The Hellfire Club

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  “Just past the weir (going up) is Danes’ Field, where the invading Danes once encamped, during their march to Gloucestershire; and a little further still, nestling by a sweet corner of the stream, is what is left of Medmenham Abbey.   The famous Medmenham monks, or “Hell Fire Club,” as they were commonly called, and of whom the notorious Wilkes was a member, were a fraternity whose motto was “Do as you please,” and that invitation still stands over the ruined doorway of the abbey. Many years before this bogus abbey, with its congregation of irreverent jesters, was founded, there stood upon this same spot a monastery of a sterner kind, whose monks were of a somewhat different type to the revellers that were to follow them, five hundred years afterwards.  The Cistercian monks, whose abbey stood there in the thirteenth century, wore no clothes but rough tunics and cowls, and ate no flesh, nor fish, nor eggs. They lay upon straw, and they rose at midnight to mass. They spen...

Scholarly Journals as Original Sources of Data

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The significance of identifying scholarly journals as original sources of data is first understood by noting the distinction between scholarly books and journals. The contents of a book are static while journals are fluid. In other words, the book represents an attempt to be a comprehensive treatise on a subject while academic journals record current professional activity, conversation. The academic journal is the meeting place of minds, a formal interchange of ideas, and the documentation of the current study, statistics, and debate. “Journals are scholarly or professional periodicals available primarily in academic libraries and by subscription. . . . Journals are not the same as magazines, which are usually intended for a more general readership.” (Turabian, 254) In other words, subscriptions and a specialized audience are other distinctions that elevate the scholarly journal over a book.

Discovering the vast array of academic societies represented by journals is as rewarding as discovering articles in and of themselves. Just think that a small group of men and women are equally curious to understand such a small cross-section of the world with the view to make a significant contribution to it by exchanging ideas! This writer was delighted to discover what areas of attention each journal represented, noting how these foci revealed a kind of topography to be considered in shaping one’s own topic of interest. One example is found in researching the writing style of Marcus Aurelius only to discover an obscure theory in a medical journal (of all places) suggesting that the good Emperor was influenced by opium and not philosophy, hence his so-called dissociated writing style. This revelation unearthed an unexpected element of consideration as an examination of leadership provided by this Roman Emperor is at the heart of this writer’s work.

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Turabian, Kate L. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Edited by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, William T. FitzGerald, and The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff. Ninth edition. Chicago ; London: University of Chicago Press.

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