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Richard Cobden was not a little envious of the USA’s open and can-do society, but he did not covet her republicanism.
In 1835 the USA stood for strict public economy (that year the national debt hit zero for the first and last time), military restraint, and wise investment of taxpayers’ dollars. These things, Richard Cobden believed, England could usefully copy; but not republicanism. A British republic, he said, she would merely replace one kind of aristocracy with a much less noble one.
Picture: From the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 6 2022
200
An ageing Heron finds himself a little too stiff to fish for himself, so he thinks of a way to get the fish to do it for him.
The Fables of Bidpai are morality tales similar to the animal fables of Aesop, with a touch of the Arabian Nights. They were first published in England in 1570, but originated in India, and spread to the West from an Arabic translation made by Ibn al-Muqaffaʻ (724-?759) of Basra. In this tale, retold for the sake of brevity, a Heron finds that dastardly plans have a way of backfiring.
Picture: © Hefin Owen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted October 29 2022
201
A harassed mother Raven vows bloody revenge on a venomous Snake, but the wily old Jackal has a better idea.
The Fables of Bidpai are morality tales similar to the animal fables of Aesop, with a touch of the Arabian Nights. They were first published in England in 1570, but originated in India, and spread to the West from an Arabic translation made by Ibn al-Muqaffaʻ (724-?759) of Basra. In the tale below, retold for the sake of brevity, a distraught mother learns that justice doesn’t have to involve confrontation.
Picture: © Marathekedar93, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted October 29 2022
202
If Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli really wanted a better-educated public, he must tackle the high cost of living.
As the 1860s progressed, calls grew for a Government shake-up of the education system. But in February 1868, John Bright MP, one of the country’s leading Liberals, told his Birmingham constituents that local communities would handle the three Rs without any help from fancy theories, if Government policy hadn’t made daily living into such a desperate scramble to survive.
Picture: By Stanley Howe, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA.. Source.
Posted October 23 2022
203
By day Danaus had to watch his fifty unhappy daughters marry their fifty cruel cousins, but the wedding night was yet to come.
The fifty daughters of Danaus, a mythical ruler dwelling on the banks of the River Nile, are chiefly remembered for murdering all but one of their fifty husbands on their wedding night, and for the hopeless doom to which the stern rulers of Hades put them. And yet what mortal, knowing the girls’ whole story, could not feel pity for them?
Picture: © kladcat, via Penn Libraries and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted September 30 2022
204
Henry VI’s campaign to confirm himself as King of France looked to be in trouble after the Duke of Brittany switched sides.
In 1425, England’s Henry VI and France’s Charles VII were still fighting the Hundred Years’ War for the French crown. That October, John V, Duke of Brittany followed his brother Arthur’s example and backed Charles. The Earl of Salisbury and other English generals replied with raids on Brittany from their base at Saint-James in Normandy, and by February, Arthur could see that brother John needed help.
Picture: © Voshubert65, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted September 28 2022