THE REVEREND STEPHEN DUCK NARRATIVE HISTORY AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

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1 THE NARRATIVE HISTORY AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY Reverend Stephen Duck Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project

2 1705 Stephen Duck was born at Charlton, near Pewsey Vale in Wiltshire, England. He would teach himself to read, and to write verse, while working on a farm in his youth, and then go into seclusion on a mountain in Wales. 1 NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT 1. Note that although the Reverend Duck lived for various periods as a hermit, he also married three times and was a father, and occasionally functioned acceptably as a minister.

3 1730 Impressed by the Reverend Stephen Duck s success in attracting the patronage of Queen Caroline (the consort of King George II of England) by means of a poem entitled THE THRESHER S LABOUR, (Queen Caroline s coat of arms was well quartered indeed) John Bancks put out THE WEAVER S MISCELLANY. No patronage would result and he soon would be reduced to shutting up his bookstall and taking employment in the bookshop of another. LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? NO, THAT S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN S STORIES. LIFE ISN T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. Reverend Stephen Duck Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project

4 1733 Queen Caroline presented Stephen Duck with the sinecure post Governor of Duck Island in St. James s Park, London. THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT Reverend Stephen Duck Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project

5 1735 November 15, Saturday (Old Style): According to The Craftsman (the author of the magazine s account may have been Henry Fielding), Queen Caroline installed a 30-year-old Welsh recluse, Stephen Duck, as her resident hermit in her Merlin s Cave at her Richmond Gardens: 2 Instead of a dark, and doleful Cavern upon the Mountains of Wales, inhabited by Fiends, He hath now a fine new Apartment erected for Him, upon one of the most beautiful Spots in England, where He is constantly visited by the Great, the Gay, and the Powerful, of both Sexes. Instead of the rattling of Chains, and the Groans of unhappy Sprights, his Ears are now feasted with the Melody of Birds, and other delightful Musick, both natural and artificial. The Works of the Learned surround Him, and the celebrated Mr. Stephen Duck is both his House-keeper, and his Poet-Laureat. 2. See THE DICTIONARY OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY, Volume 95.

6 1736 The Reverend Joseph Butler s ANALOGY OF RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED demonstrated that since there was but one author both of the course of nature and of the Bible as revealed sacred literature God himself there could not conceivably ever be any actual disagreement between these two. It was as safe to study nature as to study the Bible! One might well illuminate the true meaning of the other! They are in fact complementary! One s natural desires usually tend to reinforce one s moral impulses and can function as an aid to conscience (he got this out of Arrian s DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS). On the advice of Lancelot Blackburne, the Reverend Butler was made head chaplain (clerk of the closet) to King George II s wife, Queen Caroline. Stephen Duck s On Mites dates to the period during which he was being introduced to high society as a natural genius. The epigraph he uses for this poem is from Matthew Prior s A Simile, which presented poets as if they were caged squirrels. To a Lady Tis but by way of Simile. PRIOR ON MITES Dear Madam, did you never gaze, Thro Optic-glass, on rotten Cheese? There, Madam, did you ne er perceive A Crowd of dwarfish Creatures live? The little Things, elate with Pride, Strut to and from, from Side to Side: In tiny Pomp, and pertly vain, Lords of their pleasing Orb, they reign; And, fill d with harden d Curds and Cream, Think the whole Dairy made for them. So Men, conceited Lords of all, Walk proudly o er this pendent Ball, Fond of their little Spot below, Nor greater Beings care to know; But think, those Worlds, which deck the Skies, Were only form d to please their Eyes. TO THE QUEEN: MADAM,...

7 1745 Thomas Morell had been serving unofficially as the curate of the chapel of St Anne in Kew Green for several years, on the stipend of a sub-curate, but when in this year he asked the nonresident vicar for an increase, he was instead dismissed. He persuaded Queen Caroline to commission a commentary on John Locke for her grotto at Kew (this would be published posthumously in 1794 as NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS ON LOCKE ON THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING). The Queen, however, selected as her personal preacher not him but the reclusive Reverend Stephen Duck.

8 1746 Stephen Duck was ordained, becoming a clergyman. DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD. At some point, for unknown reasons, the Reverend Stephen Duck lapsed from royal favor. Reverend Stephen Duck Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project

9 1756 The hermit Stephen Duck drowned himself on some date between March 30th and April 2d.

10 1762 Mary Collier (1690?-circa 1762) s POEMS, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, BY MARY COLLIER, AUTHOR OF THE WASHERWOMAN S LABOUR, WITH SOME REMARKS ON HER LIFE (Winchester: Printed by Mary Ayres; for the Author. 1762) included an elegy for the Welsh poet, the Reverend Stephen Duck, who at one point, in 1735, had been captivated by Queen Caroline in a cutesy hermit abode in her Kew estate garden: An Elegy Upon Stephen Duck. In murmuring Strains, I lately heard it Said, The Muse s Darling, Reverend Duck is dead. Impartial Death by one untimely blow Has snatch d away from Mortals here below, That wond rous Man, in whom alone did join A Thresher, Poet, Courtier, and Divine. And while a Labourer of mean degree, The Ornament, and Grace of Poverty: Upon that State in high and lofty Rhyme, Bravely attempts Parnassus s Hill to Clime; And quickly after by Fame s loud Report, Remov d from his lowly Cot and call d to Court. A Gracious Queen being charm d with the Lyre, While Noble Peers his Nat ral parts Admire; Advanc d, caress d, and favour d more and more, Nor ceased till the Rev rend Gown he wore. Immortal Duck how happy hadst thou been Belov d by Lords Respected by a Queen? How doubly Blest couldst thou have kept with thee, The sweet companion of thy Poverty? That true content and inward peace of mind, Which in thy humble Cottage thou didst find. Which oft doth to the poor and mean retreat But seldom dwells among the Rich, or Great. The want of wit thy pleasure turnd to pain, Thy Life a Burthen, and thy Death a Stain. So have I Seen in a fair Summers Morn, Bright Phoebus s Beams the Hills and Dales adorn, With Flow rs and Shrubs their fragrant Sweets display, And Warbling Birds foretell a Chearfull Day: When on a Sudden some dark Clouds arise, Obscures the Sun and overspreads the Skies; The Birds are Silent, plants contract their bloom, The Glorious Day ends in a dismal gloom. MAGISTERIAL HISTORY IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY Reverend Stephen Duck Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project

11 COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this read-only computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace resulting in navigation problems allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the Stack of the Artist of Kouroo Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC Please contact the project at <Kouroo@kouroo.info>. It s all now you see. Yesterday won t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago. Remark by character Garin Stevens in William Faulkner s INTRUDER IN THE DUST Prepared: September 26, 2014

12 ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT GENERATION HOTLINE This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested that we pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot Laura (as above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such a request for information we merely push a button.

13 Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and recompile the chronology but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary writerly process you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world. First come first serve. There is no charge. Place requests with <Kouroo@kouroo.info>. Arrgh.