781
Blake throws heart and soul into an impassioned expression of his dream of a new England.
In a fiery Preface to his epic poem ‘Milton’, William Blake scolded Georgian Britain’s materialistic Establishment for making idols of war, empire, science and money. He ended with a stirring appeal to rediscover the country’s soul, drawing on a legend that Jesus Christ once visited England.
Picture: By William Blake (1757-1827), via the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 7 2019
782
Self-confessed Scottish Nationalist John Buchan warned Scots that there was more to democratic prosperity than having a Parliament.
In November 1932, John Buchan MP told the House of Commons that he supported Home Rule for Scotland in principle, but warned that no Parliament has a magic wand, and that an over-mighty and bitterly anti-English Parliament might leave Scots as much a race without a country as no Parliament at all.
Picture: © Tharnton345, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 6 2019
783
Sir Walter Scott takes his daughter Sophia to see the newly-rediscovered Honours of Scotland, and suffers an embarrassment.
In 1817, the Prince Regent appointed a Commission to search the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle for records of Scotland’s crown jewels, unseen since the Act of Union in 1707. Sir Walter Scott had been a prime mover in the campaign and was one of the Commissioners, but not all his fellows felt the sacredness of their quest.
Picture: By Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 5 2019
784
Sir Walter Scott described how the long-forgotten crown jewels of the Scottish Kings came to light again.
After the Union of Scotland and England in 1707, Scotland’s crown jewels were locked away in Edinburgh Castle. Almost at once, the Jacobites who so bitterly opposed the Union began spreading rumours that the ‘Honours of Scotland’ had been stolen, and in 1794 King George III sent a party up to Edinburgh to prove them wrong.
Picture: © The Scottish Parliament, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 5 2019
785
Rosalind explains to Orlando that Time moves at different paces depending on who you are.
William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is believed to be the play that opened the New Globe theatre in 1599. After Frederick usurped the throne of his brother Duke Senior (so the story goes) he exiled his own daughter Rosalind for disobedience. Disguised as a boy, Rosalind fled to the Forest of Arden only to run into a long-time admirer, Orlando. To hide her confusion, and still incognito, she accosts him ‘like a saucy lackey’.
Picture: By Alfred Dedreux (1810-1860), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 1 2019
786
Richard Steele goes to Bath for his health, and is cured of more ailments than he had ever had in his life.
Eighteenth-century Bath was a fashionable spa city to which the Quality would retire for ‘the cure’. However, the health-giving waters were seemingly not enough by themselves, and doctors clustered round with all the medical treatments visitors could possibly want or need — plus a good many more.
Picture: By Adrian Pingstone, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 30 2019