Two large potatoes pass’d through kitchen sieve,
Smoothness and softness to the salad give;
Of mordent mustard add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites too soon;
But deem it not thou man of herbs a fault,
To add a double quantity of salt;
Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town;
True flavour needs it, and your poet begs,
The pounded yellow of two well boiled eggs;
Let onion’s atoms lurk within the bowl,
And scarce suspected animate the whole: and lastly in the flavour’d compound toss,
A magic spoonful of anchovy sauce:
O great and glorious, O herbaceous treat,
‘Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat;
Back to the world he’d turn his weary soul,
And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl!

Discovered in an 1832 expenses diary belonging Thomas Batcheldor, Chapter Clerk (SGC M.876/1), this is a copy of recipe for salad dressing written in rhyme by the Reverend Sydney Smith, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, a well known wit who died in 1845.

Clare (Archivist & Chapter Librarian)

Frontispiece from the book on farming & agriculture by J. Worlidge

John Worlidge’s ‘Systema Agriculturae’ is a seventeenth century guide advising ‘the Gentry and Yeomanry of England’ on all aspects of agriculture and farming.

The work was first published in 1669 and was tremendously successful – within fifty years five editions had appeared. It collated existing knowledge and practices into a single accessible volume and contributed greatly to Worlidge’s reputation as an early exponent of British agriculture as an industry to be developed and modernised.

The frontispiece of this volume offers a quirky introduction to the work as a whole with a printed image of an idealised farm providing a background for the title. The image is accompanied by a poem which calls on the reader to:

‘First cast your Eye upon a Rustick Seat,
Built strong and plain, yet well contriv’d and neat’

The poem then guides the reader around the image whilst summarising all that Worlidge considers important on a well-run English farm.

Worlidge offers his readers sound common sense and information on the latest technological developments; encouraging farmers to improve and modernise their lands. Despite this, Worlidge does not dismiss traditional country customs; a large section of Systema agriculturae is dedicated to ‘Prognosticks’ such as:

‘If the hair of dogs smell stronger than usual, or their guts rumble and make a noise, it presageth, Rain or Snow’ (p303).

 This advice may appear antiquated and superstitious; but in an age before accurate, scientific weather reporting was widely available, signs and portents were an important aspect of agricultural life.

Worlidge’s wide ranging book covers the planting and care of various species of fruit tree; the care of livestock; technological developments in farm machinery; animal husbandry; even the relative merits of different animal manures as fertilizer. Thus, the frontispiece poem concludes:

‘Peruse the Book, for here you only see
The following Subject in Epitome.’

Kelda (Archives Assistant)

St George’s Chapel Archives holds the personal papers of Henry John Ellison. They were presented to the chapel in 1994 by Mrs Jane Ellison, a Widow of a Gerald Ellison, who was one of Henry John Ellison’s descendants. Further records were presented in 1999 by Mrs E H Colville, great-granddaughter of Ellison.

Ellison was most famous for the time he spent helping set up the Church of England Temperance Society in 1862, which he was chairman of until 1891. He was also vicar of Brighton (1840-43), of Edensor (1845-55), of New Windsor and reader at Windsor Castle (1855-75). Ellison was a notable activist in supporting prohibition and was very much for the banning of alcohol.

Some of the letters and documents received include information on Ellison’s work at Windsor, with a request from Gerald Wellesley, Dean of Windsor 1854-1882, offering Ellison the parish of New Windsor. His work in Windsor was appreciated so much that a silver medallion was presented to him by the Windsor Working Men’s Temperance Society in 1881.

There are also personal letters written to and from Ellison during his time as founder and Chairman of the Temperance Society. Finally, the collection contains letters of thanks and words of wellbeing sent to Ellison during his illness which forced him to abdicate his role as Chairman.

Additional papers have recently been deposited in the Archives which will further add to this collection. These are currently undergoing cataloguing and will be available for research shortly.

Layla Holden, Chloe Roach, Mollie White (Windsor Girls’ School)