Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1165

Francesco Geminiani

The most brilliant violinist of his generation, whose finely-crafted compositions showed off bravura and spoke tenderness.

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was overshadowed in the country of his birth by Antonio Vivaldi, and in his adopted nation by George Frideric Handel. He deserves recognition, though, both as a brilliant violinist who challenged his fellow performers to surpass themselves, and as a composer of high merit in his own right.

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Picture: Held at the Royal College of Music. Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1166

The Firstborn Liberty

John Milton (of ‘Paradise Lost’ fame) urged Parliament not to fall into bad old habits of censorship, whatever their fears may be.

In 1643, early in the Civil War, Parliament passed a law allowing it to censor and license pamphlets, hoping to silence critics. John Milton protested, reminding Parliament that in their campaign against Charles I’s tyranny they themselves had begotten the country’s love of free speech. Would they now take it away, like pagan fathers who slay their newborn child?

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Picture: By Annibale Gatti (1828-1909), via the Wellcome Trust and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

1167

Inquire Within

Philosopher and social activist John Stuart Mill discusses the most liberating kind of education.

J.S. Mill was educated at home by his eminent father, and the experience was a bruising one. He wished that his father had been more patient, but he was profoundly grateful that, unlike many of his contemporaries, he had not merely been trained to meet conventional school targets, but empowered throughout his life to set his own.

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Picture: © Deutsche Fotothek (picture by Roger and Renate Rössing), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Germany.. Source.

1168

Charles I and his Parliament

Charles took his rights and duties as a King with religious seriousness, but Parliament’s sense of both right and duty was just as strong.

King Charles I of England and Scotland (1600-1649) was charming, clever and convinced that he had inherited a divine right and duty to govern the country his own way. Parliament disagreed, demanding a constitutional role in law-making and criticising his policies. It did not seem likely to end well.

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Picture: National Portrait Gallery, via Wikimedia Commons.. Source.

1169

Interregnum

When Parliament overthrew the capricious tyranny of Charles I, it discovered an uncomfortable truth about power.

For eleven years, between 1649 and 1660, Britain was a republic. Great claims are sometimes made for this ‘interregnum’, as if it were the birth of democracy, but really it proved only one thing: be it under monarchy or republic, be it at court or in parliament, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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Picture: © John Sutton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1170

A Pledge to the People

Edmund Burke pleaded with Parliament to emerge from behind closed doors and reconnect with the British public.

In 1780, Parliament stood accused of being out of touch. While MPs entertained generous lobbyists and rubber-stamped ever higher taxes, the country was governed by grossly overstaffed committees behind closed doors. Edmund Burke pleaded for a more direct, self-denying government, and urged the Commons to reconnect with the public.

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Picture: © UtDicitur, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.