President and sole member, he said, of some seventeen undergraduate social and literary societies

[Thomas] Earp had set himself the task of keeping the Oxford tradition alive through the dead years - as president and sole member, he said, of some seventeen undergraduate social and literary societies. In 1919, still in residence, he handed over the minute-books to the returning university. Most of the societies were then re-formed.

R. Graves, Goodbye to all that (1929), 203-4

Cricket ... wasted the most time in the best part of the year

[Nevill] shared my dislike of school traditions, and decided compulsory games were the worst. Of these we considered cricket the most objectionable, because it wasted the most time in the best part of the year. Nevill suggested a campaign in favour of lawn-tennis. We were not seriously devoted to tennis, but found it our handiest weapon against cricket - the game, we wrote, in which the selfishness of the few did not excuse the boredom of the many.

R. Graves, Goodbye to all that (1929), 51

They had the difficult and delicate task of persuading a large industrial constituency that an industrial representative would not further industrial interests

The streets were lively with the red and the blue colours of politics. The Liberal member for the Parliamentary borough of Hanbridge, which included Bursley, had died very suddenly, and the seat was being disputed by the previously defeated Conservative candidate and a new Labour candidate officially adopted by the Liberal party. The Tories had sworn not to be beaten again in the defence of the integrity of the Empire. And though they had the difficult and delicate task of persuading a large industrial constituency that an industrial representative would not further industrial interests, and that they alone were actuated by unselfish love for the people, yet they had made enormous progress in a very brief period, and publicans were jubilant and bars sloppy.

A. Bennett, Clayhanger (1910), 394

Nobody had contrived to make England see that her very existence would not be threatened if museums were opened on Sunday

[During a seven year period in the 1870s] the world had been whizzing ceaselessly from one miracle into another. Board schools had been opened in Bursley, wondrous affairs, with ventilation; indeed ventilation had been discovered. A Jew had been made Master of the Rolls: a spectacle at which England shivered, and then, perceiving no sign of disaster, shrugged its shoulders. Irish members had taught the House of Commons how to talk for twenty-four hours without a pause. The wages of the agricultural labourer had sprung into the air and leaped over the twelve shilling bar into regions of opulence.  ... Every effort had been made to explain by persuasion and by force to the working man that trade unions were inimical to his true welfare, and none had succeeded, so stupid was he. ... Bishops, archbishops, and dissenting ministers had met at Lambeth to inspect the progress of irreligious thought, with intent to arrest it. 

...

But, in spite of numerous attempts, nobody had contrived to make England see that her very existence would not be threatened if museums were opened on Sunday, or that Nonconformists might be buried according to their own rites without endangering the constitution.

A. Bennett, Clayhanger (1910),156-7

God's bureaucrat, who dressed soberly in black, read everything, ruled absolutely, thought suspiciously and acted cautiously

Philip was suspicious of the whole idea of Holy Leagues, and it was not in his nature to act spontaneously. God's bureaucrat, who dressed soberly in black, read everything, ruled absolutely, thought suspiciously and acted cautiously, was not a man to make up his mind quickly - nor to reveal his intentions prematurely

R. Crowley, Empires of the sea: the final battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 (2008), 217

The planners and leaders of this conflict were astonishingly old by the standards of the time

The planners and leaders of this conflict were astonishingly old by the standards of the time. The contest for Malta brought together the collective experience of an enduring generation of potentates, admirals and generals, literally hundreds of man-years of voyages, raids and wars. Suleiman, La Valette, Don Garcia and Mustapha Pasha were all in their seventies . Turgut, preparing to sail from Tripoli, was reckoned to be eighty. Their lives stretched back to the fifteenth century. It was as if all the experience and all the war in the trackless sea had shrink to a single spot.

R. Crowley, Empires of the sea: the final battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 (2008), 114-5

Who would dream of building such high rooms with such spectacular volumes for a cup or a dish or a bowl

When I was a boy, I would walk up the stairs and then more stairs [at the V&A]. You had to be resourceful to navigate your way through Medieval Metalwork, and not get lost in Enamels. You reached the top. There were very few places you could see out or even sense the museum below you, the spaces seemed completely self-contained, one enfilade gallery after another after another. In each direction there were armies of vitrines holding pots. Who would dream of building such high rooms with such spectacular volumes for a cup or a dish or a bowl.

There were very few visitors. Sometimes the warders were asleep.

E. de Waal, The white road (2015), 329