577
Herbert Bury’s duties took him back to St Petersburg after the Russian revolution of 1917, but all he could think of was how it used to be.
On his visits to Russia in his capacity as the Church of England’s Bishop for North and Central Europe, Herbert Bury had been impressed by Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alix (Queen Victoria’s granddaughter) and by the worship of the Russian Orthodox Church. Looking back after the unhappy revolution of 1917, one visit to St Petersburg remained with him vividly.
Picture: © Andrew Shiva, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted September 10 2020
578
Piqued by the way French and German literati mocked the English, Charles Dickens urged his compatriots to be the better men.
A production of The Benefit Night at the Carl Theatre in Vienna in March 1850 introduced the character of Lord Pudding, ‘a travelling Englishman.’ His clownish antics stung Charles Dickens into protesting at the stereotypes perpetuated by Continental writers, yet he did not demand punishment. He urged the English to hop on a train, and spread a little entente cordiale.
Picture: George Cruikshank (1792–1878), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted September 8 2020
579
Shortly after meeting Fanny Osbourne, Robert Louis Stevenson reflected on the different ways in which falling in love affects a man.
In 1876, Robert Louis Stevenson, who was in France for his health, met Fanny Osbourne, an American who was estranged from her serially unfaithful husband, and supporting herself and her two children by writing. For much of the following year Robert remained in France with Fanny, Isobel and Lloyd, and in 1877 published an essay titled ‘On Falling in Love’ in The Cornhill Magazine.
Picture: By Fanny Stevenson, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public Domain.. Source.
Posted September 6 2020
580
Following a historic embassy in 1792-93, Chien Lung, the Emperor of China, despatched a haughty letter rebuffing King George III’s offer of trade.
Glimpses of World History (1934) was written for his daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru while he was in gaol for protesting against a tax on salt. In this passage, the man who later became India’s first Prime Minister reflects on the fading of empires, recalling the groundbreaking Macartney embassy to China in 1792-93 and the haughty response by the Emperor, Chien Lung.
Picture: By Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 6 2020
581
Aeneas Anderson, who accompanied Lord Macartney on Britain’s first embassy to China, shared a tale illustrating the Qianlong Emperor’s notion of fair play.
In 1792-93, George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, led England’s first embassy to China. The Emperor was obstructive throughout and haughtily declined King George III’s invitation to trade. ‘We entered Pekin like paupers’ wrote Macartney’s valet, Aeneas Anderson; ‘we remained in it like prisoners; and we quitted it like vagrants.’ But his farewell to his readers was intended to leave a favourable impression.
Picture: By William Alexander (1767–1816), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 5 2020
582
A Jewish man is left for dead by bandits, but help comes from a most unexpected quarter.
‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ is a commandment of the Law of Moses; but one lawyer wanted to know whom Jesus thought his neighbour was? Jesus, as was his wont, answered with a question of his own. When a man was left for dead in a notorious crime blackspot between Jerusalem and Jericho, which of three men proved to be his neighbour? Which of them did as he himself would be done by?
Picture: From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 2 2020