Why Britain is Ephraim: Nobility
Why Britain is Ephraim: Nobility
Contents:
Introduction
Saxon and Norman by Joseph Rudyard Kipling
Waldo Emerson
List of More Articles Relevant to the Subject
Introduction
We identify the Tribe of Ephraim with the British People especially the English. Manasseh on the other hand is to be found in the USA where Manasseh dominates. The pre-eminence of Manasseh in the USA holds even though
numerically Ephraim may be more numerous even in America.
We have given proof that Ephraim is represented by the British and British offshoots in a series of articles.
One of the proofs identifying the British with Ephraim is the importance of aristocracy i.e. nobility, to the British character.
This is an aspect of Ephraim.
At present we are adding a few notes and quotations that illustrate this principle.
The aristocracy in the British Isles was generally earned. Somewhere in the past a warrior or loyal
subject had conquered the rights of leadership, or
performed a service to the country or to the monarch for which he was rewarded by hereditary rights.
It did not end there. Being a noble usually required
military service, leading others, acting with bravery and chivalry.
He had to look after those underneath him and treat with reasonable consideration.
If a noble did not fulfill all of these requirements somehow or other his line was liable to be
terminated and he would be replaced by someone else.
Nobility usually meant inherited property. This gave an economic advantage but it had to be managed reasonably well.
A titled personage could find it easier to find a job in the military or government service but he would have to justify it.
A noble lacking in both merit and fortune would usually allow his title to sink into oblivion.
Nobles were expected to be manly, considerate, naturally assertive without having to raise their voice, well-mannered, reasonably intellectual, and brave.
The principles of nobility permeated society.
The Middle Classes consciously or subconsciously assimilated and imitated nobility values and attitudes.
They still do.
The ranks of the nobility were in effect open to however could climb into them and stay there.
The common people despite their equalitarian tendencies held themselves to have noble qualities and to deserve to
be treated accordingly.
The poem below by Rudyard Kipling is idealized and exagerrated. Even so, there is some historical truth in these verses.
The "Nobility" aspect of Ephraim worked both ways. The values and self-regard of nobility were reflected not only in the nobles themselves but also
in their subjects.
Following this poem the reader will find excerpts from an essay on the English Aristocracy by the great American writer,
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Saxon and Norman.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling, 1865 - 1936
http://www.qotd.org/specials/saxon.html
'My son,' said the Norman Baron,
'I am dying, and you will be heir
To all the broad acres in England
that William gave me for my share
When we conquered the Saxon at Hastings,
and a nice little handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it
I want you to understand this:
'The Saxon is not like us
Normans.
His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious
till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow
with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, "This isn't fair dealing,"
my son, leave the Saxon alone.
'You can horsewhip your Gascony archers,
or torture your Picardy spears;
But don't try that game on the Saxon;
you'll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county
to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They'll be at you and on you like hornets,
and, if you are wise, you will yield.
'But first you must master their language,
their dialect, proverbs and songs.
Don't trust any clerk to interpret
when they come with the tale of their wrongs.
Let them know that you know what they're saying;
let them feel that you know what to say.
Yes, even when you want to go hunting,
hear 'em out if it takes you all day.
'They'll drink every hour of the daylight
and poach every hour of the dark.
It's the sport not the rabbits they're after
(we've plenty of game in the park).
Don't hang them or cut off their fingers.
That's wasteful as well as unkind,
For a hard-bitten, South-country poacher
makes the best man-at-arms you can find.
'Appear with your wife and
the children
at their weddings and funerals and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops;
be good to all poor parish priests.
Say "we," "us," and "ours" when you're talking,
instead of "you fellows" and "I."
Don't ride over seeds; keep your temper;
and never you tell 'em
a lie!'
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).
Essays and English Traits.
The Harvard Classics. 1909-14.
English Traits
XI. Aristocracy
http://www.bartleby.com/5/211.html
Extracts:
The frame of society is aristocratic,
the taste of the people is loyal. The estates, names, and manners of the
nobles flatter the fancy of the people, and conciliate the necessary support. In
spite of broken faith, stolen charters, and the devastation of society by the
profligacy of the court, we take sides as we read for the loyal England and King
Charles, 'return to his right' with his Cavaliers, knowing what a heartless
trifler he is, and what a crew of God-forsaken robbers they are. The people of
England knew as much. But the fair idea of a settled government connecting
itself with heraldic names, with the written and oral history of Europe, and, at
last, with the Hebrew religion, and the oldest traditions of the world, was too
pleasing a vision to be shattered by a few offensive realities, and the politics
of shoemakers and costermongers [i.e. stall-keepers]. The
hopes of the commoners take the same direction with the interest of the
patricians. Every man who becomes rich buys land, and does what he can to
fortify the nobility, into which he hopes to rise. The Anglican clergy
are identified with the aristocracy. Time and law have made the joining and
moulding perfect in every part. The Cathedrals, the Universities, the national
music, the popular romances, conspire to uphold the heraldry, which the current
politics of the day are sapping. The
taste of the people is conservative. They are proud of the castles, and of the
language and symbol of chivalry. Even the word lord is the luckiest style that
is used in any language to designate a patrician. The superior education and
manners of the nobles recommend them to the country. 2
The Norwegian pirate got what he could, and held it for his eldest son. The
Norman noble, who was the Norwegian pirate baptized, did likewise. There was
this advantage of western over oriental nobility, that this was recruited from
below. English history is aristocracy with the doors open. Who has courage and
faculty, let him come in. Of course, the terms of admission to this club are
hard and high. The selfishness of the nobles comes in aid of the interest of the
nation to require signal merit. Piracy and war gave place to trade, politics,
and letters; the war-lord to the law-lord; the law-lord to the merchant and the
mill-owner; but the privilege was kept, whilst the means of obtaining it were
changed. 3
The foundations of these families lie deep in Norwegian exploits by sea, and
Saxon sturdiness on land. All nobility
in its beginnings was somebody's natural superiority. The things these
English have done were not done without peril of life nor without wisdom and
conduct; and the first hands, it may be presumed, were often challenged to show
their right to their honors, or yield them to better men. 'He that will be a
head, let him be a bridge,' said the Welsh chief Benegridran, when he carried
all his men over the river on his back. 'He shall have the book,' said the
mother of Alfred, 'who can read it;' and Alfred won it by that title: and I make
no doubt that feudal tenure was no sinecure, but baron, knight, and tenant often
had their memories refreshed, in regard to the service by which they held their
lands....
The war-lord earned his honors, and no donation of land was large, as long as
it brought the duty of protecting it, hour by hour, against a terrible enemy. In
France and in England, the nobles were, down to a late day, born and bred to
war: and the duel, which in peace still held them to the risks of war,
diminished the envy that, in trading and studious nations, would else have pried
into their title. They were looked on as men who played high for a great stake.
5
...The national tastes of the English do not lead them to the life of the
courtier, but to secure the comfort and independence of their homes. The
aristocracy are marked by their predilection for country-life. They are called
the county-families...
This long descent of families and this cleaving through ages to the same spot
of ground captivates the imagination. It has too a connection with the names of
the towns and districts of the country. 10
...The English lords do not call their
lands after their own names, but call themselves after their lands, as if the
man represented the country that bred him... It has, too, the advantage of
suggesting responsibleness.
A susceptible man could not wear a name which represented in a strict sense a
city or a county of England, without hearing in it a challenge to duty and
honor. 12
The predilection of the patricians for residence in the country, combined with
the degree of liberty possessed by the peasant, makes the safety of the English
hall. Mirabeau wrote prophetically from England, in 1784, 'If revolution break
out in France, I tremble for the aristocracy: their chateaux will be reduced to
ashes, and their blood spilt in torrents. The English tenant would defend his
lord to the last extremity.' The English go to their estates for grandeur.
If one asks, in the critical spirit of
the day, "what service this class have rendered?' uses appear, or they would
have perished long ago. Some of these are easily enumerated, others more subtle
make a part of unconscious history. Their institution is one step in the
progress of society. For a race yields a nobility in some form, however we name
the lords, as surely as it yields women. 19
The English nobles are high-spirited, active, educated men, born to wealth and
power, who have run through every country, and kept in every country the best
company, have seen every secret of art and nature, and, when men of any ability
or ambition, have been consulted in the conduct of every important action. You
cannot wield great agencies without lending yourself to them, and, when it
happens that the spirit of the earl meets his rank and duties, we have the best
examples of behavior. Power of any kind readily appears in the manners; and
beneficent power, le talent de bien faire, gives a majesty which cannot be
concealed or resisted. 20
These people seem to gain as much as they lose by their position.
The upper classes have only birth, say the people here, and not thoughts. Yes,
but they have manners, and 'tis wonderful how much talent runs into manners:
nowhere and never so much as in England. They have the sense of superiority, the
absence of all the ambitious effort which disgusts in the aspiring classes, a
pure tone of thought and feeling, and the power of command, among their other
luxuries, the presence of the most accomplished men in their festive meetings.
22
Loyalty is in the English a sub-religion. ... The economist of 1855 who asks,
of what use are the lords? may learn of Franklin to ask, of what use is a baby?
They have been a social church proper to inspire sentiments mutually honoring
the lover and the loved. Politeness is the ritual of society, as prayers are of
the church; a school of manners, and a gentle blessing to the age in which it
grew. 'Tis a romance adorning English life with a larger horizon; a midway
heaven, fulfilling to their sense their fairy tales and poetry. This, just as
far as the breeding of the nobleman really made him brave, handsome,
accomplished, and great-hearted. 23
In the roll of nobles are found poets,
philosophers, chemists, astronomers, also men of solid virtues and of lofty
sentiments; often they have been the friends and patrons of genius and learning
and especially of the fine arts; and at this moment almost every great house has
its sumptuous picture-gallery. 27
A multitude of English, educated at the universities, bred into their society
with manners, ability, and the gifts of fortune, are every day confronting the
peers on a footing of equality, and outstripping them, as often, in the race of
honor and influence. That cultivated class is large and ever enlarging. ...They
cannot shut their eyes to the fact that an untitled nobility possess all the
power without the inconveniences that belong to rank, and the rich Englishman
goes over the world at the present day, drawing more than all the advantages
which the strongest of his kings could command.
List of More Articles on this Subject
See:
http://www.britam.org/ContentsSubject.html#Tribes
Articles:
Characteristics of the Tribes According to Rabbinical Sources
Controversy as to the Identity of Ephraim and Manasseh
Ephraim and Aristocracy
Ephraim or Manasseh?
Who is the real Ephraim? United States of America = Ephraim or Manesseh?
Why the British are Ephraim!
Ephraim Shall Become a Multitude of Nations
Selected Articles about Joseph
Joseph Defeats Esau-Edom
Joseph in the Eyes of the "Rebbe"
Characteristics of the Tribes According to Rabbinical Sources
Joseph: Questions and Answers
Machir and America
Manasseh and the USA in Rabbinical Sources
Menasseh and Representation
UK-USA, Ephraim-Mannaseh. The British-American Symbiosis in the Light of Scripture and History.
Tribes: Questions and Answers
Tribes of Israel: Present Day Identifications
Tribal Characteristics in a Nutshell
Tribal Identification: A Partial List of Relevant Articles
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