A Life and Works of the Revd Thomas Bohun MA by Oliver Marling
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| Hendrick Munnichoven: thanks to Gripsholm Castle, Sweden |
Author: Oliver Marling
Publisher: Self published in the end
Source book: County Chronicle by Angela Thirkell
Oliver Marling spends years, and apparently very many of Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire books, slowly writing and rewriting his vanity project about Thomas Bohun, a little-known Canon of Barchester Cathedral. But after so much work his book is still so slight, no publisher is interested, not even Adrian Coates, who claimed to be interested over lunch one Thursday. Isabel Dale tells Oliver his work needs to be at least twenty thousand words longer in order to be a book at all. And she suggests he consider having it privately printed by the Barchester Chronicle. Isabel is, of course, the successful author of numerous thrillers, using the nom de plume Lisa Bedale. But Oliver is too self-absorbed to ask about her books.
When Oliver isn’t being very boringly in love with famous actress Jessica Dean (who of course marries her co-star Aubrey Clover), he witters on boringly about his book to anyone who will listen.
To be fair to Oliver, he has a hardworking job in London, and is seconded to the office of the Regional Commissioner during the war. And he has very bad eyesight. But really, there’s no excuse for all the self-pity which gets very wearing. Eventually he meets competent and energetic Maria Lufton and she marries him, to the benefit of everyone, and possibly to Oliver’s surprise.
The Revd Thomas Bohun MA was a Canon at Barchester Cathedral between 1657 and 1665, and author of a number of very erotic poems. One of his poems To his Mistress on Seeing Sundrie Worme-castes; a conceit, according to Oliver, comparing the earthen worm casts with the result of the physical union of the Lover and the Beloved. This gives you a fair idea of whether or not you would avoid Oliver’s book at all costs, or laugh at the poetry.
The Duke of Omnium has a copy of Bohun’s book at Gatherum Castle, the 1668 edition with a woodcut portrait of the author. Lady Cora Palliser tells Oliver how she and her brothers used to march around the dining room reciting some of the poetry: ‘And my soul, of thine the sole alloy, Shall be the soul’s sole solar soul of joy’. Oliver has studied the 1665 edition, rescued by the chief librarian of Barchester Public Library from a pile of books destined to go for salvage during the war, and by some trick of fortune the only known copy extant, but never had an opportunity to compare it to the 1668 edition.
Apparently the worm cast poem is slightly different in the later edition, as is the Sonnet on his Mistress’s Pox. Another poem mentioned is The Worme of the Flesh and the Worme of the Spirit.
Bohun was interested in Rosicrucianism, and rashly made a journey to London in 1665 to see the effects of the Plague upon human bodies (and hoping to find some trace of the Soul) and never returned.
There is of course a controversy around the pronunciation of Bohun: some say ‘Boon’ but others insist on ‘Bun’. I would say Boon if I ever said it out loud. Which, guess what, I never do.
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| Pieter Nason: thanks to National Galleries of Scotland |
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