This short essay proposes to consider, not only the above-mentioned Major B.K. and General de Castelnau, but also Maurice Baring himself, as “one of God’s gentlemen,” as one whose own generous and chivalrous character is marked by a sincere, deep, … Continue reading
Author Archives: Dr. Robert Hickson
Whittaker Chambers and Oedipus at Colonus
Not long before he was to die on 9 July 1961, at sixty years of age, Whittaker Chambers unknowingly wrote what was to be his final letter to his friend William F. Buckley. Dated 9 April 1961, this letter of … Continue reading
Remembering John Vennari
It was only in late August of 2007 in Brazil that I came more intimately to know John Vennari — and thus to perceive his varied high qualities and warmth of heart — especially because the two of us then … Continue reading
Humility and Sanity: Glimpses of Chesterton and Waugh
In his 1908 book, entitled Orthodoxy — published fourteen years before he was received into the Catholic Church in the summer of 1922 — G.K. Chesterton speaks politely and acutely about the all-too-pervasive lunacy (and the somewhat diminished sanity) of … Continue reading
The Incarnation and Grace
In 1980, just after I had met him for the first time, Father John Hardon, S.J. said something to me privately that also became more and more important in my own later life, especially in my growing understanding of our … Continue reading
Presumption as a Form of Laxity unto Spiritual Sloth
For many years it has been noticeable to me as a Roman Catholic layman that the deadly sin of presumption and the related sin of sloth are seldom mentioned, much less more deeply and even individually discussed. Consequently, neither is … Continue reading
A Managed Conflict Apparatus
Three essays written in the 1960s by the strategic-minded James Burnham – himself a former Trotskyite admired by Trotsky himself – will still help us to understand and counteract certain lesser known “weapons systems” that are non-kinetic , such as … Continue reading
The Slow Fruitfulness of His Heart of Mercy: L. Brent Bozell, Jr.
Through the prompt kindness of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, I recently received a gift copy of Daniel Kelly’s book that they had just published on L. Brent Bozell, Jr., entitled Living on Fire After at once reading the book, whose … Continue reading
The Language of Gesture
Your author dedicates this essay to his mentor and beloved friend, the valiant Baron Arnaud de Lassus, renowned leader of traditional Catholics in France, organizer of the Chartres Pilgrimage, editor of the magazine Action Familiale et Scolaire and author of … Continue reading
Grateful Memories of a Slow Learner
When a 1954 graduate of the West Point Military Academy consented to read and critique an extended monograph I had written on the strategic imperial phenomenon of Private Military Companies and Security Services (also in the clandestine or covert world), … Continue reading
Cardinal Manning’s Understanding of Courage
In 1892, near the end of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning’s life, he published an essay entitled “Courage,” which is the last-but-one chapter of his own longer collection of eleven essays modestly entitled Pastime Papers.His Chapter 10 on “Courage” is also … Continue reading
Cardinal Manning: Honour
While attempting to retrieve a memorable 1909 Hilaire Belloc essay (“The Missioner”) for a College student — to be then conveniently found in a 1926 Anthology entitled Representative Catholic Essays — I unexpectedly saw and read for the first time … Continue reading
Facing the Implications of Our Professed Principles
During one of our conversations in late 2002—as the build up for the Iraq war was increasing, to include “the psychological preparation of the battlefield” on the home front—Joe Sobran suddenly said, and to me unforgettably: “It can take men … Continue reading
Waugh on Kipling and Mexico
In March of 1964, two years before he was himself to die on Easter Sunday of 1966 (10 April), Evelyn Waugh wrote a moving review of two books touching upon the poet Rudyard Kipling, who had died in January of … Continue reading
Chesterton’s Defense of a Lady and Her Pet
Even in G.K. Chesterton’s little essay “On Pigs as Pets,” a reader will soon deeply sense that the writer is a man of gratitude; and that both his chivalrous tone on behalf of an elderly lady and his unexpected encomium … Continue reading