Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 46

That would be what Chief Justice would say. 'Never give up!'

So, tomorrow is Monday, and - like many of us - I have several things to resume working at the office. One of them is a paper co-authored with several colleagues to be submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal. We're not yet happy with the manuscript, there's something wanting... the core concept is not strong yet. So, I'm a bit disheartened at the moment at the prospect of sitting down in front of my laptop and rework on the manuscript, yet again... 

But then I looked around for a Tom Lefroy quote for this (passing) weekend, and I re-read the letter Tom Lefroy wrote to his daughter Jane. The extended version of the letter can be found here, taken from the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy (p. 31-32). His advice that resonates with me is this:

Believe me, my darling girl, there is no progress to be made in anything without steady and continued application, which, besides the advantages it brings in the way of improvement, makes labour pleasant from habit instead of being irksome, as it always is to the idle and irresolute.

Thanks, Chief. I hope I can make a breakthrough tomorrow with the paper, instead of falling to the "idle and irresolute" trap of social media...

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 45

Source: this site

The world seems to be witnessing a lot of deaths these days. Of course, people die everyday. But the last two months have been significant for me. Personally, my dear father passed away at the end of November last year. I had to fly back home to cremate him, but thank God everything went unexpectedly well. He is in peace now with The Light. I can feel it...and for that, I thank the Universe.


Then we have some siege, hostage and murder situations in Sydney (Dec) and Paris (just a few days earlier). That brought sadness to me, particularly because innocent people died during the siege. In between, Air Asia #QZ8501 went down off Sumatra, killing all 162 people onboard. That was also personal to me because that I'm a frequent flyer to that airline.

Then, last Saturday, a renowned scientist in my own field passed away. She was from Thailand, and I never had the honour of meeting her before she died. I only knew of her achievements by words of mouth. She died after battling cancer for several years. Her departure is a loss for us, personally and professionally. However, I hope that she is in peace now, free of pain. 

Now it seems my prayers for the final moment, any final moment, is this: let it be in peace. Let there be Light, let there be Unconditional Love and Courage. Let there be unconditional letting go, returning to the Source. Let it be pain-free...

And for those who departed recently, here is a passage from the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy p. 386. We have posted it in 2010, but there's nothing wrong in recycling it here for its beautiful value. Written by Tom Lefroy Jr, son of the original Thomas Langlois Lefroy (our Tom Lefroy), about the final moments of his father's life. 

To the last he retained a cheerful and patient endurance under suffering which often elicited the astonishment and admiration of those who attended upon his sickness. I remember in his last illness (only two days before he was taken from us), after he had spent a very wearisome night from want of sleep, and great oppression of breathing, we closed the window-shutters in the morning, in the hope of his getting some sleep; just then the physician for whom an express had been sent, arrived from Dublin. After feeling his pulse, the doctor asked whether it would annoy him if the window-shutters were opened for a moment, when he replied with a cheerful smile, “not at all, doctor, I always like to have light thrown upon a subject.”

May every one of us welcomes our final moments with such courage, serenity, love and peace. God speed.

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 44

The past few weeks I have been having some difficulties at work, sometimes the injustice of working very hard with little recognition just becomes too much. I saw this quote from page 195 of Tom Lefroy's memoir and it seemed to summarise my feelings quite closely:



"Although the distaste for political life which led to his at first declining the representation of the university still continued, it never prevented his entering with individual interest and zeal into the duties of his post"


I think that sometimes even with the distaste for aspects of our jobs it should not cause us to let ourselves down, we should be proud to exhibit drive and commitment even in adversity. I feel grateful for the reminder.

James McAvoy as Tom Lefroy

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 43

Sorry for the delay in posting this week, here is Linda's quote of the week.

I am amazed every time I go to the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy and find such information that is still relevant today.  Since I am recovering from a bout of illness, I looked up the word "sick" and found the following letter to his Wife on page 198:

Library, House of Commons

16th March, 1836

Not only every session but every day and hour increases my distaste for the course I am thrown into here, and makes me long to flee away and be at rest.  It has, however, one good effect in guarding me from the snare of falling in love with politics and making me seek for comfort in looking away from all things around and about me, and forward to the things before and above.  There, and there only, is a true resting-place for the sick and weary heart.   I join you all in the morning around the Throne of Grace, and often feel delight at the thought that though separate in the body we are joined together in the spirit.  These are the thoughts upon which my spirit rallies and my heart revives again, and is enabled to make a fresh fight against the onset of discontent.  I must hasten away to the House of Commons.

 T. L.

What really amazed me was his "distaste for the course I am thrown into here" - meaning the House of Commons.  This leads me to the "distaste" for what I find in our own Congressional House over here nowadays.  I really need to find time to read the complete Memoir.

Yrs aff'ly,

Linda the Librarian

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 42

We received a very interesting email a couple of weeks ago from a man who owns the former church of St. Oswalds in Fulford, York, England. His garden is the former grave yard and he emailed us to tell us that there were two mid 19th century burials in this graveyard, captain Anthony Lefroy and his wife Elizabeth.


We have touched on Anthony Lefroy, Tom Lefroy's younger brother, before in previous quotes but here are some details below. Anthony Lefroy was born on October 19 1777 –and became a Captain in the 65^th Regiment, the commission being purchased for him by his Langlois great-uncles. Anthony had a love match marriage in 1798 to Elizabeth Wilkin, she was considered undesirable due to her lack of fortune and the Langlois family refused to provide any further financial assistance. Tom Lefroy was eventually able to obtain for his brother the position of Barrack-Master, first in Arundel and later in York, where this branch of the family therefore remained. One of Anthony and Elizabeth's sons, Thomas Edward Preston Lefroy (1815-1887), married in 1846 his cousin Anna-Jemima Lefroy (daughter of Anna Austen and Benjamin Lefroy. Anthony Lefroy died on September 7th 1857. 


This story has always been interesting to us as the marriage between Anthony and Elizabeth was in 1798, this is the year that Tom Lefroy would have still had very strong feelings for Jane Austen. Given that his younger brother had married a woman of no fortune and gone against the families wishes, it would have been very difficult for Tom to also cut himself off from the family too, he would have felt a huge responsibility to "marry well" given that his second younger brother (Benjamin) was still 16 years old.




The email received recently stated:


"He was indeed the master of nearby Fulford cavalry barracks, but I have no more information regarding his tenure. The grave consists of a huge thick slab of stone
surrounded by railings. There is a full inscription of who he was and more
importantly, who his father was. It is said he married without the support of
his family, especially his rich uncle Benjamin and  subsequently lost the
support of his family. Perhaps this explains why he remained in obscurity as a
lowly captain when his brother achieved greatness. What is sure he remained true
to his wife and they stayed together until his death - she died only a few
months later."


We have asked whether a photograph can be sent with the inscription and we will be sure to post it if we do receive.


I think that this story demonstrates that true love and following your heart always wins in the end.

Pic: True Love

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 41

For MH17 with love

I once posted this quote below in September 2010 as a sign of respect to a friend of a friend. Now, it seems - sadly - I need to post it again here. It's not even the turn for a Tom Lefroy quote (FYI, Rachel and Linda), but I cannot help it. I need to post this quote here again...

From The Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy page 386, the young Tom Lefroy (son of Thomas Langlois Lefroy) recalled the last moments of his late father’s life.

To the last he retained a cheerful and patient endurance under suffering which often elicited the astonishment and admiration of those who attended upon his sickness. I remember in his last illness (only two days before he was taken from us), after he had spent a very wearisome night from want of sleep, and great oppression of breathing, we closed the window-shutters in the morning, in the hope of his getting some sleep; just then the physician for whom an express had been sent, arrived from Dublin. After feeling his pulse, the doctor asked whether it would annoy him if the window-shutters were opened for a moment, when he replied with a cheerful smile, “not at all, doctor, I always like to have light thrown upon a subject.”

Thomas Langlois Lefroy welcomed the last moments of his life with great courage and - dare I say, peace. I wish, I hope, it was also the case for the 298 people onboard Malaysian Airlines MH17 that was shut down over eastern Ukraine last Thursday (17 July 2014). Those lives that ended too short, too cruelly...

I certainly have my opinions about that matter, including who the responsible party is. But here, I just want to extend my prayers, that in their last moments, those innocent lives on board the plane were in peace. That they were courageous, and even if they were afraid, calm and peace immediately took over, and they left this world swiftly, in bliss.

And for their loved ones who remain on Earth, may they find warmth, love and support within them and all around them to continue living, as those who left them would have wanted them to. That the bodies of their loved ones be returned home a.s.a.p. for the final respectful rest they deserve.

And for us all who remain here, may we find the love, forgiveness and courage to work together for peace. True peace and harmony based on understanding and respect, not just so that we have no conflict. 

Amen.

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 40

Since July 4th is a National Holiday here in the US, I thought to see if the word "holiday" appeared in the Memoir. It did indeed and the context makes us love Tom all the more because it gives us a sense of his character that is really good, and unfortunately not to be found in the men of my acquaintance. Sigh. In Chapter 12 of the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy we find:

"To the inner circle of his family, and those who enjoyed the privilege of frequent intercouse with him, I feel that any memorial of him would be wanting which omitted to notice his unalterable cheerfulness under the little every-day crosses of life. Though the shadow of a cloud might flit past, it seemed as if it could never long obscure the sunshine of his temper or his countenance. If a wet day interfered with some cherished plan for a holiday excursion (and he retained to the very last an almost childlike enjoyment of such occasions) we were sure soon to hear some such remark as "well, only think of the good this gracious rain will do in the country,"...

How nice it would be to see such a positive attitude on a daily basis. It would surely make life a lot more pleasant.

Yrs aff'ly,

Linda the Librarian

Pic: sunshine through a cloud

Tom Lefroy Quote Week 39

The House of the Commons during Regency Era

It’s almost presidential election day in my country, and many people are in the election-frenzy (or busy ignoring it altogether). I opened the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy randomly just now, trying to find a quote (we have been abandoning the site for a while). And the one that I found made me smirk because election is always a frenzy to report, even back then in 1841...

Page 135

To his wife

Longford, 16^th July 1841

We pulled up to-day considerably, but still are beaten by a large majority, owing to the Roman Catholics, who promised to vote for us or stay away, being brought up by the priests in spite of their wishes and polled against A___, as well as from the number of Protestants who were deterred from leaving their houses, by the violence and intimidation of the Priests’ mobs. Thank God, we have had a comparatively quite time with this town, owing to the providential circumstance of having a good High Sheriff, and an effective military force, as well as police.

.... The election is virtually over, but the Members can’t be declared until to-morrow evening. Henry White has left this, and comparatively few have been in the town to-day. The poll as just announced is: for Henry White, 613; for Luke White, 614; plumpers for Lefroy, 480. On the whole, we have made a very noble fight, and we expect a few more plumpers to-morrrow.

Interesting....

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 38

Since March 17th is St. Patrick's Day around the world (according to Wikipedia), I thought it appropriate to investigate Tom's Irish connections, especially because he is referred to by Jane as "my Irish friend". I, therefore, quote from the "Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy", Chapter 1:

Thomas Langlois Lefroy was born on the 8th of January, 1776. He was the eldest son of Anthony Lefroy, Lieut.-Colonel of the 9th Light Dragoons the descendant of a Huguenot family, who were obliged to fly from Cambray, at the period of the Duke of Alva's persecution in the Netherlands and took refuge in England. .... Lieut.-Colonel Lefroy, the father of the subject of this memoir, entered the army in 1763 as Ensign in the 33rd Regiment, then quartered in Ireland, and at the early age of twenty-three married Anna, daughter of Thomas George Gardner, Esq,, of Doonass in the County of Claire; ...

Colonel Lefroy sold out of the army in 1791, and having previously purchased landed property in the County Limerick, he resolved not to return to England, and settled in Limerick, where he resided till his death in 1819.

So Tom was indeed "Irish" in that he was born in Ireland, however, his paternal ancestry is from European origin (Cambray, and Netherlands are mentioned). His maternal ancestry is Irish. So in reality, his 'blood' is half Irish.

Over here in the U.S. we have a St. Patrick's Day custom thusly:  if you see your friends NOT wearing something green, you must give them a pinch.  It is fun to catch them unawares.  So, does anyone else have such customs?

 

I salute our Irish Friend "Tom Lefroy" on this coming St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

 

Yrs aff'ly,

Linda the Librarian

Pic: St Patricks Day emblem

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 37

Jane (Anne Hathaway) and Tom (James McAvoy) before the faithful moment that turned the tide

I’d like to revisit an old quote of Tom’s that Rachel has posted back in August 2010 here. This quote popped up in my mind again today when I was reflecting upon a recent dinner with an old friend.

"I do not say that we are to extinguish the affections which belong to the different relations of life; on the contrary, by the pure and sincere exercise of them, selfishness is in some degree extinguished, but the gratification arising from the most delightful of these affections should not form the stay, and hope, and prop of life. No; therein consists the excess and the abuse: but I’ll say no more on this head, lest you should tell me that nothing but my vanity could suggest the necessity of sermonizing you in this manner. I own, however, it is grounded on a conviction that the sensibility and devotedness of my darling wife’s attachment to a certain degree impair her own enjoyment. But, remember, I am not willing to part with the least atom of it to any earthly object; whatever of it ought to be pruned away, let it be transplanted to that region where we may hope and trust to enjoy it in bliss unfading."

Emphasize are my own.

Rachel et al have discussed this quote in the link above, an interesting discourse I must say. Then, coming back to my dinner, my friend has related to me her love story. Since she remains anonymous here, I feel no guilt in explaining the gist of her love story (and I sincerely hope I do not trespass her boundaries here). The gist is simple: the man and the woman love each other, but due to prior engagement, they cannot be together. They find it difficult to move on, but the woman has made up her mind to do so.

I understand her journey will not be easy, so here’s my prayer for her. She reminds me of Tom, because now I believe that Tom did love Jane Austen and Mary Paul at about the same time. God knows, loving two people at the same time is very difficult, not to mention the guilty feeling. However, I believe that Tom surpassed those turmoils. He dedicated his life and love to Mary, while at the same time kept the sweet memories with Jane in one corner of his heart. 

Was it wrong to do so? I doubt it. Certainly Tom (or my friend) did not wish to have two concurrent loves. But it happened. It still happens these days. What Tom did, and what my friend will do, is distancing himself from Jane. He did not do it out of malice. He did it out of respect, love and responsibility to Mary, and out of his love to Jane as well (at least I think he didn’t want to put Jane in trouble). It was not an easy decision to make. He did it, though. My friend is doing it now. God knows how many hearts have to do that as I write this sentence. That kind of journey is not easy. Letting go is never easy.

So here’s this quote, to those hearts out there who need to let go and move on, despite the desires to be together. May the Universe bless you in this difficult journey.  

Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week 36

This week I chose a quote from part 9 of Tom Lefroy's memoirs:

"But the things I am speaking of concerning his personal character – his love for God’s word, his humiliation as a sinner, his confidence in Christ – these are not gone. My brethren, for ourselves let us think can we look for more earthly things than he had? Few of us, perhaps none of us here, will attain to that advanced life. A few, indeed, may attain to the same high eminence in the world, or to the honors that crowned him; but even of those who attain these honors few may have that unbroken family peace and happiness which he had."

The highlighted words stood out for me. We hear such horrifying stories on the news every day and I wonder whether there is a reduction in the number of people who feel a sense of humiliation after committing a sin? I also wonder whether there are less people who have unbroken family peace and happiness in the world we live in today? Perhaps people don't fight as hard for what is important.

I think that from reading this it is clear that Tom was a very admirable character, someone to respect and follow as a compass of morality. I believe he may have understood the importance for balance in life.

Pic: Yin Yang symbol

Tom Lefroy Quote Week 34

Apologies for being late... but I hope it's okay!

 My apologies for being late with the quote; totally forgot about it. I had a busy weekend; we had three dinners with friends in three consecutive nights (invited friends on Friday night and Sunday nights and attended dinner at a friend’s place on Saturday night). Must remind myself to ask Rachel to Whatsapp me in case I haven’t sent any quotes by Sunday morning on my turns. Otherwise, I will always be late... But I hope the Tom Lefroy quote here made it up.

From The Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy, page 33. A letter from Tom to his son Anthony:

“I hope you are attentive to your business, and get your lessons, not merely so as to pass, but so as to understand them as perfectly as you can, and above all things that you don’t loiter and waste time. When you play,– play, – but when you read, read and don’t play.”

Well, I often feel that I don’t have enough time for myself lately. Been chased around by deadlines. However, I am pleased to report that I did not work at all on Saturday, and only worked on an email briefly for 10 minutes on Sunday. Last weekend was still very busy, admittedly. But still, I played. Of sort.