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London Bridge Is Broken Down
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or "London Bridge") is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the dilapidation of London Bridge and attempts, realistic or fanciful, to repair it. It may date back to bridge-related rhymes and games of the Late Middle Ages, but the earliest records of the rhyme in English are from the 17th century. The lyrics were first printed in close to their modern form in the mid-18th century and became popular, particularly in Britain and the United States, during the 19th century. The modern melody was first recorded in the late 19th century. It has the Roud Folk Song Index number 502. Several explanations have been advanced to explain the meaning of the rhyme and the identity of the "fair lady" of the refrain. The rhyme is well known and has been referenced in a variety of works of literature and popular culture. Lyrics There is considerab ...
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Walter Crane
Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery Motif (visual arts), motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the later 19th century. Crane's work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles, wallpapers and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialism, socialist movement. Biography Early life ...
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Richard Thomson (antiquarian)
Richard Thomson (1794–1865) was an English librarian and antiquary. Life Born at Fenchurch Street in London, England, Richard Thomson was the second son of a Scot who was a partner in the firm of seed merchants Gordon, Thomson, Keen & Co. For many years Thomson worked on the antiquities of London. Heraldry was one of his hobbies, and in his early life he assisted investigations of family history. On 14 August 1834, Thomson and Edward William Brayley were elected joint-librarians of the London Institution in Finsbury Circus, in succession to William Maltby. Thomson held the post for the rest of his life. Thomson died at his rooms in the Institution on 2 January 1865, aged 70. He was buried at Kensal Green cemetery, in the grave of a brother who had predeceased him. Legacy A monument was erected to his memory. He was unmarried and died wealthy. During his lifetime he had given the Institution anonymously many works, and by his will he left it £500. Works The catalogue of th ...
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Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book
''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' is the oldest extant anthology of English nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It contains the oldest printed texts of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that eventually dropped out of the canon of rhymes for children. History ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book'' was published in London by Mary Cooper in May, 1744. It was originally a sequel to a now-lost first volume published earlier that year. The rhymes and illustrations were printed from copper plates, the text being stamped with punches into the plates, a technique borrowed from map and music printing. The book measures 3×1 inches and it is printed in alternate openings in red and black ink. For many years, it was thought that there was only a single copy in existence, now in the British Library. However, another copy appeared in 2001, which was sold for £45,000 and is now in the collection of the Cotsen Children's Library. In 2013 a facsimile edition with an ...
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Charles II Of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth with a republican government eventually led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles Escape of Charles II, fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. ...
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Gentleman's Magazine
''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'', meaning "storehouse") for a periodical. Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with ''The Gentleman's Magazine''. History The original complete title was ''The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer''. Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry. It carried original content from a stable of regular contributors, as well as extensive quotations and extracts from other periodicals and books. Cave, who edited ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (meaning "storehouse") for ...
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Namby Pamby
Namby-pamby is a term for affected, weak, and maudlin speech/verse. It originates from the poem ''Namby Pamby'' (1725) by Henry Carey. Carey wrote his poem as a satire of Ambrose Philips and published it in his ''Poems on Several Occasions''. Its first publication was ''Namby Pamby: or, a panegyrick on the new versification address'd to A----- P----'', where the A-- P-- implicated Ambrose Philips. Philips had written a series of odes in a new prosody of seven-syllable catalectic trochaic tetrameter and dedicated it to "all ages and characters, from Walpole ''steerer of the realm'', to Miss Pulteney in the nursery." Though once used by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream, this 3.5' line became a matter of consternation for more conservative poets, and a matter of mirth for Carey. Carey adopts Philips's choppy line-form for his parody and latches onto the dedication to nurseries to create an apparent nursery rhyme that is, in fact, a grand bit of nonsense and satire mixed. ...
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Henry Carey (writer)
Henry Carey (c. 26 August 1687 – 5 October 1743) was an English poet, dramatist and composer. He is remembered as an anti-Robert Walpole, Walpolean satirist and also as a patriot. Several of his melodies continue to be sung today, and he was widely praised in the generation after his death. Because he worked in anonymity, selling his own compositions to others to pass off as their own, contemporary scholarship can only be certain of some of his poetry, and a great deal of the music he composed was written for theatrical incidental music. However, under his own name and hand, he was a prolific songwriter and balladeer, and he wrote the lyrics for almost all of these songs. Further, he wrote numerous operas and plays. His life is illustrative of the professional author in the early 18th century. Without inheritance or title or governmental position, he wrote for all of the remunerative venues, and yet he also kept his own political point of view and was able to score signi ...
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Whitsun Ale
Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian holy day of Pentecost. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ disciples (as described in Acts 2). Whitsuntide, the week following Whitsunday, was one of three holiday weeks for the medieval villein; on most manors he was free from service on the lord's demesne this week, which marked a pause in the agricultural year. Whit Monday, the day after Whitsun, remained a holiday in Britain until 1971Banking and Financial Dealings Act, 1971, Schedule 1, para 1. when, with effect from 1972, the ruling Conservative Government decided to permanently replace it, following a five-year trial period, with a Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May. Whit had been the occasion for many varied forms of celebration, and was of significant cultural importance. It was a custom for children ...
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Girls Playing London Bridge 1898
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, the first meaning is the most common one. The treatment and status of girls in any society is usually closely related to the women's rights, status of women in that culture. In cultures where women have or had a low social position, girls may be unwanted by their parents, and society may invest less in girls. The difference in girls' and boys' upbringing ranges from slight to completely different. Mixing of the sexes may vary by age, and from totally mixed to total sex segregation. Etymology The English word ''girl'' first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Old English language, Anglo-Saxon word ' (also spelled ' or '). The Anglo-Saxon word ' meaning ''dress'' or ''clothing item'' also seems to ...
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Circle Dance
Circle dance, or chain dance, is a style of social dance done in a circle, semicircle or a curved line to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing, and is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of Partner dance, partners. Unlike line dancing, circle dancers are in physical contact with each other; the connection (dance), connection is made by handhold (dance), hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger or hands-on-shoulders, where they follow the leader around the dance floor. Ranging from gentle to energetic, the dance can be an uplifting group experience or part of a meditation. Being probably the oldest known dance formation, circle dancing is an ancient traditional dance, tradition common to many cultures for marking Ceremony, special occasions, rituals, strengthening community and encouraging Solidarity, togetherness. Circle dances are choreographed to many different music genres, styles of music and rhythms. Modern circle dance mixes traditiona ...
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