Life After The Wanderings
Political Commentaries
| John
Bull and the National Debt |
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In 1812, a seedling from a nearby filbert tree took root inside this abandoned millstone. The tree survived for many years, eventually lifting the millstone in 1863 to a height of around 8 inches to one foot (20 - 30 cm). The parent stem died in November 1864, to be replaced by a new shoot. There are still filbert trees in Walton Park, several being near the canal wall. "This fortuitous occurrence and destructive position, as well as the singularly unique altitude for a mill-stone to occupy, coupled with what must eventually be the result of this ponderous, hard, and inelastic mass of dead matter, induced Mr. Waterton to name this extraordinary combination, 'John Bull and the National Debt.' We can not, for a moment, doubt, that this accidental and unnatural union was, for a long period, a great discouragement to the healthy growth of vegetation, simply from its grasping embrace. Nor can we doubt that the weight of the stone has been a most disastrous drag around the neck of the filbert-tree, whatever eight hundred million pounds sterling may have been around the neck of our nation." Charles Waterton, His Home, Habits & Handiwork, Richard Hobson |
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| The Noctifier | ||||||
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The
Noctifier (Spirit of the Night or Dark Ages) |
1."Some
Account of the Writer of the Following Essays", by himself.
Charles Waterton writing in the First Series of his Essays on
Natural History, Chiefly Ornithology, Longman, Brown, Longmans,
& Roberts, London, 1857. 2."Wanderings in South America", Charles Waterton, ed. Rev. JG Wood, Macmillan & Co., London, 1880. 3. "Essays on Natural History", Charles Waterton, ed. Norman Moore, Frederick Warne & Co., Covent Garden, London. |
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Dr.
Richard Hobson at his ease beneath the filbert tree. Engraving
from a contemporary photograph. (Richard Hobson)
