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By Marilyn Deegan

The new discoveries of the Mars rover Curiosity have greatly excited the world in the last few weeks, and speculation was rife about whether some evidence of life has been found. (In actuality, Curiosity discovered complex chemistry, including organic compounds, in a Martian soil analysis.)

Why the excitement? Well, astronomy, cosmology, astrology, and all matters to do with the stars, the planets, the universe, and space have always fascinated humankind. Scientists, astrologers, soothsayers, and ordinary people look up to the heavenly bodies and wonder what is up there, how far away, whether there is life out there, and what influence these bodies have upon our lives and our fortunes. Were we born under a lucky star? Will our horoscope this week reveal our future? What is the composition of the planets?

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences, but it was the invention of the telescope in the early 17^th century that advanced astronomy into a science in the modern sense of the word. Throughout the course of the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and others challenged the established Ptolemeic cosmology, and put forth the theory of a heliocentric solar system. The Church found a heliocentric universe impossible to accept because medieval Christian cosmology placed earth at the centre of the universe with the Empyrean sphere or Paradise at the outer edge of the circle; in this model, the moral universe and the physical universe are inextricably linked. (This is a model that is typified in Dante’s Divine Comedy.)

Authors from John Skelton (1460-1529) to John Evelyn (1620-1706) lived in this same period of great change and discovery, and we find a great deal of evidence in Renaissance writings to show that the myths, legends, and scientific discoveries around astronomy were a significant source of inspiration.

The planets are of course not just planets: they are also personifications of the Greek and Roman gods; Mars is a warlike planet, named after the god of war. Because of its red colour the Babylonians saw it as an aggressive planet and had special ceremonies on a Tuesday (Mars’ day; mardi in French) to ward off its baleful influence. We find much evidence of the warlike nature of Mars in writers of the period: Thomas Stanley’s 1646 translation Love Triumphant from A Dialogue Written in Italian by Girolamo Preti (1582-1626) is a verbal battle between Venus and her accompanying personifications (Love, Beauty, Adonis) and Mars (who was one of her lovers) and his cohort concerning the superior powers of love and war. Venus wins out over the warlike Mars: a familiar image of the period.

John Lyly’s play The Woman in the Moon (c.1590-1595) also personifies the planets and plays on the traditional notion that there is a man in the moon. Lyly’s use of the planets is thought to reflect the Elizabethan penchant for horoscope casting. The warlike Mars versus Venus trope is common throughout the period, and it appears in the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Middleton, Gascoigne, and most of their contemporaries. A search in the current Oxford Scholarly Editions Online collection for Mars and Venus reveals almost 300 examples. Many writers of the period also refer to astrological predictions; Shakespeare in Sonnet 14 says:

Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck,
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;

This is thought to be a response to Philip Sidney’s quote in ‘Astrophil and Stella’ (26):

Who oft fore-judge my after-following race,
By only those two starres in Stella’s face.

Thomas Powell (1608-1660) suggests astrological allusions in his poem ‘Olor Iscanus’:

What Planet rul’d your birth? what wittie star?
That you so like in Souls as Bodies are!
…
Teach the Star-gazers, and delight their Eyes,
Being fixt a Constellation in the Skyes.

While there is still much myth and metaphor pertaining to heavenly bodies in 17^th century literature, there is increasing scientific discussion of the positions of the planets and their motions. To give just a few examples, Robert Burton’s 1620 Anatomy of Melancholy discusses the new heliocentric theories of the planets and suggests that the period of revolution of Mars around the sun is around three years (in actuality it is two years).

In his Paradoxes and Problemes of 1633, John Donne in Probleme X discusses the relative distances of the planets from the earth and quotes Kepler:

Why Venus starre onely doth cast a Shadowe?

Is it because it is neerer the earth? But they whose profession it is to see that nothing bee donne in heaven without theyr consent (as Kepler sayes in himselfe of all Astrologers) have bidd Mercury to bee nearer.

The editor’s note suggests that Donne is following the Ptolemaic geocentric system rather than the recently proposed heliocentric system. In his Devotions upon Emergent Occasions of 1623 Donne castigates those who imagine that there are other peopled worlds, saying:

Men that inhere upon Nature only, are so far from thinking, that there is anything singular in this world, as that they will scarce thinke, that this world it selfe is singular, but that every Planet, and every Starre, is another world like this; They finde reason to conceive, not onely a pluralitie in every Species in the world, but a pluralitie of worlds;

There are also a number of letters written in the 1650s and 1660s between Thomas Hobbes and Claude Mylon, Francois de Verdus, and Samuel Sorbière concerning the geometry of planetary motion.

William Lilly’s chapter on Mars in his Christian Astrology (1647), is a blend of the scientific and the metaphoric. He is correct that Mars orbits the sun in around two years ‘one yeer 321 dayes, or thereabouts’, and he lists in great detail the attributes of Mars: the plants, sicknesses, qualities associated with the planet. And he states that among the other planets, Venus is his only friend.

There are few areas of knowledge where myth, metaphor, and science are as continuously connected as that pertaining to space and the universe. Our origins, our meaning systems, and our destinies — whatever our religious beliefs — are bound up with this unimaginably large emptiness, furnished with distant bodies that show us their lights, lights which may have been extinguished in actuality millenia ago. Only death is more mysterious, and many of our beliefs about life and death are also bound up with the mysteries of the universe. That is why we remain so fascinated with Mars.

Marilyn Deegan is Professor Emerita in the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College, University of London. She has published widely on textual editing and digital imaging. Her book publications include Digital Futures: Strategies for the Information Age (with Simon Tanner, 2002), Digital Preservation (edited volume, with Simon Tanner, 2006), Text Editing, Print and the Digital World (edited volume, with Kathryn Sutherland, 2008), and Transferred Illusions: Digital Technology and the Forms of Print (with Kathryn Sutherland, 2009). She is editor of the journal Literary and Linguistics Computing and has worked on numerous digitization projects in the arts and humanities. Read Marilyn’s blog post where she looks at the evolution of electronic publishing.

Oxford Scholarly Editions Online (OSEO) is a major new publishing initiative from Oxford University Press. The launch content (as at September 2012) includes the complete text of more than 170 scholarly editions of material written between 1485 and 1660, including all of Shakespeare’s plays and the poetry of John Donne, opening up exciting new possibilities for research and comparison. The collection is set to grow into a massive virtual library, ultimately including the entirety of Oxford’s distinguished list of authoritative scholarly editions.

Oxford University Press’ annual Place of the Year, celebrating geographically interesting and inspiring places, coincides with its publication of Atlas of the World – the only atlas published annually — now in its 19th Edition. The Nineteenth Edition includes new census information, dozens of city maps, gorgeous satellite images of Earth, and a geographical glossary, once again offering exceptional value at a reasonable price. Read previous blog posts in our Place of the Year series.

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The post Written in the stars appeared first on OUPblog.

John Evelyn is best known for his Diary, second only in reputation to that of his friend and fellow diarist, Samuel Pepys. But during the seventeenth century, as well as recording the events of the English Civil War, the Restoration of Charles II and the Great Fire of London, he was also writing notes on the upkeep of his garden at Sayes Court, London ‘which may be of use for other gardens’. In the post below, OUP UK Publicity Manager (and our resident green-fingered garden expert) Juliet Evans chooses a selection of her favourite top gardening tips from Directions for the Gardiner and Other Horticultural Advice.

Give now also all your hous’d plants (such as you do not think requisite to take out) fresh Earth at the surface, in place of some of the old Earth (a hand-depth or so) and loosning the rest with a fork, without wounding the Roots: let this be of excellent rich soil, such as is thoroughly consumed, and will first, that it may wash in the vertue*, and comfort the plant: Brush and cleanse them likewise from the dust contracted during their Enclosure. These two last directions have till now been kept as considerable Secrets amongst our Gard’ners…

[* trace elements/the goodness in the soil]

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(March) Now do the farewell-frosts, and Easterly-winds prejudice your choicest Tulips, and spot them; therefore cover such with Mats or Canvas to prevent freckles, and sometimes destruction.

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Never cast the water upon plants newly planted, nor on flowers, as Auricula, Hepatica, primeroses, or other fibrous plants, but at some convenient distance; so as to moisten the earth about the Roots, and not wett the leaves; for it makes them apt to scorch.

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One may sow Reddish, & Carrots together on the same bed: so as the first may be drawn, whilst the other is ready: or sow Lettuce, purselan, parsneps, carrots, Reddis on the same beds, & gather each kind in their season, leaving the parsneps to Winter.

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Prepare all Dung & Composts before winter, that it may be frosted, & become short, sweete & mellow.

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The Tooles are to be carried into the Toole-house, and all other instruments set in their places, every night when you leave work: & in wett weather you are to clense, sharpen, & repaire them.

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Fruit-Trees, which are planted by Walles, as peaches, Apricots, &c: are best watred by pouring it in at holes, made halfe a foote, or more from the stem (but not so deepe as to wound the rootes) with a wooden stake pointed. Make up of good rich water, especially during the time the Fruite is forming: and at other dry seasons.

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‘The Gardiner should walke aboute the whole Gardens every Monday-morning duely, not omitting the least corner, and so observe what Flowers or Trees & plants want staking, binding and redressing, watering, or are in danger; especially after greate storms, & high winds and then immediately to reforme, establish, shade, water &c what he finds amisse, before he go about any other work.’

John Evelyn is best known for his Diary, second only in reputation to that of his friend and fellow diarist, Samuel Pepys. But during the seventeenth century, as well as recording the events of the English Civil War, the Restoration of Charles II and the Great Fire of London, he was also writing notes on the upkeep of his garden at Sayes Court, London ‘which may be of use for other gardens’. Publicity Manager Juliet Evans delves into Directions for the Gardiner to unearth some horticultural tips from our gardening past…

May is definitely Gardening Month in the UK. After a particularly cold winter here, we gardeners are looking forward to warmer temperatures - and to finally planting out the trays of tender crops and flowers which have been filling up those window sills and conservatories over the last month. May is also the month for one of the highlights of the gardening calendar: the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, which took place last week.

Chelsea is an amazing event - and always a sell-out. As usual, there were the fantastic show gardens such as the ones sponsored by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, and Laurent-Perrier but, with the credit crunch biting hard, there was an even greater emphasis on ‘thrift’ and ‘self-sufficiency‘ in many of the gardens this year. And the public can always catch a bargain – as I did – in the show’s great ‘great sell-off’ at 4pm on the last day of the show.

Whereas gardening today is a leisure activity, for Evelyn and his seventeenth-century contemporaries it was primarily a means of sustenance, and essential for providing fruit and vegetables throughout the year. In Directions for the Gardiner and Other Horticultural Advice, Evelyn covers every aspect of running a self-sufficient garden, and here‘s just some of fascinating and practical advice for gardeners.

Seventeenth-century meals were very much based on seasonal produce: “The Gardner, is every night to aske what Rootes, sallading, garnishing, &c will be used the next day, which he is accordingly to bring to the Cook in the morning: and therefore from time to time to informe her what garden provision & fruite is ripe and in season to be spent.” and very little was wasted. On the ’to do’ list for the three months from August, was the making of cider and perry from all the excess apples and pears in the orchard. Evelyn names over 154 pear and 75 apple varieties in his manuscripts, including some fantastic names such as ’Great-belly’, and ’Go-no-further’. The production of honey was also important (sugar was rare and expensive) and bees and the housekeeping of hives are mentioned during at least seven separate months in the gardening calendar.

Although Evelyn was a substantial landowner (his estate at Sayes Court was about 100 acres/40 hectares, and he also inherited his father‘s estate at Wotton House) he was able to advise on the benefits of companion planting in small spaces: ‘One may sow Reddish, & Carrots together on the same bed: so as the first may be drawn, whilst the other is ready: or sow Lettuce, purselan, parsneps, carrots, Reddis on the same beds, & gather each kind in their season, leaving the parsneps to Winter.‘ And at a time when there were few seed merchants or nurseries, Evelyn reminds his readers about the necessity of collecting, saving and sowing seeds from every type of plant - including tulips, which amazed me having ordered the bulbs over so many years.

He also recommends many activities that today’s gardeners would do well to follow in the winter months to avoid unnecessary new purchases: fountain pipes should be protected against the frost: ‘the Advice will save you both trouble and charge’ and ‘The Tooles are to be carried into the Toole-house, and all other instruments set in their places, every night when you leave work: & in wett weather you are to clense, sharpen, & repaire them.’ (Indeed, Evelyn insisted that his gardener show him any broken tool to prove it was beyond repair before he allowed him to buy a new one).

And as I do battle with my own allotment this year, the most relevant gardening tip for me has to be ‘Above all, be carefull not to suffer weedes (especially Nettles, Dendelion, Groundsill, & all downy-plants) to run up to seede; for they will in a moment infect the whole ground…’

John Evelyn lived to the grand old age of 85. He left behind an immense legacy of written material to fascinate and inspire today’s gardeners and historians. It is our good fortune that even after three hundred years we can still learn from someone Samuel Pepys called ‘a man so much above others’.