Introduction
American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) believed that there was no people in Europe so committed to hard, scientific facts than the Victorian English, so unwilling to act until all the evidence is in – a ‘Victorian value’ worth rediscovering today.
THEY kiss the dust before a fact. Is it a machine, is it a charter, is it a boxer in the ring, is it a candidate on the hustings – the universe of Englishmen will suspend their judgment until the trial can be had.
They are not to be led by a phrase, they want a working plan, a working machine, a working constitution, and will sit out the trial and abide by the issue and reject all preconceived theories. In politics they put blunt questions, which must be answered; Who is to pay the taxes? What will you do for trade? What for corn? What for the spinner?
This singular fairness and its results strike the French with surprise. Philip de Commines says, “Among all the sovereignties I know in the world, that in which the public good is best attended to, and the least violence exercised on the people, is that of England.”* Life is safe, and personal rights; and what is freedom without security?
Philip de Commines (1447-1511), a diplomat in the court of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and of King Louis IX of France. The passage occurs in his ‘Memoires’ Volume I, Book V, Chap. 19 (p. 444): “In my opinion, of all the countries in the world with which I was ever acquainted, the one where the government is best managed, where the rule is least violent on the people, where buildings are least likely to be destroyed and demolished by war, is England; and that fate and misfortune falls only upon those who make the war”. De Commines was being generous: England was at that time (1477) in the middle of The Wars of the Roses, and Edward IV had six years earlier snatched the throne back from Henry VI.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Abide. Exercise. Public.
2 Before. Constitution. Put.
3 Corn. People. Preconceive.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Result. 2. Strike. 3. Can. 4. Question. 5. Answer. 6. Ring. 7. Pay. 8. Safe. 9. Freedom.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding un-.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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