Re: HURRAH FOR NELSON?

At 22:05:05 on Wed, 26 Oct 2005, Pete <pete@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in <l4T7f.6160$Sx4.2619@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

"Molly Mockford" <nospamnobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:K4PaC2oTw$XDFw8e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


I did a search for "Nelson" in the Digital Tradition, and took just one
result at random for further investigation - the Pace Egging Song, from
which we know that Nelson was actually written as a character into the
people's plays.  Which they did not learn from the newspapers and
spin-doctors of the time - they made it up themselves!

They just ... sort of ... knew about Nelson intuitively then? 

(I do wish that you would snip - it's only good manners on Usenet)

My "which" clearly refers to the noun "plays". I cannot find any grammatical interpretation of what I wrote which could lead to your conclusion that I meant that they had not learned of Nelson from other sources.

Mummers' plays have been ongoing for centuries before they were even referred to in written traditions, and have always been the responsibility of the people who played them. They wove into the plays characters which strongly appealed to them, either as heroes or villains - Saracens, for instance (which gives a strong clue as to how long ago they originated), Father Christmas (a character very distant from the modern-day Coca-Cola Santa) - and frequently Lord Nelson.

I hope that this makes it a little clearer for you.
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)
.

Relevant Pages

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