Friday 1 May 2009

A Common Mistake

“The indignant Monarch for a moment gave way to his natural hastiness of temper—‘Prisoner, Sir! I am not an ordinary Prisoner!’ But if Charles by an instantaneous emotion lost his temper, the Lord President lost his presence of mind or command of language, for when the King said, ‘Show me that jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard?’ The Serjeant unwittingly replied, ‘Sir! we show it you here, the Commons of England’.”

Isaac Disraeli, Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the First, Vol.V (London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831), pp.437-8; original emphasis.

4 comments:

James Higham said...

A classic Pauline defence.

xlbrl said...

In spite of pride--of erring reasons spite, one truth is clear, what is, is right.

Sky Captain said...

Still, it was good that they chopped him. Now if only we could all chop them.

Deogolwulf said...

"Still, it was good that they chopped him."

No, it was an act of evil and a calamity. Still, we have advanced to more stringent cures -- "resolution by means of a hundred million heads". Not a bad prediction by Dostoevsky, wouldn't you say?