Hobbit Day--Bilbo's Last Song

In honor of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday today, here is a poster version of Bilbo's Last Song, which he sings when departing Middle-Earth. 

Advice from John Adams

As election time approaches here in the United States, it is good to reflect on how our Founding Fathers advised us.  This quote comes from John Adams "Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."


Meme created by yours truly from his personal collection of figures.

James II's Response to the League of Augsburg

The Duke of Berwick was a son of King James II of England and, after his father was dethroned by William of Orange (later William III), became a famous general in French service.  Berwick wrote out his Memoirs, and included this interesting exchange between the league of Augsburg (supporting William of Orange) and his father James II (then King of England).

"Pope Innocent XI, the Emperor, and the King of Spain, were in the secret of the Prince of Orange's intended invasion; and connived at it in the view of obliging the King of England to renounce the alliance he had with France, and to unite with the league lately made at Augsburg against that nation.  But they never had an intention of dethroning the King of England; as a proof of which, Don Pedro Ronquillo, the Spanish ambassador at London, in private audience which he demanded for that purpose, made the King clearly see that the storm threatened him; but at the same time assured him, in the name of the House of Austria, that if he would enter into the league, he would have nothing more to fear for himself, and that all the effort would turn against France."  

"The King's answer, though not very consonant with what policy might perhaps have required of him in his present situation, was dictated by the uprightness of his heart and of his conscience.  He assured the ambassador that it was his intention to live upon good terms with everybody, and never to depart from the laws of equity and justice; and that by these very laws, he was bound not to break with a Prince, who was his relation and ally, and from whom he had always received marks of friendship.  Ronquillo pressing him strongly, and representing to him the misfortunes to which he was going to expose himself, if he persisted in his resolution, the King replied, that he would rather lose his crown, than be guilty of an unjust action."--Berwick's Memoirs vol. 1 pp. 22-26, as cited on pg. 41 of The Marshal Duke of Berwick by Charles Petrie 

Delving Into History

"Few things are more stirring than gathering all the evidence you can find about some historical problem, spreading it out and satisfying yourself about what truly happened. ...Doubtless the students of today will get more notice out of space ships, guided missiles, interceptors, and the like, but there is also lasting contentment, this writer believes, in delving into the gold-loaded mountains of philosophy and history."--Glenn Tucker

Queen Anne on the Victory at Ramillies

After the Battle of Ramillies (May 23, 1706), the Duke of Marlborough wrote to Queen Anne to tell here of his victory.  Here is her reply: "The great glorious success which God almighty has been pleased to bless you with, and his preservation of your person*, one can never thank him enough for, and next to Him all things are owing to you; it is impossible for me every to say as much as I ought in return of your great and glorious services to me."

"British infantry attacking French infantry at the Battle of Ramillies" by Richard Simkin

Queen Anne had a good grasp of primary causes (God) and secondary causes (the Duke of Marlborough) that contributed to the victory at Ramillies.

*Marlborough had been in personal danger at least twice during the battle: once when his horse threw him and he was pursued by French cavalry, and again when a cannonball killed the aide holding his stirrup so the Duke could mount.

A Quote from Sherlock Holmes

"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.  All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance.  But this rose is an extra.  Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it.  It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."--"The Naval Treaty" in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Friar Roubaud and the William Henry Massacre 1757

A French officer informed me that a Huron at that very time in the camp, had in his possession an infant of six months whose death was certain if I did not immediately hasten to its rescue. ...The result was, that the infant should be given to me, if I would deliver to him in return the scalp of an enemy. ..."Well, there is the infant, carry it away, it belongs to you."...I arrived at the for, and at the sound of its feeble cries all the women ran towards me.  Each one flattered herself with the hope of recovering the object of her maternal tenderness.  They eagerly examined it, but neither the eyes nor the heart of any one recognized in it her child. ...I was absorbed in my reflections when I saw an English officer pass who happened to be well acquainted with the French language.  I addressed him therefore in a firm tone: "Sir, I have just ransomed this young infant from slavery, but it will not escape death, unless you direct some one of these women to take the place of its mother, and nurse it, until I shall be able to provide for it otherwise."...With that he spoke to the English women.  One of them offered to render it this service, if I would be willing to answer for her life and that of her husband, to charge myself with their support, and to see that they were conveyed to Boston from Montreal. I immediately accepted the proposition...

I was about quitting the fort, when the father of the infant was found, wounded by the bursting of a bomb, and utterly unable to succor himself.  He could not therefore put acquiesce with pleasure in the arrangements I had made for the security of his child, and I departed, accompanied by my English...  I cannot undertake to portray to you faithfully the new occurrence which here crowned my enterprise, for it is one of those events which a person flatters himself in vain with the hope of presenting true to nature.  We had scarcely reached the entrance of the camp, when a shrill and animated cry suddenly struck my ears.  Was it a cry of grief? or was it of joy?  It was all this, and much more, for it was that of the mother, who from a distance had recognized her child, so keen are the eyes of maternal love.  She ran with a precipitation which showed that this was indeed her child.  She snatched it from the arms of the English woman with an eagerness which seemed as if she feared that some one might a second time deprive her of it.  It is easy to imagine to what transports of joy she abandoned herself, particularly when she was assured of the life and the freedom of her husband, to whom she though that he had bid a final adieu."--pp. 183-185, Early Jesuit Missions in North America (read here: https://archive.org/stream/earlyjesuitmissi00kipwrich#page/184/mode/2up)

God's Master-Fencer

"Grace withereth without adversity.  The devil is but God's master-fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons."--Samuel Rutherford