David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


11 August 2015

The Speaker


LOGOS : The Speaking into Being of the Universe

HA HA :  Bronwyn Bishop, seen here in November 2013, being formally escorted to The Speaker's Chair by Prime Minister Tony Abbott (she was his 'Captain's Pick' for Speaker) and Leader of the House, Christopher Pyne.


   
That was then. She was a partisan disgrace : in her brief reign, she ejected 393 Labor MPs and just 7 members of the Coalition. Now, because of her abuse of 'entitlements', she has been forced to resign as Speaker .

The new Speaker is Tony Smith, seen here today being escorted to the Chair by two low profile Liberal backbenchers. He has promised to be fairer and less partisan.


     
This evening we've been looking through some old editions of Le Charivari. So much old news still has currency. Plus ça change...

Here, our fellow journal suggests to the Speaker of the day
(Paris, 1869) a musical scale to denote the range and seriousness of members' infractions. Ring the bells!


click image to enlarge  
 Nouveau règlement proposé par Le Charivari pour le Corps 
 Législatif.
 New regulations proposed by Le Charivari for the 
 Legislature.

 Le President aura des sonnettes de plusieurs dimensions en
 rapport avec le plus ou moins de gravite de l'infraction qu'il
 rappellera a l'ordre.
 The President to have a scale of bells related to the greater or
 lesser seriousness of the offences to be called to order.

 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...

 LOGOS/HA HA