Other editions of book The Angels of Mons

The Angels of Mons-The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War is a classic World War One short story collection by Arthur Machen. The Angels of Mons is a popular legend about a group of angels who supposedly protected members of the British Army in the Battle of Mons at the outset of the First World War. Though the story itself is nothing, it has yet had such odd and unforeseen consequences and adventures that the tale of them may possess some interest. And then, again, there are certain psychological morals to be drawn from the whole matter of the tale and its sequel of rumours and discussions that are not, I think, devoid of consequence; and so to begin at the beginning.

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a Welsh novelist, short story writer, journalist and actor. He wrote horror, fantasy and supernatural fiction. His love of Celtic, Roman and medieval history is seen in many of his stories. This collection of stories about World War I includes The bowmen -- The soldiers' rest -- The monstrance -- The dazzling light -- The bowmen and other noble ghosts, by "The Londoner."

Arthur Machen's name rings the bell to the fans of ghost stories as the writer of the horror novella The Great God Pan. The Angels of Mons and Other Legends of the War is an extraordinary collection by the master of spooky stories, just as decadent, suspenseful and dark as his most well-known story.The Angels of Mons contains stories about World War I. The title story is based on a legend about the British Army during the Battle of Mons and about the help that the soldiers received from a group of angels. The Battle of Mons was the first major battle fought by the outnumbered British Army against the Germans. The British were forced to retreat and with information about the defeat quickly getting out, the media was badly in need of a way to keep up the optimism of the general public.It was Arthur Machen who rescued the situation by publishing a short story entitled The Bowmen. It featured phantom, angel-like bowmen who fought on the side of the British, devastating the German Army. Machen's story quickly became a legend, retold again and again, giving the British hope that defeating the Germans was possible after all and helping the media in its efforts to keep up optimism related to the outcome of the War. The title story is followed by others that put the Germans into a very bad light, while presenting the British as heroes helped by other supernatural forces.In the Preface to the collection, Machen tries to straighten his act and he informs his readers that the legend of the angels of Mons is entirely his creation. However, the belief in the angels of Mons continued and strengthened in the following years, a process sometimes helped by British officials as a means to boost the morale of the public.

From The Bowmen: "There comes a moment in a storm at sea when people say to one another, "It is at its worst; it can blow no harder," and then there is a blast ten times more fierce than any before it. So it was in these British trenches of the first world war. There were no stouter hearts in the whole world than the hearts of these men; but even they were appalled as this seven- times-heated hell of the German cannonade fell upon them and overwhelmed them and destroyed them. And at this very moment they saw from their trenches that a tremendous host was moving against their lines. Five hundred of the thousand remained and as far as they could see the German infantry was pressing on against them, column upon column, a grey world of men, ten thousand of them, as it appeared afterwards. There was no hope at all. . . ."

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This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a leading Welsh author. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. He also is well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons. At the age of eleven, he boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty ruled out attendance at university. Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, The Great God Pan (1894), which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition. Machen next produced The Three Impostors, a novel composed of a number of interwoven tales, in 1895. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to be regarded as among Machen's best works.

Excerpt from The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the WarFor, usually and fitly, tne presence of an introduction is field to imply tnat tnere is sometning of consequence and importance to oe introduced. If, for example, a man Izas made an antnology of great poetry, ne may well write an introduction justifying nis prin ciol e of selection, pointing out nere and t/zere, as tlce spirit mozzes nim, lug/i oeauties and supreme excel lencies, discoursing of tbe magnates and lords and princes of literature, wlzom lie is merely serving as groom of tko enamoer. Introductions, tnat is, oelong to tile masterpieces and classics of tne world, to tne great and ancient and accented tnings; and I am Itere introducing a snort, small story of my own wnicn appeared in the evening news alout ten mont/zs ago.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Thank you for checking out this book by Theophania Publishing. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon. We have thousands of titles available, and we invite you to search for us by name, contact us via our website, or download our most recent catalogues. I appreciate the absurdity, nay, the enormity of the position in all its grossness. And my excuse for these pages must be this: that though the story itself is nothing, it has yet had such odd and unforeseen consequences and adventures that the tale of them may possess some interest. And then, again, there are certain psychological morals to be drawn from the whole matter of the tale and its sequel of rumours and discussions that are not, I think, devoid of consequence; and so to begin at the beginning. I conceived the dead men coming up through the flames and in the flames, and being welcomed in the Eternal Tavern with songs and flowing cups and everlasting mirth. But every man is the child of his age, however much he may hate it; and our popular religion has long determined that jollity is wicked. As far as I can make out modern Protestantism believes that Heaven is something like Evensong in an English cathedral, the service by Stainer and the Dean preaching. For those opposed to dogma of any kind—even the mildest—I suppose it is held that a Course of Ethical Lectures will be arranged. Well, I have long maintained that on the whole the average church, considered as a house of preaching, is a much more poisonous place than the average tavern; still, as I say, one's age masters one, and clouds and bewilders the intelligence, and the real story of "The Soldiers' Rest", with its "sonus epulantium in æterno convivio", was ruined at the moment of its birth, and it was some time later that the actual story got written.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

From The Bowmen: "There comes a moment in a storm at sea when people say to one another, "It is at its worst; it can blow no harder," and then there is a blast ten times more fierce than any before it. So it was in these British trenches of the first world war. There were no stouter hearts in the whole world than the hearts of these men; but even they were appalled as this seven-times-heated hell of the German cannonade fell upon them and overwhelmed them and destroyed them. And at this very moment they saw from their trenches that a tremendous host was moving against their lines. Five hundred of the thousand remained, and as far as they could see the German infantry was pressing on against them, column upon column, a grey world of men, ten thousand of them, as it appeared afterwards. There was no hope at all. . . ."