The original Scriblerus Club was founded in 1712. It included Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Alexander Pope (1688-1744), John Gay (1685-1732), John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751), Thomas Parnell (1679-1718) and Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (1661-1724), who joined the club meetings occasionally. Some of the meetings took place at a London coffeehouse -- The Rose. Jonathan Swift's "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift" of 1739 describes one such meeting:
Suppose me dead! and then suppose
A club assembled at the Rose;
Where, from discourse of this and that,
A club assembled at the Rose;
Where, from discourse of this and that,
I grow the subject of their chat. ...
The literary club of 1712 began with a clear purpose: to ridicule abuses of learning, false erudition, scholarly jargon and other such "vices" that prevail in modern times as well. To paraphrase Mark Twain -- we depend on our eyes even though our imagination is out of focus. Similar to its model, the Scriblerus selects its topics from the vast spectrum of human learning -- the kinds of things that ignite my curiosity. For example, what are the connections between Solomon's Temple, S. Francesco della Vigna and the Pythagorean triangle? Or, what is the common denominator between Plato's Timaeus, Lamantations of Jeremiah, Virgil's Aeneid, Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians and musical compositions? These are just a few of my favorite topics, and anyone that shares my interests can read the blog and offer feedback, which for obvious reasons, can't happen at The Rose. Unfortunate? Perhaps. Let's then try to keep the spirit of The Rose alive through the use of this blog.
The literary club of 1712 began with a clear purpose: to ridicule abuses of learning, false erudition, scholarly jargon and other such "vices" that prevail in modern times as well. To paraphrase Mark Twain -- we depend on our eyes even though our imagination is out of focus. Similar to its model, the Scriblerus selects its topics from the vast spectrum of human learning -- the kinds of things that ignite my curiosity. For example, what are the connections between Solomon's Temple, S. Francesco della Vigna and the Pythagorean triangle? Or, what is the common denominator between Plato's Timaeus, Lamantations of Jeremiah, Virgil's Aeneid, Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians and musical compositions? These are just a few of my favorite topics, and anyone that shares my interests can read the blog and offer feedback, which for obvious reasons, can't happen at The Rose. Unfortunate? Perhaps. Let's then try to keep the spirit of The Rose alive through the use of this blog.
