Further memories

About the book

"Further memories" by Baron Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford Redesdale is a collection of autobiographical essays and cultural reminiscences written in the early 20th century. It likely ranges across travel, art, religion, history, and gardening, using the author’s Cotswold garden and his love of Eastern art as a lens for wider reflections. Expect a blend of personal memory and learned digressions—from Buddhist lore to European culture—presented in a conversational, erudite tone. The opening of this volume first presents Edmund Gosse’s introduction, which sketches the author’s late-blooming literary career, his cherished Batsford garden, the genesis of a planned essay-sequence called Veluvana, and the circumstances of his final years during wartime, culminating in his death. The text then shifts to the author’s own “Veluvana,” setting him in a bamboo-grove retreat where he denies having a Japanese-style garden, carefully describes its Eastern sculptures and curios, and uses them to launch vivid retellings of Buddhist legends—the Veluvana and Jétavana groves, the Buddha’s birth, renunciation, awakening, first sermon, and moral parables (Jātakas), even noting the medieval Christian echo in Barlaam and Josaphat. At the start of the next essay he contrasts Buddha’s serene revolt with violent revolutions, likens his renunciation to St. Francis, and critiques Brahmanism’s caste system, explaining its origins, terms, and evolution while highlighting Buddhism’s challenge to priestly authority. This opening section closes as he begins to cite comparative figures for the world’s religions to underscore Buddhism’s reach.