Stranger than Fiction: Real History

[Rath Darkblade]

And written in a waltz rhythm, too. Thank you, Louanne! I liked it.

 

[Louanne Learning]

The New-England Courant was launched in 1721 by James Franklin, in no small part to challenge the Puritan control of the press. In 1722, his sixteen-year-old brother Ben slipped a series of 14 letters under the door of his brother James’s print shop—and didn’t tell him. Ben adopted the persona of a middle-aged widow named Mrs. Silence Dogood, who offered witty commentary on politics, religion, manners, and education (especially for women)—and frequently ridiculed clergymen and politicians for hypocrisy.

Among the gems in the letters:

“Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.“

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.”

Famously, she signed it:



The same Ben Franklin was asked 65 years later, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"

Ben Franklin’s famous answer: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

 

[Rath Darkblade]

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.”

THANK YOU, Louanne, and thank you, Ben. Far too many people nowadays who cry out for "Freedom of Speech" should read this simple paragraph.

To put it in simple terms, with regard to free speech and free or limited it should be: Too many limits is tyranny. No limits at all is anarchy.

Freedom of speech without limits at all means that no one takes responsibility for what they say. In order of severity, this leads to public disorder, chaos, riot, destruction of property, violence against other people, and ultimately, the breakdown of everything that is civilized about our fragile democracies. Alas, this seems to be the norm nowadays.

I've no idea what we should do, but what we can do (when discussing a controversial subject) is say to others: "I will listen to what you have to say, and I hope you will do the same. If either of us doesn't, this is not a discussion, just two people shouting." Something like that.

Just an option. But I hope it sounds reasonable.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Too many limits is tyranny.

The New-England Courant was a reaction against too many limits on the press imposed by the Boston establishment. Following one editorial (written by Ben, AKA Silence Dogood) – James Franklin was imprisoned from June 12 until July 7, 1722, after he declined to reveal the identity of its author.

The experience fired young Ben up. The opening passage of Silence Dogood’s essay 9 (following James’ release from jail):

It has been for some Time a Question with me, Whether a Commonwealth suffers more by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion, or by the openly Profane? But some late Thoughts of this Nature, have inclined me to think, that the Hypocrite is the most dangerous Person of the Two, especially if he sustains a Post in the Government, and we consider his Conduct as it regards the Publick.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Another historical hysterical: Duke Jing of Jin (China) died in 587 BC by falling into the toilet. (Link to wikipedia ... and the story is quoted below).

The story is memorable enough to be documented in the Chinese classic text Zuo Zhuan.

According to the Zuo Zhuan, the duke dreamed of a malevolent spirit. After waking, he consulted a wu (a shaman), who told him that he would not live to eat the new harvest's wheat. The duke's illness worsened, and he consulted a physician from the state of Qin. This physician told the duke that the disease had reached the gaohuang (膏肓), the fatty region between the heart and diaphragm, and was therefore incurable.

On day bingwu of the sixth month (August-September), the duke asked for and was presented with the new harvest wheat. Believing the shaman to have made a wrong prediction, he summoned him, showed him the new wheat, and had him executed.

Just as he was about to eat, the duke felt bloated, went to the toilet, accidentally fell in and died. At noon, a slave carried the duke's body out of the toilet. Earlier that morning, the slave had a dream that he was carrying his lord to the heavens. Consequently, the slave was buried with the duke to serve him in the afterlife.

This vivid account has given rise to a chengyu (four-character classical idiom), 病入膏肓 ('the disease has entered the gaohuang'), used to describe an incurable illness, or more broadly, a situation beyond remediation.

 

[Louanne Learning]

For a brief moment, modern pop culture co-existed with medieval justice - in 1977 - the premiere of the Star Wars franchise and the last execution by guillotine in France both occurred.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

The guillotine was invented in the late 18th century, which was not the medieval period.

 

[Louanne Learning]

The guillotine was invented in the late 18th century, which was not the medieval period.

maybe not the guillotine, but beheading was definitely a medieval thing

 

[Louanne Learning]

The guillotine was invented in the late 18th century, which was not the medieval period.

it seems the Halifax Gibbet was the precursor

 

[Naomasa298]

it seems the Halifax Gibbet was the precursor

Beat me to it.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

maybe not the guillotine, but beheading was definitely a medieval thing

Equating guillotines with medieval beheadings is a lot like equating a 338 Lapua Magnum with the Revolutonary War because shooting enemies was a thing in 1776. A Lapua is also not quite the same as a smoothbore flintlock musket, just as the Halifax Gibbet was not quite the same thing a guillotine.

Historical debate. I am so happy. Thank you. Alas, now I have to go pack and then go back to work.

 

[Naomasa298]

just as the Halifax Gibbet was not quite the same thing a guillotine.

They're very, very similar though. The main difference was that the guillotine was more merciful because they didn't force the prisoner to listen to bagpipes during the execution.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

They are indeed very similar, and the Halifax gibbet is recorded as having been used as early as 1286, which is definitely medieval. In an age when people could be executed (in England and Scotland, anyway) by burning at the stake, boiling alive, drowning or hanging (not to mention being drawn, hanged and quartered), the Halifax gibbet was comparably merciful.

However, the Halifax gibbet was also used to execute thieves who were caught with stolen goods up to the value of of 131⁄2d or more (equivalent to £10 in 2023), or who confessed to having stolen goods of at least that value. By 1650, public opinion considered beheading to be an excessively severe punishment for petty theft, so the use of the gibbet was forbidden by Oliver Cromwell, and the structure was dismantled.

The Edinburgh Maiden was a similar device.

 

[Naomasa298]

They are indeed very similar, and the Halifax gibbet is recorded as having been used as early as 1286

No, it wasn't. Read the Wikipedia article again. People were recorded as having been beheaded in Halifax from 1286, not executed via the gibbet. The exact date of the gibbets installation is unknown, and we only know the total number of people beheaded, so the number of people executed by the gibbet is also uncertain.

 

[Le gribouilleur]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle felt writing Sherlock Holmes stories was distracting him from more serious literary works. He killed off Holmes in his story The Final Problem, which was published in 1893. (Ironically, Doyle is more famous for his Sherlock Holmes stories than any of his other stories, I think). Pressure from saddened and angry fans persuaded Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles, set before The Final Problem. Doyle made Holmes survive The Final Problem in his story The Adventure of the Empty House, which was published in 1903.

Many people thought Holmes was a real person. His fans sent letters to Doyle for Holmes's autograph. Many sent letters to Doyle that were meant for Dr. Watson. Ladies sent letters saying that they'd be very glad to be Holmes's housekeeper.

"I've even had ladies writing to say that they'd be very glad to act as his housekeeper. One of them when she heard that he (Holmes) had turned to the occupation of keeping bees wrote saying that she was an expert at segregating the queen, whatever that may mean." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

[Louanne Learning]

"I've even had ladies writing to say that they'd be very glad to act as his housekeeper. One of them when she heard that he (Holmes) had turned to the occupation of keeping bees wrote saying that she was an expert at segregating the queen, whatever that may mean." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

And in that day and age, correspondence was often couched in clandestine language used to cover hidden meanings. Who knows what was meant by "housekeeper" or "segregating the queen" - or what exactly they were offering.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

There are still people nowadays who believe that Sherlock Holmes was a real person. I just googled "people who believe that Sherlock Holmes was a real person" and was confronted by this article in "The Oklahoman", which referred to a survey of Brits in 2008.

The survey asked 3,000 Brits if Sherlock Holmes was real, and 58% of correspondents said "Yes".

More interesting, perhaps, is the fact that Doyle based his famous sleuth on Joseph Bell, a very real man that Doyle worked under at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Bell was one of the founders of forensic science, and was famous for his powers of observation.

Although Holmes was legendarily infallible, Conan Doyle himself was certainly not -- as the famous case of the Cottingley Fairies demonstrates. For those who haven't heard of this case, Conan Doyle was a famous believer in spiritualism. Two girls in Leeds sought to prank him in the early 1920s by creating "fairies" from paper cut-outs and hatpins, but the prank quickly spiralled out of control. Take a look at the BBC story, above, for details.

 

[Maycontainthunder]

The motorcycle kickstart was invented by a Scotsman called Alfred Angus Scott. His motorcycle company, Scott, were one of the first if not the first water-cooled two strokes (company started 1908, water-cooling added in 1909). This marque also holds two firsts. First two stroke to complete an Isle of Man TT and the first to win one in 1912.

 

[Louanne Learning]

The motorcycle kickstart was invented by a Scotsman called Alfred Angus Scott. His motorcycle company, Scott, were one of the first if not the first water-cooled two strokes (company started 1908, water-cooling added in 1909). This marque also holds two firsts. First two stroke to complete an Isle of Man TT and the first to win one in 1912.

I've always had a thing for Scotsmen. I think they are pretty cool.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

If it has good legs and a kilt, I don't care if it's an authentic Scot or not... at least as long as it doesn't open its mouth and dispell the illusion.