But who woke the sexton?
21 February 2005. Inspired by .
From Saturday's ODNB's Life of the Day, Elizabeth Carter:
"She used to employ a sexton to wake her between 4 and 5 am by pulling a string attached to a bell hanging at the head of her bed. To keep herself awake late at night she used to wrap wet towels about her head, chew green tea, and take snuff, until she was both addicted to snuff and painfully vulnerable to debilitating headaches for the rest of her life.
"By these means she first learned Latin and Greek, then Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish. Later in life she also taught herself Portuguese and Arabic. When she was about twenty she studied German on the recommendation of her father and his friends who wanted her to seek a place at court. Although she decided that court life was not for her, she liked the language and towards the end of her life enjoyed conversations about German literature with Queen Charlotte."
As Samuel Johnson put it, "A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek. My old friend, Mrs Carter, could make a pudding as well as translate Epictetus from the Greek, and work a handkerchief as well as compose a poem."
So nuts to you, sunshine.
Speaking of addiction and snuff(ed), RIP HST. Lived and died in the same way: insane, of his own volition, and screw everyone else. But give the man a typewriter, a locked door and enough Mescaline to build an igloo, and he was a genius like no other.
Some people like to peek through the keyhole of the doors of perception. Hunter went straight through the wall, driving a Sherman tank.