Summer III. Izaak Walton + the hijab

Intro & Preface & Contents

Previous: II. Traveling

Sitting in my garden amid the evening scent of roses, I have read through Walton’s Life of Hooker; could any place and time have been more appropriate? ... In other parts of England he must often have thought of these meadows falling to the green valley of the Exe, and of the sun setting behind the pines of Haldon. Hooker loved the country. Delightful to me, and infinitely touching, is that request of his to be transferred from London to a rural living -- “where I can see God’s blessing spring out of the earth.” And that glimpse of him where he was found tending sheep, with a Horace in his hand. It was in rural solitudes that he conceived the rhythm of mighty prose. What music of the spheres sang to that poor, vixen-haunted, pimply-faced man!

The last few pages I read by the light of the full moon, that of afterglow having till then sufficed me. Oh, why has it not been granted me in all my long years of pen-labour to write something small and perfect, even as one of these lives of honest Izaak? Let me be thankful that I have the mind to enjoy it; not only to understand, but to savour, its great goodness.

Alpha.

This mention of Izaak Walton and Richard Hooker sent me to Wikipedia for biographical information. Walton (1594–1683) is today best remembered for his The Compleat Angler. Hooker (1554–1600) reminds me to what extent the history of England is the history of religion. So much 20th century English literature is written from the RC point of view that it’s easy to forget that the real war for most of the 16th and 17th centuries (at least) was between Anglicans and Puritans, with Hooker being a key Anglican theological figure. Some products of this religious fervor were the Plantation of Ulster (1606-1700) and the Great Migration to Massachusetts (1620–1635).

Beta.

Speaking of religion. There is one custom that is commonly associated with a particular faith, but I wonder if its origin is really religious at all. I haven’t researched this subject extensively, but the first reference I know of, to women’s heads being covered to prevent their being seen by the public, is in Gibbon’s coverage of the Byzantine Empire in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Was this one of Thorstein Veblen's status symbols that the Arabs copied from the Byzantines, or did the Byzantines get the idea from the Arabs? I don’t know. What I do know is who benefits from this odd custom. Regardless what people may say about a custom or how they officially justify it, I think it is always valuable to explore who benefits from the custom, and in the case of the covering up of a woman’s hair and face, there is really only one beneficiary I can see. Especially in the case of a culture that permits or encourages multiple marriages, the earlier wives, as they grow older, are likely to be out competed, in terms of looks and fertility, by younger women. With some ethnic groups -- the Chinese are a spectacular example -- a woman’s hair changes dramatically as she passes out of her fertile years. Women of a certain age have nothing to lose and everything to gain from a rule that requires all women to conceal their hair. Covering the face as well, is even better.

Next: Summer IV-V. The Sabbath.