It is a truth universally acknowledged that any woman who avidly reads Jane Austen, drinks tea from fine chinaware, and constantly rewatches Downton Abbey must want a trip to England.
Tell me I’m not the only one. There is something about the land where etiquette and British accents prevail that enchants the book-and-beauty-loving feminine heart. I look to my favorite period dramas and detailed Pinterest boards as I envision days spent in lovely cobblestone-paved shire towns, grand country houses, visits to the homes of great authors, and an overabundance of famous film locations. Yet even amid such exciting dreams, a question would linger in the back of my mind: must my tour of England be limited to landscapes and literary landmarks? Where might I find my Catholic faith fulfilled by a visit to this country?
I now wonder no longer, having read Merrie England: A Journey Through the Shire. In this delightful little work, Catholic literary scholar Joseph Pearce unfolds a tour of England through the lens of pilgrimage. By leading us through sites both humble and renowned, Pearce introduces us to the spiritual and topographical landscape of England, suggesting that there is a permissible and perhaps even proper measure of enchantment that can attend to our idea and experience of this land.
A Way of Wonder
In this short and riveting book, Pearce presents the eager eyes of the wannabe England-traveler with the beautiful and the broken alike, just as we would inevitably encounter both when visiting these towns in real life. As for what is broken, the reality is that England as a nation has indeed grown estranged from its Catholic heritage. Like most of the modern world today, it is filled with T.S. Eliot’s “hollow men” and deeply deafened by the cacophony of modern technology and materialism.
Yet even while honestly noting the decline of values in this great land, Pearce does not seek to disillusion his readers. After all, he calls England “merrie”—not in satire but in sincerity—and it’s a designation that holds a hint of “faerie.” And truly, Pearce’s path promises true delight and manifold beauties for the undeceived wayfarer. He seeks to introduce his readers to “the true England through the perspective of the Triune splendour of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful,” believing that this way, we will find the undying England, the one that “exists as a beautiful flower in the gardens of eternity.”
For, Pearce holds, only when we approach a place as God made it and as He intends it do we travel in true wonder, without risk of great disappointment. At the crossroads of time and eternity, of the was and the is, we will find the authentic glory of such a land—“an England that is rural, sacramental, liturgical, local, beautiful . . . an England that is ‘charged with the grandeur of God.’” Beautiful, good, true, undying. How does this answer my fond daydreams of reveling in town squares, gardens, and stone cathedrals? Merrily indeed.
Human Yet Holy
Journeying with an Englishman like Pearce means encountering the place from a deeply human standpoint. We experience, alongside him, the emotion inspired by a picturesque view, the joy of a hearty meal and mug of ale—or the woes of traveling on a schedule with too much to see and too little time.
Even with no lack of places to choose from, Pearce’s book encompasses an extensive and delightful itinerary; each chapter holds a new place and a new soul-filling grace. Pearce directs his fellow wayfarers to the beauties of shires like York and the Peak district, areas replete with hills and falls and lush countryside downs. To the delight of the well-read, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Hilaire Belloc prove frequent companions on Pearce’s journey.
Yet, with him, we ultimately discover that England’s true heritage transcends anything literary, educational, urban, or avant-garde. By revealing cathedrals and chapels overshadowed by towns with many modern trappings, Pearce lets us in on the secret buried treasure of its many hidden Saints, such as Saint Margaret of Clitherow and Blessed Nicholas Postgate, whose witnesses are precious jewels in their motherland’s crown. After all, Pearce is an able guide, and led by rightly ordered values, his object is “to find the landscapes that shaped the lives of our fathers.” Perhaps this is the best intent with which to embark on an English tour.
Ultimately, Pearce concludes his wanderings at the shrine to Our Lady at Walsingham, showing that true joy can indeed be found in touring this country. Perhaps this is the answer to the country’s identity: it is “merrie” England because it is Mary’s England.
Travel In Style
With Pearce’s consummate art of writing, his poetic side perhaps presents itself with greater vigor here than in some of his other writings. Each chapter of Merrie England is filled with graceful turns of phrase, lively wordplay, and such abundant alliteration that one finds it both refreshing and absurd. Through these, Pearce elevates his readers beyond the humdrum and the exterior, helping us see the poetic in the broken and the supernatural in the ordinary.
Sweetly sized, Merrie England can easily be read in half an afternoon or one short chapter at a time, an ideal read for the busy woman with only brief pockets of free time. Detailed black-and-white sketches, like vignettes from a vintage scrapbook, bring every chapter of this pilgrimage of mind and soul alive before the eye. With ample references to theology and to literary tradition, Pearce acquaints us with what lies beyond the elegant tea shops and idyllic countrysides of England: a vista of hidden glory in the beauties of the earth and the profound spiritual heritage.
Reading Merrie England will deepen your authentic desire to tour this land—it is a truth universally acknowledged.
Leila Joy Castillo calls Florida home but left her heart in hill country long ago. An alumna of Ave Maria University, she freelances in Catholic communications and is a published writer, primarily on Blessed is She and Ascension. When not dabbling in the multitudinous Google docs of her articles, Leila delights in music, personalist philosophy, quality time with her younger siblings, and her literary trifecta: Austen, Lewis, and Dante. You can find her on Instagram @leila_joyinthejourney or follow her personal site here.
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