A 17th CENTURY CONTRARIAN: THREE CHEERS TO THE PAST

We read recently of the splendid example of Sir Robert Shirley, who amidst the depredations of the Puritans, built a magnificent Gothic chapel on the grounds of his ancestral home at Staunton Harold, Leicestershire. For this act of defiance he was persecuted, and ended his days in the Tower of London. BUT - history has the last word. Behold the mighty words of the memorial erected to him:

Sir Robert Shirley, Bt.

who died in the Tower of London, 1656

In the yeare 1653

When all things sacred were throughout the nation

Either demollisht or profaned

Sir Robert Shirley Barronet

Founded this Church

Whose singular praise it is

to have done the best thinges in the worst times

And

hoped them in the most calamitous

The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance

"To have done the best thinges in the worst times" - is that not a glorious tribute to all contrarians who defy the passing currents and stand for what they believe no matter the cost. This made our day !