1327
If Britain is a chessboard, then politicians should remember that the ‘pieces’ are alive, and they generally play a better game.
In The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith has been discussing how the character of individuals may affect the happiness of wider society. He sets up a contrast between ‘the man of humanity and benevolence’, who respects others and tries to improve society by persuasion, and ‘the man of system’, who reaches out to move people and peoples around as if they were just pawns on a chessboard.
Picture: © Jeff Buck, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 9 2016
1328
Kate Nickleby must bite her lip as she experiences snobbery for the first time.
After falling on hard times, Kate Nickleby, daughter of a country gentleman, has gratefully accepted a job in a dressmaker’s. But a mother and daughter have come in, and being in an ill temper have chosen to take it out on the new assistant.
Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 9 2016
1329
From performance and composition to instrument-making, Clementi left his mark on British and European classical music.
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) came from Rome to England as a boy, to become one of the most prolific of British composers, and an internationally respected teacher and performer. An able businessman, he also turned a bankrupt firm of London instrument-makers into a Europe-wide success.
Picture: From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 8 2016
1330
William the Conqueror’s purge of the English Church was halted by a humble bishop and a dead king.
After the Conquest in 1066, William of Normandy appointed an Italian, Lanfranc, as Archbishop of Canterbury, and set about clearing out the English bishops. Wulfstan was the last, stubbornly protecting the English from their new masters, and it seemed God was on the side of the old religion, too.
Picture: From the Walters Art Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 7 2016
1331
A reminder that those with extreme wealth and power have everything but the peace to enjoy it.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) is the only classical writer to have passed onto us this memorable tale about the paradox of political power: that those who possess it have everything but the peace to enjoy it.
Picture: © Martyn Gorman, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 5 2016
1332
Eurystheus sends his cousin on another labour, this time hoping the task is too delicate for the big man.
Heracles has now performed two labours for his cousin and rival Eurystheus, slaying the fearsome Lion of Nemea and the many-headed, venomous Hydra of Lerna. From the safety of his palace, however, Eurystheus is disputing the validity of the second.
Picture: © Chneophytou, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted July 5 2016