Fastajabna lahu wa najjayna hu minal ghammi, wa kadhalika nunjee almumineen.
Alhamdulillah from the greatness of the Holy Quran and the greatness of what Allah (AJ) is dressing the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw). From what Sayyidina Muhammad (pbuh) is granting to his Awliya Allah (saints) who are his (pbuh) representatives on earth and carrying his reality throughout time. There must always be a Muhammadan representative, for all the creation in this universe, representing the realities of prophet (saw).
Awliya Allah of ummate (Nation of) Muhammad (saw) are the inheritors of the understandings of the prophets of bani Israel (Children of Israel). At every level of prophecy, Awliya Allah are inheriting from that level of understanding. Not inheriting the title because prophet is a gift from Allah (AJ) and that title can't be understood. But from its level of knowledge and understanding, prophet (saw) is giving to Awliya Allah. That sets an understanding frame work for us that when we hear about the prophets of Allah (AJ), we know that Awliya Ullah of ummate Nabi (pbuh) have inherited that knowledge.
Nobody can reach their ma'refa (reality) without first the ma'refa of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw). When each prophet comes to their understanding of themselves, but they cannot complete the reality of themselves and can't go on their M'iraj (ascension) until the M'iraj of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw). There are people who are Noorani (luminous) but they don't have the secrets. All the prophets didn't have the secrets which show 'Azamate Nabi (Greatness of Muhammad (saw)). Therefore, Allah (AJ) wants the prophets to come and get the secrets from Prophet Muhammad (saw). Therefore, throughout the Quran, you see the prophets asking for something more.
For us in The holy month of light (Rajab), Sayyyidina Yunus (Jonah) is important. Sayyidina Yunus is given a community to deal with. It means the people were not adhering to that understanding and that teaching. The Nur (light) alone was not enough to reach to his people because he needed the light of Diya / Divine Fire (Source of power behind the light). Then Yunus (AS) became fed up with his nation and left them. Then the story is that he goes to a ship to leave town and immediately there is a storm. Then the ship captain says: there is somebody here that Allah is angry with and that is what causes this problem with the weather. We should throw him out of the ship to save the rest of us. Yunus (pbuh) recognizes himself as he knew that he had run away from the Divine's order to guide that community. He jumps into the ocean of ma'refa (reality).
There is wisdom here. It means that the knowledge that Yunus (AS) had at that point was not enough to convey what needed to be conveyed to the souls of the people, the unbelievers. The Noor (Light) that was emanating was not enough of a light to penetrate their realities. Sayyidina Yunus (Pbuh) knows that he must go back to the ocean of M'arefa (reality). Allah (AJ) describes that a whale came and took him in.
In the ocean of realities are souls. The souls are like fish in the ocean of realities, based on the strength and what Allah (AJ) has given to them, some are like whales in that ocean of ma'refa (realityAs Nabi Musa (AS) wanted from Sayyidina Khidr (AS).
Sayyidina Yunus (AS) was also known as Dhul Noon (two noons) which means two lights. Sayyidina Yunus (AS) realized that he needs two lights to guide his people. The first light was from his prophecy. He wanted the second light, from the essence of the soul which was the pearls under the guidance of Shah Naqshband. Therefore, that whale was to be dispatched to eat him, when he was thrown to the ocean of ma'arefa (reality).
When Sayyidina Yunus (AS) came back to the land, he started his teaching and the people came to his reality. Yunus (AS) is teaching us to go to the Sir (Secret) of the ocean of reality, which are 'Ilm al Y'aqeen, 'Ayn il Yaqeen, wa Haq ul Y'aqeen.
With the arrival of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) in dunya (material world), he brought perfection to humanity. Before prophet (saw)'s arrival, people had to seek perfection. For example, when Nabi Musa (Moses) (AS) and Ibrahim (AS) wanted something they had to request and ask to go into the ocean Ma'arefa (reality) to get it. When khatim al Anbia (final prophet) (Muhammad (saw) came, he (saw) came with all the secrets. Therefore he is called Insaan e Kaamil (Perfect Human being). Other prophets came through the first Noon (ن) of Insaan, which represents Noor نُور (light).They had certain Noor (light) of prophecy but they didn't have the light of perfection; the second Noon ن of Insaan Diya / Divine Fire (Source of light) نار. That's because Prophet Muhammad (saw) was not yet on earth.
Then in the Naqshbandia Tariqa Silsila (chain), Shaykh Tayfur Abu Yasid e Bistami (Q), wanted that same reality of Mawlana Shah Naqshand. He dove into the ocean of ma'refa, just like Sayyidina Yunus (AS) because they know that knowledge that you have is what people would be feeding from. If the knowledge is not strong enough, it means the power and 'Izat (honor) of Allah (AJ) is not emanating strong enough.
When Allah's 'Izat (honor) is emanating through your heart, the knowledge is bi-product of that energy. When that energy is not strong, Allah is Al Alim All Knowing ,Al Qadir All Powerful, (The All Knowing, The Capable All powerful); go back to that ocean of realities and achieve what you need of Allah's Qudra (power). And that Qudra will emanate from Allah's ancient knowledge (Ilm). Those ancient knowledge were in The 'Ayn of Sayyidina 'Umar, 'Usman, and 'Ali, they carry the secret of that 'Ayn of 'Alim (Knowledge) (their holy names start with 'Ayn). They are the custodian of these ancient knowledge and they hold it for the reality of Prophet Muhammad (saw). It means one has to dive back to that ocean to achieve more of that reality.
That begins to teach that Sayyidina Yunus (AS) dove into that ocean to achieve these realities to open more the power of his soul. Mawlana Shah Naqshband is the whale of that reality to bring you into the presence of prophet (saw). Shaykh Abu Yasid Bistami went into that ocean and dove deeper and deeper into the ocean until he reached a point that he heard the zikr (chanting) of Hu. Then he saw Mawlana Shah Naqshband (Q) is making zikr over the pearls of souls. Shah Naqshband (Q) is the protector of the pearls of reality in the ocean of Ma'arefa.
Lulu wal Marjan (Pearls and Corals) means the treasures of the ocean. In Surat ar Rahman, Allah (AJ) is not talking about the physical ocean. Allah doesn't care about the physicality. He is talking and teaching us to dive into the ocean of reality. Only in diving to this ocean of realities, you can find the treasures, these pearls and corals. Shah Naqshband is the custodian of these pearls and Corals. The concept of the Pearl being most precious is that it's hidden within the Oyster. It means that it is hidden reality and you have to crack the oyster open to take the pearl. It means you have to crack your reality; you have to deface and smash your physicality so that only your soul can dive in that ocean of reality. As you dive into that ocean and light, only by diving deeper and deeper you can reach that reality. Most precious reality is the reality of Hu. Reality of Allah (AJ) is reflecting to Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) and reality of Prophet (saw) is reflecting to the creation. Shah e Naqshband is dressing the pearls by zikr (chanting) of Hu.
We are asking, Ya Rabi (Oh my lord), opens for us light and the reality of light. They are teaching us that what makes Prophet Muhammad (saw) and Awliya Allah (saints) to be Kaamil and to be perfected. Sultan ul Awliya is the Shaykh al Kaamil (Perfected Master); the completed shaykh of the realities. What makes them to be Kaamil (Perfected) is in the understanding of the letters of Insaan انسان (Human being). Everybody in the way of ma'refa (reality) wants to reach the Alif (A, the last Alif) in Insaan, which represents 'Izat ullah. It means everybody wants to reach 'Izat Ullah (Allah's Majestic Might and Honor). The only way to get to the power, is to reach Allah (AJ)'s 'Izat عزت (honor). In holy Quran, Allah (AJ) says: My 'Izat is 'Izzat ullahi, wa lir Rasule hi, wal Mumineen.
يَقُولُونَ لَئِن رَّجَعْنَا إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ لَيُخْرِجَنَّ الْأَعَزُّ مِنْهَا الْأَذَلَّ وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ.
Allah (AJ) says, if you want to reach that Ìzat (honor); Obey Allah, Obey the Messenger, and those in authority.
Then the Ulel Amr (those in authority) are holding the 'Izate Mumineen. They carry the divinely power that is emanating from Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) and Prophet (saw) is emanating from Allah (AJ). All other Ummats (Communities), and many other Tariqas (Sufi Paths); they have Noor نُور (light) because they have the 'Izate Mumineen (believers' Honor) and they emanate a light. But having a light and being from the reality of light are completely different. Noor (Light) is like Sun bathing. You can go to the beach and sit and enjoy the Noor, but it doesn't mean that you are from the source of that light. But there are souls that they are like Suns; that wherever they go, they tan and cook everyone from the light that is emanating from their souls. They are not merely reflecting and you look at one of them and say; oh this person mashallah is very Noorani نوراني (luminous). No, they are not only noorani (luminous) but they are a source of power; emanating and cooking and tanning everybody from their lights.
The first Noon (ن) to the left of the word Insaan (Human being) is the noon closest to us in the way of Ma'arefa (reality). They begin to teach us that this first Noon (from the left) is dressed by that Alif ان, those are Mumineen (Believers).
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham gave a Suhbat (association) last night (May 10, 2013) to give us an understanding for it; that "don't think you are Mumin (believer) or Mukhles (sincere) because you pray." If you ask some people; are you Mukhles? They say: yes, I am Mukhles because I do all my praying, and I do all my fasting; I do everything. You say yes, but that was ordered for you. Doing what you are ordered, has no big reward. You can't approach Allah (AJ) and say grant me this because I prayed. Allah (AJ) would say: you were supposed to pray.
This teach us that these Awliya Allah (Saints) have reached such a high spiritual stations, not because they pray and fast but, because Allah (AJ) recognized the reality within them; that they are exisit on this dunya for Serving Allah not for themselves. They live for the sake of that Alif (Izat Ullah) and they recognize that their whole existence is for the 2nd ن Noon (in Insaan). As a result they are Mukhles, which is far beyond praying and fasting. They live, eat, drink, and breathe; to be of service to Allah (AJ)'s creation. The highest of service is to serve Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) as Prophet (saw) is serving Allah (AJ).
They begin to teach that the Noor نُور (light) that they gave is from the ocean of Wadood (love), from the Wow (W in Arabic) of Noor. They want you to understand that when you are talking about light, they are not giving you from the florescent light bulb. The light that is coming is from the ocean of Wadood (love). Wow of Wadood with Ahad (The Divinely Unique One; one of Allah's names) becomes Wahid (The Unique one of Creation ); one of prophet Muhammad's name). Ahad (The One) is La Sharika (without any partner).
There is Nothing like Allah (AJ) but Allah (Aza wa Jal) reflects that love to Sayyidina Muhammad (saw). And all the Ashiqueen (lovers) of Prophet (saw) are emanating from the ocean of Love (wadood). Then they dress us with that WAW for love.
Rabaniyun are those who give knowledge and receive knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge is their whole existence and they give that knowledge out. It means their lives are only for attaining Divinely Knowledge. As a result, they are dressed by Allah (AJ)'s Qurdra (power). These are Rabaniyun. The Noor نُور (light) that they are giving, it means they are giving their Noor (light); it is made from the ocean of Wadood (love). They are dressing everybody to be Rabaniyun.
Those Rabaniyun begin to teach you to leave your desires and leave all of the things that are attaching to the heart. Like Mawlana Shaykh Hisham says: "You can't completely walk away from Dunya (material world) but you can do it without any attachment to the heart." And your heart is attached to the love of Prophet (saw), love of Sayyidina Isa (Jesus) (AS), love of Nabi Musa (Moses) (AS), love of divine reality. You do what you do for the sake of serving prophet (saw). When the heart is no longer attached to Dunya (Material world), it begins to attach to them; begins to attach to the reality.
And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive.
They feed you from their food and they love their food. It's not something that they give away because it's cheap or rotten. They love their food. But they give it to the Miskeen (poor), Yateem (orphan), and Aseer (captive). It means there are three categories of who we are to eat with them. It is not just the physical food, but the spiritual food. It's not just physical food. It means whatever prophet (saw) is dressing their souls, they are merely reflecting it out. If you accompany a Qutub (The second level after King of Saints), you will be dressed by the characteristics of that Qutub. If you are dressed by Nujaba, Nuqaba, Awtad, wal Akhyar, any of these categories of their sainthood; they dress you from the lights of their sainthood. That's because Allah (AJ) is merely teaching them to reflect out, not to be held in. As much as they receive, that much they are reflecting.
They begin to teach, now come to that ocean and understand what makes Insaan (Human Being) so noble. That all the prophets realized their lights are not enough; they are merely Mumin, Mukhles. Here is what Prophet (saw) said, yes the Mukhles of my Ummat (Community) inherited from the stations of all the Prophets of Bani Israel (Children of Israel.
Al 'Ulama warithat ul anbiya.
The scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.
What did the prophets of Bani Israel (Children of Israel) (AS) wanted was the reality.
Who did they need to reach that reality?
They needed Muhammadan representative because Prophet (saw) was not yet physically in dunya (material world). He had not yet made his M`iraj (Asencsion). It means he (saw) didn't complete what he needed to complete. Then everybody after that completes their M'iraj. Prophet (saw) goes first.
The secret is the Sir (secret). Oceans of the secret, oceans of the soul is the secret of Muhammad (saw). They dress you from that ن Noor, to take you to that secret, the Sir س. They ask what is the Sir? The Sir is the secret. That Sir (secret) could only be understood with 'Ilme Y'aqeen (Knowledge of Certainty), 'Ayne Y'aqeen (Vision of Certainty), and Haq ul Y'aqeen (Truth of Certainty). These secrets only opens through obedience.
It's from the Knowledge of certainty. It means from these divinely knowledge begins to dress the soul. If that knowledge is dressing the soul and that soul is in itebah إتباع (obedience). If the soul is not in obedience, it's not accepting the knowledge. They understand that when we are not obedient, we are not interested in listening, we are not interested in following; then the 'Ilm (knowledge) has not reached its Y'aqeen (certainty). It's not certain because you are saying to yourself, "I don't really believe what you are saying and therefore I am not following. If I am not following then that knowledge is in no way certain. If that knowledge is not of certainty, then there is no way that the 'Ayne Y'aqeen (Vision of certainty) is open. Then itebah إتباع (obedience) is that knowledge with certainty of saying that "I believe in it and I follow".
As you follow with belief, they begin to open your heart to see because they are transmitting that signal. We are not talking about the Sultan ul Awliya (Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al Haqqani), he is far beyond this. We are talking about the transmitters (the ones who have the Noor (light) of the first Noon ن). The transmitters are transmitting that reality, so that you can get to the secret. When you get to the secret, 'Ilm e Y'aqeen (Knowledge of certainty), you need to ask yourself "are you believing the knowledge that they convey and are you following and acting on them?" If you are following and moving on them, then you should begin with the heart opening with 'Ayn e Y'aqeen (Vision of certainty). It means your belief is so strong that you witness it. It's not you that opened anything. They opened it and they can close it in an instant. But the light and emanation of that 'Izat (honor) is dressing; hits the heart and begins to unveil the heart, so it can see. If they can hear with certainty, they begin to see with certainty.
If they hear and see with certainty, they are now in Haq al Y'aqeen (Truth of Certainty). That's because everything that you witness through your heart is a brick of Haq (truth). Brick of Haq on brick of Haq, until there are so many bricks of Haq that your faith is certain. Like you know your hand, you know your belief. That certainty opens that reality. Then they are teaching, these are the Shaykhs who are teaching the M'arefa (reality) of the self; that once they have been dressed by that secret, they carry that secret. As a result, they are taken to this Noon ن (2nd Noon) of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw).
That Noon ن (2nd Noon) of Sayyidina Muhammad (saw), opens the reality of the Diya / Divine Fire (Source of light) نار. What makes the Diya / Divine Fire (fire) نار higher than the Noor (light) is that the Diya / Divine Fire (Source of light) نارcarries the 'Izat (honor) because the Alif (A) is there. To have Noor نُور (light) you must have Diya / Divine Fire (Source of light) نار. There must be a fire for you to enjoy the light. We live and all our lives are based on the Sun. If there is no Sun, there is no breath. You can't breathe because the plants would not produce Oxygen. If there is no Sun, you can't eat and you can't see. It means our existence is based on that Diya / Divine Fire (Fire) نار. Then the Diya / Divine Fire نار is a Source of fire. It burns and it consumes and as it consumes and burns; with its burning which is so intense, it produces light. You cannot have that Noor (light) (First Noon ن) without the Diya / Divine Fire (Source of Fire) نار(Second Noon ن). Otherwise you are merely a reflection.
Then Prophet (saw) is teaching that when I take you towards Kaamil (Perfection) to be perfected; I open within your heart to be a source of light. To be a source like a Sun, that you are moving on this dunya (world) with that energy and that power emanating in your heart.
Therefore, the second Noon ن is different from the first Noon ن. Sayyidina Yunus (Jonah) (AS) had this Noon ن (light) and that Noon ن wasn't enough to reach his people; so he became Thal noon ذاٱلنون (Of the Noon). He jumped into the ocean of Ma'arefa (reality) dressed from the Muhammadan realities. Then Allah (AJ) said to him that now you are from Dhul noon (two Noons) and you have been dressed by that reality.
Tariqa (Sufi Path) comes and teaching that Allahmadullelah, you are from the Naqshbandia tul 'Aaliya. This is from the reality of the Naqshbandi Shaykhs. Mawlana Shah Naqshband is teaching that come to our way, come in to that M'arefa, come in to that Secret and we will dress you from that Fire. Your heart will be like a lit Sun and you will be the Source of Light.
When you look at Sun, you think it is a self containing power because of what? The fusion. It is fusing together with Allah (AJ). This is the reality of "Quab e Qawsaini aw Adna". Powerful Energies merely approach and set off a Reaction no need to touch.
approaches; it begins to produce energy. That is eternal energy and never diminishes because what Allah (AJ) gives can never be diminished.
They are teaching us that when we are dressed by that Sir (Secret) of Seen, then they take us to that Second Noon ن , to be a Source of Light Diya / Divine Fireنار. At that time you are in the presence of the Alif (Last Alif from left of Insaan ان س ان). They take you all the way to the Presence of that Alif and that is 'Izat ullah (Allah's honor). The hidden Alif in the Diya / Divine Fireنار is the 'Izat ir Rasul and 'Izat il Mumineen is the first Alif from the left.
Atee'o Allaha wa atee or Rasola wa Ulel amre minkum is also in the word of Insaan. The first Alif of Insaan (from right of the word Insaan), is Ateeo Allah which is the holy month of Rajab (Allah's month). The second Alif is hidden in the Diya / Divine Fire of second Noon and that means Atee'or Rasul which is the holy month of Sh'aban. The third Alif which sometimes it's written as Fatha in Arabic, is the Ulel Amre Minkum, which is the month of Ramadan.
Then follow Ulel Amr (those in authority), and Husn ur Rafiqa حسن ورفيقه (followers of the Ulel Amr). Then when you sit in Laila tul Qadr (Night of Power) . The light described for that night of power is from these realities of Rajab and Sha'ban. From barakat (blessings) of Tariqa (Sufi path), Awliya (saints) are always dressed by these realities of Laila tul Qadr.
The only way to get to 'Izat ullah (Allah's honor), is through prophet Muhammad (pbuh)'s M'iraj (Night of Ascension), which is in 27th of Rajab; 7th month of Islamic Hijri calendar. Wherever Prophet (pbuh) is moving in his M'iraj (Ascension), he is dressing us with it. He (pbuh) pierces to go up to heavens and beyond and what rains as a result are the blessings upon our souls. Therefore, his (pbuh) prescription for us is to fast and wait; these realities will rain upon you.
In Surat Al Qadr (chapter 97, verse 3 of Holy Quran) Allah (AJ) says "Tanzil al malaaikatu wa roh" .
This tanzil (descent) is raining whatever Prophet (saw) pierced in his M'iraj in Rajab. It rains upon us and perfects our soul in Laila tul Qadr (Night of Power; 27th of Ramadan, 9th month of Hijri calendar)). Allah (AJ) says if you can reach that reality and we dress you from that secret and that light; you have been dressed by the best of gifts. Allah (AJ) says: Laila tul Qadri khairun min Alif e Shahr (Quran 97:3).
Therefore, Allah (AJ) says if you get the blessings of Laila tul Qadr (Night of Power), it is a life time achievement. That is because the blessings of 1000 months promised in the Surat al Qadr (chapter 97:3) equals to 83 years. It means it's better than your entire life time, if you can achieve that light. Why Allah says 1000 months? That is because you get light of holy Quran which is from 'Izat ullah (Allah's honor). That's We pray that Allah (AJ) open these lights and realities for us.
All of these holy nights, Mawlana Shaykh is teaching for us to safe guard and to cherish; is merely to be dressed by them. If you don't feel anything, it doesn't matter. What is important is to sit and wait and to copy their way. To be dressed and dressed and dressed until the dress is enough on the soul that the eye of the heart and the eye of soul can begin to move. It has its Qudrat (Power) and it has its cleanliness of which the eye of the heart opens and begins to witness their holy face. And from their Face, it begins to witness their holy Presence, and from there it's like a spark into the Divine Essence.
'Izat Allah, and in Sh'aban (8th month of Hijri) from the 'Izat ir Rasuli and in Ramadan (9th month of Hijri) from 'Izat ul Mumineen. To be dressed by these lights and blessings.


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Here's how long you've got to spend your old paper fivers
Got any paper £5 notes that you've been hanging on to?
Thursday, 6th April 2017, 3:34 pm
It's time to get them spent...
The Bank of England will be withdrawing legal tender status of the paper £5 note, featuring Elizabeth Fry, on May 5 - and is encouraging anyone who still has one of the notes to spend them over the next month.
More than 50% of all Fry fivers have already been returned to the Bank to be destroyed but there are still around 160 million notes left in circulation.
AFter May 5, retailers and the public no longer have to accept the paper £5 note as payment or in change and the new polymer note featuring Sir Winston Churchill will be the only £5 note with legal tender status.
Some banks and building societies may accept paper £5 notes after that date, but it is at their own discretion.
You can still get them exchanged for the polymer notes by the Bank of England at any time.
The new polymer £5 note was first issued in September last year.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


#1. I had just led the funeral of a dear woman. We were invited by her husband, Dave Cook, to come to their house after the general refreshment hour to unwind and talk. Linda and I arrived early, so I took some shrimp and a glass of wine and sat down at a large round table off to the side.
I was stunned. She was a very young girl in her early teens. A few minutes later, she told me she was 14. For the next little while I did little more than praise her and express admiration for what she had done. Then we got acquainted and spent some pleasant time chatting. But before we parted, I made sure she, and others now gathered nearby, knew what an outstanding and unusual act of loving-kindness that young lady had given.
#2. At a recent 50-Plus dinner/entertainment event, something happened I want to tell you about. During the dinner I had strolled around the tables greeting and chatting with the diners, joking and kidding most of the time.
A few weeks after that dinner I met a handsome older man (it turned out that he is 82 years old) who told me he had been present that day. He then told me something that thrilled me to the depths of my soul, and stunned me with its importance. He said that I had walked past him when he was sitting at a table and that I had laid my hand ever so briefly on his shoulder, as I went by.
Then he added, "That touch absolutely blessed me!" And he said a little more about what a strong moment that had been.
A touch as I walked by! So small! So appreciated! A touch?! And he was moved, his spirits were lifted, his mood was changed.
Again I am jolted into awareness of the importance of our Care and Kindness Campaign. This is life-changing business. This is spreading spiritual medicine everywhere we go. And anyone and everyone is able to take part. It takes so little to heal a soul.


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HomeAll issues3ArticlesThe Hermeneutics of Compassion: T...
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The Hermeneutics of Compassion: The Case of Fanny Robin
Abstract | Index | Text | Bibliography | Appendix | Notes | References | About the author
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd failed to satisfy his commissioning editor Leslie Stephen's expectations of a pastoral novel along the lines of Under the Greenwood Tree but was, instead, subjected to rigorous censorship prior to publication in the Cornhill. This essay examines just part of Hardy's creative methodology, his attempts to subvert his own text in keeping with his anti-establishment views, some 20 years before achieving sufficient freedom from the codes and practices of censorship to be able to express them openly in Tess. The focus of this essay is confined to Hardy's treatment of Fanny Robin and the subtextual devices he employs in his efforts to arouse the reader's compassion for the Fallen Woman.
Far from the Madding Crowd ne répondit pas aux attentes de Leslie Stephen, le rédacteur qui avait passé commande d'un roman pastoral dans la veine de Under the Greenwood Tree. Le roman, au contraire, fut soumis à une censure rigoureuse avant d'être publié dans le Cornhill. Cet article étudie en partie la méthodologie créative de Hardy, ses tentatives pour subvertir son propre texte sans renier ses vues contestataires, une vingtaine d'années avant de s'être suffisamment affranchi des codes et pratiques de la censure pour pouvoir exprimer ses vues ouvertement dans Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Cet article se concentre sur le traitement par Hardy de Fanny Robin et sur les procédés d'écriture sous-jacents qui lui permettent de faire naître la compassion du lecteur pour la Femme Déchue.
censure, Stephen (Leslie), Cornhill, procédés littéraires, herméneutique, compassion
censorship, Stephen (Leslie), Cornhill, literary devices, hermeneutics, compassion
We must build a bridge between contemplation and action […]. Compassion without action is […] hypocritical […] we must act each time we can and, even more, try to prevent suffering before it starts. Our own happiness is intimately linked to that of others. Most of our problems derive from the fact that we are not genuinely concerned with other people's well-being. Any happiness we feel that ignores others' unhappiness, or, even worse, bases itself on their suffering, can only ever be a pale imitation of happiness […] someone who has reached enlightenment spontaneously feels boundless compassion for others. (Ricard & Thuan 258-260)
1As editor of the Cornhill in the 1870s Leslie Stephen had commissioned the publication of Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), unaware at the outset that it would shortly arouse his deepest concerns of censorship. He eagerly examined Hardy's first few chapters as they arrived on his desk for the opening instalment and detected no sign of indiscretion, no hint of transgression of any kind, nothing that might violate his puritanical ethic and the middle-class "family values" of the Cornhill readership. Far From the Madding Crowd was, to all intents and purposes, a pastoral romance along the lines, as requested by Stephen, of Under the Greenwood Tree featuring a winsome Milkmaid, a Good Shepherd and a Dashing Young Sergeant with a "winning tongue".
2However, as the second instalment begins to take shape the narrator, in an unanticipated volte-face, steers an alternative course: quite out of the blue a benevolent landowning uncle (Everdene) entrusts his farming estate to his highly-respected niece who had recently shown strong signs of competence and good management and in a flash Bathsheba Everdene (hitherto the "Winsome Milkmaid") turns farmer and estate manager overnight. At the same time, an inexperienced young sheepdog in hormonal disarray, excited with bloodlust at the hands of his master who, carelessly, feeds him the carcase of a dead newborn lamb, drives Oak's entire flock over a cliff thus reducing the "Good Shepherd" to penury – again, overnight. He is now a homeless, itinerant labourer. The "pastoral romance" is over: the drama begins.
3This brief exegetical study ventures into certain matters which Hardy's publishers chose to shield from his readers. As his letters reveal, by the time the second instalment of Far From the Madding Crowd arrives on the editorial desk Leslie Stephen is paying close attention to the manuscript sections he is now receiving. To begin with the first alert, Fanny Robin, who had not, initially, been mentioned anywhere at all in Hardy's proposal, now enters the scene. Innocuous enough as it appears at the outset Fanny's role had not only been omitted from Hardy's plot outline but there had been no suggestion of a wayward runaway girl, nor her seduction and certainly no forewarning that these events would culminate in a tragic exposition of a young, unwed mother's death in childbirth.
4Indeterminate "hints" there are now, however, for the attentive reader of these early chapters as Fanny Robin, albeit clandestinely, emerges to take her place in the plot proper. For all his narrow-minded prudery Stephen was a skilled and sensitive editor and it might well have occurred to him that such an unforeseen diversion as the unexpected emergence of Fanny at this point should prompt his vigilance; perhaps things are not quite what they seem? Is Fanny's story really just a simple subplot? For indeed, a prelusive subversiveness in Far From the Madding Crowd is discernible as early as this moment in the second instalment. A circumspect editor might be worried.
5Embedded in what I have called the hermeneutics of compassion it is the textual activation of this subversive narratorial stance and its significance as embodied in Hardy's original characterisation of Fanny Robin that this essay will explore. The reader's first encounter with Fanny occurs very early on, immediately after the fire that almost destroys Bathsheba's hay ricks in the chapter entitled "A Timid Girl." It is not, however, a "Timid Girl" who first comes into view. The narrator is engaged elsewhere – still attending to Bathsheba who is now withdrawing from Gabriel Oak's discomfiting gaze (a withdrawal she is obliged to perform, frequently), just after he has surprised her with the question, "Do you want a shepherd ma'am?" Taken aback but immediately distancing herself by retreating out of view, into the shade, Bathsheba replies, "I do want a shepherd. But – " (Hardy 43).
1 Aposiopesis: from classical Greek (ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a figure of speech in which s (...)
6In hermeneutic terms, Bathsheba's withdrawal and broken utterance provides the first of several linguistic indicators called aposiopesis1 that will shortly cluster around the "Timid Girl's" arrival on the scene. "But – " – such a tiny particle of speech – not only sets inclination, or desideratum ("want") at odds with itself but also disconnects the two speakers, Bathsheba and Oak, one from the other. Perceiving this, noticing the break in the proceedings, the bystanders, the local field workers, are roused to intervene and start to clamour in Oak's favour.
7An alternative linguistic term to aposiopesis, the narratorial disconnect where an utterance is silenced, where a phrase is deliberately broken off, is the "collapsing sequence". Collapsing sequences occur when utterances between speakers elide unspoken thoughts, the implication being that a logical thought has occurred between the spoken thoughts. For instance, in this case, Oak wants and Bathsheba wants but no sooner has she said it than she cuts off the thought with "But –". The unspoken thought is left to the reader's imagination but no doubt Oak knows exactly what is running through her mind: "Good grief! And this is the man who asked to marry me a few weeks ago?"
8There is of course the simple logistical consideration here of plot mechanics; that is, without the disconnect between the speakers the fire-fighting bystanders might never intervene to secure Oak's employment as shepherd on Bathsheba's estate. Thus, this one tiny particle of speech – "But" – performs quite a large amount of work. Why, though, do I draw attention to it? Not solely for what it says about Bathsheba's budding relationship with Oak (which will become, as we know, one long series of uncomfortable disconnections and niggling doubts, misgivings, embarrassments, incoherent thoughts and feelings), but also for what it tells us about Hardy's preparatory schema for the "Timid Girl" who now appears out of the darkness just as Bathsheba disappears into it. To be sure, Bathsheba will eventually be "broken" emotionally, psychologically, by the various coercive manipulations of the men who pursue her, including Gabriel Oak; more to the point here, it is Fanny Robin who – precursively – arrives on the scene, broken. In a literal sense her life has broken up – she is destitute, homeless and pregnant – and in a regenerative, if not altogether prophetic sense this child-woman is no longer sexually intact. That synecdoche of female sexual autonomy, the hymen vaginae, has also been broken by the paternalis of her unborn child. "Broken" is of course just a few linguistic degrees of separation from "Fallen".
9If Fanny's young life is, at this point, broken up, in less than a year it will be completely over. Or – as the narrator recounts of the child-mother, some six moons later, in the tragic coffin scene:
The mother had been no further advanced in womanliness than had the infant in childhood; they both had stood upon the threshhold [sic] of a new stage of existence, and had vanished before they could well be defined as examples of that stage. (Hardy 259-260)
10Notice, incidentally, how the stern rhetoric attempts to harden any softness, any tenderness that might be too apparent in the narrator's rising compassion; the rhetoric restrains the narrative stance and adds perturbation to the gaze which lingers upon the budding young girl in her coffin; a mother yet scarcely a woman on the very threshold of a new life with a stillborn babe in her arms. The emotional pull of the speaker's compassion is almost palpable yet stilled. Certainly there is no excessive sentiment. For, the hazard here, as in any moving sequence of tragical dimensions, is that the speaker's vision and in turn the narration itself, could collapse into melodrama or maudlin sentimentality risking a further lapse into mere linguistic gestures that could all too easily come across as mawkish and insincere.
2 See also Appendix 1. Later in his literary career as his reputation is assured Hardy affords himsel (...)
11Simultaneously, compassion for the "transgressive" girl should at best, for reasons of publication politics and market-decorum, be filtered through a secondary character, preferably a weak or unreliable character; failing that, no sympathetic identification with Fanny should resound in the overt voice of the primary narrator who, seemingly lacking all inclination to adopt the judgemental role of censor risks accusations of partiality – an unreliable witness acting in cohorts with the transgressor2. Quite a challenging task for the young author struggling to learn how to be a "good hand at a serial".
3 Stage: a clinical-sounding word meaning a progression of states; existence, a stiff Latinate word p (...)
12Thus, no sooner has the impact of girl-mother and stillborn babe stricken pitifully upon the senses than a forbidding rhetoric tainted with magisterial pomposity insists on battening down all sympathetic responses, concluding with: "they both had stood upon the threshold of a new stage of existence, and had vanished before they could well be defined as examples of that stage" (Hardy 259-260). Notice that in one short statement, adopting the confident stance of one who expects to be obeyed, the speaker moves from one sterile utterance, stage of existence3 to another, defined, a harsh transitive verb literally denoting the setting of boundaries (a significant word choice), then finally to choose yet another cold Latinate word, example (Latin: exemplum). Thus, the summoning of this austere voice, which endeavours to articulate a chilling set of verbal gestures sufficiently overbearing to stem any flow of emotional response, seeks to harden compassion in the listener's heart, notably that of the ultimate judge, editor Leslie Stephen.
13However, to the oblivious tender heart, oblivious to the dictatorial judge who speaks beyond her ken, there are only the choking tears – the tears that Bathsheba, herself, cannot hold back.
Her head sank upon her bosom, and the breath which had been bated in suspense, curiosity and interest, was exhaled now in the form of a whispered wail: "Oh-h-h!"
Her tears fell fast beside the unconscious pair – tears of a complicated origin, of a nature indescribable, almost indefinable except as other than those of simple sorrow. (Hardy 260)
14But this is, in fact, the manuscript version and no amount of stern rhetoric worked its surreptitious way into the heart of the vigilant Stephen. He instantly saw through Hardy's artful devices and censored the coffin scene quite ruthlessly. He cut the entire sequence.
4 Book/volume editions were not subject to the same laws of censorship as were "drawing-room" magazin (...)
5 Note the euphony of "whispered" suggesting hidden pain forced out on the breath rising to a piteous (...)
15The volume edition4 repairs some of Stephen's cuts but, to give just one example of Hardy's difficulty in recapturing the original I would cite the "whispered wail" in the manuscript which later becomes, "and the silent room added length to her moan". This has the effect of externalising Bathsheba's inner pain. Whereas the manuscript version halts at the point of her "whispered wail" leaving her cry to ring, resoundingly, in our ears5, the reparative volume edition turns the lens on to the silent room and shifts the woman's agony to the outside world – the room not only absorbs her pain but turns it into a sound effect merely. Alas, for Hardy, "recapture" in this instance is not a question of retaking but of being retaken.
6 Problematic largely because memory plays an important part, almost an unwittingly censorious part i (...)
16The irremediable problem for Hardy in revising Far From the Madding Crowd for the volume edition and all post-Cornhill editions was that he didn't have his original manuscript to hand. It was believed lost at that time. How difficult, indeed how distressing it must have been trying to relive his first creation, reviving imaginative percepts of objects formerly given in sense perception, composed in the very first flush of writing, re-created at great speed, no less; recalling painful episodes must have been even more problematic6. This whole process would surely have been further complicated by having been so severely censured by editor Stephen in the first instance. Once, later in life, Hardy reflected that censorship was paralyzing. This touches only the tip of the psychological "iceberg" so to speak: the censured Hardy, in revision, is not only working in an altered state of consciousness but is also compelled to exert memory over imagination. I would argue that in attempting to revive his original creation for the volume edition and in making late revisions of this kind – turning Bathsheba's agonized cry, for example, into a mere sound effect – reflects just such a paralysis.
7 Hardy is, as ever, attentive to botanical detail. The alder flourishes near streams and wetlands an (...)
17I'll be returning to the coffin episode again shortly – but first let's complete the exegetical investigation into the reader's first encounter with "The Timid Girl" – Fanny Robin. Gabriel Oak is now walking into the darkness on his way to the Malthouse to seek lodging for the night when he accidentally meets Fanny, for the very first time, in the village churchyard, an appropriate setting for a first encounter with this destitute young girl but also ironic in that consecrated ground is precisely what is later denied her, as a "Fallen" woman. Fanny will be buried in the pauper's section of that selfsame Weatherbury churchyard: "a spot which until lately had been abandoned to heaps of stones and bushes of alder" (Hardy 273)7. A "spot", moreover, which will all too soon become flooded as the downpour of rain gushes off the church roof to be jettisoned through the spouting jaws of the gargoyle on to Fanny's grave washing away every vestige of flower, shrub and blossom that Troy had planted there.
18I think it's worth pausing over Hardy's vivid description of the church gargoyle; I should add that I am making trips between these early and late passages for good reason: they provide parallel intersections within the narrative.
Weatherbury tower was a somewhat early instance of the use of an ornamental parapet in parishes – as distinct from cathedral churches, and the gurgoyles, which are the necessary correlatives of a parapet were exceptionally prominent – of the boldest cut that the hand could shape, and of the most original design that a human brain could conceive. There was that symmetry in their distortion, so to speak, which is less the characteristic of British than of Continental grotesques of the period, though all four were different from each other. A beholder was convinced that nothing could be more hideous than those he saw on the south side – until he went round to the north. Of the two on this latter face, only that at the north-eastern corner concerns the story. It was too human to be called like a dragon, too impish to be like a man, too animal to be like a fiend, and not enough like a bird to be called a griffin. This horrible stone entity was fashioned as if covered with a wrinkled hide, it had short erect ears, eyes starting from their sockets, and its fingers and hand were seizing the corners of its mouth, which they thus seemed to pull open to give freer passage to the water it vomited. (Hardy 274-275)
19The architect in Hardy probably relished the opportunity of presenting every grotesque Gothic feature he could summon – and where better, in terms of textual structure than to draw a correspondence between the one "fiend" on the outside and the other lying within, fast asleep? Both the gargoyle and the sleeping Frank Troy, in their different ways, bring about destruction, both are agencies of hazard in Fanny Robin's young, broken life.
20Returning to Weatherbury churchyard and our first encounter with Fanny, a gentle encounter which nevertheless leaves Gabriel Oak with a sense of "deep sadness", it transpires that these two solitary souls understand each other from the outset and with the minimum of words. He asks her the way to the Malthouse; she responds by asking if the Buck's Head Inn will still be open so late at night; he promises not to tell a soul that he has met her; she accepts his gift of a shilling and reiterates that he must promise to keep her flight a secret (Hardy 44-46).
8 As innocuous as these images, in the coffin scene, of innocence and tenderness may seem to us, they (...)
9 And to elucidate on one point for those of you who are less familiar with the publication politics (...)
21However, matters are not quite as simple as this superficial reading shows. Inevitably, the plot does require that all of this takes place but less obviously, the textual structures, the aposiopeses, operate subtextually to activate the flow of sympathy, the compassion that Fanny arouses8. This is critically important to Hardy's development of the novel's compassion-allegiance. For, whereas the narrator in the coffin scene makes the unwitting blunder (in terms of editorial censorship) of arousing compassion for the "transgressive" girl, despite ardent attempts at rhetorical distancing and alienation, his efforts in the churchyard scene do succeed in securing the narrative from censure because all signs of compassion are transferred to Oak. This kind of transference of sensory intelligence is vital to the ultimate messaging or, rather, to the hermeneutical subversiveness of the text9. For where Oak can display compassion for Fanny with impunity the narrator is shackled, although, of course, it has to be said that at this point there is little indication of her "fallen" status, only that she is absconding in secret which indicates some kind of minor transgression perhaps but no serious offense. Thus, in a way, Cornhill readers don't require the same level of moral protection as they do in the coffin scene.
22Back in the churchyard – Oak, from the very first moment of meeting Fanny – is utterly charmed by the "low and dulcet" tones of her voice. He can't resist trying for more, so, "indirectly to get more of the music," he asks the question, "I'll thank you to tell me if I'm in the way for Warren's Malthouse?" Fanny gives him directions and adds "And do you know – " but then comes to a sudden halt! (Hardy 44) Why? Well, we already know that her night flight is fugitive so it would be understandable for her to hesitate if uncertain about allowing her movements to be broadcast. Nevertheless she senses something sympathetic in Oak's manner and, gaining confidence, she completes her broken phrase by asking whether the Buck's Head Inn would still be open. Oak says he doesn't know, explaining that he's a stranger in the neighbourhood whereupon Fanny starts another sentence and then yet again breaks it off. But by now her intuitive, tentative approaches have aroused a flow of sensitive sympathies in Oak who now passes into the night feeling "himself in the penumbra of a very deep sadness when touching that slight and fragile creature." (Hardy 44)
23In textual terms, the effect of the structural aposiopesis, in both cases – Oak's meeting with Bathsheba ("Do you want a shepherd...?"), and now with Fanny – activates events while also effecting a connection and not, as might be logically deduced from the broken utterances, a disconnection between neighbours and strangers. Fieldworkers are lured closer to Oak and Oak, in turn, is lured closer to Fanny. Compassion, in both instances, is the outcome, albeit far more intensely in the latter case. As Oak's fingers had "alighted on the young woman's wrist […] beating with a throb of tragic intensity" he is reminded of the "same quick, hard beat in the femoral artery of lambs when overdriven" (Hardy 46). It would be hard to match this sensitive association with overdriven lambs -- not only for what lambs symbolise in Western culture (gentleness, meekness, innocence, vulnerability) but also for what they represent in sacral terms: purity and sacrifice.
24Leslie Stephen evidently wished for less attention to be paid to Fanny. A good example is the search that Bathsheba instigates for the missing girl which is more fully fleshed out in the holograph manuscript than in the first Cornhill edition. Yet again there were cuts. From their subsequent activities we infer that the household and farm workers had suspected something amiss with Fanny because they drag the local pond presumably with a possible suicide in mind. The final conclusion among the villagers is that she has "run away with the soldiers", according to William Smallbury (Hardy 73), although Oak, for one, doesn't believe this at all: but gossip is gossip and it prevails.
25Next comes the pathetic scene outside the barracks. The darkly coloured landscape embodies Fanny's desperate predicament ("dreariness", "darkness", Hardy 74) and the words that surface are "misgiving", "regret" (74), "torpidity" (75), and so on. Then there is the mistaken venue for the church marriage and finally, with the aid of a Newfoundland dog, her horrifying journey, possibly through the stages of latent labour to an eventual death in childbirth. Her last voyage is in her coffin.
26The point here is that outcast or not within the inner life of the novel, Fanny Robin is quite clearly beloved of her author. In each and every encounter with the "fallen" girl compassion informs the narrative tone, diction, grammatical arrangement and imagery with vivid appeals to the senses. But this is far less in evidence in post-Cornhill editions for as I have shown it was alarmingly obvious, and wholly unacceptable, to Leslie Stephen. In the chapter entitled "Fanny's Revenge" we have noticed the manuscript's tender portrait of the young girl on the brink of womanhood with the stillborn babe in her arms but the picture doesn't end there. Beloved of the author, is also Fanny's baby:
10 See Appendix 2: "On an Infant Dying as Soon as Born," Charles Lamb (1775–1834). This may be a senti (...)
By the dead girl's side, enclosed by one of her arms, was the object of the search:
"A curious frame of Nature's work.
A flow'ret crushéd in the bud,
A nameless piece of Babyhood." (Hardy 259)10
11 See also Tess of the d'Urbervilles in which Tess experiences a similar dilemma over the burial of h (...)
27An elegy, a lament, a tender eulogy, a tribute of devotion for an illegitimate baby? Hermeneutics encompass not only issues involving the written text but also every single semiotic gesture in the interpretative process. This includes extratextual insertions of this kind. In common with allusions, the extratextual item posits a presupposition that borrowing from a noteworthy source lends authenticity, validation and legitimacy to the concept in view: in this case, the concept presented to the reader is that the death of an illegitimate baby is as worthy of tribute and lament as would be the case with any lawfully-born baby. However, it's doubtful that Hardy's contemporary, mainstream world would have shared this view. Indeed, the convention of burying Fanny's body in the pauper's graveyard – that section of the churchyard reserved for prostitutes and the indigent poor – would have accurately reflected the cultural values of the middle-class readership of the day.11
28Hardy surely hoped to swing this elegy by Leslie Stephen. Perhaps a reputable poet such as Charles Lamb would lend distinction, honour, integrity to his boundary-breaking portrayal? Perhaps this touch of respectability would avert censorship repercussions? Hardy, after all, was accomplished in the use of allusions which frequently succeed in subverting the status quo where direct narration would serve less well. But his hopes were dashed. "Babyhood" was cut.
29The Charles Lamb elegy is followed in the manuscript by a shift of focus. Transferring the perspective – which, demonstrating familiarity with an esteemed poet could only be the author's own – Hardy now gives the vantage point and the thought processes to Bathsheba.
Neatly apparelled in its first and last outfit for earth – a miniature wrapping of white linen – with a face so delicately small in contour and substance that its cheeks and the plump backs of its little fists irresistibly reminded her, excited as she was, of the soft convexity of mushrooms on a dewy morning. (Hardy 259)
30Sensory experience informs every aspect of this impression from visualized shape to touch, texture, density, moistness. But the gentle compassion, apparent even in Bathsheba's overwrought state, does not strike an appropriate tone in the eyes of the editor and it is excised.
31In my final extract from the holograph manuscript chapter entitled "Fanny's Revenge" we encounter some phrases which Stephen did allow into the Cornhill. Hardy's original text reads:
Fanny was framed in by that yellow hair of hers, just as she had slept hundreds of times in this house, with the exception of the fresh colour which had formerly adorned her. There was no longer any room for doubt as to the origin of the curl owned by Troy. She appeared rounder in feature and much younger than she had looked during the latter months of her life. Her hands had acquired a preternatural refinement, and a painter in looking upon them might have fancied that at last he had found the fellows of those marvellous hands and fingers which must have served as originals to Bellini. (Hardy 259)
32The volume edition retains some aspects of the paragraph that begins:
Fanny was framed in by that yellow hair of hers, just as she had slept hundreds of times in this house, with the exception of the fresh colour which had formerly adorned her.
33Needless to say, the affectionate evocation of Fanny's youthful, rounder features and refined hands is not retained, for reasons I need no longer explain. Yet of all Hardy's subversive efforts in this passage, his allusion to the Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini, is by far the most daring. He writes that Fanny's beautiful, refined hands are reminiscent of "those marvellous hands and fingers which must have served as originals to Bellini". This allusion may escape the hermeneutic exploits of many students today but it would have been familiar enough to his more educated contemporaries and most definitely to Leslie Stephen: Bellini does not survive the blue pencil.
12 One critic observes that "Bellini's paintings are characterized by a strange, subtle tension that a (...)
34Why? Before disavowing the 39 Articles of the church Stephen had been a committed Evangelical Christian, as was his father before him. It is more than likely that, in common with his contemporaries he would have known Bellini (whose paintings are held in large numbers by the National Gallery) for his renowned theme of Madonna and Child12. How could Hardy aspire to anything more subversive than to frame this "fallen woman", this young unmarried mother with her illegitimate baby in the iconic form of Virgin and Child?
Hardy, Thomas, Far from the Madding Crowd, ed. Rosemarie Morgan, London: Penguin Classics, 2000.
Olivari, Mariolina, Giovanni Bellini, Florence & New York: Scala/Riverside, 1990.
Ricard, Matthieu R & Trinh Xuan Thuan, The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers where Science and Buddhism Meet, transl. Ian Monk, New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001.
APPENDIX 1: Save the Girls
The author of this small extract below is Mason Long and his book is entitled Save the Girls (Fort Wayne: Mason Long, 1883). Mason Long wrote this in 1883 – a decade after Far from the Madding Crowd and a decade before Tess. He is one of those ardent Victorians who set out to save the fallen woman. He writes:
Fallen women owe their ruin to a variety of causes. A large number of them have a natural tendency to vice, which is born in them, being inherited from their ancestors. Such are, in thought and feeling, prostitutes from youth, and, at the first opportunity, become profligate, either openly or covertly. Many of them remain chaste in body, owing simply to a lack of opportunity to indulge their natural propensities, but their minds are without purity, their passions and sentiments are coarse, and the sexual sin they crave is just as much theirs as though actually committed in deed, as it is in thought.
But, happily, a majority of impure women are not of this class. […] They have been led astray from various causes, and having taken the one false step which, according to our code of social ethics, makes a woman forever an outcast, find themselves forced into the paths of sin, which they tread until they fill premature and dishonoured graves. […] These poor creatures have been deceived and, in a moment of weakness, have been led astray and fallen never to rise again.
This "Save-the-Girls" philanthropic approach was considered admirable at the time. The crux of the matter being that of impurity in both cases – whether born impure or led astray – a fallen woman is forever impure and an outcast.
APPENDIX 2: "On an Infant Dying as Soon as Born", Charles Lamb (1775–1834)
I saw where in the shroud did lurk
A curious frame of Nature's work;
A nameless piece of Babyhood,
Was in her cradle-coffin lying;
Extinct, with scarce the sense of dying:
So soon to exchange the imprisoning womb
For darker closets of the tomb!
She did but ope an eye, and put
A clear beam forth, then straight up shut
For the long dark: ne'er more to see
Through glasses of mortality,
Riddle of destiny, who can show
What thy short visit meant, or know
What thy errand here below?
Shall we say, that Nature blind
Check'd her hand, and changed her mind
Just when she had exactly wrought
A finish'd pattern without fault?
Could she flag, or could she tire,
Or lack'd she the Promethean fire
(With her nine moons' long workings sicken'd)
That should thy little limbs have quicken'd?
Limbs so firm, they seem'd to assure
Life of health, and days mature:
Woman's self in miniature!
Limbs so fair, they might supply
(Themselves now but cold imagery)
The sculptor to make Beauty by.
Or did the stern-eyed Fate descry
That babe or mother, one must die;
So in mercy left the stock
And cut the branch; to save the shock
Of young years widow'd, and the pain
When Single State comes back again
To the lone man who, reft of wife,
Thenceforward drags a maiméd life?
The economy of Heaven is dark,
And wisest clerks have miss'd the mark
Why human buds, like this, should fall,
More brief than fly ephemeral
That has his day; while shrivell'd crones
Stiffen with age to stocks and stones;
And crabbed use the conscience sears
In sinners of an hundred years.
—Mother's prattle, mother's kiss,
Baby fond, thou ne'er wilt miss:
Rites, which custom does impose,
Silver bells, and baby clothes;
Coral redder than those lips
Which pale death did late eclipse;
Music framed for infants' glee,
Whistle never tuned for thee;
Though thou want'st not, thou shalt have them,
Loving hearts were they which gave them.
Let not one be missing; nurse,
See them laid upon the hearse
Of infant slain by doom perverse.
Why should kings and nobles have
Pictured trophies to their grave,
And we, churls, to thee deny
Thy pretty toys with thee to lie—
A more harmless vanity?
1 Aposiopesis: from classical Greek (ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a figure of speech in which speech is broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, signifying an unwillingness or inability to continue by becoming overcome with passion (fear, anger, excitement) or modesty.
2 See also Appendix 1. Later in his literary career as his reputation is assured Hardy affords himself this risk. In legal terms, this compromised liaison might require mediation.
3 Stage: a clinical-sounding word meaning a progression of states; existence, a stiff Latinate word pointing to a world that persists quite independently of our senses.
4 Book/volume editions were not subject to the same laws of censorship as were "drawing-room" magazines such as Cornhill-type publications. Magazines and periodicals could be purchased openly on the market stalls, public bookstands in railway stations and so on. Books/volumes were not. They were distributed by circulating libraries and accessed by subscription only. This marketing method therefore determined what was accessible to the general reading public.
5 Note the euphony of "whispered" suggesting hidden pain forced out on the breath rising to a piteous (long vowel sound of) "wail."
6 Problematic largely because memory plays an important part, almost an unwittingly censorious part in the process: it must override the imagination. This is complicated by the fact that memory and imagination have been shown to affect one another – operating in identical parts of the brain. For Hardy, the struggle to exert memory over imagination succeeds only in each outwitting the other to the detriment of both.
7 Hardy is, as ever, attentive to botanical detail. The alder flourishes near streams and wetlands and is common among the first species to colonise areas disturbed by floods and storms.
8 As innocuous as these images, in the coffin scene, of innocence and tenderness may seem to us, they appeared, to the editor, as heresies – cultural heresies. A modern-day equivalent might be rape where the young girl is reported as wearing "provocative" garments and is deemed, consequently, neither "innocent" nor deserving of "tenderness".
9 And to elucidate on one point for those of you who are less familiar with the publication politics of the 1870s, when Far From the Madding Crowd first arrived on the scene, what was permitted to the novel's characters was not readily permitted to the narrator. The narrator was expected to rebuke (tonally, imagistically etc) his characters if they stepped out of line: a characteristic device would be "coming to a bad end". Indeed, ideally the narrator would add a censorious note or a countermanding event at the first sign of any moral transgression. Hardy was quick to learn effective counteractive remedies such as employing an alternative narrator (or secondary character) to intervene with what I have called a Grundyan voice, when necessary. Of course, when his reputation as a novelist was secured – certainly by the time of Tess and Jude – he no longer employed a Grundyan bystander to deliver rebukes and all those belittling asides such as "Women are all such and such…" Interestingly, Oak was praised by critics for performing the Grundyan role where the wayward Bathsheba is concerned.
10 See Appendix 2: "On an Infant Dying as Soon as Born," Charles Lamb (1775–1834). This may be a sentimental if not mawkish poem to the modern ear and sometimes reduces millennium students to mocking laughter. But sentimentality originally indicated a sincere expression of feelings as a guide to truth in contrast to current usage which defines it as an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason.
11 See also Tess of the d'Urbervilles in which Tess experiences a similar dilemma over the burial of her infant, Sorrow.
12 One critic observes that "Bellini's paintings are characterized by a strange, subtle tension that always binds the mother and child in a relationship of profound pathos" (Olivari 4). See for example one such Madonna and Child presented by the National Gallery of Australia.
Rosemarie Morgan, "The Hermeneutics of Compassion: The Case of Fanny Robin", FATHOM [Online], 3 | 2016, Online since 30 April 2016, connection on 30 January 2023. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/fathom/557; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.557
Rosemarie Morgan taught at Yale University for 20 years and is President of The Thomas Hardy Association which produces the biannual Hardy Review – the premier scholarly journal in Hardy studies – under her editorship. Numbered among her publications on Hardy are Women and Sexuality in the Novels of Thomas Hardy, The Ashgate Research Companion to Thomas Hardy (ed.) and The Student Companion to Thomas Hardy.


ask her why she cries.
Oh my goodness, I hope you don't mind, but I want to put this poem on my blog today. It's perfect. I am taking the liberty to do so, just let me know if you'd like me to remove it!
Go ahead, I'm glad you like it so much!
I totally wrote a song about this! Well, not about this poem in particular, but, you know, kind of, like, in the same vein.


text:
Porn Overload Numbs Men and Their Penises, Doctors Warn
Flickr / jlndrr
Peter Hess
High-speed internet and constant access to connected devices put porn at your fingertips every second of the day. For some people, this is a dream come true. But for others, the temptation to overindulge might bring with it some unintended consequences.
Frequent porn use could leave men unable to perform sexually, military doctors reported in a presentation to the American Urological Association on Friday. This isn't just because porn creates unrealistic expectations of sexual encounters that real life simply can't match; it's because porn, they write, can act like a drug. In much the same way that cocaine and methamphetamine users compulsively seek and use their drug, porn can encourage addictive usage patterns. And just like drug users, fervent porn fans can gain a tolerance, needing more and more porn to satisfy their cravings.
Jonathan Berger, Ph.D., a urologist at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego, and his colleagues report that porn could play a significant role in sexual dysfunction. Their results were also published in The Journal of Urology.
There is such a thing as too much porn, some doctors argue. Flickr / esteban_/
The participants in the study filled out self-reported questionnaires about erectile dysfunction and pornography use. Of the people involved, only 3.4 percent of subjects preferred masturbating to pornography over sex as the best way to satisfy sexual desires. Compiling the questionnaire data using a linear regression analysis, the researchers found that the respondents who prefer masturbating to porn over having sex also had less erectile function, orgasmic function, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction.
The study size was relatively small — just 312 military service member men between the ages of 20 and 40 — but the results are statistically significant.
While this study is just one look at the phenomenon of porn and sexual dysfunction, it raises some concerns about increasing porn use among men. One of the most discussed issues in this arena is the possibility that porn is actually addictive in a chemical sense. When people use drugs like cocaine, the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is associated with the brain's natural reward system, is released; in light of this, some researchers and porn critics argue that the dopamine release associated with porn use is evidence of its addictive nature.
While the "porn is a drug" argument is compelling, it remains highly controversial. In 2013, an unrelated study using brain activity data of 52 so-called "sex addicts," published in Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology, showed that there was no evidence that people become desensitized to porn. In fact, these researchers found that these so-called sex addicts had higher libidos, a conclusion that runs counter to the conclusion reached by Berger and his team.
Porn addiction is one of those issues where studies seem to go back and forth every week. That being the case, the strongest takeaway here is that since some people use porn a whole lot and seem to have trouble in their sex lives, porn is generally an area that merits further and larger-scale studies. This way, scientists can get a better handle on how porn use actually affects people's brains and whether it should be cause for concern.
Abstract: In evaluating a male with sexual dysfunction, psychosexual factors should be considered. One potential but not well examined psychosexual factor is the impact of pornography use on sexual function. Given the large proportion of young men in the military and the potential detrimental effects of sexual dysfunction on quality of life, we sought to determine if there exists a correlation between degree of pornography use and sexual dysfunction.
This oil giant accurately predicted global warming — and still lied about it
By Tara Yarlagadda
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Ask for what your heart truly desires.
Ask for that which you've always longed for but been too scared to do so.
Go ahead and ask through your lying fears, your most deeply imbedded inhibitions and predetermined answers.
Ask for what lurks in your mind at night, comes alive in your wildest dreams and for what your body longs for but your mouth hasn't dared speak.
Ask it of yourself, ask it of the universe and ask it of another.
Dare to be brave, even if it feels like you might die in the process of doing so.
It's just another part of the ego facing the truth.
Progress, healing and growth do not lie in hiding, avoiding or any one part of you staying frozen in time.
Ask with the knowing that even if you don't get what you want, at least you tried. At least you asked for it.
Dare to come out, to be vulnerable, dare the feeling of being rejected. Do it with consciousness so that whatever answer you might get, it doesn't really matter anymore.
Ask a thousand times more.
By asking it means you already know what you want.
By asking you set a part of yourself free.
By asking you create a million more possibilities.
By asking you create more space on the inside to receive.
Only when you ask can the next step be revealed.
Only if you ask will you know the truth of what really is.
The heart knows how to ask.
Ask it. Listen silently in the shadows of a New Moon in Scorpio for the words and wisdom it uses.
The mind can only create scenarios based on past memories of what it thinks is true.
The heart is trully brave.
Ask and ask some more.


This is my vintage Kyosho Double Dare runner that I recently finished off as a runner after purchasing it from Ebay for $180 USD in January 2018. It's the second one I purchased and was in better condition so I sold the first one and kept this for myself. It came with the stock MSC and Lemans 05 motors but I installed a Futaba receiver and high-torque steering servo, China ESC and purchased a period-correct Futaba radio on Ebay for $17.50 USD to finish the look. I'm going to hold on to the original MSC set-up so I can return it to original if desired. Other than needing a passenger-side mirror and a new set of lights, it arrived complete in great working order with the chassis/plastic parts, body and rims/tires all in very good shape with only very minimal wear and tear so a rebuild was not needed. That said, I still collected a few spare parts to have on reserve since it's a runner. I never had one of these as a kid but remember them fondly and did have a Kyosho USA-1 that I built from NIB when they first came out BITD so it's a familiar chassis to me (including the horrible stock steering set-up that demands a high-torque steering servo :) not to mention I really love the Nissan body/livery. It's not as big or fast as a USA-1 but the Lemans 05 stock motors have plenty of torque to move this around quite well so this should be fun in the backyard and on the beach. Interestingly, this was Kyosho's first 'answer' to the Tamiya Clodbuster during the original MT craze. However, by the time it came out two years AFTER the Clod, everybody who wanted an r/c monster truck had already purchased a Clod so Double Dare sales were not that great. Of course, it didn't help that Kyosho gave the Double Dare smaller MT rims/tires than the Clod because they were not as realistic. The situation really mirrors the current Kyosho company being a day late and a dollar short in terms of re-releasing their vintage kits long after Tamiya started doing so which doesn't make their recent purchase/corporate re-structuring or the supposed risk of no further Kyosho re-re kits all that surprising. Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy.
Chrome rims in very nice condition. 4WS. Clean, simple and reliable. Mint Futaba Attack-R radio. Original Ebay auction picture.
I find these interesting, what's the suspension like?
@MAD-BEE: Good question. Unlike the rigid floating axles of the Clod, the DD (and USA-1) has 4-wheel independent suspension all around with two shocks per drive axle so it's basically a 4WD buggy on big wheels/tires with dedicated front/rear motors. While not as realistic as the Clod's rigid axles, I think the independent suspension works pretty well for its time and that combination was a big reason why RCCA found the USA-1 quicker and more agile than the Clod during their heads-up shoot out BITD. That said, enthusiasts obviously didn't care b/c Clods far out-sold the other two by a long shot and still command more money to purchase used.


The GI 12 in. Commerical Benchtop VSD drill press with Forced opening line interrupter switch, requires machine restart in case of power failure or circuit interruption. Global patented laser, regular chuck and adjustable spindle tension return spring. Built-in laser pointer. Sturdy design with cast-iron head, base, and table. High-quality bearings for smooth, vibration-free operation. Simple hand lever controlled mechanical variable speed from 500 to 3000 rpm. Digital spindle speed display. 1/3 HP industrial-quality, 120 V motor. Equipped with easy to adjust dual depth stop for complete control of both down stroke depth and upstroke travel. 5/8 in. chuck with key & convenient onboard chuck key holder. Easy to use see-through flip-up chuck guard included. Crank-operated rack and pinion table height adjustment.
This was a must buy at the price point. The variable speed is a terrific feature. Fairly easy to assemble although and extra hand would be recommended. It didn't take long, maybe 30 minutes. I like the industrial weight and construction/design of this press. The only cons would be having to make adjustments to the laser to ensure it was accurate. I'm happy with this purchase.


text:
Q: How to create an Angular component library which can be run with 'ng serve'? How do I create an Angular component library which include sample/example applications which can be run with ng serve or similar command? I ask because although there is some information on structuring such libraries, I don't know how I'm supposed to develop one without ever running it as part of an application.

A: If you want to create a reusable module library @angular/cli does not currently support that ability.
However, you can use a useful library called ng-packagr:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/ng-packagr

*

*Install the package:
npm install ng-packagr --save-dev

*Create an ng-package.json
{
   "$schema": "./node_modules/ng-packagr/ng-package.schema.json",
   "lib": {
       "entryFile": "public_api.ts"
   }
}

*Add a build target to package.json:
{
  "scripts": {
     "build": "ng-packagr -p ng-package.json"
   }
}

*Run the build target:
npm run build

The output for the library will be in the dist folder.

A: Angular (or, more specifically, the Angular CLI) does not really support building libraries currently.  An alternative way of developing components separate is to use an alternate application in the same project.  For example, you can create an alternate "main.ts" running only your component, and then create an new entry in .angular-cli.json:
"apps": [
  {
    "root": "src",
    "outDir": "dist",
    "assets": [ "assets", "favicon.ico" ],
    "index": "index.html",
    "main": "main.ts",
    "polyfills": "polyfills.ts",
    "test": "test.ts",
    "tsconfig": "tsconfig.app.json",
    "testTsconfig": "tsconfig.spec.json",
    "prefix": "app",
    "styles": [ "styles/styles.scss" ],
    "scripts": [],
    "environmentSource": "environments/environment.ts",
    "environments": {
      "dev": "environments/environment.ts",
      "prod": "environments/environment.prod.ts"
    }
  },
  {
    "root": "src",
    "outDir": "dist",
    "assets": [ "assets", "favicon.ico" ],
    "index": "alternate-index.html",
    "main": "alternate-main.ts",
    "polyfills": "polyfills.ts",
    "test": "test.ts",
    "tsconfig": "tsconfig.app.json",
    "testTsconfig": "tsconfig.spec.json",
    "prefix": "app",
    "styles": [ "styles/styles.scss" ],
    "scripts": [],
    "environmentSource": "environments/environment.ts",
    "environments": {
      "dev": "environments/environment.ts",
      "prod": "environments/environment.prod.ts"
    }
  }
],

Note that everything everything besides index and main are the same. Then you can run the alternate application with:
ng serve --app 1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
arrow-left An arrow pointing left. Land Rover Discovery Sport
2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport
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Base trim shown
22 combined mpg
See how it ranks
View car seat check
180.7" length, 67.9" height
View all 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport specs .
Interior quality
Enormous moonroof
Sliding second-row seat
Pronounced acceleration lag
Ergonomic challenges
Unsupportive seats
Third row is tiny
Lacks low gear for off-roading
Optional black roof looks wrong
Starting msrp listed lowest to highest price
HSE LUX
Wondering which trim is right for you?
Our 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport trim comparison will help you decide.
Replaces LR2
Seats five or, optionally, seven
Standard &quot
partial&quot
Eight-inch touch-screen
2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport review: Our expert's take
Outright excellence in the automotive world is a hard thing to attain, as it requires absolute attention to every detail. Everything needs to work well, look good and be in harmony while doing it.
The Land Rover Discovery Sport is a good-looking car with good interior quality and room, but it's let down by a disappointing driving experience and some poor ergonomics.
We tested a 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport HSE with five seats. Notable options include an upgraded audio system, forward-collision warning with autonomous braking, and heated and ventilated seats. It cost $46,620 as equipped, including a $995 destination charge. The Discovery Sport is new for 2015 and shares its name with a larger, more off-road-capable Land Rover: the Discovery, last sold in 2004.
The Discovery Sport competes with other compact luxury SUVs, such as the Acura RDX, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class. Compare them here.
Exterior & Styling
The Discovery Sport carries a lot of familiar Land Rover appearance traits that are most obvious from the front and rear of the vehicle. Up front, the Discovery Sport shares the same grille pattern as other Land Rover SUVs, as well as headlight shape. Around back, there's a smallish rear window that sits on top of a large gate section.
From the side, the Discovery Sport has fairly short overhangs that can help in off-road situations, but in this case they may just serve to make the Discovery Sport look like it's ready to take on the off-road world.
All in all, Land Rover has made the Discovery Sport look very much like the rest of the Land Rover range, but in a smaller package. It's a good-looking SUV.
How It Drives
Driving the Discovery Sport is frustrating because of a drivetrain that suffers from major acceleration lag. The Discovery Sport is powered by a 240-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 250 pounds-feet of torque. It's mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission.
Whenever you press the gas to go faster, there's a pronounced wait … and then the power comes rushing on. You're forced to time your moves based on when the power is going to kick in, and kick in it does — sometimes pretty abruptly. Once everything gets sorted out the engine doesn't feel like it's lacking in power, but the overall performance is poor thanks to the lag and abrupt power delivery.
Some reviewers attribute this lag to the transmission, but I found that even when I was using our test car's paddle shifters to force the Discovery Sport to hold a lower gear, the lag was still present. I'm thinking it's the engine's problem.
There's a Sport mode, but it doesn't resolve the lag issue. It's designed to let the transmission hold on to each gear longer and provide a quicker response. It does hold on to gears longer around town, but the overall effect is negligible. It did not transform the Discovery Sport.
That's all a shame, because the rest of the Discovery Sport is much better, particularly the steering. It's light when you want it to be — around parking lots — and firms up so it's not darty on the highway.
Ride and handling are largely good. The Discovery Sport doesn't absorb bumps to the degree that other luxury SUVs do, especially other Land Rovers, but I wouldn't call the ride jarring by any stretch. There's enough compliance in the suspension that you notice a bit of lean in sharper turns, but then the suspension firms up and the lean doesn't get more pronounced. That helps it live up to the "Sport" part of its name.
The "Land Rover" part of its name is hard for the little SUV to live up to. Land Rover's full-size Range Rover SUVs have impressive off-road capabilities. Once the Discovery Sport hits the trails, it has to work harder to maintain traction on rocky inclines than other Land Rovers. It's not that the Discovery Sport is unfit for light off-roading, but it's one of the few Land Rover vehicles that's not fully off-road capable and doesn't have a dual-range transfer case. Also, the underside of the Discovery Sport doesn't appear to be designed for heavy off-road use, as you can tell from the photo gallery.
Finally, mileage is on par with its competitors. The Discovery Sport is rated 20/26/22 mpg city/highway/combined, which compares to 19/27/22 mpg for the RDX with all-wheel drive. The all-wheel-drive BMW X3 xDrive 35i is rated 19/26/21 mpg, and the GLK350 is rated 18/25/21 mpg with all-wheel drive. The Discovery Sport requires premium gas, as do the other three models listed.
The Discovery Sport has a roomy interior that belies its smaller size. There's a lot of room up front, which is surprising because the SUV has a large central tunnel/center console. I never felt cramped when driving the Discovery Sport.
It's the same story in the sliding backseat. I had plenty of head, hip and legroom and could stretch and move my legs around a lot. Read our Discovery Sport Car Seat Check here. It's also worth noting that the Discovery Sport offers an optional third-row seat. Our test model didn't come optioned that way, but others on staff who've sat in the Discovery Sport's third row report that it's tiny, best used for kids or emergencies.
The Discovery Sport's interior quality is good for the class. The hard plastic that's there is tucked out of touching range, and what you will normally handle feels and looks good. I find the GLK350 to have the best-looking interior of this group, but the Discovery Sport is so close in design and execution that this could be more a matter of personal taste than of material superiority.
This is not to say the Discovery Sport is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. By far, the biggest complaint I have is a lack of support in the seats. I really felt as if I were sitting on top of a bench, and no amount of adjusting could make me feel the Discovery Sport was holding me in any way. This discouraged any sort of spirited driving, and the fast driving I did do was spent with my arms bracing myself as best I could.
This lack of support is especially annoying as there's no dead pedal (foot rest) to speak of. What room there is for your left foot is both narrow and sloped, so my foot never felt like it was resting flat on a surface. It was also being pitched inward.
Lastly, visibility is mixed. To the rear, the small window/high hatch combination restricts visibility to the point I needed to rely on the backup camera more than the mirrors, as I would in another SUV. Also, looking ahead, the windshield pillars are raked at an angle that can hide pedestrians. I had more difficulty with this in the Discovery Sport than in other SUVs I've driven lately. On the highway, though, visibility was better and I was easily able to judge passing maneuvers and the like.
Ergonomics & Electronics
There are many things in this area that could be improved.
The best example is the available heated and ventilated seats. To use them, you have to press a button on the console that brings up a menu on the screen where you select heating or cooling. Interestingly, every other heated/ventilated seat I've ever used in which the heated seat comes on at its highest setting, to turn it down you touch the "heated" button on the screen again and it goes to the lower setting(s). With the Discovery Sport, you have to touch the "Cool" button to get it to go to a lower setting. That's something I suppose you could get used to, but the need to use both a button on the console and then the screen is objectionable.
Likewise, there's a knob to control radio volume but no knob to change the radio station. You have to do that on the screen, and the station-selection portion of the screen was too far away to reach comfortably for me and other editors.
The multimedia system gets mixed reviews. It has a pretty interface that matches the high-quality look of the interior. It's also a fairly intuitive interface; it's easy to find what you need, and there are a couple of options for how the home screen can look. Also, the available navigation and media system responds quickly once you reach the screen.
However, there's a bit of lag when swapping between systems — from navigation to radio, for example. Also, more than one editor reported problems connecting a smartphone through Bluetooth and maintaining the connection.
By far the most annoying feature for me, though, was the backup camera, which comes standard. Instead of the usual reminder advising drivers to check all their surroundings when reversing, the Discovery Sport has the lettering appear in a dark band that — while I'm sure it looked lovely in some software designer's mind — obscures a large portion of the camera's view until it disappears. Frequently, I'd put the Discovery Sport in Reverse, wait for the screen to clear, then start reversing. It got old after a while, and the Discovery Sport's limited rear visibility added to the frustration with the camera setup. Others do this better.
There was, however, one feature that the Discovery Sport mastered better than any other car I've ever driven: the automatic windshield wipers. I normally don't use the rain-sensing setting for windshield wipers because I usually find them either too sensitive — triggering at the slightest dribble of rain — or too inattentive. The Discovery Sport's system never disappointed me in many wet drives. It provided the right amount of clearing whether I was in a steady rain, mist or drizzle.
The cargo area was large in our two-row test model, with ample room behind the seats even though the overall cargo area is a bit narrow. The specs show the Discovery Sport's cargo volume is greater than that in the RDX, X3 or GLK. The Land Rover has a maximum luggage volume of 66.9 cubic feet, compared to 61.3 (RDX), 63.3 (X3) and 54.7 (GLK) in its competitors.
In-cabin storage is decent, with a larger center console and a number of cubbies and cupholders in the cabin. One thing to note: If two people are bringing drinks and using the center cupholders, the armrest will not extend to a place where it can be of any use. So you can have two people using the cupholders or you can use the armrest. Simple as that.
The Land Rover Discovery Sport has not been crash-tested by our preferred safety organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, nor has it been tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Our test model included the optional Driver Assist Plus Package with autonomous emergency braking — a feature that can bring the car to a stop in an emergency — and lane departure warning. Standard features include hill descent control and emergency brake assist. You can browse the full list of safety features here.
Value in Its Class
The Land Rover Discovery Sport disappoints in some ways, but where it succeeds — interior room and exterior looks — are likely enough to attract many buyers. Add in the fact that the Discovery Sport can be had with third-row seats and that its price isn't outlandish when compared with the RDX, X3 and GLK-Class, and it's easy to see the Discovery Sport as a competitive entry in that field.
Still, I just can't see driving the Discovery Sport getting any more enjoyable or familiar with age. The drivetrain lag that I didn't like when I first got in the SUV was just as objectionable at the end of my test. And, while I learned to adjust my expectations to deal with the touch-screen controls and ergonomic challenges, there was still that little part of my brain that kept saying, "This is wrong." It would be incorrect to say familiarity breeds contempt in this case, but familiarity didn't make me fall in love with the Discovery Sport, either.
Perhaps what's most damning is that even though the Discovery Sport is aimed upmarket, throughout my test I kept finding myself comparing the car to our Jeep Cherokee long-term test model that cost about $12,000 less than the Discovery Sport. I found the Jeep's interior to be almost as good as the Discovery Sport's. The driving experience was no more or less objectionable, and the Jeep's multimedia setup was superior. As the Jeep Cherokee wasn't beloved in our office, that's not a good thing for Land Rover.
In the end, the success of the Discovery Sport will likely ride on its room and its looks, not anything that happens when you drive it or use its electronics.
Send Bill an email
90% of drivers recommend this car
Rating breakdown (out of 5):
Interior design 4.7
Performance 4.3
Value for the money 4.2
Exterior styling 4.9
Reliability 4.4
Most recent consumer reviews
Short test drive. Quiet on rural road and freeway.
By Honor guyb from Reno, Nv
Read a few reviews. Warned about 20" vibration. Car has it. Found it comfortable HSE model. Has my interest but don't think it is the one.
Reliability —
Purchased a Used car
Used for Commuting
Does recommend this car
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Best value for your money
By Tom from California
Super comfortable, very nice drive. Great for daily commute to work. Excellent option for a mid-sized SUV. Nice combination of power and comfort. Worth every penny
Purchased a New car
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Fun Car
By Matt Capron from Voorhees, NJ
Even though this vehicle can be very high in maintenance, I love owning it. Always a pleasure to drive. I have been owning mine since '15 and it's been hell of a ride.
Used for Transporting family
See all 10 consumer reviews
New car program benefits
Bumper-to-bumper
48 months/50,000 miles
72 months/unlimited distance
6 months/7,500 miles
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Carolyn has been with Bay Road since 2008. You will always find Carolyn with a smile on her face and ready to face any challenge that may come up. She loves working as a Vet Assistant she says her favorite part of her job is everything. Carolyn has 2 pets of her own a Puggle named Enzo and a Pug named Harvey. When she is not a work she enjoys being with her husband and two boys.They all enjoy spending quality time together, fishing and swimming.


Today is the 140th anniversary of Carl Sandburg's birth. Sandburg began his long and broad career as an American Imagist poet, political activist, and journalist, and he went on to add prize-winning biographer, folk-song revivalist, and goat farmer to his resume. If one was to make a list, he would be in a small group of American cultural forces in the first half of the 20th Century who created what we today call "Americana," and helped make sure that this label could be applied, as it can be today, to a musical genre. I won't have time to go into this today, but in 1927 he published "The American Songbag," which is as important a landmark in the American folk song revival as "The Wasteland" is for high-art Modernist English verse.
"They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
Though "Chicago's" Whitmanesque/expansive-litany style is one that Sandburg would continue to use at times, its prominence has overshadowed Sandburg's sparer Imagist voice, the one that he used for the rest of the poems in his landmark "Chicago Poems" collection.
It's easy to think that if Sandburg had spent time in Europe hobnobbing with its cosmopolitan demi-mode, if he had included more Latin and Greek in his poems, and if he'd kept his political outlook to something between Tory and crypto-Fascist, that he might have scored more academic cred in the second half of the 20th Century. And his more general popularity, like that of Edna St. Vincent Millay, is in danger of dying out after the death of the fire-starter without the hard-blowing bellows of academia keeping the embers glowing.
If that's so, who does that leave to keep Sandburg's poetry more broadly heard?
If anyone remembers Sandburg, particularly the spare, Imagist Sandburg, it's musicians and composers. He gets set to music often, and his free verse often sings easily. And, it seems to me that musicians, rather than page-poetry curators, more often remember the innovative modernist in Sandburg. One of my favorite records of 2017 was Matt Wilson's "Honey and Salt" which, like the Parlando Project, seeks to use a variety of music combined with Sandburg's underappreciated broader pallet of literary expression in unexpected ways.
Today's piece, a slightly remastered version of one I used to test streaming audio here before the official launch of the Parlando Project, is Sandburg's tender "Winter Milk" as performed by the LYL Band a couple of years ago. You can hear it with the player below.
A slightly older Helga Sandburg on the left with her parents and sisters.
A gentle reminder, I encourage readers and listeners here to share the links to these pieces on social media as it helps spread the work that Parlando Project does very effectively.