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An Account Of Corsica
''An Account of Corsica'' is the earliest piece of writing related to the Grand Tour literature that was written by the Scottish author James Boswell. Its first and second editions were published in 1768, with a third edition within twelve months. The full title given to the journal is ''An account of Corsica, the journal of a tour to that island and memoirs of Pascal Paoli''. The book is an account of Boswell's travels in Corsica during a period of military and social upheaval and his subsequent befriending of the Corsican independence movement leader, General Pasquale Paoli. The British involvement in the issues of Corsica included the Corsican Crisis, and the French involvement culminated with the French conquest of Corsica. The ''Journal'' contains a foreword in the form of a letter from the Right Honourable George Lord Lyttelton; the "''Account''" section details the history, geography and topography of Corsica, while "''The Journal and Memoirs''" section covers Boswell' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel Johnson,'' which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language. A great mass of Boswell's diaries, letters, and private papers were recovered from the 1920s to the 1950s, and their publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation. Early life Boswell was born in Blair's Land on the east side of Parliament Close behind St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on 29 October 1740 ( N.S.). He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, and his wife Euphemia Erskine. As the eldest son, he was heir to his family's estate of Auchinleck in Ayrshire. Boswell's mother was a strict Calvinist, and he felt that his father was cold to him. As a child, he was delicate. Kay Jamison, Profes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dilly
Charles Dilly (1739–1807) was an English publisher and bookseller. Life He was born 22 May 1739 at Southill, Bedfordshire, in a yeoman family. After making a short trip to America, he returned to London, his elder brother Edward Dilly, Edward, took him into partnership, and the business was carried on under their joint names. The brothers published James Boswell's ''Life of Johnson'' (first three editions), ''Tour to the Hebrides'', and ''An Account of Corsica'', Lord Chesterfield's ''Miscellaneous Works'', and other standard books. They were also hospitable at The Poultry, and gave dinners described in the memoirs of the period. Samuel Johnson was frequently their guest, and had his famous meeting with John Wilkes at their table, 15 May 1776; with whom he dined a second time with them, 8 May 1781. Other frequent guests were Richard Cumberland (playwright), Richard Cumberland, Oliver Goldsmith, John Hoole, Vicesimus Knox, Samuel Parr, Joseph Priestley, Isaac Reed, Samuel Roger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William C
William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, Billie, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a compound of *''wiljô'' "will, wish, desire" and *''helmaz'' "helm, helmet".Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. Gray was a Self-criticism, self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet laureate, Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber, though he declined. Early life and education Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London. His father, Philip Gray, was a scrivener and his mother, Dorothy Antrobus, was a milliner. He was the fifth of twelve children, and the only one to survive infancy.John D. Baird, 'Gray, Thomas (1716–1771)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004Accessed 21 February 2012/ref> An 1803 newspaper article including a biog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catharine Macaulay
Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge, later Graham; 23 March 1731 – 22 June 1791) was a famed English Whig historian. She was the first Englishwoman to become an historian and during her lifetime the world's only published female historian. She was the first English radical to visit America after independence, staying there from 15 July 1784 to 17 July 1785 including time at Mount Vernon with George Washington and his family. Life Catharine Macaulay was a daughter of John Sawbridge (1699–1762) and his wife Elizabeth Wanley (died 1733) of Olantigh. Sawbridge was a landed proprietor from Wye, Kent, whose ancestors were Warwickshire yeomanry. Macaulay was educated privately at home by a governess. In the first volume of her ''History of England'', Macaulay claimed that from an early age she was a prolific reader, in particular of "those histories which exhibit liberty in its most exalted state in the annals of the Roman and Greek Republics… rom childhoodliberty became the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford, until lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London and began writing for ''The Gentleman's Magazine''. Early works include '' Life of Mr Richard Savage'', the poems ''London'' and '' The Vanity of Human Wishes'' and the play '' Irene''. After nine years of effort, Johnson's '' A Dictionary of the English Language'' appeared in 1755, and was acclaimed as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". Later work included essays, an annotated '' The Plays of William Shakespeare'', and the apologue '' The Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck
Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, 8th Laird of Auchinleck (1706–1782) was a Scottish judge who served in the supreme courts of Scotland. He was the father of the author and biographer James Boswell, and grandfather of songwriter Sir Alexander Boswell. Alexander Boswell was the eldest son of James Boswell (ca. 1672–1749), 7th Laird of Auchinleck. He attended the University of Edinburgh, read Civil Law at the University of Leyden and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1727. He was appointed Sheriff of Wigtown in 1748 but resigned the position in 1750 after inheriting the Auchinleck estate in Ayrshire on the death of his father. There he built the present Adam-style Auchinleck House. In 1754, he built a new aisle in Auchinleck church for Rev. John Dun who was also the family tutor.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 3; by Hew Scott Alexander was nominated to the Court of Session in 1754, receiving the additional appointment to the High Court of Justiciary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career of Napoleon, a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French First Republic, French Republic as French Consulate, First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the First French Empire, French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy, King of Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, '' The Castle of Otranto'' (1764), and his ''Letters'', which are of significant social and political interest. They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes. In 2017, a volume of Walpole's selected letters was published. The youngest son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, he became the 4th and last Earl of Orford of the second creation on his nephew's death in 1791. Early life: 1717–1739 Walpole was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and his wife, Catherine. Like his father, he received early educatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Anne De Vichy-Chamrond, Marquise Du Deffand
Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts. Life Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolles (''département'' of Saône-et-Loire) of a noble family. Educated at a Benedictine convent in Paris, she showed great intelligence and a skeptical, cynical turn of mind. The abbess of the convent, alarmed at the freedom of her views, arranged for Jean Baptiste Massillon to visit and reason with her, but he accomplished nothing. At twenty-one years of age and without consulting her, her parents married her to her kinsman, Jean Baptiste de la Lande, marquis du Deffand. The marriage was an unhappy one and the couple separated in 1722. Madame du Deffand is said by Horace Walpole (in a letter to Thomas Gray) to have been for a short time the mistress of the regent, the duke of Orléans. She appeared in her earlier days to be incapable of an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A prominent member of the Blue Stockings Society and a " woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career that spanned more than half a century. She was a noted teacher at the Palgrave Academy and an innovative writer of works for children. Her primers provided a model for more than a century. Her essays showed it was possible for a woman to be engaged in the public sphere; other women authors such as Elizabeth Benger emulated her. Barbauld's literary career spanned numerous periods in British literary history: her work promoted the values of the enlightenment and of sensibility, while her poetry made a founding contribution to the development of British Romanticism. Barbauld was also a literary critic. Her anthology of 18th-centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Johnson Temple
William Johnson Temple (also Johnstone) (1739–1796) was an English cleric and essayist, now remembered as a correspondent of James Boswell. Early life William Johnson Temple was the son of William Temple of Allerdean, near Berwick-on-Tweed, where his father was mayor in 1750 and again in 1754. His mother was Sarah, daughter of Alexander Johnston of Newcastle upon Tyne, who died in 1747. Temple was baptised at Berwick as "William Johnson" on 20 December 1739. He was a fellow-student at the University of Edinburgh with James Boswell, in the class of Robert Hunter, Professor of Greek. Their correspondence is in print from 29 July 1758, by which time Temple had left Edinburgh. On 22 May in that year, he was admitted pensioner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and on 5 February 1759, he became a scholar on that foundation. Temple's name was taken off the books on 20 November 1761, and he went to London: he and Boswell met as again law students at the end of 1762. Temple took chambers in F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
