(1) The English Way (The Imaginative Conservative)
“One of my favorite current Christian Humanists, Canadian Michael O’Brien, has argued in his own masterful novel, Sophia House, that every book that enters the world is akin to the human soul. Some do well, some do ill, and many—simply through the beauty of creation—reflects bits and pieces of divine grace. In essence, when art, a book might very well magnify the Lord.”
Category Archives: Books
Weekend 524.2 (seditious persons…covetous rule…singular lucre)
Quotes from The Brothers York: An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn:
“He [Edward IV] was comfortable enough to schedule in a diversionary loop, a pilgrimage through East Anglia to the great north Norfolk shrine of Walsingham, during which he would recruit additional armed forces for his norther operation.”
“The area was a hotbed of support for the pro-Lancastrian Percy family, whose heir, the twenty-one-year-old Henry Percy, was securely in the wardship of William Herbert away in south Wales: the insurgents wanted him restored as earl of Northumberland in place of the man who had supplanted him, John Neville. Late May, some fifteen thousand strong, they reached the gates of York before Neville and his men materialized. There, after a ‘long fight’, Robin of Holderness was captured and beheaded.”
“While Cook himself was still in custody, Edward ordered Rivers and Fogge to break into his property and seize his moveable assets in order to pay off the debt: a common, if harsh, practice that their men interpreted liberally, turning Cook’s London townhouse upside-down, drinking his cellar dry and carting off large quantities of cloth, £700 in plate and jewels, and a series of exquisite, jewel-encrusted tapestries depicting the Siege of Jerusalem.”
“Late that October, in a small chamber in Westminster Palace, Henry Percy swore an oath of allegiance to Edward, witnessed by a small knot of royal councillors including William Hastings and the archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Bourchier. In return, Percy was given his liberty. His release was seismic. Percy, everybody now knew, was to be restored to his earldom of Northumberland – with inevitable consequences for those who had profited from it: Warwick, Clarence and the earldom’s current incumbent, John Neville.”
“Though the carnage of Towton was now a decade ago, it lingered in the memory and everybody knew somebody who had died there; mostly on the Lancastrian side, fighting for Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland.”
Weekend 523.1
“Judica me, Deus, discerne causam meum de gente non sancta.” Psalm 42
Quotes from The Brothers York: An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn:
“Meanwhile, shortly before sunset on Thursday 18 July, a rider had arrived in Canterbury from the north with urgent news for Edward, there with Elizabeth on pilgrimage to the tomb of St Thomas Becket.”
“The English, he wrote, were great observers of protocol, always ready to genuflect to power and authority. But ‘no matter how they bend the knee’, he concluded, ‘they are not to be trusted.'”
“There were pressing reasons why he needed to do so, chief among them the fact that the Medici relied heavily on exports of English wool to fill the convoy of galleys that docked each year at Southampton.”
“Progressing through Kent, taking in the elegance of Canterbury Cathedral and the richness of Thomas Becket’s gold, gem-encrusted shrine, the saint’s hair shirt hanging above it, Rozmital and his party started to acquaint themselves with English customs, including a beverage drunk by the common people, which, one of the party noted, was called ‘Al’selpir’ (though he didn’t apparently realize that he was being offered a choice: ‘ale’ or ‘beer’).
“Noting Edward’s freshly minted currency, ‘nobles and other good coins’ changing hands, they quickly formed the conclusion that London – a ‘powerful’ city, they appraised, with its face turned outward towards the world and ‘rich in gold and silver’ – was England.”
Weekend 521.3
“It’s been remarked many times that Walt was Mickey, Mickey was Walt—and nowhere is that more evident than in the iconic scenes of Mickey eagerly improvising an airplane and taking to the skies; scaling a beanstalk and challenging a giant; donning a Sorcerer’s hat and “conducting” the courses of the stars and planets. That joyous, wholehearted celebration of life was at the core of Walt’s spirit—and the same spirit was, and still is, embodied in his most personal creation: Mickey Mouse. As long as Mickey lives, that carefree spirit will continue to venture forward, with boundless enthusiasm and great good humor, toward distant horizons we cannot even yet imagine.”
Taschen was highlighted in “The Art of _______________________” in Weekend 461.0. They publish beautiful books and the recently released Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History is no exception. It’s a must for any Walt Disney / Mickey Mouse fan.
Weekend 521.2
I was in the **new** store in Westport, CT a couple of weeks ago doing some research. The Brothers York, by the way, is a perfect follow-up to Fatal Colours by George Goodwin. Book serendipity.
(1) The Englishman trying to save American bookstores from Amazon (CorpUS)
Taking refuge at home…
I didn’t post a ton during my sabbatical but enjoyed some serious downtime. I’ve compiled a list of all the happenings (in true Limestone Roof tradition).
(1) Finished Fatal Colours by George Goodwin. My next book assignment is The Brothers York: An English Tragedy by Thomas Penn
(2) Updated LIMESTONE with a new theme (it had remained more or less the same since moving from BLOGGER in 2010)
(3) Helped my brother earn the KINGDOM HEARTS III Complete Master trophy
(3a) IRL Trophy: Kingdom Hearts Wayfinders Lasercut Pendant (Etsy)
(4) Attended 1 NHL and 1 AHL hockey game. Saw my beloved Bridgeport Islanders defeat the Charolotte Checkers on Saturday, January 8 at Webster Bank Arena
(5) Walked to Mass via the greenways in NC; attended Mass at St Thomas (homecoming).
Weekend 517.0
Early start; I got my reasons.
(1) Fringe Intro [1985] [HD]
(2) Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse Of Reason – Remixed & Updated will be released on 29 October 2021
(3) Two books from Steven Levy that should be on every shelf:
(3a) Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
(3b) Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything
(4) Slim titles with a BIG punch:
(4a) John Betjeman: Poems Selected by Hugo Williams (published by Faber and Faber Ltd.)
(4b) Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot
(4c) The Book in the Cathedral by Christopher de Hamel
Weekend 505.1
“The New Year waits, breathes, waits, whispers in darkness.” – T.S. Eliot
Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.
“But the legalized looting of the monasteries and chantries by the Crown and its agents in the 1530s and 1540s set an example which other were swift to follow.” The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy
As seen on Instapundit
Benedictine Monks Return to Historic Solignac Abbey for First Time Since French Revolution.
Weekend 504.1
“lyke tru and fayghthefull crystyn pepyll this was restoryd to this churche by the wyche doyngis hyt schowyth that they dyd lyke good catholyke men.” – Sir Christopher Trychay
I’m almost finished with The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy. It’s such an exquisite work, and whilst academic, has some very lovely prose (e.g. the dead became as shadowy as the blanks in the in the stripped matrices of their gravestones). My progress has been slowed by work commitments, copious note taking, and passages of old English¹.
In terms of personal impact, this book cracks my top ten and joins the ranks of Admiral of the Ocean Sea by Samuel Eliot Morison and The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. All these books (and probably authors) would be burned today by SJWs (and ironically Morison taught at Oxford and Harvard). Duffy’s book makes it clear though that in order to snuff out tradition (the permanent things) the radicals will grow more violent, extreme, and deceptive but that some saints and laity will labor at great sacrifice to preserve those traditions. The BIG debate is whether or not there is hope in the proles -or- if men without chests can be engineered by our elites.
“When the Edwardine spoilation of the church began William Clopton systematically bought up many of the images, and was given a free hand by the wardens to remove material from the Clopton family aisle and chapel, including all the images, ‘and to do yt at hys plesur’. One of these images, of the Virgin and Child in bed being venerated by the Magi, was discovered unbroken under the church floor in the nineteenth century, so it seems likely that Clopton took the images to preserve them.”
One other book is my top ten is C.S. Lewis for the Third Millennium by Peter Kreeft (Boston College) and this interview with him on Pints with Aquinas is recommended. It’s related to this post because Kreeft wrestles with Aquinas on the subject of whether or not the permanent things are extinguishable.
Related
‘Where Is Your God Now?’ Portland Cops Do NOTHING as Antifa Attacks Prayer Event Led by Persecuted Christian Pastor (PJ Media)
Shaun King [BLM] says Jesus images ‘a form of white supremacy’ that must go: ‘They should all come down’ (Washington Times)
¹MY ambitions of being a Medieval scholar were dashed by my inability to handle old English.