fine spangled sort

Huguenots at Dover-FI Huguenot destinations-fss

History, part 5: the Huguenot legend and the comfort of opinion

Posted on by Huw Evans 5 Comments
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort […]... Read More
Huguenot Escape Routes-fss Last of England-FI

History, part 4: the Last of France

Posted on by Huw Evans 2 Comments
Before anyone familiar with the Pre-Raphaelites (1) points it out, the illustration above has nothing to with France and was painted in a different era from the great Huguenot exodus, which is the subject of this post. Yet, when you try to understand what emigration meant to real people; their commitment, their emotions, this painting […]... Read More

The first 100 days

Posted on by Huw Evans 4 Comments
A nice round number and a surprise, because it is one hundred days since Fine Spangled Sort went ‘live’. According to the site statistics, I have written 25 articles that are read between 50 and 100 times a day on average, peaking at over 300 (of course, that could be one person visiting 300+ times).  Not […]... Read More
Caravaggio-Flight into Egypt Wilton Diptych Annuciation-Martini copy FI

The angel and the canary

Posted on by Huw Evans 2 Comments
It’s Christmas eve; we will soon be celebrating the nativity, but I am going to remind you of how it started: with the annunciation.  In this triptych*, the archangel Gabriel appears before the virgin Mary to tell her of the forthcoming birth of a son.  Notice anything unusual about the angel, and the rosette of angels in the […]... Read More
FSS, Hope-FI

What’s in a name: the Fine Spangled Sort

Posted on by Huw Evans 7 Comments
W. A. Blakston, the renowned Victorian author and judge, possessed a very old book that, in his opinion, contained “a deal of sound information on Canary matters”. He quoted extracts from it a couple of times in his chapters for Canaries and Cage Birds (1778-81), the greatest book ever written on canaries. Unfortunately the book had […]... Read More