I can’t explain why, but for some reason British patriotism often stirs me as much as American patriotism. Tonight, for example, Jonathan and I listened to “Rule Britannia” and drank chai tea,* and we have plans to continue watching volume three of Simon Schama’s History of Britain DVD series. We started the series a couple of weeks ago, and regularly spend our weekend evenings watching new episodes. I confess that after recently finishing a book on the decline of the British Empire, I was overcome by a profound sadness. I didn’t give in to the sadness, though, because I always try to maintain a “stiff upper lip.” I subscribe to the biography of the day from the Dictionary of National Biography, and to the word of the day from the Oxford English Dictionary. When I want to know the news, I read or listen to the BBC, even though the broadcasters’ speech makes me feel like a provincial. Whatever the cause, I confess that I am an Anglophile.

Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never shall be slaves!

* The chai tea came to us courtesy of Melissa.