Greek Books of Common Prayer and Heirs Apparent

I had to revisit an old bit of cataloging yesterday when a customer demanded that I justify my claim that a little Book of Common Prayer published by Samuel Bagster was indeed published in 1820. There was of course no date in the book itself. In the course of the researches I learnt the difference between being Heir Presumptive and Heir Apparent to the British throne. So will you if you read on.

I had worked out all this about the date months ago when I first catalogued the book, but yesterday had to retrace my steps.

The first hurdle was to find the listing on the British Library database. They actually list the title in Greek and I have not worked out if one can put Greek letters into their search. The secret is to search for "liturgies" and "Samuel Bagster" and then a list of their Prayer Books comes up. At the end are two editions of this Greek BCP, for 1820 and 1823.

At this point the detective work becomes more complicated. Looking at the prayers for the King and Royal Family in our copy one sees that the King prayed for is George, and the Prince of Wales (if my reading of the Greek is correct) was also called George.

George III died in 1820. While he was alive the Prince of Wales was the Prince Regent, who became George VI after him. So there was a period in 1820 while George III was alive when he
was king and there was a George, Prince of Wales. This fits with our copy of the Prayer Book.

Whereas the 1823 edition does not fit. By 1823 the king was still called George (ie. George IV) but there was no Prince of Wales as he did not have a son. His heir was his younger brother William, who, however, was Heir Presumptive and not Heir Apparent. Only Heirs Apparent can be made Prince of Wales, so William was not made Prince of Wales.

An Heir Apparent is someone who whatever happens, will be the next occupant of the throne. As the law stands at present males are always considered first amongst the offspring of a monarch, so the eldest son would automatically be Heir Apparent. However, if there is not a son, then the next in line to the throne is just Heir Presumptive - they will inherit the throne if the king dies tomorrow, but in the long term they may be downgraded from their position if the monarch has a son. This was the case with George IV's brother William. In theory George might have sired a son at any time, in which case William would not inherit the throne.

There was a similar case when George VI was king from the 1930s till 1951. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was Heir Presumptive but not Heir Apparent as in theory her father might have fathered a son before he died. He didn't of course, and she did become our present Queen.

Joys of Recumbent Cycling

As I may have mentioned before one of the delights of my life is to go out on my recumbent bicycle. I don't go far, not far enough anyway, but it is exercise and relaxation. Cambridge is quite a good place for any sort of cycling. There's the very flat Fens if you want to go fast, but if you want gentle hills then east and south there are the chalk downs near Newmarket. Of course the wind gets you on the flat bits. My father was stationed at the Mildenhall RAF base during the war and he cycled into Cambridge sometimes - its about 25 miles I think - and like everyone he used to complain that the wind was always against you, going and coming.

Whenever I can (which means whenever it isn't too wet) I join a cycle ride on Friday lunchtimes. A few of us, mostly on recumbents, meet on Stourbridge Common, about half a mile from where I live, and cycle somewhere, usually to a pub, and after a drink we cycle back. It isn't strenuous, but it is sociable and fun. Last Friday we did the towpath up the river Cam to Waterbeach, our most frequent stopping point. A heartily windy day, which showed when we had to portage round a fallen-down tree.

I got a friend to take some pictures of me when we left the pub, just to give an idea of what I look like in all my recumbent glory. Though I am afraid I was too fast for his camera. The only bit of me that came out well was the rear-view mirror I clip to my specs. And really, I should point out that I am not really so fat. The camera lies.

The Tablet's Racing Correspondent

I like The Tablet. I read it every week almost from cover to cover. It recently got a new editor and is even better than it was before. Though it is Roman Catholic its articles run the whole gamut of religious, social and political interest.

However, the new editor has introduced a racing correspondent who submits occasional articles. Last week it was on hunting in Ireland. Maybe I am a bit of a puritan, but a religious weekly journal having a racing correspondent? To me its as bad as having a brothels correspondent, or a "Paedophile Priest of the Week" profile. I just don't get it. As far as I am concerned the gambling industry is on a par with the sex industry. And gambling is what horse racing is about, not handsome animals.

Axis of Evil?

In the last few years the United States government under George Bush has been apt to use the expression Axis of Evil to describe some of its perceived enemies. It is a term related to the earlier Reagan use of Evil Empire to describe the cold war enemy, the Soviet Union.

But in this week which "celebrates" the fifth anniversary of the setting up of the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba the expression Evil Empire can I am afraid only be applied to one government, that of Bush himself.

For a government which sets itself up as the guardian of the liberties of the world to incarcerate without trial men it considers to be enemies is the most despicable and cynical move. Yes, the USA did suffer grievously in the attacks of 9/11, but to kidnap people all over the world and at best let them rot and go mad, and at worst torture them for five long years, is the course of action of a rogue state, not a civilised one.

Countries which abide by the rule of law charge and try suspected criminals. They do not lock them up without trial, on mere suspicion. It is already clear that many of those so "rendered" to Guantanamo were totally innocent. If the US has a case against others it should make it in an open court of law.

The one hope is that the recent elections in America show that the American people are beginning to see through Bush and his neocon cronies. The USA can only be seen by the rest of the world as a strong and admired leader when it lives up to its high ideals. Bush has tarnished its name.

As I was saying...

For the last few years I've had my own blog, called "Editorial" on my website. It's been a place for photos, comments, opinions, holiday diaries. Now I have been persuaded that it will be a lot less work (and look better) if I put it all on a professional site like this one. So here goes. The old Editorials will still be accessible from my website.

One of this differences between that and this is that there will be able to be some comeback here. Not sure I like the idea. Pontificating from a pulpit without any chance of being contradicted is more my style, but this may be better. And maybe no-one will read this anyway, let alone make comments on it.

This probably won't link to my website in the first instance, so a brief intro to bridge the gap. I sell secondhand theological books on the web. Its a funny way to make a living - I'll be commenting on that as I go along. My views on the world will come out in due course as well.

The website itself is at www.lundbooks.co.uk

Drove to Aylesbury today. Took nearly two hours. Satnav (Miss Piggy is what I call her - a very domineering woman) worked fine for once - getting me there. Once I tried to use it to come home it seized up and insisted that I had to download the software again, which of course I couldn't being out in the bush. But now I am home it is working fine. That's satnav for you.

The whole reason for the journey was to look at some books on offer. When I arrived the owner announced I had to take them all if I took any. A stupid thing to say. Pointless my buying a carload of books when there were about a dozen at most that were worth anything to me. So I took none of the mostly dirty, creased, tumbled-together collection.

Fortunately wasted trips like this are rare - I usually manage to sort out the chaff from the wheat before I get as far as travelling halfway across the country. But he had promised Barth. Barth? There were no books by him at all.