Tom Brown's School Days Dinner

'...so bear in mind that majorities, especially respectable ones, are nine times out of ten in the wrong; and that if you see man or boy striving earnestly on the weak side, however wrong-headed or blundering he may be, you are not to go and join the cry against him. If you can't join him and help him, and make him wiser, at any rate remember that he has found something in the world which he will fight and suffer for....' ― Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays Dear friends, Tivoli Libris, the lovely little Book Group Lodge, plans to hold a Tom Brown's School Days guest dinner following our next meeting on 20th September. You're all wonderfully welcome to attend. We will be at the Old Quad (also known as the City University Club, by Bank). After dinner, over port, this time we will be discussing and reading our favourite snatches from Tom Brown's Schooldays, Thomas Hughes's semi-autobiographical novel of his own time at Rugby in the early Victorian period. Hughes went on to be a Queen's Counsel, Member of Parliament, an active member of the British co-operative movement, and founder of a settlement in Tennessee reflecting his values. There is perhaps a continuity between Hughes's energetic idealism and breadth of interests, and the ethos of Victorian Rugby - and its headmaster, Thomas Arnold (father of Matthew) features in the novel. Dinner comes up to £60, in old money or new, with three courses, and sufficient wine, port, and bad jokes to make the tables of School House groan. Seven for half seven following the meeting of Tivoli Libris Lodge (beforehand at 5.30 pm), and lounge suits or fancy dress. It would, I think, be churlish to forbid tailcoats. Guineas please to sort code 30-96-35 and account 02779270. This follows our May Henry V evening, March Le Carré night, December Trollope Night, September's Dickens Dinner, and our earlier dinners last year at which we've read the Iliad and Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim. These have grown more jolly each time. It will also be two days after the Christening of Carlotta in Dublin, so I'll shuffle over directly - perhaps with one or two of you - from St Patrick's (refounded by the Victorians and the subject of beneficence from Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, who also constructed a great deal of affordable housing in its environs), to the City University Club (established 1895). There are Victorians with us everywhere, and we can talk about their legacy, their idealisms and shortcomings - I've always felt we're really all Late Victorians still. We also will just have finished our International Literacy Day charity dinner at the Garrick several weeks before. with all very warmest wishes, and please do come if you can! Paddy