tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post4282469484444634081..comments2024-02-26T00:59:26.907-08:00Comments on Ana the Imp: The Dorsetshire EelAnastasia F-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-17653538287062283802009-10-27T16:38:12.007-07:002009-10-27T16:38:12.007-07:00Oops, I should have noticed that. :-))Oops, I should have noticed that. :-))Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-88229522116747806142009-10-26T17:59:19.203-07:002009-10-26T17:59:19.203-07:00I thought it was very unDryden-like for the first ...I thought it was very unDryden-like for the first line of your quote not to scan. The line actually reads 'Of these the false Achitophel was first,' but it's just a common forgiveable typo found so abundfantly in my own works. t's not our responsibility to correct such-like but that of our subsequent editors long after we're rot! Aaanyway, thanks for this enlightening blog. Now to look up whether this is the same Shaftesbury that Pope writes about in his works.Rehan Qayoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02391797858691917631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-30680265821491710842009-10-20T16:13:10.074-07:002009-10-20T16:13:10.074-07:00Thanks, Jamie; a great comment. I'm a Tory th...Thanks, Jamie; a great comment. I'm a Tory through and through but I still cannot but admire Shaftesbury as the first great political operator in English history. He had, if you like, a kind of Churchillian quality. His talents could have been used to much better effect if only he had a less trecherous, double-dealing monarch. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-64326757200335509522009-10-20T03:14:38.985-07:002009-10-20T03:14:38.985-07:00Hi Ana. Well, um ... so Shaftsbury ' was uns...Hi Ana. Well, um ... so Shaftsbury ' was unscrupulous; yes, he was prepared to use disreputable methods and rely on disreputable people, like the truly loathsome Titus Oates...'<br /><br />But, you say ... 'He was [also] extraordinarily able, dedicated, single-minded and hard-working...'<br /><br />Well, that puts him in the same league as Henry VIII, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin et al ; so that's all right then. That makes him a goody.<br /><br />But wait! I do have certain shadowy Whiggish tendencies myself, so I have some sympathy for the noble earl. He lived in perilous times, just as did Cardinal Cisneros. Perilous and fateful ; for the future peace and prosperity of the people were at stake in a world that was being re-shaped by powerful new modes of thinking. And at times like these, the judgement of even the wise is oft awry.JMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05770347372942866924noreply@blogger.com