Download or read book Fiddlers and Whores written by James Lowry and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work presents entertaining insight into aspects of naval life normally hidden. It contains explanatory notes that put Lowry's world in context. Never intended for publication, these frank and revealing memoirs were written by an adventurous Irish surgeon, and describe his life afloat and ashore in Nelson's Mediterranean Fleet during the years 1797 to 1804. 'A country of fiddlers and poets, whores and scoundrels' - Nelson's famous description of Naples - was a world eagerly embraced by a James Lowry, who was driven to sea, apparently, by a sheer sense of adventure and a desire for exotic travel. Sent out to join Nelson's victorious fleet after the battle of the Nile, he was to experience plenty of naval action, and to see more foreign climes than perhaps he had anticipated. Taking part in the successful British campaign against the remnant of Napoleon's army in Egypt brought him into contact with an entirely different culture, but perhaps not as strange as the 'wooden world' of the Navy, which he chronicles with the detached and slightly bemused eye of an outsider. However, what really engaged his interest (and enthusiasm) was the relaxed sexual mores of Italian society. His memoirs were written at the request of his younger brother, so, untrammelled by any thought of publication, he was able to recount his adventures with relish - and in rather more medical detail than is proper. Many of the seemingly unlikely events can be confirmed from other sources - notably the corpse of the executed rebel Caracciolo surfacing alongside Nelson's flagship to terrify the Neapolitan King who was on board at the time. The original manuscript has been in the hands of Lowry's descendants for two centuries, but this entertaining and enlightening account is here published for the first time.

Download or read book Tenures of Land Customs of Manors written by Thomas Blount and published by . This book was released on 1874 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A History of Vagrants and Vagrancy and Beggars and Begging written by Charles James Ribton-Turner and published by . This book was released on 1887 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bizarre Laws Curious Customs of the UK written by Monty Lord and published by Young Legal Eagles. This book was released on 2023-05-10 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘An endlessly fascinating journey through the extraordinary laws that have shaped every aspect of British society from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. Impeccably researched and engagingly, often humorously written, it delivers so many jaw-dropping moments that I found it impossible to put down. A truly remarkable book.’ - Tracy Borman - Chief Curator for HM Historic Royal Palaces, Author, historian & broadcaster In the UK, we have some bizarre laws that have littered the statute books of our sceptred isle throughout history. Not all of them have been repealed over the centuries. Some of them made perfect sense at the time they were introduced but seen through modern eyes, now appear archaic and draconian. Despite the great efforts of the Law Commission in England and Wales to review and recommend reforms for many of these outdated laws, there are centuries of law that must be painstakingly gone through. As well as some bizarre laws, the UK also has its fair share of curious customs and time-honoured traditions that have been observed for centuries. On the surface, many appear to be nothing more than theatrical pomp and pageantry. However, they are all born from strong rationale. The UK parliament seems to have had a particular penchant for passing laws related to fish and animals, indecency and passing sentences with some humiliating public punishments. This book is a highly entertaining read for anyone who enjoys learning about the more bizarre applications of UK law throughout the centuries, along with some rather macabre consequences along the way. Have you ever heard a bizarre law and thought, that can’t possibly be true? Is it genuine? Was it ever in existence or just an urban myth that became so embellished over time? There are surprisingly, a great many laws still in existence on the statute books today, that would make your jaw drop. Whilst bizarre as these laws may now seem to us, it begs the question, are we in fact, unknowingly breaking these laws on a regular basis? For example… It is illegal to cause a nuclear explosion? Are you required to talk to the police? Is Knock and Run illegal? Was it illegal to grow a beard? Do all swans belong to The King? …all these questions and more will be answered in this Volume 1 of a 3 volume series by Monty Lord. Reading this book, you may be inclined to laugh heartily, let out a sorrowful cry or recoil in abject horror at some of the more gruesome sentences passed for breaking these weird laws. With over 300 bizarre but nevertheless true, laws and customs, you can use this book to satisfy your curiosity about what our ancestors had to contend with over the years, or perhaps as a reference guide for trivia quizzes.

Download or read book The Man Who Discovered Antarctica written by Sheila Bransfield and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of the British naval officer who found the Antarctic shoreline in the early nineteeth century. Captain Cook claimed the honor of being the first man to sail into the Antarctic Ocean in 1773, which he circumnavigated the following year. Cook, though, did not see any land, and declared that there was no such thing as the Southern Continent. Fifty years later, an Irishman who’d been impressed into the Royal Navy at eighteen, and risen through the ranks to the position of master, proved Cook wrong, discovering and charting parts of the Antarctic shoreline. He also discovered Elephant Island and Clarence Island, claiming them for the British Crown. Edward Bransfield’s naval career included taking part in the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 onboard the 50-gun warship HMS Severn. Then, in 1817, he was posted to the Royal Navy’s Pacific Squadron off Valparaíso in Chile, and it was while he served there that the skipper of an English whaling ship, the Williams, was driven south by adverse winds and discovered what came to be known as the South Shetland Islands where Cook had said there was no land. Bransfield’s superior officer, Captain Sherriff, decided to investigate further. He chartered Williams and sent Bransfield with two midshipmen and a ship’s surgeon into the Antarctic—and the Irishman sailed into history. Despite many parts of Antarctica and an Antarctic survey vessel being named after him, and a Royal Mail commemorative stamp issued in his name, the full story of this remarkable man and his historic journey, have never been told—until now. Following decades of research, Sheila Bransfield MA, a member of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, has produced the definitive biography of one of Britain’s greatest maritime explorers. The book also includes a foreword by the Trust’s patron the Princess Royal. “Bransfield’s meticulous research gives us a detailed account of the daily routines of the Navy and the immense amount of maintenance required of a large wooden warship in the Age of Sail.” —Historical Novel Society

Download or read book The Laws Concerning the Poor Or A Compleat Treatise of the Common and Statute Law Relating to the Relief Settlement Punishment c of the Poor The Third Edition Very Much Enlarged written by and published by . This book was released on 1718 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Nelson Touch written by Terry Coleman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-07-08 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a vivid account of Nelson's life, from his childhood and early career at sea to gripping accounts of his greatest sea battles. What emerges is a man of strength of mind amounting to genius, frequently generous, always fascinated with women, often uneasy with his superior officers, and absolutely fearless. This supurbly written biography will prove essential for giving readers a true feel for the life of this military hero.

Download or read book Minstrels and Minstrelsy in Late Medieval England written by Richard Rastall and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new study piecing together the intriguing but fragmentary evidence surrounding the lives of minstrels to highlight how these seemingly peripheral figures were keenly involved with all aspects of late medieval communities. Minstrels were a common sight and sound in the late Middle Ages. Aristocrats, knights and ladies heard them on great occasions (such as Edward I's wedding feast for his daughter Elizabeth in 1296) and in quieter moments in their chambers; town-dwellers heard and saw them in civic processions (when their sound drew attention to the spectacle); and even in the countryside people heard them at weddings, church-ales and other parish celebrations. But who were the minstrels, and what did they do? How did they live, and how easily did they make a living? How did they perform, and in what conditions? The evidence is intriguing but fragmentary, including literary and iconographic sources and, most importantly, the financial records of royal and aristocratic households and of towns. These offer many insights, although they are often hard to fit into any coherent picture of the minstrels' lives and their place in society. It is easy to see the minstrels as peripheral figures, entertainers who had no central place in the medieval world. Yet they were full members of it, interacting with the ordinary people around them, as well as with the ruling classes: carrying letters and important verbal messages, some lending huge sums of money to the king (to finance Henry V's Agincourt campaign in 1415, for instance), some regular and necessary civic servants, some committing crimes or suffering the crimes of others. In this book Rastall and Taylor bring to bear the available evidence to enlarge and enrich our view of the minstrel in late medieval society.

Download or read book The English Frier or the Town Sparks written by John Crowne and published by . This book was released on 1690 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Critical Edition of Thomas Middleton s The Witch written by Thomas Middleton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-07 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 1993: The first modern scholarly edition of the author's play, not published until 1778. Sebastian reclaims his betrothed from Antonio; the Duchess avenges herself on the Duke for making her drink from her father; and Abberzanes and Francesca have an illicite affair. The witches are credible forces of evil.

Download or read book The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer Continued to the Present Time by John Burn The Eighteenth Edition Revised and Corrected Etc written by Richard BURN (LL.D.) and published by . This book was released on 1793 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Westminster Hall Or Professional Relics and Anecdotes of the Bar Bench and Woolsack written by and published by . This book was released on 1825 with total page 946 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book At Day s Close Night in Times Past written by A. Roger Ekirch and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2006-10-17 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Remarkable.… Ekirch has emptied night's pockets, and laid the contents out before us." —Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker Bringing light to the shadows of history through a "rich weave of citation and archival evidence" (Publishers Weekly), scholar A. Roger Ekirch illuminates the aspects of life most often overlooked by other historians—those that unfold at night. In this "triumph of social history" (Mail on Sunday), Ekirch's "enthralling anthropology" (Harper's) exposes the nightlife that spawned a distinct culture and a refuge from daily life. Fear of crime, of fire, and of the supernatural; the importance of moonlight; the increased incidence of sickness and death at night; evening gatherings to spin wool and stories; masqued balls; inns, taverns, and brothels; the strategies of thieves, assassins, and conspirators; the protective uses of incantations, meditations, and prayers; the nature of our predecessors' sleep and dreams—Ekirch reveals all these and more in his "monumental study" (The Nation) of sociocultural history, "maintaining throughout an infectious sense of wonder" (Booklist).

Download or read book The Poetry of Robert Burns written by Robert Burns and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Works of Thomas Middleton written by Thomas Middleton and published by . This book was released on 1885 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book English Clandestine Satire 1660 1702 written by Harold Love and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2004-08-05 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early modern Britain, the primary medium of free comment was the clandestine satire, circulated either orally or in manuscript. Part of the national political culture from Jacobean times, satire reached its greatest influence following the Restoration of Charles II, when a new 'easy' style, combining courtly polish with demotic frankness and flagrant indecency, led to the composition of thousands of such poems. Most of the poets of the time, including such major talents as Marvell and Rochester, wrote in the genre, though nearly always anonymously. While its chief targets were political, much Restoration satire concerned itself with the emerging demography of 'Town' and its uncertain experimentation with new kinds of social freedom. Attacks on the sexual misbehaviour (real or imagined) of aristocratic women hover, equally uncertainly, between moral condemnation and ill-disguised envy, while also conferring an inverse celebrity status on their victims. In this paradoxical social world, not to be lampooned could mean that one was no longer a person of importance. In the first comprehensive survey of this vast field, Harold Love considers the relationship of the lampoon to gossip, how one might construct a poetics of the genre, and how clandestine satire reached and was received by its readers. Constructing three primary categories of 'court', 'Town' and 'state' lampooning, Love argues that far from being the product of isolated disaffection, most satire was the work of a circle of recognized poets, frequently operating in collaboration. An extensive first-line index to the principal manuscript sources for clandestine satire makes this book an open sesame to further exploration of its fascinating field.

Download or read book Memoirs of Emma Lady Hamilton written by Walter Sichel and published by . This book was released on 1891 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: