13:21

blue books:

In Britain, former official reports published by the government and Parliament on domestic and foreign affairs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so named for their blue paper covers. They were usually the reports of a royal commission or a committee, but short acts of Parliament were also sometimes known as blue books, even when they had no cover.

The term was used especially for the reports issued in the 19th century which described social conditions in Britain, but has fallen into disuse. Economists, however, still refer to the annual publication National Income and Expenditure as the blue book.

The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Helicon, © Helicon Publishing Limited 2001

13:20-21

Mammon Lujius: Matthew Mark Luke and John

Annals of the Four Masters: A compilation of Irish historical events from the earliest times made in 1616 by Michael and Cuigcoigriche O'Clery, Cuigcoigriche O'Duigeanain and Faerfeasea O'Maolconaire and dedicated to Fergal O'Gara, Prince of Coolavin. It is one of the main source books of Irish history.

The Companion to British History, Routledge © 2001.

13:16-17

Wheatstone, Charles (1802 - 1875):

English physicist; invented the magic lyre, Wheatstone’s bridge, and (with William Cooke) the electric telegraph.

Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology (1992).

13.16

optophone:

A device with a photoelectric cell to convert ordinary printed letters into a series of sounds; used by the blind.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, ©2003.

13.02

Peter's pence...

In the Roman Catholic Church, the annual voluntary laymen's contribution to the support of the pope. Formerly Peter's pence was a yearly tax of a penny levied by the Holy See on every household in England and elsewhere. The name derives from the fact that the Holy See is called the see of Peter.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

13.1

Behold the proof of Irish sense,
Here Irish wit is seen.
When nothing's left that needs defence,
Build a magazine.

--Jonathan Swift

12.34-35

With the toot of the flute, and the twiddle of the fiddle, O;

Hopping in the middle, like a herrin' on the griddle, O.

Up! down, hands aroun', crossing to the wall.Oh!

Hadn't we the gaiety at Phil the Fluther's Ball.

--Phil The Fluter's Ball, William Percy French (1854 - 1920)

12.27

Cork Hill (Castle)

Arbour Hill (Cemetery)

Constitution Hill (Broadstone Railway Station)

12.23

12.19-20

Revue des Deux Mondes

Fortnightly literary and arts review, first published in Paris in 1829. It was edited by François Buloz (1831-77), and among its contributors were Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Hippolyte Taine, and Ernest Renan. It was later edited by Ferdinand Brunetière (1893-1906). Publication was suspended in 1944, but it re-appeared in 1948, re-named La Revue de Littérature, Histoire, Arts et Sciences des Deux Mondes.

Crystal Reference Encyclopedia (2001)

12.18

Queen Anne's Bounty

A fund established by Queen Anne in 1704.

She surrendered her revenues from first fruits and tenths to the fund, which was to be used for the benefit of poorer beneficed clergy. In the 19th century the fund also received parliamentary grants and private donations. In 1948 the administration of the fund passed to the Church Commissioners.

Market House Books Dictionary of British History, © Market House Books Ltd 1987

11.34-35

Sarah...

In the Bible, the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac

The American Heritage® Concise Dictionary, Third Edition, 1994

11.28

Slán!

farewell; healthy personadjective: safe, secure; sound; intact; whole; (MUS) perfect; slán a fhágáil ag duine/chur le duine to say goodbye to sb; teacht slán as rud to survive sth, pull through sth; slán sábháilte safe and sound; unscathed; gura slán don am sin those were the days; slán a bheas mé if God spares meexclamation, interjection: goodbye; slán go fóill! so long!; slán leat!, slán agat! cheerio; farewell; slán codlata! good night!

Collins Irish Dictionary (1997)

11.16

Nebo, Mount...

2,625 ft (800 m) high, N Jordan. In the Bible, Moses viewed the Promised Land from there before his death.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

11.13

armitides toonigh...

11.10

11.9

Lalla Rookh (An Oriental Romance): "Paradise and the Peri...

Four narrative poems, with a connecting tale in prose, by Thomas Moore, published in 1817. In its day it was one of the most popular examples of the Orientalism which Moore's friend Byron also helped to make fashionable.

Lalla Rookh, the daughter of the Emperor Aurungzebe, journeys from Delhi to Cashmere, where she is to be married to the King of Bucharia. The journey is enlivened by stories told by Feramorz, a young poet from Cashmere, who joins her retinue. ‘The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan’ tells of the tragic love affair of Zelica and Azim. In ‘Paradise and the Peri’ a peri, or child of a fallen angel, finally gains admission to paradise by bringing the tear of a repentant criminal to its gates. ‘The Fire-Worshippers’ tells another tragic love story, about Hafed, a young Gheber or fire-worshiper, and Hinda, daughter of the emir Al Hassan of Arabia, who crushes the Ghebers. In ‘The Light of the Haram’ Nourmahal wins back the love of her husband, Selim, with a magic song she learns from the enchantress Namouna. The self-important chamberlain Fadladeen vents his irritation at the mishaps of the journey by criticizing the stories told by Feramorz, but Lalla Rookh falls in love with him and eventually discovers that he is none other than her prospective husband, the King of Bucharia.

The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, © Cambridge University Press 2000

11.05

nubes...

cloud; (figurative) gloom; veil.

Collins Latin Dictionary, © HarperCollins Publishers, 1997

11.04

Nixe

Plural: Nixen water-sprite, water-nymph, nix(ie). (mit Fischschwanz) mermaid; (scherzhaft: = Badenixe) bathing belle.

Collins German Dictionary, © HarperCollins Publishers 1999

11.03

Thor (Norse myth)

The god of thunder, depicted as wielding a hammer, emblematic of the thunderbolt. [Old English Thr, from Old Norse thrr thunder].

Collins English Dictionary, © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

10.36

pigeon pair...

Colloquial: a son and a daughter. [so called since pigeons usually produce one male and one female per laying]

The Macquarie Dictionary (2003)

10.35

Rothschild...

The name is associated with the great wealth of the international banking family of Rothschild, whose name derives from the red shield by which their parent house at Frankfurt was known. The family banking business really stems from the activities of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), who made a fortune during the Napoleonic Wars. His five sons separated, extending the business throughout Europe. Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) established a branch at London in 1798 and made a financial scoop by his advance knowledge of the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. His son Lionel Nathan (1808-79) was best known for his work for Jewish emancipation in Great Britain. Lionel's son Nathan Mayer (1840-1915) was made a baron in 1885 and was the first Jew to be admitted to the House of Lords. Nathan's son Lionel Walter (1868-1937), the 2nd Baron Rothschild, was a noted collector and taxonomist. The 3rd baron, Nathan's grandson, was Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild (1910-90), a zoologist and administrator. His own son, Nathaniel Charles Jacob (b.1936), 4th Baron Rothschild, largely assumed his father's administrative mantle. Jacob's heir is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild (b.1971).

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition (2002)

10.31

Fomorians (or Fomhoire)...
Irish ‘underworld spirits’

In Irish legend, a race of demonic beings who lived in Ireland and fought off successive waves of settlers. They were finally expelled by the Tuatha Dé Danann (people of the goddess Danu) in the second Battle of Muighe Tuireadh (Moytirra). Their most prominent leader was Balar of the Evil Eye, killed by Lugh.

The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Helicon, © Helicon Publishing Limited 2001

10.30

Piltdown man...

Name given to human remains found during excavations (1908-15) at Piltdown, Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson. The find led to much speculation and argument. Since they were found with remains of mammals of the Lower Pleistocene epoch, they were supposed to belong to a Piltdown man who lived 200,000 to 1,000,000 years ago. Many scientists doubted the whole proposition. They were justified when fluorine tests showed in 1950 that the Piltdown fossil was no more than 50,000 years old. X-ray analysis proved that the jaw was from a chimpanzee; further tests demonstrated conclusively that the jaw and tooth were of modern origin.

There has been much speculation concerning who was responsible for the hoax: Dawson; Arthur Smith Woodward, the paleontologist who identified the fossils as hominid remains; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was present during some of the excavations; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived nearby and knew Dawson; and others. In 1996, on the basis of evidence found in a trunk in the British Museum, it was suggested that the zoologist Martin A. C. Hinton planted the remains to embarrass Woodward

Columbia University Press 2004

10.28

The Three Ravens

Thomas Ravenscroft, 1583-1633

There were three ravens sat on a tree,

Down a down, hey down, hey down

They were a black as black might be,

With a down.

The one of them said to his mate.

"Where shall we our breakfast take?"

With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down

10.27

Castletown House...

Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland's finest Palladian country house, is an imposing building built in 1722 for William Connolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The main block was designed by Italian architect by Alessandro Galilei and the wings were added by Edward Lovett Pearce in 1724.

The house was inherited by Tom Connolly in 1758 and the interior decoration was finished by his wife Lady Louisa (great-grand-daughter of Charles II of England and Louise de Keroualle) during the 1760s and 1770s. Much of the work was carried out to designs of William Chambers.

Two particular features of Castletown is the Long Gallery, an 80 foot long room decorated in the Pompeian manner in blue and gold and the main staircase, which is cantilevered and made of white Portland stone.

-Wikipedia

10.19

The Battle of Busaco 1810.... (again)

10.5

Leipzig, Battle of (19 October 1813)

The climax of Napoleon's campaign in Germany. It is also known as the Battle of Nations for the numbers involved: 370,000 Russian, Prussian, Swedish and Austrian troops; 198,000 French troops. It was Bonaparte's first major defeat on a battlefield. His retreat ended with his abdication in 1814.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History, © Andromeda 2001

10.2

Jackson, Stonewall (Thomas J.; 1824-63)

Confederate general during the Civil War

Jackson won the name Stonewall for his determined stand against the Union forces at the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861. During the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862, he displayed his outstanding talent for strategy and military leadership. He led troops in the first and second Battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Seven Days' Battles, and Chancellorsville, all Southern victories. Jackson, like his Union counterpart William Tecumseh Sherman, pioneered the use of destructive war against the enemy's economic and agricultural resources and civilian population. He was accidentally shot by one of his own troops after the Battle of Chancellorsville and died a week later.

The Great American History Fact-Finder (1993)

10.2

Cape of Good Hope...

10.1

Taffy:

A Welshman, from Davy (Dafydd, 'David'), a common name in Wales. Perhaps it is best known among the English from the (now derogatory) rhyme alluding to the days of border cattle raids.

Taffy was a Welshman,
Taffy was a thief,
Taffy came to my house
And stole a leg of beef.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition (2002)

9.36

De Valera, Eamon (1882 - 1975)

Irish statesman, b. New York City.

He was taken as a child to Ireland. As a young man he joined the movement advocating physical force to achieve Irish independence and took part in the Easter Rebellion of 1916. He was sentenced to life imprisonment (escaping execution because he was a U.S. citizen) but was released under a general amnesty in 1917. Elected that same year a member of Parliament and president of Sinn Féin, De Valera was arrested again in May, 1918. However, he escaped from prison (Feb., 1919) and went to the United States, where he raised funds for Irish independence. In the meantime he had been elected president of Ireland by the Dáil Éireann, the revolutionary parliament that had declared the country independent. In 1920, when he returned to Ireland, the country was in a state of virtual war against British rule. In 1921 the British government opened the negotiations that led to the establishment of the Irish Free State. De Valera, however, repudiated the final treaty because it excluded Northern Ireland and required Irish officeholders to swear allegiance to the British crown. He resigned from the Dáil in Jan., 1922. Nominal leader of the republican intransigents, De Valera greatly deplored the period of civil war that followed. He maintained his opposition to the government, however, and did not enter the Dáil with his party, Fianna Fáil, until 1927. In the general election of 1932 his party gained control of the Dáil, and De Valera became head of the government. He immediately abolished the oath of allegiance and refused to pay land annuities to Britain. A tariff war followed that was not ended until 1938. In 1937, De Valera introduced a new constitution declaring Ireland a fully sovereign state. He kept Ireland neutral throughout World War II, refusing to let the British use southern Irish ports and vigorously protesting Allied military activity in Northern Ireland. Fianna Fáil was defeated in the election of 1948, but De Valera returned as prime minister with independent support (1951-54) and with an absolute party majority (1957-59). Hampered by failing vision, in 1959 he moved to the less demanding office of president of the republic, to which he was reelected in 1966. He retired in 1973.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

9.35-36

della Porta, Giambattista (c. 1535 - 1615)

Italian natural philosopher, crytographer, and dramatist

After a period of study and travel throughout Europe, Porta returned to his native Naples where he published his Magia naturalis (1558; translated as Natural Magick, 1658). An immensely successful work (some twenty-seven editions are known), it distinguished between the magic of sorcery, which della Porta rejected, and natural magic. Under this latter term he included familiar yet mysterious phenomena taken from such fields as magnetism, hydraulics, optics, and chemistry, and sought to explain them in terms of attractions, sympathies, fascinations, and antipathies. The book also contains one of the earliest descriptions of the camera obscura. More original, although less well known, is his De furtivis literarum (On Secret Writing; 1563), a work of cryptography in which he provided solutions to a number of simple polyalphabetic ciphers. His Phytognomonica (1589) expounds the doctrine of signatures. Della Porta was also a leading figure in two early scientific societies. He helped to establish in Naples in 1560 the Academia secretorum naturae, the first such modern society, and in 1610 he became a member of Cesi's Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. In addition, from 1589 onwards, della Porta also published some twenty plays in prose and verse, some of which were translated in England and France.

Market House Books Encyclopaedia of the Renaissance, © Market House Books Ltd 1987

9.33

Marathon

A long-distance race, named after the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), the result of which was announced at Athens by an unnamed courier who fell dead on his arrival, having run nearly 23 miles (37 km). This runner is sometimes cited as Pheidippides (or Philippides), who actually ran from Athens to Sparta to seek help against the Persians before the battle.
In the modern Olympic Games the Marathon race was instituted in 1896, the distance being standardized at 26 miles 385 yards (42.195km) in 1924.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition (2002)

9.32

Bismarck, Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von.
Called the Iron Chancellor. (1815 - 1898)

Creator and first chancellor of the German Empire (1871-1890). Instrumental in victory over Austria (1866) and the creation of the North German Confederation (1867), he instituted during his chancellorship sweeping social reforms by which he sought to stop the advance of German socialism.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, © Houghton Mifflin Company 2003

9.30

Tipperary

The perennially popular song 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' is inseparably associated with the First World War. The music is credited to Jack Judge, of Oldbury, Birmingham, and the words to Harry Williams of Temple Balsall, Solihull. Judge subsequently claimed that he wrote both words and music, the credit to Williams being made in repayment for a loan. The song was actually composed one day early in 1912 at the New Market Inn in Stalybridge, Manchester, and sung by Judge at the Grand Theatre that evening. It was popularized in the music hall by Florrie Forde in a pantomime of 1914 and tells of an Irishman on a visit to London who longs to return to his homeland and his girl despite the lure of the legendary streets paved with gold.

It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square;
It's a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there!

Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable (2002)

9.29

Battle of Bunker Hill...

In the American Revolution, June 17, 1775. Detachments of colonial militia under Artemas Ward, Nathanael Greene, John Stark, and Israel Putnam laid siege to Boston shortly after the battles of Lexington and Concord. However, Thomas Gage, British commander in the city, made no attempt to break the siege until he was reinforced (in May) by troops led by William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne. The Continental forces learned of the British plan to take the heights of Dorchester and Charlestown, and William Prescott was sent to occupy Bunker Hill outside Charlestown. Prescott instead chose the neighboring Breed's Hill to the southeast, but the engagement that ensued has become known as the battle of Bunker Hill. Howe was ordered to attack the American position, and after two slaughterous failures a third charge dislodged the Americans, who had run out of powder. The British victory failed to break the siege, and the gallant American defense heightened colonial morale and resistance.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

9.28

Austerlitz, Battle of (2 December 1805)

A tactical triumph for Bonaparte and the decisive battle of the War of the Third Coalition, fought in Moravia, between the French and Austro-Russian armies. Bonaparte smashed the allied center, forcing the Austrians to surrender and the Russians to flee. The resulting peace at Pressburg (1805) gave him control of most of Germany.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History, © Andromeda 2001

9.27

Le mot de Cambronne...

Fr - When General Cambronne was asked to surrender at Waterloo, he is reported to have said Merde!-a mildly indecent expletive. His response was altered by popular accounts to read, La garde meurt ... (q. v.)

Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Abbreviations, © Kevin Guinagh 1983

9.26

The Battle of Toulouse, 10 April 1814. The last major battle of the Peninsular War, fought between the British and Spanish forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington and the French forces under Marshal Soult.

The Wars of Wellington, a narrative poem. ...With ... engravings coloured ...
By: Syntax, Doctor; Illustrator: Heath, W; Stadler, J.C
London, 1819

9.25

Solferino...

Village, Lombardy, N Italy, near Mantua. There, on June 24, 1859, the French and Sardinians fought a bloody battle with the Austrians (see Risorgimento). Although the battle resulted in no clear decision, the Austrians withdrew to their strategic fortresses. Napoleon III, shocked by the huge losses and aware of the difficulties of continuing the war, soon afterward met Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria at Villafranca di Verona, where a preliminary peace was arranged. By a coincidence, J. Henry Dunant, the Swiss philanthropist, was present at the battle, which he described in Un Souvenir de Solférino. His experience in witnessing the battle later inspired him to promote the Red Cross (founded 1864).

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

'The Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino' Supplement to The Illustrated London News February 1860 Copyright ©2000, The British Library Board

9.24

floddens...

Flodden:

Field, Northumberland, N England, just across the border from Coldstream, Scotland. It was the scene of the battle of Flodden Field (1513), in which the English under Thomas Howard, 2d duke of Norfolk, defeated the Scots under James IV, who was killed.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004

9.24

Camel, Battle of the...

A decisive engagement fought in 656 near al-Basra between Caliph Ali and ‘A’isha, the widow of Muhammad, and her supporters, who rebelled against Ali after the murder of Uthman, the previous caliph. Ali was victorious when the camel ridden by ‘A’isha was hamstrung and she was captured.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History, © Andromeda 2001

9.21

Busaco, Battle of

In the Peninsular War, battle between English and Portuguese armies under the Duke of Wellington and the French under Marshal André Masséna 27 September 1810. Wellington bought the British a little more time in delaying the French invasion of Portugal and reduced the enemy's force.

Masséna had invaded Portugal and Wellington was falling back before him toward the lines of Torres Vedras, protecting Lisbon. Upon reaching the heights of Busaco, a ridge about 45 km/28 mi northeast of Coimbra, Wellington decided to offer resistance. The French had little opportunity for tactical surprise and merely made a series of head-on assaults against the British line. They were beaten off with heavy losses, the engagement was quickly over, and the British resumed their retreat, leaving the French to follow.

The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Helicon, © Helicon Publishing Limited 2001

9.21

Tara...

The original residence of the high kings of Ireland in County Meath. There are many archeological remains of Tara's early historic period - mainly forts and burial mounds. Tara was chiefly important as a political center from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History, © Andromeda 2001

9.20

Indulgences

Medieval documents bearing the seal of the Pope or of a bishop and granting the recipient remission of punishment in the next world for sins committed in this. They were freely sold in the Middle Ages by licensed `Pardoners', and were an easy way for the Church (and also for the pardoners) to raise money. Reformers such as the Englishman Wycliffe and the German Luther were fiercely critical of them. Chaucer made grim comedy of them (Pardoner's Tale) and his contemporary Langland regarded them sceptically (Piers Plowman, Passus VII).

Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature, © Bloomsbury 1997

9.20

Hundred Days, the (March 1815 - June 1815)

Bonaparte's return to power after his escape from exile in Elba. After his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to the remote island of St Helena.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History, © Andromeda 2001

9.20

parson's- (or pope's- or bishop's-) nose:

The rump of a chicken or other fowl; more common in the nineteenth century than in the present ecumenical age. An epicurean morsel-a parson's nose (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion, 1839). The papal form may be the oldest; it was included by Capt. Francis Grose in the 1788 edition of his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. The French have a similar expression: le bonnet d'évêque, bishop's cap. See also drumstick.

Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk, © 1995 by Hugh Rawson

9.16

Battle of Stamford Bridge

Village, Humberside, N England, 8 mi. (13 km.) ENE of York; scene of battle 1066 in which English King Harold II defeated his brother Tostig and Harold Haardraade, king of Norway, Tostig's ally, just before battle of Hastings.

Copyright © 2001 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

9.13

Battle of Salamanca...

40 58N 5 40W A city in central Spain, in Salamanca province. During the Peninsular War the battle of Salamanca was fought here on 22 July, 1812, in which Wellington secured a decisive victory over the French. An intellectual centre of Renaissance Europe, Salamanca remains an important cultural centre with a university (founded 1218). Its notable buildings include two cathedrals and it has a fine Roman bridge. Population (1995 est): 167 316.

The Macmillan Encyclopedia, © Market House Books Ltd 2003

9.8

Cotton, Edward.

A voice from Waterloo; a history of the battle fought on the 18th June 1815.
IMPRINT London, G. B. Green, 1849.

9.7

Agincourt

Modern French Azincourt, village, Pas-de-Calais dept., N France. There, on Oct. 25, 1415, Henry V of England defeated a much larger French army in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). His success, which was due mainly to the superiority of the masses of English longbow men over the heavily armored French knights, demonstrated the obsolescence of the methods of warfare of the age of chivalry. The victory enabled the English to conquer much of France. The battle is the central scene of Shakespeare's drama Henry V.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, © Columbia University Press 2004
Laplante, Charles, d. 1903 -- Engraver

9.6

Fontenoy, Battle of

In the War of the Austrian Succession 1745, French victory under Marshal Maurice de Saxe over a combined British, Dutch, and Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland on 11 May 1745 at a village in Hainaut province, Belgium, 8 km/5 mi southeast of Tournai.
The Allied army of about 50,000 troops was aiming to relieve Tournai, then under siege by the French, but at Fontenoy came up against a de Saxe holding a strong position with about 70,000 troops which blocked their advance. The attack opened with an abortive Dutch assault on the French centre. The British and Hanoverian infantry then advanced and a general melee ensued, culminating in a sudden attack by an Irish brigade under French command. The Allied square defence broke but they were able to retire in good order, although they lost some artillery.

The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Helicon, © Helicon Publishing Limited 2001

9.6

Napoleon in the campaign of France 1814, by E. Meissonier,

from "A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year," Edwin Emerson, Jr., 1900.

Pause

Fieldgaze thy tiny frow...

9.1-2

9.1

Philippi, Battle of

(42 BC) The decisive battle in N Greece in which Antony and Octavian (later the Emperor Augustus) defeated Brutus and Cassius, and thus avenged the murder of Julius Caesar.

Crystal Reference Encyclopedia (2001).

8.36

There drew he forth the brand Excalibur,

And o’er him, drawing it, the winter moon,

Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth

And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt:

For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks,

Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work

Of subtlest jewellery.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Morte D'Arthur

8.35

again...

8.28

Delia/Artemis

8.28

Delian League...

A confederacy of Greek city states formed in 478 BC during the Greek-Persian Wars under the leadership of Athens. Members met on the sacred island of Delos, voted on policy, and contributed funds assessed by Aristides the Just. After the peace between Greece and Persia (c. 450) Athens regarded its allies as subjects. The League treasury was moved to Athens and secession was punished as revolt. The League was disbanded after Athens' defeat (404) in the Peloponnesian War but was revived in defence against Sparta in 378, lasting until the defeat (338) of Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea.

The Macmillan Encyclopedia (2003).

8.28

All of them arminus-varminus...

Teutoburg Forest or Ger. Teutoburger Wald:

Range of hills, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, W Germany, S of Osnabrück; highest point ab. 1530 ft. (466 m.). Scene of battle 9 AD in which German tribes under Armin defeated Roman legions under Gen. Publius Quintilius Varus establishing Rhine as German-Latin border.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (2001).

8.22

Boyne:

A river of eastern Ireland flowing about 113 km (70 mi) to the Irish Sea. In the Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1690, the armies of King William III defeated the forces of James II, who fled to France.

The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Geography (1997).

8.21

8.20-21

Peloponnesian War...

Struggle between Sparta and Athens, and their allies, that lasted from 431 until the defeat of Athens in 404 BC. Neither side had the means to destroy the other, but Athens was weakened by the losses of the Sicilian expedition (415-413 BC) and Sparta was strengthened by Persian support. Sparta's final naval victory at Aegospotami (405 BC) broke Athens' link with its Black Sea grain supplies and led to its surrender.

Andromeda Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History (2001).

8.19

Magna Carta...

A list of rights and privileges that King John of England signed under pressure from English noblemen in 1215. It established the principles that the king could not levy taxes without consent of his legislature, or parliament, and that no free man in England could be deprived of liberty or property except through a trial or other legal process.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002

8.19

Quatre-Bras.... battle of (16 June 1815)

The battle in which the British, under Wellington, defeated the French, under Marshal Ney. Waterloo followed two days later.

-Dictionary of British History (1999)

8.18

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Iron Duke (The)

The Duke of Wellington was so called from his iron will. (1769–1852.)

8.15-17

Wellington & Copenhagen...

Wellington, duke of...

Arthur Wellesley, a British general of the nineteenth century, revered in his country as the victor over the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

Wellington is known for allegedly saying the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. Eton is a famous English boarding school for boys. Wellington's statement emphasizes the effect of people's moral training and breeding on their later life.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin (2002)

8.14

In silence they drove along Phibsborough road. An empty hearse trotted by, coming from the cemetery: looks relieved.

Crossguns bridge: the royal canal.

Water rushed roaring through the sluices. A man stood on his dropping barge between clamps of turf. On the towpath by the lock a slacktethered horse. Aboard of the Bugabu.

-Hades

8.14

Saloos...

The Battle of Loos was one of the major British offensives mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. The battle was the British component of the combined Anglo-French offensive known as the Second Battle of Artois. General Douglas Haig, then commander of the British First Army, directed the battle however his plans were limited by the shortage of artillery shells which meant the preliminary bombardment, essential for success in the emerging trench warfare, was weak. The British also released 140 tons of chlorine gas with mixed success—in places the gas was blown back onto British trenches.

The battle opened on September 25 and the British were able to breakthrough the weaker German trenches and capture the town of Loos. However the inevitable supply and communications problems and the late arrival of reserves meant that the breakthrough could not be exploited. When the battle resumed the following day, the Germans were prepared and repulsed attempts to continue the advance. The fighting subsided on September 28 with the British having retreated to their starting positions.

Charles Sorley, a British poet, died in this battle, as did Rudyard Kipling's son, John. Fergus Bowes-Lyon, brother to the Queen Mother, was also killed in the early stages of the battle.

In another interesting turn of events during the battle of Loos, ten thousand inexperienced British troops were sent in a frontal charge against German positions.

-Wikipedia

8.8

Kathe. Tip.

In 1617 we find considerable, trouble with a certain Katherine Strong, (Vide Memorial of Sir James Carroll to Thomas Wentworth, Viscount Strafford, Viceroy. Harleian MS. 2138, British Museum.) a widow, who inherited from her deceased husband the post of city Scavenger, and a grant of tolls for performing the duties of that office. (Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. Sir John T. Gilbert) The lady in question seems to have been much more active in collecting her dues than in removing the abundant filth of the city, notwithstanding the oath which the city scavengers were bound to take, as follows: 'You shall cause the streets within your warde to be kept cleane from time to time. And also you shall cause each inhabitant within your warde to have the streets well and sufficiently paved where there is any defect or want, so far as each of their howses extendeth, uppon the chardge of the said inhabitants. Theise and all other thinges belonging to the office of a Scavenger, you shall well and truely perform and doe to your power. Soe helpe you God.' (In 1635, during an unusually severe winter, an effigy in snow was erected of Katherine Strong bearing in her hand a representation of the unpopular 'toll' measure.)Amongst the tolls or customs in the fish market of Dublin we find exacted 'of every woman retailer sitting in the street with a basket, for the week, one farthing, to be applied to cleansing the street at the stalls.' The women retailers still sit in many of the back thoroughfares with their baskets, but the fee is no longer demanded.

Dublin: A Historical and Topographical Account of the City.
Written by Samuel A. Ossory Fitzpatrick.
Illustrated by W. Curtis Greene.
First published 1907.

Tip:

Chiefly British.

An area or a place for dumping something, such as rubbish or refuse, as from a mine.
To empty (something) by overturning; dump.
To dump (rubbish, for example).

Pause with 8.6

Redismembers...

8.6

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Tommy Atkins (A).

A British soldier, as a Jack Tar is a British sailor. The term arose from the little pocket ledgers served out, at one time, to all British soldiers. In these manuals were to be entered the name, the age, the date of enlistment, the length of service, the wounds, the medals, and so on of each individual. The War Office sent with each little book a form for filling it in, and the hypothetical name selected, instead of John Doe and Richard Roe (selected by lawyers), or M. N. (selected by the Church), was “Tommy Atkins.” The books were instantly so called, and it did not require many days to transfer the name from the book to the soldier.

8.1

7.33

The Battle of Hill 60 was a British assault that was subsidiary to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres salient and was named for the 60 metre contour which marked its bounds. The hill had been captured by the Germans on December 10, 1914 from the French forces. After the race for the sea, it was obvious the Hill has to be retaken. A great deal of the fighting around Hill 60 was underground. The British immediately began tunnelling a number of mines beneath the hill. By April 1915 six mines had been completed, containing a total of over 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of explosives. At 19:00 on April 17, 1915 the mines were detonated, demolishing a large part of the hill and decimating the German soldiers occupying the trenches. The British battalions suffered only 7 casualties in capturing the hill.

A German counter-attack succeeded in recapturing the hill but the British regained possession on April 18. Fighting continued until April 22.

Hill 60 was eventually taken by the Germans following a gas attack on 5th May, 1915. The front trenches were overrun when the forward companies were almost wiped out. Only 2 officers and 70 men from one battalion were able to march away, on relief, after the action.

-Wikipedia

7.33

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.

Belle-Alliance

(bel´-älyäNs´) (KEY) , village, central Belgium, near Waterloo. The battle of Waterloo (see Waterloo campaign), where Napoleon I was defeated in June, 1815, is sometimes known, particularly in Germany, as the battle of Belle-Alliance.

7.29

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Ysolde, Ysonde,

or Iseult. Daughter of the Queen of Ireland. Sir Tristram, being wounded, was cured by Ysolde, and on his return to Cornwall gave his uncle such a glowing description of the young princess that he sent to ask her hand in marriage. Ysolde married King Mark of Cornwall, but entertained a criminal passion for the nephew. This attachment being discovered by the king, he banished Tristram from Cornwall. Sir Tristram went to Wales, where he performed prodigies of valour, and his uncle invited him back again. The guilty intercourse being repeated, Sir Tristram was banished a second time, and went to Spain, Ermonie, and Brittany. In this last place he met with Ysolt of the White Hand, daughter of the Duke of Brittany, whom he married. After many marvellous exploits he was severely wounded, and, being told that no one could cure him but Ysolde, he sent a messenger to Cornwall, and told him if the queen consented to accompany him he was to hoist a white flag. The queen hastened to succour her lover, but Ysolt told her husband that the vessel was coming with a black sail displayed. Sir Tristram, in an agony of despair, fell on his bed and instantly expired. Soon as Ysolde heard thereof, she flung herself on the corpse and died also. King Mark buried the two in one grave, and planted over it a rose-bush and vine, which so intermingled their branches as they grew up that no man could separate them.

7.28-29

CHAPELIZOD, a parish, in the barony of CASTLEKNOCK, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (W.) from Dublin city centre; containing 2181 inhabitants, of which number 1632 are in the village.

This place is supposed to have derived its name from La Belle Isode a daughter of one of the ancient Irish kings, who had a chapel here. The lands belonging to it were granted by Hugh de Lacy, in 1173, to Hugh Tyrrell, which grant was afterwards confimed by Hen. II. In 1176, they were given by the Tyrrells to the hospital of the Knights Templars of Kilmainham, and after the suppression of that order remained in possession of their successors, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, till the dissolution of the monasteries, in the reign of Hen. VIII. They subsequently passed through various hands till 1665, when the Duke of Ormonde, by command of the king, purchased the entire manor, with the mansion, from Sir Maurice Eustace, for the purpose of enclosing the Phoenix park, and the old mansion-house became the occasional residence of the Lord-Lieutenant.

-Source: http://www.from-ireland.net/lewis/d/cizod.htm

7.27-8

No-one. High on Ben Howth rhododendrons a nannygoat walking surefooted...

-Lestrygonians

THE NANNYGOAT: (BLEATS)

Megeggaggegg! Nannannanny!

-Circe

7.24

reekierags or sundyechosies...

Croagh Patrick:

Irish Cruach Phádraig quartzite peak, west of Westport and south of Clew Bay, County Mayo, Ireland. It rises to 2,510 feet (765 m) from a plateau 800–1,100 feet (245–335 m) high. The mountain is said to have been visited by St. Patrick (fl. 5th century), who, according to one authority, began his ministry there. In modern times, Croagh Patrick has become the site of a popular annual pilgrimage on the last Sunday in July (Reek Sunday) in which many people scale the mountain barefoot. A tiny chapel is situated on the summit.

-Encyclopædia Britannica

7.22-3

hic cubat aedilis apud libertinam parvulam:

here sleeps the magistrate with the little freed-girl

-Source: Fweet

7.16-17

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.

Agapemone


(gpm´n) (KEY) [Gr.,=abode of love], English religious community of men and women, holding all goods in common. It was founded (c.1850) at the village of Spaxton, Somerset, by Henry James Prince (1811–99), Samuel Starky, and others. Prince and Starky were clergymen who had left (c.1843) the Church of England after Prince claimed that the Holy Ghost had taken up residence in his body. The Agapemonites proclaimed the imminent second coming of Jesus. Riotous conditions at the community caused scandal, and after Prince lost a lawsuit brought by two disenchanted followers in 1860, the community slipped from public notice. There was a period (c.1890) of renewed activity when J. H. Smyth-Pigott, who believed himself to be Jesus reincarnated, conducted meetings at an Agapemonite branch establishment in Clapton, London. He succeeded Prince as leader of the sect, which soon vanished.

7.16

7.14

Behemoth (Hebrew בהמות Bəhēmôth, Behemot, B'hemot "Beasts; animals"; Arabic بهيموث Bahīmūth or بهموت Bahamūt) is the untranslated name of a creature mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24.

Most probably, בהמות bəhēmôth is plural for בהמה bəhēmāh, meaning "animals" in Hebrew, this structure (pluralis excellentiae, used to express greatness by means of pluralizing the noun) indicates that behemoth is the largest and most powerful animal. In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea, for this is no mere giant hippopotamus but "He is the first [Authorized Version "chief"] of the ways of God." (Job 40:19) Yet, in (Job 40:17) the "tail' could be a euphemism for "penis," a male sex organ, or perhaps it could literally be its tail or the trunk of an elephant. This indicates that Behemoth is described as a giant powerful mammal. (Mitchell, 1987) In verse 15, it is suggested that the Behemoth is a herbivore.

7.12

Danu U'Dunnell's foamous olde Dobbelin ayle...

In Irish mythology, Danu or Dana was the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé
Danann (peoples of the goddess Danu), although little is recorded about her as a
character.