6 — Chaotic historical eras tend to be dominated by monstrous egoists. Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar, William the Conqueror, Tamerlane, Henry the Eighth, Ivan the Terrible, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Bismarck, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Thatcher would have been harmless if treated as equals by sensible people. But in competitive historical states common sense is scorned. Both rich and poor want leaders who embody Godhood, Destiny, Unyielding Reality, so many give unlimited obedience to whoever best acts such parts. Delilah Puddock’s clique of plotters gloried in their insane egoism. They were sure their longevity and foreknowledge of events would make them rulers of a new historical era.
Page 119.
The bright old day now dawns again etc. This is the last verse of a ballad which Charles Dickens contributed to The Examiner in August 1841. It parodies a right-wing popular song. Here is the full text.
THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN
(New Version, to be said or sung at all
Conservative Dinners)
I’ll sing you a new ballad,
and I’ll warrant it first rate,
Of the days of that old gentleman
who had that old estate;
When they spent the public money
at a bountiful old rate
On ev’ry mistress, pimp and scamp,
at ev’ry noble gate,
In the fine old English Tory times;
Soon may they come again!
The good old laws were garnished well
with gibbets, whips, and chains,
With fine old English penalties,
and fine old English pains,
With rebel heads, and seas of blood
once hot in rebel veins;
For all these things were requisite
to guard the rich old gains
Of the fine old English Tory times;
Soon may they come again!
This brave old code, like Argus,
had a hundred watchful eyes,
And ev’ry English peasant
had his good old English spies,
To tempt his starving discontent
with fine old English lies,
Then call the good old Yoemanry
to stop his peevish cries,
In the fine old English Tory times;
Soon may they come again!
The good old times for cutting throats
that cried out in their need,
The good old times for hunting men
who held their father’s creed,
The good old times when William Pitt,
as all good men agreed,
Came down direct from Paradise
at more than railroad speed.
Oh the fine old English Tory times;
When will they come again!
In those rare days, the press was seldom
known to snarl or bark,
But sweetly sang of men in pow’r,
like any tuneful lark;
Grave judges, too, to all their evil deeds
were in the dark;
And not a man in twenty score
knew how to make his mark.
Oh the fine old English Tory times;
Soon may they come again!
Those were the days for taxes,
and for war’s infernal din;
For scarcity of bread,
that fine old dowagers might win;
For shutting men of letters up,
through iron bars to grin,
Because they didn’t think the Prince
was altogether thin,
In the fine old English Tory time;
Soon may they come again!
But Tolerance, though slow in flight,
is strong-wing’d in the main;
That night must come on these fine days,
in course of time was plain;
The pure old spirit struggled,
but its struggles were in vain;
A nation’s grip was on it,
and it died in choking pain,
With the fine old English Tory days,
All of the olden time.
The bright old day now dawns again;
the cry goes through the land,
In England there shall be dear bread —
in Ireland, sword and brand;
And poverty, and ignorance,
shall swell the rich and grand,
So, rally round the rulers
with the gentle iron hand,
Of the fine old English Tory days;
Hail to the coming time!
CHAPTER FIVE — THE HENWIFE
Page 126.
powsoudie = sheep’s head broth.
drummock = raw oatmeal with milk.
kebbuck = home-made cheese.
farle = a three-cornered scone or bannock.
Page 136.
The stove was called the Aga.
Aga was the trade name of the cast-iron stove manufactured in the twentieth-century period. It burned household waste besides coal, wood or peat and was a thrifty source of heat for household uses.
We should all be gangrels.
Kittock’s faith in the superiority of possession-less people may seem the sort of romantic perversion sung in the ballads of Johnny Faa and The Raggle Taggle Gipsies. It was also entertained by Greeks, Jews, early Christians, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Hindus, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, George Borrow and many others who found natural justice incompatible with state-enforced laws, the earth which supports us at variance with owners who evict natives from it, often murderously.
Page 138.
wheen = several; a few; a number which is sufficient when used approvingly, deficient when used disparagingly.
Page 142.
The men exchanged tobacco pouches.