{"id":702,"date":"2007-05-02T02:55:55","date_gmt":"2007-05-02T06:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=702"},"modified":"2018-08-17T12:15:39","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T16:15:39","slug":"wednesday-may-2-2007-the-golden-boy-of-pye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=702","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, May 2, 2007 \u2014 The Golden Boy of Pye"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gog<\/a>

Gog and Magog<\/p><\/div>\n

Back in Lon\u00addon (or Llundain, in Welsh), and I head\u00aded back to Cam\u00adden Town, hop\u00ading to get a spot in the same \u201ccheap\u201d (by Lon\u00addon stan\u00addards) hos\u00adtel. This proved suc\u00adcess\u00adful, and I left my pack in stor\u00adage while I spent anoth\u00ader day explor\u00ading the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had deter\u00admined that the only cost-effec\u00adtive way of trav\u00adel\u00ading in Lon\u00addon is to buy a day pass for the bus sys\u00adtem, and stay out of the cost\u00adly Under\u00adground entire\u00adly. Bus\u00ades move slow\u00adly, but once you fig\u00adure it out, the spaghet\u00adti-like maze of routs is actu\u00adal\u00adly quite ratio\u00adnal\u00adly planned. And from the top of dou\u00adble-deck\u00aders, you see a lot, and get a chance to ori\u00adent your\u00adself that the \u201ctube\u201d does not provide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since my pre\u00advi\u00adous explo\u00adrations where in the west end of the cen\u00adter city, this time I con\u00adcen\u00adtrat\u00aded on the east. I took a bus to Ele\u00adphant &<\/span> Cas\u00adtle, south of the Thames, then walked north across Lon\u00addon Bridge, into The City. This is the dis\u00adtrict that com\u00adpris\u00ades the actu\u00adal \u201cCity of Lon\u00addon\u201d, and cor\u00adre\u00adsponds fair\u00adly close\u00adly to the bound\u00adaries of Roman Lon\u00addini\u00adum. It\u2019s the his\u00adtoric finan\u00adcial cen\u00adter of Eng\u00adland, which is why Eng\u00adlish busi\u00adness\u00admen are said to \u201cwork in the City\u201d. They have aban\u00addoned their bowler hats, but the cur\u00adrent dress code still makes them look like flocks of penguins.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, there is anoth\u00ader, new\u00ader finan\u00adcial dis\u00adtrict fur\u00adther east, which has an impres\u00adsive clus\u00adter of office tow\u00aders. There are some mod\u00adern build\u00adings in The City, too, but they are scat\u00adtered about ran\u00addom\u00adly. Some are very strik\u00ading, and one, at 30 St. Mary Axe, is more adven\u00adtur\u00adous in design than any\u00adthing in Toron\u00adto. It looks like a giant alien seed pod that has crash-land\u00aded. It should look jar\u00adring\u00adly out of place, but some\u00adhow the effect is satisfactory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-02<\/a>I don\u2019t real\u00adly care for Christo\u00adpher Wren\u2019s style, but I must admit that St. Paul\u2019s is an impres\u00adsive cathe\u00addral, and the peel\u00ading of its car\u00adil\u00adlon was very har\u00admo\u00adnious. But I was drawn to anoth\u00ader car\u00adil\u00adlon, which was ring\u00ading simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly, sev\u00ader\u00adal blocks away. This was at the church of St. Lawrence Jew\u00adry, near the Guildhall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tourists in Lon\u00addon are drawn to Buck\u00ading\u00adham Palace and the Tow\u00ader. Both of these are sym\u00adbols of British monar\u00adchy. I was after a dif\u00adfer\u00adent sym\u00adbol\u00adism. The issues I was dis\u00adcussing in the last entry boil down to the strug\u00adgle between Crown and Par\u00adlia\u00adment that is obvi\u00adous\u00adly going on in the U.S., and influ\u00adenc\u00ading events in Cana\u00adda. I was search\u00ading for the Guild\u00adhall, because it rep\u00adre\u00adsents the par\u00adlia\u00admen\u00adtary side of the equation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Guild\u00adhall, a medieval (though much rebuilt and mod\u00adi\u00adfied) build\u00ading on the cite of an ancient Roman amp\u00adithe\u00adatre, is the his\u00adtoric town hall of the City of Lon\u00addon. It rep\u00adre\u00adsents, at least in my mind, the strug\u00adgle between monarchy\/aristocracy and democ\u00adra\u00adcy, because it was the locus of asser\u00adtions by the city of its inde\u00adpen\u00addence from feu\u00addal restric\u00adtions. There was a say\u00ading com\u00admon in the mid\u00addle ages: City air makes free. The Guild\u00adhall, in many ways, is a kind of archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal embod\u00adi\u00adment of the Magna Car\u00adta. It has more mean\u00ading for me the more impres\u00adsive mon\u00adu\u00adments that peo\u00adple seek out in London.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Guild\u00adhall of London<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Promi\u00adnent in its dec\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion are rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtions of Gog and Magog, enig\u00admat\u00adic fig\u00adures from the bible who are found in many Jew\u00adish, Chris\u00adt\u00adian and Islam\u00adic folk tra\u00addi\u00adtions. The giants Gog and Magog are guardians of the City of Lon\u00addon, and images of them have been car\u00adried in the Lord May\u00ador\u2019s Show since the days of Hen\u00adry V. The Lord May\u00ador\u2019s account of Gog and Magog says that the Emper\u00ador Dio\u00adclet\u00adian had thir\u00adty-three wicked daugh\u00adters. He mar\u00adried them off to keep them under con\u00adtrol. But, led by the eldest, Alba, they mur\u00addered their over-con\u00adtrol\u00adling hus\u00adbands. As pun\u00adish\u00adment for this, they were cast adrift at sea, and end\u00aded up on a dis\u00adtant isle, which they named Albion, after Alba. Here they mat\u00aded with demons, and gave birth to a race of giants, among whose descen\u00addants were Gog and Magog. The task of the giants is to defend the rights of the cit\u00adi\u00adzens \u2014 implic\u00adit\u00adly from the demands of the King and Aristocracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Near\u00adby, I came across the Old Bai\u00adley, which is famil\u00adiar to any\u00adone who has read the Rumpole of the Bai\u00adley nov\u00adels of John Mor\u00adtimer, or seen their tele\u00advi\u00adsion adap\u00adta\u00adtions with the inim\u00aditable per\u00adfor\u00admances of Leo McK\u00adern. The Old Bai\u00adley is a nar\u00adrow lane where one can find the Cen\u00adtral Crim\u00adi\u00adnal Court of Lon\u00addon, as well as the dingy lit\u00adtle pubs where bar\u00adris\u00adters, pros\u00ade\u00adcu\u00adtors and judges lubri\u00adcate the com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adties of British Com\u00admon Law. This legal tra\u00addi\u00adtion, found\u00aded on Magna Car\u00adta, is the source of law in many coun\u00adtries, includ\u00ading my own. From this tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal body of law, we have inher\u00adit\u00aded the crit\u00adi\u00adcal con\u00adcept of habeas cor\u00adpus, essen\u00adtial for the preser\u00adva\u00adtion of lib\u00ader\u00adty. The present Roy\u00adal\u00adist admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion in the Unit\u00aded States has unleashed vicious and sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adic attacks on habeas cor\u00adpus. The atroc\u00adi\u00adties of Abu Ghraib and the obscen\u00adi\u00adty of Guan\u00adtanamo Bay are open assaults on habeas cor\u00adpus, and thus on the fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal free\u00addoms of all Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, far more than they are intend\u00aded to com\u00adbat terrorism.\"07-05-02<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Court build\u00ading itself is unim\u00adpres\u00adsive. In fact, it\u2019s a down\u00adright ugly Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan build\u00ading, but it has a fine mot\u00adto carved above its door: Defend the Chil\u00addren of the Poor and Pun\u00adish the Wrong\u00addo\u00aders. How much of that has actu\u00adal\u00adly occurred under its roof is hard to say, but at least the inten\u00adtion is stated.\"07-05-02<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Lon\u00addon\u2019s back lanes pro\u00advide end\u00adless lit\u00adtle sur\u00adpris\u00ades. At the shad\u00adowy cor\u00adner of Cock Lane and Guilt\u00adspur Street, I found a small gild\u00aded stat\u00adue of a chub\u00adby, naked child on the cor\u00adner of a build\u00ading. It was erect\u00aded in 1666 on a pub called The For\u00adtune of War, which lat\u00ader became the hang\u00adout of the Res\u00adur\u00adrec\u00adtion\u00adists, or body-snatch\u00aders. Sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly the stolen bod\u00adies were laid out among the tables where they quaffed their pints. This pub was demol\u00adished, but the stat\u00adue built into the present struc\u00adture. It marks the end\u00ading edge of the Great Fire. The fat child rep\u00adre\u00adsents the claim, made on its inscrip\u00adtion, that the fire was caused by The Great Sin of Glut\u00adtony (and not so much the Papists, as oth\u00ader mon\u00adu\u00adments claim).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in Lon\u00addon (or Llundain, in Welsh), and I head\u00aded back to Cam\u00adden Town, hop\u00ading to get a spot in the same \u201ccheap\u201d (by Lon\u00addon stan\u00addards) hos\u00adtel. This proved suc\u00adcess\u00adful, and I left my pack in stor\u00adage while I spent another \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9087,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}