History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘History’
Edmund Burke takes time off from campaigning for liberty to reflect on the delights of captivity.
Edmund Burke remains one of the most significant statesmen in British history, who spoke up for the American colonists and the people of India as well as the English working man. Around the time of his marriage to Jane Mary Nugent in 1757, Burke also shared with us some thoughts on his ‘Idea of a Woman’.
George Canning warned the Commons to be very careful about their plans for reform.
In 1820, republican reformers called for the way MPs were elected to be standardised, and for the composition of the Commons to reflect modern society. But George Canning – MP for Liverpool, irreverent rhymester, and illegitimate son of an actress – had little wish for any system crafted by career politicians to favour their own well-bred clones.
John Milton shows his appreciation for noble words and music in uplifting harmony.
Milton’s celebration of noble poetry set to music, which he presents as an echo of the music of heaven itself, is couched in terms of the Sirens of Greek mythology, two mysterious winged women hidden in cliff-tops whose enchanting song drew sailors irresistibly.
George Canning urged Britain not to bring Continental Europe’s topsy-turvy politics home by getting too closely involved.
George Canning MP was grateful for the British Constitution’s balance between monarchy and democracy. He saw no such balance on the European Continent, still reeling from Napoleon’s grab for power, and during a speech in Liverpool in 1820 warned against letting our neighbours’ confusion spread here.
The surprisingly sensitive Roman commander was hoping to impress a girl with his angling skills.
After Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, his nephew Octavian joined forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) to avenge him at the Battle of Philippi. Rome’s possessions were divided among the three victors, and Mark Antony was granted Egypt, at that time ruled by Cleopatra VII Philopator.
The experienced nurse could not stop saving lives, even at the cost of her own.
The execution of nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915), an Englishwoman working in a Red Cross hospital in Brussels during the Great War, was one of a number of scandals that did nothing to help the German Empire justify their claim to be the superior civilisation of Europe.