1.
William Hogarth
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William Hogarth FRSA was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic series of pictures called modern moral subjects. Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are referred to as Hogarthian. William Hogarth was born at Bartholomew Close in London to Richard Hogarth, a poor Latin school teacher and textbook writer, in his youth he was apprenticed to the engraver Ellis Gamble in Leicester Fields, where he learned to engrave trade cards and similar products. Young Hogarth also took a lively interest in the life of the metropolis and the London fairs. Around the same time, his father, who had opened an unsuccessful Latin-speaking coffee house at St Johns Gate, was imprisoned for debt in Fleet Prison for five years, Hogarth never spoke of his fathers imprisonment. Hogarth became a member of the Rose and Crown Club, with Peter Tillemans, George Vertue, Michael Dahl, by April 1720, Hogarth was an engraver in his own right, at first engraving coats of arms, shop bills, and designing plates for booksellers. In 1727, he was hired by Joshua Morris, a tapestry worker, Morris heard that he was an engraver, and no painter, and consequently declined the work when completed. Hogarth accordingly sued him for the money in the Westminster Court, in 1757 he was appointed Serjeant Painter to the King. In the bottom corner, he shows Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish figures gambling, while in the middle there is a huge machine, like a merry-go-round. At the top is a goat, written below which is Whol Ride, Other early works include The Lottery, The Mystery of Masonry brought to Light by the Gormogons, A Just View of the British Stage, some book illustrations, and the small print Masquerades and Operas. He continued that theme in 1727, with the Large Masquerade Ticket, in 1726 Hogarth prepared twelve large engravings for Samuel Butlers Hudibras. These he himself valued highly, and they are among his best book illustrations, in the following years he turned his attention to the production of small conversation pieces. One of his real low-life and real-life subjects was Sarah Malcolm who he sketched two days before her execution and he might also have printed Burlington Gate, evoked by Alexander Popes Epistle to Lord Burlington, and defending Lord Chandos, who is therein satirized. This print gave great offence, and was suppressed, however, modern authorities such as Ronald Paulson no longer attribute it to Hogarth. In 1731 Hogarth completed the earliest of his series of moral works, the collection of six scenes was entitled A Harlots Progress and appeared first as paintings before being published as engravings. The inaugural series was a success and was followed in 1735 by the sequel A Rakes Progress. The original paintings of A Harlots Progress were destroyed in the fire at Fonthill House in 1755, while A Rakes Progress is displayed in the room at Sir John Soanes Museum, London
2.
Contradanza
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Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. The contradanza was popular in Spain and spread throughout Spanish America during the 18th century. ”The most conventional consensus in regard to the origin of this popular Cuban genre was established by novelist Alejo Carpentier, in his book from 1946 “La Música en Cuba. The earliest Cuban contradanza of which a record remains is San Pascual Bailón, certain characteristics would set the Cuban contradanza apart from the contredanse by the mid-19th century, notably the incorporation of the African cross-rhythm called the tresillo. The habanera rhythm can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat. The contradanza, when played as music, was performed by an orquesta típica composed of two violins, two clarinets, a contrabass, a cornet, a trombone, an ophicleide, paila. But the habanera was sung as well as danced, among them Manuel Saumell is the most noted. It is thought that the Cuban style was brought by sailors to Spain, the Basque composer Sebastian Yradiers La Paloma, achieved great fame in Spain and America. The dance was adopted by all classes of society and had its moment in English and it was so well established as a Spanish dance that Jules Massenet included one in the ballet music to his opera Le Cid, to lend atmospheric color. Bernard Herrmanns score for Vertigo makes prominent use of the rhythm as a clue to the films mystery, in Andalusia, Valencia, Alicante and Catalonia the habanera is still popular. La Paloma, La bella Lola or El meu avi are well known, from Spain the style arrived in the Philippines where it still exists as a minor art-form. In the twentieth century the habanera gradually became a form in Cuba. However, some of its compositions were transcribed and reappeared in other later on. The music and dance of the contradanza/danza are no longer popular in Cuba but are featured in the performances of folklore groups. The habanera rhythms time signature is 2/4, an accented upbeat in the middle of the bar lends power to the habanera rhythm, especially when it is as a bass ostinato in contradanzas such as Tu madre es conga. Syncopated cross-rhythms called the tresillo and the cinquillo, basic rhythmic cells in Afro-Latin and African music and their unequally-grouped accents fall irregularly in a one or two bar pattern, the rhythm superimposes duple and triple accents in cross-rhythm or vertical hemiola. This pattern is heard throughout Africa, and in many Diaspora musics, known as the congo, tango-congo, thompson identifies the rhythm as the Kongo mbilu a makinu, or call to the dance. The syncopated rhythm may be vocalised as boom. ba-bop-bop, and da, the cinquillo pattern is sounded on a bell in the folkloric Congolese-based makuta as played in Havana. Manuel disputes Carpentiers claim, mentioning at least a half a dozen Havana counterparts whose existence refutes Carpentiers claim for the absence of the cinquillo in Havana contradanza, the 6/8 contradanza evolved into the clave, the criolla and the guajira
3.
Village green
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A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Traditionally, a village green was often common grassland at the centre of an agricultural or other rural settlement, some also have a pond, often originally for watering stock such as cattle. The village green also provided, and may provide, an open-air meeting place for the local people. The term village green evokes a grassy rural environment, however the term is used more broadly to encompass woodland, moorland, sports grounds, and even—in part—buildings and roads. The green may also be positioned away from the centre of the village, especially if the village has moved, some historical village greens have been lost as a result of the agricultural revolution and urban development. Greens are now most likely to be found in the villages of mainland Europe, the United Kingdom. The Open Spaces Society is a present-day UK national campaigning body which continues this movement, the term can also apply to urban parks. In the United States, the most famous example of a town green is probably the New Haven Green in New Haven, New Haven was founded by settlers from England and was the first planned city in the United States. Originally used for grazing livestock, the Green dates from the 1630s and is preserved today despite lying at the heart of the city centre. The largest green in the U. S. is a mile in length, one of the most unusual is the Dartmouth Green in Hanover, New Hampshire, which was owned and cleared by the college in 1770. The college, not the town, still owns it and surrounded it with buildings as a sort of collegiate quadrangle in the 1930s, a fine example of a traditional American town green exists in downtown Morristown, NJ. The Morristown Green dates from 1715 and has hosted events ranging from executions to clothing drives, apart from the general use of the term, village green has a specific legal meaning in England and Wales, and also includes the less common term town green. Registered greens are now governed by the Commons Act 2006, but the fundamental test of whether land is a town, thus land can become a village green if it has been used for twenty years without force, secrecy or request. Village green legislation is used to try to frustrate development. This leads to some most curious areas being claimed as village greens, recent examples include a bandstand, two lakes and a beach. The Open Spaces Society states that in 2005 there were about 3,650 registered greens in England covering 8,150 acres and about 220 in Wales covering about 620 acres. A notable example of a village green is that in the village of Finchingfield in Essex, England, the green dominates the village, and slopes down to a duck pond, and is occasionally flooded after heavy rain. The small village of Car Colston in Nottinghamshire, England, has two greens, totaling 29 acres
4.
Circle dance
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Circle dance, or chain dance, is a style of dance done in a circle or semicircle to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing. Circle dancing is probably the oldest known dance formation and was part of community life from when people first started to dance, dancing in a circle is an ancient tradition common to many cultures for marking special occasions, rituals, strengthening community and encouraging togetherness. The dance can also be enjoyed as a group experience or as part of a meditation. Circle dances are choreographed to many different styles of music and rhythms, unlike line dancing, circle dancers are in physical contact with each other, the connection is made by hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger or hands-on-shoulders. It is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of partners, generally, the participants follow a leader around the dance floor while holding the hand of the dancers beside them. The dance can be gentle or energetic, modern circle dance mixes traditional folk dances, mainly from European or Near Eastern sources, with recently choreographed ones to a variety of music both ancient and modern. There is also a growing repertoire of new dances to classical music. Modern circle dancing is found in cultures, including Arabic, Israeli, Assyrian, Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Maltese. It is also used, in its more meditative form, in worship within various religious traditions including, the Church of England, thousands of medieval tombstones called Stećci were found in Bosnia and Hercegovina and neighboring areas. They dated from the end of the 12th century to the 16th century and they bear inscription and figures which look like dancers in a chain. Men and women are portrayed dancing together holding hands at shoulder level, in Macedonia, near the town of Zletovo, the murals on the monastery of Lesnovo, which date from the 14th century, show a group of young men linking arms in a round dance. A chronicle from 1344 urges the people of the city of Zadar to sing, however, a reference comes from Bulgaria, in a manuscript of a 14th-century sermon, which calls chain dances devilish and damned. The circle dance of Germany was called Reigen, which dates from the 10th century, dancing around the church or a fire was frequently denounced by church authorities which only underscores how popular it was. One of the frescos in Tyrol, at Runkelstein Castle, depicts Elisabeth of Poland, Circle dances were also found in Czech Republic, dating to the 15th century. Dancing was primarily done around trees on the village green, in Poland as well the earliest village dances were in circles or lines accompanied by the singing or clapping of the participants. In the 14th century Giovanni Boccaccio describes men and women dancing to their own singing or accompanied by musicians. One of the frescos in Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted in 1338-40 show a group of women doing a bridge figure while accompanied by another woman playing the tambourine, there are the accounts of two western European travelers to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In Denmark, old ballads mention a closed circle dance which can open into a chain dance, a fresco in Ørslev church in Zealand from about 1400 shows nine people, men and women, dancing in a line
5.
Ballroom dance
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Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is widely enjoyed on stage, film. Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest definition, to almost any type of dancing as recreation. The two styles, while differing in technique, rhythm and costumes, exemplify core elements of dancing such as control. Developed in England, the two styles are now regulated by the World Dance Council and the World DanceSport Federation. In the United States, two variations are popular, American Smooth and American Rhythm, which combine elements of the Standard. There are also a number of dances, and local or national dances. Sequence dancing, in pairs or other formations, is still a style of ballroom dance. The term ballroom dancing is derived from the ball which in turn originates from the Latin word ballare which means to dance. In times past, ballroom dancing was social dancing for the privileged, among the dances described were the solemn basse danse, the livelier branle, pavane, and the galliarde which Shakespeare called the cinq pace as it was made of five steps. Eventually, the first definite cleavage between ballet and ballroom came when professional dancers appeared in the ballets, and the left the Court. Ballet technique such as the turned out positions of the feet, however, the dance was initially met with tremendous opposition due to the semblance of impropriety associated with the closed hold, though the stance gradually softened. In the 1840s several new dances made their appearance in the ballroom, including the Polka, Mazurka, in the meantime a strong tendency emerged to drop all decorative steps such as entrechats and ronds de jambes that had found a place in the Quadrilles and other dances. Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, the first was a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved independently. This had been pre-figured by the waltz, which had made this transition. The second was a wave of music, such as jazz. Since dance is to a large extent tied to music, this led to a burst of newly invented dances, there were many dance crazes in the period 1910–1930. The third event was an effort to transform some of the dance crazes into dances which could be taught to a wider dance public in the US
6.
Elizabeth I of England
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
7.
Morris dance
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Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448, there are around 150 Morris sides in the United States. English expatriates form a part of the Morris tradition in Australia, Canada, New Zealand. There are isolated groups in other countries The name is first recorded in the century as Morisk dance, moreys daunce, morisse daunce. The term entered English via Flemish mooriske danse, comparable terms in other languages are German Moriskentanz, French morisques, Croatian moreška, and moresco, moresca or morisca in Italy and Spain. The modern spelling Morris-dance first appears in the 17th century and it is unclear why the dance was so named, unless in reference to fantastic dancing or costumes, i. e. the deliberately exotic flavour of the performance. The English dance thus apparently arose as part of a wider 15th-century European fashion for supposedly Moorish spectacle, almost nothing is known about the folk dances of England prior to the mid-17th century. By the mid 17th century, the peasantry took part in Morris dances. The Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell, however, suppressed Whitsun Ales, when the crown was restored by Charles II, the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday, Morris dancing continued in popularity until the industrial revolution and its accompanying social changes. Four teams claim a lineage of tradition within their village or town, Abingdon, Bampton, Headington Quarry. However by the late 19th century, and in the West Country at least, d’Arcy Ferris, a Cheltenham based singer, music teacher and organiser of pageants, became intrigued by the tradition and sought to revive it. He first encountered Morris in Bidford and organised its revival, over the following years he took the side to several places in the West Country, from Malvern to Bicester and from Redditch to Moreton in Marsh. By 1910, he and Cecil Sharp were in correspondence on the subject, several English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. Among these, the most notable are Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles, boxing Day 1899 is widely regarded as the starting point for the Morris revival. Cecil Sharp was visiting at a house in Headington, near Oxford
8.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
9.
Jane Austen
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Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austens plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of social standing. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. With the publications of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma and she wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. Her novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published anonymously, a significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1869, fifty-two years after her death, when her nephews publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider audience. Austen has inspired a number of critical essays and literary anthologies. Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940s Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austens use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary have earned her great and historical importance to critics and scholars. The Bank of England has confirmed that the face of the new plastic £10 note will be Austen, the notes are expected to be released in summer 2017. There is little information about Jane Austens life except the few letters that survive. During her lifetime Austen wrote approximately 3,000 letters but only about 160 survive, many of the letters were written to Austens older sister Cassandra, who in 1843 burned the greater part of them and cut pieces out of those she kept. Cassandra believed that in the interest of tact and Janes penchant for forthrightness, the paucity of record of Austens life leaves modern biographers little to work with. The situation was compounded as successive generations of the family expunged and sanitized the already opaque details of Austens biography, Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775. She was born a month later than her parents expected, her father wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother certainly expected to have brought to bed a month ago. He added that her arrival was particularly welcome as a companion to her sister. The winter of 1776 was particularly harsh and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the church with the single name Jane. For much of Janes life, George Austen served as the rector of the Anglican parishes at Steventon, and he came from an old, respected, and wealthy family of wool merchants. Over the centuries as each generation of eldest sons received inheritances their wealth was consolidated and he and his two sisters were orphaned as children and had to be taken in by relatives. His sister Philadelphia went to India to find a husband and George entered St Johns College, Oxford on a fellowship and she came from the prominent Leigh family, her father was rector at All Souls College, Oxford, where she grew up among the gentry
10.
Charles Dickens
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Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the worlds best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era and his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity, born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors prison. Dickenss literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the publication of narrative fiction. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audiences reaction, and he modified his plot. For example, when his wifes chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities and his plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the poor chipped in hapennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age and his 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also adapted, and, like many of his novels. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London, Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of depth, loose writing. The term Dickensian is used to something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport in Portsea Island and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majestys Navy, gentleman, Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickenss eponymous Dombey and Son. In January 1815 John Dickens was called back to London, when Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness, and thence to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he himself a very small. Charles spent time outdoors but also read voraciously, including the novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding, as well as Robinson Crusoe
11.
Thomas Hardy
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Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the status of rural people in Britain. While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the dUrbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. During his lifetime, Hardys poetry was acclaimed by poets who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden, Two of his novels, Tess of the dUrbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, were listed in the top 50 on the BBCs survey The Big Read. Jemima was well-read, and she educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at the age of eight, for several years he attended Mr. Lasts Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester, where he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. Because Hardys family lacked the means for a university education, his formal education ended at the age of sixteen, when he apprenticed to James Hicks. Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862 and he won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. He joined Arthur Blomfields practice as assistant architect in April 1862 and worked with Blomfield on All Saints parish church in Windsor, a reredos, possibly designed by Hardy, was discovered behind panelling at All Saints in August 2016. Hardy never felt at home in London, because he was conscious of class divisions. During this time he became interested in reform and the works of John Stuart Mill. He was also introduced by his Dorset friend Horace Moule to the works of Charles Fourier, after five years, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset, settling in Weymouth, and decided to dedicate himself to writing. In 1870, while on a mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall, Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford. In 1885 Thomas and his wife moved into Max Gate, a designed by Hardy. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale, who was 39 years his junior, however, he remained preoccupied with his first wifes death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry. In 1910, Hardy had been awarded the Order of Merit and was also for the first time nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and he would be nominated for the prize eleven years later. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey, and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the grave as his first wife
12.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
