Edward Lear Bicentennial Year

Mr. Abekika Kratopomoko Prizzikalo Kattefello Ablegorabalus Sableborinto Phashyph or Chakonoton the Cozovex Dossi Fossi Sini Tomentilla Coronilla Plentilla Battledore & Shuttlecock Derry down derry Dumps, as he was wont to introduce himself was born 200 years ago this year.

Gardeners recognize him by a number of limericks celebrating the hobby as well as the inventor of some wonderful mock botanical names.

There was a young lady of Greenwich, Whose garment’s were border’d with spinach But a large Spotty Calf Bit her shawl quite in half, Which alarmed that young lady of Greenwich. There was an Old Man of Vienna, Who lived upon Tincture of Senna; When that did not agree He took Chamomile Tea, That nasty Old Man of Vienna

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There was an Old Man who said, ‘Hush! I perceive a young bird in this bush!’ When they said, ‘Is it small?’ He replied, ‘Not at all! It is four times as big as the bush!’

And what gardener could resist his pseudo-plants, such as Manypeeplia upsidownia, often accompanied by a delightful sketch of the botanical marvel? Or read about those arboreal wonders, the Bong Tree and Crumpetty Tree. And learn that ‘On the coast of Coromandel/ Where the early pumpkins blow.’ Often forgotten, however, is the fact that Edward Lear was primarily a renown scientific illustrator in an age that was remarkable for such achievements. As early as 18, he was already recognized for his superb water colours of birds in Illustrations of the Family Psittacidae, or Parrots (1830-32), of major scientific importance. This led him to be elected a member of the prestigious Linnean Society but not, alas, the financial security he sought. An early admirer was Edward Smith Stanley, later the 13th Earl of Derby and Lear’s most important patron. He was invited to the earl’s sprawling Knowsley Hall estate in northwest England. There he made watercolours of some of the animals in the earl’s enormous private zoo. When not so occupied, he entertained other guests and children with what were later to become his celebrated ‘Nonsense Verses.’ At one time Lear was also drawing master to the young Queen Victoria. All this despite suffering from epilepsy, depression, asthma and, from about 1870, heart disease. He was the 20th of 21 children born to stockbroker Jeremiah and Anne Lear but raised by his oldest sister after the family broke up due to financial misfortunes. Commencing in 1837, he travelled to Italy on a two-year study trip, sponsored by Lord Derby. Eventually he was to live permanently in Liguria, returning only occasionally to his land of birth. Meanwhile he roamed far and wide, Greece, Egypt, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), all attracted him. Lear dedicated his first Book of Nonsense (1846) to his patron, hiding, however under the pseudonym Derry Down Derry. He was fearful that such excursions, if attributed to him, would jeopardize his scientific career. Four more volumes followed. Included in these were the limericks for which he became famous although he did not initiate the form but rather popularized it.

There was an old man in a tree, Who was horribly bored by a bee. When they said, ‘Does it buzz?’ He replied, ‘Yes, it does! It’s a regular brute of a bee.’ There was an old man with a beard Who said: “It is just as I feared! “Two owls and a hen, “Four larks and a wren, “Have all built their nests in my beard.”

He admitted this himself, writing that it was “a form of verse lending itself to limitless varieties of rhymes and pictures.” Indeed he appears, bespectacled and bearded, in not a few of his sketches accompanying some of the 212 limericks he composed. He finally settled at the Villa Tennyson in Sanremo, Liguria. There he supported a much-loved cat and a Serbian chef who, although useful in many ways was, by his own judgement, the worst cook in the world. It was there Lear died on 29 January 1888. As a poet Lear is commemorated by a memorial stone in Westminister Abbey’s Poet’s Corner; as a scientific illustrator by a parrot, Anodorhychus leari, from northeast Brazil, unknown until his watercolour revealed it to be a distinct species. Doubtlessly the latter honour pleased him the most.