The Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) Appreciation Society Charter
APPRECIATION:
- Estimation, Judgement, Perception
- Raise in value and (dare we say it...)
- Raise in Quantity
The Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) Appreciation Society (hereinafter called "The Society") is a socialising fun club for people with a Literary bent, with "bent" being the operative word...
The Society exists to bring together all or any of those lovers of literature who wish to appreciate, (and we do mean Appreciate), the Works of The Master.
The Society is envisaged as a vehicle for the discovery, Chapter Vetting, and publication of the Works Of The Master, which continue to be discovered in the most arcane places where they have lain since the unfortunate (or fortunate, as the case may be) demise of The Master in Constantinople in 1903, or was it in Jerusalem in 1905 ?, or would you believe Sofia, in 1911 ? One of those, maybe. J.K. Hubert-Gressling says one, but Wiedensen says the other two.
The Society shall be organized in Chapters, each Chapter bearing a Name of a Place associated with The Master. Thus there shall be The Perfect Bosphorus Chapter, and The Cairo Chapter, and The Great Constantinople Chapter, and so on.
All Chapters shall hold Authority from The Greatest Chapter, which is known as The Lord High Most Important Chapter.
Each Chapter shall be headed by The Magnificent Sultan of that Chapter, self-appointed of course, but in the Great Tradition, open to being deposed by unpopular election.
The Magnificent Sultan shall be attended by The Excellent Wazir, The Mumtious Khadi, The Trusty Keeper of The Rusty Emblem, The Admirable Recorder Of The Works As Discovered, The Proposer of Silly Toasts, The Lover Of Omaar Fitzgerald, and so on, at the sole discretion of The Magnificent Sultan, who may create other Titles as the need arises, and depending on the level of the bribes of course. The Magnificent Sultan should also advise The Lord High Most Important Chapter of the new Titles, and the respective Duties entailed.
PROCEDURE
Firstly, a Great Book shall be present in which to Inscribe the latest discovered Works as brought forward by the Members (after their extensive searching, of course.)
The Magnificent Sultan opens each Gathering with the toast to the Memory of The Master.
Much booze is consumed.
The Magnificent Sultan signals the Recorder to call for Members to bring forward their newly discovered Works. Each Work shall be Placed and Dated, together with a Statement of its Provenance and the Manner of its Discovery. Members will accord due Dignity to these Provenances, no matter how unlikely they may seem to be......(Dignity please, always Dignity)
The Discoverer shall then read the Work for approval by the Chapter.
The Members in Meeting shall then decide whether to accept this latest Discovery as �Genuine DeBurgh�, and if so accepted, that Work to be entered in the Great Book.
If the Work should be denounced as a fraud, (FRAUD!!!??) the perpetrator of that Fraud must buy the next round of drinks, or promise to do so, some day, when he/she has the money.
The Officers shall deliberate as to which of the Works their members have Discovered shall be forwarded to The Lord High Most Important Chapter for inclusion in the Official Archives.
The Officers shall also keep a Ledger in which the names of those accused of "Fraud" are entered, along with the number of drinks they have been fined.
(This is purely for the internal administration of the Chapter, the LHMIC neither needs nor wants to know...)