# Ideatypics; or, an Art of Memory/Chapter 10

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND.
We have in this table a new mode of associating, of great practical utility. The mere names of the kings, where there are several, are not generally sufficient to bring up any word or phrase in connection, because in almost every case each name is one of a class of names, constantly occurring in ordinary affairs, or they are words which in themselves present nothing to lay hold of. On the other hand, a phrase simply is not enough to lead us to recollect a king’s name, unless the name be typed and brought in with the phrase, or the phrase have some connection with a well-known fact in that king’s reign. The name, therefore, is first given, or a type of the name, whose initial sound is like the initial sound of the name. The number of consonants in the word shews us the number of the king of that name, when there are more than one. There are but one or two words to be remembered for each date, which prevents that liability to displace the words, as in phrases where only the initial consonant of a word represents a ​figure. The date is brought up by the fact—the fact by the date—the name by both, because the type of the name is generally interwoven with them. Thus there is a triple association formed which locality renders more available. A symbol is taken foreach royal house, as in Pl. II., also p. 117, and the several points about it used for locating the kings.
Of the words in Italics, the first is the name, the others the date.
WILLIAM I . . . . . . . 1066 . . . . . . ———— Oppose my aim. Harold and William both aimed to possess the throne.
WILLIAM II . . . . . . . 1087 . . . . . . Weep . . . passer on. We can suppose that some “passer on” shed a tear for this profligate king, conveyed to his burial-place in a cart.
HENRY I . . . . . . . 1100 . . . . . . In . . . Bibacious. Henry's son was lost at sea, through the “bibacious” sailors that were “in” the ship.
STEPHEN . . . . . . 1135 . . . . . . Stepping . . . by battle. With Stephen and Matilda, battles were “stepping” stones to thrones.
HENRY II . . . . . . . 1154 . . . . . . End . . . by appealing. Henry's children “end” their disobedience “by appealing” to arms.
RICHARD I . . . . . . . 1189 . . . . . . ———— be brave. Saracen mothers would exhort their children to “be brave,” like English Richard, or scare their fractious children with the terrors of his name.
JOHN . . . . . . 1199 . . . . . . Jointly . . . a booby, a wave. John was a booby, unstable as water, escaping the waves of the Wash only to end his life more pitiably.
HENRY III . . . . . . . 1216 . . . . . . Inepta . . . a bag by him. Unfit for his station, he pillaged his subjects to lavish wealth on worthless minions; hence the bag placed beside him.
EDWARD I . . . . . . . 1272 . . . . . . —— a bygone hoax. This refers to the stratagem employed by Edw. I. to reconcile the Welsh to the English government.
EDWARD II . . . . . . . 1307 . . . . . . Eddy . . . beats on. This king, as an “eddy,” runs counter to the great stream of public opinion, and still “beats on,” till his violent passions and weak intellect whirl him into ruin.
​EDWARD III . . . . . . . 1327 . . . . . . Dread . . . be it gone. A sweeping malady filled the kingdoms of Europe with “dread.” 50,000 persons perished by it in London alone.
RICHARD II . . . . . . 1377 . . . . . . Rise . . . pay to none. We can easily imagine this to have been said concerning the poll tax by those about Wat Tyler, who, with others, led on 100,000 rebels.
HENRY IV . . . . . . . 1399 . . . . . .Enguard . . . boat, wave. With all the cautiousness of an usurper, Henry was ever in the midst of alarms: he was like a “boat” tossed upon the troubled “wave.”
HENRY V . . . . . . . 1413 . . . . . . Encounter . . . by each path. The retreat of Henry was cut off at Agincourt; but, as a conqueror, he cleared a way home.
HENRY VI . . . . . 1422 . . . . . Encounters . . . being quick. Great reverses in France are followed by the civil warfare of the English. In twelve battles the ambitious Margaret of Anjou sustained the fortunes of Henry, her weak-minded but inoffensive husband.
EDWARD IV . . . . 1461 . . . . . Education . . . being my hope. We may suppose many hopes were raised in the disastrous times of Caxton, when he introduced the printing-press under the patronage of the Abbot of Westminster.
EDWARD V . . . . . . . 1483 . . . . . . Delegates . . . butchered. “Delegates” deputed by their uncle, (afterwards Rich. III.) “butchered” the two young princes, Edw. V. and his brother.
RICHARD III . . . . . . . 1483 . . . . . . Rigour . . . be shared. It was meet that this usurper should share the fate of those upon whom he had exercised so much “rigour.”
HENRY VII . . . . . . . 1485 . . . . . . Indictment . . . by a churl. Empson and Dudley, two lawyers, were instruments, in the frequent attainder of the nobility and others, to gratify the miserly spirit of this king.
HENRY VIII . . . . 1509 . . . . Entanglement . . . place away. The “entanglement” and subtilty of religious disputes, we would “place away” from such a bigot.
EDWARD VI . . . . . . . 1547 . . . . . . Declination . . . pollution. It may be that he declined naturally: it may be that the poisoned and polluted chalice took him away so early.
MARY . . . . . . 1553 . . . . . . ———— apply a light. Mary's love of blazing faggots is an oft-told story, appended to all popular tales of horror.
​ELIZABETH . . . . . . 1558 . . . . . . ———— apply lore. This Queen was one of the most learned ladies of her time, and seems to have applied learning to the advancement of her people.
The mode is now varied, for the sake of example. A type of the name may be used; as, for james, a chain; for james ii., chains; or an extended or explanatory idea in connection with the chain. We may also omit 1, for one thousand, in every instance, using only the three remaining figures.
JAMES I. (a chain) 1603 (missed). In the gunpowder plot, the traitors “missed” the completion of their designs: they could not carry out their “chain” of schemes.
CHARLES I. (a charge) 1625 (Macule or macula) The final “charge” brought against Charles, is a foul stain (macule) on the English annals.
CHARLES II. (charges) 1660 (may amaze). This reign was rife with “charges” of treason—Protestant and Catholic plots and perjuries, sufficient to amaze right-thinking men.
JAMES II. (chains) 1685 (a moral). This is the “moral:”—When kings attempt to enchain the thoughts as well as the bodies of men, they must expect a popular outbreak, as in 1688.
WILLIAM III. (Willows 3) 1687 (mourn). Willows typify the dejection of this king when sorrowing after his queen, Mary, who died of small-pox.
ANNE (one) 1702 (nosegay). Viewed in a private light, the memory of her virtues is like a “nosegay's” sweet perfume.
We may continually vary our mode of proceeding, with perfect security as to the result. Systems ​hitherto propounded may contain right principles, yet are applied without reference to their general bearing on all the varied peculiarities of different minds.
I consider this System universal in principle, capable of a general as well as of an infinitely diversified application; yet, like all other systems, necessarily inapplicable to the wants of all minds by the skill of any one mind.
HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. :
| GEORGE | . . . . . . . . . | 1712 | . . . . . . | (one page). |
| GEORGE | . . . . . . . . . | 1727 | . . . . . . | (one gun). |
| GEORGE | . . . . . . . . . | 1760 | . . . . . . | (one mace). |
We may imagine these names severally written on each object in connection. Each object has reference to a fact: “one page,” to the green book of the South-Sea scheme; “one gun,” to the terrific warfare of the times of Geo. II.; “one mace,” to the magisterial influence required to check revolutionary influences in the time of Geo. III.
GEORGE IV. — WILLIAM IV. — VICTORIA.
THUS:—
20 . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40—2.
I want the reader to see that there are various original appliances and contrivances, some easier to him than others. The following symbols (on a larger scale,) for each royal house, and the points in them, will serve to locate the phrases or the objects in connection with each king, according to the peculiar character of his own mind. (Vide p. 72.)