When Archbishop Abbot's mother (a poor clothworker's wife in Guilford) was with child of him, she did long for a Jack, and she dreamt that if she should eat a Jack, her son in her belly should be a great man. She arose early the next morning and went with her pail to the river-side (which runneth by the house, now an ale-house, the sign of the three mariners) to take up some water, and in the water in the pail she found a good Jack, which she dressed, and eat it all, or very near.

Several of the best inhabitants of Guilford were invited (or invited themselves) to the christening of the child; it was bred up a scholar in the town, and by degrees, came to be Arch Bishop of Canterbury.

NOTES

• Source: John Aubrey's Miscellanies Upon Various Subjects, 1696.
• Jack: any of several mackerel-like fishes. Strong-tasting! This is definitely one of those pickles-and-ice-cream pregnancy cravings.
• Child: George Abbot, later Archbishop of Canterbury, born Oct 19, 1562.
• Is Aubrey saying that
  • Eating one fish creates a superbaby?
  • Or that it wasn't a fish swimming into her water-bucket, begging to be eaten, but a sort of scaly spell?
  • Or that eating the fish just sealed the dream-bargain, and the dream itself (or the gods who sent it) fixed George's fate from birth?
  • Or that her expectations of greatness shaped his early life, nourished his rise?
  What exactly does this fishy little parable mean? Aubrey's not telling.

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