Mortal Clay, the Perils and Pleasures of Old Age

Old Age in the Ancient World

‘Man that is borne of a woman, is of few dayes, and full of trouble.
Hee commeth forth like a flower, and is cut downe…’
- King James Bible (1611) Book of Job 14: 1-2,

Enamelled figure presenting a typical image of old age, c1800

From earliest times human beings have been mindful of mortality and the transience of life. The words of Job, the Old Testament prophet, are characteristically pessimistic but true. The legendary Riddle of the Sphinx also comments poignantly on old age. The supernatural creature accosted travellers on the road to Thebes in Greece with the question: ‘Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?’ Only Oedipus escaped being killed and devoured by providing the correct answer, ‘Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a stick in old age.’

Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was perceptive about the shortcomings of old age. If you try to resist the overtures of death, he said,

‘… Nature steps in and grabs her pledge – your sight, your hearing, often both. And if you hold out she paralyses you, mutilates and tears asunder.’
- Axiochus (1st century BC)

‘…Old age will only be respected if it fights for itself, maintains its rights, avoids dependence on anyone and asserts control over its own to the last breath.’
- Cicero On Old Age (published 44 BC)

Cicero, the great Roman politician and orator exhorted old people to stand up for themselves and to remain independent in words that could have been written today.

The Seven Ages of Man

During the Middle Ages old people were regarded as part of the symbolic order of things according to God’s plan, as well as an actual component of society. Human life was divided into stages, usually between three and seven; these were often illustrated as a circle or wheel.

Average life expectancy was low largely because infant mortality was so high. But people who reached adulthood had a good chance of living to be 60 or 70 and the onset of old age was set at anything between 35 and 70.  Shakespeare’s famous speech on the Seven Ages of Man describes the last two stages:

Butter Dish c1840, illustrated with quotations from the Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Act 2 Scene 7)

‘…The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunken shank; and his big manly voice,
turning again toward childish treble, pipes
and whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.’
- Shakespeare As You Like It

Age and Decay

Two Figures of Winged Time c1775 and c1820

Two Figures of Winged Time c1775 and c1820

Traditionally old people were revered and respected for their knowledge and experience. They represented continuity with the past and the passing of time was symbolised by the ancient, bearded Father Time. Old women, the repositories of folk memory and wisdom, became the community story tellers. Within families, older women have always performed an essential role in looking after children while younger women worked.

But old people have have also been mocked and bullied. Popular proverbs of the Middle Ages warn them against handing over power and property to the young before they have to, lest they be manipulated and abused like Shakespeare’s King Lear. They need no reminding of their physical infirmities. When the aged Falstaff volunteers to lead a company of soldiers he is questioned by the Lord Chief Justice,

‘…Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek a white beard,
a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind
short, your chin double, your wit single and every part of you blasted
with antiquity?…’
- Shakespeare Henry IV Part2

Men lose hair from their heads while women begin to grow it on their faces. Hearing fades and eyesight dims. Noses and ears grow but gums recede from the teeth. Bones become brittle and tend to break. The ‘Dowager’s Hump’ of osteoporosis was a typical hallmark of elderly women in the past, as were the broken arms and hips of the aged male.

In the 17^th century the ageing process was seriously misunderstood. It was believed that post-menopausal women retained poisonous blood which left their ‘humours’ out of balance. They could cause fruit to wither on the vine and trees and livestock to die. In an atmosphere fraught with fear and superstition the world of women and witches combined, contributing to a rash of witch hunts. By the 18^th century wrinkled faces and gnarled hands were acknowledged as evidence of experience and expertise, particularly in skilled crafts such as weaving, embroidery and lace-making. Artists portrayed and philosophers praised the wisdom of the old.

Retirement and Pensions

599. Mug c1825, a little girl gives food to an old man who walks with a stick

There was no retirement age before the 19^th century. Elderly people had to work until they were no longer able to. The only deference to age was exemption (around the age of 70) from compulsory public duties such as military service or the town watch. Ageing workers were offered less secure, lower-skilled and lower-paid casual jobs, and were the first to become unemployed during economic downturns. The poorest were forced to beg for food and shelter and might have to enter the parish workhouse. Here conditions were harsh and married couples were separated.

Trade guilds and Friendly Societies provided early forms of insurance and pension schemes. In 1896 the Ancient Order of Foresters had 900,000 members and £5million in capital. In return for regular payments earlier in life, such bodies covered sick pay, burial expenses, unemployment, medical treatment and pensions.

Bismarck, the German Chancellor was among the first to regard adequate provision for old age as a state responsibility. He addressed the Reichstag in 1884:

‘Why should the soldier of work not have a pension like the soldier of civil service? That is state socialism, that is the legitimate operation of practical Christianity.’

In 1889 Germany introduced the first state pensions for male workers over 70, followed in 1892 by Denmark who provided for the poorest (mainly women) over 60. The United Kingdom introduced a state pension for those over 70 only in 1908. In 1925 the age of eligibility was reduced to 65 and from 1940 women could claim it at 60.

Older Achievers

Some remarkable people continue to make major contributions to society and to arts and culture well beyond retirement age. The exceptionally long reigns of King George III (1760-1820), Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and the present Queen Elizabeth II (60 years so far) contributed enormously to the stability of the United Kingdom.

Among our oldest statesmen were the Duke of Wellington, who continued to attend the House of Lords into his 80s and William Gladstone, the original ‘Grand Old Man’. Gladstone was four times Prime Minister, finally resigning at the age of 84. Winston Churchill was already 66 in 1940 when he was appointed Prime Minister. He served throughout World War II and again from 1951-1955.

Cup and Saucer c1960, designed by Susie Cooper

Artists such as Titian (c1490-1576), the Venetian painter of the 16^th century and Picasso (1881-1973) could still produce challenging masterpieces in their 80s. Michelangelo (1475-1564) was appointed architect of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome at the age of 74 while the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is now 105 and still designing. Many ceramicists have proved to have similar staying power. Susie Cooper was designing for Wedgwood and Lucie Rie was throwing pots in their 80s. Eva Zeisel, the American ceramic designer and political activist died in December 2011 aged 105.

Stella Beddoe, Senior Keeper and Keeper of Decorative Art

Our Mortal Clay exhibition is presently on display in the Willet Gallery of Brighton Museum & Art Gallery until 10 March 2013.

The Spice of Life, the story of Salt and Pepper

Geology and Biology

Spice Box, 19th century

Salt is the only edible rock, one of its many contradictions. The mineral is formed by the violent coupling of sodium, a highly volatile metal that bursts into flames on contact with water and chlorine, a poisonous green gas. Rock salt occurs as a solid deposit that can be mined, or is formed by the evaporation of seawater. Salt crystals are cubic in shape and in this crystalline form are called halite.

The globe is covered with salt. The oceans are 3.5% salt and sodium compounds comprise 2.6% of the weight of the earth’s crust, which is richly veined with seams of halite and riddled with salt-lined caverns. All life came from the sea. Even our own bodies are largely bags of brine supported by bone. Our blood, sweat, tears and semen are all salty.

Salt Mythology

Saltcellar, c1850

Early fables confirm the psychological importance of salt to ancient cultures. There are many Norse versions of ‘Why the Sea is Salt’ and a similar folktale, ‘The Magic Mill’, comes from Greece. A mysterious stranger instructs a poor man, on the road to the Dead Men’s Hall, to trade food for the hand-mill kept behind the entrance gate of the Hall (or Hell). The mill has magical properties and with it the poor man and his wife are able to grind out everything they need. The man is eventually persuaded to sell the mill to someone who does not know how to operate it. The new owner takes it to sea, commands it to grind salt and is unable to stop it.

‘Love like Salt’ probably originated in India but variants are found in Germany and England, where it became the source for Shakespeare’s King Lear. A loving daughter is disowned by her father because she says she loves him only as much as the salt in her food. Much later he is invited to a grand wedding feast where the food, prepared without salt, is bland and tasteless. The king realises his mistake and the bride reveals herself to be his estranged daughter.

Salt as Symbol

Spicebox c1900

Salt has powerful symbolic meanings all over the world. In Japanese Shinto belief it is revered for its power to cleanse and purify. It is scattered on thresholds to ward off evil and offered in tribute to ancestors. In Aztec Mexico the goddess Huixtocihuatl presided over salt and salt water. The God of Israel’s bond with the Jewish people was an eternal ‘Covenant of Salt’ (2 Chronicles 13: 5). When Christ described His Apostles as ‘the salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5: 13) he was probably alluding to their purity and strength in the face of corruption. At pre-Reformation baptisms the priest put hallowed salt into the infant’s mouth to

‘signify the spiritual salt, which is the word of God, wherewith he should be
seasoned and powdered that thereby the filthy savour of stinking sin should
be taken away’.

In ancient Greece, in Russia and still throughout the Arab world salt represents friendship and hospitality; the communal eating of bread and salt creates an unbreakable bond. The Bedouin will never fight someone with whom they have shared salt. The spilling of salt is a bad omen. In his painting of The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci shows Judas Iscariot upsetting a saltcellar. After spilling salt we throw a pinch over our left shoulders to ward off evil. An Indian myth suggests that every grain a woman spills during her lifetime must be swept up with her eyelashes in Paradise.

Salt and Geography

The quest for salt is primal. Carnivores obtain it from the meat they eat but herbivores must seek out exposed salt deposits to lick in order to maintain a dietary balance. Humans need to eat salt but we also crave more than we need, since it enhances the sense of taste. Salt has always been a sought-after commodity, mined for millennia. In 1573 a dried but well-preserved body of a man wearing brightly-coloured, woven clothes was excavated at Hallein, near Salzburg (the names mean ‘salt works’ and ‘salt town’) in Austria. The man was an Iron Age Celtic salt-miner, around 3,000 years old. The Romans referred to Celts as Galli (Gauls) from ‘hals’, the Greek word for salt. The provinces of Galicia, in both northern Spain and in Poland have the same root – land of the salt people. Elsewhere in Europe, place names such as Moselle in northeast France and Salies-de-Béarn in the southwest, Salsomaggiore in Italy and Spanish towns prefixed ‘Salinas’ commemorate their associations with salt production. Britain’s largest deposits of salt were formed beneath Cheshire 220 million years ago. The names Nantwich, Droitwich, Norwich and Sandwich denote places where salt is found.

Maracas Salt & Pepper Shakers, c2007

Salt is mined but it may also be farmed. As early as 6,000 BC the Chinese harvested the salt crystals left when the brackish waters of Lake Yungcheng in Shanxi Province evaporated in the summer sun. The ancient Egyptians made salt by evaporating seawater in the Nile delta. A salt garden is laid out as a chequerboard of wide, shallow basins on the seashore. These fill with a controlled amount of seawater that evaporates to a concentrated ‘pickle’. Evaporation needs plentiful hot sunshine; the major producers of traditional solar-dried salt are in Africa and India. The cubic crystals of common salt are produced from boiled brine.

Salt in Politics

Salt & pepper shakers, c1950

The desire for salt has been harnessed to social and political ends throughout history. A salarium was a special payment for salt made to soldiers of the Roman Empire. The term ‘salary’ is now used for all work-related payment. In 1343 the French king set up the Gabelle, a tax levied on salt traders, following Arab practice. Hugely unpopular, it was one of the causes of the French Revolution. Though briefly quashed, Napoleon revived it to pay for his campaigns and it was only finally abolished after World War II. Wars have been fought over salt and control of the salt trade regularly tipped the balance of power. The Dutch made peace with Spain in 1609 because of their dependence on coveted Spanish supplies of salt from Portugal and the Caribbean.

Under British rule India was forced to buy imported salt; making salt was illegal. In 1923, a century after the abolition of salt tax at home, Britain doubled the Indian salt tax. Mahatma Gandhi hit upon a brilliant form of peaceful protest against British rule. He and his followers set out on a three-week pilgrimage to the sea and on 6 April 1930 reached Dandi Beach in Gujarat. Having taken a ceremonial bath in the sea as a ritual cleansing, they gathered and distributed the salt incrustations free of tax, activities that were rapidly copied by others. These symbolic actions helped to hasten Indian independence.

Salt and Food

‘Sal sapit omnia’ (Salt flavours everything)

Rubik's Cruet Salt Mill, c2008

The ancient Egyptians included salt and salt-preserved birds and fish as funerary offerings in tombs from the 3rd millennium BC. In Europe the Celts pioneered the use of salt as a preservative and were probably the first people to make salt-cured hams from the legs of wild boar. Over the barren winter period hunting was curtailed and stores of fodder were not sufficient to feed farm animals. Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the 18th century, an annual slaughter of livestock took place in late autumn. Legs of pork and venison were caked in rock salt for weeks, which both dried and preserved them, free from bacterial decay. In the days before refrigeration ocean-going fishing fleets discovered that they could preserve their catches for many weeks by salting them. The word ‘salad’ derives from the Roman custom of salting leaf vegetables.

In the Middle Ages fine table salt was expensive and always in short supply. At great feasts salt was presented in elaborate silver vessels. Later these were decorated with marine motifs or gods of the sea. These saltcellars or great ‘salts’ were placed at the top table for the host and his principal guests. Lesser mortals, who sat further away, were said to be ‘below the salt’. Since salt corrodes silver, silver salts had to be lined with non-reactive gold and were later fitted with blue glass liners. Glass and ceramics and eventually plastics proved more practical and affordable materials from which to fashion receptacles for table salt and spices.

Condiments

Chef’n g’Rabbit Salt & Pepper Mills, c2008

By the 18th century great salts had disappeared. Individual ‘trencher’ salts that sat beside each diner’s plate had already been in use for centuries. Saltcellars or shakers were joined on the dining table by pepper casters and mustard pots, often sitting together on a little tray or in a holder. Black pepper (piper nigrum) is a flowering vine native to South India. During the Middle Ages, while Italy and later Portugal controlled (and taxed) the spice trade from the Indian subcontinent, pepper was a luxury only available to the wealthy. Pepper berries are harvested when green and unripe, blanched in hot water and dried. The outer fruit shrinks, wrinkles and becomes black. White pepper is the seed of the same berry, stripped of its outer skin. Unripe green pepper berries and ripe red ones can be preserved in brine and vinegar. Different species of the mustard plant yield tiny red, black or yellow seeds. Mustard thrives in temperate countries such as England and Hungary, as well as India.

Stella Beddoe, Senior Keeper and Keeper of Decorative Art

Aubrey Beardsley (1873-1898)

On 16 March 1898, Brighton-born artist Aubrey Beardsley died of tuberculosis at just 25 years of age. Much has been written about the latter part of his short life but, for local historians here in Brighton, his early years are perhaps more interesting.

Beardsley was born at the home of his maternal grandfather, Surgeon Major William Pitt, on the corner of Buckingham Road and West Hill Place. The Pitts were well-established in the town – William’s father Thomas Best Pitt was a doctor practising in Brighton as it became a fashionable resort, and William followed his father into medicine. He married in India and it was there, in 1846, that his second daughter Ellen was born.

After many years abroad, the family returned to Brighton in 1864. Ellen Pitt was said to have been a great beauty with a sense of mischief and adventure. Vincent Beardsley, visiting from London, posed as a gentleman but flouted convention by approaching her in public without a formal introduction. They continued to meet secretly, often in the grounds of the Royal Pavilion, but Ellen eventually presented him to her family and the couple were married in October 1870 at St Nicholas Church.

Aubrey Beardsley's baptism, St Nicholas Church, 24th October 1872

This was not considered an ideal match and, from the start, life was difficult for the Beardsleys. They moved to London in search of work but were continually beset with health and money problems. Perhaps not surprisingly, Ellen returned to the comfort and security of her family home for the birth of her daughter Mabel in 1871 and son Aubrey in 1872.

The next few years were characterised by comings and goings. The family lodged in London for a while, where Ellen inspired in her children a love of books and music. But Aubrey was a delicate child and, at the age of seven, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was sent away to school at Hamilton Lodge in Hurstpierpoint, where it is said that he first showed an interest in drawing. After four terms, however, he was back in London, before moving to Epsom with his mother and sister, again in search of fresh air. By 1884, this peripatetic existence became unsustainable. Vincent had lost his job and Ellen was unwell, so the children returned to Brighton, this time to the home of their great-aunt Sarah, who lived at 21 Lower Rock Gardens.

Aubrey became a pupil at Brighton Grammar School in November that year, and it seems that he found it a sympathetic environment. Although not sporty or particularly concerned with school work, he read voraciously and took part in school plays – he was often seen pacing up and down on the seafront, learning his lines. He also wrote poems, submitting them to the school magazine, Past And Present. The first of these to be published, ‘The Valiant’, appeared in the June 1885 edition, when Aubrey was just 12 years old.

Illustration for the school magazine Past and Present, published in June 1887

Encouraged by one of his schoolmasters, he continued to draw and his love of caricature became apparent. Alongside mischievous sketches of his friends and teachers, he produced a charming drawing entitled ‘The Jubilee Cricket Analysis’, which appeared in the Jubilee edition of Past And Present (June 1887). He combined artistic ability with a witty play on words: A Good Bowler is depicted as a hat, Caught shows a man grabbed by the scruff of his neck by a policeman, and Square Leg is a man whose legs are as short as they are wide.

Aubrey became involved in every aspect of the school’s theatrical productions, from writing dialogue to performing, designing costumes and illustrating programmes. The 1888 Christmas production at The Dome, a comic operetta called The Pay of the Pied Piper, was a case in point. The preface notes that, ‘the illustrations are the perfectly original designs and drawings of a boy now in the school, A V Beardsley’. Two years later, having left school and moved to London, he returned for a Conversazione for the Old Boys’ Association, which was staged at the Royal Pavilion on 7 November 1890. It featured a short farce called A Brown Study which, according to the Brighton Gazette, ‘was received with a good deal of favour as the production of an Old Boy, Mr Aubrey V Beardsly [sic].’

Extract from the Brighton Gazette, published on 8th November 1890

Brighton History Centre holds a complete set of Past And Present, which has been produced by Brighton Grammar School (now BHASVIC) from 1872 to the present day.

Kate Elms, Brighton History Centre