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Page 1 of 11930 · PDF PAGE 15
… to the Jews account. But there was another treasure that the peasant was afraid to lose, the dearest treasure of all, his children. As little boys, thank God, have a habit of straying in search of adventure and getting lost in the process, which is good for their souls, the peasant naturally has moments of serious disquietude as to whether some- thing terrible can have happened to little Tommy. Very Good. All we have to do is to play on the alarm. We put into his mind that little Tommy (who turns up all right, if rather muddy, half an hour la…
1930 · PDF PAGE 9
…at he sacrificed, in the course of Alchemical and magical experiments, a matter of 800 children ? I submit that, a priori, this sounds a little improbable. Gilles de Rais was the lord of a district whose population could not have been very extensive, and even in that age of slavery, dirt, disease, debauchery, poverty and ignorance, which seems to Mr. G. K. Chesterton the one ideal state of society, it must have been a little difficult to carry out abductions and murders on such wholesale principles. Whenever questions arise with regard to black…
1930 · PDF PAGE 5
… it is perhaps too much to expect me to be cheerful. The fact is that I am in a very depressed state. My attention was attracted by that little word know- ledge of which we hear so much and see so little. I dont propose to inflict upon you the M.C.H., and demonstrate that the life and opinions of Gilles de Rais were inevitably determined by the price of onions in Hyderabad. But I do think that in ap- proaching a historic question, we should be very careful to define what we meanin our particular
1930 · PDF PAGE 16
…ly required. Did the disappearance of the first four hundred, say, put no parents on their guard ? I think, at the best, it is a case of little Tommy who told his mother that there were millions of cats on the wall of the back garden, but under cross- examination, in the style made popular by the dialogue of Lot with Almighty God, admitted that it was Tom and another. Of course, it will be obvious to you by this time that I have been seduced by Jewish gold, and the only way that I can think of to disarm your suspicions is to bring forward an…
1930 · PDF PAGE 14
… was not so easy to get them to go out and murder a lot of inoffensive people at the word jump. They had to be supplied with something a little more tangible. You will notice how all this sort of argument is invariably of the ad captandum variety. It is pro- duced out of nowhere for a definite purpose ; and, as the French say, does not rime with anything. If it did, of course, it would immediately be exposed as nonsense. It is satisfied that nobody can disprove it any more than they can prove it. Take a concrete example. A nice young gentle- ma…
1930 · PDF PAGE 4
…hat they know nothing. I think that merely shows how badly brought up he must have been ; and explains how it was that he became a dirty little atheist, and repented on his death-bed, and died blaspheming. No ! No ! that would be quite impossible bad manners. I shall assume that you know everything about Gilles de Rais ; and that being the case, it would evidently be impertinent for me to tell you anything about him. So that we can consider the lecture at an end, and (after the usual vote of thanks) pass on immediately to the discussion, which …
1930 · PDF PAGE 6
…lled. I have also been told that the battle was won by the Belgians. Now, all these things are merely matters of opinion. There may be a little truth in some of them. But we have practically no means of finding out exactly how much, even if our documentary support is valid to establish any of these theories. It is, also, almost impossible to estimate the causes of any given event, if only because those causes are infinite, and each one of them is to a certain extent an efficient determining cause. Take a quite simple matter like the time of yea…
1930 · PDF PAGE 11
…ople who did carry on the old knowledge, mostly by oral tradition, and who were perforce tolerated to a certain extent, because even the little knowledge that they did possess was so exceedingly useful. The best way to make armour, or to build Cathedrals, or to heal sickness would enable the Christian to get ahead of his friends. Therefore, although conscience evidently demanded the maximum amount of persecution compatible with the existence of villains, the Jews and the Arabs were at least allowed to live. Besides, the Arabs saw to that themse…
1930 · PDF PAGE 10
…he word Gramarye, beloved of Sir Walter Scott, and grimoire, a black magical ritualthat is to say, any written document. Precious little knowledge filtered through Chris- tianity. It was against the interests of the Church, and in those times it was much easier to suppress people and ideas than it is now, though even to-day we find priestsat least in Oxfordwho appear not to have heard of a certain recent invention by a notorious Magician inspired by the Devilthe Printing Press. But they feared. So those who pursued know-
1930 · PDF PAGE 18
…d of its fear and ignorance. He wanted to confer to a boon on humanity ; therefore he consorted with the learned ; therefore he murdered little children. I think it is about time that somebody got after J. B. S. Haldane. It is too late to do anything more to Ridley and Latimer, but I am quite sure that the candle they lit was made of infants fat. It is no use your starting to rifle Graves, because his publishers might resent your interference. Those in favour of the motion will now please signify the same in the usual manner. And may the Lord …
1930 · PDF PAGE 13
… gated the question as to whether this form of nutrition is palatable. But, alas ! even in those idyllic Chestertonian times there was a little shrewd common sense knocking about ; the instinctsometimes very