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    17 views13 pages

    The English Magazine 8

    Uploaded by

    Marianne Martindale
    Aristasian fanzine.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 13
    The English Magazine Suspicium melons evi Bolume G, Ioue the Gighlh « fore Leould afford to buy many things, 1 chose ‘\Rerling silver pattern for miy fat tableware. T told all my friends the name of the pattern And hoped for the beBt. Before I knev i, had complete se like to live well. think every one should live as well as he can. I always have, but—and this is very important-—1 have always saved ten per cent. of my income Belt" “The New Slovie Magarine, Jomuary 1934 ales from Babylon by Sparrowhawk SOME time ago, it would appear, the Visual Wireless Company mounted a produdtion of a series of the late Me. P.C.Wodehouse's incom= parable Jeeves yarns. The adlor who played Bertie Woofter was, it seems, the subjeft of some controversy. Some aay that he played the pert well, thers that he was quite dreadful Needless to say, I have never seen the series fand xo have no eal right to an opinion (hough Teannot suppress a shrewd guess merely from having seen a photograph of the chap con cared in a cutting [have received "About this cutting. The adtor was inter~ viewed by a not-partieulorly-pleasant journalit who clearly tdalised him. IC was not ‘particularly inereSting interview if one had hat heard of the adtor concerned (though it ‘night have been even less intereBting if one hhad) but one passage in particular arcused my curiosity. "One of the moft extraordinary criticisms of the series,” aid our fawning journalist ‘wag that [Mr. ——-1 has a suburban accent.” Now, I'am not in @ position to know whether Mr. -——"has a suburban accent oF not and 1 ‘mut confess that Iam curious a5 to why the Criticisms, should have been considered. 20 extraordinary”. Ie it because Mr. —~ $0 clearly has not a suburban accent, or is it be= feauze although he has no one is supposed t0 dare to mention it even when he is playing a ole for which such an ascent renders him ‘nto unsuitable; in sthich, indeed, such an Recent mult entirely deBtroy the whole atmos: phere of the produation and render it pointless tnd painful. In shore, ie this. declaration of ““extraordinarinese” predicated upon the axiom that we mult all have, oF pretend to have, tin ‘ears rather than risk offending again®t the Sacred canons of democracy, equality and bore om? ‘This 1e8 suggestion is not as fanciful as it ‘might seem. am Informed that period plays especially those produced for children— Frequently api children ofthe better classes Speaking with thin, eib-cockney accents of the rt which might be very aptly described as fuburban”"—whether this is part of an at~ tempt to eradicate any real idea of social dis tinstion from the rising generation or me ‘due to the impossibility of engaging wel Spoken child-attors in these aye, when the ‘drama echools seem to make it a point of principle not to teach their children to speak properly I do not know. “Another possibility is that there is policy ‘of not “discriminating. against” child aétors merely because they have tices entirely in- tppropriate to the roles they are (o play and hve not sufficient thespian ability to do any~ thing about the fae. Again, this may seem Farcfetched, but the pretent striter has even heard of «policy termed "integrated eaBting”™ ‘which ‘meane that non-white sétors may be Galt as Kings of England, Bth-century squires fr any other nonsensially impossible. role ‘That this reduces the entre produetion to farce ofthe leat enjoyable kind is of minor import face if of any importance at all. In the brave fnew world, we mu Tearn to get away from the archaic notion that theatrial produSions have any duty to please any audience; leaBt of al the captive audience of television. ‘The Disgust of the Disgusting (Ow one of my infrequent visits to one of our fonce:great ities, I-saw a sign-basrd which ead (nhether alone or accompanied by ome {iftatoful pire o Howe, punning head-fine | Eannot ow recall) the words "*Smoking is ‘angerous and dlagulting, Stop it now." Twas age 0 ~_RheGnglfp Magasine - Boluane S informed that this was paid for, wholly or in par, by public money do aot mysell smoke cigarettes, and have no particular Tove for the smoke of others! Cigarettes, unless they are very good ones. Nor ‘do wish to enter into discussion of whether ‘Smoking iy in fad, dangerous, or whether, i ny case, publie authorities have any business Spending your money and mine upon tenden- tious ftatements, wlger and insulting slogans, thd offcious commands displayed in public places T would remark, in passing, that {have read in a cutting that illnesses caused by "Stress" Gahich is merely an euphemism forthe cumul~ tive effec of the general naftiness of modern Tiving) account for an ever greater proportion OF all illness and for a very large number of Seaths—more than those which could in any ‘way be related, in fat or in imagination, to Emoking-—and that the continual ingestion of the drug tobneco helps in many cases to reduce this"Btress” I "Stress" i= so dangerous, perhaps the natives will soon be admonished to avoid some OFS causes to Blop working in dreadful Imovdern offers; to ftop poisoning their minds ‘withthe continual hypertrophic effluria of the modern “mass media"; to Stop Simulating the lowest and moft animal part ofthe psyche With rock” musics to Btop going to places here soul-deiteoying modern architedare, Hideous, modern motor-cars, crude modern advertising and 2 hundeed other things mount ‘continual assault upon all that is sane and ‘decent within the so (OF course, such admonitions will never be rast; forall these things are ital to. the maintenance of the modern world in its. pre Sent form. All attacks must be concentrated tipon tobacco or alcohol, raise consolations ‘ebich are Bill, so far, allowed to provide some mall comfort to the poor eveatures trapped in the chaotic Inbyrinth of mass-modernism. But the single word which attraded my attention and my ire‘on that unpleasant sign thnard was the word disgusting”. 1 am some Times considered a ttle forceful and forth Fight in my manner of expression; certainly 1 have no ineination to mince my words where the manifold insanities of the modern world See concersed, Nonetheless “disgusting” 8 ‘sot a word T use either frequently or lightly thon Fo use it itis reserved for those things hich genuinely evoke the feeling of disput. ‘There may be some people who feet fke that about cigarettes, iwSt as there are some who Feel Tike that sbout eats of tripe but to belab- ‘our people who, in common with many of the Delteloved charaGlers of Bétion and. of Fy partake of tabacen with the word “disgusting” Fenot only grossly undivil and quite dispro portionate, but reveals a sense of perspettive ‘which ean only eall genuinely mad. There are many things in the modern sold which are truly degutting. The alley eat mor ality which is accepted and encouraged by very public urgan of communication: the de Riroctim of the eandity and security of the family; the sila thampings. and. yowlings of pore, mindless animality which are Fobted pon those foo weak minded to kaw better as si; these things are genuinely disgust ing, It would be a litle unchantable (0 say thal the modernised man, at leat in his more extreme form fs disgusting, even though there ire many of us in whorn he evokes a Feeling fot far removed from dispude. Te is certainly hot unreasonable to ay that the process which has converted so many of our felfows from the fiecents ordinary, upright, moral beings which they would have. been in normal times, to Slouching, scowling, bizarrely-clad, lewd: ‘minded grotesques, is a disgusting thins. ‘Somany aspocis of the modern world which sare, one may presume, blandly accepted by the povfaced bureaucrats’ who order these sign ttoards to be made, and the brittte-souled ad Nertising men who make them, are genuinely nd deeply disgusting to any sane and reason: Able human being, that the application of the Srord to what, iis a vice ab all, must be the Inildett and moft venial vice in the catalogue, ita sign of a mind which, in any other Une, ‘would have taken its owner (o Bedlam The Self-Evident Swindle Ler Us turn for a moment from the silliness fof the present tothe founding Fathers of md fern wrongheadedness. The sentiments may be inomore pleasing but a leat the prose Is less Tikely to set our teeth on edge “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal = proved to the jargonised prattle ofthe modern politian, one ie compelted to confess. that these srords of Thomas Jefferson have a cer ‘One mut also confess that for taical gent vos and sheer audacity they Sand alawst alone ‘There isan unparalleled wiedom in declar ing the notion that all men are created equal to he selfevident. Certainly all external evid fence mud suggeRt the contrary. Mem ate not qual in height or in breadth, im the depth oF their voices or the colour of their hair They SOE ONDE- BOMBSHELL - Bad) Sen Seat comes, ‘Presents si.onies, bumper omy Dares Volumes are unequal jn physical Strength, in general intelligence, in the abity to Teara a Tanguage, flay a musical infteument or carve apiece of wood. They wherever 4 Forms, 1a almedt ipoceible to Bad two men whi are equal in ay single resp. ATT these things ave evident, They are supported by the tvilence of our sensen, So Far as T know there Fe nn single piece of evidence forthe fatement that all men ‘dequalsT should be in teredted to hear af even one, What a mater roe, then, to delare that this notion is self-evident, That i requis m0 tvidence nutaide tell, That iteannot be debt ed sb because itis self-entdent. At once itis taken out of the eval of ordinary assert fons shiek mut fend For themselves in the Worle faétoal evidence. I is a special, pro- Ieehed ease ef self enidence. Te has to be, be: nuse it enald not survive for five minutes i fever ventured into the world of real evidence. “fo aay “we hold these truths to be self lent” isto say" We refuse to discuss these fsdhures with any one, We say they are there! IF you try to disease hem Wwe ‘Ant this is the b upon the subjest of ea alinalt everybody that and) desirable, Howe many people naually believe WT cannot imazine. Ht would take a better rind than miine--or at any rate one fore reaiftant to horedom to discover how Far modern atitndes are shaped by Aupdity by cowarrice, What is certain ie ‘vith rational argument that with erase and inseltine poliieal Jargon, "There can be gem reauons for refusing 00 1 other than the obvious and Fatimal discussion). The ma the arguments are so ald and have been gone ver 0 many tines Uhat anyone who is no Convinced hy them now will not be helped by a further rehearsal of them, Modern supporters ‘avality try to give the impression tl OF thei ease—that any one wl ince oft by now is merely an obdrat Teesy mich dontt whether any of my ead ers are likely to be taken in by thi ploy, but i {s nonetheless salutary to Took beck 19 Thomas Jeferson and to revall Uhat, Far from having nd these case to the point of exhaustion, fs apon which all debate has hee TheEnglifyMagajine Page 1 the egalitarians have cefused to discuss it at fll, from the rery beginning ‘For reasons that are all too evident SHELMERDINE BY MISS PRISCILLA LANCRIDGE. CHAPTER VIII BLONDE, We have possibly given our readers the impres sion that the vt Form of Granchetter consists fmivey of what might be termed with the sale exception of Ihave done so, the tine has impression. Certainty, Century eyey the general impression given by tthe Form would have been one of uprightnes tnd cleanfiness, anol a fresh-faced mnocene ta sort sthich very fee tee sed fe tear-olde of i ‘cull display. Freud teas dead and God was very much alive, and the praclial results of there \s were tertten on the youthful Tineaments of every Child at Granchebver,jufe as the results of their ttraries were naerdbed upon the countenance ‘Ghevery child at a comprehensive school of the Taster twentieth entry. These things, however, are of @ general nat tres They affest every one, regardless of indie itvattemperannent or belie. Once the eve Thocume secustonned to the Seibing similarities tmhich charafterie any epoch, Waettles down fois ‘quay Reriking diferences. 1M Ors ri those days, there. were tose great divisions thin the pls of the for form, mirroring similar divisions in the Unnversities rewhere. Firlt there were nerenters superficially ing, hae playing eeeeines Sane bn compo and Play up, play up an play the game" sn all Chae sort of thing Qnite unselfeonsciously so; forthe time shen Such ideas had been a deliberate, fneredy realion against the Eliza siceady passing, and the nuance was 10st tm the youngs Cleanliness snl Godliness ng regarded with increasing series generation which was acutely aware of dan tes loth tthe body and to the soa AiStndion tothe “heariies™ Bex! “The Sage Be from the foam—of the new wave of aithetic~ {gon which had broken upon the intlleétual life of the era, Theirs were the cults of sensibility Sind of deliberate affeSation. To be moved t0 tears by a humble Rover, to see in a child inexpreseible depths of beauty and innocence of which others were ablivious because they rent through life with thei eyes closed to the Celeftial splendour that Toy all about them: these were their arpirations; and If one had m the desired sensibility to the fulleSt degre ‘why, then one muBt dissemble It a litle, for nothing could be dalter than to be natal ‘While the “"hearties™ were simple, the “arties™ were complex. “Heartiness”” was, [traightforward rejedion of the looseness, vice fand anarchy of the Elizabethens. “Artiness", reed (we are speaking here more of ties and the grown-up. World in ‘general than of GrancheSter), was. something (of a back-door return to the slipperiness and felf-indulgence ofthat age, It was easy to take that view, but quite erroneous. The new seithetiism was in many respedls an even deeper rejelion of Elizabethanism than the few “Puritanism”. It rejedted the cults of *epontanelty”, “naturalness” and “sincerity” which had been so important to the lat cent- try, It rejedted the utilitarianism and the be- Tie in comfort and convenience; it rejeGed the overriding belief in work and in aconomies, in progress and in democracy, in the pursull of « ly-refined sensibility which had exiSted Among the finedt routs of all times, but TeaSt (Fallin the 8th and 20th centuries Some eithetes were myStics and some ‘ware metephysieidte; ome were almoft ascotie In their dedication only tothe higheSt and moBt refined, and some were mere sensationalifts; ‘Some were highly moral and some were decid- fdly amoral--but even the amoral ones were amoral in quite a different way from that ofthe fate oth century, and-with a tone which was the very antithesis of the Iiberal, plebelan Amoralizm of that era "The truth ofcourse, was that the two tend cncies were’ complementary. No age speaks ‘with a single voice. The deutero-Elizabethans ‘were both anarchic and regimented: both las vious and” Puritan, both. idle and. work- obsessed; both garish and drab. The “heart- fee”, and the generally revived spirit of the Bulldog Breed which afocled the greater part of the nation in all classes, represented the antithesis of one side of the Elizabethan di- chotomy, while the New €Rthetes represented the antithesis of the other, At the same time, jude as the two sides of the old "modernism" The Englifp Magayine ‘Bolume 6 ‘were closely related, even when they opposed ‘one another, the new f2fthetes and the new John Bulle, were joined by 2 common 218 ‘century atzance, an, indeed, che more advanc- fd forms of eoch movement were perceived {0 have something in common, juBt 2s the moSt frimly Puritanieal, grey uniformed Maoift and the mo8t self-indulgent, drug-sodden' hippie" ‘were once eeen both to represent the extreme ‘avant-garde ofthe 2oth century “There was a further (wif to the controversy in a school like Granchetter, for many of the “"urtos” were also neo-feminiSts. "Feminism" inthe 2ozos was fo mean something very dift- ‘erent from what ithad meant in the 19908, and Slveady the new ideas were abroad. It meant, inessence an adherence 0 "Terinine values", 2 belie that women are quite diferent from nen anid cannot and mot not be treated like them or behave ike them, In ite milder form, itheld that masculine and feminine values are Complementary at its extreme edge It argued for the superiority of feminine values, Some~ ‘where in the middle, it welcomed the new mStheticism as a retnen of feminine values to Society az a whole; but in praia! terms, and atGranchedter, meant that a minority of the M1 Form regarded the dedication to vigorous Sports and frank, rugged behaviour as. passé And unpleasant throwback to the Elizabethan Gull of female mazculinity. In consequence, this minority made a point of being as feminine tnd languorous az possible and of avoiding, as far as possible, every tort of physieal exervion other than Rower~gathering. "Altogether, it ie a moot point which of the two (pes of Granchefter vieFormer would have been moBt embarrassing to a Granchamter YisFormer ofthe Elizabethan period; and itis 2"saoot point which of the toro would have found « vi-Former of the Elizabethan period ‘moBt embarrassing. "The "hearties™ we have met, i briefly. The warties”™ mutt now be Introduced, Jane Love svas the leader of the “heartios” (hough not the heartie®) and also head gil of the school, for the "heartios” were very much the Ruling Party at that time. The leader of the “artes” swat a gil known as Eameralda FiteWilliam. 1 iy. “known aa” advisedly, for the school Authorities denied her the appellative "Esmer- falda, insifting upon the Anne with which she was chrftened, and even denied her, in official ocumenta, the capital "W" in the middle of her surname, Esmeralda was a tal, willowy Child who looked as though she had outgrovn her bodily ftrength. ‘She wore ‘her hair in Plaits, either wound about her head or hanging BolumeS looped beside her cheeks. She was not beauti- favor even pretty, but she had dark, haunting tyes which drew all one's attention away From hier objestive appearance and into her own, Soulful miroir. She read poetry with genuine Sppreciaion; the 19th-century Romantics and the new Ahetics. She shone in English, was flwaye in the top three in HiStory, and was a ete failure at virtually everything else; partly through genuine lack oF aptitude and partly through utter Tack of application. She Fad raised the Rtandards of the English class above those of any previous VI-Form, because her circle spent hours voluntarily discussing and reading aloud from great poems and hhovels For much of the time when they were hot engaged in schoolwork. That was one of the things which the “hearties™ moi disliked bout them, Te was quite impossible for any ‘ordinary, hard-working all-rounder to get ‘decent piace in the English liltings. ‘Those. who disliked Esmeralda found her ‘exasperating, boring, and_screech-makingly ffeed. Those who liked her found her fascin- ing slimoft beyond description: not only was She bewitching in and of herself, but she was conftantly opening new worlds for her disci- ples: new literary adventures, new games, new Sppreciations of things they had seen without teeing a thousand times before. She was gen- trous; no-one could deny her that. She wanted hher friends to live more fully, to achie bef that they were capable of, to see and feel land speak and create. She had no great desire tobe the single luminary of a passive and ad- icicle, and although, to a great extent, ‘he spared mo psine in helping her followers up to her owa level. Imoft as prone to fads and crazes as the if Form. Sometimes, like those of the tt Form, they came and went, Tafting a few weeks or half a term. More often, ‘each one took its permanent place inthe pan- ‘ply of Granchetter ftheticiom and. went thereafter through cycles or undulations of felative importance. One of these was the [ppreciation of the younger girs. The Revival OF Childhood vas one of the great features of the present era. For mot people the child was ‘symbol of renewal; an opportunity to put ght the corruption of the pait by giving the hnew generation a real, decent childhood. To ‘Hmtheties everywhere, the child was a deep wrellof innocence and my tery, polluted during the Elizabethan era, but always there in its ‘other-worldly beauty and profundity. At Gran- heSter this sensibility centred around the re rnewal of fagging. Curiously, fogging belonged The Englfp Magne Page 3 ‘very much tothe “hearty” outlook on life. The [rengthening of hierarchy; the teaching of Guty to younger girls and responsibilty to folder ones; the Formation of charadter:—these ‘rere the guiding ideas bohind it. To the aefth- tes, while they accepted these things (for it Srouid be quite wrong to. think of them. 3s, possessing. the Randardised 2oth-century bel” mentality) fageing. meant something else; something deeper. For one thing It gave fone an opportunity to Sudy the Child at close fquarters; to appreciate her innocence and loseness to the Archelypal. For another, the felation of servitude was fascinating in itself. ‘The children srere mediaval pages, they were classical slave-giels, they were one’s own ‘hildren, bound in lial obedience and jealous ty protedted from the Philiftine.school-at- Targe. And if, ar they oceasionaly did, they lunderSlood the game themselves, they could join in a fascinating dance of the sensibilities, being at once nurtured and enslaved; made 10 laugh or ery at whim. ‘Many of the younger glels were a bit of disappointment. They #0. not seam ll that Fascinatingly Innocent (esoftly because their mentors: were too close to them both in age find era: an adult or a 20th-century child ‘would have found them remarkably innocent). ‘They were dull and matter-of-fadt. They were preoccupied with tuck and with Uhele own jur= enile games. "I don't see how any one could find depths of innocence in Molly Sudbury,” confided Ify Langham to Sarah Jones one day.""She is juSt ‘serubby, silly litle ures "Oh, ‘but. you have ‘not looked deeply enough,” reptied Sarah. Looking deeply could be an uphill Rruggle at times, but there were some. juniors who Feally, made the thing worthwhile; who ‘entered fly into the spirit of the thing, hay ing @ natural true-childlikeness, or perhaps jut natural sense of theatre, or both, Esmer~ Alda would welcome both, end would pounce upon ‘my phrase "jul a natural sense of Ueatre™ with acorn. How boringly ‘Elizabethan tadisparage the thespian side of lie. How pos Itively archaic not to realise that many natural realities mult be acted in order filly to be realised in this fallen world;—-how outdated to Cling to the naive old myths of sincerity and Spontanelty. "If we seek to Strip away the masks of the world, we only find other masks ‘which are less charming. That i the lesson of the 20th century, The petals of a dower are but the mask upon the mechanics of nature; but the mask isthe point of the thing. The mech: Page 54 chanies are only there to suftain the mask.” ‘This was s typlal Esmeralda-im; 20 you see that she was something of a prodigy, and also ‘that she was well-versed in Troubridge, Car~ ‘man and Clorasch, Some girls, 28 I was saying, entered natur ally into the rate of myStical-child-cum-slave Bie, or whatever it may be; and of these, one excelled all others as the sun outshines the daytime moon. Her name was Lydia Ange. She was In the krBt form and email for her age: thus looking a true child. She had the most ‘wonderful pale; spun-gold hai, which reached to her wait and beyond, so that when she join ‘ed her hands before her in demure submission Gahich she did often) she seemed to be sur~ rounded by'a shining mantle of white gold, ‘hich was at once a halo, aceleStial robe ard Tadiant aura of light. Often, she spoke only & litle English; carefully Stumbling out her few ‘words and turning upon her miftresses the dumb eloquence of her wonderful eyes, Her broken English, her charming gallicisms and her frequent diticulty in understanding her in- Siruftions added greatly to her charm, Some of the above paragraph should be ‘qualified alittle, Her appearance was jult as 1 Have deseribed it. In Fae, my description can ‘only begin to convey the quality of her appear ance. Lydia Ange, though, was only some times her name. What vulgar people would Inst upon calling her "real name” was Jane Marfton, And she was not exaitly French, though she had been Studying the subje& for three years, and Knew enough oft toconétruct her broken-English sentences in a French- sounding fashion and she had once come Ath in the French class-IR, though she Was usu- ally inthe bottom BalE’ English, on the other hhand, she excelled at, doing almost as well a5 Eemeralda herself had at her age “But ah truly am forgetting ze English ton— gue when Lam serving you, my honoured ones.” “OF course you are, my sweet one. It is all part of the magic.” "The magic” was an Finportant term in Esmeralda's vocabulary. yds, ofcourse, was Esmeralda’s fag. She had originally belonged to Veronica Carlisle, who had terrified her, but Esmeralda had managed to. come to an underanding with Veronica and acrange a “swap” for her ovn fag—a rather sluggish, desultory child whom Veronica saw 5.4 challenge and soon made Into a model fag. As-a matter of fa, and con trary to many people's expedlations including yours, dear reader, Esmeralda and Veronica ‘often came to underBtandings on things; for Veronica was by no means. a thoroughgoing Bye EnglfpMagayine Bolume S “hearty; she was a surprisingly subtle creat- ure who appreciated aspedis of both outlooks land had a neally-ahod foot in both camps, Lydia liked to toll of her terror atthe hands of Veronica, and of her rescue by Esmeratda, ‘To her, Veronica was a wild Arab tribesman and Esmeralda a princess veho had bought her Sometimes Esmeralda toyed with the ‘idea of telling her back, and she would implore. on her knees with real tearet—"Whip me, lt eas, whip ma until my ivory shoulders. are tovered in pueple Stripes, and ! shall but love hoe tne more; but | beg of thee, donot sell me back.” And it seemed unlikely that she would fever do 50; for every one of sensibility knew that there ware in the elthetic party two ‘members of trae genivs: one wat Esmeralda find the other was the fieft-form child Lydia PAnge, Lydia's geniis vas less of the mind than of the sensibility. “Animal genius," one of Esmeralda's adherents had called it (he ‘phrase is from Carman’s ‘Rediscovery of the World and is much more complimentary than it sounds). "Blonde genius," said another, quot ing from Angels (x Babylon. But genivs it cer (Ginly was, as the world was later to discover, ‘when Lydie PAnge (not Jene MarSton) became household name, But that fe quite another Tory, For the present, Lydia T’Ange was Es rmeraida's bond-slave and thus court slave, pet nd protégé tothe GrancheBtor thetic Party "have referred to the Rthetios as 2 Party, and Thave spoken vith literal teuth, for pert) polities were a piece of Granchester tradition rom time out of mind there had alwaye been two parties in the school: the Blues and the Greens.—formed, of course, upon the ancient Roman model. Possibly t had begun as a novel way of dividing the school and. Simulating loyalties in the earlieft days, when it was too mall to have a fullescale house-syStem. Houses had Tater been introduced, But somo- how the Greens and the Blues lived on. As they were unofficial, gles were not assigned a Party, but joined one at will; or rather, since the parties were alvays somewhat exclusive, ‘supported one at will, and hoped eventually to be invited to join, When the houses were frSt Introduced, the Partioe were supposed to be abolished, and fora time the abolition was in~ efedtively enforced; but before long it became 1 Tradition, in days when Tradition in schools war sacred, and whon girls” schools craved Traditions to make them more like the older boys” schools. ‘Sometimes the Parties had meant tittle if anything. They were juft something to shout for atthe annual Party Tennis Tournament and Bolume 6 fan excuse for playing the odd jape on mem- bers of the opposing Party. At other times some real contention of principle had exifted between the Parties, with more or less serious ~ zness. Olen, the biues had beon associated with Conservative poites end the more trad- ‘tional element in Schoo! life. During the late Elizabethan period, there had s€tualy been a short-lived. politeal ‘movement called "the Greens", and because is ideas had been popular ‘among many young people, the Granchetter Greens had vaguely aligned themselves with them. Today, the Blues were the “hearties” and the Greens were the “gets”, Esmeralda had wanted to change the party colour to violet, which was recognised as the colour of the new #Btheties Gust as yellow had. been the colour of the Tate Vidlorian “Ettheties); but tradition had been too Strong for her, and many ofthe lower forms found it musing to ‘corrupt Esmeralda's name. to “Emerald” in token of her Party. ‘There were no Party eledtions inthe sehool-—no eleétions, indeed, of any sort ‘xcept for a brief period in the ig6os when the prefeds and Head Girl had been elecied—but there were a number of ways in which each Party tried to eBtablish its supremacy over the other; having the Head Girl, Garnes Captain or {2 majority of prefedls in one's Party was one tray—and the Blues had all of these. This did ‘nat count for much with the current Green leadership, oho were disdainful of games and, ‘on the whole, were not competing for prefect~ Ships, which they considered "too energetic” Crenergy''—a dated Elizabethan Youve wword-—had for aalthetics something of the connotation which “enthusiasm” had for the 18th century). Winning the Party Tennis Tour~ hhament was another, as wae. sinning. the newer, and therefore’ less prestigious, Party Fencing Tournament. The Greens did have some Useful tennis players and tennis was the ‘one game most of them liked, ax being eivil~ ised and not “teamy". On fencing they were divided. Some considered female fencing Fllz~ fbethan, some thought the art elegant. MoSt teithetics Fenced in. winter, if only to keep themselves off muddy pitches and out of what Esmeralda called “brawls over balls. They ‘were in with a chance on the fencing. Domo Cratle support was agtin a Blue monopoly. Esmeralda had a following at every level of the school, bt eauld never compete with the ‘combined preflige of games, prefecs, the Head Girl and the simpler appeat of John Bullism. But again, democratic support was something the present Greens disdained. There was one The Grglfp Magagine ‘Page 155 criterion of Party viftory which both sides re Specled completely. Possession of the Mascots “The Maseote dated back to the earliest phase of the school’s hiftory to the second or third generation of its age when one of the Fist “old pirls” had presented to her Party, the Blues, a Bronze Matuette of an Amazon Spear-thrower ‘which inBtantly became the Sign and talisman of the Party. The Greens felt themaelves discomfted, and the BeSt 22 of the Head Girl (then a Green, and an heiress in simall way) upon leaving school was to procure fn even finer bronze of an Amazon chariteor fand present it to her own Party. This chariot fer was unqueStionably the more splendid of the talismans, although the. speer-thrower twas the more venerable, and the Blues, Fel~ ing themselves trumped, set in mation 2 suc cessful dormitory raid to fteal the charioteer. Within a short time the Greens contrived not only to reBtore their Maseot, but to capture the Spear-thrower, and thus began the series of ids, counter raids, subtle thefts and cunning iding-places which confituted the continual Btrife between the Parties. At times each party hhad its own Mascot, at times each Part) had the other's, but when one Party held both Mascots, it could not but be acknowledged the ‘or, and it was in this happy position that the Greens now found themselves, “The position was not of Esmeralda's mak- ing. She had inherited it, and it-was vitally necessary that she should maintain it, Her Imethod ‘of concealing the “charioteer| was Simple, and, as it seemed to her, consummately ‘appropriate, She had given tino the charge of iytis TAnge, for Lydia herself wae regarded by the present Greens as their true. Mascot ‘The frSt-former used no great art in the con~ Gealment of the treasure over which she wa made euStodian. She simply kept it in her lock fr This, however, was avery adequate defence, For the school locker were well-conftrudted tnd fitted with Strong and sophiftcated locks, ating from the late 20th eentary when such precautions had been a necessity. Lydis kept the key to her locker on a cord about her neck ‘which she wore underneath her clothes beth day and night. If anything, her method might hhave been ertcized a being a litle too secure 2x shade unsporting, peshaps, for there Seemed to be no means by which the Blues ould have a chance of capturing the prize, tven if they had knoven where to look for it, hort of a degree of violence to person oF property which was quite unknown at Gran- thefter. This consideration, however, did not trouble Lydia PAnge unduly. The slave-girl Hage 56 had boon promised the moSt salutary of pun- Ishments should she fall of her charge, and there was considerable doubt in her mind 9 to ‘what might really happen if such « circum= Fiance should ever arse. Itwas unlike Esmer~ alga to let her words fall idly or to let her magic operate at the level of mere pretence, Indeed, Lydia would have been deeply —eaeaane Un Sntrobuction to Urchitecture by Janus You have heard all these chops talling obout frchitecture, and no doubt some of you know al (shout it, ‘But for hose of us Tacting in tecntal Inowaledge, we are pleased to present the follow {ng gue from our archivectuel correspondent Seen as its author ie merely an interefted amateur, the following attempt at defining Some of the basic Fy of architecture could be considered to be a litle presumptuous ‘Therefore I fel bound to tate thatthe follow= Ing summaries, greatly simplified, are jut one chep's brief, personal and highly opinionated ‘lew ofthe subjed. in the interes of brevity, these summaries shall begin with the Middle Ages, for, in the nai, the only subStantial buildings’ before then were eclesiaBical or defensive. £4 Typleat Timber Framed Building ~ The Englifp Magagine Bolume S ‘appointed had she done so; at the same time She had no wish to pot the matter tothe te. TW was thus with a thrill of terror that she opened the locker one morning to find that the hariotecr’ was. not there, Nothing else had been difturbed: the door had been locked 3s Usual and the Key was about her neck as ever “hut the charioteer was quite defnitely gone. aX x SX i Ny Sod S535) Sos} = soso ee eee mR XX . = 4 Multioned Window ~ ‘The Medizeal Period Much ofthe architedture built during this per~ tod was of timber eoatrudtion. ‘This means a Skilled. carpenter eredied a Strong. timber frame, and then wattle and daub (essentially mud and oak Sticks) Was inserted into the panels to make solid walls. In Tater years these panela were often replaced by bricks ‘This method of contruction continued, in re ‘ised form, well into the sineteenth century Examples. of ‘half-timbering’ vary between imely ornate manor houses, to. simple Nernacular (locally designed sed bull) work= mene’ cottages, farmhouses and barns. Many Of the larger dwellings, hed ‘Jettied™ oors, Shere each suocessive upper floor protruded From the lower by a few feet. Stone, ax a building material, was cater more the preserve of the aritosracy and the ‘wealthy merchants, and was used ia a simple But pleesing way. Stone tmullioned” windows ‘were popular, glazed with reétangular or dia mond shaped leaded lights. ‘The Tudor Period At this junélure, the craft of red brick making ‘vas revived for the rt ime since the Romans Jet the sceptred isle, and. soon became very fashionable, There were many ornate Stone embellishments applied tothe grander houses, ‘which were usually symmetrical, and built on {monumental seafe. Tall brick chimneys pro- Bolumes he Englifp Magasine

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