The Anathemata
The Lady of the Pool (continued)
And much beside have I learned as ’ld fill a book;
of bazaar and mart, far parts and uses.
Much was I learned of these nautic gospellers I said and moreover I said I knowed some things out of Ovid’s booka and am well pleased with y’r company I said, but, I said, I’m no Sibyl, nor no Knower from Albi,b nor female Danielc to figure out significations on walls, nor a ceromancer’s mot,d nor Taffy Merlin’s mistress neither, I said.
Though my ma was used to call me
My fine Lady of the Pool.2
David Jones notes
2 i.e. the Pool of London, and cf. Malory, IV, 1. ‘. . . than hit befelle that Merlyon fell in a dotage on the damesell. . .she was one of the damesels of the Lady of the Laake. . . And ever she made Merlion good chere tylle sche had lerned of hym all maner of thynges that sche desyred and he was assoted uppon hir, that he myght nat be from hir.’
Cf. also the familiar theme of ladies of pools, fountains and rivers in tales deriving from Welsh sources.
additional notes
a Ovid’s book: presumably the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love).
b Knower from Albi: The Albigensians were a heretical sect living in southern France near the city of Albi in the thirteenth century who were ruthlessly exterminated by the Church. Since history is written by the victors, we cannot say what it was exactly that they believed that caused so much hatred against them, but it seems likely that it involved some elements of Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: γνωστικός gnostikos, ‘having knowledge’, from γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge). It is a modern term categorising a collection of ancient religions whose adherents shunned the material world and embraced the spiritual world.
c Daniel: In the 5th chapter of the Biblical book of Daniel, a disembodied hand is witnessed writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast in the palace of Babylon. The event occurs while those at the feast profane the sacred vessels that were pillaged from the Jerusalem Temple. The words that appear on the palace wall are ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin’. The prophet Daniel is summoned to interpret the message, which, as he explains, means the imminent end of the Babylonian kingdom. (Traditionally, “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”.) That night, Belshazzar is killed and the Medo-Persians sack the capital city.
d ceromancer’s mot: properly cheiromancer, palm-reader; mot: properly mott, girlfriend (19th century Anglo-Irish slang). The traditional name for Merlin’s Nemesis is “The Lady of the Lake”.
comments
Elen now returns to telling the captain more about her conversations with her mason lover, which has been interrupted by digressions since page 135.
In the penultimate line, the text has “... to call m”, which I take to be a misprint.