Reading for pleasure: greene and baron corvo.

Abstract

Few of us are as resistant to the influence of irrational emotions as we would like others to believe. I have always had a secret if slightly incredulous admiration for Charles Bradlaugh, the militant Victorian atheist. His public addresses were memorable performances. He concluded by challenging God to strike him dead within the minute. The climactic end came as Bradlaugh counted the passing seconds from a gold watch held in a steady, outstretched hand until he strode triumphantly from the platform to the applause of the converted. Did he not suffer the slightest hesitation as the hands of the watch moved on-perhaps