures. The President said that he didn't understand that fear. He said, "Why, this country is a shining city on a hill." And the President is right. In many ways we are a shining city on a hill.

But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this city's splendor and glory. A shining city is perhaps all the President sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there's another city; there's another part to the shining the city; the part where some people can't pay their mortgages, and most young people can't afford one; where students can't afford the education they need, and middle-class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate.

In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can't find it. Even worse: There are elderly people who tremble in the basements of the houses there. And there are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn't show. There are ghettos where thousands of young people, without a job or an education, give their lives away to drug dealers every day. There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit in your shining city.

In fact, Mr. President, this is a nation -- Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a "Tale of Two Cities" than it is just a "Shining City on a Hill."

Maybe, maybe, Mr. President, if you visited some more places; maybe if you went to Appalachia where some people still live in sheds; maybe if you went to Lackawanna where thousands of unemployed steel workers wonder why we subsidized foreign steel. Maybe -- Maybe, Mr. President, if you stopped in at a shelter in Chicago and spoke to the homeless there; maybe, Mr. President, if you asked a woman who had been denied the help she needed to feed her children because you said you needed the money for a tax break for a millionaire or for a missile we couldn't afford to use.

Maybe -- Maybe, Mr. President. But I'm afraid not. Because the truth is, ladies and gentlemen, that this is how we were warned it would be. President Reagan told us from the very beginning that he believed in a kind of social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. "Government can't do everything," we were told, so it should settle for taking care of the strong and hope that economic ambition and charity will do the rest. Make the rich richer, and what falls from the table will be enough for the middle class and those who are trying desperately to work their way into the middle class.

You know, the Republicans called it "trickle-down" when Hoover tried it. Now they call it "supply side." But it's the same shining city for those relative few who are lucky enough to live in its good neighborhoods. But for the people who are excluded, for the people who are locked out, all they can do is stare from a distance at that city's glimmering towers.

It's an old story. It's as old as our history. The difference between Democrats and Republicans has always been measured in courage and confidence. The Republicans -- The Republicans believe that the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some of the young, some of the weak are left behind by the side of the trail. "The strong" -- "The strong," they tell us, "will inherit the land."

We Democrats believe in something else. We democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact, and we have more than once. Ever since Franklin Roosevelt lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees -- wagon train after wagon train -- to new frontiers of education, housing, peace; the whole family aboard, constantly reaching out to extend and enlarge that family; lifting them up into the wagon on the way; blacks and Hispanics, and people of every ethnic group, and native Americans -- all those struggling to build their families and claim some small share of America. For nearly 50 years we carried them all to new levels of comfort, and security, and dignity, even affluence. And remember this, some of us in this room today are here only because this nation had that kind of confidence. And it would be wrong to forget that.

So, here we are at this convention to remind ourselves where we come from and to claim the future for ourselves and for our children. Today our great Democratic Party, which has saved this nation from depression, from fascism, from racism, from corruption, is called upon to do it again -- this time to save the nation from confusion and division, from the threat of eventual fiscal disaster, and most of all from the fear of a nuclear holocaust.

That's not going to be easy. Mo Udall is exactly right -- it won't be easy. And in order to succeed, we must answer our opponent's polished and appealing rhetoric with a more telling reasonableness and rationality.

We must win this case on the merits. We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we'll do it not so much with speeches that sound good as with speeches that are good and sound; not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that will bring people to their senses. We must make -- We must make the American people hear our "Tale of Two Cities." We must convince them that we don't have to settle for two cities, that we can have one city, indivisible, shining for all of its people.

Now, we will have no chance to do that if what comes out of this convention is a babel of arguing voices. If that's what's heard throughout the campaign, dissident sounds from all sides, we will have no chance to tell our message. To succeed we will have to surrender some small parts of our individual interests, to build a platform that we can all stand on, at once, and comfortably -- proudly singing out. We need -- We need a platform we can all agree to so that we can sing out the truth for the nation to hear, in chorus, its logic so clear and commanding that no slick Madison Avenue commercial, no amount of geniality, no martial music will be able to muffle the sound of the truth.

And we Democrats must unite. We Democrats must unite so that the entire nation can unite, because surely the Republicans won't bring this country together. Their policies divide the nation into the lucky and the left-out, into the royalty and the rabble. The Republicans are willing to treat that division as victory. They would cut this nation in half, into those temporarily better off and those worse off than before, and they would call that division recovery.

Now, we should not -- we should not be embarrassed or dismayed or chagrined if the process of unifying is difficult, even wrenching at times. Remember that, unlike any other Party, we embrace men and women of every color, every creed, every orientation, every economic class. In our family are gathered everyone from the abject poor of Essex County in New York, to the enlightened affluent of the gold coasts at both ends of the nation. And in between is the heart of our constituency -- the middle class, the people not rich enough to be worry-free, but not poor enough to be on welfare; the middle class -- those people who work for a living because they have to, not because some psychiatrist told them it was a convenient way to fill the interval between birth and eternity. White collar and blue collar. Young professionals. Men and women in small business desperate for the capital and contracts that they need to prove their worth.

We speak for the minorities who have not yet entered the mainstream. We speak for ethnics who want to add their culture to the magnificent mosaic that is America. We speak -- We speak for women who are indignant that this nation refuses to etch into its governmental commandments the simple rule "thou shalt not sin against equality," a rule so simple --

I was going to say, and I perhaps dare not but I will. It's a commandment so simple it can be spelled in three letters: E.R.A.

We speak -- We speak for young people demanding an education and a future. We speak for senior citizens. We speak for senior citizens who are terrorized by the idea that their only security, their Social Security, is being threatened. We speak for millions of reasoning people fighting to preserve our environment from greed and from stupidity. And we speak for reasonable people who are fighting to preserve our very existence from a macho intransigence that refuses to make intelligent attempts to discuss the possibility of nuclear holocaust with our enemy. They refuse. They refuse, because they believe we can pile missiles so high that they will pierce the clouds and the sight of them will frighten our enemies into submission.

Now we're proud of this diversity as Democrats. We're grateful for it. We don't have to manufacture it the way the Republicans will next month in Dallas, by propping up mannequin delegates on the convention floor. But we, while we're proud of this diversity, we pay a price for it. The different people that we represent have different points of view. And sometimes they compete and even debate, and even argue. That's what our primaries were all about. But now the primaries are over and it is time, when we pick our candidates and our platform here, to lock arms and move into this campaign together.

If you need any more inspiration to put some small part of your own difference aside to create this consensus, then all you need to do is to reflect on what the Republican policy of divide and cajole has done to this land since 1980. Now the President has asked the American people to judge him on whether or not he's fulfilled the promises he made four years ago. I believe, as Democrats, we ought to accept that challenge. And just for a moment let us consider what he has said and what he's done.

Inflation -- Inflation is down since 1980, but not because of the supply-side miracle promised to us by the President. Inflation was reduced the old-fashioned way: with a recession, the worst since 1932. Now how did we -- We could have brought inflation down that way. How did he do it? 55,000 bankruptcies; two years of massive unemployment; 200,000 farmers and ranchers forced off the land; more homeless -- more homeless than at any time since the Great Depression in 1932; more hungry, in this world of enormous affluence, the United States of America, more hungry; more poor, most of them women. And -- And he paid one other thing, a nearly 200 billion dollar deficit threatening our future.

Now, we must make the American people understand this deficit because they don't. The President's deficit is a direct and dramatic repudiation of his promise in 1980 to balance the budget by 1983. How large is it? The deficit is the largest in the history of the universe. It -- President Carter's last budget had a deficit less than one-third of this deficit. It is a deficit that, according to the President's own fiscal adviser, may grow to as much 300 billion dollars a year for "as far as the eye can see." And, ladies and gentlemen, it is a debt so large -- that is almost one-half of the money we collect from the personal income tax each year goes just to pay the interest. It is a mortgage on our children's future that can be paid only in pain and that could bring this nation to its knees.

Now don't take my word for it -- I'm a Democrat. Ask the Republican investment bankers on Wall Street what they think the chances of this recovery being permanent are. You see, if they're not too embarrassed to tell you the truth, they'll say that they're appalled and frightened by the President's deficit. Ask them what they think of our economy, now that it's been driven by the distorted value of the dollar back to its colonial condition. Now we're exporting agricultural products and importing manufactured ones. Ask those Republican investment bankers what they expect the rate of interest to be a year from now. And ask them -- if they dare tell you the truth -- you'll learn from them, what they predict for the inflation rate a year from now, because of the deficit.

Now, how important is this question of the deficit. Think about it practically: What chance would the Republican candidate have had in 1980 if he had told the American people that he intended to pay for his so-called economic recovery with bankruptcies, unemployment, more homeless, more hungry, and the largest government debt known to humankind? If he had told the voters in 1980 that truth, would American voters have signed the loan certificate for him on Election Day? Of course not! That was an election won under false pretenses. It was won with smoke and mirrors and illusions. And that's the kind of recovery we have now as well.

But what about foreign policy? They said that they would make us and the whole world safer. They say they have. By creating the largest defense budget in history, one that even they now admit is excessive -- by escalating to a frenzy the nuclear arms race; by incendiary rhetoric; by refusing to discuss peace with our enemies; by the loss of 279 young Americans in Lebanon in pursuit of a plan and a policy that no one can find or describe.

We give money to Latin American governments that murder nuns, and then we lie about it. We have been less than zealous in support of our only real friend -- it seems to me, in the Middle East -- the one democracy there, our flesh and blood ally, the state of Israel. Our -- Our policy -- Our foreign policy drifts with no real direction, other than an hysterical commitment to an arms race that leads nowhere -- if we're lucky. And if we're not, it could lead us into bankruptcy or war.

Of course we must have a strong defense! Of course Democrats are for a strong defense. Of course Democrats believe that there are times that we must stand and fight. And we have. Thousands of us have paid for freedom with our lives. But always -- when this country has been at its best -- our purposes were clear. Now they're not. Now our allies are as confused as our enemies. Now we have no real commitment to our friends or to our ideals -- not to human rights, not to the refuseniks, not to Sakharov, not to Bishop Tutu and the others struggling for freedom in South Africa.

We -- We have in the last few years spent more than we can afford. We have pounded our chests and made bold speeches. But we lost 279 young Americans in Lebanon and we live behind sand bags in Washington. How can anyone say that we are safer, stronger, or better?

That -- That is the Republican record. That its disastrous quality is not more fully understood by the American people I can only attribute to the President's amiability and the failure by some to separate the salesman from the product.

And, now -- now -- now it's up to us. Now it's up to you and to me to make the case to America. And to remind Americans that if they are not happy with all that the President has done so far, they should consider how much worse it will be if he is left to his radical proclivities for another four years unrestrained. Unrestrained.

Now, if -- if July -- if July brings back Ann Gorsuch Burford -- what can we expect of December? Where would -- Where would another four years take us? Where would four years more take us? How much larger will the deficit be? How much deeper the cuts in programs for the struggling middle class and the poor to limit that deficit? How high will the interest rates be? How much more acid rain killing our forests and fouling our lakes?

And, ladies and gentlemen, please think of this -- the nation must think of this: What kind of Supreme Court will we have?

Please. [beckons audience to settle down]

We -- We must ask ourselves what kind of court and country will be fashioned by the man who believes in having government mandate people's religion and morality; the man who believes that trees pollute the environment; the man that believes that -- that the laws against discrimination against people go too far; a man who threatens Social Security and Medicaid and help for the disabled. How high will we pile the missiles? How much deeper will the gulf be between us and our enemies? And, ladies and gentlemen, will four years more make meaner the spirit of the American people? This election will measure the record of the past four years. But more than that, it will answer the question of what kind of people we want to be.

We Democrats still have a dream. We still believe in this nation's future. And this is our answer to the question. This is our credo:

We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need.

We believe in a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness, a reasonableness that goes beyond labels, that doesn't distort or promise to do things that we know we can't do.

We believe in a government strong enough to use words like "love" and "compassion" and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.

We believe in encouraging the talented, but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order.

We -- Our -- Our government -- Our government should be able to rise to the level where it can fill the gaps that are left by chance or by a wisdom we don't fully understand. We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the "world's most sincere Democrat," St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.

We believe -- We believe as Democrats, that a society as blessed as ours, the most affluent democracy in the world's history, one that can spend trillions on instruments of destruction, ought to be able to help the middle class in its struggle, ought to be able to find work for all who can do it, room at the table, shelter for the homeless, care for the elderly and infirm, and hope for the destitute. And we proclaim as loudly as we can the utter insanity of nuclear proliferation and the need for a nuclear freeze, if only to affirm the simple truth that peace is better than war because life is better than death.



We believe in firm -- We believe in firm but fair law and order.

We believe proudly in the union movement.

We believe in a -- We believe -- We believe in privacy for people, openness by government.

We believe in civil rights, and we believe in human rights.

We believe in a single -- We believe in a single fundamental idea that describes better than most textbooks and any speech that I could write what a proper government should be: the idea of family, mutuality, the sharing of benefits and burdens for the good of all, feeling one another's pain, sharing one another's blessings -- reasonably, honestly, fairly, without respect to race, or sex, or geography, or political affiliation.

We believe we must be the family of America, recognizing that at the heart of the matter we are bound one to another, that the problems of a retired school teacher in Duluth are our problems; that the future of the child -- that the future of the child in Buffalo is our future; that the struggle of a disabled man in Boston to survive and live decently is our struggle; that the hunger of a woman in Little Rock is our hunger; that the failure anywhere to provide what reasonably we might, to avoid pain, is our failure.

Now for 50 years -- for 50 years we Democrats created a better future for our children, using traditional Democratic principles as a fixed beacon, giving us direction and purpose, but constantly innovating, adapting to new realities: Roosevelt's alphabet programs; Truman's NATO and the GI Bill of Rights; Kennedy's intelligent tax incentives and the Alliance for Progress; Johnson's civil rights; Carter's human rights and the nearly miraculous Camp David Peace Accord.

Democrats did it -- Democrats did it and Democrats can do it again. We can build a future that deals with our deficit. Remember this, that 50 years of progress under our principles never cost us what the last four years of stagnation have. And we can deal with the deficit intelligently, by shared sacrifice, with all parts of the nation's family contributing, building partnerships with the private sector, providing a sound defense without depriving ourselves of what we need to feed our children and care for our people. We can have a future that provides for all the young of the present, by marrying common sense and compassion.

We know we can, because we did it for nearly 50 years before 1980. And we can do it again, if we do not forget -- if we do not forget that this entire nation has profited by these progressive principles; that they helped lift up generations to the middle class and higher; that they gave us a chance to work, to go to college, to raise a family, to own a house, to be secure in our old age and, before that, to reach heights that our own parents would not have dared dream of.

That struggle to live with dignity is the real story of the shining city. And it's a story, ladies and gentlemen, that I didn't read in a book, or learn in a classroom. I saw it and lived it, like many of you. I watched a small man with thick calluses on both his hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example. I learned about our kind of democracy from my father. And I learned about our obligation to each other from him and from my mother. They asked only for a chance to work and to make the world better for their children, and they -- they asked to be protected in those moments when they would not be able to protect themselves. This nation and this nation's government did that for them.

And that they were able to build a family and live in dignity and see one of their children go from behind their little grocery store in South Jamaica on the other side of the tracks where he was born, to occupy the highest seat, in the greatest State, in the greatest nation, in the only world we would know, is an ineffably beautiful tribute to the democratic process.

And -- And ladies and gentlemen, on January 20, 1985, it will happen again -- only on a much, much grander scale. We will have a new President of the United States, a Democrat born not to the blood of kings but to the blood of pioneers and immigrants. And we will have America's first woman Vice President, the child of immigrants, and she -- she -- she will open with one magnificent stroke, a whole new frontier for the United States.

Now, it will happen. It will happen if we make it happen; if you and I make it happen. And I ask you now, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, for the good of all of us, for the love of this great nation, for the family of America, for the love of God: Please, make this nation remember how futures are built.

Thank you and God bless you.

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the needle

By Jack Brummet, American Poetry Editor


This poem was printed in a 1971 Whole Earth Catalog, in a section edited by Ken Kesey.  It was attributed to Robert Service, but was probably created by Kesey, or Ken Babbs, or some collaboration of various pranksters. . .

THE NEEDLE 

First, brothers and sisters and spirits of our sphere,
I wish to make one thing perfectly clear;
During these last ten turnings of a year I have been
Jacked-up, jerked-off, brought down, strung-out, and I've
Holed up, come on, cooled off and hung out, and I've
Rushed and flashed and flushed and twitched and I've
Sniveled and snorted and bellowed and bitched and I've
Been spaced out atoms in the heartless void
And a slightly-plotted tightly-knotted paranoid,
I've watched friends grin goodby as I spiraled down the drain.
I've had doctors shake their fingers at the fungus on my brain;
And I have called, friends and doctors, oh I have roared out my soul
From the compass busting bottom of the false magnetic pole,
But it was a place beyond friends or medicine's reach--
A senseless 3-D cry from a binary breach--
And the heartless void can listen but doesn't seem to care
And my call was never answered until the needle turned to prayer.

- "Robert Service"

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Map No. 38 - The Transoceanic Federation

By Jack Brummet

[analog-digital hybrid]

click to enlarge

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Happy Labor Day - #3277164, a/k/a Jonathan Borofsky's Seattle Hammering Man

Happy Labor Day! - #3277164, or, Seattle's Hammering Man. He executes 3,600 hammer blows during his fifteen hour work day.

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Photograph: At The Museum

Photograph by Liang Liu,
Digital Enhancements, Jack Brummet

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Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B4 (includes the famous "For I will consider my cat Jeoffrey..."

Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno," Fragment B4

by Jack Brummet, Poetry Editor 

Kit Smart's Jubilate Agno is one of my very favorite poems of all time.  He wrote it in an insane asylum.  A "Commission of Lunacy" was taken out against Christopher Smart, and he was admitted in St. Luke's Hospital on May 6, 1757 as a "Curable Patient" by his wife Anna's stepfather John Newbery.  

There is evidence that an incident took place in St. James’s Park in which he "routed all the company" (Jubilate Agno B89), an incident which may have caused his lockup.  During this time, Christopher was left alone, except for his cat Jeoffrey and the occasional visitor or onlooker. 

With nothing to do, he devoted himself to God and to writing this fantastic poem. He was released from the asylum on January 30, 1763, but his poem was not to be published until 1939.   I saw an amazing group reading of the poem in NYC in the 1980's, with readings by select famous poets.  

Here is the fifth section of the poem:

For God has given us a language of monosyllables to prevent our clipping.

For a toad enjoys a finer prospect than another creature to compensate his lack.

Tho' toad I am the object of man's hate.
Yet better am I than a reprobate.       who has the worst of prospects.
For there are stones, whose constituent particles are little toads.

For the spiritual musick is as follows.

For there is the thunder-stop, which is the voice of God direct.

For the rest of the stops are by their rhimes.

For the trumpet rhimes are sound bound, soar more and the like.

For the Shawm rhimes are lawn fawn moon boon and the like.

For the harp rhimes are sing ring string and the like.

For the cymbal rhimes are bell well toll soul and the like.

For the flute rhimes are tooth youth suit mute and the like.
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For the dulcimer rhimes are grace place beat heat and the like.

For the Clarinet rhimes are clean seen and the like.

For the Bassoon rhimes are pass, class and the like. God be gracious to Baumgarden.

For the dulcimer are rather van fan and the like and grace place &c are of the bassoon.

For beat heat, weep peep &c are of the pipe.

For every word has its marrow in the English tongue for order and for delight.

For the dissyllables such as able table &c are the fiddle rhimes.

For all dissyllables and some trissyllables are fiddle rhimes.

For the relations of words are in pairs first.

For the relations of words are sometimes in oppositions.

For the relations of words are according to their distances from the pair.

For there be twelve cardinal virtues the gifts of the twelve sons of Jacob.

For Reuben is Great. God be gracious to Lord Falmouth.

For Simeon is Valiant. God be gracious to the Duke of Somerset.

For Levi is Pious. God be gracious to the Bishop of London.

For Judah is Good. God be gracious to Lord Granville.

For Dan is Clean -- neat, dextrous, apt, active, compact. God be gracious to Draper.

For Naphtali is sublime -- God be gracious to Chesterfield.

For Gad is Contemplative -- God be gracious to Lord Northampton.

For Ashur is Happy -- God be gracious to George Bowes.

For Issachar is strong -- God be gracious to the Duke of Dorsett.

For Zabulon is Constant -- God be gracious to Lord Bath.

For Joseph is Pleasant -- God be gracious to Lord Bolingbroke.

For Benjamin is Wise -- God be gracious to Honeywood.

For all Foundation is from God depending.

For the two Universities are the Eyes of England.

For Cambridge is the right and the brightest.

For Pembroke Hall was founded more in the Lord than any College in Cambridge.

For mustard is the proper food of birds and men are bound to cultivate it for their use.

For they that study the works of God are peculiarly assisted by his Spirit.

For all the creatures mentiond by Pliny are somewhere or other extant to the glory of God.

For Rye is food rather for fowls than men.

For Rye-bread is not taken with thankfulness.

For the lack of Rye may be supplied by Spelt.

For languages work into one another by their bearings.

For the power of some animal is predominant in every language.

For the power and spirit of a CAT is in the Greek.

For the sound of a cat is in the most useful preposition ?at' e???? .

For the pleasantry of a cat at pranks is in the language ten thousand times over.

For JACK UPON PRANCK is in the performance of pe?? together or seperate.

For Clapperclaw is in the grappling of the words upon one another in all the modes of versification.

For the sleekness of a Cat is in his a??a??f? .

For the Greek is thrown from heaven and falls upon its feet.

For the Greek when distracted from the line is sooner restored to rank and rallied into some form than any other.

For the purring of a Cat is his t???e? .

For his cry is in ??a? , which I am sorry for.

For the Mouse (Mus) prevails in the Latin.

For Edi-mus, bibi-mus, vivi-mus -- ore-mus.

For the Mouse is a creature of great personal valour.

For -- this is a true case -- Cat takes female mouse from the company of male -- male mouse will not depart, but stands threatning and daring.

For this is as much as to challenge, if you will let her go, I will engage you, as prodigious a creature as you are.

For the Mouse is of an hospitable disposition.

For bravery and hospitality were said and done by the Romans rather than others.

For two creatures the Bull and the Dog prevail in the English.

For all the words ending in ble are in the creature. Invisi-ble, Incomprehensi-ble, ineffa-ble, A-ble.

For the Greek and Latin are not dead languages, but taken up and accepted for the sake of him that spake them.

For can is (canis) is cause and effect a dog.

For the English is concise and strong. Dog and Bull again.

For Newton's notion of colours is a????? unphilosophical.

For the colours are spiritual.

For WHITE is the first and the best.

For there are many intermediate colours, before you come to SILVER.

For the next colour is a lively GREY.

For the next colour is BLUE.

For the next is GREEN of which there are ten thousand distinct sorts.

For the next is YELLOW which is more excellent than red, tho Newton makes red the prime. God be gracious to John Delap.

For RED is the next working round the Orange.

For Red is of sundry sorts till it deepens to BLACK.

For black blooms and it is PURPLE.

For purple works off to BROWN which is of ten thousand acceptable shades.

For the next is PALE. God be gracious to William Whitehead.

For pale works about to White again.

NOW that colour is spiritual appears inasmuch as the blessing of God upon all things descends in colour.

For the blessing of health upon the human face is in colour.

For the blessing of God upon purity is in the Virgin's blushes.

For the blessing of God in colour is on him that keeps his virgin.

For I saw a blush in Staindrop Church, which was of God's own colouring.

For it was the benevolence of a virgin shewn to me before the whole congregation.

For the blessing of God upon the grass is in shades of Green visible to a nice observer as they light upon the surface of the earth.

For the blessing of God unto perfection in all bloom and fruit is by colouring.

For from hence something in the spirit may be taken off by painters.

For Painting is a species of idolatry, tho' not so gross as statuary.

For it is not good to look with earning upon any dead work.

For by so doing something is lost in the spirit and given from life to death.

For BULL in the first place is the word of Almighty God.

For he is a creature of infinite magnitude in the height.

For there is the model of every beast of the field in the height.

For they are blessed intelligences and all angels of the living God.

For there are many words under Bull.

For Bul the Month is under it.

For Sea is under Bull.

For Brook is under Bull. God be gracious to Lord Bolingbroke.

For Rock is under Bull.

For Bullfinch is under Bull. God be gracious to the Duke of Cleveland.

For God, which always keeps his work in view has paited a Bullfinch in the heart of a stone. God be gracious to Gosling and Canterbury.

For the Bluecap is under Bull.

For the Humming Bird is under Bull.

For Beetle is under Bull.

For Toad is under bull.

For Frog is under Bull, which he has a delight to look at.

For the Pheasant-eyed Pink is under Bull. Blessed Jesus R4NK EL.

For Bugloss is under Bull.

For Bugle is under Bull.

For Oxeye is under Bull.

For Fire is under Bull.

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.

For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.

For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.

For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.

For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.

For he rolls upon prank to work it in.

For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.

For this he performs in ten degrees.

For first he looks upon his fore-paws to see if they are clean.

For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.

For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the fore paws extended.

For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.

For fifthly he washes himself.

For Sixthly he rolls upon wash.

For Seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.

For Eighthly he rubs himself against a post.

For Ninthly he looks up for his instructions.

For Tenthly he goes in quest of food.

For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.

For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.

For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it chance.

For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.

For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.

For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.

For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.

For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life

For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.

For he is of the tribe of Tiger.

For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.

For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.

For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.

For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.

For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.

For every house is incompleat without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.

For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.

For every family had one cat at least in the bag.

For the English Cats are the best in Europe.

For he is the cleanest in the use of his fore-paws of any quadrupede.

For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.

For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.

For he is tenacious of his point.

For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.

For he knows that God is his Saviour.

For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.

For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.

For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually -- Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.

For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.

For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in compleat cat.

For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in musick.

For he is docile and can learn certain things.

For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.

For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.

For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.

For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.

For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.

For he can catch the cork and toss it again.

For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.

For the former is affraid of detection.

For the latter refuses the charge.

For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.

For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.

For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.

For he killed the Icneumon-rat very pernicious by land.

For his ears are so acute that they sting again.

For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.

For by stroaking of him I have found out electricity.

For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.

For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.

For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.

For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.

For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadrupede.

For he can tread to all the measures upon the musick.

For he can swim for life.

For he can creep.
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