question
stringlengths 18
1.2k
| facts
stringlengths 44
500k
| answer
stringlengths 1
147
|
|---|---|---|
The last major battle using oared ships was fought in the sixteenth century. What was the name of the battle? | Crescent and cross : the Battle of Lepanto 1571 (Book, 2003) [WorldCat.org]
Publisher description
Abstract:
"For much of the last fourteen hundred years the relationship between Christianity and Islam has been extremely troubled. Competition, misunderstanding and fanaticism led to frequent conflicts between those marching under the banners of the two religions, often ferocious in the extreme and studded with atrocities. Yet between these episodes - even at times in the midst of them - Muslims and Christians traded and associated with each other without any inherent animosity." "This book describes an event widely believed to herald the ultimate supremacy of western culture. On the morning of 7 October 1571, at the mouth of a gulf in western Greece, the fleets of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the Roman Catholic Holy League collided in the last great battle ever to be fought between oared fighting ships. The Battle of Lepanto was the outstanding military event in a sixteenth century marked by constant warfare, and the greatest single battle ever fought between crescent and cross. Many believe that it changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean forever, and turned back a Muslim tide that threatened to engulf Europe." "However, as Hugh Bicheno shows here, the symbolic importance of Lepanto far outweighed its military significance. This timely book is the first major study of the battle ever written in English, and the first for many years in any language. It is enormous in scope, tracing the lines of history that came together at that time and place to explain why an event that barely affected the geopolitical balance in the Mediterranean is regularly counted among the decisive battles of history. Not least, as an illustration of the complex human reality behind an age-old conflict, the story is acutely relevant to the history we are living at present"--
Reviews
Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Be the first.
Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Be the first.
Tags
Add tags for "Crescent and cross : the Battle of Lepanto 1571". Be the first.
Similar Items
a schema:Review ;
schema:itemReviewed < http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51965775 > ; # Crescent and cross : the Battle of Lepanto 1571
schema:reviewBody ""For much of the last fourteen hundred years the relationship between Christianity and Islam has been extremely troubled. Competition, misunderstanding and fanaticism led to frequent conflicts between those marching under the banners of the two religions, often ferocious in the extreme and studded with atrocities. Yet between these episodes - even at times in the midst of them - Muslims and Christians traded and associated with each other without any inherent animosity." "This book describes an event widely believed to herald the ultimate supremacy of western culture. On the morning of 7 October 1571, at the mouth of a gulf in western Greece, the fleets of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the Roman Catholic Holy League collided in the last great battle ever to be fought between oared fighting ships. The Battle of Lepanto was the outstanding military event in a sixteenth century marked by constant warfare, and the greatest single battle ever fought between crescent and cross. Many believe that it changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean forever, and turned back a Muslim tide that threatened to engulf Europe." "However, as Hugh Bicheno shows here, the symbolic importance of Lepanto far outweighed its military significance. This timely book is the first major study of the battle ever written in English, and the first for many years in any language. It is enormous in scope, tracing the lines of history that came together at that time and place to explain why an event that barely affected the geopolitical balance in the Mediterranean is regularly counted among the decisive battles of history. Not least, as an illustration of the complex human reality behind an age-old conflict, the story is acutely relevant to the history we are living at present"--" ;
.
| Lepanto |
Which composer who lived from 1833 -1897 wrote four symphonies and four concertos including the 'German Requiem'? | navy facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about navy
Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc.
NAVY
NAVY. Up to the late fifteenth century, permanent navies with ships built only for warfare were unimportant in Europe . Wars at sea were fought with infantry weapons and they could be used on merchantmen temporarily armed for war. Maritime cities with many large cargo carriers could rapidly form powerful navies, and mercantile power was easily converted into sea power. The only specialized warships were the oared galleys, but they could be built quickly in large numbers when a war began. The sea power of a state became visible only during wars. One part of this system was retained in most early modern navies as, to a considerable extent, they were manned with seamen recruited from the mercantile marines. In peacetime, only a nucleus of seamen was employed by the navies. Permanency was created by warships, dockyards, and cadres of leaders, which gradually became corps of officers.
The introduction of heavy guns able to damage ships at a distance stimulated the development of specialized, heavily built, sailing warships that could carry such guns, use them efficiently in combat, resist gunfire, and stay at sea during long periods of time. Guns and specialized warships were expensive, and only states were able to make major naval investments. The size of the permanent navies became increasingly important for the control of the sea for offensive and defensive purposes and for diplomatic influence. Guns and warships also gave states a new role as the most efficient protectors of private shipping. The growth of the European navies reflected both the improved efficiency of a specialized technology and the increased centralization of resources to the states.
Galleys and sailing warships had different capabilities, and they were often regarded as parts of different organizations. Most Mediterranean galleys were of about the same size in all navies. There was a general rise in their size from the mid-sixteenth century to the early seventeenth century, but otherwise galley navies can be measured by number of galleys. In contrast, sailing warships were built in widely different sizes at the same time and size increased over time. The average size of European ships-ofthe-line grew from around 1,200 modern displacement tonnes in 1680 to 2,400 displacement tonnes in 1790. Consequently, the number of ships is of limited value in comparing the navies.
The displacement, that is, the weight of the ship including stores, began to be used to measure size in the eighteenth century. For earlier centuries, approximate displacements can be calculated from dimensions, contemporary tonnage calculations, or the size of crews. This makes it possible to compare different navies and measure fluctuations over time with one measurement that reflects fighting power and manpower requirements. Typically, galleys that relied on muscle power for their propulsion had about one man per tonne displacement. Sailing warships in the latter half of the seventeenth century had manning establishments that required around one man to three tonnes displacement while eighteenth century warships normally had around one man to four tonnes.
MEDITERRANEAN GALLEY NAVIES
The early permanent navies in the Mediterranean developed with the traditional galleys as the main component. Their rise was closely connected with the power struggles for control of the Greek archipelago and Italy and trade in the Mediterranean Sea . In 1450, only Venice had a major peacetime galley navy. Up to about 1500 the Ottoman and Venetian navies increased in size during the struggle for control of Greece . After that, the Italian Wars (1494–1559) stimulated the growth of the French and Spanish galley navies. The latter included the naval resources of Sicily and Naples . The Papal States, Tuscany , Genoa , and the Order of St. John on Malta developed minor galley navies. Finally, from the 1540s to the 1570s, the great contest between Spain and the Ottomans led to a dramatic increase in the galley navies. In terms of manpower (including chained oarsmen) and requirement of provisions, they were the largest concentrated military forces of the sixteenth century. Logistical problems often made them sluggish in operation.
The end of the imperial contests in the Mediterranean around 1580 was followed by a major reduction
The Mediterranean Galley Navies
The Oxford Companion to British History
© The Oxford Companion to British History 2002, originally published by Oxford University Press 2002.
navy. ‘For the regulating and better government of H. M.'s, ships of war and forces by sea, wherein, under the good Providence of God , the wealth, safety, and strength of the Kingdom is so much concerned’ (Preamble to Naval Discipline Act, 1661); ‘Fishermen, yachtsmen … river boatmen … manned their craft with volunteer crews and rushed them to the assembly point, although they did not then know for what purpose they were required’ (Admiralty communiqué, The Times, 4 June 1940). Separated by three centuries, these records of mid-17th-cent. aspiration in the wake of Cromwellian successes against Dutch and Spaniards, and mid-20th-cent. summons of all seafarers from Sussex to East Anglia to rescue at Dunkirk the only army the nation possessed, proclaim the importance of naval power for an island. The first is a perception of state interest which dates back well beyond the Armada to the reign of Elizabeth I's grandfather Henry VII, and has never ceased to apply, while the second invokes the duty owed the realm by the subject best equipped to discharge it. That obligation can be traced back to Æthelred II's plight under Danish attacks at Sandwich in 1006, and probably to Alfred's native-found ships at Poole, again resisting the Danes, in 897. Yet few aspects of the crown's prerogative power were more strenuously questioned through the 17th, 18th, and 19th cents. than that to impress the subject for sea service. Not until 1853, when fixed terms of service in the navy and pension rights were made statutory, did age-old constraints cease to be obnoxious. There seems poetic justice that the first Victoria Cross was won by a non-commissioned seaman in the Crimean War .
Britain 's place in the ‘Viking World’ was rendered most definitive through the person of Cnut (1016–35). King, or overlord, also in Denmark (1019) and Norway (1028), no English monarch had such distant dominions again until Charles II in the later 17th cent. Cnut's navy seems not to have been a personal apanage but an auxiliary, its periods of service specifically fixed by financial provision. In 1051 it was dispensed with by Edward the Confessor out of economy, though this Norman-raised king may also have intended to ease the succession to his crown of the rich and ecclesiastically regenerated Normandy . William I had continuous trans-channel ferry needs during his reign, after the first crucial shipment of an army to Pevensey in September 1066; and he, William II, and Henry I may have made some 40 Channel crossings in all. Portsmouth , a nascent naval base by the reign of John (1199–1216), or Southampton were their usual destinations. But did they pretend to naval power beyond such dictates, or occasionally commandeering the resources of English merchants trading with Scandinavian, Flemish, or, later, Gascon ports? By the end of the 12th cent. the Cinque Ports had long enjoyed privileges from the crown in return for an annual provision of ships and men. Through the 13th cent. these ports, joined by Winchelsea and Rye, provided the ‘drive’ for assembling royal fleets, though under Henry III (c.1255) they so resisted his weak authority that Henry had to look to the east coast shipbuilding ports. By this time the oared single sail ‘long ship’ or galley, still predominant in northern waters and the Mediterranean, was ceding place to wider-beamed and higher-sided vessels, furnished with fore and stern castles. These were more difficult to manœuvre, but they could carry bowmen and projectiles in their castles and were more suitable for boarding an enemy, even if oar-power remained the handiest means finally to position a warship. Edward III's victory over the French at Sluys in 1340 must have featured such ships; and before the 14th cent. was out there was vital sail evolution through the development of the three-masted ship. The age-old side rudder also gave place to the stern-post rudder aligned on the keel, facilitating steering a few points off the wind.
The evolution of the navy in the 15th cent. has to be seen in the context of an ever-increasing volume of trading voyages, to Iceland , the Baltic ports, to the Basque coast and Portugal , and then the Newfoundland Banks. The east coast coal trade needed many ships, and Hanseatic competition in the shipment of English cloth to the processors in the Low Countries had to be countered. More distant trades made big ships economic: in 1400–25, 68 per cent of crown-hired ships were of less than 100 tons burthen, but by 1451 that percentage had dropped to 52. The three great ships of Henry V were each over 550 tons; the Grace Dieu of 1420, whose timbers yet lie in the Hamble river, was of over 1,000, though she may never have put to sea. These ships were unique, and possibly uniquely unserviceable. Around 170 years later, when England faced the Armada in 1588, only 14 of the 177 private ships enlisted for service were over 200 tons, and only 5 of the 34 ‘Queen's Ships’ exceeded 500 tons. The late medieval small ship had a durable progeny in the navy of the Tudors, the dynasty which truly founded the navy with its yards at Portsmouth, Chatham , Deptford, and Woolwich, and which fostered native gun-founding. In 1546, Henry VIII's last year, the Navy Board was formed from the navy's principal officers: it was destined to serve as the executant of the fleet's construction, maintenance, and supply, the country's largest industrial undertaking until the 19th cent. The names of Hawkins , Pepys , and Barham are inseparable from its record, strained though the board's relations with the policy-making Board of Admiralty often were. The critical change in warship design came during the 40 years before 1588, the removal of the medieval ‘castles’ in favour of a lower superstructure, with ships' sides pierced for guns on wheeled carriages, which made for some ease of movement between decks and allowed for recoil. Through to the coming of the steam-powered ‘ironclad’ this was the basic character of the warship; the teamwork, ensuring high rates of fire, inculcated in motley crews described in the 18th cent. as of ‘naturally generous dispositions though turbulent, fearless, or, rather, thoughtless of consequences’, made a singular contribution to Britain's awesome repute at sea in the century of Vernon , Hawke , Rodney , and Nelson .
When in June 1808 Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Wellington ) spoke in Parliament of the navy as ‘the characteristic and constitutional force of Britain’, he was expressing a national sense of obligation to a service which, resolutely administered by Middleton (Barham) since 1778, and liberally provided for by Pitt in the 1780s, had earlier withstood the unprecedented challenges of the American War and had next reaped the laurels of victory under exceptional commanders. In the years to come the navy played a crucial role in supporting Wellington in the Peninsula . Wellington's logistical back-up had been prefigured, however modestly, by the first wintering of a British fleet in the Mediterranean in 1694–5; but few developments in Britain's Atlantic economy were more spectacular than the doubling of her exports to the Caribbean after 1808, following the Anglo-Spanish entente. At long last, and following Trafalgar , the book was closed on one of the most abiding and distracting of Britain's strategic preoccupations: the security of the West Indies possessions had exercised the minds of all thinking naval officers, as well as commercial lobbies, since the age of William III. This concern lay close to the beginnings of Britain's commercial empire in the 16th and 17th cents.—the Levant Company 1592, the Virginia Adventurers 1609, the Royal Africa Company 1660, above all the East India Company 1600—all undertakings calling for ships which must dwarf the warships of Elizabeth I. Some traces of her fleet's tonnage possibly survived even in the great battle fleets sent out under Cromwell; but by the time of Pepys's ‘30 ship’ building programme of 1677, ‘your ships’ as he reminded Parliament, there may have been an average burthen tonnage of 1,200 for ships of over 70 guns as against 940 in 1660. The navy finally became ‘royal’ in name under Charles II, and it was of incalculable importance for its future self-identity that there was, deliberately, no discrimination against that religious dissent among seamen which had afforded the Cromwellian navy its special pugnacity.
The first steam-powered vessels in the navy were the paddle-driven frigates/sloops of the 1820s, but the navy's ships in the Crimean War did not look much different from those of 75 years before. Even Warrior, Britain's first screw-driven ironclad (1860), retained sail-power after modifications in 1887. Within the period 1867–90 there was a breath-taking acceleration in the power of warships, but seamen of all ranks lacked the training to exploit these advances. During the incipient naval race with Germany in the 1890s there emerged, in the fascinating and powerfully prophetic educator John Arbuthnot Fisher , the man who drove the navy into the 20th cent. What has to be understood about his 18,000-tons displacement Dreadnought , with her 21-knot speed (launched February 1906), is that such a ship was waiting to be built: turbine and not reciprocated engine driven, and with a provision of uniformly heavy guns ensuring straddling salvoes of the highest possible accuracy. Yet Dreadnought was rapidly overtaken by more powerful and faster sisters, and she herself played little part in the First World War . Though included in the 1922 scrapping programme, Dreadnought had served her turn through her very launching and her specifications became common currency across the world. But at the end of his life (1920) Fisher was convinced that air power was inseparable from sea power in any future conflict, and that the capital ship had had her day—a glimpse of what was to happen in the Second World War to the Prince of Wales , Repulse, and Hood. The mine, the torpedo, and the submarine had already set the pace of change; and at the Coronation Review of 1953 only one British battleship remained, the 42,000-ton Vanguard, which had never seen action. Accompanied though she was at Spithead by five major aircraft carriers, these great ships lay among myriad smaller vessels of a versatility of purpose which would have won the approbation of a Fisher—and a Nelson.
David Denis Aldridge
The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
Copyright The Columbia University Press
navy, originally, all ships of a nation, whether for war or commerce; the term navy now designates only such vessels as are built and maintained specifically for war. There have been three major developments in naval vessels. From ancient times to the late 16th cent., navies consisted mostly of galleys; from the late 16th to the late 19th cent., they consisted mostly of side-gunned sailing vessels; and from 1865 until recently, they consisted of steam warships. Currently, diesel-powered ships dominate the world's navies, although many ships are nuclear-powered.
Navies began in the Mediterranean, with its access to three continents and favorable climatic conditions. Although the first recorded naval battle was c.1200 BC between the Egyptians and the Sea People, ships were probably used to transport and supply armies much earlier. Ancient warships usually relied on ramming, although sometimes catapults were used to fire missiles or incendiaries, and their crews fought as infantry. Galleys dominated the Mediterranean at least through the battle of Lepanto (1571) between the Christians and Muslims. In China, junks (high-pooped ships with battened sails) were used as fighting platforms for sea battles and for invasion fleets, such as the Mongol attempt to take Japan in 1281. In northern Europe the Norse perfected oared Viking ships with square sails and strong keels that were used to transport raiders or for boarding at sea, but they could not ram or carry as many fighters as a galley. They were organized into small but effective fleets. It was to meet their attacks that Alfred the Great, in the 9th cent., organized a royal fleet and became the first to realize that a navy was essential to England's security.
The reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth saw further naval developments. Between the 13th and 16th cent. the commercial trading vessels of Northern Europe evolved into effective warships, with rudders, keels, and complex sails. They soon became dominant around the world because of their increased maneuverability, their load-carrying capacity, and their suitability for carrying cannon. The Spanish and Portuguese navies dominated at different times until the destruction of the Spanish Armada (1588). From then on the British navy was the strongest in the world. Although challenged often, first by the Dutch and then the French, it ruled the seas for 300 years. British naval power rested not so much on numbers or superior ship construction, but on its professional seamen and officers. While Britain remained dominant, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States developed strong navies.
In the late 19th cent., the emergence of Japan and Germany as major naval powers encouraged the United States to establish a strong navy. In 1898, the United States destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Spanish-American War and emerged as the second strongest sea power in the world. At this time, such modern naval weapons as the torpedo, the rifled naval gun, and the submarine were developed. World War I was partially a contest between the naval strengths of Britain and Germany, with the submarine the crucial factor. Germany lost its navy at the end of the war.
After World War I naval tactics were revolutionized by the development of the airplane. Previously, the decisive naval weapons had been the heavily gunned cruisers and battleships . In World War II, it became the aircraft carrier , as proven when U.S. carrier-based aircraft dominated the Pacific and did much to cripple German submarine strength in the Atlantic. At the end of World War II, Germany, Italy, and Japan were stripped of their navies, Britain was economically weakened, and the United States emerged with the strongest navy in the world. By the early 1970s the USSR (now Russia) had the second most powerful navy; it was weakened, however, by the collapse of the USSR (1991) and Russia's subsequent economic difficulties. The development of nuclear-powered vessels, especially the submarine, together with nuclear weaponry, has altered the role of the navy in a nation's strategy and tactics .
Bibliography
See A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890); B. Brodie Naval Strategy (1942); H. T. Lenton, Warships of the British and Commonwealth Navies (1966); L. W. Martin, The Sea in Modern Strategy (1967); F. Pratt and H. E. Howe, Compact History of the United States Navy (rev. ed. 1967); P. Padfield, Guns at Sea (1973); C. Reynolds, Command of the Sea (1974); J. Guilmartin, Galleys and Gunpowder (1975); N. A. M. Rodgers, The Wooden World (1986); R. H. Spector, At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century (2001); I. W. Toll, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (2006).
Cite this article
| i don't know |
Which monster is mentioned in the Book of Job as a sea serpent? | Leviathan, the Biblical Sea Monster | northatlanticblog
Leviathan, the Biblical Sea Monster
Posted on
by northatlanticblog
For thousands of years, sailors have reported seeing strange creatures while at sea. Sometimes, as in the case of the mythological Kraken, it is likely that the sightings were of actual creatures like the giant squid. There is one creature that was first described in the Hebrew Tanakh, which is also the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. That creature is the Leviathan.
An engraving by Gustave Dore entitled “Destruction of Leviathan”
The original Hebrew word for Leviathan was livyâthân, making the word “Leviathan” a transliteration rather than a translation. The Leviathan is first mentioned in the Book of Job, in which it is described by God to Job. According to the New International Version of the Bible, God describes it in Job Chapter 41, verses 1 through 34:
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words? Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house? Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants? Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears? If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form. Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth? Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn. Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
An artist’s rendition of Leviathan on land as a serpent
Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth. Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing. The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it. A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair. Nothing on earth is its equal- a creature without fear. It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”
Certainly, the description God gives of the Leviathan paints a picture of a very unusual creature. It is described as being an aquatic animal, yet unable to be killed by humans or domesticated. Aside from its impenetrable armor and huge size, the Leviathan is described as possessing the unusual ability to breath fire which no animal today is capable of. The Leviathan is only briefly mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, such as in Psalm 41, verses 13 through 14:
“You [God] divided the sea by Your strength; you broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.”
The Leviathan is mentioned briefly again in Isaiah 27 , when describing the deliverance of Israel:
“In that day the Lord will punish with his sword- his fierce, great and powerful sword- Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.”
Ancient artwork depicting the Hydra battling Heracles
Despite the few and brief mentions of the Leviathan, it is clear that the Leviathan is a creature with some relatively high level of importance. For some, the Leviathan is simply a sea creature of unusually large size. There are even those who suggest that God was actually describing a crocodile, based on the description given in Job which references the creature having armor on its back and thrashing. However, this does not account for the Leviathan’s ability to supposedly breath fire. In Psalm, the Leviathan is described as having “heads,” which gives the creature a more mythological appearance similar to the serpent-like Hydra of Greek mythology.
However, it is also possible that there was more than one Leviathan, so rather than the “heads” belonging to one creature, it could mean the heads of multiple creatures. In the Book of Genesis (which tells the creation of the world), Genesis 1:21 states that on the fifth day God created the tanniynim , which is the plural form of the Hebrew word tanniyn, meaning “sea creature” or “sea monster.” In Isaiah 27:1 (as seen above), in the original text the word tanniyn is used, which is directly referring to the Leviathan (which is also referred to as a dragon or a reptile in some versions). The use of these words leads some experts to believe that since the word tanniyn is referring to the Leviathan in Isaiah, then tanniynim is referring to Leviathans being created on the fifth day. This suggests it is possible that God did in fact kill multiple Leviathans at one point, and that only one remains. The Leviathan in Isaiah is described again as a singular entity that will be destroyed by God, as well as being described as a serpent.
Artist’s depiction of an “Orange Sea Leviathan,” seen here as more serpent-like in appearance
It is important to note that Job describes the Leviathan in such a way that would almost give the impression of a crocodile-like creature, although in Psalms and Isaiah the Leviathan is described outright as being a large serpent. It is odd that these passages refer to the same creature, yet Job focuses on the strength and size of the Leviathan while Isaiah and Psalm focus on the Leviathan’s death at the hands of God. Oddly, Psalm states that God has already killed the Leviathan and given it as food to the creatures that reside in the wilderness, whereas Job suggests it is still alive while Isaiah specifically states that the Leviathan has yet be killed in the future by God.
As can be imagined, experts and scholars have multiple theories as to what the Leviathan was. Some suggest that the Leviathan was mentioned in Job merely to help illustrate the sheer extent of God’s power, while others think the Leviathan is based on a similar, seven-headed serpent from Canaanite mythology, as well as other Pagan mythologies such as the Ugaritic myth. However, other experts argue that Job is presented as a strict monotheist (believing in only one God), and that it wouldn’t make sense for the Book of Job to include references to other religions. There is also how Job would have had to have known about the Leviathan beforehand, and that God’s usage of Leviathan as an example of his power would have been ineffective if God had invented the Leviathan to be a purely symbolic creature.
An image of a Chinese dragon
There are others who suggest that the Leviathan is a dragon. Most versions of the Bible, such as the King James version, the International Standard version, the American Standard version, etc. state that in Isaiah 27 God will kill the dragon, rather than referring to it as a monster like the New International version. This would make sense since Job states that the Leviathan has the ability to breath fire, and Isaiah and Psalm both refer to Leviathan as a serpent. Both of these qualities would make the Leviathan appear very similar to the popular image of what a dragon looks like.
Overall, the three major ideas as to what the Leviathan are that it was either a creature that is still alive yet undiscovered, that it was a real creature which has since gone extinct, or that it was never a real creature to begin with and that it was simply a mythological creature. Many Creationists believe that the Leviathan was in fact an aquatic dinosaur, which if it went extinct with the other dinosaurs would explain why there are no more today. The oceans are certainly big enough to hide an undiscovered prehistoric creature, such as the Giant Squid or the reported sea creature sighting by the U-28 crew during World War I. Even for those who are not of the Christian or Jewish faiths, there is no reason to suggest that there isn’t a large, undiscovered sea creature that still exists somewhere in the deep.
Share this:
| Leviathan |
Three US states have 13 letters in their names, North and South Carolina are two - what is the third? | Leviathan Sea Dwelling aquatic reptiles Dinosaurs in the book of Job Leviathan dinosaur bible kronosaur plesiosuar
Leviathan Sea Dwelling aquatic reptiles Dinosaurs in the book of Job Leviathan dinosaur bible kronosaur plesiosuar
The Biblical book of Job speaks of a fierce creature called:
The Leviathan
Job lived in the land of Uz, which was in or near the land of Edom. This area extended both southwest and southeast of the Dead Sea, in an area that is now mostly a desert. ("The Remarkable Record of Job" by Henry Morris, pg 14). It is for this reason that neither the Behemoth (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/behemoth.html) or the leviathan can be found there today.
Job 3:8 KJV
The first mention by name is scripture of Leviathan is in the book of Job chapter 3 verse 8.
The leviathan is an aquatic reptile (similar to dinosaurs).
No living animal fits the physical description of the Levaithan. For ideas of what this creature looked like we must turn to Job chapter 41
God's Power Shown in Creatures
Job 41 KJV
Job 41
1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? "
The Leviathan was a creature that was still alive at the time of Job about ____ years ago. It is clear from this passage that man is unable to capture this creature with a fish hook.
(2) Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?"
(3) Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?"
(4) Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?"
(5) Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?"
(6) Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?"
7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?"
8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more."
Many people successfully kill crocodiles. If you fight the Leviathan however you will lose.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?"
Man would run at the mere sight of Leviathan.
10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?"
Though Leviathan is strong, God is stronger.
11 "Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine."
12 "I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion."
13 "Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?"
14 "Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about."
15 "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal."
Some have suggested that the Leviathan might be a whale. But whales do not have scales, or rows of shields like reptiles do.
16 "One is so near to another, that no air can come between them."
17 "They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered."
18 "By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning."
The word that many bibles translate as "snorting" or "neezings" is the Hebrew word: "atish". This means to blow through the nose.
19 "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out."
The Leviathan was a large sea creature that had the amazing ability to breathe fire. This does not sound like any sea creature we have living today. Because the book of Job refers to the Leviathan as a literal living breathing creature, it must be one that is now extinct or very rare.
What kind of animal was the leviathan?
Some people have suggested it may be a crocodile.
But we know this is not right. - Have you ever seen a crocodile shoot fire out of his mouth?
20 "Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron."
Whales do not have nostrils! They have blowholes. This is not a whale.
21 "His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth."
22 "In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him."
23 "The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved."
24 "His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone."
25 "When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves."
26 "The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon."
27 "He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood."
28 "The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble."
Whales are harpooned easily. You can not harpoon the Leviathan.
29 "Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear."
30 "Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire."
31 "He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment."
32 "He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary."
33 "Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear."
34 "He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride."
Why would God create a fire breathing creature?
Question:
"What purpose would "fire breathing" have served such a grand creature as the leviathan? Was it mere show or could it have been beneficial (other than for protection or for killing, which would only have been needed after the introduction of sin)?"
Cory D, 11/05/01
Answer:
I don't think that Leviathan had the ability to emit fire from the beginning. I think that this occured as part of the Curse that God placed on the earth, and it is one of many harmful deteriorations (such as the teeth in carnivores) which occured along with degeneration and loss of genetic information.
light green
| i don't know |
Who was the Persian god of wisdom, who shares his name with a make of motor car? | Secrets Behind 13 Car Company Names and Logos - CraveOnline
Secrets Behind 13 Car Company Names and Logos
Find out how popular car companies chose their names and logos.
by tom-currie
Jun 20th, 2012
Like any other form of branding, car badges are an important way to present the product in a certain light. While most badges are either just last names in fancy fonts or focus-grouped buzzwords guaranteed to get a response from the car-buying public, some of them have a lot of history behind them, and the images they’re based on can range from Persian mythology to pictures of children being devoured by gigantic snakes. Here’s a selection of car badges from manufacturers you can still find in the USA.
SAAB
SAAB (originally an acronym of Svenska Aeroplan AB, in all caps to designate the defense contractor) started out in 1937 as an aeronautics and weapons firm supplying the neutral Swedish government with the fighter and bomber planes they needed to remain neutral during WWII. After the war, SAAB expanded into the design and production of quirky but fun cars that ended up being enormously successful in rally races, gymkhanas and all sorts of motorsports based on cheap, small cars, while simultaneously being Sweden’s primary designer of advanced jet fighters. Saab (in lower case to designate the producer of zippy hatchbacks) used the same badging and graphic design as SAAB the aerospace company until their merger with truck manufacturer Scania. They then adopted the “crowned eagle” symbol of the city of Malmo where Scania trucks and Saab cars would eventually be built.
FIAT
Like Saab, Fiat's name began as an acronym (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino). Fiat is one of the largest companies in Italy and one of the largest car companies in the world, with percentages in or partnerships with Ferrari, Maserati, SEAT, Lada, and most recently Chrysler, which is how they regained their foothold in the U.S. after considerably more reliable Japanese cars chased “Fix It Again, Tony” out of the American market. Fiat’s badge has remained almost unchanged since 1901, when an unknown Turin typographer first laid out the distinctive high-capitaled letters and the unique “Fiat A” which has persisted through nearly every iteration of Fiat’s marketing material. Unfortunately, Fiat electrical systems have also remained essentially the same since 1901, so bring a fire extinguisher.
ABARTH
Karl (or Carlo to his friends at Fiat) Abarth was an Austrian engineer who came to Italy in 1947 to work on a Porsche-funded racecar design. When that foundered due to cost overruns, he decided to stay and tinker with the numerous tiny cars post-war Italy was designing. He wanted to see how much performance could be wrung out of their teensy-weensy Fiat engines. When Abarth’s tuner shop became a company unto itself, he chose the distinctive scorpion insignia for two reasons: one, he was a Scorpio, and two, he believed the design was so strikingly ugly that nobody would try to copy it.
MAZDA
Formerly the less-than-sexily named Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. Ltd. of Hiroshima, Mazda has been selling Mazda-branded cars since 1931 under a variety of different badges. The name Mazda has two meanings. First, it is a sort of pun on the name of founder and chief engineer Jujiro Matsuda, and second, it is a reference to chief Zoroastrian god of wisdom Ahura Mazda and Matsuda’s hobby of studying obscure ancient religious. This most recent Mazda badge plays down the ancient Persian god-king stuff and represents an “M” for Mazda, the outstretched wings of a bird flying towards the future, and (because today’s Mazda leadership still shares Matsuda’s fondness for wordplay) a stylized tulip as an inside reference to the Mazda tulip varietal. Most people in America look at it and just think “owl,” however.
VOLVO
The name of famously tank-like car company Volvo may sound Swedish to the unenlightened ear, but it’s actually a Latin word meaning “I roll.” While today’s hyper-safe, low-center-of-gravity Volvo sedans and SUVs are as difficult to roll over as a sumo wrestler, the original parent company of Volvo manufactured high-quality ball bearings presumably well-known for their rollability. The big “Mars” symbol on the Volvo badge wasn’t an attempt to establish a reputation for super-butch masculinity for men driving family-oriented station wagons, but is actually a reference to the old alchemical symbol for iron, as Sweden’s massive iron and steel industries were a huge part of the original cars. If you’re feeling insecure about driving a Volvo, however, you can still pretend it symbolizes being a big manly man-man.
CADILLAC
Cadillac is named for the founder of Detroit, Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac. The original Caddy badge was a faithful reproduction of the Cadillac coat of arms: a complicated heraldic mixture of French land and bloodline symbols, military honors gained during the Crusades, and for some reason, cute little duckies. When Cadillac decided to reinvent itself in 2000 as a maker of BMW-style luxury sport sedans, the logo came in for a little reinvention as well. Designer Anne-Marie LaVerge-Webb redid the logo along the lines of Cadillacs CIEN concept and CTS production cars: sleek, angular, and devoid of cute little duckies.
MITSUBISHI
Founded in 1870, Mitsubishi is the oldest company on this list, and one of the biggest. While Americans typically think of Mitsubishi as the company behind the Lancer Evo-series rally cars and a bunch of other cars nobody cares about, the Mitsubishi Group in Japan is actually responsible for the production and sale of advanced optics, textiles, glassware, insurance, plastics, real estate, chemical plants, banking, airplanes, oil refineries, chemical reactors, and nuclear reactors, in addition to the Lancer Evo-series rally cars and a bunch of other cars nobody cares about. Mitsubishi’s iconic logo (unchanged since 1914) represents a union of the family crests of founding clans Yamauchi (three oak leaves joined at the center) and Iwasaki (three diamond-shaped water chestnuts), and the name Mitsubishi is basically the Japanese word for “three diamonds.” It's an interesting fact to ponder the next time you’re looking at a Galant or a Highlander for sale and wondering why anyone would ever buy one.
ACURA
Before 1985, there was no such thing as a Japanese luxury car in America. Japanese cars were efficient, reliable and often fun cars, but everyone thought of them as small and cheap more than anything else, and if you were looking for big comfy excess or sleek sporty expense you bought either American or German luxury brands respectively. After a year of combined engineering and marketing research, Honda decided to flip the script by opening 60 new Acura dealerships across the country stocked with the now-classic Legend sedan and Integra compact, selling 109,000 units during its first year of sales. Part of their success was due to branding. Selling what would normally be top-shelf Hondas under a new and different name disguised their car’s supposedly low-rent origins, and the name Acura itself was chosen to reflect Honda’s chief advantage over its competitors: a maniacal attention to engineering accuracy and mechanical detail. Acura’s famous “A” logo was in fact designed to resemble an engineer’s caliper, a tool used for precision measurements on blueprints and on production cars.
BMW
Bayernische Motor-Werken (Bavarian Motor Works) started in 1916 as a joint project between German engine company Rapp Motorwerken and aircraft manufacturer Bayernische Flugzeug-Werken. The company nearly ended just two years later with the signing of the Treaty of Versaille banning Germany from designing aircraft engines. After that, the company meant to design and produce aircraft engines (the blue-and-white “crosshairs” of the logo are meant to represent a blurred set of propellers at speed) found itself expanding into motorcycle and car design, often with quite impressive and race-winning results.
PORSCHE
Another German engineer that made his mark in World War II, Ferdinand Porsche went from developing tank transmissions and Jeep-like Kubelwagens to sitting in prison wondering if he was about to get shot for his role as Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen. During this time, his other company (the awkwardly named “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH”) was being run by his son, Ferry, who among lots of other pressing concerns, was annoyed that there were no sports cars available that he was interested in buying. With his father’s designs and engineering staff, Ferry went ahead and built a rear-engine prototype sports car that he presented to Porsche Sr. upon his release from prison. Delighted with Ferry’s work and also the news that he would not be executed, Porsche had his company reorganized and given a much shorter name as well as a new badge combining the coats of arms of Weimar-era German state Wuerttemberg and the bucking horse of his home town of Stuttgart. The horse motif was particularly apt given that Stuttgart’s historical occupation (and literal translation of its name) was as a stud farm, hopefully putting customers in mind of famous racing stallions and not horses constantly having sex.
FERRARI
The black stallion of Ferrari originates from the personal symbol of Francesco Baracca, top-scoring Italian fighter ace of World War I. As a daring young race driver and engineer for Alfa Romeo in 1929, Enzo Ferrari was granted the use of Baracca’s sigil by the pilot’s mother as a gift to a fellow citizen of Modena. Ferrari transposed the horse onto a golden field representing Modena’s heraldic colors. The Baracca/Modena symbol combination first appeared on Scuderia Ferrari race cars in the early ‘30s, then on Ferrari-designed race cars and sports cars after he broke away from Alfa Romeo. The symbol now can be hafoundd on a wide selection of obscenely overpriced “collectors” sunglasses, polo shirts, sneakers and umbrellas.
CHEVROLET
Louis Chevrolet actually had little to do with the early marketing of the cars that ended up bearing his name. Chevrolet, a Swiss immigrant of French descent, was an accomplished race driver for Alfa Romeo and Buick, as well as a brilliant, self-taught engineer. But the brains behind the business and marketing end of the early Chevrolet Motor Company was legendary businessman William C. Durant, who had both founded and then been kicked out of General Motors. Durant was looking for a smart, young designer to work with/exploit the hell out of. While Chevrolet busied himself with engine and chassis design, Durant was looking for graphic-design inspiration, finally finding it in the unique bowtie-shaped logo of a tiny Atlanta-based coal company. After convincing Louis that it was in fact a super-stylized Swiss cross as a nod to Chevrolet’s nation of origin, Durant started advertising with the now-famous bowtie in 1913, and the only major change to the design since then has been the deletion of the word "Chevrolet" from the center in 1985, which is somewhat fitting as Louis Chevrolet actually left his own company in 1916, citing differences with Durant’s leadership.
ALFA ROMEO
Alfa Romeo has been heavily involved in racing since 1911, a year after they were founded. Some might chalk their success up to a deeply ingrained motorsports tradition and Italian attitudes towards car design, but a more interesting theory is that each Alfa Romeo is granted terrifying occult powers by the picture of a child being devoured by a gigantic snake that appears on each of their badges.
A Milanese company, Alfa sports two traditional symbols of Milan on its badge: the red-on-white cross of the city coat of arms, and the somewhat less traditional “biscione,” a heraldic symbol of the noble Visconti family that ruled Milan in the 1200s. Believed to be a depiction of Jonah being swallowed by the Leviathan from the earliest days of Christianity, the description and symbology mutated over time to depict the rather unsettling image of a crowned serpent eating a screaming child. Is the modern Alfa Romeo best represented as the voracious mythical serpent beast destroying and devouring all in its wake, or by the tiny screaming person possibly reacting to a bill from their mechanic? We’ll only know for certain when the first Americanized Alfas show up in Chrysler showrooms this fall.
| Mazda |
"""Well Price, so Genoa and Lucca are now just familyestates of the Bonapartes"", is the first line of which novel?" | How 14 Car Companies Got Their Names | Mental Floss
How 14 Car Companies Got Their Names
Image credit:
Like us on Facebook
Most of us probably don't put too much thought into our cars' names. Sure, we'll take the wheel of a Toyota or a Chevrolet, but how did those cars pick up their monikers? Let's take a look at a few that aren't quite as obvious as the Ford name.
1. Nissan
The company we now know as Nissan got its start in 1914 as DAT Motorcar. The "DAT" name came from the first initial of the three founders' family names. In 1931, DAT introduced a new small car they called the Datson, which later morphed into "Datsun."
Meanwhile, businessman Yoshisuke Aikawa founded an industrial holding company in 1928 and named his new venture Nippon Sangyo. (The name loosely translates into "Japan Industries.") Aikawa's company bought out DAT in 1931, and eventually the Nippon Sangyo name became abbreviated as Nissan.
Some drivers may remember cruising around in Datsuns before they ever got behind the wheel of a Nissan. What prompted the name change? Until the early 1980s, the Datsun badge appeared on the cars Nissan exported out of Japan. In 1981, though, Nissan execs announced that they were changing this practice in order to strengthen global awareness of the Nissan brand. Thus, you can't buy a Datsun Z anymore, but you can get the keys to a Nissan one.
2. Toyota
Toyota didn't start out as a car company. It wasn't called Toyota, either. In 1926, Sakichi Toyoda founded the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, a company that made looms, not cars. In 1933, Toyoda's son Kiichiro started a separate motors division, and the company's cars quickly took off.
How did the name get from "Toyoda" to "Toyota," though? In 1936, the company held a competition to design a new logo, and the winner consisted of the three Japanese characters that made up the Toyoda name. However, after giving it some thought, the Toyoda family decided that the slightly tweaked "Toyota" was stronger. Writing out "Toyoda" required nine brush strokes, whereas "Toyota" only required eight, a lucky number in Japan. Plus, the name just sounded better, so Toyoda became Toyota.
3. Chrysler
Walter Chrysler probably wasn't on anyone's short list of potential moguls when he was a young man. He spent much of his youth kicking around Texas as a railroad mechanic, and although the work wasn't glamorous, he developed quite a skill set as a machinist. In 1911, the gifted 36-year-old machinist became production chief for Buick, and by 1919 he was making millions of dollars a year as head of the company.
Chrysler eventually left Buick, and after a failed attempt to take over the Willys-Overland Motor Company, he uses some of his accumulated wealth to buy a controlling interest in the floundering Maxwell Motor Company. Chrysler's new company introduced a popular car called the Chrysler in 1924, and by the next year the Maxwell name had disappeared in favor of Chrysler.
4. Honda
Honda bears the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda. Honda was a precocious mechanic who started the Honda Motor Co. Ltd. in 1946 to build small motorcycles. Although the motorcycle business got off to a slow start, by the 1960s the business had become one of the world's largest manufacturers of bikes. In 1963, Honda introduced its first production automobile, the Honda T360 pickup truck.
5. Buick
Scottish immigrant David Dunbar Buick was an inventive fellow; before he ever got into the motors game, he created a more efficient way of manufacturing enameled cast-iron bathtubs. Buick began toying with engines during the 1890s, and after starting one failed engine company, he tried again with the Buick Manufacturing Company in 1902. Buick's cars were terrific -- his pioneering use of overhead valve technology made them tough to beat -- but he had trouble actually producing and delivering them on time. As a result he always needed to find new investors to advance him cash, and eventually his company was sold out from under him to General Motors founder William C. Durant.
In 1908, Durant gave Buick the heave-ho and a $100,000 severance check. Buick tried to parlay this money into a great fortune by investing in oil fields, but he didn't have any luck. When his attempts to get back into the car business in the 1920s floundered, he ended up working as an instructor at the Detroit School of Trades. That venture didn't go so well, either; the school demoted him to receptionist. When Buick died in 1929, he was flat broke.
6. Chevrolet
Remember how William Durant forced David Buick out of Buick's own company? Karma can be rough. In 1910, Durant's own creditors forced him out of his management role at the company he started, General Motors. Durant didn't stay down for long, though. He teamed with Swiss race car driver and mechanic Louis Chevrolet to start a new motor company in 1911. The pair named the company after Chevrolet, and legend has it that they developed a logo that resembled the Swiss cross of Chevrolet's homeland. (Other stories indicate that Durant copied the bowtie logo from a French hotel's wallpaper.)
The company quickly earned the pair quite a bit of loot. Durant suddenly had enough cash to regain control of General Motors, and in 1917 GM acquired Chevrolet. Louis Chevrolet didn't do quite as well, though. He sold his share of the company to Durant in 1914, and although his career had other highlights, including a 7th-place finish at the 1919 Indianapolis 500, he never enjoyed much financial success and eventually had to return to Chevy as a consultant.
7. Dodge
Brothers John and Horace Dodge were gifted machinists who began a Michigan bicycle company in the 1890s. Eventually they sold this business and began creating transmissions for Olds in 1902 and then Ford in 1903. However, they longed to create cars of their own, so in 1913 they left their lucrative supplier positions at Ford and started working on their own car designs. The brothers' cars were soon the second-hottest sellers in the country, and they were fabulously wealthy.
8. Mercedes
In 1897, Austrian entrepreneur Emil Jellinek began ordering Daimler cars that he could drive in some of Europe's quickly growing auto races. It took a few years, but by the dawn of the 20th century, Jellinek had a number of Daimlers that he adored driving. He often raced under an assumed name when driving these cars; he took on the name of his 12-year-old daughter Mercedes. In 1900, Jellinek worked out a deal with Daimler to order 36 new cars on the condition that the cars be called Mercedes. Daimler agreed, and the famed luxury brand name was born.
9. Volvo
The Swedish automaker's name is Latin for "I roll," a conjugation of the word volvere. The company got its start as part of the Swedish ball bearing company SKF, and after SKF trademarked the Volvo name in 1915, the company planned to put the "Volvo" name on most anything that rolled, from bears to bicycles to automobiles. The plan wasn't quick to get off the ground, though; thanks to World War I, Volvo didn't actually start its car business until 1926.
And a few quick ones:
10. Cadillac: Named for Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, the French explorer who founded Detroit in the early 18th century.
11. Saab: Abbreviation of "Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolag," which is Swedish for "Swedish Airplane, Limited."
12. Volkswagen: German for "people's car."
13. Lexus: Toyota went to its ad agency and an image-consulting firm when it needed a name for its luxury division. At first, they decided on "Alexis," but it gradually evolved into Lexus.
14. Mazda: According to Mazda's website, the brand's name is borrowed from the Zoroastrian religion. Ahura Mazda is the Zoroastrian "God of reason who granted wisdom and united man, nature and the other gods."
| i don't know |
From which musical did the song 'Chim Chim Cheree' come? | Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins) Lyrics - Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic musical
Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins) lyrics
Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins) lyrics
Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins)
Bert:
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you
Or blow me a kiss and that's lucky too
Now, as the ladder of life 'as been strung
You might think a sweep's on the bottommost rung
Though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke
In this 'ole wide world there's no 'appier bloke
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you
All:
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you
Bert:
I choose me bristles with pride, yes, I do
A broom for the shaft and a brush for the flute
Up where the smoke is all billered and curled
'Tween pavement and stars is the chimney sweep world
When there's 'ardly no day nor 'ardly no night
There's things 'alf in shadow and 'alfway in light
On the rooftops of London coo, what a sight!
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
When you're with a sweep you're in glad company
Nowhere is there a more 'appier crew
Than them wot sings, "Chim chim cher-ee, chim cher-oo!"
On the
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim cher-ee, chim cher-oo!
Last Update: June, 10th 2013
| Mary Poppins |
Which 'E.L.' by the Simon Park Orchestra was No.1 in the UK for four weeks in 1973? | Mary Poppins Soundtrack Lyrics | Photocopier | Notebook
Mary Poppins Soundtrack Lyrics
Read on Scribd mobile: iPhone , iPad and Android .
Copyright: © All Rights Reserved
This action might not be possible to undo. Are you sure you want to continue?
CANCEL
We've moved you to where you read on your other device.
Get the full title to continue
Get the full title to continue reading from where you left off, or restart the preview.
Restart preview
| i don't know |
In which Dickens novel did the principal villain, 'John Carker', meet his end by falling under a train? | Four. Narrative Art
Four. Narrative Art
[ Victorian Web Home —> Authors —> Charles Dickens —> Works —> Literary Relations —> Theme and Subject ]
Charles Dickens: An Introduction to His Novels
[E. D. H. Johnson's Charles Dickens: An Introduction to His Novels originally appeared three decades ago (1969) in the paperback Random House Study in Language and Literature Series. It has been included in the Victorian web with the kind permission of the late author's family.
The original text has almost no notes. All links have been added by GPL .
Page breaks in the paperback edition have been indicated within the text by [5/6] in order to permit readers to cite original page numbers.]
Bibliographical Note
Every good actor plays direct to every good author, and every writer of fiction, though he may not adopt the dramatic form, writes in effect for the stage. — Charles Dickens, speaking at dinner for the Royal General Theatrical Fund, March 19, 1858
What is exaggeration to one class of minds and perceptions, is plain truth to another. That which is comrnonly called a long-sight, perceives in prospect innumerable features and bearings non-existent to a short-sighted person, I sometimes ask myself whether there may occasionally be a difference of this kind between some writers and some readers; whether it is always the writer who colours highly, or whether it is now and then the reader [whose eye for colour is a little dull. — Martin Chuzzlewit, Preface
. . . I work slowly and with great care, and never give way to my invention recklessly, but constantly restrain it: and . . . I think it is my infirmity to fancy or perceive relations in things which are not apparent generally. — Letter from Charles Dickens to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1865.
ickens was first and foremost a storyteller. It was do that he thought of himself; it was so that he was regarded by the contemporary public for which, in the first instance, he wrote; and it is here that any critical examination of his achievement must begin. Like Shakespeare's plays, Dickens' novels are extraordinarily impure, in the sense that the writers of both were subject to many influences and were wholly unpredictable in their ways of amalgamating these influences into works perfectly unique in their kind. Dickens' reading, although wider than is generally recognized, was undiscriminating. His novels assume familiarity with those great repositories of English folk wisdom the Bible; fairy tales, fables, and nursery rhymes; The Pilgrim's Progress; Robinson Crusoe. From his earliest years he had accepted as mentors the eighteenth-century novelists and essayists, Smollett, Fielding, Sterne, Addison, Steele, and Goldsmith. His knowledge of the drama was encyclopedic, extending from Shakespeare, whom he had by heart, down to the pantomime s, burlesques, and extravaganzas which formed the staples of the Victorian popular theater and to the love of which his writings constantly bear witness. In addition, he owes [79/80] a manifest debt to sources as disparate as the Arabian Nights, the Gothic romance, Scott, and Carlyle . Like Shakespeare again, however, what Dickens appropriated, he made so much his own that source studies are of limited validity in accounting for his artistic development. For was he ever much given to theorizing about his art. His correspondence and working notes relate, as a general rule, to the practical problems of planning the works in hand and accommodating them to the requirements of serialization.
Dickens' mastery over his medium is the record of his growth from a remarkably fecund improviser whose panoramic stories were presented as a series of discrete episodes to a writer capable of incorporating segments of narrative into complex, but tightly articulated, wholes. The conditions of publication in monthly or weekly installments discouraged, of course, unified plotting; and the two Prefaces to Pickwick Papers , the One for the first edition of 1837, the other for the "Cheap'' edition of 1847, show awareness of this fact. The original Preface readily grants the episodic nature of the work for which he had contracted:
The author's object in this work, was to place before the reader a constant succession of characters and incidents; to paint them in as vivid colours as he could command; and to render them, at the same time, life-like and amusing.
When, however, Dickens refers back to this Preface a decade later, he does so on a note of apology. Admitting that "no ingenuity of plot was attempted, or even at that time Considered very feasible by the author in connexion with the desultory mode of publication adopted," he goes on to confess, in the light of intervening "experience and study," that he "could [80/81] perhaps wish now that these chapters were strung together on a stronger thread of general interest...."
A letter to his early friend Thomas Mitton, written in 1839 while he was at work on Nicholas Nickleby, clearly shows the dilemma in which the writer found himself between the conception of each monthly part as a self-contained unit and broader concern for totality of effect:
I am doing the Snail at present — not the Railroad, and if I finish the next No. by next Saturday shall consider myself well off. The devil of it is, that I am afraid I must spoil a number now and then, for the sake of the book. It's a hard case, but I ought to be hard as iron to my own inclinations and do so.
The desire "to shorten the intervals of communication between himself and his readers," which led Dickens to embark in 1840 on Master Humphrey's Clock, did not at first seem incompatible with his artistic goals. The Preface expresses the intention: "In the execution of this weekly task, to have as much regard as its exigencies would permit, to each story as a whole, and to the possibility of its publication at some distant day, apart from the machinery in which it had its origin." The frustrations encountered in adapting The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge to weekly installments led, however, to second thoughts; and Dickens' announcement in October 1841 that he was discontinuing Master Humphrey's Clock is an important manifesto of his increasing preoccupation with narrative continuity:
I should not regard the anxiety, the close confinement, or the constant attention, inseparable from the weekly form of publication (for to commune with you in any form, is to me a labour of love), if I had found it advantageous to the conduct of my stories, the elucidation of [81/82] my meaning, or the gradual development of my characters. But I have not done so. I have often felt cramped and confined in a very irksome and harassing degree, by the space in which I have been constrained to move. I have wanted you to know more at once than I could tell you; and it has frequently been of the greatest importance to my cherished intention, that you should do so. I have been sometimes strongly tempted ( and have been at some pains to resist the temptation) to hurry incidents on, lest they should appear to you who waited from week to week, and had not, like me, the result and purpose in your minds, too long delayed. In a word, I have found this form of publication most anxious, perplexing, and difficult. I cannot bear these jerking confidences which are no sooner begun than ended, and no sooner ended than begun again.
Many passages in a tale of any length, depend materially for their interest on the intimate relation they bear to what has gone before, or to what is to follow. I sometimes found it difficult when I issued thirty-two closely printed pages once a month, to sustain in your mind this needful connexion; in the present form of publication it is often, especially in the first half of a story, quite impossible to preserve it sufficiently through the current numbers. And although in my progress I am gradually able to set you right, and to show what my meaning has been, and to work it out, I sec no reason why you should ever be wrong when I have it in my power, by resorting to a better means of communication between us, to prevent it.
The ensuing novel in monthly parts, Martin Chuzzlewit, was the first to be organized around a central theme, that of egoism. The resultant necessity for planning in advance had significant implications for the serial method, as the author acknowledged in his Preface to the completed work:
I have endeavoured in the progress of this Tale, to resist the temptation of the current Monthly Number, and to keep a steadier eye upon the general purpose and design. [82/83] With this object in views I have put a strong constraint upon myself from time to time, in many places; and I hope the story is the better for it, now.
Henceforth the demands of overall form were to take priority over the balance and proportion of individual parts whenever the two came into conflict. The original Preface of Little Dorrit, for example, makes to the reader the following plea for suspended judgment:
I have been occupied with this story, during many working hours of two years. I must have been very ill employed, if I could not leave its merits and demerits as a whole, to express themselves on its being read as a whole. But, as it is not unreasonable to suppose that I may have held its various threads with a more continuous attention than anyone else can have given them during its desultory publication, it is not unreasonable to ask that the weaving may be looked at in its completed state, and with the pattern finished.
And the Postscript to Our Mutual Friend still more emphatically underscores the author's attention to unity of design:
To keep for a long time unsuspected, yet always working itself out, another purpose originating in that leading incident, and turning it to a pleasant and useful account at last, was at once the most interesting and the most difficult part of my design. Its difficulty was much enhanced by the mode of publication; for it would be very unreasonable to expect that many readers, pursuing a story in portions from month to month through nineteen months, will, until they have it before them complete, perceive the relations of its finer threads to the whole pattern which is always before the eyes of the Story-weaver at his loom.
The vocabulary which Dickens habitually employs to describe his narrative methods is extremely revealing [83/84] In contrast to such novelists as Samuel Richardson or Jane Austen or George Eliot or Henry James, he never seeks even in his most mature work to create the impression that his plots evolve by their own impetus out of an inner logic of events. Form and meaning do not organically coalesce; rather they are related through a process of deliberate and overt manipulation. To recur to Dickens' chosen analogy, the themes of the later novels provide the warp or groundwork through which the artist threads an intricate pattern of interlocking episodes to impose the desired completeness and finality of design.
Dickens' fiction stems from the mingling of epic and dramatic elements which imparted to the English novel its characteristic form in the eighteenth century. Translated into prose narrative, the epic, beginning with Cervantes, issues in all the many varieties of the picaresque tale. The novel's debt to drama is equally manifest, whether in the broadly farcical scenes of Fielding and Smollett or the obvious dependence of the sensation novelists on stage melodrama. By temperament and experience Dickens was receptive to both traditional strains. His life as a journalist prepared him to emulate the great writers of the previous century who ranged so broadly in recording the spectacle of contemporary life, just as his passion for the theater encouraged the tendency, in Ruskin 's phrase, "to speak in a circle of stage fire."
In popular narrative and dramatic modes, then, Dickens found forms of expression conformable to his imaginative vision; and he set out to perfect a manner of his own through experimentation with their possibilities. The first six novels, from Pickwick Papers to Martin Chuzzlewit, however original in substance, are all more or less derivative in form, and exemplify the writer's efforts to assimilate to his expanding purposes [84/85] literary fashions of proven appeal to the mass of novel-readers and theater-goers.
Dickens' indebtedness to the fiction of Defoe, Smollett, and Fielding is reflected in the titles of many of his early stories, named after the heroes whose careers they ostensibly set forth, as well as in the elaborate and teasing chapter headings which occur as late as Dombey and Son. Again, in the manner of the picaresque tale, extensive portions of these works are taken up with the protagonists' wanderings on journeys that offer a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of adventures, inviting every kind of treatment, whether satiric, burlesque, sentimental, or pathetic. If Pickwick, at least at the start, is the Quixotically lovable middle-aged buffoon, Nicholas Nickleby and Martin Chuzzlewit represent bland versions of the youthful rogue. And just as Pickwick has his Sancho Panza in Sam Weller, so Nicholas and Martin are accompanied by their youthful servitors, Smike and Mark Tapley. Dickens even takes over from Cervantes and his followers the device of interpolated tales to lend tonal variety to Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby.
Because of its episodic nature can be adapted to a wide spectrum of subject matter. Dickens notably extended its range to make room for his love of the fabulous. This is particularly evident in his use of motifs from folklore which add a fairy-tale dimension to so many of his novels. A related aspect of the writer's practice evokes an allegorical or exemplary frame of reference. The original title, Oliver Twist, or, the Parish Boy's Progress, indicates the author's debt to Bunyan in that work. Introducing Nell to the reader, Master Humphrey remarks that "she seemed to exist in a kind of allegory," and her wayfaring is several times likened to a pilgrimage.
The dissatisfaction which Dickens early felt with [84/85] the random and inconsecutive nature of the picaresque manner is apparent, however, from his efforts to give his stories greater cohesiveness. The nine intercalated tales in Pickwick Papers are so placed as to provide a somber commentary on the leading episodes in the main action; and all readers have observed that Pickwick's imprisonment in the Fleet signalizes a notable tightening of narrative control. In Nicholas Nickleby, which includes only two incidental tales, a counterpointing effect is achieved through the double story line, the hero's exploits being with some consistency played off against his sister's misadventures. In The Old Curiosity Shop the author was clearly endeavoring to combine the narrative sweep of Pickwick Papers with the denser atmospheric unity of Oliver Twist; and while there is still a want of tonal consistency, a measure of continuity accrues from the author's use of the chase to create suspense, as Nell flies from the city to escape Quilp. In his choice of ran historical setting for Barnaby Rudge, Dickens was, at least in part, motivated by the desire to rival Scott; and the example of the earlier novelist was beneficial to the extent that the Gordon Riots provided occasion for a sustained display of descriptive virtuosity unparalleled in the writer's previous work. With Martin Chuzzlewit, finally, Dickens discovered how to hold in tension the diverse elements of a many-faceted story by associating them with a single theme. Bondage to self unites narrative strands as divergent as Martin's deluded excursion to the United States, Pecksniff's hypocritical dodges, Tigg's bold-faced chicanery, and Mrs. Gamp's histrionic antics.
Like Fielding's, Dickens' manner is primarily scenic, originating in a sure feeling for theatrical effects. The opening of Chapter 17 of Oliver Twist succinctly [86/87] summarizes the characteristics of contemporary melodrama. The passage begins:
It is the custom on the stage, in all good murderous melodramas, to present the tragic and comic scenes, in as regular alternation, as the layers of red and white in a side of streaky bacon. The hero sinks upon his straw bed, weighed down by fetters and misfortunes; in the next scene, his faithful but unconscious squire regales the audience with a comic song. We behold, with throbbing bosoms, the heroine in the grasp of a proud and ruthless baron her virtue and her life alike in danger, drawing forth her dagger to preserve the one at the cost of the other; and just as our expectations are wrought up to the highest pitch, a whistle is heard, and we are straightway transported to the great hall of the castle: where a greyheaded seneschal sings a funny chorus with a funnier body of vassals, who are free of all sorts of places, from church vaults to palaces, and roam about in company, caroling perpetually.
The ensuing paragraph goes on to suggest that these abrupt changes are more in the habitual course of things than living actors on the stage of life are apt to realize:
Such changes appear absurd; but they are not so unnatural as they would seem at first sight. The transitions in real life from well-spread boards to death-beds, and from mourning-weeds to holiday garments, are not a whit less startling; only, there, we are busy actors, instead of passive lookers-on, which makes a vast difference. The actors in the mimic life of the theatre, are blind to violent transitions and abrupt impulses of passion or feeling, which, presented before the eyes of mere spectators, are at once condemned as outrageous and preposterous.
The early novels are remarkable for individual scenes; and the fact that this is so is owing to their dramatic [87/88] conception. Oliver in the poorhouse asking for a second helping of gruel and the death of Sikes linger in memory after all the contrivances on which the plot of Oliver Twist hinges have gone out of mind. The "streaky bacon" alternations to which Dickens refers are exemplified in the opening of Nicholas Nickleby where, by the most abrupt of transitions, the hero moves from Dotheboys Hall to Vincent Crummles' strolling troupe. Of Dickens' genius for hilariously comic episodes it is hardly necessary to speak. Every reader will have his own favorites: the trial in Pickwick Papers, Mrs. Nickleby's wooing by "the gentleman next door," Pecksniff's drunken frolic at Todgers's. But the primary importance of scene as a structural unit in Dickens' early fiction is still better illustrated by the great passages of melodramatic action to which the stories build through mounting suspense.
Dickens was fascinated by violence from childhood, when his nurse fed his imagination with blood-curdling yarns. He told Forster of the avidity with which later during schooldays he devoured "penny dreadfuls":
I used, when I was at school, to take in the Terrific Register, making myself unspeakable miserable, and frightening my very wits out of my head, for the small charge of a penny weekly; which considering that there was an illustration to every number, in which there was always a pool of blood, and at least one body, was cheap.
And Edmund Wilson in his psychoanalytic discussion of Dickens' writings discerns in the macabre tales in Pickwick Papers early evidence of the novelist's lifelong obsession with the workings of the criminal mind. It may be that this side of Dickens' nature speaks with special cogency to the lawless and unprincipled modern world which has shown a disposition to accept the [88/89]
prevalence of bloodshed and cruelty in these novels, while rejecting everything that smacks of sentimentality or pathos. However this may be, there can be no disputing the absolute scenic mastery demonstrated in many of the great set pieces of the early novels: the death of Sikes, Jonas Chuzzlewit's murder of Tigg, the burning of the Warren and of Newgate in Barnaby Rudge.
In calling on the conventional artifices of melodramatic plotting, Dickens was endeavoring to replace the straight linear progression of the picaresque tale with a more involved type of narrative, as a comparison of Oliver Twist with Pickwick Papers makes clear. Nevertheless, no amount of stage machinery can disguise the absence of organic structure in the early stories. Dickens' second novel originates in the declared purpose "to show the principle of Good surviving through every adverse circumstance." Oliver is the first embodiment of a conception to which his creator was to return more than once — the lost child; and the sequence of episodes which subjects the helpless boy to one malignant environment after another could hardly be bettered. The eventual working out of his fortunes is, however, outrageously fabricated. Monks' villainy, with the accompanying business of hidden identities, concealed relationships, and destroyed wills, illustrates every excess of the sensation novel; and the counteracting forces of good, vested in Mr. Brownlow and the Maylies, operate in an equally preposterous way. A similar theme inspired The Old Curiosity Shop, in the Preface to which the author states:
. . . in writing the book, I had it always in my fancy to surround the lonely figure of the child with grotesque and wild, but not impossible, companions, and to gather about [79/80] her innocent face and pure intentions, associates as strange and uncongenial as the grim objects that are about her bed when her history is first foreshadowed.
Here again the stark black and white division of the moral world between the contending forces of vice and virtue falsifies Nell's ordeal. Quilp's monstrous hounding of the heroine seems largely gratuitous, and save for excruciating the reader's emotions, it is difficult to see what purpose is served by her death. Although in Barnaby Rudge sons are uniformly victimized by their fathers, the pattern of parental oppression so central to Dickens' later themes has no radical connection with the development of the story.
Oliver and Nell and Barnaby are passive under their misfortunes. They are the occasion for good or evil actions by others, but do not themselves initiate P any significant developments in their respective-stories. Nicholas Nickleby and Martin Chuzzlewit are equally vapid — colorless transcriptions of the picaresque prototype. Nicholas is, by and large, the author's agent for passing in review various conditions of contemporary life about which he was moved to write. Ralph Nickleby's plot to betray Kate to Sir Mulberry Hawk, which only tangentially involves Nicholas, is a stock situation to create additional suspense, and the same is true of the tawdry intrigue relating to Madeline and Gride. In this novel more than any other the reader senses a lack of narrative direction. Through long sections the author is simply applying the familiar formula for melodrama: "Make 'em laugh; make 'em cry; make 'em wait." The incidents in Martin Chuzzlewit are more closely linked by the encompassing theme. Young Martin's hardships in America, for example, instill in him a new regard to the well-being of others. The role [90/91] of the protagonist, however, is peripheral to nearly all of the striking scenes. Indeed, remarking on the novel's Jonsonian ground plan, Forster writes that "the notion of taking Pecksniff for a type of character was really the origin of the book; the design being to show, more or less by every person introduced, the number and variety of humours and vices that have their root in selfishness." And finally, Barnaby Rudge sets up two discrete stories, since the lurid murder mystery adumbrated in the first half has no real bearing on the spectacular treatment of the mob scenes which follow.
Before leaving the subject, something should be said about the relationship between Dickens' fictional practices and the popular dramatic entertainments of the day. The middle-class audience which crowded into the vast Victorian theaters was the same public that eagerly awaited the numbers of Nicholas Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop; and the problems of communication across the footlights or by the printed word were in many respects the same. For the motley offerings of the pantomimes, burlesques, extravaganzas, and melodramas which captured the fancy of contemporary theater-goers, Dickens substituted the equally varied fare of his packed installments. And just as writers for the stage used stock characters and situations, bold contrasts of mood ranging from buffoonery to pathos and horror, broadly stylized mannerisms of gesture and speech, and elaborate settings and tricks of stagecraft, so Dickens exploited their counterparts in his stories. Since each section of narrative must make an immediate impact, like a self-contained but tonally diversified skit, but since there was as well the necessity of sustaining interest from week to week or month to month, he appropriated from the stage a vast repertory of artifices to create expectation of what was to come [91/92] and to facilitate the retention of what had already taken place. To his reliance on the familiar intrigues of farce and melodrama with their parallel situations and duplicating episodes should be added such additional devices, more particularly associated with characterization, as tag lines, eccentricities of dress and manner, and the display of conventionalized affectations all designed to promote the reader's continuing involvement in the story.
In summary, the first decade of Dickens' literary career, during which he wrote six novels, was a period of constant experimentation, when he explored his narrative talents under the influence of prevalent modes in fiction and the drama. He had yet to achieve the consistency of attitude toward his material which would enable him to coordinate his storytelling skills in unified imaginative creations. This all-important stage in his development came during the 1840S with the deepening of his social consciousness, brought about in part by participation in public life, but inspired as well by the contagious zeal of such reformers as Carlyle. Dombey and Son is the first of Dickens' novels to project a unitary view of society in terms of class structure. The relevance of this view to the novelist's social criticism has been often remarked; but less attention has been paid to its artistic implications, particularly as affecting the organization of his narratives.
Dombey and Son, like its predecessors, has the breadth of focus that was the heritage of the picaresque tradition; but here the action is more purposefully controlled by its setting amidst the conditions of contemporary life. The theme is pride, as egoism was of Martin Chuzzlewit; but whereas in the previous work the governing vice is largely divorced from historical context, Dombey's pride is an inseparable component [92/93] of his mentality as a representative of the commercial middle class. Contrary to his usual practice, Dickens outlined to Forster his plans for the new novel. This passage provides unmistakable evidence that the writer had come to feel the need for working out his story in advance, and also indicates his progress toward a more organic concept of plot structure:
I design to show Mr. D. with that one idea of the Son taking firmer and firmer possession of him, and swelling and bloating his pride to a prodigious extent. As the boy begins to grow up, I shall show him quite impatient for his getting on, and urging his masters to set him great tasks, and the like. But the natural affection of the boy will turn to the despised sister; and I purpose showing her learning all sorts of things, of her own application and determination, to assist him in his lessons: and helping him always. When the boy is about ten years old (in the fourth number), he will be taken ill, and will die; and when he is ill, and when he is dying, I mean to make him turn always for refuge to the sister still, and keep the stern affection of the father at a distance. So Mr. Dombey — for all his greatness, and for all his devotion to the child — will find himself at arms' length from him even then, and will see that his love and confidence are all bestowed upon his sister, whom Mr. Dombey has used — and so has the boy himself too, for that matter — as a mere convenience and handle to him. The death of the boy is a death-blow, of course, to all the father's schemes and cherished hopes and "Dombey and Son," as Miss Tox will say at the end of the number, "is a Daughter after all." . . . From that time, I purpose changing his feeling of indifference and uneasiness towards his daughter into a positive hatred. For he will always remember how the boy had his arm round her neck when he was dying, and whispered to her, and would take things only from her hand, and never thought of him. . . At the same time I shall change her feeling towards him for one of a greater desire to love him, and to be loved by him; engendered in her compassion for his loss, and her love for the dead boy whom, in his way, he loved so well too. So I mean to carry the story on, [93/94] through all the branches and off-shoots and meanderings that come up; and through the decay and downfall of the house, and the bankruptcy of Dombey, and all the rest of it; when his only staff and treasure, and his unknown Good Genius always, will be this rejected daughter, who will come out better than any son at last, and whose love for him, when discovered and understood, will be his bitterest reproach. For the struggle with himself, which goes on in all such obstinate natures, will have ended then, and the sense of his injustice, which you may be sure has never quitted him, will have at last a gentler office than of only making him more harshly unjust.... I rely very much on Susan Nipper grown up, and acting partly as Florence's maid, and partly as a kind of companion to her, for a strong character throughout the book. I also rely on the Toodles, and on Polly, who like everybody else will be found by Mr. Dombey to have gone over to his daughter and become attached ro her. This is what cooks call "the stock of the soup." All kinds of things will be added to it, of course.
The foregoing summary, it will be noted, includes no reference to Dombey's second marriage, or to Carker's role in the downfall of his fortunes; but these later developments are a natural enough outgrowth of the initial design. The same aggressive and coldly materialistic class-consciousness, which leads Dombey systematically to destroy his children's lives, carries over to his calculated cheapening of the marriage bond. That the two motifs were from the outset connected in the author s mind is apparent from Hablot Browne's cover design, which Dickens referred to as "shadowing out [the] drift and bearing" of his novel.
In his recipe for what he called "the stock of the soup," Dickens announced that "all kinds of things would be added"; and reporting progress to Forster he jubilantly stated: "I think Dombey very strong — with great capacity in its leading idea; plenty of character that is likely to tell; and some rollicking facetiousness, [94/95] to say nothing of pathos." In other words, the author did not find increasing care for total design incommensurate with the demands of the individual parts. Although some memoranda for The Old Curiosity Shop and for two issues of Martin Chuzzlewit survive, Dombey and Son is apparently the first novel for which Dickens consistently prepared working notes, as was to be his habit for all subsequent works except A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. These number plans, indispensable for the study of Dickens' authorial habits in the later stages of his career, are described in Dickens at Work by Professors Butt and Tillotson, and in Dickens Romancier by Professor Sylvère Monod. Of their general purpose the authors of the former volume have written:
These were the kind of notes which experience showed that his system of publication and his manner of work required of him. They do not determine the pattern of the novel, they do not define the path of the story, but they ensure that, the pattern once determined, the threads do nor go awry, and, the path once set, there is no serious deviation in a course of as much as nineteen months. Furthermore, they have an abiding interest in that they shed light on the design in the pattern and serve to show the measure of control which Dickens exercised.
Dickens followed a uniform procedure in his notations for works in progress. They were entered on the facing halves of a folded sheet of paper. The right-hand side, serving what has been called "the recording function," usually contains a chapter-by-chapter summary of the principal episodes of the installment. The left-hand space, reserved for "the planning function," sheds much more light on the creative process itself. Here the author deliberates over a large variety of practical considerations with regard to the handling of [95/96] his story. The jottings include catch phrases and hints for motifs still to be developed, trial versions of characters' names and directions for their entrances and exits, speculations about the placing and structuring of incidents. Frequently the memoranda take the form of self-queries, as the writer debates the immediate use, postponement, or rejection of material, alternate ways of presenting it, questions of emphasis and tone. The evidence provided by the number plans that Dickens was learning to make each strand in his stories contributory to the total design is corroborated by his treatment of the two most sensational happenings in Dombey and Son, the deaths of Paul Dombey and Carker. Mrs. Dombey's demise in the first chapter foreshadows and sets the stage for that of Paul. Not only does the dying mother turn from her husband to her daughter for final consolation, but the moment of death introduces the metaphor of mutability which dominates Paul's dying fancies: "Thus, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the world." The notes for Chapter l4 state: "Paul's illness only expressed in the child's own feelings. News of Paul's illness. No. Not otherwise described." Dickens thus compels the reader to identify himself with the boy's own point of view as his life flows away. This technique, combined with the obvious centrality of the event in the unfolding plot, relieves the passage of much of the sentimental irrelevance of Nell's death. Carker's melodramatic end goes far to atone for the egregiously stilted encounter between him and Edith Dombey at Dijon, which was, as has been said, an afterthought on the author's part. From early in the story the railway has been established as a second and more violent image of change; and indeed, in Chapter 20, describing Dombey's dreary rail journey to Leamington, [96/97] it is explicitly apostrophized as "the remorseless monster, Death." There is, then, perfect dramatic appropriateness in its evocation as the nemesis on which Carker rushes, the more so since the reader accompanies that character on his baffled flight, subjectively sharing the accelerating impressions that anticipate the catastrophe. Dickens' choice of first-person narrative for his next novel, David Copperfield, may have been in part influenced, as has been said, by Charlotte Brontë's brilliant success with the same mode in Jane Eyre the preceding year. Both stories trace the stages leading to the protagonists' discovery of their true identities; and Jane and David undergo similar ordeals entailing loss of innocence through revolt against injustice and banishment from their homes. By consistently assuming his hero's point of view Dickens is able to impart a new element of psychological continuity to the picaresque form, indeed to invest it with the continuity of the Bildungsroman . An early critic in the Perspective Review (1851) acutely remarked of David Copperfield:
by the adoption of this difficult form of writing the author has secured a unity and completeness which we have never seen equalled in a serial tale. It is in truth a very fine specimen of constructive skill. Complicated as the story is, and numerous as are the characters, all flows naturally from the mouth of the narrator, never leaving us to wonder how he got his information, and scarcely ever encumbered with devices to supply the gaps in his personal knowledge. Wonderfully well has the author succeeded in identifying himself with his principal personage. Every line is coloured with the hues of memory, and the subdued tone of a distant view is given to the whole....
In addition, "the blending of experience and imagination," which David says is inseparable from the act of [97/98] remembering, introduces a still more comprehensive unity of the order of myth. For all their vivid actuality, David's recollections of his childhood at Blunderstone Rookery, of his visits to Peggotty's boathouse, of his flight to Betsey Trotwood, of his schooldays at Rochester, and of his marriage to Dora create an aura of fantasy akin to the fairy-tale world with which these passages are so constantly associated. To achieve this atmospheric consistency Dickens subtly manipulates the time sequence to produce a kind of double focus. The reader is at once with the experiencing youth (note, for example, the four retrospective chapters told in the present tense) and with the mature man who assesses the meaning of these experiences. As the gap between past and present closes, the life pattern assumes coherence. It is not until Chapter 45, and even then only through vicarious involvement in the Strongs' marital affairs, that David becomes aware of the need to discipline the heart's impulses and so arrives at full self-knowledge.
Steerforth's role in David Copperfield posed the additional problem of reconciling two separate stories. In contrast to the relationships which directly affect David's growth to maturity, the portions of the tale treating Emily's seduction and its aftermath lack conviction. A number of scenes (of which the confrontation between Emily and Rosa Dartle is the most obtrusive example) are in the worst melodramatic manner of the early novels, since they attempt to coerce sympathy on grounds that have been insufficiently prepared. There are indications, however, that Dickens was beginning to work his way toward the kind of plot, later to be perfected, in which the action itself would become the principal means of elucidating theme. The sea, invoked metaphorically in Dombey and Son to foretell Paul's death, is translated in David Copperfield [98/99] into the agent of retributive justice. As Peggotty prepares to set out in search of Emily, a significant exchange takes place between David and Ham. The latter has fallen into a reverie; and when David asks what he is thinking about, the mariner replies:
"On what's afore me, Mas'r Davy; and over yon."
"On the life before you, do you mean?" He had pointed confusedly out to sea.
"Ay, Mas'r Davy. I doen't rightly know how 'tis, but from over yon there seemed to me to come — the end of it like;" looking at me as if he were waking, but with the same determined face.
"What end?" I asked, possessed by my former fear.
"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "I was calling to mind that the beginning of it all did take place here — and then the end come...."
"The remembrance of this . . . ," David adds, "haunted me at intervals, even until the inexorable end came at its appointed time." Steerforth's death in the grand storm scene in Chapter 55 thus seems in no sense coincidental, but rather the terminal link in a predestined chain of cause and effect. Furthermore, the narrator's memories have been ironically ordered to forecast this denouement. The concluding paragraphs of Chapters 6 and 29 present David's view of Steerforth in precisely the posture, head on arm, in which the waves leave his drowned body on the beach at Yarmouth .
Bleak House is in many ways the masterpiece of Dickens' narrative art. For this novel the author undertook to fuse the methods of Dombey and Son and David Copperfield. The all-pervasive evil emanating from the legal case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is objectively presented by an impersonal narrator. The blighting influence of this evil on the individual lives involved in the case is rendered in the first-person account [99/100] of Esther Summerson. Of the 67 chapters, 33 or almost exactly half are given to Esther, while the omniscient speaker reserves the remaining 34 for himself. So skillfully are the two points of view spliced that they occur in alternation in fourteen of the twenty monthly parts. Only one installment is wholly devoted to Esther's narrative, and five to that of the commentator.
The omniscient voice speaks in the present tense. The dramatic potentialities of this mode Dickens exploits with extraordinary mastery in such chapters as that describing Captain Hawdon's death, where the reader, unaware of what lies in store, proceeds through accumulating suspense to the horrible revelation. Scenes are discontinuous, spatially related in shifting patterns that create a kaleidoscopic effect. The action advances by a process of episodic intensification. Thus, Chapter 3, in which Esther is smitten with smallpox, is immediately followed by the description of Krook's incineration; and Jo's pathetic death and Tulkinghorn's murder occur in successive chapters. Both pairs of dramatic events take place within single installments, furthermore, so that the full impact aimed at in juxtaposing these climactic scenes came across to the original readers. Bleak House is the first of Dickens' novels to postulate a completely organic view of society. The arrangement of episodes reinforces in narrative terms the impression of interconnectedness accruing from the web of character relationships and the points of identity between the various settings. It has been objected that too much of the action is fortuitous. Gissing , for example, wrote:
In the fable of Bleak House there is much ingenuity, but an almost total disregard of probability; the fitting of [99/100] incidents suggests a mechanical puzzle rather than the complications of human life, arbitrary coincidence takes the place of well-contrived motive, and at times the motive suggested is glaringly inadequate.
Yet, when so much is accidental, the reader's normal concern for verisimilitude is suspended. Dickens, indeed, viewed the world as a place where individual destinies constantly intersect under the inscrutable dispensations of chance. Forster states that the writer often spoke of "his favorite theory as to the smallness of the world, and how things and persons apparently the most unlikely to meet were continually knocking up against each other." And in another place Dickens' biographer remarks:
On the coincidences, resemblances, and surprises of life Dickens liked especially to dwell, and few things moved his fancy so pleasantly. The world, he would say, was so much smaller than we thought it; we were all so connected by fate without knowing it; people supposed to be far apart were so constantly elbowing each other; and tomorrow bore so close a resemblance to nothing half so much as yesterday.
In Dickens' world, however, the apparent randomness of existence conceals an underlying providence. Although the earlier novels frequently hint at this belief, it was as yet unembodied in credible actions. "How all things come about!" cries Monks when he is unmasked; and Dickens comments in Martin Chuzzlewit on "the remorseless course" of the history which he is unfolding. Not before Bleak House, however, does the writer succeed in creating a machinery of events so intermeshed that it needs only to be set in motion to operate with something of the inevitability of fate in classical drama.
Of the plotting of Bleak House Forster, who so [101/102] often anticipates the findings of later critics, has this to say:
Nothing is introduced at random, everything tends to the catastrophe, the various lines of the plot converge and fir to its center, and to the larger interest all the rest is irresistibly drawn. The heart of the story is a Chancery suit. On this the plot hinges; and on incidents connected with it, trivial or important, the passion and suffering turn exclusively. Chance words, or the deeds of chance people, to appearance irrelevant, are found everywhere influencing the course taken by a train of incidents of which the issue is life or death, happiness or misery, to men and women perfectly unknown to them, and to whom they are unknown.
The aptness of this judgment could be substantiated by innumerable episodes in the novel; but two, bearing on the exposure of Lady Dedlock's guilt, will suffice for illustrative purposes. The chase, proverbially one of the surest devices for building suspense, has rarely been employed more adeptly than in Bleak House. Alerted by different clues, coincidentally discovered, and motivated by wholly different aims, Guppy and Tulkinghorn are unwittingly pitted against each other on the trail of the unhappy woman. On the verge of discovery Lady Dedlock is saved from each of her persecutors by the intervention of violent death, first Krook's, then Tulkinghorn's. But the pursuit is immediately taken over by Bucket and Esther who follow her to her own death. A different train of circumstances unites Lady Dedlock's fate with two beings at the very farthest remove from her in the social scale — Jo, the despised crossing-sweeper, and Jenny, the brickmaker's wife. In the workings of the plot these characters become the agents of a transcendent moral purpose which dooms those who deny the sacred impulses of the heart. For Jo and Jenny had been kindly [102/103] treated by Captain Hawdon and Esther, the lover and child whom Lady Dedlock has rejected.
In contrast to the concept of an inexorably stern providence, Esther through her narrative represents the presence of loving compassion imminent in the human spirit. Whereas Dickens as omniscient recorder savagely excoriates social oppression, Esther speaking in her own person voices a counterbalancing sympathy with the victims of all such oppression. Since she is looking back on events that occurred seven years before, her recollections oppose a temporal dimension to the spatial pattern of dovetailing episodes in the historical present. Happenings which seem discontinuous and coincidental when viewed objectively offer in Esther's perspective the appearance of a sequential and causally ordered progression. As she remarks with reference to Ada's mute suffering over Richard's involvement in Chancery proceedings: ". . . I observed it in many slight particulars which were nothing in themselves and only became something when they were pieced together." Early in the story John Jarndyce admonishes Richard: 'Trust in nothing but Providence and your own efforts. Never separate the two...." Although one may take exception to Esther's saccharine naivete, so typical of Dickens' girl heroines, it is her cooperant will which infuses the redemptive power of love into the wasteland of Bleak House, as Charley and Jenny, Caddy Jellyby and Ada Clare are present to attest.
Admittedly something of a tour de force in its split narrative technique, Bleak House heralds further experimentation with methods of shaping and integrating the multifarious materials of Dickens' fiction into harmonious wholes. The slips on which the author wrote the periodic installments of his stories reveal that by the time of Martin Chuzzlewit he no [103/104] longer trusted the improvisatorial facility of the early years and that the act of composition was becoming an altogether more laborious business. Hereafter, each successive manuscript, together with the number plans, bears evidences of the increasingly stringent artistic demands which Dickens made on himself. Of Our Mutual Friend, his last complete work, he wrote to Forster: "I have grown hard to satisfy, and write very slowly." The change is graphically illustrated by two facsimiles reproduced in Forster's Life, the one of a slip from Oliver Twist sent to the printer almost without revision, the other of the final completed page of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, so heavily scored over and interlineated as to be almost illegible.
The biography also gives telltale listings of the various titles for his books which Dickens mulled over from David Copperfield on. He found it difficult to embark on a new story until he had decided what it was to be called; and the alternate names, suggestive of different approaches and emphases, clearly indicate that this hesitation resulted from the need to have a clear plan in mind. In making memoranda for the second number of Hard Times, Dickens concluded that the action of this novel logically fell into three divisions, which were entitled "Sowing," "Reaping," and "Garnering" when the work was published in its entirety. All subsequent novels were mapped out in books or parts; and a statement about Great Expectations shows that Dickens had come to regard these structural units as integral to the total design: "It is a pity that the third portion cannot be read all at once, because its purpose would be much more apparent; and the pity is the greater, because the general turn and tone of the working out and winding up, will be away from all such things as they conventionally go."
In contrast to earlier works, the opening scenes [104/105] of the later novels exhibit a confident artistry, further indicative of scrupulous forethought. They not only announce leading themes for subsequent development, but also immediately and dramatically enlist the reader's interest in series of events, the resolution of which may be withheld for many hundreds of pages. Especially noteworthy is the first chapter of Our Mutual Friend, which presents Lizzie Hexam rowing her father along the Thames in pursuit of his ghastly traffic in drowned corpses. The girl's obvious repugnance to his calling draws from Gaffer the following complaint:
"How can you be so thankless to your best friend, Lizzie? The very fire that warmed you when you were a baby, was picked out of the river alongside the coal barges. The very basket that you slept in, the tide washed ashore. The very rockers that I put it upon to make a cradle of it, I cut out of a piece of wood that drifted from some ship or another."
But Lizzie will have better reasons for being grateful for her early apprenticeship to the Thames; for the skill in boat-handling then acquired enables her at the climax of the story to retrieve Eugene's battered body from its waters. Dickens' notes for this episode in the seventeenth number read: "Back to the opening chapter. Strongly."
A clearer notion of the increasingly rigorous control which Dickens exercised over his materials may be gained by briefly considering two pairs of novels which offer grounds for comparison. A Tale of Two Cities. , like Barnaby Rudge, resorts to an historical setting; but in the earlier book the writer had not yet learned how to project the private lives of his characters against a background of public events. The mob violence, released by the Gordon Riots of I780, although [105/106] late in erupting, develops such torrential force, thanks to Dickens' descriptive power, that it ends by overflowing and obscuring the contours of the framing narrative. The French Revolution, on the other hand, is from the start the focal center of A Tale of Two Cities.; all elements of the story are gradually, but inevitably magnetized by it. A letter to Forster in 1859 leaves no doubt that in this novel Dickens concentrated his attention more fully than ever before on unity of action:
. . . I set myself the little task of making a picturesque story, rising in every chapter, with characters true to nature, but whom the story itself should express, more than they should express themselves, by dialogue. I mean in other words, that I fancied a story of incident might be written, in place of the odious stuff that is written under that pretence, pounding the characters out in its own mortar, and bearing their interests out of them. If you could have read the story all at once, I hope you wouldn't have stopped halfway.
When Wilkie Collins objected that the reader had not been sufficiently prepared for Charles Darnay's fate, Dickens replied: "I think the business of art is to lay all the ground carefully, not with the care that conceals itself — to show, by a backward light, what everything has been working to — but only to suggest, until the fulfilment comes. These are the ways of Providence, of which all art is but a little imitation." Equally significant is the argument with which the novelist met Forster's criticism that Madame Defarge's death at the hands of Miss Pross is not sufficiently credible:
I am not clear, and I never have been, respecting the canon of fiction which forbids the interposition of accident in such a case as Madame Defarge's death. Where [105/106] the accident is inseparable from the passion and action of the character; where it is strictly consistent with the entire design, and arises out of some culminating proceeding on the part of the individual which the whole story has led up to; it seems to me to become, as it were, an act of divine justice. And when I use Miss Pross . . . to bring about such a catastrophe, I have the positive intention of making that half-comic intervention a part of the desperate woman's failure; and of opposing that mean death, instead of a desperate one in the streets which she wouldn't have minded, to the dignity of Carton's. Wrong or right, this was all designed and seemed to me to be in the fitness of things.
The role of Miss Pross is the culminating example of a type of resolution occurring in many of Dickens' novels. The power of evil is formidably strong in his, as in Shakespeare's, world; and the novelist's villains, like those of the dramatist, are as a general rule not only more intelligent, but also stronger willed than their adversaries. Through their resourcefulness and egoism they exert kinds of power which disarm the forces of good. Frequently, as in Shakespearean tragedy, they are entrapped in their machinations and bring about their own downfall; but more often they are defeated by minor and apparently ineffectual characters in scenes that recall the traditionally comic device of unmasking. This peculiarly Dickensian form of poetic justice leads to a number of unpredictable, but conclusive show-downs between characters as illassorted as Micawber and Uriah Heep, Sissy Jupe and James Harthouse, and Pancks and Casby.
For Great Expectations Dickens returned to the autobiographical mode of David Copperfield; but Pip is far more the protagonist of his story than David of his. There is no scene in which Pip does not play an instrumental part, whereas, after the opening chapters of the earlier novel, David is reduced to the role of [107/108] passive onlooker at the rival complications involving Uriah and the Wickfields, Steerforth and the Peggottys, Jack Malden and the Strongs. Even the great childhood scenes lack the immediacy of their counterparts in Great Expectations. David's reconstruction of his early years has the quality of "emotion recollected in tranquillity"; the prevailing tone of nostalgic regret for lost innocence produces an impression of remoteness, relegating the speaker's experiences to an idyllic past. In Great Expectations the reader is at once immersed in the boy's subjective responses, as Pip seeks to establish his identity vis-à-vis the imperfectlv understood world which is opening up around him. Dickens' method of limiting point of view is cinematographic, varying in the opening chapter from the close-up when Magwitch first erupts on Pip's terrified vision to the long shot of the criminal's departure over the marshes, which conveys a first intimation of furtive sympathy. Pip's physical upending by Magwitch in the graveyard has its moral analogue in a dislocation of values, not to be restored to equilibrium until the hero learns to distinguish between appearance and reality, both in his own being and in his relations with others. For Pip's expectations are erected on a basis of ironic misconceptions. Miss Havisham, the putative fairy godmother, turns out to be the evil witch; Magwitch is transmuted from villain into surrogate parent and would-be benefactor, replacing the rejected Joe; Estella, far from being the princess of the tale, is revealed as Magwitchts true child by a murderess.
David stumbles on the truth about himself through the examples of others; Pip slowly and painfully acquires self-knowledge by learning to accept responsibility for his own actions. Although he is slow to piece them together, the clues by which, in Pip's own [108/109] phraseology, he is to be followed into his "poor labyrinth" are so artfully disposed by the author that each episode only becomes fully meaningful in the light of all that has come before and will follow after. Thus, to take only one example, Pip's sense of complicity with lawbreakers grows out of his theft for Magwitch. The leg manacle, severed by the stolen file, provides the weapon with which Orlick bludgeons Mrs. Gargery; and this deed prepares in turn for the great scene at the lime kiln when Pip confronts his alter ego. Dickens draws attention to the care with which he has laid the train of events by a fable, derived from Tales of the Genii, which occurs at the end of Chapter 38 immediately after Pip has at last seen Estella in her true colors and just before Magwitch returns to make a mockery of his expectations:
In the Eastern story, the heavy slab that was to fall on the bed of state in the flush of conquest was slowly wrought out of the quarry, the tunnel for the rope to hold it in its place was slowly carried through the leagues of rock, the slab was slowly raised and fitted in the roof, the rope was rove to it and slowly taken through the miles of hollow to the great iron ring. All being made ready with much labour, and the hour come, the sultan was roused in the dead of the night, and the sharpened axe that was to sever the rope from the great iron ring was put into his hand, and he struck with it, and the rope parted and rushed away, and the ceiling fell. So, in my case, all the work, near and afar, that tended to the end, had been accomplished; and in an instant the blow was struck, and the roof of my stronghold dropped upon me.
"You have made your own snares," Miss Havisham tells Pip on his last visit but one to Satis House. Ostensibly victimized by those who would use him for their own selfish ends, Pip is nevertheless led step by step, such is the compulsion of Dickens' narrative, to realize that every individual has a reciprocal share in the [108/109] wrongdoing of which he has been, however innocently, the occasion. Estella is speaking for her lover when she says in the revised ending that "suffering has been stronger than all other teaching...." And it is for want of sufficient assurance, beyond her own statement, that she has learned the same hard lesson, that the original conclusion seems more commensurate with the novel's design.
Despite Dickens' continuing dissatisfaction with weekly serialization, its restrictions of scope imposed on the later novels in this form an economy and coherence of organization which compensate for the imaginative fertility of the more expansive works which preceded them. Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations look forward to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which has some claim to be considered the writer's most original narrative achievement, although its fragmentary state must forever defy final critical assessment. On the other hand, Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend, the two final novels in twenty monthly parts, show unmistakable signs that the writer's inventiveness had begun to flag under the strain of devising and sustaining the great ramified plot structures of earlier days. The involved exposition of Mrs. Clenham's secret not only taxes credulity, but winds up the novel's central intrigue on an anticlimactic note; and the overworking of the disguise motif makes the Rokesmith-Bella plot of Our Mutual Friend equally implausible. The technical aspects of greatest interest in these novels relate to the grouping of the extensive casts of characters and the proliferation of settings, as means of embodying the author's darkening vision of his world. This is not to say, however, that the writer did not continue to tax his narrative resources for more effective means of projecting that vision.[110/111]
Dickens experienced unusual difficulty in deciding on a story to support the critical purpose which was his point of departure in Little Dorrit. So much is apparent from Browne's cover, which depicts the primary thematic concerns of the novel, but does not, as in the design for Dombey and Son, suggest their investiture in concrete episodes. With the first part completed, the writer thought of starting over again in line with a new approach, which he described as follows to Forster: "It struck me that it would be a new thing to show people coming together, in a chance way, as fellow-travelers, and being in the same place, ignorant of one another, as happens in life; and to connect them afterwards, and to make the waiting for that connection a part of the interest." Since, however, the gathering in the quarantine station at Marseilles in Chapter z anticipates many of the future relationships between characters, Dickens was unable to make full use of this idea, a Carlylean version of Goethe's doctrine of "elective affinities." The original title of the book, Nobody's Fault, retained through the first eleven chapters, suggests that at the outset political satire of the Circumlocution Office w-as paramount in the author's mind. Only with Amy Dorrit's entrance in the second number did the novel's scope broaden to include other targets of social criticism. And not until the sixth number did Dickens feel confident enough of the direction his story had taken to write to Forster: "Society, the Circumlocution Office, and Mr. Gowan, are, of course, three parts of one idea and design." In the chapter entitled "The History of a Self-Tormentor," Dickens reverted to the inserted tale. In justification of its insertion, he told Forster: "In Miss Wade I had an idea, which I thought a new one, of making the introduced story so fit into surroundings impossible of separation from the main story, as [111/112] to make the blood of the book circulate through both." Since Miss Wade speaks for all the characters in the novel whose imprisonment within the confines of their egos is self-imposed, her disturbing confession is a brilliantly imaginative narrative device.
Our Mutual Friend, with its interweaving of the stories of two pairs of lovers of unequal station, is structurally the most ambitious of Dickens' novels. The twin narratives, polarized symbolically by the settings of the river and the dust-mounds, are so played off against each other as to arraign virtually every type of snobbish pretense ingrained in the Victorian class system. It is, however, in their conclusions that the last two novels on the grand scale most conclusively show that Dickens had learned to discipline his artistic conscience into conformity with the exigencies of plot. For here realism is no longer compromised by those conventional happy endings which in so many of the preceding stories provide for readers and characters alike an escape from the world as it has been represented. Joined in wedlock, Clenham and Amy Dorrit do not, like Woodcourt and Esther Summerson, withdraw to a retreat that has been prepared for them; but rather, as Dickens writes: "They went quietly down into the roaring streets, inseparable and blessed; and as they passed along in sunshine and shade, the noisy and the eager, and the arrogant and the forward and the vain, fretted, and chafed, and made their usual uproar." Rokesmith and Bella are permitted to enjoy the legacy accruing from the dust-mounds only after they have demonstrated that their happiness is not contingent on it; and Eugene, having abandoned the face-saving alternative of emigrating with Lizzie, proudly asserts: ". . . I will fight it out to the last gasp, with her and for her, here, in the open field."
| Dombey and Son |
Name any year in the life of the painter Botticelli? | List of Dickensian characters : definition of List of Dickensian characters and synonyms of List of Dickensian characters (English)
Ayresleigh, Mr is a prisoner in The Pickwick Papers .
Avenger, The is a servant boy who was hired by Pip in Great Expectations . Pip has such a hard time finding things to keep him busy "that I sometimes sent him to Hyde Park Corner to see what o'clock it was."
B
Bachelor, The, is friend to the parson in the village church where Nell and her grandfather end their journey. He turns out to be the brother of Mr Garland and is instrumental in helping the Single Gentleman find his brother, Nell's grandfather, in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Badger, Bayham, is a doctor, cousin of Kenge, to whom Richard Carstone is apprenticed. Badger's wife Laura talks incessantly about her two former husbands, Captain Swosser and Professor Dingo, in Bleak House .
Bagman, The One-eyed, is a middle-aged story-teller in The Pickwick Papers .
Bagnet Family, is a musical and military family headed by Matthew, an old army friend of George Rouncewell. Bagnet's wife, the old girl, knows Matthew so well that he always calls upon her to supply his opinion. The Bagnet children Quebec, Malta, and Woolwich are named after the military bases where the family has been stationed. Matthew is guarantor to George's loan from Smallweed, when Smallweed calls in the debt George is forced to deliver a document Smallweed needs to help lawyer Tulkinghorn learn Lady Dedlock's secret in Bleak House .
Bagstock, Major Joseph Neighbour of Miss Tox and friend of Paul Dombey who introduces Paul to Edith Granger and Mrs Skewton. The Major describes himself as "tough, Sir, tough, and de-vilish sly!" in Dombey and Son
Bamber, Jack is an old man whom Mr Pickwick meets in The Pickwick Papers .
Bates, Charley is one of Fagin 's boy pickpockets in Oliver Twist .
Browdie, John Son of a small corn-factor. He gives money to Nicholas Nickleby on his escape from Dotheboys Hall. John marries Matilda Price. Later assists in Smike's escape from Squeers in London in Nicholas Nickleby .
Brown, Good Mrs An ugly old rag and bone vendor and mother of Alice Marwood (Brown). She kidnaps Florence Dombey and steals her clothes. Later she helps Dombey find Carker and Edith after their elopement. Dickens describes Good Mrs Brown as a "very ugly old woman, with red rims round her eyes, and a mouth that mumbled and chattered of itself when she was not speaking" in Dombey and Son .
Brown, Alice (alias Marwood) Daughter of Good Mrs Brown and cousin of Edith Granger in Dombey and Son .
Brownlow, Mr Befriends Oliver after he is charged with pickpocketing. He later establishes Oliver's true identity and adopts him in Oliver Twist .
Bucket, Inspector is a policeman in Bleak House . He undertakes several investigations in the course of the novel, most notably the investigation of Mr Tulkinghorn's murder, which he brings to a successful conclusion.
Bud, Rosa Betrothed to Edwin Drood in childhood, they later agree that they cannot marry. Edwin disappears and John Jasper declares his love for Rosa. In terror she flees to London to her guardian, Grewgious. "The pet pupil of the Nuns' House is Miss Rosa Bud, of course called Rosebud; wonderfully pretty, wonderfully childish, wonderfully whimsical. An awkward interest (awkward because romantic) attaches to Miss Bud in the minds of the young ladies, on account of its being known to them that a husband has been chosen for her by will and bequest, and that her guardian is bound down to bestow her on that husband when he comes of age" in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Bumble is the beadle of the parish that operates the workhouse depicted in Oliver Twist .
Bunsby, Jack Seafaring friend of Captain Cuttle who is always called in times of crisis for advise. The advise given confounds everyone listening except his friend Cuttle, who values it immensely. Bunsby is later trapped into marriage by Mrs MacStinger. Bunsby's ship is the Cautious Clara. Bunsby is described by Dickens as having "one stationary eye in the mahogany face, and one revolving one, on the principle of some lighthouses" in Dombey and Son .
Buzfuz, Serjeant a Barrister who represents Mrs Bardell in her suit against Samuel Pickwick. He bullies the witnesses into giving incriminating testimony and Pickwick is falsely convicted in The Pickwick Papers .
C
Carker, Harriet Sister to James and John. Harriet lives with John and the two inherit James' fortune and donate it, anonymously, to Mr Dombey. Harriet later marries Mr Morfin in Dombey and Son .
Carker, James Opportunistic manager at Dombey and Son . Brother of John and Harriet Carker, he elopes with Dombey's wife and is later killed when struck by a train. Dickens describes Carker as "a gentleman thirty-eight or forty years old, of a florid complexion, and with two unbroken rows of glistening teeth, whose regularity and whiteness were quite distressing. It was impossible to escape the observation of them, for he showed them whenever he spoke; and bore so wide a smile upon his countenance (a smile, however, very rarely, indeed, extending beyond his mouth), that there was something in it like the snarl of a cat."
Carker, John Older brother of James although called 'the Junior' because of his low position at the firm of Dombey and Son. He is looked upon with scorn by his younger brother because he embezzled money from the firm when a young man. Harriet Carker is his sister in Dombey and Son .
Carstone, Richard is a ward of Chancery in Bleak House . He tries to make his own way in the world - in medicine, law and soldiering - but the Jarndyce case becomes his obsession and eventually his ruin. He becomes engaged to, and later secretly marries, Ada Clare, the other ward.
Cruncher, Jerry is the porter at Tellson's Bank in A Tale of Two Cities .
Cruncher, Mrs, the wife of Jerry Cruncher, whom he beats for 'flopping' (praying) in A Tale of Two Cities .
Cuttle, Captain a Seafaring friend of Sol Gills, whose shop he cares for when Sol goes in search of his lost nephew, Walter Gay. Quote: When found, make a note of. Dickens describes Captain Cuttle as "a gentleman in a wide suit of blue, with a hook instead of a hand attached to his right wrist; very bushy black eyebrows; and a thick stick in his left hand, covered all over (like his nose) with knobs. He wore a loose black silk handkerchief round his neck, and such a very large coarse shirt collar, that it looked like a small sail in Dombey and Son .
D
Daisy, Solomon Clerk and bell-ringer at the parish church in Chigwell. Friend of John Willet at the Maypole Inn. Daisy tells the story of Reuben Haredale's murder in Barnaby Rudge .
Darnay, Charles Son of Marquis de St. Evremonde. He is tried for treason in London and is acquitted due to his resemblance to Sydney Carton. He marries Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr Manette. He returns to Paris to help a friend imprisoned there and is arrested by the revolutionaries. His life is saved when look-alike Carton takes his place on the guillotine in A Tale of Two Cities .
Dartle, Rosa Companion to Mrs Steerforth, jealously in love with Steerforth, who has marked her face when a child by throwing a hammer in a fit of temper. Rosa hates Emily for running away with Steerforth. Narrator David Copperfield describes Rosa as "A slight short figure, dark, and not agreeable to look at, but with some appearance of good looks too... I concluded in my own mind that she was about thirty years of age, and that she wished to be married. She was a little dilapidated, like a house, with having been so long to let; yet had, as I have said, an appearance of good looks. Her thinness seemed to be the effect of some wasting fire within her, which found a vent in her gaunt eyes." in David Copperfield .
Datchery, Dick Mysterious visitor to Cloisterham whose "white head was unusually large, and his shock of white hair was unusually thick and ample." Datchery keeps an eye on John Jasper after the disappearance of Edwin Drood. The true identity of Datchery is one of the most contested points of the uncompleted mystery. It is widely believed that Datchery is one of the characters in the book in disguise, most likely candidates include Neville, Bazzard, Tartar, Helena, or even Edwin Drood himself in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Dawkins, Jack Also known as the Artful Dodger , he is the most successful and interesting of Fagin 's thieves. He shows Oliver the ropes of the pickpocket game and is later captured and sentenced to transportation in Oliver Twist .
Dedlock, Lady Honoria the haughty mistress of Chesney Wold in Bleak House . Her past drives much of the plot as it turns out that, before her marriage, she had an affair with another man and had his child. She discovers the child's identity (Esther Summerson) and, because she has made this discovery and revealed that she had a secret predating her marriage, she has attracted the noxious curiosity of Mr Tulkinghorn, who feels himself bound by his ties to his client, Sir Leicester, to pry out her secret and use it to control her. At the end, she dies, disgraced in her own mind and convinced that her aristocratic husband can never forgive her moral failings, even though he has already done so.
Dedlock, Sir Leicester a crusty baronet in Bleak House , very much older than his wife. Dedlock is an unthinking conservative who regards the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit in which his wife is entangled as a mark of distinction worthy of a man of his family lineage.
Dedlock, Volumnia Poor relation of Sir Leicester Dedlock. 'Rouged and necklaced' hanger-on at Chesney Wold in Bleak House .
Defarge, Ernest Husband of Madame Defarge and keeper of a wine shop in Paris. He is a leader among the revolutionaries in A Tale of Two Cities .
Defarge, Madame Wife of wine shop keeper, Ernest Defarge, and a leader among the revolutionaries. She harbors an intense hatred of Charles Darnay for atrocities committed against her family by the Evremonde family. Madame Defarge is killed in a struggle with Miss Pross in Paris in A Tale of Two Cities .
Dennis, Ned is the Executioner at Tyburn, becomes involved in the Gordon Riots and is executed in Barnaby Rudge .
Dick, Mr An eccentric lodger at Betsy Trotwood's and friend of David Copperfield. whose real name is Richard Babley in David Copperfield .
"Young" Dick is a friend of Oliver in Oliver Twist . He grew up with him in the parish farm run by Mrs Mann.
Deputy (Winks) Boy hired by Durdles to throw stones at him when he is wandering drunk at night. "Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph through a jagged gap, convenient for the purpose, in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out 'Mulled agin!' and tries to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim." Deputy resides at the Traveler's Twopenny in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Dilber, Mrs Scrooge's charwoman who sells his bed linen and curtains to Old Joe when Scrooge is shown shadows of the future by the Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol .
Diver, Colonel Editor of the New York Rowdy Journal. Diver meets Mark and Martin onboard the Screw and directs them to Pawkins boarding house in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Dodson and Fogg Sharp dealing lawyers who dupe Mrs Bardell into bringing a breach of promise to marry suit against Samuel Pickwick in Pickwick Papers .
Dolls, Mr is the drunken father of Jenny Wren whom she refers to as her 'bad child' in Our Mutual Friend .
Dombey, Fanny First wife of Paul Dombey and mother of Florence and Paul Jr at whose birth she dies in Dombey and Son .
Dombey, Florence Neglected daughter of Paul Dombey and sister of little Paul whom she nurses in his illness. She marries Walter Gay and is eventually reconciled with her father in Dombey and Son .
Dombey, Paul Powerful head of the House of Dombey. He wants a son, and when a daughter (Florence) is born he despises her. His second child, a son (also Paul), is weak and sickly and dies a child. Paul's first wife dies with the birth of Paul Jr and he remarries. His second wife, Edith Granger, does not love him and eventually runs away with Carker, a manager at the firm. With Carker gone, Paul is incapable of managing the business and it fails. Paul ends his days reconciled with his daughter and doting on his grandchildren, little Paul, but especially little Florence in Dombey and Son ..
Dombey, Paul Jr The long hoped-for heir to the house of Dombey and Son. His mother dies at his birth leaving him a frail and sickly child. His father sends him to Brighton in the care of Mrs Pipchin hoping the sea air will bolster his failing health. He then attends Dr Blimber's school and his health continues to decline. Paul returns home to London and dies in the care of his sister, Florence, leaving the firm of Dombey and Son without an heir. Dickens modeled Paul (and also Tiny Tim) on his sister Fanny's crippled son Henry Burnett Jr in Dombey and Son ..
Dorrit, Amy Daughter of William Dorrit, born in the Marshalsea debtor's prison. She works for Mrs Clennam and befriends Arthur. Her father inherits a fortune and they leave the prison and travel abroad. After her father's death she discovers that the fortune has been lost in a banking scam. She nurses Arthur in the Marshalsea when his fortune is lost in the same banking scam. The novel ends with the marriage of Arthur and Amy at St. Georges Church, next to the prison, the same church where she was christened in Little Dorrit .
Dorrit, Edward (Tip) Ne'er-do-well brother of Amy Dorrit in Little Dorrit .
Dorrit, Fanny Sister of Amy. A dancer with social aspirations, Fanny marries Edmund Sparkler, Stepson of Mr Merdle. Fanny and Sparkler lose everything in the Merdle banking scam in Little Dorrit .
Dorrit, Frederick Brother of William, Uncle of Fanny, Edward, and Amy. He plays clarionet in a small-time theatre. He is due an inheritance but the knowledge is kept from him by the intrigues of Mrs Clennam in Little Dorrit .
Dorrit, William Father of Amy (title character), Fanny, and Edward, and long-time inmate of the Marshalsea debtor's prison. He inherits an estate and leaves the prison, traveling in style with his daughters. After his death Amy learns that his fortune has been lost in the Merdle banking scam in Little Dorrit .
Doyce, Daniel Inventor of an unspecified mechanical wonder which he is unable to get a patent for in the Circumlocution Office. He partners with Arthur Clennam who loses the firm's money in the Merdle scandal. Doyce later sells the invention abroad and returns to liberate Arthur from the Marshalsea in Little Dorrit .
Drood, Edwin An orphan, Edwin has been promised to Rosa Bud since early childhood. Later Edwin and Rosa rebel against the arrangement. Rosa is also wooed by Edwin's uncle John Jasper. Edwin turns up missing and his watch is found in the river. Jasper hints suspicion of Neville Landless in the disappearance when the novel ends abruptly with the death of Dickens in 1870 in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Drummle, Bentley Pip's fellow student at Matthew Pocket's. He marries Estella for her money and abuses her. He is killed when kicked by a horse that he has mistreated in Great Expectations .
Duff A Bow Street Runner who, along with Blathers, investigates the attempted robbery of the Maylie home in Oliver Twist .
Durdles Drunken stonemason who engraves tombstones for Cloisterham Cathedral. John Jasper is interested in Durdles ability to tap on the tombs and discover their contents. Durdles hires Deputy to throw stones at him when he catches him wandering about drunk at night. "No man is better known in Cloisterham. He is the chartered libertine of the place. Fame trumpets him a wonderful workman - which, for aught that anybody knows, he may be (as he never works); and a wonderful sot - which everybody knows he is." in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
E
Emily is the niece of Mr Peggotty, and the childhood friend of David Copperfield . Engaged to Ham, she is seduced by James Steerforth , who she leaves after he tires of her. She later emigrates to Australia with Mr Peggotty.
F
Fagin is the leader of a group of pickpockets in Oliver Twist
Fan Scrooge's sister in A Christmas Carol , mother of his nephew Fred. She has died before the story begins but lives again in the 'shadows' shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Past. She is based on Dickens' own sister Fanny who died of consumption at age 38.
Feeder, Mr The assistant to Dr Blimber in Dombey and Son , at the school in Brighton which the younger Paul Dombey attends. Later marries Blimber's daughter Cornelia and takes over the management of the school.
Fezziwig, Mr hosts a Christmas party that Scrooge visits with the Ghost of Christmas past in A Christmas Carol . Scrooge is reminded of what a kind, generous man 'Old Fezziwig' was. Fezziwig was a very happy man with three daughters. Fezziwig wore a powdered wig and a waistcoat.
Finching, Flora was the love of Arthur Clennam's youth in Little Dorrit . In middle age she has become pathologically eccentric, continually throwing her apron over her head and saying she is 'a poor lorn creatur'.
Fizkin, Horatio the 'Buff' candidate in the Eatanswill by-election , in The Pickwick Papers .
Flintwinch, Affery servant in the Clennam household and wife of Jeremiah Flintwinch in Little Dorrit
Flintwinch, Jeremiah servant in the Clennam household and husband of Affery Flintwinch in Little Dorrit
Flite, Miss is the female tenant of Krook's Bottle Shop in Bleak House , obsessive about her case in Chancery, the length and complexity of which has unhinged her.
Fred the good-hearted nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge, son of his sister Fan in A Christmas Carol .
G
Mrs. Gamp is a nurse in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Gargery, Joe is the husband of Pip's sister in Great Expectations .
Garland, Abel Son of Mr and Mrs Garland and resembles Mr Garland in face and figure. Abel is apprenticed to the notary Mr Witherden in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Garland, Mr and Mrs Kindly plump couple, parents of Abel, who befriend and hire Kit. They, along with Mr Witherden and the Single Gentleman, are instrumental in clearing Kit of false charges made by Brass in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Gay, Walter is Sol Gill's nephew, he is employed in the house of Dombey and Son . Walter befriends Florence Dombey, her father is displeased and sends him to the firm's branch in Barbados. The ship in which he sails is lost and Sol goes to search for him. Walter returns and marries Florence. Mr Dombey, after the failure of the house, goes to live with Walter and Florence.
George, Mr A former soldier, serving under Nemo, who owns a London shooting-gallery in Bleak House . He is a trainer in sword and pistol use, briefly training Richard Carstone. The prime suspect in the death of Mr Tulkinghorn, he is exonerated and his true identity is revealed, against his wishes. He is found to be George Rouncewell, son of the Dedlocks' housekeeper, Mrs Rouncewell, who welcomes him back to Chesney Wold. He ends the book as the body-servant to the stricken Sir Leicester Dedlock.
Ghost of Christmas Future shows Scrooge the demise of Tiny Tim and of himself, leading to Scrooge's reformation in A Christmas Carol .
Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his lonely and difficult childhood and gradual decline into the miser he will become in A Christmas Carol .
Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the joy that Christmas brings, both at the poor household of the Cratchits and at the home of his nephew Fred. The ghost also introduces Scrooge to the children, Ignorance and Want in A Christmas Carol .
Giles, Mr Butler/steward of the Maylie household in Oliver Twist . [1]
Gradgrind, Thomas A mill owner retired from business and father of Louisa and Tom. He runs a school and emphasises the importance of facts and figures over fancy to his students and his children. By the end of the story he learns that facts and figures must be tempered by love and forbearance in Hard Times .
Gradgrind, Tom Son of Thomas. He is employed at Bounderby's bank from whom he later steals, the blame is set on Stephen Blackpool. He later leaves the country with the aid of Sleary and his circus troupe in Hard Times .
Graham, Mary Mary cares for old Martin Chuzzlewit with the knowledge that she will not profit from Martin's wealth after his death. Chuzzlewit's grandson, Martin, falls in love with Mary which displeases his grandfather who disinherits young Martin. Young Martin goes to America to seek his fortune. Finding only sickness and misery in America, Martin returns to England, is reconciled with his grandfather and marries Mary in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Grainger Friend of Steerforth's who has dinner with David at his chambers at the Adelphi in David Copperfield .
Granger, Edith Paul Dombey's second wife is the widow of Colonel Granger and the daughter of Mrs Skewton. She marries Dombey but does not love him. She later elopes with Carker, a manager at Dombey's firm, to punish her husband in Dombey and Son .
Grayper, Mr and Mrs Neighbours of Clara Copperfield in Blunderstone in David Copperfield .
Grewgious Guardian of Rosa Bud. He is upset at John Jasper's advances to Rosa and finds her lodging in London at an apartment owned by Mrs Billickin. He later investigates the disappearance of Edwin Drood and is suspicious of Jasper. Described as 'an angular man with no conversational powers'. in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Gride, Arthur Old moneylender who develops a scheme, along with fellow usurer, Ralph Nickleby, to get Walter Bray's consent to give his daughter, Madeline's, hand for the forgiveness of debts to Gride and Ralph. Gride's plan is undone when Bray dies on the morning of the wedding and his old housekeeper, Peg Sliderskew, jealous of the young wife, steals documents that reveal his scheme. Gride is murdered by burglars before he can be prosecuted in Nicholas Nickleby .
Gridley Known as the 'Man from Shropshire' and an involuntary party to a suit in Chancery in Bleak House . He repeatedly seeks to gain the attention of the Lord Chancellor, but in vain. Frustrated, he threatens Mr Tulkinghorn and then is put under arrest by Inspector Bucket. He dies, his health broken by his Chancery ordeal. His story is based on a real case, according to Dickens's preface.
Grimwig, Mr Cantankerous friend of Mr Brownlow in Oliver Twist . Quote: "I'll eat my head!"
Grueby, John Loyal servant of Lord George Gordon who tries to isolate Gordon from the rioters when the protest turns to violence in Barnaby Rudge .
Gulpidge, Mr and Mrs Guests at a dinner party given by the Waterbrooks in David Copperfield .
Gummidge, Mrs Widow of Mr Peggotty's former partner, who had died very poor. She lives with Mr Peggotty and later emigrates to Australia with him. Quote: 'a lone lorn creetur' and everythink went contrary with her' in David Copperfield .
Guppy, William Clerk for Kenge and Carboy. He proposes marriage to Esther Summerson, which she refuses. Guppy is involved in the investigation of Lady Dedlock's secret in Bleak House , knowing that Krook has a packet of letters somehow connected to her. These pass to Smallweed on Krook's death, but Guppy is still unable to acquire them for Lady Dedlock.
H
Harmon, John Son of a wealthy dust contractor and heir to his fortune if he agrees to marry Bella Wilfer. He is away from England when his father dies and on the way home he is supposed drowned in a case of mistaken identity. With his supposed death the dust fortune goes to Boffin. John gets himself hired into the Boffin home as secretary John Rokesmith. Here he meets Bella and, with the help of the Boffins, wins her love as Rokesmith, and marries her. He later reveals his true identity and regains his fortune in Our Mutual Friend .
Harris, Mrs Imaginary friend of Sairey Gamp who uses Mrs Harris's invented quotes to establish Mrs Gamp's good reputation in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Harthouse, James A Parliamentary candidate visiting Coketown, he befriends Tom Gradgrind in an attempt to seduce his sister, Louisa, who is in an unhappy marriage to Bounderby. As a result of the attempted seduction Louisa runs home to her father and refuses to return to Bounderby and is later disowned by him in Hard Times .
Havisham, Estella is adopted by Miss Havisham in Great Expectations . Pip falls in love with her, she spurns him, but after several years they meet and vow to remain together.
Havisham, Miss A very rich and grim old woman who lives in seclusion at Satis House. She is the guardian of Estella whom she teaches to break men's hearts to avenge her own being left at the altar by Compeyson years before. She continues to wear her wedding dress and her room contains the yellowing remnants of the wedding day including the mouldy wedding cake. Pip goes to Miss Havisham's to play and meets Estella. Pip believes Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor as he goes to London and becomes a gentleman, finding out later that the convict Magwitch has supplied his 'Expectations'. Miss Havisham dies when her house burns down and leaves her fortune to Estella in Great Expectations .
Havisham, Arthur Miss Havisham's drunken brother who plots with Compeyson to gain his sister's fortune in Great Expectations ..
Hawdon, Captain James see Nemo.
Hawk, Sir Mulberry is a lecherous, parasitic nobleman in Nicholas Nickleby .
Heep, Mrs Widowed mother of Uriah Heep in David Copperfield , "dead image of Uriah, only short". She is as "'umble" as her son, whom she dotes on.
Heep, Uriah A hypocritical clerk of Mr Wickfield's who is continually citing his humbleness. He deviously plots to ruin Wickfield but is later undone by Mr Micawber. On their first meeting, David describes him as "a red-haired person - a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older - whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony's head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise. He had a way of writhing when he wanted to express enthusiasm, which was very ugly" Uriah Heep, wonderfully hideous, is one of Dickens' greatest triumphs in character creation. His description of Heep's writhing and scheming, and his cold, clammy nature, makes one's skin crawl in David Copperfield .
Hexam, Charlie Son of Gaffer and brother to Lizzie. Charlie is educated by Bradley Headstone and supports Headstone's advances toward his sister. When Lizzie refuses to marry Headstone Charlie rejects her in Our Mutual Friend .
Hexam, Gaffer Waterman, father of Lizzie and Charlie, who plies the Thames looking for dead bodies. He finds a body thought to be John Harmon , the central character in the story in Our Mutual Friend .
Hexam, Lizzie Daughter of waterman Gaffer Hexam and sister of Charlie. She is opposed to her father's business of combing the Thames looking for drowned bodies but is true to him. When her father drowns she goes to live with Jenny Wren. Lizzie rejects the advances of schoolmaster Bradley Headstone and opposes the attention of Eugene Wrayburn, although she loves him, because they come from different classes of society. She runs away from London to a mill up the river. Wrayburn succeeds in finding her and is followed by Headstone who attempts to murder Wrayburn. Lizzie rescues Wrayburn and later marries him in Our Mutual Friend .
Higden, Betty Old woman who operates a 'minding school', for orphans and other children. She is adamant about earning her keep and staying away from the workhouse. When an orphan in her keep dies she hits the road and earns a living doing needlework. She dies in the arms of Lizzie Hexam who promises not to take her to the workhouse. Dickens uses the character to illustrate the horror many of the truly needy had of the workhouse system in Our Mutual Friend .
Hominy, Mrs Conceited American literary lady Martin is forced to accompany on the first leg of the trip to Eden in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Honeythunder, Luke Loud, overbearing philanthropist and guardian of Neville and Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Hortense Lady Dedlock's French maid in Bleak House . She is dismissed in favour of Rosa and aids lawyer Tulkinghorn in discovering Lady Dedlock's secret. When Tulkinghorn spurns her she murders him. Hortense is based on Mrs Manning, a murderer whose execution Dickens witnessed in 1849.
Hubbles, Mr and Mrs Friends of the Gargerys, Mr Hubble is the village wheelwright in Great Expectations .
Hugh the hostler at the Maypole. Joins the rioters in London and is later hanged. Revealed to be the son of Sir John Chester in Barnaby Rudge
Hunter, Leo, Mr and Mrs Mrs Hunter organised a fancy-dress garden party for literary people in The Pickwick Papers . She graced the assembled company with a reading of her own poem, The Expiring Frog. Mr Hunter is a docile character, wholly under his wife's influence.
Hutley, Jem alias "Dismal Jemmy", is a friend of Alfred Jingle in The Pickwick Papers . He is a shabbily-dressed man who makes depressing observations, and then tells the Pickwickians The Stroller's Tale, a story of a man dying in great poverty.
I
J
Jaggers is a lawyer in Great Expectations .
Janet Betsy Trotwood's maid. "a pretty blooming girl of about nineteen or twenty". She later marries a tavern keeper in David Copperfield .
Jarndyce, John An unwilling party in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, guardian of Richard Carstone, Ada Clare, and Esther Summerson; owner of Bleak House in the novel of that name . Vladimir Nabokov called him "the best and kindest man ever to appear in a novel". [2] A wealthy man, he helps most of the other characters out of a mix of disinterested goodness and guilt at the mischief and human misery caused by Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which he calls "the family curse". He falls in love with Esther and wishes to marry her, but gives her up because she is in love with Dr Woodcourt.
Jasper, John Uncle of Edwin Drood who has an opium habit. He cares for his nephew but harbours secret feelings for Edwin's fiancee Rosa Bud. Edwin disappears and the story ends prematurely with Dickens death but many believe that it was Jasper who killed Edwin Drood. Dickens describes Jasper as "a dark man of some six-and-twenty, with thick, lustrous, well-arranged black hair and whiskers. He looks older than he is, as dark men often do. His voice is deep and good, his face and figure are good, his manner is a little sombre. His room is a little sombre, and may have had its influence in forming his manner." in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Jeddler, Dr Anthony Country doctor whose view of life is altered by the sacrifices made by his youngest daughter, Marion, for her sister, Grace in The Battle of Life .
Jeddler, Grace Older daughter of Dr Jeddler. She is the recipient of the sacrifice of her younger sister Marion, who runs away that Grace may marry her beau Alfred Heathfield in The Battle of Life .
Jeddler, Marion Younger daughter of Dr Jeddler. She runs away to live with her Aunt Martha that her sister Grace may marry Alfred Heathfield in The Battle of Life .
Jeddler, Martha Maiden sister of Dr Jeddler. The doctor's younger daughter, Marion, runs away and secretly lives with Martha in The Battle of Life .
Jellyby, Mrs is an Africa-obsessed woman who takes in the protagonist and her two friends in Bleak House . She neglects her own family whilst relentlessly pursuing her misguided charitable efforts.
Jellyby, Mr is the indebted husband of Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House .
Jellyby, Caroline (Caddy) is the miserable daughter of Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House , who eventually finds happiness with Prince Turveydrop.
Jemmy, "Dismal" see Hutley, Jem.
Jenny Brickmaker's wife, befriended by Esther Summerson after Jenny's child dies. Later exchanges coats with Lady Dedlock, throwing Bucket off in his pursuit of Lady Dedlock as she flees following the revealing of her secret in Bleak House .
Jingle, Alfred is a garrulous strolling player and mountebank in The Pickwick Papers .
Jo is a crossing sweeper who finds solace in the generosity of Captain Hawdon in Bleak House
Jorkins, Mr is the unseen partner of Mr Spenlow, who blames Jorkins for any unwelcome decisions, in David Copperfield .
K
Kedgick, Captain the Landlord of the National Hotel where Mark and Martin stay on their way to and from Eden in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Kenge a Solicitor for John Jarndyce in the firm Kenge and Carboy. Known as 'Conversation Kenge' in Bleak House .
Kenwigs ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Neighbors of Newman Noggs. Nicholas tutors their three daughters. Mrs Kenwigs' uncle, Mr Lillyvick, is a well-to-do collector of water rates and the family hopes to eventually profit from this relation. Their expectations are dashed when Lillyvick marries actress Henrietta Petowker and are revived when she runs away with a retired navy captain in Nicholas Nickleby .
Kidgerbury, Mrs the Maid (at intervals) to David and Dora Copperfield, and the "oldest inhabitant of Kentish Town." in David Copperfield
Krook is an alcoholic who runs a rag and bottle shop and lodging house in Bleak House . His tenants include Nemo and Miss Flite. He dies when he spontaneously combusts .
L
La Creevy, Miss Miniature painter in the Strand. The Nickleby's lease lodging from her briefly and she becomes their faithful friend. In the end she marries the Cheeryble Brothers old clerk, Tim Linkinwater in Nicholas Nickleby .
Lammle, Alfred and Sophronia Society couple who marry, each thinking that the other has money only to find after marriage that both are broke. They are frustrated in a scheme to worm their way into the Boffin fortune and leave England to escape debts in Our Mutual Friend .
Landless, Helena Twin sister of Neville who, as the story ends prematurely, is falling in love with Canon Chrisparkle in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Landless, Neville Twin brother of Helena. He and his sister are brought to Cloisterham by their guardian, Mr Honeythunder. Neville is attracted to Rosa Bud and, being set up by Jasper, quarrels with Edwin Drood. After Drood's disappearance Jasper cast blame on Neville who has no alibi and flees to London with his sister in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Langdale, Mr Kindly vintner and distiller in Holborn based on an historical figure. The Catholic Langdale shelters Geoffrey Haredale from the rioters. His home and warehouse are burned in the riots, his stores of spirits are consumed by the mob in Barnaby Rudge .
Larkins, Miss Early love of David Copperfield, "a tall, dark, black-eyed, fine figure of a woman." She later marries an officer in the Army in David Copperfield .
Leeford, Edward (alias Monks) Villainous son of Edwin and half-brother of Oliver Twist who plots with Fagin to corrupt Oliver, in which case Leeford will inherit all of their father's property. After the plan is foiled Leeford is forced to emigrate to America where he dies in prison in Oliver Twist .
Leeford, Edwin Father of Oliver, whom he has fathered out of wedlock with Agnes Fleming. Also father of Edward (Monks) from a previous marriage. Edwin has died before the story begins in Oliver Twist .
Lenville, Thomas Member of Crummles' traveling stage troupe: "a dark-complexioned man, inclining indeed to sallow, with long thick black hair, and very evident inclinations (although he was close shaved) of a stiff beard, and whiskers of the same deep shade. His age did not appear to exceed thirty, though many at first sight would have considered him much older, as his face was long, and very pale, from the constant application of stage paint." in Nicholas Nickleby .
Lewsome Medical man and old schoolmate of John Westlock. Westlock hires Mrs Gamp to nurse Lewsome through a serious illness. Lewsome has provided poison to Jonas Chuzzlewit who intends using it to kill his father, Anthony. His later confession helps lead to Jonas' arrest in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Lightwood, Mortimer A lawyer too lazy to take on much work and friend of Eugene Wrayburn. His only client is the Boffins, which puts him in the middle of much of the story in Our Mutual Friend .
Lillian Orphaned nine-year-old niece of Will Fern in The Chimes .
Lillyvick, Mr Collector of water rates and uncle of Mrs Kenwigs. He secretly marries Henrietta Petowker in Portsmouth, much to the dismay of the Kenwigs, who had hoped to inherit his money. The Kenwigs expectations are renewed when Henrietta runs off with a half-pay (retired) captain in Nicholas Nickleby .
Linkinwater, Tim Faithful clerk to the Cheeryble Brothers and friend of the Nicklebys. He marries Miss La Creevy in Nicholas Nickleby .
Littimer Manservant to Steerforth, involved in the concealment of the elopement of Steerforth and Emily. He is later guilty of embezzlement and is captured with the help of Miss Mowcher. David says of him "I believe there never existed in his station a more respectable-looking man. He was taciturn, soft-footed, very quiet in his manner, deferential, observant, always at hand when wanted, and never near when not wanted; but his great claim to consideration was his respectability." in David Copperfield .
Longford, Edmund Ailing student at the university where Redlaw teaches chemistry. He is adversely effected by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows and is later restored by his old nurse, Milly Swidger in The Haunted Man .
Lorry, Jarvis A clerk in Tellson's bank who is instrumental in bringing Dr Manette, who is imprisoned in Paris, back to England. He returns to Paris to look after the bank's interest after the Revolution starts and while there helps Lucie and Charles Darnay, bringing them back to England after Sydney Carton sacrifices his life to save Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities .
Losberne, Dr Impetuous doctor who treats Oliver and Rose in illness. A friend of the Maylie family in Oliver Twist .
Lowten Clerk to the solicitor Perker. Spends evenings with other law clerks at the 'Magpie and Stump' tavern in Pickwick Papers .
Lupin, Mrs Landlady of the Blue Dragon Inn. Eventually marries Mark Tapley in Martin Chuzzlewit .
M
Magwitch, Abel is a convict in Great Expectations . He is the father of Estelle, and Pip's benefactor.
Magnus, Peter is a nervous and jealous man whom Mr Pickwick meets on the coach to Ipswitch in The Pickwick Papers . Magnus is on the way to propose to Miss Witherfield, but Pickwick causes a falling-out between the two after a misunderstanding involving Pickwick blundering into the wrong room in the inn where they are staying.
Murdstone, Mr is the second husband of David Copperfield 's mother, Clara.
N
Nancy is a prostitute and a friend of Oliver in Oliver Twist . She is eventually murdered by Bill Sikes , her lover.
Native, The Indian servant of Major Joe Bagstock in Dombey and Son .
Neckett Sheriff's officer who arrests debtors and delivers them to Coavin's sponging house (temporary debtor's prison) thus Skimpole gives Neckett the nickname "Coavinses". Neckett dies leaving three orphans: Charlotte (Charley), Emma, and Tom. Charley becomes Esther Summerson's maid in Bleak House .
Neckett, Charlotte (alias Charley) Daughter of sheriff's officer Neckett in Bleak House . When her father dies Charley cares for her two younger siblings: Emma and Tom. Charley becomes Esther Summerson's maid, nursing Esther through smallpox. She later marries a miller.
Nemo (Latin for 'nobody') is the alias of Captain James Hawdon in Bleak House . Nemo copies legal documents for Snagsby and lodges at Krook's rag and bottle shop, eventually dying of an opium overdose. He is later found to be the former lover of Lady Dedlock and the father of Esther Summerson.
Nickleby, Kate is the handsome, forthright sister of Nicholas in Nicholas Nickleby .
Nickleby, Mrs, mother of Nicholas and Kate Nickleby, is quite possibly the most obtuse character in the Dickens oeuvre. For all her judgments, surmises, and assessments, she appraises correctly not a single thing in all of 65 chapters in Nicholas Nickleby .
Nickleby, Nicholas is the eponymous protagonist of Nicholas Nickleby , who is thrown into poverty upon the death of his father, and must support his mother and sister.
Nickleby, Ralph is the uncle and antagonist of Nicholas in Nicholas Nickleby .
Nipper, Susan Florence Dombey's maid who is discharged when she confronts Paul Dombey about his treatment of Florence. She later marries Toots. Dickens describes Susan as "a short, brown womanly girl, with a little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads." in Dombey and Son
Noggs, Newman Once a well-to-do gentleman but he squanders his money and is reduced to serving Ralph Nickleby as clerk. He befriends Nicholas and eventually helps him defeat the designs of Ralph in Nicholas Nickleby .
Norris family New York friends of Mr Bevan whom he introduces to Martin in Martin Chuzzlewit . Their initial warm welcome cools when they discover he made the trip to America in steerage .
Nubbles, Kit Kit is shop boy at the Curiosity Shop owned by Nell's grandfather and is devoted to Nell. Kit lives at home with his widowed mother, his brother Jacob, and baby brother. Kit is later hired by the Garlands and is wrongly charged with theft by Brass. At the end of the novel we find Kit has married Barbara in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Nupkins, Mr Mr Nupkins is the Mayor and principal magistrate of Ipswitch, before whom Mr Pickwick is hauled on suspicion of intent to fight a duel with Peter Magnus, in The Pickwick Papers .
O
Omer, Mr is an undertaker in Yarmouth in David Copperfield .
Orlick, Dolge is Joe Gargery's journeyman blacksmith, he quarrels with Mrs Joe and later attacks her, leaving her with injuries of which she later dies. He falls in with Compeyson and tries to murder Pip in Great Expectations .
P
Pawkins, Major and Mrs Proprietors of a New York boarding house where Martin and Mark stay. The Major is typical of the scoundrels they meet in America in Martin Chuzzlewit
Payne, Dr is the second to Dr Slammer, who finds Mr Winkle and issues Slammer's challenge to a duel in The Pickwick Papers . Payne is keen on duelling, and is unhappy when the duel is called off, trying to get the two principals to duel over something else, and finally offering to duel with Mr Snodgrass, Winkle's second. Mr Snodgrass declines the offer.
Pecksniff, Charity (Cherry) Seth Pecksniff's older daughter and sister of Mercy. Haughty and ill-tempered, without her younger sister's playful nature. She is infuriated when passed over for marriage by Jonas Chuzzlewit who chooses her sister. She later promises herself to Mr Moddle, who leaves her at the altar. Charity has a disposition "which was then observed to be of a sharp and acid quality, as though an extra lemon (figuratively speaking) had been squeezed into the nectar of her disposition, and had rather damaged its flavour." in Martin Chuzzlewit
Pecksniff, Mercy (Merry) Seth Pecksniff's younger daughter and sister of Charity. Seth gives her in marriage to Jonas Chuzzlewit, who breaks her spirit, and her heart in Martin Chuzzlewit
Pecksniff, Seth Sanctimonious surveyor and architect "who has never designed or built anything", and one of the biggest hypocrites in fiction. Father of daughters Mercy and Charity. In an effort to gain old Martin's money he embraces then throws out young Martin at old Martin's wish. When long time servant Tom Pinch learns of Pecksniff's treachery he is also thrown out. Pecksniff's self-serving designs are eventually exposed by Old Martin who reconciles with his grandson, young Martin. Dickens' description of Pecksniff's hypocrisy is telling: "Some people likened him to a direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there." in Martin Chuzzlewit
Peggotty, Clara David's devoted nurse and sister to Daniel Peggotty. After the death of David's mother she is discharged and marries Barkis. When Barkis dies she goes to live with David and Betsy Trotwood. David comically describes getting a hug from Peggotty: "She laid aside her work (which was a stocking of her own), and opening her arms wide, took my curly head within them, and gave it a good squeeze. I know it was a good squeeze, because, being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off. And I recollect two bursting to the opposite side of the parlour, while she was hugging me." in David Copperfield
Peggotty, Daniel Crotchety fisherman and dealer in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish. Brother of Clare. He lives in a converted boat on the beach at Yarmouth with Emily, Ham, and Mrs Gummidge. When Emily abandons them to elope with Steerforth, Daniel vows to find her. Steerforth later leaves Emily and she is re-united with Daniel. At the end of the novel Daniel, Emily, and Mrs Gummidge resettle in Australia in David Copperfield .
Peggotty, Ham Fisherman and boatbuilder. Orphaned nephew of Daniel Peggotty and fiance of Emily. He drowns trying to rescue Steerforth. "He was a huge, strong fellow of six feet high, broad in proportion, and round-shouldered; but with a simpering boy's face and curly light hair that gave him quite a sheepish look. He was dressed in a canvas jacket, and a pair of such very stiff trousers that they would have stood quite as well alone, without any legs in them. And you couldn't so properly have said he wore a hat, as that he was covered in a-top, like an old building, with something pitchy." in David Copperfield
Perker, Mr is a lawyer in The Pickwick Papers . He represents Pickwick in the case brought against him by Mrs Bardell, and also gives advice concerning Rachael Wardle's elopement . He is election agent to Samuel Slumkey in the Eatanswill by-election .
Phenomenon, The, aka The Infant Phenomenon is Miss Ninetta Crummles, daughter of Mr and Mrs Vincent Crummles, in Nicholas Nickleby .
Samuel Pickwick Retired businessman; he is the protagonist, founder, and chairman of the Pickwick Club. Pickwick, along with his friends Tupman, Snodgrass, Winkle, and his servant Sam Weller, travel around England in search of adventure in The Pickwick Papers . Pickwick is one of Dickens' most beloved characters and his story propelled Dickens to literary stardom.
Pinch, Tom is Seth Pecksniff's assistant in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Plummer, Caleb is Mr Tackton's underpaid toy maker in The Cricket on the Hearth .
Pott, Mr and Mrs Mr Pott is the editor of the Eatanswill Gazette, a local newspaper in The Pickwick Papers . His public persona is that of a fearless political journalist, but at home he is bullied by Mrs Pott, who makes no secret of the fact that she finds local politics insufferably boring. The Pickwickians have to leave the Pott household after Mr Winkle and Mrs Pott flirt mildly, provoking a scurrilous article in Pott's rival paper, the Eatanswill Independent.
Pumblechook Joe Gargery's uncle ("but Mrs Joe appropriated him"), hypocritical and well-to-do corn-chandler in the nearest town, proud owner of a chaise-cart. He takes Pip to meet Miss Havisham and takes credit for arranging Pip's " Great Expectations ." "A large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked."
Q
Quilp, Daniel An evil dwarf in The Old Curiosity Shop , who lends money to Nell's grandfather (who gambles it away and flees). Quilp attempts to find Nell and her grandfather as they travel through the country. Later Quilp is pursued by the police and, lost in the fog, drowns in the Thames.
Quilp, Betsy The pretty and timid wife of Daniel Quilp whom he loves to mentally torture. When Quilp dies she inherits his money and happily remarries. Betsy's mother is Mrs Jiniwin in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Quinion, Mr The Manager of Grimby and Murdstone's wine-bottling warehouse who employs David Copperfield in David Copperfield
R
Radfoot, George the third mate aboard the ship bringing John Harmon back to England. He and Harmon resemble each other and Harmon devises a plan to temporarily exchange clothes and identities with Radfoot so that he can secretly observe his intended bride, Bella Wilfer. Radfoot instead drugs and robs Harmon and is then murdered himself, his body taken for that of John Harmon in Our Mutual Friend
Redlaw, Professor A professor of chemistry who is visited by a phantom on Christmas Eve and given the gift of forgetting painful memories. The gift turns out to be a curse as it is passed on to those Redlaw touches. The adverse effects of the gift are finally reversed by Milly Swidger in The Haunted Man .
Riderhood, Pleasant Daughter of Rogue Riderhood. Pleasant is an unlicensed pawnbroker, she later overcomes her dislike of Mr Venus's occupation and agrees to marry him in Our Mutual Friend .
Riderhood, Rogue Waterman and former partner of Gaffer Hexam who tries to pin blame on Gaffer for the Harmon murder to gain a reward. Riderhood later becomes a lock-keeper and tries to blackmail Bradley Headstone after Bradley tries to murder Eugene Wrayburn. In a quarrel both Riderhood and Headstone drown in the Thames. Rogue is also the father of Pleasant Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend .
Rigaud, Monsieur, also goes by the names Blandois and Lagnier. Villain of Little Dorrit . Rigaud attempts to blackmail Mrs Clennam and has her house fall on him for his efforts. "When Monsieur Rigaud laughed, a change took place in his face, that was more remarkable than prepossessing. His moustache went up under his nose, and his nose came down over his moustache, in a very sinister and cruel manner."
Rokesmith, John Alias used by John Harmon when he is employed as secretary to the Boffins in Our Mutual Friend .
Rouncewell, George see George, Mr.
Rouncewell, Mrs Housekeeper to the Dedlocks in Bleak House . Mother of Richard and George Rouncewell.
Rouncewell, Richard A prosperous ironmaster and son of Mrs Rouncewell in Bleak House .
Rouncewell, Watt Richard Rouncewell's son, in Bleak House .
Rosa Favourite lady's maid to Lady Dedlock in Bleak House . She and Watt Rouncewell are in love, and Richard Rouncewell tries to buy her out of the Dedlock's service so that she may be educated and the pair may marry.
Rudge, Barnaby A simple but good hearted boy who unwittingly gets involved in the Gordon Riots when he falls into bad company. He is later arrested and sentenced to death but gains reprieve through the help of Gabriel Varden in Barnaby Rudge .
Rudge, Barnaby Sr the father of Barnaby and husband of Mary. He was the Steward at the Warren and murdered his employer, Reuben Haredale. He went into hiding after the murder and resurfaces years later trying to extort money from his wife. He is finally captured by Geoffrey Haredale and executed at Newgate in Barnaby Rudge .
Rugg, Mr the Landlord of Pancks who assists in finding William Dorrit's fortune in Little Dorrit .
S
Spenlow, Dora is the first wife of David Copperfield in David Copperfield .
Spottletoe, Mr and Mrs Relatives of old Martin Chuzzlewit's (Mrs is old Martin's niece) with designs on inheriting his money in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Squeers, Fanny Daughter of Wackford Squeers. Described as "not tall like her mother, but short like her father; from the former she inherited a voice of harsh quality; from the latter a remarkable expression of the right eye, something akin to having none at all." When Nicholas Nickleby becomes her father's assistant she falls madly in love with him, telling her friend Matilda Price that they are practically engaged. Nicholas wants nothing to do with her in Nicholas Nickleby .
Squeers, Wackford Proprietor of Dotheboys Hall, he takes in boys not wanted by their families and mistreats them. Nicholas Nickleby becomes his assistant master and sees the way he treats his charges, gives him a sound thrashing, and leaves. Squeers seeks revenge and conspires with Ralph Nickleby. He is eventually undone, imprisoned, and transported in Nicholas Nickleby .
Squeers, Wackford Jr Son of schoolmaster Wackford Squeers. Little Wackford is kept fat as an advertisement of the supposed plenty provided at the school. He is spoiled by being given any gifts intended for pupils of the school by their families in Nicholas Nickleby .
Squeers, Mrs Wife of Wackford Squeers: "a large raw-boned figure, was about half a head taller than Mr Squeers." While Mr Squeers attempts to keep his cruelty in check, in order to keep up appearances, Mrs Squeers is openly cruel in Nicholas Nickleby .
Squod, Phil Mr George's ugly little assistant at the shooting gallery in Bleak House . Formerly a travelling tinker.
Stagg Blind member of the 'Prentice Knights with Simon Tappertit. He joins Barnaby Rudge Sr in trying to extort money from Mary Rudge. Killed when he tries to run from officers arresting Hugh, Barnaby, and Rudge Sr in Barnaby Rudge .
Steerforth, James is a childhood friend of David Copperfield, he seduces Emily and then tires of her. He drowns in a shipwreck, despite the attempts of Ham to save him in David Copperfield .
Strong, Annie Pretty, young wife of Doctor Strong. Annie is suspected of having an affair with her cousin, Jack Maldon in David Copperfield .
Strong, Doctor Headmaster at the school David attends in Canterbury. He is chiefly concerned with assembling his Greek dictionary in David Copperfield .
Summerson, Esther Principal character in Bleak House . She is brought up an orphan by her aunt, Miss Barbery. On her aunt's death she is adopted by John Jarndyce and becomes companion to his wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Later in the story it is revealed that Esther is the illegitimate daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock. John Jarndyce falls in love with her and asked her to marry him. She consents out of respect for Jarndyce but during the engagement she falls in love with Allan Woodcourt. When Jarndyce learns of her feelings for Allan he releases her from the engagement and she marries Woodcourt.
Sweedlepipe, Paul (Poll) A barber and bird-fancier, and landlord of Mrs Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit . "Poll Sweedlepipe's house was one great bird's nest. Gamecocks resided in the kitchen; pheasants wasted the brightness of their golden plumage on the garret; bantams roosted in the cellar; owls had possession of the bedroom; and specimens of all the smaller fry of birds chirrupped and twittered in the shop."
Swidger, Milly Wife of William and the only member of the family not touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows, in The Haunted Man . Her inherent goodness, based on remembrance of her lost child, reverses the effects of this curse in her family, the Tetterbys, and Edmund Longford.
Swidger, Philip Eighty-seven year-old patriarch of the Swidger family. He loses his present happiness, based on his memories, when touched by Redlaw's gift. He is restored to happiness by Milly Swidger in The Haunted Man .
Swidger, William Caretaker of the university where Redlaw teaches chemistry. His family is adversely effected by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows. The adverse effects of this 'gift' are finally reversed by William's wife, Milly in The Haunted Man .
Swiveller, Dick Friend of Fred Trent, Swiveller has designs to marry Fred's sister, Nell Trent, but is encouraged to wait until Nell has inherited her grandfather's money. When Nell and her grandfather leave London Swiveller is befriended by Quilp who helps him gain employment with the Brasses. While at the Brasses he meets their little half-starved servant the Marchioness. He becomes aware of the Brasses villainy and, with the Marchioness' help, exposes a plot to frame Kit Nubbles. Swiveller later inherits money from his aunt, puts the Marchioness through school, and later marries her in The Old Curiosity Shop .
T
Tackleton also known as Gruff and Tackleton, the name of his toymaking business. He is the Scrooge of the story, a hard-hearted, unfeeling man who has lived off of the exploitation of children all his life. He is the employer of Caleb Plummer and schemes to marry May Fielding. Like Scrooge, he softens at the end of the story in The Cricket on the Hearth .
Tapley, Mark Ostler at the Blue Dragon Inn and servant to young Martin Chuzzlewit. He accompanies Martin to America and later marries Mrs Lupin, the Blue Dragon's landlady. The inn is renamed The Jolly Tapley in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Tappertit, Simon Locksmith Gabriel Varden's apprentice who is in love with Gabriel's daughter, Dolly. He becomes a leader of the rioters during the Gordon Riots and during the fighting loses his slender legs, long his pride and joy. After the uprising he is fitted with wooden legs and becomes a bootblack in Barnaby Rudge .
Tartar Retired navy man and friend of Crisparkle. He befriends Neville in London and works with Grewgious and Crisparkle in protecting Neville from John Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Tattycoram/Harriet Beadle Adopted by the Meagles from the Foundling Hospital, Harriet is given the name Tattycoram and is maid to the Meagles daughter, Pet. She exhibits fits of temper and is counselled by Mr Meagle to "count five and twenty, Tattycoram." She is influenced away from the Meagles by the evil Miss Wade. She later is reunited with the Meagles and assists in the undoing of the Rigaud/Blandois blackmail attempt in Little Dorrit .
Tetterby family Poor family touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows, which turns out to be a curse to them. Adolphus, a newsman, his wife Sophia, Adolphus Jr, a newspaper boy at the railway station, Johnny, who cares for the baby, Sally, called little Moloch. They are restored to their former loving natures by Milly Swidgerin The Haunted Man .
Ticket, Mrs Cook and housekeeper for the Meagles in Little Dorrit .
Tiffey, Mr "old clerk with the wig" that had once visited Mr Spenlow at his house in Norwood and had "drunk brown East India sherry there, of a quality so precious as to make a man wink." in David Copperfield
Tigg, Montigue (Tigg Montigue) Con man and swindler who first appears in the story fronting for Chevy Slyme and trying to squeeze the assembled Chuzzlewit family for money. Later he appears in splendor as head of the fraudulent Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company and has changed his name to Tigg Montigue. He dupes Jonas Chuzzlewit into joining the company, uses Jonas to fleece Pecksniff, and is murdered by Jonas in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Tiny Tim is Bob Cratchit's son in A Christmas Carol .
Tisher, Mrs Miss Twinkleton's assistant at the school for girls at Nun's House in The Mystery of Edwin Drood .
Todgers, Mrs Proprietor of M. Todgers Commercial Boarding House located near the monument. Mrs Todgers is described as a "rather bony and hard featured lady." Pecksniff and his daughters stay at Todgers when visiting London in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Toodle, Polly (Richards) Little Paul Dombey's nurse, known in the Dombey household as Richards. She is dismissed when she takes Paul to visit her family in a poorer section of London. She re-enters the story when Captain Cuttle asked her to look after Sol Gill's Shop, the Wooden Midshipman. She is the mother of Rob the Grinder who falls in with bad company and becomes a minor villain in the story. Dickens describes Polly as a "plump rosy-cheeked wholesome apple-faced young woman." in Dombey and Son
Toots Scatterbrained classmate of Paul Dombey Jr at Dr Blimber's Academy. Toots falls helplessly in love with Florence Dombey and pursues her, in his absentminded way, until Florence marries Walter Gay. In the end Toots marries Susan Nipper. Quote: "it's of no consequence." Dombey and Son
Tox, Lucretia Paul Dombey Sr's sister, Mrs Chick's, friend. She has designs to marry Paul Sr after his first wife dies. Paul marries Mrs Granger instead, breaking Miss Tox's heart, but she stays loyal to him through later hardships. Dickens describes her as "a long lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call 'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out." Dombey and Son
Trabb Tailor who makes Pip a new suit of clothes before he goes to London, also in charge of the mourners at Pip's sister's funeral in Great Expectations .
Trabb's Boy Assistant to Trabb, the tailor, who terrorizes Pip. He later leads Herbert to the limekiln to rescue Pip from Orlick in Great Expectations .
Traddles, Tommy Fellow pupil with David Copperfield and Steerforth at Salem House. David's best friend and best man at David's wedding to Dora Spenlow. He later becomes a lawyer and marries Sophy Crewler in David Copperfield .
Trent, Fred Nell's brother, a gambler, is interested in his grandfather's money through his friend Dick Swiveller in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Trent, Nelly Known as Little Nell, she is the principal character in the story. She lives with her grandfather, when he falls into the clutches of Daniel Quilp she helps him escape London. The hardships endured during their wanderings are too much for the delicate Nell and she dies in a quiet village where she and her grandfather had gained employment in The Old Curiosity Shop .
Trotter, Job is the servant of Alfred Jingle in The Pickwick Papers . He helps Jingle to deceive the Pickwickians, using a tale of woe and floods of tears to gain their sympathy.
Tulkinghorn, Josiah is Sir Leicester Dedlock's lawyer in Bleak House . Scheming and manipulative, he seems to defer to his clients but relishes the power his control of their secrets gives him over them. He learns of Lady Dedlock's past and tries to control her conduct, to preserve the reputation and good name of Sir Leicester. He is murdered, and his murder gives Dickens the chance to weave a detective's investigation of the murder into the plot of the closing chapters of the book.
Tupman, Tracy is a member of Pickwick Club and a travelling companion of Mr Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers . He has a weakness for the fair sex, which leads to several misadventures.
Turveydrop, Prince is the inheritor of a dance school in London and marries Caddy Jellyby in Bleak House .
Turveydrop, "Old Mr" is the owner of a dance school in London in Bleak House .
Twist, Oliver , an orphan inhabitant of a workhouse , is the protagonist of Oliver Twist .
U
V
Vengeance, The The female revolutionary and friend of Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities . She is described as 'a short, rather plump wife of a starved grocer'. At the final execution she is left pondering the absence of Madame Defarge.
Vholes, Mr A Chancery lawyer who takes on Richard Carstone as a client in Bleak House . He squeezes all the litigation fees he can from Carstone, and then abandons him when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes to an end. He obtains an introduction to Carstone from Harold Skimpole.
W
Wardle, Mr Yeoman farmer and owner of Manor Farm at Dingley Dell in The Pickwick Papers . Pickwick and his friends visit Manor Farm frequently.
Wardle, Isabella Mr Wardle's daughter who marries Trundle in The Pickwick Papers .
Wardle, Emily Mr Wardle's daughter who marries Augustus Snodgrass in The Pickwick Papers .
Wardle, Old Mrs Mr Wardle's partially deaf mother in The Pickwick Papers .
Wardle, Rachael Mr Wardle's spinster sister (aged 50 at least). She courts Tupman but is lured into elopement by Jingle, who is after her money. Rachael and Jingle are caught before a marriage can take place and Jingle is bought off by Mr Wardle in The Pickwick Papers .
Waterbrook, Mr and Mrs Mr Waterbrook is Mr Wickfield's agent with whom Agnes stays while in London. They reside at Ely Place, Holborn in David Copperfield .
Weller, Tony A retired coachman, and father of Samuel Weller. His wife, Susan, is proprietor of the Marquis of Granby Inn in Dorking. Susan falls in with the hypocritical Reverend Stiggins, of the Brick Lane Temperance Association, who the frequently imbibing Tony later exposes in The Pickwick Papers .
Weller, Samuel Mr Pickwick's manservant and valet is one of the most popular characters in Dickens' works. He counsels his master with idiosyncratic wisdom and is thoroughly devoted to Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers .
Wemmick, John is a clerk, and a friend of Pip in Great Expectations . He cares for his Aged Parent.
Westlock, John Former pupil of Pecksniff and friend of Tom Pinch although they disagree about Pecksniff's character. He is instrumental in exposing Jonas Chuzzlewit and later marries Tom's sister Ruth in Martin Chuzzlewit .
Whimple, Mrs The landlady of the house at Mill Pond Bank where Old Bill Barley and his daughter, Clara, live. Magwitch is kept secretly in the house waiting for the escape out of Britain in Great Expectations .
Wickfield, Agnes is the childhood friend of David Copperfield . She marries David after the death of his first wife, Dora, in David Copperfield .
Wigsby, Professor A botanist who produces a cauliflower somewhat larger than a chaise umbrella. The Mudfog Papers
Winkle, Nathaniel is a member of the Pickwick Club and a travelling companion of Mr Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers . He professes to be a keen sportsman, although when his skills are tested he usually appears to be inept.
Witherfield, Miss is the lady whom Peter Magnus proposes to, in The Pickwick Papers . When Magnus and Pickwick fall out over misplaced discretion, she fears that a duel is about to occur and has Pickwick hauled before the magistrate, Nupkins.
Woodcourt, Dr Allan A physician in Bleak House . A kind, caring man who falls in love with Esther Summerson. She in turn cares for him but feels unable to respond to his overtures because of her prior commitment to John Jarndyce. All is resolved happily at the end and they marry.
Wopsle is a Parish clerk in Great Expectations .
X
York, The Five Sisters of appear in a story told in Nicholas Nickleby .
Z
Zamiel is a melancholic Frenchman in A Flight.
Zephyr, The is the pseudonym of Mr Mivins, a prisoner in The Pickwick Papers .
Notes
| i don't know |
Which dance, in quadruple time, combines short and long steps in various sequences? | Foxtrot | Article about foxtrot by The Free Dictionary
Foxtrot | Article about foxtrot by The Free Dictionary
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/foxtrot
Related to foxtrot: Charlie Foxtrot
foxtrot
a ballroom dance in quadruple time, combining short and long steps in various sequences
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content .
Link to this page:
Notes
A testament to Tweedy's well-known radio fixation, the title Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (and the sample of an ambiguously accented woman intoning its three words during the coda of "Poor Places") was lifted, uncredited, from The Conet Project, four CDs of eerie recordings of shortwave "numbers stations" that broadcast coded messages to intelligence agents in NATO'S phonetic alphabet.
| Foxtrot |
Which actress appeared as a gangster's mollin 'Singing In The Rain' and also starred with Fred Astaire in 'Silk Stockings'? | What does Foxtrot mean?
Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:
Foxtrot
The foxtrot or fox trot is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band music, and the feeling is one of elegance and sophistication. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a 4 4 time signature instead of 3 4. Developed in the 1910s, the foxtrot reached its height of popularity in the 1930s, and remains practiced today.
Numerology
The numerical value of Foxtrot in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
| i don't know |
AWPmachines are proliferating, what does AWP mean? | UK Fruit Machine Index
This page is aimed at beginners to fruit machines. It explains all the various fruit machine related terms, and gives players the "Basic" ways to play.
Please note that not all of these tips apply to all machines!
3 Holds
When you hold two symbols on the winline 3 times the 3rd symbol is guarenteed to drop in on the 3rd spin. If you are holding a symbol such as a "Bar", or a "Red Seven" the machine is very unlikely to allow you to hold them 3 times - because the amount of money you win for these is higher than say a "cherry".
AWP / SWP
AWP simply means Amusement With Prizes. It is a term used to describe a machine where a the payout etc is predetermined i.e. fruit machines. SWP means Skill With Prizes, and is used to refer to quiz machines etc. Quiz machines pay out depending on the skill of the player, although the machine dictates the level of difficulty. Once someone wins on a Quiz machine, the game difficulty is increased until the machine can afford to pay out again.
Backing
You can tell if a machine is backing when you put a pound in. If you hear the pound fall right into the bottom of the machine, it is backing. This means that the "tubes" or the "hopper" is full (this is where the machine pays out from). If a machine is backing it could mean one of two things:
1) The machine is full because it hasnt paid out for ages, in which case you are much more likely to win a lot of money, or
2) The machine has recently been re-filled by an engineer, which means it is full but has recently paid a lot of money out which means it is much less likely that you will win any money.
Barcodes
You get a barcode when you have 3 bars in order on the winline. The order is SINGLE BAR, DOUBLE BAR, TREBLE BAR - (1,2,3). When you get a barcode, pressing a hold button, or a combination of hold buttons will give you a "Hidden Feature". A reverse barcode is when you get a TREBLE BAR, DOUBLE BAR, SINGLE BAR (3,2,1). A reverse barcode will also give you a hidden feature, although these features will sometimes be different to the features on a normal barcode.
Cancel Button
The cancel button can affect many features on a machine. When you collect a feature (something that would take a lot of skill to do) try holding down the cancel button - this may slow things down. Examples of this are, Shockwave (Impulse), 11th Heaven (Impulse), Searchlight (Great Escape), Skill Nudges, Stopper, Skill Stop, Choose a trail, the list really does go on for ever.
CL Light
This simply means cash low. It sometimes flashes when money is being taken from a machine, to indicate the cash level inside is changing. If the CL light stays on, it is indicating to the owner, that it needs refilling.
Emptier
An emptier is a method of playing a machine in such a way that you can totally "Empty" the machine of all its money. Emptiers are not knowingly put onto the machine by the manufacturer, but are "Bugs" or "Oversights" in the machines programming. Emptiers are becoming extremely rare on modern machines, and you would be very lucky to find one. For an example of an emptier, look in the "Old Emptiers" part of these pages.
Forcing
This is a method of attempting to win or force a streak. Basicaly it involves gambling every win untill you get the Jackpot. It is important not to take any wins as this will set the machine back. When you have forced the jackpot, the machine should be happy enough to "streak", this means it should give more large wins in a small period of time.
Holds After Nudges
When nudging if there is no win available try to bring two identicle fruits onto the winline. When you have finised nudging the machine may give you a message indicating that if you press start, a win will come in - ("Okey Dokey Roll 'Em" - JPM, "Let Em Spin" - Barcrest). If this happens DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING, just press start!
Invincible Mode
This is also known as a "Red Mode". When a machine goes iton tei moade you are guarenteed the top prize, or the jackpot. You can tell when a machine is in this mode as the "Machine Logo" will turn a different colour (Usually Red) or will begin to flash etc. If this happens keep going to win at the very least a Jackpot (�15)!
Knockouts and Shots
A knockout is a random stop on the cash trail. Once a cash amount has been landed on, the machine will never land on it again. Heres an example: Cash trail = �1 - �1.60 - �2 - �3. If you have 3 knockouts it is impossible to get less than �2. The machine will usually offer �1 on the first knockout, then �1.60 on the second then �2 on the third. If the machine offers the �3 at any time - collect it.
Reel Blast
A reel blast is a random stop on the 9 fruits in view on the reels. Whatever fruit you stop it on, 3 of that kind will spin in. As with knockouts, if you have more than one reel blast, once one fruit has been "blasted", you can`t land on it again. However, it doesn`t eliminate that fruit type e.g. you have 2 cherries and 2 reel blasts, you can still land on a cherry on your second blast even if you land on one with your first.
Refill Key
This is a key used by engineers and pub owners to see how much money is in the hopper and payout tubes. Players using these, can see whether the machine has been filled, and is more likely to pay. They are currently universal keys, although companies are introducing unique keys, which only work on one type of machine.
Reset Codes
This is a sequence of buttons pressed to download information to an engineers computer. This is of no use to the player, and is a myth that people use to pretend they know something about fruit machines. An old reset code is 3-2-1-2-3-1 (the numbers relate to the hold buttons).
Streak
A Streak is when a machine has taken a lot of money, and is below its recommended payout percentage. It must then payout a substantial amount to put the balance right. This can be anything from �40 to �100.
Win Above/Below The Winline
If you have three matching symbols above the winline and the hold buttons quickly flash, or the reels shake etc., HOLD THEM ALL. The Win will drop down onto the winline!
Yeti
A term used when describing a feature that hardly appears, but when it does, its usually a good sign.
| Amusement with prize |
How many keys are there on a standard piano keyboard? | UK Fruit Machine Index
This page is aimed at beginners to fruit machines. It explains all the various fruit machine related terms, and gives players the "Basic" ways to play.
Please note that not all of these tips apply to all machines!
3 Holds
When you hold two symbols on the winline 3 times the 3rd symbol is guarenteed to drop in on the 3rd spin. If you are holding a symbol such as a "Bar", or a "Red Seven" the machine is very unlikely to allow you to hold them 3 times - because the amount of money you win for these is higher than say a "cherry".
AWP / SWP
AWP simply means Amusement With Prizes. It is a term used to describe a machine where a the payout etc is predetermined i.e. fruit machines. SWP means Skill With Prizes, and is used to refer to quiz machines etc. Quiz machines pay out depending on the skill of the player, although the machine dictates the level of difficulty. Once someone wins on a Quiz machine, the game difficulty is increased until the machine can afford to pay out again.
Backing
You can tell if a machine is backing when you put a pound in. If you hear the pound fall right into the bottom of the machine, it is backing. This means that the "tubes" or the "hopper" is full (this is where the machine pays out from). If a machine is backing it could mean one of two things:
1) The machine is full because it hasnt paid out for ages, in which case you are much more likely to win a lot of money, or
2) The machine has recently been re-filled by an engineer, which means it is full but has recently paid a lot of money out which means it is much less likely that you will win any money.
Barcodes
You get a barcode when you have 3 bars in order on the winline. The order is SINGLE BAR, DOUBLE BAR, TREBLE BAR - (1,2,3). When you get a barcode, pressing a hold button, or a combination of hold buttons will give you a "Hidden Feature". A reverse barcode is when you get a TREBLE BAR, DOUBLE BAR, SINGLE BAR (3,2,1). A reverse barcode will also give you a hidden feature, although these features will sometimes be different to the features on a normal barcode.
Cancel Button
The cancel button can affect many features on a machine. When you collect a feature (something that would take a lot of skill to do) try holding down the cancel button - this may slow things down. Examples of this are, Shockwave (Impulse), 11th Heaven (Impulse), Searchlight (Great Escape), Skill Nudges, Stopper, Skill Stop, Choose a trail, the list really does go on for ever.
CL Light
This simply means cash low. It sometimes flashes when money is being taken from a machine, to indicate the cash level inside is changing. If the CL light stays on, it is indicating to the owner, that it needs refilling.
Emptier
An emptier is a method of playing a machine in such a way that you can totally "Empty" the machine of all its money. Emptiers are not knowingly put onto the machine by the manufacturer, but are "Bugs" or "Oversights" in the machines programming. Emptiers are becoming extremely rare on modern machines, and you would be very lucky to find one. For an example of an emptier, look in the "Old Emptiers" part of these pages.
Forcing
This is a method of attempting to win or force a streak. Basicaly it involves gambling every win untill you get the Jackpot. It is important not to take any wins as this will set the machine back. When you have forced the jackpot, the machine should be happy enough to "streak", this means it should give more large wins in a small period of time.
Holds After Nudges
When nudging if there is no win available try to bring two identicle fruits onto the winline. When you have finised nudging the machine may give you a message indicating that if you press start, a win will come in - ("Okey Dokey Roll 'Em" - JPM, "Let Em Spin" - Barcrest). If this happens DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING, just press start!
Invincible Mode
This is also known as a "Red Mode". When a machine goes iton tei moade you are guarenteed the top prize, or the jackpot. You can tell when a machine is in this mode as the "Machine Logo" will turn a different colour (Usually Red) or will begin to flash etc. If this happens keep going to win at the very least a Jackpot (�15)!
Knockouts and Shots
A knockout is a random stop on the cash trail. Once a cash amount has been landed on, the machine will never land on it again. Heres an example: Cash trail = �1 - �1.60 - �2 - �3. If you have 3 knockouts it is impossible to get less than �2. The machine will usually offer �1 on the first knockout, then �1.60 on the second then �2 on the third. If the machine offers the �3 at any time - collect it.
Reel Blast
A reel blast is a random stop on the 9 fruits in view on the reels. Whatever fruit you stop it on, 3 of that kind will spin in. As with knockouts, if you have more than one reel blast, once one fruit has been "blasted", you can`t land on it again. However, it doesn`t eliminate that fruit type e.g. you have 2 cherries and 2 reel blasts, you can still land on a cherry on your second blast even if you land on one with your first.
Refill Key
This is a key used by engineers and pub owners to see how much money is in the hopper and payout tubes. Players using these, can see whether the machine has been filled, and is more likely to pay. They are currently universal keys, although companies are introducing unique keys, which only work on one type of machine.
Reset Codes
This is a sequence of buttons pressed to download information to an engineers computer. This is of no use to the player, and is a myth that people use to pretend they know something about fruit machines. An old reset code is 3-2-1-2-3-1 (the numbers relate to the hold buttons).
Streak
A Streak is when a machine has taken a lot of money, and is below its recommended payout percentage. It must then payout a substantial amount to put the balance right. This can be anything from �40 to �100.
Win Above/Below The Winline
If you have three matching symbols above the winline and the hold buttons quickly flash, or the reels shake etc., HOLD THEM ALL. The Win will drop down onto the winline!
Yeti
A term used when describing a feature that hardly appears, but when it does, its usually a good sign.
| i don't know |
"Which actor, singer and composer said ""Never trust a man with short legs - his brain's too near his bottom""?" | Michael Caine - Biography - IMDb
Michael Caine
Biography
Showing all 212 items
Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (103) | Personal Quotes (94) | Salary (3)
Overview (3)
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Bio (2)
Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen Frances Marie (Burchell), a charlady, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish-market porter. He left school at 15 and took a series of working-class jobs before joining the British army and serving in Korea during the Korean War, where he saw combat. Upon his return to England he gravitated toward the theater and got a job as an assistant stage manager. He adopted the name of Caine on the advice of his agent, taking it from a marquee that advertised The Caine Mutiny (1954). In the years that followed he worked in more than 100 television dramas, with repertory companies throughout England and eventually in the stage hit, "The Long and the Short and the Tall." Zulu (1964), the 1964 epic retelling of a historic 19th-century battle in South Africa between British soldiers and Zulu warriors, brought Caine to international attention. Instead of being typecast as a low-ranking Cockney soldier, he played a snobbish, aristocratic officer. Although "Zulu" was a major success, it was the role of Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965) and the title role in Alfie (1966) that made Caine a star of the first magnitude. He epitomized the new breed of actor in mid-'60s England, the working-class bloke with glasses and a down-home accent. However, after initially starring in some excellent films, particularly in the 1960s, including Gambit (1966), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Play Dirty (1969), Battle of Britain (1969), Too Late the Hero (1970), The Last Valley (1971) and especially Get Carter (1971), he seemed to take on roles in below-average films, simply for the money he could by then command. There were some gems amongst the dross, however. He gave a magnificent performance opposite Sean Connery in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and turned in a solid one as a German colonel in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Educating Rita (1983) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) (for which he won his first Oscar) were highlights of the 1980s, while more recently Little Voice (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999) (his second Oscar) and Last Orders (2001) have been widely acclaimed.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]
Michael Caine is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive working class cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 films and is regarded as a British film icon.
He made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in a number of acclaimed British films, including Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). His most notable roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1986, he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). Having by that time practically retired from acting on the big screen, he enjoyed a career resurgence in the late 1990s, receiving his second Golden Globe Award for his performance in Little Voice (1998) and receiving his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules (1999) the following year. Caine played Nigel Powers in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan 's Batman film series. He appeared in several other of Nolan's films including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), and Interstellar (2014). He also appeared as a supporting character in Alfonso Cuarón 's Children of Men (2006) and Pixar's 2011 film Cars 2 (2011). As of 2015, films in which he has starred have grossed over $7.4 billion worldwide. Caine is ranked the ninth highest grossing box office star.
Caine is one of a few actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from five consecutive decades (the others being Laurence Olivier and Meryl Streep ). In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges
Spouse (2)
( 3 April 1954 - 1958) (divorced) (1 child)
Trade Mark (5)
His spectacles (rare for 1960s leading actors)
His cockney accent
Often plays mentors and father figures to younger characters in films
Tall, lean frame
Frequently works with director Christopher Nolan
Trivia (103)
His first American accent was in the film Hurry Sundown (1967). He was taught the Southern drawl by Vivien Leigh , who told him to say "four door Ford" all day long for weeks. (source - "What's it all about?" Michael Caine's autobiography - 1992)
10/87: Ranked #55 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
Co-owned top London restaurant Langan's Brasserie.
1987: Awarded British Variety Club Award for Best Film Actor.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire) in the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
Owns his own film production company.
Took his name from the film The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Shared a London flat with actor Terence Stamp early in his career.
He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his contribution to the performing arts.
11/16/00: Formally knighted at Buckingham Palace under his real name of Maurice Micklewhite. He will be known professionally as Sir Michael Caine.
He owns seven restaurants: six in London, one in Miami.
Father, with Shakira Caine , of Natasha.
Father, with the late Patricia Haines , of Dominique (aka Nikki).
The production offices of Mona Lisa (1986) were located in the disused St Olave's hospital, the very hospital in which Caine was born.
Has two brothers. Younger brother Stanley Caine appeared in at least three of Caine's films: Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Play Dirty (1969) and The Italian Job (1969). He did not know about his elder half-brother David until their mother died. David suffered from epilepsy and had lived in a hospital his entire life.
The role of Alfie was turned down by Anthony Newley and Terence Stamp before it was offered to him.
Lodged with composer John Barry in the early 1960s for a few months, after being forced to leave his own flat, penniless. He returned the favor in 1998 when agreeing to introduce the composer's Royal Albert Hall concert - his first in the UK for 25 years.
"Michael Caine", a top 10 song in Britain in the mid-'80s by the group Madness, had his "My Name Is Michael Caine" quote sampled into the song.
2001: Was voted fifth in the Orange Film Survey of greatest British actors.
Lobbied for the lead role in The Day of the Jackal (1973) but was rejected by director Fred Zinnemann , who felt that the character of The Jackal, who essentially is a cipher, should not be played by a movie star.
Three of his memorable films ( Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Get Carter (1971)) have all been remade.
1987: Was not present at the Academy Awards ceremony when he won best supporting actor for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) because he was filming Jaws: The Revenge (1987), for which he was nominated for worst supporting actor at the Razzie awards the following year.
Has stated that the character of Vichy war criminal Pierre Brossard in The Statement (2003) was his least favorite. He said that all the other characters he played in his career, whether good or evil, had a sense of humor on some level that he would try to convey in his performance. He felt that Brossard had no sense of humor whatsoever, in part because the character was such an intense man.
The soundstage at Shepperton Studios, in which he filmed Batman Begins (2005), is also the one where he filmed his very first film, Hell in Korea (1956).
Is close friends with Sir Sean Connery , Sir Roger Moore , Sir Elton John and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber .
Throughout the 1960s he was by his own estimation drinking two bottles of vodka and smoking at least eighty cigarettes a day. He quit smoking cigarettes following a stern lecture from Tony Curtis at a party in 1971, and finally quit smoking cigars shortly before his 70th birthday in 2003.
Was the first person to be nominated for an acting Razzie award for more than one title. He was nominated for Worst Actor of 1980 at the very first Razzie awards for his roles in the films Dressed to Kill (1980) and The Island (1980).
In 1957, at Brighton University, Caine appeared in a one-act play written by a fellow actor who went by the name of David Baron. It was Baron's very first play. He later changed his name back to Harold Pinter , the name under which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
Superstar Swedish rock band Kent refer to him in their song "Palace and Main"
Near the end of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), he passes by a store called "Micklewhite's." His real name is Maurice Micklewhite.
Allegedly did not get along with Steven Seagal while filming On Deadly Ground (1994).
Mike Myers said that he based the character of Austin Powers partially on Caine's character in Alfie (1966). Caine would play Austin Powers father in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
Visited John Wayne several times when the veteran star was dying of cancer in hospital.
1979: Left England for tax reasons, and did not return until 1987.
An ardent Thatcherite during the 1980s, Caine switched his support to Tony Blair 's New Labour Party shortly before the 1997 General Election.
Has been nominated for an Oscar at least once in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s).
Turned down Alfred Hitchcock 's Frenzy (1972).
12/18/05: Attended the party at his close friend Sir Elton John 's Old Windsor mansion after the singer married David Furnish in a civil partnership ceremony.
While he uses "Michael Caine" professionally, he used his given name in his personal life until he decided to officially change his name to Michael Caine in 2016. He said in an interview that the reason was that he was losing too much time at the reinforced safety checks in airports because the name on his passport did not match his stage name.
Originally had the lead role of Switching Channels (1988) but was held up by production delays on Jaws: The Revenge (1987).
Has appeared in the remakes of two of his films: Get Carter (2000) and Sleuth (2007).
Alfie (1966) and Sleuth (1972) were both remade with Jude Law taking over his role.
He is famous for the catch-phrase "Not a lot of people know that", though he never actually said it. The phrase was probably first said by Peter Sellers when he appeared Parkinson (1971) on 28 October 1972 and said: "Not many people know that. This is my Michael Caine impression. You see, Mike's always quoting from the Guinness Book of Records. At the drop of a hat he'll trot one out. 'Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground?' Now there's not many people who know that!".
His all-time favorite actor, his inspiration to become an actor and his hero is Humphrey Bogart .
Once said that he knew he'd made it as an actor when he started getting scripts to read that no longer had coffee stains already on them (meaning that he was the first choice for that role).
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
In an interview with "The Sunday Telegraph" on 26 April 2009, Caine admitted that he is considering becoming a tax exile again if Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown increases taxes on high earners.
Chosen by GQ magazine as one of the 50 Most Stylish Men in the Past 50 Years.
Confirmed in an interview with "The Mail on Sunday" newspaper on 1 November 2009 that he has dropped his support for Labour and will vote Conservative at the next General Election.
Lives in Fetcham, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Publicly supported Conservative Party leader David Cameron for Prime Minister in the 2010 General Election.
For more than forty years, Caine's mother, Ellen Maria Burchell, paid periodic visits to a "cousin" in a mental hospital. When she died in 1989, Caine learned that the cousin was really his elder brother, David.
Supports Chelsea FC.
Educating Rita (1983) is his favourite film of his own, and the performance he's the most proud of.
Stated that for years he hated the smell of garlic as he associated it with his service in the Korean War where North Korean and Chinese troops would munch it as a snack. He eventually overcame his dislike upon becoming a restauranteur.
Claims that his trick to being able to cry on cue is thinking about a painful childhood memory.
Favorite film is The Third Man (1949).
As of 2013, he has three grandchildren, a granddaughter and two grandsons.
Visiting the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England [June 2010]
In Chicago Illinois filming The Dark Knight (2008). [August 2007]
Caine and fellow Brit Michael Gough , who both played Alfred Pennyworth in "Batman" movies, have also both had roles in different productions of "A Christmas Carol" (Caine as Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and Gough as Mr. Poole in A Christmas Carol (1984) with George C. Scott ).
Of the six performers who have won Oscars for performances in films directed by Woody Allen , he is the only man. The others are Diane Keaton , Dianne Wiest (twice), Mira Sorvino , Penelope Cruz , and Cate Blanchett .
In every film where Caine and Christopher Nolan make a collaboration, Caine's character either assists, guides, trains or educates the protagonist of each film. In The Prestige (2006), Caine portrays a magician who teaches the main character the art of illusion. For 'The Dark Knight trilogy', Caine plays a butler to the Wayne family, where he supports, nurtures and loves the main character Bruce Wayne (Batman). During Inception (2010), Caine depicts the father of the main protagonist, Cobb, and aids him by recruiting one of his students. In Interstellar (2014), Caine portrays a professor/engineer, who invites and encourages the central character, Cooper, to lead an important space mission that will determine the future of planet earth.
He appeared in four films with Laurence Olivier : Battle of Britain (1969), Sleuth (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and The Jigsaw Man (1983).
He has two roles in common with Jude Law : (1) Caine played Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966) while Law played him in Alfie (2004) and (2) Caine played Milo Tindle in Sleuth (1972) while Law played him in Sleuth (2007), in which Caine played Andrew Wyke.
Publicly called for the UK to leave the European Union in January 2016.
Attended the wedding of media mogul Rupert Murdoch to former model Jerry Hall in 2016.
He was considered for the role of Mark Wallace in Two for the Road (1967) that went to Albert Finney .
He revealed in his autobiography that he that he also read for Doctor Yuri Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965) and participated in the screen shots with Julie Christie , but (after watching the results with David Lean ) was the one who suggested Omar Sharif.
He turned down the role of Col. Colin Caine in Lifeforce (1985) that went to Peter Firth .
He turned down the role of John L. Sullivan IV in Switching Channels (1988) in order to be in Jaws: The Revenge (1987). The role went to Burt Reynolds .
He tried out for the role of Lieutenant Scott-Padget in Damn the Defiant! (1962) which went to Dirk Bogarde .
He was considered for Sean Connery 's roles in Highlander (1986) and The Name of the Rose (1986).
He turned down both of the male leads in Women in Love (1969) because he refused to do any nudity. The roles went to Alan Bates and Oliver Reed .
He turned down the role of PC Bob Steele in Z Cars (1962).
He was going to star in The Dresser (1983) with Orson Welles in the early 1980s. His role went to Tom Courtenay .
He turned down the role of Jolly in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) in order to star in Educating Rita (1983). The role went to James Caan .
He was originally cast as Private Wilkes in Guns at Batasi (1964). John Leyton replaced him.
He wanted to play The Jackal in The Day of the Jackal (1973), but was turned down by director Fred Zinnemann , because he felt that the role shouldn't be played by a star.
He was considered for the title role in Sebastian (1968) that went to Dirk Bogarde .
He turned down the role of Maurice Castle in The Human Factor (1979) that went to Nicol Williamson .
He was considered to star opposite Sean Connery in Saturn 3 (1980). The roles went to Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel .
He turned down the role of Patrick Dalton Six Weeks (1982) that went to Dudley Moore .
He turned down the role of Col. John Stewart in Khartoum (1966) that went to Richard Johnson .
He was considered for the title role in Fellini's Casanova (1976).
He was considered for the lead role in Tootsie (1982).
He turned down the role of Staff Sergeant Williams in The Hill (1965) in order to star in Alfie (1966). The role went to Ian Hendry .
He turned the role of Josiah Samuel Smith in the Doctor Who (1963) serial "Ghost Light". The role went to Ian Hogg .
He turned down the role of Captain Smith in Titanic (1997).
He was considered for the role of Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
He was the first choice for the role of Marvin in City of Ghosts (2002) that went to James Caan .
He was considered for the role of Ben du Toit in A Dry White Season (1989) that went to Donald Sutherland .
He was considered for the role of Bart in Unleashed (2005) that went to Bob Hoskins .
He was considered to play 'C.S. Lewis' in Shadowlands (1993).
He was offered the role of Arthur Seldom in The Oxford Murders (2008) that went to John Hurt .
He claimed that the worst films he ever made were The Magus (1968), _The Swarm (1978)_(qv and Ashanti (1979).
He turned down the role of David Dilbeck in Striptease (1996) that went to Burt Reynolds .
In 2009, he praised Christoph Waltz 's performance as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009), saying that it was the "best performance of a villain" he's seen in years.
Though he had been considered for, but never appeared in a Bond movie, Caine was the very first person to hear the completed film score for Goldfinger (1964). After he and roommate Terence Stamp were both ejected from their apartment, Caine asked composer friend John Barry if he could use the spare bedroom at Barry's London residence. As they were good friends, Barry agreed and so for several months Caine crashed with Barry and was there the sleepless night he completed his iconic score. At breakfast the following morning Barry played his composition for Caine, the first time he'd performed it for anybody.
When he was still a struggling actor, Caine shared a London flat with future hairstylist-guru Vidal Sassoon .
Although often listed as 6'2", Caine himself gave his height as 6'1" in his 1992 autobiography "What's It All About?".
Acting mentor and friend of Julie Walters .
Personal Quotes (94)
[in 1967] I've never been out with a married woman, never. I respect others' properties.
My name is Michael Caine.
[on Jaws: The Revenge (1987)] I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.
I am in so many movies that are on TV at 2:00 a.m. that people think I am dead.
I used to get the girl; now I get the part. In The Quiet American (2002) you may have noticed I got the part and the girl. It's a milestone for me, because it's the last time I'm going to get the girl. I'm sure of it, now I'm nearly seventy.
Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is playing himself, if he's that good. It looks very easy. It should. But it's not, I assure you. To disappear your complete self into a character is quite difficult. I've tried it 85 times, and I've succeeded two or three times.
The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years.
First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.
The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this--a movie star will say, "How can I change the script to suit me?" and a movie actor will say. "How can I change me to suit the script?"
Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.
[on doing the Texan accent for Secondhand Lions (2003)] I had a great dialect coach and he told me there's always one moment when you get something. He said, "Do your Texan accent for me," when I had learned it from a tape. He said, "It's too English!". I said, "Why?". He said, "Each word stands up like soldiers standing to attention next to each other. The way they talk in Texas, they're so lazy they sort of lean on each word". And I could just picture all these words leaning over each other, and that's when I got it.
[In reference to the Oscar Family Album Tribute sequence at The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998) and speaking live on British television following the Oscar ceremony in 1998] I was sat up there with the likes of Claire Trevor and Luise Rainer . It means a lot to me, it was amazing, they are living legends!
My view is that you should always do remakes of failures. Then you've got nowhere to go but up, you know? They can't say, "Well, it's not as good as the original, you made a piece of crap". They'd just say, "What a piece of crap that was," anyway.
It's terrible. Every six weeks it's Christmas. In Catch-22 (1970), the hero says, "Time is going by so fast, I have to make my life more boring." That's what I've got to do, because my life is so interesting and I enjoy myself so much, I've got to make it more tedious, because I'll be 100 in a minute. My mother died when she was 90, so I've got just under 20 years left. The terrible thing is that in obituaries, you read, "He died at 74, he had a good life." You think, "Bloody hell, I've only got 18 months to go". And another strange thing about aging - as you get older, it gets faster, and you see people you haven't seen in what you think is five years, but it turns out to be 25 years. You say, "I made that film ten years ago," and they correct me: "Thirty, Michael. Thirty".
My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne . Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.
I did Harold Pinter 's first play, "The Room". Harold was an actor named David Baron. He said, "I'm going to write". I said, "Oh yeah, it'll be nice". He said, "But I don't want to get mixed up with being an actor. I'm going to write with my real name". I said, "What's your real name, David?" He said, "Harold Pinter".
Whenever anyone asks me to do something about my life's work, I keep saying, "Please, I haven't finished yet. Can you give me another year?" . . . In a lifetime achievement award, you just have to watch yourself grow old in 45 minutes.
[on Alfie (1966)] To be a movie star, you have to carry a movie. And to carry a movie where you play the title role is the supreme example. The third thing, for a British actor, is to do it in America. The fourth is to get nominated for an award. That picture did all four things for me.
[on Richard Gere ] He's got a pin-up image, which he hates. The only trouble is this: whenever they ask him to take his trousers off, he does.
Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes.
You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one.
I'll always be around because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point.
In England I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor.
I'm the original bourgeois nightmare - a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars.
Don't remake a successful picture, because you're liable to be the flop. Steve Martin and I made a much better picture of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) than Marlon Brando and David Niven did. What I wouldn't do anymore is play any guest shots. I've given that up. I did it as some fun and it backfired in Get Carter (2000) so I'm not doing it again. Now I hear that they're going to remake The Italian Job (1969) with me in the Noël Coward part. I'd consider it, yes.
I'm a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter.
[about remakes of his classic films such as Get Carter (1971) and The Italian Job (1969)] I wish they would remake the BAD ones!
I've made an awful lot of films. In fact, I've made a lot of awful films.
[on Heath Ledger 's performance as The Joker] The worry going in was The Joker. Jack Nicholson was the greatest Joker so, you know, how do you top that? Well, Heath Ledger 's done it and he's extraordinary. He's gone in a completely different direction to Jack. Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath is like a really scary psychopath. I did one scene with him and he was ready to go and had to come up in a lift and raid our place. I didn't see him for rehearsal and when he came out of the lift he was so incredible I forgot my lines. He frightened the life out of me. I'd never met him before. He's a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture.
Educating Rita (1983) was wonderful, I did it with Julie Walters , the original girl. She is sensational, really fantastic, and she is a very nice person as well, which is always a bonus.
[on Otto Preminger ] O.P. is only happy if everybody else is miserable. Still, if you can keep his paranoia from beating you down, you can learn a lot from the guy.
[on Ray Milland ] A nice old bloke.
I love HD. Of course, it's very unforgiving, especially on young beautiful ladies, but thank God I'm old, I don't care.
Do I believe in God? Yes I do. When you've had a life like mine, you have to.
While shooting Harry Brown (2009): The young guys I met there were fascinated by my success. They asked how I got out of there. I told them the truth - I had a happy family. My mum and dad were together all the time. I won a scholarship to grammar school. And there was drink, but not drugs.
[on some of his mid-career flops] I did a couple of pictures which were absolutely dreadful - one was Blue Ice (1992), and another with Olivier, where I played a spy based on Philby [ The Jigsaw Man (1983).] I thought there was no need to put myself through it. I had enough money. I opened eight restaurants, goofed around in Miami, until Jack Nicholson persuaded me to do Blood and Wine (1996) with him and restored my faith in the business.
After eight years in Hollywood: Weather always the same. Nothing to talk about. No seasons. My gardener told me that if I wanted to grow daffodils, I'd have to keep them in the fridge for five weeks so they'd think they were in England. But I couldn't put them in the fridge because I thought the maid would make onion soup out of them and poison the bloody lot of us.
When he was nominated for an Oscar for Educating Rita (1983): Irene Dunne and Loretta Young stopped me and said, 'We both voted for you.' I couldn't believe it!
On his first days in Hollywood: It was amazing to see Fred Astaire doing his food shopping.
On learning acting in postwar Britain: There was a whole generation of English theatre actors who'd do a film in order to buy a car or a refrigerator, but really thought it was beneath them.
[When he told his parents he wanted to act, they assumed he was gay.] That's what we thought actors were, all poofs. And sometimes we were right.
Old? I stopped ageing at 38. I still am 38 . . . except when they say, 'Run up those stairs.'
[on playing Clarence in Is Anybody There? (2008)] I'm my own worst critic. I spend my entire life trying to get it absolutely right. There are other actors who could do it better, but I'm proud of it. There's no Michael Caine there, there's no ego there. You just see poor old Clarence.
I've had such a great time, I'd like to come back as me - and do it all over again.
Brown's ( Gordon Brown ) never been elected by anybody. I'm supposed to be in a country where I get the chance to elect someone and I'm around here at the most dangerous of times led by a man who's never been elected. You've gotta be elected. A political party that's in too long is like a piece of meat - if it's there too long it will go rotten and they've gone rotten and they've gotta go.
It should have been a hindrance, but I have a phrase which I taught my children: 'Use the difficulty.' Where I came from, nobody even knew what a drama school was, and everyone thought you couldn't become an actor unless you talked posh. Class is still there but it's less relevant now. You don't need to have gone to a certain kind of school to have done that [become an actor] like you did back then.
My father said nothing, but I know that he thought I'd just confessed to being gay. Back then, everyone thought all actors were gay, and most of them were right. But it must have been the right move - did you know that the only good word you can make from 'Michael Caine' is 'cinema'? I discovered that in a crossword 10 years ago.
The Government has taken tax up to 50 per cent, and if it goes to 51, I will be back in America. I will not pay the Government more than I get. No way, ever. They've reached their limit with me, and that's what will happen to a lot of people. You know how much they made out of that high taxation all those years ago? Nothing. But they sent a mass of incredible brains to America. This return to high tax will only deepen our debt. While top-earners will be hit by the highest tax in 20 years, our MPs escape Scot-free. We've got three-and-a-half million layabouts laying about on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it on.
I shared a flat with Terence Stamp . I understudied Peter O'Toole . I remember being in Liverpool and going to see a matinée with a young actor nobody had ever heard of called Albert Finney . Oh, a tremendous wave. It was ridiculous. I knew a writer who wanted to write musicals called Lionel Bart , a painter called Francis Bacon .
What you have now which you didn't have when I was young is drugs. You had alcoholism, people getting pissed, but you never had the drugs and that is a massive problem. We were shooting in Hackney and someone local came up to me and said, 'Welcome to Crackney!' It was a gentler time when I was young. There were vicious gangsters but they were professional gangsters. They chose who they hit and what they robbed. But the drug addicts today have to kill anybody - it doesn't matter who - to get the money, so you get this incredible random violence. When I was young you fought the guy in the next street. But it wasn't so vicious then. We fought with our fists. Now they fight with knives and guns.
[on John Wayne ] Every now and then, we used to meet and have a drink or lunch. He genuinely liked me and of course I adored him. I met him by accident in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Many years later, Shakira (Caine's wife) was in hospital with peritonitis and John coincidentally was in the next room, dying of cancer. I was around with him at the end. We used to walk up and down the corridor.
(On composer John Barry during filming of Deadfall (1968)) Look at him, he's so thin. You wouldn't think he had a bloody note in him!
[on prisons] If you put people in cages, don't be surprised if they become animals.
I once read, 'You must not compete against your predecessors or your contemporaries. You must compete against yourself.' I try to look for something better and better and better.
I refuse to take myself too seriously. I learnt that from Roger Moore many years ago. He said, 'Cheer up, you'd better have a good time because this is not a rehearsal. This is life - this is the show.
If parents aren't working, how can they be decent role models? You have to look at all the people who are not sick, who've been on benefits for 20 years and have ten kids. I read in the news that we now spend more in benefits than we collect in income tax. I can't think of any country in the world that's ever done that. There can't be six million people who are too sick to go to work. You can't be accused of attacking the working classes, because they're not working.
Schools are cheaper than prisons. They don't need to learn Shakespeare ( William Shakespeare ); they need to read and write and count, so make sure of that. But we need to bring back the old technical colleges where you went to learn how to be an electrician, a plasterer, a carpenter.
I stayed in Britain, but they kept putting the tax up, so I'd do any old thing every now and then to pay the tax, that was my tax exile money. I realised that's not a socialist country, it's a communist country without a dictator, so I left and I was never going to come back. Maggie Thatcher ( Margaret Thatcher ) came in and put the taxes back down and in the end, you know, you don't mind paying tax. What am I going to do? Not pay tax and drive around in a Rolls Royce, with cripples begging on the street like you see in some countries?
I'll probably vote Conservative. I mean, we're in a terrible state whichever way you look at it, socially, financially and politically, so just give the other guy a chance. I don't know what Cameron's ( David Cameron ) going to do, but in the end you vote out of desperation. You just have to have someone new and see what happens. I voted for Maggie Thatcher ( Margaret Thatcher ) because I thought we needed a change from that long period of socialism; I voted for Tony Blair because we had a great long period of Conservatism. The thing now is to vote for Cameron ( David Cameron ).
I know there are thousands of actors out there who are as good, and better, than me, who just didn't get the breaks. I'm not saying that I didn't deserve any of this but I'm also aware of the fickle nature of this business, and how being in the right place at the right time can change everything.
My Alfie (1966) had to ask, 'What's it all about', as he was a bit stupid. Jude's Alfie (2004) was too smart, too clever by half. I can understand why he said yes to the part, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. An actor's life is full of decisions, some bad, some good.
When they said they wanted to remake Sleuth (1972), my first thought was, 'Why make it again at all?' I do not like remakes. It shows a lack of imagination. But once I saw the script for Sleuth (2007) I realised it wasn't a remake at all. It was a brand new movie.
The thing about gangsters in films these days is that they're either funny or they're stupid. Well, I'm sorry, but I've never met a gangster that's either. And I come from something of a gangster milieu. Nor have I met someone who deals out violence for violence's sake. The violence in Get Carter (1971) was incisive, fast and over. One blow, one shot, one hit, what was necessary. No one smashed people up in a sadistic fury.
One of the odd things about the country today, odd for me to say it, is the obsession with celebrity. I do regard that as a little bit dangerous. Everyone expects too much of you, too much perfection. And then you get the shock headlines when you realize they're normal, we're all normal - J-Lo's got cellulite shock, and the rest - well, frankly, who gives a shit?
I left the country for eight years when tax was put up to 82 per cent. You didn't get the 82 per cent tax from me for eight years. You didn't get any tax at all from me for the next eight years. Apart from that, a quarter of a billion dollars of movies were made outside this country instead of inside it which is just from one stupid, loud-mouth moronic actor. Imagine what is happening to companies, proper companies, who then disappear. It's no good.
I never give advice to younger actors. Because when I was their age, I used to ask actors older than me for advice, and the only advice I got was "Just give up."
[on the death of Tony Curtis ] It was a terrible shock and instantly I remembered the first time I'd met him. I was at a party, it was in winter and there was a fire and I was chain-smoking at the time, smoking a lot of cigarettes. I was stood there talking to someone and suddenly I felt a hand in my inside pocket and they took out my cigarettes and chucked them in the fire. I looked up and it was Tony Curtis . I'd never met him and he was very famous. I said, 'What did you do that for?' And he said, 'You're going to die Michael if you keep doing that.' I didn't give them up then but I did give them up eventually.
[on Marlon Brando 's sending a surrogate to the 1973 Academy Awards to pick up his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather (1972)] I think if the man wants to make a gesture, I agree entirely with what he did. But I think he should have stood up and done it himself instead of letting some poor little Indian girl [Sacheen Littlefeather] to take the boos. And if, you're going to make a humanitarian gesture, I think a man who makes $2 million playing the leader of the Mafia should at least give half of it to the Indians.
[on one good reason for winning an Oscar] It might mean I'd get more scripts without other actors' coffee stains on them.
[on Sean Connery ] We're still friends. I phoned him the other day on his 80th birthday, but we never see each other because he doesn't move around a lot now. He won't make another film now, no. I just asked him. He said, 'No, I'll never do it.'
Harry Brown (2009) wasn't a movie I wanted to do. It was a movie I HAD to do. I saw a lot of myself in the character and that is what drew me to the role.
Unlike my other golfing friend Sidney Poitier , Sean Connery is not the gentlest person in the world and my lack of grasp of the sport would not make him sad as it did Sidney, it would just make him angry. Sean has a terrible temper and when he tried to teach me golf he was so incensed by my performance he grabbed my club and broke it in two. I've never played since and I never will because I do not want to upset two of my best friends, Sean, in particular.
Today I'm in the fortunate and luxurious position of only working when I want to. I don't like getting up early or spending a long time learning lines, so these days I only work with offers that I really can't refuse. It's very different from the way I used to be. From the age of 20 to the age of 29, I was obsessed with becoming an actor and when I finally got to Hollywood, I could never quite believe that I had made it and so I kept on working for fear it would all disappear on me. These days, I don't think like that at all. I don't see myself as a Hollywood movie star - in fact I don't see myself as anything in particular.
The danger is, of course, that the wait for a decent movie makes you desperate, and I got desperate to the point that I accepted a picture in Alaska with Steven Seagal , the martial arts expert. The movie was called On Deadly Ground (1994) and the title was to prove apt. Although Steven and the rest of the team were great to work with, I had broken one of the cardinal rules of bad movies: if you're going to do a bad movie, at least do it in a great location. Here I was, doing a movie where the work was freezing my brain and the weather was freezing my arse.
[on Bullet to Beijing (1995)] It was my worst professional experience ever. The filming itself was a joke. The final blow came when we were shooting in the Lenfilm studio itself. I wanted to go to the toilet and they directed me to it. I could smell it 50 yards away and it was the filthiest lavatory I have ever seen. I went outside and relieved myself against the sound stage, which I noticed several other men had done before. So this is where my career has ended, I thought to myself: in the toilet. I'm done.
I think life has got to develop as you get older and I don't want to be wandering along doing the same old thing. I want more out of life.
I'm always supremely confident as a movie actor and my own view of myself is that I'm a highly skilled movie actor.
I love comedy. I love to make people laugh. If I hadn't been an actor, or an architect, which I really wanted to be, I'd have been a stand-up comic.
[When I was evacuated during the war, I spent a brief period with a family who exercised] a mild form of child abuse [by locking me in a cupboard. My mother found out after a fortnight and took me away,] but it was long enough to leave a mark, which formed part of my psyche for the rest of my life. I have never trusted an adult until a great deal of investigation has gone into them. I trust everyone on the surface, but directly anything starts to go deeper in the relationship, I'm very mistrusting. Even now. Because of what happened to me as a child. Maybe that's why I am a controlling person. I usually control the environment I'm in, but my control is very quiet and subtle.
[ Roger Moore ] does the two things I hate most. I love children but I could never do what Roger's doing. My idea of hell is long airplane flights. My other idea of hell is giving speeches to strangers. He does both all the time. Believe me, he's earned his knighthood!'
I'm an icon. It says so in the paper.
I'm the United Kingdom of Michael Caine.
I know a lot of stuff but my close friend, Leslie (lyricist Leslie Bricusse ), knows everything, and before Google, the two of us were sort of human Googles!
I've always got to have one impossible dream on the back burner. The one I've had for a long time is to write a screenplay from the novel I've written. And direct it, and star in it. It's an impossible dream. But if you think of my life, there are so many impossible dreams that have come true for me that no dream is ever impossible any more as far as I'm concerned.
People always told me "you can't be an actor, you don't talk posh." And I said, "I'll show you how to be an actor without talking posh". And I did it.
[on Henry Fonda while shooting The Swarm (1978)]: 'He's one of the most astute actors I've ever known, with an intimate awareness of the film profession.'
I can seem quite cold and I can hold it in but it stores itself; it works later. I'm very easily moved. I'm not repressed at all.
My charity is the NSPCC, which I've always done. I'm one of the patrons at the NSPCC, which harks back to when I was younger. So my charity goes towards children. If I were ever to do another charity, I would do it for the homeless. That's the other thing that bugs me, the homeless. But for me, it's mainly the children. I care very much about them.
I do a lot of charity work, but never for adults. I don't like grown-ups very much.
If I made a film like The Swarm (1978), I would make three very quickly before it came out, so I always survived failure - because I had a hit. People say: 'Why did you do Jaws: The Revenge (1987)?'. They paid me $1million for 10 days... I come from a very poor background so I wanted to do everything for everyone. Every one of my family got a house. That was the attitude I had. I'm either going to get the Academy Award or I'm going to make a lot of money, I still base it on that.
[on Queen Queen Elizabeth II ] She knighted me once. I nearly got into trouble though. She said to me, "I have a feeling you have been doing what you do for a very long time". And I almost said, 'And so have you'.
(On Sean Connery ) If you were his friend in these early days you didn't raise the subject of Bond. He was, and is, a much better actor than just playing James Bond, but he became synonymous with Bond. He'd be walking down the street and people would say, "Look, there's James Bond." That was particularly upsetting to him.
[In order to appear strong in character] Don't blink.
[About starring in "Youth", Hollywood Reporter - December 2015] The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I picked elderly people. That's a better idea.
Salary (3)
| Noël Coward |
Alphabetically, which would be the first of London's bridges over the Thames? | Michael Caine - Biography - IMDb
Michael Caine
Biography
Showing all 212 items
Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (103) | Personal Quotes (94) | Salary (3)
Overview (3)
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Bio (2)
Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen Frances Marie (Burchell), a charlady, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish-market porter. He left school at 15 and took a series of working-class jobs before joining the British army and serving in Korea during the Korean War, where he saw combat. Upon his return to England he gravitated toward the theater and got a job as an assistant stage manager. He adopted the name of Caine on the advice of his agent, taking it from a marquee that advertised The Caine Mutiny (1954). In the years that followed he worked in more than 100 television dramas, with repertory companies throughout England and eventually in the stage hit, "The Long and the Short and the Tall." Zulu (1964), the 1964 epic retelling of a historic 19th-century battle in South Africa between British soldiers and Zulu warriors, brought Caine to international attention. Instead of being typecast as a low-ranking Cockney soldier, he played a snobbish, aristocratic officer. Although "Zulu" was a major success, it was the role of Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965) and the title role in Alfie (1966) that made Caine a star of the first magnitude. He epitomized the new breed of actor in mid-'60s England, the working-class bloke with glasses and a down-home accent. However, after initially starring in some excellent films, particularly in the 1960s, including Gambit (1966), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Play Dirty (1969), Battle of Britain (1969), Too Late the Hero (1970), The Last Valley (1971) and especially Get Carter (1971), he seemed to take on roles in below-average films, simply for the money he could by then command. There were some gems amongst the dross, however. He gave a magnificent performance opposite Sean Connery in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and turned in a solid one as a German colonel in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Educating Rita (1983) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) (for which he won his first Oscar) were highlights of the 1980s, while more recently Little Voice (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999) (his second Oscar) and Last Orders (2001) have been widely acclaimed.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]
Michael Caine is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive working class cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 films and is regarded as a British film icon.
He made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in a number of acclaimed British films, including Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). His most notable roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1986, he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). Having by that time practically retired from acting on the big screen, he enjoyed a career resurgence in the late 1990s, receiving his second Golden Globe Award for his performance in Little Voice (1998) and receiving his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules (1999) the following year. Caine played Nigel Powers in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan 's Batman film series. He appeared in several other of Nolan's films including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), and Interstellar (2014). He also appeared as a supporting character in Alfonso Cuarón 's Children of Men (2006) and Pixar's 2011 film Cars 2 (2011). As of 2015, films in which he has starred have grossed over $7.4 billion worldwide. Caine is ranked the ninth highest grossing box office star.
Caine is one of a few actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from five consecutive decades (the others being Laurence Olivier and Meryl Streep ). In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges
Spouse (2)
( 3 April 1954 - 1958) (divorced) (1 child)
Trade Mark (5)
His spectacles (rare for 1960s leading actors)
His cockney accent
Often plays mentors and father figures to younger characters in films
Tall, lean frame
Frequently works with director Christopher Nolan
Trivia (103)
His first American accent was in the film Hurry Sundown (1967). He was taught the Southern drawl by Vivien Leigh , who told him to say "four door Ford" all day long for weeks. (source - "What's it all about?" Michael Caine's autobiography - 1992)
10/87: Ranked #55 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
Co-owned top London restaurant Langan's Brasserie.
1987: Awarded British Variety Club Award for Best Film Actor.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire) in the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
Owns his own film production company.
Took his name from the film The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Shared a London flat with actor Terence Stamp early in his career.
He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his contribution to the performing arts.
11/16/00: Formally knighted at Buckingham Palace under his real name of Maurice Micklewhite. He will be known professionally as Sir Michael Caine.
He owns seven restaurants: six in London, one in Miami.
Father, with Shakira Caine , of Natasha.
Father, with the late Patricia Haines , of Dominique (aka Nikki).
The production offices of Mona Lisa (1986) were located in the disused St Olave's hospital, the very hospital in which Caine was born.
Has two brothers. Younger brother Stanley Caine appeared in at least three of Caine's films: Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Play Dirty (1969) and The Italian Job (1969). He did not know about his elder half-brother David until their mother died. David suffered from epilepsy and had lived in a hospital his entire life.
The role of Alfie was turned down by Anthony Newley and Terence Stamp before it was offered to him.
Lodged with composer John Barry in the early 1960s for a few months, after being forced to leave his own flat, penniless. He returned the favor in 1998 when agreeing to introduce the composer's Royal Albert Hall concert - his first in the UK for 25 years.
"Michael Caine", a top 10 song in Britain in the mid-'80s by the group Madness, had his "My Name Is Michael Caine" quote sampled into the song.
2001: Was voted fifth in the Orange Film Survey of greatest British actors.
Lobbied for the lead role in The Day of the Jackal (1973) but was rejected by director Fred Zinnemann , who felt that the character of The Jackal, who essentially is a cipher, should not be played by a movie star.
Three of his memorable films ( Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Get Carter (1971)) have all been remade.
1987: Was not present at the Academy Awards ceremony when he won best supporting actor for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) because he was filming Jaws: The Revenge (1987), for which he was nominated for worst supporting actor at the Razzie awards the following year.
Has stated that the character of Vichy war criminal Pierre Brossard in The Statement (2003) was his least favorite. He said that all the other characters he played in his career, whether good or evil, had a sense of humor on some level that he would try to convey in his performance. He felt that Brossard had no sense of humor whatsoever, in part because the character was such an intense man.
The soundstage at Shepperton Studios, in which he filmed Batman Begins (2005), is also the one where he filmed his very first film, Hell in Korea (1956).
Is close friends with Sir Sean Connery , Sir Roger Moore , Sir Elton John and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber .
Throughout the 1960s he was by his own estimation drinking two bottles of vodka and smoking at least eighty cigarettes a day. He quit smoking cigarettes following a stern lecture from Tony Curtis at a party in 1971, and finally quit smoking cigars shortly before his 70th birthday in 2003.
Was the first person to be nominated for an acting Razzie award for more than one title. He was nominated for Worst Actor of 1980 at the very first Razzie awards for his roles in the films Dressed to Kill (1980) and The Island (1980).
In 1957, at Brighton University, Caine appeared in a one-act play written by a fellow actor who went by the name of David Baron. It was Baron's very first play. He later changed his name back to Harold Pinter , the name under which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
Superstar Swedish rock band Kent refer to him in their song "Palace and Main"
Near the end of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), he passes by a store called "Micklewhite's." His real name is Maurice Micklewhite.
Allegedly did not get along with Steven Seagal while filming On Deadly Ground (1994).
Mike Myers said that he based the character of Austin Powers partially on Caine's character in Alfie (1966). Caine would play Austin Powers father in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
Visited John Wayne several times when the veteran star was dying of cancer in hospital.
1979: Left England for tax reasons, and did not return until 1987.
An ardent Thatcherite during the 1980s, Caine switched his support to Tony Blair 's New Labour Party shortly before the 1997 General Election.
Has been nominated for an Oscar at least once in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s).
Turned down Alfred Hitchcock 's Frenzy (1972).
12/18/05: Attended the party at his close friend Sir Elton John 's Old Windsor mansion after the singer married David Furnish in a civil partnership ceremony.
While he uses "Michael Caine" professionally, he used his given name in his personal life until he decided to officially change his name to Michael Caine in 2016. He said in an interview that the reason was that he was losing too much time at the reinforced safety checks in airports because the name on his passport did not match his stage name.
Originally had the lead role of Switching Channels (1988) but was held up by production delays on Jaws: The Revenge (1987).
Has appeared in the remakes of two of his films: Get Carter (2000) and Sleuth (2007).
Alfie (1966) and Sleuth (1972) were both remade with Jude Law taking over his role.
He is famous for the catch-phrase "Not a lot of people know that", though he never actually said it. The phrase was probably first said by Peter Sellers when he appeared Parkinson (1971) on 28 October 1972 and said: "Not many people know that. This is my Michael Caine impression. You see, Mike's always quoting from the Guinness Book of Records. At the drop of a hat he'll trot one out. 'Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground?' Now there's not many people who know that!".
His all-time favorite actor, his inspiration to become an actor and his hero is Humphrey Bogart .
Once said that he knew he'd made it as an actor when he started getting scripts to read that no longer had coffee stains already on them (meaning that he was the first choice for that role).
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
In an interview with "The Sunday Telegraph" on 26 April 2009, Caine admitted that he is considering becoming a tax exile again if Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown increases taxes on high earners.
Chosen by GQ magazine as one of the 50 Most Stylish Men in the Past 50 Years.
Confirmed in an interview with "The Mail on Sunday" newspaper on 1 November 2009 that he has dropped his support for Labour and will vote Conservative at the next General Election.
Lives in Fetcham, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Publicly supported Conservative Party leader David Cameron for Prime Minister in the 2010 General Election.
For more than forty years, Caine's mother, Ellen Maria Burchell, paid periodic visits to a "cousin" in a mental hospital. When she died in 1989, Caine learned that the cousin was really his elder brother, David.
Supports Chelsea FC.
Educating Rita (1983) is his favourite film of his own, and the performance he's the most proud of.
Stated that for years he hated the smell of garlic as he associated it with his service in the Korean War where North Korean and Chinese troops would munch it as a snack. He eventually overcame his dislike upon becoming a restauranteur.
Claims that his trick to being able to cry on cue is thinking about a painful childhood memory.
Favorite film is The Third Man (1949).
As of 2013, he has three grandchildren, a granddaughter and two grandsons.
Visiting the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England [June 2010]
In Chicago Illinois filming The Dark Knight (2008). [August 2007]
Caine and fellow Brit Michael Gough , who both played Alfred Pennyworth in "Batman" movies, have also both had roles in different productions of "A Christmas Carol" (Caine as Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and Gough as Mr. Poole in A Christmas Carol (1984) with George C. Scott ).
Of the six performers who have won Oscars for performances in films directed by Woody Allen , he is the only man. The others are Diane Keaton , Dianne Wiest (twice), Mira Sorvino , Penelope Cruz , and Cate Blanchett .
In every film where Caine and Christopher Nolan make a collaboration, Caine's character either assists, guides, trains or educates the protagonist of each film. In The Prestige (2006), Caine portrays a magician who teaches the main character the art of illusion. For 'The Dark Knight trilogy', Caine plays a butler to the Wayne family, where he supports, nurtures and loves the main character Bruce Wayne (Batman). During Inception (2010), Caine depicts the father of the main protagonist, Cobb, and aids him by recruiting one of his students. In Interstellar (2014), Caine portrays a professor/engineer, who invites and encourages the central character, Cooper, to lead an important space mission that will determine the future of planet earth.
He appeared in four films with Laurence Olivier : Battle of Britain (1969), Sleuth (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and The Jigsaw Man (1983).
He has two roles in common with Jude Law : (1) Caine played Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966) while Law played him in Alfie (2004) and (2) Caine played Milo Tindle in Sleuth (1972) while Law played him in Sleuth (2007), in which Caine played Andrew Wyke.
Publicly called for the UK to leave the European Union in January 2016.
Attended the wedding of media mogul Rupert Murdoch to former model Jerry Hall in 2016.
He was considered for the role of Mark Wallace in Two for the Road (1967) that went to Albert Finney .
He revealed in his autobiography that he that he also read for Doctor Yuri Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965) and participated in the screen shots with Julie Christie , but (after watching the results with David Lean ) was the one who suggested Omar Sharif.
He turned down the role of Col. Colin Caine in Lifeforce (1985) that went to Peter Firth .
He turned down the role of John L. Sullivan IV in Switching Channels (1988) in order to be in Jaws: The Revenge (1987). The role went to Burt Reynolds .
He tried out for the role of Lieutenant Scott-Padget in Damn the Defiant! (1962) which went to Dirk Bogarde .
He was considered for Sean Connery 's roles in Highlander (1986) and The Name of the Rose (1986).
He turned down both of the male leads in Women in Love (1969) because he refused to do any nudity. The roles went to Alan Bates and Oliver Reed .
He turned down the role of PC Bob Steele in Z Cars (1962).
He was going to star in The Dresser (1983) with Orson Welles in the early 1980s. His role went to Tom Courtenay .
He turned down the role of Jolly in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) in order to star in Educating Rita (1983). The role went to James Caan .
He was originally cast as Private Wilkes in Guns at Batasi (1964). John Leyton replaced him.
He wanted to play The Jackal in The Day of the Jackal (1973), but was turned down by director Fred Zinnemann , because he felt that the role shouldn't be played by a star.
He was considered for the title role in Sebastian (1968) that went to Dirk Bogarde .
He turned down the role of Maurice Castle in The Human Factor (1979) that went to Nicol Williamson .
He was considered to star opposite Sean Connery in Saturn 3 (1980). The roles went to Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel .
He turned down the role of Patrick Dalton Six Weeks (1982) that went to Dudley Moore .
He turned down the role of Col. John Stewart in Khartoum (1966) that went to Richard Johnson .
He was considered for the title role in Fellini's Casanova (1976).
He was considered for the lead role in Tootsie (1982).
He turned down the role of Staff Sergeant Williams in The Hill (1965) in order to star in Alfie (1966). The role went to Ian Hendry .
He turned the role of Josiah Samuel Smith in the Doctor Who (1963) serial "Ghost Light". The role went to Ian Hogg .
He turned down the role of Captain Smith in Titanic (1997).
He was considered for the role of Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
He was the first choice for the role of Marvin in City of Ghosts (2002) that went to James Caan .
He was considered for the role of Ben du Toit in A Dry White Season (1989) that went to Donald Sutherland .
He was considered for the role of Bart in Unleashed (2005) that went to Bob Hoskins .
He was considered to play 'C.S. Lewis' in Shadowlands (1993).
He was offered the role of Arthur Seldom in The Oxford Murders (2008) that went to John Hurt .
He claimed that the worst films he ever made were The Magus (1968), _The Swarm (1978)_(qv and Ashanti (1979).
He turned down the role of David Dilbeck in Striptease (1996) that went to Burt Reynolds .
In 2009, he praised Christoph Waltz 's performance as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009), saying that it was the "best performance of a villain" he's seen in years.
Though he had been considered for, but never appeared in a Bond movie, Caine was the very first person to hear the completed film score for Goldfinger (1964). After he and roommate Terence Stamp were both ejected from their apartment, Caine asked composer friend John Barry if he could use the spare bedroom at Barry's London residence. As they were good friends, Barry agreed and so for several months Caine crashed with Barry and was there the sleepless night he completed his iconic score. At breakfast the following morning Barry played his composition for Caine, the first time he'd performed it for anybody.
When he was still a struggling actor, Caine shared a London flat with future hairstylist-guru Vidal Sassoon .
Although often listed as 6'2", Caine himself gave his height as 6'1" in his 1992 autobiography "What's It All About?".
Acting mentor and friend of Julie Walters .
Personal Quotes (94)
[in 1967] I've never been out with a married woman, never. I respect others' properties.
My name is Michael Caine.
[on Jaws: The Revenge (1987)] I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.
I am in so many movies that are on TV at 2:00 a.m. that people think I am dead.
I used to get the girl; now I get the part. In The Quiet American (2002) you may have noticed I got the part and the girl. It's a milestone for me, because it's the last time I'm going to get the girl. I'm sure of it, now I'm nearly seventy.
Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is playing himself, if he's that good. It looks very easy. It should. But it's not, I assure you. To disappear your complete self into a character is quite difficult. I've tried it 85 times, and I've succeeded two or three times.
The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years.
First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.
The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this--a movie star will say, "How can I change the script to suit me?" and a movie actor will say. "How can I change me to suit the script?"
Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.
[on doing the Texan accent for Secondhand Lions (2003)] I had a great dialect coach and he told me there's always one moment when you get something. He said, "Do your Texan accent for me," when I had learned it from a tape. He said, "It's too English!". I said, "Why?". He said, "Each word stands up like soldiers standing to attention next to each other. The way they talk in Texas, they're so lazy they sort of lean on each word". And I could just picture all these words leaning over each other, and that's when I got it.
[In reference to the Oscar Family Album Tribute sequence at The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998) and speaking live on British television following the Oscar ceremony in 1998] I was sat up there with the likes of Claire Trevor and Luise Rainer . It means a lot to me, it was amazing, they are living legends!
My view is that you should always do remakes of failures. Then you've got nowhere to go but up, you know? They can't say, "Well, it's not as good as the original, you made a piece of crap". They'd just say, "What a piece of crap that was," anyway.
It's terrible. Every six weeks it's Christmas. In Catch-22 (1970), the hero says, "Time is going by so fast, I have to make my life more boring." That's what I've got to do, because my life is so interesting and I enjoy myself so much, I've got to make it more tedious, because I'll be 100 in a minute. My mother died when she was 90, so I've got just under 20 years left. The terrible thing is that in obituaries, you read, "He died at 74, he had a good life." You think, "Bloody hell, I've only got 18 months to go". And another strange thing about aging - as you get older, it gets faster, and you see people you haven't seen in what you think is five years, but it turns out to be 25 years. You say, "I made that film ten years ago," and they correct me: "Thirty, Michael. Thirty".
My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne . Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.
I did Harold Pinter 's first play, "The Room". Harold was an actor named David Baron. He said, "I'm going to write". I said, "Oh yeah, it'll be nice". He said, "But I don't want to get mixed up with being an actor. I'm going to write with my real name". I said, "What's your real name, David?" He said, "Harold Pinter".
Whenever anyone asks me to do something about my life's work, I keep saying, "Please, I haven't finished yet. Can you give me another year?" . . . In a lifetime achievement award, you just have to watch yourself grow old in 45 minutes.
[on Alfie (1966)] To be a movie star, you have to carry a movie. And to carry a movie where you play the title role is the supreme example. The third thing, for a British actor, is to do it in America. The fourth is to get nominated for an award. That picture did all four things for me.
[on Richard Gere ] He's got a pin-up image, which he hates. The only trouble is this: whenever they ask him to take his trousers off, he does.
Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes.
You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one.
I'll always be around because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point.
In England I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor.
I'm the original bourgeois nightmare - a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars.
Don't remake a successful picture, because you're liable to be the flop. Steve Martin and I made a much better picture of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) than Marlon Brando and David Niven did. What I wouldn't do anymore is play any guest shots. I've given that up. I did it as some fun and it backfired in Get Carter (2000) so I'm not doing it again. Now I hear that they're going to remake The Italian Job (1969) with me in the Noël Coward part. I'd consider it, yes.
I'm a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter.
[about remakes of his classic films such as Get Carter (1971) and The Italian Job (1969)] I wish they would remake the BAD ones!
I've made an awful lot of films. In fact, I've made a lot of awful films.
[on Heath Ledger 's performance as The Joker] The worry going in was The Joker. Jack Nicholson was the greatest Joker so, you know, how do you top that? Well, Heath Ledger 's done it and he's extraordinary. He's gone in a completely different direction to Jack. Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath is like a really scary psychopath. I did one scene with him and he was ready to go and had to come up in a lift and raid our place. I didn't see him for rehearsal and when he came out of the lift he was so incredible I forgot my lines. He frightened the life out of me. I'd never met him before. He's a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture.
Educating Rita (1983) was wonderful, I did it with Julie Walters , the original girl. She is sensational, really fantastic, and she is a very nice person as well, which is always a bonus.
[on Otto Preminger ] O.P. is only happy if everybody else is miserable. Still, if you can keep his paranoia from beating you down, you can learn a lot from the guy.
[on Ray Milland ] A nice old bloke.
I love HD. Of course, it's very unforgiving, especially on young beautiful ladies, but thank God I'm old, I don't care.
Do I believe in God? Yes I do. When you've had a life like mine, you have to.
While shooting Harry Brown (2009): The young guys I met there were fascinated by my success. They asked how I got out of there. I told them the truth - I had a happy family. My mum and dad were together all the time. I won a scholarship to grammar school. And there was drink, but not drugs.
[on some of his mid-career flops] I did a couple of pictures which were absolutely dreadful - one was Blue Ice (1992), and another with Olivier, where I played a spy based on Philby [ The Jigsaw Man (1983).] I thought there was no need to put myself through it. I had enough money. I opened eight restaurants, goofed around in Miami, until Jack Nicholson persuaded me to do Blood and Wine (1996) with him and restored my faith in the business.
After eight years in Hollywood: Weather always the same. Nothing to talk about. No seasons. My gardener told me that if I wanted to grow daffodils, I'd have to keep them in the fridge for five weeks so they'd think they were in England. But I couldn't put them in the fridge because I thought the maid would make onion soup out of them and poison the bloody lot of us.
When he was nominated for an Oscar for Educating Rita (1983): Irene Dunne and Loretta Young stopped me and said, 'We both voted for you.' I couldn't believe it!
On his first days in Hollywood: It was amazing to see Fred Astaire doing his food shopping.
On learning acting in postwar Britain: There was a whole generation of English theatre actors who'd do a film in order to buy a car or a refrigerator, but really thought it was beneath them.
[When he told his parents he wanted to act, they assumed he was gay.] That's what we thought actors were, all poofs. And sometimes we were right.
Old? I stopped ageing at 38. I still am 38 . . . except when they say, 'Run up those stairs.'
[on playing Clarence in Is Anybody There? (2008)] I'm my own worst critic. I spend my entire life trying to get it absolutely right. There are other actors who could do it better, but I'm proud of it. There's no Michael Caine there, there's no ego there. You just see poor old Clarence.
I've had such a great time, I'd like to come back as me - and do it all over again.
Brown's ( Gordon Brown ) never been elected by anybody. I'm supposed to be in a country where I get the chance to elect someone and I'm around here at the most dangerous of times led by a man who's never been elected. You've gotta be elected. A political party that's in too long is like a piece of meat - if it's there too long it will go rotten and they've gone rotten and they've gotta go.
It should have been a hindrance, but I have a phrase which I taught my children: 'Use the difficulty.' Where I came from, nobody even knew what a drama school was, and everyone thought you couldn't become an actor unless you talked posh. Class is still there but it's less relevant now. You don't need to have gone to a certain kind of school to have done that [become an actor] like you did back then.
My father said nothing, but I know that he thought I'd just confessed to being gay. Back then, everyone thought all actors were gay, and most of them were right. But it must have been the right move - did you know that the only good word you can make from 'Michael Caine' is 'cinema'? I discovered that in a crossword 10 years ago.
The Government has taken tax up to 50 per cent, and if it goes to 51, I will be back in America. I will not pay the Government more than I get. No way, ever. They've reached their limit with me, and that's what will happen to a lot of people. You know how much they made out of that high taxation all those years ago? Nothing. But they sent a mass of incredible brains to America. This return to high tax will only deepen our debt. While top-earners will be hit by the highest tax in 20 years, our MPs escape Scot-free. We've got three-and-a-half million layabouts laying about on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it on.
I shared a flat with Terence Stamp . I understudied Peter O'Toole . I remember being in Liverpool and going to see a matinée with a young actor nobody had ever heard of called Albert Finney . Oh, a tremendous wave. It was ridiculous. I knew a writer who wanted to write musicals called Lionel Bart , a painter called Francis Bacon .
What you have now which you didn't have when I was young is drugs. You had alcoholism, people getting pissed, but you never had the drugs and that is a massive problem. We were shooting in Hackney and someone local came up to me and said, 'Welcome to Crackney!' It was a gentler time when I was young. There were vicious gangsters but they were professional gangsters. They chose who they hit and what they robbed. But the drug addicts today have to kill anybody - it doesn't matter who - to get the money, so you get this incredible random violence. When I was young you fought the guy in the next street. But it wasn't so vicious then. We fought with our fists. Now they fight with knives and guns.
[on John Wayne ] Every now and then, we used to meet and have a drink or lunch. He genuinely liked me and of course I adored him. I met him by accident in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Many years later, Shakira (Caine's wife) was in hospital with peritonitis and John coincidentally was in the next room, dying of cancer. I was around with him at the end. We used to walk up and down the corridor.
(On composer John Barry during filming of Deadfall (1968)) Look at him, he's so thin. You wouldn't think he had a bloody note in him!
[on prisons] If you put people in cages, don't be surprised if they become animals.
I once read, 'You must not compete against your predecessors or your contemporaries. You must compete against yourself.' I try to look for something better and better and better.
I refuse to take myself too seriously. I learnt that from Roger Moore many years ago. He said, 'Cheer up, you'd better have a good time because this is not a rehearsal. This is life - this is the show.
If parents aren't working, how can they be decent role models? You have to look at all the people who are not sick, who've been on benefits for 20 years and have ten kids. I read in the news that we now spend more in benefits than we collect in income tax. I can't think of any country in the world that's ever done that. There can't be six million people who are too sick to go to work. You can't be accused of attacking the working classes, because they're not working.
Schools are cheaper than prisons. They don't need to learn Shakespeare ( William Shakespeare ); they need to read and write and count, so make sure of that. But we need to bring back the old technical colleges where you went to learn how to be an electrician, a plasterer, a carpenter.
I stayed in Britain, but they kept putting the tax up, so I'd do any old thing every now and then to pay the tax, that was my tax exile money. I realised that's not a socialist country, it's a communist country without a dictator, so I left and I was never going to come back. Maggie Thatcher ( Margaret Thatcher ) came in and put the taxes back down and in the end, you know, you don't mind paying tax. What am I going to do? Not pay tax and drive around in a Rolls Royce, with cripples begging on the street like you see in some countries?
I'll probably vote Conservative. I mean, we're in a terrible state whichever way you look at it, socially, financially and politically, so just give the other guy a chance. I don't know what Cameron's ( David Cameron ) going to do, but in the end you vote out of desperation. You just have to have someone new and see what happens. I voted for Maggie Thatcher ( Margaret Thatcher ) because I thought we needed a change from that long period of socialism; I voted for Tony Blair because we had a great long period of Conservatism. The thing now is to vote for Cameron ( David Cameron ).
I know there are thousands of actors out there who are as good, and better, than me, who just didn't get the breaks. I'm not saying that I didn't deserve any of this but I'm also aware of the fickle nature of this business, and how being in the right place at the right time can change everything.
My Alfie (1966) had to ask, 'What's it all about', as he was a bit stupid. Jude's Alfie (2004) was too smart, too clever by half. I can understand why he said yes to the part, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. An actor's life is full of decisions, some bad, some good.
When they said they wanted to remake Sleuth (1972), my first thought was, 'Why make it again at all?' I do not like remakes. It shows a lack of imagination. But once I saw the script for Sleuth (2007) I realised it wasn't a remake at all. It was a brand new movie.
The thing about gangsters in films these days is that they're either funny or they're stupid. Well, I'm sorry, but I've never met a gangster that's either. And I come from something of a gangster milieu. Nor have I met someone who deals out violence for violence's sake. The violence in Get Carter (1971) was incisive, fast and over. One blow, one shot, one hit, what was necessary. No one smashed people up in a sadistic fury.
One of the odd things about the country today, odd for me to say it, is the obsession with celebrity. I do regard that as a little bit dangerous. Everyone expects too much of you, too much perfection. And then you get the shock headlines when you realize they're normal, we're all normal - J-Lo's got cellulite shock, and the rest - well, frankly, who gives a shit?
I left the country for eight years when tax was put up to 82 per cent. You didn't get the 82 per cent tax from me for eight years. You didn't get any tax at all from me for the next eight years. Apart from that, a quarter of a billion dollars of movies were made outside this country instead of inside it which is just from one stupid, loud-mouth moronic actor. Imagine what is happening to companies, proper companies, who then disappear. It's no good.
I never give advice to younger actors. Because when I was their age, I used to ask actors older than me for advice, and the only advice I got was "Just give up."
[on the death of Tony Curtis ] It was a terrible shock and instantly I remembered the first time I'd met him. I was at a party, it was in winter and there was a fire and I was chain-smoking at the time, smoking a lot of cigarettes. I was stood there talking to someone and suddenly I felt a hand in my inside pocket and they took out my cigarettes and chucked them in the fire. I looked up and it was Tony Curtis . I'd never met him and he was very famous. I said, 'What did you do that for?' And he said, 'You're going to die Michael if you keep doing that.' I didn't give them up then but I did give them up eventually.
[on Marlon Brando 's sending a surrogate to the 1973 Academy Awards to pick up his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather (1972)] I think if the man wants to make a gesture, I agree entirely with what he did. But I think he should have stood up and done it himself instead of letting some poor little Indian girl [Sacheen Littlefeather] to take the boos. And if, you're going to make a humanitarian gesture, I think a man who makes $2 million playing the leader of the Mafia should at least give half of it to the Indians.
[on one good reason for winning an Oscar] It might mean I'd get more scripts without other actors' coffee stains on them.
[on Sean Connery ] We're still friends. I phoned him the other day on his 80th birthday, but we never see each other because he doesn't move around a lot now. He won't make another film now, no. I just asked him. He said, 'No, I'll never do it.'
Harry Brown (2009) wasn't a movie I wanted to do. It was a movie I HAD to do. I saw a lot of myself in the character and that is what drew me to the role.
Unlike my other golfing friend Sidney Poitier , Sean Connery is not the gentlest person in the world and my lack of grasp of the sport would not make him sad as it did Sidney, it would just make him angry. Sean has a terrible temper and when he tried to teach me golf he was so incensed by my performance he grabbed my club and broke it in two. I've never played since and I never will because I do not want to upset two of my best friends, Sean, in particular.
Today I'm in the fortunate and luxurious position of only working when I want to. I don't like getting up early or spending a long time learning lines, so these days I only work with offers that I really can't refuse. It's very different from the way I used to be. From the age of 20 to the age of 29, I was obsessed with becoming an actor and when I finally got to Hollywood, I could never quite believe that I had made it and so I kept on working for fear it would all disappear on me. These days, I don't think like that at all. I don't see myself as a Hollywood movie star - in fact I don't see myself as anything in particular.
The danger is, of course, that the wait for a decent movie makes you desperate, and I got desperate to the point that I accepted a picture in Alaska with Steven Seagal , the martial arts expert. The movie was called On Deadly Ground (1994) and the title was to prove apt. Although Steven and the rest of the team were great to work with, I had broken one of the cardinal rules of bad movies: if you're going to do a bad movie, at least do it in a great location. Here I was, doing a movie where the work was freezing my brain and the weather was freezing my arse.
[on Bullet to Beijing (1995)] It was my worst professional experience ever. The filming itself was a joke. The final blow came when we were shooting in the Lenfilm studio itself. I wanted to go to the toilet and they directed me to it. I could smell it 50 yards away and it was the filthiest lavatory I have ever seen. I went outside and relieved myself against the sound stage, which I noticed several other men had done before. So this is where my career has ended, I thought to myself: in the toilet. I'm done.
I think life has got to develop as you get older and I don't want to be wandering along doing the same old thing. I want more out of life.
I'm always supremely confident as a movie actor and my own view of myself is that I'm a highly skilled movie actor.
I love comedy. I love to make people laugh. If I hadn't been an actor, or an architect, which I really wanted to be, I'd have been a stand-up comic.
[When I was evacuated during the war, I spent a brief period with a family who exercised] a mild form of child abuse [by locking me in a cupboard. My mother found out after a fortnight and took me away,] but it was long enough to leave a mark, which formed part of my psyche for the rest of my life. I have never trusted an adult until a great deal of investigation has gone into them. I trust everyone on the surface, but directly anything starts to go deeper in the relationship, I'm very mistrusting. Even now. Because of what happened to me as a child. Maybe that's why I am a controlling person. I usually control the environment I'm in, but my control is very quiet and subtle.
[ Roger Moore ] does the two things I hate most. I love children but I could never do what Roger's doing. My idea of hell is long airplane flights. My other idea of hell is giving speeches to strangers. He does both all the time. Believe me, he's earned his knighthood!'
I'm an icon. It says so in the paper.
I'm the United Kingdom of Michael Caine.
I know a lot of stuff but my close friend, Leslie (lyricist Leslie Bricusse ), knows everything, and before Google, the two of us were sort of human Googles!
I've always got to have one impossible dream on the back burner. The one I've had for a long time is to write a screenplay from the novel I've written. And direct it, and star in it. It's an impossible dream. But if you think of my life, there are so many impossible dreams that have come true for me that no dream is ever impossible any more as far as I'm concerned.
People always told me "you can't be an actor, you don't talk posh." And I said, "I'll show you how to be an actor without talking posh". And I did it.
[on Henry Fonda while shooting The Swarm (1978)]: 'He's one of the most astute actors I've ever known, with an intimate awareness of the film profession.'
I can seem quite cold and I can hold it in but it stores itself; it works later. I'm very easily moved. I'm not repressed at all.
My charity is the NSPCC, which I've always done. I'm one of the patrons at the NSPCC, which harks back to when I was younger. So my charity goes towards children. If I were ever to do another charity, I would do it for the homeless. That's the other thing that bugs me, the homeless. But for me, it's mainly the children. I care very much about them.
I do a lot of charity work, but never for adults. I don't like grown-ups very much.
If I made a film like The Swarm (1978), I would make three very quickly before it came out, so I always survived failure - because I had a hit. People say: 'Why did you do Jaws: The Revenge (1987)?'. They paid me $1million for 10 days... I come from a very poor background so I wanted to do everything for everyone. Every one of my family got a house. That was the attitude I had. I'm either going to get the Academy Award or I'm going to make a lot of money, I still base it on that.
[on Queen Queen Elizabeth II ] She knighted me once. I nearly got into trouble though. She said to me, "I have a feeling you have been doing what you do for a very long time". And I almost said, 'And so have you'.
(On Sean Connery ) If you were his friend in these early days you didn't raise the subject of Bond. He was, and is, a much better actor than just playing James Bond, but he became synonymous with Bond. He'd be walking down the street and people would say, "Look, there's James Bond." That was particularly upsetting to him.
[In order to appear strong in character] Don't blink.
[About starring in "Youth", Hollywood Reporter - December 2015] The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I picked elderly people. That's a better idea.
Salary (3)
| i don't know |
A similar question. Alphabetically, which would be the last of London's main line railway termini? | London's Railways - Planning For Peace - A London Inheritance
A London Inheritance
A Private History of a Public City
Menu
Leave a reply
Around this time of year, a number of London stations are in the news for the considerable amount of work that is on-going for rebuilding, the creation of new lines and what always seems to be the inevitable overrunning engineering works. The work at London Bridge and for Crossrail being just two examples.
Major schemes have always been in various stages of planning to address London’s ever increasing transport requirements. Some schemes have reached completion, others never moved from the conceptual stage.
For this week’s post, I want to illustrate one set of schemes that were published in January 1946 and show how usage of the main London stations has changed over almost 80 years.
In the middle of the last war, there was a general feeling that the tide was starting to turn and planning could start for what London would look like in the decades after the war. How could the city be developed, what would be the transport needs of Londoners in the future, how could both the city’s infrastructure and landscape be improved and better use made of the limited space available?
In 1943 the London County Plan was published, then in February 1944 a committee was established :
“To investigate and report upon the technical and operational aspects of those suggestions made in the County of London Plan of 1943 which relate to the main line and suburban railway system of London, both surface and underground, bearing in mind that these suggestions are intended to contribute towards and form part of a comprehensive scheme for the re-development of the area in question.”
The report from the committee was published in 1946 and made some very far-reaching proposals, that had they been implemented would have had a dramatic impact on the transport system we see in London today.
Before getting into some of the details of the proposals, it is fascinating to compare the use of London stations between the 1930s and today. The 1946 report details passenger numbers of all mainline terminals up to the end of 1938 , the latter being the last year free from the influence of war.
The following table compares passenger arrival numbers during maximum morning peak hour pre-war and in 2010 (the 2010 figures are taken from the “Central London Rail Termini: Analysing Passengers’ Travel Patterns Policy Analysis Research Project” published in September 2011 by Transport for London):
Station
177,900
223,500
Whilst overall numbers have increased considerably there are some fascinating individual station comparisons. I bet if you use London Bridge on a daily basis the fact that in 2010 passenger numbers were still slightly below the 1938 level is of little comfort.
Perhaps reflecting the different options for transport and the changes in home locations for those working in central London, there are some significant swings. Paddington, Euston, St. Pancras, Waterloo and Victoria all showing significant increases in passenger traffic whilst King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge are all showing reductions.
There were a couple of major themes within the 1946 report, perhaps reflecting the “anything can be done” attitude needed during the war, and a realisation that the changes caused to London by heavy bombing presented a major opportunity to improve London for everyone who lived and worked in the city. A similar approach to that taken by Wren after the Great Fire of 1666 when he proposed the creation of a city more along the lines of Paris than London had been with an ordered city with straight boulevards and a logical planning approach rather than the numerous small lanes and alleys of pre-fire London .
The major themes of the 1946 report were:
The removal of the head on terminals at Charing Cross and Cannon Street and the high level stations at London Bridge and Waterloo Junctions and the associated bridges across the River Thames
The construction of an extensive series of deep level tunnels and interchanges to replace the above ground infrastructure and to provide improved passenger and freight transport across London, capable of meeting the expected increase in both freight and passenger volumes.
As well as the removal of the bridges across the Thames, the viaducts across south London were also seen as a problem. Not just as a wasted space, but that they also split communities and their replacement by tunnels was seen as a way of integrating the many communities of south London. This was one of the areas where the rebuilding of the rail system would contribute into the overall London plan by making redevelopment of large areas such as the South Bank possible without the extensive railway infrastructure across the area.
In these proposals it is also possible to see the ideas behind Crossrail where trains from outside the immediate underground network are routed in tunnels across London with deep level interchanges with the tube and other rail networks and with the surface. Whilst the destinations are different, the concept is the same.
The following map from the report identifies the possible routes:
The options shown in the map are:
Project A: A new deep-level North Bank link from Battersea to Deptford via Victoria, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Shadwell, Wapping and Surrey Docks
Project B: A new deep level-loop connecting Waterloo Junction, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and London Bridge and then by tunnel via the Surrey Canal rising to join the existing surface systems in the south and south-east.
Project C: A north-south tunnel, an underground link to replace the existing viaduct from Snow Hill to Loughborough Junction
Project D: A northern arc suburban passenger route, passing below the main line stations at Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, King’s Cross and Liverpool Street with interchange facilities.
The projects also included the electrification of all remaining lines into London. I did not realise how much of the rail network leading into London had been electrified by the start of the last war. We tend to think that this was still the age of steam, but into London, the percentages that were already electrified after completion of the 1935 / 40 New Works Programme were:
Southern Railway: 86%
London and North Eastern Railway: 26%
London Midland and Scottish Railway: 32%
One of the other projects considered for the rail terminals was “The reconstruction of terminals at two levels, with flat roofs for future air landing”. Just shows the difficulties in trying to forecast how transport will be used in the future.
Removal of the bridges across the river was considered important as “the merit of a clean sweep of the three rail bridges over the Thames between Westminster and London Bridge cannot be denied”. How different the river would look today without the rail bridges.
Some of the themes driving the need for change are the same now as they were in 1946:
“Size and Distribution of Population. For many decades past, London has embraced a rising proportion of the total population of the whole country, which has itself been rising. During the inter-war years approximately half of the increase in London’s population could be attributed to immigration from the provinces
Decentralisation of employment, for it is one of the guiding principles that industry also should be de-centralised and there are proposals for satellite towns to be located, and existing towns expanded beyond the green belt.
Increasing traffic. Experience shows that, as income rises, the demand for transport rises more than proportionately, irrespective of transport to and from work.”
These words could equally have been written in 2014 as they were in 1946, and in 2014 to support the second point could also be added the ever-increasing price of property in central London driving people further out in search of affordable housing.
The following map from the 1946 report shows the proposed routes in their wider context and the considerable complexity of these proposals (click on the map to open a large copy):
London Bridge Station was singled out for special interest. Total passenger numbers in the peak hour in 1925 was 38,000 and grew to 55,000 in 1938. In planning the proposed changes to the rail system, an expected 75,000 passengers was considered the level for which an upgrade should be planned.
As well as moving part of the station underground, an alternative site was considered and a major new underground / overground station was planned for a site adjoining Tower Bridge Road (as marked in Map No. 2 above)
The following map shows the first and second priority routes and also tunnels for the use of passenger and freight traffic. This was still at a time when significant volumes of freight traffic were carried by rail. The explosion of road transport, the motorway network and the considerable use of lorries for freight was not forecast to have a major impact on the rail system in 1946 (again click on the map to open a larger copy).
The cost for the priority works were estimated as:
North Bank Route
Total Scheme
49,550,000
This was rounded up to £50 Million, which was then doubled to take into account the cost of land, property, traction equipment, rolling stock and signalling, plus a further £10M for other ancillary works, giving a total estimated cost of £110 Million. A considerable sum just after the war, also given the financial situation of the country at the time.
The cost of all proposals in the plan was estimated at between £228 Million and £236 Million and these costs did not include the cost of electrification or any other works outside of the proposed tunnels. Estimates of construction time were “under the most favourable conditions, would not be less than 30 years”.
New types of train were also recommended. The majority of overland trains on the Southern Railway comprised carriages with six-a-side compartments, however the safety needs of operating these trains underground required the provision of rolling stock with some form of through corridor to enable passengers to pass in emergency from one coach to another. The types of trains in use at the time were made up of six-a-side compartments and an overall train could carry 1,050 passengers. A 10-coach train of similar length with through corridors reduced passenger carrying capability down to 600 passengers. A challenge with the proposed approach as an increase in the number of trains would be required to carry the same number of passengers without any capacity for the expected increase in numbers.
So what happened to these proposals which would have had a very dramatic impact on the train services and stations in London as well as the view along the Thames if the removal of the rail bridges had gone ahead?
As well as the very significant costs of the proposals, shortly after they were published alternative committees were also set-up to look at options for upgrading London’s transport services.
London Transport planners also prepared their own report which was published the following year in March 1947. On the 1st January 1948, the British Transport Commission took over London Transport as well as the main line railways. The Commission also set-up a new working party to report on transport services within London and a report was completed in late 1948.
The multiple reports, high costs and the economic state of the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s put on hold this type of far-reaching proposal and development of transport within London followed a more individual project approach. Some of the 1946 proposals did get included in alternative projects. For example the Brixton branch proposed in 1946 was eventually covered by the routing of the Victoria Line to Brixton.
London Bridge Station in all it’s complexity is still there and perhaps after the ongoing considerable rebuilding work including the work over this year’s Christmas break, will see the station reach the potential envisaged by the 1946 planners, although with the significant difference of being above ground rather than below.
The sources I used to research this post are:
Railway (London Plan) Committee 1944 Report to the Minister of War Transport – 21st January 1946
Central London Rail Termini: Analysing Passengers Travel Patterns. Policy Analysis Research Report. published by Transport for London, September 2011
| Waterloo |
In 'Drag Racing' a series of lamps indicate a countdown sequence to the start. What is this instrument called? | The Shape of London's Rail Network - A Peek Into The Future - London Reconnections
14:00, 14 October 2011 Lemmo — 36 Comments
In our previous post on the shape of the London rail network , we looked back at two key decision points which established our infrastructure legacy: the ring of termini that gave rise to the pattern of services which concentrates demand onto the city core, and the narrow 12′ standard for cross-city tube lines.
It’s been hard to break free from this legacy, and to find ways to reshape the London rail network and expand the city core. While the core has largely remained the same as it was in the 1860s, London’s population and travel to work area have grown enormously. As a result, the challenge is to establish new travel patterns that take the pressure off this core.
There are number of infrastructure options:
New and improved orbital services that avoid the need to travel via the core – which may also encourage commercial expansion from the centre and create new travel hubs.
Cross-city mainline services, such as Crossrail and Thameslink. These are inherently more efficient to run, release invaluable capacity at the termini, and offer multiple interchange and destination options. They are, however, very expensive – particularly the stations – and there is a practical limit to how many new lines we can (or would want to) burrow through the city core. This is a subject we’ll return to in a future post.
New capacity on the Underground tube and sub-surface lines ? this is already being implemented through the upgrade plan and, although it is bolstering the network as a whole, it is not altering its shape. Currently, there is no real discernable pattern to the proposed tube extensions: arguably they are simply developer-led (Northern to Battersea) or opportunistic (“ Hakerloo “).
So what should be the role of the tube lines in a strategy to reshape the rail network? The limitations of the narrow (12′ diameter) tube lines are now well-recognised. Developing our previous discussion on tube extensions , as the tubes fill to capacity in the centre there may even be a case for ‘over-extended’ tube lines to be cut back, and for some outposts to again be served by mainline services. The tubes could then focus on providing an effective service through the centre, with key interchanges in the inner suburbs.
But we are jumping ahead, so let’s look first at the infrastructure investments that are being outlined in the London and SE Rail Utilisation Strategy (RUS) and how that might help reshape the network.
Into the Land of Railway Acronyms
Over the last few months we have looked at the RUS on line by line basis, and have explored the challenges of providing for growth on the radial routes where there is generally little or no capacity to spare. Type “RUS” into the search box under Archive and up they will come, although some of these discussions may now need updating following the final draft of the RUS released in July.
To those unfamiliar with acronym-laden and seemingly tortuous governance arrangements, the RUS are the building blocks of the rail Industry Initial Plan (published on 29 Sept), which informs the DfT’s High Level Output Specification (HLOS) process. The HLOS defines what the government requires from Network Rail’s infrastructure in its next control period (Control Period 5, or CP5, 2014 – 2019) and what is expected of the train service operators. HLOS2 will be published as a government White Paper in summer 2012. It may seem a cumbersome way of developing a strategic rail policy, but at present it’s all we’ve got. Intrigued LR readers with a penchant for evaluation and review may care to peruse the current HLOS (for CP4, 2009-2014) which was published as the 2007 government White Paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway .
So, with the expectation that recommendations in the London and South East RUS will be bundled up into investment bids in the HLOS, it is useful to look at TfL’s own bid, summarised in its July 2011 recommendations for HLOS2 . As TfL states, the document has two purposes:
(a) to influence the Initial Industry Plan, such that it contains TfL’s recommended schemes or near equivalents; and
(b) to provide material which TfL and stakeholders can use to lobby government over the investment needed in London’s railways in the HLOS itself.
The document summarises many of the recommendations in the London and SE RUS, and talks about a “rail strategy for London for 2014 to 2019”.
Tfl’s Take
But the real point of difference is how TfL views the network as a whole, and then embeds this in a broader transport framework across London. This overview may be what gives rise to the new pattern (below) of “strategic interchanges”, and the hint that travel through London may not actually need to involve London at all. This is all very encouraging, although it does spark hazy recollections of London rail plans in the dim and distant past.
Strategic Interchange Locations
As we’ve already discussed, TfL’s role in running the Overground is rapidly evolving and, unsurprisingly, they are seeking to develop more diverse travel patterns using the orbital lines:
7.2.2. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy emphasises the role of strategic interchanges to assist orbital movement that not only improves accessibility locally but also relieves pressure in central area. The nature of this covers:
Improving currently inadequate interchange in terms of quality
Calling more trains on radial routes to make the interchange more effective
Increasing frequency on orbital routes
Physical changes to reduce the time it takes to change from one platform to another and thus to make the interchange
New stations to allow interchange where none is possible currently
So how will TfL achieve this? Aside from the potential new governance arrangements , what does TfL’s vision of strategic interchanges look like in terms of infrastructure and service patterns?
Both the RUS and TfL identify the orbital routes as a key focus for new investment, with increased service frequency and longer trains to meet what is expected to be a rapidly growing demand. However, this could be characterised as a ‘bit more of the same’ rather than a quantum leap in service pattern.
Orbital Peak Traffic
They are significant improvements nonetheless, and edge closer to the service frequency we expect from the Underground. Yet as we highlighted in our Overground series, they barely keep up with projected demand. Even with the proposed investment, the projections show that there will still be overcrowding on the orbital lines, and no other options are offered.
AM Peak Traffic
TfL also recognise that a number of these interchanges (and the lines from them) are already overcrowded. At the very least, significant investment will be required at Finsbury Park, Barking, Bromley South, Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Clapham Jn and Wimbledon, and these are included in the £68m improvements package identified by TfL.
Station Schemes 2014 – 2019
Modest investments can certainly improve passenger capacity and the quality of the interchange experience, and they present an attractive business case for the HLOS.
Neither TfL nor the RUS, however, offer anything specific on changing the radial service patterns so that more services call at these new strategic interchanges. Clearly the value of spreading the load through the orbital routes is largely negated if the radial services don’t actually stop there, but increasing stops at these interchanges will slow journey times and reduce capacity overall on the radial routes, and this will exacerbate the very problems that the RUS and TfL are trying to resolve.
Getting Strategic with our Interchanges
This begs the question: what exactly is a “strategic interchange”? Are they just points on a map where lines cross and there happens to be a station? Or are they expected to become hubs in their own right, engines of local economic growth, for which TfL’s new interchange stations become the pride of the network?
Given the Mayor’s purview in terms of planning and development, should “strategic interchanges” be created at places where there is greatest potential for growth, combined with the need to support new travel patterns that take the pressure off the city core?
Let’s look at some examples. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy highlights Woolwich Arsenal as an exemplar, offering interchange between a radial route and DLR, plus integration with buses. But there is no talk of broader development themes, other than mentioning that the “strategic interchange will be further enhanced when the planned Crossrail station opens in 2017.” The Crossrail station will, however, lie 200m north which stretches the interchange definition somewhat. Woolwich Arsenal is also a two-track station with all trains stopping, so no changes were required to the service pattern. It does not have any of the challenges of interchanges on the mainlines.
Conversely, Ealing Broadway, Willesden Jn and Queens Park are on mainlines through which expresses thunder. West Hampstead has always been the interchange that never was, and many trains actually by-pass the station at Lewisham. Although Balham, Elephant & Castle and Vauxhall have Underground connections, so do Brixton and Kentish Town, but TfL has not identified these as strategic interchanges – and what of New Cross and New Cross Gate on the new ELL?
Stratford may offer a better example of what we might assume a strategic interchange would be: at the heart of the monumental redevelopment for the Olympics, orbital lines north and south, tube connection, and the advantage that many mainline trains stop here. The RUS is proposing track layout changes that can provide an additional platform, and also explores the potential for more Lea Valley services.
Looking west and into the future, perhaps Old Oak Common could become a new “super-hub” , with a new HS2 station at which GWML expresses trains would stop, linked to a resurgent Willesden which would become the WCML equivalent. To the plethora of connections on offer could be added a Bakerloo extension, or even blowing the dust off the curtailed District Olympia line and pushing it north.
Hammersmith & Fulham’s Park Royal International
OOC has emerged blinking in the bright lights of both HS2 and Crossrail, driven by a local authority with economic development high on the agenda, and fêted by masterplanners seeing commercial opportunity. Is this likely to be a model that can be replicated in other parts of London?
Ones eyes are naturally drawn to places like Peckham Rye, Brixton and Tottenham Hale, where economic development programs could focus investment on smaller-scale developments built around new transport hubs.
This could then prompt a rethink on the purpose of tube extensions. For instance, should the Northern go to Brixton rather than the developer-led extension to Battersea ? And should Hakerloo be ditched in preference to a more modest extension to Peckham Rye ?
In terms of service provision, perhaps there is also an opportunity to rethink this pattern of hubs linked by metro services, and think of these hubs as destinations in their own right which could be linked by fast limited-stop services. This could, for instance, allow rapid cross-London travel that avoided the city core. The closest we have come to this was Anglia Railways’ London Crosslink services , which died a death in 2002 but could form the basis of a wider pattern of new services also using the West London and South London lines.
Crosslink
Options and Limitations
But back to the nuts and bolts of the RUS and TfL’s recommendations for HLOS2. It is clear that delivering a coherent program of strategic interchanges is going to require major investment in areas outside London’s core, and particularly on the orbital routes.
We will explore each of the orbital lines in more detail in future posts, but suffice to say now that the potential to provide more capacity is limited by a number of factors:
Platform lengths – especially on the ELL, which is limited to 4-carriages; the original ELL line had 6-car platforms but Canada Water, is only 4-car length
Signalling, junctions and track speeds – historically the orbital lines have been a low priority for investment; therefore, aside from the new ELL, capacity is generally restricted by signalling and low line speeds
Freight – the WLL and NLL are important strategic freight routes and metro services have to be interleaved with freight movements, but these two traffic patterns have very different characteristics and do not mix well. Or, to put it another way, TfL’s Overground aspirations will depend on its success in relocating cross-London freight flows to new routes outside London
Inter-operability between networks – railway operators invariably shy away from passenger services that cross between regions, as they are prone to delay and disruptions can easily transfer across the network. Hence the radial routes into London have largely remained compartmentalised, and the orbital routes are largely segregated.
Although the proposed investments in the RUS are to be welcomed, it is perhaps no surprise that the plans for the orbital routes are conspicuously modest. It suggests that the investment value-add of these routes is hard to quantify, and therefore they remain the poor cousins trapped between the dominant radials, which then helps perpetuate the “ring of deprivation” around the city core.
It is also clear that London’s rail network is coming up against some real capacity limits that require some outside the box thinking. On most radial routes there are very few options to create new capacity, particularly with the growth in longer distance commuting services. Here TfL is demonstrating some leadership, but it is likely to need a more visionary investment case to bring their strategic interchanges to life, and start to change the shape of the rail network.
I imagine one day when they merge the 2 Catford stations a pretty penny could be made with the enormous retail space they will inevitably build on it.
Anonymous
14 October 2011 at 16:26
The idea of 4 ‘super’ hubs in the major London compass sections of N, S, E and W (what is the northern one?) makes a lot of sense but hugely beefing up smaller local centres I am less sure about. A few are no brainers in the long run (e.g. West Hampstead) but all come with difficulties. North Action on the central line sums up the weakness of the overground network and it would be very costly to effectively rebuild a dozen or so stations without actually increasing capacity as such, just spreading the load.
The real answer lies in a network of 4/5 crossrail lines (no more than that so just 2/3 more than planned) not just because they bring an enormous amount of extra capacity but they offer the potential for extending, splitting, etc tube and rail lines. Suddely, a VL extension comes back into play as does splitting the jubilee. Crossrail in the West makes the Ealing branch redundant and long term that offers the opportunity for branching after SB either up Uxbridge road or down SW and helping out Waterloo.
AL__S
14 October 2011 at 17:21
“North” is a tricky one. The various National Rail routes (MML, ECML/Hertford Loop and possibly the two Lea Valley/West Anglia routes?) are quite divergent, and the orbital route passes very close to the centre (North london Line) or is low capacity/currently quite quiet (GOBLIN)- and interchanges between both the NLL and GOBLIN and the radial National Rail and Tube lines are mainly pretty poor. There’s Finsbury Park, but that just has the Great Northern stopping trains and two radial tube lines. The divergence makes a “hub” unlikely surely? There’s nowhere quite with the incredibal coming together of lines that OOC offers, there’s not even an equivalent to Stratford.
Ratty
14 October 2011 at 17:33
The Outer London Commission described four super-hubs: Stratford, Croydon, Brent Cross (RIP) and “Heathrow” (whose meaning was never very clear to the OLC members).
Stratford, East Croydon (or Norwood Junction?), OOC and Clapham Junction at the 4 diagonal compass points, seems more reasonable to me.
I presume Boris will promise Crossrail 2 in his manifesto next year(?)
rational plan
14 October 2011 at 19:09
There are still a few corridors free under London for new tube or crossrail lines and they will always win out to any serious new orbital lines. They will be doing well to build new interchanges on the existing overground routes.
To reiterate the only sector of London to have a healthy office market outside the core is West London towards Heathrow.
Old oak common could have real potential for growth, but most interchanges have prospects for large scale redevelopment. As for the other ideas, it will take new crossrail lines for them to be able to cut back any tube lines (wasn’t that what the old chelsea-hackney line was in the first place?).
Bakerloo will only receive funds if it can relieve the main network, so forget it just going to Peckham rye. Also they are busy taking developer levies in Batersea and Vauxhall, so the Northern line is going there.
Anon
14 October 2011 at 20:30
An advantage of orbital line improvements is that all the benefits are felt in London. In contrast, improving radial mainlines, e.g. London-Cambridge, mainly has the affect of making it easier to commute from Cambridge, and thereby accelerates the middle-class flight from London.
Drew
14 October 2011 at 22:56
As for the southern superhub, would Wimbledon be better then Clapham Junction (I’m not sure, just suggesting!)? It has a wide radial route across southern London in Tramlink, it has Thameslink to south central and northern London (and beyond!), and also will be the terminus of the Chelney line when constructed. Most suburban trains stop there, and the range of trains stopping there could probably be improved.
timbeau
14 October 2011 at 23:15
Tramlink is surely orbital?
There is also the beginnings of an orbital route using the Kingston Loop, St Helier line, and Sutton – Croydon route.
Drew
Bakerloo extension yes – but not too far out.
I’ve bben watching the Hayes trains this past week, and they’re rammed now.
Victoria from Brixton to either Herne hill or Tulse hill, with loop at end….
OOC PROVIDED it is a proper interchange.
Where do the electrified GOBLIN trains go, West of GO? I assume they run East to either Grays or Pitsea via either Ockendon or Dagenham Dock, or alternate ….
W. Hampsted needs travolators (!)
Tott Hale ONLY if a third platform is built on the up side [ There IS room if the overbridge just to the South is rebuilt, AND said third track inserted all the way to Broxbourne.]
More TRAMS – we’ve already had this spat about that.
Croydon extension is a must, and I am of the opinion that X-river could still be a good idea – and, um, er, extend North to Camden Town and Kentish Town?
The roads there are narrow, though, in some places, so you might get the Ealing/Southall problems that screwed Uxbridge-Shep Bush.
Re-instate Point Pleasant flyover, and extend NLL to Wimbledon? Capacity problem?
Re-install Hall Farm – Lea Bridge ( a favourite of mine for obvious reasons), and split the newly 10-minute Chingfords to alternate to LS and Startford.
Anonymous
I’ve been banging the drum for orbital services for so very long.
The four super hubs, as I see them, are Clapham Junction, Willesden Junction/OOC, Stratford, and London Bridge.
The problem is with that last one as it’s actually a terminal, not a hub, and is nowhere near the LO orbital route. The solution I propose is a new super-hub station at “Surrey Canal Junction”, on the site of the incinerator. This station would have platforms on all of the South Eastern lines, all of the Brighton lines, the LO route, and any future Crossrail-style routes that might still be underground at this point. I think it would relieve London Bridge immensely.
The problem with these studies is that they only seem to consider the orbitals as a way of removing congestion from the absolute central areas…so only do the minimum required to relieve the current congestion there. It’s not just freight that can bypass London…a significant chunk of passenger traffic can as well….and I mean Greater London, not just Central London.
I’ve long advocated not only East-West Rail, but a series of orbital routes that remove the need to go via London, as well as providing valuable freight and diversionary routes. I cringe when public figures describe the LO system as a rail M25. No, THIS is a rail M25.
Likewise, the short-sighted notions of routing every easy service possible down a single (admittedly expensive) tunnel rather than planning for multiple routes that interchange. Case in point: The Chiltern Line is a perfect candidate for Crossrail’s apparent spare capacity in the west (though I still feel improving the GWML infrastructure out to Heathrow with 6 tracks could absorb most of that fine). It has an existing rail route to the Crossrail core and is crying out for investment (quad tracking, electrification, and 10-12 car trains). Instead, we get cheapskates trying to penny-pinch the rebuild of Euston and route the WCML suburban services down there instead of giving them their own route down to new underground suburban platforms at Waterloo from new underground suburban platforms at Euston (interchanging with Crossrail at TCR), and leaving the Chiltern line to fend for itself trying to make the most of the hugely capacity-constrained terminus of Marylebone.
Likewise…the ECML services could justify a 24tph tunnel on their own through to London Bridge to remove the need for any to terminate at Kings Cross as well as increase frequency…but instead, the current service levels (or at best, a slight increase) is getting funnelled down Thameslink. The MML is already hugely overcrowded…and when they upgrade the core to 24tph, they’re planning on using a chunk of that capacity for ECML services instead or increasing the frequencies on the MML to the required levels.
..and finally, just for seeding some ideas of your own, here’s a few of the overground orbital routes we could have had…
Malcolm
16 October 2011 at 08:05
Delivering any improvement in orbital services will depend as much on fixing the stations as providing the capacity. More and more people seem to travel with all their possessions (judging by the size of the wheeled bags being used) and whilst they cope OK on the flat, they really struggle when changing levels. Moreover, many of these stations suffer from lack of investment. Try moving from low level to high level at Willesdan Junction with a 23kg case, and try waiting on the High Level platforms on a cold winter day!!!
So, capacity and quality stations with escalators and lifts for level changes is needed.
swirlythingy
In that first map, what on earth is that long wiggly line coming off the south of the GWML right up at the western border? Staines West?
Fandroid
16 October 2011 at 09:59
Wimbledon is shown as having an MTS Strategic Interchange Scheme on the books. Fair enough, it is one of the busiest stations in the UK. However, it mysteriously doesn’t have any long or medium distance trains stopping there (except for tennis!)
An Old Oak Common strategic interchange is so blinking obvious that I just hope that they don’t wait forever to get the details ‘just so’ before starting anything at all. New stations have been bravely created in the past, the usage has grown and grown, so no-one subsequently needs to pay consultants vast sums to wipe off their crystal balls and spend centuries ‘consulting’ before acting.
However, having said that, I cannot help but think that the developers’ Park Royal International looks like a multilayered dog’s breakfast. It seriously looks in danger of losing its strategic function and only really satisfying the local development need. For instance: does Crossrail really need two (or is it three/four?) extra stations?
Commenters here have again and again stressed the need for a Clapham Junction to Heathrow link. OOC could provide that but the developer plan shows folk from CJ having to change at Willesden, then again at one of the uncountable new Crossrail stations (but not the one serving HS2, so bad luck if you want to go North in a hurry!). Let’s get this amazing opportunity right, for London and the UK, not just make it a convenient way to get to a shopping centre!
Forgive me if this has already been said against the previous article, bit I couldn’t face looking at a load of architects’ Brave New World visions.
timbeau
swirlythingy – I think yout mysterious line is too far east to be Staines West – it looks like the Heathrow branch to me, but for some reason shows T4 but not T5.
Fandroid
16 October 2011 at 14:57
The mysteries of maps that our betters create! Swirlythingy has got us going on the strange branch off the GWML heading south for some distance on the Strategic Interchange Locations Map produced by TfL. I too think it’s a dreamer’s recreation of the Staines West branch line. A sad loss to the network that could have been a lot more useful than just providing a logistics railhead for T5 construction. (Curses on the M25 designers). Anyway, that map reminds me of the oft printed excuse in Rail magazine ‘ some lines and stations have been omitted for clarity’ ie: if you are totally confused, it’s your fault not ours.
I think that the TfL map has omitted the Windsor branch from Staines. That doesn’t totally explain the difficulties as Staines West station was a lot closer to the Waterloo-Reading line than that little orange line indicates.
Now, I’ll bang my usual drum. I’m hoping for, but failing to see some real vision in TfL’s proposals. We have all been so grateful for just a modicum of investment in London’s railways, that we dare not hope for a real connected-up network that will take people out of cars and ensure London’s future prosperity. The Overground has been a resounding success. We should build on that. Without some serious forward-looking vision we will never get the best out of what we have already got. It might appear to be OTT to look immediately for a one-stop shop at Old Oak Common that incorporates slick interchanges between GWML, HS2, Crossrail, HeX & WLL (&NLL) (with the line diversions to make it happen) but unless we really say now that that is what we have to aim for, then it will never happen. We will have a West Hampstead all over again, where some lines stop, others don’t, and for those that do, the passenger has to confidently negotiate the wild streets of the metrop.
If you are not a local, it’s quite intimidating trying to get from one ‘adjacent’ station to another. I have bewildered my way around between Paris Gard du Nord and Gard de L’Est (easy according to Seat 61), between Shoreditch High Street and Liverpool Street, from Bakerloo to Thameslink at Elephant & Castle and I daren’t try Walthamstow Queens Road to Central – I might never be heard of again. Westfield at Shepherds Bush paid for station upgrades and new stations, but left them all isolated from each other. Don’t let’s have Terry Farrell’s redevelopment dream without spending real money on the rail infrastructure so that everyone (not just commuters and locals) can confidently interchange there without hassle.
Fandroid
I note that on the “orbitals peak” diagram that Denmark Hill is shown to the east of Peckham Rye! Somehow I don’t think entire suburb movement is part of future rail strategy.
timbeau
16 October 2011 at 18:29
@Fandroid
I don’t think that can be the Staines West branch – Staines is well outside the GL boundary (and on the Thames). Why would it not be the Heathrow branch? (It looks odd because LU lines are not shown (although Tramlink, DLR and LO lines are) – an odd omission in a map illustrating integrated transport proposals!
Fandroid
17 October 2011 at 15:48
@timbeau
You are spot-on with your geography. The squiggly blue line showing the Thames gives it away. As you rightly point out, omitting tube lines leaves out some vital connections, and makes some surface lines look disconnected (eg the Greenford branch).
Greg Tingey
17 October 2011 at 17:56
Actually, Fandroid, you’d be much more likely to vanish somewhere in the “Elephant” complex than at Walthamstow.
But, you do all realise that there USED to be a set of steps down from the WC car-park to W Midland (It’s nowhere NEAR Queen’s Road) …
When pat of the land was sold off for development, a condition was that the link was preserved/updated.
Needless to say, the developer did nothing of the sort.
Last year (I think) London Borough of Waht the F***k (LBWF) finalyy won a court action against said developer and their succesor(s) … but, of course, nothing has been done, and it is still a ridiculous journey from one station to the other.
Not quite as insane as Hackney CentralH Downs, but almost as bad!
Dan
Hello,
This is my first post on London Reconnections, which is looking very fine in its new livery.
Big vision about super hubs is indeed needed, and welcome. But I hope it’s not at the expense of obvious improvements that could be made to existing connections, such as:
– reopening the high level platforms (formerly Brockley Lane Station) at Brockley to interchange between Southeastern, Southern and London Overground
– including stations on the ‘new’ London Overground south London line at Brixton and Camberwell
– converting Bromley North to light rail use, possibly linking to both Tramlink and DLR extensions; the former is close by at Beckenham and the latter, if extended to Catford, would be just a couple of miles away
– tying together stations in close proximity better, eg. West Hampstead, Catford/Catford Bridge, to make them obvious interchanges and centres of development
– creating a Central Line interchange with the London Overground east London line at Shoreditch High Street
And with the Chelsney proposals, why not bring (some of?) its lines to Victoria to allow Southeastern/Southern services to extend on to it, as per Thameslink/Southeastern beyond Blackfriars, thus creating space at Victoria and new connection possibilities?
Nom de plume
21 October 2011 at 03:07
Regarding general topic of gauge restrictions and restricted platform lengths does anyone with greater engineering knowledge than myself have any views on LR55 track covered in the current edition of “the rail engineer” (page 44-45) and accessible from http://www.rail.co/location/united-kingdom ?
Whilst the article refers to benefits that might be applicable in Crossrail construction I can’t but wonder if other London schemes might benefit or even become financially viable utilising this technology.
Greg Tingey
Where can one find information regarding the works beingundertaken at Walthamstow Central.
I think we’d all like to see that?
Anonymous
12 February 2012 at 11:18
Looking at the aerial photos and to ensure good connectivity between hs2, crossrail, London overground and the underground, I would propose the following:
Transfer central line Ealing broadway branch to bakerloo line then from north acton build a cut and cover link to willesden junction via the old oak common site with interchange station
Build new central line branch from east acton or white city interchanging with above bakerloo line route, hs2 and crossrail in the old oak common site and then taking over the Dudden hill route with new interchange stations at harlesden, neasden and cricklewood/ Brent cross.
timbeau
12 February 2012 at 14:38
I can’t imagine anyone using the Ealing branch of the Central would take kindly to the long and mazy route via Queens Park! Is there actually much need to keep the Ealing branch at all post Crossrail? Ealing will have a much faster service to Paddington and many existing Central Line destinations. Connection at OOC/North Acton for destinations nearer at hand. If West Acton still needs a service, running a North Acton – Ealing Broadway shuttle might suffice
Anonymous
12 February 2012 at 19:46
I expect the best bet for the Dudding Hill Line is an Overground branch of some sort.
But the northwest London light railway has proposed a DLR system on it, then taking over the Central line branch to Ealing Broadway, and even somehow on to West Ealing and the Greenford branch (soon to become a dead-end, with HS2).
Transport for London objects to light-rail stopping freight traffic on the Dudding Hill line, but they might co-exist somehow, since both Old Oak Common and Brent Cross architects have at some stage proposed light rail.
Lemmo
Apparently TfL canvassing local council transport officials on the potential for a Hounslow-Hendon service. This would use the Dudding Hill line, it would be interesting to know more…
Anonymous
13 February 2012 at 16:24
The Ealing stub on the central line will probably become redundant long-term, especially if Crossrail offers 16tph at Eailing Broadway. All those Bakerloo services terminating at QP does seem a waste, and a short connection to take over this branch would give quicker services to some parts of NW London which are actually slow and quite difficult to do (try using the 83 bus to get to Ealing from Wembley, takes over an hours in rush-hour). It seems a pretty easy and cheap connection to do.
Where the central line then goes is the big question. Don’t think NW London needs any more tube lines, certainly not radial anyway. I would prefer it follow Uxbridge road and essentially do what the West London tram was meant to but far better and without road issues. The other option is going SW and helping out Waterloo by taking a load of trains off the Windsor line. The Hounslow loop would be obvious, but would quite like the Piccdilly line to go there if they can get rid of the Uxbridge branch since it would be a shorter and cheaper connection (which prob requires the District to take over and thus loosing its own branch somewhere).
Anonymous
| i don't know |
In which year was the 'Mary Rose' raised, the Pope visited Britain for the first time, and Princess Grace of Monaco killed in a car crash? | The Golden Years: 1982
Deaths
Music
The big hits of 1982 came from The Jam with Town Called Malice, Dexy's Midnight Runners had Come On Eileen, Bucks Fizz with Land of Make Believe, Odyssey did Inside Out, and Adam and the Ants had Goody Two Shoes. German group, Kraftwerk got to #1 with The Model. Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder had Ebony and Ivory at #1, while Tight Fit revived The Tokens' 1961 hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Sting covered Spread A Little Happiness, while Japan covered the old Smokey Robinson and the Miracles classic, I Second That Emotion.
1982 was the year of the “New Romantics”. Posters of Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, ABC, Haircut 100, Flock Of Seagulls, and Wham, were on the bedroom walls of millions of young girls. Culture Club, led by Boy George, had their first hits, as did Yazoo, Tears For Fears, and Simple Minds.
Elton John, Carly Simon, and Marvin Gaye were all back in the charts of 1982, while the Motown record label got a rare 80s number one with I've Never Been To Me by Charlene, that originally flopped when released in 1977. Irene Cara's Fame finally charted in the UK, having been a US hit in 1980.
J Geils Band had Centerfold and Freeze Frame, Steve Miller finally got a UK top 10 hit with Abracadabra, as did fellow Americans John Cougar with Jack & Diane, and Survivor with Eye of the Tiger. Toni Basil scored with Mickey, Soft Cell had Torch, Human League had Mirror Man, and 14 years after his #1 with The Equals on Baby Come Back, Eddy Grant was back at #1 with I Don't Wanna Dance.
Novelty hits of 1982 came from Renee & Renato with Save Your Love, Seven Tears by The Goombay Dance Band, Nicole—who won Eurovision—with A Little Peace, Trio with Da Da Da, Keith Harris & his duck Orville, Brown Sauce from TV's Swap Shop with I Wanna Be A Winner, and Brat who imitated tennis player John McEnroe's on court tantrums on Chalk Dust (The Umpire Strikes Back). Ex-lead singer of The Damned, Captain Sensible, was the surprise hit of 1982, as his version of Happy Talk hit #1.
News
Argentina invaded The Falkland Islands. British forces recaptured the islands in June, and Argentina surrendered.
Michael Fagin broke into The Queen's bedroom for a chat.
Henry VIII's warship, the Mary Rose, was raised from the seabed off Portsmouth.
Prince William was born.
IRA bombs exploded in parks in London.
20,000 Women circled the American airbase at Greenham Common to protest against the new Cruise missiles.
Laker Airways collapsed.
The Belfast car firm, DeLorean, went bust.
Erika Roe streaked at an England vs Australia match.
Mark Thatcher went missing in the Sahara Desert for 3 days.
Prince Andrew went on holiday with model Koo Stark.
Snow caused chaos in the worst winter for 20 years.
78 were killed, when a Boeing 747 crashed in blizzard conditions in America.
Unemployment hit 3 million for the first time since the 1930s.
A state of emergency was declared in Nicaragua.
Israel invaded the Lebanon.
The Iran/Iraq war escalated as Iran's Ayatollah Khomeni called on the Iraqis to rise up and overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Plain-clothed police fired on members of the banned Solidarity trade union in Poland. Leader of the union, Lech Wałęsa, was freed after a year in detention.
Australians Lindy & Michael Chamberlain went on trial, after claiming their baby was killed by a dingo.
Ozzy Osbourne was taken to hospital, after biting the head off a live bat thrown at him during a concert.
Actress Sophia Loren was jailed in Italy for tax evasion.
Elvis Presley's mansion, Graceland, was opened to the public.
Pope John Paul II visited Britain.
Paul Weller announced The Jam were splitting up.
Michael Jackson released his album Thriller.
New in 1982
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Blade Runner
An Officer and a Gentleman
Ghandi
| 1982 |
Lentigines is the medical name for what? | news by Paul O'Keefe - issuu
issuu
Assignment Title: “Problem Solving” Module Title: ‘Research, Development’
Experimentation
and
Choice 2: ‘COMMEMORATION”
Present Design proposals for an A2 Poster promoting a celebratory exhibition of a Discovery, Invention or ‘Design Classic’. Design considerations: Investigate choice of subject themes and gain indepth knowledge. Explore possible information content in relationship to given format. Experiment with appropriate graphic styles and typographic content. Note: On this occasion, typographic content can be reduced to exhibition titile only, unless through your research, you wish to extend it?
Ideas and Decision Deciding on a subject to create the poster on. Thinking about several subjects, which could be quite interesting, I began to think about things which haven’t been done to death, so, because of this I was able to begin to filter down through my choices. Most of these are subjects i know little about, but have a vague interest in. The ideas on the left are ideas from my head, informed by my research and life expereince.
Isolating my choices. Viral Markerting - From the use of the internet, i.e Youtube. How it has spread. Lava lamps - a design classic, retro invention. the era has been done to death. News - How it was invented, how it is represented, global use of... Could be interesting! Bicycle - Classic invention, and spread to many design classics. Done to death. God - Contraversial. We invented god? God invented everything! Animation - Could be fun to learn, but i am specialising and an animation style field, so I decided against it.
Decision - The News
History of Journalism
Some surprising facts about the history of journalsim By Mitchell Stephens Rather than some relatively recent craze, stimulated by the arrival of satellites, television or even the newspaper, the good news is that the frenzied, obsessive exchange of news is one of the oldest human activities. Messengers were appointed to bring word, criers to proclaim it and busybodies to spread the word. The need to know helped attract people to crossroads, campfires and market places; it helped motivate journeyers; it helps explain the reception accorded travelers. In most parts of the pre-literate world the first question asked of a traveler was, as it was in Outer Mongolia in 1921, “What’s new?” These preliterate peoples were probably better informed about events in their immediate neighborhood than are most modem, urban or suburban Americans. A similar fascination with news was evident in the Greek agora and later in the Roman Forum, where to the hubbub of spoken news was added information from daily handwritten news sheets, first posted by Julius Caesar. The bad news is that two of the subjects humans have most wanted to keep up with throughout the ages are – you guessed it – sex and violence. The Nootka of Vancouver Island, for example, would exchange plenty of important news on fishing, on the chief’s activities, on plans for war. But they also pricked up their ears at word that someone was having an affair. And the tale of a suitor who tumbled into a barrel of rainwater while sneaking out the window of his lover’s house “spread,” according to an anthropologist, “like wildfire up and down the coast.” There is more bad news. The golden age of political coverage that journalism critics pine
over – the era when reporters concentrated on the “real” issues-turns out to have been as mythical as the golden age of politics. In those rare historical moments when politicians deigned to face major problems and condescended to allow journalists to comment on them, those comments tended to be wildly subjective, as when the founders of our free press called their pro-British compatriots “diabolical Tools of Tyrants” and “men totally abandoned to wickedness.” Samuel Johnson, writing in a era when thinkers like Joseph Addison, Daniel Defoe and Jonathon Swift dominated British periodicals, concluded that the press “affords sufficient information to elate vanity, and stiffen obstinacy, but too little to enlarge the mind.” So much for that golden age. Yes, journalism has changed. For the better – our ancestors complained that they had “no data by which (to) correctly reason” about events overseas; we often seem to have, if anything, too much data. And for the worse – it is difficult to imagine brilliant, progressive eccentrics like Horace Greeley or Joseph Pulitzer working their way to the top of the huge corporations that have taken over almost all U.S. news organizations in the 20th Century. And much doesn’t change. It is foolish to pretend that sensationalism and superficiality could simply be expunged from the news if only Geraldo Rivera or Rupert Murdoch disappeared. Nevertheless, we can still protest when the news gets too irrelevant, too shallow. We can better educate audiences about its limitations and encourage viewers to change the channel. The desire to keep up with the news seems basic to our species, but that does not mean that in learning about the world we have to limit ourselves to just satisfying that desire.
Author: Mitchell Stephens is an associate professor of journalism at New York University. He is the author of A History of News. http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/short-historynews#top
The News Definitions Definitions of news on the Web: • information about recent and important events; “they awaited news of the outcome” • information reported in a newspaper or news magazine; “the news of my death was greatly exaggerated” • news program: a program devoted to current events, often using interviews and commentary; “we watch the 7 o’clock news every night” • informal information of any kind that is not previously known to someone; “it was news to me” newsworthiness: the quality of being sufficiently interesting to be reported in news bulletins; “the judge conceded the newsworthiness of the trial”; “he is no longer news in the fashion world” wordnetweb.princeton. edu/perl/webwn
news [njuːz]
n (functioning as singular) 1. current events; important or interesting recent happenings 2. information about such events, as in the mass media 3. a. the. a presentation, such as a radio broadcast, of information of this type the news is at six b. (in combination) a newscaster 4. interesting or important information not previously known or realized it’s news to me 5. a person, fashion, etc., widely reported in the mass media she is no longer news in the film world [from Middle English newes, plural of newe new (adj) on model of Old French noveles or Medieval Latin nova new things] newsless adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
• News … rose like a grenade across Washington — Ellen Goodman, Newsday, December 2, 1986 Goodman is contrasting the normalcy with which video shopping programs are working, with the scandal over arms shipments to Iran which exploded the sense of normalcy in the capital of the nation. • Share information like a basket lunch —Anon Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
news
noun information, latest (informal), report, word, story, release, account, statement, advice, exposé, intelligence, scandal, rumour, leak, revelation, buzz, gossip, dirt (U.S. slang), disclosure, bulletin, dispatch, gen (Brit. informal), communiqué, hearsay, tidings, news flash, scuttlebutt (U.S. slang) They still haven’t had any news about the survivors. Quotations “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from another country” Bible: Proverbs “News may be true, but it is not truth, and reporters and officials seldom see it the same way” [James Reston The Artillery of the Press] “If people didn’t give the news their news, and if everybody kept their news to themselves, the news wouldn’t have any news” [Andy Warhol From A to B and Back Again] “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is
news (nz, nyz)
pl.n. (used with a sing. verb) 1. a. Information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television. b. A presentation of such information, as in a newspaper or on a newscast. 2. New information of any kind: The requirement was news to him. 3. Newsworthy material: “a public figure on a scale unimaginable in America; whatever he did was news” (James Atlas). [Middle English newes, new things, tidings, pl. of newe, new thing, new; see new.] newsless adj. Synonyms: news, advice, intelligence, tidings, word These nouns denote information about hitherto unknown events and happenings: just heard the good news; sent advice that the loan was approved; a source of intelligence about the war; tidings of victory; received word of his death. News The American Heritage® Dictionary of news” [John B. Bogart] the English Language, Fourth Edition See Also: GOSSIP, KNOWLEDGE “all the news that’s fit to print” [Adolph S. Ochs motto copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin of the New York Times] Company. Updated in 2009. Published • As cold waters are to a faint by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights Proverbs soul, so is good news reserved. “No news is good news” from a far country —The Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002 Holy Bible/Proverbs ----------------------- • Bad news travels fast like a bad shilling —line from British television program “Bless Me Father,” 1986
The News A Newspaper Timeline news
n sg news [njuːz] a report of, or information about, recent events You can hear the news on the radio at 9 o’clock; Is there any news about your friend?; (also adjective ) a news broadcast.
a person who presents a news broadcast. n newsletter a sheet containing news issued to members of a group, organization etc. n newspaper a paper, printed daily or weekly, containing news etc a daily newspaper. news is singular: No news is good news . Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2010 K Dictionaries Ltd.
adj newsy full of news a newsy letter. n newsagent (Americannews dealer) a person who has a shop selling newspapers (and usually other goods). n newscast a broadcast of news in a radio or television programme. n newscaster
So, the news is a large area, I wish to commemerate the news in general, not individual stories. I am looking at the history of it, how it is percieved by us, what makes a story, and what is percived as news my those that are bringing it to us. There are various forms of how the news is delivered. Word of mouth - the earliest form of spreading the news. Newspaper - the first way of speading the news to the masses. Radio - making the news more accessable to the public. Television - visually televising the news in a new format. Internet- Making the news available at the click of a button 59 B.C. Acta Diurna is published in Rome. 1040 In China, Pi Sheng invents printing Julius Caesar orders the major political and from movable woodblocks. social events of the day to be made available to his citizenry. State appointed reporters, 1392 Movable copper type is invented in called “actuarii”, gather information on Korea. everything from wars and legal decisions to births, deaths, and marriages. 1447 Johann Gutenberg invents letterpress printing, a process that will enable the mass 713 Mixed News in Kaiyuan is first production of the printed word. newspaper published in China. “Kaiyuan” is the name given to the year in which the 1501 Pope Alexander VI decreed that paper is published. printed material must be submitted to clerical authority prior to publication in
The News A Newspaper Timeline order to prevent heresy. Failure to do so could result in fines or excommunication. 1556 Venetian government publishes Notizie scritte, a monthly newspaper for which readers pay a “gazetta”, or small coin. 1588 In Cologne, Germany, Michael Entzinger publishes a 24 page newsbook reporting on the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The newsbook’s front page shows a woodcut representing the Spanish Armada sailing off the coast of England. Although the report came months after the actual event occurred, this is one of the earliest “first reports” of a significant historical event. 1605 Johann Carolus publishes the first printed newspaper, Relation, in Strasbourg, now in France but at the time a part of the so-called ’Deutsches Reich’. 1621 In London, the newspaper Corante is published. 1631 The Gazette, the first French newspaper, is founded. 1639 First American colonial printing press 1645 World’s oldest newspaper still in circulation, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, is published in Sweden 1690 Publick Occurrences is the first newspaper published in America when it appears in Boston. The editor, Benjamin Harris, stated he would issue the paper “once a month, or, if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener.” The royal authority, wary of publications printed without its express consent, suppresses the newspaper after only one issue. 1704 Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe and often recognized as the world’s first journalist, begins to publish the Review, a periodical covering European affairs. 1798 Alois Sedenfelder Invents Lithography. Although invented over two centuries ago, offest lithography first gained
popularity in the 1960’s, and is now the industry standard. 1803 Australia’s military government publishes the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, the country’s first newspaper. This is only fifteen years after the colony of convicts had been established in Sydney Cove. 1812 Friedrich Koenig invents of the Steam Powered Cylinder Press. In 1814, John Walter, publisher of The Times in London, began to assemble the new press in secrecy, fearing that his pressmen might riot if they discovered his plans. On the night of November 28, 1814, Walter took his pressmen away from their hand presses with the excuse that he was expecting important news from the continent. He then used Koenig’s presses to produce the entire print run of The Times -at an output of 1,100 sheets per hour. 1844 Telegraph is invented 1851 Reuters is established 1870s Charles Stewart Parnell uses the Freeman’s Journal to promote the causes of his Irish Nationalist Party. 1880 First photographs appear in a newspaper 1900 Vladimir Lenin founds Iskra, in Leipzig, Germany. This revolutionary newspaper is to become a major tool for Communist propoganda. 1903 Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) develops the first tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mirror, in London. The Daily Mirror introduced the concept of the “exclusive” interview. The first was with Lord Minto, the new Viceroy of India, in 1905. 1966 Behram “Busybee” Contractor begins publishing his column ‘Round and About” in the Evening News of India. Running until 2001, the satirical column became the longest running column in the history of newspaper journalism.
1994 First independent online daily appears on the World Wide Web.
The News British Newspapers A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news, information, and advertising, usually printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations. General-interest newspapers typically publish stories on local and national political events and personalities, crime, business, entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. Other features include display and classified advertising, comics, and inserts from local merchants. The newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising. A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-eds; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, food and other columns; reviews of movies, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, editorial cartoons and comic strips. These images are a combination of tabloids, Berliner format, Compact format, “Middle-market� tabloid newspapers and Broadsheets. They have an obvious telling, that the more serious newspapers have a Serif font in their title, following very close to a times font, this creates the illusion of trust. The tabloids on the other hand, use a sans serif font,, this in newspapers is related to more tacky views of the editorial. Threre is an obvious divide here, one appeals to the lower to middle class, while the other is going for the middle to upper class.
The News Popular Channels
The News Popular News Websites
The News Graphics Popular UK broadcasting channels include the BBC, ITN, Channel 4 news, and Sky news, and channel 5 news to a lesser extent. Looking at the current graphics used, gather the masses, is a good way for me to think about how the information should be put across. The way in which many of these in their contempapry media, favour the colour red, white, and sometimes black too. The fonts used are simple, and easily read to allow the viewer instant recognition that it is in fact the news. Some of the channles just go with the logo for the particular channel it is broadcast on, and so allows for less on the graphics displayed. Most of the channels display the world as a globe, obvously to say that it is the world news that they report on, so use of a world map is a good start to look at how to display the information. The world is broken up into regions, whether its by continent, country, region, or political. There is an obvious break in how the area are seperated and displayed. These days, computer graphics are used during the news, to show area, including terrain, if it’s to show a balltle area, or to show the weather. Looking at the BBC, for their opening sequence, they have a big red globe that spins which is broken up as it does so, perhaps to show the breaking news, or to show the digital waves of information as it now passes over the world.
Format
So the news is basically information told to us, so thinking about the format of the poster, it makes sense to create an info graphic. Displaying some of the information I have found. If I begin to break it down, I could start to look at big stories in the media today, or even some of the biggest stories in the world throughout history. Another option is to simply break down the news, to say what it is, and what it does, and perhaps the history of the news as a subject, rather than its content. Much like what I have looked at already. Thinking about these possibilities, I think that, the option to look at breaking stories, or breaking stories in history would be a good way to start to look. Thinking further, why does it need to be breaking stories, why not warming stories too? The saying goes ”no news is good news”. There is a huge association with sex and violence within the news media, and that is what draws the public in! Another way, is to possibly get quotes associated with the news, like “no news is good news”, or using headlines from national papers across the world. I think looking at it, for me, the best way to create an info graphic is to have lots of information, the headlines throughout history is currently my favourite option.
Ideas
Quick ideas for design, Top left, ideas for poser design form my research. Bottom left, from one idea, its now taken further in development, thinking about stories and headlines to use, placement within the world map. This is the only type of map to use because it is the only version showing the entire map on it. Above upper, from another idea, containing news logos from varous newspapers and TV. Mostly from the UK and US. Development includes using logos form around the world, thus showing the world NEWS. Above lower - Looking at the word packaging, as in to package up the news for the viewer/ reader
Inspirational Graphics
Inspirational Graphics
News Associated images
Typical associationn with the news is with the world map, text, newspapers, radio waves, digital screens.
Historical Headlines of the world Headlines that shaped history from http://www.usatoday.com/news/top25-headlines.htm 1Fall of communism (1989) The Berlin Wall, which divided a city into a communist east and a non-communist west, was the most tangible symbol of a Cold War that divided the whole world. When it came down, it was proof that the war was over — and that the communists who built the wall had lost. 29/11 terrorist attacks (2001) Islamic extremists turned four commercial jetliners into weapons of mass murder, obliterating two of the USA’s biggest office towers and punching a hole in its military headquarters. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and ushered in unprecedented national security measures.
7Clinton impeachment (1998-99) The revelation of Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky crippled his presidency. He first denied anything improper with “that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” then admitted he’d had a “wrong” relationship with her. The House impeached him on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; the Senate acquitted him. 8Afghanistan invasion (2001) After the 9/11 attacks, President Bush vowed: “The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” He made good on his promise. In the first stage of the “war on terrorism,” U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime that had harbored the al-Qaeda plotters. But terrorist Osama bin Laden has eluded capture.
3Iraq war (2003-) It was a war in two acts. First came a conventional conflict in which the United States and its allies quickly rolled over the forces of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Then came a protracted struggle against an insurgency that frustrated Americans like no war since Vietnam.
9Oklahoma City bombing (1995) Homegrown terrorism struck the heartland. The truck bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building was the work of Army veterans Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who sympathized with the violently antifederal militia movement. The blast killed 168 people and injured nearly 700.
4Hurricane Katrina (2005) The costliest hurricane in U.S. history flooded New Orleans, scattered its residents and devastated the Mississippi and Alabama coastline. More than 1,700. people were killed.
10Chernobyl disaster (1986) Science fiction had warned of such an accident. At Chernobyl, fiction became fact when a Ukrainian nuclear power plant exploded, sending radioactive fallout over Europe. More than 330,000 people had to be resettled.
5O.J. Simpson (1994-95) After Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered, the former football star was named a suspect and the case became a national obsession. Simpson, riding in a white Ford Bronco, led police on a nationally televised slow-speed chase. His criminal trial ended in a controversial acquittal.
11Columbine massacre (1999) Most Americans once assumed their kids were safe at school. Then came the shootings at Columbine High School near Denver. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher, then committed suicide. It was a precursor to 2007’s massacre at Virginia Tech, where 33 people died.
62000 presidential election Election Day 2000 was just the beginning of a five-week struggle to decide who had won. It came down to a 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court that ended a Florida recount and put Republican George W. Bush in the White House over Democrat Al Gore.
12Death of Diana (1997) “The people’s princess” was a complex personification of glamour, innocence and tragedy. Her death in a Paris car crash evoked extraordinary public expressions of grief; her funeral at Westminster Abbey drew more than a million mourners and a worldwide television audience.
13Asian tsunami (2004) The peace of Christmas was shattered by tragedy on the other side of the world. A Dec. 26 earthquake — among the largest ever recorded — triggered a devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. Nearly 230,000 were killed or reported missing, and global relief efforts topped $6 billion. 14Persian Gulf War (1991) After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and ignored a deadline to withdraw, a U.S.-led coalition invaded. The ground battle was won in a few days at the cost of 148 American lives. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died. Saddam was driven from oil-rich Kuwait but kept power at home. 15Rodney King (1991-92) The video was shocking: white Los Angeles police officers stood around a black man on the ground, pummeling him. Rodney King was a parolee who had kept driving when police tried to pull him over. The acquittal of four officers on brutality charges sparked riots that left more than 50 people dead. 16Branch Davidians (1993) At least 80 members of the Branch Davidian sect were killed during a 51-day standoff outside Waco, Texas. It began when federal agents tried to arrest group leader David Koresh for stockpiling guns and explosives. The compound exploded in flames after the FBI sprayed tear gas and the Davidians began shooting; a federal investigation said the Davidians started the fire.
17Challenger explosion (1986) Christa McAuliff was going to be the first teacher in space. But 73 seconds after launch, the space shuttle blew apart, killing all seven astronauts. The TV images horrified the world. Disaster hit the program again in 2003, when seven astronauts died aboard the shuttle Columbia. 18Tiananmen Square (1989) The spirit of China’s studentled pro-democracy protests was dramatized by one scene: a lone man standing defiantly before a column of tanks in the heart of Beijing. But military force prevailed; communist leaders crushed the protests, killing hundreds, possibly thousands. 19Rwandan genocide (1994) Neighbor killed neighbor, sometimes with a machete. More than 500,000 people died in about 100 days in governmentorchestrated violence that grew out of a civil war. Despite news coverage, the international community did not stop it.
20Nelson Mandela (1990) Rarely has anyone suffered so much and for so long with so little apparent bitterness. The South African nationalist, spent 27 years in prison under the white racist regime; his release in 1990 was the beginning of apartheid’s end. Later, as president, he used his position not for revenge, but reconciliation.
21Iran-contra affair (1986-87) The biggest scandal since Watergate dogged the last years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Funds from secret U.S. arms sales to Iran were diverted to finance a Central American war run from the White House. The system was an attempt to circumvent Congress, which had cut off aid to the contra rebels in Marxist Nicaragua. 22Beirut Marine barracks bombing (1983) It was an early glimpse of what would become a recurrent horror: suicide bombings in the Middle East. A truck bomb destroyed the barracks, killing 241 U.S. servicemembers. The troops had gone to Beirut as peacekeepers; the bombing eventually led to their departure.
23Terri Schiavo. (2005) In 1990, Schiavo suffered brain damage that left her in a persistent vegetative state. Eight years later, her husband asked a court to have a feeding tube removed. Her parents objected, touching off a legal battle that culminated in a political and media free-for-all. The tube was removed in March 2005; Schiavo died 13 days later. 24Gay marriage (2003) Same-sex marriage took one step forward and several steps back. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s 2003 ruling that granted homosexuals the right to marry sparked a backlash. The next year, 11 states passed bans on same-sex. 25Pan Am Flight 103 (1988) Explosives hidden in a suitcase destroyed a jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Many of the 189 Americans aboard were students or military personnel coming home for Christmas. A former Libyan intelligence officer was convicted, and Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing
Historical Headlines of the world 1900 • Boxer Rebellion in China • Italy’s King Assassinated • Kodak Introduces $1 Brownie Cameras • Max Planck Formulates Quantum Theory Sigmund Freud Publishes The Interpretation of Dreams 1901 • Australia Becomes a Commonwealth • First Nobel Prizes Awarded • First Trans-Atlantic Radio Signal • Queen Victoria Dies • U.S. President McKinley Assassinated 1902 • Boer War Ends • Mount Pelée Erupts • The Teddy Bear Is Introduced • U.S. Passes the Chinese Exclusion Act 1903 • First Flight at Kitty Hawk • First License Plates Issued in the U.S. • First Message to Travel Around the World • First Silent Movie, The Great Train Robbery • First World Series • Plague in India 1904 • First Popular American Film • Ground Broken on Panama Canal • New York City Subway Opens • Russo-Japanese War Begins • Trans-Siberian Railway Completed 1905 • “Bloody Sunday” - Russian Revolution of 1905 • Einstein Proposes His Theory of Relativity • Freud Publishes His Theory of Sexuality 1906 • The Dreadnought Launched • Finland First European Country to Give Women the Right to Vote • Kellogg’s Starts Selling Corn Flakes • President Roosevelt Simplifies Spelling • San Francisco Earthquake Upton Sinclair Writes The Jungle 1907 • Ten Rules of War Established at the Second Hague Peace Conference • First Electric Washing Machine • Picasso Introduces Cubism Typhoid Mary Captured for the First Time
1908 • Earthquake in Italy Kills 150,000 • Ford Introduces the Model-T • SOS Accepted as Universal Distress Signal • Three Year-Old Pu Yi Becomes Emperor of China • The Tunguska Event: Huge and Mysterious Explosion in Siberia • Turks Revolt in the Ottoman Empire 1909 • Japan’s Prince Ito is Assassinated • NAACP Is Founded • Plastic Is Invented Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole 1910 • Boy Scouts Established in U.S. • Halley’s Comet Makes an Appearance The Tango Catches On 1911 • The Chinese Revolution • Ernest Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom • The Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered • Mona Lisa Is Stolen • Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole • Standard Oil Company Broken Up • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Catches on Fire 1912 • Oreo Cookies First Introduced • Parachutes Invented • Piltdown Man, the “Missing Link,” Discovered (Fraud) • The Titanic Sinks 1913 • First Crossword Puzzle • Henry Ford Creates Assembly Line • Los Angeles Owens Valley Aquaduct Opened • Personal Income Tax Introduced in U.S. 1914 • Archduke Ferdinand Assassinated • Battle of the Marne • Charlie Chaplin First Appeared as the Little Tramp • First Traffic Light • Panama Canal Officially Opened • World War I Begins 1915 • Armenian Genocide • D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation Released • Germans Use Poison Gas as a Weapon
• Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat • Second Battle of Ypres 1916 • Battle of the Somme • Battle of Verdun • Easter Rising in Ireland • First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens in U.S. 1917 • First Pulitzer Prizes Awarded • Mata Hari Executed for Being a Spy • Russian Revolution U.S. Enters World War I 1918 • 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic • Daylight Saving Time Introduced • Russian Czar Nicholas II and His Family are Killed 1919 Treaty of Versailles Ends World War I 1920 • Bubonic Plague in India • First Commercial Radio Broadcast Aired • Harlem Renaissance Begins • League of Nations Established • Prohibition Begins in the U.S. • Pancho Villa Retires Women Granted the Right to Vote in U.S. 1921 • “Fatty” Arbuckle Scandal • Extreme Inflation in Germany • Irish Free State Proclaimed • Lie Detector Invented 1922 • Insulin Discovered • Kemal Atatürk Founds Modern Turkey • Tomb of King Tut Discovered • Michael Collins Killed in Ambush • Mussolini Marches on Rome • The Reader’s Digest Published 1923 • Charleston Dance Becomes Popular • Hitler Jailed After Failed Coup • Ruhr Occupied by French and Belgian Forces • Talking Movies Invented • Teapot Dome Scandal • Time Magazine Founded 1924 • First Olympic Winter Games • J. Edgar Hoover Appointed FBI Director • Leopold and Loeb Murder a Neighbor Out of Bore-
dom • V.I. Lenin Dies 1925 • Flapper Dresses in Style • Hitler Publishes Mein Kampf • The Scopes (Monkey) Trial 1926 • A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie-the-Pooh • First Assassination Attempt on Mussolini • Houdini Dies After Being Punched • Robert Goddard Fires His First Liquid-Fuel Rocket • A Woman Swims the English Channel 1927 • Babe Ruth Makes Home-Run Record • BBC Founded • The First Talking Movie, The Jazz Singer • Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic Sacco and Venzetti Executed 1928 • Bubble Gum Invented • First Mickey Mouse Cartoon • First Oxford English Dictionary Published • Kellogg-Briand Treaty Outlaws War • Penicillin Discovered • Sliced Bread Invented 1929 • Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole • Car Radio Invented • First Academy Awards • Stock Market Crashes St. Valentine’s Day Massacre 1930 • Gandhi’s Salt March • Pluto Discovered Stalin Begins Collectivizing Agriculture in the U.S.S.R. • Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion • Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere • Christ Monument Built on Rio de Janeiro Hilltop • Empire State Building Completed • Scottsboro Boys Accused of Rape • U.S. Officially Gets National Anthem 1932 • Air Conditioning Invented • Amelia Earhart First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic • Lindbergh’s Baby Kidnapped • Scientists Split the Atom • Zippo Lighters Introduced 1933
Historical Headlines of the world • Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany • Assassination Attempt on FDR • FDR Launches New Deal • First Nazi Concentration Camp Established • Loch Ness Monster First Spotted • Prohibition Ends in the U.S. • Wiley Post Flies Around the World in 8 1/2 Days 1934 • Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police • Cheeseburger Created • The Dust Bowl • Mao Zedong Begins the Long March • Parker Brothers Sells the Game “Monopoly” 1935 • Alcoholics Anonymous Founded • Germany Issues the Anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws • John Maynard Keynes Suggests New Economic Theory • Social Security Enacted in U.S. 1936 • Carnegie Publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People • Hoover Dam Completed • King Edward VIII Abdicates • Nazi Olympics in Berlin • Spanish Civil War Begins 1937 • Amelia Earhart Vanishes • Golden Gate Bridge Opened • The Hindenberg Disaster Japan Invades China 1938 • Broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” Causes Panic • Chamberlain Announces “Peace in Our Time” • “Extinct” Fish Found (Coelacanth) • Hitler Annexes Austria • The Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) 1939 • First Commercial Flight Over the Atlantic • German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed • Helicopter Invented • Refugees on the St. Louis Refused Entry Everywhere World War II Begins
1940 • Battle of Britain • Leon Trotsky Assassinated • Nylons on the Market Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France 1941 • Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor • Jeep Invented • Manhattan Project Begins • Mount Rushmore Completed • Nazi Rudolf Hess Flies to Britain on a Peace Mission • Siege of Leningrad 1942 • Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding • Battle of Midway • Battle of Stalingrad • Japanese-Americans Held in Camps • Nazis Raze Town in Retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich’s Death • T-shirt Introduced 1943 • French Resistance Leader Jean Moulin Killed • Grave of Katyn Forest Massacre Found • Italy Joins the Allies • Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 1944 • Ballpoint Pens Go On Sale • D-Day • First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired • Hitler Escapes Assassination Attempt 1945 • FDR Dies • First Computer Built (ENIAC) • Germans Surrender • Hitler Commits Suicide • Microwave Oven Invented • Slinky Toy Hits Shelves • United Nations Founded • U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1946 • Bikinis Introduced • Dr. Spock’s The Common Book of Baby and Child Care Is Published • Juan Perón Becomes President of Argentina • Nuremberg Trials • Winston Churchill Gives His “Iron Curtain” Speech 1947
• Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier • Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered • Jewish Refugees Aboard the Exodus Turned Back by British • Marshall Plan Polaroid Cameras Invented 1948 • Berlin Airlift • “Big Bang” Theory Formulated • “Dewey Defeats Truman” in the Newspaper • Gandhi Assassinated • Policy of Apartheid Begun • State of Israel Founded 1949 • China Becomes Communist • First Non-Stop Flight Around the World • George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eight-Four • NATO Established Soviet Union Has Atomic Bomb 1950 • First Modern Credit Card Introduced • First Organ Transplant • First “Peanuts” Cartoon Strip • Korean War Begins • Senator Joseph McCarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt U.S. President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb 1951 • Color TV Introduced • South Africans Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race • Truman Signs Peace Treaty With Japan, Officially Ending WWII • Winston Churchill Again Prime Minister of Great Britain 1952 • Car Seat Belts Introduced • The Great Smog of 1952 • Jacques Cousteau Discovers Ancient Greek Ship • Polio Vaccine Created • Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at Age 25 1953 • DNA Discovered • Hillary and Norgay Climb Mt. Everest • Joseph Stalin Dies • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed for Espionage 1954
• Britain Sponsors an Expedition to Search for the Abominable Snowman • First Atomic Submarine Launched • Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer • Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile • Segregation Ruled Illegal in U.S. 1955 • Disneyland Opens • Emmett Till Murdered • James Dean Dies in Car Accident • McDonald’s Corporation Founded • Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus • Warsaw Pact Signed 1956 • Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan’s Show • Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco • Hungarian Revolution • Khrushchev Denounces Stalin • Suez Crisis • T.V. Remote Control Invented • Velcro Introduced 19 1957 • Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat • European Economic Community Established • Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age Laika Becomes the First Living Animal to Enter Orbit 1958 • Boris Pasternak Refuses Nobel Prize • Chinese Leader Mao Zedong Launches the “Great Leap Forward” • Hope Diamond is Donated to the Smithsonian • Hula Hoops Become Popular • LEGO Toy Bricks First Introduced • NASA Founded • Peace Symbol Created 1959 • Castro Becomes Dictator of Cuba • International Treaty Makes Antarctica Scientific Preserve • Kitchen Debate Between Nixon and Khrushchev • The Sound of Music Opens on Broadway U.S. Quiz Shows Found to be Fixed
Historical Headlines of the world 1960 • Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho Released • Brazil’s Capital Moves to Brand New City • First Televised Presidential Debates Lasers Invented 1961 • Adolf Eichmann on Trial for Role in Holocaust • Bay of Pigs Invasion • Berlin Wall Built • Peace Corps Founded • Soviets Launch First Man in Space 1962 • Andy Warhol Exhibits His Campbell’s Soup Can • Cuban Missile Crisis • First Person Killed Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall • Marilyn Monroe Found Dead • Rachel Carson Publishes Silent Spring 1963 • Betty Friedan Publishes The Feminine Mystique • JFK Assassinated • Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His “I Have a Dream” Speech 1964 • Beatles Become Popular in U.S. • Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) Becomes World Heavyweight Champion • Civil Rights Act Passes in U.S. • Hasbro Launches GI Joe Action Figure • Nelson Mandela Sentenced to Life in Prison • Warren Report on JFK’s Assassination Issued 1965 • Japan’s Bullet Train Opens • Los Angeles Riots • Malcolm X Assassinated • New York City Great Blackout • U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam 1966 • Black Panther Party Established • Mao Zedong Launches the Cultural Revolution • Mass Draft Protests in U.S. • Star Trek T.V. Series Airs 1967 • Australian Prime Minister Disappears • Che Guevara Killed • First Heart Transplant • First Super Bowl • Six-Day War in the Middle East • Stalin’s Daughter Defects Three U.S. Astronauts Killed During Simulated Launch
1968 • Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated • My Lai Massacre • Prague Spring • Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated • Tet Offensive 1969 • ARPANET, the Precursor of the Internet, Created • Charles Manson and “Family” Arrested • Neil Armstrong Becomes the First Man on the Moon • Rock-and-Roll Concert at Woodstock • Senator Edward Kennedy Leaves the Scene of an Accident • Sesame Street First Airs Yasser Arafat Becomes Leader of the PLO 1970 • Aswan High Dam Completed • Beatles Break Up • Computer Floppy Disks Introduced • Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes Kent State Shootings 1971 • London Bridge Brought to the U.S. • United Kingdom Changes to Decimal System for Currency • VCRs Introduced 1972 • M*A*S*H T.V. Show Premiers • Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals • Pocket Calculators Introduced • Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich • Watergate Scandal Begins 1973 • Abortion Legalized in U.S. • Paul Getty Kidnapped • Sears Tower Built • U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam • U.S. Vice President Resigns 1974 • Halie Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, Deposed • Mikhail Baryshnikov Defects • Patty Hearst Kidnapped • Terracotta Army Discovered in China • U.S. President Nixon Resigns 1975 • Arthur Ashe First Black Man to Win Wimbledon • Civil War in Lebanon • Microsoft Founded
• Pol Pot Becomes the Communist Dictator of Cambodia 1976 • Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens • North and South Vietnam Join to Form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam • Tangshan Earthquake Kills Over 240,000 1977 • Elvis Found Dead • Miniseries Roots Airs • South African Anti-Apartheid Leader Steve Biko Tortured to Death Star Wars Movie Released 1978 • First Test-Tube Baby Born • John Paul II Becomes Pope • Jonestown Massacre 1979 • Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran • Iran Takes American Hostages in Tehran • Margaret Thatcher First Woman Prime Minister of Great Britain • Mother Theresa Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize • Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island Sony Introduces the Walkman 1980 • Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran • John Lennon Assassinated • Mount St. Helens Erupts • Rubik’s Cube Becomes Popular Ted Turner Establishes CNN 1981 • Assassination Attempt on the Pope • Assassination Attempt on U.S. President Reagan • First Woman Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court • Millions Watch Royal Wedding on T.V. • New Plague Identified as AIDS • Pac-Man is Extremely Popular • Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM 1982 • E.T. Movie Released • Falkland Islands Invaded by Argentina • King Henry VIII’s Ship the Mary Rose Raised After 437 Years • Michael Jackson Releases Thriller • Reverend Sun Myung Moon Marries 2,075 Couples at Madison Square Garden • Vietnam War Memorial Opened in Washington, DC
1983 • Cabbage Patch Kids are Popular • Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called Star Wars • Sally Ride Becomes the First American Woman in Space • Soviets Shoot Down a Korean Airliner • U.S. Embassy in Beirut Bombed 1984 • Huge Poison Gas Leak in Bhopal, India • Indira Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards • PG-13 Movie Rating Created 1985 • Famine in Ethiopia • Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered • Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika • New Coke Hits the Market • Wreck of the Titanic Found 1986 • Challenger Space Shuttle Explodes • Chernobyl Nuclear Accident • Ferdinand Marcos Flees the Philippines • Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds • U.S. Bombs Libya • U.S.S.R. Launches Mir Space Station 1987 • DNA First Used to Convict Criminals • Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons, Sentenced to Life in Prison • New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on “Black Monday” West German Pilot Lands Unchallenged in Russia’s Red Square 1988 • Pan Am Flight 103 Is Bombed Over Lockerbie • U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Airliner 1989 • Berlin Wall Falls • Exxon Valdez Spills Millions of Gallons of Oil on Coastline • Students Massacred in China’s Tiananmen Square U.S. President Bush Announces That He Doesn’t Like Broccoli
Historical Headlines of the world 1990 • Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space • Lech Walesa Becomes First President of Poland Nelson Mandela Freed 1991 • Bronze Age Man Found Frozen in Glacier • Collapse of the Soviet Union • Operation Desert Storm • South Africa Repeals Apartheid Laws 1992 • Official End of the Cold War • Riots in Los Angeles After the Rodney King Verdict 1993 • Cult Compound in Waco, Texas Raided • Use of the Internet Grows Exponentially • World Trade Center Bombed 1994 • Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France • Lorena Bobbit Takes Brutal Revenge • Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa • O.J. Simpson Arrested for Double Murder • Rwandan Genocide Begins 1995 • Ebola Virus Spreads in Zaire • Gas Attack in Tokyo Subway • Oklahoma City Bombing • Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated 1996 • Mad Cow Disease Hits Britain • Two Royal Divorces • Unabomber Arrested 1997 • British Au Pair on Trial for Murder • Hale-Bopp Comet Visible • Hong Kong Returned to China • Pathfinder Sends Back Images of Mars • Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash • Scientists Clone Sheep • Tallest Buildings in the World Built in Kuala Lumpur Tiger Woods Wins Masters 1998 • India and Pakistan Test Nuclear Weapons • Titanic Most Successful Movie Ever • U.S. President Clinton Impeached • Viagra on the Market 1999 • The Euro the New European Currency • Fear of Y2K Bug
• JFK Jr. Dies in Plane Accident • Killing Spree at Columbine High School • NATO Attacks Serbia Panama Canal Returns to Panama
2008: Barack Obama becomes the first AfricanAmerican president-elect of the United States 2001: In the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, al-Qaeda terrorists hijack planes and fly them into the World Trade Center. 2005: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in the United States and devastates much of the East Coast. 2003: Armed forces from the United States and allied nations launch the opening salvos of the war in Iraq. 2007: The United States enters a large-scale recession that affects jobs, health care, and the approval ratings of a new President 2001: Apple Computer unveils the first iPod, revolutionizing technology and launching a now-vibrant portable media industry. First Concorde Crash In The Last 30 Years
These are all the more prominant headlines of the last century, and with a small selection of the last decade to date.
Newspapers of the world
Just a few examples of newspapers of varying countries, this could be used easily to create
Design proposal 1
The idea of this poster is to represent the newspaper media of the world. the bulk text is that of stories associated with that particular area, or continent, and the stories are produced in very small print, but still large enough to read by the naked eye. The areas in the U.S and aslo in Europe, display headlines over the past 110 years, and created using Times New Roman - Bold. This gives the headline representationand cathes the eye. The headlines are not finished as this is just a quick mock up, and the bulk text is made up Lori Epsom, just to show the effect that would be produced. The research shows stories that of the world that could be used througout the entire poster. Commemerating the news as a whole. The lower banner is a represeataion of broadcast Televisoin media, with the banners that often appear in the lower part of the TV screen.
Varaition of...
Inspirational Graphics
Again, the same as before, but this time playing with a textured background to add to the feeling of how this poster is portrayed. It gives the old traditional look of how the news was printed back in the day, and aged in paper look to it too. There are plenty of way in which this same design can be produced, for example a more up to date look, in a digital world.
Inspirational Graphics
News Associated images
Design proposal 2
This is a combination of two ideas I had for a poster, making use of the word, “delivery�. I am aiming to package up the contents using main media suppliers of the world. Newspapers from many countries in the world, stamped on the side, much more could be included. The poster is to reflect the media companies available today, with its accessabillty to the the public. The phrase needs work!
Large image
| i don't know |
What is the name of the fast, erotic Brazilian dance in which couples frequently touch hips? | Latin Dance Names
Latin Dance Names
Darrell's database of Latin dance names: 128.252.165.14 chipanecas (chip) 128.252.165.20 rumba 128.252.165.31 milonga 128.252.165.59 salsa 128.252.165.61 ace 128.252.165.62 tao 128.252.165.67 conga 128.252.165.68 jarabe 128.252.165.69 macumbo 128.252.165.70 xongo 128.252.165.127 macarena 128.252.165.128 cueca 128.252.165.129 pachanga 128.252.165.139 lindy 128.252.165.140 tango 128.252.165.141 cha-cha 128.252.165.142 lambada 128.252.165.143 samba 128.252.165.144 mambo 128.252.165.145 merengue 128.252.165.146 waltz 128.252.165.147 cumbia 128.252.165.148 flamenco 128.252.165.149 polka 128.252.165.189 escondido 128.252.165.190 watusi 128.252.165.191 twostep 128.252.165.192 jig 128.252.165.194 bolero 128.252.165.195 corrido 128.252.165.196 danzon 128.252.165.197 limbo 128.252.165.198 guaracha 128.252.165.199 bomba 128.252.165.200 charanga 128.252.165.206 maxixe 128.252.165.208 alegrias 128.252.165.209 bambuca 128.252.165.212 beguine 128.252.165.213 calypso 128.252.165.214 carioca ALEGRIAS: The Alegrias is one of the oldest of Spanish Gypsy dances and = is often called the "Queen" of Flamenco dances. It is the purest and = more refined of the repertoire. It suggests the movements of the = bullfight and is usually danced by a woman alone.=20 BAION: A type of slow Samba rhythm from Brazil that became popular in = North America during the 50's. BAMBA: An old Mexican air from the province of Vera Cruz, Mexico, to = which a charming folk dance depicts two lovers who throwing a narrow = sash on the floor manage to tie in into a knot with their dancing feet. BAMBUCA: The national dance of Colombia, South America. It is = characterized by cross accents in the music. It was formerly danced only = by the natives but became a ballroom dance to be added to the gentle = Pasillo, a favorite with Colombian society. BATUQUE: Afro-Brazilian jam sessions. In the Batuque the dancers form a = circle around one performer. This solo dancer chooses his successor for = the exhibition spot while shouting the word "Sama."=20 BEGUINE: A type of Rumba in which the accent is on the second eighth = note of the first beat. Origins spring from Martinique and Cuba. BOLERO: Originally a Spanish dance in 3/4 time, it was changed in Cuba = initially into 2/4 time then eventually into 4/4. It is now present as a = very slow type of Rumba rhythm. The music is frequently arranged with = Spanish vocals and a subtle percussion effect, usually implemented with = Conga or Bongos. BOTECITA: The "Little Boat." It is Cuban dancing with a very exaggerated = swaying of the shoulders. BULERIAS: A Spanish Gypsy dance. Livelier and more spirited than most of = the repertoire. It's usually danced by a whole group and could be called = a Flamenco jam-session. CALYPSO: The music of the typical ballads in England sung by the natives = of Trinidad. There was no real dance but because of the extreme = popularity of the music, in 1956, possibly due to the singer Harry = Bellafonte, many steps were created. Most of them resemble the Cuban = Bolero or the Martinique Beguine or even Swing.=20 CARIOCA: A native of Rio de Janeiro. Also the abbreviation of the = Brazilian dance, the Samba Carioca. At the Carioca Carnival, from the = moment the music starts until it dies off, people get together in = cordoes (chains or cues). Holding hands in this fashion they sing and = sway their bodies to the Samba-Carioca and the Marchas.=20 CHA CHA: From the less inhibited night clubs and dance halls the Mambo = underwent subtle changes. It was triple mambo, and then peculiar = scraping and shuffling sounds during the "tripling" produced the = imitative sound of Cha Cha Cha. This then became a dance in itself. = Mambo or triple Mambo or Cha Cha as it is now called, is but an advanced = stage in interpretive social dancing born of the fusion of progressive = American and Latin music. CHIPANECAS: A Mexican Folk dance from the province of Chiapas. Its = popularity is due to the charming air plus the audience participation = during the time the dancers request the audience to clap hands with = them. It is in 3/4 time and based on Spanish patterns. CONGA: An African-Cuban dance characterized by the extreme violence of = accents on the strong beats in 2/4 time. The Conga beat thus used has a = rhythmic anticipation of the second beat in every other measure. The = Conga was very popular in the late thirties. It was performed in a = formation known as the Conga chain. The steps are simple, one, two, = three, kick at which time the partners move away from each other. CORRIDOS: The musical ballads called the Corridos play a very important = part in Latin American musical life. The words are often topical and = relate to political events. It has been suggested that the word Corrido = is derived from the word correr, to run, because the singer has to run = for his life when caught in the process of reciting a subversive ditty. = Corridos are particularly popular in Mexico. DANZON: A Cuban dance which starts slowly and gradually accelerates at = certain melodic intervals between chorus and verse: the dancers stop to = talk but remain on the floor until a certain beat tells them to resume = their dances. This dance, which might be called a Rumba variation is in = a 4/4 time. Its stately music is popular in the tropics because it is = not strenuous. It is know as the aristocrat of all Cuban dancing because = of its dignified and stately appearance.=20 DOMINICAN MERENGUE: The dance of the Dominican Republic is 2/4 time with = syncopation of the first beat interpreted by the dancers as a slight = limp. It became popular in 1957. ESCONDIDO: An Argentine dance called Escondido (literally hidden for in = it the female partner hides from the male) belongs to the Gato type = rhythmically and choreographically. FADO: Originally a Portuguese song and dance absorbed by Latin America = and especially by Brazil as a pattern for the Samba. The steps of the = Fado are based on a hop, a skip and a kick in 2/4 time. It makes a = charming exhibition folk dance. FANDANGO: Most important of the modern Spanish dances, for couples. The = dance begins slowly and tenderly, the rhythm marked by the clack of = castanets, snapping of fingers, and stomping of feet. The speed = gradually increases to a whirl of exhilaration. There is a sudden pause = in the music toward the end of each figure when the dancers stand rigid = in the attitude caught by the music. They move again only when the music = is resumed. This is also characteristic of Seguidillas, similar to Jota. FARANDOLE: A dance Haute from Provence, France. A typical variation was = a quick gallop step danced by a procession winding in and out in single = file, headed by a musician who played a drum and fife at the time = skipping along without losing a beat. 6/8 or 4/4 time. FARUCA: The dance of Spain most suited to a man. It is a pure Gypsy = dance in 2/4 time consisting of heel work, fast double turns and falls. = It is considered one of the most exciting of all the same Flamenco = dances. GATO: Argentine dance performed by two couples. In rhythm it resembles a = very fast Waltz in steady quarter notes. A very popular form is the Gato = con Pelaciones - that is Gato with stories. The stories are the = diversified content; amorous, philosophical or political. GUAJIRA: This dance was originally a Andalusian dance derived from = Sevillanos. This dance which was played in 3/4 or 6/8 time was a Cuban = Country dance as well, performed in Conga rhythm to the music marked Son = Guajira. In ballroom terminology a Rumba is slow to medium tempo, or = danced as a very slow Cha Cha, with subtle body movements. GUARACHA: This lively Cuban song and dance of Spanish origin is = performed in 2/4 time and danced by the more expert and agile dancers = only, as its speed is rather imposing. a) An old Spanish dance in two = sections. One is lively triple and the other in double. It originally = was played in 4/4 time. b) A modern Rumba usually played very fast. IBO: The Ibo rhythm belongs to the faster Haitian Merengue group of = dancers. It is colorful, native in style and can be classified as = "Caribbean dancing." A pronounced movement of hips and turning of the = head is typical. JARABE: The Jarabes are typical Mexican Folk dances. Usually done by a = couple, it depicts a flirtation and conquest. It is well known in = America by its other name, "The Mexican Hat Dance." The Mexican Jarabe = is a descendant of the Spanish Zapateado, and its rhythm resembles that = of a Mazurka. It is in 3/4 time. JARANA: Folk dance of Yucatan, Mexico. It is possibly closer to the = melo-rhythmic foundation of the ancient Mexican songs than any other = native air. The verses of the Jarana are often in the Mayan language. = The word Jarana means merry chatter. It is exciting in its rhythm based = on a combination of 6/8 and 3/4 time. As an exhibition ballroom dance it = can be placed alongside La Raspa and La Bamba, its cousins. KANKUKUS: Afro-Brazilian dances of the Mestiso Indians.=20 LA CUECA: La Cueca is a Chilian dance written in 6/8 time with the = accompaniment in 3/4 time. Originally it was danced with handkerchiefs = only, but during recent years it has enjoyed popularity on the ballroom = floor. LA RASPA: A Mexican dance from Vera Cruz, which reminds us of our own = square dancing except that it has a peculiar hopping step of its own. It = has enjoyed a well merited popularity for a number of years as a fun = dance. LAMBADA: This latest dance crazy has its roots from the Northeast Coast = of Brazil. The exciting look of this dance on European television took = the Continent by storm in the late 80's. Introduced to the U.S. by = Arthur Murray personnel, its lighthearted Brazilian/Caribbean beat = combines the flavor of the Samba with the sultry passion of the Rumba. MACUMBO: An African Brazilian ritual and like dances belonging to it. MAMBO: The fusion of Swing and Cuban music produced this fascinating = rhythm and in turn created a new sensational dance. The Mambo could not = have been conceived earlier since up until that time Cuba and the = American Jazz were still not wedded. The Victor records of Anselmo = Sacaras entitled "Mambo" in 1944 were probably the beginning and since = then other Latin American bandleaders such as Tito Rodriguez, Pupi = Campo, Tito Puente, Perez Prado, Machito and Xavier Cugat have achieved = styling of their own and furthered the Mambo craze. The Mambo was = originally played as any Rumba with a riff ending. It may be described = as a riff or a Rumba with emphasis on the fourth beat 4/4' time. = Originally played by some musicians in 2/4 time with a break or emphasis = on 2 and 4. Native Cubans or dancers, without any training would break = on any beat. MARCHA: Latin American counterpart of our One-Step. MARTINIQUE BEGUINE: Popular ballroom dance of the island of St. Lucia = and Martinique. It is characterized by the rocking back and forth of the = hips while the girl throws her arms around her partner's neck. His arms = loosely clasp her about the waist. The steps have been incorporated in = both the Haitian Merengue and Calypso. MAXIXE: A Brazilian dance first introduced in Paris in 1912. It is in = 2/4 time of rapid tempo with a slight syncopation. In this dance strict = attention must be paid to the carriage of the head and the posturing of = the arms. MENTO: The most popular native dance of Jamaica which resembles a Rumba = played in slow tempo. MILONGA: The Milonga is a Spanish dance first originated in Andalusia. = As the fascinating music traveled the world it assumed various aspects. = In Buenos Aires the Gauchos danced it in what is called a closed = position, in the lower class cafes. Here their interpretation of it = emerged into what today is our Tango. The Milonga enjoyed a popular = resurgence some years ago through the Juan Carlos Copes group who = performed it the world over. MINUET: It was a carefree and lively dance until presented by the French = court in 1650. There it developed into a slow and stately dance, elegant = in its simplicity. It consists of a salute to the partner, a high step = and a balance, and affords numerous opportunities for an exchange of = courtly gestures, bows and curtsies.=20 MODINHA: Among the Brazilian dances there is the Modinha which is the = diminutive of Moda (Mode or Style) and is directly derived from the = Portuguese songs and dances of that name. The early Modinhas were = greatly influenced by Italian music. The present day Modinhas are = sentimental in mood and similar to the Cuban Boleros.=20 PACHANGA: In 1955 Eduardo Davidson, a Cuban Colombian introduced the = Marencumbae, a Colombian dance in Cuba. The Original music was called La = Pachanga with Marencumbae underneath it. He made up patterns for this = dance by watching musicians keeping time on the band stand. It was then = introduced into the United States to play for the Cuban Embassy's annual = affair at the Waldorf. He was simultaneously booked at the Palladium. He = had with him two terrific boy dancers. These boys came out as part of = the show and did Cha Cha's with swiveling and trucking movements. People = had never seen this type of Cha Cha before and asked what it was. Since = Fajardo had a Charanga band and spoke no English, his reply was = Charanga. After a big conference of dancers in 1956 the Pachanga was = introduced, but they found out that the Charanga and the Pachanga were = interchangeable. So instead of some calling it Charanga and others = Pachanga, they decided that the music would be called Charanga and the = dance Pachanga. A Charanga band is the typical Spanish Danzon type band = that only played in salons, and theothers that played far out and wild = were called "orchestra typical." PASO DOBLE FLAMENCO: The same as the Paso Doble but it is not the = ballroom version. It is purely exhibition dancing and sometimes = castanets are used or Flamenco arm movements. PLENA: Several distinctive airs have originated in Puerto Rico. Among = them the Plena, which is a topical ballad similar to the Mexican = Corrido. When danced it resembles a Bolero. PORRO: A Colombian dance. It is similar to the Cuban Rumbas in that it = expresses various activities or tells stories set to a very syncopated = 2/4 meter. QUADRILLE: The Quadrille is a "Set" dance. It consists of a series of = dance figures, the most frequently used is called the "Flirtation" = figure, in which the man dances with each woman in turn.=20 RUMBA: The Rumba was originally a marriage dance. Many of its movements = and actions which seem to have an erotic meaning are merely depictions = of simple farm tasks. The shoeing of the mare, the climbing of a rope, = the courtship of the rooster and the hen, etc. It was done for amusement = on the farms by the black population of Cuba. However, it became a = popular ballroom dance and was introduced in the United States about = 1933. It was the Americanized version for the Cuban Son and Danzon. It = is in 4/4 time. The characteristic feature is to take each step without = initially placing the weight on that step. Steps are made with a = slightly bent knee which, when straightened, causes the hips to sway = from side to side in what has come to be known as "Cuban Motion." SALSA: This is a favored name for a type of Latin music which, for the = most part, has its roots in Cuban culture and is enhanced by jazz = textures. The word, Salsa, means sauce denoting a "hot" flavor and is = best distinguished from other Latin music styles by defining it as the = New York sound developed by Puerto Rican musicians in New York. The = dance structure is largely associated with mambo type patterns and has a = particular feeling that is associated mainly with the Clave and the = Montuno. SAMBA: This Brazilian dance was first introduced in 1917 but was finally = adopted by Brazilian society in 1930 as a ballroom dance. It is = sometimes referred to as a Samba, Carioca, a Baion or a Batucado. The = difference is mostly in the tempo played since the steps in all three = dance are very similar. The style is to bounce steadily and smoothly in = 2/4 meter. They say that the Samba was introduced in the United States = in 1939 by the late Carmen Miranda.=20 SON: A Cuban dance similar to the Bolero except that it is wilder in = rhythmic accent and more violent in step pattern. It is the Son which = first served as a basis for the Mambo which in turn became the triple = Mambo, now known as Cha Cha. This slow rhythmic dance was originally in = 2/4 time. It became Americanized and is usually played in 4/4 time. TANGO: Continental/English - See INTERNATIONAL TANGO There are = essentially three types of Tango - Argentine, American and International = Style. Argentine Tango: (arrabalero) A dance created by the Gauchos in = Buenos Aires. It was actually an attempt on their part to imitate the = Spanish dance except that they danced it in a closed ballroom position. = The Tango caused a sensation and was soon to be seen the world over in a = more subdued version. American Tango: Unlike the Argentine Tango, in = which the dancer interprets the music spontaneously without any = predetermined slows or quicks, the American Tango features a structure = which is correlated to the musical phrasing. The dance is executed both = in closed position and in various types of extravagant dance = relationships which incorporate a particular freedom of expression that = is not present in the International style. International Tango: This is = a highly disciplined and distinctively structured form of the Tango = which is accepted worldwide as the format for dancesport events. The = dancers remain in traditional closed position throughout and expresses = both legato and staccato aspects of the type of music appropriate to = this style. XONGO: (CHAN GO) A dance of the Macumba ritual in Brazil. It is in honor = of the jungle god Xango. XTOLES: (CHI TOL LES) The Mayan Warriors dance of Mexico.=20 ZAPATEADO: The Spanish and Flamenco dances of Spain in which rhythmic = patterns are made with the heel and ball of Filigrano. Also a man's = dance which consists purely of intricate stomping.
| Lambada |
In September 1812, Napoleon defeated Kutuzov's army in which battle? | Dance Styles
Dance Styles
Contact Us
Phone: 1300 135 257
or +61 02 9552 3352 Fax: +61 02 9552 4759 Email: [email protected] Like: Facebook Visit: See map
LDA Online
Yoga
Salsa
Is the most popular couples style of dance in the world, and it’s quit easy to learn. The good thing about salsa is that if you enjoy going out, you are able to dance from Monday to Sunday, because salsa parties are very popular in Sydney.
We also teach from beginners to the professional levels, so, if you fancy becoming a performer we tailor for that too.
Go to the top of the page
On 2 Salsa
Is basically salsa danced on the off beat of the music. The rhythm change enables you to slow your dance down and enjoy yourself by moving your body and relaxing more in your dance using everything you have already learnt in your Salsa On1 plus more.
It is very popular all around the world and it helps you improve your Salsa technique as well. You should try it for one course and see if you like.
Go to the top of the page
Zouk/lambada
Is also a couple style of dance; it involves a lot of body movement and is considered the most sensual Latin dance in the world. Zouk is essentially a variation of Lambada - whilst Lambada is more acrobatic, Zouk is more stylised and utilises a lot of turns. Although it is based upon that familiar 3/4 rhythm, it uses a fairly different footwork technique
Go to the top of the page
Bachata
This popular dance rhythm is from The Dominican Republic and has quite easy basics with a sensuous touch on the hips movement; it is an intense close dance style including many turn variations. Bachata is defined as fun, merriment, a good time, or a spree, but in the Dominican Republic, in addition to the emotional quality of fun and enjoyment suggested by the dictionary definition, it referred specifically to get-togethers that included music, drink, and food.
Go to the top of the page
Gafieira (Aka Samba De Gafieira)
Is a ballroom dance expression of Brazilian samba musical rhythm. The samba music played by a ballroom orchestra, or the dancing hall where it is performed is also referred as to Gafieira. Gafieira is usually an elegant partner dance, although in artistic performances it is not uncommon mix the solo steps of Samba no Pé
Go to the top of the page
Cha Cha
The Cha Cha is a lively, sassy, groovy dance characterized by the "cha-cha-cha" sound in the music, in fact the name of this dance is said to arise from the sound of sandals slapping against the floor in the Cha Cha Cha syncopation triple step.
A very popular social dance, danced mainly in partnership between man and woman moving and swaying to the beats of this groove inspiring ‘Cha Cha Cha’ sound, it is a close sibling dance to the Salsa with an added 3 step syncopation between the forward and back step.
In performance this dance is cheeky, sexy and playful.
Go to the top of the page
Rueda de Casino
Rueda de Casino (Rueda,Casino Rueda,Salsa Rueda) is a type of round dancing of Salsa. It was developed in Cuba. Pairs of dancers form a circle, with dance moves called out by one person,a caller. Many moves have hand signs to complement the calls; these are useful in noisy venues. Many moves involve the swapping of partners. The names of the moves are mostly in Spanish, some in English (or Spanglish).
Go to the top of the page
Bachatango
Bachatango (often classed as a sensual form of modern bachata) is a style of dance that fuses the four-step Dominican bachata with Argentine tango moves, including elaborated kicks, dips, turns and long pauses. The dance is characterized by sensual hip and body movements.
Go to the top of the page
Samba
A very energetic solo dance. It is the sensual & fast typical Brazilian Rio Carnival dance. In class you’ll learn footwork technique, hips movements, body rolls and African-Brazilian style movements in a fast pace. It’s suitable for anybody who is looking for fitness or just for a lot of fun.
Go to the top of the page
Zumba Fitness
The Zumba® program fuses Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves. The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavor into the mix and you've got a Zumba® class!
Go to the top of the page
Reggaeton
It’s kind of a Latin Hip-Hop. It's the Caribbean ideal dance for parties because of its reggae, American hip-hop, Jamaican Dance and Bachata influence, it’s similar to Samba Axe with lots of hips movements in a truly Caribbean style.
| i don't know |
For how many years is the French President elected? | France’s New Five-Year Presidential Term | Brookings Institution
France’s New Five-Year Presidential Term
Stumbleupon
In September 2000 the French voted for a constitutional amendment to shorten the length of the presidential term from 7 to 5 years. In his explanation to the public, President Jacques Chirac relied on populist formulations: “seven years is too long”, “five years is more modern”, “the French will vote more often.” The shortened presidential mandate will have some simple and obvious consequences. Beginning in 2002, the president will be elected for five years. The average voter will now go more often to the polls to choose a president: around fifteen times in his or her life instead of just a dozen. But why and how it was decided to reduce the presidential mandate to five years is more complicated.
Get daily updates from Brookings
Enter Email
The French Exception
France has always cultivated exceptions, but nowhere more so than in its constitutional order. These exceptions have emerged through a series of twelve to fifteen different constitutions over the past two centuries — the exact number depends upon how one counts changes created through “charters” and “constitutional laws”. Emerging from this frenetic past, the 5th Republic was imposed by General de Gaulle in 1958 and has come to be widely accepted by the French people.
Related
Justin Vaïsse
Sunday, April 1, 2001
The 5th Republic has been stable, but unique in its organization. Constitutional scholars disagree on the proper name for it. Formally, France’s constitution is parliamentary, like that of other European countries, because the government may be voted out of office by the parliament. But it is also presidential, for, if we overlook the formal legal basis of the government and instead consider politics, the president is elected by the people and in principle wields executive power. The constitutional scholar Maurice Duverger has called the French system semi-presidential, a new category that he has also used to describe Austria, Portugal, Ireland and Finland. But the president in these countries does not play a role of political leadership as the French president does. France’s constitutional order is, in sum, unique.
Related Books
L’offensive chinoise en europe
2015
Because of its hybrid constitutional order, France is also unique in respect to the length of the term of government. In all other consolidated democracies, a single election determines the government of the country. In European countries, this is the parliamentary election. Some countries have a single national election with universal direct suffrage. The government and its leader then emerge from the parliamentary majority. This is the British model, one that has been adopted with modifications in Germany and Spain. Other countries hold two direct elections, for the parliament and for the president, but the presidential election has no consequence for the government. Socialist president Soares of Portugal, for example, was elected and reelected even while a center-right coalition controlled the government. The United States also holds two elections, but only the presidential election creates the government.
France is the only country with two fully governmental elections. Parliamentary elections in France, when they create a new parliamentary majority, lead to a new government. If that new government is politically opposed to the sitting president, the latter must accommodate to government through cohabitation. Recent periods of cohabitation have occurred in 1986-1988, 1993-1995, and 1997-present. This system of parliamentary precedence is the norm throughout Europe. In France, however, a presidential election also creates a new government, one formed under the winner of the presidential majority. When the opposition wins the presidency, the new president dissolves the national assembly in order to obtain a parliamentary majority that will advance his own political agenda. This situation, which occurred most recently in 1981 and 1988, resembles more closely the political logic of the American system.
France’s Electoral Arrhythmia
France thus has a system of dual elections, and these elections were until now entirely disconnected. The president was elected for seven years, the national assembly for five years. The result has been unusual in the extreme. In Britain, each government holds power for five years; in Germany, for four years. But the duration of political mandate for each successive government in France goes through wild fluctuations. As Jean-Luc Parodi has described it, political power in France is held for the period separating any two general elections: either between a presidential and a national assembly election, or vice versa. In principle, this creates a shifting duration of government administrations that repeats itself in a cycle lasting 35 years. Each cycle proceeds through ten governments lasting 5 years, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 1 year, 5 years, 1 year, 4 years, 3 years, 2 years, and again 5 years.
Author
Olivier Duhamel
To complicate matters further, this theoretical cycle may be perturbed by the resignation (1969) or death (1974) of a president, or by the dissolution of the national assembly (1962, 1968, 1981, 1988, 1997). The actual duration of each French government has therefore been even more irregular, and somewhat shorter, than predicted by theory. On average, governments in the 5th Republic have held power for about 3 years. But this is only an average. Giscard and the Right held power for four years in 1974, then three years in 1978. Mitterrand and the Left held power for five years in 1981 (then again in 1988), the Right for two years in 1986 and again in 1993. Chirac had three years ahead of him when he was elected in 1995, but settled for only two, having called for the dissolution of the national assembly immediately following his election. Most recently, the Left gained 5 years in power thanks to Chirac’s failed 1997 national assembly dissolution. The introduction of the quinquennat, the five year presidential term, will in most cases put an end to this electoral arrhythmia. It should also limit periods of cohabitation, as occurs when the president’s party loses a subsequent parliamentary election.
The Conditions for Amendment
Why did France decide to amend its electoral cycle now? The question raises basic issues about how complex societies reform, and two alternative explanations have been proposed. One explanation of the quinquennat describes a logical, progressive shift towards the five-year term. In this more positive view, modern constitutional theorists first thrust the issue into the public debate. The weight of public opinion surveys then revealed an enduring preference for a five-year presidential mandate. It was finally accepted by Chirac in the understanding that the Left would use it as a core issue in their 2002 presidential campaign. This explanation sees the current reform as the outcome of a rational and democratic process.
A second, equally accurate explanation emphasizes the role of opportunism and accident. A first effort to shorten the presidential term was attempted by Georges Pompidou, the successor to General de Gaulle, in 1973. It failed, primarily because of an event that had nothing to do with the problem, namely the Yom Kippur war in the Middle East. The war caused Pompidou’s majority to lose pro-Israel voters, and the reform process was halted. Pompidou’s death put an end to this effort. His successors, first Giscard d’Estaing and then Mitterrand, avoided the issue in order not to shorten their own terms in government. Mitterrand actually campaigned on a proposal to move either to a 5 year term or to a non-renewable seven year term, but once elected he tabled both initiatives. Following a similar pattern, Chirac defended the five-year term in 1973, then opposed it in 1995.
The five-year presidential term was put back on the agenda first by academics in 1997. Three years later, it was advocated especially by former prime minister Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who hoped to play a new role in public life. He also hoped to annoy Jacques Chirac, who had pointedly not supported him in his own presidential bid in 1981. For Lionel Jospin and the Left, support for the five-year presidential term came naturally, since it had been a part of their campaign platform both in the 1995 presidential election and in the 1997 legislative election. Chirac also finally gave his support to the idea, in 2000, but for purely strategic reasons. He had his eye on the 2002 election, and because of his advanced age (he is 70 years old), he felt that winning a new five year term would be more feasible than winning a second seven year term.
This account of the quinquennat is, in short, one of political opportunism. France’s seven-year presidential term was created in 1873 as a provisional measure, a place holder until the monarch was returned to power. The system endured for 129 years. Pompidou was unable to reform it because of war in the Middle East. Mitterrand renounced reform so that he could be president for fourteen years. Chirac has accepted reform only because of his advanced age. This ambiguous political context may help to explain why only 30 percent of French voters turned out for the referendum of 24 September 2000, although 73 percent of these supported the new five-year term.
The quinquennat may lead to a greater rationalization of French democracy, but nothing guarantees this absolutely. In the spring of 2002, France will elect both the president and the National Assembly. French voters may decide to select the same party for both elections, thereby putting an end to cohabitation. But a coherent set of votes is not guaranteed, and the unexpected is always possible. Should the president die, or should he resign, elections for president and the national assembly might once again become decoupled. In practice, we are likely to have a coherent set of votes in 2002, with a government mandate lasting until 2007. French democracy will take on a five year cycle, or at least tend towards a coherent political agenda every five years. If an accident breaks this new harmony, a dissolution of parliament should allow the new president to re-establish it. France will thereby have lost one of its exceptions: the unruly attribution of political power. This is the very most important impact of the reform. But France still retains its other exception, in that it remains the only parliamentary democracy with presidential leadership.
Olivier Duhamel is Professor of Constitutional Law and Political Science at Sciences Po, Paris. He is also director of the journal Pouvoirs and a member of the European Parliament.
Related Topics
Copyright 2016 The Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution
| five |
'Maggie' and 'Brick Pollitt' are husband and wife in which play and film? | Election Resources on the Internet: Presidential and Legislative Elections in France
Election Resources on the Internet:
Presidential and Legislative Elections in France
Voters in France, which held a presidential election on April 22 and May 6, 2012, returned to the polls on June 10 and 17, 2012 to choose members of the lower house of the French legislature, the National Assembly. An overview of the French electoral system is presented here.
May 22-25, 2014 European election results will be available here . In addition, France's Ministry of the Interior will have detailed results in French of the 2014 European elections in France.
National- and regional-level results are available here for the following presidential and legislative elections:
Historical Background
Although the 1946-1958 French Fourth Republic was a period of significant progress, in which the French economy engaged in a remarkable postwar recovery, as well as important accomplishments such as the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) by the 1957 Treaty of Rome (of which France was a founding member), it was also characterized by a lack of stable leadership: from 1946 to 1958, the country had no less than two dozen cabinets, which on average lasted about six months in office. In due course, the inability of the Fourth Republic to provide strong leadership to confront a major crisis led to its demise.
In May 1958, France seemed to be on the verge of civil war, as the leaders of the Fourth Republic appeared unable to agree on the formation of a new government to deal with the worsening crisis in Algeria, which had sparked a military insurrection. At the time, Algeria was under French rule, and since 1954 it had been experiencing an armed insurrection by part of the native population. The crisis stemmed from the fact that while France had already initiated its de-colonization process, granting independence to neighboring Morocco and Tunisia, sovereignty for Algeria was deemed unacceptable, as the presence of a large number of French settlers, which numbered around a million people (but only one-tenth of the population), made Algeria an integral part of France in the eyes of many French.
After all other alternatives were exhausted, General Charles de Gaulle, who had led the Free French forces in their fight against the Nazi occupation of France and their collaborators during World War II, was asked to become prime minister. He agreed to the request, with the condition that a new constitution providing a strong presidency be drafted, in accordance with his widely known preference for a strong executive. However, due to widespread concerns that a pure presidential arrangement might concentrate too much power in the hands of a single person - who could eventually decide to do without democratic forms - the constitution of the Fifth Republic, overwhelmingly approved by French voters in a September 1958 referendum, created a hybrid system with presidential and parliamentary features. To be certain, the power and prestige of the presidency was enhanced, but at the same time somewhat weakened parliamentary forms were retained. It should be noted that while abstractly analyzed, the parliamentary aspects appear to be more important than the presidential features, in practice the regime has been for the most part more presidential than parliamentary, in large measure due to the strong personality of the founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle, who clearly dominated the political landscape during his tenure in office from 1959 to 1969.
Thus, while on one hand the constitutional arrangements of the Fifth Republic make the directly-elected president the leader of the nation, on the other one the prime minister, a presidential appointee, is in charge of selecting (in consultation with the president) the members of the Council of Ministers - the cabinet - and running the government. In conformity with standard parliamentary practices, the prime minister can be removed in a vote of no-confidence by the lower house of the French legislature - the National Assembly - although the constitution imposes somewhat strict limitations around this procedure.
(In addition to the National Assembly, which is directly elected by the people, there is an indirectly elected Senate with very restricted powers. If the Senate and the National Assembly are at odds, the existing constitutional mechanisms tend to favor the National Assembly.)
However, unlike in most parliamentary regimes, members of the cabinet cannot simultaneously belong to the legislature. In practice, it is usually the case that the person chosen for the position of prime minister enjoys the confidence of the president, his or her task being to implement policy goals emanating from the presidency - as well as to be at the receiving end of any political fallout resulting from the implementation of said policies, since the president, as leader of the nation, is not supposed to engage in petty politics. Thus, by attempting to combine seemingly incompatible presidential and parliamentary forms (the former requiring the separation of powers, the latter the merger of executive and legislature), the French constitution has its share of ambiguities.
In particular, the constitution is not clear as to what happens when opponents of a sitting president secure control of the National Assembly. However, this has been a fairly common occurrence since 1986, and in such cases an arrangement known as "cohabitation" has been developed, under which the president appoints a prime minister from opposing parties holding a majority of seats in the Assembly, and the system essentially reverts to a parliamentary form of government. Nonetheless, successive presidents have sought to exercise an influential role under such circumstances, most notably on matters concerning foreign policy.
The Electoral System
The president of France is directly elected by universal suffrage in two stages of voting. All parties take part in the first round, usually promoting their own candidates. However, presidential hopefuls are required to present 500 endorsements signed by elected officials in order to secure a place on the ballot. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of all valid votes cast in the first round, then the top two candidates qualify for a runoff election, in which the candidate with the largest number of votes is elected to office for a term of five years.
Originally, an electoral college chose the president indirectly, but a 1962 amendment to the constitution established the popular election of the president by runoff voting. A subsequent constitutional amendment in 2000 reduced the president's term of office from seven to five years.
Popular voting for presidential elections was adopted at the behest of President de Gaulle, shortly after France came to terms with reality and finally granted independence to Algeria in 1962. With the crisis over, President de Gaulle's opponents sought to amend the constitution to restore the powers of the National Assembly, but de Gaulle outmaneuvered them by ordering a referendum on his proposed direct presidential elections amendment. Although the process was carried out in a manner contrary to the provisions of the 1958 constitution, French voters nonetheless approved the measure in an October 1962 referendum, by 13,150,516 votes in favor (62.3%) to 7,974,538 against (37.7%), on a 77% turnout.
The National Assembly is composed of 577 members elected every five years in single-member constituencies by the runoff voting system. Candidates who obtain both an absolute majority of valid votes cast and a vote total equal to at least one quarter of the registered electorate are elected in the first round. Otherwise, a runoff election is held among candidates polling a number of votes greater than or equal to one-eight (12.5%) of the electorate; if fewer than two candidates meet this requirement, the runoff is held between the top two candidates. In the second round, the candidate that obtains the largest number of votes is elected to office.
Under the runoff system, a simple majority in the first round does not guarantee victory in the second round: in 1974, 1981 and 1995, the winner of the first round of presidential balloting went down to defeat in the runoff election.
The Political Parties
From 1958 until 1974 the Gaullist Party - initially known as the Union for the New Republic (UNR) and subsequently (after several name changes) as the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR) - was by far the French Fifth Republic's dominant political force. Nonetheless, the opposition parties still commanded significant electoral support during this time period. In the 1965 presidential election - the first held by popular voting since 1848 - President de Gaulle failed to obtain an absolute majority in the first round of voting as François Mitterrand, the candidate of the left-wing parties, put up a stronger-than-expected challenge (while at the same time centrist Jean Lecanuet finished a distant third). Nonetheless, de Gaulle ultimately defeated Mitterrand in the second round. Likewise, the Gaullists rarely held an absolute majority in the National Assembly, and usually had to depend on the support of minor allied parties, most notably the right-of-center Independent Republicans (RI).
(The only time the Gaullists won an absolute parliamentary majority was in 1968, when the French people rallied around de Gaulle following the "events of May" earlier that year - a series of widespread student riots and workers' strikes that came close to toppling the Fifth Republic.)
In 1969, President de Gaulle resigned after French voters rejected a proposed reorganization of the regions and reform of the Senate in a referendum. In the ensuing presidential election, Georges Pompidou, who had been de Gaulle's prime minister from 1962 to 1968, easily defeated centrist Alain Poher; the left, badly divided, failed to make it to the runoff election. Under Pompidou, the Gaullists, which had initially sought to portray themselves as being neither left-wing nor right-wing, turned to the right. Meanwhile, in 1971 François Mitterrand took over the moribund Socialist Party (PS); under his leadership, the party staged a remarkable comeback in the 1973 National Assembly election, in which the Gaullists suffered heavy losses to the Socialists and the French Communist Party (PCF) - at the time the second most powerful Communist party in Western Europe (after Italy's).
President Pompidou died in office in 1974, and in an early presidential election, a significant number of Gaullists, led by Jacques Chirac, supported Independent Republican candidate Valéry Giscard d'Estaing over UDR candidate Jacques Chaban-Delmas (who had been prime minister under Pompidou from 1969 to 1972). In the first round, François Mitterrand, the joint PS-PCF candidate, topped the poll with a clear plurality but fell short of an absolute majority. As it turned out, Giscard, who had come in a strong second place - well ahead of Chaban-Delmas, who fared poorly in the election - went on to defeat Mitterrand in the runoff vote by a very narrow margin.
Upon assuming office, President Giscard appointed Chirac as prime minister. However, in 1976 Giscard clashed with the ambitious Chirac, who was forced to resign as head of government; he was replaced by Raymond Barre. Chirac then established the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) as the successor of the UDR, and in 1977 secured a power base when he was elected to the revived office of mayor of Paris. Meanwhile, Giscard brought together the Independent Republicans and several centrist parties under the Union for French Democracy (UDF) coalition, and in the 1978 National Assembly election, RPR and UDF secured a comfortable majority - in no small measure because the Socialist and Communist parties had broken off their electoral pact shortly before the event.
In the 1981 presidential election, President Giscard won the largest number of votes in the first round of voting, with a slight plurality over Mitterrand, the candidate of the Socialist Party; the RPR's Jacques Chirac arrived in third place and Georges Marchais of the Communist Party came in fourth, scoring an unexpectedly poor showing when compared to previous PCF results. However, in the second round Mitterrand secured solid support from the Communists and prevailed over incumbent President Giscard, who received only lukewarm support from Chirac. After taking office, President Mitterrand called a snap parliamentary election, in which the Socialists won an absolute majority in the National Assembly and subsequently formed a coalition with the Communists (even though their support wasn't needed at the time to keep the government in power). In this manner, the left assumed control of government for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, after twenty-three years of center-right political hegemony.
At this juncture, the French political system appeared to be evolving in the direction of two-pole, multi-party politics dominated by RPR and UDF on the center-right, with PS and PCF on the left. However, the rise of the far-right National Front (FN) as a major political contender in 1983-84 upset this balance of forces. Support for the racist and xenophobic FN, previously an insignificant force, increased dramatically as France grappled with a large and increasing population of (mostly Arab) immigrants, which were perceived as siphoning jobs and welfare resources that supposedly would have otherwise gone to French nationals. The FN attracted a sizable share of the protest vote that used to go in the direction of the PCF, but it also siphoned votes from the mainstream center-right parties.
Prior to the 1986 parliamentary election, it appeared almost certain the Socialists would not only to lose their majority in the National Assembly, but face a solid center-right majority in the legislative body as well. In an attempt to prevent the opposition from winning a decisive victory, the Mitterrand government changed the electoral law to a system of proportional representation (PR). However, while the Socialists remained the largest party in the National Assembly, the center-right parties still managed to win a very small majority; the National Front (which in all likelihood would have obtained no seats under the runoff system) secured parliamentary representation; and the Communist Party (which had left the Cabinet in 1984) continued to lose ground. Faced with this outcome, President Mitterrand vowed to reality and appointed RPR leader Jacques Chirac as prime minister; the new center-right government promptly moved to restore the old electoral law.
However, Mitterrand made it quite clear that he would not be reduced to a mere figurehead while being forced to "cohabit" with his opponents. As it was, the Socialists recovered much of the lost political ground in the next two years, and scored a significant victory in the 1988 presidential election by securing the re-election of Mitterrand over Jacques Chirac (RPR), Raymond Barre (UDF) and National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen (who nonetheless improved upon his party's 1986 showing); PCF presidential candidate André Lajoinie fared badly, polling fewer than half the votes won by Georges Marchais seven years earlier. Mitterrand then called an early National Assembly election, which he hoped would deliver a Socialist majority. As it was clear by then that such an outcome could only be achieved under the traditional runoff system, the Socialist government did not reintroduce PR. Although the Socialists failed to win the desired absolute majority in the parliamentary election, they were able to govern for the next five years with the help of either the PCF or dissident centrists from the UDF.
A new period of "cohabitation" began after the 1993 parliamentary election, when the center-right won an overwhelming majority of seats in the National Assembly, crushing the Socialists. Jacques Chirac chose not to become head of government in order to focus on the 1995 presidential election, and Edouard Balladur - who had been the second most powerful figure in Chirac's 1986-88 government - was appointed prime minister. However, Balladur developed presidential ambitions of his own, and ended up running against Chirac, his former mentor. Although Socialist presidential candidate Lionel Jospin fared better than expected in the first round and outpolled Chirac (with Balladur, the National Front's Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Communist Robert Hue coming third, fourth and fifth, respectively - the latter two scoring modest gains over their parties' 1988 showing), Chirac managed to prevail over Jospin in the runoff vote by a clear (if not particularly large) margin.
In 1997, President Chirac called a National Assembly election a year ahead of schedule, hoping to at least retain a reduced center-right majority. However, the move backfired disastrously, and instead a coalition of Socialists, Communists, Greens and minor leftist parties won an absolute parliamentary majority. As such, for the remaining five years of his term in office, Chirac was forced to "cohabit" with a left-wing government headed by Socialist leader Lionel Jospin.
Chirac and Jospin faced each other once again in the 2002 presidential election. However, while Chirac topped the poll in the first round, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen unexpectedly edged out Jospin for second place in a crowded field of sixteen candidates, and the left found itself excluded from the runoff election for the first time since 1969. The election was also a disaster for the Communist Party: its presidential candidate, Robert Hue, not only lost about two-thirds of the votes he had won in 1995, but on top of that two far-left candidates - Arlette Laguiller of Workers' Struggle (LO) and Olivier Besancenot of the Communist Revolutionary League (LCR) - outpolled him.
In the second round, President Chirac, supported by both the center-right and (reluctantly) the left, was re-elected in a record landslide over Le Pen, and Chirac's new group, the Union for a Presidential Majority (UMP; later the Union for a Popular Movement), which brought together the RPR, most of the former UDF and Liberal Democracy (DL; a 1998 UDF breakaway), secured a large parliamentary majority in the National Assembly election held shortly thereafter.
Jacques Chirac chose not to stand for re-election in 2007, and the ruling UMP chose former Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as its presidential candidate. Meanwhile, Poitou-Charentes regional president Ségolène Royal secured the Socialist Party nomination in a party primary, becoming the first major-party female presidential candidate in French history. In the first round of voting, Sarkozy came in first place, followed by Royal; UDF presidential nominee François Bayrou arrived in a strong third place, but Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front had his worst showing since 1988, finishing a distant fourth, and the Communist Party fared even worse than in 2002. No candidate won an overall majority in the first round of voting, and in a runoff election between the top two candidates - the highly anticipated "Sarko-Ségo" showdown - Sarkozy won the presidential race by a clear majority over Royal.
Following Nicolas Sarkozy's triumph, it was anticipated that UMP would go on to score a landslide victory in the National Assembly election held a month after the presidential vote. However, while the results of the first round of voting favored the ruling party by a large margin, the runoff vote turned out to be unexpectedly close. Nonetheless, UMP had won a sizable number of seats in the first round, and the party retained a reduced yet substantial parliamentary majority. Both the National Front and François Bayrou's new Democratic Movement (MoDem) fared poorly in the election, but most of the UDF deputies ran under the "Presidential Majority" banner and retained their seats.
Nicolas Sarkozy ran for a second term in the 2012 presidential election, but in the April 22 first round of voting he arrived in second place, trailing Socialist Party nominee François Hollande. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front and daughter of Jean Marie Le Pen, finished in a strong third place, improving upon her father's showing in the 2002 presidential election. However, Democratic Movement leader François Bayrou came in a poor fifth place, behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of the radical Left Front, which includes the Communist Party. None of the ten candidates in the race won an absolute majority in the first round, and in a runoff election held the following May 6, François Hollande defeated President Sarkozy. Boosted by Hollande's victory, the Socialist Party went on to score a decisive victory over UMP in the June 2012 National Assembly election. Meanwhile, the National Front polled strongly in the legislative election's first round of voting, but in the runoff poll it only managed to capture two seats (out of 577).
| i don't know |
"""On they went, singing Rest Eternal and wherever they stopped, their feet, the horses, and gusts of wind seemed to carry on singing"", is the first line of which novel?" | Getting Dr. Zhivago Published | Voices Education Project
Getting Dr. Zhivago Published
Read more about Boris Pasternak and his writings (click here for information and purchase)
When you select any Amazon item to buy from the Voices Education Project web site, and then check out at Amazon.com, a portion of your purchase price will be paid to Voices to support our work.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960), born in Moscow, was the son of talented artists: his father a painter and illustrator of Tolstoy's works, his mother a well-known concert pianist. Pasternak's education began in a German Gymnasium in Moscow and was continued at the University of Moscow. Under the influence of the composer Scriabin, Pasternak took up the study of musical composition for six years from 1904 to 1910. By 1912 he had renounced music as his calling in life and went to the University of Marburg, Germany, to study philosophy. After four months there and a trip to Italy, he returned to Russia and decided to dedicate himself to literature.
Pasternak's first books of verse went unnoticed. With Sestra moya zhizn (My Sister Life), 1922, and Temy i variatsii(Themes and Variations), 1923, the latter marked by an extreme, though sober style, Pasternak first gained a place as a leading poet among his Russian contemporaries. In 1924 he published Vysokaya bolezn (Sublime Malady), which portrayed the 1905 revolt as he saw it, and Detstvo Lyuvers (The Childhood of Luvers), a lyrical and psychological depiction of a young girl on the threshold of womanhood. A collection of four short stories was published the following year under the title Vozdushnye puti (Aerial Ways). In 1927 Pasternak again returned to the revolution of 1905 as a subject for two long works:Leytenant Shmidt, a poem expressing threnodic sorrow for the fate of Lieutenant Schmidt, the leader of the mutiny at Sevastopol, and Devyatsot pyaty god (The Year 1905), a powerful but diffuse poem which concentrates on the events related to the revolution of 1905. Pasternak's reticent autobiography, Okhrannaya gramota (Safe Conduct), appeared in 1931, and was followed the next year by a collection of lyrics, Vtoroye rozhdenie (Second Birth), 1932. In 1935 he published translations of some Georgian poets and subsequently translated the major dramas of Shakespeare, several of the works of Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, and Ben Jonson, and poems by Petöfi, Verlaine, Swinburne, Shelley, and others. Na rannikh poyezdakh (In Early Trains), a collection of poems written since 1936, was published in 1943 and enlarged and reissued in 1945 as Zemnye prostory (Wide Spaces of the Earth). In 1957 Doktor Zhivago, Pasternak's only novel - except for the earlier "novel in verse", Spektorsky (1926) - first appeared in an Italian translation and has been acclaimed by some critics as a successful attempt at combining lyrical-descriptive and epic-dramatic styles. An autobiographical sketch,Biografichesky ocherk (An Essay in Autobiography), was published in 1959, first in Italian, and subsequently in English. Pasternak lived in Peredelkino, near Moscow, until his death in 1960.
From Nobel Lectures , Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969.
The Story of Getting Doctor Zhivago Published
Doctor Zhivago is set during the Russian Revolution and World War I, and it tells the story of Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet, and his love for a woman named Lara. Pasternak worked on his novel for decades, and finished it in 1956. He submitted the book for publication, but although Pasternak was a famous writer by then, his manuscript was rejected —the publishers explained that Doctor Zhivago was not in line with the spirit of the revolution, too concerned with individualism. An Italian journalist visited Pasternak at his country house and convinced the novelist to let him smuggle a copy of Doctor Zhivago out of the country to the leftist Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Pasternak is said to have declared as he handed over the manuscript: "You are hereby invited to watch me face the firing squad!" He was not executed, but when the upcoming publication was announced in Italy, Soviet authorities were furious, and forced Pasternak to send Feltrinelli telegrams insisting that he halt publication of the novel. One of them said: "I have come to the profound conviction that what I wrote cannot be regarded as a finished work," and in another Pasternak called his novel "in need of serious improvement." But Feltrinelli was not fooled, and continued with publication. Soon enough, Feltrinelli received a private, scribbled note from Pasternak begging him to continue. Pasternak wrote: "I wrote the novel to be published and read. That remains my only wish."
Feltrinelli published Doctor Zhivago, and helped get it published all over the world. The Soviet Union's attempts to stop its publication only made it more interesting to readers. When it was first published in Italy in November of 1957, the first printing of 6,000 copies sold out within the first day. Doctor Zhivago was published in the United States Se[tember 5, 1958, and even though it wasn't published until early September, it was the best-selling book of 1958. It quickly became a bestseller in 24 languages.Pasternak was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1958, and when he first head of the award, he sent a telegram to the Swedish Academy that said: "Immensely thankful, touched, proud, astonished, abashed." Two days later, Soviet authorities forced him to write again, this time to say he would refuse the prize. Pasternak died two years later, in 1960, and Doctor Zhivago was not published in the Soviet Union until 1988.
Doctor Zhivago begins: "On they went, singing 'Rest Eternal,' and whenever they stopped, their feet, the horses, and the gusts of wind seemed to carry on their singing. Passers-by made way for the procession, counted the wreaths, and crossed themselves. Some joined in out of curiosity and asked: 'Who is being buried?'—'Zhivago,' they were told.—'Oh, I see. That's what it is.'—'It isn't him. It's his wife.'—'Well, it comes to the same thing. May her soul rest in peace. It's a fine funeral.'"
Source: Writers Almanac with Garrison Keillor, September 5, 2011
| Doctor Zhivago |
In which long-running TV programme did Elizabeth Carling and Emma Amos take over the leading female roles from Dervla Kirwan and Michelle Holmes? | Ten great openings to romantic novels | Helena Fairfax
My books
Ten great openings to romantic novels
In the past month a list of great opening lines in literature has appeared separately in The Irish Times (Ten great opening lines in literature) , The Telegraph (The best opening lines in literature) and The Independent (First lines in fiction)
A few of my vintage romance novels (The photo is my great-grandmother’s wedding during WW1)
I love a good list, and not only that, I was here first! In October 2012 I posted ten great openings from romantic novels. Since first lines in literature are flavour of the month at the moment, I thought it might be fun to revisit the openings I chose as my favourites.
So here they are – ten great openings to romantic novels. Can you guess which book these opening lines come from? (Answers below!)
Dr Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of his patients had died or got any worse. He had attended a surprisingly easy calving, lanced one abscess, extracted a molar, dosed one lady of easy virtue with Salvarsan, performed an unpleasant but spectacularly fruitful enema, and had produced a miracle by a feat of medical prestidigitation.
2. I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board, which I have padded with our dog’s blanket and a tea-cosy.
3. Ennis del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer, hissing in around the aluminium door and window frames. The shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft. He gets up, scratching the grey wedge of belly and pubic hair, shuffles to the gas burner, pours leftover coffee in a chipped enamel pan; the flame swathes it in blue…he is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist had been in his dream.
4. On they went, singing ‘Eternal Memory’, and whenever they stopped, the sound of their feet, the horses and the gusts of wind seemed to carry on their singing. Passers-by made way for the procession, counted the wreaths and crossed themselves. Some joined in out of curiosity and asked, ‘Who is being buried?’
5. Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
6. This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it. (Clue: the film starts with the line ‘The year that Buttercup was born, the most beautiful woman in the world was a French scullery maid named Annette.’)
7. Ashton Hilary Akbar Pelham-Martin was born in a camp near the crest of a pass in the Himalayas, and subsequently christened in a patent canvas bucket. His first cry competed manfully with the snarling cry of a leopard on the hillside below, and his first breath had been a lungful o the cold air that blew down from the far rampart of the mountains, bringing with it a clean scent of snow and pine-needles to thin the reek of hot lamp-oil, the smell of blood and sweat, and the pungent odour of pack ponies.
8. 1801 – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s heaven…
9. In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge, which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in. The figures in the boat were those of a strong man with ragged grizzled hair and a sun-browned face, and a dark girl of nineteen or twenty, sufficiently like him to be recognisable as his daughter….She watched his face earnestly as she watched the river. But, in the intensity of her look there was a touch of dread or horror.
10. Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.
Here are the answers, and good for you if you got every one!
1.Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernières
2. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
3. Brokeback Mountain, by Annie Proulx
4. Dr Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
5. Emma, by Jane Austen
6. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
7. The Far Pavilions, by M.M. Kaye
8. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë
9. Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens
10. Of course, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
How many did of these did you know? And how about you? I’d love to hear your favourite opening to a novel, romantic or otherwise. Please let me know in the comments!
Share this:
| i don't know |
Name any year in the life of the painter Rembrandt? | Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669) - Dutch Painter - 17th Century
State Hermitage Museum - Rembrandt Collection
Fine Art Prints
<a href="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=713527&c=c&search=8879" target="_top"><img src="http://www.allposters.com/banners/affil_banner_red_2.gif" border="0"></a><br> </font><a href="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=713527&c=c&search=8879" target="_top"><font face="verdana,helvetica,arial" size="1">Buy Rembrandt van Rijn Posters at AllPosters.com!</font></a><font size="1" face="Verdana">
© Copyright 2000 - 2001 The Worldwide Art Gallery. All Rights Reserved
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 - 1669)
paintings
Rembrandt Harmenszoon (son of Harmen) van Rijn (family came from the Rhine River area) was born into an atmosphere that was conducive to creativity. After years of war and upheavel, life in the United Provinces of the Netherlands was renowned for its tranquility. Rembrandt's father was a prosperous miller, his mother the daughter of a baker. The van Rijns were Calvinists. In the year of the artist's birth, Leiden, his home town, was known as one of principal intellectual and artistic centres in the country.
The ninth of ten children, Rembrandt was educated in mathematics, Greek, classical literature, geography and history at the Latin School in Leiden. He then entered Leiden University where he undertook studies in science, particularly enjoying the anatomy classes in which cadavers were dissected on stage. The knowledge of anatomy he gained in the anatomy theatre was invaluable in his artistic career. Rembrandt, however, had a strong preference for painting which led him to abandon his studies after just a few months.
Rembrandt began his artistic studies under Jacob I. van Swanenburch, a history painter who had spent some time in Italy. It was in Swanenburch's crowded studio that Rembrandt first learned about the great Italian masters of the Renaissance. After three years apprenticeship having learned the basics of painting technique, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam where he continued to study in the studio of Pieter Lastman (1583 - 1633). Lastman had also spent time in Italy. Rembrandt was influenced considerably by Lastman's compositional style.
In 1625 Rembrandt returned to Leiden and set up his own independent studio and in 1629 he began the first of his numerous self-portraits ( Self Portrait , 1929). The paintings he completed in his Leiden studio show a more mature use of chiaroscuro technique than his master, Lastman. Instead of using the lighting effect to create drama, Rembrandt used it to compose the entire painting. His use of light and dark gave his subjects a physical presence which for the first time involved the viewer in the painting. In his Leiden studio Rembrandt worked alongside Jan Lievens (1607 - 74) also a former student of Lastman. The two often worked on identical themes. In 1929 when Rembrandt produced paintings focusing on the apostle Paul ( Peter and Paul in Conversation ), Lievens painted the same apostle.
A commission from Dr Tulp, a well known physician in Amsterdam, brought Rembrandt back to live in Amsterdam. Commercial guild and association group portraits were popular, though these were usually stagnant, unimaginative representations. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp (1632) which resulted from this commission, however, was unlike that of any other guild painting of the time. The individuals in the painting are not standing in a line, as in conventional group portraits, but are placed in a pyramidal arrangement. Also only two of the men (at the back) look out at the viewer, the others give their attention elsewhere. The cadaver is emphasised by its position on the diagonal which alters the painting's perspective. The reaction of Rembrandt's patrons and the general public bordered on sheer amazement.
Rembrandt's reputation as a portraitist grew. His brilliant, sharp technique brought him wealth and fame and he was in such high demand that he completed numerous portraits between 1632 and 1634 ( Portrait of Maerten Soolmans ,1634).
Works were commissioned by the wealthy who knew exactly the sort of paintings they wanted. There were rigid guidelines in 17th century Holland, to which artists had to comply. Sombre and often dull representations which served to flatter the wealthy subject were the result of these restrictive rules. Rembrandt's salvation was light. Light enabled him to override the dull harmony of contemporary paintings.
Rembrandt's marriage to the beautiful and wealthy Saskia van Uylenburch in 1634 ushered in a period of contentment. His works during this time reflected the opulence of their lifestyle, projecting exuberence and energy. This is particularly seen in religious works such as The Blinding of Samson , (1636).
The happy existence of the couple was to be short lived with the first of a series of tragic events occuring early in 1636. Their first child, Rombartus died after a short life which only spanned a few weeks. A daughter was born in 1638, but she too died, this time within a month. The couple's second daughter, born in 1640, suffered the same fate. During these difficult times Rembrandt bought a house in the Breestraat section of Amsterdam. He did not have the full amount of the purchase price but believed that he could make the required payments, as he had been working solidly.
In 1641 Rembrandt and Saskia finally had some joy with the birth of a son, Titus, who survived the difficult stages of early infancy. Rembrandt adored his son and frequently painted him ( Titus in a Monk's Habit , 1660).
The following year brought the most profound sadness to Rembrandt's life when his beloved Saskia died at only thirty years of age. A dark shroud of despair descended over him, he was no longer the joyous contented man that he had once been. It was in this same year that he painted what is considered to be the most significant single work of his career, The Company of F.B. Cocq known as The Night Watch .. Despite his grief, and perhaps because of it, he was able to create a painting which leaves the viewer in awe.
This piece, commissioned by Captain Banning Cocq and his company, depicts a group of civic guards, a platoon of musketeers. It is, however unlike other such commissions of the day, in that it not only depicts the main characters but gives the viewer a sense of participation and anticipation. There is a whole stage of actors of whose roles, the viewer is not quite sure, but clearly something is happening. Light seems to glow from within illuminating some of these characters, prompting the viewer to wonder 'who are they?', 'what is their role?'; the young girl with the chicken dangling from her belt, the man with the drum, the man pointing, the barking dog. Some of the characters are focussed on something that seems to be behind the viewer, some seem as if they are ready to move. Rembrandt's love of the theatre is clearly seen in this masterpiece. The costumes, lighting, movement and drama give the viewer the impression of an elaborate stage play in progress.
This painting, although not severely damaging Rembrandt's reputation, was received with little enthusiasm by those who had paid for the commission. It seems that they weren't pleased with the artist's unconventional approach of incorporating action and drama into a portrait scene.
The reception Rembrandt received for this work did not help his psychological state. Still deeply grieved over his wife's death he was also beginning to suffer financial difficulties. The payments on his expensive house were becoming hard to make. The self portraits painted after this time reflect a more sombre, suffering soul ( Self Portrait , 1952). Gone is the glint in the eye of a youthful artist with a playful heart and the world at his feet. Instead we see a man carrying the burden of immense sorrow, who now clearly views the world with different eyes.
As time passed Rembrandt sank deeper into debt. His situation was not helped when dramatic events in his personal life worsened his financial situation. Geertge Dircx, Titus' nurse maid and the artists' mistress, sued him for breach of promise, and won. Her jealousy had been spawned by Rembrandt's rejection of her for Hendrickje Stoffels the pretty housemaid he had recently employed. He was ordered to pay Geertge a monthly amount which he could in no way afford.
In 1654 amidst the turmoil in his personal life, Hendrickje gave birth to a healthy daughter, Cornelia. Rembrandt's gentle, tender portrayel of his lover in Hendrickje Bathing
(1654) offers the viewer some solace that perhaps, in his love for Hendrickje, he had at last found some refuge from his deep suffering.
By 1656 Rembrandt's financial situation was irreversible and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. The following year his extensive art and costume collection was sold to pay debts. Later his house was auctioned and he, Titus and Hendrickje moved to a more modest abode on the Rozengracht. Titus and Hendrickje resolved to take over the handling of Rembrandt's affairs, forming a company, employing him and selling his paintings for him.
Continuing to accept commissions, Rembrandt painted his last great collective portrait, The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild , in 1662. This piece again shows the innovation of the now mature artist. The characters in the painting are plausable and have presence. It is as if the viewer has walked in on their meeting, seemingly uninvited. The stark black of their costume is contrasted by the heavy decorative cloth on the table. Everything in the room is given substance by the careful rendering of light.
Rembrandt suffered another personal loss in July 1663 when Hendrickje Stoffels died. He continued to paint though clearly, as we see in his self portraits of this time, his often unhappy life had taken its toll. We see in these later works the reflection of a man whose eyes betray the hollowness he must have felt near the end of his life.
Before Rembrandt himself died in 1669 he had to face more grief with the death of his adored son, Titus of plague in 1668. One can only but wonder how this great artist made it through his final months. When he died an inventory of his possessions revealed that he had managed to re-assemble a new collection of art.
Rembrandt van Rijn was buried on October 8th in the Westerkerk. The legacy of his lifetime of work to Dutch art, and to European art as a whole should not be underestimated. His purposeful use light and shade to create atmosphere in his works took him beyond the conventional. His willingness to explore beyond the visual to depict the psychological character of his subject displayed innovation. This is seen most prominently in his numerous studies of his own visual image which reveal to us so much of what must have been below the surface. The courage to innovate and venture beyond convention, especially in the face of such adversity, could only be a lesson to those who came after.
SELECTED WORKS
REFERENCES
Piper, D. (1981). The Dictionary of Painting & Sculpture, Art & Artists, Painters & Sculptors, Terms & Techniques. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers.
Schama, S. (1999). Rembrandt's Eyes. London: Penguin Books.
Starcky, E. (1990). Rembrandt - the Masterworks. London: Studio Editions Ltd.
The Great Masters (1993) Rembrandt van Rijn. London: Park Lane.
DATES
1606 Born in Leiden
c.1616 At about 10 years of age attends Latin school in Leiden
1620 Matriculates into the university of his home town and shortly afterwards joins the studio of the painter Jacob I. van Swanenburgh.
1623-4 Works in Pieter Lastman's studio and then sets himself up as an independent master.
1630 Death of father.
1634 Marries Saskia van Uylenburgh.
1635 Moves with Saskia into a house on the Nieuwe Doelenstraat. In December the couples first child, Rombartus is born.
1636 Rombartus dies in February. Paints The Blinding of Samson.
1638 Daughter Cornelia is born but lives only two weeks.
1639 Sees and admires Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione. Moves with Saskia to a house in St Anthoniesbreestraat (now the Rembrandthuis).
1640 Birth of second daughter in July (Cornelia also). The child dies soon after. Death of mother in September.
1641 In September Rembrandt and Saskia's fourth child, Titus is born.
1642 Saksia dies. Geertge Dircx enters the artist's employ as his son's nurse. Paints The Company of F.B. Cocq known as The Night Watch.
1645 Three Rembrandt drawings are sold in Leiden.
1650 Rembrandt lives with Hendrickje
Stoffels, a former servant.
1653-55 Rembrandt's financial state deteriorates daily.
1654 Rembrandt is summoned to appear between June and July by the consistory of the Calvinist Church on a charge of cohabitation. Hendrickje gives birth to a girl (Cornelia) .
1656 Obtains a 'Cessio Bonorum' from the High Court which allows him to declare himself bankrupt with honour.
1657 In November and December Rembrandt's pictures and art objects are sold at auction.
1658 Rembrandt's house and furniture are sold. Titus, Hendrickje and Rembrandt move to a modest house on the Rozengracht.
1660 Paints Self-Portrait in front of an Easel.
1662 Paints The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild
1663 Hendrickje Stoffels dies in July.
1666 Paints The Suicide of Lucretia.
1667 Cosimo de Medici, in the company of publisher Pieter Blaeu, visits Rembrandt.
1668 In February Titus marries Magdalena van Loo at the Niewe Kerke in Amsterdam. Titus dies of plague in September
1669 Titia, Titus' posthumous daughter is born in March.
In October Rembrandt dies in the house on the Rozengracht. He is buried on the 8th of October in the Westerkerk.
| 1606 1669 |
Who won a BBC 1 competition called 'How Do You Solve A Problem Called Maria'? | Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669) - Dutch Painter - 17th Century
State Hermitage Museum - Rembrandt Collection
Fine Art Prints
<a href="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=713527&c=c&search=8879" target="_top"><img src="http://www.allposters.com/banners/affil_banner_red_2.gif" border="0"></a><br> </font><a href="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=713527&c=c&search=8879" target="_top"><font face="verdana,helvetica,arial" size="1">Buy Rembrandt van Rijn Posters at AllPosters.com!</font></a><font size="1" face="Verdana">
© Copyright 2000 - 2001 The Worldwide Art Gallery. All Rights Reserved
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 - 1669)
paintings
Rembrandt Harmenszoon (son of Harmen) van Rijn (family came from the Rhine River area) was born into an atmosphere that was conducive to creativity. After years of war and upheavel, life in the United Provinces of the Netherlands was renowned for its tranquility. Rembrandt's father was a prosperous miller, his mother the daughter of a baker. The van Rijns were Calvinists. In the year of the artist's birth, Leiden, his home town, was known as one of principal intellectual and artistic centres in the country.
The ninth of ten children, Rembrandt was educated in mathematics, Greek, classical literature, geography and history at the Latin School in Leiden. He then entered Leiden University where he undertook studies in science, particularly enjoying the anatomy classes in which cadavers were dissected on stage. The knowledge of anatomy he gained in the anatomy theatre was invaluable in his artistic career. Rembrandt, however, had a strong preference for painting which led him to abandon his studies after just a few months.
Rembrandt began his artistic studies under Jacob I. van Swanenburch, a history painter who had spent some time in Italy. It was in Swanenburch's crowded studio that Rembrandt first learned about the great Italian masters of the Renaissance. After three years apprenticeship having learned the basics of painting technique, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam where he continued to study in the studio of Pieter Lastman (1583 - 1633). Lastman had also spent time in Italy. Rembrandt was influenced considerably by Lastman's compositional style.
In 1625 Rembrandt returned to Leiden and set up his own independent studio and in 1629 he began the first of his numerous self-portraits ( Self Portrait , 1929). The paintings he completed in his Leiden studio show a more mature use of chiaroscuro technique than his master, Lastman. Instead of using the lighting effect to create drama, Rembrandt used it to compose the entire painting. His use of light and dark gave his subjects a physical presence which for the first time involved the viewer in the painting. In his Leiden studio Rembrandt worked alongside Jan Lievens (1607 - 74) also a former student of Lastman. The two often worked on identical themes. In 1929 when Rembrandt produced paintings focusing on the apostle Paul ( Peter and Paul in Conversation ), Lievens painted the same apostle.
A commission from Dr Tulp, a well known physician in Amsterdam, brought Rembrandt back to live in Amsterdam. Commercial guild and association group portraits were popular, though these were usually stagnant, unimaginative representations. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp (1632) which resulted from this commission, however, was unlike that of any other guild painting of the time. The individuals in the painting are not standing in a line, as in conventional group portraits, but are placed in a pyramidal arrangement. Also only two of the men (at the back) look out at the viewer, the others give their attention elsewhere. The cadaver is emphasised by its position on the diagonal which alters the painting's perspective. The reaction of Rembrandt's patrons and the general public bordered on sheer amazement.
Rembrandt's reputation as a portraitist grew. His brilliant, sharp technique brought him wealth and fame and he was in such high demand that he completed numerous portraits between 1632 and 1634 ( Portrait of Maerten Soolmans ,1634).
Works were commissioned by the wealthy who knew exactly the sort of paintings they wanted. There were rigid guidelines in 17th century Holland, to which artists had to comply. Sombre and often dull representations which served to flatter the wealthy subject were the result of these restrictive rules. Rembrandt's salvation was light. Light enabled him to override the dull harmony of contemporary paintings.
Rembrandt's marriage to the beautiful and wealthy Saskia van Uylenburch in 1634 ushered in a period of contentment. His works during this time reflected the opulence of their lifestyle, projecting exuberence and energy. This is particularly seen in religious works such as The Blinding of Samson , (1636).
The happy existence of the couple was to be short lived with the first of a series of tragic events occuring early in 1636. Their first child, Rombartus died after a short life which only spanned a few weeks. A daughter was born in 1638, but she too died, this time within a month. The couple's second daughter, born in 1640, suffered the same fate. During these difficult times Rembrandt bought a house in the Breestraat section of Amsterdam. He did not have the full amount of the purchase price but believed that he could make the required payments, as he had been working solidly.
In 1641 Rembrandt and Saskia finally had some joy with the birth of a son, Titus, who survived the difficult stages of early infancy. Rembrandt adored his son and frequently painted him ( Titus in a Monk's Habit , 1660).
The following year brought the most profound sadness to Rembrandt's life when his beloved Saskia died at only thirty years of age. A dark shroud of despair descended over him, he was no longer the joyous contented man that he had once been. It was in this same year that he painted what is considered to be the most significant single work of his career, The Company of F.B. Cocq known as The Night Watch .. Despite his grief, and perhaps because of it, he was able to create a painting which leaves the viewer in awe.
This piece, commissioned by Captain Banning Cocq and his company, depicts a group of civic guards, a platoon of musketeers. It is, however unlike other such commissions of the day, in that it not only depicts the main characters but gives the viewer a sense of participation and anticipation. There is a whole stage of actors of whose roles, the viewer is not quite sure, but clearly something is happening. Light seems to glow from within illuminating some of these characters, prompting the viewer to wonder 'who are they?', 'what is their role?'; the young girl with the chicken dangling from her belt, the man with the drum, the man pointing, the barking dog. Some of the characters are focussed on something that seems to be behind the viewer, some seem as if they are ready to move. Rembrandt's love of the theatre is clearly seen in this masterpiece. The costumes, lighting, movement and drama give the viewer the impression of an elaborate stage play in progress.
This painting, although not severely damaging Rembrandt's reputation, was received with little enthusiasm by those who had paid for the commission. It seems that they weren't pleased with the artist's unconventional approach of incorporating action and drama into a portrait scene.
The reception Rembrandt received for this work did not help his psychological state. Still deeply grieved over his wife's death he was also beginning to suffer financial difficulties. The payments on his expensive house were becoming hard to make. The self portraits painted after this time reflect a more sombre, suffering soul ( Self Portrait , 1952). Gone is the glint in the eye of a youthful artist with a playful heart and the world at his feet. Instead we see a man carrying the burden of immense sorrow, who now clearly views the world with different eyes.
As time passed Rembrandt sank deeper into debt. His situation was not helped when dramatic events in his personal life worsened his financial situation. Geertge Dircx, Titus' nurse maid and the artists' mistress, sued him for breach of promise, and won. Her jealousy had been spawned by Rembrandt's rejection of her for Hendrickje Stoffels the pretty housemaid he had recently employed. He was ordered to pay Geertge a monthly amount which he could in no way afford.
In 1654 amidst the turmoil in his personal life, Hendrickje gave birth to a healthy daughter, Cornelia. Rembrandt's gentle, tender portrayel of his lover in Hendrickje Bathing
(1654) offers the viewer some solace that perhaps, in his love for Hendrickje, he had at last found some refuge from his deep suffering.
By 1656 Rembrandt's financial situation was irreversible and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. The following year his extensive art and costume collection was sold to pay debts. Later his house was auctioned and he, Titus and Hendrickje moved to a more modest abode on the Rozengracht. Titus and Hendrickje resolved to take over the handling of Rembrandt's affairs, forming a company, employing him and selling his paintings for him.
Continuing to accept commissions, Rembrandt painted his last great collective portrait, The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild , in 1662. This piece again shows the innovation of the now mature artist. The characters in the painting are plausable and have presence. It is as if the viewer has walked in on their meeting, seemingly uninvited. The stark black of their costume is contrasted by the heavy decorative cloth on the table. Everything in the room is given substance by the careful rendering of light.
Rembrandt suffered another personal loss in July 1663 when Hendrickje Stoffels died. He continued to paint though clearly, as we see in his self portraits of this time, his often unhappy life had taken its toll. We see in these later works the reflection of a man whose eyes betray the hollowness he must have felt near the end of his life.
Before Rembrandt himself died in 1669 he had to face more grief with the death of his adored son, Titus of plague in 1668. One can only but wonder how this great artist made it through his final months. When he died an inventory of his possessions revealed that he had managed to re-assemble a new collection of art.
Rembrandt van Rijn was buried on October 8th in the Westerkerk. The legacy of his lifetime of work to Dutch art, and to European art as a whole should not be underestimated. His purposeful use light and shade to create atmosphere in his works took him beyond the conventional. His willingness to explore beyond the visual to depict the psychological character of his subject displayed innovation. This is seen most prominently in his numerous studies of his own visual image which reveal to us so much of what must have been below the surface. The courage to innovate and venture beyond convention, especially in the face of such adversity, could only be a lesson to those who came after.
SELECTED WORKS
REFERENCES
Piper, D. (1981). The Dictionary of Painting & Sculpture, Art & Artists, Painters & Sculptors, Terms & Techniques. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers.
Schama, S. (1999). Rembrandt's Eyes. London: Penguin Books.
Starcky, E. (1990). Rembrandt - the Masterworks. London: Studio Editions Ltd.
The Great Masters (1993) Rembrandt van Rijn. London: Park Lane.
DATES
1606 Born in Leiden
c.1616 At about 10 years of age attends Latin school in Leiden
1620 Matriculates into the university of his home town and shortly afterwards joins the studio of the painter Jacob I. van Swanenburgh.
1623-4 Works in Pieter Lastman's studio and then sets himself up as an independent master.
1630 Death of father.
1634 Marries Saskia van Uylenburgh.
1635 Moves with Saskia into a house on the Nieuwe Doelenstraat. In December the couples first child, Rombartus is born.
1636 Rombartus dies in February. Paints The Blinding of Samson.
1638 Daughter Cornelia is born but lives only two weeks.
1639 Sees and admires Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione. Moves with Saskia to a house in St Anthoniesbreestraat (now the Rembrandthuis).
1640 Birth of second daughter in July (Cornelia also). The child dies soon after. Death of mother in September.
1641 In September Rembrandt and Saskia's fourth child, Titus is born.
1642 Saksia dies. Geertge Dircx enters the artist's employ as his son's nurse. Paints The Company of F.B. Cocq known as The Night Watch.
1645 Three Rembrandt drawings are sold in Leiden.
1650 Rembrandt lives with Hendrickje
Stoffels, a former servant.
1653-55 Rembrandt's financial state deteriorates daily.
1654 Rembrandt is summoned to appear between June and July by the consistory of the Calvinist Church on a charge of cohabitation. Hendrickje gives birth to a girl (Cornelia) .
1656 Obtains a 'Cessio Bonorum' from the High Court which allows him to declare himself bankrupt with honour.
1657 In November and December Rembrandt's pictures and art objects are sold at auction.
1658 Rembrandt's house and furniture are sold. Titus, Hendrickje and Rembrandt move to a modest house on the Rozengracht.
1660 Paints Self-Portrait in front of an Easel.
1662 Paints The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild
1663 Hendrickje Stoffels dies in July.
1666 Paints The Suicide of Lucretia.
1667 Cosimo de Medici, in the company of publisher Pieter Blaeu, visits Rembrandt.
1668 In February Titus marries Magdalena van Loo at the Niewe Kerke in Amsterdam. Titus dies of plague in September
1669 Titia, Titus' posthumous daughter is born in March.
In October Rembrandt dies in the house on the Rozengracht. He is buried on the 8th of October in the Westerkerk.
| i don't know |
In Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. what name is given to the 'play within a play'? | The Significance of the Play Within the Play Structure of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
Author
Exact author
Home » Literature » Poetry » The Significance of the Play Within the Play Structure of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
The Significance of the Play Within the Play Structure of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
Pages: 1 2
One of the notable characteristics of the dramatic construction and presentation of William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the fact that it contains two distinctly different plays within the larger framework of the main play. The author’s skillful development and juxtaposition of these simultaneously unfolding plays serves the function of reiterating some of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s principal themes. Similarly, the utilization of this multiple play structure also situates Shakespeare in relationship to the creative process and his own work. Furthermore, the three-play structure allows the reader to question the very nature of creativity and of love. The play staged by the mechanicals is particularly effective in this regard. The comic, lighthearted tone of the players as they prepare for and fulfill their roles in Pyramus and Thisbe serves as a welcome contrast to the more dramatic circumstances between the women characters in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Hermia, Lysander, Helen, and Demetrius, as well as the more fanciful plot involving the faeries. Even more than these other plays, the play of the mechanicals raises a number of important questions about life, love, and creative production and performance.
The lower class laborers who comprise the unlikely dramatic troupe which will perform Pyramus and Thisbe are introduced to the reader in Act I, Scene II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Everything about these players is comical, from their most superficial characteristics to their deeply embedded personality traits which include a habit of bumbling, mispronouncing words so that the meanings of their sentences are completely and comically misconstrued, and generally playing the part of fools. As soon as the reader learns of the rag-tag actors’ names—Bottom, Flute, Snug, Snout, Starveling, and Quince– he or she becomes immediately oriented to the fact that the introduction of these characters is intended to disrupt the larger narrative of the play and if anything, provide further comic relief to the slightly more serious (although still lighthearted) main narrative. Additionally, these goofy characters also exist to raise questions about the subjects and themes in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that are most present throughout the work. This observation is confirmed with each new detail that the reader learns about each of the tradesmen/actor characters. Nick Bottom is a weaver who, like his fellow tradesmen, has no previous acting credentials. In fact, it is not entirely clear how these men have come together or who decided that they were “worthy” of putting on a play. This issue of worthiness, or fitness, for playing certain roles, whether on the stage or on life, is a central theme and preoccupation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Upon learning that he will be assigned to play the lead role of Pyramus, “a lover that kills himself most gallant for love” (Shakespeare 17), Bottom asserts that he will be so effective in his role that he will elicit the audience members’ tears: “I will move storms,” he proclaims to his fellow actors (Shakespeare 17). Flute is also comical and in many ways, he acts as a comic foil for Bottom, especially as Bottom ends up taking himself seriously, despite the fact that the audience is well aware of the situation. For Flute’s part, he begs not to be cast as a female character because he has “a beard coming” (Shakespeare 18). Bottom will also evidence a preoccupation with his beard later in the play, as he questions the other cast members how he should wear his beard so that it will be most appropriate and most convincing for his role. While these details may seem to be little more than humorous distractions, they actually serve much more profound purposes in the overall scheme of the play. In a certain sense, Shakespeare seems to be using these amateur actors as a way of opening a conversation both with himself and with the reader about the nature of the creative process. The actors are so preoccupied with the minutiae of their newfound dramatic craft, yet they fail to engage more important creative concerns, such as correct pronunciation and the mastery of crucial dramatic resources and techniques, including memorization, line cues, timing, and the congruence of affect with speech. Quince spends much of the troupe’s rehearsal time trying to harmonize the untutored actors so that their performance will eventually, hopefully, play out seamlessly. While it can be suggested that Shakespeare is merely offering a comical interlude to discuss the creative process, there is also the dual purpose of how these issues make the reader even more keenly aware of some of the major themes in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare was, of course, masterful in the use of all of these resources and techniques, so perhaps his preoccupation with them in this play within a play was more intended to be a larger critique of creative processes, and the dramatic process in particular. Shakespeare seems to be asking, through the clever staging of this subplot or sub-play, what elements of the creative process are most important, and which elements are most likely to determine the effect of the play in terms of the degree to which it engages the viewer and helps him or her to comprehend the play’s central themes.
This hypothesis about Shakespeare’s intentions seems to gain additional evidence when one considers the extended conversation among the tradesmen-turned-actors regarding the nature of the setting and the props that can be employed in order to faithfully render the scene that conversation about the nature of the setting and the props that can be employed in order to faithfully render the scene that they believe Pyramus and Thisbe requires. The actors are most preoccupied with the ways in which moonlight can be evoked and how a wall, which they consider central to the development of dynamic tension in the plot, can be represented. One character asserts in one of the important quotes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” , “we must have a wall in the great chamber… for Paramus [sic] and Thisby [sic]… did talk through a chink in the wall” (Shakespeare 47). The players debate whether an actual wall could be brought to the stage, and conclude that it would not be possible to do so. Instead, given the importance of the wall to the development of the story, it is determined that one of the trademen/actors will play the part of a wall. Again, while these may seem to be petty details hardly deserving of the several lines of dialogue which they occupy in the text of the play, Shakespeare allows the men the liberty to explore these issues, perhaps as a means for he himself, as well as the reader, to reflect upon the different elements that comprise the dramatic product and process. Indeed, this particular conversation among the Pyramus and Thisbe players is very process oriented, and invites the reader to consider what thoughts and actions are required in order to bring a play before an audience. The conversation also causes the reader to consider who is responsible for bringing the play before an audience. There is shared responsibility between the playwright and the actors, the latter being the party responsible for interpreting the former’s intentions.
| Pyramus and Thisbe |
"""Peace in our time"", was one of the famous quotes by which British Prime Minister?" | SparkNotes: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act I, scene ii
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Shakespeare
Act II, scene i
Summary
In another part of Athens, far from Theseus’s palace, a group of common laborers meets at the house of Peter Quince to rehearse a play that the men hope to perform for the grand celebration preceding the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Quince, a carpenter, tries to conduct the meeting, but the talkative weaver Nick Bottom continually interrupts him with advice and direction. Quince tells the group what play they are to perform: The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe, which tells the story of two lovers, separated by their parents’ feud, who speak to each other at night through a hole in a wall. In the play, a lion surprises Thisbe one night and tatters her mantle before she escapes. When Pyramus finds the shredded garment, he assumes that the lion has killed Thisbe; stricken with grief, he commits suicide. When Thisbe finds Pyramus’s bloody corpse, she too commits suicide. Quince assigns their parts: Bottom is to play Pyramus; Francis Flute, Thisbe; Robin Starveling, Thisbe’s mother; Tom Snout, Pyramus’s father; Quince himself, Thisbe’s father; and Snug, the lion.
As Quince doles out the parts, Bottom often interrupts, announcing that he should be the one to play the assigned part. He says that his ability to speak in a woman’s voice would make him a wonderful Thisbe and that his ability to roar would make him a wonderful lion. Quince eventually convinces him that Pyramus is the part for him, by virtue of the fact that Pyramus is supposed to be very handsome. Snug worries that he will be unable to learn the lion’s part, but Quince reassures him that it will be very easy to learn, since the lion speaks no words and only growls and roars. This worries the craftsmen, who reason that if the lion frightens any of the noble ladies in the audience, they will all be executed; since they are only common laborers, they do not want to risk upsetting powerful people. Bottom says that he could roar as sweetly as a nightingale so as not to frighten anyone, but Quince again convinces him that he can only play Pyramus. The group disperses, agreeing to meet in the woods the following night to rehearse their play.
Analysis
The most important motif in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and one of the most important literary techniques Shakespeare uses throughout the play, is that of contrast. The three main groups of characters are all vastly different from one another, and the styles, moods, and structures of their respective subplots also differ. It is by incorporating these contrasting realms into a single story that Shakespeare creates the play’s dreamlike atmosphere. Almost diametrically opposite the beautiful, serious, and love-struck young nobles are the clumsy, ridiculous, and deeply confused craftsmen, around whom many of the play’s most comical scenes are centered.
Where the young lovers are graceful and well spoken—almost comically well suited to their roles as melodramatically passionate youths—the craftsmen often fumble their words and could not be less well suited for acting. This disjunction reveals itself as it becomes readily apparent that the craftsmen have no idea how to put on a dramatic production: their speeches are full of impossible ideas and mistakes (Bottom, for example, claims that he will roar “as gently / as any sucking dove”); their concerns about their parts are absurd (Flute does not want to play Thisbe because he is growing a beard); and their extended discussion about whether they will be executed if the lion’s roaring frightens the ladies further evidences the fact that their primary concern is with themselves, not their art (II.i.67–68).
The fact that the workmen have chosen to perform the Pyramus and Thisbe story, a Babylonian myth familiar to Shakespeare’s audiences from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, only heightens the comedy. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is highly dramatic, with suicides and tragically wasted love (themes that Shakespeare takes up in Romeo and Juliet as well). Badly suited to their task and inexperienced, although endlessly well meaning, the craftsmen are sympathetic figures even when the audience laughs at them—a fact made explicit in Act V, when Theseus makes fun of their play even as he honors their effort. The contrast between the serious nature of the play and the bumbling foolishness of the craftsmen makes the endeavor all the more ridiculous. Further, the actors’ botched telling of the youthful love between Pyramus and Thisbe implicitly mocks the melodramatic love tangle of Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander.
| i don't know |
'All My Loving' and 'Can't Buy Me Love', featured in which Beatles film? | Can't Buy Me Love | The Beatles Bible
Live At The BBC
Can't Buy Me Love was The Beatles' sixth British single, released with the b-side You Can't Do That. It was written while the group were in Paris for a 19-date residency at the city's Olympia Theatre.
Personally, I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggest that Can't Buy Me Love is about a prostitute, I draw the line. That's going too far.
Paul McCartney, 1966
The song is believed to have been written at the Hotel George V. The Beatles had an upright piano moved into the corner of their suite, to enable them to work on songs for their forthcoming début film.
Can't Buy Me Love is my attempt to write a bluesy mode. The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well but they won't buy me what I really want. It was a very hooky song. Ella Fitzgerald later did a version of it which I was very honoured by.
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Written by Paul McCartney, Can't Buy Me Love became the first of the group's singles to feature just one singer. John Lennon may have felt his position as The Beatles' leader was threatened by the move; following the release of the single, Lennon wrote the majority of songs on the A Hard Day's Night album.
That's Paul's completely. Maybe I had something to do with the chorus, but I don't know. I always considered it his song.
John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Can't Buy Me Love featured twice in the A Hard Day's Night film. The first was a scene in which they escape from the television studio to fool around in a field; the other involved the group running to and from a police station, with law officers in hot pursuit.
It was the first film for which I wrote the score, and I had the benefit of having a director who was a musician. We recorded the songs for the film just as we would ordinary recordings, and Dick [Lester] used a lot of songs we'd already recorded. Can't Buy Me Love, for example, which was used twice in the picture.
George Martin
Anthology
In the studio
Can't Buy Me Love was mostly recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. It was completed in just four takes following the recording of Sie Liebt Dich and Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand , which finished ahead of schedule.
George Martin suggested during preliminary rehearsals that they begin the song with the chorus. The decision was later described by writer Ian MacDonald as a change "so obvious that they would have made it themselves had they tried the tune out earlier".
I thought that we really needed a tag for the song's ending, and a tag for the beginning; a kind of intro. So I took the first two lines of the chorus and changed the ending, and said 'Let's just have these lines, and by altering the second phrase we can get back into the verse pretty quickly'. And they said, 'That's not a bad idea, we'll do it that way'.
George Martin
Anthology
The first two takes of Can't Buy Me Love, the second of which can be heard on Anthology 1 , were recorded in the bluesy style in which the song was originally conceived. Paul McCartney taped a guide vocal which was later replaced at Abbey Road.
John Lennon and George Harrison 's backing vocals, in which they sang "Ooh, satisfied", "Ooh, just can't buy" in response to McCartney's lead lines, were swiftly discarded. As was Harrison's original guitar solo, though it can still be heard underneath the version he later overdubbed, due to microphone 'bleed'.
We took the tapes from that back to England to do some work on them. I once read something that tries to analyse Can't Buy Me Love, talking about the double-track guitar - mine - and saying that it's not very good because you can hear the original one. What happened was that we recorded first in Paris and re-recorded in England. Obviously they'd tried to overdub it, but in those days they only had two tracks, so you can hear the version we put on in London, and in the background you can hear a quieter one.
George Harrison
Anthology
The second solo was recorded on 25 February 1964 - George Harrison's 21st birthday - the same day that McCartney taped his final lead vocals.
The stereo mix also included a hi-hat overdub recorded by studio engineer Norman Smith . This was done on 10 March 1964 , while The Beatles were filming A Hard Day's Night.
It had the same level of excitement as previous Beatles singles and was quickly slated to be an A-side, but first there was a technical problem to be overcome, discovered when the tape was brought back and played at our studios. Perhaps because it had been spooled incorrectly, the tape had a ripple in it, resulting in the intermittent loss of treble on Ringo 's hi-hat cymbal. There was tremendous time pressure to get the track mixed and delivered to the pressing plant, and due to touring commitments the Beatles themselves were unavailable, so George and Norman took it upon themselves to make a little adjustment.
As I eagerly headed into the engineer's seat for the first time, Norman headed down into the studio to overdub a hastily set-up hi-hat onto a few bars of the song while I recorded him, simultaneously doing a two-track to two-track dub. Thanks to Norman's considerable skills as a drummer, the repair was made quickly and seamlessly.
Here, There and Everywhere
Chart success
By the time Can't Buy Me Love was released, The Beatles were a bona fide worldwide phenomenon. The song topped the charts of almost every country in which it was released.
Issued in the USA slightly earlier than in Britain, it sold over two million copies in its first week, and was awarded a gold disc on the day of release, 16 March 1964.
It set four records on the Billboard Hot 100. The first was the biggest jump to the top spot, up from number 27. The Beatles also held the entire top five positions on the 4 April 1964 chart - Can't Buy Me Love was accompanied by Twist And Shout , She Loves You , I Want To Hold Your Hand and Please Please Me . Such an achievement has never been equalled.
Can't Buy Me Love gave The Beatles a record-breaking three consecutive number one singles, the previous ones being I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. Furthermore, during the song's second week at the top, from 11 April, the group had 14 songs on the Hot 100 simultaneously.
In Britain it broke fewer records, but was still a phenomenal smash hit. Can't Buy Me Love had advance orders of over one million, and became the group's fourth UK number one single.
Deadman Wednesday 27 May 2009
Norman Smith also added some hi-hat, according to Geoff Emerick:
“[T]here was a technical problem to be overcome …. the tape had a ripple … resulting in the intermittent loss of treble on Ringo’s hi-hat cymbal. There was tremendous pressure to to get the track mixed and … the Beatles themselves were unavailable, so George [Martin] and Norman [Smith] took it upon themselves to make a little adjustment.
As I eagerly headed into the engineer’s seat for the first time, Norman headed down into the [Abbey Road] studio to overdub a hastily set-up hi-hat onto a few bars of the song while I recorded him, simultaneously doing a two-track to two-track dub. Thanks to Norman’s considerable skills as a drummer, the repair was made quickly and seamlessly…”.
Here, There and Everywhere (2007), p. 81
| A Hard Day's Night |
In 1884, Lewis Waterman was responsible for the invention of what literary aid? | The Beatles - IMDb
IMDb
Soundtrack | Composer | Actor
The Beatles were an English rock band that became arguably the most successful act of the 20th century. They contributed to music, film, literature, art, and fashion, made a continuous impact on popular culture and the lifestyle of several generations. Their songs and images carrying powerful ideas of love, peace, help, and imagination evoked ... See full bio »
a list of 30 people
created 14 Dec 2011
a list of 27 people
created 16 May 2013
a list of 37 people
created 13 Dec 2013
a list of 26 people
created 13 Jun 2015
a list of 36 people
created 7 months ago
Do you have a demo reel?
Add it to your IMDbPage
How much of The Beatles's work have you seen?
User Polls
Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win. See more awards »
Known For
- Episode dated 5 April 2016 (2016) ... (performer: "All You Need Is Love")
2013-2016 Mike & Mike (TV Series) (performer - 36 episodes)
2016 Final Score (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Episode #16.21 (2016) ... (performer: "Hey Jude" - uncredited)
- Episode #16.9 (2016) ... (performer: "Hey Jude" - uncredited)
2016 Requiem for Mr. Cromwell (Video short) ("Because")
2016 Lindenstraße (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Das letzte Morgenmahl (2016) ... (performer: "I Feel Fine" - uncredited)
2016 Vinyl (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- E.A.B. (2016) ... (performer: "Here Comes The Sun")
2016 Life & Death (Short) ("In My Life")
2016 Hola y adiós (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.11 (2016) ... (performer: "Blackbird")
2016 Acció política (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.15 (2016) ... (performer: "Golden Slumbers")
2016 Ochéntame... otra vez (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
2016 Music Moguls: Masters of Pop (TV Mini-Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- Melody Makers (2016) ... (performer: "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "A Day in the Life", "Strawberry Fields Forever" - uncredited)
2015 Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Twist & Shout" - uncredited)
2015 The Beatles: 1 (Video) (performer: "Love Me Do", "From Me to You", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Can't Buy Me Love")
- Auditions 3 (2015) ... ("All My Loving")
- Bootcamp 1 (2006) ... (performer: "Let It Be" - uncredited)
- Judges' Houses 2 (2005) ... (performer: "Let It Be" - uncredited)
2015 Minions (performer: "Got To Get You Into My Life")
2015 Biggest Band Breakups and Make Ups (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "We Can Work It Out" - uncredited)
2015 Help! - 50 Jahre Beatles in Obertauern (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Help!", "Come Together" (uncredited), "She Loves You" (uncredited), "Every Little Thing" (uncredited), "Another Girl" (uncredited), "Here Comes the Sun" (uncredited), "A Hard Day's Night" (uncredited), "Yesterday" (uncredited), "All You Need Is Love" (uncredited))
2015 The Wolfpack (Documentary) (performer: "All You Need Is Love" written by nm0006168 & nm0005200)
2014 D2WYM Snippets (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Hello. (2014) ... (performer: "Penny Lane")
2014 Cilla (TV Mini-Series) (1 episode)
- Episode #1.1 (2014) ... ("Twist and Shout', "Love of the Loved", uncredited)
- Fathers and Sons Campout 2013 (2013) ... (performer: "Here Comes the Sun")
- Rick's Visit July 2011 (2011) ... (performer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
2014 Britain's Most Dangerous Songs: Listen to the Banned (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "A Day in the Life")
2014 The Sixties (TV Mini-Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- The British Invasion (2014) ... (performer: "She Loves You" (uncredited), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (uncredited), "Some Other Guy", "Can't Buy Me Love" (uncredited), "I Saw Her Standing There", "Long Tall Sally", "A Hard Day's Night" (uncredited), "You Can't Do That", "Help!", "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (uncredited), "Norwegian Wood", "If I Needed Someone", "In My Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "A Day in the Life", "All You Need Is Love" (uncredited))
2014/V Shelter (Short) (performer: "Ticket To Ride")
2014 Alive Inside (Documentary) (performer: "Blackbird", "I Want to Hold your Hand", "Hey Jude")
2013/I Island (performer: "Dear Prudence")
2013 One Hit Wonderland (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
2013 Romy, ich bin krank (Documentary short) (performer: "Cry For A Shadow")
2013 Good Ol' Freda (Documentary) (performer: "I Saw Her Standing There", "Love Me Do", "I Feel Fine", "I Will")
2013 When Albums Ruled the World (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "A Day in the Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (uncredited), "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" (uncredited))
2012 Divorce (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.3 (2012) ... (performer: "Let It Be")
- Thirty Years of Epcot Part One: Concept and Opening (2012) ... (performer: "A Day In The Life")
2012 Timeshift (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- The British Army of the Rhine (2012) ... (performer: "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" (German version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand") - uncredited)
2012 Love Me Do: The Beatles '62 (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me")
2012 Not Fade Away (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Please Mister Postman", "I Want To Tell You", "I've Got A Feeling")
2012 Vatertag (TV Movie) (performer: "Penny Lane" - uncredited)
2012 Rock 'n' Roll High School 101 (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- Surf Music (2012) ... (performer: "A Hard Day's Night" - uncredited)
2012 Alexandra - Stimme der Sehnsucht: Der rätselhafte Tod eines Stars (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "She Loves You" - uncredited)
2012 Mad Men (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Lady Lazarus (2012) ... (performer: "Tomorrow Never Knows")
2012 Gent de paraula (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #2.20 (2012) ... (performer: "All You Need Is Love")
2010-2012 No me la puc treure del cap (TV Series) (performer - 5 episodes)
- Amor (2012) ... (performer: "She Loves You", "Something")
2010 Brian Wilson: Songwriting 1961-1969 (Video documentary) (performer: "Nowhere Man")
2010/II Bieber Fever (Short) (performer: "All You Need Is Love")
2010 The Hooker with a Heart of Gold (performer: "Don't Let Me Down")
2010 The Social Network (performer: "Baby, You're A Rich Man")
2010 Norwegian Wood (performer: "Norwegian Wood")
2010 Movie Nights (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- A Day in the Life of Tommy Wiseau (2010) ... (performer: "What Goes On")
2010 Dinner for Schmucks (performer: "The Fool on the Hill" (1967))
2010 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Twist & Shout", "A Day in the Life", "When I'm 64", "Flying", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" - uncredited)
2010 Prozhektorperiskhilton (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
2010 I'm in a Rock 'n' Roll Band (TV Mini-Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- The Singer (2010) ... (performer: "Twist and Shout", "Help!" - uncredited)
2010 50 años de (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Moda (2010) ... (performer: "Twist and Shout")
2010 SOKO Stuttgart (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Babymacher (2010) ... (performer: "Here Comes the Sun")
2009 Hitchhiker Munchkins (Short) (performer: "I'm Looking Through You")
2009 Stealing Time (performer: "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "The End")
2009 The Beatles: Rock Band (Video Game) (music: "A Day in the Life", "A Hard Day's Night", "Abbey Road Medley", "All You Need is Love", "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "Because", "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite", "Birthday", "Boys", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Come Together", "Day Tripper", "Dear Prudence", "Dig A Pony", "Do You Want To Know A Secret", "Don't Let Me Down", "Drive My Car", "Eight Days A Week", "Fixing A Hole", "Get Back", "Getting Better", "Girl", "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End", "Good Morning Good Morning", "Hello Goodbye", "Helter Skelter", "Her Majesty", "Hey Bulldog", "I Am The Walrus", "I Feel Fine", "I Saw Her Standing There", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "I'm Looking Through You", "I've Got A Feeling", "In My Life", "Lovely Rita", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Michelle", "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Nowhere Man", "Oh Darling", "Paperback Writer", "Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", "Revolution", "Run For Your Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends", "She's Leaving Home", "Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard", "The End", "The Word", "Think For Yourself", "Ticket To Ride", "Wait", "What Goes On", "When I'm Sixty-Four", "Within You Without You/Tommorrow Never Knows", "Yellow Submarine", "You Never Give Me Your Money", "You Won't See Me")
2009 The Beatles on Record (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Blue Jay Way", "I Am the Walrus", "A Hard Day's Night", "Ticket to Ride", "Twist and Shout", "Please, Mr. Postman", "I Me Mine", "Let It Be", "Octopus's Garden")
2009 Willkommen Österreich (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.71 (2009) ... (performer: "Come Together" - uncredited)
2009 Uutishuone (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Olet kohtaloni (2009) ... (performer: "Revolution")
2008 Game Boys (performer: "With a Little Help from My Friends")
2008 Legends (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (performer: "Twist and Shout")
2008/I Ghost Town (performer: "I'm Looking Through You")
2008 60/90 (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Els Beatles i el Cobi (2008) ... (performer: "Yellow Submarine")
2008 Seitenblicke (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode dated 27 May 2008 (2008) ... (performer: "Strawberry Fields Forever")
2006-2008 Parashat Ha-Shavua (TV Series) (performer - 3 episodes)
2001 Zwei Männer am Herd (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Versöhnung auf bayrisch (2001) ... (performer: "I'll Be On My Way" - uncredited)
2001 Top of the Pops: The True Story (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - uncredited)
2000 Okupas (TV Mini-Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Miguel (2000) ... (performer: "Because" - uncredited)
2000 Backdoor (performer: "The Word", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds")
2000 The New Vault (TV Series) (performer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
2000 Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955-1970) (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Twist And Shout", "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her", "Help!")
2000 Shabatot VeHagim (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- 39 (2000) ... (performer: "Long, Long, Long")
2000 Anke (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Anke, ich steh' total auf Machos (2000) ... (performer: "All you need is love")
2000 Paul Is Dead (performer: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "I Am The Walrus")
1999 The '60s (TV Movie) (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1998 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy (Video documentary) (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do" - uncredited)
1998 Lukas (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Unter Strom (1998) ... (performer: "All You Need Is Love" - uncredited)
1993-1998 Tohuwabohu (TV Series) (performer - 8 episodes)
- Fly Like an Eagle (1994) ... (performer: "Can't Buy Me Love")
- Hey Jude (1994) ... (performer: "Hey Jude", "Help!")
1994 Lassie (performer: "In My Life")
1994 Florida Lady (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Neue Wege/Bekanntschaft mit Hindernissen (1994) ... (performer: "Baby You Can Drive My Car")
1993 Sjans (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Nu Even Niet (1993) ... (performer: "You won't leave me" - uncredited)
1993 A Bronx Tale (performer: "Come Together")
1993 You Know My Name (Short) (performer: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)")
- Mother Nature's Son (1992) ... (performer: "Money" - uncredited)
1992 Secrets (performer: "LOVE ME DO", "I SAW HER STANDING THERE", "TWIST AND SHOUT", "Do You Want to Know a Secret")
1992 Die Hausmeisterin (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Da glaub' i, haben wir was falsch gemacht (1992) ... (performer: "She Loves You", "Here Comes The Sun" - uncredited)
1991 Ai monogatari (TV Mini-Series) (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
1991 Matkalaukkukostaja (TV Mini-Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Murhapoltto (1991) ... (performer: "Michelle")
1991 Bullerfnis (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.9 (1991) ... (performer: "Love Me Do")
1990 Because (Short) (performer: "Because")
- Mein Hund, mein Freund (1986) ... (performer: "Good Day Sunshine")
1986 Mala Noche (performer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
1985 Youth Love, Life Love (performer: "ELEANOR RIGBY", "YESTERDAY")
1985 Lavori in corso (performer: "WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS")
1984-1985 Arena (TV Series documentary) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Buddy Holly (1985) ... (performer: "That'll Be The Day")
- The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and Experience (1984) ... (performer: "Some Other Guy", "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1985 Mask (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Girl")
1979-1984 Saturday Night Live (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Robin Williams/Adam Ant (1984) ... (performer: "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Love Me Do")
1983 Cool Cats: 25 Years of Rock 'n' Roll Style (Video documentary) (performer: "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1983 Fantastica SEI! (performer: "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT")
1983 Superman III (performer: "Roll Over Beethoven" - uncredited)
1983 De weg (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- We zijn nog jong (1983) ... (performer: "Love me do", "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1982 Ritorno all'amore (performer: "THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD")
- Confessions of a Train Spotter (1980) ... (performer: "And I Love Her")
1980 Kottan ermittelt (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Räuber und Gendarm (1980) ... (performer: "Please, Mr. Postman")
1980 Jolly Joker (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.1 (1980) ... (performer: "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1978-1980 Derrick (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Ein Lied aus Theben (1980) ... (performer: "Can't buy me love", "Michelle", "Yesterday" - uncredited)
- Der Spitzel (1978) ... (performer: "A Hard Day's Night")
1978 Do You Remember Vietnam (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "Yesterday")
1978 Yesterday the Beatles (Short) (performer: "Yesterday", "The Long and Winding Road")
1978 I Wanna Hold Your Hand (performer: "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Please, Please Me", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Thank You Girl", "Boys", "Twist and Shout", "Misery", "Till There Was You", "Love Me Do", "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "P.S. I Love You", "Please Mr. Postman", "From Me to You", "Money", "There's a Place", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "She Loves You")
1978 Dubbelleven (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Jaap Dolder, nooit van gehoord (1978) ... (performer: "Fool on the Hill" - uncredited)
1978 Coming Home (performer: "Hey Jude" (1968), "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967) - as Beatles)
1975 Oriental Blue (performer: "Hey Bulldog" - uncredited)
1975 Shampoo (performer: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (1967) - uncredited)
1974 Double Header (performer: "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1974 Braverman's Condensed Cream of the Beatles (Documentary short) (performer: "Cry Baby Cry", "Love Me Do", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "A Hard Day's Night", "She Loves You", "All My Loving", "Ticket to Ride", "Yesterday", "Help!", "Her Majesty", "We Can Work It Out", "Eleonor Rigby", "Paperback Writer", "Yellow Submarine", "Penny Lane", "A Little Help From My Friends", "A Day in the Life", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Magical Mystery Tour", "Revolution", "Blackbird", "Hey Jude", "Something", "Come Together")
1974 Tatort (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Gift (1974) ... (performer: "Honey Pie")
1974 Certified Mail (performer: "Please Mr. Postman" - uncredited)
1971 The Neon Palace (performer: "A Day in the Life")
1971 UFO (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Ordeal (1971) ... (performer: "Get Back")
1970 Armchair Theatre (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Wednesday's Child (1970) ... (performer: "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down")
1970 See You at Mao (Documentary) (performer: "Hello, Goodbye")
1970 Let It Be (Documentary) (performer: "Two of Us", "Dig A Pony", "Across the Universe", "I Me Mine", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Besame Mucho", "Dig It", "Let It Be", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909", "Don't Let Me Down", "The Long and Winding Road", "For You Blue", "Get Back")
1970 NBC Experiment in Television (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Music! (1970) ... (performer: "Hey Jude")
- The Politician (1966) ... (performer: "Help!" - uncredited)
1968 Love Love Love (Short) (performer: "All You Need is Love")
1968 The Movie Orgy (Documentary) (performer: "She Loves You")
1968 Omnibus (TV Series documentary) (performer - 1 episode)
- All My Loving (1968) ... (performer: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Yellow Submarine", "Money (That's What I Want)")
1968 Rondom het Oudekerksplein.... (Documentary) (performer: "And I love Her" - uncredited)
1968 Yellow Submarine (performer: "Yellow Submarine", "Hey Bulldog", "Eleanor Rigby", "Love You To", "All Together Now", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "Think For Yourself", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Baby You're A Rich Man", "All You Need Is Love", "When I'm Sixty-Four", "Nowhere Man", "It's All Too Much", "Only a Northern Song", "A Day In the Life")
- Episode #5.26 (1968) ... (performer: "Lady Madonna")
- Episode #4.22 (1967) ... (performer: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane")
1968 The Monkees (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Mijacogeo (1968) ... (performer: "Good Morning, Good Morning" - uncredited)
1968 The Prisoner (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Fall Out (1968) ... (performer: "All You Need Is Love" - uncredited)
1967 The Emperor (Documentary short) (performer: "Strawberry Fields Forever" - uncredited)
1967 Magical Mystery Tour (TV Movie) (performer: "Magical Mystery Tour", "The Fool on the Hill", "Flying", "I Am the Walrus", "Blue Jay Way", "Your Mother Should Know", "Hello Goodbye" - uncredited)
1967 Billion Dollar Brain (performer: "A Hard Day's Night" - uncredited)
1965-1967 The Beatles (TV Series) (performer - 39 episodes)
- Wait/I'm Only Sleeping (1967) ... (performer: "Wait", "Penny Lane", "Eleanor Rigby", "I'm Only Sleeping" - uncredited)
- Tomorrow Never Knows/I've Just Seen a Face (1967) ... (performer: "Tomorrow Never Knows", "She Said She Said", "Long Tall Sally", "I've Just Seen A Face" - uncredited)
- Taxman/Eleanor Rigby (1967) ... (performer: "Taxman", "Got To Get You Into My Life", "Here, There And Everywhere", "Eleanor Rigby", "I Feel Fine" - uncredited)
- Good Day Sunshine/Ticket-to-Ride (1967) ... (performer: "Good Day Sunshine", "Little Child", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Ticket To Ride" - uncredited)
1967 Ein Fall für Titus Bunge (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Das liebende Paar (1967) ... (performer: "We Can Work it Out" - uncredited)
1967 Hoepla (TV Series documentary) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Bont, snel, flitsend (1967) ... (performer: "Within You Without You", "Baby you're a rich man" - uncredited)
- Episode #1.4 ... (performer: "Hello, Goodbye" - uncredited)
1967 Our World (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "All You Need Is Love")
1967 Katzenzungen (TV Movie) (performer: "Help")
1967 Wavelength (performer: "Strawberry Fields Forever")
1967 David Holzman's Diary (performer: "A Day in the Life")
1966 The Beatles at Shea Stadium (TV Movie documentary) (performer: "I'm Down", "Twist and Shout", "I Feel Fine", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", "Ticket to Ride", "Act Naturally", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Baby's in Black", "A Hard Day's Night", "Help!")
1965 Blackpool Night Out (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #2.7 (1965) ... (performer: "I Feel Fine", "I'm Down", "Act Naturally", "Ticket to Ride", "Yesterday", "Help!" - uncredited)
1965 Help! (performer: "Help!" (1965) (uncredited), "You're Going to Lose That Girl" (1965) (uncredited), "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (1965) (uncredited), "Ticket to Ride" (1965) (uncredited), "I Need You" (1965), "The Night Before" (1965) (uncredited), "Another Girl" (1965) (uncredited))
1965 Go Go Mania (performer: "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You")
- Episode dated 16 April 1963 (1963) ... (performer: "From Me to You" - uncredited)
1964 Shindig! (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.4 (1964) ... (performer: "Kansas City", "Hey Hey Hey Hey", "I'm a Loser", "Boys")
1964 A Hard Day's Night (performer: "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "I Should Have Known Better" (1964), "I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963), "Don't Bother Me" (1963), "All My Loving" (1963), "If I Fell" (1964), "Can't Buy Me Love" (1964), "And I Love Her" (1964), "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" (1964), "Tell Me Why" (1964), "She Loves You" (1963) - uncredited)
1964 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes)
- Episode #17.33 (1964) ... (performer: "You Can't Do That")
- Episode #17.21 (1964) ... (performer: "Twist and Shout", "Please Please Me", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - uncredited)
1964 Locked In! (Documentary) (performer: "She Loves You")
1963 Beat City (TV Short documentary) (performer: "There's a Place")
1963 Drop In (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode dated 3 November 1963 (1963) ... (performer: "She Loves You", "Twist and Shout", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Long Tall Sally")
1963 Ready, Steady, Go! (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
- Episode #1.9 (1963) ... (performer: "Twist and Shout", "I'll Get You", "She Loves You" - uncredited)
1962 Tuesday Rendezvous (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode)
| i don't know |
How are 'Zuga' and 'Nadir' better known in the title of an opera by Bizet? | "The Metropolitan Opera HD Live" Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles (TV Episode 2016) - IMDb
IMDb
There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.
Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later.
X Beta I'm Watching This!
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
Error
Eugène Cormon (libretto by), Michel Carré (libretto by)
Stars:
Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence
From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.
Title: Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles (16 Jan 2016)
8.5/10
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.
Add Image Add an image
Do you have any images for this title?
16 January 2016 (USA) See more »
Company Credits
(United Kingdom) – See all my reviews
Despite being Bizet's second most well-known opera after 'Carmen', 'Les Pecheurs De Perles' (The Pearl Fishers) while having some real pearls musically is not up to that opera's level.
Bizet's music is undoubtedly beautiful and certainly shows his gift for melody and orchestration, especially in Nadir's "Je crois entendre encore", Laila's "Comme autrefois" and the justifiably famous tenor-baritone duet "Au fond Du temple saint". To say that these three musical highlights are real pearls (pun intended) is not doing them enough justice. The exotic setting also convinces when done right, and while less than three-dimensional and not with an awful lot of depth (Zurga in Act 3 convinces the most characterisation-wise in the opera) the characters are likable.
On the other hand, the story is the prime reason, from personal opinion, as to why 'Les Pecheurs De Perles' isn't more well-known. It has its moments, but more in individual parts, but it is wafer- thin and inconsistent dramatically (the ensemble scenes feeling static and somewhat cut-and-paste, though it's hard to say whether that's the opera's fault or how it's executed, from experience it's a bit of both) its twist ending also being one of the most implausible in all opera.
Of the two productions seen of 'Les Pecheurs De Perles', the other dating from 2005 at Teatro De Fenice, a quite good production despite some unflattering and un-exotic costumes, a disappointing rendition of "Au fond Du temple saint" and a pretty poor Nadir, this one from the Met is the superior of the two. It is not perfect, and a slight let down after being so bowled over by the season's previous HD production of Berg's 'Lulu', but the exotic setting convinces more here despite not being exactly traditional and the Nadir is leagues better here.
The production's biggest problem is the stage direction. Not that there's anything gratuitous, distasteful or offensive (good for a non-traditional production), but though the opera's story is partly to blame- dramatically it's inconsistent. There are high-points absolutely, you feel the friendship and affection between Nadir and Zurga in "Au fond Du temple saint" (far more so than in Teatro De Fenice's production), "Je crois entendre encore" is heart- breaking and sensitively staged and acted, "Comme autrefois" is charmingly intimate and a great job is done with Zurga in Act 3 ( by far the most rounded characterisation of the production). However, ensembles and less eventful scenes are present, neat and correct but needed more spark and more compelling thrust, the choruses are very static which robs the otherwise splendid Met chorus the chance to show off any individual personalities, despite the committed acting of all principals and beautifully realised chemistry the characters could have been much more interesting and sadly the production doesn't do anything to make the plot twist ending more plausible.
However, the production does look lovely and has a more exotic and atmospheric feel than Teatro De Fenice's production, despite the updating. Costumes while non-traditional are still more appropriate and flattering than the earlier performance, and the lighting has the right amount of atmosphere and intimacy. Video directing, picture and sound quality are excellent and Patricia Racette's hosting is warm, inviting and she seems genuinely interested in the answers given to her in the interviews. Musically, everything is spot-on, the orchestra play ravishingly and the chorus sound so well-rehearsed and balanced (and despite their lacking direction they do perform with engagement). Gianandrea Noseda's forceful but also accommodating conducting, which embraces every nuance and colour the score needs, helps make that possible too.
Principal performances are similarly excellent. Matthew Polenzani is particularly strong as Nadir, singing the killer "Je crois entendre encore" with to-die-for pianissimo singing, smooth as silk legato, some of the most beautiful singing he has ever given and wide- ranging musicality. His acting is heart-breaking in this aria too, and throughout it is a sensitive, deeply-felt interpretation, perhaps the best performance personally seen from him. He and Mariusz Kweicien blend beautifully together, the blending being much more successful than the leads for Teatro De Fenice's production. Kweicien makes for a vocally warm and dramatically vividly authoritative Zurga, especially in Act 3, while Diana Damrau sings like an angel and acts sincerely as Laila, at her best in "Comme autrefois" which fits her like a glove. The role of Nourabad is quite small, but Nicolas Testé sounds appropriately sonorous in it and acts with dignity and firmness.
All in all, inconsistent but intriguing. When it comes out on DVD, it's worth fishing for (again another pun intended). 7/10 Bethany Cox
2 of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
| Les pêcheurs de perles |
On July 10th 1943, 'Operation Husky' saw the landing of British and American troops on which island? | ‘Les Pêcheurs de Perles’ and ‘Tannhäuser’ (Part One) — Casting ‘Pearls’ Before Swine and Vice Versa « Reviews by Josmar Lopes
Better Late Than Never
Matthew Polenzani (Nadir) with the Met Opera Chorus in Les Pecheurs de Perles
Why did it take so long for Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles to come to Lincoln Center?
How could the Metropolitan Opera, this country’s most prestigious and enterprising operatic repertory theater — one that has introduced such borderline causes as Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa and Iolanta, Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, and Shostakovich’s The Nose — have neglected to revive such a tuneful piece as The Pearl Fishers, as it was known in the U.S., for well-on a hundred years?
How did such an oversight occur and what changed the opera company’s mind about it?
In an earlier post of mine, I suggested that it was the late Francis Robinson, a long-time member of the Metropolitan Opera’s administrative staff and dean of the intermission series, “Biographies in Music,” who had the strongest and most vocal opinions regarding the work.
Francis Robinson (The Nashville Opera)
When listeners wrote in with repeated queries as to when, if ever, The Pearl Fishers would be staged anew, the old Kentucky-born gentleman would grumble and squirm in his announcer’s chair before coming up with a reply. After much hemming and hawing and rifling of his notes, Mr. Robinson would provide a measured response: if an iconic cast, comprised as it was, in 1916, of Enrico Caruso, Frieda Hempel, Giuseppe de Luca, and Léon Rothier, was incapable of turning The Pearl Fishers into a gem of the repertoire, how could anyone else hope to do so? Besides, all the best-known melodies are heard in Act I, indicating that nothing beyond that peak was worth bothering about.
Oh, ye of little faith! This is one of those spurious old wives’ tales that has been circulated around the opera for as long as I can remember. The main criticism, even in Bizet’s time, was aimed not so much at the composer’s music but at the creaky and trite libretto concocted by Eugène Cormon (the nom de plume of author Pierre-Étienne Piestre) and Michel Carré, which set the story in ancient Ceylon (our present-day Sri Lanka) among the pearl-diving denizens of that island nation.
Despite the drawbacks, the music far outweighs the silliness of the plot and stands out for what it is. Exotic and melodious, with an airy charm and youthful impetuousness, Georges Bizet’s 1863 opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles marked the musician as a bona-fide artist of the first rank and on the cusp of stardom. Of course, this and Bizet’s subsequent oeuvre (e.g., his incidental music to Alphonse Daudet’s play L’Arlésienne and the opera La Jolie Fille de Perth) would pale in comparison to his final masterpiece, the four-act Carmen from 1875.
Due to a pre-existing throat condition, Bizet died of a fatal heart attack (he was only 38 at the time) a few short months after Carmen’s controversial debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique. What could have been a major career in the theater was cut short by illness and his premature passing. Had he lived another two or three decades, Bizet might have given Wagner or Verdi a run for their money, and quite possibly have earned him the title of greatest living opera composer.
The young Georges Bizet, composer of The Pearl Fishers
Yes, the young Bizet was that talented! Not only was he an exceptionally gifted musician and pianist, but he was known and respected by, as well as mingled and mixed with, many of the era’s most illustrious contemporaries, among them fellow Frenchmen Charles Gounod, Camille Saint-Saëns, Hector Berlioz, Fromental Halévy (whose daughter, Geneviève, became Bizet’s wife), and Jacques Offenbach, as well as the pre-eminent Italian composer of his day, Gioachino Rossini.
However, it was Bizet’s command of the French idiom and the influence of Gounod, Offenbach, and ultimately Wagner that propelled the young composer forward. In Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Nadir’s music at his entrance is doubly reminiscent of Hoffmann’s initial appearance in the prologue to Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. As well, the chorus in Les Pêcheurs, with echoes of Bizet’s Carmen, is given similar-sounding treatment in their introductory passages. Even the ubiquitous French horns, featured prominently in Leila’s Act II solo from Les Pêcheurs, may kindle fond memories in listeners of Micaela’s “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante,” from Act III of Carmen. Like many composers, Bizet had no qualms about borrowing from himself.
Unfortunately, there was no complete orchestral score for Les Pêcheurs, only the surviving vocal score. Written when Bizet was 24, the version that went into circulation after his death, and that was subsequently published by Choudens, is many times removed from the original. In addition, other editorial hands have altered and rearranged the opera’s music (Benjamin Godard for one, who inserted a new trio at the end). Why, even the work’s most famous and best-loved number, the duet “Au fond du temple saint,” had a much different ending (this one, by Bizet’s hand) that contrasted radically with the familiar main theme.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t help noticing that this same theme, sung so movingly by Nadir and Zurga in Act I, could have served as a model for Verdi’s tenor-baritone pairing, “Dio, che nell’ alma infondere,” from his opera Don Carlo, or the Don Alvaro-Don Carlo duet, “Solenne in quest’ora,” from La Forza del Destino. A justifiable and recognizable coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not.
There are various explanations as to what brought the opera back after so many derisive decades in limbo. But for the purposes of the Met’s revival, an October 2008 article in Opera News, by architect and writer James C. Whitson, made it clear that Les Pêcheurs had regained its foothold in the U.S. due partly to American audiences’ craving for “romance.”
Whitson quotes dramaturg Roger Pines in claiming: “[We] want the music we hear in the opera house to be beautiful. American audiences simply can’t accept much of the repertoire [in European houses], because the sounds aren’t attractive enough to our ears.”
Matthew Polenzani (Nadir) & Mariusz Kwiecien (Zurga), in “Au fond du temple saint”
Fair enough. Certainly a large portion of this feeling comes from the “narcotic effect on listeners” induced by the stirring tenor-baritone duet “Au fond du temple saint” — paradoxically, the very tune that Francis Robinson had once found so restricting to the opera’s success at the Met.
Additionally, Whitson’s article takes a few well-placed swipes at the common knowledge concerning the libretto’s lack of viability and the composer’s incredible ability to overcome its source: “Bizet shows tremendous skill in building a dramatic scena, providing subtle musical cohesion where recitative meets aria or ensemble. Through the sophisticated orchestration and novel harmonic diversions, one frequently glimpses the shapely form of Carmen.” So there it is.
Whitson concludes his argument by stating, unequivocally, that “It’s a miracle, really, how Bizet shaped [the librettists’] ‘infamous bear’ into a creditable opera.”
So, On with the Show Already!
Much work went into restoring the composer’s original vision, including that stirring tenor-baritone duet and the final denouement, for the Met’s newest presentation of Les Pêcheurs de Perles. The production was directed by Peggy Woolcock, which was originally conceived for the English National Opera, with set designs by Dick Bird and video projections by 59 Productions.
The story’s setting was relocated, somewhat, to a village in the Far East, which still kept the exoticism implicit in the scoring, amid potent reminders of the ravages of the tsunami that hit Indonesia about a decade ago. Was it another of those “modern dress” updates? Yes, but only intermittently so.
Nourabad (Nicolas Teste) & Leila (Diana Damrau)
In keeping to audience expectations, the familiar climax to that favorite among record collectors, “Au fond du temple saint,” has also been preserved, the main theme of which gets repeated at various intervals all through the opera — and fittingly so. Bizet was no fool where main themes were concerned. Just give a listen to Carmen’s impressive “Fate” motif, and you’ll know what I mean.
He has also built his scenes in strict symphonic order: first, the main statement and theme, followed by a middle section with variations thereof; then, a return to the primary statement, but more forceful upon its recurrence. Such was the case with the opera’s opening chorus, “Sur la grève en feu,” and the scene of Leila’s taking of her priestess’ vows, which ends with a reiteration of the orchestral introduction. There’s an incredibly vivid second-act storm scene, robustly executed by the Met Opera Orchestra and projected onscreen in a powerful video display.
Moving on to Saturday’s radio broadcast of January 16, 2016, the cast featured German soprano Diana Damrau as Leila, American tenor Matthew Polenzani as Nadir, Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé as Nourabad — not exactly comparable to Hempel, Caruso, De Luca, and Rothier, mind you, but more than satisfactory all by themselves. The conductor was the noted Italian maestro Gianandrea Noseda, who previously led a masterfully conceived reimagining at the Met of Borodin’s epic opera, Prince Igor, back in 2014.
In as important a revival as this one turned out to be, casting was key. In that, the singers met every challenge head on, so much so that I came away with renewed respect for this beautifully melodic work. If nothing else, it proved beyond a doubt the folly of the Met’s original assessment.
Mary Jo Heath, the broadcast host, mentioned on the air that listeners had not heard this work in a hundred years. That may have been true of the Met itself, but not for this listener. I had previously familiarized myself with The Pearl Fishers’ musical jewels through numerous recordings by such artists as Jussi Bjoerling and Robert Merrill, in their superb and justly admired rendition of “Au fond du temple saint,” and the likes of Alfredo Kraus, Léopold Simoneau, Richard Tucker, and Nicolai Gedda, with Nadir’s benchmark tune (mentioned below).
Matthew Polenzani as Nadir, in “Jes crois entendre encore”
To begin with, Matthew Polenzani’s Nadir was the virtual embodiment of exotica in extremis. His dreamy depiction of the Act I aria, “Je crois entendre encore,” was skillfully handled and softly uttered high up in the nether reaches of his range, leading to an exquisite morendo ending whereby the combination of head and chest tone mixed with falsetto (termed voix mixte) was flawlessly balanced and evenly produced. The number is marked pianissimo throughout, and in this instance Polenzani kept to the composer’s directive.
Likewise, Polenzani displayed a melting mezza voce, as well as took the elongated phrases of each verse all in one breath — amazingly done, with nary a hint of effort on his part. That’s artistry for you! The result typifies that mood of “intoxicated surrender,” as Lord Harewood described it in the chapter on Les Pêcheurs in the volume Opera on Record 2, “with which the composer drugs his lovers as with an opiate.” I’ll vouch for that! Bizet also happened to have left the enthusiastic Met audience drugged right along with it, and pleading for more.
The ebb and flow of Nadir’s lilting, trance-like air reflects its undulating rhythm as a barcarolle (mirroring the work’s seaside surroundings), which just about sums up his Act II serenade to his beloved Leila, “De mon amie fleur endormie,” sung with equal facility. Marvelous!
As Leila, the object of Nadir’s affection, Diana Damrau managed the role’s coloratura fireworks with efficiency and ease, tossing off the roulades and scales called for in her extended scene, “Me voilà seule dans la nuit,” much to the public’s delight.
Diana Damrau as Leila
Dramatically, the soprano helped build a solid case for this part, one that’s been too often glossed over in the past by artists with less means of expression and vocal assurance than Ms. Damrau demonstrated. Need we mention that she looked absolutely stunning in her flowing silk robes? Many thanks to costume designer Kevin Pollard for his fine work, and to the Met’s makeup department for those convincing body tattoos.
The work’s high spot was the electrically charged Act III confrontation between a raging Zurga, marvelously voiced and acted by a swaggering Mariusz Kwiecien, and the equally insistent Leila, sung by Damrau. Their sizzling duet, “O ciel, quel trouble,” wherein the jealous Zurga comes to realize how much Leila still loves his childhood companion Nadir, pushed both artists to their vocal and histrionic limits.
Kwiecien chewed up the scenery, as it were, not only with Damrau in attendance but in his extraordinarily lyrical piece, “Ô, Nadir, tendre ami de mon jeune âge,” that came before and that opens the third act. The buildup is the atmospheric prelude that Bizet obligingly provided and the remarkable recitative that comes afterward, “L’orage s’est calmé,” along with the character’s changing moods and reflections on his golden youth.
Damrau (Leila) with Kwiecien (Zurga) in Act III
Though he started the opera off a bit rough around the edges, Kwiecien settled down sufficiently to blend well with Polenzani. Again, both artists took the last line of their Act I duet in one breath, holding on to the climactic note and milking the moment for all it was worth. They were greeted with the warmest applause of the afternoon. Damrau’s real-life husband, Nicolas Testé, looked and sounded properly authoritative in his brief turn as the high priest Nourabad.
In a choir-heavy piece such as this, the chorus is of paramount importance in conveying the mood and flavor demanded by the composer. Donald Palumbo’s Met Opera Chorus was particularly outstanding in this regard, exuding both a physical and tonal force of nature that perfectly fit director Woolcock’s concept of a community in transition.
Even though it was not an acknowledged hit at its premiere, Bizet’s pearl of a stage work was undeniably influential in its heyday. It is speculated that Léo Delibes, a fine tunesmith in his own right, may have borrowed some of its intoxicated airs for his 1883 opéra-comique Lakmé, set in British-occupied India. I wouldn’t doubt it.
We can top that: The Pearl Fishers’ Act II chorus, during that violent storm scene, is almost a line-by-line musical quotation from Saint-Saëns’ future 1877 opus Samson et Dalila, specifically in the High Priest of Dagon’s railing against the Hebrew slaves, “Maudite à jamais soit la race des enfants d’Israël” (“May the children of Israel be forever cursed”), and in the chorus’ interjections.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the French owe Monsieur Bizet a hefty and long-overdue royalty payment. Along those same lines, the Met should apologize for Francis Robinson’s poor evaluation of the composer’s youthful work.
It’s tough to admit when you’re wrong. But after nearly a century of excuses, The Pearl Fishers’ time has finally come. Vive la différence!
(End of Part One)
Copyright © 2016 by Josmar F. Lopes
Share this:
| i don't know |
What was the codename of the military operation of June 22nd. 1941, in which German troops invaded Russia? | 22nd June 1941: Barbarossa – The invasion of Russia begins
June 1941
Barbarossa – The invasion of Russia begins
Dawn breaks on the 22nd June 1941 as some of the millions of German troops begin their march east.
Hours before the launch of the largest invasion the world had ever seen, a German soldier with communist sympathies had swam across the Bug river to give a warning to the Russians. Stalin ordered that he be shot for spreading disinformation.
Max Kuhnert was a soldier in a cavalry reconnaissance unit attached to an infantry regiment. In the early hours of the morning he was taking his horses to be watered:
At exactly 3.15 a.m., in the faint first light of day I was on my way to water the horses at the river when the whole area exploded. All hell was let loose and I prayed for the strength to hold my two horses.
The noise and sight were indescribable, the earth seemed to tremble, all the batteries came alive out of the darkness of the pine trees. Flames shot towards the border followed by the explosion of the shells on the other side. All around us were what appeared to be great sheets of lightning, torn through by flames while thunder crashed and boomed.
The barrage kept on and on, no one could hear anything else and orders had to be given by hand signal. We were ordered to march towards the river, where special units had already erected a pontoon bridge, over which, although we could not hear them, we could see our tanks rumbling.
For an hour and a half the firing continued, and then we could hear the Russian planes attacking our invading troops; many of them got shot down by our fighters.
Regimental Sergeant-Major Hamann told me to get over the river under my own steam, in other words, I was to get the horses across, but not over the pontoon bridge as there was simply no room for the animals; in any case I believe the horses would have panicked with the tremendous swaying of the bridge—it was a fast-flowing river.
A Soviet BT7 tank - a 'cavalry' or fast tank - burns as the Germans approach. Soviet resistance was often determined but was very badly co-ordinated at a strategic level.
The German Panzer armies were to spearhead the assault.
Hitler believed that they only needed to ‘kick in the door’ and the whole Soviet army would just collapse. It was an opinion shared by most in the German high command. It was also widely held in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. A Lieutenant in the 74th Infantry Division wrote home on the 22nd:
I’ll tell you in advance that in four to five weeks time the swastika flag will be wafting over the Kremlin in Moscow, and that moreover we will have Russia finished this year and Tommy on the carpet. . .
Ja — it is no secret, when and how, that we will be in Moscow within four weeks with our as yet undefeated Wehrmacht. It is only 1,000km from Suwalki as the crow flies.
We only need to conduct another Blitzkrieg. We only know how to attack. Forward, onward and again forward in concert with our heavy weapons raining fire, cordite, iron, bombs and shells — all on the heads of the Russians. That’s all it needs.
Quoted by Robert Kershaw in War Without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa 1941-1942
.
For the vast majority of the German troops it was still a matter of foot slogging.
Thousands of Russian aircraft were destroyed on their airfields during the first few days.
Three weeks before Heinz Knoke had been on the Dover-Ashford-Canterbury ‘milk run’ over south east England. At 0500 on the 22nd he took off for his first mission on the Russian front:
Flying low over the broad plains, we notice endless German columns rolling eastwards. The bomber formations overhead and the dreaded Stuka dive-bombers alongside us are all heading in the same direction. We are to carry out a low-level attack on one of the Russian headquarters, situated in the woods to the west of Druskieniki.
On Russian territory, by contrast, everything appears to be asleep. We locate the headquarters and fly low over the wooden buildings, but there is not a Russian soldier in sight. Swooping at one of the huts, I press the bomb-release button on the control stick. I distinctly feel the aircraft lift as it gets rid of the load.
The others drop theirs at the same time. Great masses of dirt fountain up into the air, and for a time we are unable to see because of all the smoke and dust.
One of the huts is fiercely blazing. Vehicles have been stripped of their camouflage and overturned by the blast. The Ivans at last come to life. The scene below is like an overturned ant-heap, as they scurry about in confusion. Stepsons of Stalin in their underwear flee for cover in the woods. Light flak-guns appear. I set my sights on one of them, and open up with machine-guns and both cannon. An Ivan at the gun falls to the ground, still in underwear.
And now for the next one! Round again, and I let them have it. The Russians stand fast and begin firing back at me. ” Just wait till I take the fun out of your shooting, you bastards! ”
Round yet again for another attack.
I never shot as well as this before. I come down to six feet, almost brushing the tree-tops in the process. Then pull up sharply in a climbing turn. My Ivans lie flat on the ground beside their gun. One of them leaps to his feet and dashes into the trees. The remainder forget to get up again.
…
At last the spell is broken. We have dreamed for a long time of doing something like this to the Bolshevists. Our feeling is not exactly one of hatred, so much as utter contempt. It is a genuine satisfaction for us to be able to trample the Bolshevists in the mud where they belong.
| Barbarossa |
Which post-war Prime Minister was MP for Warwick and Leamington? | Events - World War Two Stories
World War Two Stories
personal letter
Germany attacks the Soviet Union.
Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II.
The destruction of the Soviet Union by military force, the permanent elimination of the perceived Communist threat to Germany, and the seizure of prime land within Soviet borders for long-term German settlement had been a core policy of the Nazi movement since the 1920s. Adolf Hitler had always regarded the German-Soviet nonaggression pact, signed on August 23, 1939, as a temporary tactical maneuver. In July 1940, just weeks after the German conquest of France and the Low Countries, Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union within the following year. On December 18, 1940, he signed Directive 21 (code-named Operation "Barbarossa"), the first operational order for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Britain and the United States declare war on Japan
On December 8, 1941 the United States Congress declared war upon the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. It was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech presidential address of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following the declaration, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, definitively bringing the United States into World War II.
The Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of Coral Sea took place in May 1942. If the Japanese had succeeded at Coral Sea, the way would have been open for the Japanese to have captured New Guinea and leave Australia isolated from Allied help and more open to a Japanese attack. The Battle of Coral Sea was fought entirely by planes – no ship on either side made any visual contact with any enemy ship.
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway, fought in June 1942, must be considered one of the most decisive battles of World War Two. The Battle of Midway effectively destroyed Japan’s naval strength when the Americans destroyed four of its aircraft carriers. Japan’s navy never recovered from its mauling at Midway and it was on the defensive after this battle.
The Battle of Guadalcanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal took place in 1942 when the US Marines landed on August 7th. The landing at Guadalcanal was unopposed - but it took the Americans six months to defeat the Japanese in what was to turn into a classic battle of attrition.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Battle of Britain
In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. Britain’s decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces while proving that air power alone could be used to win a major battle.
Germans bomb Paris
On this day in 1940, the German air force bombs Paris, killing 254 people, most of them civilians.
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle for Stalingrad was fought during the winter of 1942 to 1943. In September 1942, the German commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulus, assisted by the Fourth Panzer Army, advanced on the city of Stalingrad. His primary task was to secure the oil fields in the Caucasus and to do this, paulus was ordered by Hitler to take Stalingrad. The Germans final target was to have been Baku.
The Battle of Barents Sea
The Battle of Barents Sea took place on December 31st, 1942. Barents Sea, as a battle, is not frequently referred, to but it did lead to Adolf Hitler ordering the scrapping of his entire battle fleet.
Operation Barbarossa
German troops cross the border and walk into Soviet Russia. An event that would have calamitous consequences for Germany four years later.
Ukrainian women give German soldiers water to drink. Initially the German were welcomed in Ukraine. They were sick of Stalin's brutal ways. But when the bad boys from the Einsatzgruppen came in the wake of the Wehrmacht it began to dawn on the people there that the Germans were worse; they turned against them.
Russian sniper V A Sidorov takes position to pick a German victim in August 1941. He is armed with a Mosin rifle. Soviet snipers became legends during the war and they got special treatment.
Captured women Soviet soldiers at Nevel (Pskov area). With reference to the mass rape of German women in 1945 by the Russian army; we must keep in mind the number of rapes that German soldiers committed in Soviet Union. German soldiers were no angels.
Ukrainians of Lutz welcome the Germans. If Hitler had used his head and not his Untermenschen-Jews-to-be-wiped-out theory, he might well have conquered Russia.
WWII Artifacts
The Sturmgewher 44 was the world's first true assault rifle and was introduced by the German army late in WWII. It was the direct inspiration for the Russian AK47, the most prolific gun in the world. If the war had continued another year, the SG44 would have replaced every other rifle, ligh machine gun, and submachine gun in the Wehrmacht, including the antique Karabiner 98k and anemic MP38.
Almost 70 years ago ( 1942-1943) during the WWII, a German plane was shot down by the Royal Air Force. It fell into the English channel. It was under water for so long. The water had done a lot of damage.
Long live Red Army of workers and peasants - the true guard of the Soviet borders!
The tank looks like the T-35 soviet Tank that was used in WWII. The T-35 is a heavy tank produced in 1933 in the soviet Union. Is was in service from 1935- 1941. And it can reach maximum speed of 30 km/h
Create a free website
| i don't know |
Kinross and West Perthshire was the constituency of which post-war Prime Minister? | November 1963: that was the by-election that was | The Independent
November 1963: that was the by-election that was
REAR WINDOW: KINROSS AND WEST PERTHSHIRE
Friday 10 March 1995 00:02 BST
Click to follow
Indy Lifestyle Online
THE outcome of the 1963 Kinross and West Perthshire by-election, held on 7 November, was never seriously in doubt, but it remains one of the most celebrated of post-war by-elections and the only one in which a prime minister stood as candidate.
In the coming weeks, much of the same rural territory will be trodden in the by-election to find a replacement for Sir Nicholas Fairbairn. It is unlikely to be as memorable a happening, though it may be a useful reminder of how much has changed (and how much has stayed the same) since 1963.
An extraordinary sequence of events led to the 14th Earl of Home offering himself to the electorate of Kinross and West Perthshire - a constituency which fitted him like a glove and which he represented until retiring from the Commons in 1974.
There were few more feudal or more solidly Tory corners of the kingdom than rural Perthshire. For most of the electorate, even during the Tory melt-down months of 1963, the appearance of an earl who was temporarily obliged to become a commoner for the purpose of being prime minister, was too good to be true.
It was a year which had produced the Profumo scandal, a series of spy dramas and Dr Beeching's plans for the railways. Harold Macmillan's administration went into free-fall in the opinion polls, and pressure mounted for him to resign. On 8 October, he went into hospital leaving RA Butler to chair the Cabinet.
A file of contenders and party grandees trooped into the King Edward VII Hospital for discussions. These were the days when leaders of the Conservative Party "emerged" rather than triumphed through any electoral process, and on 18 October Macmillan advised the Queen to send for Lord Home - the first peer to become prime minister since Lord Salisbury in 1895.
By the early 1960s, however, the idea of a prime minister in the Lords was unacceptable. This was where chance recent events came to the aid of Home. Earlier in 1963, Parliament had passed the Peerage Act allowing hereditary peers to renounce their titles on accession, or within 12 months of the passing of the Act. The new prime minister quickly set about doing so. He had, however, to remain in Parliament. The Tory MP for Kinross and West Perthshire, Gilmour Leburn, had died in August at the age of 50. George Younger was to be the Tory candidate in a by-election scheduled for 7 November.
Younger agreed to stand down, was found a seat in Ayr instead and never had cause to look back. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, as he now became, was nominated as Conservative and Unionist candidate, and the shortest by- election circus in modern political history was under way. Sir Alec combined the roles of prime minister and candidate.
A colourful field lined up against him, including Willy Rushton. It was the hey-day of BBC Television's That Was the Week That Was, on which Rushton was accustomed to playing Macmillan, while Lance Percival sent up Home.
However, his opening meeting in Killin attracted an audience of 300 who heard Rushton go "lightly and scathingly through the Prime Minister's life" and "frequently mimicking" the great man. Killin had seen nothing like it before. Rushton announced that his candidacy was a protest against "the completely arrogant way Lord Home has moved into Downing Street".
This reflected a widespread resentment and sense of astonishment throughout the country, though Perth and Kinross itself was the least likely breeding ground for such sentiments of lse majest. Sir Alec went on his stately way through the constituency. Opponents protested when schoolchildren were given a half-day to cheer his presence.
The Glasgow Herald reported admiringly how he combined the roles of candidate and statesman. "In the morning, suitably dressed in an old tweed knickerbocker suit, thick woollen socks and stout shoes, he went hill- farming...This evening, he took off, as Prime Minister, for London."
But while the style was quintessential grouse-moors Toryism, the political message makes curiously consensual reading today. When Sir Alec addressed "1,000 cheering women voters" in Crieff, he advised them that the policy of the Conservative Party was "not greedy materialism". To enhance all- round prosperity, he said, "we have set up the National Economic Development Council in which the Government, industry and trade unions are co-operating. For, if Britain is to prosper, all must play their part."
The by-election outcome was never in doubt. The Tory share of the vote dropped to a healthy 58 per cent, the Liberals came second and Rushton received 45 votes.
Asked if he intended to buy a house in the constituency, Sir Alec replied: "Good heavens, no. I have too many houses already." The Liberals called for a ban on opinion polls during by-elections, describing them as "a dangerous interference in the democratic process".
On the same night, the Tories lost Luton where Charles Hill, "the Radio Doctor", had been unwisely elevated to the peerage. Their defeat soon proved to be a more prophetic guide to the mood of the country than Sir Alec Douglas-Home's triumph in the glens of Perthshire.
The writer is the Labour MP for Cunninghame North.
More about:
| Alec Douglas-Home |
Which US state, bordered by Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts, is nicknamed the 'Granite State'? | Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World - Alec Douglas-Home
Thursday, 24 May 2007, 12:00AM
Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World - Alec Douglas-Home
D R Thorpe, The Earl of Home
Share this lecture
Continuing last year's series of lectures, delivered by distinguished guest speakers, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the War, looking at change in Britain through the eyes of the UK's Prime Ministers.
The lecture was introduced by the Earl of Home, the son of Alec Douglas-Home.
This is a part of the series Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World. The other lectures in this series are as follows:
Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World - Alec Douglas-Home
D R Thorpe
PRIME MINISTERS IN THE POST-WAR WORLD: ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME
D.R. Thorpe
After Andrew Bonar Law's funeral in Westminster Abbey in November 1923, Herbert Asquith observed, 'It is fitting that we should have buried the Unknown Prime Minister by the side of the Unknown Soldier'. Asquith owed Bonar Law no posthumous favours, and intended no ironic compliment, but the remark was a serious under-estimate. In post-war politics Alec Douglas-Home is often seen as the Bonar Law of his times, bracketed with his fellow Scot as an interim figure in the history of Downing Street between longer serving Premiers; in Bonar Law's case, Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin, in Home's, Harold Macmillan and Harold Wilson. Both Law and Home were certainly 'unexpected' Prime Ministers, but both were also 'under-estimated' and they made lasting beneficial changes to the political system, both on a national and a party level. The unexpectedness of their accessions to the top of the greasy pole, and the brevity of their Premierships (they were the two shortest of the 20th century, Bonar Law's one day short of seven months, Alec Douglas-Home's two days short of a year), are not an accurate indication of their respective significance, even if the precise details of their careers were not always accurately recalled, even by their admirers. The Westminster village is often another world to the general public. Stanley Baldwin was once accosted on a train from Chequers to London, at the height of his fame, by a former school friend. 'It's Baldwin, isn't it?', he asked. 'Harrow, '84?' Baldwin paused in his perusal of The Timescrossword and confirmed the details. His friend leant forward. 'And what are you doing now?' The equivalent moment for Alec Douglas-Home came in retirement travelling back to Berwick-upon-Tweed, when he was engaged in conversation in a railway carriage by an elderly couple. 'My husband and I think it was a great tragedy that you were never Prime Minister', said the lady, as they parted. 'As a matter of fact I was', replied Home, with his customary politeness, adding, 'but only for a very short time.'
Home owed the possibility of that very short time indirectly to Tony Benn, erstwhile the Second Viscount Stansgate. Following Benn's determined campaign in the early 1960s for the right to renounce his title, the Peerage Act came on to the Statute Book on 31 July 1963. In January 1963 the Government had promised that the Bill should 'become law in time to take practical effect at, but not before, the next General Election.' But this did not satisfy supporters of the Bill. Further discussion led to the Lords' declaration on 8 May 1963 that 'Surrender should not extinguish the peerage itself' (a crucial factor for Home). The Opposition amendment of 16 July 1963, proposed by Lord Silkin, some think with the encouragement of Lord Salisbury, astute kingmaker, which the Lords endorsed by 105 votes to 25, was that the Act should become operative on receiving the Royal Assent. This followed a fortnight later. Existing hereditary peers now had a window of twelve months in which to disclaim their Peerages if they so wished. The second Viscount Stansgate disclaimed his at once.
As the leadership of the Conservative Party was increasingly a matter of speculation in the summer of 1963, this Act, and the date of its implementation, subtly altered the ground rules. Both Lord Hailsham and Lord Home, who had discussed the matter in May 1963, were theoretically potential future candidates, if they so wished, but only it seemed after the next election, when the matter would have been resolved one way or another without their participation. One of the myths of this time is that the Profumo affair shortened Macmillan's Premiership. In fact, it did precisely the opposite. In the summer of 1963 Macmillan had been seriously thinking of stepping down, in which case his successor would almost certainly have been Reginald Maudling, then on a political high. The Profumo Affair removed that possibility. It would have been seen as an admission of failure by Macmillan to have gone in the midst of that furore. Macmillan decided to stay on and to fight the next election. Only his prostate condition in October - 'the hand of fate' as Macmillan called it - led him to resign, almost welcoming by then the opportunity of a way out.
At this moment, thanks to the amended Peerage Act, Hailsham and Home were now papabile - and without the years of scrutiny that had attended figures such as Rab Butler, Reginald Maudling or Edward Heath, though at that stage only Hailsham was considered a possibility for a future disclaimer. Although Home and Hailsham were senior figures, they were fresh faces in this particular race. 'Enter Mr Hogg and Mr Home', as Anthony Howard put it in the New Statesman, an article which concentrated Home's mind on the options.
The subsequent Conservative Leadership contest in October 1963 is still surrounded by many inaccurate myths. Suffice it to quote Professor Vernon Bogdanor, 'The outcome, the selection of Lord Home, cannot be said seriously to have misrepresented Conservative opinion at the time.' Criticism of the Queen too is unfounded. To quote Professor Bogdanor again, 'If the Conservative Party was divided, as it clearly was, the Queen could only compromise the position of the monarchy if she were to take part in that conflict.' The point that is often overlooked is that not only was Rab Butler not going to get the leadership, but he knew that himself, which is why he dreaded the moment of Macmillan's retirement. John Morrison, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, had told Butler in the summer of 1963 that 'the chaps won't have you', and when that autumn Butler met Maudling by chance in the street outside Maudling's Hans Place apartment, he said to him in the course of the conversation, 'Of course, I'll be very pleased to serve under you Reggie, when the time comes.' Hailsham's candidature was ended by the Americans, who let it be known through the British Ambassador in Washington, Lord Harlech, that Lord Hailsham as Prime Minister would be the end of the special relationship. The two serious candidates by October were Home and Maudling, and after a trawl of the whole party inside and outside Parliament Home was given what was in essence the 'first option'.
Crucially, Lord Home did not kiss hands when he was called to the Palace, but agreed to see first if he was able to form a government. The acceptance of the Foreign Office by Butler, the central figure, established Home as Prime Minister. So Rab Butler, mindful of Peel and the split over the Corn Laws in the 1840s, made Home Prime Minister, not Harold Macmillan. By then there was no point in Hailsham, or Maudling being 'plus royal que le roi', and in Lord Beaverbrook's vivid phrase, 'Home had the loaves and the fishes'. When Home asked Maudling to stay on in the Treasury, he also told him that if he (Home) was unable to form a Government, then Maudling would be the politician the Queen would then invite to try to form an administration. Although Iain Macleod and Enoch Powell declined to serve, Home was able to form a government without them.
If Home's entry into Downing Street was unusual - the nearest parallel was Queen Victoria's invitation to Lord Hartington in 1880 to try to form a government - the first few weeks were constitutionally unprecedented, as for a short time after Home had disclaimed his title to seek election in the by-election at Kinross and West Perthshire, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a member of neither House of Parliament, a position to be repeated, regarding the Foreign Secretaryship, between October 1964 and January 1965, after Patrick Gordon-Walker had lost his seat at Smethwick at the General Election. Home ensured then that the Conservatives did not make political capital of this constitutional anomaly, as, in a way unimaginable today, Labour had let the matter take its natural course when he was seeking election to the Commons.
Home had a difficult legacy. The Conservatives had been in office for twelve years and third term governments, rare phenomena in any case, are by their very nature often unpopular, as Tony Blair has recently admitted. Although the Conservatives still had a comfortable majority from their 1959 General Election victory, despite some dramatic by-election losses, there was an atmosphere of damage limitation. Home faced in Harold Wilson, a formidable Leader of the Opposition, a figure wholly in tune with the Zeitgeist of the age. An election was due within a year, and few expected many fresh initiatives. They were to be proved wrong. From his first day in Downing Street Home concentrated on putting the Conservatives in a position to win what would then have been an unprecedented fourth term. In the event he failed by the narrowest of margins, a few hundred votes judiciously redistributed in the most marginal seats would have altered the overall result. The Conservatives were 11 percentage points behind Labour when Alec Home became Prime Minister; twelve months later they suffered defeat by only 0.7 per cent, indeed the Labour share of the vote (at 44.1 per cent) was only 0.3 per cent higher than in October 1959 when they had lost by 100 seats.
Home's Cabinet contained a blend of experienced figures and the leading politicians of the next generation. But it was not a Cabinet that was always at ease with itself. The events of October 1963 cast a long shadow and there was a sense of jostling for post-election positions, probably in Opposition. Rab Butler became Foreign Secretary, the post he had wanted in 1957, and which made him then only the second politician after Sir John Simon to have held all three of the great offices of state below the Premiership. But the appointment was not the one by which his career will be remembered. He was moving into the political arena where the Prime Minister had acknowledged expertise, and in which he had relatively little experience, apart from his unhappy pre-war spell as Under Secretary at the time of Munich, a point he acknowledged in his first major speech in the Commons as Foreign Secretary. 'I know that I shall greatly profit by the Prime Minister's own experience and great skill as Foreign Secretary in conducting my own duties as Foreign Secretary in succession to him.' Butler, his spirit crushed by three failures to become Prime Minister, in 1953 (with hindsight Butler thought this his best opportunity), 1957 and 1963, was de-mob happy, and even more prone to his famous Rabbisms. 'Mind you, Alec's an awfully good man, really', he would say at meetings. And when he visited Moscow University on his Russian tour, he amazed his hosts by asking through the interpreter, 'Is this university state-aided?' More seriously, just before the election in October Butler told a reporter that 'things might start slipping in the last few days', adding, inaccurately as it proved, 'they won't slip towards us.' When Home published in retirement what proved a bestselling political memoir, Butler offered it to weekend guests at his home at Stanstead, asking if they would care 'to look at this book on fishing.'
Maudling continued as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Henry Brooke as Home Secretary. Hailsham was Lord President and later, in addition, in charge of Education and Science. Duncan Sandys, Peter Thorneycroft, Freddie Erroll and Geofrey Rippon were also prominent figures. Two of the key figures were in non-departmental jobs. Selwyn Lloyd, the most loyal of the loyal, was recalled to the Cabinet as Leader of the House and Lord Privy Seal (he had been the principal victim of Macmillan's Night of the Long Knives in July 1962), and provided Home with not only support and encouragement, but also the riposte about Harold Wilson being 'the 14th Mr Wilson'. John Hare, now Viscount Blakenham, was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Party Chairman. Blakenham was the principal advocate of an early election, so much so that he was dubbed 'the March Hare'. Home, rightly, decided to follow Harold Macmillan's advice and play it as long as possible constitutionally, even into November. (He later regretted not going to the country even later than 15 October.) But the key figure in terms of the legacy the Home government would leave was in fact the man destined to be Home's successor as Party Leader, Edward Heath, the President of the Board of Trade.
With his combination of reforming zeal and determination to modernise, Heath had published a bill in January 1964 to abolish resale price maintenance. Its effects can be seen today in the cut price stickers on the piles of books in any high street Waterstone's. The free market concept was an ideal banner for the Conservative modernisers, but it threatened the livelihood of many small shopkeepers. A vociferous campaign, orchestrated by the Daily Express, fuelled sectional protests and a back bench rebellion. On 11 March 1964, 21 Conservatives voted against Heath's bill and 17others abstained. In a later division the government had a majority of only one. The issue was at the heart of the old tensions between free traders and protectionists in the Conservative Party. Modernisers saw a system that legitimised an anti-competitive structure, at levels fixed by the manufacturers of branded goods, as incompatible with the radical business restructuring needed for Britain's trading survival. Caution was urged by those who had the interests of the traditionally Tory shopkeepers in mind. Home, who believed industrial modernisation was vital, backed Heath, even though the Cabinet, as they had been in 1959 when the issue had last been raised, were divided. 'The government had committed themselves to a policy of modernising Britain and promoting a more efficient user of resources', Home told the Cabinet on 14 January 1964. 'This policy would fail to carry conviction if they were to tolerate the continuance of a practice so manifestly at variance with it.' After much controversy and backbench revolts, the Bill passed its third reading on 13 May. The main impact of the abolition was positive. It showed that the government had not run out of new ideas and was not prepared to have economic policy dictated by vested interest groups, even if these were traditional Conservative supporters, and as such it was the harbinger of even more decisive changes in the future. Many Tories feared that the whole issue would be electorally disadvantageous, but this proved statistically unfounded. 'Once past the House of Commons', David Butler and Anthony King concluded in their book on the 1964 Election, 'the bill aroused little further controversy, and resale price maintenance figured hardly at all at the election.' Another example of Home's decisiveness was his tough stance on trade unions, giving no legislative help over the Rookes v Barnard case in January 1964, when the House of Lords upheld the right of a BOAC employee at Heathrow Airport to damages for unfair dismissal because of a closed shop policy by the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen. He also made regulation 6 of the 1920 Emergency Powers Act a permanent legislative tool, ironically to prove a great help to Harold Wilson during the 1966 seamen's strike.
Within a few weeks of entering Downing Street, Home had to co-ordinate the British response to the news of President Kennedy's assassination. There were no indications that 22 November would prove such a dramatic and tragic day. Home had been in the morning to the TUC headquarters to view and discuss an education presentation, and he followed this with talks on Northern Ireland with the province's Premier, Captain Terence O'Neill. At 5.15 he was then driven to Arundel Castle, with his wife Elizabeth, for his first weekend break since taking office. He was met at Arundel Castle by the breathless Duke of Norfolk, who informed him of the breaking news from Dallas. The BBC were already in contact with Arundel Castle, and after a hurried supper Home was driven back to London to the BBC's Lime Grove studios, where his speech on behalf of the British nation was simple and dignified, unlike that of George Brown, the Deputy Labour leader, who in the words of one his civil servants, 'declined in efficiency as the day progressed.' It was the moment when Home really established himself as the public face of the nation, as became clear from correspondents from many parts of the country, and not all by any means Conservative voters.
Home met the new American President Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy's funeral, but his first substantive talks with the new American President came in a visit to Washington in February 1964. Johnson, the Texas bruiser, was rather wary of the new British Premier, as he was for Johnson such an unknown quantity. The Beatles were taking America by storm at the time and Johnson attempted humour initially. 'I like your advance guard', he quipped. 'But don't you think they need haircuts?' If Johnson thought that Home would be a pushover in talks - especially, for him, on the contentious issue of the sale of British Leyland buses to Cuba - he had a rude awakening. Harold Macmillan had famously described Home to the Queen as 'steel painted as wood', and this certainly became clear in Washington that week. 'There is no question of dictation by the United States Government to this country over commercial relations with Cuba', said Home. 'This is a subject which is decided solely by the British Government.' And so it was, to Johnson's undisguised fury. When Butler was in Washington two months later, the matter still rankled, and Johnson waved a wad of dollar notes at Butler, saying that if Britain was so hard up that she needed to trade with Cuba, he could pay for the cancelled order himself. But the deal was concluded. Home showed similar steel in his second spell at the Foreign Office with Andrei Gromyko - the abominable no-man - over the expulsion from Britain of 105 Russian spies.
At the forefront of Home's mind was always a possible post-election fourth term. He saw no reason why this should not be achieved and ordered the Cabinet to conduct business on the expectation that they would be returned to office. During the course of his year in Downing Street he promised Christopher Soames, then the Agriculture Minister, the reversion to the Foreign Secretaryship if the Conservatives won. Enoch Powell was pencilled in to return to the Cabinet with a brief to reform Whitehall. No plans were made to recall Iain Macleod, certainly not after the Spectator affair in January 1964, an episode that in Home's view tipped the balance against the Conservatives in October 1964.
In January 1964 Randolph Churchill published The Fight for the Tory Leadership, an insider's account, with material from Harold Macmillan, of the previous autumn's political upheavals. Iain Macleod, by now editor of the Spectator, in addition to his backbench responsibilities, was outraged. On 17 January he published a review under the title 'The Tory Leadership', describing the book as 'Mr Macmillan's trailer for the screen play of his memoirs.' But the phrase that went at once into the political lexicon was that about the supposed 'magic circle' of Old Etonians who had conspired to make one of their own Conservative leader, over and above better qualified candidates, notably Butler, Macleod's candidate. Alec Home was deeply saddened by the ensuing row, which raked up all the controversies of October 1963, not for his own feelings or reputation but because of what he considered the irreparable damage to the Conservative Party's chances in the next election. Macleod, surprisingly for one with sharp political antennae, did not anticipate the furore he would cause. 'He was not forgiven', The Times wrote on his premature death in 1970. 'It was a political failing on his part that he took so long to appreciate that he had disqualified himself for the highest office.' Home took advice from Harold Macmillan on what he should say if Macleod persisted in his attacks, notably the point that the Conservative Party had not been able to find a leader from within its own ranks in the Commons. Macmillan advised Home to say that it was a sad reflection on journalism that the profession had not been able to find an editor of the Spectatorfrom within its own ranks, but had had to resort to Iain Macleod.
The Macleod article came at exactly the wrong moment (when would have been the right one?), as the Conservatives were picking up some momentum, particularly on the domestic front. In the week of the article, Home was in South Wales on a pre-election tour, when statistics showed that less than one family in three owned their home in 1951 when the Conservatives had come into office. Now it was nearly half. ''A property owning democracy is becoming a reality', Home said in his speech in Swansea, a reference to his mentor in pre-war days, the Unionist MP for the Scottish Universities, Noel Skelton, who had first advocated the principle in Constructive Conservatism in 1924. 'Until our educated and politically minded democracy', wrote Skelton, 'has become predominantly a property-owning democracy, neither the national equilibrium nor the balance of the life of the individual will be restored.' It was a message that was taken up by Skelton's two principal protégés, Anthony Eden and Alec Home, future Prime Ministers both. Not that it was necessary to remind Alec Home, but on the eve of the 1964 campaign, Eden, by then Earl of Avon, wrote to Home as the manifesto was being written, reiterating, 'A property-owning democracy is the aim.'
In the Cabinet room, Home proved a formidable chairman, pushing the agenda onwards, being crisp in his summings-up and shrewd in his preparation of the agenda. One of the first things he did was to cut a swathe through the ever-burgeoning number of ad hoc Cabinet Committees, many of which had now run their natural course. This reorganization was symptomatic of the pragmatic approach Home brought to his task as Cabinet Chairman. Indeed no less a distinguished mandarin than Sir Burke Trend, who was Cabinet Secretary under four Prime Ministers, believed that Alec Home was the most orderly and efficient of all in his conduct of Cabinet business. Another under-estimated change that Home introduced was the so-called Douglas-Home rules whereby the Civil Service is permitted to talk with Opposition leaders in the lead-up to a General Election, so as to expedite more efficiently changes of policy in the event of a change of government. This is now such an established part of the political procedure that it is often forgotten how relatively recently the system was introduced, and by whom.
Home was courteous and brisk with memos. Colin Cowdrey, the England cricket captain, and a notable slip fielder, wrote to him once on MCC matters as 'Sir Alec'. Home replied, 'You can drop the Sir, if you ever drop anything.' Above all, there was never any masquerading or spin by Alec Home. What you saw was what you got. Even his political opponents acknowledged that his integrity was absolute, another similarity with Bonar Law, of whom Lloyd George said, during the 1922 General Election campaign, that Law was 'honest to the point of naivety', which proved a telling advantage with the British electorate after six years of Lloyd George. Home was the embodiment of Walter Bagehot's ideal, 'Sensible men of substantial means are what we wish to be ruled by.'
Prime Ministers fall into many categories. As Prime Minister, Home may not have been an innovator, changing the political landscape, like Margaret Thatcher; or a reformer, bringing about a major change of direction in policy, like Clement Attlee. He was certainly not an egoist, living for the adrenalin of office, like Lloyd George and others. He did not change the political weather, as Churchill said of one who never even became Prime Minister, Joe Chamberlain. Home came in a different category of Prime Ministers, as a balancer chosen to bring different wings together, a role that was second nature to Stanley Baldwin or James Callaghan. Just as Bonar Law was chosen as Conservative leader because he was not Walter Long or Austen Chamberlain, so Alec Home was chosen because he was not Rab Butler or Quintin Hailsham. But like James Callaghan he was a Prime Minister who came at the tail-end of a long period of dominance by his party, a position not enviable in politics, and one that both Home and Callaghan shared with Lord Rosebery in the 1890s.
The inevitable problems faced by Rosebery, Home and Callaghan at such an unpropitious time in the electoral cycle were thus exacerbated by the perceived view that they were not destined to be in office for long. Of these three Premiers Home was by far the most successful, leaving his party best equipped to regain power, something it did less than five years after he gave up the leadership, whereas for the Liberals at the turn of the century, the process took ten years, and for the Labour Party at the end of the century eighteen years. Although the change did not take place whilst he was Prime minister, but in February 1965 in his short period as Leader of the Opposition, Home's review of the procedure for choosing the Conservative Party leader was to have a profound effect on the party, and on the executive's relationship with the Monarch at a time of vacancy. It is often claimed that this new system, which itself has undergone many changes in subsequent years, was the brain child of the back-bench MP Humphrey Berkeley. But Berkeley, with his own proposals, courteously considered by Home, was knocking at an already open door, as Berkeley himself acknowledged.
The first public surprise about Home's early days in No 10 was the extent to which he was interested in and knowledgeable about domestic affairs. For those who had experience of his time as resident Minister of State at the Scottish Office from 1951-1955 this was only to be expected. In those years, when Home travelled the length and bread of his native country, from Cape Wrath to John O'Groats, past Bettyhill on the Northern seaboard, thorough the Highlands and Islands, as well as the great industrial conurbations, there were few domestic concerns that at some stage did not cross his desk in St Andrews House in Edinburgh. He followed a path of which Noel Skelton, who had died prematurely in 1935, would have approved. In Mull, he had talks on the reorganization of local Government, at the Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire he met on a regular basis with the Scottish Farmers' Union to discuss their manifold problems. He worked on questions of crofting and depopulation in the Highlands and Islands. He had a sharp eye for administrative detail. Once a civil servant handed him a draft that spoke of proposed changes to the system of tied cottages 'by regulation'. Home, the experienced parliamentarian, swiftly changed this to 'by legislation'. The rating system, schools, transport, unemployment, health care were all problems with which he was concerned in these years. Even Home's opponents admitted his profound knowledge of Foreign Affairs, from his days at the Commonwealth Office and Foreign Office from 1955 to 1963; what they had not expected was his expertise in the niceties of domestic policy. For one whose original mentor had been Noel Skelton, the originator of the concept of the 'property owning democracy' among One Nation Tories, this was only to be expected. Satisfyingly, one of the earliest projects he had worked on with James Stuart, the Secretary of State, in the early 1950s had been the proposal to build a Forth Road Bridge, which was finally accomplished in the closing days of his Premiership.
Foreign events also loomed large - Cyprus, where civil war had broken out, Rhodesia and the growing threat of a rebel breakaway (a topic which involved Home in his second spell as Foreign Secretary in the early 1970s), clashes on the borders of Yemen and Aden, and a row with Spain over frigates. In July Home chaired the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference in London, in which the question of Southern Rhodesia was of central importance. Clashes between America and North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin also contributed to the volatile atmosphere that summer. Home showed a sure hand in all these crises - Rab Butler was quite happy to leave the day to day response to Downing Street, a rare example of the Foreign Office not being discomfited by No 10's involvement in Foreign Affairs. Gradually Conservative fortunes and morale were on the rise. 'The government could be seen to be governing' was one Press comment at this time. There was a growing feeling that, against all the odds, the Tories might just win another term.
After Parliament had risen on 31 July (the first anniversary of the Peerage Act becoming law) Home wrote to all Cabinet Ministers warning against complacency over the summer months. In his first six months in office Home had given 64 'full dress' speeches and 150 whistle stop homilies. A pre-election tour in Yorkshire in the summer had included a visit to Huddersfield, Harold Wilson's birthplace. The announcement of the election date was made on 18 September, with polling day set for 15 October. This would be five years and one week since Macmillan's victory on 8 October 1959, so the parliament was the longest since the interval between elections had been reduced to five years in 1911. The result - Labour 317 seats, Conservatives 304, and Liberals 9 - was also the closest in living memory, an overall majority of three once the Speaker had been re-elected.
Even then three events on 15 October 1964, had they taken place twenty four hours earlier would almost certainly have guaranteed a Conservative victory. As the polls closed (at 9 p.m. in those days, which is why Wilson successfully arranged with the BBC for the popular TV comedy Steptoe and Son to be delayed till later than its usual slot in the Thursday evening's schedules) news came of the downfall of the Russian leader Nikita Khruschev. Indeed the early election broadcasts were far more concerned with this breaking news than exit polls, so dramatic and unexpected was it. There was also news of the successful Chinese nuclear explosion. Both of these global events could well have induced a sense of 'Safety First' that would have denied Wilson victory had they happened earlier. A more parochial event, if handled more subtly, could also have helped to change the result. The narrowness of the Labour victory could have been even more so if the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemp Town had not arranged for two hundred of the ladies from his constituency organisation to travel on an all day cross-channel shipping trip to Boulogne, leaving at 6 a.m. and returning in the small hours. Labour won Brighton Kemp Town, its first ever seat in Sussex, by 7 votes after 7 recounts. Subsequently, Home always said Boulogne not Calais would be forever engraved on his heart, that and Iain Macleod, towards whom his private anger was unbridled. Home shrewdly realised in his disappointment that the narrowness of defeat was actually a far worse result than a loss by 20 - 30 seats, as it guaranteed another election before long, in which, such are the vagaries of the electoral system and voters' feelings, Wilson would certainly be given a larger majority. Indeed, Wilson increased his majority to 97 in March 1966, by which time Home was no longer Conservative leader.
Home stood down in July 1965, one of the few party leaders to leave with dignity and at a time of his own choosing (Harold Wilson was another eleven years later), and in the first outing for the new rules he had established Heath was elected leader, defeating Reginald Maudling and Enoch Powell. But this was not the end of Home's story in the upper reaches of the Conservative Party. Lord Rosebery once said that an ex-Prime Minister in the Commons was a danger to shipping, but that to include such a figure in a Cabinet was for the successor 'a fleeting and dangerous luxury.' There was never any question of Heath flinching from such a choice, and in June 1970 Home became Foreign Secretary for the second time, a figure of ballast and stability in Heath's administration, particularly over the Rhodesian rebellion. Few Prime Ministers have had such a useful post-No 10 career. The nearest parallel is Balfour, who also served as Foreign Secretary after his spell in No 10.
Home showed all his successors as party leader absolute loyalty, there was no sniping or tacit criticism whatever, not of Heath, Thatcher or Major. When Mrs Thatcher became Conservative leader in February 1975 she at once engaged in a lengthy correspondence with Home on foreign matters, on which she confessed ignorance that she needed to rectify. Home obliged and was a vital help in the four years of opposition Mrs Thatcher endured before entering No 10. In the early 1990s during the first Gulf war he was rung up on a regular basis by the Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd to be kept in touch with developments. Home outlived even Churchill, dying in October 1995 at the age of 92.
Home may have been Prime Minister 'for a very short time', but in that time he added a quiet dignity to British public life, despite the ridicule of the modish satirists, and surprising many pundits and politicians by his sense of clarity, efficiency, firmness and patriotism at a time when society seemed to be on an inexorable downward path in standards, propriety and sense of responsibility. After years at the Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office Home had a clear understanding of Britain's place in a transitional post-war world. He knew that the former American Secretary of State Dean Acheson had spoken an unpalatable truth when he said that Britain had lost an Empire and failed to find a rôle. 'We have shed a terrible lot of power', he wrote reflectively over the Christmas recess in 1963 to Sir Michael Fraser of the Conservative Research Department, 'but it is useless to cry over spilt milk.' In the days of the Cold War, he was completely unsentimental about the Soviet Union and consistently pursued a policy of firmness, best evinced by the expulsion during his second spell as Foreign Secretary of 105 Russian spies from Britain. This attitude conditioned his views on African issues, notably the Congo, especially during its first 18 months of independence, when he emphasised the need for 'a government which will keep order and prevent a Communist takeover'. 'Had he been of another generation, he would have been of the Grenadiers and the 1914 heroes', observed Harold Macmillan. 'He gives that impression by a curious mixture of great courtesy, and even of yielding to pressure, with underlying rigidity on matters of principle.'
Home's Premiership was a one off, as Britain stood on the cusp of profound social change, and was of a kind never to be repeated. There were failures and misapprehensions inevitably. On his return to the Commons in November 1963 Home was shocked by the changes that had come about in parliamentary procedure since he had last spoken from the Front bench in July 1951, and by the sheer rudeness of many members. In the face of heckling, even abuse from the Opposition benches, he never established himself as a domineering parliamentarian. Nor did he ever fully come to grips with the demands of television, and the autocue. Both were areas where the Leader of the Opposition Wilson excelled. Interestingly, Home's most successful television broadcast was on the death of President Kennedy, when he spoke from the heart, not from the auto-cue the backroom boys had provided for him.
Yet as Dominick Sandbrook has shown in his study of this period Never Had It So Good, society in the early sixties was not one headlong rush to hedonism. There was a silent majority that wanted the old values, who were mistrustful of trend-setting and the lowest common denominator world of the media. For such people, and not only such people, Home appeared as a Prime Minister well fitted to represent Britain's interests. There was an innate inner calm and he never remotely debased the office. Home had many of the good points of his predecessors without their downside - like Balfour, he was willing to serve in Cabinet, after having held the top post, but was never aloof and indecisive; like Bonar Law, who freed the Cabinet Secretariat from its Lloyd George Garden Suburb connotations, but without his sometimes angular responses, he renewed the system of Cabinet Committees, a progeny of the Secretariat, and liberated the Civil Service from its purdah, regarding the Opposition; like Baldwin, but without his long periods of inactivity, he represented a kind of country viewpoint that saw Westminster as a part, a necessary part of public life, but by no means the be-all and end-all. Just as Baldwin really did like leaning over a fence in Worcestershire and scratching a pig, so Home was most at ease, with his labrador, fishing on the Tweed, as his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery shows him. He was never seduced by the metropolitan world. As Selwyn Lloyd said, without any sense of irony, of the Conservative Party's difficulties in the late 1960s, 'the trouble is that only Alec and myself are provincials.' The world that followed was a more technocratic, even soulless one. Like Attlee, Home was a down to earth figure of common sense, who left flashy charisma to others, got on with the job and made time for the cricket scores, as befitted the only Prime Minister to have played first class cricket.
Home was the last flourishing of a particular strand of British public life, 'an utterly authentic evocation of deep, traditional, landed Toryism' in the words of Peter Hennessy. 'He was like the very last of the steam locomotives which were on their twilight journeys at exactly this time. Perhaps he was a kind of human Coronation Scot. Or more likely, given his country pursuits, he was Mallard, pulling one last express from King's Cross to Edinburgh and sounding its distinctive whistle in a plaintive farewell as it crossed the Royal Border Bridge above the River Tweed at Berwick.'
And in the words of the family motto, he was 'True to the end'.
| i don't know |
What gift is presented to 'Prince Tamino' in the title of a Mozart opera? | Jane Glover Conducts ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Met - The New York Times
The New York Times
Music |A Rollicking Treat Infused With Grace and Gravitas
Search
A Rollicking Treat Infused With Grace and Gravitas
Jane Glover Conducts ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Met
Continue reading the main story
Photo
The Magic Flute Nathan Gunn, center, as Papageno in Julie Taymor’s production at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
On Monday night the acclaimed British conductor Jane Glover became only the third woman to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. The occasion was the revival of Julie Taymor’s 2004 production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” presented as a family-friendly offering for the holidays, trimmed to 100 minutes without intermission and performed in a snappy English translation by J. D. McClatchy. Mozart’s fairy-tale opera, Ms. Taymor’s fanciful production and a winning cast delighted the audience, judging by the frequent laughter of the many children in attendance.
But Ms. Glover’s appearance, and the magisterial performance and nuance she drew from the orchestra, were the news here. When she appeared in the pit to take a bow before the performance started, it seemed just so fresh and right; it’s amazing how inured Met regulars have become to the company’s poor record on behalf of female conductors.
The accomplished Ms. Glover, 64, is the director of opera at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has conducted at Covent Garden, the English National Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Royal Danish Opera and other companies. It is not as if her work was unknown in New York, where her appearances have included a Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in 2003 and, last year at the Juilliard School, a vibrant account of Gluck’s “Armide.”
Photo
The conductor Jane Glover made her Met debut on Monday night. Credit Metropolitan Opera
Alas, like many fields, classical music had a history of erecting barriers to women. But these days our orchestras are filled with female players, and there are so many prominent female composers that one need hardly call attention to it. There are important female conductors as well, but resistance to the idea of a female authority figure on the podium apparently lingers.
At the Met the gender barrier was broken in 1976 when Sarah Caldwell made a well-received house debut conducting Verdi’s “La Traviata,” although Beverly Sills deserved significant credit for this breakthrough: Invited to sing Violetta, she said she would do so only if her colleague Ms. Caldwell was brought in. Ms. Caldwell returned in 1978 for a string of performances of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.” The Australian conductor Simone Young made her Met debut conducting Puccini’s “La Bohème” in 1996, when she was already a significant figure in opera. Her last Met performances were in 1998.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
Of course, that Ms. Glover is making her Met debut with what is, in effect, a children’s version of “The Magic Flute” could be seen as a little patronizing. Yet in another way, it was heartening that the young people in the audience, some of them perhaps attending their first opera, saw a woman in charge.
There are musical challenges to conducting this version of the score. According to the Met, the uncut “Magic Flute” (not including intermission) runs about 150 minutes. To trim the score by a third, a few arias and duets were omitted, along with the overture; other arias and ensembles were shortened, although the surgery was sensitively done.
Photo
A family-oriented “Magic Flute,” cut to 100 minutes with no intermission: Alek Shrader as Prince Tamino with some of the puppets in Julie Taymor’s production at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Ms. Glover’s spirited and graceful conducting surely accounts for the overall continuity and flow of the performance. “The Magic Flute” does have elements of a vaudeville show, especially in Ms. Taymor’s production, with its fire-breathing statues and billowing puppets that dance and frolic. Ms. Glover conveyed the music’s whimsy and humor, but also its richness and mystery. The strings played with exceptional warmth and clarity.
I am among the minority, it would seem, who find Ms. Taymor’s production too circuslike and exotic. Still, it was charming to see and hear the children as they looked in wonderment at the serpent, a multi-sectioned monster propped up by a scampering row of dancers, chasing Prince Tamino, and giggled when the dastardly slave Monostatos (John Easterlin) exposed his corpulent (fake) belly.
Judging by the laughter and applause, the baritone Nathan Gunn , as the earthy, bungling bird-catcher Papageno, was the favorite of the children. Mr. Gunn was in good, hearty voice and seemed to be having fun.
The tenor Alek Shrader brings a sweet, clear voice and earnestness to Prince Tamino. The lovely lyric soprano Heidi Stober is an endearing Pamina. The bass-baritone Eric Owens lacked some degree of vocal power and firmness on Monday. Still, he brings gravity and elegance, as well as impeccable diction, to Sarastro. The coloratura soprano Albina Shagimuratova is a technically flawless, luscious-toned and chilling Queen of the Night.
After this successful and overdue Met debut, Ms. Glover should be given an uncut opera to conduct. And where is Anne Manson? She is another conductor with international credentials who has been the go-to choice for many productions at Juilliard, including the American premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies’s searing opera “Kommilitonen!” in 2011. Guess who conducted the premiere of that daunting score in London earlier that year? Jane Glover.
“The Magic Flute” runs through Jan. 4 at the Metropolitan Opera; 212-362-6000, metopera.org.
A version of this review appears in print on December 18, 2013, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Rollicking Treat Infused With Grace and Gravitas. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe
| The Magic Flute |
What was the name of 'Rene Artois's' wife in the TV comedy series 'Allo, Allo'? | ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Metropolitan Opera - Review - The New York Times
The New York Times
Music |Mozart for the Little Ones, Where the Special Effects Are Always 3-D
Search
Continue reading the main story
Photo
Russell Thomas as Tamino in Julie Taymor’s production of “The Magic Flute” at the Metropolitan Opera. This family-friendly version of Mozart’s work runs 100 minutes without an intermission and is presented in English. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Last week came word that the official opening of Julie Taymor ’s troubled-plagued $65 million production of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” was being pushed back again, this time for a month, until Feb. 7. Then, on Monday night, another accident occurred, when an actor fell from a set during a preview performance.
So it must have been a consolation to Ms. Taymor that on Tuesday morning at the Metropolitan Opera , her puppet-filled, circus-like 2004 production of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” went off without a hitch. This was the Met’s family-friendly “Magic Flute,” first seen in the 2006-7 season as a special holiday entertainment. The opera was trimmed to 100 minutes (without an intermission), and presented in the poet J. D. McClatchy’s snappy and singable English translation of the German libretto. Erik Nielsen, a young American conductor very active in Europe, made his Met debut, leading a well-paced and lively performance.
Once again the house was nearly filled, and there were delighted children everywhere. These young operagoers laughed when the hearty baritone Nathan Gunn, as the bird catcher Papageno, had his chattering mouth padlocked by the three ominous ladies who work for the mysterious Queen of the Night. And one scene had the children roaring: Papageno and Pamina (the beguiling soprano Susanna Phillips), finding themselves lost on the way to Sarastro’s temple, were surrounded by the leering slave Monostatos (Alan Oke) and a posse of bare-chested brutes. So Papageno activated his magic bells, which turned the brutes into a chorus of tra-la-la dancers.
That things went so well was no surprise. The special effects in this show rely on wonderfully old-fashioned theatrical techniques. For example, the huge serpent pursuing the panicked Prince Tamino in the opening scene is here just a row of 10 dancers holding tall sticks, each with a segment of the long puppet monster. And the only aerial feat was when the three wise spirits who serve as guides to Prince Tamino on his spiritual journey float across the stage, perched on a huge flying bird. Playing the spirits were a trio of sweet-voiced, Methuselah-bearded boys in pasty body makeup (Noah Sadik, Neel Ram Nagarajan and Seth Ewing-Crystal).
Photo
Nathan Gunn as the bird catcher Papageno. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
I was no fan of Ms. Taymor’s production of the complete “Zauberflöte” when it was introduced in 2004 . The stage is overpopulated with puppets, acrobats and extras, and Ms. Taymor’s costumes make the characters, even the noble Tamino, seem weirdly fantastical. Still, there are dazzling things about it. I was clearly in the minority on Tuesday morning, as Mozart, the singers and Ms. Taymor won over a house full of young fans.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
The Met did not stint on recruiting first-rate singers for this holiday presentation. The fine tenor Russell Thomas, a husky Tamino, looked not like some ineffectual storybook prince but a determined man on a quest for enlightenment and love. With his sizable voice he sang beautifully. Ms. Phillips was an endearing Pamina, and her vibrant, tender voice was ideal for the role.
Tossing off high F’s in the Queen of the Night’s arias was nothing for the brilliant coloratura soprano Erika Miklosa. What made her performance special, though, was the dusky warmth and lyrical subtlety of her singing, qualities you do not typically associate with this ruthless character. The bass Morris Robinson was a stentorian and calmly authoritative Sarastro. Ashley Emerson was a charming Papagena.
Every time Mr. Gunn sings Papageno he steals the show. He did so again, bringing a winning mix of rugged charm and heartache to the character, who longs for a mate, though a drumstick to munch on certainly takes the edge off for him. As the father of five, Mr. Gunn knows a thing or two about relating to children.
Those awaiting Ms. Taymor’s “Spider-Man” might consider taking in “The Magic Flute.” Here is a musical where the forces of light absolutely turn off the dark.
“The Magic Flute” continues through Jan. 6 at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center; (212) 362-6000, metopera.org.
A version of this review appears in print on December 22, 2010, on Page C5 of the New York edition with the headline: Mozart for the Little Ones, Where the Special Effects Are Always 3-D. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe
| i don't know |
In which month of 1969 did Neil Armstrong become the first moon-walker? | Armstrong walks on moon - Jul 20, 1969 - HISTORY.com
Armstrong walks on moon
Publisher
A+E Networks
At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.
The American effort to send astronauts to the moon has its origins in a famous appeal President John F. Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold War-era America welcomed Kennedy’s bold proposal.
In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission, testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire.
Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of employees forged ahead, and in October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the dark side of the moon and back, and in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. Then in May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.
At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old civilian research pilot, was the commander of the mission. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, Texas, a famous message: “The Eagle has landed.”
At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the lunar module’s ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation. At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be “that’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” He then planted his left foot on the gray, powdery surface, took a cautious step forward, and humanity had walked on the moon.
“Buzz” Aldrin joined him on the moon’s surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon–July 1969 A.D–We came in peace for all mankind.”
At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24.
There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program was a costly and labor intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today’s dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy’s 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished ongoing missions lost their viability.
Related Videos
| July |
'Galileo', 'Shatoush' and 'King Of Kings' were all Classic winners ridden by which jockey? | Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, dies at 82 | Science | The Guardian
Close
This article is 4 years old
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has died aged 82. The former US astronaut, who will go down in history as the most famous pioneer of space exploration , passed away as the result of heart complications following surgery.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, he became the first person to set foot on the moon, on 20 July 1969, fulfilling the longheld dream of the United States to get there before the Soviet Union. His first words as he stepped on to the surface – "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" – instantly became one of the most recognisable phrases ever uttered.
Armstrong underwent heart bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on 5 August, to relieve blocked arteries.
His family released a statement on Saturday describing him as a "reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job".
It read: "We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his nation proudly as a Navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut.
"While we mourn the loss of a very good man we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves."
Other tributes have come flooding in for the astronaut as news of his death spread across the world. US president Barack Obama hailed Armstrong as one of America's greatest heroes. In a statement issued by the White House, he said the crew of Apollo 11 carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation when they set out for the moon in 1969. He later tweeted: "Neil Armstrong was a hero not just of his time, but of all time. Thank you, Neil, for showing us the power of one small step."
Former astronaut Tom Jones, who completed four space shuttle flights between 1990 and 2001, said: "Mr Armstrong was one of the astronauts that was my hero when I was growing up and I watched his initial landing on the moon in 1969 with incredible interest. He really was an inspiration to an entire generation of people." The US space agency tweeted: "Nasa offers its condolences on today's passing of Neil Armstrong, former test pilot, astronaut & the 1st man on the moon. Neil was 82."
Armstrong grew up in Ohio with a keen interest in flight and earned his pilot's certificate when he was just 15. After flying combat missions during the Korean war, he became a test pilot and joined Nasa's astronaut programme in 1962.
Armstrong was joined on his moon landing by Buzz Aldrin and the pair spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. Last night Aldrin called Armstrong "a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew". The Apollo 11 mission turned out to be Armstrong's last space flight. The following year he was appointed to a desk job at Nasa, later becoming a lecturer in engineering at Cincinnati University.
In 1961 President Kennedy had declared before the United States Congress that the US would have a man on the moon before the turn of the decade and the moon walk marked America's victory in the cold war space race. An estimated 600 million people – a fifth of the world's population – watched and listened to the moon landing, the largest audience for any single event in history.
| i don't know |
What colour is the triangular segment on Cuba's national flag? | Cuba
This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website
Cuba
image by eljko Heimer, 11 February 2007
Official Name: Republic of Cuba (República de Cuba)
Capital: Havana
Flag adopted : 20 May 1902
Flag Designer: Narciso López (1849)
Coat of Arms adopted: 24 April 1906
ISO Code: CU
The Flag
The official version of the Cuban government about the meaning of the shapes and colors of the cuban flag says that the blue stripes refer to the three old divisions of the island, the two white to the strength of the independentist ideal, the red triangle stands for equality, fraternity and freedom as well as for the blood split in the strugle for independence and the lone star symbolizes the absolute freedom among the peoples
M.V. Blanes , 19 Febuary 2000
Wasn't it so, that the star in the Cuban flag, at least at start, was meant to become one of the stars in the Stars and Stripes ? The Cubans wanted to belong to the US at that time (late 19th Century).
Elias Granqvist, 23 June 2000
Crampton's 'World of Flags', 1990, has: "The white star (La Estrella Solitaria) represented a new state to be added to the USA. The red, white, and blue also referred deliberately to the Stars and Stripes." (p. 32)
Eve Devereux, in: 'Flags, the illustrated Identifier to flags of the world', 1994, has: "The ironic similarity between the "Lone Star" flag of Cuba and the Stars and Stripes of its arch enemy, the USA, is far from coincidental. The design can be traced to 1849 and General Narciso López (d. 1851), a Venezuelan filibuster who, living in the USA, was anxious to liberate Cuba from the Spanish and claim it for his adopted country - hence the single star, to be added to the others." (p. 10)
Jarig Bakker, 23 June 2000
From Album 2000 [ pay00 ] - National Flag (CSW/CSW (1:2)) - Five striped blue-white-blue-white-blue flag with red trangle at hoist with a white star in it.
eljko Heimer, 3 June 2001
As for the Cuban flag, I have seen many in South Florida and one on a Cuban freighter in Toronto harbor. The one on the freighter used a dark blue. The ones I've seen here use a medium to medium-dark shade. Never have I seen a Cuban flag in light blue.
Al Kirsch, 3 July 2001
According to Whitney Smith, there is no official specification of the shade of blue of the Cuban flag. In Album des Pavillons 2000, I give as approx code numbers 186c and 280c.
Armand du Payrat, 4 January 2002
I would like to point out that the true color of the Cuban flag is turquoise blue and not the ocean blue you show in your site.The reason why the color is almost always ocean blue is purely, or impurely, commercial: the flag manufacturers, possibly non-Cuban, found it cheaper to produce one instead of the other. When seen in its true color, which represents our sky, the beauty of the Cuban flag can leave one breathless. Although you do give the precise measurements, your description is not truly the "official" one: " Three light blue stripes, later changed to ocean blue". Changed? By whom?
R. García Bárcena, 6 May 2002
My parents visited Cuba last month and bought a flag at the airport of Havana. The colour of the blue field is indeed "ocean blue" as shown on our website. The probability that the flag they bought was manufactured in a foreign country is extremely low. I have also photos taken in Havana by my mother, showing the Cuban national flag vertically displayed among revolutionary mottos painted on a wall in Havana, and here again the flag is "ocean blue".
Ivan Sache, 6 May 2002
Could it be that this tourqouise blue is the old blue, as shown in the old Cuban presidential flag, and the ocean blue we now have is the more modern blue?
Manuel L. Quezon, 7 May 2002
If so, it was a rather transient blue, since Flaggenbuch already made a clear distinction between the blue shades of the national and Presidential flags. By the way, the current Presidential flag is still turquoise blue.
Ivan Sache, 7 May 2002
I believe "azul turqui o azul marino" should be translated to "turquoise blue or navy blue". I've translated "azul marino" to navy blue which is more accurate than ocean blue. It refers to the same color using different names. The different shades of blue is problably due to flagmakers using the turq. blue as indicated by their color charts rather than dark turq. blue (navy blue) that is intended.
Marcos Obregon, 30 July 2002
La bandera de Cuba is prescribed in the Constitution as follows:
Capítulo I - Fundamentos Politicos, Sociales y Economicos del Estado
Art. 2. Los símbolos nacionales son los que han presidido por más de cien años las luchas cubanas por la independencia, por los derechos del pueblo y por el progreso social: la bandera de la estrella solitaria; el himno de Bayamo; el escudo de la palma real.
[Text from Georgetown University's Political Data Base of the Americas < www.georgetown.edu >]
Chapter I - Political, Social and Economic Principles of the State
Art. 2. The national symbols are those which have presided over hundred years in the Cuban struggles for independence, the rights of the people and social progress: The lone star flag; The Bayamo anthem; The royal palm shield.
[After the translation given by P. Vagnat & J. Poels in Constitutions - What they tell us about national flags and coat of arms [ vap00 ].]
The text quoted above comes from the Constitution of 24 February 1976. When the Constitution was amended in 1992, that text remained unchanged but was moved down to Art. 4.
Ivan Sache, 17 March 2003
On the red triangle in the flag, this is very similar to the "typical" Cuban country dress of a red kerchief worn around the neck, which forms a triangle over the back a white cotton or linnen shirt. Adding the blue stripes to this very common image would create the flag.
The Cuban national bird, the tocororo, sports red, white, and blue plumage.
Hiram Diaz, 11 January 2005
According to < www.nacion.cult.cu >, The Cubans call their flag the Lone Star Flag - just as the Texans call their flag!
Miles Li, 21 October 2006
The Law on the Flag gives a detailed description of the flag:
Law 42 on National Symbols issued by the National Assembly of the People's Power in 1983 and published in Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, December 1983: "[...] its shape is rectangular, twice length than width, composed by five horizontal stripes having all the same width, three deep blue and two white, placed alternatively. A red equilateral triangle, one of its vertical edges occupying the whole height of the flag and constituting its fixed edge. The triangle bears in its center a five-pointed white star, within an imaginary circle, whose diameter is the third of the flag's height, having one of its points towards the free upper edge of the flag."
The same source gives colour recommendations, according to the Pantone system
Blue/Red:
Pantone Coated Key # 2765 CVC Key # 186 CVC
Pantone Process Key # 179-1 Key # 75-1
Pantone ProSim Key # 2765 CVP Key # 1805 CVP
Pantone Uncoated Key # 2748 CVU Key # 179 CVU
Focol Tone Key # 7027 Key # 7017 HKSK - Key # 15 K
Toyo Color Finder - Key # 0098pc
Trumatch Key # 38-a5 Key # 6-a3
Ivan Sache, 11 February 2007
Woodson Rainey asked:
"I am comparing the flag of Cuba with the flag of Puerto Rico On this site. The flag of Cuba has a blue field that is clearly an equilateral triangle. The flag of Puerto Rica has a blue field that appears to be isosceles with the two base angles greater than 60 degrees and extending into the banner by a dimension equal to 4 stripes.
Is this true or is this a printing/drawing illusion?"
No it isn't a printing illusion, however (and strangely enough), if made according to legislation both flags should actually have the same equilateral triangle at their hoist (the flag of Cuba according to Law No.42 or 1983 and that of Puerto Rico by Act No. 1 of 1952). Despite this, the Puerto Rican legislation is apparently ignored in practice, with the apex of the triangle only extending the centre point of the flag.
Christopher Southworth, 15 July 2009
National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [ loc12 ]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Cuba: PMS 485c red, 301c blue. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012
History of the Flag
From Barraclough and Crampton: Flags Of the World (1981) [brc81] : "A Venezuelan general, Narciso López, made in 1848 the first serious attempt to help Cuba break away from Spanish rule. He carried 'La Estrella Solitaria' -'The Lone Star'-banner, Cuba's present flag. (While he was having important meetings on the revolution, his wife embroidered it). His attempt was not successful; only in 1902 Cuba became an independent republic and López's flag was adopted as the official flag. The three blue stripes are the symbols of the original three provinces. The triangle is a masonic symbol, here signifying liberty, equality and fraternity. The red color is for the blood sacrificed by the Cuban patriots.
Jarig Bakker, 29 October 1998
From < kuba.sh.cvut.cz >: "The year was 1849. It was a steamy hot day in New York City and General Narciso López, of Venezuelan origin, had joined the fight for Cuba's independence. Exhausted from planning all that was entailed in bringing Revolution to Cuba, he sat a local park, and quickly fell asleep. He was concerned about the pending arrival in Cuba. He felt a flag was necessary to add patriotic fervor to the endeavor. When he awoke in the park, the colors of the splendorous sky allowed him to envision the would-be flag. Full of emotion, he went to his friend, a poet and soon-to-be patriot, Miguel Teurbe Tolón, who incorporated Narciso's ideas and designed the flag which was later sewn by Emilia Teurbe Tolón.
And so it was: Three light blue stripes, later changed to ocean blue, representing Cuba's three sections at the time, Western, Central and Eastern. The two white stripes representing the purity and justice of the patriotic liberators' motives. While the lone white star within the equilateral red traingle represents the unity of our people upon the blood spilled by our revolutionary heroes. "
Dov Gutterman, 9 January 1999
When Cuba became independent from Spain on May 20, 1902, Céspedes Flag was officially designated the flag of the city of his birth: Bayamo, Oriente, and the flag which Venezuelan-born, Cuban patriot, Narciso López flew in the city of Cárdenas on May 19, 1850, was officially designated the Cuban national flag. In honor of Cespedes and the bravery of the residents of Bayamo, who during the 10 Year War burned the prosperous city to the ground and moved to the forrest rather than surrender it to the Spaniards, Bayamo was proclaimed a "National Monument" and from then on would have its name proceeded by the initials M.N. for "Monumento Nacional." Since Cuba gained independence from Spain, the flag of Bayamo is displayed alongside the Cuban national flag at official ceremonies and events.
Dr. Eladio José Armesto, 1 April 2002
Translated from "Historia de la isla de Cuba " by Carlos Márquez Sterling, Manuel Márquez Sterling - History - 1975 - Page 77: "Narciso Lopez, the poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón, José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, his nephew José Maria Sanchez Iznaga, Cirilo Villaverde and Juan Manuel Macias, drew up the flag of Cuba which is now the official flag: 2 white stripes, three blue, a red triangle and a solitary star. With this flag they vowed to fight to the death till Cuba was independent. (1848)
Jorge A. Iznaga y Diez, 6 September 2009
The "Prensa Latina" agency, 18 August 2010, reports that Emilia Teurbe Tolón, born in 1828 in Matanzas, died in August 1902 in Madrid (Spain). An extensive search performed through the cemetaries of Madrid allowed in April 2010 the identification of Emilia Teurbe Tolón's tomb in the Nuestra Señora de La Almudena cemetary. After exhumation and transfer of the remains, Emilia Teurbe Tolón shall be buried on 23 August in the Colón necropolis, La Havana.
The flag embroidered by Emilia Teurbe Tolón is kept in the Revolution Museum, La Havana.
More on Emilia Teurbe Tolón and the quest for her remains.
Ivan Sache, 22 August 2010
Construction Sheet
image by eljko Heimer, 11 February 2007
The construction details are given beside the figure at Album 2000 [ pay00 ], giving width of each stripe as 2, the length of the flag, therefore, as 20. The star is inscribed in a circle of diameter 3. Not indicated on the figure (not to overcomplicate it) is that the triangle is equilateral (this shown on my image by giving each angle 60 degrees) and the center of the circle circumscribing the star being in the center of gravity of the triangle (therefore in the crossing of bisectors of the angles).
eljko Heimer, 3 June 2001
The 1939 Flaggenbuch [ gfb39 ] gives a very detailed spec, but places the star within an imaginary circle equalling 1/3 of flag width, as opposed to the 3/10 given in the Album
Christopher Southworth, 16 March 2004
However, according to the info at Symbols of the Cuban nation website it seems that the 1939 Flaggenbuch is right while the 2000 Album is errorneous (or at least oversimplificating).
eljko Heimer, 11 February 2007
Vertical Flag
image by eljko Heimer, 27 June 2002
Apparently, the cuban parliament just changed the country's constitution in order to make the socialist regime untouchable by the legislators. This was an information given today on our TV, and the brief report showed images of the cuban parliament in La Havana. There where two flags in display, both vertical, and both attached to the wall behind the honour tribune, where major officials seat. These flags where on both sides of the Cuban CoA, which was in the center of the wall. To the right of the CoA (viewer's left) there was the cuban flag, in a vertical variation (I didn't notice if the star was rotated or not, though) and to the other side, there was vertical Céspedes Flag .
Jorge Candeias, 27 June 2002
The image found by Ned also shows how the cuban national flag appears when displayed vertically. Not surprisingly, it's also a simple rotation of the horizontal flag, therefore without the rotation of the star that could be hypothesized for that situation.
Jorge Candeias, 28 June 2002
My parents went to Cuba this summer and took several pictures of vertical Cuban flags used as mural decoration which confirmed your answer. There is also a famous black and white photography of a Revolution meeting given by the Three Commanders, which shows the upper part of a vertical flag with non-rotated star. The photography was taken by Raul Corrales, and the postcard showing it is entitled: "Tres Comandantes (Fidel, Camilo, Che). Cuba 1959." The Three Commanders are Fidel Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, respectively..
Ivan Sache, 7 July and 13 August 2002
The Huge Cuban Flag of Matanzas
"Juventud Rebelde" , 27 January 2007, reports that a huge Cuban national flag completely covers the balcony of the Pharmacy Museum of Matanzas, the town known as the Cuban Athens and where the Cuban flag was hoisted for the first time, in 1850.
The flag is 15.5 m x 1.5 m, and each stripe is made of a single piece of fabric. The flag was made by Dr. Maria María Dolores Figueroa, the first woman to be chemist in Matanzas and wife of Ernesto Triolet, owner of the building. The flag was shown on the balcony for the first time on 20 May 1902 (the day the flag was adopted); since then, it has been shown every year (therefore for 105 years) on 28 January (the Cuban national day). According to the Director of the Museum, Marcia Brito, the flag is shown only one day per year for the sake of conservation.
Ivan Sache, 11 February 2007
Could you help me with identification of this Cuban flag ? It is a simple five-striped blue and white flag, with the national arms centred.
Stan, 26 October 2009
Since it appears to have attachments along both left and right, instead just along a hoist edge, is it a flag at all? Perhaps it is a one-off podium or wall hanging, or some similar type of decoration.
Ned Smith, 27 October 2009
| Red (disambiguation) |
Which month of 1963 witnessed the assassination of President J.F. Kennedy? | Vexilla Mundi
Five equal horizontal bands of blue (top and bottom) alternating with white; a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white, five-pointed star in the center.
| i don't know |
Which lady, who has never won a Wimbledon singles title, was the US Open Champion in 1991 and 1992? | Best never to win a Wimbledon singles title | NBC Sports
Best never to win a Wimbledon singles title
/
Andy Roddick
Without Roger Federer, who knows how many Grand Slam titles Andy Roddick would have won. The American came up against Federer in four Grand Slam finals, including three at Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2009, and fell short each time. The 2009 contest went to 16-14 in the fifth set. Roddick's serve and power are well suited for grass courts, but he's been unfortunate enough to run up against one of the greatest grass players of all time.
Justine Henin
Unless she reconsiders her decision to retire, Justine Henin never will be able to remove her name from the list of the best players to never win a Wimbledon title. She came close twice, losing in three sets to Venus Williams in 2001 and to Amelie Mauresmo in three sets in 2006, and fell three times in the semifinals. Although Henin's career record at Wimbledon is far from shabby -- she won 27 of the 34 singles matches she played at the All England Club -- it is the major at which she had the worst winning percentage.
Jennifer Capriati
A former junior doubles champion at the All England Club, Jennifer Capriati also has the distinction of being Wimbledon's youngest-ever semifinalist. The 15-year-old beat defending champion Martina Navratilova in straight sets in the quarterfinals but fell to runner-up Gabriela Sabatini the next round. That was the farthest Capriati would go at Wimbledon, equaling that finish 10 years later in 2001. Capriati never won a title on grass.
Ivan Lendl
Although he played in 19 Grand Slam singles finals and won eight Grand Slam singles titles, Ivan Lendl was never able to add a Wimbledon championship to his career resume. Lendl fell five times in the semifinals at the All England Club, but he did reach the finals in 1986 and 1987. Both times he lost in straight sets, first to Boris Becker and then to Pat Cash.
Monica Seles
Of Monica Seles' 53 career singles titles, only one came on grass. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't on the grass courts of Wimbledon, and the nine-time Grand Slam champion never achieved a career Grand Slam. Seles made the finals at the All England Club just once, losing in straight sets to Steffi Graf in 1992. Her career record at Wimbledon was 30-9, a far cry from her 43-4 record at the Australian Open, 54-8 record at the French Open, and 53-10 record at the U.S. Open.
Mats Wilander
He did win a men's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1986, but Mats Wilander never earned the honor of hoisting the men's singles championship trophy at the All England Club. In fact, his best finish at the tournament was the quarterfinals. His struggles at Wimbledon, however, weren't related to the surface. Two of his three Australian Open titles were won when the championships were still played on grass.
Pancho Gonzales
The top-ranked professional in the world for an astounding eight years in the 1950s and 1960s and arguably the greatest men's tennis player prior to the Open era, Pancho Gonzales (also written as Gonzalez) never won a title at Wimbledon. He did, however, play in one of the most memorable matches ever at the All England Club. Competing against Charlie Pasarell in the third round in 1969, Gonzales and the amateur battled for five hours and 12 minutes in a match that spanned five sets and two days. Gonzales finally prevailed, 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9.
Tracy Austin
In the six Wimbledons in which she played, Tracy Austin bowed out before the quarterfinals just twice. However, she also never made it past the semifinals, reaching that mark both in 1979 and in 1980. Although she was disappointed with her singles result in 1980, Austin did enjoy some success at the All England Club that year; she won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.
Jim Courier
The only American in the Open era to win two French Open titles, Jim Courier didn't experience similar success at Wimbledon. A four-time Grand Slam championship victor, Courier made it to the finals at the All England Club just once, in 1993, and he lost that year in four sets to Pete Sampras. His next best finish was a quarterfinal loss in 1991. In 11 trips to Wimbledon, he had a record of 19-12.
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
Twice Arantxa Sanchez Vicario made it to the finals at Wimbledon, and twice she fell short against Steffi Graf. In the 1995 championship match she battled for three sets before losing, while her 1996 finals defeat was in straight sets. Graf also knocked Sanchez Vicario out in the quarterfinals of the 1989 Wimbledon Championships.
Michael Chang
After winning the 1989 French Open title and becoming the youngest men's Grand Slam champion in history, Michael Chang went on to have a very lengthy and successful career. That success wasn't always evident at Wimbledon, however, where he made it past the third round just three times in 14 appearances at the All England Club.
Ken Rosewall
Enjoying a lengthy tennis career from the 1950s through the early 1980s, Ken Rosewall won 17 Grand Slam titles (eight in singles and nine in men's doubles). Although he reached the finals at Wimbledon four times -- in 1954, 1956, 1970 and 1974 -- he never was able to add a title at the All England Club, even though toward the end of his career he stopped playing at Roland Garros in order to rest up for Wimbledon. As a professional, he was prohibited from playing in Wimbledon from 1957-1966. That period of time encompassed some of his best tennis; he won at least 15 grass-court titles during that 10-year period.
Guillermo Vilas
Guillermo Vilas had a 75.3 winning percentage in Grand Slam singles matches throughout his career, but that number dropped considerably at Wimbledon, where he won just 58 percent of his matches. In fact, the four-time Slam titleist never made it past the quarterfinals at the All England Club and lost in the first round five of the 11 times in which he competed at Wimbledon.
Kim Clijsters
She won the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship in 2000 and the women's doubles championship in 2003 and was a runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, but Kim Clijsters never made it past the semifinals in the women's singles draw at the All England Club. Clijsters' career record at Grand Slams was 98-25 (including a Slam victory at the U.S. Open in 2005) with a 24-7 record at Wimbledon.
Patrick Rafter
A two-time runner-up at the All England Club, Patrick Rafter was never able to break through for the title. After taking the first set off Pete Sampras in the 2000 finals, Rafter lost the next three. The following year he again advanced to the championship match, where he lost a heartbreaker against Goran Ivanisevic, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-9.
Gabriela Sabatini
In her one and only trip to the championship match at Wimbledon, Gabriela Sabatini fell in a thriller to Steffi Graf. The two battled for three sets before Graf finally prevailed, 8-6, in the final set. Sabatini made it to at least the quarterfinals in seven of the 11 Wimbledons in which she competed, but she could never capture a Wimbledon title to complement her lone Slam championship (the 1990 U.S. Open).
Vitas Gerulaitis
The closest Vitas Gerulaitis came to winning Wimbledon was in 1977, when he battled Bjorn Borg through five sets but finally fell, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-8. He also made the semifinals the following year, but against he came up short. The 1977 Australian Open champion did, however, take home a men's doubles title at the All England Club in 1975.
Gottfried von Cramm
A finalist at Wimbledon for three straight years from 1935-1937, Gottfried von Cramm never had a chance to see if he could win in his fourth try. After the son of a German Baron refused to be a tool for Nazi propaganda, he was imprisoned. Although he was released on parole after a number of his tennis friends -- including Don Budge, to whom von Cramm had lost the Wimbledon title in 1937 -- petitioned for his release, he never again was able to compete at the All England Club. Von Cramm finished his career with five Grand Slam titles, including two in singles at the French Championships and a 1933 mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.
Ilie Nastase
Ilie Nastase reached the Wimbledon finals both in 1972 and in 1976, but he did not break through either time. He did, however, win one men's doubles title (in 1973) and two mixed doubles titles (in 1970 and 1972) at the All England Club. Throughout his career, only one of his 56 tournament singles wins listed by the ATP was on grass.
Tony Roche
Tony Roche compiled a winning percentage of 73.9 at Grand Slams throughout his career, but his winning percentage of 76 at Wimbledon was even better than that. He never won a singles title at the All England Club, however, reaching the finals for the first and only time in 1968 but falling to Rod Laver in straight sets. Roche did win five men's doubles and one mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.
Hana Mandlikova
Her lack of a title at Wimbledon kept Hana Mandlikova from achieving a career Grand Slam. Mandlikova reached the finals twice -- once in 1981 and once in 1986 -- but she lost in straight sets both times, first to Chris Evert and then to Martina Navratilova.
Fred Stolle
A three-time runner-up at Wimbledon, Fred Stolle never hoisted the singles champion's trophy at the All England Club. His career total of 17 Grand Slam titles did, however, include two men's doubles and two mixed doubles wins at Wimbledon.
| Monica Seles |
Tennis's French Open Men's Singles Champion of 1986 and 1987, never won a Wimbledon title. Who is he? | Wimbledon revisited: A history of No.1s foiled in the ladies' singles - The Championships, Wimbledon 2017 - Official Site by IBM
Wimbledon revisited: A history of No.1s foiled in the ladies' singles
Victoria Azarenka will no doubt hope to leave this particular club in the summer. READ MORE
By Paul Newman
Victoria Azarenka is in good company alongside the likes of Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Justine Henin, but would no doubt prefer not to be there.
The 26-year-old from Belarus is one of 11 players who have reached No.1 in the world rankings but never won the ladies’ singles title at Wimbledon. For Azarenka, nevertheless, there is still plenty of time to add the Venus Rosewater Dish to the growing collection of trophies she has raised aloft.
Given her outstanding form in recent weeks, might this be her year?
The list of former world No.1s without a Wimbledon title on their CV stretches back to Tracy Austin, who topped the rankings for 21 weeks in 1980. The official Women’s Tennis Association computer rankings had been introduced five years earlier.
Austin was joined subsequently by some illustrious names, with Azarenka the most recent. Seles, Capriati, Henin, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Kim Clijsters, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki are the other former world No.1s who have never claimed the greatest prize in tennis.
Given that she spent 178 weeks at the top of the world rankings – a record bettered by only five other players – and won a total of nine Grand Slam singles titles, Seles is perhaps the most surprising member of that list. She reached the Wimbledon final only once, but given her form at that time it was a surprise that she did not win the title.
Seles, who excelled on both clay and hard courts, won seven of the eight Grand Slam tournaments she played between 1991 and 1993. The exception was The Championships 1992 , where she coasted through her first five matches without dropping a set before facing Martina Navratilova, the nine-time champion, in the semi-finals. Seles won 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, only to face another of the all-time great champions, Steffi Graf, in the final.
There had been growing comment through The Championships that year about the fact that Seles screeched when she struck the ball. Two of her opponents, Navratilova and Nathalie Tauziat, had complained about the noise and the controversy reached a pitch going into the final. The controversy clearly embarrassed Seles, who was silent and subdued in a one-sided contest as Graf won 6-2, 6-1.
Sanchez-Vicario and Henin, who were both at their best on clay, are the only two former world No.1s who reached two Wimbledon finals and lost both of them. Sanchez-Vicario was another player unfortunate enough to be a contemporary of Graf, who beat the Spaniard in the final in both 1995 and 1996 . Having beaten Conchita Martinez, the defending champion, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 in the 1995 semi-finals, Sanchez-Vicario was drawn into another lengthy duel in the final before Graf won 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
In 1996 Sanchez-Vicario had to come from a set down to beat Sabine Appelmans in the fourth round but otherwise had a straightforward passage to the final, which Graf won 6-3, 7-5.
Henin, who won seven Grand Slam singles titles and was world No.1 for 117 weeks, lost in the Wimbledon finals of 2001 and 2006 . In 2001, when she was just 19, Henin overcame Capriati, the champion of both Melbourne and Paris, in the semi-finals before Venus Williams beat the Belgian 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 in a one-sided final, despite the American’s serve going into meltdown in the second set. In 2006 Henin beat Clijsters in the semi-finals before Mauresmo won the final 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
11
The number of world No.1s that haven't won the ladies' singles
Clijsters usually performed well in the early rounds at The Championships but lost in both her semi-finals and twice in the quarter-finals. Austin had a similar record. In 1979 , when she was just 16, Austin beat a 35-year-old Billie Jean King in the quarter-finals before losing to Navratilova, the eventual champion. Capriati also lost in her only two semi-final appearances and went out in the quarter-finals on no fewer than five occasions.
Safina, who lost in all three of her Grand Slam finals, and Ivanovic, whose one victory in her three Grand Slam finals came at the French Open, both lost to Venus Williams in their only semi-final appearances at The Championships. Williams beat Ivanovic 6-2, 6-4 in 2007 and two years later crushed Safina 6-1, 6-0 in just 52 minutes. Jankovic and Wozniacki have competed at The Championships 12 and nine times respectively but neither have gone beyond the fourth round.
Which brings us to Azarenka, the most recent world No.1 without a Wimbledon title to her name. Twice an Australian Open champion and twice a runner-up at the US Open, Azarenka has performed well enough at The Championships in the past to suggest that she can lift the ultimate prize. She lost to the eventual champion on both of her previous appearances in the semi-finals, to Petra Kvitova in 2011 and to Serena Williams in 2012 .
The last two years have not been easy for Azarenka, who has had to deal with a troublesome foot injury, but her performances in 2016 have been improving with every tournament. Having beaten Serena Williams in the final in Indian Wells in March she went on to win the Miami Open in her most recent appearance without losing a set.
She is sure to be one of the players to watch at The Championships.
| i don't know |
'Die Fledermaus' was one of the best known operas by which composer? | Johann Strauss and Die Fledermaus
The operetta Die Fledermaus comes out of a period when Vienna, Austria was experiencing significant change. Vienna was one of the most important capitals in Europe during the nineteenth century and was often called the 'city of dreams'. This was the golden age of the Hapsburgs, the most prosperous royal family in continental Europe, and Vienna was their capitol. This atmosphere was perfect for the growth of the entertainment industry, such as it was and in the midst of this, the need for entertaining music: party music, dance music and theatre music.
It's fascinating that the production of virtually all of this music ended up falling into the hands of a single family of musicians: the Strauss family who had no fewer than six members involved in part of a musical dynasty that lasted from the 1830s to the 1960s. The most important Strausses were the two Johanns, Johann the elder who was the first Strauss to be described as 'the waltz king', and his eldest son Johann who single-handedly codified the dance form which we now know as the Viennese waltz. Johann Strauss, Jr. gave us such famous waltzes as the "Tales of the Vienna Woods", "Wine, Women and Song" and "On the Beautiful Blue Danube".
The younger Strauss would have gone into the music history books for only having created these beautiful masterpieces, but he did one other thing. He took what was once a French theatrical form, dressed it up with plenty Austrian flavor and created the Viennese operetta, an entertainment that audiences all over the world began to clamor for after the premiere of his most beloved work: the charming and hilarious comedy, Die Fledermaus.
An operetta is like an opera in that much of the story is told through song with characters dressed in period costumes, surrounded by beautiful sets and accompanied by the orchestra. But the big difference between operetta and opera is that in operetta the style of the music is much more popular, and there is often more spoken dialogue in an operetta than what you'll ever get in grand opera. The operetta is rather like today's Broadway musicals, like Cats, Phantom of the Opera, The Producers or Rent.
The origin of the operetta was actually Paris, France where, in the 1850s, the composer Jacques Offenbach was having great success with short, one-act comedies that poked fun at the politicians, aristocrats and wealthy merchants, as well as the social mores of the day. Night after night his theatre was stormed by audiences starving for evenings of light musical entertainment. For these audiences, the opera companies in Paris were getting far too serious and pretentious for their own good and Offenbach seemed to hit on a formula that proved to be successful. Offenbach and his operettas traveled throughout Europe, and it wasn't too long before his works were also the center of attention in Vienna where young Austrian composers began to try their hand at writing similar works.
But it wasn't until 1871 that the Viennese operetta found its most natural expression in the music of Johann Strauss. Born in 1825 the young Johann was the eldest of six children. His father didn't want him to go into music: he wanted him to go into banking and stay away from the 'family business'. But under the watchful eye of his mother, he took violin and music theory lessons secretly until 1842 when his parents separated. After this Johann took formal musical instruction and eventually wound up establishing himself with his own orchestra. It wasn't long before he was his father's only rival in the composition and performance of dance music, especially the waltz.
After his father's death in 1849, his and his father's orchestras were merged into one and he became the Waltz King in the hearts of all Viennese. He was even given a royal position for his accomplishments. But it must be remembered that this was Habspurg Vienna and virtually everything was accompanied by the infectious rhythms of the waltz. And no one, not even his father, could write a waltz quite like Johann Strauss.
Like the creation of many great works of the theatre there is a lot of legend around the composition of Die Fledermaus. We do know that the composer Jacques Offenbach was a great admirer of the music of Strauss, and he told his fellow composer that his musical style could easily be adapted to the stage. Strauss was flattered but not entirely convinced. It was Strauss' wife, who was herself a singer of some importance in Vienna, who tipped the scales by secretly having words set to some of his already existing waltzes and giving them to the director of the Theater an der Wien, Max Steiner.
The Theater an der Wien was one of Vienna's most important theaters. Steiner was a clever producer, and sensing that he could make a lot of money by producing stage works from the pen of Vienna's most popular composer, he did his best to find poets who could do justice to his music. With these poets Strauss wrote a few early operettas, but these didn't do too well. It wasn't until the theatre director Steiner offered Strauss a text that had been discarded by Offenbach that he found the inspiration to begin Die Fledermaus. This was a play (Le réveillon) written by Offenbach's official poets, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Steiner handed the French original over to an experienced man of the theatre, Richard Genée, whose work with the material made the story more truly Viennese. According to legend, Strauss wrote steadily for 43 days, neglecting food and sleep until the work was finished. We now know that this is probably not true. The work was certainly outlined within a six week period, but it actually took six months before the work finally hit the stage in April, 1874.
The other myth that surrounds the first production of Die Fledermaus is that it was unsuccessful, running only 16 performances before closing. We now know that another traveling opera company was booked for the Theater an der Wien and the operetta closed out of necessity, not due to lack of popularity. Its next production was in Berlin, where it was extremely successful. Back at the Theater an der Wien for a revival later on the same year it was a runaway hit. Since then Die Fledermaus has never left the active repertory.
| Johann Strauss II |
What is defined as the increase in velocity per unit time? | AZOpera Johann Strauss II Biography
Richard Wagner
Johann Strauss II
Johann (Baptist) Strauss II, the oldest son of celebrated composer and violinist Johann Strauss, was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825. Despite his great success, the elder Strauss was adamantly opposed to the idea of his son pursuing a career in music and intended Johann II to enter the banking profession. The younger Johann, however, displayed musical gifts at an early age. He began composing when he was six years old, and his mother arranged for him to secretly study violin with Franz Amon, the leader of his father's dance orchestra. When the senior Strauss abandoned the family, Johann pursued additional formal musical training. Johann II formed his own orchestra and made his professional debut as concertmaster and conductor in 1844, performing both his own works and those of his father. When his father died in 1849, Joseph II combined the two orchestras. He was named Hofballmusikdirektor in 1863, a position he held until 1871, and engaged his brothers Josef and Eduard (both of whom were also composers) as conductors and violinists.
Johann II enjoyed tremendous success as both composer and conductor, touring Europe, Russia, and the United States. He was (correctly) deemed the heir of his father's musical legacy, and inherited his father's title of "The Waltz King." Indeed, Johann Strauss II is best remembered for his waltzes and polkas, which include An der schönen, blauen Donau and the Pizzicato-Polka, which he wrote with his brother Eduard. Most of his better known dances were composed during the 1860's and early 1870's. He brought the Viennese waltz to its highest form with his gifts for melody, interesting harmonic structures, and clever orchestrations. By the 1870s, however, Strauss began to turn his attention to the stage. Offenbach's comic operas were extremely popular in Vienna, and Strauss' first wife, the singer Henriette (Jetty) Treffz, joined members of the Vienna theater establishment in encouraging him to try his hand at operetta. After resigning his position as Hofballmusikdirektor in 1871, he devoted himself primarily to composing for the stage. Most of Strauss' subsequent dance music was excerpted from his operettas.
Johann II was not as comfortable with music for the stage as he was with waltzes and polkas. He found the necessity of working within a specific text confining, and would often compose scenes and entire finales with only a brief excerpt of the libretto as reference. He lacked a strong theatrical sense and was more proficient at instrumental than vocal writing. The enduring success of his two finest stage works, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron , is due in part to the excellent work of his librettists (Richard Genée for , is due in part to the excellent work of his librettists (Richard Gen�e for Die Fledermaus and Ignaz Schnitzer for Der Zigeunerbaron ).
Strauss' first complete operetta, Indigo und die vierzig RäuberRäuber , premiered in 1871. The work was successful, as was his next operetta, Carneval in Rom, which debuted in 1873, but it was Die Fledermaus (1874) that is regarded as his masterpiece and the finest example of Viennese operetta.
Strauss' works took operetta in a new direction, gradually veering away from the French opéras bouffes and evolving into a style that was purely Viennese. While Die Fledermaus is based upon the Offenbach model, Der Zigeunerbaron is a fusion of operetta with comic opera. Der Zigeunerbaron had serious as well as humorous elements, and established a new type of operetta that proved influential for other composers such as Lehár. had serious as well as humorous elements, and established a new type of operetta that proved influential for other composers such as Lehár.
Strauss also aspired to compose serious opera. His efforts culminated in Ritter PázmánPázmán , which premiered in 1892. It was not particularly successful, and Strauss resumed composing operettas. Many of his works underwent numerous revisions, sometimes as drastic as setting an entirely new libretto to the music. During his lifetime and after his death, there were also many attempts to create new operettas based upon collections of his best-known dance compositions, particularly the waltzes.
Throughout his career, Strauss was very much in the public eye, both in Vienna and in his international travels. After the death of his first wife in 1878, he married the actress Angelika Dittrich. After nine years Strauss separated from her, and had to become a Protestant and give up his Austrian citizenship to divorce her. He then married Adele Strauss (her married name from a previous spouse who was not related to Johann's family). It was Adele who supported Johann's efforts to compose serious opera. Johann II became the most prominent of the Strauss family members, and he died a wealthy and famous man in 1899.
| i don't know |
What is defined as the mass per unit volume, of a material? | Definitions of Density and Unit Volume
Supplementary Topic
The Concepts of Unit Volume and Density
In the main text we talked about the volume and surface area of 3 dimensional objects (such as spheres and discs and cubes). So, why do we need to bother with this in astronomy? What's so important about memorizing a bunch of equations about the volume area of all these objects?
Well, the simple answer to these questions is that any object you encounter in astronomy (be it a planet, a star, or a galaxy) will be a 3-dimensional object with some "size" associated with it. This so called "size" can be intuitively thought of as how much space it takes up (i.e., its volume) or in terms of how "large" is it (i.e., its radius or diameter). You mith also wonder what the shape of the object is, how much mass it has, and how is its mass distributed over the space that it occupies? So, whether you like it or not, you will encounter situations where such questions will become important. Two very important concepts to be familiar with are that of unit volume and density.
Unit Volume
Sometimes we are looking at objects and we need to ask very fundamental questions. We might not be necessarily interested in how much total space the thing occupies. We might be looking at a part of it, or we might be asking questions such as "how many atoms are there in 1 cm3 of the atmosphere of planet Z"? In such cases we are not asking something about the whole object but only part of the object, or something that we believe - in some approximation - to be a fundamental question to ask about the object.
For this reason we define the notion of unit volume. The notion of unit volume is very geometrical and "abstract", but at the same time it is an exteremely simple idea. When we look at a unit volume inside an object we imagine some arbitrary sized cube that is much smaller than the size of the object, but large enough to contain a sufficient "sample" of the object.
Density
The notion of unit volume can be used to talk about the density of an object. The definition of density is as follows:
density = mass/unit volume
It has units of "mass" divided by units of "length3", so it is usually given as kg/m3 or g/cm3. Notice how the idea of unit volume enter here. Ideally, to measure density of an object or of some material, you can imagine going inside the material, taking a small 1cm x 1cm x 1cm sample, and measuring its mass on a scale. The density of the object would then be the measured mass divided by 1 cm3.
Sometimes - as you can imagine, in the case of a star for instance - it is impossible to put yourself in the object to make such a measurement. Further complications arise from the fact that real objects - either in our experiences around us or in astronomy - tend to have mass distributed in different amounts in different parts. For instance, imagine your own body. Clearly, the distribution of mass in your body is not uniform! Your bones have a higher density (more mass per unit volume) than your lungs, and so on .... Thus, in reality situations can be quite complicated.
But, we are often saved by the fact that - at least at a basic level - we don't care about these complications. We are only interested in average densities. For instance, suppose someone asks you what the density of the sun is. Well, this is a complex question. For one thing, you have to first worry about the fact that you can't just put yourself in the sun, pick a sample of its mass, weight it, and then calculate the density. You also have to worry about the fact that it might really depend on where you actually took the sample from (from the outer surface of the sun or from the center of the sun)! But ... you can calculate an average density. You can first assume that the sun is roughtly spherical, and so it has a radius R=695,000 km. Then, knowing the formula for the volume of a sphere you can calculate the volume of the sun:
V = (4/3) p R3
V = (4/3) (3.1415) (695,000)3 = 1.406 x 1018 km3
Now, from various measurements - which you will learn about in your course - you estimate the mass of the sun to be 1.99 x 1030 kg (or simply, look it up in an astronomy table, like the one at the end of your textbook!). Then, the average density of the sun is: average density of the sun = total mass of sun/total volume of sun=1.41x1012 kg/(km)3.
Using unit converstions you can get this to grams per cubic centimeters. There are 1000 g in a kg and there are 105 cm in one km. Thus, the average density of the sun is 1.41 g/cm3!
| Density |
To what family of mammals does a creature belong if it described as 'Murine'? | Density | Units of Measurement Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Edit
The higher an object's density, the higher its mass per volume . The average density of an object equals its total mass divided by its total volume. A denser object (such as iron ) will have less volume than an equal mass of some less dense substance (such as water ).
The SI unit of density is the kilogram per cubic meter ( kg · m-3 )
where
ρ is the object's density (measured in kilograms per cubic meter )
m is the object's total mass (measured in kilograms )
V is the object's total volume (measured in cubic meters )
Under specified conditions of temperature and pressure, density of a fluid is defined as described above.
Definitions
Edit
However, the density of a solid material can be different, depending on exactly how it is defined. Take sand for example. If you gently fill a container with sand, and divide the mass of sand by the container volume you get a value termed loose bulk density . If you took this same container and tapped on it repeatedly, allowing the sand to settle and pack together, and then calculate the results, you get a value termed tapped or packed bulk density. Tapped bulk density is always greater than or equal to loose bulk density. In both types of bulk density, some of the volume is taken up by the spaces between the grains of sand.
Also, in terms of candy making, density is affected by the melting and cooling processes. Loose granular sugar , like sand, contains a lot of air and is not tightly packed, but when it has melted and starts to boil, the sugar loses its granularity and entrained air and becomes a fluid. When you mold it to make a smaller, compacted shape, the syrup tightens up and loses more air. As it cools, it contracts and gains moisture, making the already heavy candy even more dense.
A more theoretical definition is also available. Density can be calculated based on crystallographic information and molar mass:
where
Edit
Density in terms of the SI base units is expressed in terms of kilograms per cubic meter (kg·m-3). Other units fully within the SI include grams per cubic centimeter (g·cm-3) and megagrams per cubic meter (Mg·m-3). Since both the liter and the tonne or metric ton are also acceptable for use with the SI, a wide variety of units such as kilograms per liter (kg·L-1) are also used. In Imperial units or U.S. customary units , the units of density include pounds per cubic foot (lb/ft³), pounds per cubic yard (lb/yd³), pounds per cubic inch (lb/in³), ounces per cubic inch (oz/in³), pounds per gallon (for U.S. or imperial gallons) (lb/gal), pounds per U.S. bushel (lb/bu), in some engineering calculations slugs per cubic foot, and other less common units.
The maximum density of pure water at a pressure of one standard atmosphere is 999.972 kg·m-3; this occurs at a temperature of about 3.98 °C (277.13 K).
Measurement of density
A common device for measuring fluid density is a pycnometer . A device for measuring absolute density of a solid is a gas pycnometer .
Highest density
The most dense naturally occurring substance on Earth is iridium , at about 22650 kg·m-3.
A table of densities of various substances:
Substance
| i don't know |
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz were the stars of which 1999 horror film and its 2001 sequel? | The Mummy (1999) - IMDb
IMDb
There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.
Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later.
X Beta I'm Watching This!
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
Error
An American serving in the French Foreign Legion on an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra accidentally awakens a mummy.
Director:
From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video
ON DISC
a list of 26 titles
created 09 Dec 2010
a list of 37 titles
created 16 Jun 2012
a list of 30 titles
created 03 Apr 2014
a list of 43 titles
created 11 months ago
a list of 40 titles
created 2 weeks ago
Search for " The Mummy " on Amazon.com
Connect with IMDb
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 19 nominations. See more awards »
Photos
The mummified body of Imhotep is shipped to a museum in London, where he once again wakes and begins his campaign of rage and terror.
Director: Stephen Sommers
In the Far East, Alex O'Connell, the son of famed mummy fighters Rick and Evy O'Connell, unearths the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a shape-shifting entity cursed by a witch centuries ago.
Director: Rob Cohen
A demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.
Director: Chuck Russell
The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
A half-vampire, half-mortal man becomes a protector of the mortal race, while slaying evil vampires.
Director: Stephen Norrington
After a movie crew travel to a mysterious island to shoot their picture, they encounter a giant and furious gorilla who takes their leading actress and form a special relationship with her, protecting the beautiful lady at all costs.
Director: Peter Jackson
The notorious monster hunter is sent to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula who is using Dr. Frankenstein's research and a werewolf for some sinister purpose.
Director: Stephen Sommers
Video game adventuress Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts.
Director: Simon West
Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the Reapers, who are feeding on vampires.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Blade, now a wanted man by the FBI, must join forces with the Nightstalkers to face his most challenging enemy yet: Dracula.
Director: David S. Goyer
A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Director: Jan de Bont
Edit
Storyline
An English librarian called Evelyn Carnahan becomes interested in starting an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra. She gains the help of Rick O'Connell, after saving him from his death. What Evelyn, her brother Jonathan and Rick are unaware of is that another group of explorers are interested in the same dig. Unfortunately for everyone, this group ends up unleashing a curse which been laid on the dead High Priest Imhotep. Now 'The Mummy' is awake and it's going to take a lot more than guns to send him back to where he came from. Written by Film_Fan
The sands will rise. The heavens will part. The power will be unleashed. See more »
Genres:
Rated PG-13 for pervasive adventure violence and some partial nudity | See all certifications »
Parents Guide:
7 May 1999 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
$43,369,635 (USA) (7 May 1999)
Gross:
Did You Know?
Trivia
In the original script, Evy was supposed to say, "He's gorgeous" when she first sees the fully resurrected Imhotep. The line was filmed, but removed from the final cut. See more »
Goofs
When Evie steals the Book of the Dead from the Egyptologist, his left arm is around the book and his right arm is around a canopic jar. When he awakes, after Evie has read from the book, the jar is still cradled in his right arm as he sits up, but in the very next shot it is in his left arm with no time at all for him to have moved it there. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Ardeth Bay : [narrating] Thebes, City of the Living. Crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti the First. Home of Imhotep, Pharaoh's high priest, keeper of the dead. Birthplace of Anck Su Namun, Pharaoh's mistress. No other man was allowed to touch her. But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.
The Earth in the opening Universal logo flashes and dissolves into the sun. See more »
Connections
Written by German Pedro Ibanez
Performed by Septeto Habanero
(India) – See all my reviews
This is one film that caught my imagination like very few other Hollywood action films I have seen before.Yes,on the face of it,this is another sci-fi action adventure,a surefire winning card for Hollywood -what's so special about that ?Oh yes,there is !To begin with,there is the scenery at the beginning of the film that completely blows you away,making you feel that this movie could be something above what you had expected.And you are not wrong.The first surprise is Brendan Fraser as the American soldier Rick O'Connell, who accidentally stumbles upon Hamunaptra,the city of the dead,where the wealth of Egypt's greatest emperor Seti the First is buried.After seeing him in "Airheads " ,"Dudley Do-Right " and " "George Of The Jungle",I was very very impressed-this is one actor who can do both comedy and action and look good doing it too !Then there is the beautiful Rachel Weisz ,playing Evelyn Carnahan,who teams up with him to find Hamunaptra.She looks great playing her role,and never allows herself to be upstaged by Fraser, matching his brawn with her ever-alive intellect and quick thinking.Kevin J.O'Connor who plays the double-crossing Beni is a very new kind of villain,looking evil and ridiculous at the same time.But when the resurrected high priest Imhotep( played by Arnold Vosloo)makes his appearance in the form of "The Mummy", everything else becomes secondary.This is CGI at its ultimate best,and precisely why the film is so unusually absorbing .The horror and threat surrounding the curse of the mummy becomes a concern not only for the protagonists in the film but also for the audience-how will they kill something this scary and powerful?, they ask themselves. .The special effects apart from the mummy are also a treat to watch,and keep you glued to your seat.The element that makes this film not only scary but also enjoyable is the dialog.Almost every member of the large cast has a one-liner that will make you laugh in spite of the sinister atmosphere surrounding the story.The script never allows one second of screen-time to be wasted, ideally combining action with fantasy and humor,creating a movie that I consider a classic.Director Stephen Sommers has delivered a film that is bound to stand the test of time,and is definitely one of my favorites.
88 of 102 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
| Mummy (disambiguation) |
Which motorway links the M6 with Telford? | 1000+ images about The Mummy on Pinterest | Movie props, Valentine's day outfit and Mummy movie
- Look, I… I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O’Connell, but I am proud of what I am. - And what is that? - I… am a librarian. The Mummy (1999)
See More
| i don't know |
Which silvery, radioactive metal, Atomic Number 93, was named after one of the major planets? | What are the elements named after objects in outer space? | Reference.com
What are the elements named after objects in outer space?
A:
Quick Answer
Elements named after objects in outer space are neptunium, helium, plutonium and selenium. Uranium is also an element named after an object in outer space.
Full Answer
Neptunium is a radioactive, silvery metal with the atomic number 93. It is a synthetic element and was the first element beyond uranium to be synthesized. It was named after the planet Neptune.
Helium is the second lightest gas and has the atomic number 2. Because it is so light, it can escape the Earth's gravitational pull and so is rare on Earth. It was found on the sun, and was named after "helios," the Greek name for the sun.
Plutonium is another transuranic element and was named after the planet Pluto. It was created in 1940 through the bombardment of uranium by deuterons. It's a silvery white metal whose most important isotope is Pu 239.
Selenium is not only an element but a nutrient that the human body needs in trace amounts. Its atomic number is 34. Selenium is not a metal but has a gray luster that looks metallic. Though it can be found as a free element, selenium is usually a byproduct of copper mining. Selenium was named after the moon.
Uranium, with an atomic number of 92, was named after the planet Uranus.
| Neptunium |
"According to the saying, who or what ""comes in like lion and goes out like a lamb""?" | Plutonium
Plutonium
Oxidation states: +3, +4, +5, +6
Molar Volume: 12.32 cm3/mole
Boiling Point: 3508.15oK, 3235.0oC, 5855.0oF
Melting Point: 912.65oK, 639.5oC, 1183.1oF
Electrons Energy Level: 2, 8, 18, 32, 24, 8, 2
Isotopes: 20 + None Stable
Heat of Vaporization: 343.5 kJ/mol
Heat of Fusion: 2.84 kJ/mol
Density: 19.84 g/cm3 @ 300�K
Specific Heat: 0.13 J/gK
Electronegativity: 1.28 (Pauling), 1.22 (Allrod Rochow
)
History
Glenn T. Seabory at the Geiger Counter, 301 Gilman Hall, Berkeley, California, where he discovered plutonium.
The production of plutonium and neptunium by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons was predicted in 1940 by two teams working independently: Edwin M. McMillan and Philip Abelson at Berkeley Radiaton Laboratory at the University of Berkeley, California and by Egon Bretscher and Norman Feather at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Coincidentally both teams proposed the same names to follow on from uranium, like the sequence of the outer planets.
Plutonium was first produced and isolated on February 23, 1941 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Dr. Michael Cefola, Edwin M. McMillan, J.W. Kennedy, and A.C. Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium in the 60-inch cyclotron at Berkeley. The discovery was kept secret due to the war. It was named after Pluto, having been discovered directly after neptunium (which itself was one higher on the periodic table than uranium), by analogy to solar system planet order as Pluto was considered to be a planet at the time (though technically it should have been "plutium", Seaborg said that he did not think it sounded as good as "plutonium"). Seaborg chose the letters "Pu" as a joke, which passed without notice into the periodic table. Originally, Seaborg and others thought about naming the element "ultinium" or "extremium" because they believed at the time that they had found the last possible element on the periodic table.
Edwin M. McMillan
Chemists at the University of Chicago began to study the newly manufactured radioactive element. The George Herbert Jones Laboratory at the university was the site where, for the first time, a trace quantity of this new element was isolated and measured in September 1942. This procedure enabled chemists to determine the new element's atomic weight. Room 405 of the building was named a National Historic Landmark in May 1967. During the Manhattan Project, the first production reactor was built at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee site that later became Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Later, large reactors were set up in Hanford, Washington, for the production of plutonium, which was used in the first atomic bomb used at the "Trinity" test at White Sands, New Mexico in July 1945. Plutonium was also used in the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in August 1945. The "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima utilized uranium-235, not plutonium.
Large stockpiles of plutonium were built up by both the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold Warit was estimated that 300,000 kg of plutonium had been accumulated by 1982. Since the end of the Cold War, these stockpiles have become a focus of nuclear proliferation concerns. In 2002, the United States Department of Energy took possession of 34 metric tons of excess weapons-grade plutonium stockpiles from the United /States Department of Defense, and as of early 2003 was considering converting several nuclear power plants in the U.S. from enriched uranium fuel to MOX fuel as a means of disposing of plutonium stocks.
Hanford Site plutonium production reactors along the Columbia River during the Manhattan Project.
During the initial years after the discovery of plutonium, when its biological and physical properties were very poorly understood, a series of human radiation experiments were performed by the U.S. government and by private organizations acting on its behalf. During and after the end of World War II, scientists working on the Manhattan Project and other nuclear weapons research projects conducted studies of the effects of plutonium on laboratory animals and human subjects. In the case of human subjects, this involved injecting solutions containing (typically) five micrograms of plutonium into hospital patients thought to be either terminally ill, or to have a life expectancy of less than ten years either due to age or chronic disease condition. These eighteen injections were made without the informed consent of those patients and were not done with the belief that the injections would heal their conditions; rather, they were used to develop diagnostic tools for determining the uptake of plutonium in the body for use in developing safety standards for people working with plutonium during the course of developing nuclear weapons.
The episode is now considered to be a serious breach of medical ethics and of the Hippocratic Oath, and has been sharply criticised as failing "both the test of our national values and the test of humanity." More sympathetic commentators have noted that while it was definitely a breach in trust and ethics, "the effects of the plutonium injections were not as damaging to the subjects as the early news stories painted, nor were they so inconsequential as many scientists, then and now, believe.
Characteristics
Plutonium has been called "the most complex metal" and "a physicist's dream but an engineer's nightmare" for its peculiar physical and chemical properties. It has six allotopes normally and a seventh under pressure, each of which have very similar energy levels but with significantly varying densities, making it very sensitive to changes in temperature, pressure, or chemistry, and allowing for dramatic volume changes following phase transitions (in nuclear applications, it is usually alloyed with small amounts of gallium, which stabilizes it in the delta-phase.) Plutonium is silvery in pure form, but has a yellow tarnish when oxidized. It is also notable in that it possesses a low-symmetry structure causing it to become progressively more brittle over time. Because it self-irradiates, it ages both from the outside-in and the inside-out. However, self-irradiation can also lead to annealing which counteracts some of the aging effects. In general, the precise aging properties of plutonium are very complex and poorly understood, greatly complicating efforts to predict future reliability of weapons components.
The heat given off by alpha particle emission makes plutonium warm to the touch in reasonable quantities; larger amounts can boil water. It displays five ionic oxidation states in aqueous solution:
PuIII, as Pu3+ (blue lavender)
PuIV, as Pu4+ (yellow brown)
PuVI, as PuO22+ (pink orange)
PuV, as PuO2+ (thought to be pink; this ion is unstable in solution and will disproportionate into Pu4+ and PuO22+; the Pu4+ will then oxidize the remaining PuO2+ to PuO22+, being reduced in turn to Pu3+. Thus, aqueous solutions of plutonium tend over time towards a mixture of Pu3+ and PuO22+.)
PuVII, as PuO52- (dark red); the heptavalent ion is rare and prepared only under extreme oxidizing conditions.
Note: The color shown by Pu solutions depends on both the oxidation state and the nature of the acid anion, which influences the degree of complexing of the Pu species by the acid anion.
Plutonium forms binary compounds with oxygen: PuO, PuO2, and intermediate oxides of variable composition; with the halides: PuF3, PuF4, PuCl3, PuBr3, PuI3; with carbon, nitrogen, and silicon: PuC, PuN, PuSi2. Oxyhalides are also well known: PuOCl, PuOBr, PuOI. The metal will take on a yellow tarnish when slightly oxidized. The metal readily dissolves in concentrated hydrochloric acid, hydroiodic acid, or perchloric acid with formation of the Pu+3 ion. The six allotropic modifications have various crystalline structures that range from 16.00 to 19.86 g/cm3.
A piece of plutonium about the size of a softball would feel hot to the touch because of the high level of alpha particle radiation given off. A somewhat larger piece of the metal would boil water within minutes. Plutonium (238Pu) is occasionally used in deep-space probes as a source of energy (too far from the sun for effective solar power), the heat being directly converted into electricity by a special device.
Occurrence
While almost all plutonium is manufactured synthetically, extremely tiny trace amounts are found naturally in uranium ores. These come about by a process of neutron capture by 238U nuclei, initially forming 239U; two subsequent beta decays then form 239Pu (with a 239Np intermediary), which has a half-life of 24,110 years. This is also the process used to manufacture 239Pu in nuclear reactors. Some traces of 244Pu remain from the birth of the solar system from waste of supernovae, because its half-life (80 million yrs) is fairly long.
A relatively high concentration of plutonium was discovered at the natural nuclear fission reactor in Oklo, Gabon in 1972. Since 1945, approximately 7700 kg has been released onto Earth through nuclear explosions.
Plutonium-239
Plutonium-239 is one of the three fissile materials used for the production of nuclear weapons and in some nuclear reactors as a source of energy. The other fissile materials are uranium-235 and uranium-233. Plutonium-239 is virtually nonexistent in nature. It is made by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons in a nuclear reactor. Uranium-238 is present in quantity in most reactor fuel; hence plutonium-239 is continuously made in these reactors. Since plutonium-239 can itself be split by neutrons to release energy, plutonium-239 provides a portion of the energy generation in a nuclear reactor.
A ring of weapons-grade electrorefined plutonium, with 99.96% purity. This 5.3 kg ring is enough plutonium for use in a modern nuclear weapon.
Plutonium-238
There are small amounts of Pu-238 in the plutonium of usual plutonium-producing reactors. However, isotopic separation would be quite expensive compared to another method: when a U-235 atom captures a neutron, it is converted to an excited state of U-236. Some of the excited U-236 nuclei undergo fission, but some decay to the ground state of U-236 by emitting gamma radiation. Further neutron capture creates U-237 which has a half-life of 7 days and thus quickly decays to Np-237. Since nearly all neptunium is produced in this way or consists of isotopes which decay quickly, one gets nearly pure Np-237 by chemical separation of neptunium. After this chemical separation, Np-237 is again irradiated by reactor neutrons to be converted to Np-238 which decays to Pu-238 with a half-life of 2 days.
Applications
The isotope 239Pu is a key fissile component in nuclear weapons, due to its ease of fissioning and availability. The critical mass for an unreflected sphere of plutonium is 16 kg, but through the use of a neutron-reflecting tamper the pit of plutonium in a fission bomb is reduced to 10 kg, which is a sphere with a diameter of 10 cm. The Manhattan Project "Fat Man" type plutonium bombs, using explosive compression of Pu to significantly higher densities than normal, were able to function with plutonium cores of only 6.2 kg. Complete detonation of plutonium will produce an explosion equivalent to the explosion of 20 kilotons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) per kilogram. However, complete detonation requires an additional neutron source (often from a small amount of fusion fuel), and primitive bombs may be far less efficient. For example, despite the 6.2 kg of plutonium, the Fat Man yield was only 21 kt.
Plutonium could also be used to manufacture radiological weaons or as a (not particularly deadly) chemical poison. In a number of instances damaged nuclear weapons have spread plutonium over a surrounding area, similar to the effect of a so-called "dirty bomb", and required extensive cleanup. On the other hand, 5 kg of plutonium was spread over the Nagasaki area (due to incomplete fission) and never cleaned up. Many of the more extreme claims about plutonium toxicity are inconsistent with the past and current habitability of the area and the health of the current residents.
238Pu, 240Pu, and 242Pu emit neutrons as a few of their nuclei spontaneously fission, albeit at a low rate. They also decay, and the decay heat of Pu-238 (0.56 W/g) make it well suited for electrical power generation for devices which must function without direct maintenance for timescales approximating a human lifetime. It is therefore used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) such as those powering the Cassini and Horizons (Pluto) space space probes. Plutonium-238 was used on the Apollo-14 lunar flight in 1971 to power seismic devices and other equipment left on the Moon, and it was also the power supply of the two Voyager supercraft launched in 1977. The Cassini spacecraft carries three generators providing 870 watts power as it orbits aroound Saturn. Plutonium has powered 24 US space vehicles and enabled operation for 20 years and may continue for another 20.
238Pu has been used successfully to power artificial heart pacemakers, to reduce the risk of repeated surgery. It has been largely replaced by Lithium based primary cells, but as of 2003 there were somewhere between 50 and 100 plutonium-powered pacemakers still implanted and functioning in living patients.
One kilogram is equivalent to about 22 million kilowatt hours of heat energy. The complete detonation of a kilogram of plutonium produces an explosion equal to about 20,000 tons of chemical explosive. Its importance depends on the nuclear property of being readily fissionable with neutrons and its availability in quantity. The world's nuclear-power reactors are now producing about 20,000 kg of plutonium/yr. By 1982 it was estimated that about 300,000 kg had accumulated. As with neptunium and uranium, plutonium metal can be prepared by reduction of the trifluoride with alkaline-earth metals.
Plutonium is a key fissile component in modern nuclear weapons; care must be taken to avoid accumulation of amounts of plutonium which approach critical mass, the amount of plutonium which will self-generate a nuclear reaction. Despite not being confined by external pressure as is required for a nuclear weapon, it will nevertheless heat itself and break whatever confining environment it is in. Shape is relevant; compact shapes such as spheres are to be avoided.
Plutonium has assumed the position of dominant importance among the transuranium elements because of its successful use as an explosive ingredient in nuclear weapons and the place which it holds as a key material in the development of industrial use of nuclear power.
In commercial power-plants and research applications plutonium generally exists as plutonium oxide (PuO2), a stable ceramic material with an extremely low solubility in water or body fluids and with a high melting point (2390� C).
In pure form plutonium exists in six allotropic forms or crystal structure - more than any other element. As temperature changes, it switches forms - each has significantly different mechanical and electrical properties. One is nearly twice the density of lead (19.8 g/cm3). It melts at 640�C into a very corrosive liquid. The alpha phase is hard and brittle, like cast iron, and if finely divided it spontaneously ignites in air to form PuO2. Beta, gamma and delta phases are all less dense. Alloyed with gallium, plutonium becomes more workable.
Apart from its formation in today's nuclear reactors, plutonium was formed by the operation of the natural reactors in a uranium deposit at Oklo in west Africa some two billion years ago.
Compounds
Plutonium reacts readily with oxygen, forming PuO andPuO2, as well as intermediate oxides. It reacts with the halides, giving rise to compounds such as PuX3 where X can be F, Cl, Br or I; PuF4 and PuF6 are also seen. The following oxyhalides are observed: PuOCl, PuOBr and PuOI. It will react with carbon to form PuC, nitrogen to form PuN and silicon to form PuSi2.
Plutonium like other actinides readily forms a dioxide plutonyl core (PuO2). In the environment, this plutonyl core readily complexes with carbonate as well as other oxygen moieties (OH-, NO2-, NO3-, and SO4-2) to form charged complexes which can be readily mobile with low affinities to soil.
PuO2(CO3)1-2
PuO2(CO3)2-4
PuO2(CO3)3-6
PuO2 formed from neutralizing highly acidic nitric acid solutions tends to form polymeric PuO2 which is resistant to complexation. Plutonium also readily shifts valences between the +3, +4, +5 and +6 states. It is common for some fraction of plutonium in solution to exist in all of these states in equilibrium.
Image showing colors of various oxidation states of Pu in solution on the left and colors of only one Pu oxidation state (IV) on the right in solutions containing different anions.
Allotropes
A diagram of the allotropes of plutonium at ambient pressure
Even at ambient pressure, plutonium occurs in a variety of allotropes. These allotropes differ widely in crystal structure and density; the a and d allotropes differ in density by more than 25% at constant pressure.
The presence of these many allotropes makes machining plutonium very difficult, as it changes state very readily. The reasons for the complicated phase diagram are not entirely understood; recent research has focused on constructing accurate computer models of the phase transitions.
In weapons applications, plutonium is often alloyed with another metal (e.g., delta phase with a small percentage of gallium) to increase phase stability and thereby enhance workability and ease of handling. Interestingly, in fission weapons, the explosive shock waves used to compress a plutonium core will also cause a transition from the usual delta phase plutonium to the denser alpha phase, significantly helping to achieve supercriticality.
All 20 plutonium isotopes are radioactive, and most emit relatively weak alpha radiation which can be blocked even by a sheet of paper (but which is hazardous if within the body - see below).
The main isotopes of plutonium are:
Pu-238, (half-life 87 years)
Pu-239, fissile (half-life 24,200 yrs)
Pu-240, fertile (half-life 6,500 yrs)
Pu-241, fissile (half-life 14 years)
Pu-242, (half-life 37 600 yrs)
Half-life is the time it takes for a radionuclide to lose half of its own radioactivity. The fissile isotopes can be used as fuel in a nuclear reactor, others are capable of absorbing neutrons and becoming fissile.
The most important isotope of plutonium is 239Pu, with a half-life of 24,200 years. 239Pu is an alpha emitter (5 meV); 238Pu is also an alpha emitter.
It is produced in extensive quantities in nuclear reactors from natural uranium:
238U(n, gamma)
239U --(beta) --> 239Np--(beta) --> 239Pu.
The longest-lived isotope of plutonium is Pu-244 with a half-life of 82 million years. However the isotope of chief interest is Pu-239 which, like U-235, is fissionable. Most of the nuclear weapons built by the "great powers" today are based on Pu-239 which is derived from U-238 in special "breeder" reactors. Pu-239 is also a by-product of normal fission power reactors and accounts for a good deal of the concern over nuclear waste by-products since it is both highly radioactive and exceptionally toxic. Also, since the critical mass of plutonium is only about one third that of U-235, the possibility for terrorist diversion of the material is considered a serious matter.
Twenty plutonium radioisotopes have been characterized. The most stable are Pu-244, with a half-life of 80.8 million years, Pu-242, with a half-life of 373,300 years, and Pu-239, with a half-life of 24,110 years. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 7,000 years. This element also has eight meta states, though none are very stable (all have half-lives less than one second).
The isotopes of plutonium range in atomic weight from 228.0387 u (Pu-228) to 247.074 u (Pu-247). The primary decay modes before the most stable isotope, Pu-244, are spontaneous fission and alpha emission; the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before Pu-244 are uranium and neptunium isotopes (neglecting the wide range of daughter nuclei created by fission processes), and the primary products after are americium isotopes.
A pellet of plutonium-238, glowing under its own light, used for radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Key isotopes for applications are Pu-239, which is suitable for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, and Pu-238, which is suitable for use in radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The isotope Pu-240 undergoes spontaneous fission very readily, and is produced when Pu-239 is exposed to neutrons. The presence of Pu-240 in a material limits its nuclear bomb potential since it emits neutrons randomly, increasing the difficulty of initiating accurately the chain reaction at the desired instant and thus reducing the bomb's reliability and power. Plutonium consisting of more than about 90% Pu-239 is called weapon-grade plutonium; plutonium obtained from commercial reactors generally contains at least 20% Pu-240 and is called reactor-grade plutonium.
Pu-240, while of little importance by itself, plays a crucial role as a contaminant in plutonium used in nuclear weapons. It spontaneously fissions at a high rate, and as a 1% impurity in Pu-239 will lead to unacceptably early initiation of a fission chain reaction in gun-type atomic weapons, blowing the weapon apart before much of its material can fission. Pu-240 contamination is the reason plutonium weapons must use an implosion design. A theoretical 100% pure Pu-239 weapon could be constructed as a gun type device, but achieving this level of purity is prohibitively difficult. Pu-240 contamination has proven a mixed blessing to weapons designers. While it created delays and headaches during the Manhattan Project because of the need to develop implosion technology, those very same difficulties are currently a barrier to nuclear proliferation. Implosion devices are also inherently more efficient and less prone toward accidental detonation than are gun-type weapons.
Isotope
Precautions
All isotopes and compounds of plutonium are toxic and radioactive. While plutonium is sometimes described in media reports as "the most toxic substance known to man", from the standpoint of literal toxicity this is incorrect. As of 2006, there has yet to be a single human death officially attributed to exposure to plutonium itself (with the exception of plutonium-related criticality accidents). Naturally-occurring radium is about 200 times more radiotoxic than plutonium, and some organic toxins like botulin toxin are still more toxic. Botulin toxin, in particular, has a lethal dose of 300 pg/kg, far less than the quantity of plutonium that poses a significant cancer risk. In addition, beta and gamma emitters (including the carbon-14 and potassium -40 in nearly all food) can cause cancer on casual contact, which alpha emitters cannot.
When taken in by mouth, plutonium is less poisonous (except for risk of causing cancer) than several common substances including caffeine, acetaminophen, some vitamins, pseudoephedrine, and any number of plants and fungi. It is perhaps somewhat more poisonous than pure ethanol, but less so than tobacco; and many illegal drugs. From a purely chemical standpoint, it is about as poisonous as lead and other heavy metals. Not surprisingly, it has a metallic taste.
Glowing hot bits of plutonium in a box, which have been set alight due to plutonium's pyrophoric nature.
That said, there is no doubt that plutonium may be extremely dangerous when handled incorrectly. The alpha radiation it emits does not penetrate the skin, but can irradiate internal organs when plutonium is inhaled or ingested. Particularly at risk are the skeleton, where it is likely to be absorbed by the bone surface, and the liver, where it will likely collect and become concentrated. Approximately 0.008 microcuries absorbed in bone marrow is the maximum withstandable dose. Anything more is considered toxic. Extremely fine particles of plutonium (on the order of micrograms) can cause lung cancer if inhaled.
Other substances including ricin, tetrodotoxin, botulinum toxin, and tetanus toxin are fatal in doses of (sometimes far) under one milligram, and others (the nerve agents, the amanita toxin) are in the range of a few milligrams. As such, plutonium is not unusual in terms of toxicity, even by inhalation. In addition, those substances are fatal in hours to days, whereas plutonium (and other cancer-causing radioactives) give an increased chance of illness decades in the future. Considerably larger amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and death if ingested or inhaled; however, so far, no human is known to have immediately died because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.
Despite being toxic both chemically and because of its ionizing radiation, plutonium is far from being 'the most toxic substance on earth' or so hazardous that 'a speck can kill'. On both counts there are substances in daily use that, per unit of mass, have equal or greater chemical toxicity (arsenic, cyanide, caffeine) and radiotoxicity (smoke detectors).
There are three principal routes by which plutonium can reach human beings:
ingestion,
contamination of open wounds,
inhalation.
Ingestion is not a significant hazard, because plutonium passing through the gastro-intestinal tract is poorly absorbed and is expelled from the body before it can do harm.
Contamination of wounds has rarely occurred although thousands of people have worked with plutonium. Their health has been protected by the use of remote handling, protective clothing and extensive health monitoring procedures.
The main threat to humans comes from inhalation. While it is very difficult to create airborne dispersion of a heavy metal like plutonium, certain forms, including the insoluble plutonium oxide, at a particle size less than 10 microns, are a hazard.
If inhaled, much of the material is immediately exhaled or is expelled by mucous flow from the bronchial system into the gastro-intestinal tract, as with any particulate matter. Some however will be trapped and readily transferred, first to the blood or lymph system and later to other parts of the body, notably the liver and bones. It is here that the deposited plutonium's alpha radiation may eventually cause cancer.
However, the hazard from Pu-239 is similar to that from any other alpha-emitting radionuclides which might be inhaled. It is less hazardous than those which are short-lived and hence more radioactive, such as radon daughters, the decay products of radon gas, which (albeit in low concentrations) are naturally common and widespread in the environment.
In the 1940s some 26 workers at US nuclear weapons facilities became contaminated with plutonium. Intensive health checks of these people have revealed no serious consequence and no fatalities that could be attributed to the exposure. In the 1990s plutonium was injected into and inhaled by some volunteers, without adverse effects.
Plutonium is one among many toxic materials that have to be handled with great care to minimise the associated but well understood risks. In the 1950s Queen Elizabeth was visiting Harwell and was handed a lump of plutonium (presumably Pu-239) in a plastic bag and invited to feel how warm it was.
Type
Environmental Impact
Contamination of food, water, hands, or careless handling are the main causes of radionuclide ingestion. In the USA, about 17,000 persons are estimated to have worked with plutonium since 1943-1944. In France, the number in 1986 was about 1000. Among the major effluents from the use and processing of nuclear fuel are plutonium. Of these, only tritium and plutonium can possibly enter water supplies. The predominant form of plutonium release from nuclear power and processing plants is as an aerosol that will have little or no impact on drinking water. Although a single incident has occurred in which as much as 18,750 Ci of plutonium were released from liquid storage on a local basis, none apparently reached off site water supplies. The usual rate of release from liquid storage at a controlled sites is about 1 mCi/yr.
Trace amounts of plutonium are found naturally in uranium-rich ores. Humans produce most of the existing plutonium, in special nuclear reactors. Besides being naturally present in very small amounts, plutonium may also enter the environment from releases of nuclear reactors, weapons production plants, and research facilities. A major source of plutonium release is nuclear weapons testing. Annual world production of plutonium is probably in excess of 50 tons and there may be more than 1.000 tons of metal in storage, either as bombs or as metal rods.
Plutonium is sometimes described in media reports as the most toxic substance known to man, although there is general agreement among experts in the field that this is incorrect. As of 2003, there has yet to be a single human death officially attributed to plutonium exposure. Naturally-occurring radium is about 200 times more radiotoxic than plutonium, and some organic toxins like Botulism toxin are billions of times more toxic than plutonium.
The alpha radiation it emits does not penetrate the skin, but can irradiate internal organs when plutonium is inhaled or ingested. Extremely small particles of plutonium on the order of micrograms can cause lung cancer if inhaled into the lungs. Considerably larger amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and death if ingested or inhaled; however, so far, no human is known to have died because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies. Plutonium is a dangerous substance that has been used in explosives for a long time. It is released into the atmosphere primarily by atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and by accidents at weapon production sites. When plutonium is released into the atmosphere it will fall back onto earth eventually and end up in soils.
Exposure of humans to plutonium is not likely, but sometimes it takes place as a result of accidental releases during use, transport or disposal.
Because plutonium has no gamma radiation, health effects are not likely to occur while working with plutonium, unless it is breathed in or swallowed somehow.
When people breathe it in, plutonium may remain in the lungs or move to the bones or organs. Generally it stays in the body for a long time and continually exposes body tissues to radiation. After a few years this could result in the development of cancer.
Furthermore, plutonium may affect the ability to resist disease and the radioactivity from plutonium may cause reproductive failure.
Plutonium may enter surface water from accidental releases and disposal of radioactive wastes. Soil can become contaminated with plutonium through fallout during nuclear weapons testing. Plutonium moves slowly downwards in the soil, into the groundwater.
Plants absorb low levels of plutonium, but these levels are not high enough to cause bio magnification of plutonium up the food chain, or accumulation in the bodies of animals.
Over one third of the energy produced in most nuclear power plants comes from plutonium. It is created there as a by-product.
Plutonium has occurred naturally, but except for trace quantities it is not now found in the earth's crust.
There are several tonnes of plutonium in our biosphere, a legacy of atmospheric weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Plutonium is radiologically hazardous, particularly if inhaled, so must be handled with appropriate precautions.
Plutonium, both from reactors and from dismantled nuclear weapons, is a valuable energy source when integrated into the nuclear fuel cycle.
Plutonium, both that routinely made in power reactors and that from dismantled nuclear weapons, is a valuable energy source in the nuclear fuel cycle. Over one third of the energy produced in most nuclear power plants comes from plutonium. It is created there as a by-product.
Hazards
Because of the high rate of emission of alpha particles and the element being specifically absorbed by bone marrow and collected in the liver, plutonium, as well as all of the other transuranium elements except neptunium, are radiological poisons and must be handled with very special equipment and precautions. Plutonium is a very dangerous radiological hazard. Precautions must also be taken to prevent the unintentional formation of a critical mass . Plutonium in liquid solution is more likely to become critical than solid plutonium. The shape of the mass must also be considered where criticality is concerned. Plutonium-238 is available to authorized users from the O.R.N.L. at a cost of about $7.50/mg (97%) plus packing costs of $1250 per package.
Atmosphere
On the basis of the measured and inferred plutonium concentration in the air of New York and a constant inhalation rate of 20 cu m/day, inhalation intake reflects the amt of radioactivity released by nuclear weapons tests. In 1960 the amt diminished & rose again in 1963 to a max of 450 mbecquerel following 1961-1962 nuclear weapons tests declined regularly after the Test Ban Treaty of 1963 to a value of about 7 mbecquerel/yr during the period from 1972-1974. At the end of 1973, it was estimated that 4.2 tons of 239plutonium & 240plutonium was dispersed in the atmosphere. This value should be compared to the est release of plutonium into the environment by the accident of the Chernobyl reactor. This release can be estimated to be in the maximum of 1 to 2% of the plutonium inside the reactor core, ie, 2.5-5 kg of 239plutonium & 240plutonium.
Disposal Difficulties
In contrast to naturally occurring radioisotopes such as radium or C-14, plutonium was manufactured, concentrated, and isolated in large amounts (hundreds of metric tons) during the Cold War for weapons production. These stockpiles, whether or not in weapons form, pose a significant problem because, unlike chemical or biological agents, no chemical process can destroy them. One proposal to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium is to mix it with highly radioactive isotopes (e.g., spent reactor fuel) to deter handling by potential thieves or terrorists. Another is to mix it with uranium and use it to fuel nuclear power reactors (the Mixed Oxide or MOX approach). This would not only fission (and thereby destroy) much of the Pu-239, but also transmute a significant fraction of the remainder into Pu-240 and heavier isotopes that would make the resulting mixture useless for nuclear weapon.
A Fission Energy Source
Plutonium is a by-product of the fission process in nuclear reactors, due to neutron capture by uranium-238 in particular. When operating, a typical LWR nuclear reactor contains within its uranium fuel load about 325 kilograms of plutonium, with plutonium-239 being the most common isotope. Pu-239 is fissile, yielding much the same energy as the fission of a U-235 atom, and complementing it.
Well over half of the plutonium created in the reactor core is "burned" in situ and is responsible for about one third of the total heat output for a LWR. Of the rest, one sixth through neutron capture becomes Pu-240 (and Pu-241), the balance emerges as Pu-239 in the spent fuel.
An ordinary large nuclear power reactor (1000 MWe LWR) gives rise to about 25 tons of spent fuel a year, containing up to 290 kilograms of plutonium. Plutonium, like uranium, is an immense energy source. The plutonium extracted from used reactor fuel can be used as a direct substitute for U-235 in the usual fuel, the Pu-239 being the main fissile part but Pu-241 also contributing.
Plutonium-239 can also be used as a fuel in a new generation of fast-breeder nuclear weapons, which burn a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel consisting of uranium and plutonium. If the spent fuel is reprocessed, the recovered plutonium oxide is mixed with depleted uranium oxide to produce mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, with about 5% Pu-239. Plutonium can be used on its own in fast neutron reactors, where the Pu-240 also fissions, and so functions as a fuel (along with U-238). It is thus said to be "fissionable", as distinct from fissile.
One kilogram of Pu-239 being slowly consumed over three years in a conventional nuclear reactor can produce sufficient heat to generate nearly 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Plutonium-240 is the second most common isotope, formed by occasional neutron capture by Pu-239. Its concentration in nuclear fuel builds up steadily, since it does not undergo fission to produce energy in the same way as Pu-239. (In a fast neutron reactor it is fissionable, which means that such a reactor can utilize recycled LWR plutonium more effectively than a LWR.)
The 1.15% of plutonium in the spent fuel removed from a commercial LWR (Light Water Reactor) power reactor (burn-up of 42 GWd/t) consists of about 55% Pu-239, 23% Pu-240, 12% Pu-241 and lesser quantities of the other isotopes, including 2% of Pu-238 which is the main source of heat & radioactivity. Comparable isotopic ratios are found in the spent fuel of CANDU heavy-water reactors at much lower burnups (8 GWd/t), due to their use of natural uranium fuel and high thermal neutron spectrum. Reactor-grade plutonium is defined as that with 19% or more of Pu-240.
Plutonium stored over several years becomes contaminated with the Pu-241 decay product Americium which interferes with normal fuel fabrication procedures. After long storage, Am-241 must be removed before the Pu can be used in a normal MOX plant.
While of a different order of magnitude to the fission occurring within a nuclear reactor, Pu-240 has a relatively high rate of spontaneous fission with consequent neutron emissions. This makes reactor-grade plutonium entirely unsuitable for use in a bomb.
Recovered plutonium can only be recycled through a light water reactor once or twice, as the isotopic quality deteriorates. However, fast neutron reactors can then use this material and complete its consumption. Such reactors can also be configured to be net breeders of plutonium which is important for the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. Meanwhile research on fast neutron reactors is focused on maximising consumption of plutonium and incineration of actinides formed in the light water reactors.
Resources of Plutonium
Total world generation of reactor-grade plutonium in spent fuel is some 60 tonnes per year. About 1300 tons have been produced so far, and most of this remains in the used fuel, with some 370 tons extracted. About one third of the separated Pu (130 t) has been used in MOX over the last 30 years. Currently 8-10 tons of Pu is used in MOX each year.
Three US reactors are able to run fully on MOX, as can Canadian heavy water (CANDU) reactors. All Western and the later Soviet light water reactors can use 30% MOX in their fuel.
Some 32 European reactors are licensed to use MOX fuel, and several in France are using it as 30% of their fuel.
About 22 tons of reactor-grade plutonium is separated by reprocessing plants in the OECD each year and this is set to double by 2003, by which time its usage in MOX is expected to outstrip this level of production so that stockpiles diminish.
The UK has 65 tons of separated plutonium and this stockpile is expected to grow to 106 tons by 2012 - some 81t from Magnox fuel and 25t from AGR fuel. Using it all in MOX fuel rather than immobilising it as waste is expected to yield a �700-1200 million resource cost saving to UK, along with 300 billion kWh of electricity (about one year's UK supply). The 106t Pu could be consumed in two 1000 MWe light water reactors using 100% MOX fuel over 35 years.
Plutonium and Weapons
It takes about 10 kilograms of nearly pure Pu-239 to make a bomb. Producing this would require 30 megawatt-years of reactor operation, with frequent fuel changes and reprocessing the 'hot' fuel. Weapons-grade Pu is made by burning natural uranium fuel to the extent of only about 100 MWd/t (effectively 3 months), instead of the 45,000 MWd/t typical of LWR power reactors (or even the 7000 - 10,000 MWd/t in CANDU or Magnox reactors used for power).
For weapons use, Pu-240 is considered a serious contaminant and it is not feasible to separate Pu-240 from Pu-239. An explosive device could be made from plutonium extracted from low burn-up reactor fuel (ie. if the fuel had only been used for a short time), but any significant proportions of Pu-240 in it would make it extremely hazardous to the bomb makers, as well as unreliable and unpredictable. Typical plutonium recovered from reprocessing used power reactor fuel has about one-third non-fissile isotopes (mainly Pu-240).
* In 1962 a nuclear device using low-burnup plutonium from a UK power reactor was detonated in USA. The isotopic composition of this plutonium has not been officially disclosed, but it was evidently about 90% Pu-239.
Plutonium for weapons is made differently, in simple reactors (usually fueled with natural uranium) run for that purpose, with frequent fuel changes (ie. low burn-up). This, coupled with the application of international safeguards, effectively rules out the use of commercial nuclear power plants.
International safeguards arrangements applied to traded uranium extend to the plutonium arising from it, ensuring constant audits even of reactor-grade material.
Disarmament will give rise to some 150-200 tons of weapons-grade plutonium, over half of it in former USSR. Discussions are progressing as to what should be done with it. The main options for the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium are:
Vitrification with high-level waste - treating plutonium as waste,
Fabrication with uranium oxide as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for burning in existing reactors,
Fueling fast-neutron reactors.
The US Government has declared 38 tons of weapons-grade plutonium to be surplus, and planned to pursue the first two options above, though only the MOX one is proceeding. Meanwhile the US has developed a "spent fuel standard", which means that plutonium, including weapons Pu, should never be more accessible than if it is incorporated in used fuel.
Europe has a well-developed MOX capacity and this suggests that weapons plutonium could be disposed of relatively quickly. Input plutonium in facilities such as Sellafield's new MOX plant would need to be about half reactor grade and half weapons grade, but using such MOX as 30% of the fuel in one third of the world's reactor capacity would remove about 15 tons of warhead plutonium per year. This would amount to burning 3000 warheads per year to produce 110 billion kWh of electricity.
Canada was promoting the use of its CANDU heavy water reactors as having very flexible fuel requirements and hence as suitable for disposing of military plutonium. Various mixed oxide fuels have been tested in these reactors, which can be operated economically with a full MOX core.
Russia is strongly committed to using its plutonium in mixed-oxide fuel, burning it in both late-model conventional reactors and BN series fast neutron reactors.
Recycling: The Use of "MOX" Fuel
With the transport and use of MOX (mixed oxide) fuels attracting increaed public attention, readers may find the following background information useful.
Plutonium is formed in uranium fuel during the operation of a reactor. Plutonium has substantial potential as a source of energy, and in fact is a significant contributor to the energy produced in a uranium-fueled reactor.
The use of MOX fuel reduces inventories of separated plutonium, and is likely to assume increasing importance for degrading weapons-grade plutonium released by disarmament.
MOX Fuel
The term 'MOX' is derived from 'mixed oxides', and refers to reactor fuel made from a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide. For use in a light water reactor, the proportion of plutonium is about 5%. This is a similar fissile content as low enriched uranium fuel. As is the case with uranium fuel, the MOX is formed into ceramic fuel pellets, which are extremely stable and durable, and which are sealed in metal (usually zirconium) tubes, which in turn are assembled into fuel elements. In most cases about a third of the reactor core can be loaded with MOX fuel elements without engineering or operational modifications to the reactor.
Contrary to suggestions from some commentators, there is nothing unusual in the presence of plutonium in light water reactors. Plutonium is produced during the operation of a reactor. The plutonium content of spent fuel from the normal operation of a light water reactor will be a little less than 1%, usually around 0.8%, when the fuel is unloaded. During the operation of the reactor, plutonium formed in the fuel will contribute an increasing proportion of the overall energy production of the reactor - towards the end of an operating cycle, a substantial proportion of the initial U-235 content of the fuel will have been consumed, and the energy produced by fission of plutonium will be very close to that produced by the remaining uranium.
Use of MOX fuel is expected to significantly reduce plutonium inventories. As an example, the Euratom Supply Agency estimates that the use of a single MOX fuel element consumes 9 kg of plutonium, and avoids the production of a further 5 kg (compared with the use of low enriched uranium fuel). Thus in this example each MOX fuel element used results in a net reduction of 14 kg of plutonium.
Currently plutonium is being recycled with 32 light water reactors in Europe, and this is shortly to commence in Japan. Use of MOX fuels in light water reactors will increase over the next decade. While this will involve mainly reprocessed civil plutonium, the use of MOX fuel to degrade weapons-grade plutonium*, transferred from military programs as part of the disarmament process, will assume increasing importance. By 2010 it is expected that MOX fuels will be used with 45 reactors in Europe, together with 16-18 in Japan, and possibly five in Russia and six in the US, that is, some 15-20% of the world's power reactors.
* There are two ways in which use of weapons-grade plutonium in MOX fuel degrades that plutonium: through the plutonium being associated with highly radioactive fission products in spent fuel (the 'spent fuel standard'); and through changes in isotopic composition during the irradiation process - in normal power reactor useage the plutonium would become reactor-grade.
As noted earlier, plutonium recycling programs were first developed with the breeder cycle in mind. There have been active fast breeder reactor research and demonstration programs in France, Japan and Russia. Future plans for fast breeder reactors are now uncertain, a major factor being economics, especially the price of uranium. At the moment the greatest interest appears to be in operating such reactors, not as breeders, but as net consumers or 'burners' of plutonium and of minor actinides. Clearly of crucial importance here is the future direction of nuclear energy, which will be determined by a complex range of political and economic considerations. If nuclear energy continues to make a significant contribution to world electricity production, and particularly if this contribution increases, plutonium could become an energy source as significant as uranium is today.
Are MOX Fuel Weapons-Useable?
Opponents of the use of MOX fuels commonly state that such fuels represent a proliferation risk because the plutonium in the fuel is said to be weapons-useable. This is a complex subject, where there is no consensus amongst experts, but the short answer is that there would be serious technical difficulties in attempting to make nuclear weapons from plutonium of the quality currently used for MOX (reactor-grade), and none of the countries possessing nuclear weapons has ever made weapons using plutonium of this quality.
Weapons-useable is not a technical term, and it is not clear what those using it mean, but if it is supposed to imply that reactor-grade plutonium is a material that could readily find its way into weapons, this overlooks two important facts: that there has been no practical demonstration of the use of such plutonium in nuclear weapons, and that rigorous IAEA safeguards apply to this material in non-nuclear-weapon States party to the NPT. It is misleading to conclude, because this material is subject to safeguards, that it is therefore weapons-useable.
To better understand this issue, it is necessary to appreciate that plutonium exists as several isotopes. As noted earlier, longer reactor irradiation times result in the formation of higher plutonium isotopes, Pu-240, Pu-241 and Pu-242 (and also the isotope Pu-238). The mix of isotopes (isotopic composition) of a particular quantity of plutonium will depend on how the plutonium was produced, that is, its irradiation history. The isotopic composition of plutonium affects its suitability for particular purposes, such as use in a reactor or use in nuclear weapons.
The plutonium isotope most suitable for weapons use is Pu-239. Plutonium used in nuclear weapons, weapons-grade plutonium, comprises at least 92%, usually more, Pu-239. This plutonium is produced in dedicated plutonium production reactors, specially designed and operated to produce plutonium of this quality by removal and reprocessing of fuel after short irradiation times.
The plutonium produced in the normal operation of light water reactors, from which MOX fuel is being made, is what is known as reactor grade plutonium. Because of the very long time fuel is irradiated in a power reactor (typically 3-4 years), reactor-grade plutonium has a substantial proportion of higher plutonium isotopes. Reactor-grade plutonium typically comprises less than 60% of the isotope Pu-239.
Reactor-grade plutonium contains a large proportion of isotopes which create serious technical difficulties for weapons use, namely Pu-238, Pu-240 and Pu-242. These difficulties include pre-initiation (a high spontaneous fission rate leading to the nuclear chain reaction starting too early), and radiation and heat levels which will adversely affect vital weapons components such as high explosives and electronics. While these difficulties could possibly be overcome, to some extent at least, by experienced weapons designers (e.g. from the nuclear-weapon States, with experience from hundreds of tests to draw upon), ASNO is not aware of any successful test explosion using reactor-grade plutonium, typical of light water reactor fuel*.
* There is some confusion over a 1962 test by the US using what was then described as reactor-grade plutonium, but at that time reactor-grade was much closer to weapons-grade than is currently the case. While the US has never revealed the quality of the plutonium used in that test, there are indications that it was of fuel-grade, an intermediate category between weapons-grade and reactor-grade, which has been recognised as a separate category since the 1970s.
IAEA Definition of Direct-Use Material
The confusion in the public mind regarding the suitability of reactor-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons appears to arise from the fact that, for the purpose of applying IAEA safeguards measures, all plutonium (other than plutonium comprising 80% or more of the isotope Pu-238) is defined by the IAEA as a direct-use material, that is, nuclear material that can be used for the manufacture of nuclear explosives components without transmutation or further enrichment. In order to understand what this actually means, it is important to appreciate the following:
The IAEA is not saying that all plutonium is suitable for nuclear weapons. The IAEA has chosen its terminology very carefully, and refers to nuclear explosives, rather than nuclear weapons. While this distinction might seem a fine one, in fact it is very important. It can be shown by theoretical studies that reactor-grade plutonium could be made to explode under certain (technically demanding) conditions. For this reason it is clearly prudent to adopt a conservative approach, and the IAEA applies safeguards measures to all grades of plutonium.
Theoretical calculations relating to reactor-grade plutonium however do not indicate what happens in real life. There are several characteristics required for a practical nuclear weapon, including reliability, useful yield, a deliverable size and storage life. These requirements would be adversely affected by the difficulties associated with reactor-grade plutonium, mentioned above. It is for good reason that those countries that have made nuclear weapons have done so with plutonium specially produced for the purpose.
The IAEA definition of direct-use material also applies to plutonium in spent fuel, and to MOX - yet clearly the IAEA is not saying that nuclear explosives can be made from spent fuel or from MOX (i.e. without processing to separate the plutonium). Direct-use and weapons-useable are not synonymous.
With respect to the use of MOX fuel, arguments about the weapons-useability of reactor-grade plutonium miss the point: as we have seen, MOX is a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides, with the plutonium being very much in the minority. For light water reactor fuel, the plutonium content is typically around 5%. MOX cannot be used in nuclear weapons or nuclear explosives. To separate the plutonium content from MOX fuel elements would be a major undertaking, similar to reprocessing. IAEA safeguards measures would readily indicate if any attempt were made to process the fuel to separate plutonium.
Criticality Potential
Toxicity issues aside, care must be taken to avoid the accumulation of amounts of plutonium which approach critical mass, particularly because plutonium's critical mass is only a third of that of uranium-235's. Despite not being confined by external pressure as is required for a nuclear weapon, it will nevertheless heat itself and break whatever confining environment it is in. Shape is relevant; compact shapes such as spheres are to be avoided. Plutonium in solution is more likely to form a critical mass than the solid form (due to moderation by the hydrogen in water). A weapon-scale nuclear explosion cannot occur accidentally, since it requires a greatly supercritical mass in order to explode rather than simply melt or fragment. However, a marginally critical mass will cause a lethal dose of radiation and has in fact done so in the past on several occasions.
Criticality accidents have occurred in the past, some of them with lethal consequences. Careless handling of tungsten carbide bricks around a 6.2 kg plutonium sphere resulted in a lethal dose of radiation at Los Alamos on August 21, 1945, when scientist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. received a dose estimated to be 510 rems (5.1 Sv) and died four weeks later. Nine months later, another Los Alamos scientist, Louis Slotin, died from a similar accident involving a beryllium reflector and the exact same plutonium core (the so-called "demon core") that had previously claimed the life of Daghlian. These incidents were fictionalized in the 1989 film Fat Man and Little Boy. In 1958, during a process of purifying plutonium at Los Alamos, a critical mass was formed in a mixing vessel, which resulted in the death of a crane operator. Other accidents of this sort have occurred in the Soviet Union, Japan, and many other countries. The 1986 Chernobyl accident caused a major release of plutonium.
Flammability
Metallic plutonium is also a fire hazard, especially if the material is finely divided. It reacts chemically with oxygen and water which may result in an accumulation of plutonium hydride, a phrophoric substance; that is, a material that will ignite in air at room temperature. Plutonium expands considerably in size as it oxidizes and thus may break its container. The radioactivity of the burning material is an additional hazard. Magnesium oxide sand is the most effective material for extinguishing a plutonium fire. It cools the burning material, acting as a heat sink, and also blocks off oxygen. Water is also effective. There was a major plutonium-initiated fire at the Rocky Flats Plant near Boulder, Colorado in 1969. To avoid these problems, special precautions are necessary to store or handle plutonium in any form; generally a dry inert atmosphere is required.
| i don't know |
What is the unit of currency of the United Arab Emirates? | AED - Emirati Dirham rates, news, and tools
Emirati Dirham History
In the early 20th century, the United Arab Emirates began using British Sovereign gold coins and Maria Theresa Thalers; other currencies, such as the Indian Rupee , also circulated within the country. In 1959, they adopted the Persian Gulf Rupee, issued by the central bank of India, at a value equal to the Indian Rupee.
The Indian Rupee devaluation of 1966 directly affected the value of the Gulf Rupee, so the UAE responded by introducing its own currency. They adopted the Saudi Riyal as an interim currency and that same year, they replaced it with the Qatar and Dubai Riyal at par. All the emirates - with the exception of Abu Dhabi, which used the Bahrain Dinar - used the Qatar and Dubai Riyal until 1973, when the United Arab Emirates Dirham was established. In 1978, the Dirham adopted a fixed exchange rate to the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights. It was then re-pegged to the US Dollar in 1997 at a rate of 1 USD to 3.6725 AED.
Paste link in email or IM
Link Url
| Dirham |
Name the Dutch grain liqueur, flavoured with Cumin and Aniseed? | Dirhams - definition of dirhams by The Free Dictionary
Dirhams - definition of dirhams by The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dirhams
n.
1. See Table at currency .
2. A unit of currency equal to one one-thousandth of the dinar in Libya and Sudan.
[Arabic, from Greek drakhmē, drachma; see drachma.]
dirham
n
1. (Currencies) the standard monetary unit of Morocco, divided into 100 centimes
2. (Currencies) the standard monetary unit of the United Arab Emirates, divided into 10 dinars and 100 fils
3. (Currencies)
a. a Kuwaiti monetary unit worth one tenth of a dinar and 100 fils
b. a Tunisian monetary unit worth one tenth of a dinar and 100 millimes
c. a Qatari monetary unit worth one hundredth of a riyal
d. a Libyan monetary unit worth one thousandth of a dinar
4. (Currencies) any of various silver coins minted in North African countries at different periods
[C18: from Arabic, from Latin: drachma]
dir•ham
| i don't know |
Which liqueur, flavoured with the Marasca cherry, has a taste of bitter Almonds? | Maraschino Liqueur | Article about Maraschino Liqueur by The Free Dictionary
Maraschino Liqueur | Article about Maraschino Liqueur by The Free Dictionary
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Maraschino+Liqueur
Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia .
maraschino
a liqueur made from marasca cherries and flavoured with the kernels, having a taste like bitter almonds
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content .
Link to this page:
Zadar
References in periodicals archive ?
Haunted Hippo 3 parts Pinot Noir 3 parts FAT bastard Chardonnay 2 parts Cognac 2 parts maraschino liqueur 4 parts ginger ale
Copyright © 2003-2017 Farlex, Inc
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.
| Maraschino |
What is Saudi Arabia's unit of currency? | Maraschino Cherries | Food Perestroika
Maraschino Cherries
Posted by Florian in Cocktails , Croatian Food , Desserts , Recipes , tagged with cherries , Croatia , Maraschino
Unbeknownst to most of us, maraschino cherries haven’t always been the overly sweet, rubbery, bright red mess we are accustomed to in our cocktails. You can read their fascinating history on Wikipedia , from their royal origin to their post-Prohibition descent into mediocrity:
The name maraschino originates from the Marasca cherry of Croatian origin and the maraschino liqueur made from it, in which Marasca cherries were crushed and preserved after being pickled. Whole cherries preserved in this liqueur were known as “maraschino cherries”. These had been a local means of preserving the fruit in Dalmatia. In the 19th century, these became popular in the rest of Europe, but the supply in Dalmatia was too small for the whole continent, so they came to be seen as a delicacy for royalty and the wealthy. […]
The cherries were first introduced in the United States in the late 19th century, where they were served in fine bars and restaurants. Because they were scarce and expensive, by the turn of the century American producers were experimenting with other processes for preserving cherries, with flavors such as almond extract and substitute fruit like Queen Anne cherries. Among these, alcohol was already becoming less common. […] After Prohibition was repealed, lobbying by the non-alcoholic preserved cherry industry encouraged the Food and Drug Administration to revise federal policy toward canned cherries. It held a hearing in April 1939 to establish a new standard of identity. Since 1940, “maraschino cherries” have been defined as “cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor”.
Obviously, we won’t settle for mediocrity here. There are two components to my maraschino cherries:
Marasca cherries , a type of sour Morello cherries found in former Yugoslavia, Hungary and northern Italy.
Maraschino , a Croatian (and later Italian) liqueur made from Marasca cherries.
Next time you see sour cherries at the farmers’ market in late spring or early summer, consider making a few jars that you can use in your drinks and desserts!
Maraschino cherries
2 oz sugar
16 oz (about 3 cups) pitted sour cherries
Bring the Maraschino and sugar to a boil, stirring regularly. Add the cherries, bring back to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a sterilized pint jar, seal and place in a 200 F water bath for 15 minutes, with water level just below the lid.
Let cool for 30 minutes and refrigerate. You will also have about 1 cup left of maraschino-cherry liquid that can be used for cocktails.
Like this:
| i don't know |
'Touchstone' a jester, and 'Phoebe' a shepherdess, appear in which Shakespeare play? | Shakespeare's Fools - Touchstone in As You Like It
Shakespeare's Fools: Touchstone in As You Like It
From The Fools of Shakespeare by Frederick Warde. London: McBride, Nast & company.
"A Worthy Fool"
To term Touchstone a clown, as he is called in the cast of characters of "As You Like It," seems to me both a misnomer and an injustice. His knowledge, his wisdom, his wit and his faculty - of observation, raise him far above the condition that such a term would imply.
Fool to the court of The Duke, whose dukedom is not named, the character of Touchstone is a most positive and complete conception of the mediaeval jester, and he more fully realizes the accomplishments essential to that office, as described by Viola in the "Twelfth Night," than any other of the motley-minded gentlemen that the poet has created.
He is a man of considerable learning, his wit is never lacking in wisdom, he chooses the object of his jests with prudence, the time with discretion, the matter with judgment, and he is never at a loss for a reply that is apt and to the point.
Touchstone scorns mere persiflage, is happily free from the punning habit, and is seldom a corrupter of words; he makes his jests by logical deductions, with a good premise, a sound argument, and a positive conclusion.
This same happy quality may be found in his encounters with the gentlemen of the court, the ladies in their disguises, the simple shepherds in the forest, and with the grave philosopher Jaques; indeed, it is the latter gentleman who most accurately summarizes the accomplishments, and gives the keynote to the jester's character, when he presents him to the Duke: "Is not this a rare fellow, good my lord? he is as good at anything, and yet a fool."
The wit of Touchstone does not scintillate, but burns with a steady flame; it is not like the sparks that fly from the contact of tempered steel, but the bright and ruddy glow that radiates from molten metal in the crucible. It is sententious rather than brilliant, more philosophic than frivolous, and invariably epigrammatic. His hutpor is never malicious, nor his satire bitter; he shoots his wit at every mark that presents itself, but his shafts are harmless; they have no barb and leave no sting.
Touchstone is not a buffoon, he does not play practical jests nor indulge in such pranks as did that "mad rogue" Yorick. Had it been. Touchstone in the churchyard at Elsinore when the sexton was digging a grave, he would not have poured a flagon of wine over the old grave-digger's head; he would probably have leaned against one of the old yew trees, watched the proceedings with quiet reflection, and if the old sexton had advanced any of his socialistic theories, the jester would have argued the matter to the end, and no doubt have beaten him on his own proposition.
There are no demonstrations or expressions of affection by Touchstone, as by the fool in "King Lear," yet he is not lacking in loyalty; he leaves the court of Duke Frederick to follow the fortunes of Celia, the Duke's daughter, out of sincere regard, running the risk of the Duke's displeasure and probably of punishment if discovered; he accepts the fatigues of the journey and the discomforts of life in the forest of Arden without hesitation or complaint; he readily adapts himself to his new environment, keeps his own counsel, as well as that of his mistress, and holds the secret of the disguises of Celia and Rosalind inviolate.
My first acquaintance with Touchstone was made many years ago, at Manchester, in England. A very elaborate production of "As You Like It" was presented at the Prince's Theater there. I played the part of Orlando to the Rosalind of that beautiful and incomparable actress, Miss Adelaide Neilson. Mr. Compton was the fool. I cannot imagine a more adequate and effective performance of the part than Mr. Compton gave; his quaint personality, his unctuous humor, his artistic instinct, added to his ripe experience, combined to present a complete embodiment of the poet's design. The mobility of his features reflected the spirit of every line he uttered; and though he seldom smiled, under the gravity of his expression you seemed to feel there was the keenest appreciation of the humor of the occasion, which laughter would have failed to convey. The memory of Mr. Compton's performance will ever remain with me as the living embodiment of Touchstone.
It is a pleasing pastime to conjure up in one's mind the pictures that Shakespeare has drawn, and give them vitality, form and color. I have endeavored to imagine the scene of the first meeting of Touchstone with the gloomy philosopher Jaques, in the forest, as described by that eccentric gentleman.
A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
A motley fool! - a miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool
Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
The description is brief, but it suggests to the imagination a scene of rare sylvan beauty, and striking human contrast. An opening in the trees where the sun, unimpeded by the heavy foliage of the deep forest brightens the landscape, and the atmosphere is redolent with the fragrance of the wildwood flowers. The bees are humming drowsily, the birds flit by on speedy wings to reach their nests, and from their leafy homes trill out their joy in sweetest melody. Touchstone is lying upon the soft green turf; he imagines himself to be alone, unseen, unheard. He is soliloquizing, speaking his thoughts aloud, as many thinkers do, possibly contrasting the beauties of nature with which he is environed, with the frowns of fortune that have banished his mistress and himself from the luxurious life of the court to the plain, homely existence in the primitive forest. But he is not alone. Jaques, wandering through the forest, observes the motley figure reclining on the ground, and hearing his voice but seeing no auditor, stops and listens. Noting his motley coat, Jaques at first takes the fellow for an ordinary fool, for which most people at that time, including Shakespeare himself, had a profound contempt; but Touchstone's railing is no ordinary abuse; it is in such "good terms," such "good set terms," that the philosopher not only stops to listen to "the motley fool," but is so entertained that he finally accosts, and greets him with a salutation that invites conference.
After the greeting there is another picture. The background is the same, but the figures have changed their position. The fool is still lying upon the ground, now alert and responsive; while Jaques has found the trunk of a friendly tree, against which he leans in contemplative curiosity.
It would be interesting to hear the whole of the dialogue between the recumbent fool and the standing philosopher; but the dramatist was too wise to make such an error of construction. He gives us the main points and leaves the rest to the imagination. That Touchstone was fully equal to the occasion, and "vented from the strange places in his brain, crammed with observation, mangled forms" that impressed and astonished "Good Monsieur Melancholy," is proved by the fact that the latter's usual gravity is changed to the broadest merriment, culminating in his expressed desire to emulate the province of the clown.
O that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.
But to return to that portion of this interesting interview the poet has given us. It is narrated by Jaques himself:
"Good morrow, fool," quoth I. "No, sir," quoth he,
"Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune."
And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says very wisely, "It is ten o'clock;
Thus may we see," quoth he, "how the world wags.
'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale." When I did hear
The motley fool thus moral on the time,
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
That fools should be so deep-contemplative,
And I did laugh sans intermission
An hour by his dial. - O noble fool!
A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.
We are not informed of the effect of the interview on Touchstone but, doubtless, like a good soldier that appreciates a foeman worthy of his steel, he esteemed the philosopher the more after the combat of their wits.
Henry Giles, in his "Human Life of Shakespeare," calls Touchstone "The Hamlet of motley," and finds "a sadness in his jests" and "in his mockery seem(s) to hear echoes from a solitary heart." He epigrammatically summarizes the character as follows: "He is a thinker out of place, a philosopher in mistaken vesture, a genius by nature, an outcast by destiny." It may be presumption on my part to differ from so distinguished an authority, but, while I approve the application of the term "Hamlet of motley" as justified by Touchstone's analogy to the Danish prince in his reflective philosophy on the mutability of life, I fail to find any evidence of "sadness in his jests" or the "echoes from a solitary heart" in his sentiments or conduct. As I have before observed, his jests are not frivolous, but they are characteristic of the man, quaint and sententious, and never lacking in humor.
On the arrival of the fool in the forest of Arden, with Celia and Rosalind, he jests at the love tale which he and the ladies overhear Sylvius relate to Corin, and burlesques the amatory verses that Orlando has written to Rosalind. He meets and courts Audrey, the country wench, with the usual attentions and compliments of a lover in his station, and in the third act arranges to marry her; in fact, he would have done so, but for the advice of Jaques, who urges him to postpone the ceremony till a more favorable opportunity. This opportunity presents itself at the conclusion of the play, and Touchstone is there with his sweetheart, eager, as he declares, to "swear and forswear, according as marriage binds." These conditions do not seem to indicate a solitary heart. As to Mr. Giles's final summary of Touchstone's character, his genius I admit; but a thinker is never out of place: there is no distinctive vesture for a philosopher: and the jester to so important a personage as the Duke can scarcely be termed an outcast.
It would seem by the initial appearance of Touchstone that Shakespeare intended to represent him as the ordinary type of "a dull fool," and later endowed him with the wealth of wit and wisdom that has so enriched the character, and made it so conspicuous in the comedy. This has caused so eminent an authority as Dr. Furness to conclude that Shakespeare intended to present two separate and distinct characters: an ordinary "roynish clown" or "clownish fool," as he is called in the first act, and the keen and witty philosopher, the "worthy fool" we find in the later acts. Again, I am compelled to differ with a distinguished scholar.
I can find nothing inconsistent in the character. In the first act, Touchstone's jests are light and frivolous, but in perfect keeping with the duties of his office, which were to entertain and amuse his master and his household; and even that trifling example of the knight and the pancakes is an apt illustration of his argument on "swearing by his honor"; while his sarcastic reference to "breaking of ribs" as "sport for ladies" is entirely consistent with his philosophic satire in the later acts.
The unities of the character are well preserved, and the link connecting Touchstone at the court with Touchstone in the forest is clearly defined. Rosalind and Celia, having decided to leave the court and seek security in the forest, Rosalind proposes:
What if we assay'd to steal
The clownish fool out of your father's court?
Would he not be a comfort to our travel?
To this proposal Celia eagerly assents:
He'll go along o'er the wide world with me;
Leave me alone to woo him.
That her wooing was successful is obvious, for the next time we meet them they are at the edge of the forest, Touchstone is with them, and like themselves wearied by the journey they have made. The continuity is complete. The same trenchant wit that satirized the "breaking of ribs" at the court, humorously exclaims against the fatigues of the journey, and the discomforts of the forest.
Ros. O Jupiter! how weary are my spirits!
Tou. I care not for my spirits, if my legs were not weary.
Cel. I pray you bear with me; I cannot go further.
Tou. For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you; yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you, for I think you have no money in your purse.
Ros. Well, this is the forest of Arden.
Tou. Ay, now I am in Arden; the more fool I! when I was at home, I was in a better place: but travelers must be content.
It is obvious to me that the characters developed in the mind of the author as he progressed in the construction of the play, and however clear may have been his first conception of the part, he elaborated and perfected it as the possibilities presented themselves.
Dr. Furness, however, is most emphatic against this view of Shakespeare's methods. He says: "I cannot suppose - it is unthinkable - that from the first instant each character was not present before him in perfect symmetry and absolute completeness."
This is the natural point of view of such an accomplished scholar and scientific literary critic as Dr. Furness; but Shakespeare had not the Doctor's advantages of a systemized education, nor such profound literary culture. Shakespeare adopted methods of his own, which were at variance with conventionality; he discarded the scientific rules of construction, followed the natural instincts of his own mind, and established a new standard of dramatic writing.
Such evidence as we have, indicates that nearly all of the poet's play-writing was hastily done, and as he then thought, but for temporary use on the stage. We have no evidence of revision either for publication or for subsequent reproduction, but much that justifies the inference that he was indifferent to the merits of his dramatic work; so that while his plots may have been carefully prepared, the characters grew in detailed importance as they developed in the mind of the actor-dramatist, and the construction of the play proceeded. It must also be remembered that Shakespeare worked from more than one point of view; he possessed the creative faculty of the author, the ideality of the poet, the constructive ability of the dramatist, as well as the actor's instinct of delineation. This condition I assume to have existed in the construction of "As You Like It," and the result was the evolution of Touchstone.
The story of the knight and the pancakes, referred to in the foregoing lines, is told by Touchstone in the second scene of the first act; his initial appearance in the play.
Rosalind and Celia are in the gardens of the Duke's palace, when they are approached by Touchstone, who addressing Celia, says: - "Mistress, you must come away to your father." Celia responds with the question, "Were you made the messenger?" "No, by mine honor," asserts Touchstone, "but I was bid to come for you." Honor being a quality with which a fool was not supposed to be familiar, his asseveration draws from Rosalind the query, "Where learned you that oath, fool?" to which Touchstone replies as follows: "Of a certain knight who swore by his honor they were good pancakes, and swore by his honor the mustard was naught. Now I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn."
The ladies at this apparent trifling, grow sarcastic, Celia asking, "How prove you that in the great heap of your knowledge?" Rosalind echoes her cousin's sentiment by adding, "Ay, marry, now unmuzzle your wisdom." For answer, Touchstone requests the ladies, "Stand you both forth now; stroke your chins, and swear by your beards that I am a knave." The ladies do as requested, passing their hands over their faces, Celia exclaiming, "By our beards, if we had them, thou art." Touchstone concludes the story and the argument by asserting: "By my knavery, if I had it, then I were; but if you swear by that that is not, you are not forsworn. No more was this knight, swearing by his honor, for he never had any; or if he had, he had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancakes or that mustard."
Learning from the fool that the story has reference to a friend of her father, Celia threatens him with the whip, for "taxation." Touchstone's reply is worthy of the keenest satirist: "The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely when wise men do foolishly."
The advent of Le Beau, a courtier, puts an end to the discussion. Le Beau invites the ladies to see some wrestling, which he terms "good sport," and describes with much detail the bouts that have already occurred, in which Charles, the champion wrestler, has overthrown and broken the ribs of three young men, brothers, who have essayed to compete with him. Le Beau reports the young men as having been apparently fatally injured, and that some of the more sympathetic spectators have joined the aged father of the boys in his lamentations at their hurts. At the conclusion of Le Beau's narrative Touchstone gravely inquires, "But what is the sport, Monsieur, that the ladies have lost?" "Why, this that I speak of," returns the courtier. "Thus," replies Touchstone, "men may grow wiser every day! It is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies."
In the early days of my dramatic experience, there was an unworthy "gag" introduced into this scene by comedians who played Touchstone. At the conclusion of the wrestling, which is witnessed by the ladies and Touchstone, the champion is worsted by Orlando, and thrown senseless to the ground. The duke, with whom the wrestler is a favorite, inquires with some anxiety, "How dost thou, Charles?" in reply to which Le Beau should answer, "He cannot speak, my lord." Comedians, however, were permitted to appropriate this line and would preface it with the words, "He says," making the sentence in its entirety read, "He says he cannot speak, my lord!" a poverty-stricken jest of which Touchstone would have been incapable. Happily, this "gag" is now omitted.
The journey of Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone to the forest of Arden has been already referred to, together with the latter's witticisms on the subject, but there is one passage of the fool's I cannot refrain from repeating, "Travelers must be content."
Speaking from many years of experience over many miles and in many lands, I know of no bit of wisdom, wit, or philosophy in the realm of literature that expresses a more emphatic truth than those four words of Touchstone.
It is while resting "in the skirt of the forest" that the travelers, unperceived, overhear a lover's complaint by a young shepherd, Sylvius, to his more mature friend Corin. The relation of the passion of the young shepherd brings from Rosalind the acknowledgment that she is similarly affected; and Touchstone declares he too has suffered, and humorously describes his experiences with Jane Smile, concluding with the sage averment: "We that are true lovers run into strange capers; but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly." The sentiment is approved by Rosalind, who remarks, "Thou speakest wiser than thou art ware of." "Nay," modestly replies Touchstone, "I shall ne'er be ware of mine own wit till I break my shins against it."
Touchstone's adaptability and good nature soon make him friends and in the third act we find him in pleasant converse with the old shepherd Corin, who evidently has considerable respect for him, for he addresses him first as "Master Touchstone" and subsequently as "Sir." Corin's homely wit, however, is no match for that of Touchstone, but the latter is compelled, in justice, to acknowledge that even in the limited sphere of his pastoral life the shrewd observations of the old shepherd have made him a natural philosopher. The dialogue is bright and characteristic throughout the scene, but the passages quoted below are especially good examples of Touchstone's logical reasoning.
Cor. And how like you this shepherd's life, Master Touchstone?
Tou. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humor well: but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. - Wast ever at court, Shepherd?
Cor. No, truly.
Tou. Then thou art damned.
Cor. For not being at court? Your reason.
Tou. Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw'st good manners; if thou never saw'st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. A little more reasoning, and Corin confesses himself unable to cope further with Touchstone:
Cor. You have too courtly a wit for me; I'll rest.
Tou. Wilt thou rest damned? God help thee, shallow man. If thou be'st not damned for this, the devil himself will have no shepherds.
It is evident that at this time Touchstone has not yet fallen a victim to the bucolic charms of Audrey; for he ridicules, with extemporaneous doggerel, the very interesting love verses that Rosalind has found hanging on the forest trees, and so seriously offends the lady that he is summarily dismissed from her presence.
Shortly after, however, in spite of his sad experience with Jane Smile, we find him paying assiduous court to the rustic maiden, Audrey; offering "to fetch up her goats," plying her with the usual questions, and awaiting her replies with the usual anxiety of a lover; but the court fool's language and references to classic Ovid are beyond the understanding of the simple country wench, who ingenuously asks for further information. This is somewhat discouraging to the motley lover, and he thus complains: "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child Understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room."
He then expresses the wish that the gods had made her poetical. This, too, is beyond Audrey's comprehension, and she artlessly inquires, "Is it honest in deed and word? Is it a true thing?" In spite of Touchstone's desire that Audrey should be poetical, he has apparently no very exalted opinion of poetry, for in reply to her query he replies, "No, truly, for the truest poetry is the most feigning; and lovers are given to poetry; and what they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do feign."
I must confess that I find almost as much difficulty as Audrey in comprehending the argument of Touchstone in the following passages.... These words are clear enough, even to the simple understanding of Audrey, who asks in surprise, "Would you not have me honest?" It is Touchstone's reply to this question that I find confusing. He evidently has a sincere affection for this homely country girl; he admires her ingenuous simplicity in spite of her ignorance, and his intentions are honorable, for he proposes to make her his wife; yet he answers Audrey's question, first, with an emphatic negative, "No, truly," and then makes the following reservation, "Unless thou wert hard favour'd," and gives the concluding illogical reason, "For honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar."
It may be that Touchstone's worldly wisdom sees danger in too many virtues, and the honesty of Audrey is sufficient attraction without beauty. There is a ring of sincerity in Audrey's rejoinder; a note that argues well for harmony, and a longer voyage on the sea of matrimony than Jaques allots them. Audrey may not be learned or poetical, but neither is she shallow nor vain like the little shepherdess, Phoebe; she is not coquetting for a compliment, but with refreshing candor admits: "Well, I am not fair, and therefore I pray the gods to make me honest." I find in Audrey's simple prayer and womanly candor qualities indicating that in the choice of a wife Touchstone has neither been unwise nor unfortunate.
It would appear that Touchstone had little doubt of the success of his suit, for he not only tells Audrey that he will marry her, but has anticipated matters by engaging Sir Oliver Martext, the vicar of the next village, to meet them "in this place in the forest, and to couple us."
That Audrey approves of this hasty wooing is evidenced by her characteristically implied consent, "Well, the gods give us joy!" to which Touchstone adds, "Amen!"
As the fateful moment approaches, however, Touchstone indulges in some self-communion: "A man may, if he were of a fearful heart, stagger in this attempt; for here we have no temple but the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. But what, though? ... Is the single man therefore blessed? No; as a walled town is more worthier than a village, so is the forehead of a married man more honorable than the bare brow of a bachelor; and by how much defense is better than no skill, by so much is a horn more precious than to want." Having arrived at this conclusion, Sir Oliver Martext having arrived also, Touchstone is anxious that the ceremony shall proceed, and asks of the vicar, "Will you despatch us here under the tree, or shall we go with you to your chapel?" For reply, the vicar, looking around, asks, "Is there none here to give the woman?" to which the fool, who is obviously unfamiliar with the marriage service responds, "I will not take her on gift of any man."
As this attitude of Touchstone seems liable to postpone indefinitely, if not prevent the ceremony altogether, Jaques, who has been listening unobserved to the entire scene, steps forward and offers his services. Having, however, acquired a profound respect for Touchstone, and perceiving that he is in earnest in his desire to be married to Audrey, Jaques urges him to have the ceremony performed in a church by a properly ordained minister, and the appropriate surroundings of a gentleman; rather than by a hedge-priest in the forest, like a beggar. Touchstone hesitates before adopting this course, and Shakespeare has put an aside speech into his mouth, which if taken seriously would destroy much of our respect for him. Some of the commentators have taken it seriously, and have deduced the conclusion that Touchstone intended to deceive Audrey ; but I cannot think it. Every action of the fool, and every other line that the author has given him, expresses sincere regard and indicates honorable intentions.
The entire speech seems to me to be the spontaneous expression of the humor of the situation, as it appears to the keen sense of our motley friend. The subject matter is not new nor the treatment of it original. Marriage has been the theme of jest at all times, to all conditions of people, and Touchstone was too instinctively a jester not to appreciate the possibility of a jest, even on himself. The lines are as follows: (Aside) "I am not in the mind but I were better to be married of him than of another, for he is not like to marry me well, and not being well married, will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife."
However, Touchstone and Audrey accompany Jaques to discuss the matter further, leaving the despised Sir Oliver in high dudgeon, and without a fee. Jaques evidently succeeded in convincing Touchstone of the propriety of his suggestion, but Audrey fails to comprehend the necessity of delay. To her limited understanding, one priest is as good as another. In the first scene of the fifth act she emphatically expresses her impatience, indicating that she has an opinion, if not a will, of her own, and protests, "Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's saying." Touchstone finds it quite a task for his wit to pacify the lady, and is only successful by diverting her attention to the claims of another to her affections; a certain forest youth named William. It is a shrewd piece of diplomacy on the part of the fool, and not new to the world by any means; to terminate an argument by changing the subject, and affecting reproach, or of meeting one accusation by making another. Audrey, however, denies the soft impeachment, and fortunately the bucolic gentleman referred to appears most opportunely on the scene.
Touchstone regards the newcomer critically, and complacently observes, "It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. By my troth, we that have good wits have much to answer for; we shall be flouting, we cannot hold."
It is a curiously contrasted group we have before us now: The country girl, awkward and embarrassed in the presence of her rustic suitor, and her court trained lover; the forest youth, ill at ease, nervously shifting from one foot to the other, as he stands, hat in hand before her; and the smug, self-satisfied court fool, who conscious of possession, revels in his superiority, and rejoices in the discomfiture of his unsuccessful rival.
With what a delightful assumption of patronage, Touchstone questions the simple William, encourages, emboldens, then confuses, and finally drives the poor fellow from the field with the most terrible threats of disaster and death. The scene is rich in comedy, but beneath the surface may be appreciated a deep satire on the world.
One passage especially, presents a most wholesome truth, that it is superfluous for me to emphasize, but which I cannot forbear quoting. Amongst other questions, Touchstone asks of William, "Art thou wise?" William incautiously replies, "Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit." This is Touchstone's opportunity, and he retorts: "Why, thou sayest well. I do now remember a saying, The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
Touchstone is now summoned by his "master and mistress" (Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, and Celia), who evidently acquaint him of their matrimonial intentions, and approve of his; for the next time we meet the motley "lover and his lass," the former tells her, "To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow will we be married," to which she candidly and sensibly replies, "I do desire it with all my heart; and I hope it is no dishonest desire to be a woman of the world."
Audrey's wishes are shortly realized; Rosalind, the good fairy, waves her wand, and the forest of Arden becomes a veritable Temple of Hymen. All differences are adjusted, all wrongs righted, and true love receives its reward. It is a joyous meeting of their betters, to which Touchstone brings his prospective bride, and to which they are heralded by Jaques in his characteristic fashion: "There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools."
However, on their appearance he bespeaks a welcome for them from the Duke: "Good my lord, like this fellow," to which the Duke courteously replies, "I like him very well."
Touchstone's acknowledgment is characteristic, if not especially gallant; but his self-abnegation is scarcely consistent with his previously expressed declaration, that he would not take Audrey "on gift of any man." However, his concluding epigram is convincing, and his metaphor perfect: "God 'ield you, sir! I desire of you the like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives, to swear and forswear, according as marriage binds and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humor of mine, sir, to take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in your foul oyster."
The completeness of the character of Touchstone is achieved in his last scene.... Here Touchstone is in his element. Surrounded by persons who understand his office and can appreciate his wit, he appears at his best. The various accomplishments by which he claims the title of a courtier, are irresistibly amusing, and the humor may be applied to some modern views on gallantry, as well as to mediaeval standards of courtesy.
How to cite this article:
Warde, Frederick. The Fools of Shakespeare. London: McBride, Nast & company, 1915. Shakespeare Online. 2 Aug. 2011. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/asu/touchstone.html >.
_________
| As You Like It |
Which Shakespearean play features a merchant named 'Balthazar' and a Goldsmith named 'Angelo'? | As You Like It Characters
As You Like It Characters
Second Page is one of Duke Senior’s company, and an enthusiastic singer.
| i don't know |
In June 1963, 14-year-old Prince Charles, caused controversy by buying what alcoholic drink brand in a hotel bar? | Charles at 65: He's never without his porcupine tooth pick and doesn't own a mobile. But then he's a true Duchy original... and we're proud to be the first to say: Happy Birthday! | Daily Mail Online
comments
He is on the verge of becoming the world's most famous pensioner - and quite possibly the busiest one, too.
In 11 days' time, on November 14, the Prince of Wales will turn 65, at which point he becomes the oldest monarch-in-waiting in British history, surpassing William IV, who was 64 when he ascended to the throne in June 1830.
But as these pictures and the revealing facts to go with them make clear, despite having a lifetime of achievement behind him, there is absolutely no sign of Prince Charles slowing down, whether he is skiing in the Alps, promoting the British wool industry, or feeding the squirrels on the Birkhall estate, the private retreat in Scotland bequeathed to him by the Queen Mother.
Scroll down for video
1972 The 23-year-old Prince, in his polo kit, looks confident, assured and ready to face the world
He has lived his life under the closest scrutiny, and the people of the United Kingdom have witnessed a transformation from the shy teenager at his investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle to the assured figure we see today.
There have been turbulent times, including the divorce from Diana and the terrible death that followed. But, if anything, these setbacks combined with his reputation for refreshing honesty and sheer hard work have served to endear him to the nation he will one day rule.
Increasingly he is seen as a passionate philanthropist, devoting increasing amounts of his time to public service.
Share this article
Share
As Charles himself put it recently, he is driven by 'an extraordinary feeling, ever since I can remember really, to heal and make things better in the world'.
Charles will celebrate his birthday in Sri Lanka where he will be representing the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. It is the first time the Queen has not attended the conference, another indication of the Royal Family's resolute confidence in his ability to lead 'the Firm' into the future.
If, though, you thought you knew everything about him, you might want to think again, as these 65 facts about Charles make clear...
1948 Charles at five weeks with Princess Elizabeth
1 The Prince's full title is His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
2 He doesn't have a mobile phone.
3 The Prince of Wales established The Prince's Trust in 1976, using his pension from the Royal Navy.
4 He never eats on a plane, however long the flight.
5 Charles holds the highest rank in all three military services as an honorary Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force.
6 He has written 11 books, and contributed to many more.
7 As a young boy his favourite toy was a trolley of wooden bricks called the 'Prince Charles Express'.
8 The music of gloomy American singer Leonard Cohen, can often be heard in his homes - between Mozart and numbers by Noel Coward.
9 Since 1954 Prince Charles has carried out official engagements in 105 countries The most frequently visitied are America, France and Germany
10 The Prince of Wales has 32 godchildren.
11 Every Christmas the Prince sends whisky to all the troops in his regiments.
12 He has reintroduced two old Royal traditions: official harpist and tour artist.
13 He's a brilliant mimic, a skill inherited from the Queen. The Goons are a speciality.
14 As a teenager he was a keen potter and created mugs in the shape of animals complete with legs, horns, tails and eyes.
15 The Maasai tribe gave the Prince the title 'Keeper of the Cows' when he visited them in Tanzania in 2012.
16 At Gordonstoun, his tough Scottish boarding school, Prince Charles was elected Guardian - Head Boy - in his final year.
17 As the Duke of Cornwall, he owns 133,658 acres of land, including farming, residential, and commercial properties.
18 The Prince of Wales has laid many of the hedges on Home Farm at Highgrove himself and has hosted the National Hedge-laying Championships to help promote this ancient countryside skill.
19 He is said to be descended from Dracula - Vlad the Impaler - and has property in Transylvania where he is supporting several conservation and cultural projects.
20 The Prince has 50 pairs of hand-stitched leather shoes, each costing more than £800, made by historic shoemaker Lobb of St James's. He still has a pair he bought 45 years ago.
1949 His first film role. An early news reel shot with his mother and father
21 Charles took up water-skiing and surfing in his teens, and during service in the Royal Navy he was introduced to scuba diving. In 1974 he became President of the British Sub Aqua Club.
22 The Prince of Wales has helped launch the careers of actor Idris Elba, magician Dynamo, singer Paloma Faith and entrepreneur Michelle Mone through his charity The Prince's Trust.
23 Prince Charles was the first member of the Royal Family to go to school, and was the first heir to the throne to take a degree.
24 He came second in the Ludlow steeplechase in 1980.
25 Charles runs his 44-year-old Aston Martin, a 21st birthday gift from his mother, on bio-fuel made entirely from distilled English wine and the by-products of cheesemaking.
26 He is a member of the Magic Circle, a society of stage magicians, having passed the exam to join in 1975. The cup and balls he used are still on display in their museum.
27 He was caned twice by Peter Beck, headmaster of Cheam School.
1950 A reassuring hand for sister Anne, who was born a few months earlier
28 He likes runny honey in his Earl Grey tea.
29 Sales from the organic food company Duchy Originals, which The Prince started in 1992, have generated more than £11 million for charitable causes. It celebrates its 21st anniversary this year.
30 A species of rainforest frog is named after him. Hyloscirtus princecharlesi, or the Prince Charles stream tree frog, was first discovered in Ecuador in 2008.
31 He turned down a cameo role in Doctor Who despite having been a fan of the show since he was 15. But he did make a guest appearance as himself in Coronation Street's 40th year anniversary episode.
32 The Prince is said to favour brown eggs, which he - like the Queen - believes taste better than white ones.
33 Though known as an animal-lover, he dislikes cats.
34 The Prince of Wales is Patron or President of more than 400 organisations, including the Badger Face Sheep Society.
1951 The future Navy officer has ships and sailors on his play clothes! (l) and
35 The Prince of Wales is a keen keeper of chickens with Marans and Welsummers at Highgrove. The chicken coop where these lucky birds sleep is covered with prize-winning rosettes marking victory at numerous poultry shows.
36 Nothing he wears is washed in a machine.
37 He and Princess Anne fought as children so Prince Philip gave each of them a pair of boxing gloves. They had to be taken away after Anne consistently beat her brother up.
38 Charles favours gin martinis, but doesn't always trust others to make them to his taste. Before he leaves for some events, his valet prepares the drink in a plastic Lucozade bottle. The martini is then transferred to a glass at the function.
39 When writing to Muslim and Arab friends, he signs his name in Arabic. Charles is currently learning the language.
40 He learned to play the trumpet aged 15, plays the cello and can conduct an orchestra.
41 The Prince has undertaken 99 overseas visits in the past ten years on behalf of the government. 42 He has a toothpick made of a silver-plated porcupine quill. It travels with him everywhere.
43 The Prince's speciality dish is bread and butter pudding which he first learnt to cook in Australia.
44 In 2011 The Prince presented a BBC documentary on Hubert Parry, composer of Jerusalem and Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind.
1953 Can we go home yet? Bored at his mother's coronation beside grandma
1954 Holiday smiles and a royal wave as Charles and Anne travel to join the Royal Yacht Britannia (l) and 1955 But a long face at the European Horse Trials at Windsor (r)
45 He had his first alcoholic drink in public aged 14. He sought refuge in a Stornoway bar to escape the 'determined voyeurs'. Uncertain what to do, he ordered a cherry brandy but he was spotted by a journalist.
46 In 2012 the Prince of Wales undertook 657 official engagements and hosted almost 7,500 people at events at Royal residences. In the last ten years he has carried out 6,171 engagements and, it is estimated, more than 20,000 since 1970.
47 He turned Buckingham Palace into one of Britain's first recycling households, creating a bottle bank there in 1980. At the time he was mocked.
48 While in the Navy, Prince Charles compiled a German-English phrase book 'A Guide to the chatting up of Girls' for the men of the Royal Regiment of Wales, of which he is Colonel-in-Chief.
49 The Prince is a workaholic. He is on duty every day of the year, including Christmas Day. Every year on December 25, senior members of staff have to be ready to take a call at home from HRH.
50 Prince Charles takes a full set of mourning clothes wherever he goes, in case of a Royal death back home.
51 The Prince supports Burnley Football Club. He makes regular visits to the Lancashire town where a consortium of his charities have set up an office.
1956 A moody pose on his eighth birthday (l) and 1958 Smart in his uniform, off to Cheam School (r)
1957 Who'll dig him out of this one? Charles, Anne and corgi on holiday in Norfolk
52 Charles doesn't really eat lunch. He sometimes has a sandwich but nothing else. If he is out working he may just have a drink of orange juice.
53 The Prince has appeared on lists of Best Dressed People and Worst Dressed People . . . in the same year!
54 His favourite meal at teatime is Welsh fruit cake - which he served at his wedding to The Duchess of Cornwall in Windsor.
55 During his holidays, Prince Charles goes for a long walk every day. He once said: 'Some people need a cigarette. I need a walk.'
56 The Prince regularly feeds the almost-tame red squirrels which appear daily at the back door of Birkhall. Sometimes they come all the way into the kitchen.
57 He suffers from a bad back, and his staff make sure that a small red and gold cushion that relieves the pain goes with him everywhere - in his car, at his desk, in an aeroplane seat.
1959 A pensive Charles, at the age of ten (l) and 1960 Holding baby brother Andrew (r)
1961 With glamorous aunt Margaret on a day out
58 Most years, the Prince spends a couple of days at Yew Tree Farm B&B in Borrowdale, Cumbria, and goes walking in the Lake District.
59 There are 17 Prince's Charities of which The Prince is either Founder or President.
60 The Prince's Trust has helped 750,000 young people since 1976 and set up 80,000 young people in business in the UK since 1983.
61 The Prince of Wales is exactly the same weight as he was 30 years ago. He is still wearing his old suits and uniforms because he hasn't put on any weight.
62 The Prince's Charities have provided business support to 395,000 people.
63 His shirts are all hand-made at £350 each by London tailor Turnbull & Asser.
64 In 2010 The Prince of Wales founded the Campaign for Wool to raise awareness of the benefits of the fibre
65 His favourite expression when tired or fed up is: 'The things I do for England...'
1962 Welcome: The first day at Gordonstoun (l) and 1963 Best boot forward as Charles enjoys his first ski lesson, in Switzerland (r)
1964 A successful fishing trip on holiday in the Med (l) and 1965 Charles, with Andrew and Anne, casts a close eye over a guard of honour (r)
1966 School’s out as Charles reaches 18. He’s happy about that in this official portrait (l) and 1967 In his first term at Cambridge – the first Royal heir on a degree course (r)
1968 In a Footlights show as the singing dustman Reg Sport (l) and 1969 The Queen invests her 21-year-old son as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon (r)
1970 Back on stage in a college revue (l) and 1971 A royal smile as Charles makes the cover of Punch magazine (r)
1973 With his Napoleon stance, an immaculate Charles at the wedding of his sister Anne (l) and
1975 Former lovers and future partners Charles and Camilla captured at polo in Gloucestershire
1976 Bearded at Badminton, Charles resembles George V, his great grandfather (l) and 1977 Every inch the sportsman, the Prince prepares for a polo match (r)
1978 A peek under the bearskin for the soldier prince at Trooping The Colour (l) and 1979 Model Jane Priest steals a kiss during an unexpected exchange in Perth (r)
1980 Charles dons a joke mask to tease photographers on the Swiss slopes (l) and 1981 Marriage to Diana is sealed with a kiss before the eyes of 750 million (r)
1982 Enjoying fatherhood with six-month-old William
1983 William is safe in Charles’s arms on a trip to New Zealand (l) and 1984 The first family portrait with newborn Prince Harry (r)
1985 On tour in Australia and the rift starts to show (l) and, in 1986, contented in his beloved Highgrove garden (r)
1987 Charles and Diana at a Wembley concert by the Prince's Trust All-Star band
1988 Charles took up the cello at university. Here he plays on a visit to Melbourne (l) and 1989 A keen artist, the Prince is snapped sketching at Windsor (r)
1990 Injured Charles on holiday with Diana in Majorca (l) and 1991 Prince Harry tags along with Charles for polo in Cirencester (r)
1992 With the cast of children who staged a production of his book, The Old Man Of Lochnagar
1993 Showing a nose for fresh produce at the RHS gardens in Surrey (l) and 1994 Do you know what it is yet? Charles with paints in Klosters (r)
1995 Father and son share a laugh during a VJ day commemoration
1996 Charles, who takes an interest in all faiths, at a London mosque (l) and 1997 Charles and his sons view flowers left by the public at Kensington Palace after Diana’s death (r)
1998 A moment of much needed tranquillity. Fishing at Balmoral (l) and this 1999 picture shows his first public outing with Camilla, at the Ritz (r)
2000 Joking with actress Beverley Callard on the set of Coronation Street
2001 A quick kiss for Camilla while visiting Somerset House
2002 Mournful Charles leads William at the Queen Mother’s funeral (l) and 2003 With mother and son marking the 50th anniversary of the Queen's coronation (r)
2004 A stroll with 21-year-old William through the Gloucestershire fields (l) and 2005, newly married Charles and Camilla emerge from St George’s chapel into the public gaze (r)
2006 His and hers outfits on Charles and Camilla’s first anniversary (l) and the prince inspecting a samba dancer at a WWF gala dinner in 2007 (r)
2008 The official portrait marking his 60th
2009 Joking with former jockey Willie Carson at Ascot
2010 Charles on a surprise visit to the troops in Afghanistan (l) and 2011 Getting to know Michael Middleton at William's wedding (r)
2012 The Queen seems delighted to get a kiss at her diamond jubilee concert
2013 Grandfather Charles poses with the Queen, William and Prince George - four generations of the Royal Family
| Fruit brandy |
"Which English playwright was known as ""The Master""?" | Charles at 65: He's never without his porcupine tooth pick and doesn't own a mobile. But then he's a true Duchy original... and we're proud to be the first to say: Happy Birthday! | Daily Mail Online
comments
He is on the verge of becoming the world's most famous pensioner - and quite possibly the busiest one, too.
In 11 days' time, on November 14, the Prince of Wales will turn 65, at which point he becomes the oldest monarch-in-waiting in British history, surpassing William IV, who was 64 when he ascended to the throne in June 1830.
But as these pictures and the revealing facts to go with them make clear, despite having a lifetime of achievement behind him, there is absolutely no sign of Prince Charles slowing down, whether he is skiing in the Alps, promoting the British wool industry, or feeding the squirrels on the Birkhall estate, the private retreat in Scotland bequeathed to him by the Queen Mother.
Scroll down for video
1972 The 23-year-old Prince, in his polo kit, looks confident, assured and ready to face the world
He has lived his life under the closest scrutiny, and the people of the United Kingdom have witnessed a transformation from the shy teenager at his investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle to the assured figure we see today.
There have been turbulent times, including the divorce from Diana and the terrible death that followed. But, if anything, these setbacks combined with his reputation for refreshing honesty and sheer hard work have served to endear him to the nation he will one day rule.
Increasingly he is seen as a passionate philanthropist, devoting increasing amounts of his time to public service.
Share this article
Share
As Charles himself put it recently, he is driven by 'an extraordinary feeling, ever since I can remember really, to heal and make things better in the world'.
Charles will celebrate his birthday in Sri Lanka where he will be representing the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. It is the first time the Queen has not attended the conference, another indication of the Royal Family's resolute confidence in his ability to lead 'the Firm' into the future.
If, though, you thought you knew everything about him, you might want to think again, as these 65 facts about Charles make clear...
1948 Charles at five weeks with Princess Elizabeth
1 The Prince's full title is His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
2 He doesn't have a mobile phone.
3 The Prince of Wales established The Prince's Trust in 1976, using his pension from the Royal Navy.
4 He never eats on a plane, however long the flight.
5 Charles holds the highest rank in all three military services as an honorary Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force.
6 He has written 11 books, and contributed to many more.
7 As a young boy his favourite toy was a trolley of wooden bricks called the 'Prince Charles Express'.
8 The music of gloomy American singer Leonard Cohen, can often be heard in his homes - between Mozart and numbers by Noel Coward.
9 Since 1954 Prince Charles has carried out official engagements in 105 countries The most frequently visitied are America, France and Germany
10 The Prince of Wales has 32 godchildren.
11 Every Christmas the Prince sends whisky to all the troops in his regiments.
12 He has reintroduced two old Royal traditions: official harpist and tour artist.
13 He's a brilliant mimic, a skill inherited from the Queen. The Goons are a speciality.
14 As a teenager he was a keen potter and created mugs in the shape of animals complete with legs, horns, tails and eyes.
15 The Maasai tribe gave the Prince the title 'Keeper of the Cows' when he visited them in Tanzania in 2012.
16 At Gordonstoun, his tough Scottish boarding school, Prince Charles was elected Guardian - Head Boy - in his final year.
17 As the Duke of Cornwall, he owns 133,658 acres of land, including farming, residential, and commercial properties.
18 The Prince of Wales has laid many of the hedges on Home Farm at Highgrove himself and has hosted the National Hedge-laying Championships to help promote this ancient countryside skill.
19 He is said to be descended from Dracula - Vlad the Impaler - and has property in Transylvania where he is supporting several conservation and cultural projects.
20 The Prince has 50 pairs of hand-stitched leather shoes, each costing more than £800, made by historic shoemaker Lobb of St James's. He still has a pair he bought 45 years ago.
1949 His first film role. An early news reel shot with his mother and father
21 Charles took up water-skiing and surfing in his teens, and during service in the Royal Navy he was introduced to scuba diving. In 1974 he became President of the British Sub Aqua Club.
22 The Prince of Wales has helped launch the careers of actor Idris Elba, magician Dynamo, singer Paloma Faith and entrepreneur Michelle Mone through his charity The Prince's Trust.
23 Prince Charles was the first member of the Royal Family to go to school, and was the first heir to the throne to take a degree.
24 He came second in the Ludlow steeplechase in 1980.
25 Charles runs his 44-year-old Aston Martin, a 21st birthday gift from his mother, on bio-fuel made entirely from distilled English wine and the by-products of cheesemaking.
26 He is a member of the Magic Circle, a society of stage magicians, having passed the exam to join in 1975. The cup and balls he used are still on display in their museum.
27 He was caned twice by Peter Beck, headmaster of Cheam School.
1950 A reassuring hand for sister Anne, who was born a few months earlier
28 He likes runny honey in his Earl Grey tea.
29 Sales from the organic food company Duchy Originals, which The Prince started in 1992, have generated more than £11 million for charitable causes. It celebrates its 21st anniversary this year.
30 A species of rainforest frog is named after him. Hyloscirtus princecharlesi, or the Prince Charles stream tree frog, was first discovered in Ecuador in 2008.
31 He turned down a cameo role in Doctor Who despite having been a fan of the show since he was 15. But he did make a guest appearance as himself in Coronation Street's 40th year anniversary episode.
32 The Prince is said to favour brown eggs, which he - like the Queen - believes taste better than white ones.
33 Though known as an animal-lover, he dislikes cats.
34 The Prince of Wales is Patron or President of more than 400 organisations, including the Badger Face Sheep Society.
1951 The future Navy officer has ships and sailors on his play clothes! (l) and
35 The Prince of Wales is a keen keeper of chickens with Marans and Welsummers at Highgrove. The chicken coop where these lucky birds sleep is covered with prize-winning rosettes marking victory at numerous poultry shows.
36 Nothing he wears is washed in a machine.
37 He and Princess Anne fought as children so Prince Philip gave each of them a pair of boxing gloves. They had to be taken away after Anne consistently beat her brother up.
38 Charles favours gin martinis, but doesn't always trust others to make them to his taste. Before he leaves for some events, his valet prepares the drink in a plastic Lucozade bottle. The martini is then transferred to a glass at the function.
39 When writing to Muslim and Arab friends, he signs his name in Arabic. Charles is currently learning the language.
40 He learned to play the trumpet aged 15, plays the cello and can conduct an orchestra.
41 The Prince has undertaken 99 overseas visits in the past ten years on behalf of the government. 42 He has a toothpick made of a silver-plated porcupine quill. It travels with him everywhere.
43 The Prince's speciality dish is bread and butter pudding which he first learnt to cook in Australia.
44 In 2011 The Prince presented a BBC documentary on Hubert Parry, composer of Jerusalem and Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind.
1953 Can we go home yet? Bored at his mother's coronation beside grandma
1954 Holiday smiles and a royal wave as Charles and Anne travel to join the Royal Yacht Britannia (l) and 1955 But a long face at the European Horse Trials at Windsor (r)
45 He had his first alcoholic drink in public aged 14. He sought refuge in a Stornoway bar to escape the 'determined voyeurs'. Uncertain what to do, he ordered a cherry brandy but he was spotted by a journalist.
46 In 2012 the Prince of Wales undertook 657 official engagements and hosted almost 7,500 people at events at Royal residences. In the last ten years he has carried out 6,171 engagements and, it is estimated, more than 20,000 since 1970.
47 He turned Buckingham Palace into one of Britain's first recycling households, creating a bottle bank there in 1980. At the time he was mocked.
48 While in the Navy, Prince Charles compiled a German-English phrase book 'A Guide to the chatting up of Girls' for the men of the Royal Regiment of Wales, of which he is Colonel-in-Chief.
49 The Prince is a workaholic. He is on duty every day of the year, including Christmas Day. Every year on December 25, senior members of staff have to be ready to take a call at home from HRH.
50 Prince Charles takes a full set of mourning clothes wherever he goes, in case of a Royal death back home.
51 The Prince supports Burnley Football Club. He makes regular visits to the Lancashire town where a consortium of his charities have set up an office.
1956 A moody pose on his eighth birthday (l) and 1958 Smart in his uniform, off to Cheam School (r)
1957 Who'll dig him out of this one? Charles, Anne and corgi on holiday in Norfolk
52 Charles doesn't really eat lunch. He sometimes has a sandwich but nothing else. If he is out working he may just have a drink of orange juice.
53 The Prince has appeared on lists of Best Dressed People and Worst Dressed People . . . in the same year!
54 His favourite meal at teatime is Welsh fruit cake - which he served at his wedding to The Duchess of Cornwall in Windsor.
55 During his holidays, Prince Charles goes for a long walk every day. He once said: 'Some people need a cigarette. I need a walk.'
56 The Prince regularly feeds the almost-tame red squirrels which appear daily at the back door of Birkhall. Sometimes they come all the way into the kitchen.
57 He suffers from a bad back, and his staff make sure that a small red and gold cushion that relieves the pain goes with him everywhere - in his car, at his desk, in an aeroplane seat.
1959 A pensive Charles, at the age of ten (l) and 1960 Holding baby brother Andrew (r)
1961 With glamorous aunt Margaret on a day out
58 Most years, the Prince spends a couple of days at Yew Tree Farm B&B in Borrowdale, Cumbria, and goes walking in the Lake District.
59 There are 17 Prince's Charities of which The Prince is either Founder or President.
60 The Prince's Trust has helped 750,000 young people since 1976 and set up 80,000 young people in business in the UK since 1983.
61 The Prince of Wales is exactly the same weight as he was 30 years ago. He is still wearing his old suits and uniforms because he hasn't put on any weight.
62 The Prince's Charities have provided business support to 395,000 people.
63 His shirts are all hand-made at £350 each by London tailor Turnbull & Asser.
64 In 2010 The Prince of Wales founded the Campaign for Wool to raise awareness of the benefits of the fibre
65 His favourite expression when tired or fed up is: 'The things I do for England...'
1962 Welcome: The first day at Gordonstoun (l) and 1963 Best boot forward as Charles enjoys his first ski lesson, in Switzerland (r)
1964 A successful fishing trip on holiday in the Med (l) and 1965 Charles, with Andrew and Anne, casts a close eye over a guard of honour (r)
1966 School’s out as Charles reaches 18. He’s happy about that in this official portrait (l) and 1967 In his first term at Cambridge – the first Royal heir on a degree course (r)
1968 In a Footlights show as the singing dustman Reg Sport (l) and 1969 The Queen invests her 21-year-old son as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon (r)
1970 Back on stage in a college revue (l) and 1971 A royal smile as Charles makes the cover of Punch magazine (r)
1973 With his Napoleon stance, an immaculate Charles at the wedding of his sister Anne (l) and
1975 Former lovers and future partners Charles and Camilla captured at polo in Gloucestershire
1976 Bearded at Badminton, Charles resembles George V, his great grandfather (l) and 1977 Every inch the sportsman, the Prince prepares for a polo match (r)
1978 A peek under the bearskin for the soldier prince at Trooping The Colour (l) and 1979 Model Jane Priest steals a kiss during an unexpected exchange in Perth (r)
1980 Charles dons a joke mask to tease photographers on the Swiss slopes (l) and 1981 Marriage to Diana is sealed with a kiss before the eyes of 750 million (r)
1982 Enjoying fatherhood with six-month-old William
1983 William is safe in Charles’s arms on a trip to New Zealand (l) and 1984 The first family portrait with newborn Prince Harry (r)
1985 On tour in Australia and the rift starts to show (l) and, in 1986, contented in his beloved Highgrove garden (r)
1987 Charles and Diana at a Wembley concert by the Prince's Trust All-Star band
1988 Charles took up the cello at university. Here he plays on a visit to Melbourne (l) and 1989 A keen artist, the Prince is snapped sketching at Windsor (r)
1990 Injured Charles on holiday with Diana in Majorca (l) and 1991 Prince Harry tags along with Charles for polo in Cirencester (r)
1992 With the cast of children who staged a production of his book, The Old Man Of Lochnagar
1993 Showing a nose for fresh produce at the RHS gardens in Surrey (l) and 1994 Do you know what it is yet? Charles with paints in Klosters (r)
1995 Father and son share a laugh during a VJ day commemoration
1996 Charles, who takes an interest in all faiths, at a London mosque (l) and 1997 Charles and his sons view flowers left by the public at Kensington Palace after Diana’s death (r)
1998 A moment of much needed tranquillity. Fishing at Balmoral (l) and this 1999 picture shows his first public outing with Camilla, at the Ritz (r)
2000 Joking with actress Beverley Callard on the set of Coronation Street
2001 A quick kiss for Camilla while visiting Somerset House
2002 Mournful Charles leads William at the Queen Mother’s funeral (l) and 2003 With mother and son marking the 50th anniversary of the Queen's coronation (r)
2004 A stroll with 21-year-old William through the Gloucestershire fields (l) and 2005, newly married Charles and Camilla emerge from St George’s chapel into the public gaze (r)
2006 His and hers outfits on Charles and Camilla’s first anniversary (l) and the prince inspecting a samba dancer at a WWF gala dinner in 2007 (r)
2008 The official portrait marking his 60th
2009 Joking with former jockey Willie Carson at Ascot
2010 Charles on a surprise visit to the troops in Afghanistan (l) and 2011 Getting to know Michael Middleton at William's wedding (r)
2012 The Queen seems delighted to get a kiss at her diamond jubilee concert
2013 Grandfather Charles poses with the Queen, William and Prince George - four generations of the Royal Family
| i don't know |
The second movement of J.S. Bach's 'Orchestral Suite Number 3 in D', is better known as what? | Orchestral Suite No. 3
Home > Education > Bach 101 > Instrumental > BWV 1068
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068
Of Bach's four orchestral suites the third is the best known, largely due to the fame of the second movement, the famous "Air for the G string." The third suite, in D major, consists of five movements: overture, air (strings and continuo only), gavottes I & II, bourrée, and gigue. All movements except for the air are scored for three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, strings, and continuo. The oboes rarely play independently of the violins in this work. The trumpets and drums are used for color and emphasis. Typical of Bach's suites, this one consists of mostly binary movements (two-part forms) based on French dances.
Overture
All of Bach's orchestral suites begins with a French overture. Here, the slow, majestic music returns at the conclusion of the fast portion, with a repeat to the beginning of the fast section. If you look at a copy of the score you might be surprised to see that the timpani part is in C major. Is the timpani really playing in a different key? No, but since the timpani of Bach's day weren't tunable, like today's instruments, all timpani parts were written as though they are playing in C major. The pitch "C" is always equivalent, in this time, to the tonic pitch of the key, here D; the pitch "G" is always equivalent to the dominant pitch of the key, here A. Thus, the timpani could only play when the music was in the tonic key (D major), not when it modulated to other keys (this overture also goes to A major, E minor, b minor, G major). So even if you don't have a score, or can't read music, you can tell when the music of this piece is in D because of the timpani. (The trumpets, by the way, are only marginally more flexible in terms of the key; they most often play when the piece is in D major as well.)
Air
Is there a more famous piece from the Baroque era than this one? A more famous piece for strings alone from any time? Perhaps not, and some readers might think that there's no point in discussing this movement at length, since everyone knows how it goes. But I find this movement fascinating for the density of material in what is a mere eighteen measures.
First, let me tell you about the title of the movement. An "air" is in fact not a French dance, as are the other movements. Clearly, it is an English term, the English term for "aria" or any lyrical work, as this is. As he usually does in the slow movements of his Brandenburg Concertos, Bach drops out the wind instruments and timpani here, allowing the strings alone to carry all the material.
This is a simple binary piece; there is clearly no return of the opening melodic material in the second part of the movement.
The movement is sometimes called the "Air for the G string" because when it is transposed to C major the entire first violin part can be played on the G string alone; the 19th century German violinist August Wilhelm did this in his transcription of the work for violin and piano.
I'd like to point out a few interesting items in the score, which you can observe below.
The letters in red indicate the key involved at the time; all the keys are closely related to the original D major. Capital letters indicate major keys; lower case indicates minor (followed by "m", just to be sure).
The bass line is a typical Baroque walking bass line, which is in constant motion. But look at how deceptively simple the content of this line is; it's really just octave leaps (marked with a bracket) or step-wise motion, as if moving through a scale (marked with circles).
While most people sit back and enjoy the lovely melody, it's actually the combination of the parts which makes this piece so delicious. And you might be surprised to find out that the combination of parts results occasionally in some very surprising dissonance. Most of the dissonances in this work are a result of a sustained part clashing with a moving part, especially in the form of a suspension. In Bach's day, suspensions were classified according to the dissonant-consonant interval combination: 4-3 (a fourth resolving to a third), 2-3 (a second resolving to a third), 7-6 (a seventh to a sixth), and 9-8 (a ninth to an octave). Some, but not all, of the dissonant moments are marked with an x in the score below. Additional dissonances are the result of non-chord tones (pitches not belonging to the prevailing harmony at the moment), such as appoggiaturas.
Finally, notice how the motion is continuous from start to end with two exceptions: the two strongest cadences, at the end of the first section (second ending) and the final measure. Otherwise, this is another example of "perpetual motion" in Bach's works, though because of the slow tempo we tend to forget that. (Look at the combination of parts, not individual parts, to realize the perpetual motion effect.
Gavotte I & II
The gavotte traces its history back to the late 16th century, and continued as a popular courtly dance form to the end of the 18th century. Bach wrote 26 pieces he titled "gavotte", including movements in three of the four orchestral suites. A gavotte is a stylized French dance, moderate in tempo, always in duple meter, with each phrase beginning half-way through a measure. The phrases are almost always groups of four measures each, and are often paired in an antecedent-consequent manner. Like the air, it is a binary form, with two repeated sections. It is graceful, sometimes joyful, but not as romping and raucous as a gigue (discussed below).
In this case, there are actually two separate gavottes, each a binary form, each in D major. Gavotte I is a simple binary form in D major, with a modulation to A (the dominant) at the end of the first section, and a move to b minor (the relative minor key) near the start of the second portion. The entire piece is based on a simple four-note motive:
Sometimes the rhythm is varied as follows:
This rhythm and its variation pervade the entire gavotte I from beginning to end.
Gavotte II is a little longer, by a mere six measures. It reverses the second rhythm of Gavotte I by putting the eighth notes first:
Putting this eighth-note neighboring tone figure first, before the longer quarter note, Bach makes the music sound more ornamented, since this type of pitch movement was common to the mordent, an ornamental figure in the Baroque era. Mordents are particularly common in keyboard music, but also appear in other instrumental music. Here's what the passage above would look like using mordents instead of written-out eighths:
(FYI: A mordent in which the neighboring tone was ascending (D-E-D, for example) would be missing the vertical line in the middle.)
After the Gavotte II is played in its entirety,the convention of the time was to repeat Gavotte I, skipping the repeats. This results in an overall ABA form, seen in other dance forms of the time as well.
Bourrée
Like the gavotte, the bourrée was a French courtly dance. It is in duple meter, usually moderate to quick in tempo (slightly faster than the gavotte), and always beginning with a quarter-note (or two eighth notes) pick-up. Like the gavottes discussed above, the phrases are usually four measures in length, and often arranged in an antecedent-consequent fashion. All four orchestral suites use a bourrée. Atypical of most bourrées, Bach in this example experiments a bit with syncopation in the second portion of the movement:
It's not exactly jazz, but this is unusual for a bourrée, where the rhythm almost never obscures the strong beats. At this same moment, Bach shifts the music to the minor mode, and the combination of the rhythm and modality is unsettling.
Gigue
In its various guises, the gigue (aka: jig, jigg, giga, or gique) appears forty-two times in Bach's works. What they all have in common is the use of compound meter, a fast tempo, and a romping style. According to Meredith Little and Natalie Jenne (in Dance and the Music of J.S. Bach, [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991]}, there are three basic types of gigues in Bach's works: the French gigue, giga I and giga II. You may check out their descriptions of all three sub-genres at your leisure. This particular gigue Little and Jenne classify as an example of giga I. Here are the characteristics of such a work (the items in bold can be found in the excerpt of the score below):
Compound Meter
Balanced phrasing at the beginning of sections
Lively affect
Imitative texture (some are actually fugal)
One or two (as here) beats per measure
Slower tempo with the illusion of fast (the individual eighth notes go fast, but the beat is a dotted-quarter, and thus not actually as fast as the piece might appear)
Some ornamentation
No harmonic change within triple groups (chord staying the same for the whole beat)
usually slurs three-note groupings
Few internal cadences (clear points of repose) before the ends of sections
Jagged rhythms, especially in the upper voice (violins often have quarter-eighth rhythm) [Quite prevalent in the bass line of this piece]
Binary form
You can't really appreciate the irregular phrasing from what you see above. In the excerpt you do find balanced phrases to being the section (four measures plus four measures). The next phrase is also four measures in length; thus Bach sets up the expectation of 4+4 ad infinitum. But the phrase which begins in m. 13 does really at m. 24, twelve measures later, at the end of the first portion (at the repeat) - thus, it is an unpredictable phrase length.
| Air on the G String |
How is Beethoven's 'Symphony Number 3 in E Flat Major', better known? | Bach - Air from Suite No.3 (on the G string) sheet music for piano solo
"I love the fact that a student can be taught the art of transposition via this work- being in D as well as C Major . Kudos....." [show more]
About Bach - Air from Suite No.3 (on the G string) sheet music for piano solo:
High quality Digital sheet music for piano, from Suite No. 3 for strings, (also known as "Air on the G string"), includes two different version: first version in D major (original key) and second version in C major (simplified version).
This item includes: PDF (digital sheet music to download and print), Interactive Sheet Music (for online playing, transposition and printing), Videos , MIDI and Mp3 audio files*
Genre: classical, easter
Pages: 7 (actual music: 4 pages)
This item is also available for other instruments or in different versions:
Not originally on the G strings. by Mike
on February 27, 2010 @2:15 pm PST
This piece has nothing to do with the G string per se. It is the second movement of orchestral suite no. 3 by J. S. Bach arranged for piano. The reason it's called air for the G string is because a german violinist, August Wilhelmj transcribed the movement for violin and piano and in that transcription the violin plays only on the G string and that's why it's so often called Air on the G string. But this Air on the G string is just one transcription of many. It's something like Pachelbel's Canon wich has been arranged for so many instruments that few people know the original version anymore.
Anyway it's a great piece.
Beautiful arrangement of Bach's Air by Kim
on September 21, 2009 @7:03 am PST
Was amazed to find this very nice arrangement for piano solo of Bach's Air. Possible to play a vist�¡ for a more experienced piano player.
D or G string? by Bryan
on May 2, 2009 @5:34 am PST
This arrangement is very good. A great balance between melody and accompaniment. It does not come across as a simplified piece. My only question is why the title (on the G string), when it's in D major?
pleasantly surprised by b
on April 29, 2009 @7:16 am PST
I was pleasantly surprised to see my download purchase included both versions, the one in the original key, and the exact same piece transposed into C Major (advertised as a simplified version). Thank you for bundling both copies. For my younger students, I would love to see the rhythm also "transposed" into equivalent, less complicated rhythms for the "simplified version". The piece is generally played very slowly, so I would welcome seeing the rhythm converted by doubling everything.....sixteenth notes become eighth notes, eighth notes become quarter notes etc....my younger ones are easily scared off by lots of sixteenth notes:-)
| i don't know |
Which Oliver Goldsmith play features 'Squire Hardcastle', his wife and his daughters? | 'She Stoops to Conquer', by Oliver Goldsmith
The Project Gutenberg EBook of She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: She Stoops to Conquer or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. Author: Oliver Goldsmith Release Date: July 11, 2008 [EBook #383] Last Updated: February 4, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER *** Produced by G. R. Young, and David Widger
"SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER"
She Stoops To Conquer; Or, The Mistakes Of A Night.
A Comedy.
To Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
Dear Sir,—By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the public, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most unaffected piety.
I have, particularly, reason to thank you for your partiality to this performance. The undertaking a comedy not merely sentimental was very dangerous; and Mr. Colman, who saw this piece in its various stages, always thought it so. However, I ventured to trust it to the public; and, though it was necessarily delayed till late in the season, I have every reason to be grateful.
I am, dear Sir, your most sincere friend and admirer,
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
By David Garrick, Esq.
Enter MR. WOODWARD, dressed in black, and holding a handkerchief to his eyes.
Excuse me, sirs, I pray—I can't yet speak— I'm crying now—and have been all the week. "'Tis not alone this mourning suit," good masters: "I've that within"—for which there are no plasters! Pray, would you know the reason why I'm crying? The Comic Muse, long sick, is now a-dying! And if she goes, my tears will never stop; For as a player, I can't squeeze out one drop: I am undone, that's all—shall lose my bread— I'd rather, but that's nothing—lose my head. When the sweet maid is laid upon the bier, Shuter and I shall be chief mourners here. To her a mawkish drab of spurious breed, Who deals in sentimentals, will succeed! Poor Ned and I are dead to all intents; We can as soon speak Greek as sentiments! Both nervous grown, to keep our spirits up. We now and then take down a hearty cup. What shall we do? If Comedy forsake us, They'll turn us out, and no one else will take us. But why can't I be moral?—Let me try— My heart thus pressing—fixed my face and eye— With a sententious look, that nothing means, (Faces are blocks in sentimental scenes) Thus I begin: "All is not gold that glitters, "Pleasure seems sweet, but proves a glass of bitters. "When Ignorance enters, Folly is at hand: "Learning is better far than house and land. "Let not your virtue trip; who trips may stumble, "And virtue is not virtue, if she tumble." I give it up—morals won't do for me; To make you laugh, I must play tragedy. One hope remains—hearing the maid was ill, A Doctor comes this night to show his skill. To cheer her heart, and give your muscles motion, He, in Five Draughts prepar'd, presents a potion: A kind of magic charm—for be assur'd, If you will swallow it, the maid is cur'd: But desperate the Doctor, and her case is, If you reject the dose, and make wry faces! This truth he boasts, will boast it while he lives, No poisonous drugs are mixed in what he gives. Should he succeed, you'll give him his degree; If not, within he will receive no fee! The College YOU, must his pretensions back, Pronounce him Regular, or dub him Quack.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
MEN. SIR CHARLES MARLOW Mr. Gardner. YOUNG MARLOW (His Son) Mr. Lee Lewes. HARDCASTLE Mr. Shuter. HASTINGS Mr. Dubellamy. TONY LUMPKIN Mr. Quick. DIGGORY Mr. Saunders. WOMEN. MRS. HARDCASTLE Mrs. Green. MISS HARDCASTLE Mrs. Bulkley. MISS NEVILLE Mrs. Kniveton. MAID Miss Williams. LANDLORD, SERVANTS, Etc. Etc.
ACT THE FIRST.
SCENE—A Chamber in an old-fashioned House.
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE and MR. HARDCASTLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I vow, Mr. Hardcastle, you're very particular. Is there a creature in the whole country but ourselves, that does not take a trip to town now and then, to rub off the rust a little? There's the two Miss Hoggs, and our neighbour Mrs. Grigsby, go to take a month's polishing every winter.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, and bring back vanity and affectation to last them the whole year. I wonder why London cannot keep its own fools at home! In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stage-coach. Its fopperies come down not only as inside passengers, but in the very basket.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ay, your times were fine times indeed; you have been telling us of them for many a long year. Here we live in an old rumbling mansion, that looks for all the world like an inn, but that we never see company. Our best visitors are old Mrs. Oddfish, the curate's wife, and little Cripplegate, the lame dancing-master; and all our entertainment your old stories of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough. I hate such old-fashioned trumpery.
HARDCASTLE. And I love it. I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine; and I believe, Dorothy (taking her hand), you'll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Lord, Mr. Hardcastle, you're for ever at your Dorothys and your old wifes. You may be a Darby, but I'll be no Joan, I promise you. I'm not so old as you'd make me, by more than one good year. Add twenty to twenty, and make money of that.
HARDCASTLE. Let me see; twenty added to twenty makes just fifty and seven.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. It's false, Mr. Hardcastle; I was but twenty when I was brought to bed of Tony, that I had by Mr. Lumpkin, my first husband; and he's not come to years of discretion yet.
HARDCASTLE. Nor ever will, I dare answer for him. Ay, you have taught him finely.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. No matter. Tony Lumpkin has a good fortune. My son is not to live by his learning. I don't think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a year.
HARDCASTLE. Learning, quotha! a mere composition of tricks and mischief.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Humour, my dear; nothing but humour. Come, Mr. Hardcastle, you must allow the boy a little humour.
HARDCASTLE. I'd sooner allow him a horse-pond. If burning the footmen's shoes, frightening the maids, and worrying the kittens be humour, he has it. It was but yesterday he fastened my wig to the back of my chair, and when I went to make a bow, I popt my bald head in Mrs. Frizzle's face.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. And am I to blame? The poor boy was always too sickly to do any good. A school would be his death. When he comes to be a little stronger, who knows what a year or two's Latin may do for him?
HARDCASTLE. Latin for him! A cat and fiddle. No, no; the alehouse and the stable are the only schools he'll ever go to.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Well, we must not snub the poor boy now, for I believe we shan't have him long among us. Anybody that looks in his face may see he's consumptive.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, if growing too fat be one of the symptoms.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. He coughs sometimes.
HARDCASTLE. Yes, when his liquor goes the wrong way.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I'm actually afraid of his lungs.
HARDCASTLE. And truly so am I; for he sometimes whoops like a speaking trumpet—(Tony hallooing behind the scenes)—O, there he goes—a very consumptive figure, truly.
Enter TONY, crossing the stage.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Tony, where are you going, my charmer? Won't you give papa and I a little of your company, lovee?
TONY. I'm in haste, mother; I cannot stay.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. You shan't venture out this raw evening, my dear; you look most shockingly.
TONY. I can't stay, I tell you. The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment. There's some fun going forward.
HARDCASTLE. Ay; the alehouse, the old place: I thought so.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. A low, paltry set of fellows.
TONY. Not so low, neither. There's Dick Muggins the exciseman, Jack Slang the horse doctor, Little Aminadab that grinds the music box, and Tom Twist that spins the pewter platter.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Pray, my dear, disappoint them for one night at least.
TONY. As for disappointing them, I should not so much mind; but I can't abide to disappoint myself.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (detaining him.) You shan't go.
TONY. I will, I tell you.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I say you shan't.
TONY. We'll see which is strongest, you or I. [Exit, hauling her out.]
HARDCASTLE. (solus.) Ay, there goes a pair that only spoil each other. But is not the whole age in a combination to drive sense and discretion out of doors? There's my pretty darling Kate! the fashions of the times have almost infected her too. By living a year or two in town, she is as fond of gauze and French frippery as the best of them.
Enter MISS HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. Blessings on my pretty innocence! drest out as usual, my Kate. Goodness! What a quantity of superfluous silk hast thou got about thee, girl! I could never teach the fools of this age, that the indigent world could be clothed out of the trimmings of the vain.
MISS HARDCASTLE. You know our agreement, sir. You allow me the morning to receive and pay visits, and to dress in my own manner; and in the evening I put on my housewife's dress to please you.
HARDCASTLE. Well, remember, I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the bye, I believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I protest, sir, I don't comprehend your meaning.
HARDCASTLE. Then to be plain with you, Kate, I expect the young gentleman I have chosen to be your husband from town this very day. I have his father's letter, in which he informs me his son is set out, and that he intends to follow himself shortly after.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Indeed! I wish I had known something of this before. Bless me, how shall I behave? It's a thousand to one I shan't like him; our meeting will be so formal, and so like a thing of business, that I shall find no room for friendship or esteem.
HARDCASTLE. Depend upon it, child, I'll never control your choice; but Mr. Marlow, whom I have pitched upon, is the son of my old friend, Sir Charles Marlow, of whom you have heard me talk so often. The young gentleman has been bred a scholar, and is designed for an employment in the service of his country. I am told he's a man of an excellent understanding.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Is he?
MISS HARDCASTLE. I believe I shall like him.
HARDCASTLE. Young and brave.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I'm sure I shall like him.
HARDCASTLE. And very handsome.
MISS HARDCASTLE. My dear papa, say no more, (kissing his hand), he's mine; I'll have him.
HARDCASTLE. And, to crown all, Kate, he's one of the most bashful and reserved young fellows in all the world.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Eh! you have frozen me to death again. That word RESERVED has undone all the rest of his accomplishments. A reserved lover, it is said, always makes a suspicious husband.
HARDCASTLE. On the contrary, modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues. It was the very feature in his character that first struck me.
MISS HARDCASTLE. He must have more striking features to catch me, I promise you. However, if he be so young, so handsome, and so everything as you mention, I believe he'll do still. I think I'll have him.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, Kate, but there is still an obstacle. It's more than an even wager he may not have you.
MISS HARDCASTLE. My dear papa, why will you mortify one so?—Well, if he refuses, instead of breaking my heart at his indifference, I'll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer.
HARDCASTLE. Bravely resolved! In the mean time I'll go prepare the servants for his reception: as we seldom see company, they want as much training as a company of recruits the first day's muster. [Exit.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Alone). Lud, this news of papa's puts me all in a flutter. Young, handsome: these he put last; but I put them foremost. Sensible, good-natured; I like all that. But then reserved and sheepish; that's much against him. Yet can't he be cured of his timidity, by being taught to be proud of his wife? Yes, and can't I—But I vow I'm disposing of the husband before I have secured the lover.
Enter MISS NEVILLE.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I'm glad you're come, Neville, my dear. Tell me, Constance, how do I look this evening? Is there anything whimsical about me? Is it one of my well-looking days, child? Am I in face to-day?
MISS NEVILLE. Perfectly, my dear. Yet now I look again—bless me!—sure no accident has happened among the canary birds or the gold fishes. Has your brother or the cat been meddling? or has the last novel been too moving?
MISS HARDCASTLE. No; nothing of all this. I have been threatened—I can scarce get it out—I have been threatened with a lover.
MISS NEVILLE. And his name—
MISS HARDCASTLE. Is Marlow.
MISS NEVILLE. Indeed!
MISS HARDCASTLE. The son of Sir Charles Marlow.
MISS NEVILLE. As I live, the most intimate friend of Mr. Hastings, my admirer. They are never asunder. I believe you must have seen him when we lived in town.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Never.
MISS NEVILLE. He's a very singular character, I assure you. Among women of reputation and virtue he is the modestest man alive; but his acquaintance give him a very different character among creatures of another stamp: you understand me.
MISS HARDCASTLE. An odd character indeed. I shall never be able to manage him. What shall I do? Pshaw, think no more of him, but trust to occurrences for success. But how goes on your own affair, my dear? has my mother been courting you for my brother Tony as usual?
MISS NEVILLE. I have just come from one of our agreeable tete-a-tetes. She has been saying a hundred tender things, and setting off her pretty monster as the very pink of perfection.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And her partiality is such, that she actually thinks him so. A fortune like yours is no small temptation. Besides, as she has the sole management of it, I'm not surprised to see her unwilling to let it go out of the family.
MISS NEVILLE. A fortune like mine, which chiefly consists in jewels, is no such mighty temptation. But at any rate, if my dear Hastings be but constant, I make no doubt to be too hard for her at last. However, I let her suppose that I am in love with her son; and she never once dreams that my affections are fixed upon another.
MISS HARDCASTLE. My good brother holds out stoutly. I could almost love him for hating you so.
MISS NEVILLE. It is a good-natured creature at bottom, and I'm sure would wish to see me married to anybody but himself. But my aunt's bell rings for our afternoon's walk round the improvements. Allons! Courage is necessary, as our affairs are critical.
MISS HARDCASTLE. "Would it were bed-time, and all were well." [Exeunt.]
SCENE—An Alehouse Room. Several shabby Fellows with punch and tobacco. TONY at the head of the table, a little higher than the rest, a mallet in his hand.
OMNES. Hurrea! hurrea! hurrea! bravo!
FIRST FELLOW Now, gentlemen, silence for a song. The 'squire is going to knock himself down for a song.
OMNES. Ay, a song, a song!
TONY. Then I'll sing you, gentlemen, a song I made upon this alehouse, the Three Pigeons.
SONG.
Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain With grammar, and nonsense, and learning, Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives GENUS a better discerning. Let them brag of their heathenish gods, Their Lethes, their Styxes, and Stygians, Their Quis, and their Quaes, and their Quods, They're all but a parcel of Pigeons. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll. When methodist preachers come down, A-preaching that drinking is sinful, I'll wager the rascals a crown, They always preach best with a skinful. But when you come down with your pence, For a slice of their scurvy religion, I'll leave it to all men of sense, But you, my good friend, are the Pigeon. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll. Then come, put the jorum about, And let us be merry and clever, Our hearts and our liquors are stout, Here's the Three Jolly Pigeons for ever. Let some cry up woodcock or hare, Your bustards, your ducks, and your widgeons; But of all the GAY birds in the air, Here's a health to the Three Jolly Pigeons. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll.
OMNES. Bravo, bravo!
FIRST FELLOW. The 'squire has got spunk in him.
SECOND FELLOW. I loves to hear him sing, bekeays he never gives us nothing that's low.
THIRD FELLOW. O damn anything that's low, I cannot bear it.
FOURTH FELLOW. The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time: if so be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly.
THIRD FELLOW. I likes the maxum of it, Master Muggins. What, though I am obligated to dance a bear, a man may be a gentleman for all that. May this be my poison, if my bear ever dances but to the very genteelest of tunes; "Water Parted," or "The minuet in Ariadne."
SECOND FELLOW. What a pity it is the 'squire is not come to his own. It would be well for all the publicans within ten miles round of him.
TONY. Ecod, and so it would, Master Slang. I'd then show what it was to keep choice of company.
SECOND FELLOW. O he takes after his own father for that. To be sure old 'Squire Lumpkin was the finest gentleman I ever set my eyes on. For winding the straight horn, or beating a thicket for a hare, or a wench, he never had his fellow. It was a saying in the place, that he kept the best horses, dogs, and girls, in the whole county.
TONY. Ecod, and when I'm of age, I'll be no bastard, I promise you. I have been thinking of Bet Bouncer and the miller's grey mare to begin with. But come, my boys, drink about and be merry, for you pay no reckoning. Well, Stingo, what's the matter?
Enter Landlord.
LANDLORD. There be two gentlemen in a post-chaise at the door. They have lost their way upo' the forest; and they are talking something about Mr. Hardcastle.
TONY. As sure as can be, one of them must be the gentleman that's coming down to court my sister. Do they seem to be Londoners?
LANDLORD. I believe they may. They look woundily like Frenchmen.
TONY. Then desire them to step this way, and I'll set them right in a twinkling. (Exit Landlord.) Gentlemen, as they mayn't be good enough company for you, step down for a moment, and I'll be with you in the squeezing of a lemon. [Exeunt mob.]
TONY. (solus). Father-in-law has been calling me whelp and hound this half year. Now, if I pleased, I could be so revenged upon the old grumbletonian. But then I'm afraid—afraid of what? I shall soon be worth fifteen hundred a year, and let him frighten me out of THAT if he can.
Enter Landlord, conducting MARLOW and HASTINGS.
MARLOW. What a tedious uncomfortable day have we had of it! We were told it was but forty miles across the country, and we have come above threescore.
HASTINGS. And all, Marlow, from that unaccountable reserve of yours, that would not let us inquire more frequently on the way.
MARLOW. I own, Hastings, I am unwilling to lay myself under an obligation to every one I meet, and often stand the chance of an unmannerly answer.
HASTINGS. At present, however, we are not likely to receive any answer.
TONY. No offence, gentlemen. But I'm told you have been inquiring for one Mr. Hardcastle in these parts. Do you know what part of the country you are in?
HASTINGS. Not in the least, sir, but should thank you for information.
TONY. Nor the way you came?
HASTINGS. No, sir: but if you can inform us——
TONY. Why, gentlemen, if you know neither the road you are going, nor where you are, nor the road you came, the first thing I have to inform you is, that—you have lost your way.
MARLOW. We wanted no ghost to tell us that.
TONY. Pray, gentlemen, may I be so bold so as to ask the place from whence you came?
MARLOW. That's not necessary towards directing us where we are to go.
TONY. No offence; but question for question is all fair, you know. Pray, gentlemen, is not this same Hardcastle a cross-grained, old-fashioned, whimsical fellow, with an ugly face, a daughter, and a pretty son?
HASTINGS. We have not seen the gentleman; but he has the family you mention.
TONY. The daughter, a tall, trapesing, trolloping, talkative maypole; the son, a pretty, well-bred, agreeable youth, that everybody is fond of.
MARLOW. Our information differs in this. The daughter is said to be well-bred and beautiful; the son an awkward booby, reared up and spoiled at his mother's apron-string.
TONY. He-he-hem!—Then, gentlemen, all I have to tell you is, that you won't reach Mr. Hardcastle's house this night, I believe.
HASTINGS. Unfortunate!
TONY. It's a damn'd long, dark, boggy, dirty, dangerous way. Stingo, tell the gentlemen the way to Mr. Hardcastle's! (Winking upon the Landlord.) Mr. Hardcastle's, of Quagmire Marsh, you understand me.
LANDLORD. Master Hardcastle's! Lock-a-daisy, my masters, you're come a deadly deal wrong! When you came to the bottom of the hill, you should have crossed down Squash Lane.
MARLOW. Cross down Squash Lane!
LANDLORD. Then you were to keep straight forward, till you came to four roads.
MARLOW. Come to where four roads meet?
TONY. Ay; but you must be sure to take only one of them.
MARLOW. O, sir, you're facetious.
TONY. Then keeping to the right, you are to go sideways till you come upon Crackskull Common: there you must look sharp for the track of the wheel, and go forward till you come to farmer Murrain's barn. Coming to the farmer's barn, you are to turn to the right, and then to the left, and then to the right about again, till you find out the old mill—
MARLOW. Zounds, man! we could as soon find out the longitude!
HASTINGS. What's to be done, Marlow?
MARLOW. This house promises but a poor reception; though perhaps the landlord can accommodate us.
LANDLORD. Alack, master, we have but one spare bed in the whole house.
TONY. And to my knowledge, that's taken up by three lodgers already. (After a pause, in which the rest seem disconcerted.) I have hit it. Don't you think, Stingo, our landlady could accommodate the gentlemen by the fire-side, with——three chairs and a bolster?
HASTINGS. I hate sleeping by the fire-side.
MARLOW. And I detest your three chairs and a bolster.
TONY. You do, do you? then, let me see—what if you go on a mile further, to the Buck's Head; the old Buck's Head on the hill, one of the best inns in the whole county?
HASTINGS. O ho! so we have escaped an adventure for this night, however.
LANDLORD. (apart to TONY). Sure, you ben't sending them to your father's as an inn, be you?
TONY. Mum, you fool you. Let THEM find that out. (To them.) You have only to keep on straight forward, till you come to a large old house by the road side. You'll see a pair of large horns over the door. That's the sign. Drive up the yard, and call stoutly about you.
HASTINGS. Sir, we are obliged to you. The servants can't miss the way?
TONY. No, no: but I tell you, though, the landlord is rich, and going to leave off business; so he wants to be thought a gentleman, saving your presence, he! he! he! He'll be for giving you his company; and, ecod, if you mind him, he'll persuade you that his mother was an alderman, and his aunt a justice of peace.
LANDLORD. A troublesome old blade, to be sure; but a keeps as good wines and beds as any in the whole country.
MARLOW. Well, if he supplies us with these, we shall want no farther connexion. We are to turn to the right, did you say?
TONY. No, no; straight forward. I'll just step myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord.) Mum!
LANDLORD. Ah, bless your heart, for a sweet, pleasant—damn'd mischievous son of a whore. [Exeunt.]
ACT THE SECOND.
SCENE—An old-fashioned House.
Enter HARDCASTLE, followed by three or four awkward Servants.
HARDCASTLE. Well, I hope you are perfect in the table exercise I have been teaching you these three days. You all know your posts and your places, and can show that you have been used to good company, without ever stirring from home.
OMNES. Ay, ay.
HARDCASTLE. When company comes you are not to pop out and stare, and then run in again, like frightened rabbits in a warren.
OMNES. No, no.
HARDCASTLE. You, Diggory, whom I have taken from the barn, are to make a show at the side-table; and you, Roger, whom I have advanced from the plough, are to place yourself behind my chair. But you're not to stand so, with your hands in your pockets. Take your hands from your pockets, Roger; and from your head, you blockhead you. See how Diggory carries his hands. They're a little too stiff, indeed, but that's no great matter.
DIGGORY. Ay, mind how I hold them. I learned to hold my hands this way when I was upon drill for the militia. And so being upon drill——
HARDCASTLE. You must not be so talkative, Diggory. You must be all attention to the guests. You must hear us talk, and not think of talking; you must see us drink, and not think of drinking; you must see us eat, and not think of eating.
DIGGORY. By the laws, your worship, that's parfectly unpossible. Whenever Diggory sees yeating going forward, ecod, he's always wishing for a mouthful himself.
HARDCASTLE. Blockhead! Is not a belly-full in the kitchen as good as a belly-full in the parlour? Stay your stomach with that reflection.
DIGGORY. Ecod, I thank your worship, I'll make a shift to stay my stomach with a slice of cold beef in the pantry.
HARDCASTLE. Diggory, you are too talkative.—Then, if I happen to say a good thing, or tell a good story at table, you must not all burst out a-laughing, as if you made part of the company.
DIGGORY. Then ecod your worship must not tell the story of Ould Grouse in the gun-room: I can't help laughing at that—he! he! he!—for the soul of me. We have laughed at that these twenty years—ha! ha! ha!
HARDCASTLE. Ha! ha! ha! The story is a good one. Well, honest Diggory, you may laugh at that—but still remember to be attentive. Suppose one of the company should call for a glass of wine, how will you behave? A glass of wine, sir, if you please (to DIGGORY).—Eh, why don't you move?
DIGGORY. Ecod, your worship, I never have courage till I see the eatables and drinkables brought upo' the table, and then I'm as bauld as a lion.
HARDCASTLE. What, will nobody move?
FIRST SERVANT. I'm not to leave this pleace.
SECOND SERVANT. I'm sure it's no pleace of mine.
THIRD SERVANT. Nor mine, for sartain.
DIGGORY. Wauns, and I'm sure it canna be mine.
HARDCASTLE. You numskulls! and so while, like your betters, you are quarrelling for places, the guests must be starved. O you dunces! I find I must begin all over again——But don't I hear a coach drive into the yard? To your posts, you blockheads. I'll go in the mean time and give my old friend's son a hearty reception at the gate. [Exit HARDCASTLE.]
DIGGORY. By the elevens, my pleace is gone quite out of my head.
ROGER. I know that my pleace is to be everywhere.
FIRST SERVANT. Where the devil is mine?
SECOND SERVANT. My pleace is to be nowhere at all; and so I'ze go about my business. [Exeunt Servants, running about as if frightened, different ways.]
Enter Servant with candles, showing in MARLOW and HASTINGS.
SERVANT. Welcome, gentlemen, very welcome! This way.
HASTINGS. After the disappointments of the day, welcome once more, Charles, to the comforts of a clean room and a good fire. Upon my word, a very well-looking house; antique but creditable.
MARLOW. The usual fate of a large mansion. Having first ruined the master by good housekeeping, it at last comes to levy contributions as an inn.
HASTINGS. As you say, we passengers are to be taxed to pay all these fineries. I have often seen a good sideboard, or a marble chimney-piece, though not actually put in the bill, inflame a reckoning confoundedly.
MARLOW. Travellers, George, must pay in all places: the only difference is, that in good inns you pay dearly for luxuries; in bad inns you are fleeced and starved.
HASTINGS. You have lived very much among them. In truth, I have been often surprised, that you who have seen so much of the world, with your natural good sense, and your many opportunities, could never yet acquire a requisite share of assurance.
MARLOW. The Englishman's malady. But tell me, George, where could I have learned that assurance you talk of? My life has been chiefly spent in a college or an inn, in seclusion from that lovely part of the creation that chiefly teach men confidence. I don't know that I was ever familiarly acquainted with a single modest woman—except my mother—But among females of another class, you know——
HASTINGS. Ay, among them you are impudent enough of all conscience.
MARLOW. They are of US, you know.
HASTINGS. But in the company of women of reputation I never saw such an idiot, such a trembler; you look for all the world as if you wanted an opportunity of stealing out of the room.
MARLOW. Why, man, that's because I do want to steal out of the room. Faith, I have often formed a resolution to break the ice, and rattle away at any rate. But I don't know how, a single glance from a pair of fine eyes has totally overset my resolution. An impudent fellow may counterfeit modesty; but I'll be hanged if a modest man can ever counterfeit impudence.
HASTINGS. If you could but say half the fine things to them that I have heard you lavish upon the bar-maid of an inn, or even a college bed-maker——
MARLOW. Why, George, I can't say fine things to them; they freeze, they petrify me. They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but, to me, a modest woman, drest out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.
HASTINGS. Ha! ha! ha! At this rate, man, how can you ever expect to marry?
MARLOW. Never; unless, as among kings and princes, my bride were to be courted by proxy. If, indeed, like an Eastern bridegroom, one were to be introduced to a wife he never saw before, it might be endured. But to go through all the terrors of a formal courtship, together with the episode of aunts, grandmothers, and cousins, and at last to blurt out the broad staring question of, Madam, will you marry me? No, no, that's a strain much above me, I assure you.
HASTINGS. I pity you. But how do you intend behaving to the lady you are come down to visit at the request of your father?
MARLOW. As I behave to all other ladies. Bow very low, answer yes or no to all her demands—But for the rest, I don't think I shall venture to look in her face till I see my father's again.
HASTINGS. I'm surprised that one who is so warm a friend can be so cool a lover.
MARLOW. To be explicit, my dear Hastings, my chief inducement down was to be instrumental in forwarding your happiness, not my own. Miss Neville loves you, the family don't know you; as my friend you are sure of a reception, and let honour do the rest.
HASTINGS. My dear Marlow! But I'll suppress the emotion. Were I a wretch, meanly seeking to carry off a fortune, you should be the last man in the world I would apply to for assistance. But Miss Neville's person is all I ask, and that is mine, both from her deceased father's consent, and her own inclination.
MARLOW. Happy man! You have talents and art to captivate any woman. I'm doom'd to adore the sex, and yet to converse with the only part of it I despise. This stammer in my address, and this awkward prepossessing visage of mine, can never permit me to soar above the reach of a milliner's 'prentice, or one of the duchesses of Drury-lane. Pshaw! this fellow here to interrupt us.
Enter HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. Gentlemen, once more you are heartily welcome. Which is Mr. Marlow? Sir, you are heartily welcome. It's not my way, you see, to receive my friends with my back to the fire. I like give them a hearty reception in the old style at my gate. I like to see their horses and trunks taken care of.
MARLOW. (Aside.) He has got our names from the servants already. (To him.) We approve your caution and hospitality, sir. (To HASTINGS.) I have been thinking, George, of changing our travelling dresses in the morning. I am grown confoundedly ashamed of mine.
HARDCASTLE. I beg, Mr. Marlow, you'll use no ceremony in this house.
HASTINGS. I fancy, Charles, you're right: the first blow is half the battle. I intend opening the campaign with the white and gold.
HARDCASTLE. Mr. Marlow—Mr. Hastings—gentlemen—pray be under no constraint in this house. This is Liberty-hall, gentlemen. You may do just as you please here.
MARLOW. Yet, George, if we open the campaign too fiercely at first, we may want ammunition before it is over. I think to reserve the embroidery to secure a retreat.
HARDCASTLE. Your talking of a retreat, Mr. Marlow, puts me in mind of the Duke of Marlborough, when we went to besiege Denain. He first summoned the garrison——
MARLOW. Don't you think the ventre d'or waistcoat will do with the plain brown?
HARDCASTLE. He first summoned the garrison, which might consist of about five thousand men——
HASTINGS. I think not: brown and yellow mix but very poorly.
HARDCASTLE. I say, gentlemen, as I was telling you, be summoned the garrison, which might consist of about five thousand men——
MARLOW. The girls like finery.
HARDCASTLE. Which might consist of about five thousand men, well appointed with stores, ammunition, and other implements of war. Now, says the Duke of Marlborough to George Brooks, that stood next to him—you must have heard of George Brooks—I'll pawn my dukedom, says he, but I take that garrison without spilling a drop of blood. So——
MARLOW. What, my good friend, if you gave us a glass of punch in the mean time; it would help us to carry on the siege with vigour.
HARDCASTLE. Punch, sir! (Aside.) This is the most unaccountable kind of modesty I ever met with.
MARLOW. Yes, sir, punch. A glass of warm punch, after our journey, will be comfortable. This is Liberty-hall, you know.
HARDCASTLE. Here's a cup, sir.
MARLOW. (Aside.) So this fellow, in his Liberty-hall, will only let us have just what he pleases.
HARDCASTLE. (Taking the cup.) I hope you'll find it to your mind. I have prepared it with my own hands, and I believe you'll own the ingredients are tolerable. Will you be so good as to pledge me, sir? Here, Mr. Marlow, here is to our better acquaintance. [Drinks.]
MARLOW. (Aside.) A very impudent fellow this! but he's a character, and I'll humour him a little. Sir, my service to you. [Drinks.]
HASTINGS. (Aside.) I see this fellow wants to give us his company, and forgets that he's an innkeeper, before he has learned to be a gentleman.
MARLOW. From the excellence of your cup, my old friend, I suppose you have a good deal of business in this part of the country. Warm work, now and then, at elections, I suppose.
HARDCASTLE. No, sir, I have long given that work over. Since our betters have hit upon the expedient of electing each other, there is no business "for us that sell ale."
HASTINGS. So, then, you have no turn for politics, I find.
HARDCASTLE. Not in the least. There was a time, indeed, I fretted myself about the mistakes of government, like other people; but finding myself every day grow more angry, and the government growing no better, I left it to mend itself. Since that, I no more trouble my head about Hyder Ally, or Ally Cawn, than about Ally Croker. Sir, my service to you.
HASTINGS. So that with eating above stairs, and drinking below, with receiving your friends within, and amusing them without, you lead a good pleasant bustling life of it.
HARDCASTLE. I do stir about a great deal, that's certain. Half the differences of the parish are adjusted in this very parlour.
MARLOW. (After drinking.) And you have an argument in your cup, old gentleman, better than any in Westminster-hall.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, young gentleman, that, and a little philosophy.
MARLOW. (Aside.) Well, this is the first time I ever heard of an innkeeper's philosophy.
HASTINGS. So then, like an experienced general, you attack them on every quarter. If you find their reason manageable, you attack it with your philosophy; if you find they have no reason, you attack them with this. Here's your health, my philosopher. [Drinks.]
HARDCASTLE. Good, very good, thank you; ha! ha! Your generalship puts me in mind of Prince Eugene, when he fought the Turks at the battle of Belgrade. You shall hear.
MARLOW. Instead of the battle of Belgrade, I believe it's almost time to talk about supper. What has your philosophy got in the house for supper?
HARDCASTLE. For supper, sir! (Aside.) Was ever such a request to a man in his own house?
MARLOW. Yes, sir, supper, sir; I begin to feel an appetite. I shall make devilish work to-night in the larder, I promise you.
HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) Such a brazen dog sure never my eyes beheld. (To him.) Why, really, sir, as for supper I can't well tell. My Dorothy and the cook-maid settle these things between them. I leave these kind of things entirely to them.
MARLOW. You do, do you?
HARDCASTLE. Entirely. By the bye, I believe they are in actual consultation upon what's for supper this moment in the kitchen.
MARLOW. Then I beg they'll admit me as one of their privy council. It's a way I have got. When I travel, I always chose to regulate my own supper. Let the cook be called. No offence I hope, sir.
HARDCASTLE. O no, sir, none in the least; yet I don't know how; our Bridget, the cook-maid, is not very communicative upon these occasions. Should we send for her, she might scold us all out of the house.
HASTINGS. Let's see your list of the larder then. I ask it as a favour. I always match my appetite to my bill of fare.
MARLOW. (To HARDCASTLE, who looks at them with surprise.) Sir, he's very right, and it's my way too.
HARDCASTLE. Sir, you have a right to command here. Here, Roger, bring us the bill of fare for to-night's supper: I believe it's drawn out—Your manner, Mr. Hastings, puts me in mind of my uncle, Colonel Wallop. It was a saying of his, that no man was sure of his supper till he had eaten it.
HASTINGS. (Aside.) All upon the high rope! His uncle a colonel! we shall soon hear of his mother being a justice of the peace. But let's hear the bill of fare.
MARLOW. (Perusing.) What's here? For the first course; for the second course; for the dessert. The devil, sir, do you think we have brought down a whole Joiners' Company, or the corporation of Bedford, to eat up such a supper? Two or three little things, clean and comfortable, will do.
HASTINGS. But let's hear it.
MARLOW. (Reading.) For the first course, at the top, a pig and prune sauce.
HASTINGS. Damn your pig, I say.
MARLOW. And damn your prune sauce, say I.
HARDCASTLE. And yet, gentlemen, to men that are hungry, pig with prune sauce is very good eating.
MARLOW. At the bottom, a calf's tongue and brains.
HASTINGS. Let your brains be knocked out, my good sir, I don't like them.
MARLOW. Or you may clap them on a plate by themselves. I do.
HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) Their impudence confounds me. (To them.) Gentlemen, you are my guests, make what alterations you please. Is there anything else you wish to retrench or alter, gentlemen?
MARLOW. Item, a pork pie, a boiled rabbit and sausages, a Florentine, a shaking pudding, and a dish of tiff—taff—taffety cream.
HASTINGS. Confound your made dishes; I shall be as much at a loss in this house as at a green and yellow dinner at the French ambassador's table. I'm for plain eating.
HARDCASTLE. I'm sorry, gentlemen, that I have nothing you like, but if there be anything you have a particular fancy to——
MARLOW. Why, really, sir, your bill of fare is so exquisite, that any one part of it is full as good as another. Send us what you please. So much for supper. And now to see that our beds are aired, and properly taken care of.
HARDCASTLE. I entreat you'll leave that to me. You shall not stir a step.
MARLOW. Leave that to you! I protest, sir, you must excuse me, I always look to these things myself.
HARDCASTLE. I must insist, sir, you'll make yourself easy on that head.
MARLOW. You see I'm resolved on it. (Aside.) A very troublesome fellow this, as I ever met with.
HARDCASTLE. Well, sir, I'm resolved at least to attend you. (Aside.) This may be modern modesty, but I never saw anything look so like old-fashioned impudence. [Exeunt MARLOW and HARDCASTLE.]
HASTINGS. (Alone.) So I find this fellow's civilities begin to grow troublesome. But who can be angry at those assiduities which are meant to please him? Ha! what do I see? Miss Neville, by all that's happy!
Enter MISS NEVILLE.
MISS NEVILLE. My dear Hastings! To what unexpected good fortune, to what accident, am I to ascribe this happy meeting?
HASTINGS. Rather let me ask the same question, as I could never have hoped to meet my dearest Constance at an inn.
MISS NEVILLE. An inn! sure you mistake: my aunt, my guardian, lives here. What could induce you to think this house an inn?
HASTINGS. My friend, Mr. Marlow, with whom I came down, and I, have been sent here as to an inn, I assure you. A young fellow, whom we accidentally met at a house hard by, directed us hither.
MISS NEVILLE. Certainly it must be one of my hopeful cousin's tricks, of whom you have heard me talk so often; ha! ha! ha!
HASTINGS. He whom your aunt intends for you? he of whom I have such just apprehensions?
MISS NEVILLE. You have nothing to fear from him, I assure you. You'd adore him, if you knew how heartily he despises me. My aunt knows it too, and has undertaken to court me for him, and actually begins to think she has made a conquest.
HASTINGS. Thou dear dissembler! You must know, my Constance, I have just seized this happy opportunity of my friend's visit here to get admittance into the family. The horses that carried us down are now fatigued with their journey, but they'll soon be refreshed; and then, if my dearest girl will trust in her faithful Hastings, we shall soon be landed in France, where even among slaves the laws of marriage are respected.
MISS NEVILLE. I have often told you, that though ready to obey you, I yet should leave my little fortune behind with reluctance. The greatest part of it was left me by my uncle, the India director, and chiefly consists in jewels. I have been for some time persuading my aunt to let me wear them. I fancy I'm very near succeeding. The instant they are put into my possession, you shall find me ready to make them and myself yours.
HASTINGS. Perish the baubles! Your person is all I desire. In the mean time, my friend Marlow must not be let into his mistake. I know the strange reserve of his temper is such, that if abruptly informed of it, he would instantly quit the house before our plan was ripe for execution.
MISS NEVILLE. But how shall we keep him in the deception? Miss Hardcastle is just returned from walking; what if we still continue to deceive him?——This, this way——[They confer.]
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW. The assiduities of these good people teaze me beyond bearing. My host seems to think it ill manners to leave me alone, and so he claps not only himself, but his old-fashioned wife, on my back. They talk of coming to sup with us too; and then, I suppose, we are to run the gantlet through all the rest of the family.—What have we got here?
HASTINGS. My dear Charles! Let me congratulate you!—The most fortunate accident!—Who do you think is just alighted?
MARLOW. Cannot guess.
HASTINGS. Our mistresses, boy, Miss Hardcastle and Miss Neville. Give me leave to introduce Miss Constance Neville to your acquaintance. Happening to dine in the neighbourhood, they called on their return to take fresh horses here. Miss Hardcastle has just stept into the next room, and will be back in an instant. Wasn't it lucky? eh!
MARLOW. (Aside.) I have been mortified enough of all conscience, and here comes something to complete my embarrassment.
HASTINGS. Well, but wasn't it the most fortunate thing in the world?
MARLOW. Oh! yes. Very fortunate—a most joyful encounter—But our dresses, George, you know are in disorder—What if we should postpone the happiness till to-morrow?—To-morrow at her own house—It will be every bit as convenient—and rather more respectful—To-morrow let it be. [Offering to go.]
MISS NEVILLE. By no means, sir. Your ceremony will displease her. The disorder of your dress will show the ardour of your impatience. Besides, she knows you are in the house, and will permit you to see her.
MARLOW. O! the devil! how shall I support it? Hem! hem! Hastings, you must not go. You are to assist me, you know. I shall be confoundedly ridiculous. Yet, hang it! I'll take courage. Hem!
HASTINGS. Pshaw, man! it's but the first plunge, and all's over. She's but a woman, you know.
MARLOW. And, of all women, she that I dread most to encounter.
Enter MISS HARDCASTLE, as returned from walking, a bonnet, etc.
HASTINGS. (Introducing them.) Miss Hardcastle, Mr. Marlow. I'm proud of bringing two persons of such merit together, that only want to know, to esteem each other.
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) Now for meeting my modest gentleman with a demure face, and quite in his own manner. (After a pause, in which he appears very uneasy and disconcerted.) I'm glad of your safe arrival, sir. I'm told you had some accidents by the way.
MARLOW. Only a few, madam. Yes, we had some. Yes, madam, a good many accidents, but should be sorry—madam—or rather glad of any accidents—that are so agreeably concluded. Hem!
HASTINGS. (To him.) You never spoke better in your whole life. Keep it up, and I'll insure you the victory.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I'm afraid you flatter, sir. You that have seen so much of the finest company, can find little entertainment in an obscure corner of the country.
MARLOW. (Gathering courage.) I have lived, indeed, in the world, madam; but I have kept very little company. I have been but an observer upon life, madam, while others were enjoying it.
MISS NEVILLE. But that, I am told, is the way to enjoy it at last.
HASTINGS. (To him.) Cicero never spoke better. Once more, and you are confirmed in assurance for ever.
MARLOW. (To him.) Hem! Stand by me, then, and when I'm down, throw in a word or two, to set me up again.
MISS HARDCASTLE. An observer, like you, upon life were, I fear, disagreeably employed, since you must have had much more to censure than to approve.
MARLOW. Pardon me, madam. I was always willing to be amused. The folly of most people is rather an object of mirth than uneasiness.
HASTINGS. (To him.) Bravo, bravo. Never spoke so well in your whole life. Well, Miss Hardcastle, I see that you and Mr. Marlow are going to be very good company. I believe our being here will but embarrass the interview.
MARLOW. Not in the least, Mr. Hastings. We like your company of all things. (To him.) Zounds! George, sure you won't go? how can you leave us?
HASTINGS. Our presence will but spoil conversation, so we'll retire to the next room. (To him.) You don't consider, man, that we are to manage a little tete-a-tete of our own. [Exeunt.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. (after a pause). But you have not been wholly an observer, I presume, sir: the ladies, I should hope, have employed some part of your addresses.
MARLOW. (Relapsing into timidity.) Pardon me, madam, I—I—I—as yet have studied—only—to—deserve them.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And that, some say, is the very worst way to obtain them.
MARLOW. Perhaps so, madam. But I love to converse only with the more grave and sensible part of the sex. But I'm afraid I grow tiresome.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Not at all, sir; there is nothing I like so much as grave conversation myself; I could hear it for ever. Indeed, I have often been surprised how a man of sentiment could ever admire those light airy pleasures, where nothing reaches the heart.
MARLOW. It's——a disease——of the mind, madam. In the variety of tastes there must be some who, wanting a relish——for——um—a—um.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I understand you, sir. There must be some, who, wanting a relish for refined pleasures, pretend to despise what they are incapable of tasting.
MARLOW. My meaning, madam, but infinitely better expressed. And I can't help observing——a——
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) Who could ever suppose this fellow impudent upon some occasions? (To him.) You were going to observe, sir——
MARLOW. I was observing, madam—I protest, madam, I forget what I was going to observe.
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) I vow and so do I. (To him.) You were observing, sir, that in this age of hypocrisy—something about hypocrisy, sir.
MARLOW. Yes, madam. In this age of hypocrisy there are few who upon strict inquiry do not—a—a—a—
MISS HARDCASTLE. I understand you perfectly, sir.
MARLOW. (Aside.) Egad! and that's more than I do myself.
MISS HARDCASTLE. You mean that in this hypocritical age there are few that do not condemn in public what they practise in private, and think they pay every debt to virtue when they praise it.
MARLOW. True, madam; those who have most virtue in their mouths, have least of it in their bosoms. But I'm sure I tire you, madam.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Not in the least, sir; there's something so agreeable and spirited in your manner, such life and force—pray, sir, go on.
MARLOW. Yes, madam. I was saying——that there are some occasions, when a total want of courage, madam, destroys all the——and puts us——upon a—a—a—
MISS HARDCASTLE. I agree with you entirely; a want of courage upon some occasions assumes the appearance of ignorance, and betrays us when we most want to excel. I beg you'll proceed.
MARLOW. Yes, madam. Morally speaking, madam—But I see Miss Neville expecting us in the next room. I would not intrude for the world.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I protest, sir, I never was more agreeably entertained in all my life. Pray go on.
MARLOW. Yes, madam, I was——But she beckons us to join her. Madam, shall I do myself the honour to attend you?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Well, then, I'll follow.
MARLOW. (Aside.) This pretty smooth dialogue has done for me. [Exit.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Alone.) Ha! ha! ha! Was there ever such a sober, sentimental interview? I'm certain he scarce looked in my face the whole time. Yet the fellow, but for his unaccountable bashfulness, is pretty well too. He has good sense, but then so buried in his fears, that it fatigues one more than ignorance. If I could teach him a little confidence, it would be doing somebody that I know of a piece of service. But who is that somebody?—That, faith, is a question I can scarce answer. [Exit.]
Enter TONY and MISS NEVILLE, followed by MRS. HARDCASTLE and HASTINGS.
TONY. What do you follow me for, cousin Con? I wonder you're not ashamed to be so very engaging.
MISS NEVILLE. I hope, cousin, one may speak to one's own relations, and not be to blame.
TONY. Ay, but I know what sort of a relation you want to make me, though; but it won't do. I tell you, cousin Con, it won't do; so I beg you'll keep your distance, I want no nearer relationship. [She follows, coquetting him to the back scene.]
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Well! I vow, Mr. Hastings, you are very entertaining. There's nothing in the world I love to talk of so much as London, and the fashions, though I was never there myself.
HASTINGS. Never there! You amaze me! From your air and manner, I concluded you had been bred all your life either at Ranelagh, St. James's, or Tower Wharf.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. O! sir, you're only pleased to say so. We country persons can have no manner at all. I'm in love with the town, and that serves to raise me above some of our neighbouring rustics; but who can have a manner, that has never seen the Pantheon, the Grotto Gardens, the Borough, and such places where the nobility chiefly resort? All I can do is to enjoy London at second-hand. I take care to know every tete-a-tete from the Scandalous Magazine, and have all the fashions, as they come out, in a letter from the two Miss Rickets of Crooked Lane. Pray how do you like this head, Mr. Hastings?
HASTINGS. Extremely elegant and degagee, upon my word, madam. Your friseur is a Frenchman, I suppose?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I protest, I dressed it myself from a print in the Ladies' Memorandum-book for the last year.
HASTINGS. Indeed! Such a head in a side-box at the play-house would draw as many gazers as my Lady Mayoress at a City Ball.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I vow, since inoculation began, there is no such thing to be seen as a plain woman; so one must dress a little particular, or one may escape in the crowd.
HASTINGS. But that can never be your case, madam, in any dress. (Bowing.)
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Yet, what signifies my dressing when I have such a piece of antiquity by my side as Mr. Hardcastle: all I can say will never argue down a single button from his clothes. I have often wanted him to throw off his great flaxen wig, and where he was bald, to plaster it over, like my Lord Pately, with powder.
HASTINGS. You are right, madam; for, as among the ladies there are none ugly, so among the men there are none old.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. But what do you think his answer was? Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig, to convert it into a tete for my own wearing.
HASTINGS. Intolerable! At your age you may wear what you please, and it must become you.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Pray, Mr. Hastings, what do you take to be the most fashionable age about town?
HASTINGS. Some time ago, forty was all the mode; but I'm told the ladies intend to bring up fifty for the ensuing winter.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Seriously. Then I shall be too young for the fashion.
HASTINGS. No lady begins now to put on jewels till she's past forty. For instance, Miss there, in a polite circle, would be considered as a child, as a mere maker of samplers.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. And yet Mrs. Niece thinks herself as much a woman, and is as fond of jewels, as the oldest of us all.
HASTINGS. Your niece, is she? And that young gentleman, a brother of yours, I should presume?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. My son, sir. They are contracted to each other. Observe their little sports. They fall in and out ten times a day, as if they were man and wife already. (To them.) Well, Tony, child, what soft things are you saying to your cousin Constance this evening?
TONY. I have been saying no soft things; but that it's very hard to be followed about so. Ecod! I've not a place in the house now that's left to myself, but the stable.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Never mind him, Con, my dear. He's in another story behind your back.
MISS NEVILLE. There's something generous in my cousin's manner. He falls out before faces to be forgiven in private.
TONY. That's a damned confounded—crack.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ah! he's a sly one. Don't you think they are like each other about the mouth, Mr. Hastings? The Blenkinsop mouth to a T. They're of a size too. Back to back, my pretties, that Mr. Hastings may see you. Come, Tony.
TONY. You had as good not make me, I tell you. (Measuring.)
MISS NEVILLE. O lud! he has almost cracked my head.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. O, the monster! For shame, Tony. You a man, and behave so!
TONY. If I'm a man, let me have my fortin. Ecod! I'll not be made a fool of no longer.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Is this, ungrateful boy, all that I'm to get for the pains I have taken in your education? I that have rocked you in your cradle, and fed that pretty mouth with a spoon! Did not I work that waistcoat to make you genteel? Did not I prescribe for you every day, and weep while the receipt was operating?
TONY. Ecod! you had reason to weep, for you have been dosing me ever since I was born. I have gone through every receipt in the Complete Huswife ten times over; and you have thoughts of coursing me through Quincy next spring. But, ecod! I tell you, I'll not be made a fool of no longer.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Wasn't it all for your good, viper? Wasn't it all for your good?
TONY. I wish you'd let me and my good alone, then. Snubbing this way when I'm in spirits. If I'm to have any good, let it come of itself; not to keep dinging it, dinging it into one so.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. That's false; I never see you when you're in spirits. No, Tony, you then go to the alehouse or kennel. I'm never to be delighted with your agreeable wild notes, unfeeling monster!
TONY. Ecod! mamma, your own notes are the wildest of the two.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Was ever the like? But I see he wants to break my heart, I see he does.
HASTINGS. Dear madam, permit me to lecture the young gentleman a little. I'm certain I can persuade him to his duty.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Well, I must retire. Come, Constance, my love. You see, Mr. Hastings, the wretchedness of my situation: was ever poor woman so plagued with a dear sweet, pretty, provoking, undutiful boy? [Exeunt MRS. HARDCASTLE and MISS NEVILLE.]
TONY. (Singing.) "There was a young man riding by, and fain would have his will. Rang do didlo dee."——Don't mind her. Let her cry. It's the comfort of her heart. I have seen her and sister cry over a book for an hour together; and they said they liked the book the better the more it made them cry.
HASTINGS. Then you're no friend to the ladies, I find, my pretty young gentleman?
TONY. That's as I find 'um.
HASTINGS. Not to her of your mother's choosing, I dare answer? And yet she appears to me a pretty well-tempered girl.
TONY. That's because you don't know her as well as I. Ecod! I know every inch about her; and there's not a more bitter cantankerous toad in all Christendom.
HASTINGS. (Aside.) Pretty encouragement this for a lover!
TONY. I have seen her since the height of that. She has as many tricks as a hare in a thicket, or a colt the first day's breaking.
HASTINGS. To me she appears sensible and silent.
TONY. Ay, before company. But when she's with her playmate, she's as loud as a hog in a gate.
HASTINGS. But there is a meek modesty about her that charms me.
TONY. Yes, but curb her never so little, she kicks up, and you're flung in a ditch.
HASTINGS. Well, but you must allow her a little beauty.—Yes, you must allow her some beauty.
TONY. Bandbox! She's all a made-up thing, mun. Ah! could you but see Bet Bouncer of these parts, you might then talk of beauty. Ecod, she has two eyes as black as sloes, and cheeks as broad and red as a pulpit cushion. She'd make two of she.
HASTINGS. Well, what say you to a friend that would take this bitter bargain off your hands?
TONY. Anon.
HASTINGS. Would you thank him that would take Miss Neville, and leave you to happiness and your dear Betsy?
TONY. Ay; but where is there such a friend, for who would take her?
HASTINGS. I am he. If you but assist me, I'll engage to whip her off to France, and you shall never hear more of her.
TONY. Assist you! Ecod I will, to the last drop of my blood. I'll clap a pair of horses to your chaise that shall trundle you off in a twinkling, and may he get you a part of her fortin beside, in jewels, that you little dream of.
HASTINGS. My dear 'squire, this looks like a lad of spirit.
TONY. Come along, then, and you shall see more of my spirit before you have done with me.
(Singing.) "We are the boys That fears no noise Where the thundering cannons roar." [Exeunt.]
ACT THE THIRD.
Enter HARDCASTLE, alone.
HARDCASTLE. What could my old friend Sir Charles mean by recommending his son as the modestest young man in town? To me he appears the most impudent piece of brass that ever spoke with a tongue. He has taken possession of the easy chair by the fire-side already. He took off his boots in the parlour, and desired me to see them taken care of. I'm desirous to know how his impudence affects my daughter. She will certainly be shocked at it.
Enter MISS HARDCASTLE, plainly dressed.
HARDCASTLE. Well, my Kate, I see you have changed your dress, as I bade you; and yet, I believe, there was no great occasion.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I find such a pleasure, sir, in obeying your commands, that I take care to observe them without ever debating their propriety.
HARDCASTLE. And yet, Kate, I sometimes give you some cause, particularly when I recommended my modest gentleman to you as a lover to-day.
MISS HARDCASTLE. You taught me to expect something extraordinary, and I find the original exceeds the description.
HARDCASTLE. I was never so surprised in my life! He has quite confounded all my faculties!
MISS HARDCASTLE. I never saw anything like it: and a man of the world too!
HARDCASTLE. Ay, he learned it all abroad—what a fool was I, to think a young man could learn modesty by travelling. He might as soon learn wit at a masquerade.
MISS HARDCASTLE. It seems all natural to him.
HARDCASTLE. A good deal assisted by bad company and a French dancing-master.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Sure you mistake, papa! A French dancing-master could never have taught him that timid look—that awkward address—that bashful manner—
HARDCASTLE. Whose look? whose manner, child?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Mr. Marlow's: his mauvaise honte, his timidity, struck me at the first sight.
HARDCASTLE. Then your first sight deceived you; for I think him one of the most brazen first sights that ever astonished my senses.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Sure, sir, you rally! I never saw any one so modest.
HARDCASTLE. And can you be serious? I never saw such a bouncing, swaggering puppy since I was born. Bully Dawson was but a fool to him.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Surprising! He met me with a respectful bow, a stammering voice, and a look fixed on the ground.
HARDCASTLE. He met me with a loud voice, a lordly air, and a familiarity that made my blood freeze again.
MISS HARDCASTLE. He treated me with diffidence and respect; censured the manners of the age; admired the prudence of girls that never laughed; tired me with apologies for being tiresome; then left the room with a bow, and "Madam, I would not for the world detain you."
HARDCASTLE. He spoke to me as if he knew me all his life before; asked twenty questions, and never waited for an answer; interrupted my best remarks with some silly pun; and when I was in my best story of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, he asked if I had not a good hand at making punch. Yes, Kate, he asked your father if he was a maker of punch!
MISS HARDCASTLE. One of us must certainly be mistaken.
HARDCASTLE. If he be what he has shown himself, I'm determined he shall never have my consent.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And if he be the sullen thing I take him, he shall never have mine.
HARDCASTLE. In one thing then we are agreed—to reject him.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Yes: but upon conditions. For if you should find him less impudent, and I more presuming—if you find him more respectful, and I more importunate—I don't know—the fellow is well enough for a man—Certainly, we don't meet many such at a horse-race in the country.
HARDCASTLE. If we should find him so——But that's impossible. The first appearance has done my business. I'm seldom deceived in that.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And yet there may be many good qualities under that first appearance.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, when a girl finds a fellow's outside to her taste, she then sets about guessing the rest of his furniture. With her, a smooth face stands for good sense, and a genteel figure for every virtue.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I hope, sir, a conversation begun with a compliment to my good sense, won't end with a sneer at my understanding?
HARDCASTLE. Pardon me, Kate. But if young Mr. Brazen can find the art of reconciling contradictions, he may please us both, perhaps.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And as one of us must be mistaken, what if we go to make further discoveries?
HARDCASTLE. Agreed. But depend on't I'm in the right.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And depend on't I'm not much in the wrong. [Exeunt.]
Enter Tony, running in with a casket.
TONY. Ecod! I have got them. Here they are. My cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all. My mother shan't cheat the poor souls out of their fortin neither. O! my genus, is that you?
Enter HASTINGS.
HASTINGS. My dear friend, how have you managed with your mother? I hope you have amused her with pretending love for your cousin, and that you are willing to be reconciled at last? Our horses will be refreshed in a short time, and we shall soon be ready to set off.
TONY. And here's something to bear your charges by the way (giving the casket); your sweetheart's jewels. Keep them: and hang those, I say, that would rob you of one of them.
HASTINGS. But how have you procured them from your mother?
TONY. Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs. I procured them by the rule of thumb. If I had not a key to every drawer in mother's bureau, how could I go to the alehouse so often as I do? An honest man may rob himself of his own at any time.
HASTINGS. Thousands do it every day. But to be plain with you; Miss Neville is endeavouring to procure them from her aunt this very instant. If she succeeds, it will be the most delicate way at least of obtaining them.
TONY. Well, keep them, till you know how it will be. But I know how it will be well enough; she'd as soon part with the only sound tooth in her head.
HASTINGS. But I dread the effects of her resentment, when she finds she has lost them.
TONY. Never you mind her resentment, leave ME to manage that. I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker. Zounds! here they are. Morrice! Prance! [Exit HASTINGS.]
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE and MISS NEVILLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Indeed, Constance, you amaze me. Such a girl as you want jewels! It will be time enough for jewels, my dear, twenty years hence, when your beauty begins to want repairs.
MISS NEVILLE. But what will repair beauty at forty, will certainly improve it at twenty, madam.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Yours, my dear, can admit of none. That natural blush is beyond a thousand ornaments. Besides, child, jewels are quite out at present. Don't you see half the ladies of our acquaintance, my Lady Kill-daylight, and Mrs. Crump, and the rest of them, carry their jewels to town, and bring nothing but paste and marcasites back.
MISS NEVILLE. But who knows, madam, but somebody that shall be nameless would like me best with all my little finery about me?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Consult your glass, my dear, and then see if, with such a pair of eyes, you want any better sparklers. What do you think, Tony, my dear? does your cousin Con. want any jewels in your eyes to set off her beauty?
TONY. That's as thereafter may be.
MISS NEVILLE. My dear aunt, if you knew how it would oblige me.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. A parcel of old-fashioned rose and table-cut things. They would make you look like the court of King Solomon at a puppet-show. Besides, I believe, I can't readily come at them. They may be missing, for aught I know to the contrary.
TONY. (Apart to MRS. HARDCASTLE.) Then why don't you tell her so at once, as she's so longing for them? Tell her they're lost. It's the only way to quiet her. Say they're lost, and call me to bear witness.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Apart to TONY.) You know, my dear, I'm only keeping them for you. So if I say they're gone, you'll bear me witness, will you? He! he! he!
TONY. Never fear me. Ecod! I'll say I saw them taken out with my own eyes.
MISS NEVILLE. I desire them but for a day, madam. Just to be permitted to show them as relics, and then they may be locked up again.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. To be plain with you, my dear Constance, if I could find them you should have them. They're missing, I assure you. Lost, for aught I know; but we must have patience wherever they are.
MISS NEVILLE. I'll not believe it! this is but a shallow pretence to deny me. I know they are too valuable to be so slightly kept, and as you are to answer for the loss—
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Don't be alarmed, Constance. If they be lost, I must restore an equivalent. But my son knows they are missing, and not to be found.
TONY. That I can bear witness to. They are missing, and not to be found; I'll take my oath on't.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. You must learn resignation, my dear; for though we lose our fortune, yet we should not lose our patience. See me, how calm I am.
MISS NEVILLE. Ay, people are generally calm at the misfortunes of others.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Now I wonder a girl of your good sense should waste a thought upon such trumpery. We shall soon find them; and in the mean time you shall make use of my garnets till your jewels be found.
MISS NEVILLE. I detest garnets.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. The most becoming things in the world to set off a clear complexion. You have often seen how well they look upon me. You SHALL have them. [Exit.]
MISS NEVILLE. I dislike them of all things. You shan't stir.—Was ever anything so provoking, to mislay my own jewels, and force me to wear her trumpery?
TONY. Don't be a fool. If she gives you the garnets, take what you can get. The jewels are your own already. I have stolen them out of her bureau, and she does not know it. Fly to your spark, he'll tell you more of the matter. Leave me to manage her.
MISS NEVILLE. My dear cousin!
TONY. Vanish. She's here, and has missed them already. [Exit MISS NEVILLE.] Zounds! how she fidgets and spits about like a Catherine wheel.
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Confusion! thieves! robbers! we are cheated, plundered, broke open, undone.
TONY. What's the matter, what's the matter, mamma? I hope nothing has happened to any of the good family!
MRS. HARDCASTLE. We are robbed. My bureau has been broken open, the jewels taken out, and I'm undone.
TONY. Oh! is that all? Ha! ha! ha! By the laws, I never saw it acted better in my life. Ecod, I thought you was ruined in earnest, ha! ha! ha!
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Why, boy, I AM ruined in earnest. My bureau has been broken open, and all taken away.
TONY. Stick to that: ha! ha! ha! stick to that. I'll bear witness, you know; call me to bear witness.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I tell you, Tony, by all that's precious, the jewels are gone, and I shall be ruined for ever.
TONY. Sure I know they're gone, and I'm to say so.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. My dearest Tony, but hear me. They're gone, I say.
TONY. By the laws, mamma, you make me for to laugh, ha! ha! I know who took them well enough, ha! ha! ha!
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Was there ever such a blockhead, that can't tell the difference between jest and earnest? I tell you I'm not in jest, booby.
TONY. That's right, that's right; you must be in a bitter passion, and then nobody will suspect either of us. I'll bear witness that they are gone.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Was there ever such a cross-grained brute, that won't hear me? Can you bear witness that you're no better than a fool? Was ever poor woman so beset with fools on one hand, and thieves on the other?
TONY. I can bear witness to that.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Bear witness again, you blockhead you, and I'll turn you out of the room directly. My poor niece, what will become of her? Do you laugh, you unfeeling brute, as if you enjoyed my distress?
TONY. I can bear witness to that.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Do you insult me, monster? I'll teach you to vex your mother, I will.
TONY. I can bear witness to that. [He runs off, she follows him.]
Enter Miss HARDCASTLE and Maid.
MISS HARDCASTLE. What an unaccountable creature is that brother of mine, to send them to the house as an inn! ha! ha! I don't wonder at his impudence.
MAID. But what is more, madam, the young gentleman, as you passed by in your present dress, asked me if you were the bar-maid. He mistook you for the bar-maid, madam.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Did he? Then as I live, I'm resolved to keep up the delusion. Tell me, Pimple, how do you like my present dress? Don't you think I look something like Cherry in the Beaux Stratagem?
MAID. It's the dress, madam, that every lady wears in the country, but when she visits or receives company.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And are you sure he does not remember my face or person?
MAID. Certain of it.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I vow, I thought so; for, though we spoke for some time together, yet his fears were such, that he never once looked up during the interview. Indeed, if he had, my bonnet would have kept him from seeing me.
MAID. But what do you hope from keeping him in his mistake?
MISS HARDCASTLE. In the first place I shall be seen, and that is no small advantage to a girl who brings her face to market. Then I shall perhaps make an acquaintance, and that's no small victory gained over one who never addresses any but the wildest of her sex. But my chief aim is, to take my gentleman off his guard, and, like an invisible champion of romance, examine the giant's force before I offer to combat.
MAID. But you are sure you can act your part, and disguise your voice so that he may mistake that, as he has already mistaken your person?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Never fear me. I think I have got the true bar cant—Did your honour call?—Attend the Lion there—Pipes and tobacco for the Angel.—The Lamb has been outrageous this half-hour.
MAID. It will do, madam. But he's here. [Exit MAID.]
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW. What a bawling in every part of the house! I have scarce a moment's repose. If I go to the best room, there I find my host and his story: if I fly to the gallery, there we have my hostess with her curtsey down to the ground. I have at last got a moment to myself, and now for recollection. [Walks and muses.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. Did you call, sir? Did your honour call?
MARLOW. (Musing.) As for Miss Hardcastle, she's too grave and sentimental for me.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Did your honour call? (She still places herself before him, he turning away.)
MARLOW. No, child. (Musing.) Besides, from the glimpse I had of her, I think she squints.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I'm sure, sir, I heard the bell ring.
MARLOW. No, no. (Musing.) I have pleased my father, however, by coming down, and I'll to-morrow please myself by returning. [Taking out his tablets, and perusing.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. Perhaps the other gentleman called, sir?
MARLOW. I tell you, no.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I should be glad to know, sir. We have such a parcel of servants!
MARLOW. No, no, I tell you. (Looks full in her face.) Yes, child, I think I did call. I wanted—I wanted—I vow, child, you are vastly handsome.
MISS HARDCASTLE. O la, sir, you'll make one ashamed.
MARLOW. Never saw a more sprightly malicious eye. Yes, yes, my dear, I did call. Have you got any of your—a—what d'ye call it in the house?
MISS HARDCASTLE. No, sir, we have been out of that these ten days.
MARLOW. One may call in this house, I find, to very little purpose. Suppose I should call for a taste, just by way of a trial, of the nectar of your lips; perhaps I might be disappointed in that too.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Nectar! nectar! That's a liquor there's no call for in these parts. French, I suppose. We sell no French wines here, sir.
MARLOW. Of true English growth, I assure you.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Then it's odd I should not know it. We brew all sorts of wines in this house, and I have lived here these eighteen years.
MARLOW. Eighteen years! Why, one would think, child, you kept the bar before you were born. How old are you?
MISS HARDCASTLE. O! sir, I must not tell my age. They say women and music should never be dated.
MARLOW. To guess at this distance, you can't be much above forty (approaching). Yet, nearer, I don't think so much (approaching). By coming close to some women they look younger still; but when we come very close indeed—(attempting to kiss her).
MISS HARDCASTLE. Pray, sir, keep your distance. One would think you wanted to know one's age, as they do horses, by mark of mouth.
MARLOW. I protest, child, you use me extremely ill. If you keep me at this distance, how is it possible you and I can ever be acquainted?
MISS HARDCASTLE. And who wants to be acquainted with you? I want no such acquaintance, not I. I'm sure you did not treat Miss Hardcastle, that was here awhile ago, in this obstropalous manner. I'll warrant me, before her you looked dashed, and kept bowing to the ground, and talked, for all the world, as if you was before a justice of peace.
MARLOW. (Aside.) Egad, she has hit it, sure enough! (To her.) In awe of her, child? Ha! ha! ha! A mere awkward squinting thing; no, no. I find you don't know me. I laughed and rallied her a little; but I was unwilling to be too severe. No, I could not be too severe, curse me!
MISS HARDCASTLE. O! then, sir, you are a favourite, I find, among the ladies?
MARLOW. Yes, my dear, a great favourite. And yet hang me, I don't see what they find in me to follow. At the Ladies' Club in town I'm called their agreeable Rattle. Rattle, child, is not my real name, but one I'm known by. My name is Solomons; Mr. Solomons, my dear, at your service. (Offering to salute her.)
MISS HARDCASTLE. Hold, sir; you are introducing me to your club, not to yourself. And you're so great a favourite there, you say?
MARLOW. Yes, my dear. There's Mrs. Mantrap, Lady Betty Blackleg, the Countess of Sligo, Mrs. Langhorns, old Miss Biddy Buckskin, and your humble servant, keep up the spirit of the place.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Then it's a very merry place, I suppose?
MARLOW. Yes, as merry as cards, supper, wine, and old women can make us.
MISS HARDCASTLE. And their agreeable Rattle, ha! ha! ha!
MARLOW. (Aside.) Egad! I don't quite like this chit. She looks knowing, methinks. You laugh, child?
MISS HARDCASTLE. I can't but laugh, to think what time they all have for minding their work or their family.
MARLOW. (Aside.) All's well; she don't laugh at me. (To her.) Do you ever work, child?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Ay, sure. There's not a screen or quilt in the whole house but what can bear witness to that.
MARLOW. Odso! then you must show me your embroidery. I embroider and draw patterns myself a little. If you want a judge of your work, you must apply to me. (Seizing her hand.)
MISS HARDCASTLE. Ay, but the colours do not look well by candlelight. You shall see all in the morning. (Struggling.)
MARLOW. And why not now, my angel? Such beauty fires beyond the power of resistance.—Pshaw! the father here! My old luck: I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following. [Exit MARLOW.]
Enter HARDCASTLE, who stands in surprise.
HARDCASTLE. So, madam. So, I find THIS is your MODEST lover. This is your humble admirer, that kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and only adored at humble distance. Kate, Kate, art thou not ashamed to deceive your father so?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Never trust me, dear papa, but he's still the modest man I first took him for; you'll be convinced of it as well as I.
HARDCASTLE. By the hand of my body, I believe his impudence is infectious! Didn't I see him seize your hand? Didn't I see him haul you about like a milkmaid? And now you talk of his respect and his modesty, forsooth!
MISS HARDCASTLE. But if I shortly convince you of his modesty, that he has only the faults that will pass off with time, and the virtues that will improve with age, I hope you'll forgive him.
HARDCASTLE. The girl would actually make one run mad! I tell you, I'll not be convinced. I am convinced. He has scarce been three hours in the house, and he has already encroached on all my prerogatives. You may like his impudence, and call it modesty; but my son-in-law, madam, must have very different qualifications.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Sir, I ask but this night to convince you.
HARDCASTLE. You shall not have half the time, for I have thoughts of turning him out this very hour.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Give me that hour then, and I hope to satisfy you.
HARDCASTLE. Well, an hour let it be then. But I'll have no trifling with your father. All fair and open, do you mind me.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I hope, sir, you have ever found that I considered your commands as my pride; for your kindness is such, that my duty as yet has been inclination. [Exeunt.]
ACT THE FOURTH.
Enter HASTINGS and MISS NEVILLE.
HASTINGS. You surprise me; Sir Charles Marlow expected here this night! Where have you had your information?
MISS NEVILLE. You may depend upon it. I just saw his letter to Mr. Hardcastle, in which he tells him he intends setting out a few hours after his son.
HASTINGS. Then, my Constance, all must be completed before he arrives. He knows me; and should he find me here, would discover my name, and perhaps my designs, to the rest of the family.
MISS NEVILLE. The jewels, I hope, are safe?
HASTINGS. Yes, yes, I have sent them to Marlow, who keeps the keys of our baggage. In the mean time, I'll go to prepare matters for our elopement. I have had the 'squire's promise of a fresh pair of horses; and if I should not see him again, will write him further directions. [Exit.]
MISS NEVILLE. Well! success attend you. In the mean time I'll go and amuse my aunt with the old pretence of a violent passion for my cousin. [Exit.]
Enter MARLOW, followed by a Servant.
MARLOW. I wonder what Hastings could mean by sending me so valuable a thing as a casket to keep for him, when he knows the only place I have is the seat of a post-coach at an inn-door. Have you deposited the casket with the landlady, as I ordered you? Have you put it into her own hands?
SERVANT. Yes, your honour.
MARLOW. She said she'd keep it safe, did she?
SERVANT. Yes, she said she'd keep it safe enough; she asked me how I came by it; and she said she had a great mind to make me give an account of myself. [Exit Servant.]
MARLOW. Ha! ha! ha! They're safe, however. What an unaccountable set of beings have we got amongst! This little bar-maid though runs in my head most strangely, and drives out the absurdities of all the rest of the family. She's mine, she must be mine, or I'm greatly mistaken.
Enter HASTINGS.
HASTINGS. Bless me! I quite forgot to tell her that I intended to prepare at the bottom of the garden. Marlow here, and in spirits too!
MARLOW. Give me joy, George! Crown me, shadow me with laurels! Well, George, after all, we modest fellows don't want for success among the women.
HASTINGS. Some women, you mean. But what success has your honour's modesty been crowned with now, that it grows so insolent upon us?
MARLOW. Didn't you see the tempting, brisk, lovely little thing, that runs about the house with a bunch of keys to its girdle?
HASTINGS. Well, and what then?
MARLOW. She's mine, you rogue you. Such fire, such motion, such eyes, such lips; but, egad! she would not let me kiss them though.
HASTINGS. But are you so sure, so very sure of her?
MARLOW. Why, man, she talked of showing me her work above stairs, and I am to improve the pattern.
HASTINGS. But how can you, Charles, go about to rob a woman of her honour?
MARLOW. Pshaw! pshaw! We all know the honour of the bar-maid of an inn. I don't intend to rob her, take my word for it; there's nothing in this house I shan't honestly pay for.
HASTINGS. I believe the girl has virtue.
MARLOW. And if she has, I should be the last man in the world that would attempt to corrupt it.
HASTINGS. You have taken care, I hope, of the casket I sent you to lock up? Is it in safety?
MARLOW. Yes, yes. It's safe enough. I have taken care of it. But how could you think the seat of a post-coach at an inn-door a place of safety? Ah! numskull! I have taken better precautions for you than you did for yourself——I have——
HASTINGS. What?
MARLOW. I have sent it to the landlady to keep for you.
HASTINGS. To the landlady!
MARLOW. I did. She's to be answerable for its forthcoming, you know.
HASTINGS. Yes, she'll bring it forth with a witness.
MARLOW. Wasn't I right? I believe you'll allow that I acted prudently upon this occasion.
HASTINGS. (Aside.) He must not see my uneasiness.
MARLOW. You seem a little disconcerted though, methinks. Sure nothing has happened?
HASTINGS. No, nothing. Never was in better spirits in all my life. And so you left it with the landlady, who, no doubt, very readily undertook the charge.
MARLOW. Rather too readily. For she not only kept the casket, but, through her great precaution, was going to keep the messenger too. Ha! ha! ha!
HASTINGS. He! he! he! They're safe, however.
MARLOW. As a guinea in a miser's purse.
HASTINGS. (Aside.) So now all hopes of fortune are at an end, and we must set off without it. (To him.) Well, Charles, I'll leave you to your meditations on the pretty bar-maid, and, he! he! he! may you be as successful for yourself, as you have been for me! [Exit.]
MARLOW. Thank ye, George: I ask no more. Ha! ha! ha!
Enter HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. I no longer know my own house. It's turned all topsy-turvy. His servants have got drunk already. I'll bear it no longer; and yet, from my respect for his father, I'll be calm. (To him.) Mr. Marlow, your servant. I'm your very humble servant. (Bowing low.)
MARLOW. Sir, your humble servant. (Aside.) What's to be the wonder now?
HARDCASTLE. I believe, sir, you must be sensible, sir, that no man alive ought to be more welcome than your father's son, sir. I hope you think so?
MARLOW. I do from my soul, sir. I don't want much entreaty. I generally make my father's son welcome wherever he goes.
HARDCASTLE. I believe you do, from my soul, sir. But though I say nothing to your own conduct, that of your servants is insufferable. Their manner of drinking is setting a very bad example in this house, I assure you.
MARLOW. I protest, my very good sir, that is no fault of mine. If they don't drink as they ought, they are to blame. I ordered them not to spare the cellar. I did, I assure you. (To the side scene.) Here, let one of my servants come up. (To him.) My positive directions were, that as I did not drink myself, they should make up for my deficiencies below.
HARDCASTLE. Then they had your orders for what they do? I'm satisfied!
MARLOW. They had, I assure you. You shall hear from one of themselves.
Enter Servant, drunk.
MARLOW. You, Jeremy! Come forward, sirrah! What were my orders? Were you not told to drink freely, and call for what you thought fit, for the good of the house?
HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) I begin to lose my patience.
JEREMY. Please your honour, liberty and Fleet-street for ever! Though I'm but a servant, I'm as good as another man. I'll drink for no man before supper, sir, damme! Good liquor will sit upon a good supper, but a good supper will not sit upon——hiccup——on my conscience, sir.
MARLOW. You see, my old friend, the fellow is as drunk as he can possibly be. I don't know what you'd have more, unless you'd have the poor devil soused in a beer-barrel.
HARDCASTLE. Zounds! he'll drive me distracted, if I contain myself any longer. Mr. Marlow—Sir; I have submitted to your insolence for more than four hours, and I see no likelihood of its coming to an end. I'm now resolved to be master here, sir; and I desire that you and your drunken pack may leave my house directly.
MARLOW. Leave your house!——Sure you jest, my good friend! What? when I'm doing what I can to please you.
HARDCASTLE. I tell you, sir, you don't please me; so I desire you'll leave my house.
MARLOW. Sure you cannot be serious? At this time o' night, and such a night? You only mean to banter me.
HARDCASTLE. I tell you, sir, I'm serious! and now that my passions are roused, I say this house is mine, sir; this house is mine, and I command you to leave it directly.
MARLOW. Ha! ha! ha! A puddle in a storm. I shan't stir a step, I assure you. (In a serious tone.) This your house, fellow! It's my house. This is my house. Mine, while I choose to stay. What right have you to bid me leave this house, sir? I never met with such impudence, curse me; never in my whole life before.
HARDCASTLE. Nor I, confound me if ever I did. To come to my house, to call for what he likes, to turn me out of my own chair, to insult the family, to order his servants to get drunk, and then to tell me, "This house is mine, sir." By all that's impudent, it makes me laugh. Ha! ha! ha! Pray, sir (bantering), as you take the house, what think you of taking the rest of the furniture? There's a pair of silver candlesticks, and there's a fire-screen, and here's a pair of brazen-nosed bellows; perhaps you may take a fancy to them?
MARLOW. Bring me your bill, sir; bring me your bill, and let's make no more words about it.
HARDCASTLE. There are a set of prints, too. What think you of the Rake's Progress, for your own apartment?
MARLOW. Bring me your bill, I say; and I'll leave you and your infernal house directly.
HARDCASTLE. Then there's a mahogany table that you may see your own face in.
MARLOW. My bill, I say.
HARDCASTLE. I had forgot the great chair for your own particular slumbers, after a hearty meal.
MARLOW. Zounds! bring me my bill, I say, and let's hear no more on't.
HARDCASTLE. Young man, young man, from your father's letter to me, I was taught to expect a well-bred modest man as a visitor here, but now I find him no better than a coxcomb and a bully; but he will be down here presently, and shall hear more of it. [Exit.]
MARLOW. How's this? Sure I have not mistaken the house. Everything looks like an inn. The servants cry, coming; the attendance is awkward; the bar-maid, too, to attend us. But she's here, and will further inform me. Whither so fast, child? A word with you.
Enter MISS HARDCASTLE.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Let it be short, then. I'm in a hurry. (Aside.) I believe be begins to find out his mistake. But it's too soon quite to undeceive him.
MARLOW. Pray, child, answer me one question. What are you, and what may your business in this house be?
MISS HARDCASTLE. A relation of the family, sir.
MARLOW. What, a poor relation.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Yes, sir. A poor relation, appointed to keep the keys, and to see that the guests want nothing in my power to give them.
MARLOW. That is, you act as the bar-maid of this inn.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Inn! O law——what brought that in your head? One of the best families in the country keep an inn—Ha! ha! ha! old Mr. Hardcastle's house an inn!
MARLOW. Mr. Hardcastle's house! Is this Mr. Hardcastle's house, child?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Ay, sure! Whose else should it be?
MARLOW. So then, all's out, and I have been damnably imposed on. O, confound my stupid head, I shall be laughed at over the whole town. I shall be stuck up in caricatura in all the print-shops. The DULLISSIMO MACCARONI. To mistake this house of all others for an inn, and my father's old friend for an innkeeper! What a swaggering puppy must he take me for! What a silly puppy do I find myself! There again, may I be hanged, my dear, but I mistook you for the bar-maid.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Dear me! dear me! I'm sure there's nothing in my BEHAVIOUR to put me on a level with one of that stamp.
MARLOW. Nothing, my dear, nothing. But I was in for a list of blunders, and could not help making you a subscriber. My stupidity saw everything the wrong way. I mistook your assiduity for assurance, and your simplicity for allurement. But it's over. This house I no more show MY face in.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I hope, sir, I have done nothing to disoblige you. I'm sure I should be sorry to affront any gentleman who has been so polite, and said so many civil things to me. I'm sure I should be sorry (pretending to cry) if he left the family upon my account. I'm sure I should be sorry if people said anything amiss, since I have no fortune but my character.
MARLOW. (Aside.) By Heaven! she weeps. This is the first mark of tenderness I ever had from a modest woman, and it touches me. (To her.) Excuse me, my lovely girl; you are the only part of the family I leave with reluctance. But to be plain with you, the difference of our birth, fortune, and education, makes an honourable connexion impossible; and I can never harbour a thought of seducing simplicity that trusted in my honour, of bringing ruin upon one whose only fault was being too lovely.
MISS HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) Generous man! I now begin to admire him. (To him.) But I am sure my family is as good as Miss Hardcastle's; and though I'm poor, that's no great misfortune to a contented mind; and, until this moment, I never thought that it was bad to want fortune.
MARLOW. And why now, my pretty simplicity?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Because it puts me at a distance from one that, if I had a thousand pounds, I would give it all to.
MARLOW. (Aside.) This simplicity bewitches me, so that if I stay, I'm undone. I must make one bold effort, and leave her. (To her.) Your partiality in my favour, my dear, touches me most sensibly: and were I to live for myself alone, I could easily fix my choice. But I owe too much to the opinion of the world, too much to the authority of a father; so that—I can scarcely speak it—it affects me. Farewell. [Exit.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. I never knew half his merit till now. He shall not go, if I have power or art to detain him. I'll still preserve the character in which I STOOPED TO CONQUER; but will undeceive my papa, who perhaps may laugh him out of his resolution. [Exit.]
Enter Tony and MISS NEVILLE.
TONY. Ay, you may steal for yourselves the next time. I have done my duty. She has got the jewels again, that's a sure thing; but she believes it was all a mistake of the servants.
MISS NEVILLE. But, my dear cousin, sure you won't forsake us in this distress? If she in the least suspects that I am going off, I shall certainly be locked up, or sent to my aunt Pedigree's, which is ten times worse.
TONY. To be sure, aunts of all kinds are damned bad things. But what can I do? I have got you a pair of horses that will fly like Whistle-jacket; and I'm sure you can't say but I have courted you nicely before her face. Here she comes, we must court a bit or two more, for fear she should suspect us. [They retire, and seem to fondle.]
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Well, I was greatly fluttered, to be sure. But my son tells me it was all a mistake of the servants. I shan't be easy, however, till they are fairly married, and then let her keep her own fortune. But what do I see? fondling together, as I'm alive. I never saw Tony so sprightly before. Ah! have I caught you, my pretty doves? What, billing, exchanging stolen glances and broken murmurs? Ah!
TONY. As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure. But there's no love lost between us.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. A mere sprinkling, Tony, upon the flame, only to make it burn brighter.
MISS NEVILLE. Cousin Tony promises to give us more of his company at home. Indeed, he shan't leave us any more. It won't leave us, cousin Tony, will it?
TONY. O! it's a pretty creature. No, I'd sooner leave my horse in a pound, than leave you when you smile upon one so. Your laugh makes you so becoming.
MISS NEVILLE. Agreeable cousin! Who can help admiring that natural humour, that pleasant, broad, red, thoughtless (patting his cheek)—ah! it's a bold face.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Pretty innocence!
TONY. I'm sure I always loved cousin Con.'s hazle eyes, and her pretty long fingers, that she twists this way and that over the haspicholls, like a parcel of bobbins.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ah! he would charm the bird from the tree. I was never so happy before. My boy takes after his father, poor Mr. Lumpkin, exactly. The jewels, my dear Con., shall be yours incontinently. You shall have them. Isn't he a sweet boy, my dear? You shall be married to-morrow, and we'll put off the rest of his education, like Dr. Drowsy's sermons, to a fitter opportunity.
Enter DIGGORY.
DIGGORY. Where's the 'squire? I have got a letter for your worship.
TONY. Give it to my mamma. She reads all my letters first.
DIGGORY. I had orders to deliver it into your own hands.
TONY. Who does it come from?
DIGGORY. Your worship mun ask that o' the letter itself.
TONY. I could wish to know though (turning the letter, and gazing on it).
MISS NEVILLE. (Aside.) Undone! undone! A letter to him from Hastings. I know the hand. If my aunt sees it, we are ruined for ever. I'll keep her employed a little if I can. (To MRS. HARDCASTLE.) But I have not told you, madam, of my cousin's smart answer just now to Mr. Marlow. We so laughed.—You must know, madam.—This way a little, for he must not hear us. [They confer.]
TONY. (Still gazing.) A damned cramp piece of penmanship, as ever I saw in my life. I can read your print hand very well. But here are such handles, and shanks, and dashes, that one can scarce tell the head from the tail.—"To Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire." It's very odd, I can read the outside of my letters, where my own name is, well enough; but when I come to open it, it's all——buzz. That's hard, very hard; for the inside of the letter is always the cream of the correspondence.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ha! ha! ha! Very well, very well. And so my son was too hard for the philosopher.
MISS NEVILLE. Yes, madam; but you must hear the rest, madam. A little more this way, or he may hear us. You'll hear how he puzzled him again.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. He seems strangely puzzled now himself, methinks.
TONY. (Still gazing.) A damned up and down hand, as if it was disguised in liquor.—(Reading.) Dear Sir,—ay, that's that. Then there's an M, and a T, and an S, but whether the next be an izzard, or an R, confound me, I cannot tell.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. What's that, my dear? Can I give you any assistance?
MISS NEVILLE. Pray, aunt, let me read it. Nobody reads a cramp hand better than I. (Twitching the letter from him.) Do you know who it is from?
TONY. Can't tell, except from Dick Ginger, the feeder.
MISS NEVILLE. Ay, so it is. (Pretending to read.) Dear 'Squire, hoping that you're in health, as I am at this present. The gentlemen of the Shake-bag club has cut the gentlemen of Goose-green quite out of feather. The odds—um—odd battle—um—long fighting—um—here, here, it's all about cocks and fighting; it's of no consequence; here, put it up, put it up. (Thrusting the crumpled letter upon him.)
TONY. But I tell you, miss, it's of all the consequence in the world. I would not lose the rest of it for a guinea. Here, mother, do you make it out. Of no consequence! (Giving MRS. HARDCASTLE the letter.)
MRS. HARDCASTLE. How's this?—(Reads.) "Dear 'Squire, I'm now waiting for Miss Neville, with a post-chaise and pair, at the bottom of the garden, but I find my horses yet unable to perform the journey. I expect you'll assist us with a pair of fresh horses, as you promised. Dispatch is necessary, as the HAG (ay, the hag), your mother, will otherwise suspect us! Yours, Hastings." Grant me patience. I shall run distracted! My rage chokes me.
MISS NEVILLE. I hope, madam, you'll suspend your resentment for a few moments, and not impute to me any impertinence, or sinister design, that belongs to another.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Curtseying very low.) Fine spoken, madam, you are most miraculously polite and engaging, and quite the very pink of courtesy and circumspection, madam. (Changing her tone.) And you, you great ill-fashioned oaf, with scarce sense enough to keep your mouth shut: were you, too, joined against me? But I'll defeat all your plots in a moment. As for you, madam, since you have got a pair of fresh horses ready, it would be cruel to disappoint them. So, if you please, instead of running away with your spark, prepare, this very moment, to run off with ME. Your old aunt Pedigree will keep you secure, I'll warrant me. You too, sir, may mount your horse, and guard us upon the way. Here, Thomas, Roger, Diggory! I'll show you, that I wish you better than you do yourselves. [Exit.]
MISS NEVILLE. So now I'm completely ruined.
TONY. Ay, that's a sure thing.
MISS NEVILLE. What better could be expected from being connected with such a stupid fool,—and after all the nods and signs I made him?
TONY. By the laws, miss, it was your own cleverness, and not my stupidity, that did your business. You were so nice and so busy with your Shake-bags and Goose-greens, that I thought you could never be making believe.
Enter HASTINGS.
HASTINGS. So, sir, I find by my servant, that you have shown my letter, and betrayed us. Was this well done, young gentleman?
TONY. Here's another. Ask miss there, who betrayed you. Ecod, it was her doing, not mine.
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW. So I have been finely used here among you. Rendered contemptible, driven into ill manners, despised, insulted, laughed at.
TONY. Here's another. We shall have old Bedlam broke loose presently.
MISS NEVILLE. And there, sir, is the gentleman to whom we all owe every obligation.
MARLOW. What can I say to him, a mere boy, an idiot, whose ignorance and age are a protection?
HASTINGS. A poor contemptible booby, that would but disgrace correction.
MISS NEVILLE. Yet with cunning and malice enough to make himself merry with all our embarrassments.
HASTINGS. An insensible cub.
MARLOW. Replete with tricks and mischief.
TONY. Baw! damme, but I'll fight you both, one after the other——with baskets.
MARLOW. As for him, he's below resentment. But your conduct, Mr. Hastings, requires an explanation. You knew of my mistakes, yet would not undeceive me.
HASTINGS. Tortured as I am with my own disappointments, is this a time for explanations? It is not friendly, Mr. Marlow.
MARLOW. But, sir——
MISS NEVILLE. Mr. Marlow, we never kept on your mistake till it was too late to undeceive you.
Enter Servant.
SERVANT. My mistress desires you'll get ready immediately, madam. The horses are putting to. Your hat and things are in the next room. We are to go thirty miles before morning. [Exit Servant.]
MISS NEVILLE. Well, well: I'll come presently.
MARLOW. (To HASTINGS.) Was it well done, sir, to assist in rendering me ridiculous? To hang me out for the scorn of all my acquaintance? Depend upon it, sir, I shall expect an explanation.
HASTINGS. Was it well done, sir, if you're upon that subject, to deliver what I entrusted to yourself, to the care of another sir?
MISS NEVILLE. Mr. Hastings! Mr. Marlow! Why will you increase my distress by this groundless dispute? I implore, I entreat you——
Enter Servant.
SERVANT. Your cloak, madam. My mistress is impatient. [Exit Servant.]
MISS NEVILLE. I come. Pray be pacified. If I leave you thus, I shall die with apprehension.
Enter Servant.
SERVANT. Your fan, muff, and gloves, madam. The horses are waiting.
MISS NEVILLE. O, Mr. Marlow! if you knew what a scene of constraint and ill-nature lies before me, I'm sure it would convert your resentment into pity.
MARLOW. I'm so distracted with a variety of passions, that I don't know what I do. Forgive me, madam. George, forgive me. You know my hasty temper, and should not exasperate it.
HASTINGS. The torture of my situation is my only excuse.
MISS NEVILLE. Well, my dear Hastings, if you have that esteem for me that I think, that I am sure you have, your constancy for three years will but increase the happiness of our future connexion. If——
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Within.) Miss Neville. Constance, why Constance, I say.
MISS NEVILLE. I'm coming. Well, constancy, remember, constancy is the word. [Exit.]
HASTINGS. My heart! how can I support this? To be so near happiness, and such happiness!
MARLOW. (To Tony.) You see now, young gentleman, the effects of your folly. What might be amusement to you, is here disappointment, and even distress.
TONY. (From a reverie.) Ecod, I have hit it. It's here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor Sulky!—My boots there, ho!—Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden; and if you don't find Tony Lumpkin a more good-natured fellow than you thought for, I'll give you leave to take my best horse, and Bet Bouncer into the bargain. Come along. My boots, ho! [Exeunt.]
ACT THE FIFTH.
Enter HASTINGS and Servant.
HASTINGS. You saw the old lady and Miss Neville drive off, you say?
SERVANT. Yes, your honour. They went off in a post-coach, and the young 'squire went on horseback. They're thirty miles off by this time.
HASTINGS. Then all my hopes are over.
SERVANT. Yes, sir. Old Sir Charles has arrived. He and the old gentleman of the house have been laughing at Mr. Marlow's mistake this half hour. They are coming this way.
HASTINGS. Then I must not be seen. So now to my fruitless appointment at the bottom of the garden. This is about the time. [Exit.]
Enter SIR CHARLES and HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. Ha! ha! ha! The peremptory tone in which he sent forth his sublime commands!
SIR CHARLES. And the reserve with which I suppose he treated all your advances.
HARDCASTLE. And yet he might have seen something in me above a common innkeeper, too.
SIR CHARLES. Yes, Dick, but he mistook you for an uncommon innkeeper, ha! ha! ha!
HARDCASTLE. Well, I'm in too good spirits to think of anything but joy. Yes, my dear friend, this union of our families will make our personal friendships hereditary; and though my daughter's fortune is but small—
SIR CHARLES. Why, Dick, will you talk of fortune to ME? My son is possessed of more than a competence already, and can want nothing but a good and virtuous girl to share his happiness and increase it. If they like each other, as you say they do—
HARDCASTLE. IF, man! I tell you they DO like each other. My daughter as good as told me so.
SIR CHARLES. But girls are apt to flatter themselves, you know.
HARDCASTLE. I saw him grasp her hand in the warmest manner myself; and here he comes to put you out of your IFS, I warrant him.
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW. I come, sir, once more, to ask pardon for my strange conduct. I can scarce reflect on my insolence without confusion.
HARDCASTLE. Tut, boy, a trifle! You take it too gravely. An hour or two's laughing with my daughter will set all to rights again. She'll never like you the worse for it.
MARLOW. Sir, I shall be always proud of her approbation.
HARDCASTLE. Approbation is but a cold word, Mr. Marlow; if I am not deceived, you have something more than approbation thereabouts. You take me?
MARLOW. Really, sir, I have not that happiness.
HARDCASTLE. Come, boy, I'm an old fellow, and know what's what as well as you that are younger. I know what has passed between you; but mum.
MARLOW. Sure, sir, nothing has passed between us but the most profound respect on my side, and the most distant reserve on hers. You don't think, sir, that my impudence has been passed upon all the rest of the family.
HARDCASTLE. Impudence! No, I don't say that—not quite impudence—though girls like to be played with, and rumpled a little too, sometimes. But she has told no tales, I assure you.
MARLOW. I never gave her the slightest cause.
HARDCASTLE. Well, well, I like modesty in its place well enough. But this is over-acting, young gentleman. You may be open. Your father and I will like you all the better for it.
MARLOW. May I die, sir, if I ever——
HARDCASTLE. I tell you, she don't dislike you; and as I'm sure you like her——
MARLOW. Dear sir—I protest, sir——
HARDCASTLE. I see no reason why you should not be joined as fast as the parson can tie you.
MARLOW. But hear me, sir—
HARDCASTLE. Your father approves the match, I admire it; every moment's delay will be doing mischief. So—
MARLOW. But why won't you hear me? By all that's just and true, I never gave Miss Hardcastle the slightest mark of my attachment, or even the most distant hint to suspect me of affection. We had but one interview, and that was formal, modest, and uninteresting.
HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) This fellow's formal modest impudence is beyond bearing.
SIR CHARLES. And you never grasped her hand, or made any protestations?
MARLOW. As Heaven is my witness, I came down in obedience to your commands. I saw the lady without emotion, and parted without reluctance. I hope you'll exact no farther proofs of my duty, nor prevent me from leaving a house in which I suffer so many mortifications. [Exit.]
SIR CHARLES. I'm astonished at the air of sincerity with which he parted.
HARDCASTLE. And I'm astonished at the deliberate intrepidity of his assurance.
SIR CHARLES. I dare pledge my life and honour upon his truth.
HARDCASTLE. Here comes my daughter, and I would stake my happiness upon her veracity.
Enter MISS HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. Kate, come hither, child. Answer us sincerely and without reserve: has Mr. Marlow made you any professions of love and affection?
MISS HARDCASTLE. The question is very abrupt, sir. But since you require unreserved sincerity, I think he has.
HARDCASTLE. (To SIR CHARLES.) You see.
SIR CHARLES. And pray, madam, have you and my son had more than one interview?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Yes, sir, several.
HARDCASTLE. (To SIR CHARLES.) You see.
SIR CHARLES. But did be profess any attachment?
MISS HARDCASTLE. A lasting one.
SIR CHARLES. Did he talk of love?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Much, sir.
SIR CHARLES. Amazing! And all this formally?
MISS HARDCASTLE. Formally.
HARDCASTLE. Now, my friend, I hope you are satisfied.
SIR CHARLES. And how did he behave, madam?
MISS HARDCASTLE. As most profest admirers do: said some civil things of my face, talked much of his want of merit, and the greatness of mine; mentioned his heart, gave a short tragedy speech, and ended with pretended rapture.
SIR CHARLES. Now I'm perfectly convinced, indeed. I know his conversation among women to be modest and submissive: this forward canting ranting manner by no means describes him; and, I am confident, he never sat for the picture.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Then, what, sir, if I should convince you to your face of my sincerity? If you and my papa, in about half an hour, will place yourselves behind that screen, you shall hear him declare his passion to me in person.
SIR CHARLES. Agreed. And if I find him what you describe, all my happiness in him must have an end. [Exit.]
MISS HARDCASTLE. And if you don't find him what I describe—I fear my happiness must never have a beginning. [Exeunt.]
SCENE changes to the back of the Garden.
Enter HASTINGS.
HASTINGS. What an idiot am I, to wait here for a fellow who probably takes a delight in mortifying me. He never intended to be punctual, and I'll wait no longer. What do I see? It is he! and perhaps with news of my Constance.
Enter Tony, booted and spattered.
HASTINGS. My honest 'squire! I now find you a man of your word. This looks like friendship.
TONY. Ay, I'm your friend, and the best friend you have in the world, if you knew but all. This riding by night, by the bye, is cursedly tiresome. It has shook me worse than the basket of a stage-coach.
HASTINGS. But how? where did you leave your fellow-travellers? Are they in safety? Are they housed?
TONY. Five and twenty miles in two hours and a half is no such bad driving. The poor beasts have smoked for it: rabbit me, but I'd rather ride forty miles after a fox than ten with such varment.
HASTINGS. Well, but where have you left the ladies? I die with impatience.
TONY. Left them! Why where should I leave them but where I found them?
HASTINGS. This is a riddle.
TONY. Riddle me this then. What's that goes round the house, and round the house, and never touches the house?
HASTINGS. I'm still astray.
TONY. Why, that's it, mon. I have led them astray. By jingo, there's not a pond or a slough within five miles of the place but they can tell the taste of.
HASTINGS. Ha! ha! ha! I understand: you took them in a round, while they supposed themselves going forward, and so you have at last brought them home again.
TONY. You shall hear. I first took them down Feather-bed Lane, where we stuck fast in the mud. I then rattled them crack over the stones of Up-and-down Hill. I then introduced them to the gibbet on Heavy-tree Heath; and from that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond at the bottom of the garden.
HASTINGS. But no accident, I hope?
TONY. No, no. Only mother is confoundedly frightened. She thinks herself forty miles off. She's sick of the journey; and the cattle can scarce crawl. So if your own horses be ready, you may whip off with cousin, and I'll be bound that no soul here can budge a foot to follow you.
HASTINGS. My dear friend, how can I be grateful?
TONY. Ay, now it's dear friend, noble 'squire. Just now, it was all idiot, cub, and run me through the guts. Damn YOUR way of fighting, I say. After we take a knock in this part of the country, we kiss and be friends. But if you had run me through the guts, then I should be dead, and you might go kiss the hangman.
HASTINGS. The rebuke is just. But I must hasten to relieve Miss Neville: if you keep the old lady employed, I promise to take care of the young one. [Exit HASTINGS.]
TONY. Never fear me. Here she comes. Vanish. She's got from the pond, and draggled up to the waist like a mermaid.
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Oh, Tony, I'm killed! Shook! Battered to death. I shall never survive it. That last jolt, that laid us against the quickset hedge, has done my business.
TONY. Alack, mamma, it was all your own fault. You would be for running away by night, without knowing one inch of the way.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I wish we were at home again. I never met so many accidents in so short a journey. Drenched in the mud, overturned in a ditch, stuck fast in a slough, jolted to a jelly, and at last to lose our way. Whereabouts do you think we are, Tony?
TONY. By my guess we should come upon Crackskull Common, about forty miles from home.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. O lud! O lud! The most notorious spot in all the country. We only want a robbery to make a complete night on't.
TONY. Don't be afraid, mamma, don't be afraid. Two of the five that kept here are hanged, and the other three may not find us. Don't be afraid.—Is that a man that's galloping behind us? No; it's only a tree.—Don't be afraid.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. The fright will certainly kill me.
TONY. Do you see anything like a black hat moving behind the thicket?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Oh, death!
TONY. No; it's only a cow. Don't be afraid, mamma; don't be afraid.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. As I'm alive, Tony, I see a man coming towards us. Ah! I'm sure on't. If he perceives us, we are undone.
TONY. (Aside.) Father-in-law, by all that's unlucky, come to take one of his night walks. (To her.) Ah, it's a highwayman with pistols as long as my arm. A damned ill-looking fellow.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Good Heaven defend us! He approaches.
TONY. Do you hide yourself in that thicket, and leave me to manage him. If there be any danger, I'll cough, and cry hem. When I cough, be sure to keep close. (MRS. HARDCASTLE hides behind a tree in the back scene.)
Enter HARDCASTLE.
HARDCASTLE. I'm mistaken, or I heard voices of people in want of help. Oh, Tony! is that you? I did not expect you so soon back. Are your mother and her charge in safety?
TONY. Very safe, sir, at my aunt Pedigree's. Hem.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (From behind.) Ah, death! I find there's danger.
HARDCASTLE. Forty miles in three hours; sure that's too much, my youngster.
TONY. Stout horses and willing minds make short journeys, as they say. Hem.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (From behind.) Sure he'll do the dear boy no harm.
HARDCASTLE. But I heard a voice here; I should be glad to know from whence it came.
TONY. It was I, sir, talking to myself, sir. I was saying that forty miles in four hours was very good going. Hem. As to be sure it was. Hem. I have got a sort of cold by being out in the air. We'll go in, if you please. Hem.
HARDCASTLE. But if you talked to yourself you did not answer yourself. I'm certain I heard two voices, and am resolved (raising his voice) to find the other out.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (From behind.) Oh! he's coming to find me out. Oh!
TONY. What need you go, sir, if I tell you? Hem. I'll lay down my life for the truth—hem—I'll tell you all, sir. [Detaining him.]
HARDCASTLE. I tell you I will not be detained. I insist on seeing. It's in vain to expect I'll believe you.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Running forward from behind.) O lud! he'll murder my poor boy, my darling! Here, good gentleman, whet your rage upon me. Take my money, my life, but spare that young gentleman; spare my child, if you have any mercy.
HARDCASTLE. My wife, as I'm a Christian. From whence can she come? or what does she mean?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Kneeling.) Take compassion on us, good Mr. Highwayman. Take our money, our watches, all we have, but spare our lives. We will never bring you to justice; indeed we won't, good Mr. Highwayman.
HARDCASTLE. I believe the woman's out of her senses. What, Dorothy, don't you know ME?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Mr. Hardcastle, as I'm alive! My fears blinded me. But who, my dear, could have expected to meet you here, in this frightful place, so far from home? What has brought you to follow us?
HARDCASTLE. Sure, Dorothy, you have not lost your wits? So far from home, when you are within forty yards of your own door! (To him.) This is one of your old tricks, you graceless rogue, you. (To her.) Don't you know the gate, and the mulberry-tree; and don't you remember the horse-pond, my dear?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Yes, I shall remember the horse-pond as long as I live; I have caught my death in it. (To TONY.) And it is to you, you graceless varlet, I owe all this? I'll teach you to abuse your mother, I will.
TONY. Ecod, mother, all the parish says you have spoiled me, and so you may take the fruits on't.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I'll spoil you, I will. [Follows him off the stage. Exit.]
HARDCASTLE. There's morality, however, in his reply. [Exit.]
Enter HASTINGS and MISS NEVILLE.
HASTINGS. My dear Constance, why will you deliberate thus? If we delay a moment, all is lost for ever. Pluck up a little resolution, and we shall soon be out of the reach of her malignity.
MISS NEVILLE. I find it impossible. My spirits are so sunk with the agitations I have suffered, that I am unable to face any new danger. Two or three years' patience will at last crown us with happiness.
HASTINGS. Such a tedious delay is worse than inconstancy. Let us fly, my charmer. Let us date our happiness from this very moment. Perish fortune! Love and content will increase what we possess beyond a monarch's revenue. Let me prevail!
MISS NEVILLE. No, Mr. Hastings, no. Prudence once more comes to my relief, and I will obey its dictates. In the moment of passion fortune may be despised, but it ever produces a lasting repentance. I'm resolved to apply to Mr. Hardcastle's compassion and justice for redress.
HASTINGS. But though he had the will, he has not the power to relieve you.
MISS NEVILLE. But he has influence, and upon that I am resolved to rely.
HASTINGS. I have no hopes. But since you persist, I must reluctantly obey you. [Exeunt.]
SCENE changes.
Enter SIR CHARLES and MISS HARDCASTLE.
SIR CHARLES. What a situation am I in! If what you say appears, I shall then find a guilty son. If what he says be true, I shall then lose one that, of all others, I most wished for a daughter.
MISS HARDCASTLE. I am proud of your approbation, and to show I merit it, if you place yourselves as I directed, you shall hear his explicit declaration. But he comes.
SIR CHARLES. I'll to your father, and keep him to the appointment. [Exit SIR CHARLES.]
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW. Though prepared for setting out, I come once more to take leave; nor did I, till this moment, know the pain I feel in the separation.
MISS HARDCASTLE. (In her own natural manner.) I believe sufferings cannot be very great, sir, which you can so easily remove. A day or two longer, perhaps, might lessen your uneasiness, by showing the little value of what you now think proper to regret.
MARLOW. (Aside.) This girl every moment improves upon me. (To her.) It must not be, madam. I have already trifled too long with my heart. My very pride begins to submit to my passion. The disparity of education and fortune, the anger of a parent, and the contempt of my equals, begin to lose their weight; and nothing can restore me to myself but this painful effort of resolution.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Then go, sir: I'll urge nothing more to detain you. Though my family be as good as hers you came down to visit, and my education, I hope, not inferior, what are these advantages without equal affluence? I must remain contented with the slight approbation of imputed merit; I must have only the mockery of your addresses, while all your serious aims are fixed on fortune.
Enter HARDCASTLE and SIR CHARLES from behind.
SIR CHARLES. Here, behind this screen.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, ay; make no noise. I'll engage my Kate covers him with confusion at last.
MARLOW. By heavens, madam! fortune was ever my smallest consideration. Your beauty at first caught my eye; for who could see that without emotion? But every moment that I converse with you steals in some new grace, heightens the picture, and gives it stronger expression. What at first seemed rustic plainness, now appears refined simplicity. What seemed forward assurance, now strikes me as the result of courageous innocence and conscious virtue.
SIR CHARLES. What can it mean? He amazes me!
HARDCASTLE. I told you how it would be. Hush!
MARLOW. I am now determined to stay, madam; and I have too good an opinion of my father's discernment, when he sees you, to doubt his approbation.
MISS HARDCASTLE. No, Mr. Marlow, I will not, cannot detain you. Do you think I could suffer a connexion in which there is the smallest room for repentance? Do you think I would take the mean advantage of a transient passion, to load you with confusion? Do you think I could ever relish that happiness which was acquired by lessening yours?
MARLOW. By all that's good, I can have no happiness but what's in your power to grant me! Nor shall I ever feel repentance but in not having seen your merits before. I will stay even contrary to your wishes; and though you should persist to shun me, I will make my respectful assiduities atone for the levity of my past conduct.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Sir, I must entreat you'll desist. As our acquaintance began, so let it end, in indifference. I might have given an hour or two to levity; but seriously, Mr. Marlow, do you think I could ever submit to a connexion where I must appear mercenary, and you imprudent? Do you think I could ever catch at the confident addresses of a secure admirer?
MARLOW. (Kneeling.) Does this look like security? Does this look like confidence? No, madam, every moment that shows me your merit, only serves to increase my diffidence and confusion. Here let me continue——
SIR CHARLES. I can hold it no longer. Charles, Charles, how hast thou deceived me! Is this your indifference, your uninteresting conversation?
HARDCASTLE. Your cold contempt; your formal interview! What have you to say now?
MARLOW. That I'm all amazement! What can it mean?
HARDCASTLE. It means that you can say and unsay things at pleasure: that you can address a lady in private, and deny it in public: that you have one story for us, and another for my daughter.
MARLOW. Daughter!—This lady your daughter?
HARDCASTLE. Yes, sir, my only daughter; my Kate; whose else should she be?
MARLOW. Oh, the devil!
MISS HARDCASTLE. Yes, sir, that very identical tall squinting lady you were pleased to take me for (courtseying); she that you addressed as the mild, modest, sentimental man of gravity, and the bold, forward, agreeable Rattle of the Ladies' Club. Ha! ha! ha!
MARLOW. Zounds! there's no bearing this; it's worse than death!
MISS HARDCASTLE. In which of your characters, sir, will you give us leave to address you? As the faltering gentleman, with looks on the ground, that speaks just to be heard, and hates hypocrisy; or the loud confident creature, that keeps it up with Mrs. Mantrap, and old Miss Biddy Buckskin, till three in the morning? Ha! ha! ha!
MARLOW. O, curse on my noisy head. I never attempted to be impudent yet, that I was not taken down. I must be gone.
HARDCASTLE. By the hand of my body, but you shall not. I see it was all a mistake, and I am rejoiced to find it. You shall not, sir, I tell you. I know she'll forgive you. Won't you forgive him, Kate? We'll all forgive you. Take courage, man. (They retire, she tormenting him, to the back scene.)
Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE and Tony.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. So, so, they're gone off. Let them go, I care not.
HARDCASTLE. Who gone?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. My dutiful niece and her gentleman, Mr. Hastings, from town. He who came down with our modest visitor here.
SIR CHARLES. Who, my honest George Hastings? As worthy a fellow as lives, and the girl could not have made a more prudent choice.
HARDCASTLE. Then, by the hand of my body, I'm proud of the connexion.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Well, if he has taken away the lady, he has not taken her fortune; that remains in this family to console us for her loss.
HARDCASTLE. Sure, Dorothy, you would not be so mercenary?
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ay, that's my affair, not yours.
HARDCASTLE. But you know if your son, when of age, refuses to marry his cousin, her whole fortune is then at her own disposal.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Ay, but he's not of age, and she has not thought proper to wait for his refusal.
Enter HASTINGS and MISS NEVILLE.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. (Aside.) What, returned so soon! I begin not to like it.
HASTINGS. (To HARDCASTLE.) For my late attempt to fly off with your niece let my present confusion be my punishment. We are now come back, to appeal from your justice to your humanity. By her father's consent, I first paid her my addresses, and our passions were first founded in duty.
MISS NEVILLE. Since his death, I have been obliged to stoop to dissimulation to avoid oppression. In an hour of levity, I was ready to give up my fortune to secure my choice. But I am now recovered from the delusion, and hope from your tenderness what is denied me from a nearer connexion.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Pshaw, pshaw! this is all but the whining end of a modern novel.
HARDCASTLE. Be it what it will, I'm glad they're come back to reclaim their due. Come hither, Tony, boy. Do you refuse this lady's hand whom I now offer you?
TONY. What signifies my refusing? You know I can't refuse her till I'm of age, father.
HARDCASTLE. While I thought concealing your age, boy, was likely to conduce to your improvement, I concurred with your mother's desire to keep it secret. But since I find she turns it to a wrong use, I must now declare you have been of age these three months.
TONY. Of age! Am I of age, father?
HARDCASTLE. Above three months.
TONY. Then you'll see the first use I'll make of my liberty. (Taking MISS NEVILLE's hand.) Witness all men by these presents, that I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of BLANK place, refuse you, Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all, for my true and lawful wife. So Constance Neville may marry whom she pleases, and Tony Lumpkin is his own man again.
SIR CHARLES. O brave 'squire!
HASTINGS. My worthy friend!
MRS. HARDCASTLE. My undutiful offspring!
MARLOW. Joy, my dear George! I give you joy sincerely. And could I prevail upon my little tyrant here to be less arbitrary, I should be the happiest man alive, if you would return me the favour.
HASTINGS. (To MISS HARDCASTLE.) Come, madam, you are now driven to the very last scene of all your contrivances. I know you like him, I'm sure he loves you, and you must and shall have him.
HARDCASTLE. (Joining their hands.) And I say so too. And, Mr. Marlow, if she makes as good a wife as she has a daughter, I don't believe you'll ever repent your bargain. So now to supper. To-morrow we shall gather all the poor of the parish about us, and the mistakes of the night shall be crowned with a merry morning. So, boy, take her; and as you have been mistaken in the mistress, my wish is, that you may never be mistaken in the wife. [Exeunt Omnes.]
End of Project Gutenberg's She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER *** ***** This file should be named 383-h.htm or 383-h.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/383/ Produced by G. R. Young, and David Widger Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.org/license). Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United States. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed: This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg-tm License. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided that - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. 1.F. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email [email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official page at http://pglaf.org For additional contact information: Dr. Gregory B. Newby Chief Executive and Director [email protected] Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit http://pglaf.org While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: http://www.gutenberg.org This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
| She Stoops to Conquer |
In the 1968 film, 'The Lion In Winter', if Peter O'Toole was Henry II, who was Eleanor of Aquitaine? | Full text of "She stoops to conquer; a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith"
See other formats
J -3 SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER A COMEDY BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH - v^ ~ ^A WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY FREDERICK SIMPSON COBURN GP PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK LONDON Cheftnicherbocher Press * SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER OR THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT A COMEDY London: Printed for F. Newbery, in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1773- 8vo. Price is. &/. iii 282473 h. "\ She Stoops to Conquer; or, the Mistakes of a Night, a Comedy, was acted for the first time at Covent Garden Theatre (then under the management of the elder Colman), on the isth of March, 1773, and ran twelve nights, the theatre closing for the season with it on the 3ist of May. The leading incident of the piece, the mistaking a gentleman's house for an inn, is said to have been borrowed from a blunder of the author himself, while travelling to school at Edgeworthstown. Its first MS. title was The Old House a New Inn, but this was soon rejected. The title, it is suggested (Forster ii. 374), may have originated in one of Dryden's well-known couplets : "The prostrate loon, when he lowest lies, But kneels to conquer, and but stoops to rise." TO SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. DEAR SIR, By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the public, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most unaffected piety. I have, particularly, reason to thank you for your partiality to this performance. The undertaking a comedy, not merely sentimental, was very dangerous; 1 and Mr. Colman, who saw this piece in its various stages, always thought it so. However, I ventured to trust it to the public; and, though it was necessarily delayed till late in the season, I have every reason to be grateful. I am, dear Sir, Your most sincere friend And admirer, OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1 "With Steele the unlucky notion began of setting Comedy to reform the morals instead of imitating the manners of the age. Fielding slily glances at this, when he makes Parson Adams declare, The Conscious Lovers to be the only play fit for a Christian to see, and as good as a sermon." FORSTER'S Goldsmith, vol. ii., p. 116. vii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGB Miss Hardcastle. " Was there ever such a sober, sentimental interview?" . Frontispiece Tony. "Here's a health to the Three Jolly 18 Pigeons." . . . . , . Hastings. " Thou dear dissembler." . . 42 Miss Hardcastle. "Did you call, sir?" . 72 Marlow. "And why not now, my angel?" go PROLOGUE BY DAVID GARRICK, ESQ. Enter MR. WOODWARD, 1 dressed in black, and holding a handkerchief to his eyes. EXCUSE me, Sirs, I pray I can't yet speak I'm crying now and have been all the week. ; Tis not alone this mourning suit," good masters: "I've that within" for which there are no plasters! Pray, would you know the reason why I'm crying? The Comic Muse, long sick, is now a-dying! And if she goes, my tears will never stop; For as a player, I can't squeeze out one drop: I am undone, that's all shall lose my bread I'd rather, but that's nothing lose my head. When the sweet maid is laid upon the bier, Shuter and I shall be chief mourners here. To her a mawkish drab of spurious breed, 1 Woodward (who had no part in the play) was a good actor. He died April 17, 1777. There is a clever full-length engraving of him by M'Ardell, as the Fine Gentleman, in Lethe; also a good half- length of him by J. R. Smith, as Petruchio. His portrait by Sir Joshua is at Petworth. xi xii prologue Who deals in sentimentals, will succeed! Poor Ned and I are dead to all intents ; We can as soon speak Greek as sentiments! Both nervous grown, to keep our spirits up, We now and then take down a hearty cup. What shall we do? If Comedy forsake us, They'll turn us out, and no one else will take us. But, why can't I be moral? Let me try My heart thus pressing fix'd my face and eye With a sententious look, that nothing means, (Faces are blocks in sentimental scenes) Thus I begin "All is not gold that glitters, Pleasure seems sweet, but proves a glass of bitters. When Ignorance enters, Folly is at hand: Learning is better far than house and land. Let not your virtue trip ; who trips may stumble, And virtue is not virtue, if she tumble." I give it up morals won't do for me ; To make you laugh, I must play tragedy. One hope remains hearing the maid was ill, A Doctor comes this night to show his skill. To cheer her heart, and give your muscles motion, He, in Five Draughts prepar'd, presents a potion: A kind of magic charm for be assur'd, If you will swallow it, the maid is cur'd : But desperate the Doctor, and her case is, If you reject the dose, and make wry faces! This truth he boasts, will boast it while he lives, prologue No poisonous drugs are mix'd in what he gives. Should he succeed, you'll give him his degree; If not, within he will receive no fee! The College you, must his pretensions back, Pronounce him Regular, or dub him Quack . Xlll DRAMATIS PERSONS MEN. SIR CHARLES MARLOW . . Mr. Gardner. YOUNG MARLOW (his Son) . . Mr. Lee Lewes. l HARDCASTLE . . . . Mr. Shuter. HASTINGS Mr. Dubellamy. TONY LUMPKIN . . . Mr. Quick. DIGGORY Mr. Saunders. WOMEN. MRS. HARDCASTLE. . . . Mrs. Green. Miss HARDCASTLE . . . Mrs. Bulkley. Miss NEVILLE .... Mrs. Kniveton. MAID ...... Miss Williams. Landlord, Servants, etc., etc. 1 Smith and Woodward, who were designed to play Young Marlow and Tony Lumpkin, threw up their parts. To this unlocked for and unnecessary resignation Lee Lewes and Quick owed much of their early celebrity. SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER OR THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT ACT THE FIRST SCENE A Chamber in an old-fashioned House. Enter MRS. Hf RDCASTLE and MR. HARDCASTLE. Mrs. Hard. I vow, Mr. Hardcastle, you 're very particular. Is there a creature in the whole country but ourselves, that does not take a trip to town now and then, to rub off the rust a little? \ There 's the two Miss Hoggs, and our neighbour Mrs. Grigsby, go to take a month's polishing every winter. Hard. Ay, and bring back vanity and affecta- tion to last them the whole year. I wonder why London cannot keep its own fools at home. In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stage-coach. Its fopperies come down not only as inside passen- gers, but in the very basket. 3 4 Sbe Stoop0 to Conquer Mrs. Hard. Ay, your times were fine times in- deed; you have been telling us of them for many a long year. Here we live in an old rumbling man- sion, that looks for all the world like an inn, but that we never see company. Our best visitors are old Mrs. Oddfish, the curate's wife, and little Crip- plegate, the lame dancing-master; and all our entertainment your old stories of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough. I hate such old- fashioned trumpery. Hard. And I love it. I love everything that 's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine; and I believe, Dorothy (taking her hand), you '11 own I have been pretty fond of an old wife. Mrs. Hard. Lord, Mr. Hardcastle, you 're for ever at your Dorothy's and your old wifes. You may be a Darby but I '11 be no Joan, I promise you. I 'm not so old as you 'd make me, by more than one good year. Add twenty to twenty, and make money of that. Hard. Let me see; twenty added to twenty makes just fifty and seven. Mrs. Hard. It 's false, Mr. Hardcastle; I was but twenty when I was brought to bed of Tony, that I had by Mr. Lumpkin, my first husband; and he 's not come to years of discretion yet. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 5 Hard. Nor ever will, I dare answer for him. Ay, you have taught him finely. Mrs. Hard. No matter. Tony Lumpkin has a good fortune. My son is not to live by his learn- ing. I don't think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a-year. Hard. Learning, quotha! a mere composition of tricks and mischief. Mrs. Hard. Humour, my dear; nothing but humour. Come, Mr. Hardcastle, you must allow the boy a little humour. Hard. I 'd sooner allow him a horse-pond. If burning the footmen's shoes, frighting the maids, and worrying the kittens be humour, he has it. It was but yesterday he fastened my wig to the back of my chair, and when I went to make a bow, I / popt my bald head in Mrs. Frizzle's face. 1 Mrs. Hard. And am I to blame? The poor boy was always too sickly to do any good. A school would be his death. When he comes to be a little stronger, who knows what a year or two's Latin may do for him? Hard. Latin for him! A cat and fiddle. No, no; the alehouse and the stable are the only schools he '11 ever go to. 1 This incident was but the counterpart of a trick played upon Goldsmith himself, during his last visit to Gosfield, by the daughter of Lord Clare. 6 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Mrs. Hard. Well, we must not snub the poor boy now, for I believe we shan't have him long among us. Any body that looks in his face may see that he 's consumptive. Hard. Ay, if growing too fat be one of the symptoms. Mrs. Hard. He coughs sometimes. Hard. Yes, when his liquor goes the wrong way. Mrs. Hard. I 'm actually afraid of his lungs. Hard. And truly so am I; for he sometimes whoops like a speaking-trumpet (TONY hallooing behind the scenes). O, there he goes a very consumptive figure, truly. Enter TONY, crossing the stage. Mrs. Hard. Tony, where are you going, my charmer? Won't you give papa and I a little of your company, lovee ? Tony. I 'm in haste mother, I cannot stay. Mrs. Hard. You shan 't venture out this raw evening, my dear; you look most shockingly. Tony. I can't stay, I tell you. The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment. There 's some fun going forward. Hard. Ay; the alehouse, the old place; I thought so. Mrs. Hard. A low, paltry set of fellows. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 7 Tony. Not so low, neither. There 's Dick Muggins the exciseman, Jack Slang the horse doctor, little Aminadab that grinds the music- box, and Tom Twist that spins the pewter platter. Mrs. Hard. Pray, my dear, disappoint them for one night at least. Tony. As for disappointing them, I should not so much mind; but I can't abide to disappoint myself. Mrs. Hard. (Detaining him.) You shan't go. Tony. I will, I tell you. Mrs. Hard. I say you shan't. . ^, Tony. We '11 see which is strongest, you or I. [Exit, hauling her out. Hard. (Solus.) Ay, there goes a pair that only spoil each other. But is not the whole age in a combination to drive sense and discretion out of doors? There 's my pretty darling Kate! the fashions of the times have almost infected her too. By living a year or two in town, she 's as fond of gauze and French frippery as the best of them. Enter Miss HARDCASTLB. Hard. Blessings on my pretty innocence! drest out as usual, my Kate. Goodness! What a quan- tity of superfluous silk hast thou got about thee, girl! I could never teach the fools of this age, that 8 Sbe Stoopa to Conquer the indigent world could be clothed out of the trimmings of the vain. Miss Hard. You know our agreement, Sir. You allow me the morning to receive and pay visits, and to dress in my own manner; and in the evening I put on my housewife's dress to please you. Hard. Well, remember, I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the bye, I believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening. Miss Hard. I protest, Sir, I don't comprehend your meaning. Hard. Then to be plain with you, Kate, I ex- pect the young gentleman I have chosen to be your husband from town this very day. I have his father's letter, in which he informs me his son is set out, and that he intends to follow himself shortly after. Miss Hard. Indeed! I wish I had known something of this before. Bless me, how shall I behave? It 's a thousand to one I shan't like him; our meeting will be so formal, and so like a thing of business, that I shall find no room for friendship or esteem. Hard. Depend upon it, child, I '11 never control your choice; but Mr. Marlow, whom I have pitched Sbe Stoops to Conquer 9 upon, is the son of my old friend, Sir Charles Mar- low, of whom you have heard me talk so often. The young gentleman has been bred a scholar, and is designed for an employment in the service of his country. I am told he 's a man of excellent understanding. Miss Hard. Is he? Hard. Very generous. Miss Hard. I believe I shall like him. Hard. Young and brave. Miss Hard. I 'm sure I shall like him. Hard. And very handsome. Miss Hard. My dear papa, say no more (kiss- ing his hand), he 's mine; 1 11 have him. Hard. And, to crown all, Kate, he 's one of the most bashful and reserved young fellows in all the world. Miss Hard. Eh! you have frozen me to death again. That word reserved has undone all the rest of his accomplishments. A reserved lover, it is said, always makes a suspicious husband. Hard. On the contrary, modesty seldom re- sides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues. It was the very feature in his character that first struck me. Miss Hard. He must have more striking io gbe Stoops to Conquer features to catch me, I promise you. However, if he be so young, so handsome, and so everything as you mention, I believe he '11 do still. I think I 11 have him. Hard. Ay, Kate, but there is still an obstacle. It 's more than an even wager he may not have you. Miss Hard. My dear papa, why will you mor- tify one so ? Well, if he refuses, instead of break- ing my heart at his indifference, I '11 only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer. Hard. Bravely resolved! In the mean time I 11 go prepare the servants for his reception: as we seldom see company, they want as much train- ing as a company of recruits the first day's muster. [Exit. Miss Hard. (Alone.) Lud, this news of papa's puts me all in a flutter. Young, handsome; these he put last; but I put them foremost. Sensible, good-natured; I like all that. But then reserved and sheepish, that 's much against him. Yet can't he be cured of his timidity, by being taught to be proud of his wife? Yes; and can 't I But I vow I 'm disposing of the husband before I have secured the lover. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 1 Enter Miss NEVILLE. Miss Hard. I 'm glad you 're come, Neville, my dear. Tell me, Constance, how do I look this even- ing? Is there any thing whimsical about me ? Is it one of my well-looking days, child? Am I in face to-day? Miss Nev. Perfectly, my dear. Yet now I look again bless me! sure no accident has hap- pened among the canary birds or the gold fishes! Has your brother or the cat been meddling? or has the last novel been too moving? Miss Hard. No; nothing of all this. I have been threatened I can scarce get it out I have been threatened with a lover. Miss Nev. And his name Miss Hard. Is Marlow. Miss Nev. Indeed! Miss Hard. The son of Sir Charles Marlow. Miss Nev. As I live, the most intimate friend of Mr. Hastings, my admirer. They are never asunder. I believe you must have seen him when we lived in town. Miss Hard. Never. Miss Nev. He 's a very singular character, I assure you. Among women of reputation and virtue he is the modestest man alive; but his acquaintance give him a very different character 12 Sbe Stoops to Conquer among creatures of another stamp: you understand me. Miss Hard. An odd character indeed. I shall never be able to manage him. What shall I do? Pshaw, think no more of him, but trust to occur- rences for success. But how goes on your own affair, my dear? has my mother been courting you for my brother Tony as usual? Miss Nev. I have just come from one of our agreeable tete-a-tetes. She has been saying a hund- red tender things, and setting off her pretty monster as the very pink of perfection. Miss Hard. And her partiality is such, that she actually thinks him so. A fortune like yours is no small temptation. Besides, as she has the sole management of it, I 'm not surprised to see her unwilling to let it go out of the family. Miss Nev. A fortune like mine, which chiefly consists in jewels, is no such mighty temptation. But at any rate, if my dear Hastings be but con- stant, I make no doubt to be too hard for her at last. However, I let her suppose that I am in love with her son; and she never once dreams that my affections are fixed upon another. Miss Hard. My good brother holds out stoutly. I could almost love him for hating you so. Miss Nev. It is a good-natured creature at Sbe Stoopa to Conquer 13 bottom, and I 'm sure would wish to see me mar- ried to any body but himself. But my aunt's bell rings for our afternoon's walk round the improve- ments. Allans! Courage is necessary, as our affairs are critical. Miss Hard. " Would it were bed-time, and all were well." [Exeunt. SCENE An Alehouse Room. Several shabby Fellows with punch and tobacco. TONY at the head of the table, a little higher than the rest, a mallet in his hand. Omnes. Hurrea! hurrea! hurrea! bravo! First Fellow. Now, gentlemen, silence for a song. The 'Squire is going to knock himself down for a song. Omnes. Ay, a song, a song! Tony. Then I '11 sing you, gentlemen, a song I made upon this alehouse, the Three Pigeons. SONG. Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning, Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genus a better discerning. Let them brag of their heathenish gods, Their Lethes, their Styxes, and Stygians, Their Quis, and their Quses, and their Quods, 14 Sbe Stoopa to Conquer They 're all but a parcel of Pigeons. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll. When Methodist preachers come down, A-preaching that drinking is sinful, 1 11 wager the rascals a crown, They always preach best with a skinful. But when you come down with your pence, For a slice of their scurvy religion, I '11 leave it to all men of sense, But you, my good friend, are the Pigeon. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll. Then come, put the jorum about, And let us be merry and clever, Our hearts and our liquors are stout, Here's the Three Jolly Pigeons for ever. Let some cry up woodcock or hare, Your bustards, your ducks, and your widgeons; But of all the gay birds in the air, Here 's a health to the Three Jolly Pigeons. Toroddle, toroddle, toroll. 1 Omnes. Bravo, bravo! First Fellow. The 'Squire has got spunk in him. Sec. Fellow. I loves to hear him sing, bekeays he never gives us nothing that 's low. 1 " We drank tea with the ladies [after a dinner at General Ogle- thorpe's] and Goldsmith sang Tony Lumpkin's song in his comedy, She Stoops to Conquer. BOSWELL by CROKER, p. 251. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 15 Third Fellow. O damn any thing that 's low, I cannot bear it. 1 Fourth Fellow. The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time: if so be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly. . Third Fellow. I like the maxum of it, Master Muggins. What, though I 'm obligated to dance a bear, a man may be a gentleman for all that. May this be my poison, 2 if my bear ever dances but to the very genteelest of tunes; " Water Parted," or "The Minuet in Ariadne." Sec. Fellow. What a pity it is the 'Squire is not come to his own. It would be well for all the pub- licans within ten miles round of him. Tony. Ecod, and so it would, Master Slang. I 'd then show what it was to keep choice of company. Sec. Fellow. O, he takes after his own father for that. To be sure old 'Squire Lumpkin was the finest gentleman I ever set my eyes on. For winding the straight horn, or beating a thicket for a hare, or a wench, he never had his fellow. It was a saying in the place, that he kept the best horses, dogs, and girls, in the whole county. Tony. Ecod, and when I 'm of age, 1 11 be no bastard, I promise you. . I have been thinking of 1 See these low allusions explained in Forster's Goldsmith, ii., 121. 2 See Vol. I., p. 8 1, note 2. 1 6 gbe Stoops to Conquer Bet Bouncer and the miller's grey mare to begin with. But come, my boys, drink about and be merry, for you pay no reckoning. Well, Stingo, what 's the matter? Enter Landlord. Land. There be two gentlemen in a post-chaise at the door. They have lost their way upo' the forest; and they are talking something about Mr. Hardcastle. Tony. As sure as can be, one of them must be the gentleman that 's coming down to court my sister. Do they seem to be Londoners? Land. I believe they may. They look wound- ily like Frenchmen. Tony. Then desire them to step this way, and I '11 set them right in a twinkling. (Exit Landlord.) Gentlemen, as they may n't be good enough com- pany for you, step down for a moment, and I '11 be with you in the squeezing of a lemon. [Exeunt mob. Tony. (Sofas.) Father-in-law has been calling me whelp and hound this half-year. Now if I pleased, I could be so revenged upon the old grum- bletonian. But then I 'm afraid afraid of what? I shall soon be worth fifteen hundred a-year, and let him frighten me out of that if he can. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 7 Enter Landlord, conducting MARLOW and HASTINGS. Marl. What a tedious uncomfortable day have we had of it! We were told it was but forty miles across the country, and we have come above threescore. Hast. And all, Marlow, from that unaccount- able reserve of yours, that would not let us inquire more frequently on the way. Marl. I own, Hastings, I am unwilling to lay myself under an obligation to every one I meet, and often stand the chance of an unmannerly answer. Hast. At present, however, we are not likely to receive any answer. Tony. No offence, gentlemen. But I 'm told you have been inquiring for one Mr. Hardcastle, in these parts. Do you know what part of the country you are in? Hast. Not in the least, Sir, but should thank you for information. Tony. Nor the way you came? Hast. No, Sir; but if you can inform us Tony. Why, gentlemen, if you know neither the road you are going, nor where you are, nor the road you came, the first thing I have to inform you is, that you have lost your way. Marl. We wanted no ghost to tell us that. 1 8 be Stoops to Conquer Tony. Pray, gentlemen, may I be so bold as to ask the place from whence you came? Marl. That 's not necessary towards directing us where we are to go. Tony. No offence; but question for question is all fair, you know. Pray, gentlemen, is not this same Hardcastle a cross-grained, old-fashioned, whimsical fellow, with an ugly face, a daughter, and a pretty son? Hast. We have not seen the gentleman; but he has the family you mention. Tony. The daughter, a tall, trapesing, trollop- ing, talkative may-pole the son, a pretty, well- bred, agreeable youth, that everybody is fond of? Marl. Our information differs in this. The daughter is said to be well-bred, and beautiful; the son an awkward booby, reared up and spoiled at his mother's apron-strings. Tony. He-he-hem! Then, gentlemen, all I have to tell you is, that you won't reach Mr. Hard- castle's house this night, I believe. Hast. Unfortunate! Tony. It 's a damn'd long, dark, boggy, dirty, dangerous way. Stingo, tell the gentlemen the way to Mr. Hardcastle's! (Winking upon the Land- lord.) Mr. Hardcastle's, of Quagmire Marsh, you understand me. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 19 Land. Master Hardcastle's! Lock-a-daisy, my masters, you 're come a deadly deal wrong! When you came to the bottom of the hill, you should have crossed down Squash Lane. Marl. Cross down Squash Lane! Land. Then you were to keep straight forward, till you came to four roads. Marl. Come to where four roads meet? Tony. Ay; but you must be sure to take only one of them. Marl. O, Sir, you 're facetious. Tony. Then keeping to the right, you are to go sideways, till you come upon Crackskull Com- mon: there you must look sharp for the track of the wheel, and go forward till you come to farmer Murrain's barn. Coming to the farmer's barn, you are to turn to the right, and then to the left, and then to the right about again, till you find out the old mill Marl. Zounds, man! we could as soon find out the longitude! Hast. What 's to be done, Marlow? Marl. This house promises but a poor reception; though perhaps the landlord can accommodate us. Land. Alack! master, we have but one spare bed in the whole house. Tony. And to my knowledge, that 's taken up 2 Sbe Stoops to Conquer by three lodgers already. (After a pause, in which the rest seem disconcerted.} I have hit it. Don't you think, Stingo, our landlady could accommo- date the gentlemen by the fire-side, with three chairs and a bolster? Hast. I hate sleeping by the fire-side. Marl. And I detest your three chairs and a bolster. Tony. You do, do you? then, let me see what if you go on a mile further, to the Buck's Head; the old Buck's Head on the hill, one of the best inns in the whole county? Hast. O ho! so we have escaped an adventure for this night, however. Land. (Apart to TONY.) Sure, you be n't send- ing them to your father's as an inn, be you ? Tony. Mum! you fool you. Let them find that out. (To them). You have only to keep on straight forward, till you come to a large old house by the road-side. You '11 see a pair of large horns over the door. That 's the sign. Drive up the yard, and call stoutly about you. Hast. Sir, we are obliged to you. The servants can't miss the way. Tony. No, no: but I tell you, though, the land- lord is rich, and going to leave off business; so he wants to be thought a gentleman, saving your Sbe Stoops to Conquer 21 presence, he! he! he! He '11 be for giving you his company; and, ecod, if you mind him, he 11 per- suade you that his mother was an alderman, and his aunt a justice of the peace. Land. A troublesome old blade, to be sure; but a keeps as good wines and beds as any in the whole country. Marl. Well, if he supplies us with these, we shall want no further connection. We are to turn to the right, did you say? Tony. No, no; straight forward. 1 11 just step myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord.) Mum! Land. Ah, bless your heart, for a sweet, pleas- ant damn'd mischievous son of a whore. [Exeunt. ACT THE SECOND SCENE An Old-fashioned House. Enter HARDCASTLE, followed by three or four awkward Servants. Hard. Well, I hope you are perfect in the table exercise I have been teaching you these three days. You all know your posts and your places, and can show that you have been used to good company, without ever stirring from home. Omnes. Ay, ay. Hard. When company comes you are not to pop out and stare, and then run in again, like frightened rabbits in a warren. Omnes. No, no. Hard. You, Diggory, whom I have taken from the barn, are to make a show at the side-table; and you, Roger, whom I have advanced from the plough, are to place yourself behind my chair. But you 're not to stand so, with your hands in your pockets. Take your hands from your pock- ets, Roger; and from your head, you blockhead 22 Sbe Stoops to Conquer 23 you. See how Diggory carries his hands. They 're a little too stiff, indeed, but that 's no great matter. Dig. Ay, mind how I hold them. I learned to hold my hands this way when I was upon drill for the militia. And so being upon drill Hard. You must not be so talkative, Diggory. You must be all attention to the guests. You must hear us talk, and not think of talking; you must see us drink, and not think of drinking; you must see us eat, and not think of eating. Dig. By the laws, your worship, that 's par- fectly impossible. Whenever Diggory sees yeating going forward, ecod, he 's always wishing for a mouthful himself. Hard. Blockhead! Is not a belly-full in the kitchen as good as a belly-full in the parlour ? Stay your stomach with that reflection. Dig. Ecod, I thank your worship, I '11 make a shift to stay my stomach with a slice of cold beef in the pantry. . Hard. Diggory, you are too talkative. Then, i if I happen to say a good thing, or tell a good story J at table, you must not all burst out a-laughing, as if you made part of the company. Dig. Then, ecod, your worship must not tell the story of Ould Grouse in the gun-room. I can't help laughing at that he! he! he! for the soul 2 4 Sbe Stoops to Conquer of me. We have laughed at that these twenty years ha! ha! ha! Hard. Ha! ha! ha! The story is a good one. Well, honest Diggory, you may laugh at that but still renjember to be attentive. Suppose one of the company should call for a glass of wine, how will you behave? A glass of wine, Sir, if you please (to DIGGORY). Eh, why don 't you move ? Dig. Ecod, your worship, I never have courage till I see the eatables and drinkables brought upo' the table, and then I 'm as bauld as a lion. Hard. What, will nobody move? First Servant. I 'm not to leave this pleace. Sec. Servant. I 'm sure it 's no pleace of mine. Th. Servant. Nor mine for sartain. Dig. Wauns, and I 'm sure it canna be mine. Hard. You numskulls! and so while, like your betters, you are quarrelling for places, the guests must be starved. O you dunces! I find I must begin all over again But don't I hear a coach drive into the yard? To your posts, you block- heads. I '11 go in the mean time and give my old friend's son a hearty reception at the gate. [Exit HARDCASTLE. Dig. By the elevens, my pleace is gone quite out of my head. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 25 Roger. I know that my pleace is to be every . where. % First Servant. Where the devil is mine? Sec. Servant. My pleace is to be no-where. at all; and so I 'ze go about my business. [Exeunt Servants, running about as if frighted, different ways. Enter Servant with candles, showing in MARLOW and HASTINGS. Servant. Welcome, gentlemen, very welcome! This way. Hast. After the disappointments of the day, welcome oi^Aiore, Charles, to the comforts of ' a clean room^md a good fire. Upon my word, a very well-looking house; antique but creditable. Marl. The usual fate of a large mansion. Hav- ing first ruined the master by good housekeeping, it at last comes to levy contributions as an inn. Hast. As you say, we passengers are to be taxed to pay all these fineries. I have often seen a good sideboard, or a marble chimney-piece, though not actually put in the bill, inflame a reck- oning confoundedly. Marl. Travellers, George, must pay in all places; the only difference is, that in good inns you pay dearly for luxuries, in bad inns you are fleeced and starved. *6 Qhe stoops to Conquer Hast. You have lived very much among them. In truth, I have been often surprised, that you who have seen so much of the world, with your natural good sense, and your many opportun- ities, could never yet acquire a requisite share of assurance. Marl. The Englishman's malady. But tell me, George, where could I have learned that as- surance you talk of ? My life has been chiefly spent in a college or an inn, in seclusion from that lovely part of the creation that chiefly teach men confidence. I don't know that I was ever famil- iarly acquainted with a single modest woman, except my mother But among females of another class, you know Hast. Ay. among them you are impudent enough of all conscience. Marl. They are of us, you know. Hast. But in the company of women of repu- tation, I never saw such an idiot, such a trembler; you look for all the world as if you wanted an opportunity of stealing out of the room. Marl. Why, man, that 's because I do want to steal out of the room. Faith, I have often formed a resolution to break the ice, and rattle away at any rate. But I don't know how, a single glance from a pair of fine eyes has totally overset my Sbe Stoops to Conquer 27 resolution. An impudent fellow may counterfeit modesty, but I '11 be hanged if a modest man can ever counterfeit impudence. Hast. If you could but say half the fine things to them, that I have heard you lavish upon the barmaid of an inn, or even a college bed-maker Marl. Why, George, I can't say fine things to them; they freeze, they petrify me. They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but to me, a modest woman, drest out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation. Hast. Ha! ha! ha! At this rate, man, how can you ever expect to marry? Marl. Never; unless, as among kings and princes, my bride were to be courted by proxy. If, indeed, like an Eastern bridegroom, one were to be introduced to a wife he never saw before, it might be endured. But to go through all the terrors of a formal courtship, together with the episode of aunts, grandmothers, and cousins, and at last to blurt out the broad staring question of, " Madam, will you marry me?" No, no, that 's a strain much above me, I assure you. Hast. I pity you. But how do you intend behaving to the lady you are come down to visit at the request of your father? 28 gbe Stoops to Conquer Marl. As I behave to all other ladies. Bow very low, answer yes or no to all her demands. But for the rest, I don't think I shall ven- ture to look in her face till I see my father's again. Hast. I 'm surprised that one who is so warm a friend can be so cool a lover. Marl. To be explicit, my dear Hastings, my chief inducement down was to be instrumental in forwarding your happiness, not my own. Miss Neville loves you, the family don't know you; as my friend you are sure of a reception, and let honour do the rest. Hast. My dear Marlow but I '11 suppress the emotion. Were I a wretch, meanly seeking to carry off a fortune, you should be the last man in the world I would apply to for assistance. But Miss Neville's person is all I ask, and that is mine, both from her deceased father's consent, and her own inclination. Marl. Happy man! You have talents and art to captivate any woman. I 'm doomed to adore the sex, and yet to converse with the only part of it I despise. This stammer in my address, and this awkward prepossessing visage of mine, can never permit me to soar above the reach of a milliner's 'prentice, or one of the duchesses of Sbe Stoops to Conquer 29 Drury Lane. Pshaw! this fellow here to interrupt us. Enter HARDCASTLE. Hard. Gentlemen, once more you are heartily welcome. Which is Mr. Marlow? Sir, you are heartily welcome. It 's not my way, you see, to receive my friends with my back to the fire. I like to give them a hearty reception in the old style at my gate. I like to see their horses and trunks taken care of. Marl. (Aside.} He has got our names from the servants already. (To him.} We approve your caution and hospitality, Sir. (To HASTINGS.) I have been thinking, George, of changing our trav- elling dresses in the morning. I am grown con- foundedly ashamed of mine. Hard. I beg, Mr. Marlow, you '11 use no cere- mony in this house. Hast. I fancy, Charles, you 're right: the first blow is half the battle. I intend opening the campaign with the white and gold. Hard. Mr. Marlow Mr. Hastings gentlemen pray be under no constraint in this house. This is Liberty Hall, gentlemen. You may do just as you please here. ^ Marl. Yet, George, if we open the campaign 30 Sbe Stoops to Conquer too fiercely at first, we may want ammunition before it is over. I think to reserve the embroid- ery to secure a retreat. Hard. Your talking of a retreat, Mr. Marlow, puts me in mind of the Duke of Marlborough, when we went to besiege Denain. He first sum- moned the garrison Marl. Don't you think the venire d'or waist- coat will do with the plain brown? Hard. He first summoned the garrison, which might consist of about five thousand men Hast. I think not: brown and yellow mix but very poorly. Hard. I say, gentlemen, as I was telling you, he summoned the garrison, which might consist of about five thousand men Marl. The girls like finery. Hard. Which might consist of about five thou- sand men, well appointed with stores, ammunition, and other implements of war. Now, says the Duke of Marlborough to George Brooks, that stood next to him you must have heard of George Brooks " I '11 pawn my dukedom, ' ' says he, ' * but I take that garrison without spilling a drop of blood. " So Marl. What, my good friend, if you gave us a glass of punch in the mean time; it would help us to carry on the siege with vigour. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 3 1 Hard. Punch, Sir! (Aside.) This is the most unaccountable kind of modesty I ever met with. Marl. Yes, Sir, punch. A glass of warm punch after our journey, will be comfortable. This is Liberty Hall, you know. Hard. Here 's a cup, Sir. Marl. (Aside.) So this fellow, in his Liberty Hall, will only let us have just what he pleases. Hard. (Taking the cup.) I hope you '11 find it to your mind. I have prepared it with my own hands, and I believe you '11 own the ingredients are tolerable. Will you be so good as to pledge me, Sir? Here, Mr. Marlow, here is to our better acquaintance. (Drinks.) Marl. (Aside.) A very impudent fellow this! but he 's a character, and I '11 humour him a little. Sir, my service to you. (Drinks.) Hast. (Aside.) I see this fellow wants to give us his company, and forgets that he 's an inn- keeper before he has learned to be a gentleman. Marl. From the excellence of your cup, my old friend, I suppose you have a good deal of business in this part of the country. Warm work, now and then, at elections, I suppose. Hard. No, Sir, I have long given that work over. Since our betters have hit upon the expe- 32 Sbe Stoops to Conquer dient of electing each other, there is no business " for us that sell ale." Hast. So, then, you have no turn for politics, I find. Hard. Not in the least. There was a time, indeed, I fretted myself about the mistakes of government, like other people; but finding my- self every day growing more angry, and the gov- ernment growing no better, I left it to mend itself. Since that, I no more trouble my head about Hy- der Ally, or Ally Cawn, than about Ally Croker. Sir, my service to you. Hast. So that with eating above stairs, and drinking below, with receiving your friends within, and amusing them without, you lead a good pleasant bustling life of it. Hard. I do stir about a great deal, that 's certain. Half the differences of the parish are adjusted in this very parlour. Marl. (After drinking.) And you have an argu- ment in your cup, old gentleman, better than any in Westminster Hall. Hard. Ay, young gentleman, that, and a little philosophy. Marl. (Aside.) Well, this is the first time I ever heard of an innkeeper's philosophy. Hast. So then, like an experienced general, Sbe Stoops to Conquer 33 you attack them on every quarter. If you find their reason manageable, you attack it with your philosophy; if you find they have no reason, you attack them with this. Here 's your health, my philosopher. (Drinks.) Hard. Good, very good, thank you; ha! ha! ha! Your generalship puts me in mind of Prince Eu- gene, when he fought the Turks at the battle of Belgrade. You shall hear. Marl. Instead of the battle of Belgrade, I believe it 's almost time to talk about supper. What has your philosophy got in the house for supper! Hard. For supper, Sir! (Aside.) Was ever such a request to a man in his own house? Marl. Yes, Sir, supper, Sir; I begin to feel an appetite. I shall make devilish work to-night in the larder, I promise you. Hard. (Aside.) Such a brazen dog sure never my eyes beheld. (To him.) Why, really, Sir, as for supper, I can't well tell. My Dorothy and the cook-maid settle these things between them. I leave these kind of things entirely to them. Marl. You do, do you? Hard. Entirely. By the bye, I believe they are in actual consultation upon what 's for supper, this moment in the kitchen. 34 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Marl. Then I beg they '11 admit me as one of their privy-council. It 's a way I have got. When I travel I always choose to regulate my own supper. Let the cook be called. No offence I hope, Sir ? Hard. O no, Sir, none in the least; yet I don't know how; our Bridget, the cook-maid, is not very communicative upon these occasions. Should we send for her, she might scold us all out of the house. Hast. Let 's see your list of the larder then. I ask it as a favour. I always match my appetite to my bill of fare. Marl. (To HARDCASTLE, who looks at them with surprise.) Sir, he 's very right, and it 's my way too. Hard. Sir, you have a right to command here. Here, Roger, bring us the bill of fare for to-night's supper: I believe it 's drawn out. Your manner Mr. Hastings, puts me in mind of my uncle, Colo- nel Wallop. It was a saying of his, that no man was sure of his supper till he had eaten it. Hast. (Aside.) All upon the high ropes! His uncle a colonel! we shall soon hear of his mother being a justice of the peace. But let 's hear the bill of fare. Marl. (Perusing.) What 's here? For the first course; for the second course; for the dessert. The devil, Sir, do you think we have brought down the Sbe Stoops to Conquer 35 whole Joiners' Company, or the corporation of Bedford, to eat up such a supper? Two or three little things, clean and comfortable will do. Hast. But let 's hear it. Marl. (Reading.) For the first course at the top, a pig, and prune sauce. Hast. Damn your pig, I say. Marl. And damn your prune sauce, say I. Hard. And yet, gentlemen, to men that are hungry, pig with prune sauce is very good eating. Marl. At the bottom, a calf's tongue and brains. Hast. Let your brains be knocked out, my good Sir, I don't like them. Marl. Or you may clap them on a plate by themselves. I do. Hard. (Aside.) Their impudence confounds me. (To them.) Gentlemen, you are my guests, make what alterations you please. Is there any- thing else you wish to retrench or alter, gentlemen ? Marl. Item. A pork pie, a boiled rabbit and sausages, a Florentine, a shaking pudding, and a dish of tiff taff taffety cream. Hast. Confound your made dishes; I shall be as much at a loss in this house as at a green and x- y ^- yellow dinner at the French Ambassador's table. I 'm for plain eating. 36 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Hard. I 'm sorry, gentlemen, that I have no- thing you like, but if there be anything you have a particular fancy to Marl. Why, really, Sir, your bill of fare is so exquisite, that any one part of it is full as good as another. Send us what you please. So much for supper. And now to see that our beds are aired, and properly taken care of. Hard. . I entreat you 11 leave all that to me. You shall not stir a step. Marl. Leave that to you! I protest, Sir, you must excuse me, I always look to these things myself. Hard. I must insist, Sir, you 11 make yourself easy on that head. Marl. You see I 'm resolved on it. (Aside.) A very troublesome fellow this, as I ever met with. Hard. Well, Sir, I 'm resolved at least to attend you. (Aside.) This may be modern modesty, but I never saw anything look so like old-fashioned impudence. [Exeunt MARLOW and HARDCASTLE. Hast. (Alone.) So I find this fellow's civilities begin to grow troublesome. But who can be angry at those assiduities which are meant to please him ? Ha! what do I see? Miss Neville, by all that 's happy! Enter Miss NEVILLE. Sbe Stoopa to Conquer 37 Miss Nev. My dear Hastings! To what unex- pected good fortune, to what accident, am I to ascribe this happy meeting? Hast. Rather let me ask the same question, as I could never have hoped to meet my dearest Constance at an inn. Miss Nev. An inn! sure you mistake: my aunt, my guardian, lives here. What could induce you to think this house an inn? Hast. My friend, Mr. Marlow, with whom I came down, and I, have been sent here as to an inn, I assure you. A young fellow, whom we acci- dentally met at a house hard by, directed us hither. Miss Nev. Certainly it must be one of my hope- ful cousin's tricks, of whom you have heard me talk so often; ha! ha! ha! Hast. He whom your aunt intends for you ? he of whom I have such just apprehensions? Miss Nev. You have nothing to fear from him, I assure you. You 'd adore him if you knew how heartily he despises me. My aunt knows it too, and has undertaken to court me for him, and actually begins to think she has made a conquest. Hast. Thou dear dissembler! You must know, my Constance, I have just seized this happy oppor- tunity of my friend's visit here to get admittance 38 Sbe Stoops to Conquer into the family. The horses that carried us down are now fatigued with their journey, but they '11 soon be refreshed; and then, if my dearest girl will trust in her faithful Hastings, we shall soon be landed in France, where even among slaves the laws of marriage are respected. 1 Miss Nev. I have often told you, that though ready to obey you, I yet should leave my little for- tune behind with reluctance. The greatest part of it was left me by my uncle, the India director, and chiefly consists in jewels. I have been for some time persuading my aunt to let me wear them. I fancy I 'm very near succeeding. The instant they are put into my possession, you shall find me ready to make them and myself yours. Hast. Perish the baubles! Your person is all I desire. In the mean time, my friend Marlow must not be let into his mistake. I know the strange reserve of his temper is such, that if abruptly informed of it, he would instantly quit the house before our plan was ripe for execution. 1 "The Duke of Gloucester, for whom, in consequence of the Royal Marriage Act, some public sympathy existed, was present the first night of representation; whether from previous intimation of a passage in the play does not appear. But when Hastings uttered the speech, 'we shall soon be landed in France, where even among slaves the laws of marriage are respected,' it was instantly applied to his Royal Highness by the audience, and several rounds of applause testified their feeling for his situation." PRIOR'S Life of Goldsmith, vol. ii. p. 394. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 39 Miss Nev. But how shall we keep him in the deception? Miss Hardcastle is just returned from walking; what if we still continue to deceive him? This, this way [They confer. Enter MARLOW. Marl. The assiduities of these good people tease me beyond bearing. My host seems to think it ill manners to leave me alone, and so he claps not only himself but his old-fashioned wife on my back. They talk of coming to sup with us too; and then, I suppose, we are to run the gauntlet through all the rest of the family. What have we got here? Hast. My dear Charles! Let me congratulate you! The most fortunate accident! Who do you think has just alighted? Marl. Cannot guess. Hast. Our mistresses, boy, Miss Hardcastle and Miss Neville. Give me leave to introduce Miss Constance Neville to your acquaintance. Happening to dine in the neighbourhood, they called on their return to take fresh horses here. Miss Hardcastle has just stepped into the next room, and will be back in an instant. Was n't it lucky? eh! Marl. (Aside.) I have been mortified enough 40 sbe Stoops to Conquer of all conscience, and here comes something to complete my embarrassment. Hast. Well, but was n't it the most fortunate thing in the world? Marl. Oh! yes. Very fortunate a most joy- ful encounter But our dresses, George, you know are in disorder What if we should postpone the happiness till to-morrow? To-morrow at her own house It will be every bit as convenient and rather more respectful To-morrow let it be. [Offering to go. Miss Nev. By no means, Sir. Your ceremony will displease her. The disorder of your dress will show the ardour of your impatience. Besides, she knows you are in the house, and will permit you to see her. Marl. O! the devil! how shall I support it? Hem! hem! Hastings, you must not go. You are to assist me, you know. I shall be confoundedly ridiculous. Yet, hang it! 1 '11 take courage. Hem! Hast. Pshaw, man! it 's but the first plunge, and all 's over. She 's but a woman, you know. Marl. And of all women, she that I dread most to encounter. Enter Miss HARDCASTLE, as returned from walking, a bonnet, &c. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 4* Hast. (Introducing them.) Miss Hardcastle. Mr. Marlow. I 'm proud of bringing two persons of such merit together, that only want to know, to esteem each other. Miss Hard. (Aside.) Now for meeting my modest gentleman with a demure face, and quite in his own manner. (After a pause, in which he appears very uneasy and disconcerted.) I 'm glad of your safe arrival, Sir. I 'm told you had some accidents by the way. Marl. Only a few, Madam. Yes, we had some. Yes, Madam, a good many accidents, but should be sorry Madam or rather glad of any accidents, that are so agreeably concluded. Hem! Hast. (To him.) You never spoke better in your whole life. Keep it up, and 1 11 insure you the victory. Miss Hard. I 'm afraid you flatter, Sir. You that have seen so much of the finest company, can find little entertainment in an obscure corner of the country. Marl. (Gathering courage.) I have lived, indeed, in the world, Madam; but I have kept very little company. I have been but an observer upon life, Madam, while others were enjoying it. Miss Nev. But that, I am told, is the way to enjoy it at last. 42 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Hast. (To him.) Cicero never spoke better. Once more, and you are confirmed in assurance forever. Marl. (To him.) Stand by me, then, and when I 'm down, throw in a word or two to set me up again. Miss Hard. An observer, like you, upon life were, I fear, disagreeably employed, since you must have had much more to censure than to approve. Marl. Pardon me, Madam. I was always will- ing to be amused. The folly of most people is rather an object of mirth than uneasiness. Hast. (To him.) Bravo, bravo. Never spoke so well in your whole life. Well, Miss Hardcastle, I see that you and Mr. Marlow are going to be very good company. I believe our being here will but embarrass the interview. Marl. Not in the least, Mr. Hastings. We like your company of all things. (To him.) Zounds! George, sure you won't go? how can you leave us? Hast. Our presence will but spoil conversation, so we '11 retire to the next room. (To him.) You don't consider, man, that we are to manage a little tete-b-tete of our own. [Exeunt. Miss Hard. (After a pause.) But you have .ft mudoD uoriT* yrf niwifa Sbc Stoops to Conquer Cicero ne' had rr oke better, .nee 1 when set me up life : tO I ^sence Hastings. "Thou dear dissembler." Hct 1Tf . From the drawing by Frederick Simpson Coburn be Stoops to Conquer 43 not been wholly an observer, I presume, Sir: the ladies, I should hope, have employed some part of your addresses. Marl. (Relapsing into timidity.) Pardon me, Madam, I I I as yet have studied only to deserve them. Miss Hard. And that, some say, is the very worst way to obtain them. Marl. Perhaps so, Madam. But I love to con- verse only with the more grave and sensible part of the sex. But I 'm afraid I grow tiresome. Miss Hard. Not at all, Sir; there is nothing I like so much as grave conversation myself; I could hear it forever. Indeed, I have often been sur- prised how a man of sentiment could ever admire those light airy pleasures, where nothing reaches the heart. Marl. It 's a disease of the mind, Madam. In the variety of tastes there must be some who, wanting a relish for um a um. Miss Hard. I understand you, Sir. There must be some who, wanting a relish for refined pleasures, pretend to despise what they are incap- able of tasting. Marl. My meaning, Madam, but infinitely bet- ter expressed. And I can't help observing a Miss Hard. (Aside.) Who could ever suppose 44 Sbe Stoops to Conquer this fellow impudent upon some occasions! (To him.) You were going to observe, Sir Marl. I was observing, Madam I protest, Madam, I forget what I was going to observe. Miss Hard. (Aside.) I vow and so do I. (To him.) You were observing, Sir, that in this age of hypocrisy something about hypocrisy, Sir. Marl. Yes, Madam. In this age of hypocrisy there are few who upon strict inquiry do not a a a Miss Hard. I understand you perfectly, Sir. Marl. (Aside.) Egad! and that 's more than I do myself. Miss Hard. You mean that in this hypocritical age there are few that do not condemn in public what they practise in private, and think they pay every debt to virtue when they praise it. Marl. True, Madam; those who have most vir- tue in their mouths, have least of it in their bo- soms. But I 'm sure I tire you, Madam. Miss Hard. Not in the least, Sir; there 's some- thing so agreeable and spirited in your manner, such life and force pray, Sir, go on. Marl. Yes, Madam. I was saying that there are some occasions, when a total want of courage, Madam, destroys all the and puts us upon a SL a Sbe Stoops to Conquer 45 Miss Hard. I agree with you entirely; a want of courage upon some occasions assumes the ap- pearance of ignorance, and betrays us when we most want to excel. I beg you '11 proceed. Marl. Yes, Madam. Morally speaking, Madam But I see Miss Neville expecting us in the next room. I would not intrude for the world. Miss Hard. I protest, Sir, I never was more agreeably entertained in all my life. Pray go on. Marl. Yes, Madam, I was But she beckons us to join her. Madam, shall I do myself the honour to attend you? Miss Hard. Well then, 1 11 follow. Marl. (Aside.) This pretty smooth dialogue has done for me. [Exit. Miss Hard. (Alone.) Ha! ha! ha! Was there ever such a sober, sentimental interview? I 'm certain he scarce looked in my face the whole time. Yet the fellow, but for his unaccountable bashful- ness, is pretty well too. He has good sense, but then so buried in his fears, that it fatigues one more than ignorance. If I could teach him a little confi- dence, it would be doing somebody that I know of a piece of service. But who is that somebody? That, faith, is a question I can scarce answer. [Exit. 46 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Enter TONY and Miss NEVILLE, followed by MRS. HARD- CASTLE and HASTINGS. Tony. What do you follow me for, Cousin Con ? I wonder you 're not ashamed to be so very engag- ing. Miss Nev. I hope, cousin, one may speak to one's own relations, and not be to blame. Tony. Ay, but I know what sort of a relation you want to make me, though; but it won't do. I tell you, Cousin Con, it won't do; so I beg you '11 keep your distance, I want no nearer relationship. [She follows, coquetting him to the back scene. Mrs. Hard. Well! I vow, Mr. Hastings, you are very entertaining. There is nothing in the world I love to talk of so much as London, and the fash- ions, though I was never there myself. Hast. Never there! You amaze me! From your air and manner, I concluded you had been bred all your life either at Ranelagh, St. James's, or Tower Wharf. Mrs. Hard. 0! Sir, you 're only pleased to say so. We country persons can have no manner at all. I 'm in love with the town, and that serves to raise me above some of our neighbouring rustics; but who can have a manner, that has never seen the Pantheon, the Grotto Gardens, the Borough, and such places where the nobility chiefly resort? Sbe Stoops to Conquer 47 All I can do is to enjoy London at second-hand. I take care to know every tete-a-tete from the Scandal- ous Magazine,and have all the fashions, as they come out, in a letter from the two Miss Rickets of Crooked Lane. Pray how do you like this head, Mr. Hastings ? Hast. Extremely elegant and degagte, upon my word, Madam. Your friseur is a Frenchman, I suppose. ? Mrs. Hard. I protest, I dressed it myself from a print in the Ladies' Memorandum Book for the last year. Hast. Indeed! Such a head in a side-box at the playhouse would draw as many gazers as my Lady Mayoress at a city ball. Mrs. Hard. I vow, since inoculation began, there is no such thing to be seen as a plain woman, so one must dress a little particular, or one may escape in the crowd. Hast. But that can never be your case, Madam, in any dress. (Bowing.) Mrs. Hard. Yet, what signifies my dressing when I have such a piece of antiquity by my side as Mr. Hardcastle: all I can say will never argue down a single button from his clothes. I have often wanted him to throw off his great flaxen wig, and where he was bald, to plaster it over like my Lord Pately, with powder. 48 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Hast. You are right, Madam; for, as among the ladies there are none ugly, so among the men there are none old. Mrs. Hard. But what do you think his answer was ? Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to convert it into a tete for my own wearing. Hast. Intolerable! At your age you may wear what you please, and it must become you. Mrs. Hard. Pray, Mr. Hastings, what do you take to be the most fashionable age about town? Hast. Some time ago, forty was all the mode; but I 'm told the ladies intend to bring up fifty for the ensuing winter. Mrs. Hard. Seriously. Then I shall be too young for the fashion. Hast. No lady begins now to put on jewels till she 's past forty. For instance, Miss there, in a polite circle, would be considered as a child, as a mere maker of samplers. Mrs. Hard. And yet Mrs. Niece thinks herself as much a woman, and is as fond of jewels, as the oldest of us all. Hast. Your niece, is she? And that young gentleman, a brother of yours, I should presume? Mrs. Hard. My son, Sir. They are contracted to each other. Observe their little sports. They Sbc Stoops to Conquer 49 fall in and out ten times a day, as if they were man and wife already. (To them.) Well, Tony, child, what soft things are you saying to your cousin Constance this evening? Tony. I have been saying no soft things; but that it 's very hard to be followed about so. Ecod! I 've not a place in the house now that 's left to myself, but the stable. Mrs. Hard. Never mind him, Con, my dear. He 's in another story behind your back. Miss Nev. There 's something generous in my cousin's manner. He falls out before faces to be forgiven in private. Tony. That 's a damned confounded crack. Mrs. Hard. Ah! he 's a sly one. Don't you think they 're like each other about the mouth, Mr. Hastings? The Blenkinsop mouth to a T. They 're of a size too. Back to back, my pretties, that Mr. Hastings may see you. Come, Tony. Tony. You had as good not make me, I tell you. (Measuring.) Miss Nev. O lud! he has almost cracked my head. Mrs. Hard. O, the monster! For shame, Tony. You a man, and behave so! Tony. If I 'm a man, let me have my fortin. Ecod! I '11 not be made a fool of no longer. 50 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Mrs. Hard. Is this, ungrateful boy, all that I 'm to get for the pains I have taken in your edu- cation? I that have rocked you in your cradle, and fed that pretty mouth with a spoon! Did not I work that waistcoat to make you genteel? Did not I prescribe for you every day, and weep while the receipt was operating? Tony. Ecod! you had reason to weep, for you have been dosing me ever since I was born. I have gone through every receipt in the Complete Huswife ten times over; and you have thoughts of coursing me through Quincy next spring. But, ecod! I tell you, I '11 not be made a fool of no longer. Mrs. Hard. Was n't it all for your good, viper ? Wasn't it all for your good? Tony. I wish you 'd let me and my good alone, then. Snubbing this way when I 'm in spirits. If I 'm to have any good, let it come of itself; not to keep dinging it, dinging it into one so. Mrs. Hard. That 's false; I never see you when you 're in spirits. No, Tony, you then go to the alehouse or kennel. I 'm never to be delighted with your agreeable wild notes, unfeeling monster! Tony. Ecod! Mamma, your own notes are the wildest of the two. Mrs. Hard. Was ever the like? But I see he wants to break my heart; I see he does. . Sbe Stoops to Conquer 51 Hast. Dear Madam, permit me to lecture the young gentleman a little. I 'm certain I can persuade him to his duty. Mrs. Hard. Well, I must retire. Come, Con- stance, my love. You see, Mr. Hastings, the wretchedness of my situation: was ever poor woman so plagued with a dear, sweet, pretty, provoking, undutiful boy? [Exeunt MRS. HARDCASTLE and Miss NEVILLE. HASTINGS, TONY. TONY (singing). " There was a young man rid- ing by, and fain would have his will. Rang do didlo dee."- Don't mind her. Let her cry. It 's the comfort of her heart. I have seen her and sister cry over a book for an hour together; and they said they liked the book the better the more it made them cry. Hast. Then you 're no friend to the ladies, I find, my pretty young gentleman? Tony. That 's as I find 'urn. Hast. Not to her of your mother's choosing, I dare answer? And yet she appears to me a pretty well-tempered girl. Tony. That 's because you don't know her as well as I, Ecod! I know every inch about her; 52 Sbe Stoops to Conquer and there 's not a more bitter cantanckerous toad in all Christendom. Hast. (Aside). Pretty encouragement this for a lover! Tony. I have seen her since the height of that. She has as many tricks as a hare in a thicket, or a colt the first day's breaking. Hast. To me she appears sensible and silent. Tony. Ay, before company. But when she 's with her playmate, she 's as loud as a hog in a gate. Hast. But there is a meek modesty about her that charms me. Tony. Yes, but curb her never so little, she kicks up, and you 're flung in a ditch. Hast. Well, but you must allow her a little beauty. Yes, you must allow her some beauty. Tony. Bandbox! She 's all a made-up thing, mun. Ah! could you but see Bet Bouncer of these parts, you might then talk of beauty. Ecod! she has two eyes as black as sloes, and cheeks as broad and red as a pulpit cushion. She 'd make two of she. Hast. Well, what say you to a friend that would take this bitter bargain off your hands? Tony. Anon. Hast. Would you thank him that would take Sbe Stoops to Conquer 53 Miss Neville, and leave you to happiness and your dear Betsy? Tony. Ay; but where is there such a friend, for who would take her? Hast. I am he. If you but assist me, I '11 en- gage to whip her off to France, and you shall never hear more of her. Tony. Assist you! Ecod! I will, to the last drop of my blood. I '11 clap a pair of horses to your chaise that shall trundle you off in a twinkling, and may be get you a part of her fortin beside, in jewels, that you little dream of. Hast. My dear 'squire, this looks like a lad of spirit. Tony. Come along, then, and you shall see more of my spirit before you have done with me. (Singing.) " We are the boys That fears no noise Where the thundering cannons roar." [Exeunt. ACT THE THIRD Enter HARDCASTLE alone. Hard. What could my old friend Sir Charles mean by recommending his son as the modestest young man in town? To me he appears the most impu- dent piece of brass that ever spoke with a tongue. He has taken possession of the easy chair by the fire-side already. He took off his boots in the parlour, and desired me to see them taken care of. I 'm desirous to know how his impudence affects my daughter. She will certainly be shocked at it. Enter Miss HARDCASTLE, plainly dressed. Hard. Well, my Kate, I see you have changed your dress, as I bid you; and yet, I believe, there was no great occasion. Miss Hard. I find such a pleasure, Sir, in obey- ing your commands, that I take care to observe them without ever debating their propriety. Hard. And yet, Kate, I sometimes give you 54 Sbe Stoops to Conquer 55 some cause, particularly when I recommended my modest gentleman to you as a lover to- day. Miss Hard. You taught me to expect some- thing extraordinary, and I find the original exceeds the description. Hard. I was never so surprised in my life! He has quite confounded all my faculties! Miss Hard. I never saw anything like it: and a man of the world too! Hard. Ay, he learned it all abroad what a fool was I, to think a young man could learn mod- esty by travelling. He might as soon learn wit at a masquerade. Miss Hard. It seems all natural to him. Hard. A good deal assisted by bad company and a French dancing-master. Miss Hard. Sure you mistake, Papa ! A French dancing-master could never have taught him that timid look that awkward address that bashful manner Hard. Whose look ? whose manner, child ? Miss Hard. Mr. Marlow's: his mauvaise honte, his timidity, struck me at the first sight. Hard. Then your first sight deceived you; for I think him one of the most brazen first sights that ever astonished my senses. 56 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Hard. Sure, Sir, you rally! I never saw any one so modest. Hard. And can you be serious? I never saw such a bouncing, swaggering puppy since I was born. Bully Dawson was but a fool to him. Miss Hard. Surprising! He met me with a respectful bow, a stammering voice, and a look fixed on the ground. Hard. He met me with a loud voice, a lordly air, and a familiarity that made my blood freeze again. Miss Hard. He treated me with diffidence and respect; censured the manners of the age; admired the prudence of girls that never laughed; tired me with apologies for being tiresome; then left the room with a bow, and " Madam, I would not for the world detain you." Hard. He spoke to me as if he knew me all his life before; asked twenty questions, and never waited for an answer; interrupted my best re- marks with some silly pun; and when I was in my best story of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, he asked if I had not a good hand at making punch. Yes, Kate, he asked your father if he was a maker of punch! Miss Hard. One of us must certainly be mis- taken. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 57 Hard. If he be what he has shown himself, } I 'm determined he shall never have my consent. \ Miss Hard. And if he be the sullen thing I take I him, he shall never have mine. / Hard. In one thing then we are agreed to reject him. Miss Hard. Yes: but upon conditions. For if you should find him less impudent, and I more presuming if you find him more respectful, and I more importunate I don't know the fellow is well enough for a man Certainly, we don't meet many such at a horse-race in the country. Hard. If we should find him so But that 's impossible. The first appearance has done my business. I 'm seldom deceived in that. Miss Hard. And yet there may be many good qualities under that first appearance. Hard. Ay, when a girl finds a fellow's outside to her taste, she then sets about guessing the rest of his furniture. With her, a smooth face stands for good sense, and a genteel figure for every virtue. Miss Hard. I hope, Sir, a conversation begun with a compliment to my good sense, won't end with a sneer at my understanding? Hard. Pardon me, Kate. But if young Mr. Brazen can find the art of reconciling contradic- tions, he may please us both, perhaps. 58 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Hard. And as one of us must be mistaken, what if we go to make further discoveries? Hard. Agreed. But depend on 't I 'm in the right. Miss Hard. And depend on 't I 'm not much in the wrong. [Exeunt. Enter TONY, running in with a casket. Tony. Ecod! I have got them. Here they are. My cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all. My mother shan't cheat the poor souls out of their fortin neither. 0! my genus is that you? Enter HASTINGS. Hast. My dear friend, how have you managed with your mother? I hope you have amused her with pretending love for your cousin, and that you are willing to be reconciled at last ? Our horses will be refreshed in a short time, and we shall soon be ready to set off. Tony. And here 's something to bear your charges by the way (giving the casket} ; your sweet- heart's jewels. Keep them and hang those, I say, that would rob you of one of them. Hast. But how have you procured them from your mother? Tony. Ask me no questions, and I '11 tell you Sbe Stoops to Conquer 59 no fibs. I procured them by the rule of the thumb. If I had not a key to every drawer in mother's bureau, how could I go to the alehouse so often as I do? An honest man may rob himself of his own at any time. Hast. Thousands do it every day. But to be plain with you; Miss Neville is endeavouring to procure them from her aunt this very instant. If she succeeds, it will be the most delicate way at least of obtaining them. Tony. Well, keep them, till you know how it will be. But I know how it will be well enough; she 'd as soon part with the only sound tooth in her head. Hast. But I dread the effects of her resent- ment, when she finds she has lost them. Tony. Never you mind her resentment, leave me to manage that. I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker. Zounds! here they are. Morrice! Prance! [Exit HASTINGS. TONY, MRS. HARDCASTLE, and Miss NEVILLE. Mrs. Hard. Indeed, Constance, you amaze me. Such a girl as you want jewels! It will be time enough for jewels, my dear, twenty years hence, when your beauty begins to want re- pairs. 60 gbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Nev. But what will repair beauty at forty, will certainly improve it at twenty, Madam. Mrs. Hard. Yours, my dear, can admit of none. That natural blush is beyond a thousand orna- ments. Besides, child, jewels are quite out at present. Don't you see half the ladies of our acquaintance, my lady Kill-day-light, and Mrs. Crump, and the rest of them, carry their jewels to town, and bring nothing but paste and mar- casites back. Miss Nev. But who knows, Madam, but some- body that shall be nameless would like me best with all my little finery about me? Mrs. Hard. Consult your glass, my dear, and then see if with such a pair of eyes, you want any better sparklers. What do you think, Tony, my dear? does your cousin Con want any jewels in your eyes to set off her beauty ? Tony. That 's as thereafter may be. Miss Nev. My dear aunt, if you knew how it would oblige me. Mrs. Hard. A parcel of old-fashioned rose and table-cut things. They would make you look like the court of King Solomon at a puppet-show. Besides, I believe, I can't readily come at them. They may be missing, for aught I know to the contrary. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 61 Tony. (Apart to MRS. HARDCASTLE.) Then why don't you tell her so at once, as she 's so longing for them? Tell her they 're lost. It 's the only way to quiet her. Say they 're lost, and call me to bear witness. Mrs. Hard. (Apart to TONY.) You know, my dear, I 'm only keeping them for you. So if I say they 're gone, you '11 bear me witness, will you? He! he! he! Tony. Never fear me. Ecod! I '11 say I saw them taken out with my own eyes. Miss Nev. I desire them but for a day, Madam. Just to be permitted to show them as relics, and then they may be locked up again. Mrs. Hard. To be plain with you, my dear Constance, if I could find them you should have them. They're missing, I assure you. Lost, for aught I know; but we must have patience wherever they are. Miss Nev. I'll not believe it! this is but a shallow pretence to deny me. I know they are too valuable to be so slightly kept, and as you are to answer for the loss Mrs. Hard. Don't be alarmed, Constance. If they be lost, I must restore an equivalent. But my son knows they are missing, and not to be found. 62 sbe Stoops to Conquer Tony. That I can bear witness to. They are missing, and not to be found; I '11 take my oath on't. Mrs. Hard. You must learn resignation, my dear; for though we lose our fortune, yet we should not lose our patience. See me, how calm I am. Miss Nev. Ay, people are generally calm at the misfortunes of others. Mrs. Hard. Now I wonder a girl of your good sense should waste a thought upon such trumpery. We shall soon find them; and in the meantime you shall make use of my garnets till your jewels be found. Miss Nev. I detest garnets. Mrs. Hard. The most becoming things in the world to set off a clear complexion. You have often seen how well they look upon me. You shall have them. [Exit. Miss Nev. I dislike them of all things. You shan't stir. Was ever anything so provoking, to mislay my own jewels, and force me to wear her trumpery. Tony. Don't be a fool. If she gives you the gar- nets, take what you can get. The jewels are your own already. I have stolen them out of her bureau, and she does not know it. Fly to your spark, Sbe Stoops to Conquer 63 he '11 tell you more of the matter. Leave me to manage her. Miss Nev. My dear cousin! Tony. Vanish. She 's here, and has missed them already. [Exit Miss NEVILLE.] Zounds! how she fidgets and spits about like a Catherine wheel. Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE. Mrs. Hard. Confusion! thieves! robbers! we are cheated, plundered, broke open, undone. Tony. What 's the matter, what 's the matter, Mamma? I hope nothing has happened to any of the good family! Mrs. Hard. We are robbed. My bureau has been broken open, the jewels taken out and I 'm undone. Tony. Oh! is that all? Ha! ha! ha! By the laws, I never saw it acted better in my life. Ecod, I thought you was ruined in earnest, ha! ha! ha! Mrs. Hard. Why, boy, I am ruined in earnest. My bureau has been broke open, and all taken away. Tony. Stick to that: ha! ha! ha! stick to that. I '11 bear witness, you know; call me to bear witness. Mrs. Hard. I tell you, Tony, by all that's 64 Sbe Stoops to Conquer precious, the jewels are gone, and I shall be ruined for ever. Tony. Sure I know they are gone, and I am to say so. Mrs. Hard. My dearest Tony, but hear me. They 're gone, I say. Tony. By the laws, Mamma, you make me for to laugh, ha! ha! I know who took them well enough, ha! ha! ha! Mrs. Hard. Was there ever such a blockhead, that can't tell the difference between jest and earnest? I tell you I 'm not in jest, booby! Tony. That 's right, that 's right; you must be in a bitter passion, and then nobody will suspect either of us. 1 11 bear witness that they are gone. Mrs. Hard. Was there ever such a cross- grained brute, that won't hear me? Can you bear witness that you 're no better than a fool? Was ever poor woman so beset with fools on one hand, and thieves on the other? Tony. I can bear witness to that. Mrs. Hard. Bear witness again, you block- head, you, and I '11 turn you out of the room directly. My poor niece, what will become of her? Do you laugh, you unfeeling brute, as if you enjoyed my distress? Tony. I can bear witness to that. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 65 Mrs. Hard. Do you insult me, monster? I '11 teach you to vex your mother, I will. Tony. I can bear witness to that. [He runs off, she follows him. Enter Miss HARDCASTLE and Maid. Miss Hard. What an unaccountable creature is that brother of mine, to send them to the house as an inn, ha! ha! I don't wonder at his impudence. Maid. But what is more Madam, the young gentleman, as you passed by in your present dress, asked me if you were the bar-maid? He mistook you for the bar-maid, Madam. Miss Hard. Did he? Then as I live I 'm re- solved to keep up the delusion. Tell me, Pimple, how do you like my present dress? Don't you think I look something like Cherry in the Bjauoc? Stratagem ? Maid. It 's the dress, Madam, that every lady wears in the country, but when she visits or receives company. Miss Hard. And are you sure he does not remember my face or person? Maid. Certain of it. Miss Hard. I vow I thought so; for though we spoke for some time together, yet his fears were 66 gbe Stoops to Conquer such, that he never once looked up during the inter- view. Indeed, if he had, my bonnet would have kept him from seeing me. Maid. But what do you hope from keeping him in his mistake? Miss Hard. In the first place, I shall be seen, and that is no small advantage to a girl who brings her face to market. Then I shall perhaps make an acquaintance, and that 's no small victory gained over one who never addresses any but the wildest of her sex. But my chief aim is to take my gentleman off his guard, and, like an invisible champion of romance, examine the giant's force before I offer to combat. Maid. But you are sure you can act your part, and disguise your voice so that he may mistake that, as he has already mistaken your person ? Miss Hard. Never fear me. I think I have got the true bar cant Did your honour call? Attend the Lion there Pipes and tobacco for the Angel. The Lamb has been outrageous this half hour. Maid. It will do, Madam. But he 's here. [Exit Maid. Enter MARLOW. Marl. What a bawling in every part of the Sbe Stoops to Conquer 67 house! I have scarce a moment's repose; if I go to the best room, there I find my host and his story; if I fly to the gallery, there we have my hostess with her curtsey down to the ground. I have at last got a moment to myself, and now for recollection. [Walks and muses. Miss Hard. Did you call, Sir ? Did your honour call? Marl. (Musing.) As for Miss Hardcastle, she 's too grave and sentimental for me. Miss Hard. Did your honour call? [She still places herself before him, he turning away. Marl. No, child (musing). Besides, from the glimpse I had of her, I think she squints. Miss Hard. I 'm sure, Sir, I heard the bell ring. Marl. No, no (musing). I have pleased my father, however, by coming down, and I '11 to- morrow please myself by returning. [Taking out his tablets and perusing. Miss Hard. Perhaps the other gentleman called, Sir? Marl. I tell you, no. Miss Hard. I should be glad to know, Sir. We have such a parcel of servants! Marl. No, no, I tell you (looks full in her face). Yes, child, I think I did call. I wanted I wanted I vow, child, you are vastly handsome. 68 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Hard. O la, Sir, you 11 make one ashamed. Marl. Never saw a more sprightly, malicious eye. Yes, yes, my dear, I did call. Have you got any of your a what d' ye call it in the house ? Miss Hard. No, Sir; we have been out of that these ten days. Marl. One may call in this house, I find, to very little purpose. Suppose I should call for a taste, just by way of trial, of the nectar of your lips; perhaps I might be disappointed in that too. Miss Hard. Nectar! nectar! That 's a liquor there 's no call for in these parts. French, I sup- pose. We keep no French wines here, Sir. Marl. Of true English growth, I assure you. Miss Hard. Then it 's odd I should not know it. We brew all sorts of wines in this house, and I have lived here these eighteen years. Marl. Eighteen years! Why, one would think, child, you kept the bar before you were born. How old are you? Miss Hard. O! Sir, I must not tell my age. They say women and music should never be dated. Marl. To guess at this distance, you can't be much above forty (approaching). Yet nearer I don't think so much (approaching). By coming closer to some women, they look younger still; Sbe Stoops to Conquer 6 9 but when we come very close indeed (attempting to kiss her.) Miss Hard. Pray, Sir, keep your distance. One would think you wanted to know one's age as they do horses, by mark of mouth. Marl. I protest, child, you use me extremely ill. If you keep me at this distance, how is it pos- sible you and I can ever be acquainted? Miss Hard. And who wants to be acquainted with you? I want no such acquaintance, not I. I 'm sure you did not treat Miss Hardcastle, that was here awhile ago, in this obstropalous manner. I '11 warrant me, before her you looked dashed, and kept bowing to the ground, and talked, for all the world, as if you was before a justice of the peace. Marl. (Aside.) Egad, she has hit it, sure enough! (To her) In awe of her, child? Ha! ha! ha! A mere awkward squinting thing; no, no. I find you don't know me. I laughed and rallied her a little; but I was unwilling to be too severe. No, I could not be too severe, curse me! Miss Hard. O! then, Sir, you are a favourite, I find, among the ladies? Marl. Yes, my dear, a great favourite. And yet hang me, I don't see what they find in me to follow. At the Ladies' Club in town I 'm call'd 70 Sbe Stoops to Conquer their agreeable Rattle. Rattle, child, is not my real name, but one I 'm known by. My name is Solomons; Mr. Solomons, my dear, at your service. (Offering to salute her.) Miss Hard. Hold, Sir, you are introducing me to your club, not to yourself. And you 're so great a favourite there, you say? Marl. Yes, my dear. There 's Mrs. Mantrap, Lady Betty Blackleg, the Countess of Sligo, Mrs. Langhorns, old Miss Biddy Buckskin, 1 and your humble servant, keep up the spirit of the place. Miss Hard. Then it is a very merry place, I I suppose? Marl. Yes, as merry as cards, supper, wine, and old women can make us. Miss Hard. And their agreeable Rattle, ha! ha! ha! Marl. (Aside.) Egad! I don't quite like this chit. She looks knowing, methinks. You laugh, child? 1 The allusion here was to an actual club (the " Albemarle Street") recently established, of which ladies as well as gentlemen were privileged to be members, and the introduction of Miss Biddy Buckskin was resented by Horace Walpole and others belonging to the club as an attack on their friend and fellow-member, Miss Lloyd. Goldsmith, in the manuscript of the comedy, and on the early nights of its performance, used Miss Lloyd's name, Rachael, but altered it in the printed copies. See the Letters of Walpole and Lady Ossory, vol. i., p. 60. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 71 Miss Hard. I can't but laugh, to think what time they all have for minding their work or their family. Marl. (Aside.) All 's well; she don't laugh at me. (To her.) Do you ever work, child? Miss Hard. Ay, sure. There 's not a screen or a quilt in the whole house but what can bear witness to that. Marl. Odso! then you must show me your embroidery. I embroider and draw patterns my- self a little. If you want a judge of your work, you must apply to me. (Seizing her hand.) Miss Hard. Ay, but the colours do not look well by candle-light. You shall see all in the morning. (Struggling.) Marl. And why not now, my angel? Such beauty fires beyond the powers of resistance. Pshaw! the father here! My old luck: I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following. [Exit MARLOW. Enter HARDCASTLE, who stands in surprise. Hard. So, Madam. So I find this is your modest lover. This is your humble admirer, that kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and only adored at humble distance. Kate, Kate, art thou not ashamed to deceive your father so ? 72 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Hard. Never trust me, dear Papa, but he 's still the modest man I first took him for; you '11 be convinced of it as well as I. Hard. By the hand of my body, I believe his impudence is infectious! Did n't I see him seize your hand? Did n't I see him haul you about like a milk-maid? And now you talk of his respect and his modesty, forsooth! Miss Hard. But if I shortly convince you of his modesty, that he has only faults that will pass off with time, and the virtues that will improve with age, I hope you '11 forgive him. Hard. The girl would actually make one run mad! I tell you 1 11 not be convinced. I am con- vinced. He has scarcely been three hours in the house, and he has already encroached on all my prerogatives. You may like his impudence, and call it modesty; but my son-in-law, Madam, must have very different qualifications. Miss Hard. Sir, I ask but this night to convince you. Hard. You shall not have half the time, for I have thoughts of turning them out this very hour. Miss Hard. Give me that hour then, and I hope to satisfy you. Hard. Well, an hour let it be then. But I '11 .fit mudoD noaqmiZ yd gniwcib 9riJ movl but him for; seize you; ut like convii u of 5 that will pass improve run I am con- -.ours in the hed on all my dence, and a, must nvince very Give me . and I Well, an he- But I 'U Miss Hardcastle." Did you call, sir ?" ?ict iff. From the drawing by Frederick Simpson Coburn Sbc Stoops to Conquer 73 have no trifling with your father. All fair and open, do you mind me? Miss Hard. I hope, Sir, you have ever found that I considered your commands as my pride; for your kindness is such, that my duty as yet has been inclination. [Exeunt. ACT THE FOURTH Enter HASTINGS and Miss NEVILLE. Hast. You surprise me; Sir Charles Marlow expected here this night! Where have you had your information? Miss Nev. You may depend upon it. I just saw his letter to Mr. Hardcastle, in which he tells him he intends setting out a few hours after his son. Hast. Then, my Constance, all must be com- pleted before he arrives. He knows me; and should he find me here, would discover my name, and perhaps my designs, to the rest of the family. Miss Nev. The jewels, I hope, are safe? Hast. Yes, yes. I have sent them to Marlow, who keeps the keys of our baggage. In the mean time I '11 go to prepare matters for our elopement. I have had the 'squire's promise of a fresh pair of horses; and if I should not see him again, will write him further directions. [Exit. Miss Nev. Well! success attend you. In the 74 Sbe Stoops to Conquer 75 mean time I '11 go and amuse my aunt with the old pretence of a violent passion for my cousin. [Exit. Enter MARLOW, followed by a Servant. Marl. I wonder what Hastings could mean by sending me so valuable a thing as a casket to keep for him, when he knows the only place I have is the seat of a post-coach at an inn door. Have you deposited the casket with the landlady, as I ordered you? Have you put it into her own hands? Ser. Yes, your honour. Marl. She said she 'd keep it safe, did she? Ser. Yes, she said she 'd keep it safe enough; she asked me how I came by it, and she said she had a great mind to make me give an account of myself. [Exit Servant. Marl. Ha! ha! ha! They 're safe, however. What an unaccountable set of beings have we got amongst! This little bar-maid though runs in my head most strangely, and drives out the absurd- ities of all the rest of the family. She 's mine, she must be mine, or I 'm greatly mistaken. Enter HASTINGS. Hast. Bless me! I quite forgot to tell her that 76 Sbe Stoops to Conquer I intended to prepare at the bottom of the garden. Marlow here, and in spirits too! Marl. Give me joy, George. Crown me, shadow me with laurels! Well, George, after all, we modest fellows don't want for success among the women. Hast. Some women, you mean. But what success has your honour's modesty been crowned with now, that it grows so insolent upon us? Marl. Did n't you see the tempting, brisk, lovely little thing, that runs about the house with a bunch of keys to its girdle? Hast. Well, and what then? Marl. She 's mine, you rogue you. Such fire, such motion, such eyes, such lips; but, egad! she would not let me kiss them though. Hast. But are you sure, so very sure of her? Marl. Why, man, she talked of showing me her work above stairs, and I am to improve the pattern. Hast. But how can you, Charles, go about to rob a woman of her honour? Marl. Pshaw! pshaw! We all know the hon- our of the bar-maid of an inn. I don't intend to rob her, take my word for it; there 's nothing in this house I shan't honestly pay for. Hast. I believe the girl has virtue. Sbe Stoopa to Conquer 77 Marl. And if she has, I should be the last man in the world that would attempt to corrupt it. Hast. You have taken care, I hope, of the casket I sent you to lock up? It 's in safety? Marl. Yes, yes. It 's safe enough. I have taken care of it. But how could you think the seat of a post-coach at an inn-door a place of safety? Ah! numskull! I have taken better precautions for you than you did for yourself I have Hast. What? Marl. I have sent it to the landlady to keep for you. Hast. To the landlady! Marl. The landlady. Hast. You did? Marl. I did. She 's to be answerable for its forthcoming, you know. Hast. Yes, she '11 bring it forth with a witness. Marl. Was n't I right? I believe you '11 allow that I acted prudently upon this occasion. Hast. (Aside.) He must not see my uneasiness. Marl. You seem a little disconcerted though, methinks. Sure nothing has happened? Hast. No, nothing. Never was in better spir- its in all my life. And so you left it with the land- 78 Sbe Stoops to Conquer lady, who, no doubt, very readily undertook the charge. Marl. Rather too readily. For she not only kept the casket, but, through her great precaution, was going to keep the messenger too. Ha! ha! ha! Hast. He! he! he! They 're safe, however. Marl. As a guinea in a miser's purse. Hast. (Aside.) So now all hopes of fortune are at an end, and we must set off without it. (To him.) Well, Charles, I '11 leave you to your med- itations on the pretty barmaid, and, he! he! he! may you be as successful for yourself, as you have been for me! [Exit. Marl. Thank ye, George: I ask no more. Ha! ha! ha! Enter HARDCASTLE. Hard. I no longer know my own house. It 's turned all topsy-turvy. His servants have got drunk already. I '11 bear it no longer; and yet, from my respect for his father, I '11 be calm. (To him.) Mr. Marlow, your servant. I 'm your very- humble servant. (Bowing low.) Marl. Sir, your humble servant. (Aside.) What 's to be the wonder now? Hard. I believe, Sir, you must be sensible, Sir, Sbe Stoops to Conquer ; 9 that no man alive ought to be more welcome than your father's son, Sir. I hope you think so? Marl. I do from my soul, Sir. I don't want much entreaty. I generally make my father's son welcome wherever he goes. Hard. I believe you do, from my soul, Sir. But though I say nothing to your conduct, that of your servants is insufferable. Their manner of drink- ing is setting a very bad example in this house, I assure you. Marl. I protest, my very good Sir, that is no fault of mine. If they don't drink as they ought, they are to blame. I ordered them not to spare the cellar. I did, I assure you. (To the side- scene.) Here, let one of my servants come up. (To him.) My positive directions were, that as I did not drink myself, they should make up for my deficiencies below. Hard. Then they had your orders for what they do? I 'm satisfied! Marl. They had, I assure you. You shall hear from one of themselves. Enter Servant, drunk. Marl. You, Jeremy! Come forward, sirrah! What were my orders ? Were you not told to drink Stoops to Conquer freely, and call for what you thought fit, for the good of the house? Hard. (Aside.) I begin to lose my patience. Jer. Please your honour, liberty and Fleet Street for ever! Though I 'm but a servant, I 'm as good as another man. I '11 drink for no man before supper, Sir, damme! Good liquor will sit upon a good supper, but a good supper will not sit upon hiccup upon my conscience, Sir. Marl. You see, my old friend, the fellow is as drunk as he can possibly be. I don't know what you 'd have more, unless you 'd have the poor devil soused in a beer-barrel. Hard. Zounds! he 11 drive me distracted, if I contain myself any longer. Mr. Mario w Sir; I have submitted to your insolence for more than four hours, and I see no likelihood of its coming to an end. I 'm now resolved to be master here, Sir; and I desire that you and your drunken pack may leave my house directly. Marl. Leave your house! Sure you jest, my good friend! What? when I 'm doing what I can to please you. Hard. I tell you, Sir, you don't please me; so I desire you '11 leave my house. Marl. Sure you cannot be serious? at this time Sbe Stoops to Conquer 81 o' night, and such a night? You only mean to banter me. Hard. I tell you, Sir, I 'm serious! And now that my passions are roused, I say this house is mine, and I command you to leave it directly. Marl. Ha! ha! ha! A puddle in a storm. I shan't stir a step, I assure you. (In a serious tone.) This your house, fellow! It 's my house. This is my house. Mine, while I choose to stay. What right have you to bid me leave this house, Sir? I never met with such impudence, curse me; never in my whole life before. Hard. Nor I, confound me if I ever did. To come to my house, to call for what he likes, to turn me out of my own chair, to insult the family, to order his servants to get drunk, and then to tell me, " This house is mine, Sir." By all that 's im- pudent it makes me laugh. Ha! ha! ha! Pray, Sir (banteringly) , as you take the house, what think you of taking the rest of the furniture? There 's a pair of silver candlesticks, and there 's a fire- screen, and here 's a pair of brazen-nosed bellows; perhaps you may take a fancy to them. Marl. Bring me your bill, Sir; bring me your bill, and let 's make no more words about it. Hard. There are a set of prints, too. What 8 2 Sbe Stoops to Conquer think you of the Rake's Progress, for your own apartment? Marl. Bring me your bill, I say; and I '11 leave you and your infernal house directly. Hard. Then there 's a mahogany table that you may see your own face in. Marl. My bill, I say. Hard. I had forgot the great chair for your own particular slumbers, after a hearty meal. Marl. Zounds! bring me my bill, I say, and let 's hear no more on 't. Hard. Young man, young man, from your father's letter to me, I was taught to expect a well- bred modest man as a visitor here, but now I find him no better than a coxcomb and a bully; but he will be down here presently, and shall hear more of it. [Exit Marl. How 's this? Sure I have not mistaken the house. Everything looks like an inn; the ser- vants cry, " Coming "; the attendance is awkward; the barmaid, too, to attend us. But she 's here, and will further inform me. Whither so fast, child? A word with you. Enter Miss HARDCASTLE. Miss Hard. Let it be short, then. I 'm in a hurry. (Aside.) I believe he begins to find out Sbe Stoops to Conquer 83 his mistake. But it 's too soon quite to undeceive him. Marl. Pray, child, answer me one question. What are you, and what may be your business in this house ? Miss Hard. A relation of the family, Sir. Marl. What! a poor relation? Miss Hard. Yes, Sir; a poor relation, appointed to keep the keys, and to see that the guests want nothing in my power to give them. Marl. That is, you act as the barmaid of this inn. Miss Hard. Inn! O law what brought that in your head? One of the best families in the country keep an inn Ha! ha! ha! old Mr. Hard- castle's house an inn! Marl. Mr. Hardcastle's house! Is this Mr. Hardcastle's house, child? Miss Hard. Ay, sure ! Whose else should it be ? Marl. So then, all 's out, and I have been damnably imposed on. 0, confound my stupid head, I shall be laughed at over the whole town. I shall be stuck up in caricatura in all the print- shops. The Dullissimo-Maccaroni. To mistake this house of all others for an inn, and my father's old friend for an innkeeper! What a swaggering puppy must he take me for! What a silly puppy 8 4 Sbe Stoops to Conquer do I find myself! There, again, may I be hang'd, my dear, but I mistook you for the barmaid. Miss Hard. Dear me! dear me! I 'm sure there 's nothing in my behaviour to put me on a level with one of that stamp. Marl. Nothing, my dear, nothing. But I was in for a list of blunders, and could not help making you a subscriber. My stupidity saw everything the wrong way. I mistook your assiduity for assurance, and your simplicity for allurement. But it 's over This house I no more show my face in. Miss Hard. I hope, Sir, I have done nothing to disoblige you. I 'm sure I should be sorry to affront any gentleman who has been so polite, and said so many civil things to me. I 'm sure I should be sorry (pretending to cry) if he left the family on my account. I'm sure I should be sorry people said anything amiss, since I have no fortune but my character. Marl. (Aside.) By Heaven! she weeps. This is the first mark of tenderness I ever had from a modest , woman, and it touches me. (To her.) Excuse me, my lovely girl; you are the only part of the family I leave with reluctance. But to be plain with you, the difference of our birth, for- tune, and education, makes an honourable con- Sbe Stoops to Conquer 85 nection impossible; and I can never harbour a thought of seducing simplicity that trusted in my honour, of bringing ruin upon one, whose only fault was being too lovely. Miss Hard. (Aside.) Generous man! I now begin to admire him. (To him.) But I am sure my family is as good as Miss Hardcastle's; and though I 'm poor, that 's no great misfortune to a contented mind; and until this moment, I never thought that it was bad to want fortune. Marl. And why now, my pretty simplicity? Miss Hard. Because it puts me at a distance from one, that, if I had a thousand pounds, I would give it all to. Marl. (Aside.) This simplicity bewitches me, so that if I stay, I 'm undone. I must make one bold effort, and leave her. (To her.) Your par- tiality in my favour, my dear, touches me most sensibly: and were I to live for myself alone, I could easily fix my choice. But I owe too much to the opinion of the world, too much to the au- thority of a father; so that I can scarcely speak it it affects me. Farewell. [Exit. Miss Hard. I never knew half his merit till now. He shall not go, if I have power or art to detain him. I '11 still preserve the character in which I stooped to conquer, but will undeceive my 86 gfoe Stoops to Conquer papa, who perhaps may laugh him out of his resolution. [Exit. Enter TONY, Miss NEVILLE. Tony. Ay, you may steal for yourselves the next time. I have done my duty. She has got the jewels again, that 's a sure thing; but she believes it was all a mistake of the servants. Miss Nev. But, my dear cousin, sure you won't forsake us in this distress? If she in the least suspects that I am going off, I shall certainly be locked up, or sent to my Aunt Pedigree's, which is ten times worse. Tony. To be sure, aunts of all kinds are damned bad things. But what can I do ? I have got you a pair of horses that will fly like Whistle- jacket; and I 'm sure you can't say but I have courted you nicely before her face. Here she comes, we must court a bit or two more, for fear she should suspect us. [They retire and seem to fondle. Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE. Mrs. Hard. Well, I was greatly fluttered, to be sure. But my son tells me it was all a mistake of the servants. I shan't be easy, however, till they are fairly married, and then let her keep her own fortune. But what do I see? fondling together, Sbe Stoops to Conquer 87 as I 'm alive. I never saw Tony so sprightly before. Ah! have I caught you, my pretty doves? What, billing, exchanging stolen glances, and broken murmurs? Ah! Tony. As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then to be sure. But there 's no love lost between us. Mrs. Hard. A mere sprinkling, Tony, upon the flame, only to make it burn brighter. Miss Nev. Cousin Tony promises to give us more of his company at home. Indeed, he shan't leave us any more. It won't leave us, Cousin Tony, will it? Tony. O! it 's a pretty creature. No, I 'd sooner leave my horse in a pound, than leave you when you smile upon one so. Your laugh makes you so becoming. Miss Nev. Agreeable cousin! Who can help admiring that natural humour, that pleasant, broad, red, thoughtless (patting his cheek) ah! it 's a bold face. Mrs. Hard. Pretty innocence! Tony. I 'm sure I always loved cousin Con's hazel eyes, and her pretty long fingers, that she twists this way and that over the haspicholls, like a parcel of bobbins. Mrs. Hard. Ah, he would charm the bird 88 Sbe Stoops to Conquer from the tree. I was never so happy before. My boy takes after his father, poor Mr. Lumpkin, ex- actly. The jewels, my dear Con, shall be yours incontinently. You shall have them. Isn't he a sweet boy, my dear? You shall be married to- morrow, and we '11 put off the rest of his education, like Dr. Drowsy 's sermons, to a fitter opportunity. Enter DIGGORY. Dig. Where 's the Squire? I have got a letter for your worship. Tony. Give it to my mamma. She reads all my letters first. Dig. I had orders to deliver it into your own hands. Tony. Who does it come from ? Dig. Your worship mun ask that o' the letter itself. Tony. I could wish to know though (turning the letter and gazing on it.). Miss Nev. (Aside.) Undone! undone! A let- ter to him from Hastings. I know the hand. If my aunt sees it, we are ruined for ever. I '11 keep her employed a little if I can. (To MRS. HARD- CASTLE.) But I have not told you, Madam, of my cousin's smart answer just now to Mr. Marlow. We so laughed. You must know, Madam. This Sbe Stoops to Conquer 89 way a little, for he must not hear us. [They confer. Tony. (Still gazing.) A damn'd cramp piece of penmanship, as ever I saw in my life. I can read your print hand very well. But here there are such handles, and shanks, and dashes, that one can scarce tell the head from the tail. "To Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire." It 's very odd, I can read the outside of my letters, where my own name is, well enough. But when I come to open it, it 's all buzz. That 's hard, very hard; for the inside of the letter is always the cream of the correspondence. Mrs. Hard. Ha! ha! ha! Very well, very well. And so my son was too hard for the philosopher. Miss Nev. Yes, Madam; but you must hear the rest, Madam. A little more this way, or he may hear us. You 11 hear how he puzzled him again. Mrs. Hard. He seems strangely puzzled now, himself, methinks. Tony. (Still gazing.) A damn'd up and down hand, as if it was disguised in liquor. (Reading.) " Dear Sir," ay, that 's that. Then there 's an M and a T, and an S, but whether the next be an izzard, or an R, confound me, I cannot tell. Mrs. Hard. What 's that, my dear? Can I give you any assistance? 90 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Miss Nev. Pray, Aunt, let me read it. No- body reads a cramp hand better than I. (Twitch- ing the letter from him.) Do you know who it is from? Tony. Can't tell, except from Dick Ginger, the feeder. Miss Nev. Ay, so it is (pretending to read.) " Dear Squire, hoping that you 're in health, as I am at this present. The gentleman of the Shake- bag club has cut the gentlemen of goose-green quite out of feather. The odds um odd battle long fighting um " Here, here, it 's all about cocks and fighting; it 's of no consequence, here, put it up, put it up. (Thrusting the crumpled letter upon him.) Tony. But I tell you, miss, it 's of all the con- sequence in the world. I would not lose the rest of it for a guinea. Here, mother, do you make it out. Of no consequence! (Giving MRS. HARD- CASTLE the letter.) Mrs. Hard. How's this? (foods.) "Dear Squire, I 'm now waiting for Miss Neville, with a post-chaise and pair, at the bottom of the garden, but I find my horses yet unable to perform the journey. I expect you '11 assist us with a pair of fresh horses, as you promised. Dispatch is necessary, as the hag (ay, the hag) your mother, ym <won Jon ydw bnA " toE mudoD noeqmi2 ^bhsbaiH yd Stoopa to Conquer read it. No- np l v in I (Twitch- 10 it is mger, Squi but I find journey. J i horses, a necessary, as th< you II it LD- th a len, the i pair of motner, Marlow. " And why not now, my angel ? " flct f I f . From the drawing by Frederick Simpson Coburn Sbe Stoops to Conquer 91 will otherwise suspect us. Yours, Hastings." Grant me patience: I shall run distracted! My rage chokes me. Miss Nev. I hope, Madam, you 11 suspend your resentment for a few moments, and not im- pute to me any impertinence, or sinister design, that belongs to another. Mrs. Hard. (Curtseying very low.) Fine spoken Madam, you are most miraculously polite and en- gaging, and quite the very pink of courtesy and circumspection, Madam. (Changing her tone.) And you, you great ill-fashioned oaf, with scarce sense enough to keep your mouth shut: were you, too, joined against me? But I '11 defeat all your plots in a moment. As for you, Madam, since you have got a pair of fresh horses ready, it would be cruel to disappoint them. So, if you please, instead of running away with your spark, prepare, this very moment to run off with me. Your old Aunt Pedigree will keep you secure, 1 11 warrant me. You too, Sir, may mount your horse, and guard us upon the way. Here, Thomas, Roger, Diggory! 1 11 show you, that I wish you better than you do yourselves. [Exit Miss Nev. So now I 'm completely ruined. Tony. Ay, that 's a sure thing. Miss Nev. What better could be expected 9 2 Sbe Stoops to Conquer from being connected with such a stupid fool, and after all the nods and signs I made him? Tony. By the laws, Miss, it was your own clev- erness, and not my stupidity, that did your busi- ness. You were so nice and so busy with your Shake-bags and Goose-greens, that I thought you could never be making believe. Enter HASTINGS. Hast. So, Sir, I find by my servant, that you have shown my letter, and betrayed us. Was this well done, young gentleman? Tony. Here 's another. Ask Miss, there, who betrayed you? Ecod! it was her doing, not mine. Enter MARLOW. Marl. So I have been finely used here among you. Rendered contemptible, driven into ill- manners, despised, insulted, laughed at. Tony. Here 's another. We shall have old Bedlam broke loose presently. Miss Nev. And there, Sir, is the gentleman to whom we all owe every obligation. Marl. What can I say to him, a mere boy, an idiot, whose ignorance and age are a protection ? Hast. A poor contemptible booby, that would but disgrace correction. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 93 Miss Nev. Yet with cunning and malice enough to make himself merry with all our embarrassments. Hast. An insensible cub. Marl. Replete with tricks and mischief. Tony. Baw! damme, but I '11 fight you both, one after the other with baskets. Marl. As for him, he 's below resentment. But your conduct, Mr. Hastings, requires an explana- tion. You knew of my mistakes, yet would not undeceive me. Hast. Tortured as I am with my own disap- pointments, is this a time for explanations? It is not friendly, Mr. Marlow. Marl. But, Sir Miss Nev. Mr. Marlow, we never kept on your mistake, till it was too late to undeceive you. Be pacified. Enter Servant. Seru. My mistress desires you 11 get ready immediately, Madam. The horses are putting to. Your hat and things are in the next room. We are to go thirty miles before morning. [Exit Servant. Miss Nev. Well, well: 1 11 come presently. Marl. (To HASTINGS.) Was it well done, Sir, to assist in rendering me ridiculous? To hang me 94 Sbe Stoops to Conquer out for the scorn of all my acquaintance? De- pend upon it, Sir, I shall expect an explanation. Hast. Was it well done, Sir, if you 're upon that subject, to deliver what I entrusted to your- self, to the care of another, Sir? Miss Nev. Mr. Hastings! Mr. Marlow! Why will you increase my distress by this groundless dispute? I implore, I entreat you Enter Servant. Serv. Your cloak, Madam. My mistress is impatient. [Exit Servant. Miss Nev. I come. Pray be pacified. If I leave you thus, I shall die with apprehension. Enter Servant. Serv. Your fan, muff, and gloves, Madam. The horses are waiting. Miss Nev. O, Mr. Marlow, if you knew what a scene of constraint and ill-nature lies before me, I am sure it would convert your resentment into pity. Marl. I 'm so distracted with a variety of pas- sions, that I don't know what I do. Forgive me, Madam. George, forgive me. You know my hasty temper, and should not exasperate it. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 95 Hast. The torture of my situation is my only excuse. Miss Nev. Well, my dear Hastings, if you have that esteem for me that I think, that I am sure you have, your constancy for three years will but increase the happiness of our future connec- tion. If Mrs. Hard. (Within.) Miss Neville. Con- stance, why, Constance, I say. Miss Nev. I 'm coming. Well, constancy, remember, constancy is the word. [Exit. Hast. My heart! how can I support this? To be so near happiness, and such happiness! Marl. (To TONY.) You see now, young gen- tleman, the effects of your folly. What might be amusement to you, is here disappointment, and even distress. Tony. (From a reverie.) Ecod! I have hit it: it 's here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor Sulky. My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden; and if you don't find Tony Lumpkin a more good- natured fellow than you thought for, I '11 give you leave to take my best horse, and Bet Bouncer into the bargain. Come along. My boots, ho! [Exeunt. ACT THE FIFTH (SCENE continued.) Enter HASTINGS and Servant. Hast. You saw the old lady and Miss Neville you say? Serv. Yes, your honour. They went off in a post-coach, and the young Squire went on horse- back. They 're thirty miles off by this time. Hast. Then all my hopes are over. Serv. Yes, Sir. Old Sir Charles is arrived. He and the old gentleman of the house have been laughing at Mr. Marlow's mistake this half hour. They are coming this way. Hast. Then I must not be seen. So now to my fruitless appointment at the bottom of the garden. This is about the time. [Exit. Enter SIR CHARLES and HARDCASTLE. Hard. Ha! ha! ha! The peremptory tone in which he sent forth his sublime commands! Sbe Stoops to Conquer 97 Sir Chas. And the reserve with which I suppose he treated all your advances. Hard. And yet he might have seen something in me above a common innkeeper, too. Sir Chas. Yes, Dick, but he mistook you for an uncommon innkeeper; ha! ha! ha! Hard. Well, I 'm in too good spirits to think of any thing but joy. Yes, my dear friend, this union of our families will make our personal friend- ships hereditary, and though my daughter's fortune is but small Sir Chas. Why, Dick, will you talk of fortune to me? My son is possessed of more than a com- petence already, and can want nothing but a good and virtuous girl to share his happiness, and in- crease it. If they like each other, as they say they do Hard. If, man! I tell you they do like each other. My daughter as good as told me so. Sir Chas. But girls are apt to flatter themselves, you know. Hard. I saw him grasp her hand in the warmest manner myself; and here he comes to put you out of your ifs, I warrant him. Enter MARLOW. Marl. I come, Sir, once more, to ask pardon for 98 be Stoops to Conquer my strange conduct. I can scarce reflect on my insolence without confusion. Hard. Tut, boy, trifle. You take it too gravely. An hour or two's laughing with my daughter will set it all to rights again. She '11 never like you the worse for it. Marl. Sir, I shall be always proud of her approbation. Hard. Approbation is but a cold word, Mr. Mario w; if I am not deceived, you have something more than approbation thereabouts. You take me? Marl. Really, Sir, I have not that happiness. Hard. Come, boy, I 'm an old fellow, and know what 's what as well as you that are younger. I know what has passed between you; but mum. Marl. Sure, Sir, nothing has passed between us but the most profound respect on my side, and the most distant reserve on hers. You don't think, Sir, that my impudence has been passed upon all the rest of the family? Hard. Impudence! No, I don't say that not quite impudence though girls like to be played with, and rumpled a little, too, sometimes. But she has told no tales, I assure you. Marl. I never gave her the slightest cause. Hard. Well, well, I like modesty in its place well Sbe Stoops to Conquer 99 enough. But this is over-acting, young gentle- man. You may be open. Your father and I will like you the better for it. Marl. May I die, Sir, if I ever Hard. I tell you, she don't dislike you; and as I 'm sure you like her Marl. Dear Sir I protest, Sir Hard. I see no reason why you should not be joined as fast as the parson can tie you. Marl. But hear me, Sir Hard. Your father approves the match, I ad- mire it; every moment's delay will be doing mis- chief, so Marl. But why won't you hear me? By all 's just and true, I never gave Miss Hardcastle the slightest mark of my attachment, or even the most distant hint to suspect me of affection. We had but one interview, and that was formal, modest, and uninteresting. Hard. (Aside.) This fellow's formal modest impudence is beyond bearing. Sir Chas. And you never grasped her hand or made any protestations ? Marl. As Heaven is my witness, I came down in obedience to your commands; I saw the lady without emotion, and parted without reluctance. I hope you '11 exact no farther proofs of my duty, ioo gbe Stoopa to Conquer nor prevent me from leaving a house in which I suffer so many mortifications. [Exit. Sir Chas. I 'm astonished at the air of sincerity with which he parted. Hard. And I 'm astonished at the deliberate intrepidity of his assurance. Sir Chas. I dare pledge my life and honour upon his truth. Hard. Here comes my daughter, and I would stake my happiness upon her veracity. Enter Miss HARDCASTLE. Hard. Kate, come hither, child. Answer us sincerely and without reserve: has Mr. Marlow made you any professions of love and affection ? Miss Hard. The question is very abrupt, Sir! But since you require unreserved sincerity, I think he has. Hard. (To SIR CHARLES.) You see. Sir Chas. And pray, Madam, have you and my son had more than one interview? Miss Hard. Yes, Sir, several. Hard. (To SIR CHARLES.) You see. Sir Chas. But did he profess any attach- ment? Miss Hard. A lasting one. Sir Chas. Did he talk of love? Sbe Stoops to Conquer 101 Miss Hard. Much, Sir. Sir Chas. Amazing! And all this formally? Miss Hard. Formally. Hard. Now, my friend, I hope you are satisfied. Sir Chas. And how did he behave, Madam? Miss Hard. As most professed admirers do : said some civil things of my face; talked much of his want of merit, and the greatness of mine; men- tioned his heart, gave a short tragedy speech, and ended with pretended rapture. Sir Chas. Now I 'm perfectly convinced in- deed, I know his conversation among women to be modest and submissive: this forward cant- ing ranting manner by no means describes him; and, I am confident, he never sat for the picture. Miss Hard. Then, what, Sir, if I should con- vince you to your face of my sincerity? If you and my papa, in about half an hour, will place yourselves behind that screen, you shall hear him declare his passion to me in person. Sir Chas. Agreed. And if I find him what you describe, all my happiness in him must have an end. [Exit. Miss Hard. And if you don't find him what I describe I fear my happiness must never have a beginning. [Exeunt. 102 sfoe Stoops to Conquer SCENE changes to the back of the garden. Enter HASTINGS. Hast. What an idiot am I, to wait here for a fellow who probably takes a delight in mortifying me. He never intended to be punctual, and I 11 wait no longer. What do I see? It is he! and perhaps with news of my Constance. Enter TONY, booted and spattered. Hast. My honest Squire! I now find you a man of your word. This looks like friendship. Tony. Ay, I 'm your friend, and the best friend you have in the world, if you knew but all. This riding by night, by the bye, is cursedly tiresome. It has shook me worse than the basket of a stage- coach. Hast. But how? where did you leave your fellow-travellers? Are they in safety? Are they housed? Tony. Five-and-twenty miles in two hours and a half is no such bad driving. The poor beasts have smoked for it: Rabbit me, but I 'd rather ride forty miles after a fox than ten with such varment. Hast. Well, but where have you left the ladies? I die with impatience. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 103 Tony. Left them! Why where should I leave them but where I found them ? Hast. This is a riddle. Tony. Riddle me this then. What 's that goes round the house, and round the house, and never touches the house? Hast. I 'm still astray. Tony. Why, that 's it, mon. I have led them astray. By jingo, there 's not a pond or a slough within five miles of the place but they can tell the taste of. Hast. Ha! ha! ha! I understand: you took them in a round, while they supposed themselves going forward. And so you have at last brought them home again. Tony. You shall hear. I first took them down Feather-bed Lane, where we stuck fast in the mud. I then rattled them crack over the stones of Up- and-Down Hill. I then introuduced them to the gibbet on Heavy-tree Heath; and from that, with a circumbendibus I fairly lodged them in the horse- pond at the bottom of the garden. Hast. But no accident, I hope? Tony. No, no, only mother is confoundedly frightened. She thinks herself forty miles off. She 's sick of the journey; and the cattle can scarce crawl. So if your horses be ready, you may whip 104 Sbe Stoops to Conquer off with cousin, and I '11 be bound that no soul here can budge a foot to follow you. Hast. My dear friend, how can I be grateful? Tony. Ay, now it 's dear friend, noble Squire. Just now, it was all idiot, cub, and run me through the guts. Damn your way of fighting, I say. After we take a knock in this part of the country, we kiss and be friends. But if you had run me through the guts, then I should be dead, and you might go kiss the hangman. Hast. The rebuke is just. But I must hasten to relieve Miss Neville: if you keep the old lady em- ployed, I promise to take care of the young one. [Exit HASTINGS. Tony. Never fear me. Here she comes. Van- ish! She 's got from the pond, and draggled up to the waist like a mermaid. Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE. Mrs. Hard. Oh, Tony, I 'm killed! Shook! Battered to death. I shall never survive it. That last jolt, that laid us against the quickset hedge, has done my business. Tony. Alack, Mamma, it was all your own fault. You would be for running away by night, without knowing one inch of the way. Mrs. Hard. I wish we were at home again. I Sbe Stoops to Conquer 105 never met so many accidents in so short a journey. Drenched in the mud, overturned in a ditch, stuck fast in a slough, jolted to a jelly, and at last to lose our way. Whereabouts do you think we are, Tony? Tony. By my guess we should come upon Crackskull Common, about forty miles from home. Mrs. Hard. lud! O lud! The most notorious spot in all the country. We only want a robbery to make a complete night on 't. Tony. Don't be afraid, Mamma, don't be afraid. Two of the five that kept here are hanged, and the other three may not find us. Don't be afraid. Is that a man that 's galloping behind us? No; it 's only a tree. Don't be afraid. Mrs. Hard. The fright will certainly kill me. Tony. Do you see anything like a black hat moving behind the thicket ? Mrs. Hard. Oh, death! Tony. No; it 's only a cow. Don't be afraid, Mamma; don't be afraid. Mrs. Hard. As I 'm alive, Tony, I see a man coming towards us. Ah! I 'm sure on 't. If he perceives us we are undone. Tony. (Aside.) Father-in-law, by all that 's unlucky, come to take one of his night walks. io6 sbe Stoops to Conquer (To her.) Ah! it 's a highwayman with pistols as long as my arm. A damn'd ill-looking fellow. Mrs. Hard. Good Heaven defend us! He approaches. Tony. Do you hide yourself in that thicket, and leave me to manage him. If there be any danger, 1 11 cough, and cry hem. When I cough, be sure to keep close. [MRS. HARDCASTLE hides behind a tree In the back scene. Enter HARDCASTLE. Hard. I'm mistaken, or I heard voices of people in want of help. Oh, Tony ! is that you ? I did not expect you so soon back. Are your mother and her charge in safety? Tony. Very safe, Sir, at my Aunt Pedigree's. Hem. Mrs. Hard. (From behind.) Ah, death! I find there 's danger. Hard. Forty miles in three hours; sure that's too much, my youngster. Tony. Stout horses and willing minds make short journeys, as they say. Hem. Mrs. Hard. (From behind.) Sure he'll do the dear boy no harm. Hard. But I heard a voice here; I should be glad to know from whence it came. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 107 Tony. It was I, Sir, talking to myself, Sir. I was saying that forty miles in four hours was very good going. Hem. As to be sure it was. Hem. I have got a sort of cold by going out in the air. Well go in, if you please. Hem. Hard. But if you talked to yourself you did not answer yourself. I'm certain I heard two voices, and am resolved (raising his voice) to find the other out. Mrs. Hard. (From behind.) Oh! he 's coming to find me out. Oh! Tony. What need you go, Sir, if I tell you? Hem. I 11 lay down my life for the truth hem I 11 tell you all, Sir. (Detaining him.) Hard. I tell you I will not be detained. I in- sist on seeing. It 's in vain to expect I '11 believe you. Mrs. Hard. (Running forward from behind.) O lud! he 11 murder my poor boy, my darling! Here, good gentleman, whet your rage upon me. Take my money, my life, but spare that young gentleman; spare my child, if you have any mercy. Hard. My wife, as I 'm a Christian. From whence can she come? or what does she mean? Mrs. Hard. (Kneeling.) Take compassion on us, good Mr. Highwayman. Take our money, our watches, all we have, but spare our lives. We io8 gbe Stoops to Conquer will never bring you to justice; indeed we won't, good Mr. Highwayman. Hard. I believe the woman 's out of her senses. What! Dorothy, don 't you know me? Mrs. Hard. Mr. Hardcastle, as I 'm alive! My fears blinded me. But who, my dear, could have expected to meet you here, in this frightful place, so far from home? What has brought you to follow us? Hard. Sure, Dorothy, you have not lost your wits? So far from home, when ,you are within forty yards of your own door! (To him.) This is one of your old tricks, you graceless rogue, you. (To her.) Don't you know the gate and the mulberry-tree; and don't you remember the horse-pond, my dear? Mrs. Hard. Yes, I shall remember the horse- pond as long as I live; I have caught my death in it. (To TONY.) And is it to you, you graceless varlet, I owe all this ? 1 11 teach you to abuse your mother, I will. Tony. Ecod, mother, all the parish says you have spoiled me, and so you may take the fruits on't. Mrs. Hard. I '11 spoil you, I will. [Follows him off the stage. Exit. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 109 Hard. There 's morality, however, in his reply. [Exit. Enter HASTINGS and Miss NEVILLE. Hast. My dear Constance, why will you delib- erate thus? If we delay a moment, all is lost for ever. Pluck up a little resolution, and we shall soon be out of the reach of her malignity. Miss Nev. I find it impossible. My spirits are so sunk with the agitations I have suffered, that I am unable to face any new danger. Two or three years' patience will at last crown us with happiness. Hast. Such a tedious delay is worse than in- constancy. Let us fly, my charmer. Let us date our happiness from this very moment. Perish fortune! Love and content will increase what we possess beyond a monarch's revenue. Let me prevail! Miss Nev. No, Mr, Hastings, no. Prudence once more comes to my relief, and I will obey its dictates. In the moment of passion, fortune may be despised, but it ever produces a lasting repent- ance. I 'm resolved to apply to Mr. Hardcastle's compassion and justice for redress. Hast. But though he had the will, he has not the power to relieve you. i 10 sfoe Stoops to Conquer Miss Nev. But he has influence, and upon that I am resolved to rely. Hast. I have no hopes. But since you persist, I must reluctantly obey you. [Exeunt. SCENE changes. Enter SIR CHARLES and Miss HARDCASTLB. Sir Chas. What a situation am I in! If what you say appears, I shall then find a guilty son. If what he says be true, I shall then lose one that, of all others, I most wished for a daughter. Miss Hard. I am proud of your approbation; and to show I merit it, if you place yourselves as I directed, you shall hear his explicit declaration. But he comes. Sir Chas. I '11 to your father, and keep him to the appointment. [Exit SIR CHARLES. Enter MARLOW. Marl. Though prepared for setting out, I come once more to take leave; nor did I, till this mo- ment, know the pain I feel in the separation. Miss Hard. (In her own natural manner.) I believe these sufferings cannot be very great, Sir, which you can so easily remove. A day or two longer perhaps, might lessen your uneasiness, by Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 1 1 showing the little value of what you now think proper to regret. Marl. (Aside.) This girl every moment im- proves upon me. (To her.) It must not be, Madam. I have already trifled too long with my heart. My very pride begins to submit to my passion. The disparity of education and fortune, the anger of a parent, and the contempt of my equals, begin to lose their weight; and nothing can restore me to myself but this painful effort of resolution. Miss Hard. Then go, Sir: I '11 urge nothing more to detain you. Though my family be as good as hers you come down to visit, and my edu- cation, I hope, not inferior, what are these advantages without equal affluence. I must re- main contented with the slight approbation of im- puted merit; I must have only the mockery of your addresses, while all your serious aims are fixed on fortune. Enter HARDCASTLE and SIR CHARLES, from behind. <^ Sir. Chas. Here, behind this screen. Hard. Ay, ay; make no noise. I '11 engage my Kate covers him with confusion at last. Marl. By heavens, Madam! fortune was ever my smallest consideration. Your beauty at first 112 Sbe Stoops to Conquer caught my eye; for who could see that without emotion? But every moment that I converse with you, steals in some new grace, heightens the picture, and gives it stronger expression. What at first seemed rustic plainness, now appears re- fined simplicity. What seemed forward assurance, now strikes me as the result of courageous inno- cence and conscious virtue. Sir Chas. What can it mean? He amazes me! Hard. I told you how it would be. Hush! Marl. I am now determined to stay, Madam, and I have too good an opinion of my father's discernment, when he sees you, to doubt his approbation. Miss Hard. No, Mr. Marlow, I will not, cannot detain you. Do you think I could suffer a con- nection in which there is the smallest room for repentance? Do you think I would take the mean advantage of a transient passion, to load you with confusion? Do you think I could ever relish that happiness which was acquired by lessening yours? Marl. By all that 's good, I can have no hap- piness but what 's in your power to grant me! Nor shall I ever feel repentance but in not having seen your merits before. I will stay even contrary to your wishes; and though you should persist to Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 1 3 shun me, I will make my respectful assiduities atone for the levity of my past conduct. Miss Hard. Sir, I must entreat you '11 desist. As our acquaintance began, so let it end, in indif- ference. I might have given an hour or two of levity; but seriously, Mr. Marlow, do you think I could ever submit to a connection where I must appear mercenary, and you imprudent? Do you think I could ever catch at the confident addresses of a secure admirer? Marl. (Kneeling.) Does this look like security? Does this look like confidence ? No, Madam, every moment that shows me your merit, only serves to increase my diffidence and confusion. Here let me continue Sir Chas. I can hold it no longer. Charles, Charles, how hast thou deceived me! Is this your indifference, your uninteresting conversation? Hard. Your cold contempt; your formal inter- view! What have you to say now? Marl. That I 'm all amazement! What can it mean? Hard. It means that you can say and unsay things at pleasure: that you can address a lady in private, and deny it in public: that you have one story for us, and another for my daughter. Marl. Daughter! This lady your daughter? 1 14 Sbe Stoops to Conquer Hard. Yes, Sir, my only daughter; my Kate; whose else should she be? Marl. Oh, the devil! Miss Hard. Yes, Sir, that very identical tall squinting lady, you were pleased to take me for (courtesying) ; she that you addressed as the mild, modest, sentimental man of gravity, and the bold, forward, agreeable Rattle of the Ladies' Club. Ha! ha! ha! Marl. Zounds! there 's no bearing this; it 's worse than death! Miss Hard. In which of your characters, Sir, will you give us leave to address you? As the fal- tering gentleman, with look on the ground, that speaks just to be heard, and hates hypocrisy; or the loud, confident creature, that keeps it up with Mrs. Mantrap, and old Miss Biddy Buckskin, till three in the morning? Ha! ha! ha! Marl. O, curse on my noisy head: I never at- tempted to be impudent yet, that I was not taken down! I must be gone. Hard. By the hand of my body, but you shall (not. I see it was all a mistake, and I am rejoiced to find it. You shall not, Sir, I tell you. I know she '11 forgive you. Won't you forgive him, Kate? We '11 all forgive you. Take courage, man. [They retire, she tormenting him, to the back scene. Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 15 Enter MRS. HARDCASTLE, TONY. Mrs. Hard. So, so, they 're gone off. Let them go, I care not. Hard. Who gone? Mrs. Hard. My dutiful niece and her gentle- man, Mr. Hastings, from town. He who came down with our modest visitor here. Sir Chas. Who, my honest George Hastings? As worthy a fellow as lives, and the girl could not have made a more prudent choice. Hard. Then, by the hand of my body, I 'm proud of the connection. Mrs. Hard. Well, if he has taken away the lady, he has not taken her fortune; that remains in this family to console us for her loss. Hard.. Sure, Dorothy, you would not be so mercenary? Mrs. Hard. Ay, that 's my affair, not yours. Hard. But you know if your son, when of age, refuses to marry his cousin, her whole fortune is then at her own disposal. Mrs. Hard. Ay, but he 's not of age, and she has not thought proper to wait for his refusal. Enter HASTINGS and Miss NEVILLB. Mrs. Hard. (Aside.) What, returned so soon! I begin not to like it. 1 1 6 gfoe Stoops to Conquer Hast. (To HARDCASTLE.) For my late attempt to fly off with your niece, let my present confusion be my punishment. We are now come back, to appeal from your justice to your humanity. By her father's consent I first paid her my addresses, and our passions were first founded in duty. Miss Nev. Since his death, I have been obliged to stoop to dissimulation to avoid oppression. In an hour of levity, I was ready to give up my for- tune to secure my choice: but I am now recovered from the delusion, and hope from your tenderness what is denied me from a nearer connection. Mrs. Hard. Pshaw, pshaw! this is all but the whining end of a modern novel. Hard. Be it what it will, I 'm glad they 're come back to reclaim their due. Come hither, Tony, boy. Do you refuse this lady's hand whom I now offer you? Tony. What signifies my refusing? You know I can't refuse her till I 'm of age, father. Hard. While I thought concealing your age, boy, was likely to conduce to your improvement, I concurred with your mother's desire to keep it secret. But since I find she turns it to a wrong use, I must now declare you have been of age these three months. Tony. Of age! Am I of age, father? Sbe Stoops to Conquer 1 1 7 Hard. Above three months. Tony. Then you '11 see the first use I '11 make of my liberty. (Taking Miss NEVILLE'S hand.) Witness all men by these presents, that I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of blank place, refuse you, Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all, for my true and lawful wife. So Constance Neville may marry whom she pleases, and Tony Lumpkin is his own man again. Sir Chas. O brave Squire! Hast. My worthy friend! Mrs. Hard. My undutiful offspring! Marl. Joy, my dear George, I give you joy sincerely. And could I prevail upon my little tyrant here to be less arbitrary, I should be the happiest man alive, if you would return me the favour. Hast. (To Miss HARDCASTLE.) Come, Madam, you are now driven to the very last scene of all your contrivances. I know you like him, I 'm sure he loves you, and you must and shall have him. Hard. (Joining their hands.) And I say so too. And, Mr. Marlow, if she makes as good a wife as she has a daughter, I don't believe you '11 ever repent your bargain. So now to supper. To-morrow we shall gather all the poor of the parish about us, us Sbe Stoops to Conquer and the mistakes of the night shall be crowned with a merry morning. So, boy, take her; and as you have been mistaken in the mistress, my wish is, that you may never be mistaken in the wife. [Exeunt Omnes. EPILOGUE 1 Spoken by Mrs. Bulkley in the character of Miss HARDCASTLB WELL, having stooped to conquer with success, And gain'd a husband without aid from dress, Still, as a barmaid, I could wish it too, As I have conquer'd him to conquer you: And let me say, for all your resolution, That pretty barmaids have done execution. Qur life is a play, composed to please, "We have our exits and our entrances." The first act shows the simple country maid, Harmless and young, of everything afraid ; Blushes when hir'd, and with unmeaning action, 11 1 hopes as how to give you satisfaction." Her second act displays a livelier scene The unblushing barmaid of a country inn Who whisks about the house, at market caters, Talks loud, coquets the guests, and scolds the waiters. * Goldsmith wrote two other Epilogues to this Comedy, neither of which however appear to have been spoken. See Vol. I., pp. i8a, 187 and Vol. X., Letter xxvi. 119 120 Bptlogue Next the scene shifts to town, and there she soars. The chop-house toast of ogling connoisseurs. On 'squires and cits she there displays her arts, And on the gridiron broils her lovers' hearts And as she smiles, her triumphs to complete, E'en common-councilmen forget to eat. The fourth act shows her wedded to the 'squire, And madam now begins to hold it higher; Pretends to taste, at operas cries caro! And quits her Nancy Dawson, for Che Faroj Boats upon dancing, and in all her pride Swims round the room, the Heinel of Cheapside 1 i Ogles and leers with artificial skill, Till, having lost in age the power to kill, She sits all night at cards, and ogles at spadille. Such, through our lives the eventful history The fifth and last act still remains for me. The barmaid now for your protection prays, Turns female barrister, and pleads for Bayes. 2 Madame Heinel was a favourite dancer in London, when this Epilogue was spoken. 2 In the fourth volume of A Collection of Prologues and Epilogues, 4 vols., i2mo, 1779, there is a characteristic full-length portrait of Mrs. Bulkley in the dress she wore when she spoke this epilogue. Mrs. Bulkley (originally Miss Wilford) died in 1792. She was famous as Lady Racket. EPILOGUE ' To be spoken in the character of TONY LUMPKIN BY J. CRADOCK, ESQ. 2 WELL now all 's ended and my comrades gone, Pray what becomes of "mother's nonly son?" A hopeful blade ! in town I '11 fix my station, And try to make a bluster in the nation; As for my cousin Neville, I renounce her, Off in a crack I '11 carry big Bet Bouncer. WHY should not I in the great world appear? I soon shall have a thousand pounds a year! No matter what a man may here inherit, In London 'gad, they 've some regard to spirit. I see the horses prancing up the streets, And big Bet Bouncer bobs to all she meets; This came too late to be spoken GOLDSMITH. See Gold- smith's Letter to Cradock, in Vol. X. 1 Joseph Cradock, Esq., of Gumley in Leicestershire. He was among the last survivors of Goldsmith's circle, and is now favourably remembered by his Memoirs, 5 vols. 8vo, 1828. He died, Dec. 15, 1826, in his 8$th year. X2I 122 Then hoiks to jigs and pastimes ev'ry night Not to the plays they say it a'n't polite; To Sadler's- Well perhaps, or operas go, And once by chance, to the roratorio. Thus here and there, for ever up and down, We '11 set the fashions too to half the town; And then at auctions money ne'er regard, Buy pictures like the great, ten pounds a yard: Zounds, we shall make these London gentry say, We know what 's damn'd genteel as well as they UETUI "% GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERK) DESK ^ROM ^ T ^ T ICH BCT B RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO*- 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS RENEWALS AND RECHARGES MAY BE MADE 4 DAYS PRIOR TO DUE DATE. LOAN PERIODS AE t -MONTH. 3-MONTHS. AND 1-YEAR. RENEWALS. CALL (4t5) 642-3405 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW NOV23 1990 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1 /83 BERKELEY, CA 94720 $ YC 16395' U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES CDD7D23MSM UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
| i don't know |
In the sport of Curling, what name is given to the target area of concentric circles? | CNN.com - Curling - Jan 31, 2006
Manage Alerts | What Is This?
TORINO, Italy (CNN) -- Curling originated on the frozen lochs of Scotland in the 16th century.
In those days the stones were rocks taken from the bottom of rivers where the flow of water had given them a smooth surface, which made them ideal for skimming across the frozen loch. Handles were fitted to the stones at some point in the next century, giving rise to the release method more familiar today.
How it is done
Each curling team is made up of four members, who each have two turns sending a 19 kilogram stone from one end of the area of play to the other end, aiming for it to come to rest within two concentric circles.
When a stone is in motion, two other team members sweep in front of its path to control its speed and direction. The team with the stone or stones closest to the center of the concentric circles after each member has thrown two stones is the winner of that end. A game consists of 10 ends.
Players always throw in the same order, according to their position in the team: lead, second, third -- known as vice-skip -- and skip, the team strategist. Ten teams make up the Olympic competition.
What makes it hard
The curling stone must be released before a certain point on the ice, many meters away from the target. This makes weighting and trajectory difficult to control.
Any stone may be knocked out of the target area unless it is positioned in front of the circles in the first two ends, in which case it may not be touched. This can mean a perfect throw is soon displaced and left worthless, or that the easiest trajectory to the target is blocked.
Decoding the Jargon
You may hear some unfamiliar terms in the expert commentary of the skeleton at the Games. Here is what some of them mean:
Hog: The line on the playing area before which a player must have released the stone when throwing.
House: The target area of two concentric circles in which a stone must finish to count in the end.
Button: The area at the center of the concentric circles, also known as the tee.
Guard zone: The name of the zone in which stones are protected from being dislodged in the first two ends of any game. The vice-skip and skip are allowed to move stones in the guard zone, as they throw in the third and fourth ends respectively.
Which means you can sound like an expert by saying: "Did she just go over the hog? I'd like to see a replay of that."
Did you know?
The oldest curling stones ever found were recovered in the Scottish regions of Stirling and Perth. They date back to 1511.
Story Tools
| The House |
Who was the last king from the House of Plantagenet? | Curling Game
Open Mic
Curling Game
You may have seen the sport of curling on television quite a few times and tried hard to figure out what is happening, to no avail. In this article, we will put forth some facts about this sport, which will ensure that you don't get stuck in such a confusion again.
One of the less-known sports in the world, curling is a team sport wherein the objective of the players is to score more points than their opponents by sliding a 'stone', down the sheet of ice, towards the target. Terms such as stone, target, etc., may sound a bit confusing, but all these aspects come together to make curling one of the most interesting sporting events in the world.
Curling History
Even though the game is played in specially built curling arenas today, its roots can be traced back to the 16th century Scotland, wherein it was played on the frozen water of lakes and ponds. Initially, curling was known as the 'roaring game', owing to the roaring sound that the stone made when it was slid down the ice. Eventually, the players observed that the stone curled when slid down the ice sheet and thus, came into existence its modern name. The first world championship of curling, the 'Scotch Cup' was played in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1959. The International Curling Federation (ICF) was formed as the governing body for this sport in 1965, with the intention of promoting it. Eventually, in 1991, it was renamed as the World Curling Federation (WCF). The popularity of the sport continued to soar and finally it was included in 1998 Winter Olympics held in Japan.
Equipment and Field
The equipment used in this sport include a thick stone disc known as the 'curling stone', a brush used to sweep the ice floor known as the 'curling broom', a 'slider shoe' for the sliding foot, and a 'non-sliding shoe' for the hack foot. On an average, a curling stone weighs anywhere between 38 to 44 lbs. The players wear gloves to keep their hands warm and carry a stop watch to monitor the speed on the curling stone. The game is played on a narrow strip of ice known as the curling sheet, which measures 45 to 46 meters in length and 4.4 to 5.0 meters in width. The target, referred to as the 'house', is marked at the each end of the sheet in the form of three concentric circles, each marked by three different colors. At the center of the house lies an area of the size of a curling stone, which is known as the 'button'.
Game Rules
As we mentioned earlier, the objective of the game is simple―the players are expected to slide the curling stone down the curling sheet towards the 'house'. As per the stipulations of the scoring system, the placement of curling stones determines the points the team has earned. The method is quite simple, the team earns a single point for every curling stone which is closer to the 'button' than the nearest curling stone belonging to the opponent team. If team A has one curling stone closer than the closest stone belonging to team B, then team A earns one point. If team A has two stones closer, it earns two points. Therefore, the players aim to reach as close to the 'button' as possible. Each team is made up of 4 players, with each having 2 curling stones.
Once each of these teams are done with their 8 curling stones, it is called an 'end', and the scores are counted. In a single end, the team can earn a maximum of eight points (referred to as the eight ender) and a minimum of zero. According to the curling scoring guidelines, the stone has to enter the house to qualify for scoring. If both the teams fail to make it to the house in the first place, both the teams end up with zero points. Generally a single game consists of 8 'ends', however, some clubs do have games with 10 'ends'. At the finish of the 8th end the score is counted, and the team with the more points is declared the winner.
On the first look, the game may seem quite simple, but it requires a great deal of precision and strategic planning to place the curling stone at the right place in the house.
By Abhijit Naik
| i don't know |
In the 1976 film, if Sean Connery was 'Robin', who was 'Marian'? | Robin and Marian (1976) - IMDb
IMDb
There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.
Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later.
X Beta I'm Watching This!
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
Error
Robin Hood, aging none too gracefully, returns exhausted from the Crusades to woo and win Maid Marian one last time.
Director:
From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video
ON DISC
a list of 25 titles
created 12 Jun 2011
a list of 21 titles
created 18 Oct 2011
a list of 31 titles
created 06 Sep 2013
a list of 35 titles
created 3 months ago
a list of 27 titles
created 3 weeks ago
Title: Robin and Marian (1976)
6.6/10
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.
At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers. The attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.
Director: John Milius
Two British soldiers in India decide to resign from the Army and set themselves up as deities in Kafiristan--a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander.
Director: John Huston
After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.
Director: Fred Zinnemann
A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.
Director: Terence Young
A couple in the south of France non-sequentially spin down the highways of infidelity in their troubled ten-year marriage.
Director: Stanley Donen
The sprightly young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter helps him over his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots.
Director: Richard Quine
When her father is murdered, a pharmaceutical heiress becomes the next target of an unknown killer amid the international jet set.
Director: Terence Young
A British mercenary arrives in pre-Revolution Cuba to help train the corrupt General Batista's army against Castro's guerrillas while he also romances a former lover now married to an unscrupulous plantation owner.
Director: Richard Lester
The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
Director: Richard Lester
The neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their adopted daughter was stolen from the local Kiowa tribe.
Director: John Huston
Romantic comedy about a woman who must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries, and the man who helps her.
Director: William Wyler
Love Among Thieves (TV Movie 1987)
Adventure | Comedy | Crime
Romantic mystery-heist story about a baroness and concert pianist who is forced to steal some priceless Faberge eggs and deliver them to ransom her kidnapped fiancé in Latin America.
Director: Roger Young
Edit
Storyline
It is 20 years after Robin Hood's heroics against Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Since then Robin (played by Sean Connery) has spent all his time outside of England, fighting as Richard the Lionheart's right-hand man in the Crusades and in France. His only connection to his past life in Sherwood Forest is his faithful companion, Little John (Nicol Williamson). However, Richard the Lionheart is now dead and a war-weary, middle-aged Robin decides to return to England. His first priority: rekindle his relationship with Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn). However, if he figured on a peaceful life he didn't bargain on the machinations of the Sheriff of Nottingham and King John. Written by grantss
Love is the greatest adventure of all.
Genres:
12 March 1976 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
The Death of Robin See more »
Filming Locations:
Did You Know?
Trivia
Closing credits: Some of the characters and incidents portrayed and some of the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional. See more »
Goofs
Golden Delicious apples (in windows during last scene) did not exist in 13th century England. See more »
Quotes
Richard the Lionheart : Clever fellow, Death is. I've tried to find him on my terms, and God knows I've tried.
(Canada) – See all my reviews
Robin and Marion is a bittersweet look at the last days of Robin Hood. Sean Connery was born to play Robin Hood and his easy going charm and grace gives fact to this. Audrey Hepburn gives a stunning portrayal of Maid Marion who has arrived at a point in her life where she is not happy but content. Robin has returned from the crusades and he is neither happy or content King Richard is dead and the throne has returned to King John and the Sheriff of Mottingham wonderfully played by Robert Shaw is once again doing the King's dirty work. Robin returns home to England only to find he's a legend and a hero and that a tyrant once again sits on the throne. Robin brings the merry men back together but finds that old age has crept up on them and nothing is easy. Then King John orders all priests and nuns jailed and churches closed because if they do not support him he considers it treason and Robin finds out Marion is now an nun and her abbey is targeted by the sheriff. Robin and his men rescue her only to find shes bitter and angry at Robin. But you know the rest they are still in love and there is one final well put together sword fight with the sheriff. And then the Death of Robin Hood in what has to be one of the most emotionally packed scenes I have ever saw. This is not Errol Flynn's Robin Hood but this one deserves to stand beside it as one of the greatest Robin Hood films of all times.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
| Audrey Hepburn |
'Sir Anthony Absolute' is a principal character from which play by Richard Sheridan? | Robin and Marian Movie Review (1976) | Roger Ebert
Tweet
It's not so much that I never thought Robin Hood and Maid Marian would grow older. I thought they'd never grow up. In Robin's various screen manifestations, ranging from Douglas Fairbanks in 1922 and Errol Flynn in 1938 to the Disney animated version of a few years ago, he was sort of an ageless adolescent, leading his merry band on raids that seemed like pranks. Robin lived outside of time; he'd never grow old or gray. But he has, in Richard Lester's partly successful "Robin and Marian." The screenplay by James Goldman gives us an England that's 20 years older, wiser and more exhausted than when Robin Hood last inhabited it. We learn that he left Maid Marian and most of the others behind, and went off to the Crusades with Richard the Lionhearted. That Maid Marian attempted suicide and then went into a nunnery. And that Robin finally returned to Sherwood Forest as a very different, even thoughtful, version of himself.
Advertisement
The film opens with the last gasp of Richard's private crusade. He's badgering his men into an attack on an undefended and worthless castle, and they're grumbling about getting on home. Richard is killed by an arrow thrown by a crazy old man - how incongruously the great can die - and Robin heads back to England with the faithful Little John. Nothing is quite as he left it. The haunts and lairs of Sherwood Forest have fallen into disrepair, and so has Maid Marian.
But the years seem to fall from her face when she sees Robin again, and they resume in middle age what was essentially a teen-age romance. She renounces her vows - or, rather, doesn't even bother to when Robin leads her on a romp into the fields - and the merry band re-gathers around them. The Sheriff of Nottingham obligingly appears to take up his ancient feud, and so all of the elements of the story are back in place. It's been said that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as comedy, but Lester and Goldman seem fairly unsure about how Robin Hood's saga should feel the second time around. It was comedy the first time, basically, and their ending this time is tragic. But they want to keep some comedy, too, so a lot of their scenes try to strike two notes. They play some things broadly, recalling Lester's recent musketeers' movies, and then they go in for emotions we're meant to take seriously.
What prevent the movie from really losing its way, though, are the performances of Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn in the title roles. No matter what the director and the writer may think, Connery and Hepburn seem to have arrived at a tacit understanding between themselves about their characters. They glow. They really do seem in love. And they project as marvelously complex, fond, tender people; the passage of 20 years has given them grace and wisdom. Lester photographs them with more restraint than he might have used 10 years ago. His active camera is replaced here by a visual tempo more suited to bittersweet nostalgia. He photographs Sherwood Forest and its characters with a nice off-hand realism that's better than the pretentious solemnity we sometimes get in historical pictures. He surrounds Connery and Hepburn with a fine supporting cast ( Robert Shaw comes over best, all grim and patient as the sheriff), and he gives us a movie worth seeing.
Advertisement
If only, though everyone had agreed at the outset on what the movie was really about. Connery and Hepburn seem to know; in their last scene, as the wounded but victorious Robin says to Marian, "I'd never have had a day like this again." They make their feelings clear: This is a movie about the end of youth and high romance, about death and the possibility of simple human compassion. That would have worked just fine, without Goldman and Lester uneasily putting in jokes and asides and trying to make us laugh on the way to the graveside.
Popular Blog Posts
| i don't know |
Which novel features the character, 'Billy Bones'? | Billy Bones (Character)
Billy Bones (Character)
from "Black Sails" (2014)
The content of this page was created by users. It has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
There may be more photos available for this character. To select more photos to be displayed in this character's gallery, click the Edit Photos link.
Overview
Bill Bones / Capt. Billy Bones / Captain Billy Bones
Filmography
... aka "L'isola del tesoro" - Italy (original title)
... aka "Space Island" - UK (video title), USA (video title)
... aka "Studio One" - USA (original title)
... aka "Studio One Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
... aka "Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
... aka "Westinghouse Studio One" - USA (alternative title)
... aka "Westinghouse Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
... aka "Disneyland" - USA (original title)
... aka "Disney's Wonderful World" - USA (new title)
... aka "The Disney Sunday Movie" - USA (new title)
... aka "The Magical World of Disney" - USA (new title)
... aka "The Wonderful World of Disney" - USA (new title)
... aka "Walt Disney" - USA (new title)
... aka "Walt Disney Presents" - USA (new title)
From Muppets Treasure Island (1996) (VG)
Billy Bones : I was Flint's first mate that voyage. Three days east of Tortola in the Caribbean, Flint knew an island. That's where we buried the treasure. Gold and blood, they were Flint's trademarks. He'd leave both behind him that day. See more »
Update
You may correct errors and omissions on this page directly. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
IMDb Everywhere
Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet!
| Treasure Island |
What name is given to the broad sash, worn with a Kimono? | JiffyNotes: Treasure Island: Summary: Main Characters
Main Characters
Jim Hawkins
The narrator of most of Treasure Island, Jim is never described directly. He is probably in his early teens, much smaller than the burly pirates of the Hispaniola - though must be very athletic and agile to hold his own against them. Jim is fiercely loyal, brave, and adventurous. He is also very curious and has a bit of a mischievous streak. These traits frequently get him in trouble, but also put him in a position to help Captain Smollett, Dr. Livesey, and Squire Trelawney find the treasure and get home safely. Jim is the only son of innkeepers on the English coast. He works at their inn, the Admiral Benbow, until Billy Bones arrives, bringing trouble and adventure with him. Jim's father dies shortly before this, and Jim seems to be searching for a father figure throughout Treasure Island: he reveres Dr. Livesey and also adores Silver until the pirate proves deceitful.
When the pirates come looking for Billy Bones, Bones dies of a stroke and Jim flees with Captain Flint's treasure map. Jim joins Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney on a mission to find the treasure. Jim waits at Trelawney's house while the ship and crew are found, then rides to Dover to join them. Jim nearly exposes Silver's plot when he runs into Black Dog, one of the pirates who was chasing Bones, at Silver's tavern. But Silver persuades Jim it's just a coincidence and the Hispaniola sets sail without incident. Jim is again in the center of the action when, just before arriving at Skeleton Island, he overhears Silver and some other men plotting a mutiny. Jim tells the captain, Livesey, and Trelawney what he's heard, then sneaks off to the island to spy on the pirates. While on the island, Jim witnesses a Silver murdering a sailor and meets Ben Gunn, a marooned sailor who lives on the island. Jim hears gunshots and stumbles across the stockade where the other loyal men are holed up.
Rejoining his friends, Jim helps them fight off an attack by Silver's men. Jim grows restless in the stockade and sneaks away with a plan to row out to the Hispaniola and cut its anchor-rope, leaving the pirates stranded. Having executed his mission, Jim jumps aboard the ship, where he finds two pirates, one dead and the other, Israel Hands, wounded. Jim and Hands team up to steer the ship back to shore, but Hands attacks Jim, who kills him. Returning to land, Jim is taken prisoner by Silver and his men, who are occupying the stockade; thinking his friends dead, Jim nearly gives up hope. He is cheered up when Dr. Livesey comes to treat the wounded pirates. Jim is stung by Livesey's scolding, but his hope is renewed.
Silver, Jim, and the other pirates head into the woods with the treasure map. Jim knows that he is only alive as insurance for Silver, who might turn on him at any moment. As they walk through the woods, the pirates are frightened by a voice pretending to be Captain Flint's ghost. When they arrive at the location of the treasure, they find only an empty hole. As the furious pirates begin to turn on Silver (and Jim, who is tied to him), Livesey and his companions open fire from the bushes and rout the pirates. Jim rejoins the others, who have joined forces with Ben Gunn and secured the treasure. After days spent loading the treasure on the ship, they sail for England, where Jim lives prosperously until many years later, when he records his story.
Dr. Livesey
Dr. Livesey is the physician of the town nearest the Admiral Benbow. He is a neat, well-groomed man with bright black eyes and a well-powdered wig. At one time, Livesey served in the army and he still maintains the military virtues of courage, loyalty, and efficiency. He is very insistent on good manners and respectful behavior, and seems personally offended by the pirates' slovenly habits and coarse manners. Dr. Livesey is always calm in crisis situations and fights bravely against the pirates. Although he does not show much emotion, the doctor is very fond of Jim Hawkins, which is evident in the three chapters he narrates.
Dr. Livesey's first appearance is his argument with Billy Bones at the Admiral Benbow, when he calmly refuses to back down to Bones' swaggering threats. Livesey is called upon to treat Bones after his stroke, and cares for the old sailor impartially. When Jim flees the inn with Bones' treasure map, he asks to be taken to Dr. Livesey. After hearing Jim's story, Livesey takes him to meet his old friend, Squire Trelawney. Together the men make a plan to outfit a ship and sail after Flint's treasure. Knowing his friend's tendency to blab, Livesey makes Trelawney promise not to reveal the goal of the mission. While Trelawney goes to Dover to outfit the ship, Dr. Livesey settles his affairs and finds a doctor from London to replace him.
When Jim reports the planned mutiny, Livesey, along with Trelawney and the captain, plan to split up the mutineers by allowing some of them to row to the island. When they realize that Jim has gone with the pirates, Livesey and the others decide to take a boat and scout the island. Livesey finds the abandoned stockade and supervises the transfer of food and equipment from the Hispaniola to the island. Dr. Livesey helps defend the stockade against the pirates, then tends the wounded defenders. While Jim is off trying to cut loose the Hispaniola, Dr. Livesey and the others negotiate a truce with the pirates. They let the pirates have the stockade and some provisions, and Dr. Livesey agrees to treat the sick and wounded pirates; he also gives Silver the treasure map. When Jim returns from his adventure and is captured by Silver, Livesey is very relieved to find him alive and tries to persuade Jim to escape with him. Jim refuses, so Livesey warns Silver to keep Jim close to him and look out for trouble when they find the treasure. Dr. Livesey then goes to lay an ambush for the disappointed pirates with Ben Gunn and Abraham Gray. Reunited with Jim, Livesey and the others keep a close eye on Silver as they retrieve the treasure and return to the ship.
Long John Silver
Silver is the most mysterious and probably the most interesting of the characters. He is tall, powerful man, with light hair and a cheerful, intelligent face. Silver is missing his left leg and uses a crutch to get around; however, he is very quick and nimble, almost as capable as a two-legged man. Silver keeps a parrot, named Cap'n Flint, on his shoulder much of the time, and is full of colorful nautical tales and terminology. Silver's open, cheerful exterior hides the soul of a crafty manipulator; Silver plans the mutiny from the very beginning, convincing even the suspicious Captain Smollett of his trustworthiness.
Long John Silver served under Captain Flint, the pirate who won the huge treasure and buried it on Skeleton Island. When Squire Trelawney arrives in Bristol, blabbing about a mission to find Flint's treasure, Silver signs on as cook and carefully stocks the crew with his fellow pirates. Once the Hispaniola is at sea, Silver begins trying to turn the rest of the crew to his side; just before land is sighted, Jim overhears Silver talking to another crewman about the glory of the pirate life. Silver takes part of the crew, some loyal and some mutineers, to the island. As they pirates celebrate drunkenly, Silver kills Tom, a crewman who won't join them, before Jim's eyes. Shortly afterwards, the pirates begin fighting openly with the captain and his men, who have moved to the stockade on Skeleton Island. After an exchange of gunfire, Silver come to try to negotiate with the loyal men; when Captain Smollett refuses his terms, Silver leads a charge on the stockade in which several men are killed and the captain wounded.
While Jim Hawkins is off on his boat adventure, Silver negotiates a truce with Dr. Livesey and the others: in return for safe passage to the other side of the island, the pirates take over the stockade and receive supplies and daily visits from Dr. Livesey, as well as the treasure map. When Jim returns to the stockade, Silver captures him, but prevents his men from killing Jim. Silver is careful to keep Jim alive as insurance against his hanging should the pirates be captured; however, Silver's men begin to suspect that he's playing a double game, and tensions mount. After Dr. Livesey's visit, Silver leads his men and Jim into the woods to find the treasure. Driving them on in spite of their fear of Flint's ghost, Silver arrives at the empty hole where the treasure would be. Silver quickly assesses the situation and gives Jim a pistol; Livesey launches his ambush, and Silver and Jim are saved. Trelawney, Smollett and the others are suspicious of Silver, but allow him to join them; he escapes with a bag of gold when they land in South America and is never seen again.
Ben Gunn
A member of Flint's crew with Long John Silver (of whom he is still terrified), Ben Gunn was marooned on Skeleton Island three years later, when another ship he was on landed there to look for Flint's treasure. When Jim Hawkins meets up with Ben, he is sunburned and dressed in a ragged patchwork of scraps from the ship's supplies. Ben's sanity has been shaken by his years of isolation, and his behavior is somewhat dazed and childish, but he is still an able comrade for the loyal men.
Ben Gunn is a minor character, but important to the action of Treasure Island in several ways. Ben meets up with Jim in the woods when the boy is running from the pirates. Ben quickly befriends Jim and agrees to help him fight off Silver and his men. Ben tells Jim about his little homemade boat and arranges to meet one of the captain's party later. From Silver's words at the truce meeting, Jim deduces than Ben Gunn killed one of the pirates that night. Dr. Livesey then goes off into the woods to find Ben, where he discovers (although the reader doesn't find this out until the end) that Ben has found Flint's treasure. Ben next appears when Silver's men are hunting for the treasure; he mimics Captain Flint's voice, terrifying the superstitious pirates until they realize it is his voice. Ben also takes part in the ambush at the empty treasure hole.
Squire Trelawney
Squire Trelawney is a wealthy landowner and a friend of Dr. Livesey. He is over six feet tall, powerful, and energetic. He is quick-tempered and enthusiastic, but not very cautious; his lack of discretion alerts Silver that the Hispaniola is sailing after Flint's treasure, and leads directly to the mutiny. The squire is a capable sailor and an excellent marksman.
Trelawney enters the story when Jim Hawkins brings the treasure map to Dr. Livesey, who is then visiting the squire. Trelawney provides the money and much of the motivation needed to mount the expedition, and it is he who goes to Bristol to find a ship and crew. The gullible squire trusts Silver to pick most of his crew for him, and ends up with a crew of pirates. Trelawney initially dislikes Captain Smollett, but when Smollett proves to be right about the unreliable crew, Trelawney quickly admits his mistake and puts his trust in the captain. Trelawney plays a central role in the battles against the pirates; as the loyal men's best shot, he is often called on to pick off the attacking pirates. When Redruth, Trelawney's old gamekeeper, is killed by the pirates, Trelawney weeps and asks his forgiveness. When Livesey, Gray, and Ben Gunn go to ambush the pirates at the treasure site, Trelawney and the wounded captain head to the cave where Ben Gunn has stashed the treasure.
Captain Smollett
Captain Smollett is a sharp, observant man, a tough disciplinarian and an able navigator. He is upset from the start at the disrespectful behavior and lax discipline of his crew and warns the squire that no good will come of them. While Jim and the others at first think the captain is a harsh, unreasonable man, they soon warm to him when he proves to right about the crew, and Smollett becomes the leader of the loyal men during the battles with the pirates.
Captain Smollett thrives on discipline; when his men leave their watch posts to listen to him negotiate with Silver, he gives them a stern tongue-lashing. The captain's attitude seems to motivate his men, keeping them together even against huge odds. When the British flag that he raises above the stockade attracts the pirates' cannon fire, Captain Smollett refuses to take it down. When Silver comes to negotiate a truce, Captain Smollett is deliberately disrespectful towards him, making the pirate sit on the ground as they talk. When the pirates storm the stockade, Smollett is wounded in the leg and directs the rest of the action from his bed. Dr. Livesey takes over from the disabled captain, and Smollett disappears until the reunion at the end.
Billy Bones
The old sailor who appears at the beginning of Treasure Island is called Billy Bones by the other characters, although he insists "that's not my name" when Dr. Livesey addresses him as such. He is a tall, heavy man with a pigtail, sun-browned skin, and a scar across one cheek. Bones arrives at the Admiral Benbow inn and sets the events of the story in motion. He is a member of Flint's crew, apparently on the run from the other survivors, who want the treasure map he's taken. He is nervous, constantly asking if any sailors have arrived, and warning Jim about a one-legged man.
Bones is a drunk and a bully; he terrorizes the staff and guest of the inn until Dr. Livesey confronts him. Despite his unpleasant manners, Bones fascinates Jim Hawkins and some of the other residents of the inn with his colorful stories of life on the sea. One day Black Dog, a pirate, appears at the inn, and has a violent argument with Billy Bones, who suffers a stroke afterward. When Blind Pew and the other pirates show up to give Bones the "black spot", Bones suffers another stroke and dies. When Jim and his mother search Bones' chest for money to pay his bill, they find the treasure map.
| i don't know |
Yellowstone National Park lies predominantly in which US state? | Yellowstone National Park
Encyclopedia > Places > United States, Canada, and Greenland > U.S. National Park System
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, 2,219,791 acres (899,015 hectares), the world's first national park (est. 1872), NW Wyo., extending into Montana and Idaho. It lies mainly on a broad plateau in the Rocky Mts., on the Continental Divide, c.8,000 ft (2,440 m) above sea level, surrounded by mountains from 10,000 to 14,000 ft (3,048–4,267 m) high. The area, a huge craterlike volcanic basin (caldera), is a geological "hot spot" responsible for several massive eruptions, the most recent occurring some 600,000 years ago. The plateau is mostly formed from once-molten lava.
Volcanic activity is evidenced by nearly 10,000 hot springs, 200 geysers, and many vents and mud pots. The more prominent geysers are unequaled in size, power, and variety. Old Faithful, the best known although not the largest, erupts every 40 to 70 min and shoots c.11,000 gal (41,640 liters) of water some 150 ft (46 m) high. Mammoth Hot Springs, a series of five terraces with reflecting pools, continues to grow as residue from the mineral-rich water is deposited.
The park also has petrified forests, lava formations, and the "black glass" Obsidian Cliff. Eagle Peak, 11,370 ft (3,466 m), is the highest point. Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and waterfalls are notable features on the Yellowstone River, which crosses the park. The park has a wide variety of flowers and other plant life. Bears, mountain sheep, elk, bison, moose, many smaller animals, and more than 200 kinds of birds inhabit Yellowstone, which is one of the world's largest wildlife sanctuaries. Fires in 1988 burned about 36% of the park, but animal and plant life rebounded quickly, as the nutrient influx in the ash nourished the soil.
See J. Muir, Yellowstone National Park (1979); B. T. Scott, The Geysers of Yellowstone (rev. ed. 1986); G. Wuerthner, Yellowstone & the Fires of Change (1988).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
| Wyoming |
The grand champion in which sport is known as a Yokozuna? | Yellowstone National Park - Plan your Yellowstone Vacation here
Yellowstone National Park
Reservations , Lodging , Extensive Information , Maps , Top Attractions , Old Faithful Webcam , Forums and much more. Since 1997.
A visit to Yellowstone National Park is a visit to one of the most amazing and special places on planet earth. Each year some 4,000,000 persons from throughout the world travel to Yellowstone and experience the magic of Wonderland – majestic geysers, amazing wildlife, spectacular waterfalls, towering mountains, high alpine lakes, pristine rivers and much more that provide ample opportunity for exploration and photography.
Far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life and situated atop a high mountain plateau, Yellowstone is an outdoor paradise for family vacationers, wildlife watchers, geyser gazers, hiking enthusiasts, outdoor lovers, and photographers of all skill levels.
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is the closest year-around airport to Yellowstone National Park. Located some 90 miles to the North of Yellowstone, Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is accessible by all major American airlines and provides quick and easy access to the West and North entrances to the park. Rentals cars from major car rental agencies are available at the airport.
The closest major airport to Yellowstone is Salt Lake International Airport in Utah. Cheap flights are often available at Salt Lake International for those willing to drive 4-5 hours to the Park. As at the Bozeman airport, rental cars from major car rental agencies are available at Salt Lake International.
Yellowstone National Park and the larger Yellowstone region feature numerous hotel and other lodging facilities. Lodging inside Yellowstone is highly desirable but limited. The five Yellowstone gateway communities of West Yellowstone (MT), Gardiner (MT), Jackson (WY), Cody (WY) and Silver Gate / Cooke City (MT) offer additional hotel and lodging options, including some relatively cheap hotels.
Collectively, hotel and lodging options include rustic, historical, luxury, boutique, ranch, chain, local, glamping, camping, condos, home rentals and more.
Yellowstone National Park and the gateway communities feature a wide array of restaurant and food choices, including locally sourced food, wild game, American fare, Chinese food and much more.
An entrance fee or National Park Pass is required to enter Yellowstone National Park, but once inside the Park visitors are free to travel around the Park, but must abide by National Park Service rules.
Many who visit Yellowstone feel a personal connection to this special place. Some return to work in the Park during the summer season. Seasonal jobs in the Yellowstone area include jobs in hotels, restaurants, gift shops and more.
Yellowstone.Net, a local online guide since 1997, is designed to help you plan your Yellowstone National Park vacation.
Whether viewed on your desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone or other mobile device, we hope to see you in Yellowstone this year!
Yellowstone National Park’s Top Ten things to see:
Mammoth Hot Springs
We are sometimes asked, “What are the things I must see when I visit Yellowstone?”
Yellowstone National Park is vast and varied, and visitors have different interests and abilities, so there is no one easy answer. However, we have compiled a general list of the top attractions in Yellowstone that we feel will be helpful. It is designed to serve as a starting point for planning your visit. Click Here for our Top Ten things to see .
Interesting Yellowstone National Park Facts:
World’s First National Park
A designated World Heritage Site and designated Biosphere Reserve
3,472 square miles or 8,987 square km
2,221,766 acres or 898,317 hectares
63 air miles north to south (102 km)
54 air miles east to west 87 km)
96 % in Wyoming
Highest Point: 11,358 ft / 3,462 m (Eagle Peak)
Lowest Point: 5,282 ft / 1,610 m (Reese Creek)
Larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined
Approximately 5% of park is covered by water; 15% is grassland; and 80% is forest
Precipitation ranges from 10 inches (26 cm) at the north boundary to 80 inches (205 cm) in the southwest corner
Temperatures (average) at Mammoth: January: 9° F/-13 C in
July: 80° F/27 C
High: 99°F/37 C, 2002 (Mammoth)
Low Temp: -66° F/-54 C (West Entrance, Riverside Station 1933)
| i don't know |
What was the forename of the fictional detective, 'Inspector Maigret'. | Jules Maigret | fictional character | Britannica.com
fictional character
Edmond Dantès
Jules Maigret, fictional character, an unassuming, compassionate, and streetwise Parisian police commissioner who is the protagonist of more than 80 novels by Georges Simenon . Simenon’s books featuring Inspector Maigret include Pietr-le-Letton (1931; The Case of Peter the Lett), Le Chien jaune (1931; “The Yellow Dog,” Eng. trans. A Face for a Clue), Le Fou de Bergerac (1932; The Madman of Bergerac), Un Noël de Maigret (1951; Maigret’s Christmas), Maigret aux assises (1960; Maigret in Court), and Maigret et Monsieur Charles (1972).
Learn More in these related articles:
1 Reference found in Britannica Articles
Assorted Reference
novels of Simenon (in Georges Simenon )
External Links
Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback.
MEDIA FOR:
You have successfully emailed this.
Error when sending the email. Try again later.
Edit Mode
Submit
Tips For Editing
We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind.
Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience.
You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered.
Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources.
At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.)
Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions.
Submit
Thank You for Your Contribution!
Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article.
Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed.
Uh Oh
There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later.
Close
Date Published: September 11, 2015
URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jules-Maigret
Access Date: January 08, 2017
Share
| JULES |
In the 'Planets Suite' by Holst, which planet is the 'bringer of jollity'? | Maigret’s Jurisdiction - Los Angeles Review of Books
Maigret’s Jurisdiction
By Elliott Colla
FEBRUARY 15, 2015
THESE MIGHT BE Jules Maigret’s best years ever. It is not hard to picture the sardonic hero of Georges Simenon’s best-selling novels smiling down on us from policier heaven. And why wouldn’t he? Contemporary American mass culture is awash with procedurals, and Maigret’s jurisdiction now covers the entire world.
Police stories are so ubiquitous today that it is hard to remember back to when detectives tended not to be police. It’s even harder to imagine that the police hero had to be invented in the first place. But that is more or less what Simenon did back in 1930 when he created the jaded, savvy Maigret, dressed always in an overcoat, his pipe in one hand, a beer in the other, and his wife half-forgotten at home. Seventy-five titles and 80 years later, Maigret’s literary DNA pervades crime fiction from Paris to Hollywood. Maigret’s descendants are by now a motley squad spanning from the 87th Precinct of Ed McBain to the LAPD of Dragnet and James Ellroy. From Ian Rankin’s Rebus to Henning Mankell’s Wallander — from The Wire to CSI, from Dexter to True Detective — the precincts of our imagination are staffed with Maigret’s heirs.
Maigret is only now beginning to appear systematically in English, for the first time since his birth in 1930. A new generation of readers will thus discover the magic of the Maigret formula. Of course, “discover” is an odd word to use when talking about Simenon; he was hardly forgotten. Decades ago, each translation of a Maigret title became a bestseller in the United Kingdom and the United States. Between 1930 and his death in 1989, Simenon wrote more than 200 novels (under various names) and sold over 700 million books. Most of these sales were in the Inspector Maigret series. Only a handful of writers — including Shakespeare and Agatha Christie — have “sold” more than Simenon. But as these English translations fell in and out of print , the name Simenon became little more than a talisman for American audiences. We knew of Simenon, but would be excused for not having read much by him.
As Simenon’s massive library began to enter the public domain more than a decade ago, we have lost that excuse. With the 2003 centenary of Simenon’s birth, NYRB Classics commissioned 11 new and revised translations of Simenon’s celebrated romans durs . And now, since 2013, Penguin Books has committed itself to bringing out the 75 books of the Maigret series in an orderly fashion. All of these numbers had been published before in translations, although most of them only haphazardly and often in odd “omnibus” formats. But now they will be available, for the first time in their entirety, and with smooth new English translations that do credit to the originals’ silky economy of language.
Maigret might enjoy this, but Simenon might not. The Belgian author had a vexed relationship with the Maigret series. On the one hand, Maigret made him that rarest of things — a genuinely rich writer. On the other hand, the Maigret series ensured that his literary reputation would forever after be based on market, rather than aesthetic, values.
Maybe now critics will give Maigret his due. Maybe all those sprawling crime television series of the last 15 years have taught us that some literary titles are to be treated not as individual, stand-alone works but as fragments of a vaster system of stories and characters, situations and themes. And now maybe those of us who expect great novelists to write fat novels will grasp what Simenon meant, in The Paris Review, when he responded to everyone who dismissed his work as low-brow:
All the critics for twenty years have said the same thing: “It is time for Simenon to give us a big novel, a novel with twenty or thirty characters.” They do not understand. I will never write a big novel. My big novel is the mosaic of all my small novels. You understand?
Now that the entire Inspector Maigret series is coming out, we can read Simenon’s small novels as a huge mosaic — and conceivably, in their sum, as one great big novel. Certainly anyone who wants to binge-read Maigret titles will find them to be well worth the pleasure. In them, Simenon shows himself to be a committed stylist as well as an endlessly inventive storyteller. True, the Maigret novels are conventional. For fetishists of the ever new, this in itself is a mortal sin. For the rest of us, however, it need not be: these novels were never meant to be read as wholly original creations, but rather as variations on a pattern. And in fairness to Simenon, he never repeated himself, and for the most part the pattern he worked with was of his own invention.
A glimpse of this originality is on full display in the first 10 Inspector Maigret novels, which Simenon published in a single year — 1931. Already in these first novels, Simenon had developed a unique ability to sketch fine human psychologies with incredible economy. While others might take pages to flesh out a character, Simenon knows how to do so in telegraph form, drawing one man by the stains on an overcoat and a woman by how she buttons her blouse. Similarly, it is remarkable how Simenon captures the sense of place in these novels with only a few words, and always in relation to the interior experience of characters. For instance, in A Crime in Holland, not only is the landscape of a Dutch village revealed in brief, jabbing strokes, but more importantly, so too is their impression on the inspector:
The sky was clear, the air of astonishing limpidity. The inspector walked past a timber yard where planks of oak, mahogany and teak were stacked in piles as tall as houses.
A boat was moored alongside. Some children were playing. Then came a kilometre with no outstanding features. Floating tree trunks covered the surface of the canal, all the way. White fences surrounding fields dotted with magnificent cows.
Another clash between reality and his preconceived ideas. The word ‘farm’ for Maigret conjured up a thatched roof, a dunghill, a bustle of barnyard fowls.
And he found himself facing a fine newly built structure, surrounded by a garden full of flowers. Moored in the canal in front of the house was an elegant mahogany skiff. And propped against the gate, a lady’s bicycle, gleaming with nickel.
Here and elsewhere, Simenon sketches the outlines of a world and allows his readers to fill in the blanks. In fact, such blank spaces — “a kilometre with no outstanding features” — are key to Simenon’s style. Together, they signal Simenon’s confidence that his readers were like cinematographers: they needed few stage directions, since the rest of the shoot would take place in their imaginations.
Already in these first Maigret novels, Simenon had developed his skill for pacing. These stories start with a bang and conclude only days and hours after they begin — and yet they never feel rushed. For all these reasons, the Maigret titles read sometimes more like screenplays than novels.
It is the character of his detective, Jules Maigret, that stands out most in these stories. Like all great detectives, Maigret has a method. His is remarkable only for its banality — he watches the lives of criminals and victims, without judging or rejecting them, without commenting on them, for those observations allow him to do his job. Maigret regularly steps into the dark underworlds of criminal France — but he never pretends to be more logical, clever, or sophisticated than the people he meets.
In this way, the character of Maigret allowed Simenon to offer crime stories that transcend morality and pathology. Indeed, the world of Maigret is not bifurcated into opposing sides, with evil criminals on one team and righteous defenders of justice on the other. In Maigret, neither the criminals nor the cops are particularly eccentric or unusual — they both belong to society and live in society. Much as Émile Zola had methodically explored the central problems of modernity (urbanization, industrialization, class conflict, immigration) as they played out in the key sites and institutions of modern society, the Maigret series presents a similar sociological aspiration, albeit without the detail or scope of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series. And yet the character of Maigret allows Simenon to explore these issues with a more objective sociology than Zola’s.
¤
Before Maigret, detective fiction was not particularly sociological. The giants of the genre — Doyle, Christie, Chesterton, and Sayers — were too caught up in the fantasies of a triumphant capitalist class to be much interested in other social realities. Their detectives — Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, and Lord Peter Wimsey — were content with playing genteel logic games in drawing rooms and restoring property to owners.
Simenon had more in common with the hard-boiled authors of his time — Hammett, Chandler, and even Woolrich — who punched the genre in the gut and tossed it into the street. Sleuths like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe poked around back alleys, broken homes, and in other places where society’s rougher edges showed. When these dicks entered the drawing rooms of the bourgeoisie, it was often through a broken window, and what they discovered there was that property was the real crime. But as sociological as these hard-boiled writers could be, they never attempted to be systematic. Simenon’s Maigret, however, combined the street smarts and gut intuition of noir antiheroes with the method and consistency of the effete detective. In doing so, Simenon paved the way for detective fiction to become the most sociological of genres.
But there is another wholly original aspect to Maigret’s character — he was a cop. Until Simenon, the heroes of detective fiction operated outside (and often against) official police agencies. The classical detective — like the private eye — was motivated by a private or personal rather than public sense of justice and law. For Holmes — as for Marlowe — the game would likely put you in conflict with the police. Cops, when they appear, are usually flat-footed buffoons who can never catch up to the detective. Maigret might appear flat-footed and less than clever, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a great detective.
The implications of making his protagonist an inspector with the police judiciaire go far beyond the matter of character, however. They effectively change the story of crime itself. By making this choice, Simenon added an original and endlessly productive dimension to detective fiction, that of jurisdiction. As ubiquitous as the concept is now, we should remember that it implies three important things: 1.) a legal authority rooted in public institutions; 2.) a system of routine fact-finding procedures; and 3.) a power that is always delimited geographically.
These features give the Maigret series much of its dynamism, linking character, plot, and location in tight organic patterns. For instance, Maigret’s authority and likability as a character stem from the fact that he works in a state office. In doing so, Simenon effectively reconceptualized crime as a legal issue. He bucked the essentially conservative tendency of detective fiction, which, according to Ernest Mandel , was to tell stories about the ruling class and the various threats posed to its property, and allowed the genre to move beyond the limits of bourgeois morality. Maigret is, in the end, a bureaucrat, working within a complex institution whose values are professional rather than moral or merely class-based. And his character strengths mirror the demands of his job: his ability to talk to criminals — to empathize with and inhabit their reasoning — is indispensable to his work as a detective, as is his ability to blend in — as a sort of citoyen everyman — into whatever social landscape he enters.
Similarly, the plot unfolds always in relation to a procedural system of investigation, and an administrative system that allocates information and resources to the forensic investigator. Maigret’s brilliance lies not in his individual talent, but rather in his commitment to seeing routine procedures through to their conclusion. This, again, is in complete contrast to the eccentric sleuths of the classical mystery: it is hard to imagine Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey holding down any job. After Maigret, we come to expect the drama of doing routine work to be a central part of the detective’s story.
¤
However, it is the other sense of jurisdiction — as specific terrain of authority — that sets Maigret’s stories apart from what came before. Simenon chose for Maigret to be assigned to the “flying squad” of the police judiciaire — the central office, in Paris, of the Police Nationale. (The closest analogue in the United States would be the FBI.) This puts Maigret at odds with the dynamics of most contemporary police stories, in which the geographic and administrative limitations of jurisdiction become a central part of the story — and in which it matters that a police investigator, unlike a private eye, cannot go anywhere to investigate anything. In the Maigret novels, the detective has an apparently limitless jurisdiction. He is less often found rambling through Paris than across the surrounding districts and departments of Île-de-France, and beyond, to Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Maigret crosses borders and jurisdictions often and with surprising ease, encountering problems of translation between national languages and conversion between national currencies. The geographical dimension of these novels is well worth pondering, since they offer a glimpse of a Europe that was already quite integrated, albeit unevenly, decades before the EU was even a dream.
All the early Maigret novels are characterized by an unusual attention to the dangers and opportunities of movement and connection. The emergence of massive transportation and communication networks are the central plot fact in all the stories — and in order to track crime, Maigret has to navigate a web of international train routes (The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, The Late Monsieur Gallet), canal systems (The Carter of ‘La Providence’, A Crime in Holland), sea lanes (The Yellow Dog, The Grand Banks Café), telegraph and telephone systems, and, eventually, interurban roads (Night at the Crossroads). If Maigret is not in a train station or port or roadside bar, he is probably en route to one.
By mapping out the emergent networks of French modernity as a sprawling social geography, Simenon turned crime writing toward serious sociological reflection. Take, for instance, the enigmatic opening lines of Pietr the Latvian: “ICPC to PJ Paris Xvzust Krakow vimontra m ghks triv psot uv Pietr-le-Letton Bremen vs tyz btolem.” Maigret translates the phrase, which, we learn, is composed in the language of a continental network of police agencies. Rendered legible, the words read: “International Criminal Police Commission to Police Judiciaire in Paris: Krakow police report sighting Pietr the Latvian en route to Bremen.” The next memo reads: “Polizei-Präsidium Bremen to PJ Paris: Pietr the Latvian reported en route Amsterdam and Brussels.” These memos and others sketch a colorful map of overlapping networks: a rail that could take a Latvian national through Poland and Germany, then Holland and Belgium and on to France; a police network linking the national polices of these various countries in a single system of knowledge and surveillance; and, of course, a communication network linking these two systems — rail and policing — to one another in real-time.
The rest of the novel fills out this geography, and indicates just how exhilarating and terrifying it was for Simenon to witness the emergence of this interwar landscape where polyglot nations intersected and interpenetrated each other by way of crime and interdiction. Bodies, goods, and information travel back and forth across borders with near infinite possibilities. This movement is what makes crime possible, by allowing men to leave their pasts behind or to inhabit more than one identity at a time.
These networks give rise to the particular forms of crime that Maigret is called to investigate, most of which revolve around smuggling rings and the possibility of identity theft as criminal gangs master the capacities, gaps, and loopholes made possible by a networked Europe. It is on this point we can begin to appreciate why the vagabond, the itinerant worker, and the immigrant industrial laborer — and, in Simenon’s anti-Semitic moments, the non-national character of the Jew — appear so often in the Maigret stories as markers of danger and depravity. What hangs in the balance, of course, is social order. And in the case of Maigret, it is a wholly reactionary sense of order, premised on a desire to undo the crimes and damages unleashed upon Europe by the emergence of these modern networks, a desire for nationals — citizens, languages, and currencies — to remain on their proper sides of the borders and within their jurisdictions.
In weighing the expansive description of society in the Maigret series against its reactionary surface politics, we would do well to remember a basic point made by the Marxist critic Georg Lukács in his seminal studies of European realism. For Lukács, the political message of a novel was not to be found in its explicit slogans or character sympathies, but rather in its relation to the concept of totality. Lukács probably never deigned to read the Maigret series. But if he had, he would have discovered that despite their reactionary surface character, they produced the kind of literary vision he demanded of the novel form. That vision involved imagining society not in parts but as a single totality, with all of its conflicts and contradictions. Besides Simenon, few crime writers — perhaps only George Pelecanos, David Peace, and Paco Ignacio Taibo II in the contemporary period — have attempted to describe social totality in the sense that Lukács meant. It is this attention to the totalized aspect of modern European societies that makes the Maigret series as timely as ever.
¤
| i don't know |
Bolton Wanderers won the first Cup Final played at Wembley, who won the second? | FA Cup by numbers - Telegraph
FA Cup by numbers
By Christopher Lyles
12:01AM GMT 05 Jan 2008
0 The official attendance for two third-round replays that were played behind closed doors. The first was between Norwich City and Bradford City at Lincoln City's Sincil Bank ground in March 1915. Supporters were banned so as not to disrupt production at a nearby armaments factory. The second was between Leicester City and non-League Burton Albion at Coventry City's Highfield Road in 1985 when fans were banned because a missile had been thrown at the Burton goalkeeper in the first game.
Football fans' forum
1 The number of clubs who have won the FA Cup at Wembley in the current millennium. Chelsea have done so twice, beating Aston Villa in 2000 and Manchester United last year.
1 Occasion that the FA Cup has been won by a non-League club, in 1901 when Southern League Tottenham Hotspur beat First Division Sheffield United in a replay at Bolton.
1 The number of non-English clubs who have won the FA Cup. Cardiff City became the first and only club to do so when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley in 1927.
1 Scottish club who have played in an FA Cup final. Queen's Park were runners-up in 1884 and 1885.
2 Clubs who have won the FA Cup in three successive years. Wanderers did so in 1876, 1877 and 1878 before Blackburn Rovers repeated the feat in 1884, 1885 and 1886.
3 Successive years (between 1956 and 1958) in which Leeds United were drawn at home to Cardiff City in the third round. Cardiff won all three matches 2-1.
3 Weeks between Wanderers winning the first FA Cup final in 1872 and being presented with the trophy at their annual dinner.
4 Times in seven seasons (including the current one) that Aston Villa and Manchester United have been drawn together in the third round.
4 FA Cup finals that have finished goalless. The last final without a goal was the 2005 contest between Arsenal and Manchester United, which Arsenal won 5-4 on penalties. The three previous goalless draws were in 1886, 1911 and 1912.
4 Players who have represented three different clubs in an FA Cup final. They are Harold Halse (Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea), Ernie Taylor (Newcastle United, Blackpool and Manchester United), John Barnes (Watford, Liverpool and Newcastle United) and Dennis Wise (Wimbledon, Chelsea and Millwall).
5 FA Cup final winning teams that have been managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, more than any other manager.
5 Occasions that Tottenham Hotspur have won the FA Cup when the year has ended in a "1". Spurs lifted the trophy in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991 (with their three other winning finals coming in 1962, 1967 and 1982).
5 FA Cup final goals scored by Ian Rush, more than any other player.
6 Games that it took for Alvechurch to beat Oxford City in the fourth qualifying round in 1971, the scores being 2-2, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0 and (finally) 1-0. The FA Cup's longest ever tie lasted for an aggregate of 11 hours.
6 The number worn by Manchester United's Kevin Moran when he became the first player to be sent off in a Cup final, against Everton in 1985.
7 Years that Portsmouth were the FA Cup holders between 1939 and 1946, because of the Second World War.
8 Times that the FA Cup has been won by a club playing outside the top flight of English football. The last time was in 1980 when West Ham United beat Arsenal thanks to Trevor Brooking's rare headed goal.
9 Finals in which the Hon Arthur Kinnaird, who would later become president of the FA, played, a feat that remains unsurpassed. Kinnaird won three times with Wanderers, scoring in the 1873 and 1878 finals, and twice with Old Etonians.
9 Goals that Ted MacDougall scored when Bournemouth beat Margate 11-0 in a first-round match in 1971. MacDougall's feat is still an individual goalscoring record for the competition proper.
10 Times that the FA Cup has been successfully defended - three times each by Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers, twice by Tottenham Hotspur and once each by Newcastle United and Arsenal.
11 Times that Manchester United have won the FA Cup, more than any other club. United have also reached a record 18 finals.
11 Years between Wimbledon being elected into the Football League in 1977 and winning the FA Cup in 1988.
13 Successive finals between 1911 and 1927 in which the losing finalists failed to score.
15 Clubs who entered the first FA Cup tournament in 1871-72.
15 Penalties that have been awarded in FA Cup finals. The first player to miss in a final was Charlie Wallace, for Aston Villa against Sunderland at Crystal Palace in 1913. The first player to miss a Cup final penalty at Wembley was John Aldridge, for Liverpool against Wimbledon in 1988.
15 Years and 233 days, the age at which Gillingham striker Luke Freeman became the youngest player to appear in the competition proper when he featured in a first-round match at Barnet this season.
17 Years and 119 days, the age at which Millwall's Curtis Weston became the youngest player to appear in a final, when he came on as a late substitute for Dennis Wise in the 2004 final against Manchester United.
18 Years and 19 days, the age at which Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to score in a final when he netted Manchester United's second goal in their 4-0 replay victory over Brighton in 1983.
19 FA Cup goals scored by Preston North End's Jimmy Ross in a single season (1887-88), a competition record. Preston's 26-0 win against Hyde in the first round - a game in which Ross scored eight times - is also the biggest ever FA Cup victory.
20 Pounds, the cost of the original trophy, which was made by Messrs Martin, Hall & Co and was less than 18 inches high.
20 The number of times that Yeovil Town, as a non-League team, have beaten Football League clubs in the FA Cup.
22 The number worn by the Manchester City goalkeeper Len Langford in the 1933 final against Everton, the first when numbers featured. Everton wore numbers 1-11, while City were 12-22. Langford was powerless to prevent Dixie Dean scoring Everton's opening goal on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
23 Years and 20 days, the age at which the late, great Bobby Moore became the youngest FA Cup-winning captain, when West Ham United beat Preston North End 3-2 at Wembley in 1964.
25 The record number of times that Arsenal and Manchester United have each reached the semi-finals.
33 Years that have elapsed since a final did not feature at least one of Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.
40 Years that have elapsed since the 1968 final between West Bromwich Albion and Everton was the first to be televised in colour.
40 Years since West Bromwich Albion's Dennis Clarke became the first substitute to be used in a final.
42 Different clubs who have won the FA Cup. The last first-time winners were Wimbledon, in 1988.
48 Goals that Henry "Harry" Cursham, of Notts County, scored in the FA Cup proper between 1877 and 1887, a record that still stands. Cursham, who also played two first-class cricket matches for Nottinghamshire, recorded seven FA Cup hat-tricks.
53 Years since an FA Cup match was first played under floodlights. The first time was when Kidderminster Harriers played Brierley Hill Alliance in a preliminary round replay in 1955.
55 Years since a hat-trick was last scored in a final, by Blackpool's Stan Mortensen in the "Matthews Final".
66 Days that it took to complete the third round in 1963, the year of the "Big Freeze" that led to the formation of the Pools Panel.
94 Years since King George V became the first reigning monarch to attend a final. He watched Burnley beat Liverpool 1-0 at Crystal Palace in 1914.
126 Years since an amateur team - Old Etonians - won the FA Cup.
136 Years since the first final was played.
731 Teams that were accepted into this season's FA Cup, a competition record.
2,000 Spectators who attended the first final - at Kennington Oval in 1872 - with each of them paying one shilling. Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0.
74,924 The record crowd for a third-round tie is believed to be the 74,924 who packed into Old Trafford for last year's 2-1 victory over Aston Villa when Manchester United substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sneaked a late winner. Henrik Larsson marked his United debut with the first.
126,047 The official crowd figure for the first Wembley final, between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United, in 1923. In reality, more than 200,000 were believed to have made their way into the stadium after barriers were broken down.
750,000 Pounds, the cost of the original Wembley Stadium, built in 1923.
757,000,000 Pounds, the cost of the new Wembley Stadium.
| Newcastle United F.C. |
What name is given to the pads of tissue in the upper part ofthe throat, behind the nasal passages? | FA Cup by numbers - Telegraph
FA Cup by numbers
By Christopher Lyles
12:01AM GMT 05 Jan 2008
0 The official attendance for two third-round replays that were played behind closed doors. The first was between Norwich City and Bradford City at Lincoln City's Sincil Bank ground in March 1915. Supporters were banned so as not to disrupt production at a nearby armaments factory. The second was between Leicester City and non-League Burton Albion at Coventry City's Highfield Road in 1985 when fans were banned because a missile had been thrown at the Burton goalkeeper in the first game.
Football fans' forum
1 The number of clubs who have won the FA Cup at Wembley in the current millennium. Chelsea have done so twice, beating Aston Villa in 2000 and Manchester United last year.
1 Occasion that the FA Cup has been won by a non-League club, in 1901 when Southern League Tottenham Hotspur beat First Division Sheffield United in a replay at Bolton.
1 The number of non-English clubs who have won the FA Cup. Cardiff City became the first and only club to do so when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley in 1927.
1 Scottish club who have played in an FA Cup final. Queen's Park were runners-up in 1884 and 1885.
2 Clubs who have won the FA Cup in three successive years. Wanderers did so in 1876, 1877 and 1878 before Blackburn Rovers repeated the feat in 1884, 1885 and 1886.
3 Successive years (between 1956 and 1958) in which Leeds United were drawn at home to Cardiff City in the third round. Cardiff won all three matches 2-1.
3 Weeks between Wanderers winning the first FA Cup final in 1872 and being presented with the trophy at their annual dinner.
4 Times in seven seasons (including the current one) that Aston Villa and Manchester United have been drawn together in the third round.
4 FA Cup finals that have finished goalless. The last final without a goal was the 2005 contest between Arsenal and Manchester United, which Arsenal won 5-4 on penalties. The three previous goalless draws were in 1886, 1911 and 1912.
4 Players who have represented three different clubs in an FA Cup final. They are Harold Halse (Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea), Ernie Taylor (Newcastle United, Blackpool and Manchester United), John Barnes (Watford, Liverpool and Newcastle United) and Dennis Wise (Wimbledon, Chelsea and Millwall).
5 FA Cup final winning teams that have been managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, more than any other manager.
5 Occasions that Tottenham Hotspur have won the FA Cup when the year has ended in a "1". Spurs lifted the trophy in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991 (with their three other winning finals coming in 1962, 1967 and 1982).
5 FA Cup final goals scored by Ian Rush, more than any other player.
6 Games that it took for Alvechurch to beat Oxford City in the fourth qualifying round in 1971, the scores being 2-2, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0 and (finally) 1-0. The FA Cup's longest ever tie lasted for an aggregate of 11 hours.
6 The number worn by Manchester United's Kevin Moran when he became the first player to be sent off in a Cup final, against Everton in 1985.
7 Years that Portsmouth were the FA Cup holders between 1939 and 1946, because of the Second World War.
8 Times that the FA Cup has been won by a club playing outside the top flight of English football. The last time was in 1980 when West Ham United beat Arsenal thanks to Trevor Brooking's rare headed goal.
9 Finals in which the Hon Arthur Kinnaird, who would later become president of the FA, played, a feat that remains unsurpassed. Kinnaird won three times with Wanderers, scoring in the 1873 and 1878 finals, and twice with Old Etonians.
9 Goals that Ted MacDougall scored when Bournemouth beat Margate 11-0 in a first-round match in 1971. MacDougall's feat is still an individual goalscoring record for the competition proper.
10 Times that the FA Cup has been successfully defended - three times each by Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers, twice by Tottenham Hotspur and once each by Newcastle United and Arsenal.
11 Times that Manchester United have won the FA Cup, more than any other club. United have also reached a record 18 finals.
11 Years between Wimbledon being elected into the Football League in 1977 and winning the FA Cup in 1988.
13 Successive finals between 1911 and 1927 in which the losing finalists failed to score.
15 Clubs who entered the first FA Cup tournament in 1871-72.
15 Penalties that have been awarded in FA Cup finals. The first player to miss in a final was Charlie Wallace, for Aston Villa against Sunderland at Crystal Palace in 1913. The first player to miss a Cup final penalty at Wembley was John Aldridge, for Liverpool against Wimbledon in 1988.
15 Years and 233 days, the age at which Gillingham striker Luke Freeman became the youngest player to appear in the competition proper when he featured in a first-round match at Barnet this season.
17 Years and 119 days, the age at which Millwall's Curtis Weston became the youngest player to appear in a final, when he came on as a late substitute for Dennis Wise in the 2004 final against Manchester United.
18 Years and 19 days, the age at which Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to score in a final when he netted Manchester United's second goal in their 4-0 replay victory over Brighton in 1983.
19 FA Cup goals scored by Preston North End's Jimmy Ross in a single season (1887-88), a competition record. Preston's 26-0 win against Hyde in the first round - a game in which Ross scored eight times - is also the biggest ever FA Cup victory.
20 Pounds, the cost of the original trophy, which was made by Messrs Martin, Hall & Co and was less than 18 inches high.
20 The number of times that Yeovil Town, as a non-League team, have beaten Football League clubs in the FA Cup.
22 The number worn by the Manchester City goalkeeper Len Langford in the 1933 final against Everton, the first when numbers featured. Everton wore numbers 1-11, while City were 12-22. Langford was powerless to prevent Dixie Dean scoring Everton's opening goal on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
23 Years and 20 days, the age at which the late, great Bobby Moore became the youngest FA Cup-winning captain, when West Ham United beat Preston North End 3-2 at Wembley in 1964.
25 The record number of times that Arsenal and Manchester United have each reached the semi-finals.
33 Years that have elapsed since a final did not feature at least one of Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.
40 Years that have elapsed since the 1968 final between West Bromwich Albion and Everton was the first to be televised in colour.
40 Years since West Bromwich Albion's Dennis Clarke became the first substitute to be used in a final.
42 Different clubs who have won the FA Cup. The last first-time winners were Wimbledon, in 1988.
48 Goals that Henry "Harry" Cursham, of Notts County, scored in the FA Cup proper between 1877 and 1887, a record that still stands. Cursham, who also played two first-class cricket matches for Nottinghamshire, recorded seven FA Cup hat-tricks.
53 Years since an FA Cup match was first played under floodlights. The first time was when Kidderminster Harriers played Brierley Hill Alliance in a preliminary round replay in 1955.
55 Years since a hat-trick was last scored in a final, by Blackpool's Stan Mortensen in the "Matthews Final".
66 Days that it took to complete the third round in 1963, the year of the "Big Freeze" that led to the formation of the Pools Panel.
94 Years since King George V became the first reigning monarch to attend a final. He watched Burnley beat Liverpool 1-0 at Crystal Palace in 1914.
126 Years since an amateur team - Old Etonians - won the FA Cup.
136 Years since the first final was played.
731 Teams that were accepted into this season's FA Cup, a competition record.
2,000 Spectators who attended the first final - at Kennington Oval in 1872 - with each of them paying one shilling. Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0.
74,924 The record crowd for a third-round tie is believed to be the 74,924 who packed into Old Trafford for last year's 2-1 victory over Aston Villa when Manchester United substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sneaked a late winner. Henrik Larsson marked his United debut with the first.
126,047 The official crowd figure for the first Wembley final, between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United, in 1923. In reality, more than 200,000 were believed to have made their way into the stadium after barriers were broken down.
750,000 Pounds, the cost of the original Wembley Stadium, built in 1923.
757,000,000 Pounds, the cost of the new Wembley Stadium.
| i don't know |
Which British architect designed the 'Senedd' (the Welsh Assembly building). | BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Senedd bid for architecture award
Senedd bid for architecture award
The Senedd building was opened in March this year
The architects of the Welsh assembly's Senedd building in Cardiff are waiting to see if it will pick up one of Britain's top architecture prizes.
The Richard Rogers-designed debating chamber is up against five other buildings for the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize.
The winner will be revealed on Saturday night.
As well as political debates, the Senedd is also hosting the makers of the new BBC series of Doctor Who.
The �67m building is competing against a children's hospital, an airport terminal, a science centre, a brick house and a library.
RIBA president Jack Pringle said the shortlist was "fascinating".
He added: "These buildings have created amazing places, popular with the people who use them while also pushing boundaries in our knowledge and understanding of architecture."
Previous winners include the "Gherkin" in the City of London, the Scottish Parliament building and Gateshead's Millennium Bridge.
STIRLING SHORTLIST
Senedd building, Cardiff Richard Rogers Partnership
Terminal building at Barajas airport, Madrid Richard Rogers Partnership
Brick House, London, Caruso St John Architects
Evelina Children's Hospital, London Hopkins Architects
Idea Store, London Adjaye/Associates
Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsberg, Germany Zaha Hadid Architects and Mayer
But because the Scottish Parliament took the 2005 prize there are doubts whether a parliament building can win again this year.
Welsh architect Malcolm Parry said the award would be "political".
"It would be very difficult I think for the judges however objective to give it to another parliament building," he said.
But assembly presiding officer Dafydd Elis Thomas insisted the two buildings were very different.
He said of the Senedd: "The decision to place the debating chamber at the centre of it - it's as if the democratic secret has been opened up.
"The message is 'come in'. This is the space under the tree where people come together to discuss the future of the nation."
Despite the initial scepticism and wrangling over the course of its development, it has proved to be popular with nearly 250,000 visitors passing through its doors since it opened in March.
There is stiff competition from other high profile buildings across Europe designed by British-based architects.
The new terminal building at Madrid airport and the Evelina Children's Hospital in London are amongst the other five in the running.
'Wonderful place'
Jonathan Adams, of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, said that the �20,000 prize is given to buildings which "have taken risks, just like this one".
The futuristic building is to be transformed into a set for the latest adventures of the Time Lord.
Lowri Thomas, series location manager, said they were looking for a modern, glamorous building and that the Senedd was "perfect".
She said: "We were very surprised when it was agreed that we could film here, especially since it's a public building."
Lord Elis-Thomas said, that like Dr Who's Tardis, "it looks small from the outside but inside it's a wonderful place to be".
| Richard Rogers |
What name is given to a geometrical figure with four equal sides, but no right angles? | Buildings and Projects by Richard Rogers Partnership
Buildings and Projects by Richard Rogers Partnership
Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters
Thanks, You're in!
There was an error. Please try again.
Please select a newsletter.
Please enter a valid email address.
Did you mean ?
| i don't know |
Name the saint who as abbot of Lindisfarne promoted the cause of Celtic Christianity at the Great Synod of Whitby.His body lies in Durham Cathedral? | Internet History Sourcebooks
Bede: The Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindesfarne (721)
Author
Bede was born in 673, in Northumberland, became a monk and died at Jarrow in 735. His modern feast day is May 25. He was one of the most important intellects, and most prolific writers of his time. Among his other accomplishments was in becoming the only Englishman in Dante's Divine Comedy. His most important work his is History of the English Church and People, but he wrote many others - biblical commentaries and hagiography in particular.
Saint
Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, given here complete in the translation by J.A. Giles, recounts the life of Cuthbert, famed in his time as a miracle worker. Cuthbert was probably born in Northumberland circa 634. He was educated by Irish monks at Melrose Abbey. At various times in his life, Cuthbert was a monk, a solitary, and - briefly - a bishop. He died on Farne Island in 687. His feast day is March 20. An early anonymous Life of Cuthbert was written about 700, but the discovery of Cuthbert's uncorrupt body gave a new impetus to the cult, and Bede used the earlier Life to write his own verse Life, around 716, and this, longer, prose Life around 721. This includes ten chapters of new material, derived from Herefrith (3, 6, 8-9, 19, 23, 31, 35, 43, and 46). Both the anonymous (in 7 manuscripts) and Bede's life (in 38 manuscripts) survive. Bede's version was used for two famous 12th-century illuminated [Oxford, Univ. Col MS 165, and Brit. Mus. Yates Thompson MS 26]. [Farmer, 16-17].
Relics
The relics of St. Cuthbert have a particularly well documented history. As indicated it was the discover of the incorrupt body which led Bede to write. In 875, after the second Viking raid on Lindesfarne, the body was moved to Northumbria, and rested at several sites until in 995 the casket was moved to Durham, and enshrined there on September 4, 999. There it was visited by William the Conqueror in 1069. Later it was moved to Durham Cathedral. In 1104, when Cuthbert had been dead 418 years, the casket was opened, and the body was found to be still smelling sweet, and uncorrupt. Throughout the middle ages, Durham was the major pilgrimage center of the North of England, and Cuthbert the most famous saint.
The commissioners of Henry VIII were sent to destroy the tomb in 1537. Archbishop Charles of Glasgow, who wrote a History of St. Cuthbert, (London: New York: 1887) reports that:-
[Dr. Lee, Dr. Henly and Mr. Blythman on approaching the Shrine] found many valuable and goodly jewels
After the spoil of his ornaments and jewels they approached near his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes: but, perceiving the chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the goldsmith
broke it open, when they found him lying whole uncorrupt with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's growth, and all the vestments about him as he was accustomed to say mass.
The monks were allowed to bury him on the ground under where the shrine had been. This was opened again in 1827, at which time a skeleton, swathed in decayed robes, was found. The designs matched those described in the 1104 accounts, although some argued the real body was elsewhere. [Cruz, 54-55].
The question of how one tackles stories like those of Cuthbert's relics is an important one for historians of sanctity.
In the late 19th century, St. Cuthbert's name became attached to the co-operative retail society of Southeast Scotland, and his name still adorns countless store fronts, being among the most familiar of all early English saints.
PREFACE
To the holy and most blessed Father Bishop Eadfrid, and to all the Congregation of Brothers also, who serve Christ in the Island of Lindisfarne, Bede, your faithful fellow-servant, sends greeting.
INASMUCH as you bade me, my beloved, prefix to the book, which I have written at your request about the life of our father Cuthbert, of blessed memory, some preface, as I usually do, by which its readers might become acquainted with your desire and my readiness to gratify it, it has seemed good to me, by way of preface, to recall to the minds of those among you who know, and to make known to those readers who were before ignorant thereof, how that I have not presumed without minute investigation to write any of the deeds of so great a man, nor without the most accurate examination of credible witnesses to hand over what I had written to be transcribed. Moreover, when I learnt from those who knew the beginning, the middle, and the end of his glorious life and conversation, I sometimes inserted the names of these my authors, to establish the truth of my narrative, and thus ventured to put my pen to paper and to write. But when my work was arranged, but still kept back from publication, I frequently submitted it for perusal and for correction to our reverend brother Herefrid the priest, and others, who for a long time had well known the life and conversation of that man of God. Some faults were, at their suggestion, carefully amended, and thus every scruple being utterly removed, I have taken care to commit to writing what I clearly ascertained to be the truth, and to bring it into your presence also, my brethren, in order that by the judgment of your authority, what I have written might be either corrected, if false, or certified to be true. Whilst, with God's assistance, I was so engaged, and my book was read during two days by the elders and teachers of your congregation, and was accurately weighed and examined in all its parts, there was nothing at all found which required to be altered, but every thing which I had written was by common consent pronounced worthy to be read without any hesitation, and to be handed over to be copied by such as by zeal for religion should be disposed to do so. But you also, in my presence, added many other facts of no less importance than what I had written, concerning the life and virtues of that blessed man, and which well deserved to be mentioned, if I had not thought it unmeet to insert new matter into a work, which, after due deliberation, I considered to be perfect.
Furthermore, I have thought right to admonish your gracious company, that, as I have not delayed to render prompt obedience to your commands, so you also may not be slow to confer on me the reward of your intercession; but when you read this book, and in pious recollection of that holy father lift up your souls with ardour in aspiration for the heavenly kingdom, do not forget to entreat the Divine clemency in favour of my littleness, in as far as I may deserve both at present with singleness of mind to long for and hereafter in perfect happiness to behold the goodness of our Lord in the land of the living. But also when I am defunct, pray ye for the redemption of my soul, for I was your friend and faithful servant; offer up masses for me, and enrol my name among your own. For you, also, most holy prelate, remember to have promised this to me, and in testimony of such future enrolment you gave orders to your pious brother Guthfrid, that he should even now enrol my name in the white book of your holy congregation And may your holiness know that I already have written in heroic verse, as well as in this prose work, which I offer to you, the life of this same our father beloved by God, somewhat more briefly indeed, but nevertheless in the same order, because some of our brethren entreated the same of me: and if you wish to have those verses, you can obtain from me a copy of them. In the preface of that work I promised that I would write more fully at another time of his life and miracles; which promise, in my present work, I have, as far as God has allowed me, done my best to perform.
Wherefore it is my prayer for you, that Almighty God may deign to guard your holinesses in peace and safety, dearest brethren and masters of mine.-Amen !
CHAPTER I
HOW CUTHBERT, THE CHILD OF GOD, WAS WARNED BY A CHILD OF HIS FUTURE BISHOPRIC
THE beginning of our history of the life of the blessed Cuthbert is hallowed by Jeremiah the prophet, who, in exaltation of the anchorite's perfect state, says, " It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth; he shall sit alone, and shall be silent, because he shall raise himself above himself." For, inspired by the sweetness of this good, Cuthbert, the man of God, from his early youth bent his neck beneath the yoke of the monastic institution; and when occasion presented itself, having laid fast hold of the anachoretic life, he rejoiced to sit apart for no small space of time, and for the sweetness of divine meditation to hold his tongue silent from human colloquy. But that he should be able to do this in his advanced years, was the effect of God's grace inciting him gradually to the way of truth from his early childhood; for even to the eighth year of his life, which is the first year of boyhood succeeding to infancy, he gave his mind to such plays and enjoyments alone as boys delight in, so that it might be testified of him as it was of Samuel, " Moreover Cuthbert knew not yet the Lord, neither had the voice of the Lord been revealed to him. " Such was the panegyric of his boyhood, who in more ripened age was destined perfectly to know the Lord, and opening the ears of his mind to imbibe the voice of God. He took delight, as we have stated, in mirth and clamour; and, as was natural at his age, rejoiced to attach himself to the company of other boys, and to share in their sports: and because he was agile by nature, and of a quick mind, he often prevailed over them in their boyish contests, and frequently, when the rest were tired, he alone would hold out, and look triumphantly around to see if any remained to contend with him for victory. For in jumping, running, wrestling, or any other bodily exercise, he boasted that he could surpass all those who were of the same age, and even some that were older than himself. For when he was a child, he knew as a child, he thought as a child; but afterwards, when he became a man, he most abundantly laid aside all those childish things.
And indeed Divine Providence found from the first a worthy preceptor to curb the sallies of his youthful mind. For, as Trumwine of blessed memory told me on the authority of Cuthbert himself, there were one day some customary games going on in a field, and a large number of boys were got together, amongst whom was Cuthbert, and in the excitement of boyish whims, several of them began to bend their bodies into various unnatural forms. On a sudden, one of them, apparently about three years old, runs up to Cuthbert, and in a firm tone exhorts him not to indulge in idle play and follies, but to cultivate the powers of his mind, as well as those of his body. When Cuthbert made light of his advice, the boy fell to the ground, and shed tears bitterly. The rest run up to console him, but he persists in weeping. They ask him why he burst out crying so unexpectedly. At length he made answer, and turning to Cuthbert, who was trying to comfort him, "Why," said he, "do you, holy Cuthbert, priest and prelate ! give yourself up to these things which are so opposite to your nature and rank? It does not become you to be playing among children, when the Lord has appointed you to be a teacher of virtue even to those who are older than yourself." Cuthbert, being a boy of a good disposition, heard these words with evident attention, and pacifying the crying child with affectionate caresses, immediately abandoned his vain sports, and returning home, began from that moment to exhibit an unusual decision both of mind and character, as if the same Spirit which had spoken outwardly to him by the mouth of the boy, were now beginning to exert its influence inwardly in his heart. Nor ought we to be surprised that the same God can restrain the levity of a child by the mouth of a child, who made even the dumb beast to speak when He would check the folly of the prophet: and truly it is said in his honour, " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise ! "
CHAPTER II
HOW HE BECAME LAME WITH A SWELLING IN HIS KNEE, AND WAS CURED BY AN ANGEL
BUT because to every one who hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; that is, to every one who hath the determination and the love of virtue, shall be given, by Divine Providence, an abundance of these things; since Cuthbert, the child of God, carefully retained in his mind what he had received from the admonition of man, he was thought worthy also of being comforted by the company and conversation of angels. For his knee was seized with a sudden pain, and began to swell into a large tumour; the nerves of his thigh became contracted, and he was obliged to walk lamely, dragging after him his diseased leg, until at length the pain increased, and he was unable to walk at all. One day he had been carried out of doors by the attendants, and was reclining in the open air, when he suddenly saw at a distance a man on horseback approaching, clothed in white garments, and honourable to be looked upon, and the horse, too, on which he sat, was of incomparable beauty. He drew near to Cuthbert, and saluted him mildly, and asked him as in jest, whether he had no civilities to show to such a guest. " Yes," said the other, " I should be most ready to jump up and offer you all the attention in my power, were I not, for my sins, held bound by this infirmity: for I have long had this painful swelling in my knee, and no physician, with all his care, has yet been able to heal me. " The man, leaping from his horse, began to look earnestly at the diseased knee. Presently he said, "Boil some wheaten flour in milk, and apply the poultice warm to the swelling, and you will be well." Having said this, he again mounted his horse and departed. Cuthbert did as he was told, and after a few days was well. He at once perceived that it was an angel who had given him the advice, and sent by Him who formerly deigned to send his archangel Raphael to restore the eyesight of Tobit. If any one think it incredible that an angel should appear on horseback, let him read the history of the Maccabees, in which angels are said to have come on horseback to the assistance of Judas Maccabaeus, and to defend God's own temple.
CHAPTER III
HOW HE CHANGED THE WINDS BY PRAYER, AND BROUGHT THE SCATTERED SHIPS SAFE TO LAND
FROM this time the lad becoming devoted to the Lord, as he afterwards assured his friends, often prayed to God amid dangers that surrounded him, and was defended by angelic assistance; nay, even in behalf of others who were in any danger, his benevolent piety sent forth prayers to God, and he was heard by Him who listens to the cry of the poor, and the men were rescued out of all their tribulations. There is, moreover, a monastery lying towards the south, not far from the mouth of the river Tyne, at that time consisting of monks, but now changed, like all other human things, by time, and inhabited by a noble company of virgins, dedicated to Christ. Now, as these pious servants of God were gone to bring from a distance in ships, up the above-named river, some timber for the use of the monastery, and had already come opposite the place where they were to bring the ships to land, behold a violent wind, rising from the west, carried away their ships, and scattered them to a distance from the river's mouth. The brethren, seeing this from the monastery, launched some boats into the river, and tried to succour those who were on board the vessels, but were unable, because the force of the tide and violence of the winds overcame them. In despair therefore of human aid, they had recourse to God, and issuing forth from the monastery, they gathered themselves together on a point of rock, near which the vessels were tossing in the sea: here they bent their knees, and supplicated the Lord for those whom they saw under such imminent danger of destruction. But the Divine will was in no haste to grant these vows, however earnest; and this was, without a doubt, in order that it might be seen what effect was in Cuthbert's prayers. For there was a large multitude of people standing on the other bank of the river and Cuthbert also was among them. Whilst the monks were looking on in sorrow, seeing the vessels, five in number, hurried rapidly out to sea, so that they looked like five sea-birds on the waves, the multitude began to deride their manner of life, as if they had deserved to suffer this loss, by abandoning the usual modes of life, and framing for themselves new rules by which to guide their conduct. Cuthbert restrained the insults of the blasphemers, saying, "What are you doing, my brethren, in thus reviling those whom you see hurried to destruction ? Would it not be better and more humane to entreat the Lord in their behalf, than thus to take delight in their misfortunes? " But the rustics, turning on him with angry minds and angry mouths, exclaimed, " Nobody shall pray for them: may God spare none of them ! for they have taken away from men the ancient rites and customs, and how the new ones are to be attended to, nobody knows. " At this reply, Cuthbert fell on his knees to pray, and bent his head towards the earth; immediately the power of the winds was checked, the vessels, with their conductors rejoicing, were cast upon the land near the monastery, at the place intended. The rustics blushing for their infidelity, both on the spot extolled the faith of Cuthbert as it deserved, and never afterwards ceased to extol it: so that one of the most worthy brothers of our monastery, from whose mouth I received this narrative, said that he had often, in company with many others, heard it related by one of those who were present, a man of the most rustic simplicity, and altogether incapable of telling an untruth.
CHAPTER IV
HOW, IN COMPANY WITH SHEPHERDS, HE SAW THE SOUL OF BISHOP AIDAN CARRIED TO HEAVEN BY ANGELS
BUT whereas the grace of Christ, which is the directress of the life of the faithful, decreed that its servant should encounter the merit of a more rigid institution, and earn the glory of a higher prize, it chanced upon a time that he was tending a flock of sheep entrusted to his care on some distant mountains. One night, whilst his companions were sleeping, and he himself was awake, as he was wont to be, and engaged in prayer, on a sudden he saw a long stream of light break through the darkness of the night, and in the midst of it a company of the heavenly host descended to the earth, and having received among them a spirit of surpassing brightness, returned without delay to their heavenly home. The young man, beloved of God, was struck with the sight, and, stimulated to encounter the honours of spiritual warfare, and to earn for himself eternal life and happiness among God's mighty ones, he forthwith offered up praise and thanksgivings to the Lord, and called upon his companions, with brotherly exhortations, to imitate his example. "Miserable men that we are," said he, "whilst we are resigning ourselves to sleep and idleness, we take no thought to behold the light of God's holy angels, who never sleep. Behold, whilst I was awake and praying, during a moderate portion of the night, I saw such great miracles of God. The door of heaven was opened, and there was led in thither, amidst an angelic company, the spirit of some holy man, who now, for ever blessed, beholds the glory of the heavenly mansion, and Christ its King, whilst we still grovel amid this earthly darkness: and I think it must have been some holy bishop, or some favoured one from out of the company of the faithful, whom I saw thus carried into heaven amid so much splendour by that large angelic choir. " As the man of God said these words, the hearts of the shepherds were kindled up to reverence and praise. When the morning was come, he found that Aidan, bishop of the Church of Lindisfarne, a man of exalted piety, had ascended to the heavenly kingdom at the very moment of his vision. Immediately, therefore, he delivered over the sheep, which he was feeding, to their owners, and determined forthwith to enter a monastery.
CHAPTER V
HOW, ON HIS WAY, HE WAS SUPPLIED WITH FOOD BY GOD
AND when he now began with care to meditate on his intended entrance to a more rigid course of life, God 's grace was revealed to him, whereby his mind was strengthened in its purpose, and it was shown to him by the clearest evidence, that to those who seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the bounty of the Divine promise will grant all other things also, which are necessary for their bodily support. For on a certain day, as he was journeying alone, he turned aside at the fourth hour into a village which lay at some distance, and to which he found his way. Here he entered the house of a pious mother of a family, in order to rest himself a little, and to procure food for his horse rather than for himself, for it was the beginning of winter. The woman received him kindly, and begged him to allow her to get him some dinner, that he might refresh himself. The man of God refused, saying, " I cannot yet eat, for it is a fast-day." It was the sixth day of the week, on which many of the faithful, out of reverence to the Lord's passion, are accustomed to extend their fasting even to the ninth hour. The woman, from a motive of hospitality, persisted in her request. "Behold," said she, "on the way you are going there is no village, nor house; you have a long journey before you, and cannot get through it before sunset. Let me entreat you, therefore, to take some food before you go, or else you will be obliged to fast all the day, and perhaps even till to-morrow." But though the woman pressed him much, his love of religion prevailed, and he fasted the whole day until the evening.
When the evening drew near, and he perceived that he could not finish his intended journey the same day, and that there was no house at hand in which he could pass the night, he presently fell upon some shepherds' huts, which, having been slightly constructed in the summer, were now deserted and ruinous. Into one of these he entered, and having tied his horse to the wall, placed before him a handful of hay, which the wind had forced from the roof. He then turned his thoughts to prayer, but suddenly, as he was singing a psalm, he saw his horse lift up his head and pull out some straw from the roof, and among the straw there fell down a linen cloth folded up, with something in it. When he had ended his prayers, wishing to see what this was, he came and opened the cloth, and found in it half of a loaf of bread, still hot, and some meat, enough of both to serve him for a single meal. In gratitude for the Divine goodness, he exclaimed, "Thanks be to God, who of his bounty hath deigned to provide a meal for me when I was hungry, as well as a supper for my beast." He therefore divided the piece of bread into two parts, of which he gave one to his horse and kept the other for himself; and from that day forward he was more ready than before to fast, because he now felt convinced that the food had been provided for him in the desert by the gift of Him who formerly fed the prophet Elias for so long a time by means of ravens, when there was no man to minister unto him, whose eyes are upon those that fear Him, and upon those who trust in his mercy, that He may save their souls from death, and may feed them when they are hungry. I learnt these particulars from a religious man of our monastery of Weremouth, a priest of the name of Ingwald, who now, by reason of his extreme old age, is turning his attention, in purity of heart, to spiritual things rather than to earthly and carnal affections, and who said that the authority on which his relation rested was no less than that of Cuthbert himself.
CHAPTER VI
HOW, AS HE WAS COMING TO A MONASTERY, BOISIL, A HOLY MAN, BORE TESTIMONY TO HIM BY PROPHESYING IN SPIRIT
MEANWHILE this reverend servant of God, abandoning worldly things, hastens to submit to monastic discipline, having been excited by his heavenly vision to covet the joys of everlasting happiness, and invited by the food with which God had supplied him to encounter hunger and thirst in his service. He knew that the Church of Lindisfarne contained many holy men, by whose teaching and example he might be instructed, but he was moved by the great reputation of Boisil, a monk and priest of surpassing merit, to choose for himself an abode in the abbey of Melrose. And it happened by chance, that when he was arrived there, and had leaped from his horse, that he might enter the church to pray, he gave his horse and travelling spear to a servant, for he had not yet resigned the dress and habits of a layman. Boisil was standing before the doors of the monastery, and saw him first. Foreseeing in spirit what an illustrious man the stranger would become, he made this single remark to the bystanders: " Behold a servant of the Lord ! " herein imitating Him who said of Nathaniel, when he approached Him, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile ! " I was told this by that veteran priest and servant of God, the pious Sigfrid, for he was standing by when Boisil said these words, and was at that time a youth studying the first rudiments of the monastic life in that same monastery, but now he is a man, perfect in the Lord, living in our monastery of Yarrow, and amid the last sighs of his fainting body thirsting for a happy entrance into another life. Boisil, without saying more, kindly received Cuthbert as he approached; and when he had heard the cause of his coming, namely, that he preferred the monastery to the world, he kept him near himself, for he was the prior of that same monastery.
After a few days, when Eata, who was at that time priest and abbot of the monastery, but afterwards bishop of Lindisfarne, was come, Boisil told him about Cuthbert, how that he was a young man of a promising disposition, and obtained permission that he should receive the tonsure, and be enrolled among the brethren. When he had thus entered the monastery, he conformed himself to the rules of the place with the same zeal as the others, and indeed, sought to surpass them by observing stricter discipline; and in reading, working, watching, and praying, he fairly outdid them all. Like the mighty Samson of old, he carefully abstained from every drink which could intoxicate; but was not able to abstain equally from food, lest his body might be thereby rendered less able to work: for he was of a robust frame arid of unimpaired strength, and fit for any labour which he might be disposed to take in hand.
CHAPTER VII
HOW HE ENTERTAINED AN ANGEL, AND WHILST MINISTERING TO HIM EARTHLY BREAD, WAS THOUGHT WORTHY TO BE REWARDED WITH BREAD FROM HEAVEN
SOME years after, it pleased King Alfred, for the redemption of his soul, to grant to Abbot Eata a certain tract of country called Inrhipum, in which to build a monastery. The abbot, in consequence of this grant, erected the intended building, and placed therein certain of his brother-monks, among whom was Cuthbert, and appointed for them the same rules and discipline which were observed at Melrose. It chanced that Cuthbert was appointed to the office of receiving strangers, and he is said to have entertained an angel of the Lord who came to make trial of his piety. For, as he went very early in the morning, from the interior of the monastery into the strangers' cell, he found there seated a young person, whom he considered to be a man, and entertained as such. He gave him water to wash his hands; he washed his feet himself, wiped them, and humbly dried them in his bosom; after which he entreated him to remain till the third hour of the day and take some breakfast, lest, if he should go on his journey fasting, he might suffer from hunger and the cold of winter. For he took him to be a man, and thought that a long journey by night and a severe fall of snow had caused him to turn in thither in the morning to rest himself. The other replied, that he could not tarry, for the home to which he was hastening lay at some distance. After much entreaty, Cuthbert adjured him in God's name to stop; and as the third hour was now come, prayer over, and it was time to breakfast, he placed before him a table with some food, and said, " I beseech thee, brother, eat and refresh thyself, whilst I go and fetch some hot bread, which must now, I think, be just baked. " When he returned, the young man, whom he had left eating, was gone, and he could see no traces of his footsteps, though there had been a fresh fall of snow, which would have exhibited marks of a person walking upon it, and shown which way he went. The man of God was astonished, and revolving the circumstances in his mind, put back the table in the dining-room. Whilst doing so, he perceived a most surprising odour and sweetness; and looking round to see from what it might proceed, he saw three white loaves placed there, of unusual whiteness and excellence. Trembling at the sight, he said within himself, " I perceive that it was an angel of the Lord whom I entertained, and that he came to feed us, not to be fed himself. Behold, he hath brought such loaves as this earth never produced; they surpass the lily in whiteness, the rose in odour, and honey in taste. They are, therefore, not produced from this earth, but are sent from paradise. No wonder that he rejected my offer of earthly food, when he enjoys such bread as this in heaven." The man of God was stimulated by this powerful miracle to be more zealous still in performing works of piety; and with his deeds did increase upon him also the grace of God. From that time he often saw and conversed with angels, and when hungry was fed with unwonted food furnished direct from God.
He was affable and pleasant in his character; and when he was relating to the fathers the acts of their predecessors, as an incentive to piety, he would introduce also, in the meekest way, the spiritual benefits which the love of God had conferred upon himself. And this he took care to do in a covert manner, as if it had happened to another person. His hearers, however, perceived that he was speaking of himself, after the pattern of that master who at one time unfolds his own merits without disguise, and at another time says, under the guise of another, " I knew a man in Christ fourteen years ago, who was carried up into the third heaven."
CHAPTER VIII
HOW CUTHBERT WAS RECOVERED FROM SICKNESS, AND BOISIL, ON HIS DEATH-BED, FORETOLD TO HIM HIS FUTURE FORTUNES
MEANWHILE, as every thing in this world is frail and fluctuating, like the sea when a storm comes on, the above-named Abbot Eata, with Cuthbert and the other brethren, were expelled from their residence, and the monastery given to others. But our worthy champion of Christ did not by reason of his change of place relax his zeal in carrying on the spiritual conflict which he had undertaken; but he attended, as he had ever done, to the precepts and example of the blessed Boisil. About this time, according to his friend Herefrid the priest, who was formerly abbot of the monastery of Lindisfarne, he was seized with a pestilential disease, of which many inhabitants of Britain were at that time sick. The brethren of the monastery passed the whole night in prayer for his life and health; for they thought it essential to them that so pious a man should be present with them in the flesh. They did this without his knowing it; and when they told him of it in the morning, he exclaimed, " Then why am I lying here ? I did not think it possible that God should have neglected your prayers: give me my stick and shoes." Accordingly, he got out of bed, and tried to walk, leaning on his stick; and finding his strength gradually return, he was speedily restored to health: but because the swelling on his thigh, though it died away to all outward appearances, struck into his inwards, he felt a little pain in his inside all his life afterwards; so that, as we find it expressed in the Apostles, " his strength was perfected in weakness."
When that servant of the Lord, Boisil, saw that Cuthbert was restored, he said, " You see, my brother, how you have recovered from your disease, and I assure you it will give you no further trouble, nor are you likely to die at present. I advise you, inasmuch as death is waiting for me, to learn from me all you can whilst I am able to teach you; for I have only seven days longer to enjoy my health of body, or to exercise the powers of my tongue." Cuthbert, implicitly believing what he heard, asked him what he would advise him to begin to read, so as to be able to finish it in seven days. "John the Evangelist," said Boisil. "I have a copy containing seven quarto sheets: we can, with God's help, read one every day, and meditate thereon as far as we are able. " They did so accordingly, and speedily accomplished the task; for they sought therein only that simple faith which operates by love, and did not trouble themselves with minute and subtle questions. After their seven days' study was completed, Boisil died of the above-named complaint; and after death entered into the joys of eternal life. They say that, during these seven days, he foretold to Cuthbert every thing which should happen to him: for, as I have said before, he was a prophet and a man of remarkable piety. And, moreover, he had three years ago foretold to Abbot Eata, that this pestilence would come, and that he himself would die of it; but that the abbot should die of another disease, which the physicians call dysentery; and in this also he was a true prophet, as the event proved. Among others, he told Cuthbert that he should be ordained bishop. When Cuthbert became an anchorite, he would not communicate this prophecy to any one, but with much sorrow assured the brethren who came to visit him, that if he had a humble residence on a rock, where the waves of the ocean shut him out from all the world, he should not even then consider himself safe from its snares, but should be afraid that on some occasion or other he might fall victim to the love of riches.
CHAPTER IX
HOW CUTHBERT WAS ZEALOUS IN THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
AFTER the death of Boisil, Cuthbert took upon himself the duties of the office before mentioned; and for many years discharged them with the most pious zeal, as became a saint: for he not only furnished both precept and example to his brethren of the monastery, but sought to lead the minds of the neighbouring people to the love of heavenly things. Many of them, indeed, disgraced the faith which they professed, by unholy deeds; and some of them, in the time of mortality, neglecting the sacrament of their creed, had recourse to idolatrous remedies, as if by charms or amulets, or any other mysteries of the magical art, they were able to avert a stroke inflicted upon them by the Lord. To correct these errors, he often went out from the monastery, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, and preached the way of truth to the neighbouring villages, as Boisil, his predecessor, had done before him. It was at this time customary for the English people to flock together when a clerk or priest entered a village, and listen to what he said, that so they might learn something from him, and amend their lives. Now Cuthbert was so skilful in teaching, and so zealous in what he undertook, that none dared to conceal from him their thoughts, but all acknowledged what they had done amiss; for they supposed that it was impossible to escape his notice, and they hoped to merit forgiveness by an honest confession. He was mostly accustomed to travel to those villages which lay in out of the way places among the mountains, which by their poverty and natural horrors deterred other visitors. Yet even here did his devoted mind find exercise for his powers of teaching, insomuch that he often remained a week, sometimes two or three, nay, even a whole month, without returning home; but dwelling among the mountains, taught the poor people, both by the words of his preaching, and also by his own holy conduct.
CHAPTER X
HOW CUTHBERT PASSED THE NIGHT IN THE SEA, PRAYING; AND WHEN HE WAS COME OUT, TWO ANIMALS OF THE SEA DID HIM REVERENCE; AND HOW THE BROTHER, WHO SAW THOSE THINGS, BEING IN FEAR, WAS ENCOURAGED BY CUTHBERT
WHEN this holy man was thus acquiring renown by his virtues and miracles, Ebbe, a pious woman and handmaid of Christ, was the head of a monastery at a place called the city of Coludi, remarkable both for piety and noble birth, for she was half-sister of King Oswy. She sent messengers to the man of God, entreating him to come and visit her monastery. This loving message from the handmaid of his Lord he could not treat with neglect, but, coming to the place and stopping several days there, he confirmed, by his life and conversation, the way of truth which he taught.
Here also, as elsewhere, he would go forth, when others were asleep, and having spent the night in watchfulness return home at the hour of morning-prayer. Now one night, a brother of the monastery, seeing him go out alone followed him privately to see what he should do. But he when he left the monastery, went down to the sea, which flows beneath, and going into it, until the water reached his neck and arms, spent the night in praising God. When the dawn of day approached, he came out of the water, and, falling on his knees, began to pray again. Whilst he was doing this, two quadrupeds, called otters, came up from the sea, and, lying down before him on the sand, breathed upon his feet, and wiped them with their hair after which, having received his blessing, they returned to their native element. Cuthbert himself returned home in time to join in the accustomed hymns with the other brethren. The brother, who waited for him on the heights, was so terrified that he could hardly reach home; and early in the morning he came and fell at his feet, asking his pardon, for he did not doubt that Cuthbert was fully acquainted with all that had taken place. To whom Cuthbert replied, " What is the matter, my brother ? What have you done? Did you follow me to see what I was about to do? I forgive you for it on one condition,-that you tell it to nobody before my death." In this he followed the example of our Lord, who, when He showed his glory to his disciples on the mountain, said, " See that you tell no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead." When the brother had assented to this condition, he give him his blessing, and released him from all his trouble. The man concealed this miracle during St. Cuthbert's life; but, after his death, took care to tell it to as many persons as he was able.
CHAPTER XI
HOW, WHEN THE SAILORS WERE PREVENTED FROM SAILING BY BAD WEATHER, HE PREDICTED THAT IT WOULD BE FINE ON A CERTAIN DAY, AND HOW HE OBTAINED FOOD BY PRAYER
MEANWHILE the man of God began to wax strong in the spirit of prophecy, to foretell future events, and to describe to those he was with what things were going on elsewhere. Once upon a time he left the monastery for some necessary reason, and went by sea to the land of the Picts, which is called Niduari. Two of the brethren accompanied him; and one of these, who afterwards discharged the priest's office, made known to several the miracle which the man of God there performed. They arrived there the day after Christmas-day, hoping, because the weather and sea were both tranquil, that they should soon return; and for this reason they took no food with them. They were, however, deceived in their expectations; for no sooner were they come to land, than a tempest arose, and prevented them from returning. After stopping there several days, suffering from cold and hunger, the day of the holy Epiphany was at hand, and the man of God, who had spent the night in prayer and watching, not in idleness or sloth, addressed them with cheerful and soothing language, as he was accustomed: "Why do we remain here idle? Let us do the best we can to save ourselves. The ground is covered with snow, and the heaven with clouds; the currents of both winds and waves are right against us: we are famished with hunger, and there is no one to relieve us. Let us importune the Lord with our prayers, that, as He opened to his people a path through the Red Sea, and miraculously fed them in the wilderness, He may take pity on us also in our present distress. If our faith does not waver, I do not think He will suffer us to remain all this day fasting-a day which He formerly made so bright with his heavenly majesty. I pray you, therefore, to come with me and see what provision He has made for us, that we may ourselves rejoice in his joy." Saying these words, he led them to the shore where he himself had been accustomed to pray at night. On their arrival, they found there three pieces of dolphin's flesh, looking as if some one had cut them and prepared them to be cooked. They fell on their knees and gave thanks to God. "You see, my beloved brethren," said Cuthbert, "how great is the grace of God to him who hopes and trusts in the Lord. Behold, He has prepared food for his servants; and by the number three points out to us how long we must remain here. Take, therefore, the gifts which Christ has sent us; let us go and refresh ourselves, and abide here without fear, for after three days there will most assuredly be a calm, both of the heavens and of the sea." All this was so as he had said: three days the storm lasted most violently; on the fourth day the promised calm followed, and they returned with a fair wind home.
CHAPTER XII
HOW HE FORETOLD THAT, ON A JOURNEY, AN EAGLE WOULD BRING HIM FOOD, AND HOW THIS TOOK PLACE ACCORDINGLY
IT happened, also, that on a certain day he was going forth from the monastery to preach, with one attendant only, and when they became tired with walking, though a great part of their journey still lay before them ere they could reach the village to which they were going, Cuthbert said to his follower, "Where shall we stop to take refreshment? or do you know any one on the road to whom we may turn in ? "-" I was myself thinking on the same subject," said the boy; "for we have brought no provisions with us. and I know no one on the road who will entertain us, and we have a long journey still before us, which we cannot well accomplish without eating. " The man of God replied, " My son, learn to have faith, and trust in God, who will never suffer to perish with hunger those who trust in Him." Then looking up, and seeing an eagle flying in the air, he said, " Do you perceive that eagle yonder? It is possible for God to feed us even by means of that eagle." As they were thus discoursing, they came near a river, and behold the eagle was standing on its bank. "Look," said the man of God, "there is our handmaid, the eagle, that I spoke to you about. Run, and see what provision God hath sent us, and come again and tell me." The boy ran, and found a good-sized fish, which the eagle had just caught. But the man of God reproved him, " What have you done, my son? Why have you not given part to God's handmaid? Cut the fish in two pieces, and give her one, as her service well deserves." He did as he was bidden, and carried the other part with him on his journey. When the time for eating was come, they turned aside to a certain village, and having given the fish to be cooked, made an excellent repast, and gave also to their entertainers, whilst Cuthbert preached to them the word of God, and blessed Him for his mercies; for happy is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who has not looked upon vanity and foolish deceit. After this, they resumed their journey, to preach to those among whom they were going.
CHAPTER XIII
HOW HE FORESAW A VISION OF A FIRE COMING FROM THE DEVIL WHILST HE WAS PREACHING, AND HOW HE PUT OUT THE SAME
ABOUT the same time, as he was preaching the word of life to a number of persons assembled in a certain village, he suddenly saw in the spirit our old enemy coming to retard the work of salvation, and forthwith began by admonitions to prevent the snares and devices which he saw were coming. "Dearest brethren," said he, "as often as you hear the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom preached to you, you should listen with attentive heart and with watchful feelings, lest the devil, who has a thousand ways of harming you, prevent you by superfluous cares from hearing the word of salvation." As he said these words, he resumed the thread of his discourse, and immediately that wicked enemy, bringing supernatural fire, set light to a neighbouring house, so that flakes of fire seemed to fly through the air, and a storm of wind and thunder shook the sky. Nearly the whole multitude rushed forward, to extinguish the fire, (for he restrained a few of them himself,) but yet with all their real water they could not put out the false flames, until, at Cuthbert's prayer, the author of the deceit was put to flight, and his fictitious fires dispersed along with him. The multitude, seeing this, were suffused with ingenuous blushes, and, falling on their knees before him, prayed to be forgiven for their fickleness of mind, acknowledging their conviction that the devil never rests even for an hour from impeding the work of man's salvation. But he, encouraging them under their infirmity, again began to preach to them the words of everlasting life.
CHAPTER XIV
HOW, WHEN A HOUSE WAS REALLY SET ON FIRE, HE PUT OUT THE FLAMES BY PRAYER
BUT it was not only in the case of an apparition of a fire that his power was shown; for he extinguished a real fire by the fervency of his tears, when many had failed in putting it out with all the water they could get. For, as he was travelling about, preaching salvation, like the apostles of old, he one day entered the house of a pious woman, whom he was in the habit of often visiting, and whom, from having been nursed by her in his infancy, he was accustomed on that account to call his mother. The house was at the west end of the village, and Cuthbert had no sooner entered it to preach the word of God, than a house at the other end of the place caught fire and began to blaze most dreadfully. For the wind was from the same quarter, so that the sparks from the kindled thatch flew over the whole village. Those who were present tried to extinguish it with water, but were driven back by the heat. Then the aforesaid handmaid of the Lord, running to the house where Cuthbert was, besought him to help them, before her own house and the others in the village should be destroyed. " Do not fear, mother," said he; " be of good cheer; this devouring flame will not hurt either you or yours." He then went out and threw himself prostrate on the ground before the door. Whilst he was praying, the wind changed, and beginning to blow from the west, removed all danger of the fire assailing the house, into which the man of God had entered.
And thus in two miracles he imitated the virtues of two of the fathers. For in the case of the apparition of fire above mentioned, he imitated the reverend and holy father Saint Benedict, who by his prayers drove away the apparition of a fire like a burning kitchen, which the old enemy had presented before the eyes of his disciples: and, in the case of the real fire which he thus extinguished, he imitated that venerable priest Marcellinus of Ancona, who, when his native town was on fire, placed himself in front of the flames, and put them out by his prayers, though all the exertions of his fellow-countrymen had failed to extinguish them with water. Nor is it wonderful that such perfect and pious servants of God should receive power against the force of fire, considering that by their daily piety they enable themselves to conquer the desires of the flesh, and to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one: and to them is applicable the saying of the prophet, [Is. 43:2] " When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the fire kindle upon thee." But I, and those who are, like me, conscious of our own weakness and inertness, are sure that we can do nothing in that way against material fire, and, indeed, are by no means sure that we shall be able to escape unhurt from that fire of future punishment, which never shall be extinguished. But the love of our Saviour is strong and abundant, and will bestow the grace of its protection upon us, though we are unworthy and unable in this world to extinguish the fires of vicious passions and of punishment in the world which is to come.
CHAPTER XV
HOW HE CAST OUT A DEV1L FROM THB PREFECT'S WIFE, EVEN BEFORE HIS ARRIVAL
BUT, as we have above related how this venerable man prevailed against the false stratagems of the devil, now let us show in what way he displayed his power against his open and undisguised enmity. There was a certain prefect of King Egfrid, Hildemer by name, a man devoted with all his house to good works, and therefore especially beloved by Saint Cuthbert, and often visited by him whenever he was journeying that way. This man's wife, who was devoted to almsgiving and other fruits of virtue, was suddenly so afflicted by a devil, that she gnashed her teeth, uttered the most pitiable cries, and, throwing about her arms and limbs, caused great terror to all who saw or heard her. Whilst she was lying in this state, and expected to die, her husband mounted his horse, and, coming to the man of God, besought his help, saying, "My wife is ill, and at the point of death: I entreat you to send a priest to visit her before she dies, and minister to her the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ; and, also, that when she is dead, she may be buried in this holy place." He was ashamed to say that she was out of her senses, because the man of God had always seen her in her right mind. Whilst the holy man was going to find out a priest to send to her, he reflected in his mind that it was no ordinary infirmity, but a visitation of the devil; and so, returning to the man who had come to entreat him in his wife's behalf, he said, " I will not send any one, but I will go myself to visit her."
Whilst they were going, the man began to cry, and the tears ran down his cheeks, for he was afraid lest Cuthbert, finding her afflicted with a devil, should think that she had been a false servant of the Lord, and that her faith was not real. The man of God consoled him: " Do not weep because I am likely to find your wife otherwise than I could wish; for I know that she is vexed with a devil, though you are afraid to name it: and I know, moreover, that, before we arrive, she will be freed, and come to meet us, and will herself take the reins, as sound in mind as ever, and will invite us in and minister to us as before; for not only the wicked but the innocent are sometimes permitted by God to be afflicted in body, and are even taken captive in spirit by the devil." Whilst he thus consoled the man, they approached the house, and the evil spirit fled, not able to meet the coming of the holy man. The woman, freed from her suffering, rose up immediately, as if from sleep, and, meeting the man of God with joy, held the bridle of his horse, and, having entirely recovered her strength, both of mind and body, begged him to dismount and to bestow his blessing upon her house; and ministering sedulously to him, testified openly that, at the first touch of the rein, she had felt herself relieved from all the pain of her former suffering.
CHAPTER XVI
HOW HE LIVED AND TAUGHT IN THE MONASTERY OF LINDISFARNE
WHILST this venerable servant of the Lord was thus during many years, distinguishing himself by such signs of spiritual excellence in the monastery of Melrose, its reverend abbot, Eata, transferred him to the monastery in the island of Lindisfarne, that there also he might teach the rules of monastic perfection with the authority of its governor, and illustrate it by the example of his virtue; for the same reverend abbot had both monasteries under his jurisdiction. And no one should wonder that, though the island of Lindisfarne is small, we have above made mention of a bishop, and now of an abbot and monks; for the case is really so. For the same island, inhabited by servants of the Lord, contains both, and all are monks. For Aidan, who was the first bishop of that place, was a monk, and with all his followers lived according to the monastic rule. Wherefore all the principals of that place from him to the present time exercise the episcopal office; so that, whilst the monastery is governed by the abbot, whom they, with the consent of the brethren, have elected, all the priests, deacons, singers, readers, and other ecclesiastical officers of different ranks, observe the monastic rule in every respect, as well as the bishop himself. The blessed pope Gregory showed that he approved this mode of life, when in answer to Augustine, his first missionary to Britain, who asked him how bishops ought to converse with their clerks, among other remarks he replied, " Because, my brother, having been educated in the monastic rule, you ought not to keep aloof from your clerks: in the English Church, which, thanks be to God, has lately been converted to the faith, you should institute the same system, which has existed from the first beginning of our Church among our ancestors, none of whom said that the things which he possessed were his own, but they had all things common." When Cuthbert, therefore, came to the church or monastery of Lindisfarne, he taught the brethren monastic rules both by his life and doctrines, and often going round, as was his custom, among the neighbouring people, he kindled them up to seek after and work out a heavenly reward. Moreover, by his miracles he became more and more celebrated, and by the earnestness of his prayers restored to their former health many that were afflicted with various infirmities and sufferings; some that were vexed with unclean spirits, he not only cured whilst present by touching them, praying over them, or even by commanding or exorcising the devils to go out of them; but even when absent he restored them by his prayers, or by foretelling that they should be restored; amongst whom also was the wife of the prefect above mentioned.
There were some brethren in the monastery who preferred their ancient customs to the new regular discipline. But he got the better of these by his patience and modest virtues, and by daily practice at length brought them to the better system which he had in view. Moreover, in his discussions with the brethren, when he was fatigued by the bitter taunts of those who opposed him, he would rise from his seat with a placid look, and dismiss the meeting until the following day, when, as if he had suffered no repulse, he would use the same exhortations as before, until he converted them, as I have said before, to his own views. For his patience was most exemplary, and in enduring the opposition which was heaped equally upon his mind and body he was most resolute, and, amid the asperities which he encountered, he always exhibited such placidity of countenance, as made it evident to all that his outward vexations were compensated for by the internal consolations of the Holv Spirit.
But he was so zealous in watching and praying, that he is believed to have sometimes passed three or four nights together therein, during which time he neither went to his own bed, nor had any accommodation from the brethren for reposing himself. For he either passed the time alone, praying in some retired spot, or singing and making something with his hands, thus beguiling his sleepiness by labour; or, perhaps, he walked round the island, diligently examining every thing therein, and by this exercise relieved the tediousness of psalmody and watching. Lastly, he would reprove the faintheartedness of the brethren, who took it amiss if any one came and unseasonably importuned them to awake at night or during their afternoon naps. "No one," said he, "can displease me by waking me out of my sleep, but, on the contrary, give me pleasure; for, by rousing me from inactivity, he enables me to do or think of something useful." So devout and zealous was he in his desire after heavenly things, that, whilst officiating in the solemnity of the mass, he never could come to the conclusion thereof without a plentiful shedding of tears. But whilst he duly discharged the mysteries of our Lord's passion, he would, in himself, illustrate that in which he was officiating; in contrition of heart he would sacrifice himself to the Lord; and whilst he exhorted the standers-by to lift up their hearts and to give thanks unto the Lord, his own heart was lifted up rather than his voice, and it was the spirit which groaned within him rather than the note of singing. In his zeal for righteousness he was fervid to correct sinners, he was gentle in the spirit of mildness to forgive the penitent, so that he would often shed tears over those who confessed their sins, pitying their weaknesses, and would himself point out by his own righteous example what course the sinner should pursue. He used vestments of the ordinary description, neither noticeable for their too great neatness, nor yet too slovenly. Wherefore, even to this day, it is not customary in that monastery for any one to wear vestments of a rich or valuable colour, but they are content with that appearance which the natural wool of the sheep presents.
By these and such like spiritual exercises, this venerable man both excited the good to follow his example, and recalled the _vicked and perverse from their errors to regularity of life.
CHAPTER XVII
OF THE HABITATION WHICH HE MADE FOR HIMSELF IN THE ISLAND OF FARNE, WHEN HE HAD EXPELLED THE DEVILS
WHEN he had remained some years in the monastery, he was rejoiced to be able at length, with the blessing of the abbot and brethren accompanying him, to retire to the secrecy of solitude which he had so long coveted. He rejoiced that from the long conversation with the world he was now thought worthy to be promoted to retirement and Divine contemplation: he rejoiced that he now could reach to the condition of those of whom it is sung by the Psalmist: " The holy shall walk from virtue to virtue; the God of Gods shall be seen in Zion. " At his first entrance upon the solitary life, he sought out the most retired spot in the outskirts of the monastery. But when he had for some time contended with the invisible adversary with prayer and fasting in this solitude, he then, aiming at higher things, sought out a more distant field for conflict, and more remote from the eyes of men. There is a certain island called Farne, in the middle of the sea, not made an island, like Lindisfarne, by the flow of the tide, which the Greeks call rheuma, and then restored to the mainland at its ebb, but lying off several miles to the East, and, consequently, surrounded on all sides by the deep and boundless ocean. No one, before God's servant Cuthbert, had ever dared to inhabit this island alone, on account of the evil spirits which reside there: but when this servant of Christ came, armed with the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, all the fiery darts of the wicked were extinguished, and that wicked enemy, with all his followers, were put to flight.
Christ's soldier, therefore, having thus, by the expulsion of the tyrants, become the lawful monarch of the land, built a city fit for his empire, and houses therein suitable to his city. The building is almost of a round form, from wall to wall about four or five poles in extent: the wall on the outside is higher than a man, but within, by excavating the rock, he made it much deeper, to prevent the eyes and the thoughts from wandering, that the mind might be wholly bent on heavenly things, and the pious inhabitant might behold nothing from his residence but the heavens above him. The wall was constructed, not of hewn stones or of brick and mortar, but of rough stones and turf, which had been taken out from the ground within. Some of them were so large that four men could hardly have lifted them, but Cuthbert himself, with angels helping him, had raised them up and placed them on the wall. There were two chambers in the house, one an oratory, the other for domestic purposes. He finished the walls of them by digging round and cutting away the natural soil within and without, and formed the roof out of rough poles and straw. Moreover, at the landing-place of the island he built a large house, in which the brethren who visited him might be received and rest themselves, and not far from it there was a fountain of water or their use.
CHAPTER XVIII
HOW BY HIS PRAYERS HE DREW WATER FROM THE DRY GROUND, AND HOW HE GOT ON DURING HIS RETIREMENT
BUT his own dwelling was destitute of water, being built on hard and stony ground. The man of God, therefore, sent for the brethren, for he had not yet withdrawn himself entirely from the sight of visitors, and said to them, " You see that my dwelling is destitute of water; but I pray you, let us beseech Him who turned the solid rock into a pool of water and stones into fountains, that giving glory, not to us, but to his own name, He may vouchsafe to open to us a spring of water, even from this stony rock. Let us dig in the middle of my hut, and, I believe, out of his good pleasure, He will give us drink." They therefore made a pit, and the next morning found it full of water, springing up from within. Wherefore there can be no doubt that it was elicited by the prayers of this man of God from the ground which was before dry and stony. Now this water, by a most remarkable quality, never overflowed its first limits so as to flood the pavement, nor yet ever failed, however much of it might be taken out; so that it never surpassed or fell short of the daily necessities of him who used it for his sustenance.
Now when Cuthbert had, with the assistance of the brethren, made for himself this dwelling with its chambers, he began to live in a more secluded manner. At first, indeed, when the brethren came to visit him, he would leave his cell and minister to them. He used to wash their feet devoutly with warm water, and was sometimes compelled by them to take off his shoes, that they might wash his feet also. For he had so far withdrawn his mind from attending to the care of his person, and fixed it upon the concerns of his soul, that he would often spend whole months without taking off his leathern gaiters. Sometimes, too, he would keep his shoes on from one Easter to another, only taking them off on account of the washing of feet, which then takes place at the Lord 's Supper. Wherefore, in consequence of his frequent prayers and genuflexions, which he made with his shoes on, he was discovered to have contracted a callosity on the junction of his feet and legs. At length, as his zeal after perfection grew, he shut himself up in his cell away from the sight of men, and spent his time alone in fasting, watching, and prayer, rarely having communication with any one without, and that through the window, which at first was left open, that he might see and be seen; but, after a time, he shut that also, and opened it only to give his blessing, or for any other purpose of absolute necessity.
CHAPTER XIX
HOW HE SOWED A FIELD WITH BARLEY, AND KEPT OFF THE BIRDS FROM THE CROP BY HIS MERE WORD
AT first, indeed, he received from his visitors a small portion of bread, and drank water from the fountain; but afterwards he thought it more fitting to live by the labour of his own hands, like the old fathers. He therefore asked them to bring him some instruments of husbandry, and some wheat to sow; but when he had sown the grain in the spring, it did not come up. At the next visit of the monks, he said to them, "Perhaps the nature of the soil or the will of God, does not allow wheat to grow in this place: bring me, I beg of you, some barley: possibly that may answer. If, however, on trial it does not, I had better return to the monastery than be supported here by the labour of others." The barley was accordingly brought, and sown, although the season was extraordinarily late; and the barley came up most unexpectedly and most abundantly. It no sooner began to ripen, than the birds came and wasted it most grievously. Christ's holy servant, as he himself afterwards told it, (for he used, in a cheerful and affable manner, to confirm the faith of his hearers by telling them the mercies which his own faith had obtained from the Lord,) drew near to the birds, and said to them, " \0lhy do you touch that which you have not sown ? Have you more share than I in this ? If you have received license from God, do what He allows you; but if not, get you gone, and do no further injury to that which belongs to another." He had no sooner spoken, than all the flock of birds departed, and never more returned to feed upon that field. Thus in two miracles did this reverend servant of Christ imitate the example of two of the fathers: for, in drawing water from the rock, he followed the holy St. Benedict, who did almost the same thing, and in the same way, though more abundantly, because there were more who were in want of water. And in driving away the birds, he imitated the reverend and holy father St. Antony, who by his word alone drove away the wild asses from the garden which he had planted.
CHAPTER XX
HOW THE CROWS APOLOGIZED TO THE MAN OF GOD POR THE INJURY WHICH THEY DID HIM, AND MADE HIM A PRESENT IN COMPENSATION
I AM here tempted to relate another miracle which he wrought in imitation of the aforesaid father St. Benedict, in which the obedience and humility of birds are a warning to the perversity and pride of mankind. There were some crows which had long been accustomed to build in the island. One day the man of God saw them, whilst making their nests, pull out the thatch of the hut which he had made to entertain the brethren in, and carry it away to build with. He immediately stretched out his hand, and warned them to do no harm to the brethren. As they neglected his command, he said to them, " In the name of Jesus Christ, depart as speedily as possible, and do not presume to remain any longer in the place, to which you are doing harm." He had scarcely uttered these words, when they flew away in sorrow. At the end of three days one of the two returned, and finding the man of God digging in the field, spread out its wings in a pitiable manner, and bending its head down before his feet, in a tone of humility asked pardon by the most expressive signs it could, and obtained from the reverend father permission to return. It then departed and fetched its companion; and when they had both arrived, they brought in their beaks a large piece of hog's lard, which the man of God used to show to the brethren who visited him, and kept to grease their shoes with; testifying to them how earnestly they should strive after humility, when a dumb bird that had acted so insolently, hastened by prayers, lamentation, and presents, to obliterate the injury which it had done to man. Lastly, as a pattern of reformation to the human race, these birds remained for many years and built their nests in the island, and did not dare to give annoyance to any one. But let no one think it absurd to learn virtue from birds; for Solomon says, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise."
CHAPTER XXI
HOW EVEN THE SEA WAS SUBSERVIENT TO HIS WANTS
BUT not only did the animals of the air and sea, for the sea itself, as the air and fire, on former occasions which we have mentioned, exemplified their obedience to the venerable man. For it is no wonder that every creature should obey his wishes, who so faithfully, and with his whole heart, obeyed the great Author of all creatures. But we for the most part have lost our dominion over the creation that has been subjected to us, because we neglect to obey the Lord and Creator of all things. The sea itself I say, displayed the most ready obedience to Christ' servant, when he had need of it. For he intended to build a little room in his monastery, adapted to his daily necessities: and on the side towards the sea, where the waves had scooped a hollow, it was necessary to put some support across the opening, which was twelve feet wide. He therefore asked the brethren, who came to visit him, when they returned the next time, to bring him a beam twelve feet long, to support his intended building. They readily promised to bring it, and having received his blessing, departed; but by the time they reached home they had entirely forgotten the matter, and on their next visit neglected to carry the timber which they had promised. He received them mildly, and giving them welcome in God's name, asked them for the wood which he had requested them to bring. Then they, remembering what they had promised, apologized for their forgetfulness. Cuthbert, in the most gentle manner, pacified them, and requested them to sleep there, and remain till the morning; "for," said he, " I do not think that God will forget my service or my necessities." They accepted his invitation; and when they rose in the morning, they saw that the tide had, during the night, brought on shore a beam of the required size, and placed it exactly in the situation where the proposed chamber was to be built. When they saw this, they marvelled at the holiness of the venerable man, for that even the elements obeyed him, and took much shame to themselves for their forgetfulness and sloth, who were taught even by the senseless elements what obedience Ought to be shown to God's holy saints.
CHAPTER XXII
HOW HE GAVE SALUTARY ADMONITIONS TO MANY WHO CAME TO HIM, AND EXPOSED THE IMPOTENT SNARES OF THE OLD ENEMY
BUT many came to the man of God, not only from the furthest parts of Lindisfarne, but even from the more remote parts of Britain, led thither by the fame of his virtues, to confess the errors which they had committed, or the temptations of the devil which they suffered, or the adversities common to mortals, with which they were afflicted, and all hoping to receive consolation from a man so eminent for holiness. Nor did their hope deceive them For no one went away from him without consolation, no one returned afflicted with the same grief which had brought him thither. For he knew how to comfort the sorrowful with pious exhortation; he could recall the joys of celestial life to the memory of those who were straitened in circumstances, and show the uncertainty of prosperity and adversity in this life: he had learnt to make known to those who were tempted the numerous wiles of their ancient enemy, by which that mind would be easily captivated which was deprived of brotherly or Divine love; whereas, the mind which, strengthened by the true faith, should continue its course, would, by the help of God, break the snares of the adversary like the threads of a spider's web. "How often," said he, "have they sent me headlong from the high rock ! How many times have they thrown stones at me as if to kill me ! Yea, they sought to discourage me by various trials of apparitions, and to exterminate me from this scene of trial, but were never able to affect my body with injury, or my mind with fear."
He was accustomed to relate these things more frequently to the brotherhood, lest they should wonder at his conversation as being peculiarly exalted, because, despising secular cares, he preferred to live apart. " But," said he, "the life of monks may well be wondered at, who are subjected in all things to the orders of the abbot, the times of watching, praying, fasting, and working, being all regulated according to his will; many of whom have I known far exceed my littleness, both in purity of mind and advancement in prophetic grace. Among whom must I mention, with all honour, the venerable Boisil, servant of Christ, who, when an old man, formerly supported me in my youth at Melrose Abbey, and while instructing me, he foretold, with prophetic truth, all things which would happen to me; and of all things which he foretold to me, one alone remains which I hope may never be accomplished." Cuthbert told us this was a prophecy of Boisil, that this, our holy servant of Christ, should attain to the office of a bishop; though he, in his eagerness after the heavenly life, felt horrified at the announcement.
CHAPTER XXIII
HOW ELFLED THE ABBESS AND ONE OF HER NUNS WERE CURED
BUT though our man of God was thus secluded from mankind, yet he did not cease from working miracles and curing those who were sick. For a venerable handmaid of Christ, Elfled by name, who, amid the joys of virginity, devoted her motherly care and piety to several companies of Christ's handmaids, and added to the lustre of her princely birth the brighter excellence of exalted virtue, was inspired with much love towards the holy man of God. About this time, as she afterwards told the reverend Herefrid, presbyter of the church of Lindisfarne, who related it to me, she was afflicted with a severe illness and suffered long, insomuch that she seemed almost at the gates of death. The physicians could do her no good, when, on a sudden, the Divine grace worked within her, and she by degrees was saved from death, though not fully cured. The pain in her inside left her, the strength of her limbs returned, but the power of standing and walking was still denied her; for she could not support herself on her feet, nor move from place to place, save on all fours. Her sorrow was, therefore, great; and she never expected to recover from her weakness, for she had long abandoned all hope from the physicians. One day, as she was indulging her bitter thoughts, she turned her mind to the holy and tranquil life of the reverend father Cuthbert; and expressed a wish that she had in her possession some article that had belonged to him; "for I know, and am confident," said she, "that I should soon be well." Not long after this, there came a person who brought with him a linen girdle from Saint Cuthbert: she was overjoyed at the gift, and perceiving that Heaven had revealed to the saint her wish, she put it on, and the next morning found herself able to stand upon her feet. On the third day she was restored to perfect health.
A few days after, one of the virgins of the same monastery was taken ill with a violent pain in the head; and whilst the complaint became so much worse that she thought she should die, the venerable abbess went in to see her. Seeing her sorely afflicted, she brought the girdle of the man of God to her, and bound it round her head. The same day the pain in the head left her, and she laid up the girdle in her chest. The abbess wanted it again a few days after, but it could not be found either in the chest or anywhere else. It was at once perceived that Divine Providence had so ordered it, that the sanctity of the man of God might be established by these two miracles, and all occasion of doubting thereof be removed from the incredulous. For if the girdle had remained, all those who were sick would have gone to it, and whilst some of them would be unworthy of being cured, its efficacy to cure might have been denied, whereas their own unworthiness would have been to blame. Whereof, as I said before, Heaven so dealt forth its benevolence from on high, that when the faith of believers had been strengthened, all matter for detraction was forthwith removed from the malice of the unrighteous.
CHAPTER XXIV
OF HIS PROPHECY IN ANSWER TO THE SAME ELFLED, CONCERNING THE LIFE OF KING EGFRID AND HIS OWN BISHOPRIC
AT another time, the same Elfled, who was a most holy virgin, and mother of the virgins of Christ, sent for the man of God, adjuring him in the name of our Lord that she might be all:)wed to see him and to speak about certain things of importance. He therefore entered with the brethren into a ship, and went over to an island which is situated in the mouth of the river Coquet, from which it received its name. The island was also remarkable for the number of its monks. The abbess, who had requested him to meet her in this island, when she had enjoyed his conversation for some time, and the man of God had answered many questions that she put to him; on a sudden, in the midst of his conversation, she fell at his feet and adjured him, bv the terrible and sacred name of our heavenly King and his angels, that he would tell her how long her brother Egfrid would live and govern the English nation. " For I know," she said, " that you abound in the Spirit of prophecy, and that, if you are willing, you are able to tell me even this. " But he, shuddering at the adjuration, and yet not being willing openly to reveal the secret which she had asked him, replied, " It is a wonderful thing that you, being a wise woman and skilled in sacred Scriptures, should call long the duration of human life: the Psalmist says, that ' our years shall perish like a spider's web,' and Solomon advises, that if a man shall live many years, and shall have been prosperous in all of these, he ought to remember the gloomy time of many days, which when it shall come, the past is convicted of folly; how much more then ought that man, to whose life one year only is wanting, to be considered as having lived a short time when death stands at his door ! "
On hearing these words she lamented the dreadful prophecy with many tears- but then having wiped her face. she with feminine boldness adjured him by the majesty of the Holy One, that he would tell her who would be the heir to the kingdom, seeing that Egfrid had neither sons nor brothers. After a short silence, he said, " Do not say that he is without heirs, for he shall have a successor, whom you shall embrace like Egfrid himself with the affection of a sister."-"But," said she, "I beseech you to tell me where he may be found." He answered, "You behold this great and spacious sea, how it aboundeth in islands. It is easy for God out of some of these to provide a person to reign over England. " She therefore understood him to speak of Alfrid, who was said to be the son of her father, and was then, on account of his love of literature, exiled to the Scottish islands. But she was aware that Egfrid proposed to make him a bishop, and wishing to know if the effect would follow the intention, she began by inquiring in this manner: "Oh, with what various intentions are the hearts of men distracted ! Some rejoice in having obtained riches, others always eager after them are still in want: but thou rejectest the glory of the world, although it is offered thee; and although thou mightest obtain a bishopric, than which there is nothing more sublime on earth, yet thou preferrest the recesses of thy desert to this rank."-" But," said he, " I know that I am not worthy of so high a rank; nevertheless, I cannot shun the judgment of the Supreme Ruler, who, if he decreed that I should subject myself to so great a burden, would, I believe, restore me after a moderate freedom, and perhaps after not more than two years would send me back to my former solitude and quiet. But I must first request you in the name of our Lord and Saviour that you do not relate to any one before my death the things which I have told you. " When he had expounded to her the various things which she asked, and had instructed her concerning the things which she had need of, he returned to his solitary island and monastery, and continued his mode of life as he had commenced it.
Not long after, in a full synod, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory presiding in the presence of God's chosen servant, the holy King Egfrid, he was unanimously elected to the bishopric of the see of Lindisfarne. But, although they sent many messengers and letters to him, he could not by any means be drawn from his habitation, until the king himself, above mentioned, sailed to the island, attended by the most holy Bishop Trumwine, and by as many other religious and influential men as he could: they all went down on their knees before him, and adjured him by the Lord, with tears and entreaties, until they drew him away from his retirement with tears in his eyes and took him to the synod. When arrived there, although much resisting, he was overcome by the unanimous wish of all, and compelled to submit to undertake the duties of the bishopric; yet the ordination did not take place immediately, but at the termination of the winter which was then beginning. And that his prophecies might be fulfilled in all things, Egfrid was killed the year afterwards in battle with the Picts, and was succeeded on the throne by his illegitimate brother Alfrid, who, a few years before, had devoted himself to literature in Scotland, suffering a voluntary exile, to gratify his love of science.
CHAPTER XXV
HOW, WHEN ELECTED TO THE BISHOPRIC, HE CURED A SERVANT OY ONE OF THE KING S ATTENDANTS BY MEANS OF HOLY WATER
WHEN Cuthbert, the man of God, after having been elected to the bishopric, had returned to his island, and for some time had served God in secret with his accustomed devotion, the venerable Bishop Eata called him and requested him to come to an interview with him at Melrose. The conversation being finished, and Cuthbert having commenced his journey homewards, a certain attendant of King Egfrid met him, and besought him that he would turn aside and give a benediction at his house. When he had arrived there, and had received the grateful salutations of all, the man pointed out to him one of his servants who was infirm, saying, " I thank God, most holy father, that you have thought worthy to enter our house to see us, and, indeed, we believe that your arrival will afford us the greatest profit both of mind and body. For there is one of our servants tormented with the worst infirmity, and is this day afflicted with such great pain that he appears more like a man dying than sick. For his extremities being dead, he seems only to breathe a little through his mouth and nostrils." Cuthbert immediately blessed some water, and gave it to a servant whose name was Baldhelm, who is still alive and filling the office of presbyter in the bishopric of Lindisfarne, which he adorns by his good qualities. He also has the faculty of relating in the sweetest manner the virtues of the man of God to all who are desirous of knowing, and it was he that told me the miracle which I relate. The man of God, then, giving him the holy water, said, " Go and give it to the sick man to drink." In obedience to these words he brought the water to the sick man, and when he poured it into his mouth the third time, the sick man, contrary to his usual custom, fell asleep. It was now evening, and he passed the night in silence, and in the morning appeared quite well when his master visited him.
CHAPTER XXVI
OF HIS MANNER OF LIFE IN HIS BISHOPRIC
THE venerable man of God, Cuthbert, adorned the office of bishop, which he had undertaken, by the exercise of many virtues, according to the precepts and examples of the Apostles. For he protected the people committed to his care with frequent prayers, and invited them to heavenly things by most wholesome admonitions, and followed that system which most facilitates teaching, by first doing himself what he taught to others. He saved the needy man from the hand of the stronger, and the poor and destitute from those who would oppress them. He comforted the weak and sorrowful; but he took care to recall those who were sinfully rejoicing to that sorrow which is according to godliness. Desiring still to exercise his usual frugality, he did not cease to observe the severity of a monastic life, amid the turmoil by which he was surrounded. He gave food to the hungry, raiment to the shivering, and his course was marked by all the other particulars which adorn the life of a pontiff. The miracles with which he shone forth to the world bore witness to the virtues of his own mind, some of which we have taken care briefly to hand down to memory.
CHAPTER XXVII
HOW, THOUGH AT A DISTANCE, HE SAW IN SPIRIT THE DEATH OF KING EGFRID, AND THE END OF HIS WARFARE, WHICH HE HAD FORETOLD
Now, when King Egfrid had rashly led his army against the Picts, and devastated their territories with most atrocious cruelty, the man of God, Cuthbert, knowing that the time was now come, concerning which he had prophesied the year before to his sister, that the king would live only one year more, came to Lugubalia (which is corruptly called by the English Luel) to speak to the queen, who was there awaiting the result of the war in her sister's monastery. But the next day, when the citizens were leading him to see the walls of the town, and the remarkable fountain, formerly built by the Romans, suddenly, as he was resting on his staff, he was disturbed in spirit, and, turning his countenance sorrowfully to the earth, he raised himself, and, lifting his eyes to heaven, groaned loudly, and said in a low voice, " Now, then, the contest is decided ! " Tbe presbyter, who was standing near, in incautious haste answered, and said, " How do you know it ? " But he, unwilling to declare more concerning those things which were revealed to him, said, " Do you not see how wonderfully the air is changed and disturbed? Who is able to investigate the judgments of the Almighty? " But he immediately entered in and spoke to the queen in private, for it was the Sabbath-day. "Take care," said he, "that you get into your chariot very early on the second day of the week, for it is not lawful to ride in a chariot on the Lord 's day; and go quickly to the royal city, lest, perchance, the king may have been slain. But I have been asked to go to-morrow to a neighbouring monastery, to consecrate a church, and will follow you as soon as that duty is finished."
But when the Lord's day was come, whilst he was preaching the word of God to the brethren of the same monastery, the sermon being finished, he began again to teach his listening congregation, as follows:-" I beseech you, my beloved, according to the admonitions of the Apostle, to watch, remain stedfast in the faith, act manfully, and be comforted, that no temptation may find you unprepared, but rather that you may be always mindful of the precept of the Lord Himself, ' Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.' " But some thought he said this because a pestilence had not long before afflicted them and many others with a great mortality, and that he spoke of this scourge being about to return. But he, resuming his discourse, said, "When I formerly lived alone in my island, some of the brethren came to me on the day of the Holy Nativity, and asked me to go out of my cabin and solemnize with them this joyful and hallowed day. Yielding to their prayers, I went out, and we sat down to feast. But, in the middle of the banquet, I suddenly said to them, ' I beseech you, brethren, let us act cautiously and watchfully, lest, perchance, through carelessness and a sense of security, we be led into temptation.' But they answered, ' We entreat you, let us spend a joyful day now, for it is the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ ! ' To which I agreed. Some time after this, when we were indulging ourselves in eating, merriment, and conversation, I again began to admonish them that we should be solicitous in prayer and watchfulness, and ever prepared to meet all temptations. But they replied, ' You teach well; nevertheless, as the days of fasting, watching, and prayer are numerous, let us to-day rejoice in the Lord. For the angel manifested great joy to the shepherds when the Lord was born, and told them that it was a day to be celebrated by all people !'' Well, ' said I, ' let us do so. ' But when I repeated the words of the same admonition the third time, they perceived that I would not have suggested this so earnestly for no purpose, and said to me in fear, ' Let us do as you teach, for it is incumbent on us to watch in spirit, armed against the snares and temptations of the devil. ' When I said these things, I did not know any more than they that any new temptation would happen to us; but I was only admonished, as it were instinctively, that the state of the heart is to be always fortified against the storms of temptations. But when they returned from me to their own home, that is, to the monastery of Lindisfarne, they found that one of their brethren was dead of a pestilence; and the same disease increased, and raged so furiously from day to day, for months, and almost for a whole year, that the greater part of that noble assembly of spiritual fathers and brethren were sent into the presence of the Lord. Now, therefore, my brethren, watch and pray, that if any tribulation assail you, it may find you prepared. '
When the venerable man of God, Cuthbert, had said these things, the brethren thought, as I have before stated, that he spoke of a return of the pestilence. But the day after, a man who had escaped from the war explained, by the lamentable news which he brought, the hidden prophecies of the man of God. It appeared that the guards had been slain, and the king cut off by the sword of the enemy, on the very day and hour in which it was revealed to the man of God as he was standing near the well.
CHAPTER XXVIII
HOW HE FORETOLD HIS OWN DEATH TO HEREBERT, THE HERMIT, AND BY PRAYERS TO GOD OBTAINED HIS ATTENDANCE
NOT very long afterwards, the same servant of God, Cuthbert, was summoned to the same city of Lugubalia, not only to consecrate priests, but also to bless the queen herself with his holy conversation. Now there was a venerable priest of the name of Herebert, who had long been united to the man of God, Cuthbert, in the bond of spiritual friendship, and who, leading a solitary life, in an island in the large marsh from which the Derwent rises, used to come to him every year, and receive from him admonitions in the way of eternal life. When this man heard that he was stopping in that city, he came according to his custom, desiring to be kindled up more and more by his wholesome exhortations in aspiring after heavenly things. When these two had drunk deeply of the cup of celestial wisdom, Cuthbert said, among other things, "Remember, brother Herebert, that you ask me now concerning whatever undertaking you may have in hand, and that you speak to me about it now, because, after we shall have separated, we shall see each other no more in this life. I am certain that the time of my death approaches, and the time of leaving my earthly tenement is at hand." Upon hearing these words, he threw himself at his feet with tears and lamentations, saying, " I beseech you by the Lord not to leave me, but be mindful of your companion, and pray the Almighty Goodness that, as we have served Him together on earth, we may at the same time pass to heaven to see his light. For I have always sought to live according to the command of your mouth; and what I have left undone through ignorance or frailty, I have equally taken care to correct, according to your pleasure." The bishop yielded to his prayers, and immediately learnt in spirit, that he had obtained that which he had sought from the Lord. "Arise, my brother," says he, "and do not lament, but rejoice in gladness, for his great mercy has granted us that which we asked of Him." The event confirmed his promise and the truth of the prophecy; for they never met again, but their souls departed from their bodies at one and the same moment of time, and were joined together in a heavenly vision, and translated at the same time by angels to the heavenly kingdom. But Herebert was first afflicted with a long infirmity, perhaps by a dispensation of holy piety, in order that the continual pain of a long sickness might supply what merit he had less than the blessed Cuthbert, so that being by grace made equal to his intercessor, he might be rendered worthy to depart this life at one and the same hour with him, and to be received into one and the same seat of everlasting happiness.
CHAPTER XXIX
HOW, THROUGH HIS PRIEST, HE CURED THE WIFE OF AN EARL WITH HOLY WATER
WHEN he was one day going round his parish to give spiritual admonitions throughout the rural districts, cottages, and villages, and to lay his hand on all the lately baptized, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, he came to the mansion of a certain earl, whose wife lay sick almost unto death. The earl himself, meeting him as he entered, thanked the Lord on his knees for his arrival, and received him with kind hospitality. When his feet and hands were washed, according to the custom of hospitality, and the bishop had sat down, the man began to tell him about the sickness of his wife, who was despaired of, and besought him to consecrate some water to sprinkle on her. " I believe," said he, " that by-and-by she will either, by the grace of God, be restored to health, or else she will pass by death to life eternal, and soon receive a recompense for so heavy and long-continued trouble." The man of God assented to his prayers, and having blessed the water which was brought to him, gave it to the priest, directing him to sprinkle it on the patient. He entered the bedroom in which she lay, as if dead, and sprinkled her and the bed, and poured some of the healing draught down her throat. Oh, wonderful and extraordinary circumstance ! the holy water had scarcely touched the patient, who was wholly ignorant what was brought her, than she was so restored to health, both of mind and body, that being come to her senses she blessed the Lord and returned thanks to Him, that He thought her worthy to be visited and healed by such exalted guests. She got up without delay, and being now well, ministered to those who had been instrumental in curing her; and it was extraordinary to see her, who had escaped the bitter cup of death by the bishop's benediction, now the first of the nobleman's family to offer him refreshment, following the example of the mother-in-law of the Apostle Peter, who, being cured of a fever by the Lord, arose forthwith and ministered unto Him and his disciples.
CHAPTER XXX
HOW HE CURED A GIRL OF A PAIN IN THE HEAD AND SIDE BY ANOINTING HER WITH OIL
BUT the venerable Bishop Cuthbert effected a cure similar to this, of which there were many eye-witnesses, one of whom is the religious priest, Ethelwald, at that time attendant on the man of God, but now abbot of the monastery of Melrose. Whilst, according to his custom, he was travelling and teaching all, he arrived at a certain village, in which were a few holy women, who had fled from their monastery through fear of the barbarian army, and had there obtained a habitation from the man of God a short time before: one of whom, a sister of the above-mentioned priest, Ethelwald, was confined with a most grievous sickness; for during a whole year she had been troubled with an intolerable pain in the head and side, which the physicians utterly despaired of curing. But when they told the man of God about her, and entreated him to cure her, he in pity anointed the wretched woman with holy oil. From that time she began to get better, and was well in a few days.
CHAPTER XXXI
HOW HE CURED AN INFIRM MAN BY CONSECRATED BREAD
I MUST not here pass over a miracle which was told to me as having been worked by his holiness, though he himself was absent. We mentioned a prefect of the name of Hildemer, whose wife the man of God freed from an unclean spirit. The same prefect afterwards fell seriously ill, so that his malady daily increased, and he was confined to his bed, apparently near death. Many of his friends were present who had come to console him in his sickness. Whilst they were sitting by the bedside, one of them mentioned that he had with him some consecrated bread which Cuthbert had given him: "And I think," said he, "that if we were in faith to give him this to eat, nothing doubting, he would be well." All present were laymen, but at the same time very pious men, and turning to one another, they professed their faith, without doubting, that by partaking of that same consecrated bread he might be well. They therefore filled a cup with water, and putting a little of the bread into it, gave it him to drink: the water thus hallowed by the bread no sooner touched his stomach than all his inward pain left him, and the wasting of his outward members ceased. A perfect recovery speedily ensued, and both himself and the others who saw or heard the rapidity of this wonderful cure were thereby stirred up to praise the holiness of Christ's servant, and to admire the virtues of his true faith.
CHAPTER XXXII
HOW, BY PRAYBR, HE RESTORED TO LIFE A YOUNG MAN WHOM HE FOUND AT THE POINT OF DEATH ON A JOURNEY
As this holy shepherd of Christ's flock was going round visiting his folds, he came to a mountainous and wild place, where many people had got together from all the adjoining villages, that he might lay his hands upon them. But among the mountains no fit church or place could be found to receive the bishop and his attendants. They therefore pitched tents for him in the road, and each cut branches from the trees in the neighbouring wood to make for him self the best sort of covering that he was able. Two days did the man of God preach to the assembled crowds; and minister the grace of the Holy Spirit by imposition of hands upon those that were regenerate in Christ; when, on a sudden, there appeared some women bearing on a bed a young man, wasted by severe illness, and having placed him down at the outlet of the wood, sent to the bishop, requesting permission to bring him, that he might receive a blessing from the holy man. When he was brought near, the bishop perceived that his sufferings were great, and ordered all to retire to a distance. He then betook himself to his usual weapon, prayer, and bestowing his blessing, expelled the fever, which all the care and medicines of the physicians had not been able to cure. In short, he rose up the same hour, and having refreshed him self with food, and given thanks to God, walked back to the women who had brought him. And so it came to pass, that whereas they had in sorrow brought the sick man thither, he now returned home with them, safe and well, and all rejoicing, both he and they alike.
CHAPTER XXXIII
HOW, AT A TIME OF SICKNESS, HE RESTORED A DYING BOY IN HEALTH TO HIS MOTHER
AT the same time the plague made great ravages in those parts, so that there were scarcely any inhabitants left in villages and places which had been thickly populated, and some towns were wholly deserted. The holy father Cuthbert, therefore, went round his parish, most assiduously ministering the word of God, and comforting those few who were left. But being arrived at a certain village, and having there exhorted all whom he found there, he said to his attendant priest, " Do you think that any one remains who has need that we should visit and converse with him? or have we now seen all here, and shall we go elsewhere? " The priest looked about, and saw a woman standing afar off, one of whose sons had died but a little time before, and she was now supporting another at the point of death, whilst the tears trickling down her cheek bore witness to her past and present affliction. He pointed her out to the man of God, who immediately went to her, and, blessing the boy, kissed him, and said to his mother, " Do not fear nor be sorrowful; for your child shall be healed and live, and no one else of your household shall die of this pestilence." To the truth of which prophecy the mother and son, who lived a long time after that, bore witness.
CHAPTER XXXIV
HOW HE SAW THE SOUL OF A MAN, WHO HAD BEEN KILLED BY FALLING FROM A TREE, ASCEND TO HEAVEN
BUT now this man of God, foreseeing his end approaching, had determined to lay aside the duties of his pastoral office, and return to his former solitary life, that by shaking off the cares of this life he might occupy himself amidst unrestrained psalmody and prayer in preparing for the day of his death, or rather of his entrance into everlasting life. He wished first to go round his parishes, and visit the houses of the faithful in his neighbourhood; and then, when he had confirmed all with such consolatory admonitions as should be required, to return to the solitary abode which he so longed after. Meanwhile, at the request of the noble and holy virgin, the Abbess Elfleda, of whom I have before made mention, he entered the estate belonging to her monastery, both to speak to her and also to consecrate a church therein; for there was there a considerable number of monks. When they had taken their seats, at the hour of repast, on a sudden Cuthbert turned away his thoughts from the carnal food to the contemplation of heavenly things. His limbs being much fatigued by his previous duties, the colour of his face changed, his eyes became unusually fixed, and the knife dropped from his hands upon the table. The priest, who stood by and ministered to him, perceiving this, said to the abbess, "Ask the bishop what he has just seen: for I know there was some reason for his hand thus trembling and letting fall the knife, whilst his countenance also changed so wonderfully: he has surely seen something which we have not seen." She immediately turned to him and said, "I pray you, my lord bishop, tell me what you have just seen, for your tired hand did not let fall the knife just now without some cause." The bishop endeavoured to conceal the fact of his having seen any thing supernatural, and replied in joke, "I was not able to eat the whole day, was I? I must have left off some time or other." But, when she persisted in her entreaty that he would tell the vision, he said, " I saw the soul of a holy man carried up to heaven in the arms of angels."-" From what place," said she, " was it taken ? "-" From your monastery," replied the bishop; upon which she further asked his name. " You will tell it me," said he, "to-morrow, when I am celebrating mass." On hearing these words, she immediately sent to the larger monastery to inquire who had been lately removed from the body. The messenger, finding all safe and well, was preparing to return in the morning to his mistress, when he met some men carrying in a cart the body of a deceased brother to be buried. On inquiring who it was, he found that it was one of the shepherds, a worthy man, who, having incautiously mounted a tree, had fallen down, and died from the bruise, at the same time that the man of God had seen the vision. He immediately went and told the circumstance to his mistress, who went forthwith to the bishop, at that time consecrating the church, and in amazement, as if she were going to tell him something new and doubtful, " I pray," said she, " my lord bishop, remember in the mass my servant Hadwald," (for that was his name,) "who died yesterday by falling from a tree." It was then plain to all that the holy man possessed in his mind an abundant spirit of prophecy; for that he saw before his eyes at the moment the man's soul carried to heaven, and knew beforehand what was afterwards going to be told him by others.
CHAPTER XXXV
HOW HE CHANGED WATER BY TASTING IT, SO THAT IT HAD THE FLAVOUR OF WINE
WHEN he had gone regularly through the upper districts, he came to a nunnery, which we have before mentioned, not far from the mouth of the river Tyne; where he was magnificently entertained by Christ's servant, Abbess Verca,-a woman of a most noble character, both in spiritual and temporal concerns. When they rose from their afternoon repose, he said he was thirsty, and asked for drink. They inquired of him what he would have, whether they should bring him wine, or beer. " Give me water," said he; and they brought him a draught from the fountain. But he, when he had given thanks and tasted it, gave it to his attendant priest, who returned it to the servant. The man, taking the cup, asked if he might drink out of the same cup as the bishop. " Certainly," said the priest, "why not? " Now that priest also be longed to the same monastery. He therefore drank, and the water seemed to him to taste like wine. Upon which he gave the cup to the brother who was standing near, that he might be a witness of so great a miracle; and to him also the taste seemed, without a doubt, to be that of wine. They looked at one another in amazement; and when they found time to speak, they acknowledged to one another that they had never tasted better wine. I give this on the authority of one of them, who stopped some time in our monastery at Weremouth. and now lies buried there.
CHAPTER XXXVI
HOW SOME OF THE BRETHREN, FOR DISOBEDIENCE TO HIM, WERE DETAINED BY A STORM AT SEA
WHEN Cuthbert had passed two years in the episcopal office, knowing in spirit that his last day was at hand, he divested himself of his episcopal duties and returned to his much-loved solitude, that he might there occupy his time in extracting the thorns of the flesh, and kindle up to greater brightness the flame of his former humility. At this time he was accustomed to go out frequently from his cell, and converse with the brethren, who came to visit him. I will here mention a miracle which he then wrought, in order that it may be more evident to all men what obedience should be rendered to his saints, even in the case of commands which they seem to have given with carelessness or indifference. He had one day left his cell, to give advice to some visitors; and when he had finished, he said to them, " I must now go in again; but do you, as you are inclined to depart, first take food; and when you have cooked and eaten that goose, which is hanging on the wall, go on board your vessel in God's name, and return home." He then uttered a prayer, and, having blessed them, went in. But they, as he had bidden them, took some food; but having enough provisions of their own, which they had brought with them, they did not touch the goose.
Now when they had refreshed themselves, they tried to go on board their vessel, but a sudden storm utterly prevented them from putting to sea. They were thus detained seven days in the island by the roughness of the waves, and yet they could not call to mind what fault they had committed. They therefore returned to have an interview with the holy father, and to lament to him their detention. He exhorted them to be patient, and on the seventh day came out to console their sorrow, and give them pious exhortations. When, however, he had entered the house in which they were stopping. and saw that the goose was not eaten, he reproved their disobedience with mild countenance and in gentle language. " Have you not left the goose still hanging in its place? What wonder is it that the storm has prevented your departure ? Put it immediately into the caldron, and boil and eat it, that the sea may become tranquil, and you may return home."
They immediately did as he had commanded; and it happened most wonderfully that the moment the kettle began to boil, the wind began to cease, and the waves to be still. Having finished their repast, and seeing that the sea was calm, they went on board, and, to their great delight, though with shame for their neglect reached home with a fair wind. Their shame arose from their disobedience and dullness of comprehension, whereby, amid the chastening of their Maker, they were unable to perceive and to correct their error. They rejoiced, because they now saw what care God had for his faithful servant, so as to vindicate him from neglect, even by means of the elements. They rejoiced, too, that the Lord should have had so much regard to themselves, as to correct their offences even by an open miracle. Now this, which I have related, I did not pick up from any chance authority, but I had it from one of those who were present,-a most reverend monk and priest of the same monastery, Cynemund, who still lives, known to many in the neighbourhood for his years and the purity of his life.
CHAPTER XXXVII
OF THE TEMPTATIONS WHICH HE UNDERWENT IN HIS SICKNESS, ANDS HIS ORDERS CONCERNING HIS BURIAL
THE solemn day of the nativity of our Lord was scarcely over, when the man of God, Cuthbert, returned to his dwelling on the island. A crowd of monks were standing by as he entered into the ship; and one of them, an old and venerable monk, strong in faith but weak in body, in consequence of a dysentery, said to him, " Tell us, my lord bishop, when we may hope for your return. " To this plain question, he replied as plainly, "When you shall bring my body back here." when he had passed about two months in the enjoyment of his rest, and had as usual subdued both his body and mind with his accustomed severity, he was suddenly seized with illness, and began to prepare for the joy of everlasting happiness, through pain and temporal affliction. I will describe his death in the words of him who related it to me, namely, his attendant priest Herefrid, a most religious man, who also at that time presided over the monastery of Lindisfarne, in the capacity of abbot.
"He was brought to the point of death," said he, "after having been weakened by three weeks of continued suffering. For he was taken ill on the fourth day of the week; and again on the fourth day of the week his pains were over, and he departed to the Lord. But when I came to him on the first morning after his illness began - (for I had also arrived at the island with the brethren three days before) - in my desire to obtain his blessing and advice as usual, I gave the customary signal of my coming, and he came to the window, and replied to my salutation with a sigh. ' My lord bishop,' said I, ' what is the matter with you ? Has your indisposition come upon you this last night?'' Yes,' said he, ' indisposition has come upon me. ' I thought that he was speaking of an old complaint, which vexed him almost every day, and not of a new malady; so, without making any more inquiries, I said to him, ' Give us your blessing, for it is time to put to sea and return home.'' Do so, ' replied he; ' go on board, and return home in safety. But, when the Lord shall have taken my spirit, bury me in this house, near my oratory, towards the south, over against the eastern side of the holy cross, which I have erected there. Towards the north side of that same oratory is a sarcophagus under the turf, which the venerable Abbot Cudda formerly gave me. You will place my body therein, wrapping it in linen, which you will find in it. I would not wear it whilst I was alive, but for the love of that highly favoured woman, who sent it to me, the Abbess Verca, I have preserved it to wrap my corpse in.' On hearing these words, I replied, ' I beseech you, father, as you are weak, and talk of the probability of your dying, to let some of the brethren remain here to wait on you." Go home now,' said he' but return at the proper time.' So I was unable to prevail upon him, not withstanding the urgency of my entreaties; and at last I asked him when we should return to him. ' When God so wills it,' said he, ' and when He Himself shall direct you.' We did as he commanded us; and having assembled the brethren immediately in the church, I had prayers offered up for him without intermission; ' for,' said I, ' it seems to me, from some words which he spoke, that the day is approaching on which he will depart to the Lord.'
"I was anxious about returning to him on account of his illness, but the weather prevented us for five days; and it was ordered so by God, as the event showed. For God Almighty, wishing to cleanse his servant from every stain of earthly weakness, and to show his adversaries how weak they were against the strength of his faith, kept him aloof from men, and put him to the proof by pains of the flesh, and still more violent encounters with the ancient enemy. At length there was a calm, and we went to the island, and found him away from his cell in the house where we were accustomed to reside. The brethren who came with me had some occasion to go back to the neighbouring shore, so that I was left alone on the island to minister to the holy father. I warmed some water and washed his feet, which had an ulcer from a long swelling, and, from the quantity of blood that came from it, required to be attended to. I also warmed some wine which I had brought, and begged him to taste it; for I saw by his face that he was worn out with pain and want of food. When I had finished my service, he sat down quietly on the couch, and I sat down by his side.
"Seeing that he kept silence, I said, ' I see, my lord bishop, that you have suffered much from your complaint since we left you, and I marvel that you were so unwilling for us, when we departed, to send you some of our number to wait upon you. ' He replied, ' It was done by the providence and the will of God, that I might be left without any society or aid of man, and suffer somewhat of affliction. For when you were gone, my languor began to increase, so that I left my cell and came hither to meet any one who might be on his way to see me, that he might not have the trouble of going further. Now, from the moment of my coming until the present time, during a space of five days and five nights, I have sat here without moving.' -' And how have you supported life, my lord bishop? asked I; ' have you remained so long without taking food? ' Upon which, turning up the couch on which he was sitting, he showed me five onions concealed therein, saying, ' This has been my food for five days; for, whenever my mouth became dry and parched with thirst, I cooled and refreshed myself by tasting these; '-now one of the onions appeared to have been a little gnawed, but certainly not more than half of it was eaten;-' and,' continued he, ' my enemies have never persecuted me so much during my whole stay in the island, as they have done during these last five days. ' I was not bold enough to ask what kinds of persecutions he had suffered: I only asked him to have some one to wait upon him. He consented, and kept some of us with him; amongst whom was the priest Bede the elder, who had always been used to familiar attendance upon him. This man was consequently a most faithful witness of every thing which he gave or received, whom Cuthbert wished to keep with him, to remind him if he did not make proper compensation for any presents which he might receive, that before he died he might render to every one his own. He kept also another of the brethren with him, who had long suffered from a violent diarrhea, and could not be cured by the physicians; but, for his religious merit, and prudent conduct, and grave demeanour, was thought worthy to hear the last words of the man of God, and to witness his departure to the Lord.
"Meanwhile I returned home, and told the brethren that the holy father wished to be buried in his own island; and I added my opinion, that it would be more proper and becoming to obtain his consent for his body to be transported from the island, and buried in the monastery with the usual honours. My words pleased them, and we went to the bishop, and asked him, saying, ' We have not dared, my lord bishop, to despise your injunction to be buried here, and yet we have thought proper to request of you permission to transport your body over to the monastery, and so have you amongst us.' To which he replied, ' It was also my wish to repose here, where I have fought my humble battles for the Lord, where? too, I wish to finish my course, and whence I hope to be lifted up by a righteous Judge to obtain the crown of righteousness. But I think it better for you, also, that I should repose here on account of the fugitives and criminals who may flee to my corpse for refuge; and when they have thus obtained an asylum, inasmuch as I have enjoyed the fame, humble though I am, of being a servant of Christ, you may think it necessary to intercede for such before the secular rulers, and so you may have trouble on my account. ' When, however, we urged him with many entreaties, and asserted that such labour would be agreeable and easy to us, the man of God at length, after some deliberation, spoke thus: -' Since you wish to overcome my scruples, and to carry my body amongst you, it seems to me to be the best plan to bury it in the inmost parts of the church, that you may be able to visit my tomb yourselves, and to control the visits of all other persons. ' We thanked him on our bended knees for this permission, and for his advice; and returning home, did not cease to pay him frequent visits.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
HOW, DURING HIS ILLNESS, HE CURED ONE OF NIS ATTENDANTS OF A DIARRHEA
" His malady now began to grow upon him, and we thought that the time of his dissolution was at hand. He bade his attendants carry him to his cell and oratory. It was the third hour of the day. We therefore carried him thither, for he was too feeble to walk himself. When we reached the door, we asked him to let one of us go in with him, to wait upon him; for no one had ever entered therein but himself. He cast his eyes round on all, and, fixing them on the sick brother above mentioned, said, ' Walstod shall go in with me.' Now Walstod was the man's name. He went in accordingly, and stayed till the ninth hour: when he came out, and said to me, ' The bishop wishes you to go in unto him; but I have a most wonderful thing to tell you: from the moment of my touching the bishop, when I supported him into the oratory, I have been entirely free from my old complaint. ' No doubt this was brought about by the effect of his heavenly piety, that, whereas in his time of health and strength he had healed many, he should now heal this man, when he was himself at the point of death, that so there might be a standing proof how strong the holy man was in spirit, though his body was at the lowest degree of weakness. In this cure he followed the example of the holy and reverend father and bishop, Aurelius Augustine, who, when weighed down by the illness of which he died, and lying on his couch, was entreated by a man to lay his hand on a sick person whom he had brought to him, that so he might be made well. To which Augustine replied, ' If I had such power, I should first have practised it towards myself.' The sick man answered, ' I have been commanded to come to you: for some one said to me in a dream, Go to Bishop Augustine, and let him place his hand upon you, and you shall be well.' On hearing this, Augustine placed his hand upon him, gave him his blessing, and sent him home perfectly recovered.
CHAPTER XXXIX
HIS LAST INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BRETIIREN; AND HOW, WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED THE VIATICUM, HE YIELDED UP HIS SOUL IN PRAYER
" I WENT in to him about the ninth hour of the day, and found him lying in one corner of his oratory before the altar. I took my seat by his side, but he spoke very little, for the weight of his suffering prevented him from speaking much. But when I earnestly asked him what last discourse and valedictory salutation he would bequeath to the brethren, he began to make a few strong admonitions respecting peace and humility, and told me to beware of those persons who strove against these virtues, and would not practise them. ' Have peace,' said he, ' and Divine charity ever amongst you: and when you are called upon to deliberate on your condition, see that you be unanimous in council. Let concord be mutual between you and other servants of Christ; and do not despise others who belong to the faith and come to you for hospitality, but admit them familiarly and kindly; and when you have entertained them, speed them on their journey: by no means esteeming yourselves better than the rest of those who partake of the same faith and mode of life. But have no communion with those who err from the unity of the Catholic faith, either by keeping Easter at an improper time, or by their perverse life. And know and remember, that, if of two evils you are compelled to choose one, I would rather that you should take up my bones, and leave these places, to reside wherever God may send you, than consent in any way to the wickedness of schismatics, and so place a yoke upon your necks. Study diligently, and carefully observe the Catholic rules of the Fathers, and practise with zeal those institutes of the monastic life which it has pleased God to deliver to you through my ministry. For I know, that, although during my life some have despised me, yet after my death you will see what sort of man I was, and that my doctrine was by no means worthy of contempt. '
" These words, and such as these, the man of God delivered to us at intervals, for, as we before said, the violence of his complaint had taken from him the power of speaking much at once. He then spent the rest of the day until the evening in the expectation of future happiness; to which he added this also, that he spent the night in watchfulness and prayer. When his hour of evening service was come, he received from me the blessed sacrament, and thus strengthened himself for his departure, which he now knew to be at hand, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ; and when he had lifted up his eyes to heaven, and stretched out his hands above him, his soul, intent upon heavenly praises, sped his way to the joys of the heavenly kingdom.
CHAPTER XL
HOW, ACCORDING TO THE PREVIOUS WARNING OF THE PSALM WHICH THEY SANG AT HIS DEATH, THE BRETHREN OF LINDISFARNE WERE ASSAILED FROM WITHOUT, BUT BY THE HELP OF GOD WERE PROTECTED
"I IMMEDIATELY went out, and told the brethren, who had passed the whole night in watchfulness and prayer, and chanced at that moment in the order of evening service to be singing the 59th Psalm, which begins, ' O Lord, thou hast rejected us and destroyed us; thou hast been angry, and hast pitied us. ' One of them instantly lighted two candles, and, holding one in each hand, ascended a lofty spot, to show to the brethren who were in the monastery of Lindisfarne, that the holy man was dead; for they had agreed beforehand that such a signal should be made. The brother, who had waited an hour on an opposite height in the island of Lindisfarne, ran with speed to the monastery, where the brethren were assembled to perform the usual ceremonies of the evening service, and happened to be singing the above-named Psalm when the messenger entered. This was a Divine dispensation, as the event showed. For, when the man of God was buried, the Church was assailed by such a blast of temptation, that several of the brethren left the place rather than be involved in such dangers.
" At the end of a year, Eadbert was ordained bishop. He was a man of great virtues, learned in the Holy Scripture, and in particular given to works of charity. If I may use the words of Scripture, The Lord built up Jerusalem, i.e. the vision of peace, and gathered together the dispersion of Israel. He healed those who were contrite in heart, and bound up their bruises, so that it was then given openly to understand the meaning of the hymn which was then for the first time sung, when the death of the sainted man was known; namely, that after his death his countrymen should be exposed to be repulsed and destroyed, but after a demonstration of his threatening anger should again be protected by the Divine mercy. He who considers the sequel also of the above-named Psalm will perceive that the event corresponded to its meaning. The body of the venerable father was placed on board a ship, and carried to the island of Lindisfarne. It was there met by a large crowd of persons singing psalms, and placed in the church of the holy Apostle Peter, in a stone coffin on the right-hand side of the altar."
CHAPTER XLI
HOW A BOY, WHO WAS POSSESSED BY A DEVIL, WAS CURED BY SOME DIRT, FROM THE PLACE WHERE THE WATER IN WH1CH HIS CORPSE HAD BEEN WASHED HAD BEEN THROWN
BUT even when the servant of Christ was dead and buried, the miracles which he worked whilst alive did not cease. For a certain boy, in the territory of Lindisfarne, was vexed so terribly by an evil spirit, that he altogether lost his reason, and shouted and cried aloud, and tried to tear in pieces with his teeth his own limbs, or whatever came in his way. A priest from the monastery was sent to the sufferer; but, though he had been accustomed to exorcise and expel evil spirits, yet in this case he could not prevail: he therefore advised the lad's father to put him into a cart and drive him to the monastery, and to pray to God in his behalf before the relics of the holy saints which are there. The father did as he was advised; but the holy saints, to show how high a place Cuthbert occupied amongst them, refused to bestow on him the benefit desired. The mad boy, therefore, by howling, groaning, and gnashing his teeth, filled the eyes and ears of all who were there with horror, and no one could think of any remedy; when, behold, one of the priests, being taught in spirit that by the aid of the holy father Cuthbert he might be cured, went privately to the place where he knew the water had been thrown, in which his dead body had been washed; and taking from thence a small portion of the dirt, he mixed it with some water, and carrying it to the sufferer, poured it into his open mouth, from which he was uttering the most horrible and lamentable cries. He instantly held his tongue, closed his mouth, and shutting his eyes also, which before were bloodshot and staring hideously, he fell back into a profound sleep. In this state | he passed the night; and in the morning, rising up from his slumber, free from his madness, he found himself also, by the merits and intercession of the blessed Cuthbert, free from the evil spirit by which he had been afflicted. It was a marvellous sight, and delectable to all good men, to see the son sound in mind accompany his father to the holy places, and give thanks for the aid of the saints; although the day before, from the extremity of his madness, he did not know who or where he was. When, in the midst of the whole body of the brethren looking on and congratulating him, he had on his knees offered up before the relics of the martyrs praise to the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, he returned to his home, freed from the harassing of the foe, and confirmed in the faith which he before professed. They show to this day the pit into which that memorable water was thrown, of a square shape, surrounded with wood, and filled with little stones. It is near the church in which his body reposes, on the south side. From that time God permitted many other . cures to be wrought by means of those same stones, and the dirt from the same place.
CHAPTER XLII
HOW HIS BODY AFTER NINE YEARS WAS FOUND UNDECAYED
Now Divine Providence, wishing to show to what glory this holy man was exalted after death, who even before death had been distinguished by so many signs and miracles, inspired the minds of the brethren with a wish to remove his bones, which they expected to find dry and free from his decayed flesh, and to put them in a small coffer, on the same spot, above the ground, as objects of veneration to the people. This wish they communicated to the holy Bishop Eadbert about the middle of Quadragesima; and he ordered them to execute this on the 20th of April, which was the anniversary of the day of his burial. They accordingly did so; and opening the tomb, found his body entire, as if he were still alive, and his joints were still flexible, as if he were not dead, but sleeping. His clothes, also, were still undecayed, and seemed to retain their original freshness and colour. When the brethren saw this, they were so astonished, that they could scarcely speak, or look on the miracle which lay before them, and they hardly knew what they were doing. As a proof of the uncorrupted state of the clothes, they took a portion of them from one of the extremities,-for they did not dare to take any from the body itself,-and hastened to tell what they had found to the bishop, who was then walking alone at a spot remote from the monastery, and closed in by the flowing waves of the sea. Here it was his custom to pass the Quadragesima; and here he occupied himself forty days before the birthday of our Lord in the utmost devotion, accompanied with abstinence, prayer, and tears. Here, also, his venerable predecessor, Cuthbert, before he went to Farne, as we have related, Spent a portion of his spiritual warfare in the service of the Lord. The brethren brought with them, also, the piece of cloth in which the body of the saint had been wrapped. The bishop thanked them for the gift, and heard their report with eagerness, and with great earnestness kissed the cloth as if it were still on the saint's body. "Fold up the body," said he, " in new cloth instead of this, and place it in the chest which you have prepared. But I know of a certainty that the place which has been consecrated by the virtue of this heavenly miracle will not long remain empty; and happy is he to whom the Lord, who is the giver of true happiness, shall grant to rest therein." To these words he added what I have elsewhere expressed in verse, and said,
" What man the wondrous gifts of God shall tell?
What ear the joys of paradise shall hear?
Triumphant o'er the gates of death and hell,
The just shall live amid the starry sphere," &c.
When the bishop had said much more to this effect, with many tears and much contrition, the brethren did as he ordered them; and having folded up the body in some new cloth, and placed it in a chest, laid it on the pavement of the sanctuary.
CHAPTER XLIII
HOW THE BODY OF BISHOP EADBERT WAS LAID IN THE GRAVE OF THE MAN OF GOD, AND THE COFFIN OF THAT SAINT PLACED UPON IT
MEANWHILE, God's chosen servant, Bishop Eadbert, was seized by an illness, which daily grew more and more violent, so that not long after, that is, on the sixth of May, he also departed to the Lord. It was an especial mercy granted to his earnest prayers, that he left this life by a gradual, and not a sudden death. His body was placed in the grave of the blessed father Cuthbert, and upon it they placed the coffin in which the body of that saint lay. And to this day miracles are there wrought if the faith of those who seek them admit of it. Even the clothes which had covered his blessed body, whether dead or alive, still possess a healing power.
CHAPTER XLIV
HOW A SICK MAN WAS CURED AT HIS TOMB BY PRAYER
LASTLY, there came from foreign parts a certain priest of the reverend and holy Wilbrord Clement, bishop of the Fresons, who, whilst he was stopping at the monastery, fell into a severe illness, which lasted so long, that his life was despaired of. Overcome with pain, he seemed unable either to live or die, until, thinking on a happy plan, he said to his attendant, "Lead me, I beg of you, to-day after mass," (for it was Sunday,) "to the body of the holy man of God, to pray: I hope his intercession may save me from these torments, so that I may either return whole to this life, or die, and go to that which is everlasting." His attendant did as he had asked him, and with much trouble led him, leaning on a staff, into the church. He there bent his knees at the tomb of the holy father, and, with his head stooping towards the ground, prayed for his recovery; when, suddenly, he felt in all his limbs such an accession of strength from the incorruptible body of the saint, that he rose up from prayer without trouble, and returned to the guests' chamber with out the assistance of the conductor who had led him, or the staff on which he had leaned. A few days afterwards he proceeded in perfect health upon his intended journey.
CHAPTER XLV
HOW A PARALYTIC WAS HEALED BY MEANS OF HIS SHOES
THERE was a young man in a monastery not far off, who had lost the use of all his limbs by a weakness which the Greeks call paralysis. His abbot, knowing that there were skilful physicians in the monastery of Lindisfarne, sent him thither with a request that, if possible, he might be healed. The brethren, at the instance of their own abbot and bishop also, attended to him with the utmost care, and used all their skill in medicine, but without effect, for the malady increased daily, insomuch that, save his mouth, he could hardly move a single limb. Being thus given over by all worldly physicians, he had recourse to Him who is in heaven, who, when He is sought out in truth, is kind towards all our iniquities, and heals all our sicknesses. The poor man begged of his attendant to bring him something which had come from the incorruptible body of the holy man; for he believed that by means thereof he might, with the blessing of God, return to health. The attendant, having first consulted the abbot, brought the shoes which the man of God had worn in the tomb, and having stripped the poor man's feet naked, put them upon him; for it was in his feet that the palsy had first attacked him. This he did at the beginning of the night, when bedtime was drawing near. A deep sleep immediately came over him; and as the stillness of night advanced, the man felt a palpitation in his feet alternately, so that the attendants, who were awake and looking on, perceived that the virtue of the holy man's relics was be ginning to exert its power, and that the desired restoration of health would ascend upwards from the feet. As soon as the monastery bell struck the hour of midnight prayer, the invalid himself was awakened by the sound and sat up. He found his nerves and the joints of his limbs suddenly endowed with inward strength: his pains were gone; and perceiving that he was cured, he arose, and in a standing posture spent the whole time of the midnight or matin song in thanksgiving to God. In the morning he went to the cathedral, and in the sight of all the congratulating brethren he went round all the sacred places, offering up prayers and the sacrifice of praise to his Saviour. Thus it came to pass, that, by a most wonderful vicissitude of . things, he, who had been carried thither weak and borne upon a cart, returned home sound in his own strength, and with all his limbs strengthened and confirmed. Where fore it is profitable to bear in mind that this change was the work of the right hand of the Most High, whose mighty miracles never cease from the beginning of the world to show themselves forth to mankind.
CHAPTER XLV
HOW THE HERMIT FELGELD WAS CURED OF A SWELLING 1N THE FACE BY MEANS OF THE COVERING OF THE WALL OF TIIE MAN OF GOD'S HOUSE
NOR do I think I ought to omit the heavenly miracle which the Divine mercy showed by means of the ruins of the holy oratory, in which the venerable father went through his solitary warfare in the service of the Lord. Whether it was effected by the merits of the same blessed father Cuthbert, or his successor Ethelwald, a man equally devoted to the Lord, the Searcher of the heart knows best. There is no reason why it may not be attributed to either of the two, in conjunction with the faith of the most holy father Felgeld; through whom and in whom the miraculous cure, which I mention, was effected. He was the third person who became tenant of the same place and its spiritual warfare, and, at present more than seventy years old, is awaiting the end of this life, in expectation of the heavenly one.
When, therefore, God's servant Cuthbert had been translated to the heavenly kingdom, and Ethelwald had commenced his occupation of the same island and monastery, after many years spent in conversation with the monks, he gradually aspired to the rank of anchoritish perfection. The walls of the aforesaid oratory, being composed of planks somewhat careless]y put together, had become loose and tottering by age, and, as the planks separated from one another, an opening was afforded to the weather. The venerable man, whose aim was rather the splendour of the heavenly than of an earthly mansion, having taken hay, or clay, or whatever he could get, had filled up the crevices, that he might not be disturbed from the earnestness of his prayers by the daily violence of the winds and storms. When Ethelwald entered and saw these contrivances, he begged the brethren who came thither to give him a calf's skin, and fastened it with nails in the corner, where himself and his predecessor used to kneel or stand when they prayed, as a protection against the storm.
Twelve years after, he also ascended to the joys of the heavenly kingdom, and Felgeld became the third inhabitant of the place. It then seemed good to the right reverend Eadfrid, bishop of the church of Lindisfarne, to restore from its foundation the time-worn oratory. This being done, many devout persons begged of Christ's holy servant Felgeld to give them a small portion of the relics of God's servant Cuthbert, or of Ethelwald his successor. He accordingly determined to cut up the above-named calf's skin to pieces, and give a portion to each. But he first experienced its influence in his own person: for his face was much deformed by a swelling and a red patch. The symptoms of this deformity had become manifest long before to the monks, whilst he was dwelling among them. But now that he was living alone, and bestowed less care on his person, whilst he practised still greater rigidities, and, like a prisoner, rarely enjoyed the sun or air, the malady increased, and his face became one large red swelling. Fearing, therefore, lest he should be obliged to abandon the solitary life and return to the monastery; presuming in his faith, he trusted to heal himself by the aid of those holy men whose house he dwelt in, and whose holy life he sought to imitate. For he steeped a piece of the skin above mentioned in water, and washed his face therewith; whereupon the swelling was immediately healed, and the cicatrice disappeared. This I was told, in the first instance, by a religious priest of the monastery of Jarrow, who said that he well knew Felgeld's face to have been in the deformed and diseased state which I have described, and that he saw it and felt it with his hand through the window after it was cured. Felgeld after wards told me the same thing, confirming the report of the priest, and asserting that his face was ever afterwards free from the blemish during the many years that he passed in that place. This he ascribed to the agency of the Almighty Grace, which both in this world heals many, and in the world to come will heal all the maladies of our minds and bodies, and, satisfying our desires after good things, crown us for ever with its mercy and compassion, AMEN.
Bibliography
Bede, Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, in a volume entitled Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation,. trans. J.A. Giles, Everyman's Library 479,(London: J.M. Dent; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1910), 286-349
See also
| Cuthbert |
Which is the only English city on the River Wye? | Full text of "The churches of Buchan and notes by the way : being short sketches of the early history of Christianity in Scotland, from its introduction to the Reformation"
See other formats
LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Purchased by the Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund. BR 782 .M25 1899 McLeod, N. K. d. 1898 n^/^^u""^^^ °^ Buchan and notes by the way ■^ The Churches of Buchan and Notes by the Way The late Rev. N. K. McLeod James Auld, Kllon The Churches of Buchan an( Notes by the Way Being short Sketches of the Early History of Christianity in Scotland, from its Introduction to the Reformation BV The Late Rev. N. K. McLEOD, M.A. Ktctor of St. Afat-ys-onthe-Rock, Ellon Auihorof "The Oistlcs of Buchan " With Portrait and 15 Full-Page Illustrations ABERDEEN : A. & R. MILNE EDINBURGH : JOHN MENZIES & CO. 1899 PUBLISHERS NOTE The folloiviug papers appeared in the " Bnchan Churchman I' and are now, in accordance zuith thezvishes of the Author^ presented in Book Form. Cordial thanks are due to Jfr. J. Shivas, Peterhead; to Mr. A. K. McLeod, the Authors son ; and to Mr. Norrie, Fraserburgh, for supplying the Photos for the Illustrations ; also to Mr. James Auld, Ellon, for the Portrait. January, iS(p<p. Contents Page Biographical Notice of the Author^ by E.V.B. ix— xiii Chapter I. Civil History, Pre-Columban i — 7 Chapter II. Pre-Columban Christianity 8—18 Chapter III. St. Columba and the Celtic Church 19—35 Chapter IV. The Columban Episcopate in Northumbria 36 — 55 Chapter V. The Reformation of St. Margaret and the Mediceval Church . . . 56 — 76 Chapter VI. St. Machar's Cathedral 77—93 Chapter VII. Belhelvie, Foveran, Logie-Buchan, Kinloss, Ellon 94 — 104 Chapter VIII. Forvie, Leask, Peterhead, Inverugie, St. Fergus (Longley), Crimond, Lonmay, Rathen, Filorth, Tyrie, etc., etc. 105 — 120 Chapter IX. Aberdour, Gamrie, Kin-Edar, Turriff, Auchterless, Fyvie, Tarves, Belhelvie, Udny, Deer 121 — 141 General Index 142 — 148 Illustrations Portrait of the Author ... Old Aberdeen — Cathedral (from the Don) Bishop Dunbar's Tomb ... Chaplain's Court, Chanonry Chanonry ... Chancellor's House, Chanonry Aberdour — Old Parish Church ... Belhelvie — St. Colm's Deer — Abbey, South Front Ellon — Kinloss Fraserburgh — Wine Tower Leask — St. Adamnan Newburgh — Inchholm, Chapel of Holyrood, etc. Peterhead— St. Peter's .. Rathen— Old Parish Church Rattray— Old Parish Church Slains — The Erroll Aisle Tarves — The Forbes Aisle Frontispiece. To face Page 'j'j 82 87 II 90 85 It 121 94 II 112 98 II 119 II 107 II 96 II III II 117 It 114 II no I. 131 Rev. Nicholas Kenneth McLeod On the 3rd of October, 1898, at Ellon Parsonage, Aberdeenshire, there passed away from amongst us, one of the truest, most faith- ful souls who has ever spent a lifetime in the service of God and his fellow-men. From the year 1862 when the Rev. Nicholas Kenneth McLeod came to Ellon and there took up his work until the time when illness withdrew him from active life, his presence in the place was an acknowledged help and blessing. There Is a brief sentence In an old letter which I have just come across amongst other papers, dated from Ellon Castle, August, 1862, in which the writer says : — " The new clergy- man is a great comfort and preaches well." The promise of this his first coming was steadfastly kept throughout the thirty-seven years of Mr. McLeod's ministry at Ellon. Rev. Nicholas Kenneth McLeod. During all those years he made many friends, and he never lost one. Long absence might remove them out of sight. Time in its course might heap the years above their graves ; yet still with keenest recollection and with unfailing affection, the memory of them was cherished by him, and the ties of friendship once made were on his part never loosened. One of Mr. McLeod's distinguishing characteristics might be expressed in the one word, Fidelity — Fidelity with its fullest, most expanded meanings of faithfulness. In his charge of the Episcopal parish of Ellon, in the service of the Church of St. Mary's-on-the-Rock, he proved himself in all things a wise and faithful servant. Soon after Mr. McLeod had settled down to his work, plans for a new church and parsonage began to take shape. Mr. Gordon of Ellon, — the " old Laird," — gave the ground, while his son. Colonel Bertie Gordon entered with enthusiasm into the scheme, and was one of those who chiefly aided In carrying it out. Colonel Gordon did not live to see the church finished. His Rev. Nicholas Kenneth McLeod. xi was the first grave, hewn in the living rock, in the new churchyard (before the walls of the new church had reached above the height of a man), and for him Mr. McLeod read his first funeral service there, on that now distant day in July, 1 87 1. The only flowers on the freshly-enclosed ground were a sprinkling of little wild purple pansies, blooming amongst the coarse stubbly grass. Now, the place is like a garden, so carefully kept is its close cut green, so bright its summer flowers. Mr. McLeod had followed the progress of the building of St. Mary's with intense interest. From the day that it was finished and consecrated, and his ministrations in it begun, up to end of life, his love for his Church never varied, but seemed to grow stronger, and to become second only to the love he bore his own family. And how great was the pride and joy with which he welcomed addi- tions made from time to time by members of the congregation for the comfort or ornament of the beautiful building. This is such a little fragment out of the life- history of a remarkable man, that there is not xii Rev. Nicholas Kenneth McLeod. room to do more than allude to the intellectual side of his character ; to his scholarship, his extensive reading, his delight in archaeological pursuits. Still less room is there for allusion to his kindly social qualities ; his tact ; the large- ness of his charity. Yet these went for much, with the community surrounding him. For six months before the release of death, Mr. McLeod's pastoral work, and his service in the Church so loved by him, had to cease en- tirely. For all that time his great and constant sufferings were endured with a calm submis- sion, — as of those who in the Psalmist's words patiently abide the Lord. Many old friends were admitted to visit him in the long, lingering period, when mortal illness kept him a prisoner to one room. Each in their way must have felt the pathos of that sick-room ; of seeing the friend of many years so prematurely aged, sit- ting in his chair at the window, wearing out long hours of the day, — unable to move — yet full of the warm ready sympathy with others which had ever been as it were a part of himself. Rev, Nicholas Kenneth McLeod, xiii The wife who for so long had devotedly nursed him, could tell of his unmurmuring gentleness and patience ; of how from dawn to dark he sat there at the window, looking upon the scene which filled its narrow space — an upland strip of cornfield, crowned by the beloved Church. When at length the shadows fell, and it was known that the watcher's eyes were sealed in their last sleep, a thought may have come to some, — of the awakening that should be other- where ; the narrow window exchanged for the glorious width and breadth of Heaven itself; the stone-built Church for a Temple of the Eternal God, not made with hands. By '*E. V. B.," One of his oldest friends. INTRODUCTION To those who are familiar with the beaM- tifitl ecclesiastical 7'emains in many parts of Scotland, the title ''The Churches of Biichan'' 7night appear simply to call attention to the paucity of stich remains in the great North- Eastern Province. But the religious centres of which the Churches of Buchan are the laitd- marks will be fomid to present an unbroken history of Christianity from its introduction ijtto Pictland to the present time. An old Scotch minister of the last genera- tion found hiinself in the pulpit with a well- worn MS. which he had not read over and from which the text was amis sing. He was equal to the occasion, and remarked, '' My friends, I find xvi Introduction. the mice have been taking liberties with my MS,y b7it we shall just go on^ and we shall find the text by-and-by.'' In the perusal of the ''Notes by the Way,'' the readers will have an opportunity of follow- ing the history which, from the natttre of the case, cannot be confined to Buchan, and they will find a description of its Churches '' by-and-by!', The Churches of Buchan and Notes by the Way Chapter I. CIVIL HISTORY. Arch^OLOGISTS seem to think that there were two Allophyh'an races in this country previous to the Celts, who at the time of the Roman invasion were themselves comparatively recent intruders ; that one of these races survived, even as a whole tribe called " Silures " on the borders of Wales, and that their peculiar physical type may still occasionally be traced among the people. They were akin to the Basques or Iberians, and to them belonged the people called Firbolg, the original inhabitants of Ireland. Their remains are those found in the caves, long barrows and chamber tombs of the stone age, and their skulls are long or oval, whereas those of the Celts are round. The Celts came in two divisions, the earlier was the Goidelic Celts, one branch of whom had red hair and were afterwards known as the Picts. Their Irish B The Churches of Buchan representatives were the Cruithne of Ulster. Another branch was dark-haired, and was described in the Irish legends as the race of Milesius, who were after- wards known as the Scots. The second great division of the Celts was the Brythonic Celts, who drove the Goidelic Celts north- wards and westwards. The Roman occupation of Britain was never very secure beyond the Great Wall between the Tyne and the Solway. Agricola, with the foresight and military skill which distinguished him, had fixed the boundary of the province between the Forth and Clyde, and built there forts. These were afterwards connected by a wall built by Lollius Urbicus in 139 A.D., called after the Emperor the Wall of Antoninus, and locally known as Grim's Dyke. The remains of camps and roads even as far north as the Moray Firth indicate that the Romans made many reconnaissances in force into the country beyond the Forth. Severus appears to have reconstructed the Wall of Antoninus and made the great road through Strathearn in 210. For 120 years after the withdrawal of the Roman legion- aries we know nothing of what was going on in Pictland. The name Pict is believed to have been derived from a mis-apprehension on the part of the Romans. The people called themselves " Pechta " aiid Notes by the Way. or " Piecta," the Warriors, which the Romans thought was their own word " picti," painted. But as all the Celtic tribes stained their bodies in time of war, there would have been nothing distinctive in the appellation. At length, through the phantasmagoria of legend and myth, we perceive that the Saxons had obtained a permanent footing on the East of England, and that Northumbria, with its Castle of Bamborough (Bebbe's burgh), was an important kingdom which stretched to the Forth ; that it was separated from the Brythons of Alclyde, whose capital was Dumbarton, by the forest of Carrick and the Catrail, which is a ditch with a mound on each side extending from Peel Fell to the Rink Camp near Galashiels ; that north of the Forth to the Mounth (Grampians) were the Southern Picts, and north of the Mounth the Northern Picts. On the north-eastern borders the Scandinavians had settle- ments formed in the first case peaceably for the sake of commerce and subject to the Pictish authorities. These settlements afterwards became independent through the help of the Vikings and their followers. On the west of Drumalban (the range of hills be- tween Athole and Deeside), was the kingdom of Dalriada, originally held under the superiority of the Northern Irish kings. From the Forth to the Tay the country was held The Churches of Buchan by mixed races, and was the scene of continual con- flicts. The Northumbrians were anxious to enlarge their territories by annexing part of Pictland, and Ecgfrith, whose reign marks the highest pitch of Northumbrian power, made a formidable expedition. The Picts in despair turned to bay at the passes of Dunnichen in Fife, and overthrew the Northumbrian army with a great slaughter, and Ecgfrith and the flower of his nobles lay a ghastly heap on the shore of Nechtans- mere (685). So complete and terrible was the defeat that the Saxons never again tried directly to subjug- ate the Picts, and even for a time lost their hold upon Lothian. The Danes, as all the Northmen at this time were called, were ravishing the coasts and had sailed up the Tay. They had burnt lona, and the round towers of Abernethy and Brechin show that the Celtic Church saw the necessity of providing stronger protection for her treasures than the frail wood and wattle buildin^rs of the monasteries. Emboldened by the distracted state of Pictland, in consequence of the Danish incur- sions, Kenneth MacAlpine, King of the Scots of Dalriada, sent a Division of his army by Loch Broom into North Pictland, and with another crossed Drum- alban into South Pictland. It is said that the final and Notes by the Way. 5 battle was fought at Muir of Boghead, near Kintore, and that in consequence of the defeat, the leaders of the Picts migrated into Galloway and Moray, which may account for the importance of these provinces in Scottish history, and also for the difficulties of the Scottish monarchs with regard to them. Kenneth was the lineal descendant of Aidan, the King of Dal- riada, whom St. Columba crowned, and through the female line claimed to be the true inheritor of the Pictish Kingdom in accordance with the singular law of succession which prevailed in that nation. He took up his residence at Forteviot, the old Pictish capital (844-860). The last sovereign who was called King of the Picts was Eocha, grandson of Kenneth, who ascended the throne under the guardianship of his uncle, Ciricius or Grig, 885. The latter is called in monkish chronicles Gregory the Great and Saint Ciricius, and his name is preserved in Ecclesgrig and St. Cyrus (893). It was from King Grig or Ciric that the name of the Mearns (Magh-Circin or the plain of Circin) originated. Constantine II. (900-942), son of Kenneth, carried on a vigorous warfare with the Saxon Athelstane of Wessex in the South and the Norwegians in the North. During the reign of Malcolm I. (942-954) the Danes from Ireland attacked England through / The Churches of Buchan Cumbria, and the latter was ceded to Malcolm that he might check their inroads. His son, Kenneth II. (970-995) got the Lothians from King Edgar, and was murdered by Dame Finella near Fettercairn. Kenneth III. (997-1004) was killed by the men of the Mearns, and with him the Kingdom of Alban came to an end, and was called Scotia under Malcolm II. (1005- 1034). He defeated the Angles at Carham, and to him the whole Saxon territory north of the Tweed was ceded, while on the death of the last of the Strathclyde Kings, Malcolm ruled over the whole of Scotland. He was the last of the direct male line of Kenneth MacAlpine. One of his daughters married Sigurd, the Orkney jarl, by whom she had a son, Thorfinn, and the other Crinan, lay abbot of Dunkeld, and their son was Duncan, the " gracious Duncan " of Shake- speare (1034- 1 040). On succeeding his grandfather, Duncan attempted to subdue his cousin Thorfinn, but he was treacherously murdered by Macbeth, the Mor- maer of Moray, who laid claim to the crown himself. But Duncan's brother-in-law, Siward of Northumbria, supported his nephew Malcolm Caenmore, and Mac- beth was slain at Lumphanan (1057). Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Ingibioric. By her he had a son, Duncan, who was killed in the Mearns, a fatal district to royalty. He married, secondly, and Notes by the Way. Margaret, the Saxon princess, our St. Margaret of Scotland. On Malcolm's death at Alnwick, his brother, Donald Bane, seized the throne, but he was evicted, and Edgar, Margaret's eldest son, who made Dunfermline the royal residence, reigned in his stead. On Edgar's death (1107) the kingdom passed to his brothers, Alexander I., who reigned north of the Forth, and David I., who reigned south of it. And on the resignation of the former, the latter became king of the entire kingdom (11 24-1 153). He was a Norman Baron, Earl of Huntingdon, and of Saxon blood, and he asserted Saxon superiority over the whole country by the victory of Strathcathro, which was fought against the Northern Celts in 11 30. He was thus able to introduce these ecclesiastical changes which are not unfittingly summarised in the epithet which was applied to him by his descendant James VI., " ane sair sanct for the croun." Having thus briefly traced the civil history of the country down to the reign of the king who chiefly moulded its religious life for many centuries and who brought it into union with Western Christendom, we may now trace its religious history from the intro- duction of Christianity through the same period. The CJmrches of Biichan Chapter II. PRE-COLUMBAN CHRISTIANITY. Christianity found its way into Britain during the Roman occupation, and probably penetrated beyond the limits of the Roman province. St. Paul, Joseph of Arimathea, Claudia the wife of Pudeus, are severally credited with the privilege of having introduced it. The probability is that it was intro- duced into some of the military stations of Brittania Romana during the second century. It is difficult for us to realise the civilisation of Roman Britain during the occupation and the facilities of communication between the provinces and Rome which then obtained. The traveller could measure his progress by mile- stones along the road, and maps of the route gave distances from place to place, with halts for the night. Augustus established a system of postal conveyances, which were used by officers, couriers, and other offi- cials of the Government, while private enterprise pro- vided similar means of travel for the public generally. The persecution of Diocletian (300 — 303) and the martyrdom of St. Alban (303) at Verulam are well and Notes by the Way. attested facts in the history of Britain, and many Christians are supposed to have found refuge in Pict- land. At a later period (circa 380), among those who went for instruction to Rome was St. Ninian, the son of a chief or petty magistrate. After a time of study and preparation he was promoted by Siricius, Bishop of Rome, to the Episcopal office. He returns to his native country well acquainted with the theology of the Catholic Church and with the ecclesiastical orcfan- isation of settled churches like those of Italy. He was a Bishop, and the earlier missionary efforts were made by Bishops. When we think of the position and powers of the Episcopate in after times : of Bishops as feudal lords and leader of armies or as the statesmen prelates of a later period, we can hardly think ourselves back to a time when Bishops differed from the rest of the clergy only in the possession of the sole power of conferring orders. Quid enim facit, excepta ordinatione, Epis- copus, quod presbyter non faciat? St. Jer. Epist. ad Evang. The great authority and wonderful success of the Columban monastic system had so overshadowed all other efforts at the time of its supremacy that missionary effort is supposed to be confined to that C 10 The Churches of Buchan connected with Columban monasteries. But this is a mistake. The number of bishops in early times was out of all proportion to what afterwards obtained, while the tribal system in this country precluded a diocesan episcopacy. St. Ninian on his way from Rome visits Tours, of which St. Martin, the founder of Western Monasticism, was the Bishop. At Tours was the Magnum Monas- terium, the nucleus of great missionary work, and St. Ninian was anxious that some such centre should be formed in the place where he had purposed to minister. He sets about building a church, the first stone church in Scotland. From its white appearance it was called Candida Casa, and in the speech of the district Whith- ern. While the building was going on, St. Ninian heard of the death of St. Martin (397), and he dedi- cated the new church to his memory. It is a far look back to those times, but in the term " Martinmas " and the Fatted Ox " Mart " which was killed at that time of the year, we have unconscious testimony to the wide estimation in which St. Martin, whose fame was first wafted to our shores by St. Ninian, was held. St. Ninian was the Apostle of the Britons, and of the Southern Picts, whose territory spread from Athole to the Mounth. His magnum monasterium which he erected at Candida Casa was and Notes by the Way, 1 1 easily reached from the North of Ireland, and was frequented by Irish Students. It thus became one of the channels through which the monastic system reached the sister island, and if it be true that St. Finnian of Moville had been a student at Candida Casa, it is interesting to trace through him the influ- ence of the school of St. Ninian upon his more famous pupil, St. Columba. St. Patrick was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbar- ton, about 372. He wrote in his later years his Con- fession and his Epistle to a Welsh Prince called Coroticus, which are pronounced by our best Celtic scholars to be undoubtedly genuine, and from the Confession we learn that when he was nearly 16 years of age he was brought captive to Ireland. At the end of the 4th century Britain was ravaged by Picts and Scots and thousands were led captives, until the most famous generals of the Empire, Theodosius and Stilicho, were sent to restore tranquility and reorgan- ise the public service. It was then (369) that two new officials were appointed, one to command the Channel Fleet and watch the Saxon pirates ; the other, the Comes Britanniarum to guard the Western coast agamst the Irish attacks (Stokes' " Ireland and the Celtic Church "). St. Patrick returns to his parents in the Roman Province of Britain, but he is anxious to 1 2 The Churches of Buchan devote himself as a missionary to Ireland. He was probably in priest's orders when he went back to Ireland, and there at the age of 45 he was consecrated a bishop, and in his Epistle to Coroticus he describes himself as " Patricius, a sinner and unlearned, but appointed a bishop in Ireland." The rapidity of the conversions wrought by him would appear to us wonderful, but we must remember that in those days the missionary preacher aimed at the conversion of chiefs and kings. These being gained, those under their authority followed their lead. St. Patrick died about 458, and was buried in Downpatrick. If Scot- land sent St. Patrick to Ireland, Ireland has discharged the debt by giving Scotland the followers of St. Patrick by whom the country was Christianised. Bishops without Sees for missionary purposes to the heathen existed from the time of the Council of Antioch, A.D. 341. And St. Palladius, St. Ternan, and St. Serf are names connected with early Christian missions. John of Fordun's expression with regard to the first of these that he was sent to be Primus Epis- copus Scotorum by Pope Celestine, 430 A.D,, two years before the mission of St. Patrick to Ireland, has been the mother of fierce controversies which need never have occurred if the disputants had recollected that the Scoti had no reference to what is now called Scotland, but to Ireland. and Notes by the Way. 13 Palladius is still remembered at Fordoun, where his relics were placed in a silver shrine by Archbishop Shives (1494) in the chapel, which was dedicated to him on the spot where his remains were interred a thousand years before. A well — known as Paldy's well— and a fair, called Paldy or Pady's Fair, in the parish of Fordoun, still bear witness to his ancient fame. It is doubtful, however, whether St. Palladius ever ministered in Pictland, and his cultus is supposed to have originated from the fact of his relics having been deposited by his follower, St. Ternan, at Fordoun. St. Ternan seems to have been a successful missionary in South Pictland, and occupied in mediaeval times a place of considerable importance in the local religious conceptions of the North-East of Scotland. He built a church on the Dee, another Candida Casa, called Banchory or Fair choir. There he was afterwards buried, and his Matthew volume of the Gospels, his bell, and his head were held in high esteem up to the Reformation. St. Serf, " Servanus," St. Sair in Aberdeenshire (best known through his connection with St. Thenew or Thenog (St. Enoch) and her son St. Kentigern (554 — 601), the St. Mungo of Glasgow), was another of the Episcopi Vagi. Although connected with Fife and the valley of the Forth, it is possible that he had 14 The CJmrches of Buchan a " desert " at Lochleven, and the gift early in the eighth century by Brude of the " isle of Lochleven to God Almighty, St. Serf, and the Keledei hermits dwelling there who are serving or shall hereafter serve God in that Island," may refer to St. Kentigern's friend and not to a later Servanus of the date of Brude's gift. Among the Bishops who have left their influence in the North-East of Scotland are St. Fergus, for many years a bishop in Ireland and whose missionary labours in Buchan are attested by a church at Longley (St. Fergus) and by one at Inverugie. He was pro- bably the " Fergustus Episcopus Scotitie Pictus " who was a signatory to the decrees of a Council held at Rome under Pope Gregory II. in A.D. 721. He died at Glamis. His head was preserved at Scone, and in the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer there is an entry of the payment of a silver case for it by order of James IV. St. Molocus or Moluach, founder of the Church of Lismore and of Mortlach-with-Cloveth in Banffshire ; St. Marnoch (628) connected with Aberchirder in Strathbogie ; St. Donan with Auchterless where his pastoral staff was preserved ; St. Modan with Philorth, now Fraserburgh, Auchmedden, and various Pit- meddens ; St. Machar, companion of St. Columba and founder of the Cathedral of Aberdeen ; Nathalan and Notes by the Way. 1 5 {6y^)^ a missionary bishop on Deeside. He was buried at Tullich, near Ballater, and the place is best known from having given its name to the well-known " Reel of Tullich," which was composed and first danced there on a stormy day when the parishioners were waiting for the priest ! The ancient name of Meldrum, Bethelny, Bothnethalan (the abode of Nathalan) pre- serves the name of its patron saint, the aforesaid Nathalan. These names with dedications so far asunder show that the bishops had traversed large districts of country in their missionary journeys and throw light upon the way in which Christianity was first promulgated in Pictland. A bishop, with his attendant presbyter or deacon, would perambulate a territory and fix on some spot where the Sacraments were to be administered. Beside it a school would be erected and a hospitium or place in which to entertain strangers. The missionary labours of the bishops were from the nature of the country and the tribal system subject to many reverses, and although much good work was done and the fallow ground broken up, it was realised that the system of a single bishop in each separate tribe was insufficient. Collegiate churches with groups of seven bishops, brothers of the same family or of the same sept associated with them, were therefore set up, and brought the church still closer to 1 6 The Churches of Buchan the tribal system. This was the plan in Ireland, and Aengus the Culdee speaks of " the seven bishops " of Hii. Dr. Skene says, " There does appear to have been in the island of lona at this early period (that is before the arrival of Columba) a Christian establish- ment of that peculiar collegiate form which appears at this time in Ireland." We must remember that in Ireland many presbyters, on account of their sanctity, were promoted to the episcopate and became bishops unattached (Episcopi Vagi). Some of these com- munities, although not monastic, survived after the expulsion of the Columban monks as Culdees, a name, however, which was only heard of in Pictland in the eighth century for the first time. At Lochleven, St. Andrews, Dunkeld, Dunblane, Brechin, Rosmarky, Dornoch, Lismore, Abernethy, Monymusk, Muthill, Monifieth, the Culdees had settle- ments. At St. Andrews they kept their place at Kirk- heugh alongside of the Canons regular, who had been introduced to oust them out, even up to 1322. St. Kentigern, best known under the pet name of Mungo, was born at Culross in Fife and educated by St. Serf. As he grew up to man's estate he collected around him the young for instruction. The British kingdom of Strathclyde, which had different bound- aries at different times, reached from St. Asaph (so and Notes by the Way. ly called from St. Mungo's friend and disciple, Asaph) to Dumbarton or Alclyde, which latter was always the capital. The Britons had received Christianity before, but had apostatised. St. Kentigern, however, is chosen bishop of the Britons through the influence of the Prince of Strathclyde, and he was consecrated by a single bishop from Ireland. He was a successful and indefatigable missionary, and there is a proverb " St. Mungo's work is never done," which was afterwards wittily applied to the slow progress of the building of Glasgow Cathedral. " A new king arose which knew not Joseph," and St. Mungo had to flee into Wales. There he founded a monastery at Llanelly on the banks of another Clyde, over which, on his return to Glasgow. he placed St. Asaph in charge, whose name has been given to the place and to the bishopric of St. Asaph. St. Mungo seems to have carried his labours into Aberdeenshire, and churches at Migvie and Lum- phanan dedicated to Finan, and at Midmar to Nidan, witness to the influence of his Welsh followers, while Glengairn is dedicated to St. Mungo himself Prof. Rhys says that "Welsh missionaries had carried on work of a lasting nature among the transmontane Picts is proved by a group of dedications in the upper valley of the Dee, among which are found Kentigern's own name and that of Ffinan, whose church in D 1 8 The Churches of Buchan Anglesey is called Llanffinan, while that of his in Scotland gives its name to Lumphanan." Adjoining Llanffinan in Anglesey is Llaninan. So that two Welsh saints, Finan and Ninan, fellow-workers with St Mungo, have left their names associated with two adjacent parishes in Wales. And the same thing occurs in Aberdeenshire, Lumphanan and Migvie being dedicated to St. Finan and Midmar to St. Ninan. The two men whose influence had been so blessed to separated branches of the great Celtic family, the Britons and the Picts — St. Mungo and St. Columba — met at any rate on one occasion at the spot where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, and there they exchanged their simple pastoral staves, bent pieces of wood. The crypt of that beautiful church encloses the site of the humble church in which St. Mungo officiated, and in the tomb on the north side of its altar all that is mortal of him was laid. " Before his shrine Edward I. kneeled and made offerings, and Robert Bruce did penance and received absolution after the murder of the Red Comyn." and Notes by the Way. 19 Chapter III. ST. COLUMBA AND THE CELTIC CHURCH. St. Columba was born in Donegal in the year 521. He was descended on both sides from powerful pro- vincial princes, and belonged to the clan of the O'Donnels. He was a pupil in the monastic school of Finnian of Moville, where he was afterwards ordained deacon. The most famous school of ecclesiastical learning in Ireland of that day was the monastery of Clonard on the Boyne, the scholars of which were reckoned by thousands. It was also presided over by another St. Finnian. Here Columba was ordained presbyter and gained much of that skill in the art of the copyist for which he was so celebrated. Among his fellow disci- ples at Clonard were St Congall, St Ciaran and St. Cainnech. St. Congall became the first abbot of Bangor in Down : St. Ciaran was connected with Cloumaenoise, some ten miles below Lough Ree, which occupied a position second only to Armagh itself in popular reverence. Its two round towers, 20 The Churches of Buchan numberless crosses, cashel and ruins of seven churches, still attest its ancient celebrity ; while St. Cainneah, the Saint of Kilkenny, founded a monastery in the Eastern corner of Fife at a spot by the sea called Rig Monadh, the Royal Mount, the site of the great church and monastery of St. Andrews, hence anciently called Kilrymont (Boyd). In consequence of a wrong done him about a psalter, as some say, or, according to others, of a violation of his sanctuary, St. Columba seems to have stirred up strife between powerful chiefs, and a bloody battle was fought at Cooldrevny, near Sligo. Molaise, his " soul friend," a confessor, advised St. Columba, as a penance for the slaughter which he had caused, to leave Ireland and devote himself to missionary labours among the Picts. But St. Adamnan, his biographer, simply states that it was in consequence of his love for missionary work, that he left Ireland — " pro Christo peregrinari volens enavigavit." He embarked with twelve companions in a frail coracle, a craft of wicker- work covered with hides, and on Whitsunday, 563, landed at lona, the small island destined for so many ages to be a light to Western Christendom. He was connected with Conall, the king of the adjoining Dalriada, from whom it would appear he received a grant of the island. It is said that Columba and his and Notes by the Way. 21 monks were not the first Christians who had set foot on lona, and that they were met by two of a com- munity of bishops. We may note that when Columba landed "not one of the great nations of modern Europe had yet been born. The very elements of which they are composed were only then being brought together. All Europe and a large part of Asia was one great encampment, not of armies merely but of races on the march. Wave was following wave from the exhaustless breeding grounds of the north, sweeping away the dying civilisations of the world, but depositing a fruitful soil from which later civilisations were to rise." Roman legions had been finally with- drawn from Britain only 100 years before, and during the whole of St. Columba's long life the conquest of Britain by Angles and Jutes and Saxons was being carried on and was finally completed about the period of his death. Two years were spent by the Columbites in forming their home in lona, when they "would have numbered at least quite 200 persons " — (Stokes). The intro- duction of Christian monastic life arose first about the time of the Decian persecution. Egypt was its original seat. There were two classes, the solitary or anchorite and the coenobite or member of a community living together, the connecting link between which were the 22 The Churches of Buchan small monastic communities in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, called Lauras, a name said to be derived from the popular term in Alexandria for an alley or small court. A laura was an aggregate of separate cells, the inmates meeting together on the first and last days — the old and new Sabbaths of each week — for their common meal in the refectory and for their common worship in the chapel. On the other days of the week they dwelt apart, each in the silence and solitude of his cell, subsisting on bread and water, the ordinary fare of the primitive founders of monasticism. They have been compared to religious villages peopled by a hard - working ascetic brotherhood from which females were rigidly excluded. Pachomius (292 — 348) was the first to bring the scattered coenobia under one rule, each cloister having a separate superior and steward. One of the earliest offshoots from Egyptian monasticism was planted in Gaul, the communication between Marseilles and Alexandria being frequent and easy. There was a lively intercourse between East and West, and from St. Jerome's Letters the monk Sysinnius was perpetually on the road between Marseilles and Bethlehem. His route was probably via Sardinia, Rome, Greece, and the islands of the Adriatic to Bethlehem. Thence to the monasteries of Egypt. This frequent intercourse between Egyptian and Notes by the Way. 23 and Gallican monasticism explains some of the peculiarities of Celtic monasticism which would appear to have been introduced into Ireland from Gaul. Hence the type of the early Celtic monastery is to be sought not among the Latins but among the Greeks and Orientals. The Irish and early Scottish monas- teries of the 6th and 7th centuries followed the Eastern model. There were separate huts for the monks and for the abbot ; a refectory of considerable size in which was a fireplace and a stone vessel full of water used for washing the pilgrims' feet ; the kitchen hospitium or guest chamber (the hospitia appears to have been, as originally in the East, detached huts) ; the library with its ink-horns, pens, waxen tablets, MSS. and books hung in leathern bags by pegs to the wall. These buildings would have been built of wattles and clay, and there was the church of oak with an exedra or vestry. All the buildings were surrounded by a cashel or " der " of mixed stones and earth, outside of which were a stone kiln, a mill, a barn and byres. Mention is made at lona of a white horse used to carry the milk pails from the byre to the monastery, and also of a cart from which St. Columba on his last visit to the brethren at work in the western part of the island, blessed it and those who dwelt therein. The sites of many of the buildings can be identified. But 24 The Churches of Buchan the visitor to lona, although he lands at the Port a Churraich, the bay of the coracle, and two miles further north looks upon ruins in abundance, does not behold any buildings which St. Columba ever erected. He can see the Cathedral and the monastery, St. Oran's chapel and the nunnery, and plenty of carved tombstones ; but they are separated by centuries from St. Columba's times. The old Celtic community was absorbed by the Benedictine Order of monks and nuns, introduced in 1203 when the buildings were raised of which the ruins still exist. Close to the original monastery was the Relig Odhrain, the ancient burying place of lona, to which the "Street of the Dead " led. On the north of its enclosure is St Oran's Chapel, which probably marks the very site of St. Columba's still humbler church, and is thought to be the building which St. Margaret erected. Close beyond it and nearly opposite the western front of the later Cathedral there is a natural hillock of rock still called the Torrabb or Abbot's Knoll, which St. Columba ascended on the last day of his life, and from which he blessed his long adopted home and pronounced the prophecy of its fame which has been literally fulfilled along the course of later centuries. The ordinary dress of the monks was a white tunic, over which was worn a cloak with a hood (cowl) and Notes by the Way. 25 of rough texture made of wool of the natural undyed colour. St. Columba is supposed to have worn one of a distinctive shape and colour. In cold weather they had a warmer cloak. They were shod with sandals, which they took off at meals. The monks slept in their huts in their clothes. Each was provided with a straw pallet and a bolster. St. Columba himself lay on the bare stones, with a stone for his pillow. The heart-shaped stone with a cross upon it, protected by an iron cage on the left of the altar of the Cathedral, is said to have been St. Columba's pillow. The monks had but two meals a day, and the food was of the simplest kind, barley bread, fish and milk. On fast days they had only one meal in the evening. On Sundays and feast days and on the arrival of guests they had meat. The brethren were arranged in three classes — The Seniors (Seniores) ; the Working Brothers (operarii fratres) ; the Pupils (Juniores, alumni, or frueri familiares). The Seniors were re- sponsible for the services from which the Working- Brothers were excused. There does not seem to have been a written rule, but obedience, chastity, and poverty were strictly observed. There were three services by day and three by night, and many of the monks and the abbot himself retired for private de- votion to some secluded spot, " disert " it was called — E 26 The Churches of Buchan to a cave on the seashore or to a desolate island. A peculiar form of austerity was to remain in cold water till they had repeated the entire Psalter. There does not seem to have been any difference in the religious views of the Columbites from what obtained in Western Christendom at the time. There was a difference, however, between the Celtic Church and the rest of the West as to the time of keeping Easter. The Columbites still retained a cycle for calculating Easter which had been abandoned elsewhere, but they always observed Easter upon a Sunday. The tonsure, which was a mark of the clerical state and represented the crown of thorns, was in the Roman obedience a round fringe. What is known as the tonsure of St. Paul was the complete shaving of the head. The Columban monks, according to some, shaved the front of the head from a line drawn from ear to ear in a crescent shape. But Bishop Dowden thinks that it was only a semi-circle on the top of the head towards the front that was shaved, leaving a fringe over the forehead. The Holy Eucharist seems to have been celebrated only on Sundays and Holy Days, although the abbot on occasions commanded a celebration. At the celebration it was the custom for two presbyters to do the manual acts together, but a bishop when celebrating took the service alone. The Host was and Notes by the Way. 27 arranged with its parts in the form of a cross (sur- rounded at Easter with a circle of other portions). A larger portion was placed in the centre at the junction of the arms of the cross, as is still the case in portions of the Eastern Church. The arrangement of the Host is supposed to have suggested the form of the lona cross with which we are so familiar. The chalice was mixed, the water \>€\x\g first placed in the chalice and the wine added to it. The communion was in both kinds, and at any rate in the case of the sick, as we learn from the Book of Deir, both elements seem to have been administered at once. Although everything about the monastery was simple in the extreme, the artistic taste of the monks was very great. The MSS in their leathern satchels hung up in the library were excellent specimens of caligraphy and in some cases richly illuminated. The Codex Rossaneusis is believed to be " an example of Byzantine skill and taste at the time of its highest development, the period of Justinian and of the building of St. Sophia." Yet it cannot compare either in design or in execution with the Book of Kells, which dates from the 7th century. The colouring matter used in the illuminations is believed to be identical with the colours of the ancient Egyptians. — another proof of the connection of Ireland with Egypt. The vessels for the altar were, 28 The Churches of Buchan it is believed, very beautiful. The use of bronze for chalices appears to have been peculiar to the Irish monks. They used niells and damascening with thin silver in their decoration. There is no instance in the whole Columban history of a presbyter having ordained, although when a bishop ordained in a monastery the abbot gave his formal permission to the brother by previously laying his hand upon his head. " As for Presbytery and its connection with the family of lona, it may safely be asserted that the first taste lona had of that form of church polity was when the redoubtable Presbytery of Argyll in one day hurled its 360 crosses into the sea — wicked monu- ments of idolatry that they were " (Shairp). Having built his monastery and arranged matters at lona, Columba and his companions, among whom were Congall and Canice, who were Irish Picts and possessed of that linguistic fluency which St. Columba as yet lacked, crossed Drumalban and made their celebrated expedition to Inverness, where Brude, the King of the Northern Picts, resided at the hill fort of Craig Phadric, just as St. Patrick made his way to and Notes by the Way. 29 Tara. With the conversion of Brude came the con- version of the people, and Brude, whose influence and power extended to the Orkneys, was a powerful instrument for the promotion of Christianity. It is related, for instance, that when visiting Brude, St. Columba met the ruler of the Orkneys, and he thus addressed the King, " Some of our brethren have lately set sail and are anxious to discover a * desert.' in the pathless sea. Should they happen, after many wanderings, to come to the Orcadian Islands, do thou carefully instruct this chief, whose hostages are in thy hand, that no evil befall them within his dominions." Some think that Columba himself penetrated as far as the Orkneys ; at any rate it is certain that a com- panion of his — St. Cormac — did, and some of the lona brotherhood reached Iceland, where, in the ninth century, the Norsemen found traces of them in their books, crosiers, and bells. From the " Book of Deir " we learn that St. Columba, along with his nephew, St. Drostan, founded a monastery at Aberdour, in Buchan, and another at Deer (580). There were also mon- asteries at Turriff and Mortlach, in which latter a bishop resided and which had associated with it a subordinate monastery — Cloveth (Clova) — and was possessed of five churches. There was a monastery at Monymusk, remarkable afterwards as being one of 30 The Churches of Buchan the few sites of Culdee communities north of the Tay. From the fact that to all Columban foundations, schools were attached, the scolog lands at Ellon would suggest that there was a Columban settlement there of much importance. Ellon was the seat of justice and of hosting to the whole country between the Don and the Deveron. When the primacy in after times was transferred from lona to Dunkeld and finally to St. Andrews, the remaining property of the Columban Church was transferred with it. Thus it was that the scolog lands of Ellon came to belong to the See of St. Andrews. In a Bull, dated at the Lateran 19th December, 12 18, Honorius III. receives under the papal protection William Malvoisin, Bishop of St. Andrews, and his successors in the bishopric, along with all the possessions belonging to the Bishop of St. Andrews, and among distant ones are mentioned " the island of Lohlevenoh with its appendages, Munemusch, Culsamuel, and Elon, with the lands of their churches and all their pertinents." In 1265, Gameline, Bishop of St. Andrews, leases the scolog lands to the Earl of Buchan, and in 1387, Walter, Bishop of St. Andrews, holds an inquest in the parish church of Ellon respect- ing them. There seem to have been three offices of a scholastic kind in the Pictish Church — the master of the schools ; the " ferleigiun," " lecturer," or " man of and Notes by the Way. 3 1 learning " ; and the scolog. In time the latter name was applied to the farmer of the lands — " que dicuntur le scologlandis." At Ellon the rents supported four clerks to read and sing in the parish church. St. Columba did not forget the interests of his kinsmen in Dalriada. He must have been a frequent visitor at Dun Monadh, near Loch Crinan, the earliest royal seat of the Dalriad kings. When Conall died a doubt arose as to his successor, who would naturally have been Eogenan, whom the saint loved dearly. But it was shown him in a dream that Eogenan's brother Aidan was the choice of heaven, and the latter was consecrated on The Stone of Fate, on which still the monarchs of the United Kingdom are crowned in Westminster Abbey. Dean Stanley says that Aidan's is the first authentic consecration in Western Christendom. By a personal appeal to the supreme king at Tara, St. Columba gained Home Rule for Scottish Dalriada, and he also pleaded successfully the cause of the bards when their fate hung in the balance at the synod or parliament of Drumceatt, near Newtonlimavady in Londonderry. He was accom- panied by King Aidan, and was attended by twenty bishops, forty priests, fifty deacons, and twenty students. The Synod was held in 575, and barons and clergy encamped under arms for fourteen months. 32 The Churches of Buchan St. Columba seems to have attracted to his monastery many youths who were educated and trained as priests both at lona and Tiree, and with these he peopled the numerous cells and monasteries which he had planted throughout the Highlands and Islands. He not only looked after his monasteries in Pictland, but also those which he had founded in Ireland at Derry, Durrow, and Kells. From them he also drafted large supplies of young and zealous mission- aries. Among the many guests from Ireland, from the mainland, from Northumbria, and other distant parts there were always many sick folk who flocked to lona. St. Columba himself was so successful in working cures that his power was considered miracul- ous. There was a famous race of doctors in I slay and Mull who probably owed their knowledge of the art to the monks. " This at least is certain, that about the oldest Celtic MSS. found in the Hebrides are on medical subjects, some of them said to be as old as the twelfth century " (Shairp). St. Columba was pro- bably " tall of stature, of vigorous frame, * of a counten- ance so ruddy and hilarious that even when worn with long toil and fasting he looked like one who lived in luxury,' large store of natural genius, quite Herculean energy, by nature irascible and explosive, yet unselfish withal, placable, affectionate, full of tenderness for and Notes by the Way. 33 those about him, and most compassionate to the weak, he was born to win the hearts and the reverence of men and to mould them as he would." He had the wonderful grey Celtic eye which at times seems white and transparent, at others dark and fierce as the waves of feeling strike the heart's wires. The eye can still be seen among the Celts, and the love and tenderness which it displays when once seen cannot readily be forgotten. His voice was very powerful and could be heard at a great distance, and the old songs of Zion which the exiles in Babylon were asked to sing by their captors seem to have made a great impression on the Picts when chanted by Columba and his little company. Well does Principal Shairp say of Columba, " Such a character comes only once a century to any time or country. As far as we know no equal to Columba was born in these islands during the whole sixth or several succeeding centuries. . ." Worn out with his more than thirty years' service he seems to have had an illness which brought him near to death, and although he was still spared for four years, it was borne in upon him that he had not long to live, and^he seems to have been anxious to impress this upon his family. " Why are you always sadden- ing us this year by telling of your going away," says Diarmit. On the last day of his life, resting on his F 34 The Churches of Biichan way from the barn to the monastery, the white horse came up and laid his head on the saint's bosom, and when Diarmit wished to drive him off Columba said, " To this brute and unreasoning animal the Creator in his own way has revealed that his master is about to leave him." On returning to the monastery he set himself to finish a psalter, and his last written words were " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." — Psalm xxxiv., lO. He attended vespers in the church and returned to his hut and bed of stone and gave some dying advice to Diarmit. When the bell sounded at twelve for the midnight vigil he rose quickly and fell on his knees beside the altar, and when the monks brought in their lanterns they found their Father dying. Diarmit raised the Abbot's hand so that he might even in dying bless the members of his community. So passed Columba, his face suffused with an unearthly brightness, amid the wailing of the brotherhood, on Sunday morning, 9th June, 597. After a wake of three days and three nights, his body, wrapped in clean linen, was laid in the tomb. He was buried in lona, and his remains rested there for more than 100 years, and " in after times there were borne Kings of Scotland, Kings of Norway, Lords of the Isles, to the cemetery consecrated by the neigh- bourhood of Columba's bones. . . . It is the oldest and Notes by the Way. 3 5 regal cemetery of Great Britain — before Dunfermline, before Holyrood, before Westminster, before Windsor. It is, further, the most continuously ancient cemetery of the world. In none other have the remains of the dead been laid through an unbroken tract of 1300 years, beginning with Columba and his companions and ending with the shipwrecked mariners of a few years ago." The American ship Guy Mannering was wrecked on the 31st December, 1865, and the sixteen seamen and passengers were buried at lona. In Buchan, Lonmay, Daviot, Belhelvie, Monycabo (New Machar), and Alvah, near Forglen, were dedi- cated to St. Columba. Besides the churches of Deir and Aberdour, those of Insch, Rothiemay, Aberlour (Scurdustan), Alvie (in Badenoch), Halkirk and Canisbay in Caithness, Loch- lee and Edzell in Glenesk, were dedicated to St. Drostan's honour, and attest his diligence in planting missions. 36 The Churches of Buchan Chapter IV. THE COLUMBAN EPISCOPATE IN NORTHUMBRIA. Pilgrims and refugees were frequent visitors at lona, and among the latter was St. Oswald (635 — 642), who was the chief means of introducing Christianity into England. The church of St. Augustine ("strangers from Rome " was the title with which the missionaries first fronted the English king), represented by Paulinus, who had accompanied a daughter of the Kentish king to the Northumbrian court, seemed to have been very successful in Northumbria ; but the success was only apparent, and on the death of King Edwin, his patron, Paulinus returns to Kent, and all his work seems to have been completely expunged. When Oswald returned from exile he was anxious that the work of Christianising Northumbria should be undertaken from lona. The missionary first chosen returned disheartened. But in 635 Aidan, consecrated bishop, left the shores of lona, and fixed his head- quarters in Lindisfarne — the holy island of the eastern coast — almost beneath the shadow of the rock-fortress and Notes by the Way. 37 of Bamborough, the residence of the Northumbrian kings, and was, under God, the means of the success- ful Christianising of England. True to his Columban traditions, St. Aidan con- sidered that education should be a chief part of his work. He gathered about him a class of most pro- mising lads, among them Eata, his successor in the See of Lindisfarne, the brothers Chad and Cedd, the evangelists of southern England, and Wilfrid, the most famous of northern churchmen in the succeedingf aee. Aidan was succeeded in the monastery by Finan, and Finan by Colman. Both alike came, as he had come, from the parent monastery of lona ; both alike ad- hered, as he had adhered, to the usages of St. Columba. At the Synod of Whitby (665) the use of Rome prevailed by the influence of the king over that of lona, and Colman, the last Celtic bishop, retired with a large band of followers from Northumbria, leaving the fruit of their labours to Rome. It was under the rule of Aidan that the most famous monastery of the south of Scotland — Melrose — was founded. Its first abbot was Eata. Under him Cuthbert was admitted as a brother, and after a time went with him to found a monastery at Ripon. But the Roman Easter having been forced upon them, they returned to Melrose, of 38 The Churches of Buchan which Cuthbert was made provost on the death of the prior Boisil (St. Boswell). He was aheady provost of Lindisfarne, which office he resigned after twelve years, and became an anchorite. He was called by King Egfrid from the anchorite life to the See of Hexham, and was consecrated by Theodore, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, in St. Peter's, York, on Easter Day, 26th March, 685. Preferring Lindisfarne, he exchanged Hexham with Eata. The diocese of Lindisfarne comprehended the whole of the Lothians to the Firth of Forth, with that portion of North- umberland which lies to the north of the river Aln ; and among the monastic foundations under its juris- diction was one at Abercorn on the Forth, above South Queensferry. In 681 a bishop named Trumwin was consecrated for Abercorn by Archbishop Theo- dore. On the defeat of Egfrid at Nectan's Mere in 685, Trumwin withdrew with his monks, and retired himself to Whitby. Egfrid's body was interred at lona at the request possibly of Aldfrid, the king's brother and successor, who either was then or certainly had been before, a guest of the monastery. St. Cuth- bert did not long survive his patron. He died in GZj^ and was laid to rest on the north side of the altar of Lindisfarne, a cathedral of split oak covered with reeds after the manner of the Scots. Eleven years and Notes by the Way. 39 afterwards his coffin was opened, and his body was found uncorrupt The bishop and the monks were forced by the Danes to flee from Lindisfarne. They took with them the body of St. Cuthbert, the head of St. Oswald, and other relics ; and after seven years' wandering settled at Chester-le-Street. Hence in 689 it was removed to Durham. In 1104, ^^'^ the occasion of the transference of the shrine, it was opened, and the body, with the Episcopal vestments, except the chasuble, was found entire. The head of St. Oswald had been deposited in the same chest to facilitate removal. In 1540 the shrine was opened a second time, and " the saint was found lying uncorrupt and all his vestments upon him as he was accustomed to say mass withall." In 1827 it was again opened. The body was there, but many things were wanting, while a valuable pectoral cross, stole, and two maniples, not there in 1540, were found. There was a great tendency among the regular clergy in the Saxon Church to degenerate into a kind of secular clergy. Symeon of Durham says that those at Durham were neither monks nor regular canons. There, as at Hexham and elsewhere, they were married and had families. The religious community, the congregation of St. Cuthbert, which ultimately settled at Durham, included the bishop and the monks. The two formed 40 The Churches of Buchan one body, whose interests were identical, and whose property was in common, and the bishop Hved among the monks, over whom he ruled within the community as he ruled over the diocese without. This unity between the bishop and the monks was very similar to that which prevailed among the religious communi- ties in Ireland and Scotland. The system went on at Durham until the establishment of the Benedictine Order there shortly after the Norman Conquest. In 1 874, outside the chapter house the graves of some of the early Norman bishops were met with, each covered with a slab bearing his name ; and below the level of the bishops' graves there were found a considerable number of skeletons of men, women, and children. There can be little doubt that the bodies found at the lower level belonged to the married clergy and their families who occupied the monastery at Durham before the Norman Conquest, and it is a curious fact that the heads of the bishops discovered were eminently brachy-cephalic or round-headed, whilst those of the lower buried persons were markedly dolicho-cephalic or long-headed. — (" Durham Cathe- dral," by Dr W. Greenwell.) O ! church of our fathers in England, O ! House of the Living Lord, Full fountain of faith for the ages, And witness firm to his word, and Notes by the Way, 41 From Alban, Augustine, and Aidan, Paulinus, and Cuthbert, and Bede, To our day— to ours even — what armies Of Christ, His long triumph lead ! Adamnan, afterwards Abbot of lona (679—704), and biographer of St. Columba, visited Jarrow, dis- cussed with Ceolfrid, the Abbot, the Celtic usages, and was converted. Soon after, Nectan, King of the Picts (710), corresponded with Ceolfrid, and received in answer to his inquiries a wisely-written exposition of the question from the Roman point of view, which had a disastrous effect upon the Columbite Church. For not only did Nectan conform himself to the Roman view, but he insisted that unless the Colum- ban clergy in Pictland should conform with him they should be expelled into Dalriada. This is referred to in the Irish annals as " expulsio familiae lae trans dorsum Britanniae a Nectano rege." He obtained also masons who could build similar churches to those being erected in Northumbria. From the time of Nectan we may trace other dedications than those which had been the "use and wont" before and among them to St. Peter. On the extreme north- east of Buchan there was the church of Peterugie, now Peterhead, and the chancel arch of the ruined G 42 The Churches of Buchan church still to be seen may have been the work of those masons who came to show the Picts how to build in stone. There were six dedications to St. Peter in Aberdeenshire. In the Irish and in the Columban Church the successor of an Abbot was one of the founder's kin, who was styled " Comarb," his co-heir or inheritor. It would appear that of the first eleven Abbots in succession to Columba nine were certainly of the same family and only one was certainly not of the founder's kin. But in process of time the Abbot, although of the founder's family, was not in Holy Orders and was a monk only in name. Much of the church property was thus alienated. After the Refor- mation we know the difficulties there were in supply- ing services and how readers were appointed. No doubt after Nectan's high-handed proceedings there would have been a like difficulty and his attention would have been called to the secular communities to which we have referred, and the fact of the existence of corporations of endowed clergy may have led afterwards to the erection of cathedrals at places where they were established — St. Andrews, Dunkeld, Dunblane, Brechin, Rosmarky, Dornoch, and Lismore had certainly such settlements, and became afterwards Episcopal Sees. mid Notes by the Way, 43 The beautiful tower of St. Regulus at St. Andrews (Nova Basilica A.D. 11 27) recalls the legend that in the time of the Emperor Constantine, the son of Con- stantine the Great, there was at Patras in Achaia a keeper of the relics of St. Andrew named Regulus. He carries off under angelic guidance part of the relics, and is directed to convey them to the western parts of the world and to found there a church in honour of St. Andrew. At length his sail-less and oarless boat lands Regulus and his companions at the- country of the Picts, and they came to Swines Wood (Mucross), afterwards Kilrymont. His companions go in search of King Hungus, who was then at Kin- drochet (Braemar) " transierunt Montana sen Moneth et venerunt ad locum qui vocabatur Doldencha nunc autem dictus Chandrochedalvan." Condrechet (Kin- drechet) signifies bridge-end and Alvan is the ancient name of the Clunie. The King and his nobles pro- strated themselves before the relics and gave the place to God and St. Andrew. Braemar was indeed anciently called St. Andrews. The King presents Regulus with Mucross, which was hallowed like the Irish Glendalough by its seven churches built on the wide territory then given to God and St. Andrew. A similar story is told of an Irish Regulus, and it may be that the Irish Regulus brought to Fife some 44 1^^^^ Churches of Buchan reputed relics of the Apostle. Others say that they were brought from Hexham in Northumberland by Bishop Acca who, or some of his predecessors, had brought relics of St. Andrew from Rome or Gaul. Acca was driven from his See in 732, and took refuge among the Picts, taking with him the relics and de- positing them in Fife. He might also have brought the legend of their translation from Greece by St. Regulus. Kilrymont thenceforth became the national church of the Picts, whose royal seat was at Scone, and St. Andrew became their patron saint. In A.D. 889 the Scottish dynasty succeeded to the Pictish throne. Then the Scottish and Pictish churches were blended into one in the united kingdom of Alban, and the Bishop of St. Andrews became known as the Bishop of Alban. The Scottish line of kings brought back with them the Columban monks who had been driven from Pictland early in the eighth century, and it became the policy of the Scottish kings to foster St. Andrews and make it supersede lona as the chief sanctuary of their people. — (Shairp.) After the death of Hungus, for a period of 300 years there was almost no authentic information with reference to Scotland except what is found in the Irish Annalists. Bishop Dowden supplies a few examples from which we quote : — and Notes by the Way. 45 " 794 — Ravaging of all the islands of Britain by the heathen. — Annals of Ulster. 802 — Hy of Columkille burned by the heathen — ib. 806 — The community (famiha) of Hy, 68 in No, slain by the heathen — ib. 850 — In the seventh year of his (Kenneth's) reign he carries relics of St. Columba to the church which he had constructed (at Dunkeld) — Chronicle of the Picts. 865 — Tuathal, son of Artguso, first Bishop of Fortren {i.e. the kingdom of the Picts) and Abbot of Dunkeld, died — Annals of Ulster. 908 — In his sixth year the King Constantine and the Bishop Cellach solemnly vowed at the Hill of Faith (colUs credulitatis) to preserve the laws and discip- line of the faith and the rights of churches and of the gospels equally with the Scots — Chronicle of the Picts. (The Constantine referred to was Constantine III., son of Aodh, grandson of Kenneth, and the greatest Scottish king. He restored the Scottish Church, and retired to be Abbot of the Culdees at St. Andrews.) 977 — Kenneth II. "gave the great city {i.e. the Monastery of Brechin) to the Lord." He was murdered by Dame Finella. 1005 — 1034 — Malcolm II. invaded Northumberland, was defeated, and in 10 18 again invaded Northumber- land when he gained a complete victory at Carhan on the Tweed with the result of the cession of Lothian and the territory up to the Tweed. Strath- clyde was in this reign incorporated in Scotland. 4.6 The Churches of Buchan He extended his influence in the north by the marriage of his daughter to Sigurd, the ruler of the Orkney Islands. 1040 — Macbeth is remarkable as having been the only Scottish king who visited Rome. His pilgrimage thither, his lavish bounty there to the poor, and his benefactions to his native church are recorded. The register of St. Andrews includes a notice of grants made by him and his queen, Gruach — the Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare — to the Culdee hermits of St. Serfs Inch in Lochleven." The original Scotia as a kingdom localised in our island extended from the Firth of Forth (the Scots Water) to Spey, and Aberdeen was the Regia or Royal City of the Scots and the centre of the king- dom, which in process of time annexed Edinburgh and Glasgow. King David I. in his proclamations, addresses " his subjects in Scotland and Lothian " (per regnum suum in Scotia et Lodonia). Cumbria, Lothian, and Moray were the appanages which Scot- land acquired. Hence Aberdeen was more directly associated with the monarchs as kings of the Scots, and shared with Dunfermline and Perth the honour of being the Royal residence. The fact that the king kept Yule in Aberdeen is frequently recorded. (Note Chapter I., Heraldic Cieling, St. Machar's.) arid Notes by the Way. 47 The incursions of the Danes had resulted in the destruction of lona, and the primacy which lona had so long held was transferred to Dunkeld, to which the relics of Columba were brought ; thence to Abernethy, whose very ancient round tower shows its Irish con- nection but which had been a very ancient Columban foundation. Following the custom which made the successor of St. Columba a presbyter, the presbyter Abbots of lona had exercised supremacy over the whole Columban monasteries. But now we find this supremacy lodged in a bishop whose seat was at Abernethy, and it is said that there were three bishops there in succession who were the only bishops with jurisdiction " in ilia ecclesia (Abernethy) fuerunt tres electiones factae quando non fuit nisi unus solus Episcopus in Scotia." The custom to which we have referred of an Abbot being the " Comarb " of the founder led often to the secularisation of church pro- perty. Crinan, lay Abbot of Dunkeld, married the daughter of Malcolm II., who was the last of the direct male line of Kenneth M'Alpine, and their son was the " gracious Duncan." Ethelred, Earl of Fife, a younger son of Malcolm III. and Margaret, also was lay Abbot of Dunkeld, while its actual abbot became the first bishop. With St. Margaret a new chapter of Scottish Church history is begun. 48 The Churches of Buchan We need not expect to find remains of the early Celtic Churches " quum de lapide nondum construere poterant nee usum habebant." St. Asaph's Cathedral in Wales founded in the sixth century and that of Lindisfarne in 652 were of wood, and "the mos Scotorum " was carried by the missionaries even be- yond the Alps, and in his wooden oratory at Bobbio among the wild hills near the source of the Trebbia, St. Columbanus early in the seventh century repro- duced in Classic Italy the rude type of Irish Banchor and Scottish lona (Robertson — " Scottish Abbeys "). " The old Celtic Church came to an end, leaving no vestiges behind it save here and there the roofless walls of what had once been a church and numerous old burying grounds to which the people still cling with tenacity and where occasionally an ancient Celtic cross tells of its former state . . . The only records we have of their history are the names of the saints by whom they were founded preserved in old Calendars, the wells near the old churches bearing their name, the village fairs of immemorial antiquity held on their day, and here and there a few families holding a small portion of land as hereditary cus- todians of the pastoral staff or other relics of the reputed founder of the church, with some small remains of his jurisdiction " — (Skene). At Monymusk is pre- and Notes by the Way. 49 served a very remarkable reliquary, the Brecbannoch. It is supposed to have been a small shrine for holding relics, probably one or two small bones of St. Columba. It is a small wooden box hollowed out of the solid, and covered with plates of pale bronze and silver. It was originally jewelled, and is still enamelled, and the tracings of the characteristic Celtic spiral ornaments engraved upon it are still visible. At both ends it had a hooked plate with a hinge so that it might readily be carried by a strap on one's breast. But one plate is now lost. King William the Lion founded the great Abbey of Arbroath in memory of Thomas a Becket, and he bestowed upon it the custody of the Brecbannoch along with the lands of Forglen which were attached to that office. One of its obligations was that its guardians should carry it as often as the Scottish army went into battle. Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath, was present at Bannock- burn, and doubtless performed the service. But seven months after the battle, with consent of his Abbey, he made over its custody by charter, along with the lands of Forglen to Malcolm of Monymusk. In 1420 the lands of Forglen with the custody and service of the Brecbannoch were conferred upon Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum. (See " Church and Priory of Mony- musk.") H i 50 The Churches of Buchan In the illustrations in the " Book of Deir " each evangelist is represented as carrying suspended on his breast a satchel containing probably his own Gospel. The case was called a Cumdach. St. Columba's psalter was kept in a silver cumdach which still exists. As it was carried into battle it was called " Cathach " or " the Battler." St Ternan's copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, already referred to, was enclosed in a metal cumdach covered with silver and gold. The Bachul More, supposed to be the staff of St. Molnag, a plain rude staff of wood, 2 ft lO in. in length, with a slightly curved head, is in the possession of the Duke of Argyle. St Columba's staff, given to him by St Mungo, was preserved enshrined in gold at Ripon. St. Fillan's crosier, which seems to have been twice enshrined, was taken by the hereditary keeper to Canada and only recently returned. Although the use of the " Sacring Bell " at the elevation of the Host did not come into use till the twelfth century, the bells which had been used for calling the brethren to prayer at the regular hours were held very sacred. They were of the rudest construction, quadrate in shape and entirely wanting in decoration. They were in fact hand-bells, and their sacredness is doubtless owing to their being personal relics of ancient saints. In Ireland these rude bells were enshrined for protection in highly and Notes by the Way. 5 1 ornamental cases. In Scotland there are two en- shrined bells still preserved, the Kilmichael Glassary in Edinburgh and the Guthrie at Guthrie Castle. In many cases a special custodian was appointed, but for the most part they have been preserved without any other protection than that afforded by the prevailing sentiment of the neighbourhood. The stone pillow of St. Columba stood for ages beside his sepulchre in lona, and the stone chair of St. Marnan still looks down upon the church v/hich bears his name at Aber- chirder. In taking leave of the Celtic Church we may recall a few Notes by the Way. We have seen that Chris- tianity was introduced into the South West by St« Ninian, but that neither his efforts nor those of St. Kentigern, were confined to that district, but, as dedi- cations show, they left an impress not only south of the Mounth but even to the north of that mountain range ; that before and simultaneously with the mon- astic system of St. Columba there were not only in- dividual episcopal missionary efforts, but that there were small communities of seculars who were not monks and who survived, although having undergone many changes, the expulsion of the Columbites ; that although the Columban clergy were strictly celebate, there were married clergy among the communities 52 The Churches of Buchan referred to. Such names as MacNab, MacPrior, Mac- Vicar, MacPherson attest the fact, and St Patrick himself, the son of a deacon and the grandson of a presbyter, did not look askance on the practice. In- deed when he sought " the materials of a bishop " among his pupils he is reported to have said, " Find for me a man of rank, of good family, and of good morals, one who has one wife and only one son." It would appear that among the Culdees those who were married left their wives and their homes what time they were employed in religious services. This seems to have been the case at St. Andrews, at Durham, at Hexham, and also on the Continent. There would not appear to have been much distinction between the Columbites and the secular communities as far as living by Rule was concerned except that the latter were very much less strict. The religious views of both were the same and in accordance with what pre- vailed in the rest of Christendom, except so far as the time of keeping Easter and the Tonsure were con- cerned. There were also varieties in the mode of celebrating Mass, the liturgy having its origin from Gallican not Roman sources. The reception of the Holy Communion beyond that of the celebrant seems generally to have ceased. That they communicated in sickness is, however, evident from the "Book of Deir," and Notes by the Way. 5 3 where the formula for communicating the sick is given, and both elements seem to have been administered at once, the bread having been dipped in the wine. This method is known as " Intinction," and is used in the Greek Church at the present day for the general com- municating of the laity, a spoon being used to convey the Sacrament to the mouth of the recipient The monastic system of the Celtic Church, the planting of a colony of religious men whose motto might well be " fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," was a grand and successful conception, but it would not have been the latter but for the self-denial and de- votion of the different members. Our Lord warns His disciples that some kinds of evil can only be driven out of human souls by " prayer and fasting," and cer- tainly nothing is more attractive or more eloquent than a life of self-denial for the sake of others. And it was a great instrument in converting Pictland. But lest such abundant labours and such success might be hurtful to their own souls, the monks went forth into caves and lonely islands that they might draw from their solitary communings with God the strength and the power which made them such examples to those among whom they dwelt. Of them it may be said, as was said of St. Margaret, " they had in rare measure that faith which pierces through shadows and 54 The Churches of Buchan enters within the veil — that strong hold on the eternal world which is the only true lever for moving this one." St. Adamnan's " Life of St. Columba " is full of miracles, which he relates as if he believed their truth. Many of those would now be accounted for by natural causes, others by the way in which the Picts would have regarded the masterful doings of so great and remarkable a man as the Saint. His skill in medicine was very great, and in treating cases he may have adopted as a help the wide-spread belief of the virtue that resided in white pebbles. No doubt the statements were made in good faith to the biographer and so related by him, but it was after an interval of lOO years that the account is given, and while it illus- trates the credulity of those times, who shall say that men so living, so labouring for Christ, were not able to exercise powers which seem to be denied to those who are Christians, at small cost. The promise once made by Christ to faith has not failed, and has been fulfilled in unlooked for ways over and over again in the Church's history. Celebrating as we do this year the 1300th anniversary of St. Columba's death, we may well consider whether our failures in missionary effort at home and abroad are not owing in many cases to the poor example of self-denial, unwearied toil, con- stant prayer and obedience to authority on the part of and Notes by the Way. 5 5 the professed servants of God, while the missions of the Universities and Public Schools in our great cities with their centres of work, worship, and sympathy, have done not a little to convince us of the possibilities still open to earnest workers. Dr. Creighton, Bishop of London, is reported to have said the other day, " The truth is that we have long arrears to make up in getting into touch with the people. The growth of town life has outsped the supply of civilising, moralis- ing, and spiritualising agencies, and our present diffi- culties arise because we are trying to catch them up. We hardly take into consideration how great is our legacy of past neglect." 56 The Churches of Buchan Chapter V. THE REFORMATION OF ST. MARGARET AND THE MEDLEVAL CHURCH. When St. Mungo left his home on the Forth to com- mence his missionary labours, one of the earliest chapters of Celtic Church history began. When St. Margaret landed near the same spot, in the summer of 1068, the last chapter was almost finished. We still can see the remains of the palace where Malcolm of the Great Head entertained the . illustrious Saxon strangers, and the church which was built to com- memorate the marriage of Malcolm and Margaret and where their bodies were laid to rest, the one from a distant battle-field, the other from the grey castle rock of Edwinsburgh. Amabiles et decori in vita sua, in morte quoque non sunt divisi. Whether Malcolm Canmore knew Margaret when he was an exile at the Court of the Confessor or not, many Saxons before and after the Norman Conquest found a refuge in the northern kingdom, and there is and Notes by the Way. 57 no more pathetic story than the noble life of the Saxon princess. Self-denying and devout, she sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, yet not despising but believing that other necessary things would be added, and she strove to make her husband's Court a refining influence to his rude chiefs. In the pages of her biographer we see the touching devotion of Malcolm as he fervently kissed the books which his wife prized, how he had them decorated with gold and precious stones by stealth that by this his wife might perceive how dear she was to him. Few would have recognised in Margaret's husband, "attentive to the works of justice, mercy, almsgiving, and other virtues, constant in prayer, a great penitent," and entirely devoted to his wife, the terrible monarch whose raid into England was marked by such un- common savagery that it seems to have been ingrained in the memory of the people after many succeeding invasions had been forgotten. The reformation in Court life and the civilisation which this remarkable woman introduced must have seemed wonderful to her contemporaries as it is astonishing to ourselves. Everything was hallowed by religion. Its active duties, charity and mercy, were conspicuous. The queen's chamber was a workshop of sacred art, and her ladies were employed in making vestments and I 58 The Churches of Buchan furniture for the churches, embroidered in gold wire for which English ladies were so celebrated that the Opus Anglicum had almost a European fame. But space does not permit us to enlarge more on Queen Margaret in her public and private life, and we can only briefly refer to her as a religious reformer. The Celtic Church was expiring, but the Queen thought that it might be brought back to life and usefulness, and so she met in frequent councils the Culdee clergy, the survivals of that church which Columba had planted and so many saints had watered and to which at one time God gave such an abundant increase. She met them and reasoned with them on matters in which she thought they were wrong — on their isolation as to the keeping of Easter, on their neglect of the Lord's Supper, on the barbarous usages in their mass, on their laxity in keeping the first day of the week holy, and their unlawful marriages. She appealed to Scripture, and we can imagine with what pride Mal- colm would have interpreted his wife's answers to the representatives of the native church. But as the church refused, or was incapable of re- formation, its place was taken by another. She was, however, not insensible to the fact that there were still holy and devout men in the Celtic Church, and she made pilgrimages to the " diserts " of well-known and Notes by the Way. 59 anchorites, and as they would receive nothing at her hands she gladly obeyed their behests. She restored the stone monastery which had been erected after the burning of the last wooden one at lona and built St. Oran's Chapel, as some think, on the very site of St. Columba's humble oratory where he died. She after- wards introduced Benedictine monks and nuns, and it is the remains of their later buildings that the visitor to lona now beholds. St. Margaret's influence with her husband lived on in that which she had exercised over her sons, successively kings of Scotland, and whose purity of life and intelligent labours for the well-being of their people are in such marked con- trast to those of contemporary sovereigns. Her love for the church they inherited and her dying requests they never forgot, and we are reminded of the Princess Sobieski, who in dying gave to her children, Charles Edward and Henry Stuart, the last representatives of that ill-fated race, the advice "to hold fast to the religion of their ancestors and never to quit it for all the kingdoms of the world, none of which could ever be compared with the kingdom of heaven." " There is perhaps no more beautiful character recorded in history than that of Margaret. For purity of motives, for an earnest desire to benefit the people among whom her lot was cast, for a deep sense of religion 6o The Churches of Buchan and great personal piety, for the unselfish performance of whatever duty lay before her, and for entire self- abnegation she is unsurpassed, and the chronicles of the time all bear testimony to her exalted character." — Skene, Celtic Scotland. The influence of Queen Margaret and her sons brought it about that the Scottish Church was not so much reformed after the Southern example as grad- ually overgrown by an English church transplanted to the northern hills with its clergy, creeds, rites, and institutions. This was carried out mainly by the establishment of parishes, a diocesan episcopacy, and the introduction of the monastic orders of the Western church. The ecclesiastical system which had obtained in Scotland before St. Margaret was monastic not parochial, tribal not territorial, but wheresoever the Teutonic settler, Saxon, Norman, or Fleming, " ob- tained a grant of land, there he planted a hamlet and built a church for the folk of his manor." But there is no reason to suppose that the number of stately parish churches in Scotland was ever considerable. The See of St. Andrews was as yet the sole bishopric of the Scots. Two new dioceses were created by Alexander I. — Moray and Dunkeld. The See of Moray was at Birnie. At Dunkeld there was an ancient monastery, to which was transferred the a7id Notes by the Way. 6i Primacy of lona. Its Pictish bishopric was removed to Abernethy and then to St. Andrews. Cormach, the abbot, was made the first bishop. David founded or restored Glasgow, Aberdeen, Ross, Caithness, Dun- blane, Brechin, and Galloway. The only bishopric created after David's reign was that of Lismore, in Argyle, in 1222. The introduction of the monastic orders of the Church of Rome, with their more thorough organisa- tion and severer discipline in place of the effete Culdees, was part of a movement which was general throughout Western Christendom, and not only did vast numbers embrace the monastic life, but those who did not themselves assume the monkish garb reckoned it a duty and a privilege to found or con- tribute to the endowment of a religious house, and thus began the curse of impropriations. For as the monastic system developed it became common for benefactors and founders of religious houses to endow them with benefices, in which case the monastery became the rector of the parish, took the tithe, and made itself responsible for the services of the parish church. This duty it usually fulfilled either by send- ing one of its own number to say mass or by hiring the chance ministrations of some wandering priest. But after the Council of the Lateran in 121 5, when 62 The Churches of Buchan rectors were allowed to be permanently non-resident, they were obliged to appoint vicars in their place, to have the cure of souls, a reasonable proportion of the tithes and offerings, and a place of residence. The solitaries, who had fled from the v/orld to the deserts of Egypt in order to practise the Christian life undis- turbed, soon found that it is not good for a man to live quite apart from his fellovv's. They therefore gathered round certain hermits of acknowledged wisdom and followed their guidance in the spiritual life. Thus were the first monasteries formed during the fourth century. Their manner of life, however, was carried into other regions, and of many Rules two survived, those of St. Augustine and St. Benedict. The mem- bers of the monastic fraternities were called Regulars, as being bound by the Rule (regula) of their order, and all other clergy were styled Seculars. The idea of a Regular foundation was that of a body living a common life under vows apart from the world ; that of a Secular foundation of a body living a common life under rule in the world. The Benedictines (529) established by St. Benedict had a rule compiled with singular wisdom and marvellous insight into human nature, neither prescribing to all an asceticism only possible to a few, nor erring on the side of laxity. It permitted all persons whatever, without distinction of and Notes by the Way, 63 age, rank, or calling, to enter the order. If parents offered a son to the service of God, even if he were but five years old, the monks were to receive and take full charge of him. The venerable Bede when only seven years old, was given over to the monks of Wearmouth and J arrow, and out of the practice a great system of monastic schools arose. In order to eschew all idleness the monks, when not employed in the Divine praises or in taking necessary food and rest, were to engage in useful works, either manual labour, or study, or teaching, or copying books. The original Rule of St. Benedict was introduced into England by Benedict Biscop and Wilfrid in the seventh century, and in the eleventh most of the English monasteries had adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. (2) The Cluniacs (912) represented the first great reform of the Benedictines. The bond of dependence was strictly maintained in all the houses founded from or connected with Cluny (15 miles from Macon-sur- Saone). Hence in this country they were all Priories. The Benedictine habit was black with a hood. The Cistercians (Citeaux — five leagues from Dijon) (1098) followed the Rule of St. Benedict in all its rigour. " There was little sleep to be had, much labour to be done, bare walls, plain ritual, coarse dress. 64 The Churches of Btichan simple music, humble ornaments, common food. These were to be the proofs of the absolute renunciation of the pomps and vanities of life." The Cistercian habit was white with wide sleeves and cowl. The Carthusians (1086) took their name from Chartreuse (an upland valley in the Alps north of Grenoble, 4000 feet above the sea), the site of the original oratory. They had small separate cells in imitation of the ancient Lauras of Palestine. Chartreuse (in England corrupted into Charter-house) gave its name to each of their monasteries. The Carthusians pushed the doctrine of self-renunciation to its fullest develop- ment. A Carthusian lived his life in absolute silence and in solitary confinement. He met his brethren only in church and in chapter. The one daily meal which his Rule allowed him was consumed by him in the solitude of his cell. The ordinary dress was entirely white, with a white scapular hanging over his back and shoulders and united by a long white band six inches wide. The head was completely shaved. St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (1126), who rebuilt Lin- coln Cathedral and left it much as it is, was a Carthusian. The Canons of St. Augustine (816). Discipline having become relaxed among the Canons of the various cathedrals in the Prankish Empire, a rule was and Notes by the Way. 65 drawn up at Aix-la-Chapelle for their observance. This rule was said to be in conformity with the 109th letter of St Augustine of Hippo and the general spirit of his teaching. Those who obeyed the rule were called Canons Regular, in contradistinction to those who refused. They lived, slept, and took their food together under the same roof, and they were not restricted like other Regulars to the duties of their own House, but were sometimes engaged as parish clergy. They wore black open capes and black square caps instead of cowls. During the six or seven centuries which followed the death of St. Benedict (540) the monasteries con- tained all that was fervent and learned in the church. The Secular clergy had declined in zeal and know- ledge, not so much by their own fault as by the de- struction of the older civilisation through the invasions of the barbarians. Even in the luxurious fifteenth century the life of a monk was not a lazy one. Winter and summer he rose between five and six, washed on the cold stones of the open lavatory, and took his place in choir at six o'clock. There he said Matins and Prime and the corresponding Hours of the Blessed Virgin and heard Mass. After Mass came, on chapter days, the meeting in chapter, then breakfast followed by Terce in church, and, if the day was one of special K 66 The Churches of Btichan obligation, the High Mass, at which the monastery- servants and the neighbouring villagers attended. Afterwards came the temporal business of the day, and each monk his special work. Some taught or learned in the cloister, some kept in the Scriptorium the books of receipt and expenditure of the monastery, or wrote the chronicle of passing events from the accounts of passing travellers, or from letters received from other houses of their Rule. The more learned and artistic copied in beautiful hand-writing the ser- vice books used in church ; books of devotion, and portions of the Bible for the laity. Some attended to the live stock, some to the house-keeping, and some to the infirmary. All had to meet in church for the offices of Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Compline, and in the refectory for their mid-day and evening meals, which they ate in silence while a brother read passages from the Fathers or from the Lives of the Saints. Compline over, they retired to rest in the common dormitory. Theirs was a life of regularity and dis- cipline, but not of privation. Food was plentiful though simple, their habit though coarse was well woven and warm — (Wakeham). Dr. Skelton says — " There can, I think, be little doubt that whatever was best and worthiest in Scottish life for several hundred years was to be found in one form or other in and Notes by the Way. 67 connection with the great religious houses, the abbeys and monasteries which were planted in nearly every district however remote and however inaccessible. That the religious orders increased and multiplied inordinately need not be denied, and it is plain that immediately before the Reformation (although the evils have been grossly exaggerated) there was much idleness and much corruption among the higher clergy, but within the precincts of each of the wealthier abbeys an active industrial community (whose in- fluence had been so far entirely beneficial) was housed. . . . There were drones among them no doubt, but there are drones in every profession, and whoever fancies that the members of the religious orders planted in Scotland passed their lives in sloth and sensuality is the victim of a delusion." Towards the middle of the 13th century a new power made its appearance in the Friars (frati not padri). The very essence of the friar's work was the belief in the brotherhood of man, and this "led him to settle in the most crowded streets, to tend the most loathsome diseases, to live on the chance alms 6S The Churches of Buchan of the charitable, to mix with the people at fair and at market, to speak their own homely tongue, to live their own simple life, to exchange with them rude jest and honest laugh, to become the welcome com- panion and the trusted confidant of the populace." They were divided, roughly speaking, into two bodies — the Friars Minor or Franciscans, the Friars Preachers or Dominicans. The latter settled in important centres and addressed themselves to the educated. The Franciscans devoted themselves to the people. The first Friars lived on alms, their successors by begging, and " the profession of a friar, instead of being the voluntary renunciation of every worldly hindrance to spiritual work, became the easiest way in which a lazy vagabond could get food and drink. The Franciscans wore a plain tunic of grey or dark brown with long loose sleeves fastened with a knotted cord, and a scanty cape and hood. They wore sandals. The Dominicans wore a white woollen gown and white girdle, a white scapular to the ground, black cloak and hood. They were always shod. The parish priest of the Middle Ages did not live an idle life. " He said the seven Canonical Hours daily in church and the Lesser Offices of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On Sundays and Holy Days after he had finished Terce he said Mass. Thrice in the year he heard the regular a7id Notes by the Way. 69 confessions of his parishioners and gave them Com- munion. He took the Communion to the sick when required. Four times in the year he instructed his people in the Articles of the Faith, the Ten Command- ments, the seven works of mercy, the seven deadly sins, the seven virtues, and the seven sacraments." He had also duties in reference to the church and its furniture. These were the minimum of duties imposed upon the parish priest by law. The difficulties of parochial ministrations were increased by the badness of the roads and the expense of artificial light. For the more orderly performance of Divine Service and for the singing of masses for the souls of their founders, Collegiate Churches of secular canons had their origin. The Canons were frequently the clergy of the neigh- bouring parishes whose own proper cures — the parish churches — were in consequence served by vicars. They were presided over by a Provost. St. Giles, the parish church of Edinburgh, was erected into a Col- legiate Church by James HI., and Gavin Douglas, the translator of Virgil's ^neid, and afterwards Bishop of Dunkeld, was for some time Provost. St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, was also a Collegiate Church, and had 16 chaplains. Every cathedral and monastery and parish church was full of altars, shrines, and chapels used for the commemoration of departed souls. To many of 70 The Churches of BucJian these, chantry priests were attached who received a small stipend for saying mass for the repose of the soul of the founder or his relations, but they had no parochial duties or responsibilities. The first religious house under the new regime was the restored monastery of Coldingham in 1097, erected by King Edgar into a priory for Benedictine monks from Durham. At Scone, where there had been a monastery of great antiquity, Alexander I. founded an Abbey for Canons Regular of St. Augustine. For them also St. David founded the Abbey of Holyrood, so called from the famous black Rood which he pre- sented to it. This mysterious relic, brought to Scot- land by St. Margaret, kissed by her dying lips, grasped by her dying hands, and which stood before the death-bed of St. David, was a gold cross set with diamonds, containing as in a reliquary a portion of the true cross. The figure of the Saviour which orna- mented it was carved out of ivory, and it took its name from the black case in which it was preserved. It was carried off to England by Edward I., restored on the demand of Robert Bruce, and lost by David II. at the battle of Neville's Cross, near Durham, in the Cathedral of which, up to the Reformation, it was exposed for veneration in the south aisle. David converted his mother's church at Dunfermline into a and Notes by the Way. 7 1 monastery for Benedictine monks from Canterbury, and in co-operation with Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews, he founded at St. Andrews a priory for Augustinian canons brought from Scone, and upon it was conferred a great portion of the secularised revenues of the ancient Culdee monastery of which King Con- stantine had been abbot. The same king also intro- duced into Scotland the military orders, the Templars and Knights of St. John. The most important of the Royal foundations subsequent to David's reign v/as the great and richly endowed Abbey of Arbroath, dedi- cated to St. Thomas a Becket. The nobles of the land followed the royal example, founding other religious houses or adding to the endowment of those already existing. Among them was the Abbey of Deir (12 18), founded by William Cumyn, great justiciary of Scotland and husband of Marjory, only child and heiress of Fergus, the last Celtic Earl, and Countess of Buchan in her own right. The last Abbey founded in Scotland was Sweetheart Abbey in Gallo- way. Devorgilla, daughter of the Lord of Galloway and wife of John Balliol, founded it in 1275 that she might be buried in it with the ivory coffer containing the embalmed heart of her husband upon her breast. She also founded Balliol College, Oxford (1268). Robert the Bruce, by his victory at Bannockburn, 72 The Churches of Btichan changed the face of the country civilly and ecclesiasti- cally, and especially in the great Earldom of Buchan which the Cumyns had so long possessed. " The first note of contest banished every English priest, monk, and friar from the northern realm. Its termination was followed by the departure of those great Anglo- Norman lords, the flower of the Scottish baronage, who, holding vast possessions in both countries, had so long maintained among the rude Scottish hills the generous example of English wealth and refinement. Then it was that Beaumont, Mowbray, and Cumyn . . . . ceased to be significant names beyond the Tweed, either perishing in that terrible revolution or withdrawing to their English domains." Hence Dr. Joseph Robertson says of Bannockburn that it was "a victory which ' weighed in the balance of the mere utilitarian ' must be set down as a greater disaster to Scotland than the carnage of Flodden or the rout of Pinkie Cleugh." The University system established under papal sanction in the fifteenth century led to great results. There were thirty or forty universities, many of them founded before 1400. The most celebrated were Oxford and Cambridge in England, Paris and Orleans in France, Bologna and Padua in Italy, Salamanca in Spain, Prague in Bohemia, and Cologne in Germany. and Notes by the Way. 73 The highest of the aristocracy, the poorest of the people had place there. The man who held a certain rank in one, held the same in all, unaffected by national partisans or national conflicts. St. Andrew's Studium Generale was instituted on the model of Paris by Bishop Wardlaw (himself a student of Oxford) in 141 3. Separate colleges were afterwards founded within which students were maintained. The Univer- sity of Glasgow was founded in 1450 by Bishop Turnbull, and that of Aberdeen in 1494 by Bishop Elphinstone ; King's College in 1505. Aberdeen was an exact model of the University of Paris. Its founder had been a professor at Paris and Orleans, and so great was his knowledge of law that his opinion was sought on great questions by the Parliament of Paris. He was Chancellor to James III. and James IV. In the competition for bursaries, in the chancellor, the rector, chosen by the procurators of the nations, the regents, the deans, the principal, the bejeant, the sacristan, we have still the remains of thoroughly Parisian elements. From the catholicity referred to, the Scot, having acquired such learning as his native university supplied, would pass over to foreign parts and do his work, teaching what he could communicate or learning what he desired to know according to the condition of his means or motives. This gave to the L 74 The Churches of Buchan Scots, cut off as they were from the natural brother- hood of their close neighbours of the same family, privileges of citizenship and community over Europe, the breadth and fulness of which it is difficult now to realise. As an example we may cite the case of a younger son of Leslie of Warthill. He entered on life as schoolmaster of his native parish of Rayne, became a professor at Padua, and ended his career as Bishop of Laybach, metropolitan of Carniola, a pro- vince of Austria, and in right of his office, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. John Ferrerius spoke of Aberdeen as the most celebrated of the Scottish Uni- versities of that time (1534). James V. and his Queen (1541) lived within King's College for fifteen days on a northern progress, when mystery plays were performed with " divers oratiounes maid in Greke, Latin, and uther languages," for their entertainment. In 1562 Mary Stuart, accompanied by the English Ambassa- dor, Randolph, and her secretary, Maitland, visited the College. Randolph speaks of the University as " one college with fifteen or sixteen scollers." We may here note that the decline of the monastic power was owing to two chief causes, the Universities and the Study of Canon Law. The universities were founded in cities and for the most part beyond the influence of monasteries, and they gave to young men and Notes by the Way. 75 the best learning of the age, and thus enabled them to raise themselves above the lowly condition in which the secular clergy had remained for ages. The papal court was the centre of all power, and there wealth and dignity could be obtained and the know- ledge which had the command of these good things was not Theology but Canon Law, from the study of which the Regulars were mostly debarred, and this opened the door of promotion to the Seculars. It may be convenient here to state that the larger churches, whether cathedral or conventicle, were cruci- form, and the parts were often erected at considerable intervals of time. Hence they exhibit in their archi- tecture the changing styles of successive ages. Monas- teries had a chapter house, refectory, dormitory, and other domestic buildings surrounding a quadrangular court on the south side of the nave of the church. This quadrangular court had a covered piazza on the inner side called the cloister. In the case of cathedrals served by secular canons there was only a chapter house, and the canons lived in their own separate manses around the Cathedral Close, or Chanonry as was the case at Aberdeen. We are now in a position to describe briefly the Churches of Buchan which give their name to these sketches, and as out of all the prebenda of St. Machar's 'J, a o a U u CO and Notes by the Way. yy Chapter VI. ST. MACHAR'S CATHEDRAL. There is a tradition that about 570 one of St. Columba's disciples, St. Mochonna or Machar, was sent to preach the Gospel among the Picts, and to fix his abode by the banks of a river where the windings resembled the shape of a bishop's crosier. We know that St. Columba was himself at Deir, and it is not unlikely that in his southern progress (of which Bel- helvie is a landmark, and where his well is still to be seen) he may have fixed upon the site of a church himself on the Don. A humble wood and wattle building would have stood where St. Machar's Cathe- dral now stands. Nectan, who had been bishop at Mortlach for fourteen years, was transferred with the See to Old Aberdeen in 1 154. In 1163, Matthew Kinninmonth began to build a cathedral in memory of St. Machar. Bishop Cheyne (1281 - 1329) was commanded by King Robert Bruce to expend the accumulations of the rents during his enforced absence yS The Churches of Buchan from his diocese upon a building more fitting the im- portance of the See. His successor, Bishop Alexander Kinninmonth I. (1329-13/14), saw his palace and the houses of the Canons burnt by the English in the troubled days of David II., and was in no position to build. But Alexander de Kinninmonth II. on his return from France, where he had been ambassador, began to build, and a year after his return in 1382 he died, at which time it is said that the walls had been built to a height of six cubits (nine feet). It is pro- bable that the choir and transepts only were built to this height. The old red sandstone piers and spring- ing stones of the arches at the crossing are his work. Bishop Leigh ton (1424-40), as we learn from an in- scription on his monument, built and finished the nave and advanced the building of the central tower and elected to use granite. He probably vaulted the central tower. His successor. Bishop Ingeram Lindsay, is said to have covered the nave with a roof of Scotch fir. Bishop Spens (1460) furnished the interior of the choir with stalls for the clergy and the throne for the Bishop, and rebuilt the Bishop's palace. Bishop William Elphinstone, the greatest of the Bishops of Aberdeen, completed the great steeple which rose to a height of 150 feet, and " furnished it with a peal of fourteen tuneable and costly bells." He also covered and Notes by the Way. 79 the roof of the nave and steeple with lead. The great steeple is described as being carried up four stories above the crossing vault, square and battlemented with a smaller tower, terminated with a finial having globe and weathercock. An engraving of an early- date shows something resembling a saddle-back roof as its termination, but it is more likely to have been originally of pointed form of timber and not unlike the spire of St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen, which was burnt in 1874. Bishop Gavin Dunbar completed the two western towers. He discarded granite for grey sandstone, and he built the octagonal steeples, it is said, to resemble the papal tiara. The roof of the Cathedral until 1866 was said to be the only mediaeval deal roof in Britain. It was formed of whole trees simply squared and kept together by deal pegs. Dunbar also completed the south transept, but his great work was the erection of a flat-panelled oak ceiling with its three rows of shields of European kings, Scottish ecclesiastics, and Scottish nobles. The carved emblazoned cornice underneath has on it in- scribed the names of Scottish sovereigns and bishops. It had probably been Bishop Elphinstone's intention to rebuild the choir on a grander scale and with an apsidal (semi-hexagonal) termination, like King's College Chapel and St. Nicholas Church, but it was 8o The Churches of Buchan never finished, and while it was being rebuilt the high altar with its beautiful reredos, " matchless within all the kirks of Scotland," was placed in Bishop Dunbar's aisle. The nave, south aisle, and western towers are the only parts now remaining entire of the original structure. The west front is the best part of the design, and an admirable specimen of simple composi- tion. By a clever arrangement the gable above the window rests, not over the window, but on the segmental arch behind, which relieves it of a great weight. The south porch is one of the most admirable portions of the whole building. There seems to have been once an upper chamber, but no trace of supports for its floor or mode of entrance have been found. In its complete state, then, the Cathedral consisted of a nave with two aisles, transepts and chancel, a central and two western towers. The south aisle was called St. Machar's Aisle, and the north the Consistory Aisle. The two transepts — St. John's on the north and Dunbar's on the south — were in the Scottish parlance called " Isles " {e.g.^ in St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, we have the north and south transepts respectively called Collison's and Drum's Isles). The chancel seems to have been of the same width as the nave, but without aisles. There was a magnificent Rood screen between the west pillars of the great steeple. The pillars of and Notes by the Way. 8 1 the nave arcade were originally ribbed with bands of red, blue, and yellow colours at regular intervals of an average breadth of six to nine inches. The internal furnishings were on a scale of great magnificence. The chalices, of gold and silver, set with precious stones ; the vestments and hangings said to be part of the spoils of the English at Bannockburri, made the build- ing "exceeding magnifical." In 1560, the lead and bells were shipped for Holland, where they were in- tended to have been sold, but the ship sank near the Girdleness. The cathedral was preserved from ruin by the Earl of Huntly, and repaired at the charge of the parishioners in 1607. In 1640, the Covenanters destroyed the rood screen, and the soldiers of the Protector, when occupying Aberdeen, removed the lower stones of the choir to build a fort on the Castle Hill. In 1642, the high altar, almost as high as the ceiling, of rich wainscot — " within Scotland there was not a better piece of work " — was demolished by the then minister, and made into a loft for the west end of the church. " With the back of the altar he decored this beastly loft," says Spalding. The central tower, deprived of support in 1688, collapsed just when remedial measures were being taken, al- though unskilfully, to secure it. By its fall the transepts, lofts, and tombs were destroyed. In the M 82 The Churches of Buchan ruined south transept may still be seen the tomb of Bishop Dunbar, of fine design and beautifully executed. In the south aisle there is a small memorial of Arch- deacon Barbour (1330- 1396). The largest monument is that of Bishop Scougall (1685) which stands against the Tower wall, and shows marks of coloured decora- tion. St. Machar's was a secular foundation, and from the most complicated Cathedral constitution down to the most simple college of priests settled in a country town the same essential features of a secular founda- tion were always to be found, viz., the common religious life of a number of men, usually priests, under a common rule without vows. Aberdeen was founded on the model of Lincoln, and the description of that great Cathedral by the late Archbishop Benson shows how closely cathedrals founded on its model adhered to the great exemplar. The Chapter was the Bishop's Council, and had duties assigned to them much more exacting than the cathedral service. In- deed, some cathedral statutes enjoin that no one shall be appointed whose health is not likely to endure the labour, and it is difficult now to realise the amount and diversity of interests which centred in the cathe- dral. There were (i) the School of Architecture, under *T3 u a o H C Q o and Notes by the Way. Z^ the masters of the fabric, influencing far and \vide the tastes of the country in every department of art ; (2) the School of Music, which had its offshoots in every parish, presided over by the precentor ; (3) the School of Grammar, under the chancellor, who was a kind of minister of education to the diocese ; (4) the treasurer had the management of the funds, the safe custody of the treasures of the Cathedral, the plate, the library, and dispensary. . Road-making and bridge-making were parts of the work of the Chapter. The Arch- deacon's work belonged rather to the diocese than to the Cathedral. Then there was the Cathedral service, " the sole function of the great institution which was limited to its own walls. The ceaseless supplication for grace, the perpetual intercession, the endless praise — unbroken yet ever new — like nature herself with daily-varying, never-changing majesty." Every pre- bendary — that is, endowed canon — provided a vicar for the choir service. There were properly as many vicars as canons, and the residentiaries — that is, the canons who had houses provided for them — had chap- lains or commensales (they were thus paired, as they loved to think, after the pattern of the first disciples), who lived in their houses and attended them in choir. The chaplains and the vicars served the choir whether the prebend was present or not. Only a prebend 84 The Churches of Buchan could relieve a prebend. With regard to the canons, although attendance at the Cathedral service was an essential part of their life, it was the smallest part of their work. They were compelled to attend one Hour every day or High Mass unless ill or on leave. When the numbers were large enough, each for one week in his turn took the principal position in the Cathedral services. A portion of the psalter was assigned to the bishop and to each prebendary, so that the whole psalter might be daily recited as a common act of private devotion, and with the thought and memory of common obligation. Comparing this description of the duties of a secular canon with those at Aberdeen, we find that (i) the chanter (precentor) and rector of the music school instructed and taught the singing boys in the choir ; (2) the chancellor composed the charters and letters of the Chapter, kept the books of theology in little studies (armorials), and provided a fit master to have the government of the schools of Aberdeen ; (3) to the treasurer were committed the money belonging to the church, the ornaments, &c. For the service of the Cathedral, Bishop Elphinstone ordained and made twenty vicars of the choir well instructed in the priest- hood and Gregorian song '' daily led to divine offices in the same," two deacons, two sub-deacons, two Ulkmt Ui < O G O C rj u 3 O u C ri u and Notes by the Way. acolytes, six singing boys, with sacrist, who must at all times be present in the choir. As at Lincoln, road-making and bridge-making were superintended by the Chapter. Bishop Cheyne is believed to have built the Bridge of Don " Bal- gownie's Brig's black wall"— and the plans for a bridge over the Dee were prepared by Livingstone, vicar of Inverugie, in 1445. The bridge was built by Gavin Dunbar in 1525, under the superintendence of Alexander Galloway, parson of Kinkell. The College of Canons, erected in 11 57 (ab Adriano papa primo potestas facta Eduardo Episcopo Aberdonensi instituendi collegium canonicorum Anno Dom 1 1 57 4 Id. Aug.), was appointed by Bishop Ramsay in 1256 to consist of thirteen, including him- self, to each of whom he allotted a manse within the chanonry. The chanonry was surrounded by a wall, in which were four ports. The south port had this inscription above it : — Hac ne vade via nisi dixeris Ave Maria, Invenies veniam sic salutando Mariam, with a statue of the Blessed Virgin and a pot with lilies. A second was near Tilliedron, a third at the Bishop's palace, and a fourth at the chaplains' court. At the east end of the chanonry, the chancellor's house is still in existence, probably the sole remnant S6 The Churches of Buchan of the manses in the close. It came into the hands of the Earl of Dunfermline, the restorer of Fyvie Castle and quondam prior of Pluscardine. " But whether Lord Dunfermline ever occupied it can only be matter for conjecture. But as he had a considerable stake in the north, in the possession of the castle and lands of Fyvie, and as he was a zealous supporter of Episco- pacy, of which Old Aberdeen was then a principal stronghold, it is not unlikely that he paid frequent visits to his Auld Town House in later years " — (MS. by the late Lord Caithness). It was disposed of in 1684 to James Scougal, Commissary of Aberdeen, son of the Bishop, who afterwards became a Lord of Session, with the title Lord Whitehill. Over the gateway in the still existing garden wall there is an inscription, with the date 1686 — Hie Argus sed non Briarens esto, 1686 — that is, " Here let it be all eyes but no hands." It was while James Scougal was inhabit- ing the chancellor's house that the great steeple fell to the ground. Lord Whitehill parted with it to Colonel Buchan of Cairnbulg, and it was the town house of the Buchans of Auchmacoy until it was bought by Mr Leslie of Fetternear in 1887. To the west of this was the manse of the parson of Auchterless, the cantor or precentor. Still further west was the Deanery, now the manse. Still to the west, the parson Chaplain's Court, Chanonry, Old Aberdeen A. K. McLeocl and Notes by the Way. ^y of Daviot, treasurer. Still to the west, the parson of Belhelvie. This became the residence of the Marquis of Huntly, who, after the reformation, enclosed the lodgings of the prebends of Belhelvie, Daviot, and Forbes in a garden. These manses, except Forbes, ran parallel with the Cathedral on the south side. Going north from what is now the Town House, there would have been the south port into the close, and on the right Turriff, Methlick, and Forbes (the latter after- wards enclosed in the Duke of Gordon's garden). Opposite Forbes, on the left Kincardine, Deer, Cruden, Ellon, Banchory, Oyne, Rayne, Clatt, Mortlach. Opposite Mortlach, on the right was the bishop's hospital, north-west of the Cathedral ; to the east of the latipr Tillienessel. The bishop's palace at the east end of the Cathedral was a large court having four towers, one in every corner of the close, and a great hall and chambers. On the south side was the inner and outer port, and a passage on the west to the chancel. There was a girth and girth-cross on the Bishop's Dove Cot green. The chaplains' court con- tained chambers for twenty vicars or chaplains. It also had four towers like the palace. It was made a Divinity College by Patrick Forbes of Corse, Bishop of Aberdeen. Dr. Forbes, the son of the bishop, pur- chased a lodging in it for the use of the Professor of 88 The Churches of Btichan Divinity and another for the use of the master of the music school. The former is still in existence. Dr. Forbes was expelled from his house, which he had bought, by the Covenanters in 1643, because in the disposition to his successors he had not reserved a clause of his own life rent. He died at Corse in 1648 and was refused interment beside his father and his wife in Bishop Dunbar's aisle. Bishop Dunbar's hospital (1531) for twelve poor men may be taken as an example of similar hospitals in Buchan. It was 100 feet in length and 32 feet in breadth, having a timber steeple and bell, twelve little chambers with chimneys, a common kitchen, and in the east end an oratory. The beneficiaries were to be unmarried men of sixty years. One of them was the janitor and rang the bell at seven o'clock. At eight they went to the oratory to their devotions ; at eleven to Mass in the Cathedral, after which they dined ; at three they went to their devotions in the oratory, thereafter to their exercises in the garden ; at five and eight to their devotions in the oratory, thereafter to their supper in their cells. At their devotions they were bound to pray for the King and the bishop's soul, " homines quibus alimentum dedit orare tenentur." From the inventory of utensils to be left by a prebend to his successor in the chanonry, the manses and Notes by the Way. 89 would not seem to have been luxuriously furnished, nor the accommodation great. " In the hall a table very sufficient with trestles ; item a bason with a place to wash ; item a table cloth with a hand-towel ; item a silver spoon and a stoup with a lid. In his chamber a lye couch or bed ; item a cover agreeing with the breadth thereof ; item a pair of linen sheets and two pair of blankets. In a kitchen ; a sufficient plate and iron pot ; item a mortar and pestle ; item a chain or kettle crook ; item a platter, a dish clout, a spit, with lawdeir. In the brew house a lead with a cover called the mask-vat, a trough, a geil vat or stand, and a barrel." — (Orem.) The first rise of parishes seems to have coincided with the extinction of the old religious houses, the monastic in some cases being converted into the parish church. Thus the monastery of Mortlach, with its dependency of Clova, continued to flourish till the time of David I., when both reappear in record as churches of districts. The monastery of St. Congan at Turriff became the church of the parish of that name, and the house of St. Drostan at Deer now dis- appeared in like manner in the parochial arrangement of the country, while in both cases the lands of these monasteries seem to have been resumed by the Earls of Buchan, the representatives of the earlier Mormaers. N 90 The Churches of Btichan Some general idea may be formed of the relative antiquity of our country churches by attending to the names of the saints which they bear. As a rule, the oldest dedications are to Celtic saints. Hence an anterior probability in favour of the greater antiquity of such churches as that of St. Colm's at Belhelvie and Lonmay, St. Drostan's at Aberdour and Deer, St. Ethernan's at Rathen, St. Modan's at Philorth, and St. Fergus near Peterhead. Next to the Celtic dedi- cations are probably to be put those to St. Peter, which are not uncommon in some parts of Scotland, though Peterhead and Fyvie are the only cases in Buchan. The parishes mostly continued as originally constituted till the Reformation, when many were either suppressed or conjoined with others. In Bishop Patrick Forbes' time (1618-35), many of the later parishes in Buchan, viz.. New Deer, Strichen, Long- side, and Pitsligo were formed, and many old churches were rebuilt. In the following list we give the parishes in the Deanery of Buchan, their dedications, impro- priations, and connection with the Cathedral, partly from Mackenzie Walcott ; and it will be seen that fourteen churches were appropriated to monasteries (seven to Arbroath, five to Deir, one to Kinloss, one to Monymusk), and three to the Cathedral, while of the prebends of St. Machar's Cathedral twelve were in Buchan. I c U and Notes by the Way. g i Bishop Ramsay, 1246 (R), founded the College of Canons, which was added to by Bishop Richard de Potton 1256 (P) ; Bishop Cheyne 1201 (C). Belhelvie (SS. Nachtan and Columb) — Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend (R), 1163. Foveran — Deir Abbey — Priest Prebend (R), 1163. Logie-Buchan — Commune Church — Priest Prebend (R), 1362. Ellon Kinloss (B.V.M.)— Kinloss Abbey— Deacon Prebend (C), 1328. Furvy (Forvie) (St. Adamnan) — Arbroath Abbey — Deacon Prebend (C), 1207. Slains (St. Ternan) — Aberdeen College — Deacon Prebend (C), 1207. Croudan (St. Olaf)— Aberdeen College— Deacon Prebend (R), 1307. Inverugin Petir (Peterhead) — Deir Abbey — Deacon Prebend (R), 1207. Lungle (Longley) (St. Fergus) — Arbroath Abbey — Deacon Prebend (R), 1207. Retref— Arbroath Abbey — Deacon Prebend (R), 1207. Crechmond (Crimond Rattray) — Arbroath Abbey — Deacon Prebend (P), 1207. Lume (Lonmay) (St. Columb) — Arbroath Abbey — Subdeacon Prebend (C), 13 14. 92 The Churches of Biichan Rathen (Rayne) (St. Ethernan) — St. Machar — Archdeacon (R), 13 14. Deer (St. Mary)— St. Machar — Subdeacon Prebend, 1256. Filorth (Fraserburgh) — Commune Church — Subdeacon Prebend, 1367. Torvereth (Turriff) (St. Congan)— Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend, 1207, Kyndor — Monymusk Priory — Priest Prebend 1207. Fyvin (Fyvie) (St. Peter) — Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend, 1207. Methelech (St. Devenick)— King's College, 1586 — Priest Prebend, 1342. Tarvays (Tarves) with Fuchall Church (St. Englatt)- Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend, 1207. Bethelney (Oldmeldrum) (St. Nathalan)— Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend, 1189. Rothvan (St. Peter)— Arbroath Abbey — Priest Prebend, 1441. Dr. Pratt gives, in addition, as churches of Buchan : — Aberdour (SS. Drostan, Fillan, and Manir) — Arbroath Abbey — Subdeacon Prebend (C), 13 18. Gameryn (St. John, Evangelist) — a7td Notes by the Way. 93 Arbroath Abbey — Subdeacon Prebend (C), 1207. Kynedward (King Edward) — Deir Abbey — Subdeacon Prebend (C), 1207. Auchterless (St. Donan) — St. Machar — Chanter (R), 1157 " Most of the parish churches have perished through the mere waste of time. But from those that remain, some in ruins and some entire, we may infer that they were not more imposing than those which now shelter the Protestant worship." — (Cunningham.) As the country along the coast was the earliest inhabited, and continued for a long period to be the most important part of Buchan, the churches also are for the most part found there, and in the following descriptions it will be most convenient to follow the coast line. 94 The Churches of Buchan Chapter VII. BELHELVIE, FOVERAN, LOGIE-BUCHAN, &c. Belhelvie. — This church was confirmed to Edward, Bishop of Aberdeen, in 1157. The prebend of Belhelvie is one of the original canons of Bishop Ramsay, but the earliest name that has come down to us is Walter Sury (1321), the last James Strachan (1550). The prebendary of Belhelvie sat in the choir on the right hand of the precentor " a dextris cantoris Balhelvy." There seem to have been three chapels in the parish — Millden, Ardo, Muirton (Meadowbank). The burial ground around one of them is still to be seen, while the east wall of the lately dismantled parish church was part of a pre-Reformation Church. Near it may still be seen St. Columba's well, and in all probability this was the original parish church. The dismantled church was the scene of Philip's picture of " The Collection." At the manse near by Dr. Forsyth had his workshop, and revolutionised the art of war by his invention of the gun cap. There "i . ^F«. *F.. *"■. P3 o u C?3 and Notes by tJie Way. 95 seems to be a great primeval forest submerged under the sands of Belhelvie, and masses of peat have been thrown up in great storms. There are quicksands here, and the tragic fate of Sir John Humbie, who, while riding here, was submerged in 161 1, is supposed to have suggested to Sir Walter Scott that of the " Master of Ravenswood." FOVERAN, — There are no remains of the origi- nal church in the churchyard, but at Newburgh the remains of a church dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, otherwise called The Church of the Holyrood, may still be seen, attached to which there is an aisle in which many members of the Udny family are buried. There were a market cross and a "monkshome" at Newburgh. The latter seems to have been occupied by monks of Deir what time they discharged the duties at the parish church and chapels which were appropriated to their abbey. Cumyn, Earl of Buchan, to whom Kelly (Haddo House) belonged, signed there the deed (actum apud Kelly in Buchan) by which he erected in 1 261 a hospital in Newburgh. Ten years later (1272) he erected another at Turriff. The charter to the latter was given at Kelly in the presence of Alexander III. and Reginald Cheyne, father and son, William de 96 The Churches of Biichan Meldrum, and Walter, Rector of Foveran, which latter was then evidently a parish church unappropriated. Proceeding up the Ythan from Newburgh we reach Machar-Muir and Machar Ford and . LOGIE-BUCHAN. — The erection of Logie-Buchan into a parish appears to rank with the oldest, and to have been about the middle of the twelfth century. It belonged to the Cathedral of Aberdeen, and a perpetual vicar was instituted, with house. Of its vicars we know nothing, and only two names remain — Oliver in 13 2 and John of Imlach in 141 5. The old church was ruinous in 1702. Ascending the Ythan we reach the ancient capital of Buchan, Ellon. KiNLOSS, Ellon. — Is a good example of a parish, the greater part of which was held by the church. In one of the oldest records of St. Andrews, it is noted that the lands of Helen (Ellon) which Blothagh held were granted to the Bishop, Prior, and Convent of St. Andrews. In the charter of Malcolm the Maiden to Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen (1163), among the gifts are the lands of Ellon with the pertinents. The Bishop of St. Andrews had the Scolag lands, the a, «j Si U *tj o o c a CO rS B o H CO a o and Notes by the Way, 97 Abbey of Kinloss, the Candle lands, the Knights of St John, Auchterellon, and Waterton. In 13 10, Robert the Bruce bestowed upon the Abbey of Kin- loss the " advocatioun and donatioun " of the Church of Ellon, a rebestowment probably of a gift of David I. This is confirmed by the Bishop of Aberdeen on condition that the Abbot became bound to pay from the fruits of the benefice. twenty-four marks yearly to the endowment of a prebend in the Cathedral of Aberdeen, four marks yearly to a stallar or vicar being in deacon's orders, serving in the same Cathe- dral, 100 shillings yearly with a manse and garden to a chaplain serving the cure of souls and having his residence in the parish. The prebendary was to be collated by the Bishop with consent of the Abbot and Convent ; his staller was to be admitted by the Dean and Chapter, and the right of presenting the chaplain or vicar was vested in the Abbot and Con- vent. A like provision would probably have been made with the abbeys of Arbroath and Deir in refer- ence to the prebends of the parishes belonging to the respective abbeys. Sir William de Calabre, pre- bendary of Ellon, is frequently mentioned in the latter half of the fourteenth century, William Wawane, (1479), James Wawan (1521), and in 1526 Thomas Sutherland of Ellon ranks seventeenth in the order of o 98 The Churches of Buchan procession among twenty-eight other dignitaries and Canons. In 1550 a bull of Pope Julius requires the induction of John Lesly into the corporal possession of the canonry of Aberdeen and Ellon, prebend of Ellon, &c. In 1558 he became official of the bishopric KiNLOss — Ellon. of Aberdeen. He became Bishop of Ross, and was the faithful friend of Mary Stuart during her confine- ment in England. He died at Brussels in 1596 in the sixty-ninth year of his age. The church of Ellon is described in 1720 as being a long low building in the and Notes by the Way. 99 form of a cross, with two aisles or transepts, one appropriated to the Cheynes, the other to the Banner- mans as burial places and chantries. There seems to have been a solid chancellar wall or screen separating the nave and transepts from the chancel, and it is probable that the chancel thus separated from the nave was set apart for the monks of Kinloss, many of whom seem frequently to have been resident in the parish. The Abbot himself, in 1532, built magnificam et amplissimam domum apud ecclesiam suam ab Ellone. Ferrerius tells us that this Abbot, Thomas Chrystall, "to the church itself added many necessaries, such as roofing and pavement renewed and some things ornamental ... a table of picture and statuary equal to that of the Blessed Mother and Virgin at Kinloss ... He restored there the great altar, where he erected a statue of the divine Anna, furnished new benches in the choir, and gave three garments for the celebration of sacred things, to wit a chasuble of fine hand wrought linen, two dal- matics with albs and such like most liberally brought together." William of Leask, the elder Lord of that Ilk, in 1380, "bequeathed a lb. of wax yearly to the altar of the Holy Rood in the church of St. Mary, Ellon, to be supplied from the land of William, Son of Adam (Ade) SchyroU . . . and from his land 100 The Churches of Btichan of Logy near Ellon a stone of wax yearly for lights to be burnt on all Sabbath and feast days for ever on the tomb of himself and his wives, Alice de Rath and Mariot de St. Michael, for their souls' health and for that of his brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and all parents and benefactors . . . and twelve silver pennies yearly from the aforesaid land ... for preparation of foresaid wax." From this it would appear that the altar of the Holy Rood was the people's altar in the nave, and the majus altare above referred to the High Altar within the choir, and from the vestments mentioned it would appear that at least three clerics besides the four clerks (sup- ported by the Scolag lands) took part in the celebration of sacred things. With regard to the four singing boys, this was the number which Bishop Ramsay appointed for his Cathedral in 1256, and as Lincoln was the model of Aberdeen, it need not surprise us to learn that in that great Cathe- dral there are the four Brughersh Chanters or four senior singing boys distinguished from the others by wearing over their surplice a black sleeveless choral cape, which latter has descended in the black satin chimere of the English bishop and in his scarlet con- vocation robe. Lord Fleming, Chamberlain of Scot- land, who was slain at Pinkie, founded in 1546, the and Notes by the Way. loi Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Biggar, for a Provost, eight prebendaries, four choristers, ^ and six poor bedesmen. This was the last venture of that kind in Scotland. It would appear that four choristers was the usual number. The only remains of the Pre- Reformation Church of St. Mary is a part of the chancel wall east of the present parish church and a sculptured stone affixed to the south wall to mark the site of the Waterton aisle. The wall is about ten feet high by fourteen feet, and is divided into three compartments, each surmounted by a coat of arms. The centre division is now blank on account of the friable nature of the stone, but is surmounted by what appears to be the arms proper of the Annands. Motto — Sperabo. On one side of the shield are the D. initials , on the other, Obiit 1326. The compart- D.A. ment on the left has the Annand arms quartered with other bearings in which we trace not without difficulty the star-like blossoms of the strawberry plant — the fraises which in allusion to their cognomen the Frasers of Filorth adopted as their cognizance. It has the initials A.A., M F. on the opposite sides, and on a scroll Salus per Christum. Underneath is an inscrip- tion. The right hand compartment contains the 102 The Churches of Biichan Annand arms quartered with the Cheynes, while the Greek Cross and a leaf are inserted with the initials A.A. and M.C. on either side. The scroll is charged with the legend " Mors Christi vita nostra." There is also an inscription. No part of the carving is older than the reign of James VI., but the date 1326 on the Annand monument is supposed to indicate the date of the building, and probably the church was built about the time that Bishop Alexander Kinninmonth II. commenced the present Cathedral of St. Machar ; and 140 years later, when Bishop Gavin Dunbar was making his unique decoration of his cathedral roof, Abbot Thomas Chrystall restored the fabric of his church at Ellon. He was succeeded by an Abbot who was a much greater man and a no less munificent benefactor, Robert Reid, afterwards Bishop of Orkney. He built the Abbot's hall at Kinloss and probably carried out his predecessor's intentions both with regard to the church and the Abbot's hall at Ellon. He employed Andrew Bairnum, a celebrated painter who introduced fresco painting into the North. Doubtless Ellon, the most important of the churches belonging to the Abbey, would not have been neglected. The last Abbot, Walter Reid, alienated the church lands, and in 1574, in the Carte Abbacie de Kynloss, there is noted and Notes by the Way. 103 pensions for the prebendar and stallar, for the vicar pensionar, and for the reader of the common prayers in the kirk of Allane. In 1596, four hundred parishes were vacant, and there was only one minister for the parishes of Tarves, MethHck, Ellon, and Fyvie. The first minister of the Reformed Church was Mr. John Heriot, appointed in 1602. The same year the chan- cellor wall was removed, a west loft is erected in the kirk and a loft in the east gable of the choir. In 1653 the church is in a ruinous condition, and we learn that the slate nails were pins formed out of the staves of old wine puncheons of hard wood, and that the slates were embedded in moss. The old pre-Reformation Church was pulled down in 1777. An old prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer foretold that on a Pasch Sunday the kirk would fall, and that the catastrophe would be preceded by the perambulation of the kirk by a white bull. On Pasch Sunday 1776, a man in one of the galleries, looking out of a window behind him, saw a white calf in the churchyard, and anticipating the immediate collapse of the building, he broke the window and let himself down by means of the bell rope which produced such a panic that the kirk speedily " skaled," to the great danger of all who were in the building. So much im- pressed were those who had escaped with the idea 104 ^-^^^ CJmrches of Bnchmi that the kirk had actually fallen, that one old woman was heard piteously beseeching the bystanders to dig her daughter " oot o' the redd o' the kirk." A session entry in 1737 notes that it is agreed to erect a tent in the churchyard " that on Communion days the people not sitting at the tables may repair to it in time coming while the tables are serving, owing to the weakness of the lofts." This being the case, there seem more substantial reasons than the Rhymer's prophecy for pulling it down. and Notes by the Way. 105 Chapter VIII. FORVIE, LEASK, PETERHEAD, &c. Leaving Kynloss, Ellon, we retrace our steps to the estuary of the Ythan, having on our left the ditch for which Kennedy of Kermuck wanted an outlet through the public road to the Ythan, and their contention ended in the slaughter of Forbes and the outlawry of the Kennedies ; the ruins of the Manor of Waterton on the river bank, and Auchmacoy, which has the almost unique history of being in the same family from father to son for more than 500 years. Two younger sons occupied prominent positions in Scot- land. General Thomas Buchan succeeded " Bonnie Dundee" in the command of the Royal troops in Scotland. He had held command in Ireland, and is believed to have been at the Siege of Derry. He landed in Mull and proceeded to Lochaber to raise the Highland Chiefs. He was, however, surprised at Cromdale, and v/as never after able to make head against General Mackay. After a time he was allowed to return to France with all his officers. They formed P io6 The Churches of Bachan themselves into a regiment which became renowned over Europe for its self-sacrificing valour. He returned to this country, and was out in the '15 and at Sheriff- muir. He died at Ardlogie in Fyvie, and was buried at Logie-Buchan. His brother, Colonel John Buchan, took the opposite side. He purchased the Chancellor's house in Old Aberdeen from Lord Whitehill, and the lands and castle of Cairnbulg from Lord Fraser of Muchalls. On the right bank we have the lands of Fechil, about the teinds of which the Abbots of Deir and Kynloss were involved in a law-suit, but after two adverse judgments, one by the heads of the Cistercian houses in Scotland, and another by the Bishop of Aberdeen, the Abbot of Deir had to yield. We have also Logie-Buchan, before referred to, and whose name attests the tradition that the Ythan did not form the southern boundary of Buchan, but that it stretched from the Deveron to the Don. We now reach the weird sands of Forvie on the left bank of the river — a whole parish was over-cassen by the sands, and the only remains discernible are those of the "Auld Kirk" on the side of a small burn. In a ravine opposite the gable is St. Ninian's Well. Graves have been dis- covered round the Chapel, and the Piscina was recently recovered, and may be seen in the antiquarian museum, Edinburgh. It was dedicated to St. '••"iS'«, *' . '■■.■"^- " .'"^ .,1 ; '^ '...*. ■■or' ■ tS-'':' .■kf. -^^ ' iHi''^ ipsSsit' ;//■ ^- ■••»/;■„'-■«. ■;,;■ ,'.,|!-^^ Ji! C G B < CO and Notes by the Way, 107 Adamnan, and about three miles north of the ruins in the sands on the estate of Leask there is another chapel also called St. Adamnan's Chapel. Tradition says it was erected in the end of the sixth or com- mencement of the seventh century, and it is possible that an early Columban oratory stood there. But the present building probably dates from the end of the thirteenth century. "A letter of man-rent by the laird of Esslemont is dated at the Chapell of Leask on II September, 1499." The chapel stands in the middle of a small plantation of stunted firs and alder on a little eminence gently rising from a swampy bottom with a rivulet half enclosing it on the south side. It measures forty-three feet by twenty-two feet, and the east window fifteen feet by seven feet. The doorway is in the south wall near the west end. On either side of the east window there are two square holes above the springing of the arch similar to these in St. Palladius, Fordoun, the use of which is not known. There is an aumbry or Sacrament house on the north side near the east window. Proceeding through the sands we reach Collieston, the fishing village celebrated for its smugglers and speldings, and for the wreck of one of the Spanish Armada, the St. Catherine, some of the guns of which have been recovered in our time, and one of which is io8 The Churches of Buchan now at Windsor Castle. Not far from the scene of the wreck of the St. Catherine, on an eminence, stands the Parish Church of St. Ternan. St. Ternan's Well is in the manse garden. Adjoining the church are the remains of the Erroll aisle, in which several members of that noble family were buried. Coupar was the burial place of most of the earlier Earls of Erroll, but at Slains were buried Andrew, seventh Earl, Francis, whose funeral is thus described by Spalding : " Upon the night convoyed quietly with his own domestics and country friends with torchlight. It was his will to have no gorgeous burial, nor to con- vocate his noble friends in making great charges and expenses, but to be buried quietly, and such expenses as should be wared prodigally upon his burial to give the same to the poor." It is believed that all the Earls with their families from Andrew to the Countess Mary are interred there. The following beautiful Latin inscription is on the tombstone of the Countess Mary and her husband — " Sub hoc lapide sepulchrali non conduntur aurum et argentum nee thesauri con- juscunque generis sed corpora clarissimorum conjugum Mariae comitissae de Erroll et Alexri. Hay de Dell- gatty qui vixerunt in conjugio xxvii, annos placide et amanter et qui desiderarunt juxta se in humari et enixe rogant ne lapis hie moveatum nee eorum and Notes by the Way. 109 reliquial excitentur sed permitatur eis simul quiescere in Domino donel. Dominus eos evocaverit ad re- surrectienem vitae quam felicem expectant ex miseri- cerdia Dei et mentis Salvatoris Domini JESU Christi." The Hon. Charles Boyd, brother to Earl James, and son of the Earl of Kilmarnock, and his wife were the last of the family who were buried at Slains — (Pratt). Kennedy the smuggler, who was mortally wounded in a struggle with the excisemen, is buried at the west gable of the Parish Church — Old Slains Castle, the original residence of the ErroUs, and also of their pre- decessors, the Cumyns, and of the Pictish Mormaers, is in the immediate neighbourhood, and was destroyed by James VI., with Strathbogie and the Newtown, in consequence of the discovery of the Spanish Blanks. In 1574 Slains was given by James VI. to King's College, Aberdeen. Proceeding northward we reach Cruden. Tradition has it that Malcolm III., on his victory over the Danes at Cruden, biggit ane kirk w^hich he dedicated in honour of Olaus, the patron saint of Norway and Den- mark, as a memorial of the Danish nobles buried in said kirk. . . . The kirk that was biggit to this effect, as oft times occurs in they partis, was ouircassin be violent blast of sandis. The old kirk stood upon a knoll in the Links of Cruden, and a slab of blue no The CJmrches of BucJian limestone, which was said to have covered a Prince (or King) of Denmark, buried in the kirk, has been removed to the present churchyard. And recently, in digging foundations for a reservoir in Port Erroll, the workmen came upon quantities of bones near the site of the old church, and so arranged as to show that they had been buried on the battlefield. Some of them have been placed in the Anthropological Museum of Marischal College. It is said that on the destruction of the old church "ane kirk was biggit efter with mair magnificence in ane other place mair gairand." In this church the Earl of Erroll had an aisle in which Dr. James Drummond, Bishop of Brechin, was buried. The Bishop built a bridge across the water of Cruden which was rebuilt by the Earl of Erroll. He also presented two silver chalices to the church, dedicated " to the service of Jesus, and his church at Cruden by Dr. J. A. Drummond, late Bishop of Brechin, who died at Slains, 13th April, 1695." Cruden was a prebend of St. Machar in 1256. In the churchyard there is the following epitaph on a flat slab— S.M.— of the Rev. Mr. Alexander Keith, whose probity of heart, sanctity of manner, easiness of conversation, and unwearied attention to all the duties of his office as a minister of the Church of Scotland under the many trying events of eight and forty years, 00 c G W ri PL. o u C n u Oh CO and Notes by the Way. \ \ \ rendered his life valuable, his death lamentable, and his memory precious. — Ob. October 27, 1763. Aet 6'^. Ultima Sectarum in Crudenanis Kethe sacerdes, Fratribus at plebi din memoranda vale, Posuit mini nati pietas. This Alexander Keith has been identified by Dean Rankin with the author of the "View of the Diocese of Aberdeen," and the phrase ultime sacerdes suggests the despairing feeling of Episcopalians with regard to the future of their church. He was a son of the Rev. George Keith, minister of Deer, during the later years of the Episcopal establishment, and he seems to have been in possession until his death in 171 1. The registry of his son's baptism gives a noticeable instance of the curious custom which prevailed in Scotland during Episcopal, and even in later times of having godfathers and godmothers who bore the same christian name as was conferred on the child. Peterhead. — The district of Inverugie was divided into two portions, Inverugie St. Peter, and Inverugie St. Fergus. From the " Book of Deir " we learn that Gartuait, son of Cainnech and Ete, daughter of Gillemichel, gave Pett MacCobrig for the consecra- tion of a church of Christ and Peter the Apostle both 112 The Churches of Bnchan to Columcille and to Drostan free from all the exactions with the gift of them to Cormac, Bishop of Dunkeld, in the eighth year of David's reign. This gift had probably been completed at a great gathering on the Moot Hill at Ellon, and the above entry seems the abstract of a written grant 1 131-32. And we here see the process going on in which the property of the Celtic Church is being transferred. The primacy and the relics of St. Columba had been removed from lona to Dunkeld, and Cormac, the Abbot, had been made Bishop of Dunkeld. Dr. Stuart thinks that the gift to Cormac expressed in the grant of the Mormaer of Buchan was a token of veneration for the memory of the great Columba, and a memorial of the original connection of Deer with him as its founder. Peterhead seems to have been appropriated to Dunkeld until 1218, when the Cistercian Abbey of Deer was founded. To the latter what belonged to the Celtic Abbey was, for the most part, given back, including the churches of St. Peter, Peterhead, and St. Drostan, Deer. We also note that among the ancient Celtic dedications that to St. Peter is mentioned, and we learn from Bede that Nectan, king of the Northern Picts, when he asked the Abbot of Wearmouth to send him an architect to build a church for him in the Roman fashion, promised that he would dedicate it in honour and Notes by the Way, 113 of the blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. In Buchan, Fyvie and Inverugie are dedicated to him, and it is possible that on the site of a wattle building, which had belonged to the Columban Abbey of Deir, a stone church was built dedicated to St. Peter. The chancel arch in the ruins, still to be seen on the Links at Peterhead, is very old. " The arch is plain and is supported on square jambs, having Norman cushion caps." The chancel is built with run lime — the space between the outer and inner walls being filled with small stones, and the lime in a liquid state had been poured in. The building is not likely to be later than that of the Cistercian Abbey of Deir, and the carving and material in both are very similar. Inverugie, St. Fergus (Longley). — On a journey from Caithness, an Irish Bishop, St. Fergus, came to Buchan, and he built at Langley (now the Links of St. Fergus) a church which was afterwards dedicated to himself As he attended a council at Rome in 721, before he came to Britain, his church at St. Fergus would only have been built about the middle of the eighth century. The church on the Links was a long narrow building. The church, with the chapel of Fetterangus, was given by Ralf de Ney m (ex donatione Randulphi Neymi) to the monks of St. Q 114 The Churches of Buchan Thomas, Arbroath, at the beginning of the thirteenth century and confirmed by King William the Lion. It was made over by David the Abbot to Gilbert Keith of Inverugie in 1484. The Le Neyms are said to have built the Castle of Ravenscraig on the Ugie. In 1459 Master John Levingston, Vicar of Inverugie, was appointed by the Alderman and Common Council of the burgh of Aberdeen to be the master of works of a proposed bridge across the Dee (the old Bridge of Dee). In 16 16 the church of St. Fergus was trans- ported to the present site. Up to the Reformation the head of the Saint was preserved at Scone and his crosier was an object of veneration at Langley. Crimond. — The Church of Crechtmont (cattle mount) was erected into a prebend of St. Machar in 1262. In the Taxatio, Crimond is called Retref (Rattray), and it has been suggested that the original parish church may be represented by the ruined chapel founded to commemorate a son of one of the old Earls of Buchan, drowned accidentally in a well there. The Earls of Buchan no doubt had a residence on the Castle Hill, which fell into ruins after Comyn's defeat at Inverurie by Robert Bruce, and the little town which grew up round the church was erected into a Royal Burgh by Queen Mary, to put an end to u u and Notes by the Way. 1 1 5 a dispute between the Earls Marischal and Erroll. The Loch of Strathbeg, near which the ruins are, is said to cover 550 Scotch acres. It had once a com- munication with the sea, so that vessels of small burden could enter it, but about 1720, during a furious storm from the east, a sand bar was formed stopping the communication between the Loch and the sea. The chapel, in the centre of its churchyard, measures forty-five feet by eighteen feet nine inches. The gables are entire, and portions of the side walls. There are three round arched, widely splayed windows in the east wall, the centre one being about eleven feet high by two feet, the other two, seven feet. In the west gable there is a window. It is built of rough stones with red freestone dressings. There was a door in the south wall. In 12 14 William Comyn gave certain lands for the yearly payment of two stones of wax, and in 1469 King James III. confirms a charter for a yearly payment of five pounds and the third part of a stone of wax to the chapel of Beate Marie Virginis de Ratreff The churchyard is now sur- rounded by a wall, and plans for the restoration of the chapel were furnished by the late Mr. Hay, who restored St. Giles', Edinburgh. The Parish Church may have been removed soon after the Reformation Ii6 The Churches of Buchan to Crimond, where a church was built in 1576 — the date above one of the doors. LONMAY. — The ruins of St Colms' kirk are at the east end of the village of the same name. The church stood on the northern slope of a hill on a sort of knoll about 150 yards from the sea. . . . The outside dimensions of the church had been sixty feet by twenty-one feet. A considerable part of the west gable pierced by a window twenty-one inches wide by forty-two inches high, is still standing. Part of the north and very small portions of the south walls remain, the east is quite gone. The churchyard con- tinues to be used as a place of sepulture — (Pratt). In 1607 the church of Lonmay was removed from St. Colms to the more central situation it now occupies. A stone built into the present churchyard contains the following — " This house was built for the worship of God by the parish of Lonmay, 1607, Mr. Thomas Rires being minister then, and three years before at the old church. After him Messrs. William Rires, James Irvine, and John Houston were ministers suc- cessively." Logic in Crimond is the scene of the pathetic Jacobite ballad " O, Logic o' Buchan," and also of the tragic event recorded in the beautiful ballad of " Sir James the Rose." Sir James was slain in c 3 .{3 o and Notes by the Way. 117 mortal combat by Sir John the Graeme when con- tending for the hand of Lord Buchan's daughter. From Crimond on our way to Fraserburgh (or Philorth) we reach Rathen. — The church was dedicated to St. Ethernan, or Eddran, who led an eremitical life. His hermitage is supposed to have been in a hollow on the east side of Mormond known as St. Eddran's Slack. The church is said to have been given by Marjory, Countess of Buchan, to the monks of Arbroath, but in 1328 the benefice was gifted by Robert the Bruce to the college and Canons of St. Machar — the incumbent being the stipendiary of the Dean and Chapter till the period of the Reformation (archdeacon). The church had a south aisle. From what is supposed to have been the original arrange- ment, the levels of the sanctuary and of the aisle seem to have been on a higher level and approached from the nave by one or two steps. It has therefore been suggested that the aisle was a Lady Chapel. It con- tains an aumbry in the east wall. Rathen is the only church in the district which continued in use from before the Reformation till the present day. It is now dismantled. 1 1 8 The Churches of Buchan FiLORTH. — The old church of Filorth, says the " View of the Diocese of Aberdeen," stood among the sands. It was dedicated to St. Medan, a Bishop in great favour with King Conran (A.D. 503). Andrew, parson of the Church of Filorth, swore fealty and homage to Edward I. King David II., in 1345, gave his consent as patron of the benefice to the erection of the church of Filorth into a prebend of St. Machar. This was changed into a grant to the Bishop and chapter of the church to their own proper uses, as one of their common churches, and a stipulation was after- wards made that the fruits of the benefice should be applied to the maintenance of two chaplains. In 1437 the prebendary of Filorth was required to find a sub-deacon as his vicar or staller, which shows that after all it had been erected into a prebend. Sir Alex. Fraser laid the foundation (March 6th, 1570), of the tower of Kinnaird's Head, and the next year he built the new church. The upper floor or hall of the wine tower on Kinnaird's Head would appear to have been used as a chapel. The pendents in the roof and in the arch soffits of the windows seem later insertions, which with the arms and the motto " In Defens " assumed by James V., would indicate that a much older build- ing had been converted to sacred uses in the reign of and Notes by the Way 119 Wine Tower, Kinnaird's Head. James. The third pendent is an angel pointing to the emblems of the crucifixion. About four miles S.W. from Fraserburgh we reach the kirk of Tyrie. " This kirk is said to be the oldest in this diocie, being short and high-walled like a chappell." The old walls were built with run lime, 120 The CJmrches of Buclian and the kirk was known as the "White Kirk of Buchan." Drummond of Hawthornden in his history of Scotland tells us that the queen-dowager of James I. giveth out a pilgrimage intended by her to the " White Kirk of Buchan." Previous to the Reforma- tion, Hector Boece was Rector of Tyrie, and whether he discharged the duty by deputy or not, he was familiar with the Barnacle Log preserved in the church. It was strangely believed that the Barnacle goose was developed from a bivalve often found on sea-tossed wrecks. When the college at Fraserburgh was founded provision was made for the support of the professors by the mortification of the teinds and manses of Philorth, Tyrie, Rathen, and Crimond, the professors being bound personally or by deputy to discharge the duties of the parishes. As the church of Tyrie was dedicated to St. Andrew, it could hardly have been the " White Kirk of Buchan " to which the widow of James I. designed a pilgrimage, as her " White Kirk of Buchan " was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Unless indeed at Tyrie there had been a special altar to the Blessed Virgin to which the Queen had intended to make pilgrimage. There is a re- markable sculptured pre-historic stone still to be seen on the ridge where the old church stood, and which has been dug out of its foundations. o z 3 and Notes by the Way, 121 Chapter IX. ABERDOUR, GAMRIE, KIN-EDAR, &c. Aberdour. — Passing the ruins of Pitullie, Pitsligo, and Dundarg Castles, we come upon a wild and romantic gorge, and on the north-western acclivity of the hill, within 150 yards of the Moray Firth, there is a tableland on which are the ruins of the old kirk of Aberdour. Aberdour (Aber — the mouth ; dour — the otter : the mouth of the otter burn) which figures in the ballad of Hardiknute, is probably the oldest parish church in the district. It was dedicated to St. Dur- stane (Drostan). His bones were kept there in a stone chest (Tumba lapidea). 150 yards along the beach eastward of the mouth of the burn is a copious spring of the purest water, called St. Drostan's Well. The west gable of the church is still standing, and a great part of the north and south walls. The dimensions of the building were about 69 feet by 21 feet. There was a narrow east window. It had a south aisle re- built in 1764. The octagonal font and the piscina may still be seen. r 122 The Churches of Buchan Gamrie. — The old church of Gamrie stands on a sort of plateau overlooking the bay and village of Gardenston. Hast seen the old lone churchyard, The churchyard by the sea, High on the edge of a wind-swept ledge, And it looks o'er Gamerie ? Between 1189 and 1198 King William the Lion granted to the monks of Arbroath the church of Gameryn, which grant, cum capella de Trub, was con- firmed by Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen. The name Gamrie is said to mean " the pointed slope," and the situation of the old church is in keeping with the name. There is a date over the lintel of the west window — " This church was built in 1004." But the oldest part now remaining does not seem older than the earlier half of the i6th century. The length of the church is about 90 feet, and the chancel, which possibly formed the original structure, is about 24 feet. On the south side there is a low doorway, and in the chancel a priest's door on the south side. In the east wall there is an aumbry, and in the north wall a sacrament house. In the north wall of the nave are three holes in which human skulls, only of late years removed, were placed. Three grim skulls of three Norse kings. Grinning a grin of despair, Each looking out from his stony cell. and Notes by the Way. 123 There are still distinctly visible the vestiges of en- campments and the " bloody pots " on a level space above the Mohrhead which formed the battlefield of the invading Danes, looked down on the kirk of Gamrie. Kin-Edar. — Keeping the old Banff road to Turriff we reach the castle of Kin-Edar (head of the valley), once a principal residence of the Cumyn-Earls of Buchan, and on the north bank of the burn the old church. John Cumyn, Earl of Buchan, sometime be- tween the years 1289 and 1306, gave the church of Kin-Edar to the Abbey of St. Mary of Deir, which grant was confirmed by King Robert Bruce. There was a church here in the twelfth century, for " Henry Parson of Kynedor is a witness to charters by Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen. There seems to have been a Craigston's aisle, in which John Urquhart, the Tutor of Cromarty, was buried. The church seems to have undergone great alterations, or even to have been re- built about 162 1. Turriff. — In 11 32 Turbruad was the seat of a Celtic monastery, of which Cormack was Abbot, and Domongart was the scribe or teacher. The gift of the church of Turfred to Arbroath by Marjory, Countess 1 24 The Churches of Buchan of Buchan, 12 14, appears to have been revoked, as in 1273 her son William founded an almshouse at Turreth for a master, six chaplains, and thirteen poor husbandmen of Buchan, and the Earl includes in his gift the lands at Turriff previously given by his mother to Arbroath. The deed is dated at Kelly (Methlic) in presence of Alexander III. The church probably occupied the old Columban site of St. Con- gan's, and Robert the Bruce in 1328 gives the lands of Petts in Fyvie for the support of a chaplain to say mass for the soul of his brother Nigel Bruce, " miles pulcherrimae juventutis," as Matthew Westminster designates him, and the terms of the gift show the King's undying affection for his beautiful young brother, in puram et perpetuam eleemosynam pro anima Nigeli de Bruis fratris nostri. The church was erected into a prebend of Old Machar in 141 2, to which its revenues, along with those of the hospital, were assigned. The church was a long narrow building, 120 feet by 18 feet. It owes much to Alexander Lyon, son of the Fourth Lord Glamis, chanter of Moray. He died in 1541, and was buried in the choir where an aumbry exhibits his initials and arms. It was probably in his time that the church was de- corated by Andrew Bairhum, who introduced fresco painting into the north of Scotland. The fresco of and Notes by the Way. 125 St. Ninian on the splay of one of the windows of the choir which was found in 1861 may possibly have been his work. It is depicted in the " Book of Deir." The Hays of Dalgety were also buried in the choir, from which some of their monuments were removed to Dalgety Castle when the old church was taken down. William Hay was prebendary of Turriff in 1546, and in 1557 he made a gift to the chaplains of St. Machar, who were to pray for his own soul, for those of George and William, Earls of Erroll, his own brother, Thomas Hay of Logic, and the rest of his name who fell at Flodden. John Erskine, pastor of Turriff, left the teinds of the kirk of Turriff to the Earl of Erroll in 1545 ; and in 1588 the lands of the hospital were alienated to Francis, Earl of Erroll, by Mr. John Philip, who, in 1574, was minister of the four parishes of Turriff, King-Edward, Forglen, and Auch- terless. John Hay was at this time the reader. The double belfry bears date 1635, the Hay arms, and the initials E.W.E., M.T.M., William, Earl of Erroll, and Mr. T. Mitchell. Thomas Mitchell, who was a Royalist and a Covenanter by turns, secularised the church lands of Turriff in 1627. The barons "fleyit Mr. Thomas Mitchell, minister of Turriff, veray evill" at the Trot o' Turra (weary fa' the Trot o' Turra), where the first blood in connection with the wars of 1 26 The Churches of Buchan the covenant was shed. Mitchell was succeeded by his son Arthur. It was during the time of the Mitchells that the old architectural features of the kirk were destroyed, the Presbytery on 29th May, 1649, having ordained the garssions (garnishings) and superstitious monuments within the kirk of Turriff to be taken down and demolished primo quog' tempore. In the churchyard are deposited the remains of Bishop Jolly, the saint of Moray, " beloved and venerated by all the good, and respected for his apostolic virtues and graces even by the worst of mankind." AUCHTERLESS. — The kirk was a parsonage be- longing to St. Machar, of which cathedral the parson was chanter and precentor. There are no remains of the church which preceded the one built in 1780 except an aumbry still preserved. The pastoral staff of St. Donan, Abbot, remained at Auchterless until the Reformation. The bell bears Peter Jansen, anno Dmi. 1644 St Donan's Fair was held at the Kirk- town. The Broom Hill forms an interesting watershed as the water trickling down one side finds its way to the sea at Aberdeen by the Don, that down another side the sea at Banff by the Deveron, while that down a third reaches the sea at Newburgh by the Ythan. In the parish there is the Roman camp, statio ad and Notes by the Way. 127 Ithunam, on the great censular road said to have been constructed in the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161). The parish is remarkable as the birthplace of Malcolm Ardes, a Carmelite friar of the early part of the four- teenth century ; Henry Scougal, afterwards Professor of Divinity, and Peter Garden who died at the advanced age of 132. He is said to have lived under ten governments. He was one of the garrison of Towie Barclay when Montrose defended it against Argyle. He is said to have seen Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, aged 169, and who had carried arrows at Flodden. Thus there died in the reign of George HI. one who had seen a person who was a youth in the reign of James the IV. In the "Times" of November 6th, 1897, a series of letters have appeared called " Links with the Past," from which we note that in 1844 there died at Brad- shaw Chapel, near Bolton-le-Moors, an old man, James Horrocks by name, whose father, William Horrocks, was alive in the days of Oliver Cromwell. William Horrocks was born in 1657, and at the age of eighty- six married a young woman of twenty-eight, their son James being born the following year 1744. The old man lived for eleven years after his marriage, and his son died at the age of 160 in 1844. These two lives, which overlap ten years, covered a period of i Z"] years, -:^ - "-^ -^-•' "^ 128 The Churches of Buchafi embracing the last two years of the Commonwealth, the reigns of nine sovereigns of England and the earlier years of Queen Victoria. Another writer says there is an old gentleman living within a mile of my house who is over ninety years of age. He can well remember my great-grandfather who died at ninety-one. My great-grandfather's father was born in the reign of Charles II., so there is a fairly active man now living who can remember a man whose father was born in the reign of Charles II. Fyvie. — The old church of Fyvie occupied the site of the present parish church, and was dedicated to St. Peter. In 1178 Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen, gave to God and the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr, Arbroath, and to the monks serving God there, the churches of Fyvie, Tarves, with the chapel of Fuchal, etc. The grant was confirmed by King William "The Lion," and in the chartulary of Arbroath it is recorded that William " The Lion " gave to the Abbey there the church of Fyvie, with the chapels, lands, tithes, oblations, pasturage, and other pertinents between 1 1 2>'j and 1 200. At Ardlogie, near the Parish Church, there was a cell of the Abbey of Arbroath. This afterwards became a priory from endowments by Reginald de and Notes by the Way. 1 29 Cheyne of Inverugie, who, in 1285, gave the lands of Ardlogie and others to Arbroath and the monks of that monastery residing in the religious house built at Ardlogie, near the Church of St. Peter of Fyvie. In the same year Henry Cheyne, Bishop of Aber- deen, grants to the priory all the returns and proceeds of the vicarage of Fyvie. And the monks of the priory were bound to provide a perpetual chaplain, who by night and day should minister the rites of the Church to the parishioners of Fyvie, for which duty he was to receive 100 shillings yearly as stipend, and be content therewith. In Bishop Cheyne's ordinance, the priory is termed " The Religious House," quam nobilis vir, Reginaldus de Cheyne, pater fundavit." In 1323 Albertinus was appointed custodian, and in 1325 there is an interest- ing order from the Abbot of Arbroath, enjoining him to hold a chapter on three days of the week to correct and reform irregularities. In 1 36 1 Patrick de Froinatorius is appointed custodian in place of John Seuir. In 1427 Bishop Leighton makes an arrangement by which the vicarage of the Church of St. Peter, vacant by the death of Sir John Crabe, is annexed to the priory on condition that the brethren should give the vicar ten marks yearly and a sufficient manse. S 1 30 The Churches of Biichan They were also bound to make payment yearly of six marks to a chaplain serving in St. Machar's Cathedral, and to find him in a decent habit. In 1438, Sir John Anderston was prior, and was succeeded by John de St. Andrews. The latter, in 1450, by Malcolm Bridy, who himself becomes Abbot of Arbroath. In 1470, Sir Alexander Mason was prior. He rebuilt the chapel, on either side of which there were the conventual buildings, and the site is now marked by a memorial cross. In the churchyard there still may be read a pre- Reformation inscription " Hie jacet Thomas de Cranmo orate pro anima." Arbroath was erected into a temporal Lordship in 1606, and the lands of Ardlogie, Lethendy, and others, together with the mill of Fyvie, and the lands of Mondurno, was formed into the barony of Fyvie. Methlick. — St. Devenick belonged to St. Machar's Cathedral, and Ingleram of Lindsay the prebendary succeeded Bishop Henry Leighton in 1442. The ruins of the old kirk and an aisle in which some of the Aberdeen family are interred, are situated a little to the west of the new parish kirk ; but they are of a comparatively recent date. The first, third. A. K. McLeocl The Forbes Aisle^ Tarves and Notes by the Way, 131 and fifth Earls of Aberdeen, Lord Haddo, who died at Gight (the father of the fourth Earl), James, the second son of the fifth Earl, who died by accident at Cambridge, and other members of the family are buried at Methlick. Tarves. — Visitors to Haddo and the Braes of Gight are familiar with Tanglanford where the Ythan is now crossed by an iron bridge. It commemorates the name of St. Euglat to whom the kirk of Tarves was dedicated. The patronage and teinds were given by William "The Lion" to Arbroath, 1207. The description of the old church about 1730 runs thus: " A choir with two aisles, one for the Gordons of Haddo, now ruinous, another for the Forbeses of Tolquhon, also ruinous." A new church was erected in 1798, and no trace of the old now remains except the Tolquhon, or south aisle. It was built by the William Forbes who added so much to the "auld tour " of Tolquhon. The " auld tour " was also called the Preston tower from Sir Henry Preston of Fyvie, whose elder daughter conveyed to her husband, a Meldrum, the castle and lands of Fyvie, while her sister conveyed to a Forbes, Tolquhon. The tomb in the Tolquhon aisle has two shields charged with the Forbes and Gordon arms respectively, and exhibiting 132 The Churches of Buchan the initials W.F., E.G., the arch of the tomb bears in alto relievo a hound chasing a fox with a bird in its mouth and another pursuing a boar. Above the Forbes arms is the motto Salus per Christum, above the Gordon arms Dochter to Lesmor. William Forbes also built a hospital hard by the church for four poor men who were to eat and lie here and to have each a peck of meal and three shillings, a penny and two- sixths of a penny Scots weekly ; also some malt, peats, &c. In Mr. Mair's extracts from Ellon Presbytery Records he gives several interesting parti- culars with reference to an inquest held regarding the hospital on 15th February, 1717. "The Beid-house had ane peck of meal and forty pennies each in the week, and hade ane grey gown the ane Martinmas and a coat and breeches the other, and that the tenants of Meikle Ythsey were as much bound to winn and lead peats to them as they were to pay their farms (or rents) — " The Beid men at their entry hade a chest, bed, bedcloths, pot and pan, and clothes ance in twa years. — " They had a big chest with four locks and lids for their meal and ane hide far shoes." In 1732 Tolquhon was in the hands of Sir John Paterson and it is noted that the provision for four old men is administered "very carefully, conform to the will of the mortifier," but that the house is gone to ruin. On 25th June 1735, the minister represented that the Beid and Notes by the Way. 133 men were originally provided with a house which used to be kept in good repair, sufficient furniture and a large kail yard and punctual payments of their money. But now the house is ruinous, the roof off, the furniture gone, the yard misapplied so far as he knows, nor the payments^ made to the satisfaction of the kirk-session. The Beid-house is said to have stood on a knoll in a hollow near the parish church. The church and Beid-house are gone, and the ruins surrounding the courtyard of the castle are the only reminders of the once princely house of the Forbeses of Tolquhon. Bethelnie (both Nathalan), Oldmeldrum. — The church is said to have been founded here in 452 by St. Nathalan, the founder of Tullich and Coull. The church was given by William Cumyn and his spouse to Arbroath for the safety of the soul of William the King, his own soul, and that of his wife. This charter was confirmed by King Alexander in 1222. In 1527 the Abbot of Arbroath granted a nineteen years' lease of the teinds to Gilbert Menzies, Provost of Aberdeen, and in 1534 an eleven years' lease to Meldrum of Fyvie. Alexander Seton, Chan- cellor of Aberdeen down to 1566, was vicar of Bethelnie and rector of King's College. The church was removed to the village of Oldmeldrum in 1684. 134 1^^^^ Churches of Buchan Udny. — At Udny there was a kirk which bore the name of Christ's Kirk. The Green of Udny has long been famed for its beauty, and in a title deed of the Udny estate, mention is made of the lairds right of patronage of the Parish Kirk of Udny, commonly called Christ's Kirk (Capella Christi). The only other place in Scotland which bore the name of Christ's Kirk is one in the Garioch which occupied a rising ground to the west of the hill of Dunnadeer. The Fair of Christ's Kirk in Kennethmont is well known, and is supposed to have been the scene of the poem of " Christ's Kirk on the Grene." King James 1., or whoever was the author of the poem, in a poem full of sprightliness and humour, describes what he had witnessed on rural holiday at some village in Aber- deenshire. Was ne'er in Scotland heard or seen, Sic dancing nor deray ; Nouther at Falkland on the Grene, Nor Plebis at the play, As was of wooers as I wean ; At Christ's Kirk on a day There came our Kitties washen clean In their new kirtles o' grey, Full gay At Christ's Kirk o' the Grene That day. Deer. — In the oldest record of a historical event in Scotland by a native scribe, viz., the " Book of and Notes by the Way. 135 Deir," we have an account of the founding of the Columban Abbey of Deir. Whether the Columbites residing there had conformed to the requirements of Nectan the reforming Pictish King or not, they appear to have lived on at Deer and on the margin of their sacred book they inscribed the gifts which they had received, in accordance with the custom which was coming into vogue. The gifts had possibly been received in accordance with the old use and wont at the Moot Hill of Ellon. Under the changes which took place at the formation of the parochial system the church of the monastery became the parish church, and in the ruins in the churchyard of Deer we may have those of the first parish church or even of the Columban church of the monastery if the " Mos Scotorum " had given place to building in stone after the Saxon manner, during the later years of its exist- ence. At any rate we may believe that the present ruins occupy a site which had been given to God, S.S. Columba and Drostan in the sixth century. The remains indicate a nave and chancel. The arch of the latter was closed by a rood screen, access to which was by a stair from the chancel and entering the nave by a door at the level of the spring of the chancel arch. The aumbry in the north wall of the nave with its pointed arch and cross pattee in grey granite is 136 The Churches of Biichan very striking. William Comyn, the first earl of his name, by his marriage with Marjorie, the only child of the last Mormaer of Buchan, succeeded in right of his wife to her father's great possessions, and founded a Cistercian Abbey in the Vale of Deir, about three- quarters of a mile from the old Celtic foundation on the opposite bank of the Ugie. The date is given variously 1218, 1 2 19. The new monastery was on the usual plan, the church on the north with its cloister on the south of the nave, surrounded by the conventual buildings. The church seems to have been first built and to have consisted of nave with north aisle of five bays, north and south transepts and choir. The south transept was broader than the north, and may have had a narrow eastern aisle. The choir was about twenty-five feet long by twenty-four feet wide. There was a central tower and perhaps a spire. From the lie of the ground, the conventual buildings on the south had an under storey, and from an inspection of an old plan of 1789 the chapter house seems to have been in close proximity to the south transept. Sepa- rated from it by a passage into the cloister were the kitchen and fratry, above which was the dormitory. There was a long range of vaults to the east of the kitchen, above which might have been the refectory. To the north of this range and to the east of the and Notes by the Way. 137 transept and Chapter house, was the abbot's lodging. Between 12 19 and 1234 there are no less than twelve abbots mentioned. " In 1262 came one of the scandals which are peculiar to no form of Christianity. . . . and Henry, formerly Prior of Kinloss, was deposed after ten years' tenure of office. The ground of his deposition has been erased from the chronicle of Melrose." Adam of Smailholm, a Monk of Melrose, succeeded. " He resigned of his own will after five years, and returned to Melrose, preferring the court- eous charm of the brethren of Melrose, whom he had known aforetime, to the rule of a party of monks (tugur- rium monachorum) in Deir, whose religious zeal he had never been able to know by any true experience." Anno Domini. M.C.C., Ixvii. Abbas de Dere, dominus Adam de Smalham, monacbus de Melros, gratis dimisit officium suum, malens dulcedinem melrosiensium, gros pre expertus fuerat, quan presse tugurrio monachorum de Dere. Among the signat- ories of the Treaty of Brigham, i8th July, 1290, by which the Maid of Norway was betrothed to Prince Edward of England, was the Abbot of Deir. Brice, the Abbot, swore fealty to King Edward in August, 1296. Michael was a member of the Parliament of Cambuskenneth, 6th November, 1314. In 1371, Pope Gregory XL confirms the Abbey of Deir in the T 138 The Churches of Buchan patronage of Foveran and Kynnedor. In 1390 the Lord Abbot of Deir acquires a town house in Aber- deen from Laurence of Foty in the Foty Gate, which after the Reformation became the property of the Earls Marischal. It was a spacious house, built in the form of a court on the south side of the Castlegate. It was honoured by the residence of Queen Mary in 1562, and from its windows she beheld the execution of Sir John Gordon of Finlater, and in 1638, from a gallery in the court of the house then occupied by Lady Pitsligo, the Apostles of the Covenant ex- pounded their tenets, but they were badly received. * From Henderson, Dickson, and Cant, Apostles of the Covenant, Almighty God deliver us. was a popular parody on the Litany at the time. As the Reformation approaches, a vigorous call to amendment is made, and rules for the guidance of the Abbot and convent of Deer are sent by the Abbot of Charolais, in the diocese of Senlis, which calls forth a protest, and, in consequence, Walter, Abbot of Glenluce, and Robert, Abbot of Kinloss, visit the Abbey in 1537. In the charter or deed of mitigation we see the high ideal which the Cistercians had aimed at, and although the Commissioners per- ceive "the difficult situation of the place and the * {Book of Bon-Accord, p. 118.) and Notes by the Way, 139 malignity of the time, there is no disposition to per- mit laxity or disobedience to the Cistercian Rule." Mary of Lorraine presents Robert Keith, brother of William, fourth Earl Marischal, to the abbacy. Robert Keith died in Paris in 1552, non recepto ordinis habitu. On his death, his nephew Robert, a boy of fifteen, known to history as the Commendator of Deir, succeeds. He resigns all the Abbey posses- sions into the hands of the King in 1587, by whom they were erected, into the Lordship of Altrie, which title was conferred upon the Commendator. In 159OJ on the death of Lord Altrie, in recompense for his ex- penses as Ambassador Extraordinary to Denmark, to bring about the marriage of James VI. and Princess Anne, George, fifth Earl Marischal, obtained the abbacy of Deir in perpetual monument of the said service, to him and to his for ever. In 1567, Gilbert Chisholm, formerly prior of the Abbey, was settled in the parish, and had for his charge Deir, Foveran, Peterhead, and St. Fergus ; and David Howesonne, one of the brethren, was successively minister at Filorth, Kin-Edar, and at Aberdour. We have now gone rapidly through the five cent- uries of the Mediaeval Church of Scotland and des- cribed the means at her command for the discharge of her great mission " for the perfecting of the saints for 140 The Churches of Buchan the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Her adaption of herself to all circum- stances, her patient bending of all things to her purpose, her care for the poor, her appeal to the imagi- nation and the heart in her sacred buildings and in the stately/itual which she enjoined, win our admiration and respect (Innes). We have described the few pre- Reformation Churches in Buchan of which there are any material remains or with regard to the history of which anything reliable is known. But although we take up the ancient lament " our holy and our beauti- ful house where our fathers praised Thee is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste," the ruins themselves sadly and silently testify to the widespread corruption which brought so terrible a punishment upon her. Disease had spread so far that no operation however severe seemed able to save her. The old Romanised church of the country ceased to exist as an organised body for nearly a century and a half and we may be thankful that when the attempt was made to break with the past, and it seemed all too successful, God in his good Providence made it possible to build up again the old waste places and restore the essentials of the Catholic and Apostolic Church. The more sober minded of our countrymen, although still separated from us confess, " the enormous injury we and Notes by the Way. 141 have done ourselves in Scotland by cutting as we have done the ties of our connection and sympathy with the church of the fifteen centuries preceding the Re- formation." But what though Revolution and Dis- ruption are the headings of later chapters and visible unity is yet denied her, there is abundant room for hopefulness in the future. Only let us be sure that we ourselves present true examples of our daily prayer — " That all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life." INDEX. Page Abbot's Knoll 24 Aberdeen... 46, 61, ']l, 74 Aberdeen — Earls 130, 131 Aberdour (Buchan) 35, 92, 121 Aberdour, St Drostan's 90, 121 Aberlour ... ... 35 Abernethy ... ... 4, 16 Aengus ... ... ... 16 Agricola ... ... 2 Aidan 5, 31, 36 Alban 6 Alclyde ... ... ... 3 Alexander I. ... ... 7 Alvah ; 35 Alvie ... ... ... 35 Anchorite ... ... 21 And erston, Sir John ... 129 Angles 6, 21 Anglesey 18 Annands ... loi, 102 Antoninus, Wall of ... 2 Arbroath Abbey 49, 71, 129, 130 Ardes — Malcolm ... 127 Athelstane ... ... 5 Auchmedden ... ... 14 Auchterless ... 14, 93, 126 Augustus ... ... 8 Bairnum, Andrew 102, 124 Ballater 15 Banchory 13 Bane, Donald ... 7 Bannermans 99 Page 71 82 120 120 I 63 35 Bannockburn Barbour, Archbishop Barnacle Log ... Barnacle Goose Basques Bede Belhelvie ,, St. Colm's 90, 91, 94, 95 Benedictine Order 39, 62, 63 Benson, Archbishop ... 82 Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath 49 Bethelnie 133 Biggar, St. Mary ... loi Bishops ... ... ... 9 Blothagh ... ... 96 Boece, Hector 120 Braemar ... ... 43 Brecbannoch 49 Brechin ... ... 4, 16, 61 Bridy, Malcolm ... 129 Brigham, Treaty of ... 137 Bruce, Robert 18, 71, *]'j^ 97, 123 Brude 14, 28, 29 Brughersh Chanters ... 100 Brythons ... ... 3 Buchan I4j 90 ,, Earldom 71, 89, 114, 123, 124 Caithness ... ... 61 Calabre, Sir Wm. de ... 97 Candida Casa ... 10, 11, 13 Canice ... ... ... 28 Index. 143 Page ^ . , . ^^^^ Canisbay 35 Craig Phadric ... .. 28 Canons, Regular 70 Crechmond (Crimond Rattray) Carrick ... 3 91, 114 Carthusians .. 64 Crimond ... 114, 115 Catrail ... 3 Crinan ... ... ... 6 Cedd 37 Croudan ... ... 91 Celts .. I, 2 Cruithne ... ... i Celtic Church ... .. 4, 48 Culdees ... ... ... 16 Chad _ 37 Cumdach ... ... 50 Charolais, Abbot of .. 138 Cumyn ... 71, 95, 133, 136 Chartreuse .. 64 Cheynes .. 98 Dalriada ... 3» 4, 5, 3i Cheyne, Bishop 77 , 85, 129 Danes ... ... ... 4, 5 Chisholm, Gilbert •• 139 David I. 7> 97 Christ's Kirk ... 134 Daviot 35 Christ's Kirk on the Gr ene 134 Deer 29, 35, 135 Chrystall, Thomas 99, 102 Deer, St Drostan's ... 90, 92 Ciricius ... 5 Deir, Abbot of 137 Cistercians ..63,64 Deir, Book of 27, 50 Claudia 7 Deir Abbey 7^123,135,137 Clemaenoise 19 Devorgilla ... ... 71 Clonard 19 Diarmit .. ... ... 34 Cloveth (Clova) 29 Diocletian 8 Cluniacs .. 63 Dominicans ... ... 68 Codex Rossaneusis 27 Domongart (Turriff) ... 123 Coenobite 21 Dornoch ... ... 16 Collegiate Church .. 69 Douglas, Bishop Gavin 69 Columba — Person al Drumalban ... ... 3 Appearance ... ■• 32, 33 Dunbar, Bishop Gavin 79, 80, Columba, Burial Place, 6 ^c. 34,35 82, 85, 88 Columba, Saint, 5, 9, 10, 18, Dunbar, Bishop Gavin, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25 , 28, 29, Hospital 88 31, 32, IT, 135 Dunblane 16, 61 Columba's Stone Pillow ^ SI Duncan ... ... ... 6 Columbites .. 21, 26 Dunfermline ... ... 7 Conall .. 20, 31 Dunfermline, Earl of ... 86 Constantine II. 5 Dunkeld * 16, 60 Cooldrevny 20 Dun Monadh ^ 31 Cormack, of Turriff .. 123 Dunnadeer ... ... 134 Covenanters 81 Dunnichen 4 144 Index. Page Eata _ 37, 38 Ecclesiastical SystemScotland 60 Ecclesgrig ... ... 5 Edgar ... ... ... 6, 7 Ecgfrith ... ... ... 4 Edward I. 18 Edward, Bishop of Aberdeen 94 Edzell 35 Egyptian Monasticism 21, 22 Ellon, Columban Settle- ment ... ... 29 Ellon, Scolog Lands ... 30 Ellon, Kinloss, 91, 96, 97, 98, 99 Ellon, St Mary's 99, loi, 102 103 Elphinstone, Bishop Wm. 1^^ 79, 84 Eocha ... ... ... 5 Eogenan ... ... 31 Erroll's Aisle, Slains ... no Erskine, John ... ... 125 Ferrerius 99 Fetterangus 113 Filorth (Philorth) 92, 118 Ffinan 17 Finan ... 17, 18 Finella, Dame ... 6 Firbole I Fleming, Lord ... 100, lOI Forbes, Bishop Patrick ^"j, 90 Forbes, Dr 88 Forglen, Lands of ... 49 Forsyth, Dr., Inventor of the Gun Cap ... 94 Forteviot ... ... 5 Foveran ... ... ••• 91? 95 Praser (Sir Alex.) ... 118 Fraserburgh College ... 120 . Page Friars 67, 68 Froinatorius, Patrick de 129 Furvy (Forvy) ... ... 91 Fyvin (Fyvie) .. 92, 128 Gallican Monasticism ... 23 Galloway ... ... 5, 61 Galloway, Alex. ... 85 Garden, Peter ... ... 127 Glasgow Cathedral ... 18 Glengairn ... ... 17 Glenluce, Abbot of ... 138 Gordon, Sir John ... 138 Great Wall (Roman) ... 2 Gregory the Great ... 5 Gregory XL ... 137, 138 Grig 5 Grims Dyke ... ... 2 Halkirk 35 Hays, Dalgety 125 Henry, Prior, Kinloss ... 137 Heriot, John ... ... 103 Holy Communion, Re- ception of ... ... 52 Holyrood ... ... 70 Honorius HL ... 30 Horrocks ... 127, 128 Host 27 Houston, John, Lonmay 35 Howesonne, David ... 139 Iberians ... ... .. i Ingerlam of Lindsay ... 130 Insch ... ... ... 35 Intinction ... ... 53 Inverugie ... 14, 113 Inverugin, Peter (Peter- head) ... ... 91 lona 4, 16, 21, 28, 32, 34, 47 Index. 145 Page Page lona, Oldest Regal Ceme- Le Neyms '... 114 tery in Great Britain 34, 35 Levingstone, John 114 Ireland ... I Lincoln Cathedral 82, 85, 100 Irish icings 3 Lindisfarne 36, 37, 38 Irish Annalists ... ... 44, 45 Lindsay, Bishop T^ Irvine of Drum .. . 49 Lismore 14, 16, 61 Irvine, James, Lonmay 116 Liturgy, Source of 52 Islay and Mull Doctors 32 Livingstone, Vicar of Inverugie 85 James I. 134 Llanelly ... 17 James V. 74 Llanffinan 18 Jenkins, Henry, Aged 169, 127 Llaninan 18 John of Fordun 12 Lochlee ... 35 John of Imlach 96 Lochleven 16 Joseph of Arimathea 8 Logie-Buchan ... .. 91, 96 Jutes 21 Logic- Crimond ... ... 116 Lollius Urbicus 2 Keith, Gilbert 114 Longley ... 14, 114 Keith, Robert 139 Longside 90 Keledei Hermits 14 Lonmay ... 35 Kells, Book of 27 Lonmay, St. Colm's 90, 91, 186 Kenneth 4, 5,6 Lothian 4 Kilrymont 44 Lumphanan ... 17, 18 Kin-Edar 121 Lungle (Longley), St Fergus 91 Kinloss Abbey ... 97 Kinloss, Abbot of 138 MacAlpine, Kenneth ••■ 4, 5 Kinninmonth, M. •••7/ S78 Macbeth 6 Kintore 4 Malcolm ... 5,6 Kyndor ... 92 Malcolm, Canmore ••• 56, 57 Kynedward 93 Malcolm the Maiden ... 96 Malvoisin, Wm. 30 Lauras ... 22 Margaret, St. ... 6 Laurence of Foty 138 Marischal, Earl... 139 Leask ... ... 106, 107 Mary, Queen ... 138 Leask, William of 99 Mary of Lorraine 139 Leighton, Bishop, 78, 129, 130 Mason, Sir Alex. 129 Leslie, John 98 Mearns ... 5 Leslie of Warthill, Bishop Melrose 37 of Laybach ... 74 Meldrum of Fyvie ... 131 Leslie of Fetternear Zd Menzies, Gilbert •• 133 u 146 Index. Methelech MuthiU Methlick Mitchell, Thomas Midmar... Migvie ... Molaise ... Monasteries, Columbine Monastic System 51, 52, 62, 74, 75 Monifieth Monks, Their Habits after 540 ... 65, Monycabo, New INIachar IMonymusk Moray Moray, See of ... INIortlach with Cloveth 14, Mounth Muir of Boghead Page 92 16 130 125 17 17 20 32 53,61, 16 66, 67 35 16, 29 5 60 29,89 10 4 Nathalan ... 14, Nechtansmere ... Nectan, Bishop Newburgh Newburgh (Incholm, &c.) New Machar Ninan Nidan Northnien Northumbria Norwegians 133 4 n 95 95 35 18 17 4 3, 4 5 O'Donnels 19 Oldmeldrum (Bethelney) 92, 133 Oliver (Logie B.) ... 96 Orkney .. ... ... 29 Orkney Jarl ... ... 6 Pachomius 21 Paldy or Paddy's Auchenblae Paldy or Paddy's Auchenblae Palladius Parish Priest Paterson, Sir James Peel Fell Peterugie Church Phillip, John ... Phillip's Picture ' Collection" ... Philorth Philorth, St. Modan' Picti Pechta or Piecta Pictish Church ... Picts ... I, 2. Pitsligo ... Pitsligo, Lady ... Pluscarcline Pope Celestine ... Pope Julius Primacy ... Preston, Sir Henry Well, Fair 13 13 ... 68, 69 132 3 41 ... 125 The 94 14 s 90, 118 2 2 30 3, 4, 5, II 90 ... 138 86 12 ... 98 30 ... 131 Ralph de Neym ... 113 Ramsay, Bishop 85, 91, 94, 100 Rathen (St. Ethernan's) 90, 92 117 Rattray, Old Church ... 114 Ravenscraig ... ... 114 Regulars ... ... ... 62, 70 Relig, Odhrain ... ... 24 Retref 91 Rhymer, Thomas the ... 103 Rhys, Professor ... 17 Richard de Potton, Bishop 91 Ripon ... ... ... 37 Rires, Thomas ... ... 116 Index. 147 Rires, William Romans ... Rood Rosmarky Ross Rothiemay Rothvan Page 116 2 70 16 61 35 92 St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. Adamnan 20, 41, 106, 107 Aidan 5, 31, 36, 37, 38 Alban 8 Andrews, Bishop of 30, 44 Andrews 16, 20, 30, 43, 60, 71 Asaph Augustine Benedict Cainnech Ciaran Congall Congan Cormac Cuthbert Cyrus Don an Drostan 17 62, 64, 65 ... 62, 65 ... 19, 20 19 ... 19, 28 ... 89 37, 38, 39 5 14, 126 29, 35. 89, 135 Ethernan (Rathen) 117 Fergus ... 14, 90, 113 Finan ... ... 18 Finnian ... ... 11, 19 Giles', Edinburgh ... 69 Kentegern ... 13, 16, 17 Machar 14, 77, 78, 80, 81 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 97 Margaret 47, 56, 58, 59, 60 Marnoch ... ... 14 Martin ... ... 10 Modan ... ... 14 Molocus ... ... 14 St. Mungo St. Ninian 9, 10, St. Oswald St. Oran St. Palladius St. Patrick St. Paul St. Peter St. Sair ... St. Serf St. Sophia St. Ternan St. Thenew Sacring Bell Saxons ... Scandinavians ... SchyroU, of Logy Scone Scotia Scots Scougall, Bishop Scougal, James Scougal, Henry Secular Clergy ... Servanus Seton, Alex. Severus ... Sigurd Silures ... Siricius ... Sir James the Rose Siward ... Slains Spens, Bishop ... Stanley, Dean ... Stone of Fate Strathbeg Strathclyde Strathcathro Strathearn Page 13, 17, 18 II, 18, 51 ... 36 24 12 11, 12, 28 8 ... 42, 90 13 12, 13, 14 27 12, 13, 50 13 50 ••' 3,4 99, 100 70 ... 6,46 ... 2, II 82 86 127 ... 39,62 13 •'• 133 2 6 I 9 116, 117 6 91 ... 78 31 31 ... 114 16 7 2 148 Index, Strachan, James Strichen ... Stuart, Mary Sury, Walter Sutherland, Thomas Sweetheart Abbey Sysinnius Tarvays (Tarves) Tarves ... Thomas a Becket Thorfinn Tiree Tonsure ... Torrabb ... Trot o' Turra .. Tulquhon Tullich Page 95 90 74,98 95 97 71 22 92 131 49 6 32 26 24 125 131, 132 15 Page Turriff 29, 92, 123 Tyrie, White Kirk 119, 120 Tyrie, St. Andrew ... 120 Tyrie, Sculptured Stone 120 Udny ^ 134 University System ... 72, 73 Vikings ... ... ... 3 Warwan, James ... 97 Warwane, William ... 97 Westminster Abbey .. 31 White Kirk of Buchan ... 120 William the Lion ... 49 Wine Tower, Kinnaird's Head 119 Taylor & Henderson, Queen's Printers, Aberdeen / 'S«ff^
| i don't know |
Berengaria, wife of Richard I of England, was a princess of which European kingdom, now part of Spain? | Berengaria of Navarre
Berengaria of Navarre
Queen of England, Spouse of Richard I
Berengaria of Navarre, Queen Consort of Richard I Lionheart of England. © 2011 Clipart.com
Married May 12, 1191 to Richard I of England
Died December 23, 1230
Occupation: Queen of England - Queen consort of Richard I of England, Richard the Lionhearted
Known for: the only Queen of England never to set foot on the soil of England while Queen
About Berengaria of Navarre:
Berengaria was the daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre, called Sancho the wise, and Blanche of Castile.
Richard I of England had been betrothed to Princess Alice of France, sister of King Phillip IV. But Richard's father, Henry II, had made Alice his mistress, and church rules therefore forbid the marriage of Alice and Richard.
Berengaria was chosen as wife to Richard I by Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine . The marriage with Berengaria would bring a dowry that would help Richard finance his efforts in the Third Crusade.
Eleanor, though almost 70 years old, traveled over the Pyrenees to escort Berengaria to Sicily. In Sicily, Eleanor's daughter and Richard's sister, Joan of England , embarked with Berengaria to join Richard in the Holy Land.
continue reading below our video
Test Your General Science Knowledge
But the ship carrying Joan and Berengaria was wrecked off the shore of Cyprus. The ruler, Isaac Comnenus, took them prisoner. Richard and part of his army landed in Cyprus to free them, and Isaac foolishly attacked. Richard freed his bride and his sister, defeated and captured Comnenus, and took control of Cyprus.
Berengaria and Richard were married on May 12, 1191, and set off together to Acre in Palestine. Berengaria left the Holy Land for Poitou, France, and when Richard was on his way back to Europe in 1192, he was captured and then held prisoner in Germany until 1194, when his mother arranged for his ransom.
Berengaria and Richard had no children. Richard is widely believed to have been a homosexual, and though he had at least one illegitimate child, it is believed that the marriage with Berengaria was little more than a formality. When he returned from captivity, their relationship was so bad that a priest went so far as to order Richard to reconcile with his wife.
After Richard's death, Berengaria as dowager queen retired to LeMans in Maine. King John, Richard's brother, seized much of her property and refused to repay her. Berengaria lived in virtual poverty during John's lifetime. She sent to England to complain that her pension was not being paid. Eleanor and Pope Innocent III each intervened, but John never did pay her most of what was owed to her. John's son, Henry III, finally did pay much of the overdue debts.
Berengaria died in 1230, soon after founding Pietas Dei at Espau, a Cistercian monastery.
Bibliography:
Ann Trindade. Berengaria: In Search of Richard's Queen. 1999. ( buy at Amazon ) [1851824340]
More women's history biographies, by name:
| Navarre |
Which major river of the USA forms the border between the states of California and Arizona? | Princess Alys | The History Jar
The History Jar
Richard the Lionheart – King of England- preparing for crusade.
On the 3rd September 1189 King Richard was crowned in Westminster Abbey. That autumn he began to gather the resources he required for his crusade and put into places measures that would keep his kingdom secure, he hoped, in his absence. At home he needed to decide who would be the de facto regents in his absence, secure the Welsh Marches, keep the Scots quiet and his brother John and his half-brother Geoffrey and resolve the ongoing dispute between Church and State as to issues such as benefit of the clergy. He also needed cash to buy ships, weapons, men and food.
With those ends in mind he levied taxes, sold off royal estates and castles. He is supposed to have said that he would have sold London if he could have found someone to buy it.
He appointed four new bishops including his brother Geoffrey who was already Bishop of Lincoln but who had not been ordained. Richard made him Archbishop of York and ensured that he was priested. Geoffrey had to be carried protesting to the ordination. Henry II’s illegitimate son was the only one who’d remained loyal to Henry throughout his life and rumour speculated that he saw no reason why illegitimacy should prevent him from seizing the crown. Whatever the truth Richard’s swift actions ensured that Geoffrey was no longer a contender for the throne. Prince John was Lackland no longer. Richard showered him with lands and titles as well as the rich heiress Isabella of Gloucester in an attempt to keep John content. Just before he set off on crusade, Richard required both his brothers to swear a solemn oath that they would not set foot on English soil for the next three years. As a further disincentive to John he also named his young nephew Arthur of Brittany as his heir.
Arthur was the son of Richard and John’s legitimate brother Geoffrey who had been made Count of Brittany by their father but who had died during one of the sons intermittent rebellions at the court King Philip of France during a jousting tournament.
Richard also ensured that there were strong regents in place. He appointed Hugh, Bishop of Durham and following the death of the Earl of Essex his chancellor William Longchamp who was also the Bishop of Ely. Richard had barely set sail for Sicily on the 4th July 1190 en route to Outremer and the Third Crusade when John, disgruntled by Richard’s choice of regents, started to plot against him.
One thing Richard did not do was to marry the Princess Alys to whom he’d been engaged since 1169. This fact was one of many that caused the relationship between Richard and King Philip of France to deteriorate. The atmosphere between the two kings soured even further upon Richard’s arrival in Sicily.
Share this:
Richard the Lionheart, Duke of Aquitaine
Richard was born in Oxfordshire at Beaumont Palace in September 1157. Records reveal that the cost of Queen Eleanor’s laying in was accounted at 20 shillings.
Though born in England, the second of four surviving sons, he was destined to inherit Queen Eleanor’s duchy of Aquitaine. He grew up in an atmosphere of courtly love, speaking the langue d’oc. Today we think of him as a warrior but he was an accomplished musician thanks to his early years in Eleanor’s court. Ralph of Coggleshall, records the fact that he ‘conducted’ the clerks of the Royal Chapel in song.
By the time Richard was ten his father (Henry II) had betrothed Richard to the daughter of Count Richmond of Barcelona. Nothing came of this engagement but in 1168 when Richard was formally invested with the Duchy of Aquitaine he was betrothed to Princess Alys of France, the daughter of King Louis VII – his mother’s ex-husband- by his second wife. Presumably the laws of consanguinity did not account for such things. What they did account for though was a father ‘knowing’ his son’s bride. Alys came to Henry II’s court and eventually Henry made her his mistress which goes some way towards explaining Richard’s reticence when it came to honouring the engagement.
By 1173 Henry II’s relationships with all his sons had reached breaking point. Henry expended huge amounts of energy creating an empire that stretched from the Welsh Marches to the Pyrenees. He did not wish to do homage to King Louis VII so he gave his European lands into the keeping of his sons Henry, Geoffrey and Richard. He even went so far as to have Henry crowned king of England while he was still living. However, they were rulers in name only. Henry retained the power. His sons rebelled. Queen Eleanor, perhaps tiring of Henry’s infidelities, her own lack of power and a mother’s need to protect her sons joined in the rebellion. Fortunately for Henry, Eleanor was swiftly captured and then subjected to fifteen years of captivity. Monarchs on the edge of his kingdom added their armies to the fray.
Young Prince Richard battled on, attempting to besiege La Rochelle despite the fact that King Louis unable to capture Rouen had sued for peace. King William of Scotland had been roundly beaten at Alnwick. Was it stubbornness? Was it anger at his mother’s treatment? Or was it simply because his father excluded him from the peace that he negotiated with King Louis? In any event, it was 23 September 1174 before he threw himself on his father’s mercy.
In 1175 Henry set his son the task of quelling the Aquitanian nobles who had risen with Richard two years earlier. Richard set about subduing nobles and towns one by one. Limoges fell having been besieged for only two days. He was accused, in Aquitaine, of being ‘evil to all men.’ Yet he succeeded where his father could not. He went on to make the road through to the Pyrenees safe for travellers, thus furthering his father’s diplomatic allegiances with Spain. In 1179 Richard sided with his father when his brothers Henry (the Young King) and Geoffrey (Count of Brittany) rebelled once more. Four years later Henry was dead of dysentery and Richard was heir to the English throne.
King Henry ordered Richard to hand over Aquitaine to Prince John. Richard refused. He held an ostentatious Christmas court at Talmont where he gave generous New Year gifts to his nobles. He’d fought long and hard for the kingdom that was his mother’s and he had no intention of handing it over to his little brother despite the fact that allocating inheritances between sons in this manner was a normal procedure. He showed no sign of backing down even when Henry openly toyed with the idea of marrying Princess Alys off to John and bypassing Richard altogether. Roger of Hoveden’s account shows that King Philip of France (Louis VII’s much long for son) would not agree to this. Eventually King Henry informed John that he could have Aquitaine if he could take it.
Inevitably these family tensions led to Richard coming to terms with the King of France. It was this coming to terms that has given history pause for thought about Henry’s sexual orientation despite the existence of two illegitimate sons. It was reported that Philip and Richard shared the same bed following a day of negotiations. It was not regarded with the raised eyebrows of today and suggests instead a symbolic sealing of an agreement.
Richard was not the callow youth he’d been last time he’d rebelled against his father, nor was his father a well man. Neither for that matter was Philip much like his father in matters of warfare. Eventually the city of Le Mans was captured and Henry was forced to flee.
The king sued for peace. He came to terms with the french king and Richard during a thunder-storm. He was so shattered that his men had to hold him upright on his horse. Some accounts describe a tear in Henry’s back passage that bled so much during the hours of negotiation that the blood streamed down his horse’s flanks. Henry, vanquished and in pain, returned to Chinon a broken man having learned that John, the son for whom he’d gone to war, had betrayed him. Henry died on the 6th July 1189.
Prince Richard, Duke of Aquitaine was now King Richard I. One of the first things he did was to give orders setting Eleanor free from her captivity.
Talmont
Resources:
For a full account of Henry II’s final campaign and encounter with his son visit: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1189hoveden.asp
Jones, Dan. (2012). The Plantagenents. London: Harper Press
Share this:
Berengaria of Navarre
Daughter of Sancho the Wise of Navarre, Berengaria was related to the royalty of Spain, England and France.
She was brought from Navarre to Sicily by her future mother-in-law, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in 1190 to marry King Richard I of England. She was in her twenties at the time.
Richard was in Sicily on his way to the Holy Land to join with the Third Crusade having taken the cross in 1187. He had been prevented from fulfilling his vow because of a Plantagenet power struggle with his father King Henry II and younger brother Prince John over control of Aquitaine. His ally in his rebellion against his father was the French King Philip but by the time Berengaria arrived on the scene relations were souring between the two monarchs, not least because Philip expected Richard to marry the french princess Alys, a bride-to-be of some twenty years. Unfortunately, Philip’s half-sister was an unsuitable match in Richard’s eye – not least because she had been Henry II’s mistress, not that this stopped Philip from pocketing some 10,000 marks in compensation.
Berengaria accompanied Richard and Richard’s widowed sister Queen Joanna of Sicily to the Holy Land. Before their ship could reach Outremer it was separated from the main fleet and the royal women were ship wrecked off Cyprus. The ruler of Cyprus, Isaac Comnenus, whose only redeeming feature seems to have been the love he bore his daughter, attempted to take them hostage. This resulted in Richard leading an attack on Cyprus and capturing the island in less than a month. As well as demonstrating his prowess in battle, Richard also captured a useful staging post. Berengaria and Richard were married in May 1191 at Limassol. Berengaria was also crowned at this time and Richard gave her dower rights to all territories in Gascony south of the River Garonne. The marriage had been delayed thus far because of it being Lent.
Why marry Berengaria? Richard was the Duke of Aquitaine before he became King of England. An alliance with Navarre went some way to off setting the expanding power of Castille and Count Raymond of Toulouse who was undoubtedly a thorn in Richard’s side. It could also be that Berengaria’s reputation was spotless, a direct contrast to Alys. Chroniclers of the time were generous in their praise of a queen who never came to England. William of Newburgh described her as prudent and beautiful.
Both royal women accompanied Richard to the Holy Land. They were at the Siege of Acre and remained there while the crusaders pushed in land and it was from here that they sailed when Richard and Saladin agreed their truce in 1191. Berengaria and Joanna sailed to Brindisi and from there they travelled to Rome while Richard travelled home a different route and found himself a captive of the Duke of Austria.
Following his release, Berengaria did not join her husband. The estrangement between husband and wife was never fully reconciled. Perhaps because Richard needed to secure his empire from the machinations of Philip of France or possibly because Berengaria’s father was now dead and her brother, Sancho VII, had succeeded to the throne. The Navarre alliance served Richard well during his crusading years. Certainly he’d never bothered to demand the two castles that were Berengaria’s dowry. Now however, Richard set about gaining what the marriage treaty guaranteed. He even involved Pope Innocent III. The couple remained childless and spent very little time in one another’s company. As he lay dying he sent for his mother, not his wife. Berengaria did not attend Richard’s funeral and remained in a small castle near Angers -in effect a penniless princess having failed to provide Richard with an heir.
Berengaria now entered into a long struggle with King John for her dower lands which were all in France. In addition to her own dower lands in Gascony she was supposed to receive Eleanor’s lands in England, Normandy and Poitou after Eleanor’s death. John, once named Lackland, was not forthcoming. Fortunately, her sister, Blanche of Champagne took in the widowed queen and later King Philip gave her the city of Le Mans to rule. It was only in 1214 that John said he would settle the claim. This was, in part, due to Magna Carta and the fact that the Pope had excommunicated him but he never did pay what was owed. King Henry III settled Berengaria’s claim when he came to the throne.
Berengaria lived in Le Mans and ruled there from 1204 until her death in 1230. She ruled well and with determination, even tackling corrupt clerics. The Bishop of Le Man once closed the door of the cathedral in her face as she arrived for a Palm Sunday service. She also founded the abbey of L’Epau
| i don't know |
Preston North End were football League Champions in the first two years of its existance, which team won the third year? | Preston North End FC History
Preston North End FC History
Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2012
Author: Ben Rhodes
Image by:
Preston North End can be traced back to 1863, but at that time it was linked with cricket and the first game of football was fifteen years away. In the early 1860's cricket was the only organised game of note in the town and the normal venue for this activity was the Marsh, an irregular stop of land on the Ribble Estuary at Ashton and which today is the site for the GEC works. Cricket can be linked with Wellfield Road School.
In that year there was a split amongst the club members when the majority opted for a move to Moor Park where the Corporation had opened a public Cricket ground, The newly formed club using Moor Park was named North End simply as an indication of the clubs base being in the north end of the town.
The first President was George Howarth and subscriptions were 2d a week. The club fell on hard times and almost disbanded, but new members were recruited to ease the financial crisis and one of these new comers was William Sudell who became a member on 3rd August 1867 when he was 16-years-old, having lived in the town all his life. He was a good swimmer and cyclist, a keen cricketer and a very good rugby forward.
In spite of the financial problems not being resolved, the members made a memorable and courageous step on 21st January 1875 when they took a lease on a field at Deepdale, a field which was to be the home of the finest football team of the era.
Playing cricket and dabbling in other games such as lacrosse and rounders were not financially viable and so in 1877 members turned to rugby. Unfortunately, this venture was a failure since the club could not compete with the Grasshoppers who were already a well-established force. On the 5th October 1878 North End played its first game under association rules against Eagley, the game was played at Deepdale and was lost 1-0. For the record the team that played this game were: - W Sudell, W Turner, J Sefton, T Charnley, T Wadeson, J Wadeson, C Miller, T Parkinson, JF Dodgson, R Green and H S Carmel (Cpt).
The success of other clubs in Lancashire who were playing soccer had not gone unnoticed at Deepdale and in May 1880 a resolution proposing the adoption of the association code was proposed by Mr Harry Carmel and seconded by William Charnley and was carried unanimously.
In March of 1881 North End played Blackburn Rovers and were beaten 10-0. This reverse following a defeat in the Lancashire Cup versus Turton did not however diminish enthusiasm and the next big leap forward was in the summer of 1883 when William Sudell, having seen tactics employed by neighbouring clubs went north to Scotland and obtained the services of N J Ross from Heart of Midlothian, Ross became one of the best full backs of his time, other players who came from Scotland were Drummond, Russell and Gordon. Thus was formed the nucleus of the team which was to make North End so famous.
In 1884 following a draw against Upton Park at Deepdale a protest was made to the FA about the eligibility of some Preston players, but the basic reason for the protest was that Preston were paying their players. Sudell did not deny this so following expulsion from Cup competition he commenced his historical move to have professionalism legalised in that same year James Ross (younger brother of NJ) and Sam Thomson came down from Scotland and Robert Howarth, a local boy joined the club as fullback.
The success which Sudell brought to Deepdale and the short time taken to achieve this is illustrated by the fact that from 22 August 1885 to 26 April 1886, North End were undefeated and during the season won 59 out of 64 matches, scoring 318 goals and conceding only 60.
In 1886 Sudell completed his team building with the signing of a centre forward, John Goodall, and the Invincibles were on their way to making football history. Another season worthy of note was in the season 1887/88 when North End won 42 consecutive matches, but there was bitter disappointment when .as hot favourites they were beaten 2-1 in the Cup Final on 24 March 1888 by West Bromwich Albion.
However, next season 1888/89 not only were they founder members of the league but they won the FA Cup and were the first team to achieve the double, doing this at the first opportunity. In 1889/90 North End were again League Champions and were runners up in the following three seasons. A limited company was formed in 1893 which was the end of the Sudell reign but the genius of a man who could build such a team and which justly earned the name the Invincibles is fully recognised today. North End is the only club from the founder Members of the Football League who have played continuously on the same ground. Deepdale has been the venue for soccer for over a century.
The period before the First World War is often referred to as yo-yo when North End were relegated to the Second Division on two occasions and immediately came back.
In 1922 they once more reached the FA Cup Final but were beaten 1-0 by Huddersfield Town who scored from a penalty. 1924 saw the retirement of one of the Clubs great stalwarts, Joe McCall who had played at Deepdale for 20 seasons.
From September 1925 for four seasons Alex James was a favourite whose transfer to Arsenal in 1929 hit the football headlines when the fee involved was reported to be £9,000.
Following the departure of James, relegation to the Third Division was twice narrowly avoided but what happened later with a Management Committee of four under the Chairmanship of the late JI Taylor was a modern football romance. Holdcroft, Lowe, Harper, Rowley, Tremelling, Shankly, Gallimore and Dougal were signed and promotion was gained in 1934. The two Beatties, Andy and Bobbie (unrelated), together with Mutch, Smith, Milne, Fagan and the O'Donnell brothers were among the many Scots who came to Deepdale.
North End reached the Cup Final in 1937 when they lost to Sunderland and in 1938 when they reversed the result of the 1922 Final by beating Huddersfield town 1-0, the winning goal came from the first penalty awarded at Wembley, and was scored by George Mutch with the last kick of extra time.
After the war and until his retirement in 1960 the skill of Tom Finney was the most important aspect of football at Deepdale. His genius and gentlemanly conduct was and still is, and example for all footballers to follow and brought great credit, not just to the maestro but also to his home town of Preston. The honour of being made Freeman of the Borough and the award of the CBE for services to football was just reward for this footballing legend, Sadly North Ends defeat, 3-2 by Albion in the Cup Final of 1954, did not result in a Cup Winners Medal and another disappointment was in 1953 when the First Division Championship was lost to Arsenal on a goal average difference of one.
As with so many other League Clubs the decline in the fortunes of North End started with the abolition of the maximum wage and with the concentration of successful clubs within the larger cities where stadiums could be filled by drawing on a relatively small percentage of the population.
North End reached Wembley again in 1964 when they lost what is still considered to be a classic final against West ham United, the team included a young Howard Kendall.
North End is also proud to be linked with the footballing feats of goalkeeper Alan Kelly who joined the club in 1958 from Drumcondra and, until his enforced retirement, following a shoulder injury sustained in the game against Bristol City on 15 September 1973, gave sterling service, his record speaks for itself. He was first choice goalkeeper for 13 seasons and holds the Club record of 447 league appearances (keeping 126 clean sheets) and 47 caps for Eire.
North End's most recent visit to Wembley came in the 1993/94 season when the team reached the third Division play-offs. Torquay United were the opponents for the first round, with the match being played at Plainmoor, Torquay won 2-0. The second round was played on Wednesday 18 May 1994 when memorable scenes were witnessed at Deepdale. North End went one goal up within the first ten minutes, only to see a two-goal advantage regained before half time, plus, Torquay gained the valuable away goal. The sending off of Torquay defender Darren Moore ten minutes before half time spurred Preston on. They scored twice in the second half to take the game to extra time, Torquay looked like holding out and winning on the away goals rule until Paul Raynor scored with only four minutes let on the clock and so North End were to feature once more at Wembley. The team that played that night were Steve Woods, Andy Fensome, Ryan Kidd, Lee Cartwright, Stuart Hicks, David Moyes, Gareth Ainsworth, Neil Whalley, Paul Raynor, Tony Ellis, Ian Bryson, subs were Greg Challender and Richard Lucas.
Preston played Wycombe Wanderers in the final and unfortunately lost 4-2 having been 2-1 up at half time.
In 1996, however, everything went the way of North End and under the management of Gary Peters the club was promoted as champions of Division Three. During the championship season, the Sir Tom Finney Stand was opened, named in recognition of the maestro and representing the start of the redevelopment of Deepdale into a stadium for the 21st Century.
The Sir Tom Finney Stand is the home of restaurants and a conference centre. The stand seats between 7,000 and 8,000 fans and has match day facilities for spectators on concourses within the stand.
The next stage of the ground redevelopment to be completed was the Bill Shankly Kop, which was formerly the Spion Kop Stand. The work started in December 1997 and was completed in June 1998. This stand now houses a fitness centre and football museum.
After Gary Peters' resignation in January 1998, David Moyes took over as Manager and in his first full season in charge he led the club to its highest League finish since the 1980/81 season, only losing out to Gillingham in the play-offs. The following season, David went one better as he guided Preston to the Second Division title, and a place in the First Division for the first time in 20 years.
In season 2000/01, Moyes excelled himself once again as he steered the side to a highly impressive fourth position in Division One. This meant the play-offs once again and, having beaten Birmingham on penalties in the semi final, North End travelled to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to face Bolton Wanderers. Although Bolton took a deserved lead in the first half, it was North End who had most of the play in the second period. Despite putting the opposition under substantial pressure, Preston could not get an equaliser and Bolton ensured victory with two late goals, the 3-0 scoreline an untrue reflection of the game.
The following season was a year of departures, though the club did welcome the spectacular new Alan Kelly Town End stand, replacing the popular terrace that became so iconic of 'Old Deepdale'.
In October, club chairman Bryan Gray ended a seven year tenure at North End and announced his resignation at the club's AGM. Deputy chairman Derek Shaw took over in the interim.
Nine days in March saw the end of an era at North End as Jon Macken and David Moyes both departed the club. Macken left for Manchester City in a club record £5million deal while David Moyes moved to Premiership club Everton.
Kelham O'Hanlon took over temporary charge of management matters and despite difficult circumstances guided the club to a creditable eighth position a whisker away from the play-offs.
The close season saw a wind of change sweep through the Deepdale corridors. The first big change saw former Scotland manager Craig Brown unveiled as new first team manager. Kelham O'Hanlon was rewarded for his good work by retaining his assistant managers role while former Motherwell boss Billy Davies was brought in as first team coach. The influx of new faces continued as Jamaican international Ricardo Fuller became the first signing of the new era.
In late June, Baxi Partnership finally ended their association with PNE when their remaining shares were bought out by 'Friends of Preston North End' - a new company formed by club chairman Derek Shaw and Steve Jackson, the Managing Director of New Reg Ltd, the Club's official shirt sponsor.
The 2002/03 season saw Tyrone Mears, Marlon Broomes, Eddie Lewis, Brian O'Neil, Simon Lynch, Jonathan Gould and George Koumantarakis complete the North End revolution, but despite so many players coming in the final placing was slightly disappointing as they finished the season in 12th place.
The disappointment signalled the end for several experienced players, with Iain Anderson, Colin Murdock, Mark Rankine and Tepi Moilanen all leaving before the season kicked off. But despite the changes the fortunes remained the same, finishing in 15th place.
Callum Davidson, Youl Mawene and Gavin Ward all arrived in the summer of 2004 and gave the fans real hope for the new campaign, but things didn't quite go according to plan and with less than a month of the season gone, Craig Brown was relieved of his duties.
In August 2004, Billy Davies was put in temporary charge and four wins in six games earned him the job on a permanent basis, Davies and his new Assistant David Kelly were unveiled on September 27th.
The rest as they say is history and Davies led North End to fifth place in the table and a place in the Play Off Final at Cardiff, but in the end it proved to be a step too far as Bobby Zamora netted the only goal of the game.
Davies and Kelly were rewarded for their success with new and improved contracts in June 2005 and repaid the board's faith by leading North End to the Play-Offs for the second year in succession. However, this time they were knocked out in the Semi Final stage by Leeds United.
In June 2006, Billy Davies left his post at Deepdale to become manager of Derby County and he was replaced by Paul Simpson, who signed a three year contract.
In November 2006 Preston North End topped the Championship following the 1-1 draw at home to Coventry. It was the first time the Club had topped the second tier of English football since 1951.
David Nugent became the first Preston player since Sir Tom Finney to represent England, when he came on as a substitute in the friendly against Andorra and scored in injury time to help England to a 3-0 win in March 2007. In June, Nugent was sold to Portsmouth for an initial fee of £6m, bringing his short but exciting Deepdale days to an end.
In the immediate aftermath of Nugent's departure, Preston struggled for form, and this culminated in the departure of manager Paul Simpson after a 3-0 defeat at Hull City in November 2007. He was replaced by former Everton assistant manager Alan Irvine, who has steadily overseen an upturn in fortunes.
Alan Irvine steered the Club to Championship safety, completing the process when Richard Chaplow grabbed a late equaliser at Plymouth to guarantee North End's Championship status.
During the summer of 2008 the finishing touches to the new Invincibles Pavilion were put in place and the new stand was officially opened on Saturday August 16th 2008 with PNE's first home Championship clash of the season against Crystal Palace.
Deepdale's new capacity was moved up to 23,408 with more than 1,000 hospitality places and that extra seating proved useful when the Lilywhites drew Liverpool in the FA Cup Third Round. That game broke all records with 23,046 viewing the match inside the ground, the biggest crowd at Deepdale since the early 1970s. The game also saw record gate receipts and a TV viewing audience of 7.3m.
North End made the Play-Offs again at the end of that season but succumbed to Sheff Utd over two legs in the semi-final to miss out on the chance of Premier League football.
In December 2009 Alan Irvine left the Club and was succeeded by the son of Sir Alex Ferguson, Darren.
Ferguson only lasted 12 months however before being replaced by Phil Brown, but he was unable to keep the Lilywhites in the Championship and they were relegated to League One.
In a scenario very similar to that of Ferguson’s reign, Brown was replaced at Deepdale after 12 months – the same 12 that his predecessor had overseen and Graham Westley arrived with a view to changing the Club’s fortunes around.
After a huge squad overhaul in the summer of 2012, Westley was sacked in February 2013 after a disappointing tenure at Deepdale and he was replaced by former Huddersfield Town manager Simon Grayson.
Grayson had an immediate impact on the Club and under his guidance, results improved with the Lilywhites securing a respectable mid-table finish by the end of the season.
A rejuvenated North End in the 2013/14 season saw the club finish in the Play-Off places at the end of the last campaign, but Simon Grayson's side ultimately fell short of promotion losing to Rotherham in the Play-Off semi-finals.
It was during this season, that saw Preston North End lose its famous son with the death of Sir Tom Finney on the 14th February 2014.
All Lilywhites concerned will be in hope that PNE can go one step better than last year going into the 2014/15 season as a fitting tribute to the 'Preston Plumber'.
Roll Of Honour
| Everton |
Which striped or checked cotton cloth takes its name from the Malay word for striped? | Preston North End F.C. (Football Club) of the Barclay's Premier League
PRESTON NORTH END F.C. (Football Club)
Included Info: Brief History, Club/Stadium Info, Team Jersey & Much More...
BRIEF HISTORY of PRESTON NORTH END FOOTBALL CLUB (reproduced from 'Wikipedia' pages)
Preston North End was originally founded as a cricket club in 1863, by Mr Walter Pomfret of Deepdale Road, who was the first person to rent the field on which North End has always played. The original rent was �8 per year. As Preston already had a strong town's club, they adopted the "North End" suffix because they moved to the North End of the town when Moor Park opened, playing their matches at Moor Park. Preston North End were famously successful during the early years of professional football in England. In 1887, Preston beat Hyde 26�0 in the First Round of the FA Cup, still a record winning margin in English first-class football. Preston forward Jimmy Ross scored eight goals in the match, going on to score 19 goals in the competition that season, also still a record. In 1888�89, they became the first league champions and the first winners of "The Double", becoming the only team to date to go throughout an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup � winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal. Preston were league champions again the following season, but have not won the title since. The club's last major trophy was an FA Cup triumph in 1938.
Preston's most famous player, Sir Tom Finney, played for the club between 1946 and 1960. Finney is considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time. Following Finney's retirement, Preston were relegated to the Second Division in 1961 and have not played in the top division since. The club did reach the FA Cup final in 1964, but lost to West Ham United. Preston were relegated to the Third Division in the 1969�70 season. The club won the Third Division title at the first attempt and so returned to the Second Division. Bobby Charlton, an England World Cup winner from 1966, was appointed Preston manager in 1973, but was unable to prevent the club from sliding into the Third Division in his first season and left after two years in charge. A brief respite in 1978 saw Preston win promotion back to the Second Division, but go down after three seasons. In 1985 the club fell into the Fourth Division for the first time in its history. In 1986, Preston finished second from bottom in the Fourth Division and only avoided dropping into the Football Conference because the other Football League members voted in favour of the division's bottom four teams retaining their senior status. The arrival of new manager John McGrath saw Preston win promotion to the Third Division a year later and they were still at this level when McGrath left in 1990.
Preston began the new millennium by winning promotion from Division 2 in the 1999�2000 season as champions. The club almost made it two promotions in a row in 2001 but lost 3�0 to Bolton Wanderers in the Division One play-off final. Billy Davies guided Preston to the Championship playoff final in his first season as manager, but they lost to West Ham United. The club reached the play-offs again the following year, this time losing at the semi-final stage to Leeds United. Davies then moved to Derby County. Preston spent much of the 2006�07 season in the automatic promotion or play-off places. However, from March 2007 the club slid rapidly down the league. The club failed to make the end-of-season play-offs, finishing the season in seventh place, despite a 1�0 victory over Birmingham City at Deepdale on the final day of the season. After a bad start to the 2007�08 season which saw the club pick up just three wins, Paul Simpson was sacked as manager on 13 November 2007. On 20 November, Everton's assistant manager Alan Irvine was appointed as Preston's new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal. He achieved his first objective as manager by finishing in 15th place, thus securing Preston's survival in the Championship. The following season, he led Preston to 6th place in the Championship after a good run of form towards the end of the season, qualifying for the play-offs. The club again missed out on promotion to the Premier League after losing 2�1 on aggregate to Sheffield United. On 29 December 2008, Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results. In the 2009�10 season, Preston finished in 17th place.
CLUB FACTS & INFORMATION
| i don't know |
Which cricket county's 'Twenty/20' team are known as the 'Spitfires'? | Fixtures | Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club
The heal is provided viagra buy in pakistan online https://www.levitradosageus24.com/ by an aura.
Copyright © 2017 Kent County Cricket Club
| KAZZ (AM) |
Ray Croc developed which company in the 1950's? | ECB Launches Under-19 T20 Competition
ECB Launches Under-19 T20 Competition
Friday 23 May 2014
Grace Road will host the National Final of the new Twenty20 competition
©REUTERS / Action Images
The England & Wales Cricket Board has revealed plans to launch a new Twenty20 cricket tournament for Under-19 cricketers in Durham, Kent, Surrey and Yorkshire.
As part of its goal to widen participation, the pilot project in those four counties will offer 15 to 19-year-olds opportunities to play, volunteer and select their own team name.
It begins on Bank Holiday Monday (26th May) when Spencer Spitfires host Sunbury Chieftains in Surrey's opening fixture.
In all, 61 teams will be in action competing in regional leagues with the goal of reaching county finals and a national final at Leicestershire's Grace Road on Monday, 1st September.
Teams are being encouraged to create a vibrant matchday experience with the incentive of tickets to the NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day at Edgbaston for the teams who achieve the most points, as voted for by the opposition in each match.
ECB’s Managing Director of Cricket Partnerships, Mike Gatting explained the importance of the new competition.
"The 15 to 19 age group is a key area for the overall development of the grassroots game and our in-depth market research shows that teenagers want more playing opportunities and that clubs need to make themselves more 'teen friendly'.
"This pilot project is designed to do just that, giving this age-group the cricketing experience that they want – fast lively matches, played with and against their friends, a great social atmosphere, and a chance to make their club look and feel different for one night a week."
© Cricket World 2014
| i don't know |
Which major river of the USA forms the border between the states of Nebraska and Iowa? | Iowa's Western Boundary | IPTV
Search
Iowa's Western Boundary
When Iowa became a state in 1846, most of the western boundary between Iowa and Nebraska was defined as "the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River." North of Sioux City, Iowa’s border ends at the Big Sioux River, which flows between Iowa and South Dakota.
Locating "the middle of the main channel" of the Missouri River has been a big problem. This is because the "Mighty Mo," as some people call it, has changed its course many times.
The Ever-Changing "Mighty Mo"
The Missouri River was once made of many small streams woven into and out of the main channel, much like braided hair. When spring arrived, ice would block some parts of the river. Unfrozen free streams poured water on top of this ice. Because the river banks could not hold all the extra water, it spilled over the banks, flooding towns and farms. Other times chunks of ice blocked the channel and forced the river to cut a new channel.
Sometimes, huge pieces of land were cut off by sudden changes in direction of the powerful river current. Only the river moved, of course. The land stayed put. Some of these pieces of land became islands. If the river moved a great distance, land near the river could become part of the opposite state. This is what happened to the land on which the small Iowa town of Carter Lake is located.
An Iowa Town in Nebraska?
Carter Lake, a town of nearly 3,500 people, is very unusual— it is the only Iowa town which sits entirely on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. There is no way to get to Carter Lake, Iowa, without first going into Nebraska! This was not always true. Carter Lake had been on the east side of the Missouri, just like Council Bluffs is today. It was clearly inside the Iowa boundary. In the late 1800s, there was a quick change in the course of the river. The Missouri River channel shifted 12 miles eastward. This left Carter Lake on the west side of the river— the Nebraska side. Both Iowa and Nebraska claimed this land.
In 1892 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the area was still part of Iowa. Even so, there has been much debate over which state should govern Carter Lake. As late as 1979 Carter Lake residents had a Nebraska zip code. They also picked up their mail at a nearby Omaha post office, and they were not even listed in Iowa phone books!
"Mighty Mo" Unchanging at Last
Around 1935 projects were begun to straighten and to stabilize the wandering river. The United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed dams, dikes and levees on the river. These structures would prevent flooding and help keep the river channel from changing. The "middle of the main channel of the Missouri River" should finally stay the same and be easy to find.
READ MORE
Description of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act which opened the area west of Iowa and Missouri, which had been a permanent Indian reservation, to white settlement
About Iowa Public Television
Iowa Public Television is Iowa's statewide public broadcasting network. IPTV provides quality, innovative media and services that educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans throughout the state.
A noncommercial, public-service mission enables IPTV to present an unequaled array of programs of lasting value to Iowans regardless of where they live or what they can afford. More than two million viewers each month turn to IPTV for programming that reflects a range of interests for Iowans in all demographic categories.
| Missouri River |
The characters 'Odette' and 'Odile' are featured in which ballet? | Iowa Map, Map of Iowa (IA)
Iowa Latitude and Longitude Map
About Iowa
Iowa is often referred to as the 'American Heartland'. Famous for agriculture-based economy, it is a landlocked state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Cedar Rapids and Sioux City are other major urban areas in Iowa. The state has 99 counties.
History of Iowa
The Woodland Indians were the first known permanent settlers of what is today known as Iowa, and were mostly popular for their mound building activities. Some tribes of the late prehistoric or protohistoric period included the Meskwaki, Sauk, Illiniwek and Omaha.
Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet were the first European explorers to have entered the land in 1673. Region of the present-day Iowa was claimed by France and till the year 1763, it remained a part of the French Territory. The ownership was, however, transferred to Spain later. In the year 1803, the US acquired control of Iowa through the Louisiana Purchase. After Fort Madison was built in 1808, the US issued military control over the region.
Demands for statehood soon surfaced and on 28 December, 1846, Iowa was declared the 29th state of the Union. The capital was shifted from Iowa City to Des Moines in the year 1857.
Geography of Iowa
Comprising an area of 56,276 square miles, Iowa is the 26th largest state of the US. It is bordered by Minnesota to the north, Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, and South Dakota to the northwest. It is the only state in the US where the western and eastern sides are covered by rivers; the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River on the west.
The state’s highest point is Hawkeye Point, which stands at an altitude of 510 meters above the sea level. Lake Red Rock, Big Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake and Clear Lake are major water bodies in the state. Iowa is blessed to have the most fertile topsoil in the world. The state can be divided into three physical regions: the Young Drift Plains, the Driftless Area and the Dissected Till Plains. The average low and high temperature of Iowa ranges from 6.3 degree Fahrenheit to 86.2 degree Fahrenheit.
Travel Destinations in Iowa
A state where presidential dreams take flight, Iowa is a place where one can aimlessly walk back in time and savor in the beauty of the old charm. From the beautiful bridges of Madison County to the quaint towns in Van Buren County, Iowa offers different strokes for everyone. Embark on adventures like snowmobiling or loose yourself among Iowans in a state fair, there is lot more to do in 'The Hawkeye State' than eating farm-fresh corn.
Effigy Mounds National Monument is a sacred Native American site that preserves over 200 prehistoric mounds. Herbert Hoover National Historic Site memorializes the life of the 31st US President Herbert Hoover. National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and Figge Art Museum allow an insight to the cultural legacy of Iowa. Adventureland, Vander Veer Botanical Park, Saylorville Lake and Maquoketa Caves State Park are some of the top places to visit in Iowa.
Transportation in Iowa
By Air- Des Moines International Airport (DSM) is the gateway to Midwestern US. The Eastern Iowa Airport serves the city of Cedar Rapids.
By Train- Southwest Chief and California Zephyr are the Amtrak trains operating through the state.
By Road- Greyhound, Burlington Trailways and Jefferson Lines operate long-distance bus services throughout the state.
Education in Iowa
The state has the one of the best graduation rates in the US. There are 365 school districts under the Iowa Department of Education. The state has three public universities: Iowa State University in Ames, University of Iowa in Iowa City and University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Read more here .
Facts about Iowa
The state is named after a Native American tribe- the Ioway people.
Snake Alley in Burlington is the most crooked street in the world.
It is a supplier of about a tenth of the nation’s food source.
WBAMA040714
| i don't know |
What name is given to the tube which runs from the ear to the back of the nose? | Eustachian Tube Dysfunction or Blockage: Symptoms & How to Clear
Share Your Story
The Eustachian tube originates in the rear of the nose adjacent to the soft palate, runs a slightly uphill course, and ends in the middle ear space.
The Eustachian tube connects the middle ear space to the rear of the nose near the soft palate. The middle ear space is the hollowed out portion of the skull bone that contains the hearing apparatus and is covered on one side by the eardrum.
Cartilage provides the supporting structure for the first two-thirds of the Eustachian tube, with the last third (the part closest to the middle ear space) being made of bone.
In adults, the Eustachian tube is approximately 35 mm long (1.3 inches) and approximately 3 mm in diameter (less than 1/10 inch).
The tissue that lines the Eustachian tube is similar to that inside the nasal cavity and may respond the same way (swelling and mucous production) when presented with similar stimuli.
Normally, the Eustachian tube is closed, but it can become partially or completely blocked as a consequence of common colds or allergies.
Partial or complete blockage of the Eustachian tube can cause sensations of popping, clicking, and ear fullness.
Altitude changes can cause symptoms in persons with Eustachian tube problems.
Several maneuvers can be done to improve Eustachian tube function.
The Eustachian tube was named in honor of the 16th century Italian anatomist Eustachius. Sources credit Almaceon of Sparta as the first to describe the structure in approximately 400 BC.
What is the function of the Eustachian tube?
The primary function of the Eustachian tube is to ventilate the middle ear space, ensuring that its pressure remains at near normal environmental air pressure. The secondary function of the Eustachian tube is to drain any accumulated secretions, infection, or debris from the middle ear space. Several small muscles located in the back of the throat and palate control the opening and closing of the Eustachian tube. Swallowing and yawning cause contractions of these muscles located in the back of the throat and help regulate Eustachian tube function. If it were not for the Eustachian tube, the middle ear cavity would be an isolated air pocket inside the head that would be vulnerable to every change in air pressure and lead to unhealthy middle ear space function.
Normally, the nasal opening of the Eustachian tube is closed, which helps prevent the inadvertent contamination of the middle ear space by the normal secretions found in the back of the nose. A dysfunctional Eustachian tube that is always open is called a "patulous" Eustachian tube. Patients with this rare condition are plagued by chronic ear infections . A much more common problem is a failure of the Eustachian tube to effectively regulate air pressure. Partial or complete blockage of the Eustachian tube can cause sensations of popping, clicking, and ear fullness and occasionally moderate to severe ear pain. Such intense pain is most frequently experienced during sudden air pressure changes during airplane travel, particularly during take-off and landing. Young children may describe the popping sensation as "a tickle in my ear" or "my ears are itching ."
If the Eustachian tube function worsens, air pressure in the middle ear falls, and the ear feels full and sounds are perceived as muffled. Eventually, a vacuum is created which can then cause fluid to be drawn down the Eustachian tube into the middle ear space (termed serous otitis media). If the fluid becomes infected, the common ear infection (suppurative otitis media) develops.
Picture of the Structures of the Inner Ear
What causes Eustachian tube dysfunction or blockage?
Eustachian tube problems and the associated ear infections are among the most common problems seen by health-care professionals. Many people have chronic problems regulating middle ear pressure.
The Eustachian tube can be blocked, or obstructed, for a variety of reasons.
The most common cause is a " cold " (upper respiratory infection).
Sinus infections and allergies may also cause swelling of the tissue lining the Eustachian tube. Simply put, a stuffy nose leads to stuffy ears.
Children are particularly prone to Eustachian tube blockage because their tubes are narrower in diameter, more horizontal in orientation, and closer at the nasal opening of the Eustachian tube to the adenoids .
Adenoid tissue in the back of the nose near the Eustachian tube can act as a reservoir for bacteria, contributing to recurrent ear infections . Enlarged adenoids obstructing the opening of the Eustachian tube may also be present. Adenoid removal ( adenoidectomy ) is frequently recommended in children with chronic ear infections (chronic otitis media).
Rarely, masses or tumors in the skull base or nasopharynx can lead to Eustachian tube obstruction.
Excessively small Eustachian tubes (as may afflict children with Down Syndrome )
Smoking is associated with damage to the cilia that sweep mucus and debris from the middle ear space via the Eustachian tube to the back of the nose where it may be expelled.
Causes range from allergies to excessively small Eustachian tubes (as may afflict children with Down Syndrome ).
Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 12/7/2016
| Eustachian tube |
Which port lies at the mouth of the Great Ouse? | How Can Nasal Obstruction CAUSE Clogged Ears? | Fauquier ENT Blog
How Can Nasal Obstruction CAUSE Clogged Ears?
at
It is not uncommon that patients who suffer from a clogged nose also develop clogged ears .
Why??? There are 2 major and 1 minor reasons.
First a little anatomy lesson.
In the back of the nose, there is an opening that leads into a tunnel (eustachian tube) that goes up into the ear. When the ears get clogged, a person can get the pressure out by " popping the ears ." This can be accomplished by yawn, swallow, or trying to blow out the nose that is pinched shut. When the ear pops, what happens is that the tunnel opens up allowing pressure to come out the ear. Watch video :
Mucosal Swelling
Now when the patient's nose gets obstructed , it may mean the nasal lining has become swollen making it difficult to breath. It also means the tunnel that goes up into the ear may be swollen shut as well. As such, it may become difficult if not impossible to pop the ears. This is known as eustachian tube dysfunction .
Negative Pressure Inside the Nose
However, there is a more active process that may lead to ear clogging beyond just mucosal swelling of the eustachian tube.
When the nose is obstructed, every time the patient tries to breath in thru the nose, negative pressure is built up in the back of the nose where the eustachian tube opening is located. As such, this negative pressure inside the nose can get transmitted up into the ear resulting in negative pressure to slowly build up in the ear as well which can ultimately cause a clogged ear sensation . This is just like sucking on a straw to draw fluid out of a cup, though in this case, the straw is analogous to the eustachian tube, the fluid is air, cup is the ear, and the mouth is the nose.
Bernoulli's Principle
In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli's principle states that for an inviscid flow, an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure.
To use an example, if you are driving a car with the window down, the fast-moving air outside the car creates a negative pressure inside the car causing things to not just blow around, but does cause some suction effect to things within the car (paper inside the car potentially getting "sucked" to the outside).
When the nose becomes clogged, airflow increases in the back of the nose (think garden hose where you have the same amount of water flow, but by changing the nozzle diameter, flow can be increased by making diameter smaller or decreased by making diameter larger). Due to Bernoulli's principle, negative pressure builds up inside the ear due to this increased nasal airflow.
This negative pressure can be transmitted into the ear causing it to become clogged.
So there you have it... 3 reasons why a clogged nose can lead to clogged ears!
That also means that often, if you just treat the clogged nose... the clogged ears will get better as well!
Reference:
Upper airway obstructions and chronic otitis media: A clinical study . American Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Medicine and Surgery. Volume 35, Issue 3 , Pages 329-331, May 2014
A few things that have helped some people to pop their ears:
Labels: bernoulli's , clogged ears , clogged nose , deviation , dysfunction , eustachian , nasal obstruction , negative , popping , pressure , principle , septal , tube , turbinate , valsalva
Fauquier ENT
Dr. Christopher Chang is a private practice otolaryngology, head & neck surgeon specializing in the treatment of problems related to the ear, nose, and throat. Located in Warrenton, VA about 45 minutes west of Washington DC, he also provides inhalant allergy testing/treatment, hearing tests, and dispenses hearing aids. Google+ Christopher Chang, MD Bio
1 comment:
| i don't know |
What name is given to a four sided geometrical figure, with only one pair of sides parallel? | Quadrilaterals - Square, Rectangle, Rhombus, Trapezoid, Parallelogram
Quadrilaterals
Quadrilateral just means "four sides"
(quad means four, lateral means side).
A Quadrilateral has four-sides, it is 2-dimensional (a flat shape), closed (the lines join up), and has straight sides.
Try it Yourself
(Also see this on Interactive Quadrilaterals )
Properties
The interior angles add up to 360 degrees:
Try drawing a quadrilateral, and measure the angles. They should add to 360°
Types of Quadrilaterals
There are special types of quadrilateral:
Some types are also included in the definition of other types! For example a square, rhombus and rectangle are also parallelograms. See below for more details.
Let us look at each type in turn:
The Rectangle
A rectangle is a four-sided shape where every angle is a right angle (90°).
Also opposite sides are parallel and of equal length.
The Rhombus
A rhombus is a four-sided shape where all sides have equal length.
Also opposite sides are parallel and opposite angles are equal.
Another interesting thing is that the diagonals (dashed lines in second figure) meet in the middle at a right angle. In other words they "bisect" (cut in half) each other at right angles.
A rhombus is sometimes called a rhomb or a diamond.
The Square
A square has equal sides and every angle is a right angle (90°)
Also opposite sides are parallel.
A square also fits the definition of a rectangle (all angles are 90°), and a rhombus (all sides are equal length).
The Parallelogram
A parallelogram has opposite sides parallel and equal in length. Also opposite angles are equal (angles "a" are the same, and angles "b" are the same).
NOTE: Squares, Rectangles and Rhombuses are all Parallelograms!
Example:
angles "a" and "b" as right angles
is a square!
Isosceles Trapezoid
A trapezoid (called a trapezium in the UK) has a pair of opposite sides parallel.
And a trapezium (called a trapezoid in the UK) is a quadrilateral with NO parallel sides:
a pair of parallel sides
NO parallel sides
a pair of parallel sides
(the US and UK definitions are swapped over!)
(Note: when the two sides joining parallel sides are equal in length and both angles coming from a parallel side are also equal we call it an Isosceles trapezoid, as shown above.)
The Kite
Hey, it looks like a kite (usually).
It has two pairs of sides.
Each pair is made up of adjacent sides (they meet) that are equal in length.
The angles are equal where the pairs meet. Diagonals (dashed lines) meet at a right angle, and one of the diagonal bisects (cuts equally in half) the other.
... and that's it for the special quadrilaterals.
Irregular Quadrilaterals
The only regular (all sides equal and all angles equal) quadrilateral is a square. So all other quadrilaterals are irregular.
Example: a square is also a rectangle.
So we include a square in the definition of a rectangle.
(We don't say "Having all 90° angles makes it a rectangle except when all sides are equal then it is a square.")
This may seem odd, as in daily life we think of a square as not being a rectangle ... but in mathematics it is.
Using the chart below we can answer such questions as:
Is a Square a type of Rectangle? (Yes)
Is a Rectangle a type of Kite? (No)
Complex Quadrilaterals
Oh Yes! when two sides cross over, we call it a "Complex" or "Self-Intersecting" quadrilateral, like these:
They still have 4 sides, but two sides cross over.
Polygon
A quadrilateral is a polygon . In fact it is a 4-sided polygon, just like a triangle is a 3-sided polygon, a pentagon is a 5-sided polygon, and so on.
Play with Them
Now that you know the different types, you can play with the Interactive Quadrilaterals .
Other Names
A quadrilateral can sometimes be called:
a Quadrangle ("four angles"), so it sounds like "triangle"
a Tetragon ("four and polygon"), so it sounds like "pentagon", "hexagon", etc.
| Trapezium |
Which manufacturer makes the engines that power the Williams formula One cars? | Quadrilaterals the four sided polygons | Learn Basic Math Concepts
Learn Basic Math Concepts
This blog helps in providing the detail solution for basic math problems
Pages
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Quadrilaterals the four sided polygons
In geometry, we learn about Quadrilaterals. What is a Quadrilateral is the question which arises when we read this word. Let us break the word into two parts, Quadri- lateral, Quadri means four and lateral means straight sides. Quadrilateral put together means four sided figure or polygon. Next question that arises in our mind is What shape is a Quadrilateral or what shapes are Quadrilaterals, a four sided figure or polygon can be a rectangle or a square or a rhombus, we have different four sided shapes. From this, we can conclude that any four sided figure is a Quadrilateral whose sides are straight and the figure is two dimensional. The different types of four sided two dimension figures which are included in the list of quadrilaterals are, Parallelogram, Rectangle, Rhombus, Square, Trapezoid and Kite.
Quadrilaterals family
Let us take a quick look at Quadrilateral Properties.
• All quadrilaterals have four sides (straight edges)
• All quadrilaterals have four corners or vertices
• The sum of the interior angles in a Quadrilateral is equal to 360 degrees
Let us now learn the properties of each type of quadrilateral.
• Rectangle: A rectangle is a quadrilateral in which every angle is a right angle and opposite sides are parallel and are of equal length
• Square: A square has equal sides and equal angles. Each angle is a right angle. Opposite sides are parallel and equal
• Rhombus: A Rhombus is a four sided figure in which all sides are of equal length. Opposite sides are parallel and opposite sides are equal. One more interesting property of a rhombus is that the diagonals of a rhombus bisect each other at right angles
• Parallelogram: As the name suggests, in a parallelogram opposite sides are parallel and are equal in length. All the opposite angles are equal
• Trapezoid: In a trapezoid one pair of sides are parallel. When the sides that are not parallel are equal in length and both angles coming from the parallel sides are equal, they are called Isosceles trapezoid. A quadrilateral with no parallel sides is the trapezium
• Kite: Kite has two pairs of sides. Each pair of adjacent sides are equal in length. The angles are equal where the pairs meet. One diagonal bisects the other and they meet at right angles.
Square is the only regular quadrilateral, all other are irregular quadrilaterals!
While learning about Quadrilaterals in geometry , you might have come across Cyclic Quadrilaterals;
A quadrilateral in which a circle can be circumscribed in such a way that it touches all the four vertices of the polygon is called a Cyclic Quadrilateral. It is something like a quadrilateral inside a circle where the circle passes through all the vertices. In cyclic quadrilaterals the sum of the opposite angles are supplementary.
| i don't know |
For what product is the town of Honiton, Devon, famous? | BBC - Devon Discovering Devon - Home town - Honiton tour
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
FACTS
Wool and cloth were some of the first goods to be traded on a commercial basis in the town in the 13th Century.
By the 19th Century, around the year 1881, Honiton's repute had spread beyond fabrics and wool, to pottery.
It began to produce highly unusual and world renown pieces after the Second World War, when its art deco pieces established the town as a centre for expertise.
PRINT THIS PAGE
View print friendly version of this page..
Honiton, the 'gateway' to Devon and Cornwall, stands on the main road & rail route to London and Exeter.
A pleasant residential and market town, Honiton is world famous both for its lace products and the unique hand painted pottery produced here.
The visitor to this friendly town will be delighted at the number and variety of antique shops and could while away many hours browsing through them.
Honiton's vibrant street market
Each Tuesday and Saturday, Honiton has market stalls lining each side of the broad main street.
You can buy such diverse items as clothing, electrical goods, books and paintings, as well as antiques and bric-a-brac.
With the addition of local garden centre products, the end result is a colourful vibrant display.
The local museum has a wealth of artefacts from Honiton's colourful past, situated on the high street next to St. Paul's church it's certainly worth a visit.
Ian pictured outside Honiton Museum
Honiton is said to be the first place in Devon in which wool was manufactured into cloth.
The serges produced from the looms in the town enjoyed a great reputation for their quality.
Sadly, with the advent of cotton, there was a decline in demand and eventually only one serge-maker survived.
more on Honiton
| Lace (disambiguation) |
Name the monk, born a few years after the death of St. Cuthbert, whose great work was his 'Ecclesiastical History of England'? | Best Antique Towns and Villages for Shopping in the UK
continue reading below our video
Beware! The 5 Most Common Travel Scams
Antiques in an English shop. Richard Freeda/Getty Images
• Petworth, West Sussex
Petworth House and Park , in the South Down's National Park near the South Downs Way , is one of England's top stately homes. It has the National Trust's most important collection of paintings, including 19 Turners. Many of the Turners were painted when the artist was resident in this West Sussex house under the patronage of the Earl of Egremont.
Visitors to this important house may not be aware that the adjacent town of Petworth is often named as one of England's top towns for antique hunters. It has at least 35 antique shops and 100 dealers, offering country furniture along with very high quality UK, English and Continental Antiques. Most of the shops are members of Petworth Antique and Decorative Arts , which publishes a useful street map of dealers on its website. Look, in particular, for Tudor Rose Antiques , housed in a 500-year-old, red brick building.
Where: West Sussex, about 50 miles South West of London on the A272, 5.5 miles west of Pulborough.
By Train: Trains from Waterloo Station in London call in at Haslemere and trains from London Victoria stop at Pulborough - either is about 20 minutes from Petworth. Local bus services from Worthing to Midhurst stop at Pulborough Station.
Food and Drink: Quick, casual dining in West Sussex, an affluent residential area, is always a bit of a challenge. There are a couple of Indian restaurants and a Chinese takeaway in the center of town as well as a small local cafe or two. The National Trust restaurant and coffee shop at Petworth House are open to the public until 5 p.m. without purchasing a ticket to the house and garden.
Antiques or junk? You be the judge. Antonius Antonius/Getty Images
• Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Tetbury is at the heart of royal territory in the Cotswolds. Highgrove, the home of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales is in the countryside outside the town. Garden tours of Highgrove can be booked in advance. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, lives nearby as well.
The town first made its fortunes in the Cotwolds wool trade and can boast a 1300 year history. A number of interesting landmarks and buildings dot Tetbury's historic center, in particular its striking, 350 year old market hall. Other local attractions include Chavenage , an Elizabethan house open to the public, and the Westonbirt Arboretum , keepers of more than 18,000 named specimen trees.
This thriving market town is also the capital of the Cotswolds when it comes to antiques, with about 20 antique stores and antiques centers in which to browse and buy.
Where: Tetbury is aboout 105 miles from London in the heart of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds . It's at least a two and a half hour drive fromLondon on the M4 and local roads, so if you are planning to shop till you drop and visit a few sights as well, staying in the area makes sense.
Find a place to stay in Tetbury
By Train: The nearest train station is Stroud, 11 miles away. Trains from London Paddington take an hour and a half. Plan on taking a taxi from the train station because local bus services require multiple changes and take forever. Parts of the Cotswolds are like the Los Angeles of England - you just need a car.
Food and Drink Tetbury is a busy market town in the midst of some fine agricultural country so there's plenty of fresh local food around in a variety of cafes, pubs and restaurants. Look for produce, prepared products and meats from "The Duchy", that's the Prince of Wales' own organic food business. The Duchy Home Farm is just down the road on the Highgrove estate.
Fans of The Fabulous Baker Brothers (cook book and television program) should stop in at Hobbs House Bakery to buy some bread and local produce. Tom and Henry Herbert are part of the five generations of Herberts who have run this family business. If you visit on the weekend, they run a bistro from 7p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
Antique cutlery and lace. Getty Images
• Honiton in Devon
Honiton was once known as the lacemakers town. Though the cottage industry has mostly disappeared, individual lacemakers still take on private commissions. Crisp white Honiton bobbin lace has adorned Royal baby's christening dresses since Queen Victoria's day.
Today, though, this Devon town is famous for antiques. When I mentioned to my hotel host in a nearby village that I was heading for Honiton next, he said "Ah yes, the town with the High Street lined with antique shops, from one end to the other."
That was no exaggeration. Honiton has about 85 antique dealers, operating from some 17 locations on and just off the High Street. There are also two quality auction houses where you can pop in to see what's coming up in future sales or sit in on a country auction yourself. The only place you'll see the famous lace, though, is in the town's All Hallows Museum of Lace and Local Antiquities .
Where: Honiton is about x miles from Central London and just to the east of Dartmoor. It's located at the crossroads of several major routes, A30, A35, A373 and A375, close to the M5 toward London and other motor routes in all directions. It's about 150 miles from London on the A303 and the A30, or 25 miles from the Cathedral city of Exeter via the A30 and the M5.
Find a Place to Stay in Honiton
By Train: There's hourly direct service from London Waterloo throughout the day with round trips, purchased in advance as separate one-way tickets, about £26 in 2016.
Food and Drink: This is a busy market town so cafes and coffee bars are thick on the ground in the town center. Locals recommend Zest Cafe at 9 Black Lion Court, Toast Cafe and Patisserie on the High Street and Lacemaker Cafe , where they serve a veggie breakfast.
The Lanes in Brighton. Britain on View/Visit Britain/Getty Images
• More Antique Villages Worth Visiting
I'm working my way around the country, stopping in antique shops, markets and villages whenever I'm able. Meanwhile - though I haven't visited all of these, the buzz is that they're worth a look in :
Lostwithiel , named Cornwall's "Antique Town" in 2004
| i don't know |
Catherine, wife of King Charles II of England, was a princess from which Portuguese Royal House? | Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England | Unofficial Royalty
Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England
by Susan Flantzer
Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II of England; Photo Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine of Braganza (Catarina Henriqueta) was born on November 25, 1638 at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa in Vila Viçosa, Portugal. Her parents were João, 8th Duke of Braganza and Luisa de Guzmán . When Catherine was two years old, her father became King João IV of Portugal when the Portuguese Restoration War ended the sixty-year rule of Portugal by the Spanish Habsburgs. Two of Catherine’s brothers became Kings of Portugal: Afonso VI and Pedro II .
The accession of Catherine’s father as King of Portugal brought a great change in the family’s status and Catherine became a potential royal bride for John of Austria (illegitimate son of King Philip IV of Spain), François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort (illegitimate grandson of King Henry IV of France and cousin to King Louis XIV of France), King Louis XIV of France, and King Charles II of England. She had first been suggested as a bride for King Charles II of England in 1645 during the reign of Charles’ father King Charles I of England and again in 1660 when the monarchy was restored in England. Already there were rumors of Catherine’s inability to have children, but the newly restored King Charles II was eager to have the £300,000 dowry. The marriage contract was signed on June 23, 1661. Catherine set sail for England in April of 1662 and landed at Portsmouth, England on May 13, 1662. On May 21, 1662, King Charles II and Catherine were married in Portsmouth in two ceremonies, a private Catholic one and a public Anglican one. Catherine’s Roman Catholicism made her an unpopular queen.
Despite fathering at least 16 illegitimate children with his mistresses, Charles had no children with Catherine. It is thought that Catherine did have at least three miscarriages. Despite having many mistresses, Charles insisted that Catherine be treated with respect, and sided with her over his mistresses when he felt she was not receiving the respect she was due. After an initial shock at being presented to Charles’ mistress right after her marriage, Catherine maintained a dignified attitude towards her husband’s mistresses and showed many acts of kindness to his illegitimate children. When it became apparent that Catherine would not produce an heir to the throne, it was suggested that Charles divorce his wife and marry a Protestant princess. Charles refused the suggestion.
On February 2, 1685, King Charles II suffered an apparent stroke and died four days later. While Charles was dying, Catherine was ill and sent a message begging his forgiveness for being unable to come to him. Charles replied to her, “Alas, poor woman, it is I who should be begging forgiveness.”
After the death of King Charles II and the accession of Charles’ brother King James II, Catherine continued to live at Somerset House in London. Catherine was present at the 1688 birth of King James II’s son James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales and was his godmother. When rumors began to spread that he was an impostor baby, and had been smuggled into the royal birth chamber in a warming pan, Catherine was one of the witnesses giving evidence of his legitimacy. Catherine remained in England after King James II was overthrown in 1688 by the Glorious Revolution and his daughter and her husband and first cousin took the throne as King William III and Queen Mary II. However, Catherine found that her position with the new monarchs deteriorated and she decided to return to Portugal in 1693.
After living in the homes of noblemen in Lisbon, Portugal for a period of time, Catherine decided to build her own palace, the Palace of Bemposta . Catherine was an important female figure to her nephew, the future King João V of Portugal, after his mother died. When brother, King Pedro II, grew tired of government, Catherine served as his regent.
Catherine died at her Palace of Bemposta in Lisbon, Portugal on December 31, 1705 at the age of 67. She was originally buried at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal. On September 29, 1855, Catherine’s remains along with the remains of other family members were re-interred at the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora .
Tomb of Catherine of Braganza; Photo source: www.findagrave.com
Learn more about royalty, past and present here and share your thoughts on our forums .
| Braganza |
What was the name of the first make of Rolls Royce car? | UK Tea & Infusions Association - Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza
Competitions
Catherine of Braganza
In this section, learn more about the influence of Charles II and his wife Catherine of Braganza on the British trend for drinking tea.
Jump to:
Influence of a Portuguese Princess
In the contemporary era tea is so much associated with the British way of life that it can come as a surprise to learn that it owes much of its popularity here to a foreign princess. While it is not true to say that Catherine of Braganza, the queen-consort of Charles II of England, actually introduced tea to Britain, she certainly had much to do with it becoming a fashionable and widely drunk beverage.
Samuel Pepys first mentioned drinking tea in his diary entry for 25 September 1660
Portuguese traders imported it to their homeland from the East, and its high price and exoticism helped it to become very fashionable in aristocratic circles and at the royal court,where Catherine grew up. By the mid-seventeenth century, it was very popular there.Tea had also gained popularity in elite society in Holland, through Dutch trade in the East, and in neighbouring countries.
But at this stage, Britain somewhat lagged behind. The famous English diarist Samuel Pepys first mentioned drinking tea in his diary entry for 25 September 1660. He wrote that he had been discussing foreign affairs with some friends, 'And afterwards did send for a Cupp of Tee (a China drink) of which I never drank before'. Since Pepys was a member of the wealthy and fashionable London set, his failure to mention tea earlier suggests that it was still unusual at this time. This was soon to change. Just a few months before Pepys was writing, in May 1660, Charles II had been restored to the throne after the Commonwealth administration which had been set up by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 collapsed under the weight of its own unpopularity. But Charles II inherited many debts from that government, and soon ran up new ones of his own, and so was desperately short of cash. One solution to this was to marry a wealthy foreign princess and to demand with her a great deal of money or goods as a dowry. After some negotiation, it was agreed that he would marry Catherine, and that her father King John IV of Portugal would provide with her several ships full of luxury goods, some as gifts and some which could be sold to pay off Charles II's debts. These goods included a chest of tea, the favourite drink at the Portuguese court.
the favourite drink at the Portuguese court
Catherine arrived in Portsmouth on 13 May 1662. It had been a long and stormy crossing, and as soon as she arrived she asked for a cup of tea. So rare was it at this time that there was none available; the princess was offered a glass of ale instead. Not surprisingly, this did not make her feel any better, and for a time she was forced by illness to retire to her bedchamber. Eventually though Catherine and Charles II were married, on 21 May 1662. Initially Catherine, a deeply pious Catholic who had been schooled in a convent, found it difficult to fit in at the bawdy and fun-loving English court. But over time she established herself, and as the pre-eminent woman in the kingdom became something of a trend-setter. Although she adopted English fashions, she continued to prefer the cuisine of her native Portugal - including tea. Soon her taste for tea had caused a fad at the royal court. This then spread to aristocratic circles and then to the wealthier classes. In 1663 the poet and politician Edmund Waller wrote a poem in honour of the queen for her birthday:
Venus her Myrtle, Phoebus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, the best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Regress those vapours which the head invade,
And keep the palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.
Charles II and foundations for the British tea trade
As well as being important to the growth of tea's popularity in Britain, the reign of Charles II was also crucial in laying the foundations for the growth of the British tea trade (and of British trade in the east generally).
The East India Company , the commercial company that enjoyed a monopoly on trade with the 'Indies' (that is, lands east of Africa and west of South America) was highly favoured by Charles II. This was not wholly surprising, since the Company had showered him with gifts upon his restoration to the throne. Charles confirmed its monopoly, and also extended it to give the Company unprecedented powers to occupy by military force places with which they wished to trade (so long as the people there were not Christians). Further, another gift to Charles II in Catherine's dowry was Bombay in India (now called Mumbai). This valuable port was made over to the East India Company, for an annual rent of £10 in gold. In time it became the Company's Far East trading headquarters and was to prove important to the tea trade. It is certainly fitting that when in 1664 the Company opened its first trading point in Macau, the merchants sent a silver case of tea and cinnamon oil as a gift to Charles II and Queen Catherine.
Catherine's dowry was Bombay in India (now called Mumbai)
The marriage of Queen Catherine and Charles II in fact was not an altogether happy union. They had no children together, a source of great heartache for them both, and made worse for Catherine by the fact that Charles had several illegitimate children from a series of mistresses. Further, Catherine was a Roman Catholic, which occasionally made her a victim of popular anti-Catholic feeling. Although she remained in England for some years after her husband's death in 1685, she eventually retired to Portugal, where she died in 1705. But while though Catherine's experience as queen of England may not have been an entirely successful or happy one in many ways, it is this young foreign princess whom we have to thank for the development of the British taste for tea.
Bibliography
Caetano Beirao, As Negociacoes para o casamento da Infanta D. Catarina com Carlos II da Inglaterra (Lisbon, 1942).
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, transcribed and edited by R. Latham and W. Matthews (London: G.Bell and Sons Ltd., 11 volumes 1970-1983).
Denys Forrest, Tea for the British (London, 1973).
Lady Antonia Fraser, King Charles II (London, 1979).
John Miller, Charles II (London, 1991).
Roy Moxham, Tea, Addiction, Exploitation and Empire (London, 2003).
Edmund Waller, The Poetical Works of Edmund Waller (London, 1792).
Image credits:
| i don't know |
In which country is the Nullabor Plain? | Where Is The Nullarbor Plain? - WorldAtlas.com
Where Is The Nullarbor Plain?
The world's largest expanse of exposed limestone bedrock covers more than 75,000 square miles in southern Australia.
Limestone cliff coastline where the Nullarbor Plain meets the Indian Ocean along the Great Australian Bight.
5. Description
The 270,000 square-kilometer Nullarbor Plain in Australia is the world’s largest limestone karst plain landscape. It has over 250 limestone caves with their own unique fauna, and has no known permanent surface water and trees. The plain is in one of nine diverse landscapes in the Alinytjara Wilurara Natural Resources Management (AW-NRM) region that covers the northwestern third of the state of South Australia, and is dedicated to the conservation and traditional Aboriginal use and habitation of the area, according to the South Australian Government's Department of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources. Nullarbor Plain spans 2,000 kilometers between Norseman town in Western Australia and Ceduna town in South Australia, according to the Wilderness Society (TWS) Australia. Two-thirds of the plain are in Western Australia, and the other third in South Australia.
4. Historical Role
Recent research conducted by the University of Melbourne implies that the now barren Nullarbor Plain was once covered by a forest that received four times the rain seen falling there today. That precipitation enabled the plain to support the growth of gum and eucalyptus trees, flowering plants, and banksia shrubs. But a dramatic climatic transformation that occurred about 5 million years ago caused the vegetation to change to its currently negligible state. Traces of ancient Aboriginal “art” have also been discovered recently in the Koonalda Cave in the Nullarbor Plain. These aboriginal markings, according to the Australian Heritage Council (AHC), date back to the Pleistocene age over 22,000 years ago. They help give us an understanding of the earliest years of Aboriginal occupation in Australia. The Kanoola Cave also helped confirm the Aboriginal people survived in the semi-arid region of the Nullarbor Plain during the last ice age, also according to AHC.
3. Modern Significance
Nullabor Plain best captures the Australian Outback experience for many of its tourists. Visitors to the plain go on self-driven tours across the plain on the Eyre Highway, and see the mallee vegetation dotting the plain along the way, including the salt-bush and blue-bush on the plateaus. The highway is named after John Eyre, the first white human to walk across the Nullarbor Plain in 1841. Along the route are kangaroo habitats and hotels where one can dine and lodge as they journey across the plain. Commercial grazing is also carried out on 32 percent of the Nullarbor bio-region, according to Australia’s Department of Environment.
2. Habitat and Biodiversity
Nullarbor Plain has a desert climate that’s arid to semiarid, with annual rainfall of between 150 and 250 millimeters. This sustains the treeless plains that are instead covered with salt-bush and blue-bush plants, and hardy shrubs that are drought-resistant and salt-tolerant, according to TWS. There also are Myall acacias on the edges of the Nullarbor Plain. Collectively, there are 794 vascular plant species, 56 mammal species, 249 bird species, 86 reptile species, and 1 frog species native to the plain. Nullarbor Plain’s birds of prey include the osprey, the White-bellied Sea eagle, and the Peregrine falcon. The endemic birds there include the Nullarbor quails and Nareth Blue Bonnet birds. Also, the largest Hairy-nosed wombat populations are found here, as well as the Dingoes and Nullarbor Bearded dragons. There are 11 threatened flora species, including the Nullarbor emu bushes, living here according to AW-NRM. When it rains or precipitates, water collects in circular depressions called dolines and rock holes.
1. Environmental Threats and Territorial Disputes
The fragile flora's biodiversity in the Nullarbor Plain is prone to the effects of off-road vehicle damage caused by visitors driving off of designated trails. Furthermore, overgrazing by commercial livestock decimates the vegetative cover of Nullarbor, according to the Encyclopedia of the Earth. The introduction of feral animals like cats, camels, foxes, and rabbits has caused ecological imbalances across the Nullarbor Plain. The rabbits eat young seedlings resulting in the decline of certain shrubs, hence affecting resident bird species and other wildlife dependent on the vegetative cover, according to TWS. Alien weeds also compete with and destroy the natural vegetation of the Nullarbor Plain.
This page was last modified on June 6, 2016.
On WorldAtlas.com
| Australia |
In Egyptian mythology, what was the name of the cow- headed goddess of love? | Crossing the Nullarbor: Images along the Eyre Highway
Crossing the Nullarbor:
Images along the Eyre Highway
The drive 'across the Nullarbor' (more correctly, along the Eyre Highway) is a long one, but it is not necessarily a boring one; whether you are bored is entirely up to you. This page shows how the countryside changes greatly from place to place along the way.
Written 2009/11/02, modified 2016/08/18
We started at Mandurah
For non-Australians
Perth is the capital of, and by far the largest city in, the state of Western Australia. Adelaide is the capital of, and by far the largest city in, the state of South Australia. Adelaide is about 2100km east and a bit south of Perth 'as the crow flies', 2700km by road. Both cities are in relatively well watered parts of Australia; much of the area in between the two is very dry.
On this page...
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway goes from Norseman (550km east of Perth) in WA to Port Augusta (300km north of Adelaide) in SA. There seems a general misconception that for much of its length the Eyre Highway is on the Nullarbor plain; in fact there is only a short section, something like 20km, that is on the true Nullarbor . The entire journey from Adelaide to Perth is sometimes loosely called: 'crossing the Nullarbor'.
Special interest...
Water
There are at least three ways of getting to Norseman and the western end of the Eyre Highway from Perth: via Coolgardie (probably the most commonly used rout), via Albany and Esperance (the scenic rout), and via Hyden, Wave Rock and 300km of mostly unsealed road (the adventurous rout; passable in a conventional vehicle, 2WD). We went via Coolgardie on this crossing, but I have included some notes on the rout through Hyden .
Introduction
How many photos at what interval would you need to give an impression of all the landscapes that a traveller between Perth and Adelaide will see? I have taken at least a pair of images every hundred kilometres. Of course it would be possible to take a photo every hundred metres and still not show all the detail and variety that is to be seen, but I think that 25 photo-points spread across the journey that my wife, my dog, and I did in late October 2009 gives a fair idea of the various vegetations and landscapes to be seen. I have added a few special interest sections in their geographic places in the sequence.
My wife and I started our journey, and the kilometre count, at Mandurah, about 70km south of Perth; we finished at Crystal Brook, about 200km north of Adelaide.
In most cases the photos immediately following the hundred kilometre headings were taken within – so near as I could measure – a kilometre of the given point. In those few places where I didn't do this I have noted where the photos were actually taken.
Hints for getting started using this page
Click on the 'Next' link in the box below left, then you will find a 'next' and 'last' link on the top left of every screen. Continue to click 'next' to go forward or 'last' to go backward. Scroll as usual at any time.
Bushfire
We saw many areas along the highway that had been burned; some quite recently, some several years previously; this is quite normal. Eucalypt scrub and forest has developed a tolerance for bushfires, recovering quickly following a fire. Trees such as those in the photo above produce epicormic shoots from the larger limbs (visible on the upper parts of several trees above) of the burned trees. Mallee trees often just shoot from a large lignotubor just below ground level following a fire.
Bushfires are likely to become more frequent and more severe with climate change .
Sawyers Yard
Much of the country through the Perth Hills is still covered with jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest. At a little place called Sawyers Yard, 100km from our starting point, there was also a small orchard in a bit of cleared land.
The first photo was the view on the northern side of the road, the second photo was of the southern side; this section of forest is showing evidence of having been burned in the past year or two.
There are similarities between the Perth Hills and the Adelaide Hills; both run north-south on the eastern margin of the cities, both retain a fair bit of their natural Eucalypt forest. The Perth Hills give me the impression of great age (and it has been said that they are, geomorphologically, one of the oldest landscapes on earth), they have been ground down by time; the Adelaide Hills are steeper, higher and more recently uplifted.
5km east of Meckering
Meckering is in the WA Wheat Belt.
Wheat fields are mixed with areas of Eucalypt scrub and in the lower ground there are salt-pans (in the middle distance of the first photo).
Whether you start the crossing from Perth or Adelaide, the first few hundred kilometres of the journey is mainly through grain-growing country, with wheat being most commonly grown. The country gets drier as you get further from the ends.
Earthquake
If anyone outside of WA knows of Meckering it would probably be because is was the site of a severe (by Australian standards) earthquake in 1968. A small section of the fault scarp that was created by the earthquake is still preserved and sign-posted; it was originally 37km long and up to 2m high. Much of it has been ploughed-over and is inconspicuous.
300km
23km west of Merredin
At Merredin you are still in the Wheat Belt. My 300km came up adjacent to one of the poorer looking grain fields; on the other side of the road was the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie pipeline , which was built in the 1890s to provide water to the goldfields, and another little salt lake.
The rising saline water table, linked to the clearing of native vegetation, is a major problem in the Wheat Belt; there is an Australian government page on the subject.
Construction of the huge Collgar wind farm at Merredin had not started when we passed through, but was underway by July 2010 and the wind farm was fully operational by October 2011.
1300km
20km west of Madura
This was the second time on the trip when the scheduled stop happened to coincide with a roadside parking area; we took advantage of it to have lunch. There are quite a few such parking areas along the road, some with picnic benches such as that in the photo, many with natural shade (in areas where there are trees tall enough to provide it) and a few (on the WA side of the border) with toilets.
Hampton Tableland
The Hampton Tableland (above the Baxter scarp and the Bunda Cliffs, all the elevated country from about Cuiguna to Yalata) is composed of limestone, has poor soils, and karstic drainage – that is, the water does not generally erode creeks but drains underground through cracks and caves.
Closed road to parking bay:
The Nanny Society in action
It seems that some intellectually-challenged official has decided that the cracks in the photos on the right indicate an unstable cliff-top, and therefore this view point is unsafe and the public should be kept out; never mind that the risk of collapse is very-very low at any one time and that this is the best view-point for seeing a long length of the Bunda Cliffs.
"Your safety is your responsibility"; what a novel idea! It will never catch on.
Of course this section of cliff will fall in the next decade or two or three; most sections of the Bunda cliffs will fall in a similar period of time. Coastal cliffs are unstable, it is the ocean eroding their bases that gives them their form; limestone cliffs are more susceptible to erosion than more resistant rocks. If the cracks worried the authorities, why could they not just place a couple of signs like that on the right (seen on the coast at Esperance) near the cliff tops; perhaps "These cliffs are unstable and may fall at any time, your safety is your responsibility"?
The drive across the Eyre Highway is much more dangerous than visiting the above view-point on the Bunda Cliffs; any drive on any road is more dangerous. Why do the authorities allow people onto the roads? Should there be signs every few kilometres saying "Your safety on the road is your responsibility"? We all know that, we don't need to be told; surely we all know just as well that there are certain risks in visiting hundred metre high shear cliffs, whether or not cracks are present.
1700km
Around the Nullarbor roadhouse
With the photo on the left we were quickly running out of daylight; for that reason it was taken about 8km before it was due. The photo on the right was taken the next morning at the Nullarbor roadhouse about 9km east of the measured 1700km point.
These two photos show something close to the true Nullarbor, but the highway just touches on the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain. The train line, which is about a hundred kilometres further north, crosses a much greater length of the Nullarbor.
Nullarbor
The sunset was taken just after the photo above it, the image on the right was taken several weeks earlier and is typical of the Nullarbor.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica the Nullarbor plain extends westward 650km from Ooldea in SA into WA and northward from the Great Australian Bight for 400km to the Great Victoria Desert. It occupies 260 000 square kilometres and has an average elevation of 180m.
Quoting EB:
Its vegetation chiefly consists of salt-bush and blue-bush, with some grasses and flowers appearing after rare winter rains (annually averaging 250 mm or less). The Nullarbor National Park preserves rare vegetation and fauna. The plain has many limestone caves, including Koonalda Cave, an important archaeological site. The name Nullarbor is derived from the Latin nullus arbor ("no tree").
Even the Nullarbor proper is not entirely without trees; there are occasional small native apricot (Pittosporum phyleriodies) trees.
Some of the caves of the Nullarbor are below the water table and are filled with saline water. Exploring them is challenging and can be dangerous.
Wikipedia has an entry on the Nullarbor plain .
1900km
45km east of Nundroo
Travelling east the first cropping land is encountered around about Nundroo. The windmills were on one side of the road, the lonely farmhouse the other.
This is marginal grain-growing country, the cockies would be lucky to get one good year in two.
These windmills at Penong symbolise the scarcity and importance of water to many 'across the Nullarbor'
Penong is about 80km east of Nundroo, the photo was taken on the eastern side of Penong.
A sign near where this photo was taken reads:
"The picturesque massing of windmills near Penong developed over many years in order for the town to access one of the small underground water basins which lies close to the township. Each household obtained their water supply using their own windmill and the abundant winds to pump from the underground basin to their homes. The supplies were also used for water supplies for stock."
"The water supply for Penong township is now also carted by road tanker from Ceduna to top up local supplies at a cost to the consumers and subsidised by the South Australian Government."
In fact a pipeline was built to carry water from Ceduna the 70km to Penong, but we were told that the project ran out of money when the pipeline reached 7km east of Penong. Now water is carted from the end of the pipeline.
2000km
7km west of Ceduna
The silos at Thevenard, the port of Ceduna, can be seen in the left image, the right shot is typical of the local native vegetation: mallee, tea-tree (Leptospermum or Melaleuca species) and blue-bush.
Ceduna is a large town by Eyre Highway standards; there is a choice of shops for groceries, coffee, lunch, etc., and the fuel prices, when we went across, were lower than anywhere to the west until about Merredin.
It is also something of a marker; the land to the east is largely agricultural and moderately settled, while to the west the country is very marginal for cropping and thinly populated.
Notes
Bunda or Baxter
I'm not sure of the correct use of the names 'Bunda Cliffs' and 'Baxter Cliffs' or, as I have used ' Baxter scarp '. The two former names seem to have been used interchangeably by some; indeed, geologically the Bunda Cliffs and the Baxter 'Cliffs' are very similar. I have used 'Bunda Cliffs' where the Hampton Tableland is immediately adjacent to the ocean, and 'Baxter scarp' where the same geological formation lies at the northern edge of the Roe Plain.
Accommodation
The cost of accommodation is higher between Norseman and Ceduna than outside of that section, expect to pay around $120 or $130 for a room with a double bed (Oct. 2009). This should not be surprising; the costs of running a business in this remote area must be high, water is very scarce and expensive for the business owners, and getting and keeping staff difficult.
Fuel prices, consumption, availability
Prices are reasonable in SA from Adelaide to Ceduna, and in WA within a couple of hundred kilometres of Perth, but rise gradually out to Norseman. Fuel prices between Norseman and Ceduna are high, expect to pay perhaps 30% more than in a capital city. Mundrabilla seems to have had cheaper fuel than most other places on the more remote parts of the Eyre Highway for a number of years.
If you want to reduce your fuel consumption try travelling at 80 or 90km/hr rather than the 110km/hr that is the legal limit on most sections of the highway. We went west at 90km/hr at a fuel consumption of around 4.6L/100km, on the return trip we travelled at 110km/hr and used 5.6L/100km (Honda Jazz).
Fuel is available from at least the larger towns shown on typical road maps and all of the roadhouses from Norseman to Ceduna, with the notable exception of Yalata. At least some places would not be open for business 24 hours a day, but most seem to sell fuel from at least 8am to 8pm.
Road quality
In spite of some nonsense one hears about needing a 4WD (SUV) to travel the Eyre Highway the road is entirely sealed and we found it to be in good condition; we have travelled it in several small or medium conventional cars at various times with no problems. There are two lanes with overtaking lanes where needed. The sealed edges were wider in the WA section than in the SA section (Oct. 2009).
If your car did break down you could expect repair costs to be high, and times required for obtaining replacement parts to be relatively long, because of the remoteness.
Traffic
For the length of the Eyre Highway traffic is usually quite light, as can be seen from a number of these photos. However, the road could not be called lonely.
Quarantine
It is against the law to take fresh fruit or vegetables in either direction between the two states. Honey is also not allowed. These laws are to try to limit the spread of diseases and insect pests.
Environment
A huge amount could be said on this subject; I will limit myself.
The feral camels of central Australia could potentially devastate the blue-bush country near the Eyre Highway. They don't appear to have done so yet, but it could be simply a matter of time, if nothing serious is done about their fast increasing population.
The Wheat-belt of WA is suffering from rising saline water tables due to the clearing of the native bush.
South Australia's grain country west of Ceduna is economically very marginal; what will happen to it if the farmers give up? Will introduced weeds take over? We can hope that the native bush will gradually grow back, but this could be no more than wishful thinking.
Other than the coastal dunes of Eucla there are no bare sand dunes to be seen along the Eyre Highway; however, some parts of the road cross country that long-ago was drifting sand dunes. With the rising temperatures and declining rainfalls of greenhouse/climate change it is quite possible that the vegetation now stabilising these areas will die off and they will become drifting dunes again.
Water
One notable feature of the journey from Perth to Adelaide is that the traveller is unlikely to see flowing water anywhere along the 2700km of road between the two cities, with the possible exception of near the beginning or end of the journey. Some streams in the Perth Hills may flow for extended periods, and approaching Adelaide flowing water may sometimes be seen in rivers such as the Broughton and the Gawler, but for 90% of the journey (Northam to Crystal Brook) flowing water will only be seen shortly following rare substantial rains.
Any water that is seen, other than in rock-holes such as at Newman Rock and Disappointment Rock , will most likely be saline and undrinkable. Also note that many stopping places along the road have very limited water supplies, several have to desalinate the saline groundwater at considerable cost, so take care with water.
You should take water with you any time of the year, at least a couple of litres per car in the cooler half of the year, at least a couple of litres per person in the heat, more if you intend to leave the highway; and keep your water supply topped up.
Travelling with a dog
If you are relying on finding accommodation along the road and have a dog, what do you do? Do you ask if dogs are allowed? What do you do then if the answer is no? Go on to the next place (maybe 200km away) and try again? I suspect that many people don't mention the dog when they book a room.
Disappointment Rock , on the Granite Woodland and Discovery Trail
Two of my grandchildren and their new puppy enjoying the rock-holes
Wave Rock
This is a more direct rout from the Bunbury-Mandurah-Perth area to Norseman, and the Eyre Highway, than either the Coolgardie or Esperance roads.
I have not travelled on this road but at least three friends (two couples and one family) have. One did the drive around 2011, the most recent in May 2016. All reported that it was in good condition, although mostly unsealed.
I'm told that the rout is scenic, among other things worth seeing are Wave Rock (photo below right) and Disappointment Rocks (photo on the right).
There are several Internet pages on the rout, none that I could find were particularly detailed or informative. Perhaps one of the better ones is in Wheatbelt Tourism .
| i don't know |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.