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Guide to Daily Reading | Good Grief!

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Today in the year 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert drowned.

That infallible source:

Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583)[1] of Compton in the parish of Marldon and of Greenway in the parish of Churston Ferrers,[2] both in Devon, England, was an adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.[1] He was a maternal half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh and a cousin of Sir Richard Grenville.[1]

On 9 September, Squirrel was nearly overwhelmed but recovered.[1] Despite the persuasions of others, who wished him to take to the larger vessel, Gilbert stayed put and was observed sitting in the stern of his frigate, reading a book.The last moments of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, by Edward Ollier (c. 1900)

When Golden Hind came within hailing distance, the crew heard Gilbert cry out repeatedly, “We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land!” as he lifted his palm to the skies to illustrate his point.

His frigate was swallowed by the sea near the Azores in September. He and all hands downed. Sounds like a hurricane to me.

Daily Reading

Scorn not the Sonnet

Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
Mindless of its just honours; with this key
Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody
Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch’s wound;
A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;
With it Camöens soothed an exile’s grief;
The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf
Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned
His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp,
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land
To struggle through dark ways; and, when a damp
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand
The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew
Soul-animating strains—alas, too few!

That’s it for today. Stay well, etc.