Raynah Thomas
January 11th 2009
Extract from a letter from Erasmus Darwin (Grandfather of Charles Darwin) to Matther Boulton, one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of Birmingham.
“Dear Boulton,
I am sorry the infernal divinities who visit mankind with diseases, and are therefore at perpetual war with the Doctors, should have prevented my seeing all your great men at Soho to-day. Lord! What inventions, what wit, what rhetoric metaphysical, mechanical and pyrotechnical, will be on the wing bandied like a shuttlecock from one to another of you troop of philosophers, while poor I, I by myself, I, imprison’d in a postchaise, am joggled and jostled and bump’d and bruised along the King’s highroad, to make war upon a stomach-ache or a fever.”
I love the melody and rhythm of his words and am sad that few people today have such skills. Birmingham is my home city and I am proud of its heritage as well as its modern-day face.
I was saddened today to visit the Jewellery Quarter in search of a birthday gift, to find it looking tired, worn and in need of some repair. I didn’t get the gift I was looking for, however, I did get an opportunity to photograph the sculpture outside the station there, which pays homage to the industries that made Birmingham the city it is.
January 11th 2009
Extract from a letter from Erasmus Darwin (Grandfather of Charles Darwin) to Matther Boulton, one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of Birmingham.
“Dear Boulton,
I am sorry the infernal divinities who visit mankind with diseases, and are therefore at perpetual war with the Doctors, should have prevented my seeing all your great men at Soho to-day. Lord! What inventions, what wit, what rhetoric metaphysical, mechanical and pyrotechnical, will be on the wing bandied like a shuttlecock from one to another of you troop of philosophers, while poor I, I by myself, I, imprison’d in a postchaise, am joggled and jostled and bump’d and bruised along the King’s highroad, to make war upon a stomach-ache or a fever.”
I love the melody and rhythm of his words and am sad that few people today have such skills. Birmingham is my home city and I am proud of its heritage as well as its modern-day face.
I was saddened today to visit the Jewellery Quarter in search of a birthday gift, to find it looking tired, worn and in need of some repair. I didn’t get the gift I was looking for, however, I did get an opportunity to photograph the sculpture outside the station there, which pays homage to the industries that made Birmingham the city it is.