Om fötter och nötter

The Gout
That enemy—the gout, I ween,

Of all such demons is most keen:

Some clever people seem to think

It is the treach’rousness of drink;

But where’s there one who fain would bear

Such agony for wine or beer,

Or any other kind of cheer?—

Stuff and all nonsense: yet, no doubt,

Some drinks are feeders to the gout.

Rare Doctor Jenner, whom we praise,

Regarded not this foul disease;

Or if he did, ’tis plain that he

Could not invent a remedy.

Oh! would he had devised a plan

To extirpate the gout from man:

Much praise would then ascend to Heaven

For all the comfort he had given.

But if man must for e’er endure

(For lack of any kingly cure)

To the world’s end this evil thing,

I say—God grant unto the king,

Or queen, or statesman, be who ’t may,

A life no longer than a day!—

For surely ’tis a sin to wish

The gouty monster to a fish.

Gout

 Mark Thompson

Would there were men, with wit enow,

This nevious demon could subdue;

I would, for one, bestir the stars

To introduce them to famed Mars,

To Jupiter, or Mercury,—

(Together or alternately,)—

That theirs may be felicity

For evermore. And, farther still,

I’d have their names engraven well

Upon a diamond monument,—

An everlasting testament,—

Recording all their virtues on ’t—

What they had done with liniment,

Without it or with medicines.—

                      ***

(Now, if I thought ’twere treach’rous wines,

Rums, brandies, whiskies, or champagnes,

Which set this venom in man’s veins,

I’d have the sea drink all the trash. * * *

Give me the bottles for to smash!—

For not one dog[86] shall e’er remain

To give man such infernal pain.)—

                     ***

        And more than this[87]—I’d have them driven

Across the great concave of heaven,

In chariots wrought of solid gold;

Choice diamonds, rubies, gems untold,

Should be inlaid about its sides;

And flying horses (o’er their hides

’Boss’d bullion-trappings, chaste and neat)

Should from their heads down to their feet

Be clad with * * * *;

That gods may envy those proud beings

Who drove from man those evil things—

The gout! the gout! the gout! the gout!—

I turn again my muse about,

And fancy yet I can’t refrain

From lauding in the highest strain—

(As ’twere—with organs, great in tone,

Reverb’rating from zone to zone,

And angels rivalling to intone

Their universal notes of joy;

Whilst all the hosts of heaven deploy

In armour wrought by gods of grace,

And shining through th’ ethereal space

With so much splendour that ’tis meet

One closed his eyes against the treat)—

These men who could the cure complete.

                        ***

Old Doctor Samuel[88] said (I’m told)—

A pyramid of solid gold,

As high as heav’n—or higher still—

For him who could the villain kill,

Ought to be built upon a hill.

Aye! thousands would improve the pen,

In ecstasies, to praise the man,

Or rhetorise in words of bliss—

“To him perpetual happiness

Should be awarded from on high,

For ridding that dire enemy.” * * *

Oh! what a song of joy I’d write

If I could hear it said to-night—

“The plaguy rogue was kill’d outright.”

Alas! (I am most loath to state)

I fear not one, so fortunate,

Will ever be the poor man’s friend

To bring this d——l to an end.

                          Edward Edwin Foot

ur  "The Original Poems of Edward Edwin Foot, of Her Majesty's Customs, London", 1867

[86]Bottle.

[87]The introduction to Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, &c.

[88]Doctor Samuel Johnson.

Edward Edwin Foot tycks aldrig ha varit en diktare på modet, det finns nästan ingenting skrivet om honom på nätet. En enda artikel hittar jag där Edward nämns i första stycket — och jag är högst osäker på tillförlitligheten i dess utsago. I all synnerhet som ingen annan nämner Edward i samband med dessa "nötter".

footnote (n.)

also foot-note, 1841, from foot (n.) "lower end of a document" (1660s) + note (n.). So called from its original position at the foot of a page. Also sometimes formerly bottom note. As a verb, from 1864.

De flesta har överhuvud taget inga synpunkter på fotnotens ursprung, förutom en mening längst ned i en wikipediaartikel:
The London printer Richard Jugge is generally credited as the inventor of the footnote, first used in the Bishops' Bible of 1568.

Aristarchus of Samothrace, detail from: 

Apotheosis of Homer (1827) 

by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)

Men allt letande ger mig en rolig bonuskunskap:

The sign is historically equal to the asterisks used by Aristarchus of Samothrace at the Mouseion at Alexandria. It was used for the critical editions of Homer's writings where it "marked a verse incorrectly repeated in another passage" and was used together with other signs such as the obelus.

 He modified the system of the ancient Greek textual signs (semeia) and from some point on these signs were called Aristarchian symbols. The historical connection of his name to literary criticism has created the term aristarch for someone who is a judgmental critic.

Aristarchus of Samothrace (Greek: Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was a grammarian noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the librarian of the library of Alexandria and seems to have succeeded his teacher Aristophanes of Byzantium in that role.

gout (n.)

joint disease, c. 1200, from Old French gote "a drop, bead; the gout, rheumatism" (10c., Modern French goutte), from Latin gutta "a drop," in Medieval Latin "gout," a word of unknown origin. In old medicine the disease was thought to be caused by drops of viscous humors seeping from the blood into the joints, which turns out to be close to the modern scientific explanation. It often was caused by the drinking of heavy or sweet wines, or excessive beer drinking combined with insufficient food.

Och så här säger SAOB om ordet gikts ursprung:
[med avs. på formen gikt (gicht osv.) jfr d. gigt, sannol. av mnt. l. t. gicht; jfr mht. giht. Formen ikt (ekt, icht) torde, liksom fsv. ikt, sv. dial. ikt, ekt, d. dial. igt, egt, nor. dial. ikt, utgå från mnt. jicht, möjl. sidoform till mnt. gicht o. liksom detta av mycket omtvistat urspr.; se Hellquist 186 o. där citerad litteratur]

bild från nätet

GIKTBLOMMA, r. l. f. (†) växten Colchicum autumnale Lin., tidlösa.  

Engelskspråkiga vänner tycker det är hejdlöst roligt när jag talar om vad växten kallas för på svenska.
Många växter har kallats för något med gikt i namnet:

BÄR. (ikt- 1659. ikte- 1694) (†) (bär av) växten Empetrum nigrum Lin., kråkris, kråkbär.  

-GRÄS. ((g)ikt- 1638—1892. (g)ikte- 1685—1919) benämning på vissa ss. botemedel mot gikt förr använda växter.

1) (†) växten Ajuga chamæpitys (Lin.) Schreb., gul gransuga, gulgynsel, slagflussblomma.  

2) (†) växten Geranium robertianum Lin., stinknäva, storknäva, Guds nådes gräs.  

3) växten Linnæa borealis Lin., jordkronor, linnea, torrvärksgräs.  

4) växten Ranunculus flammula Lin., ältgräs, blåsört, brännört, feberört.  

5) växten Solanum Dulcamara Lin., kvesved, besksöta; jfr GIKTRIS. 

6) växten Thalictrum flavum Lin., torrvärksgräs, ängsruta.  

 GIKTRIS. (†) = -GRÄS 5.  

GIKTROT.

1) (†) växten Pæonia officinalis Retz., (vanlig) pion.  

2) (växt av) släktet Lappa Tourn., kardborre.  

GIKTROVA. (ikt- 1659—1757. ikte- 1685) (†) växten Bryonia alba Lin., hundrova.