Knights Templar
Commonplace Book – Pages 67-70
Knights Templar formed in 12th c., to protect pilgrims on way to Jerusalem from Muslims – Knights vowed to chastity, poverty, and were warrior monks – eventually expanded to defend territories – Templars often took relics into battle to be guided by God, such as fragments of bones or pieces of saint’s clothing – Pilgrims could give money in Europe and receive money in the Holy Land – first international banking system.
Tortosa, Syria: Handed to Knights in 1122, a castle was formed by the monks – the towers were spaced just enough for arches to shoot over the outer wall – 80 ft long, 30 ft wide and 50 ft tall – The Great Hall Chapel – 60 ft sq keep held the cistern and the weapons hold.
Chastel Blanc: A solitary stone tower – Constructed on the middle hill of Safita’s three hills and was a major part of the network of Crusader fortifications in the area. From Chastel Blanc it would have been possible to see the Templar strongholds at Tortosa and Ruad Island to the northwest, Chastel Rouge on the coastline to the southwest, Akkar to the south, and Krak des Chevaliers (the headquarters of the Syrian Knights Hospitallers) to the southeast. The tower is the remaining keep of the original castle. It has the height of 28 meters, a width of 18 meters and a length of 31 meters. A large bell is on the western wall, and its sound can be heard up to 5 kilometers from Safita. The castle had to restored in 1170 and 1202 following damages due to earthquakes. The keep in its current shape probably dates from the reconstruction after 1202.
The chapel on the ground floor was dedicated to St. Michael. Considering the time of its construction during the Crusades, the tower served two purposes, as both a chapel and a fortress, with 3 meter thick walls constructed of massive and carefully-fitted limestone blocks. The second floor, which can be reached by a flight of partially destroyed stairs, served as a dormitory, and contains many small angled windows that were used by archers to defend the tower. Cut into the rock below the tower is a water cistern.
Chastel Rouge: It was part of the network of castles defending the County of Tripoli – The Counts of Tripoli transferred the stronghold to the Hospitallers – In 1188, Saladin attacked the stronghold and destroyed it. The Crusaders retrieved it and kept it until they lost the County one century later. The stronghold consists in a two – floor donjon, 16 meters long and 14 meters wide, enclosed in rectangular outer walls of 42 meters length and 37 width, with towers on the north-western and south-eastern angles. The first floor was divided in two stories by a wooden floor that does not exist any more. Upper floors can be reached through stairs running along the walls inside and outside the donjon.
Krak des Chevaliers: Krak des Chevaliers was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. It was expanded between 1150 and 1250 and eventually housed a garrison of 2,000. The fortress controlled the road to the Mediterranean, and from this base, the Hospitallers could exert some influence over Lake Homs to the east to control the fishing industry and watch for Muslim armies gathering in Syria. The Hospitallers rebuilt it and expanded it into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, adding an outer wall three meters thick with seven guard towers eight to ten meters thick, to create a concentric castle. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers lived in one of the towers, and the fortress may have held about 50 – 60 Hospitallers plus up to 2,000 other foot soldiers. In the 12th c., the fortress had a moat covered by a drawbridge, leading to postern gates. Between the inner and outer gates was a courtyard, leading to the inner buildings, which were rebuilt by the Hospitallers in a Gothic style. These buildings included a meeting hall, a chapel, a 120-meter long storage facility, and two vaulted, stone stables which could have held up to a thousand horses. Other storage facilities were dug into the cliff below the fortress, and it is estimated that the Hospitallers could have withstood a siege for five years.
Knights Hospitaller: (Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes and Chevaliers of Malta) was an organization that began as an Amalfitan hospital founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade it became a religious / military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defense of pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Trebuchet: Range up to a 1/4 of a mile, it had the power to break through stonework – a medieval siege engine, a weapon employed either to smash masonry walls or to throw projectiles over them. All trebuchets were made from wood. It could fling 300 lb projectiles at high speeds into enemy fortifications. On occasion, disease-infected corpses were flung into cities in an attempt to cause infection. Trebuchets were invented in China about 4 c. B.C., came to Europe in the 6th c. A.D. and did not become obsolete until the 16th c.
1st Crusade, 1099: Christians seized the Holy Land from Muslim rule and made the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Jerusalem Temple Mount their headquarters – beneath the mosque the warrior monks kept their horses – 60,000 sq feet
Temple Church in London, designed like the Sepulchre – across Europe, men were recruited as Knights Templar by the West Door and then locked in – this took place at dawn – new recruits would take monastic vows (chastity, poverty and obedience) – the statues on the floor represented the rich donors to the Templars and therefore were reassured glory in the eyes of God.
Ruad Island: A resting place for the Templar’s horses during their retreat from Tortosa – the last territory held by the Templar was Tortosa – in 1302 a Muslim force found out their force on Ruad – they drove the Templar back on the island and kept them from the infantry – the knights surrendered.
Oct 13, 1307: The King of France accused the Templar of performing pervasive acts, spitting on the cross and worshiping false idols and said that the Templar failed him and they were punished – the Templars were hung from the ceilings of dungeons and weights tied to certain parts, their feet were burned and the Master finally burned at the stake and they were disbanded.
Notes on George III of Great Britain
Had an extreme sense of responsibility and duty to his monarchy and God – in the 18th c. there were two concepts of religion – that God did not interfere in the lives of men, but did judge them and the other, that George believed – “anything that went wrong, was a test of God to the British” Patriots were rebels who were against God’s will and must be compromised.
Had to battle his siblings and their loose morals while growing up. He was interested in science, physics, art, people (in respects to their social background) – Interested in astronomy and when discovered, Uranus was named after him. He was careful about how many sweets he ate, and remained physically fit well into his 60s.
1795 – 1825: The empires of the world would collapse – the Spanish in the Americas, the British and American colonies, the West Indies as colonies. – No European monarch ever visited the New World; this caused them to lack the ability to properly rule them
He was a firm believer in what he stood for – precedence, order, dynasty, submissive subjects; it was difficult to deal with “disorder of democracy” and saw it as a disobedience and refused to let it slide by.
1774: George is urging firmness and order and instead of searching for compromise, (fighting at Lexington and Concord) he opposes the counsel given by his advisors not to go to war and instead make a blockade.
1779: France enters the Revolutionary War – George knows the British are outnumbered and it would be foolish to continue, but he does by encouraging troops, the militia, and the navy
He suffered from porphilia – A woman named Margaret stabbed him in the chest with a pen knife – but George told the men not to hurt her – she was mentally challenged
1795: George was shot on his way to Parliament and the shot missed but he keeps his cool.
1800: James Hatfield tries to shoot George on his way to a performance of Figaro and misses
1775: James Fox (leader of the House of Commons – sympathetic to the American cause) – the king is becoming less powerful – Parliament wanted to give the American representation to avoid conflict, but George was unwilling to sympathize with the Americans
Americans begin to destroy all representations of the monarchy because they feel that George betrayed them by not understanding how politics should work – paintings are reversed or destroyed, his statue in New York City is taken down and streets are re-named.
‘Der Vampir’ by Heinrich August Ossenfelder and Facts on Death
Commonplace Book – Pages 63-64
Der vampir
My dear young maiden clingeth
Unbending, fast and firm
To all the long-held teaching
Of a mother ever true;
As in vampire unmortal
Folk on the Theyse’s portal
Heyduck-like do believe
But my Christian thou dost dally,
And wilt my loving parry
Till I myself avenging
To a vampire’s health a-drinking
Him toast in pale tockay
And as softly thou art sleeping.
To thee shall I come creeping
And thy life’s blood drain away.
And so shalt thou be trembling
For thus I shall be kissing
And death’s threshold thou’lt be crossing
With fear, in my cold arms.
And last shall I thee question
Compared to such instruction
What are a mother’s charms?
Facts on Death
- In as little as 10 years, the skin of a corpse begins to sag and turn to liquid, the bones only remain whole for a few 100 years.
- By 800 B.C., cremation became common.
Sarcophagus: A stone coffin, often inscribed or decorated with sculpture. From the Greek “sarx” meaning “flesh”, and phagein meaning “to eat”, which refers to the limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses interred within it.
Catacombs: An underground, often labyrinthine, cemetery consisting of chambers or tunnels with recesses for graves.
- ‘Cemetery’ is derived from the Greek ‘κοιμητήριον’ for ‘dormitory’, a place where one sleeps.
- By 600 B.C., cremation spread to the Roman Empire, and it became popular for hygenic concerns.
Crypt: An underground vault or chamber, especially one beneath a church that is used as a burial place.
- By 400 A.D. a cremation’s remains were damned and Constantine declared burning the dead to be pagan.- Those who couldn’t be buried in the church, were buried in mass graves or ‘potter’s fields’
- It was during the plagues of early Europe that churches began to move cemeteries out of the church and into the church yard to bury all the dead
Necropolis: A cemetery, especially a large and elaborate one belonging to an ancient city. From the Greek “νεκρόπολις” – nekropolis, meaning “city of the dead”
- In some European cemeteries, you had to pay a fee for a specific time after your death and when your time was up, your bones were grind to dust and were replaced with another’s bones.
- In the 1830s, the United States became to make cemeteries more appealing for visitors
- The Riverside Cemetery in California can provide space for 1,400,000 bodies
- 1848: The Fist Company came up with a steel, air-tight model for a coffin
Ossuary: A chest, building, well, or site made to serve as a resting place for human remains. The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than if the original coffins were left as is.
- Early markers were simple wooden crosses, as crosses were a sign of death even before Christianity.
- The graveyard in Okinawa, Japan is the most densely populated in the world, containing 189,000 bodies, honoring WWII dead.
- New Orleans’ graveyards are the most with above ground tombs, due to the city being below sea-level
Burial vault: A usually private, structural underground tomb. A crypt may be used as a burial vault.
- 1838: The American Civil War caused New Orleans’ graveyards to overflow, so an unused racetrack was turned into the Metairie Cemetery, with street signs.
- The Greeks were fond of sleeping in tombs, to better hear the advice of the dead.
- 1920s: The automobile was finally considered dignified enough for a funeral procession
Grave field: A cemetery with a notable lack of above-ground structures, buildings, or grave markers.
- 1938: The Victoria-style hearse was introduced
- Crystal Car Company: each day, only five hearses are made
Tumulus: Ancient burial place where bodies were placed in stone or wooden vaults, over which large mounds of soil were heaped.
- Dating to 1876 and built on Gallows Hill in Washington, Pa., the LeMoyne Crematory was the first such facility to be built in the United States. (Been there! Very cool place ^^)
- Cremation are performed in computer-controlled chambers, after the container is loaded in, burners are activated and the heat reaches 1800 degrees for over 1.5 hours
Cairn: Ancient burial place where bodies were placed in stone or wooden vaults, over which a pile of stones was placed.
Castles
Commonplace Book – Pages 58-63
Adulterine: A term used to define a castle built without royal permission when such permission is required
Allure: A walkway along the top of a wall
Arcade: An arched covered passageway with columns or piers
Arch: A typically curved structural member spanning an opening and serves as a wall support above doors and windows
Armoury: A storehouse for the castle’s weapons
Arrow loops: A vertical narrow slit built into a wall through which arrows are shot
Ashlar: Hewn squared and shaped blocks of building stones
Bailey: The outer courtyard or ward inside the castle walls used for outdoor activities
Baluster: A small column of wood or stone used to support a load
Ballista: A siege machine that resembles a giant crossbow that is used to propel missiles at a target
Balustrade: A railing topping a row of balusters placed along a walkway or an outside stairway
Bar Hole: A hole in a wall used to receive the door bolt
Barbican: An outer defense work of a castle, often a heavily fortified gate tower
Bastion: A small enclosed tower placed at the edge of a curtain wall and used primarily as watch or guard post
Batter: That part of the outside base of the curtain wall which is sloped at a 45 degree angle. It is used to bounce rocks off of into attacking forces.
Battlements: Parapits with crenelations and merlons (raised parts) forming a narrow outer wall along the curtain walls
Battice: A timber tower or a projecting wooden hoarding or gallery
Berm: A narrow shelf, pathway, or ledge typically at the top or bottom of a slope. Also a mound or wall of earth.
Blockhouse: A timber or stone structure with arrow loops used for defense
Bolt: A shaft or missile designed to be shot from a crossbow or catapult
Boss: An ornamental projecting block of stone or wood. The keystone or an arch, usually of granite stone
Breastwork: A low wall or railing used to protect the edge of a platform, roof or bridge. Also, sometimes a temporary fortification used in the defense of the castle during battle.
Bessumer: Wooden beams used to support a project from a wall
Butt joint: A joint made by fastening the parts together end-to-end without overlap. Often reinforced by wrapping or bolting.
Buttery: The storeroom for wine and other beverages
Buttress: A projection of masonry or wood used to enforce and strengthen a wall. There are two types: flying and pilaster
Cap stone: A coping stone, used in the covering course of a wall or placed upon a post
Capital: The uppermost member of a column or pilaster crowning the shaft and taking the weight of the entablature.
Castellan: The official in charge of a castle
Catapult: A type of siege machine designed to throw large stones or missiles at a target
Cesspit: The area where the contents of the garderobes was collected
Chamfer: To shape the edges of two stones such that they will sit closely together
Chevron: A heraldry pattern consisting of two diagonal stripes meeting at an angle to for a V
Cistern: A storage place for water
Citadel: A fortress. A heavily fortified military castle.
Cloister: A covered passage way on the inside of a courtyard
Concentric: Two set of high defensive walls, with one totally inside of the other. And with both enclosed areas having a common center
Coffer: Recessed ornamental panels placed in the ceiling or vault
Coping: The covering course of a wall usually with a sloping outward top
Cope Stone: A stone shaped for and used for covering the top course of a wall
Crenels (Embrasure): The open spaces between the merlons on a battlement fortifications
Crenelation: That which the crenels and merlons form as an battlement fortifications
Cupola: A rounded vault resting on a usually circular base, and forming a roof or ceiling. A small structure built on a roof
Curtain wall: A castle wall enclosing the entire castle or courtyard
Daub: A mixture of clay, straw and hair, used to cover house walls
Donjon (Keep): The stronghold of the castle
Escalade: To scale or climb over the castle walls
Finial: A usually decorative ornamentation forming a crowning detail
Forebuilding: A structure that projects from a keep to house the entrance stairway
Gallery: An outdoor, roofed balcony used for patrolling castle walls
Garderobe: A primitive bathroom in a castle with usually a simple hole discharging to the outside
Garrison: A permanent base for troops
Gatehouse: The complex of gates, portcullis, drawbridge and barriers built to control the entrance
Hoarding: A covered gallery built on or near the top and outside of a curtain wall or tower for defense
Inner Ward: The inner bailey or courtyard of a castle
Loophole: Narrow slits in fortifications through which arrows were fired
Machicolation: A masonry projection from a curtain wall or tower supported by corbels with an opening in the floor through which ricks, boiling water or oil, or arrows could be rained down
Mangonel: A large siege machine in which a missile is held in a cup on a long arm and fired by a torsion
Merlon: Solid part of the wall that with the crenels form the crenellations
Mortise: A socket in a timber into which a wooden tenon is joined in a tight secure fit
Motte: An earthen mound upon which a fortification is built
Mural Towers: A tower built on top of a curtain wall
Murder Holes: Holes designed into the ceiling and walls of the gatehouse passageway between the innder and outer gates where arrows, rocks and boiling water could be dropped
Oilette: The round opening at the base of a loophole. Allows an archer a wider angle view
Oubliette: A secret dungeon with a trap-door opening only in the ceiling
Padstone: A stone upon which a timber post is placed
Palisade: A strong, wooden fence or wall built on a motte
Parapet: A protective wall built along the outer top of a wall
Pilaster: An auxiliary mass of masonry designed to strengthen a wall
Portcullis: A vertical sliding grating of iron positioned over a gateway in the gatehouse and lowered between groves.
Postern Gate: A small additional gate or door
Quoins: The hewn or dressed stones at the corner of a building
Ramparts: A stone wall or broad earth embankment raised as an addition fortification outside the castle walls
Revetment: To face a slope of earthwork with a layer of stone to stabilize and strengthen the slope
Sallyport: A small usually concealed gate or door in the castle’s outer wall
Shake: A hand split section of wood used to cover the topside surface of a roof. Usually somewhat thicker than a shingle.
Siege Tower: A movable, tall wooden tower that is brought up to a wall and used to climb over the wall
Sillbeam: The horizontal timber at the base of a timber framed building upon which upright posts can be joined to
Solar: A term commonly used for a small chamber usually off the great hall. Originally, a private chamber located high in the keep.
Soleplate: A horizontal timber plate between a sillbeam and the masonry foundation
Stockade: An enclosure constructed with upright wooden services
Talus: A huge, sloping inner concentric wall which prevented attackers from getting too close
Turret: A small tower built on a larger tower
Vault: An arched structure of masonry usually forming a ceiling
Ward: The inner courtyard of a castle
Wattle: A woven structure of twigs placed between timber framed structures to close the walls
Windless: A device used to increase the force to make it easier to hoist, tighten or move objects
Notes on Le Comte de Saint Germain
Commonplace Book – Pages 54-58
Seems to have been free personally and enjoyed and sought the company of the pretty women of his day. Never ate any food in public, liked dining out because of the people he met and the conversation he heard.
It appears from the Memoirs of Baron von Gleichen, that when Saint Germain was in Paris, he became a lover of Mademoiselle Lambert, daughter of the Chevalier Lambert, who lived in the house in which he lodged.
He also had a love of jewels in an extreme form, and he ostentatiously showed off those he possessed. He kept a great quantity of them in a casket, which he carried about everywhere with him.
This is incompatible with the part he played in the Hermetic societies of Germany and France. His outward appearance of a man of the world was necessary in the first place for the purposes of the secret diplomacy [Secret du Roi] in which Louis XV often employed him.
“A man who knows everything and who never dies“, said Voltaire. Louis XV must have known who he was, as he alotted him rooms in the Chateau of Chambord – he would shut himself up with Germain and Madame de Pompadour for hours of conversation.
Most common hypothesis concerning his birth was that he was the son of Marie de Neubourg (widow of Charles II of Spain) and a Comte Adanero, whom she knew at Bayonne.
Another theory is that he was one of the sons of Francis Racoczi II, Prince of Transylvania. The children of Francis were brought up by the Emperor of Austria, but one of them was withdrawn from his guardianship. The story was that the child was dead, but was actually given into the charge of the last descendant of the Medici family.
He took the name of Saint Germain from the little town of San Germano, where he spent some years during his childhood and where his father had estates. “of middle height, strongly built, and dressed with superb simplicity” – Gleichen
He spoke with an entire lack of ceremony to the most highly placed personages and was fully conscious of his superiority. Many people who heard him play violin said of him that he equaled or even surpassed the greatest virtuosos of the period. Also an accomplished artist.
“I am pleased with you, and you have earned my showing you a few paintings of mine.”
“And he very effectively kept his word, for the paintings he showed me all bore a stamp of singularity or perfection which made them more interesting than many works of art of the highest order”- Gleichen
Nothing but the possession of alchemy could perhaps account for the enormous wealth at his command, though he was not known to have money on deposit on any banker’s. The diamonds that he wore in his shoes and garters were believed to be worth more than 200,000 francs. He asserted he could increase the size of pearls at will.
Madame du Hausset tells us that he was showing the queen some jewels and she commented on the beauty of a cross of white and green stones. Germain made a present of it and Hausset refused, but the queen signed to her that she might accept. Madame du Hausset had the stones valued, they turned out to be genuine and extremely valuable.
The musician Rameau and Madame de Gergy both assert that they had met him in Venice in 1710, under the name of le Marquis de Montferrat. Both of them agree that he appeared to be 40-50 years old.
Later, Madame de Gergy told Madame de Pompadour that she had received from Germain at Venice an elixir that enabled her to preserve the appearance of a woman of 25. 50 years later, Pompadour questioned Germain about the elixir, “It is not impossible; but I confess it is likely that this lady, for whom I have the greatest respect, is talking nonsense.”
The period of his great celebrity extended from 1750 – 1760, and then for 15 years he disappeared, and when the Comtesse d’Adhemar saw him again in 1775, she declared he was younger than ever. Twelve years later, she saw him and he was the same.
“These fools of Parisians, believe that I am five hundred years old. I confirm them in this idea because I see that it gives them much pleasure – not that I am infinitely older than I appear.”
Saint Germain asserted also that he had the capacity of stopping the mechanism of the human clock during sleep. He thus almost entirely stopped the physical wastage that proceeds, without our knowing it, from breathing and the beating of the heart.
He was interested in the preparation of dyes and even started a factory in Germany for the manufacture of felt hats. After the revolution of Russia in 1762, Count Alexis’ Orloff’s brother, Gregory, handed over to Soltikov (St. Germain) of his own free will 20,000 sequins, an uncommon action, seeing that St. Germain had not rendered him any particular service.
Beginning of the reign of Louis XVI, that St. Germain met with le Comtesse d’Adhemar to arrange a meeting with Queen Marie Antoinette, who immediately asked if he was going to settle in Paris again.
- “A century will pass before I come here again. The Encyclopedist party desires power, which it will obtain only by the complete fall of the clergy. In order to bring about this result, it will upset the monarchy. The Encyclopedists, who are seeking a chief among the member of the royal family, have cast their eyes on the Duke de Chartes. The duke will become the instrument of men who will sacrifice him when he has ceased to be useful to them. He will come to the scaffold instead of to the throne. Not for long will the laws remain the protection of the good and the terror of the wicked. The wicked will seize power with bloodstained hands. They will do away with the Catholic religion, the nobility and the magistracy.”
- “So that even the royalty will be left?”
- “Not even royalty. There will be a bloodthirsty republic, whose scepter will be the executioner’s knife.”
Saint Germain then asked to see the king, without his minister, Maurepas. The king did not possess sufficient authority and informed Maurepas of the interview with the Queen. Maurepas thought it wise to place Germain in the Bastille.
“The king has called on you to give him good counsel, and in refusing to allow me to see him you think only of maintaining your authority. You are destroying the monarchy, for I have only limited time to give to France, and when that time has passed I shall be seen again only after three generations. I shall not be to blame when anarchy with all its horrors devastates France. You will not see these calamities, but the face that you paved the way for them will be enough to blacken your memory.”
Secluded at Eckenforn in the Count of Hesse Cassel’s castle, St. Germain announced that he was tired, feeble but refused to see a doctor. No details exist of his supposed “death” in 1784.
It was known that he left all his papers and certain documents relating to Freemasonry to the Count – Germain must have been at least 100 years old at this time. Official Freemason documents say that in 1785 the French masons chose him as their representative at the great convention, with Mesmer, Saint-Martin, and Cagliostro present.
1786 – Was received by the Empress of Russia
1789 – Comtesse d’Adhemar met with him in the Church of the Recollets, after the fall of the Bastille.
1821 – Mdlle de Genlis met him during the negotiations for the Treaty of Vienna and again in the Piazza di San Marco. In Vienna he took part in the foundation of the Society of Asiatic Brothers and the Knights of Life, who studied alchemy, and it was he who gave Mesmer his fundamental ideas on personal magnetism and hypnotism.
With co-operation of Savalette de Lange, who was the nominal head, he founded the group of Philalethes. The Prince of Hesse, Condorcet, and Cagliostro were all members of this group.
“Man has in him infinite possibilities and that, from the practical point of view, he must strive unceasingly to free himself of matter in order to enter into communication with the world of higher intelligences.”
Notes on Le Comte de Saint Germain (Part 2)
Notes on Le Comte de Saint Germain (Part 3)
‘The Homes of England’ by Felicia Hemans and ‘Lord Randal’ by Anonymous
The Homes of England (1825?) by Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835)
The stately homes of England,
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O’er all the pleasant land.
The deer across their greensward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam,
And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream.
The merry Homes of England!
Around their hearths by night,
What gladsome looks of household love
Meet in the ruddy light!
There woman’s voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood’s tale is told,
Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.
The blessed Homes of England!
How softly on their bowers
Is laid the holy quietness
That breathes from Sabbath hours!
Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell’s chime
Floats through their woods at morn;
All other sounds, in that still time,
Of breeze and leaf are born.
The Cottage Homes of England!
By thousands on her plains,
They are smiling o’er the silvery brooks,
And round the hamlet fanes.
Through glowing orchards forth they peep.
Each from its nook of leaves,
And fearless there the lowly sleep.
As the bird beneath their eaves.
The free, fair Homes of England!
Long, long, in hut and hall,
May hearts of native proof be rear’d
To guard each hallow’d wall!
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,
Where first the child’s glad spirit loves
Its country and its God!
Lord Randal by Anonymous
“O where ha’ you been, Lord Randal, my son?
And where ha’ you been, my handsome young man?”
“I ha’ been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ huntin’, and fain wad lie down.”
“And who met ye there, Lord Randal my son?
And who met you there, my handsome young son?”
“O I met wi’ my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ huntin’, and fain wad lie down”
“And what did she give you, Lord Randal, my son?
And what did she give you, my handsome young man?”
“My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ huntin’, and fain wad lie down.”
“And wha gat your leavin’s, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha gat your leavin’s, my handsome young man?”
“My hawks and my hounds; mother mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ huntin’, and fain wad lie down.”
“And what becam of them, Lord Randal, my son?
And what becam of them, my handsome young man?”
“They stretched their legs out and died; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi’ huntin’, and fain wad lie down.”
“O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randal my son!
I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!”
“O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at heart, and I fain wad lie down.”
“What d’ye leave to your mother, Lord Randal my son?
What d’ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?”
“Four and twenty milk kye, mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at heart, and I fain wad lie down.”
“What d’ye leave to your sister, Lord Randal my son?
What d’ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?”
“My gold and my silver, mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at heart, and I fain wad lie down.”
“What d’ye leave to your brother, Lord Randal my son?
What d’ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?”
“My houses and my lands; mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at heart, and I fain wad lie down.”
“What d’ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal my son?
What d’ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?”
“I leave her hell and fire, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at heart, and I fain wad lie down.”
Works of Wyatt, Betjeman, and Shakespeare
Commonplace Book – Pages 49-52
They Flee From Me (1557) by Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503 – 1542)
They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
With naked foot stalking in my chamber
I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild, and do not remember
That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.
Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise,
Twenty times better; but once in special
In this array, after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small,
And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, “Dear heart, how like you this?”
It was no dream, I lay broad waking
But all is turned, thorough my gentleness,
Into a strange fashion of forsaking
And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
And she also to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served,
I fain would know what she hath deserved.
In Westminster Abbey (1940) by John Betjeman (1906 – 1984)
Let me take this other glove off
As the vox humana swells,
And the beauteous fields of Eden
Bask beneath the Abbey bells.
Here, where England’s statesmen lie,
Listen to a lady’s cry.
Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans
Spare their women for Thy Sake,
And if that is not too easy
We will pardon Thy Mistake.
But, gracious Lord, whate’er shall be,
Don’t let anyone bomb me.
Keep our Empire undismembered
Guide our Forces by Thy Hand,
Gallant blacks from far Jamaica,
Honduras and Togoland;
Protect them Lord in all their fights,
And, even more, protect the whites.
Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction
Democracy and proper drains.
Lord, put beneath Thy special care
One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.
Although dear Lord I am a sinner.
I have done no major crime;
Now I’ll come to Evening Service
Whensoever I have the time
So, Lord, reserve for me a crown,
And do not let my shares go down.
I will labour for Thy Kingdom,
Help our lads to win the war,
Send white feathers to the cowards
Join the Women’s Army Corps,
Then wash the Steps Around Thy Throne
In the Eternal Safety Zone.
Now I feel a little better,
What a treat to hear Thy Word,
Where the bones of leading statesmen,
Have so often been interr’d.
And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait
Because I have a luncheon date.
That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold (1609) by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which Shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang:
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Thou Art as Tyrannous, So as Thou Art (1609) by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;
To say they err I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to myself alone.
And, to be sure that is not false I swear,
A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face,
One on another’s neck, do witness bear
Thy black is fairest in my judgment’s place.
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.
