For the JSA’s 2004 Christmas party, member Robert Kemp composed a very clever Johnsonian pastiche of Good King Wenceslas after the style of Dr Johnson, which he also incorporated into his Christmas card. Robert, who is a professional actor, gave a splendid recitation of the piece:

Warm dressed, well fed, King Wenceslas looked out                
On Stephen’s feast, when snow lay round about.
Inside, a life of ease; without, one cruel
Where exigents spend hours in search of fuel.             
Thin shepherds sit and watch their ovine flock            
As glory shines, their desp’rate state to mock.
Are all in David’s city worth their hire?
Should angels sing of man or the Messiah?
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A scholarly but highly entertaining discourse, tracing the changes in spelling and typographical conventions in the 18th century was given on Saturday, September 4, after the Annual General Meeting, by Professor Richard Wendorf, Director and Librarian at the Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest and most distinguished libraries in the United States.

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