229
Trapped in Crete with his son Icarus, the craftsman and inventor Daedalus realises a bold and desperate plan to get away.
In a paroxysm of envy, the great craftsman Daedalus murdered his nephew, who seemed likely surpass him in skill, and the sentence of Athens’s highest court was death. Daedalus managed to flee to Crete, but King Minos made life as hateful there as in any prison. So Daedalus fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus, and prepared to fly to freedom.
Posted June 29 2022
230
Riding through Sussex, William Cobbett comes across a large family relaxing together in front of their charming cottage.
Radical MP William Cobbett was a man of strong emotions. Among them was a rooted objection to the Revd Thomas Malthus, who in a learned study on population begged Government to dampen the birth-rate among the working classes, or else the planet would soon be stalked by famine, war and pestilence. Cobbett faced the prospect of impending catastrophe without anxiety.
Posted June 28 2022
231
There are solid reasons why countries with lower taxes and less regulation tend to be more prosperous.
Eighteenth-century Britain was by comparison with most of Europe a remarkably free and stable society, and also a driving force behind industrial innovation and economic growth. John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon regarded this as cause and effect: countries where government is quiet will be busier, more prosperous and internationally more friendly, and they explained why this will always be so.
Posted June 28 2022
232
Gabriel Betteredge’s cottage was cosy, his employment rewarding and his status respectable, but his cup of happiness was not quite full.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a detective story (arguably the first) about a mysterious gem, told in the form of a series of narratives by different writers. One of these is Gabriel Betteredge, who digresses into a reminiscence about his bachelor days and how he met his future wife. At the time, he had just found a very comfortable position as bailiff to Sir John and Lady Julia Verinder.
Posted June 26 2022
233
The citizen should not dutifully accept government intrusion as the price of community life.
In the early eighteenth century, some argued that those who enjoy the benefits of living in our society should accept that the authorities will police our spending, our behaviour and even our opinions as they think best. But the benefits of society do not come from having our liberties curtailed, objected John Trenchard MP. They come from having them protected.
Posted June 25 2022
234
When Porus, the Indian king, surrendered to Alexander the Great at Jhelum, he had only one request to make of him.
Alexander the Great’s Indian expedition (327-325 BC) pushed the boundaries of his vast empire into much of what is now Pakistan and into India’s Punjab. The most serious resistance came from Porus, King of Paurava, in a fierce battle in May 326 BC at the Hydaspes or River Jhelum in the Punjab, during which Alexander demonstrated once again that he was a prince as well as a general.
Posted June 25 2022