On The Identity of Weelkes’ ‘Fogo’

• Published in: R.M.A Research Chronicle
• Main Author: Milne, J. G. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1972
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science; Fogo; Hekla; Tierra del Fuego
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14723808.1972.10540856; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0080446000000630

Recently I found myself again singing Weelkes' “Thule, the period of cosmography” from the Madrigals of Six Parts published in 1600 and, not for the first time, wondered where Fogo is:- “The Andalusian merchant, that returns Laden with cochineal and China dishes, Reports in Spain how strangely Fogo burns Amidst an ocean full of flying fishes.” The first part of the madrigal refers to Hekla and Etna, both well-known volcanoes of the present day, but the location of Fogo is much less certain. E.H. Fellowes stated that it was a volcano in Tierra del Fuego but gave no evidence to support such an identification. It seems that everyone nowadays merely repeats Fellowes’ opinion, and it is quoted unchanged in the latest edition of English Madrigal Verse.