No More Learning

107. Bingen: A city located on the Rhine above a whirlpool known as the Bingerloch.
108. Perkeo. A fool in the court of Kacl Philip; Perkeo's tub is the Great Vat of Heidelberg, which according to Scheffel's song was emptied by Perkeo alone;a wooden figure of Perkeo stands on the wall of the vat room.
120. "a S. . . . sembianza: I,
With a
couple
carefully as it is at the heart of Pound's monism and light-philosophy. Divinity mani- fests as the light descending and reveals itself as intelligence in man [CON, 20J. Darkness is not different from light but the absence of light.
142. Lady de X: Lady Grey [ROJ, appar-
. . .
140. Bellotti: Owner of Bellotti's Ristorante Italiano, 12 Old Compton Street, London, where Pound and friends congregated, 1910-1920.
. . .
in the
be placed after "the" as object of the
113. bloke preposition "in".
: The ideogram
should
maligno: I, "But
115. ma/cosi
descended through the malignant air" [Int. V, IJ.
take
116. on doit
the weather as it comes" [Inf. V, 86J.
vient: F,
"One must
out . . . : [79 :42J ;
thus I
139. Lesterplatz: German Square in London.
for Leicester
141. "There is no
tion from Twelfth Night IV, ii, 45-47 engraved on the sculpture of Shakespeare in Leicester Square. The bard is leaning on a pile of books and pointing to the qllote on the pedestal. In the play the clown says: "Madman, thou errest: I say, there is no darkness but ignorance; in which thou are more puzzled than the Egyptians in their fog. " The reader should ponder the line
darkness
quota-
. . .
": A
? ? ? 436
80/501-502
80/502-503
437
ently one of the many lady friends of Edward while he was the Prince of Wales. The "he" of "he sd" is old Bellotti telling of incidents at his restaurant.
143. Caressor's: The Prince who is about to become Edward VII.
sergeant-major. . . . What John liked about Cole was his way of repunctuating life with absurdity. . . . When John learnt how Cole, dressed as 'the Anglican Bishop of Madras,' had confirmed a body of Etonians, he laughed out loud. But when Cole took some of John's drawings, sat in the street with them all day in front of the National Gallery, and haVing collected a few coppers, came back with the explanation that this was their value on the open market, John was less amused" [ibid. , 536]. Pound's memories of several practical jokes played by Cole are the substance of the next 15 lines.
154. Innes: George Inness, 1825-1894, American landscape painter and member of the Hudson River School, or his son George, 1854-1926, also a painter.
ISS. Zanzibar: The then British protecto- rate of Tanganyika, E Africa. Holroyd said: "A young friend . . . Horace de Vere Cole, who, in the guise of Sultan of Zanzibar had ceremonially inspected Cambridge, now . . . recommended a castle in Spain. 'I met the Sultan of Zanzibar in Bond Street
librarian of the Ambrosiana in Milan [HK, Era, 114].
162. Hannibal: Carthaginian general [9:72].
163. Harnikar: H. Barca, 270-228 Carthaginian general [40:31] who com- manded in Sicily, 247-241, and in Spain, 237-228; the father of Hannibal [cf. 162 above ] .
164. "Jolly woman": The landlady is still, and happily foreve,r, unidentified.
165. old Kait: Prob. the heroine of the Alfred Venison (pen name used by Pound in mid-30s) poem "Ole Kate," the char- woman who "died on the job" and "Fell plump into her pail" [P, 271] .
166. Gt Tichfield: Venison was called "the Post of Titchfield Street" [P,257].
167. sacerdos: L, "priest. "
168. Ixion: A man from Thessaly who courted Hera, the wife of Zeus; for his effrontery he was condemned to eternal torment on a wheel in hell.
169. Trinacrian: Davie wrote: "'Trinacria,' the ancient Greek name for Sicily, is related to the legend of how Vulcan . . . solved the problem of perpetual motion by a wheel with three dog-leg spokes: its never ceasing to roll recalling the wheel that was the hellish and interminable torment of Ixion. (The same three-spoked wheel is the heraldic emblem of the Isle of Man. )"
170. manxman: A native of the Isle of Man.
field marshaL He was responsible for the successes of the Prussian army in the Danish War (1864) and the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870- 71).
174. Boer war: British war against the Boers of South Africa, 1899-1902.
175. Whistler: James Abbott McNeill W. , 1834-1903, the American painter who became a sort of lion in London toward the end of the century. His work was much honored by Pound [GK, 110, 180-181; SP, 24,115-117,124,418].
176. Sarasate: Pablo Martin
Sarasate y Navascues, 1844-1908, a Spanish violinist whose portrait was done by Whistler. The protrait entitled Arrangement in Black: Senor Pablo Sarasate (now in Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh) centers on the violin, and according to Whistler "all is balanced by
the bow. "
177. Ysaye: Eugene Y. , 1858-1931, a violin virtuoso from Belgium. It was he who, on seeing the painting, said, "What a fiddle! "
[Fang, III, 134].
144. 3 penny bits: An gratuity.
ironically
small
145. Rothschild: Since it's a memory of Bellotti covering many years, it might have been anyone of several English Rothschilds in a moment of distraction. Most of the time all, except for the early Nathan R. , gave very large gratuities.
146. DeLara: Prob. Isidore de Lara, 1858- 1935, the English composer.
147. risotto: I, Milanese rice dish requiring saffron.
148. Sam Johnson's: Dr. Johnson's The Plays o f William Shakespeare, 1765, and subsequent English editions based on his work do not have the lines of the clown [cf.
141 above].
149. Julius Caesar: Act III, sc. ii.
150. Rubicon: Caesar crossed the Rubicon (present day Urgone) in 49 B. C. Sigismundo M. of Rimini erected a stone pedestal in honor of the event in an old forum now named Piazza Giulio Cesare. Nearby is the Arco d' Augusto (Arch of Augustus).
151. Rimini: [24:2].
152. Augustus: First Roman emperor, who ruled 27 B. C. -A. D. 14.
153. H. Cole: Horace de Vere C. , 1874- 1935, "the country's most eminent practical joker, who claimed descent from Old King Cole" [Holroyd, John, 406], friend of the painter Augustus John. , The dialogue is one Cole reported took place between him and John, the "he" of "thought he wd / . " Holroyd wrote of Cole: "He was a com- manding figure, with needle blue eyes, a mane of classic white hair, bristling upswept moustaches and the carriage of a regimental
Meliton
yesterday,' 286].
Augustus
reported
. . . "
[ibid. ,
156. Kardomah: A chain. There are dozens of Kardomah tea rooms in London.
157. Soho: A district in West End, London, famous as the haunt of bohemians in the manner of Greenwich Village in New York or the Left Bank in Paris.
158. Italy's entry: Italy declared war on Germany and Austria on May 23, 1915.
159. Napper . . . Gaddy: Pound used the old Remington typewriter in the medical tent. These trainees pass him on the way to sick calL
160. belladonna: A medicine prescribed for control of acid conditions and stomach ulcers.
161. Achilles: Achille
who became Pope Pius XI. Pound's prose references to him were favorable [GK, 179, 185, 189]. Pound knew him when he was
171. Sauter: George S. ,
Bavarian portrait painter who lived in London, 1895-1915. He was one of the sponsors of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers founded in 1898. Whistler was its first president and Sauter acted as its honorary secretary for some time. He lived in Kensington near Pound [Fang, III, 133].
172. Bismark: Otto von B. [48: 17].
173. V on Moltke: Helmuth Karl Bernard, Graf von Moltke, 1800-1891, Prussian
Ratti,
1857-1939,
1866-1937, a
B. C.
181. Dulac: Edmund D. ,
Pound: "The
178. Homer: Said
literary qualities in Homer are such that a physician has written a book to prove tha~ Homer must have been an army doctor"
[ABeR,43].
179. Holland Park: The site of Holland House on Kensington Road in London.
180. Mr Leber: Prob. Albert Leber, a confectioner of Notting Hill in Kensington, London, 1915. The name of the shop, mentioned again [80/504] is not known. He was apparently a harmless German victim- ized by wartime hysteria.
gusted with the senseless beatings.
182. navvy: British term for construction worker or longshoreman: brawn without brains is often implied.
183. Church Sf.
: A street in the Royal
1882-1953, French artist and illustrator who was dis-
sheer
? ? 438
80/503-504
80/505
439
Borough of Kensington, London, in a court off which Pound lived (1909-1914)_
184. ne pavans desraciner: OF, "not being able to uproot. "
185. Tosch: Like "Spot," a common name for a dog.
186. Tolosa: [76:21]. But Pound may mean Toulouse, a city in France which he visited in April 1919.
187. "Willy": Henri Gauthier-Villars, 1859- 1931, French novelist, essayist, and biog- rapher, known to his friends as "Willy" [78:70].
188. papa Dulac: The father of Edmund D. [181 above]. Concerning a postcard sent from Toulouse, April 24, 1919, Dorothy Pound wrote in 1970: "Papa Dulac found us a room and gave us many meals. . . . We stayed many weeks and took walks from this
center" [HK].
189. Leber's: [cf. 180 above].
190. Colonel Jackson: Joseph Jackson. Said Pound: "Note, when I got to London the men who were old enough were all right. Col. Jackson. . . represented something hearty . . . something that Palmerston might have recognized as appertaining to men"
[GK, 227]. A John Wayne type. 191. Gaudier: G-Brzeska [16:26]_
192. "mes compliments": F, "my com- pliments. "
193. la Patrie: F, "the Fatherland" (Gaudier was French)_
194. Ulster: [cf. 58 above].
195. "Ia bonne _. . soldat": F, "good soup makes a good soldier. "
. 196. Yeats: [74:166].
197. Dolmetsch: Arnold D. ,
French musician and instrument maker, especially of early stringed and key instru? ments, whom Pound honored for years. See "Arnold Dolmetsch" [LE, 431-436] and
"Vers Libre and Arnold Dolmetsch" [ibid. , 437-440]. [81 :48].
198. "II est . . . pain": F, "It is good as bread. " Proverbial: "It is as good as gold. ".
199. Mackel: Editor of La Wallonie [7871].
200. Willy: [cf. 187 above].
201. Gauthier: "Willy. "
202. Dial: American literary magaZine, 1880-1929. Pound recalls Mackel wanting to get "Willy" to contribute to it.
203. Gluck: Christoph Willibald G. , 1714- 1787, best known for his operas such as
Iphigenie en Tauride.
204. Les moeurs . . . reste: F, "Customs go and pain remains. "
205. "En casque . . . ": F, "In pink crystal helmets the mountebanks" [78:72].
206. Mallarme: Stephane M. , 1842-1898, French symbolist poet.
207. WhistIer: [see 175 above].
208. Charles Condor: C. Conder, 1868- 1909, English decorative painter, described as "a wistful, tentative, ailing man, his hair luxuriant but lifelessly hanging, a brown lock perpetually over one malicious blue eye, who admitted, in a voice exhausted to the point of inaudibility, to being a little 'gone at the knees'" [Holroyd, John, 92]. This year he was 31.
209. Degas: [74:226].
210. Follies: [74:221].
211. Manet: [74:219].
212. 'La Concorde': Place de la Concorde, central square of the Tuilleries, Paris.
213. Judith: J. Gautier, 1850-1917, French poet and novelist, the daughter of TMophile Gautier. Her junk shop was her apartment located at 30 rue Washington. She was the only woman member of the Academie Goncourt [77: 143]. She lived "with her
monkeys, her bibelots (Chinese, Hindu, and prehistoric) and her cats" [Fang, II, 193]. The junk shop and bricabrac are mentioned earlier [76:48].
214. Ca s'appelle . . . : F, "That is called an
attic,"
215. Rue Jacob: Street on the Left Bank in Paris where for 60 years the house of Natalie Barney at number 20 was a landmark.
216. it l'Amitie: F, "to friendship. " Refers to "Temple a l'Amith~," a small Doric gazebo in the garden of Natalie's elegant Parisian townhouse [Sieburth, Instigations, 15] .
brought up," Implying it is "ill? mannered" to treat a lady in such a way.
223. Tiens . . . : F, "Look, she's telling you. "
224. jambe-de-bois: F, "wooden leg," mean- ing "The man with. . . . "
225. "Entrez . . . monde": F, "Enter, then, go on in I it is everybody's house. " Prob. Natalie's welcome to arriving guests.
226. H. Liveright: Horace Brisbin L. , 1886-1933, American publisher and theatri? cal producer who, with Albert Boni, founded the firm of Boni and Liveright in 1918.
227. vers Ie Noel: F, "around Christmas. " This visit was prob. after WWI.
228. three small boys . . . : The anecdote of the smacked young fanny (the incident occurred in Pound's presence according to M de R) was a story Natalie told of her early days in Paris. Her salon was known as a place liberated in talk and morals. She was famous as a writer: "But her reputation is due even more to the emancipated ideas by which she lived and to the personal magnetism which she exercised in her many love affairs. She was unquestionably the most candid, the most daring, and the most famous lesbian of her time. . . if they [younger people] listened, they might be surprised by her witty and unconventional remarks" [Wickes, American Writers in Paris, 23, 24] .
229. ce sont les . . . : F, "These are the morals of Lutece. " Lutetia Parisiorum was the ancient name for Paris.
230. Le Musee de Cluny: The Cluny Museum. A 14th-15th-century Gothic and Renaissance structure in the Left Bank, Saint-Germain des Pres district, on the Boulevard St. -Michel. Built by the abbot of Cluny, it houses medieval and Renaissance art objects and curios.
231. teatro romano: I, "Roman theater. " 232. Uncle William: W. B. Yeats [77:163].
1858-1940,
'-'-
217.
M. Jean: J. Cocteau [74:246].
Ecole Militaire: F, "Military School. "
218.
The bUilding on the Champ-de-Mars, Paris,
as the French General Staff College.
"II me parait . . . ": Repeat of anec- about Maritain [77:138].
220.
1972, one of the most famous of the Ameri- can expatriate writers, whose salon was a center of literary activity, especially during the 20s and 30s. She was known as "the Amazon," a sobriquet which inspired Remy de Gourmont's Lettres it L 'Amazone. Pound knew her first in pre. WWI visits to Paris, and since she was a close friend of Gourmont, he tried to arrange publications of his work in English as early as 1913. Since she was possessed of some wealth, Pound persuaded her to support some of his causes and authors such as "Bel Esprit," Valery, George Antheil, etc.
221. apache . . . : The male apache of a bistro (nightclub) dance team who was purported to treat his partner violently, throwing her about the stage with sadistic intent. They were, and still are, popular tourist attractions. Since Miss Barney never went out to cafes, she may have imported such a team to entertain at her. salon one evening.
222. vous etes .