'When the Ipswich Punch described colonial Ipswich as ‘the Modem Athens of the North’ (quoted in Deppeler-Hagan 1999: 28), it endowed the fledgling city with the image of a strong cultural background based on the traditions of Europe. However, the literary culture which existed in that period could not reflect all that the appellation might imply. Some of the town's inhabitants may have been educated in England and brought knowledge of European literature and thought to the new colony, but many were more concerned with earning a living than with cultivating their minds.' (Extract)