the greedy mismanagement of resources by the wealthy.
One such abuse is the unnecessary accumulation of
land.
In “Of Unsaciable Purchasers,” Crowley relates a
presumably fi ctional anecdote about a man who
acquires property but fails to use it to the wider com-
munity’s advantage. The poem is built upon a BIBLICAL
ALLUSION to a parable in the Gospel of Luke, wherein a
wealthy man feeds the poor because they are more
grateful than the rich. The generosity of the rich bibli-
cal fi gure is presented as a negative mirror image of the
uncharitable rich man in Crowley’s 20-line EPIGRAM.
This tightfi sted, “unreasonable ryche manne” repre-
sents the antisocial, selfi sh, “unsaciable” people Crow-
ley argued against—the greedy land devourers who are
never happy.
The rich man boasts to his servant that he has pur-
chased some nearby land. His cheeky servant, rather
than praising his vain master, states that local people
are perplexed by the man’s desire to buy more land,
because his “housholde is smal”—that is, he does not
share. The rich man replies with rhetorical sarcasm, to
which the lad then simply states that it is thought that
the man buys “the Devill, his dame and all” (l. 20).
This last line encapsulates the crux of Crowley’s with-
ering social and religious SATIRE. The man is obsessed
with worldly ownership of land but will not improve
his community. To acquire land pointlessly is to buy
only an association with the Devil. In other words,
Crowley argues that the unnecessary accumulation of
land by self-interested, ungenerous, wealthy men is
bad not only for the worldly welfare of the poor, but
also for the souls of the inevitably hell-bound rich
“purchasers.”
FURTHER READING
Martin, J. W. “The Publishing Career of Robert Crowley.”
Publishing History 14 (1983): 85–98.
———. Religious Radicals in Tudor England. London: Ham-
bledon Press, 1989: 147–170.
McRae, Andrew. God Speed the Plough: The Representation
of Agrarian England, 1500–1660. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2002, 40–42, 61–63.
Kevin de Ornellas
OGHAM Ogham, the ancient runic script of Ire-
land, was named after the Celtic god of eloquence and
persuasion, Ogmios (Oghma). Developed in Ireland
around the 2nd century, ogham script made its way to
Pictland (Scotland), Wales, and Cornwall, presumably
through trade and conquest.
Ogham does not represent a native Celtic language;
instead, its characters correspond to vowels and conso-
nants of the Roman alphabet. The 20 ogham runes are
signifi ed by one or more horizontal and slanting
strokes, although sometimes notches are used for vow-
els. Like other runic alphabets, ogham letters have
names. Most of these refer to trees, which is why
ogham is often called the tree alphabet. For example,
the fi rst letter in ogham is b, which is represented by a
single vertical stroke [|], but also stands for “beith”
(beech tree).
Ogham was primarily used for monumental inscrip-
tion. The bars were carved into grave markers, and are
read starting at the bottom and progressing upward,
with no word division or punctuation of any kind. A
typical Ogham inscription includes a personal name in
the genitive (possessive) case, and so translates into “of
[name],” meaning “the grave of [name].” Many inscrip-
tions also include the Celtic appellation mac (meqq),
which means “son of.” In this way, ogham stones also
recorded family genealogies. Indeed, some stones
recording genealogies tracing back several generations
have been found, particularly in the southwest of Ire-
land. A number of the ogham stones found in Britain
also have a side-by-side Latin inscription as well.
Ogham stones have inspired poems such as the
anonymous “A GRAVE MARKED IN OGHAM,” and feature
in the EARLY IRISH SAGAs. Moreover, as genealogical
repositories, the ollaves (Irish court poets) would have
relied upon these markers in composing heroic songs.
Their locations have also assisted in mapping the trade
routes of the early Celtic tribes.
See also “CHEVREFOIL,” FUTHARK ALPHABET.
FURTHER READING
Barrett, John, and David Iredale. Discovering Old Handwrit-
ing. Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, U.K.: Shire
Publishing, 1995.296 OGHAM