[lit-ideas] Re: Honor/Playing Fields
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:09:58 -0800
On Jan 10, 2008, at 7:36 PM, Andreas Ramos wrote:
The Battle of Waterloo was fought in the playing fields of Eton.
I don't know if others have already pointed this out: when
Wellington was at Eton, there were no playing fields. In fact,
there were no sports at all. That came later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_College
Andreas is right. Here are further details of how the famous mis-
quotation came into existence:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NCOEYJ0q-
DUC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=playing+fields+of
+eton&source=web&ots=hAKtOGvVHF&sig=n8mecsDY_E2QtJF_lV-
It5LXdTM#PPA129,M1
Like funerals, English public schools tried on a variety of shapes
and forms before they devolved into the Victorian things they appear
to be today. If you are interested in their history you might try
David Newsome, "Godliness and Good Learning" or John Chandos, "Boys
Together."
But if your aim is understanding the real people of Wellington's army
and knowing exactly what they meant by honour and so on, you can't do
better than my latest find, Ian Fletcher (ed.), "Voices from the
Peninsula; Eyewitness Accounts by Soldiers of Wellington's Army
1808-1814"
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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