595
Chinese merchant Lien Chi tells a colleague that English liberties have little to do with elections, taxes and regulations.
In a fictional ‘letter’, supposedly by Chinese merchant Lien Chi, Oliver Goldsmith argued that England felt more free than other countries because minor transgressions were winked at until they become too great for safety. On the Continent they maybe had simpler laws and more democracy, but they also had more meddlesome, self-righteous and prying governments.
Picture: Pierre Prévost (1764–1823), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted August 13 2020
596
On the day that the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, ‘Alpha of the Plough’ wondered if the country would prove worthy of him.
Like other correspondents for London’s newspaper ‘The Star,’ Alfred Gardiner took a nom-de-plume from astronomy, choosing ‘Alpha of the Plough.’ In this extract, written on November 11th, 1920, he reflected on the burial of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey that same day, and wondered if the people of Britain really understood what had happened.
Picture: By Francis Owen Salisbury (1874-1962), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. . Source.
Posted August 12 2020
597
Marguerite, Lady Blakeney, is powerless to intervene as her husband Sir Percy walks into a trap.
Marguerite St Just, now Lady Blakeney, has followed her husband Sir Percy to France after discovering that that amiable idiot is none other than the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel, responsible for saving so many from the guillotine — including, she hopes, her brother Armand. Concealed behind a curtain in a dirty Calais café, she watches in horror as Citizen Chauvelin draws his net tight around the heedless aristocrat.
Picture: By Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted August 11 2020
598
The lord of Benares is so partial to venison that fields lie fallow and marketplaces stand empty while his people catch deer for him.
The following tale comes from the collection known as the Jataka, a series of fables setting out the wisdom of Siddhartha Gautama, the fifth- or fourth-century BC teacher of enlightenment. This particular story is set in the deer park near Varanasi (Benares) in Uttar Pradesh where tradition says that Gautama Buddha first taught.
Picture: © Jairajnand, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted August 10 2020
599
Following the election of a new leader, the wolves listen with approval to his plans for a fairer pack but there is something they don’t know.
“It’s all these ‘gatherers’ and ‘sharers’, I reckon” Hob Hayward told Merry Brandybuck at the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King, when Merry asked why the Shire seemed to be short of food. “They do more gathering than sharing.” Not all collections of Aesop’s Fables include this little tale, but Hob Hayward would have appreciated it.
Picture: © Eric Kilby, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 8 2020
600
Schools inspector Edmond Holmes expressed frustration with those who think that society at large owes them unthinking obedience.
‘Dogma’ is merely a Greek word meaning ‘teaching,’ but the word has acquired a negative connotation, associated with narrow-mindedness and invincible ignorance. However, the jibe is often undeserved. A dogmatist is not the man who believes passionately that other people are dangerously wrong, and sets himself apart from them; as Edmond Holmes said, he is the man who sets himself over them.
Picture: Photo by Mark Owens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Open Government Licence version 1.0.. Source.
Posted August 5 2020