- Spear William
- Davenport Rufus
William Spear called here this
morning and told me that his
brother had got poisoned last week in the woods, with
dogwood— That his face was so much swollen and inflamed that he could
not see, out of his eyes; and that he would not be able to hold the Sale
of Lots of standing wood, advertised for next Thursday. As the
advertisement has been sent into the neighbouring towns, he thought the
sale could not be postponed, and proposed that it should be made by
Minot Thayer of Weymouth in
his place; to which I assented. He said this dogwood poison generally
kept a person confined about a week— Mr Rufus Davenport was here,
with one of his pamphlets for which I 23had
subscribed, entitled “Right Aim” chiefly to urge the abolition of
imprisonment for debt, and with proposals for other subscriptions, to be
confined to the Ladies— I did not incline further to countenance this
mode of mendicancy— In the Nursery I planted three Cross furrows West of
the Alley; yet in the Stony barren—Juglans Porcina dulcis—with Chesnuts,
Acorns and Apple seeds—one Medford Shagbark, and one English Walnut—
Opened four Cross furrows East of the Alley— On this first day of
November I observe the foliage of the trees. The leaves have fallen
almost entirely from the Elms— They have changed colour upon all the
Oaks, but a great part of those on the English Oaks are yet green— Those
of the Peach trees, are of a dirty crimson and brown— Many of the young
Apple trees yet retain their leaves; and some of them are still green—
Those of the young Catalpa, are parched by the frost— I finished reading
Pingré’s translation of
the Poem of Aratus as translated by
Cicero and Grotius— The original Poem is extant;
and it is that from which St. Paul quoted half a line, in his Sermon to the
Athenians— “For we are also his offspring.” This Poem was also
translated into Latin verse, by Germanicus
Caesar and by Festus
Avienus— Fragments of which works are likewise extant. It
is merely a poetical description of the Constellations of the Northern
Hemisphere according to the Astronomical system of Eudoxus—but the work of Manilius is of the same kind, and
far more comprehensive. But in these works every thing is artificial,
fictitious and imaginary— Not one of the Constellations bears the most
distant resemblance to the persons and animals from which they were
named— With most of them fables of the Grecian Mythology are connected;
but there is nothing in the aspect of the Constellations to remind you
of them— To understand the Poem of Aratus you must first be perfectly
familiar with the Grecian Mythology, and habitually familiar with the
Nightly course of the Northern Constellations— The descriptions refer
partly to the fabulous persons and their Stories, and partly to the
configurations and motions of the Clusters of Stars— It is a poem much
like the Loves of the Triangles— Among the Greeks there was Religion
also mingled with it— Each of the Planets was a God— Many of the
Constellations were families of divinities; and men and women and
Animals and even inanimate objects like the Lyre of Orpheus, the sword of Orion, the wheat ear of the virgin, and the Scales of
Astraea were all placed among the
Stars— The Poem of Aratus may yet afford amusement by comparing its
descriptions, with the present courses of the Northern Constellations—
Lucretia Spear left us this
day— I attempted in the Evening to read an Article in the North American
Review; but the Article or I was too sleepy— I read some part of
W. Tudor’s Journal.