1.
Jonathan Swift
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Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin. Swift is remembered for such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gullivers Travels. He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and he originally published all of his works under pseudonyms – such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, Drapiers Letters as MB Drapier – or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles and his deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed Swiftian. Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin, Ireland and he was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and his wife Abigail Erick of Frisby on the Wreake. Swifts father died in Dublin about seven months before he was born, Swifts family had several interesting literary connections. His grandmother Elizabeth Swift was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, the same grandmothers aunt Katherine Dryden was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great grandmother Margaret Swift was the sister of Francis Godwin and his uncle Thomas Swift married a daughter of poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of William Shakespeare. Swifts benefactor and uncle Godwin Swift took primary responsibility for the young man and he attended Dublin University in 1682, financed by Godwins son Willoughby, from which he received his B. A. in 1686 and developed his friendship with William Congreve. Temple was an English diplomat who arranged the Triple Alliance of 1668 and he had retired from public service to his country estate to tend his gardens and write his memoirs. Gaining his employers confidence, Swift was often trusted with matters of great importance, within three years of their acquaintance, Temple had introduced his secretary to William III and sent him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial Parliaments. Swift took up his residence at Moor Park where he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, Swift was her tutor and mentor, giving her the nickname Stella, and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest of Esthers life. In 1690, Swift left Temple for Ireland because of his health, the illness consisted of fits of vertigo or giddiness, now known to be Ménières disease, and it continued to plague him throughout his life. During this second stay with Temple, Swift received his M. A. from Hart Hall, then he left Moor Park, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through Temples patronage, to become an ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland. He was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor in 1694, with his parish located at Kilroot, Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote community far from the centres of power and influence. While at Kilroot, however, he may well have become involved with Jane Waring, whom he called Varina. A letter from him survives, offering to remain if she would marry him and promising to leave and she presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temples service at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temples death. There he was employed in helping to prepare Temples memoirs and correspondence for publication, during this time, Swift wrote The Battle of the Books, a satire responding to critics of Temples Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning, though Battle was not published until 1704
2.
Alexander Pope
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Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare, Alexander Pope was born to Alexander Pope Senior, a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, and his wife Edith, who were both Catholics. Ediths sister Christiana was the wife of the miniature painter Samuel Cooper. Pope was taught to read by his aunt, and went to Twyford School in about 1698/99 and he then went to two Catholic schools in London. Such schools, while illegal, were tolerated in some areas, in 1700, his family moved to a small estate at Popeswood in Binfield, Berkshire, close to the royal Windsor Forest. This was due to strong anti-Catholic sentiment and a statute preventing Catholics from living within 10 miles of either London or Westminster, Pope would later describe the countryside around the house in his poem Windsor Forest. He also studied languages and read works by English, French, Italian, Latin. After five years of study, Pope came into contact with figures from the London literary society such as William Wycherley, William Congreve, Samuel Garth, William Trumbull, at Binfield, he also began to make many important friends. One of them, John Caryll, was twenty years older than the poet and had many acquaintances in the London literary world. He introduced the young Pope to the ageing playwright William Wycherley and to William Walsh, a minor poet and he also met the Blount sisters, Teresa and Martha, both of whom would remain lifelong friends. From the age of 12, he suffered health problems, such as Potts disease. His tuberculosis infection caused other problems including respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes. He grew to a height of only 1.37 m. Pope was already removed from society because he was Catholic, although he never married, he had many female friends to whom he wrote witty letters. Allegedly, his lifelong friend Martha Blount was his lover, in May,1709, Popes Pastorals was published in the sixth part of Tonsons Poetical Miscellanies. This brought Pope instant fame, and was followed by An Essay on Criticism, published in May 1711, around 1711, Pope made friends with Tory writers John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell and John Arbuthnot, who together formed the satirical Scriblerus Club. The aim of the club was to satirise ignorance and pedantry in the form of the fictional scholar Martinus Scriblerus and he also made friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. In March 1713, Windsor Forest was published to great acclaim, during Popes friendship with Joseph Addison, he contributed to Addisons play Cato, as well as writing for The Guardian and The Spectator
3.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
4.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
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Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his antireligious views, in 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the new king George I. Escaping to France he became minister for the Pretender. He was attainted for treason, but reversed course and was allowed to return to England in 1723 and he is best known as the philosopher of the Country Party. Henry St John was most likely born at Lydiard Tregoze, the seat in Wiltshire. St John was the son of Sir Henry St John, 4th Baronet later 1st Viscount St John and it is possible he was educated at a Dissenting academy. He travelled to France, Switzerland and Italy during 1698 and 1699, oliver Goldsmith reported that he had been seen to run naked through the park in a state of intoxication. Swift, his friend, said that he wanted to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age. In 1700, he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe of Bucklebury, Berkshire and he became a Member of Parliament in 1701, representing the family borough of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, as a Tory. His seat was Lydiard Park at Lydiard Tregoze, now in the Borough of Swindon, in March 1702, he was chosen commissioner for taking the public accounts. After Queen Annes accession, St John supported the bills in 1702 and 1704 against occasional conformity, and took a leading part in the disputes which arose between the two Houses. In 1704, St John took office with Harley as secretary at war, thus being brought into relations with John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He supported the bill for requiring a property qualification for a seat in parliament. In 1712, he was the author of the bill taxing newspapers, because of the diversity of aims among the allies, St John was induced to enter into separate and secret negotiations with France for the security of English interests. In May 1712, he ordered the Duke of Ormonde, who had succeeded Marlborough in command, subsequently, St John received the congratulations of the French foreign minister, de Torcy, on the French victory over Prince Eugene at Denain. In June 1712, St Johns commercial treaty with France, establishing trade with that country, was rejected by the House of Commons. The treaty was presented in the Commons by Arthur Moore as St John had been created Viscount Bolingbroke earlier that year, at least 40 or so from the Tories voted to reject the treaty. In August 1712, Bolingbroke went to France and signed an armistice between England and France for four months, in March 1711, when the Marquis de Guiscard made an attempt on Harleys life, Bolingbroke assumed temporary leadership of the ministrys affairs
5.
Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Cosimo III de Medici was the penultimate Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the son of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Cosimos 53-year-long reign, the longest in Tuscan history, was marked by a series of laws which regulated prostitution. His reign also witnessed Tuscanys deterioration to previously unknown economic lows and he was succeeded by his elder surviving son, Gian Gastone, when he died, in 1723. He married Marguerite Louise dOrléans, a cousin of Louis XIV, the marriage was solemnized by proxy in the Kings Chapel at the Louvre, on Sunday,17 April 1661. It was a marriage fraught with tribulation, Marguerite Louise eventually abandoned Tuscany for the Convent of Montmartre. Together, they had three children, Ferdinando in 1663, Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine, in 1667, and Gian Gastone, All Cosimos efforts to salvage the plan foundered, and in 1737, upon his younger sons death, Tuscany passed to the House of Lorraine. Cosimo de Medici was born on 14 August 1642, the eldest surviving son of Vittoria della Rovere of Urbino and their previous two children had died shortly after birth. Grand Duke Ferdinando wished to give his son the finest scientific education available, volunnio Bandinelli, a Sienese theologian, was appointed Cosimos tutor. His character was analogous to the Grand Duchesss, as a youth, Cosimo revelled in sports. His uncle Gian Carlo once wrote to family member with news that should surprise you. The young prince has killed a goose in mid-air. Cosimo, at the age of 11, killed five pigs with five shots, the Luchese Ambassador praised the young Cosimo to the skies. His successor, however, noticed a different person, whom he described as melancholy. By 1659, Cosimo had ceased smiling in public and he frequently visited places of religious worship and surrounded himself with friars and priests, concerning Grand Duke Ferdinando. Cosimos only sibling, Francesco Maria de Medici, the fruit of his parents brief reconciliation, was born the next year, Marguerite Louise dOrléans, a granddaughter of Henry IV of France, was married to Cosimo by proxy on 17 April 1661 at the Palais du Louvre. She arrived in Tuscany on 12 June, disembarking at Livorno, as a wedding gift, Grand Duke Ferdinando presented her with a pearl the size of a small pigeons egg. The marriage was unhappy from the start, a few nights following the formal entry, Marguerite Louise demanded the Tuscan crown jewels for her own personal use, Cosimo refused. The jewels that she did manage to extract from Cosimo were almost smuggled out of Tuscany by her attendants, accordingly, the interest rate was lowered by 0. 75%
6.
Public library
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A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries, Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public access to books is not new, romans made scrolls in dry rooms available to patrons of the baths, and tried with some success to establish libraries within the empire. In the middle of the 19th century, the push for public libraries, paid for by taxes. Public libraries were started with a donation, or were bequeathed to parishes, churches. These social and institutional libraries formed the base of many academic and public collections of today. The establishment of circulating libraries in the 18th century, by booksellers and publishers provided a means of gaining profit, the circulating libraries not only provided a place to sell books, but also a place to lend books for a price. These circulating libraries provided a variety of including the increasingly popular novels. Circulating libraries were not exclusively lending institutions and often provided a place for other forms of commercial activity and this was necessary because the circulating libraries did not generate enough funds through subscription fees collected from its borrowers. As a commerce venture, it was important to consider the factors such as other goods or services available to the subscribers. The Malatestiana Library, also known as the Malatesta Novello Library, is a public library dating from 1452 in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna and it was the first European civic library, i. e. belonging to the Commune and open to everybody. It was commissioned by the Lord of Cesena, Malatesta Novello, the works were directed by Matteo Nuti of Fano and lasted from 1447 to 1452. In the early years of the 17th century, many famous collegiate, norwich City library was established in 1608 and Chethams Library in Manchester, which claims to be the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, opened in 1653. Claude Sallier, the French philologist and churchman, operated an early form of library in the town of Saulieu from 1737 to 1750. He wished to make culture and learning accessible to all people, the Załuski Library was built in Warsaw 1747–1795 by Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother, Andrzej Stanisław Załuski, both Roman Catholic bishops. The library was open to the public and indeed was the first Polish public library, at the start of the 18th century, libraries were becoming increasingly public and were more frequently lending libraries. The 18th century saw the switch from closed parochial libraries to lending libraries, before this time, public libraries were parochial in nature and libraries frequently chained their books to desks
7.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
8.
National Central Library (Florence)
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The library was founded in 1714 when scholar Antonio Magliabechi bequeathed his entire collection of books, encompassing approximately 30,000 volumes, to the city of Florence. By 1743, it was required that a copy of work published in Tuscany be submitted to the library. Originally known as the Magliabechiana, the library was opened to the public in 1747 and its holdings were combined with those of the Biblioteca Palatina in 1861, and by 1885, the library had been renamed as the National Central Library of Florence, or the BNCF. Since 1870, the library has collected copies of all Italian publications, since 1935, the collections have been housed in a building designed by Cesare Bazzani and V. Mazzei, located along the Arno River in the quarter of Santa Croce. Before this, they were found in various rooms belonging to the Uffizi Gallery, the National Library System, located in the BNCF, is responsible for the automation of library services and the indexing of national holdings. Unfortunately, a flood of the Arno River in 1966 damaged nearly one-third of the librarys holdings, most notably its periodicals and Palatine. The Restoration Center was subsequently established and may be credited with saving many of these priceless artifacts, however, much work remains to be done and some items are forever lost
9.
Hanover
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At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Electorate was enlarged to become a Kingdom with Hanover as its capital. From 1868 to 1946 Hanover was the capital of the Prussian Province of Hanover and it is now the capital of the Land of Lower Saxony. Since 2001 it has been part of the Hanover district, which is a body made up from the former district. With a population of 518,000, Hanover is a centre of Northern Germany. Hanover also hosts annual commercial trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair, every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hannover, the worlds largest marksmens festival, and the Oktoberfest Hannover, the second largest such festival in Germany. In 2000, Hanover hosted the world fair Expo 2000, the Hanover fairground, due to numerous extensions, especially for the Expo 2000, is the largest in the world. Hanover is of importance because of its universities and medical school, its international airport. The city is also a crossing point of railway lines and highways. Hanover is the traditional English spelling, the German spelling is becoming more popular in English, recent editions of encyclopaedias prefer the German spelling, and the local government uses the German spelling on English websites. The traditional English spelling is used in historical contexts, especially when referring to the British House of Hanover. Hanover was founded in times on the east bank of the River Leine. Its original name Honovere may mean high bank, though this is debated, Hanover was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen that became a comparatively large town in the 13th century due to its position at a natural crossroads. As overland travel was difficult, its position on the upper navigable reaches of the river helped it to grow by increasing trade. In the 14th century the churches of Hanover were built. The beginning of industrialization in Germany led to trade in iron and silver from the northern Harz Mountains, in 1636 George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruler of the Brunswick-Lüneburg principality of Calenberg, moved his residence to Hanover. The Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg were elevated by the Holy Roman Emperor to the rank of Prince-Elector in 1692, thus the principality was upgraded to the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, colloquially known as the Electorate of Hanover after Calenbergs capital. Its electors would later become monarchs of Great Britain, the first of these was George I Louis, who acceded to the British throne in 1714. The last British monarch who ruled in Hanover was William IV, semi-Salic law, which required succession by the male line if possible, forbade the accession of Queen Victoria in Hanover
10.
George I of Great Britain
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George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698. George was born in Hanover and inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father, a succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of his second cousin Queen Anne of Great Britain, in reaction, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Annes Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed. During Georges reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole. George died of a stroke on a trip to his native Hanover, George was born on 28 May 1660 in Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Sophia was the granddaughter of King James I of England through her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia. For the first year of his life, George was the heir to the German territories of his father. In 1661 Georges brother, Frederick Augustus, was born and the two boys were brought up together, after Sophias tour she bore Ernest Augustus another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes George as a responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his brothers and sisters. In 1679 another uncle died unexpectedly without sons and Ernest Augustus became reigning Duke of Calenberg-Göttingen, Georges surviving uncle, George William of Celle, had married his mistress in order to legitimise his only daughter, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, but looked unlikely to have any further children. Under Salic law, where inheritance of territory was restricted to the male line, in 1682, the family agreed to adopt the principle of primogeniture, meaning George would inherit all the territory and not have to share it with his brothers. The same year, George married his first cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the marriage of state was arranged primarily as it ensured a healthy annual income and assisted the eventual unification of Hanover and Celle. His mother was at first against the marriage because she looked down on Sophia Dorotheas mother and she was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage. In 1683, George and his brother, Frederick Augustus, served in the Great Turkish War at the Battle of Vienna, and Sophia Dorothea bore George a son, George Augustus. The following year, Frederick Augustus was informed of the adoption of primogeniture and it led to a breach between father and son, and between the brothers, that lasted until Frederick Augustuss death in battle in 1690. With the imminent formation of a single Hanoverian state, and the Hanoverians continuing contributions to the Empires wars, Georges prospects were now better than ever as the sole heir to his fathers electorate and his uncles duchy. Sophia Dorothea had a child, a daughter named after her, in 1687
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