133
Ahab, his mind broken by an obsession, at last confronts the enemy he has hunted so long.
Ahab, captain of a whaling ship, has been pursuing a huge albino sperm whale he calls Moby Dick, with an ever more deranged hatred. At last he has come to close quarters: he has boarded a small a boat, harpoon at the ready, and rowed out to face the object of his obsession while sharks circle in a frenzy of anticipation. Suddenly, the whale charges headlong — not at Ahab’s boat, but at the ship.
Picture: © Francesca Grossi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted December 16 2023
134
John Bright dismissed fears that digging a tunnel under the English Channel would encourage a French invasion.
In the 1880s, when the idea of a Channel Tunnel was being seriously considered in Parliament, senior ministers warned anxiously and apparently seriously of the dangers of encouraging a French invasion. John Bright, who as President of the Board of Trade had been strongly in favour of the project, made no attempt to conceal his scorn when he spoke to constituents in Birmingham on June 15th, 1883.
Picture: By Friedrich Graetz, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 17 2023
135
Perhaps European harmonisation would make life easier, but that would be only the beginning.
Just after the Second World War, Dorothy L. Sayers, creator of dashing detective Lord Peter Wimsey, reflected on Britain’s reluctance to be gleichgeschaltet (‘brought into line’) by the Germans. Setting aside extreme measures taken by Mr Hitler, might it not make life easier if the people of Europe all followed the same rules? It might, Sayers admitted. But it wouldn’t end there.
Picture: © Gpwitteveen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted November 17 2023
136
Odysseus recalls meeting Tantalus and Sisyphus, for whom relief was everlastingly beyond their grasp.
Odysseus, King of Ithaca, is sailing homeward after taking part in the Siege of Troy. Looking back, he recalls how on Circe’s advice his journey took him to the black rivers of Hades, and how at the confluence of the Periphlegethon and the Cocytus he offered sacrifice. A pale crowd of the shades of men rose about him, and among them were Tantalus and Sisyphus.
Picture: © Lightburst, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted November 15 2023
137
Hours after running away to sea, Robinson Crusoe was sorry he ever left home.
Against the advice of his affectionate father and the pleadings of his distraught mother, Robinson Crusoe, then eighteen, refused to study for the law and announced he would go to sea. This remained little more than a shapeless gesture of teenage rebellion for a year. Then one day a friend went to Hull for a trip up the coast to London in his father’s ship, and invited Robinson to come along for the ride.
Picture: By Mary Beale (?-1699), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 10 2023
138
A foreign tourist writes home with an account of a day in the life of a typical London gentleman.
John Macky published Travels Through England in 1714. It takes the form of letters supposedly written by a foreign tourist while in England, and sent home to his friend abroad. The preface declares frankly that Macky’s purpose is to help his reader appreciate an Englishman’s liberties under the benign King George I, in contrast to the wretched oppression on the Continent. Here, he describes a leisurely day in London.
Picture: By an anonymous artist, c. 1700-1753, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 8 2023