Lionel Johnson

Robert Asch

[The Book Land @the_book_land]

'People nowadays think that scientists exist to instruct them, poets, musicians, etc. to give them pleasure. The idea that these have something to teach them – that does not occur to them.'

Wittgenstein

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

The great violinist/composer/conductor Eugene Ysaÿe - b otd 1858. I love his playing - eg https://t.co/Li3fycqH48 Wonderful to be able to hear the dedicatee of the Franck sonata and the Chausson Poeme! And I love his advice: "Don't always vibrate, but always be vibrating".

[Canada The Unknown Country @KyleEricks5458]

Being interviewed is 103 year-old William Henry Walden. Born in England in 1857, he became a Scout with the NWMP in 1878. He recalls the time he was attacked by Natives & hit with two arrows, showing his scars to prove it. He died in Manitoba in 1965 at the age of 108.

[Bret van den Brink @BretVDB]

There is a severe pathos in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s reading of Rilke’s first Duino Elegy: “Because the descending chain is broken, longing as eros can no longer reach upwards. Therefore there is no longer any continuity between the beautiful and the glorious, which can now appear only as the terrifying. Man’s sobbing heart possesses the measure of the beautiful, which is that which the heart in its own transcendence can attain by feeling; the ‘terrifying’ dwells in a place beyond beauty which is not to be mastered.” (The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age)

[Mike Pantile @mikepantile]

Greatest answer I have ever heard. Wow.

[Peter Stone @LondonStone]

The Ostler's Hut at Lincoln's Inn is the smallest individual historically-listed building in London. It dates from 1852 and was built to shelter the ostlers responsible for tending the horses of lawyers and visitors to Lincoln's Inn.

[Oaks And Lions 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @oaksandlions]

This is the oldest surviving book ever made in England.

Created in north-east England around AD 700, the St Cuthbert Gospel is a tiny pocket-sized copy of the Gospel of John.

Its survival is remarkable.

When St Cuthbert was reburied in AD 698, the book was placed inside his coffin. It remained there for more than 400 years, protected from the outside world until the tomb was opened in 1104.

Remarkably, its original red leather binding has survived almost perfectly, making it not only England's oldest surviving intact book, but also the oldest intact European book.

The manuscript later became known as the Stonyhurst Gospel and was eventually acquired by the British Library in 2012.

More than 1,300 years after its creation, it remains a direct link to the craftsmanship, faith and learning of Anglo-Saxon England.

Follow @oaksandlions for your daily dose of England's hidden gems.

[Jed Pumblechook @JedPumblechook]

"On Monday, July 12th, Lord Byron's funeral procession, attended by a great number of noblemen's and gentlemen's carriages, and by crowds of people, who evinced a deep sympathy, left the house at Westminster, and traversed various streets of the metropolis."

The Courier, 1816

[Mark W. @DurhamWASP]

“An individual European may not believe that the Christian Faith is true, and yet what he says, and makes, and does, will all spring out of his heritage of Christian culture and depend upon that culture for its meaning…”

T.S. Eliot

[Time Capsule Tales @timecaptales]

A thread of what cities in the United States looked like a century ago

1. Buffalo, New York, 1908.

[England of Old @englandofold]

"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne." - Geoffrey Chaucer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Lionel Johnson @SigniferM]

Always loved this picture

[Lost London @Lost___London]

St Martin-in-the-Fields by William Logsdail, 1888
#TrafalgarSquare #London

[Lionel Johnson @SigniferM]

@EduardHabsburg Hard agree

[Michael Warburton @For_Film_Fans]

ORSON WELLES on one of his biggest regrets…

[Knowledge of London @Knowledgepoint]

The Hidden Ears of Covent Garden:
Walls Have Ears.
Much like the famous "Seven Noses of Soho," Covent Garden has its own set of hidden curiosities. Look closely at the walls along Floral Street to spot realistic plaster casts of human ears, created by artist Tim Fishlock.

You can find two hidden, life-sized ears made from casts of his own ears and glued to the wall as hidden street art.

[David P Deavel @davidpdeavel]

@schmedlaff: "Why continue the human adventure? Is being human good? A survey of modern philosophy...indicates its inability to answer the questions in the affirmative, which leaves open a return to the God of Genesis 1, who magisterially affirmed the goodness of existence."

[Joseph Shaw @LMSChairman]

I understand that England was the mostly heavily monastic country in Europe. The dissolution was a massive blow to English culture.

[Michael Warburton @For_Film_Fans]

How many people could even conceive of doing THIS, let alone do it & pull it off so brilliantly on a primetime, entertainment TV show.

ORSON WELLES transforms himself into ‘Falstaff’ on THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW in 1968.

[The Piano Files @ThePianoFiles]

July 9 was the 17th anniversary of my Facebook page, the birth of The Piano Files as a hub of great historical piano recordings. I was on my annual offline retreat on that day this year so am celebrating today; the comments has a link to a lecture & a superb forgotten pianist!

[Lionel Johnson @SigniferM]

@FeserEdward Congratulations!