Chapter 266: Golf and Book Review (K2)

Chapter 265 Golf and Book and Newspaper Censorship (6K2)

An ancient sport that originated in the 15th century, golf has been taking root on the small island of Britain for a long time.

Only, the first region where golf became popular was not England, but Scotland.

In fact, in the beginning, it was nothing more than a hockey-like sport that originated in the Flanders region of Belgium called Chole.

This only need a stick, a ball plus a few mole dug holes can play the sport soon became popular in Scotland, within a few years will become Scotland from the noble clergy down to the common people love to play the national sports.

But perhaps because the Scottish land is too vast, coupled with the number of local population and small, so after a period of time after the evolution of the playful Scottish people will not be bound to play Chole only in a small area, they naturally expand the scope of this activity to the nearby pastures and farmland, all kinds of natural obstacles, wheat fields and ponds puddles, although it increases the game The natural obstacles, wheat fields and pond puddles increase the difficulty of the game, but accordingly increase its fun.

After that, they also changed the official English name of Chole to Golf.

But while the group was having fun, the King of Scotland was not.

The country’s nobles and commoners are so addicted to golf and soccer, they don’t even practice their bows and arrows anymore. In the future, if the English from the south come to fight, do you intend to send them into the hole with one shot or kick them in the door?
His Majesty the King, who deeply felt that the country might be plunged into a defense crisis as a result, finally made a decision against the will of the whole nation.

In 1457, King James II of Scotland, after taking a note of Parliament, issued a formal edict under the seal of state, demanding that golf be banned from the country, as well as soccer.

However, despite what the edict said, the actual effect of the edict was the same as the banning of mahjong in China.

The Scottish people play golf, God can not control, this matter where there is your king to talk about it?

Thus, after half a century of this edict, it was finally repealed in 1502.

The reason was simple: the new king, James IV, grandson of James II, was a golfer himself. The first thing he did on taking office was to go to the capital to order two good clubs from the Porth Bow and Arrow Workshop.

By 1553, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, one of the two main leaders of the religious community in Scotland, with four dioceses – Aberdeen, Dunkeld, Galloway and Argyll and the Isles – had also issued a bull allowing local residents to play golf in St. Andrews.

However, the Archbishop of St. Andrews probably did not realize the consequences of his bull, and for a long time afterwards, the Church found that there were often groups of people sneaking in to play golf on Sundays during the sermon.

The city of Edinburgh even had to impose a strict ban on golf during Sunday sermons.

In 1603, when England and Scotland were formally united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, it was only natural that James I, the first King of Great Britain, should bring the habit of golfing from Scotland to England.

The Blackheath course that Arthur and his team are visiting today was established in 1608 by this first King of Britain.

Thanks to the king’s love of golf and his order in 1618 that the people of Britain had a birthright to play golf on Sundays, Arthur and his men were able to play without checking the calendar, or being scolded by the clergy, when they went out to play.

Arthur stepped out of the wooden shed in the preparation area of the course, unzipped his tuxedo to reveal the white shirt and breeches he wore underneath, and put a hand over his brow to look up at the sun hidden behind dark clouds in the sky.

He was surrounded by an old acacia tree that had been there for who knows how many years, with green grass under his feet, and in the distance was a green and pond, and not far from the pond was a small river separated by a ditch dyke with a wooden bridge, and the occasional officer on horseback in a Royal Navy uniform could be seen passing by.

And under the trees of the green, you can occasionally see a few sitting under the tree looking up at the sky with a sad face of a gentleman, as if waiting for an apple.

It was not surprising to see the Royal Navy here, for in the far north of the course was the Royal Naval College which Elder had shown Arthur.

As for the gentlemen under the fruit trees, Arthur surmised that most of them were employees of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

The Royal Observatory and the stadium are also located in Blackheath Park, which can be reached in a short walk. As for why these gentlemen looked so sad, Arthur thought that it was mostly related to Mr. George Avery, the director of the Royal Observatory.

Working under that egotistical, jealous and narrow-minded curmudgeon gave him a headache just thinking about it.

Even in the field of electromagnetism, which had nothing to do with Mr. Avery, he could punch Arthur and Mr. Faraday for their new ideas, not to mention spending time with this astronomical tyrant.

However, this tyrant is not useless, in Arthur’s opinion, in addition to Cambridge’s one of the most mathematical maniacs and outstanding astronomers, that guy’s most outstanding achievement is the design of the glasses can correct astigmatism.

Arthur stretched his club behind his back and swung it into the air a few times, as a skilled fencing master he quickly found the center of gravity of the club, just as he was thinking about finding a ball to try, there was Lionel Rothschild’s voice behind him.

Lionel saw through his intention to knock the ball high and far with a single stroke, and smiled as he spoke, “Arthur, this is not cricket, you have to lower the club a little. But if you really want to knock two sticks, I’ll organize a game, are you free next Saturday?”

“Next Saturday?”

Arthur mulled it over, “That’s hard to say. Lionel, you know that. The council may be disbanded, and any number of emergencies could happen in between, and I don’t want to stand you up after an appointment.”

“Then we’ll talk about it when you’re free.”

At these words, Lionel beckoned to the caddie beside him to bring over the bag of clubs, from which he drew a club and threw it toward Arthur: “Try this, an American walnut club, much smoother to use than the one you have in your hand. All the best wood in our Britain is hauled off by the Royal Navy to build ships, and all the wood that can be used for golf clubs is second rate.”

Arthur took the club and swung it briefly twice bringing up a gust of wind, “Seems to be a lot better than the one I’m holding.”

Lionel leaned in with a grin, “I say, Arthur, Blackheath plays the usual St. Andrews Rules, is Mr. Talleyrand familiar with them?”

“It doesn’t matter what rules you play, Mr. Talleyrand is a beginner like me. You give him a bit of a break later, he’s not in the best of moods after his nose in the Foreign Office today, and he’s just been holding out for a win against me while he’s in the carriage.”

Hearing this, Lionel just gently nudged Arthur’s shoulder with his hand as he opened his mouth and laughed, “Arthur, what are you talking about? I won’t let Mr. Talleyrand. If I lose, it’s purely because Mr. Talleyrand has talent, isn’t it normal for an outstanding diplomat who can spread out across Europe to have a little talent in golf?”

Arthur pursed his lips, fished out an apple from his pocket and nibbled on it, “There really is a reason why Rothschild’s business can do so well!”

Lionel froze at the sudden apple, “Where did you get this apple?”

Arthur raised his head at the fruiting ridge in front of him, “Isn’t this a resource? Picked right off the bat. Would you like to try one, I have another one in my pocket, much fresher than that Newton’s Specialty on Jermyn Street.”

“This ……” Lionel cried and laughed, “Otherwise you’d better save it for Mr. Talleyrand, he bumped into a few acquaintances at the entrance to the course, and it’s probably going to be a while before he comes over. ”

Squatting on the acacia tree nibbling on an apple, Agares heard this and spat the apple skin downwards with a yuck: “Little Jew who is not familiar with the world, what’s the big deal about eating two rotten apples? Your ancestors hadn’t even fucking crossed the Red Sea when I was nibbling on golden apples!”

But Lionel apparently didn’t notice the devil’s slur, and while Talleyrand was away, he had just the thing he wanted to talk to Arthur about.

Lionel dismissed the caddie and spoke with a smile, “Actually, I think I had a meeting with Mr. Talleyrand a few years ago, but he probably doesn’t remember it.”

“Hmm? There’s more to this?”

Arthur said here and suddenly remembered, “I almost forgot, your uncle Mr. James Rothschild is in charge of your family’s business in Paris, right?”

Lionel smiled back, “That’s right. I was traveling in Paris at the time and Uncle James thought to take me to see the world. When he went to the Tuileries to see Charles X, the man who robbed you of your house in the Regency Crescent, to talk about the issue of French bonds, he took me along with him.

At that time I was still young, along the way what words do not dare to say, just by my uncle one by one to introduce me to the court of France, Prince Polignac, Prince Kondai and Raphaelde them. While I was being introduced, I suddenly saw an old cripple coming out of the court, and when he had gone farther, I learned from others that he was the famous Talleyrand.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is that so? What did they all say about him?” Lionel scratched his chin, “They said a lot, in a good way for example, that Mr. Talleyrand was considered a Voltairean figure, with a wry sense of humor that always popped out of his mouth every now and then with a few classic quotes worthy of being celebrated for a very long time, and that the audience was willing to shell out money for.

On the bad side, it’s just the same old clichés, such as: France is unfortunate to have a land that is so devoid of even the most basic moral qualities, such as Talleyrand. And it’s even more unfortunate that the gains France made at the Congress of Vienna were actually made by such a guy.”

Arthur wrapped the apple core in a handkerchief and tucked it into his coat pocket, “If that’s what the French think, it’s a bit unfair. I don’t know Mr. Talleyrand very well, but I think he’s a man who doesn’t think much of morality precisely because he was born in France.

At the time he grew up, there was only one morality that was true in France, and that was the goodness of the king. No matter how many bad things you did, as long as the king still smiled at you, you were a moral gentleman. If the king kicked you into the Bastille, you must be a hypocrite, even if you did a lot of good things.

That’s why Mr. Talleyrand doesn’t care what people think of him; not only does he not care, he doesn’t even bother to hide all his bad deeds. Not only him, but even Mr. Vidocq, the head of the security department of the Grand Paris Police Department, whom I know, they call this style of action active silence.

Whether it was during the reign of Louis XVI, during the Revolution or during Napoleon’s reign, this style helped them to survive in the political arena without a hitch. As for those who talk the talk, if they were put in the same period, not to mention making them change their doors six times, they would in all probability have been guillotined in the morning more than Louis XVI.”

Hearing this, Lionel could not help showing a smile of uncertain significance; he fished the cigar box out of his pocket, and with a flick of the finger uncovered the lid, “Arthur, I can’t believe that you actually hold the same opinion as my Uncle James; I thought that young men like us were very much in love with illusions.”

Arthur reached over and pulled one out of the cigar box and lit it, “It is true that all young men love to fantasize, so if you can wake up earlier than your peers, then you’ll have an easy advantage. You can take the time to fantasize earlier to learn some useful skills or knowledge or something, though they may seem very insignificant against the contrast of some people’s natural advantages.”

Lionel smiled, “But it’s better than nothing.”

Arthur nodded gently, “True, at least you’ve gotten a head start.”

Hearing this, Lionel suddenly changed his words, “Arthur, speaking of which, I happen to have learned of a list of some fantasy-loving young people, and I wonder if you’d be interested in helping them get rid of their useless and harmful fantasies as soon as possible, and get their feet on the ground and do something about it.”

“Hmm?”

Arthur tasted a hint of something wrong in Lionel’s words, and he half-opened his mouth to let the cigar smoke roll over his lips, “Isn’t the order of the financial city taken care of by the vigilante team that the Financial City Autonomous Group employs at great expense? You have a much richer allocation of police forces there than in the metropolitan area, and Scotland Yard’s hand can’t get in there, either.”

“No, no, Arthur, you misunderstand.” Lionel asked with a smile, “I’m not talking about attack and destruction in the physical sense, but an attack on Rothschild on a public opinion and spiritual level.”

“Public opinion and spirit?”

Arthur did not intend to directly accede to this friend’s request, but chose to continue to go around in circles with him, “Lionel, didn’t Rothschild just purchase a large stake in The Times this year? I don’t think there is any newspaper in Britain that can overwhelm The Times in terms of public opinion. Even our Cockney has had a recent upsurge in sales, and it’s dependent on the marriage advertisements that have appeared in the Times.”

Lionel saw that Arthur was not yet relenting, so he threw him a tentative lead, “Arthur, I remember that you are fond of literature and philosophy.”

“Of course, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have gone on to found The Englishman.” Arthur calmly sipped his cigar, “Lionel, you know, literature is my dream, just as playing the piano is.”

Lionel smiled and asked, “So do you still read Blackwood, the literary criticism magazine, when you’re not writing? That article in the first couple issues of Blackwood that reprinted a French newspaper was superb.”

When Arthur heard it, he remembered it was that article, “You mean the one about Ludwig Bernard and Heine’s Paris polemic? That piece was indeed wonderful. While I don’t entirely agree with Mr. Bernard’s arguments, one must also applaud his creative approach to metaphor.”

Lionel couldn’t help but laugh outright at this as well, “True enough, after all, there’s probably no one in the world other than Bernard who would denounce Mr. Goethe of Weimar as a ‘rhyming lackey’.”

Arthur half-joked, “That’s still better than Hegel of Württemberg, who is, after all, a ‘non-rhyming lackey’ in Bernard’s mouth.”

Lionel nodded, “Still, he had a mouthful to say about Heine; he only compared him to a ‘minion of aestheticism’.”

The Red Devil, lying on his side in the acacia tree, took a pitchfork and pulled out his ear, frowning as he spoke, “All fucking lackeys? Arthur, is this Bernard a Spartan living in ancient Greece?”

Lionel chuckled and picked up, “But leave Goethe and Hegel aside. Regarding the description of Heine, I don’t think that Bernard was really wrong. As he said in his essay: breaking free of an illusion makes one wiser than discovering a truth. Arthur, you police officers are always so realistic and sensible, and I guess the fact that Mr. Bernard is so insightful has something to do with his early years as a police clerk. I think Mr. Heine is just slow to break out of his delusion now.

Look what he has written, and yet he wants to publish it all in Britain. Although Britain has now tentatively realized the freedom of the press, in the field of book censorship, the least that can be done is to respect the facts, right?”

Arthur took the yellowed manuscript from Lionel’s hand, and just by scanning it he instantly understood why Rothschild was furious with this manuscript.

People of all Europe, look before you, Rothschild I has joined forces with Wellington and Metternich with the Pope to form a wall against freedom.

These Rothschilds play the same game all the time, to rake in the wealth. Bankers are the greatest enemies of the state, and they have done more damage to the foundations of liberty than anyone else. There is no doubt that if the Rothschilds hadn’t bankrolled those dictators, most of the European populace would have enjoyed complete freedom by this time.

Although the Rothschilds are not currently seizing the crown, when a throne is unoccupied, they are all-encompassing in advising and electing a new king.

The July Revolution in France? It was nothing but a self-indulgent joke!

If Louis-Philippe had still been King of France a year later, he could have crowned himself!
Not at St. Remy Cathedral in Reims, but at Notre Dame on the Paris Stock Exchange!

Rothschild would be the archbishop for the ceremony. After the coronation, there will be the usual release of pigeons, one of which will fly to St. Helena, stop at Napoleon’s grave, and then mockingly say to his remains that they saw his heir crowned yesterday, but instead of being anointed by the Pope, he was anointed all over by a Jew. Moreover, the present rulers of France have acquired a name, 5% as emperors, 3% as kings, and the rest as protectors of bankers and traders!

Arthur couldn’t help but twitch the corners of his mouth a few times when he saw this draft, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth to ask: “If I remember correctly, isn’t Mr. Heine himself a Jew? Even if he resents Rothschild, there’s no need to humiliate the identity of Jews so much in the last paragraph, right?”

Lionel shook his head slightly and said, “No, the last paragraph was not written by Heine, but was the work of his friend, Mr. Bone.”

Arthur exhaled a smoke ring, “Are you sure? Would a friend make fun of Mr. Heine’s nation?”

“Very sure.”

Lionel nodded with a complex expression, “Because Mr. Born is also a Jew, and he’s also a Jew who was born in Frankfurt’s Jews’ Rue, where my grandfather came from. Even now, we still return to our ancestral home in Frankfurt from time to time for family meetings. I couldn’t figure out what the hell they were thinking. Of the two guys, Heine didn’t know what he was rebelling against. And Born was even worse, being a Jew he turned into a German nationalist.”

“A Jewish German nationalist?”

Arthur covered his mouth and took a deep breath, “Hiss …… I didn’t even realize that these three things could actually be put together, it’s …… very imaginative. Mr. Heine is, at best, a young man’s confusion, but Mr. Boone here is mad and very sick.”

“Exactly.”

Lionel didn’t know whether to laugh in helplessness or exasperation as he spoke, “As a Jew from Frankfurt, can’t he figure out where the worst rejection of Jews is in all of Europe? The German state! The Jews of Britain have few rights, to be sure, but what we get here is also far from what we get in the German area. Arthur, I don’t ask you to prevent the publication of this book, but I beg that you would do well to go and talk to both of them under the name of censorship, if possible.”

Arthur frowned and asked, “Isn’t Mr. Heine in Paris at this time, according to the article in Blackwood?”

“That’s right, Heine is still in Paris.” Lionel spoke up, “But Boone is in London at the moment, and Heine will be coming to London in a while to talk to him about publishing this English edition of Traveling Sketches.”

“And ……” Arthur paused, “How did you know about this?”

Lionel smiled slightly as he clipped a letterhead from his jacket pocket, “Arthur, I have to warn you slightly, if you want to deliver a letterhead, don’t use the British General Post Office, not only is it slow moving it’s also prone to losing pieces. Besides, Rothschild’s postal messenger service is the best in Europe.”

Arthur also understood after hearing this, he stubbed out his cigar and crushed it twice with his toes, “Unfortunately, in terms of confidentiality, Rothschild is still not quite as good as it should be ah ……”

(End of chapter)