November

November is that historied Emperor, 
Conquered in age, but foot to foot with fate, 
Who from his refuge high has heard the roar 
Of squadrons in pursuit, and now, too late, 
Stirrups the storm and calls the winds to war, 
And arms the garrison of his last heirloom, 
And shakes the sky to its extremest shore 
With battle against irrevocable doom. 

Till, driven and hurled from his strong citadels, 
He flies in hurrying cloud and spurs him on, 
Empty of lingerings, empty of farewells 
And final benedictions, and is gone. 
But in my garden all the trees have shed 
Their legacies of the light, and all the flowers are dead.

~Hilaire Belloc

A November Night, by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 - 1893).

"What is the way out of such evils?”

“IT is morally wrong for the Government to swindle people out of their property by making false money. What is the way out, allowing for Economic Law? It is morally wrong that some men should starve while other men have too much: allowing for Economic Law, what is the way out of such evils?”

~Hilaire Belloc: Economics for Helen, Chap. VII.

"Terror, which is a sudden madness and paralysis of the soul"

"I HAVE much to say further on in this book concerning terror: the panic that haunts high places and the spell of many angry men. This horrible affection of the mind is the delight of our modern scribblers; it is half the plot of their insane 'short stories', and is at the root of their worship of what they call 'strength', a cowardly craving for protection, or the much more despicable fascination of brutality. For my part I have always disregarded it as something impure and devilish, unworthy of a Christian. Fear I think, indeed, to be in the nature of things, and it is as much part of my experience to be afraid of the sea or of an untried horse as it is to eat and sleep; but terror, which is a sudden madness and paralysis of the soul, that I say is from hell, and not to be played with or considered or put in pictures or described in stories. All this I say to preface what happened, and especially to point out how terror is in the nature of a possession and is unreasonable."

~Hilaire Belloc: The Path to Rome.