Cornish Poet Proves Ability To Mead-maker

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27381, 5 May 1950, Page 7

Cornish Poet Proves Ability To Mead-maker

NZPA Special Correspondent Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, May 4. A Cornish poet, Mr Arthur Bruce Caddick, and Cornwall’s “master mead maker,” Lieutenant-colonel G. R. Gayre, went to court this week at Penzance to decide whether a poem written by Mr Caddick was a harmless essay in light-hearted verse or a damaging and derogatory satire directed against mead-making in general and Colonel Gayre in particular. After Mr Caddick had recited his poem to Mr Justice Rawlins, and there had been some discussion of its implications, both parties withdrew their charges and Colonel Gayre agreed, as “ a gesture of goodwill,” to N commission Mr Caddick to write a “mead drinking song” for his firm, Mead Makers, Limited, of Mead Hall. Last year when . Colonel Gayre formed this company to revive, the ancient art of mead-making in Cornwall. the first vat of the company’s product was blessed by Canon C. H. Buckley, the vicar of Guival, and there was a procession from Guival Church to Mead Hall, in which the clergy and local residents participated. Mr Caddick did not refer to medd in his poem but to woad, which has equally ancient associations. It was Colonel Gayre’s contention that the satire was obvious. The poem opened: “In the land of surprising revivals, Where legends drift in with the mist, U And the bards go on seeking survivals. Of what did not really exist, I announce in the latest arrivals, ; Trapped out in an old fangled mode, The Worshipful Company of Makers and warranted mixers of woad.O indigo gloria, isatis tinctoria, O dye me and dip me in woad! -J (Isatis tinctoria is Latin for woad.> Another verse ran: Yes the Church gave its grand benediction, In Latin and old Cornishe verse, Then in turn to avoid any friction, They bless the old business in Erse, For they keep with a pious restriction, To rubrics in tongues that are old, Since the Worshipful Company of Makers, Found guilds had a value in gold, In auro gloria, isatis tinctoria, Yes, guilds have a value in gold. Mr Caddick contended that he had written this verse merely to show Colonel Gayre his abilities and to persuade the colonel to give him a commission to write an official mead drinking song. He complained that though members of the local clergy had laughed about it, Colonel Gayre , had taken it seriously and had threatened the editor of the local journal with a libel action if he published.it. Mr Caddick thereupon “to assert the free right of an Englishman,” recited the poem in several Cornish hotels. “It is inconceivable to me that any man of any standard of culture could take any offence at what I wrote,” said the poet. Colonel Gayre. in his counter-claim, alleged that the poem implied that he had improperly used the Church to promote his interests as a mead maker. After the judge had allowed the parties an adjournment to talk over their differences, counsel returned to announce" a settlement. As Mr Caddick left the court. Canon Buckley, who was present, asked the poet whether he (the canon) could write the music for the proposed mead drinking song.