Ovid, Ibsen and Uncle Tom's Cabin

On this day in 43BC Publius Ovidius Naso, known as  Ovid was born to a wealthy family in the Apennine valley, east of Rome. Along with Virgil and Horace he is seen as one of the great figures of Latin literature. Ovid wrote in some detail about his life and contemporary times and his work is a comprehensive source of classical mythology - influencing Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dante. Here is a frontispiece to the wonderful Metamorphoses.

On March the 20th 1616 Sir Walter Raleigh was released from the Tower of London following a  long imprisonment for his supposed involvement in a plot against King James. He was freed so that he could embark on an expedition to Venezuela. I found this lovely portrait by Millais, titled  'The Boyhood of Raleigh' :

Indulging my newly acquired interest in historical signatures, here is Raleigh's:

The great Norwegian playwright  Henrik Ibsen, considered to be one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre was born on this day in 1828. Here is an excerpt from a letter by Ibsen to his translator Edmund Gosse :

Harriet Beecher Stowe's magnificent work Uncle Tom's Cabin was published on March the 20th 1852. I love the reported quotation from Abraham Lincoln on meeting the author : 'So this is the little lady who wrote the book that made this  great war.' 

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Cuthbert.

We were absolutely amazed to see the beautiful moon last night, even here in London. There are some amazing images on line, I won't copy one of my amateur ones !

There is absolutely no credible reason for this but my children fancy having a go at making jammy dodgers - wish us luck.