Sackcloth and Ashes

I can't believe that I've let the blog lie fallow for so long. I had promised myself to update it daily, and I will try to do so from now on.

My only excuse is that I was over on the other coast for two weeks enjoying the company of children and grandchildren, telling them stories and playing while pretty much ignoring Henry. One of the stories I told will need to be written down soon, since it is entirely my own and it was quite popular with the kids.

Be that as it may, I have grown lax and must reinspire myself.

I am in the middle of Chapter 5 of the narrative and I am delighting in the fact that Henry is failing to recognize an opportunity to go straight with the assistance of a powerful businessman who thinks that Henry, the consummate liar, might make a good salesman.

I'm also in the process of writing a letter of intent that I hope will open the doors of rare book rooms, historical societies, and special collections. There is a meeting of the Salem Historical Society next week and I hope to meet some fanatics there, but most of my hopes are pinned to my requests for access to the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Public Library's Rare Book Room and a couple of other sun-sources.

As a final note tonight, someone suggested recently that I was doing a disservice to the writing since "back then everybody wrote like that". But that is not true. The florid prose of Henry's narrative was NOT common to the time. One book that is a particular favorite of mine is "The Itinerarium of Doctor Alexander Hamilton". It is the journal of his travels (1624 miles) from May to September of 1744. It is witty and intelligent but it is also simple and clear with none of the ornamentations and complications of the prose used in Henry's tome.

I stand my ground.