Fifteen Minutes a Day
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February 1
The intrepid Knights of the Round Table were startled by “crackling and crying of thunder” which rang through the great hall of the castle. Then there entered “The Holy Grail covered with white samite.”
Read: Malory's THE HOLY GRAIL Vol. 35, pp. 112-123 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Chivalry · Religion · Miracles · Sin
February 2
(Shakespeare’s twins—Hamnet and Judith—baptized Feb. 2, 1585.)
Before his son, Laertes, departs for a foreign country, Polonius advises him as to his conduct and dress, while Hamlet, the king’s son, has to learn by experience.
February 3
(Ben Jonson receives life pension from James I, Feb. 3, 1619.)
While the cat’s away the mice will play. Boisterous and ludicrous happenings occur in a house left in charge of a servant. But in midst of merriment the master returns.
Read: Jonson's THE ALCHEMIST Vol. 47, pp. 543-558 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Virtue and Vice · Chance · Friendship · Wealth
February 4
(Thomas Carlyle died Feb. 4, 1881.)
Thus wrote Carlyle, who affirms that great minds are unconscious of their stupendous strength. And each of us has his own peculiar mental attributes.
Read: Carlyle's CHARACTERISTICS Vol. 25, pp. 319-327 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Mind · Virtue and Vice · Nature · Life and Death
February 5
Trapped in a valley filled with huge diamonds guarded by venomous serpents, Sindibad devised a clever means of escaping with many of the glittering jewels.
Read: THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS Vol. 16, pp. 243-250 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Animal · Exploration · Emotion · Fate
February 6
(Christopher Marlowe born Feb. 6, 1564.)
“The reluctant pangs of abdicating royalty in ‘Edward’ furnished hints which Shakespeare scarcely improved in his ‘Richard the Second,’ and the death scene of Marlowe’s King moves to pity and terror.’—Cuartes Lams.
Read: Marlowe's EDWARD THE SECOND Vol. 46, pp. 73-89 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Tyranny · Family · Emotion · Monarchy
February 7
(Samuel Johnson writes to Lord Chesterfield, Feb. 7, 1755.)
Johnson was not always a conventional guest. Graciously treated, he responded in like manner, but offended, Johnson could wield a pen dripping with vitriol.
Read: LETTER TO LORD CHESTERFIELD Vol. 39, pp. 206-207 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Patronage · Honor · Labor · Aristocracy
February 8
(Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded Feb. 8, 1587.)
“But I, the Queen of a’ Scotland, maun lie in prison strang.” Burns sings of poor Mary bound by chains, yearning for the day when flowers would “bloom on her peaceful grave.”
Read: BURNS' POEMS Vol. 6, pp. 396-406 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Emotion · Love · Life and Death · Family
February 9
Tacitus, the historian, visited the virile German tribes in their primitive homes on the banks of the Rhine. He was surprised to learn that the men so active and eager in war lolled in indolence during the intervals between.
Read: Tacitus ON GERMANY Vol. 33, pp. 93-102 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: National Character · Honor · War and Peace · Custom and Convention
February 10
(William Congreve baptized Feb. 10, 1670.)
Voltaire once visited Congreve. ‘This famous dramatist requested to be regarded only as a plain gentleman. “Had you been that I should never have come to see you,” Voltaire cynically replies.
Read: Voltaire's LETTERS ON THE ENGLISH Vol. 34, pp. 130-140 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Poetry · National Character · Life and Death · Language
February 11
(René Descartes died at Stockholm, Feb. 11, 1650.)
Descartes was slain through the eccentric whim of a queen who demanded that he tutor her in the freezing dawn in the dead of winter. His philosophy lives in this essay.
Read: Descartes' DISCOURSE ON METHOD Vol. 34, pp. 5-20 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Truth · Reasoning · Mathematics · Education
February 12
(Abraham Lincoln born Feb. 12, 1809.)
Lincoln himself thought his famous Gettysburg Address was a failure. To-day the whole world acclaims its greatness. Cast in bronze, it hangs on the wall of Balliol College, Oxford, regarded as the perfection of English prose.
Read: LINCOLN'S WRITINGS Vol. 43, pp. 415-420 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Constitution · Government · Punishment · Liberty
February 13
(Benvenuto Cellini died Feb. 13, 1570.)
At the age of fifty-eight Benvenuto Cellini shaved his head and retired to a monastery to write his own story of murder, passion, and great deeds of the Renaissance. His life is a vivid picture of the most colorful period in history, a period when statecraft and religion and black magic and assassination were naively mingled in men’s lives.
Read: CELLINI'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY Vol. 31, pp. 68-80 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: War and Peace · Honor · Medicine · Art
February 14
(St. Valentine’s Day.)
Pascal—an original genius—purposed to master everything that was new in art and science. He was a mathematician and scientist as well as a religious enthusiast and moralist, and he shows a decidedly human side of his nature in this superb essay on Love.
Read: Pascal's DISCOURSE ON THE PASSION OF LOVE Vol. 48, pp. 411-421 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Love · Emotion · Beauty · Reasoning
February 15
(Mark Antony offers Caesar crown at Rome, Feb. 15, 44 B. C.)
The romantic and heedless loves of Antony and Cleopatra figure prominently in history, literature, and drama. Dryden made a fascinating play from the story of Antony, who sacrificed the leadership of Rome, reputation, and life itself for love of the Egyptian queen, who followed him in death.
Read: Dryden's ALL FOR LOVE Vol. 18, pp. 53-69 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Love · Friendship · Family · Honor
February 16
Ants have slaves who work for them. ‘These slaves make the nests, feed the master ants, tend the eggs, and do the moving when a colony of ants migrate. Darwin minutely describes the habits and lives of the industrious ants and their marvelous social organization—a wonder to mankind.
Read: Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES Vol. 11, pp. 264-268 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Animal · Slavery · Mathematics · War and Peace
February 17
(Moliére died Feb. 17, 1673.)
While acting in one of his own plays, Moliére was suddenly stricken and died shortly after the final curtain. He took an important réle in “Tartuffe” which introduces to literature a character as famous as Shakespeare’s Falstaff.
Read: Moliere's TARTUFFE Vol. 26, pp. 199-217 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Hypocrisy · Virtue and Vice · Religion · Family
February 18
(Treaty with Great Britain proclaimed Feb. 18, 1815.)
All Americans should know this treaty which finally inaugurated an era of peace and good understanding with England. For over a hundred years this peace has been unbroken.
Read: TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN Vol. 43, pp. 255-264 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: War and Peace · State · Justice · Slavery
February 19
The thousandth celestial wife of the Garland God slipped and fell to earth, where she took mortal form and served as an attendant in a temple. Death finally released her and she went back to heaven to tell her lord of the ways of men.
Read: BUDDHIST WRITINGS Vol. 45, pp. 693-701 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Virtue and Vice · Life and Death · Religion · Charity
February 20
Because the early Quakers shook, trembled, and quaked when they became inspired—they received the title of “Quakers.” This sect attracted the keen-minded Voltaire, who made interesting notes on them during his visit to England.
Read: Voltaire's LETTERS ON THE ENGLISH Vol. 34, pp. 65-78 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Religion · Liberty · Custom and Convention · Wealth
February 21
(Cardinal Newman born Feb. 21, 1801.)
Just what makes a university? A group of fine buildings? A library? A staff of well-trained teachers? A body of eager students? A winning football team? Cardinal Newman defines the prime functions of a university.
Read: Newman's THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY Vol. 28, pp. 31-39 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Education · Knowledge · Custom and Convention · Wisdom
February 22
(George Washington born Feb. 22, 1732.)
Burns asks for Columbia’s harp, and then sings of liberty. He bewails the sad state of the land of Alfred and Wallace which once championed liberty, and now fights for tyranny.
Read: BURNS' POEMS Vol. 6, pp. 492-494 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Patriotism · War and Peace · Man · Race and Nationality
February 23
(Samuel Pepys born Feb. 23, 1632.)
Gossipy, witty Pepys had a curiosity that made him famous. He knew all the news of court and street. Stevenson, who never put his pen to a dull subject, writes of Pepys.
Read: Stevenson's SAMUEL PEPYS Vol. 28, pp. 285-292 read · scan
February 24
(John Milton marries his third wife, Elizabeth Marshall, Feb. 24, 1662.)
In a superb poem, Milton bids Loathed Melancholy begone to some dark cell. He calls for the joys of youth and vows eternal faith with them.
Read: MILTON'S POEMS Vol. 4, pp. 30-38 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Pleasure and Pain · Madness · Nature · Emotion
February 25
(“The Shortest-Way with Dissenters” censored, Feb. 25, 1703.)
The brilliant wit and cutting satire of Defoe made for him friends and enemies—but mostly enemies. So piercing and two-edged was “The Shortest-Way with Dissenters” that he was fined, imprisoned and pilloried.
Read: THE SHORTEST WAY WITH DISSENTERS Vol. 27, pp. 133-147 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Religion · Punishment · Law · Monarchy
February 26
(Victor Hugo born Feb. 26, 1802.)
Hugo was insulted by the most “powerful critics in France. He put into the preface of a play “his sling and his stone” by which others might slay “the classical Goliath.”
Read: HUGO'S PREFACE TO CROMWELL Vol. 39, pp. 337-349 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Poetry · Religion · Art · The Sublime
February 27
(Longfellow born Feb. 27, 1807.)
“Tell me not in mournful numbers, life is but an empty dream . . “Stars of the summer night! Far in yon azure deeps—“ So begin poems that have charmed and cheered thousands.
Read: LONGFELLOW'S POEMS Vol. 42, pp. 1264-1280 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Life and Death · Emotion · Family · Immortality
February 28
(Michel de Montaigne born Feb. 28, 1533.)
Proficient in Latin even before he knew his own tongue, Montaigne received an unusual education. His whole life was spent in storing up his choice thoughts for our profit and pleasure.
Read: Montaigne's ESSAYS Vol. 32, pp. 29-40 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Education · Family · Knowledge · Poetry
February 29
To either Saint Patrick or the Scottish Parliament of 1228 go the honors—or dishonors—of originating the traditions attending this day; says the latter, “ilka maiden ladee, of baith high and lowe estait, shall hae libertie to speak ye man she likes.” The course of true love runs smooth in Goethe’s narrative poem, enduring today for its characterization and swift-flowing lines.
Read: HERMANN AND DOROTHEA Vol. 19, p. 337; also pp. 395-410 read · scan · read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Love · Family · Emotion · Life and Death
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