29. Viral thoughts

Cover of the Spring 2020 Primrose magazine: useful reading matter during a period of self-isolation. The striking image is of Fairlynch Museum's door knob

So where are my thoughts about Roger Conant in these distressing times, I ask myself. Irrelevant? And museum exhibitions? Is there any point if there are no visitors? What can I write about in the museum magazine that I edit? It's unlikely to be distributed by our usual volunteers, most of whom are over 70.  Yet my mind is filled with a cascade of thoughts inspired by the stuff of museums and brought on by news that we're still, thankfully, receiving through the media:

'We've been the lucky generation, unscathed by a world war.'  

'Yet this Covid19 thing can be fatal, especially for my generation.' 

'But it's only a three-day event: I feel healthy from all that gardening, and if I get it I'll soon recover'. 

'But shops are already rationing items, just like WW2.' 

'And I read that if it gets really bad, there won't be medical help for over-65s'. 

‘Just think of Syria for a few seconds.' 

The Boundary Stone, Eyam, Derbyshire, with holes believed to be where coins soaked in vinegar were placed for trade during the quarantine of the Bubonic Plague outbreak

Image credit: Smb1001  

And finally, because I have an interest in history, I think of real disasters from the past. Of Ring a Ring of Roses and the story of the heroic villagers of Eyam in Derbyshire who self-isolated during the Great Plague of 1665-6. Could vinegar be used for hand washing if we run out of soap? 

Village of the Secotan Indians in North Carolina, by John White (1585) Collection of the British Museum, London 

John White's watercolour: The town of Pomeoc and some of their houses (1585)Collection of the British Museum, London 

Ceremony of Secotan warriors in North Carolina. 

Watercolour painted by John White in 1585. 

Collection of the British Museum, London 

And then, because I'm currently fascinated by Europeans' discovery of the New World and the lives of Sir Walter Raleigh and Roger Conant I think of their experiences of America. Of Raleigh's friend the artist John White and his wonderful watercolours of Native American life. 

They seem to have been entranced by what seemed to be a veritable Arcadia: peaceful villages, fertile gardens and simple age-old traditions. 

Native Americans afflicted by disease thought to have been introduced by Europeans  http://nativeamericannetroots.net/

And then came what they called The Great Dying. Smallpox and other diseases, introduced, according to most experts, by Europeans.  

King James I of England and VI of Scotland, c.1606: believer in Divine Right.  After John De Critz the Elder (c.1551-1642) National Portrait Gallery

The most chilling and unpleasant thought that I've had about such life-threatening diseases was expressed by none other than our King James I, writing about what had befallen the indigenous population of America:

“Within these late years, there hath, by God’s visitation, reigned a wonderful plague, the utter destruction, devastation, and depopulation of that whole territory, so as there is not left any that do claim or challenge any kind of interest therein. We, in our judgment, are persuaded and satisfied, that the appointed time is come in which Almighty God, in his great goodness and bounty towards us, and our people, hath thought fit and determined, that those large and goodly territories, deserted as it were by their natural inhabitants, should be possessed and enjoyed by such of our subjects.” 

For pure evil that thought is matched by the view in a recent newsletter reportedly issued by the terrorist group ISIS which describes the coronavirus outbreak as divinely ordained. It states that 'Ilnesses do not strike by themselves but by the command and decree of God.' 

I've got to end with a positive thought. When we get through all this, perhaps the world will indeed be a better place thanks to even more intense medical cooperation between nations which had previously been in conflict. 

You can read more about King James I and the Great Dying at https://historicipswich.org/2017/09/01/the-great-dying/

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