In the evaluation of the dominant moods of any historical period it is important to hold fast to the fact that there are always islands of self-sufficient order-on farms and in castles, in homes, studies, and cloisters-where sensible people manage to live relatively lusty and decent lives: as moral as they can be, as free as they may be, as masterly as they can be.

DEFINE: Clarifies a historical method: broad 'dominant moods' assessments must account for resilient pockets of order in farms, castles, homes, studes, and cloisters. XREF: Connects to the historical-genre fix for anonymous masses — individual livable lives persisting amid turbulent eras.

Philip Chase Bobbitt, Philip Chase Bobbitt - Refl…, loc. 860