:: wikimiki.org ::

Ann Radcliffe

Ann Radcliffe

:This article is about the 19th-century author. For the 17th century benefactor of Harvard, see Ann (Radcliffe) Mowlson. Ann Radcliffe (July 9, 1764 - February 7, 1823) was an English author, a pioneer of the gothic novel. She was born Ann Ward in Holborn, London, England. She married William Radcliffe, an editor for the English Chronicle, at Bath in 1788. To amuse herself, she began to write fiction, an avocation her husband encouraged. She published The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne in 1789. This set the tone for the majority of her work, which tended to involve innocent, but heroic young women who find themselves in gloomy, mysterious castles ruled by even more mysterious barons with dark pasts. Her works were extremely popular among the upper class and the growing middle class, especially among young women. Her works included The Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1796). The success of The Romance of the Forest established Radcliffe as the leading exponent of the historical Gothic romance. Her later novels met with even greater attention, and produced many imitators, and famously, Jane Austen's burlesque of The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey, as well as influencing the works of Sir Walter Scott and Mary Wollstonecraft. She died on February 7, 1823 from respiratory problems probably caused by pneumonia. Radcliffe's influence on later writers:
- Jane Austen
- William Makepeace Thackeray
- Sir Walter Scott
- William Wordsworth
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- John Keats
- Lord Byron
- Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit (1855-7)
- Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White (1860)
- The Brontës
- Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847)
- Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938)
- Witold Gombrowicz's Possessed, or The Secret of Myslotch: A Gothic Novel (1939)
- Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Oval Portrait" drew from Udolpho and mentions Radcliffe by name (somewhat disparagingly) in the introduction. Radcliffe, Ann Radcliffe, Ann Radcliffe, Ann

Ann (Radcliffe) Mowlson

Lady Anne Moulson (sometimes "Ann" and/or "Mowlson"), born Anne Radcliffe (sometimes "Radclyffe") (?-1661), was an early benefactor of the fledgling colonial Harvard College. She is remembered today in the name of Radcliffe College. In 1600 she was married to Thomas Moulson, an alderman and member of the Grocers' Company who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1634. He died in 1638, leaving the customary half of his estate to his widow Anne. In 1643 she donated some of this money to found the first endowed scholarship at Harvard. When in 1894 the women's annex to the university was chartered as a full college, it was given the name of Harvard's first female benefactor. Category:1661 deaths

1764

1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 19 - John Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons for seditious libel
- February 15 - The American city of St. Louis is established.
- June 21 - The English-language Quebec Gazette is established in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. As of 2005, it is the oldest surviving newspaper in North America.
- November 9 - Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, is turned over to forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet.
- November 16 - Chief Pontiac surrenders to the British

Births

- February 11 - Marie-Joseph Chénier, French poet (d. 1811)
- March 13 - Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
- April 3 - John Abernethy, English surgeon (d. 1831)
- April 13 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French marshal (d. 1830)
- May 5 - Robert Craufurd, British general (d. 1812)
- May 26 - Edward Livingston, American jurist and statesman (d. 1836)
- June 21 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (d. 1840)
- December 7 - Claude Victor-Perrin, duc de Belluno, French marshal (d. 1841)

Deaths

- March 6 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1690)
- March 17 - George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, English astronomer
- March 30 - Pietro Locatelli, Italian composer (b. 1695)
- April 15 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1721)
- April 17 - Johann Mattheson, German composer (b. 1681)
- May 3 - Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (b. 1712)
- June 29 - Ralph Allen, English businessman and politician (b. 1693)
- July 7 - William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician (b. 1683)
- July 16 - Tsar Ivan VI (murdered in prison) (b. 1740)
- July 23 - Gilbert Tennent, Irish-born religious leader (b. 1703)
- September 2 - Nathaniel Bliss, English Astronomer Royal (b. 1700)
- September 12 - Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer (b. 1683)
- September 23 - Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
- September 26 - Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, Spanish scholar (b. 1676)
- October 2 - William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Prime Minister of Great Britain
- October 23 - Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)
- November 20 - Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (b. 1690) Category:1764 ko:1764년

1823

1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

- February 3 - First representation of Gioacchino Rossini's Semiramide
- July 15 - Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire
- September 10 - Simón Bolívar named President of Peru
- December 2 - Monroe Doctrine: USA separates the spheres of influence between Europe and the Americas.
- Ferdinand VII revokes the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and restores absolute monarchy (See also Mid-nineteenth century Spain)
- The Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.

Births

- January 1 - Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
- January 8 - Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
- January 27 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
- February 27 - Ernest Renan, French philosopher and writer (d. 1892)
- March 14 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891)
- March 20 - Ned Buntline, American publisher, writer, and publicist (d. 1886)
- March 23 - Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
- April 3 - William Marcy Tweed, American political boss (d. 1878)
- April 23 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
- June 21 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
- August 13 - Goldwin Smith, English historian (d. 1910)
- December 6 - Friedrich Max Müller, German Orientalist (d. 1900)
- James Black, American temperance movement leader (d 1893)

Deaths

- January 26 - Edward Jenner, English physician and medical researcher (b. 1749)
- February 7 - Ann Radcliffe, English writer (b. 1764)
- March 14 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)
- June 1 - Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (b. 1770)
- August 20 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
- August 22 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (b. 1753)
- September 11 - David Ricardo, English economist (b. 1772)

Author

An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. This can be short or long, fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose, technical or literature. In particular, the word is used to refer to a person doing it for pay (as a profession).

Role in critical theory

One key issue in literary theory is the relationship between the meaning of a literary text and its author's conscious intent.
- The phrase "Death of the Author" was popularized by Roland Barthes in his 1968 essay with the same name. It is used to convey the idea that texts have meaning and an independent existence outside that intended by the author, depending on the context and reader.
- The death of the author is in self-conscious opposition to the New Criticism, a literary critical movement popular in England and America in the first half of the 20th century. According to this movement, the author's intent is assumed to be quite clear to the author and it becomes the critic's task to understand this intent.

Holborn

Holborn (pronounced /ˈhəʊbən/ or /ˈhəʊbɜːn/) is a place in London, named after a tributary to the river Fleet that flowed through the area, the Hole-bourne (the stream in the hollow). Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, straddling the borders of the London Borough of Camden, the City of Westminster and the City of London. The area is north of the traditional stamping ground for journalists in Fleet Street and lawyers in the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. The most northerly of the Inns of Court, (Gray's Inn, is in Holborn. It is also the location of Barnard's Inn, the current home of Gresham College, the first college in London. In the eighteenth century, Holborn was the location of the infamous Mother Clap's molly house. In the early twenty-first century, Holborn has been the site of new offices and hotels, which have exploited its excellent public transport links (Holborn underground station is the junction of the Central and Piccadilly lines), and its strategic location between the City of London and the West End. The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was created in 1899. It was abolished in 1965 and its area formed part of the London Borough of Camden. Nearest places:
- Bloomsbury
- Clerkenwell
- St Pancras
- Charing Cross
- Soho
- Covent Garden Nearest underground stations:
- Chancery Lane
- Covent Garden
- Holborn
- St. Paul's

Photos

Image:Staple Inn 1.jpg|Staple Inn building near Chancery Lane tube station Image:Grange Holborn Hotel.jpg|Grange Holborn Hotel in Holborn Image:High Holborn 1.jpg|High Holborn Image:Gray's Inn entrance.jpg|Entrance to Gray's Inn Category:Districts of London Category:Camden

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare
Richard II (Act 2, Scene 1)

The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.

Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)

Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- John Milton
- William Shakespeare
- Jane Austen
- Mary Shelley
- Charles Dickens
- Thomas Hardy
- George Orwell
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- C. S. Lewis
- Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
- English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words. The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales). The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters. Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances. Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature

The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish) The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic) Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles. See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England. "England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct. Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time). The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia

alternative words for British.]] The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross). The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the English Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the War of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions. The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.

National anthems

Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
- "Jerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry
- "I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by Gustav Holst
- "Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward Elgar (although this refers to all of Great Britain, not only England)
- "Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar "God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".

References

- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]

References

External links

- [http://www.enjoyengland.com/ The official website of the English Tourist Board — Enjoy England]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours Category:Monarchies Category:European countries als:England zh-min-nan:England ko:잉글랜드 ms:England ja:イングランド simple:England th:แคว้นอังกฤษ

1788

1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 1 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.
- January 2 - Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 4th U.S. state.
- January 9 - Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 5th U.S. state.
- January 18 - Captain Arthur Phillip's ship arrives at Botany Bay
- January 26 - Captain Arthur Phillip decides to make the permanent settlement at Sydney Cove
- January 22 - Cyrus Griffin becomes the tenth and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled.
- January 26 - Australia Day: 11 ships of First Fleet from Botany Bay led by Arthur Phillip land in what would become Sydney, Australia.Great Britain establishes the prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
- January 31 - Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Charles IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.
- February 1 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat.
- February 6 - Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 6th U.S. state.
- February 9 - Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792 and attacks Moldavia.
- March 14 - The Edinburgh Evening Courant carries a notice of £200 reward for capture of William Brodie, town councilor doubling as a burglar
- March 21 - A fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans leaving most of the town in ruins and twenty five percent of the population dead.
- April 28 - Maryland ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 7th U.S. state.
- May 23 - South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 8th U.S. state.
- June 21 - New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 9th U.S. state.
- June 25 - Virginia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 10th U.S. state.
- July 26 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th U.S. state.
- August 8 - The French king agreed to convene the Estates-General meeting in May of 1789. It was the first time since 1614.
- August 27 - Trial of William Brodie begins in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is sentenced to death by hanging
- October 1 - William Brodie hanged
- December 14 - King Charles III of Spain dies and is succeeded by his son Charles IV of Spain.
- "Battle" of Karansebes - Forces of Joseph II of Austria marching against Turks rout for nothing in Karansebes

Births

- January 22 - George Gordon, Lord Byron, English poet (d. 1824)
- February 5 - Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
- February 22 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- March 10 - Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (d. 1857)
- April 14 - David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas (d, 1870)
- May 16 - Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (d. 1866)
- September 22 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (d. 1841)
- October 11 - Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher
- October 24 - Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (d. 1879)

Deaths

- January 14 - François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- January 31 - Charles Edward Stuart, claimant to the British throne (b. 1720)
- February 18 - John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (b. 1713)
- February 21 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- February 28 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
- April 12 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)
- April 15 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- April 16 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
- May 8 - Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
- June 18 - Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
- August 2 - Thomas Gainsborough, British painter (b. 1727)
- October 13 - Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician and poet (b. 1702)
- December 6 - Jonathan Shipley, English bishop and politician (b. 1714)
- December 14 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
- December 14 - King Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
- December 22 - Percivall Pott, English surgeon (b. 1714) Category:1788 ko:1788년 ms:1788 simple:1788

1789

1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 7 - First nationwide United States election
- January 21 - The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts
- January 23 - Georgetown College becomes the first Catholic college in the United States (Washington, DC).
- February 4 - George Washington is unanimously elected the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
- March 4 - At Federal Hall in New York City, the first U.S. Congress meets and declares the new Constitution of the United States to be in effect.
- April 1 - At Federal Hall in New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.
- April 28 - Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against Captain William Bligh
- April 30 - George Washington is inauguration at Federal Hall in New York City, beginning his term as the 1st President of the United States
- May 5 - In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time in 175 years.
- June 14 - HMAV Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 4,000 mile journey in an open boat
- June 17 - In France, representatives of the Third Estate at the Estates-General declare themselves the National Assembly.
- June 23 - Tennis Court Oath in Paris
- July 9 - In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.
- July 10 - Alexander Mackenzie reaches Mackenzie River Delta.
- July 11 - King of France fires popular chief minister Necker
- July 12 - Angry Parisian crowd demonstrates against King’s decision to dismiss minister Necker
- July 14 - French Revolution: Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille and free seven prisoners. In rural areas, peasants attack noble manors.
- July 27 - The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs (later renamed the Department of State), is established.
- August 4 - In France members of the Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges
- August 7 - The United States War Department is established
- August 26 - Declaration of the Rights of Man in France
- September 2 - United States Department of the Treasury is founded.
- September 24 - The Judiciary Act of 1789 establishes the Supreme Court of the United States and the federal judiciary.
- September 25 - The United States Congress proposes a set of twelve amendments for ratification by the states. Ratification for ten of these proposals is completed on December 5, 1791, creating the United States Bill of Rights. An additional proposal is ratified more than two centuries later in 1992.
- September 29 - The United States War Department first establishes the nation's first regular army, with a strength of several hundred men.
- November 6 - Pope Pius VI appoints Father John Carroll the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.
- November 20 - New Jersey ratifies the United States Bill of Rights, the first state to do so.
- November 21 - North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 12th U.S. state.

Undated

- Change of Ottoman sultan of the Ottoman Empire from Abd-ul-Hamid I (1773-1789) to Selim III (1789-1807)
- Thomas Jefferson brings the first macaroni machine to the United States
- United States Revenue Cutter Service (predecessor of United States Customs Service and direct predecessor of the United States Coast Guard) is founded
- United States Marshals Service is founded
- Influenced by dr Benjamin Rush's argue against excessive use of alcohol, about 200 farmers in a Connecticut community formed a temperance association.

Ongoing events

- French Revolution (1789-1799)

Births

- January 4 - Benjamin Lundy, American abolitionist (d. 1839)
- January 21 - William Machin Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d. 1865)
- July 19 - John Martin, English painter (d. 1854)
- August 21 - Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (d. 1857)
- August 28 - Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden (d. 1860)
- September 15 - James Fenimore Cooper, American writer (d. 1851)
- December 28 - Catharine Sedgwick, American writer (d. 1867)

Deaths

January 1 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (b. 1716) January 8 - Jack Broughton, English boxer January 23 - Frances Brooke, English writer (b. 1724) February 19 - Nicholas Van Dyke, American lawyer and President of Delaware (b. 1738) April 7 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1725) April 7 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (b. 1722) April 26 - Count Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian soldier (b. 1721) May 9 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French Sartillery specialist (b. 1715) May 25 - Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist (b. 1751) June 4 - Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François, son of Louis XVI of France (tuberculosis) (b. 1781) [July 13]] - Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, French economist (b. 1715)
- July 14 - Jacques de Flesselles, French provost (assassinated) (b. 1721)
- July 15 - Jacques Duphly, French composer (b. 1715)
- July 22 - Joseph-François Foulon, French politician (executed) (b. 1715)
- September 23 -
- October 27 - John Cook, American farmer and President of Delaware (b. 1730)
- December 3 - Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (b. 1714)
- December 12 - John Ponsonby, Irish politician (b. 1713)
- December 23 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée, French philanthropist and developer of signed French (b. 1712) Category:1789 ko:1789년 ms:1789 simple:1789

Jane Austen

Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) was a prominent English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. Her insights into women's lives and her mastery of form and irony made her arguably the most noted and influential novelist of her era.

Life

Western canon Jane Austen was born at the rectory in Steventon, Hampshire, to the Rev. George Austen (1731–1805) and his wife Cassandra (née Leigh) (1739–1827). She lived for most of her life in the area and never married. She had six brothers and one older sister, Cassandra, to whom she was very close. The only undisputed portrait of Jane Austen is a coloured sketch done by Cassandra which resides in the National Portrait Gallery in London. However, a full-length painting owned by a family member, traditionally held to be of Jane as a teenager, is now increasingly considered authentic by authorities. Her brothers Frank and Charles went to sea, eventually becoming admirals. In 1783, she was educated briefly by a relative in Oxford then Southampton. In 1785–1786, she was educated at the Reading Ladies boarding school in the Abbey gatehouse in Reading, Berkshire. In general, she received an education superior to that generally given to girls of her time, and took early to writing, her first tale being begun in 1789. Austen's life was a singularly uneventful one and, but for a disappointment in love, tranquil and happy. In 1801 the family moved to Bath, the scene of many episodes in her writings. In 1802 Austen received a marriage proposal from a wealthy young man named Harris Bigg-Wither, whom she accepted, then refused the next day, presumably because she did not love him. Having refused this offer of marriage, Austen never subsequently married. After the death of her father in 1805, Austen, her sister, and her mother lived with her brother Frank and his family for several years until they moved in 1809 to Chawton. Here her wealthy brother Edward had an estate with a cottage, which he turned over to his mother and sisters. (Their house today is open to the public.) Austen continued to live in relative seclusion and began to suffer ill-health. It is now thought she may have suffered from Addison's disease, the cause of which was then unknown. She travelled to Winchester to seek medical attention, but so rapid was the progress of her malady that she died there two months later and was buried in the cathedral.

Work

Adhering to contemporary convention for female authors, Austen published her novels anonymously. Her novels achieved a measure of popular success and esteem yet her anonymity kept her out of leading literary circles. Although all her works are love stories and although her career coincided with the Romantic movement in English literature, Jane Austen was no Romantic. Passionate emotion usually carries danger in an Austen novel and the young woman who exercises rational moderation is more likely to find real happiness than one who elopes with a lover. Her artistic values had more in common with David Hume and John Locke than with her contemporaries William Wordsworth or Lord Byron. Three of Austen's favorite influences were Samuel Johnson, William Cowper and Fanny Burney. Her posthumously published novel Northanger Abbey satirizes the Gothic novels of Ann Radcliffe, but Austen is most famous for her mature works, which took the form of socially astute comedies of manners. These, especially Emma, are often cited for their perfection of form, while modern critics continue to unearth new perspectives on Austen's keen commentary regarding the predicament of unmarried genteel English women in the early 1800s. Inheritance law and custom usually directed the bulk of a family's fortune to male heirs. Her novels were fairly received when they were published, with Sir Walter Scott in particular praising her work: :That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. Austen also earned the admiration of Macaulay (who thought that in the world there were no compositions which approached nearer to perfection), Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, Sydney Smith, and Edward FitzGerald. Nonetheless, she was a somewhat overlooked author for several decades following her life. Interest in her work revived during the late nineteenth century. Twentieth century scholars rated her among the greatest talents in English letters, sometimes even comparing her to Shakespeare. Lionel Trilling and Edward Said were important Austen critics. Negative views of Austen have been notable. Charlotte Brontë criticized the narrow scope of Austen's fiction. Mark Twain's reaction approached revulsion: :Jane Austen? Why I go so far as to say that any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book. Austen's literary strength lies in the delineation of character, especially of women, by delicate touches arising out of the most natural and everyday incidents in the life of the middle and upper classes, from which her subjects are generally taken. Her characters, though of quite ordinary types, are drawn with such firmness and precision, and with such significant detail as to retain their individuality intact through their entire development, and they are uncoloured by her own personality. Her view of life seems largely genial, with a strong dash of gentle but keen irony. Some contemporary readers may find the world she describes, in which people's chief concern is obtaining advantageous marriages, to be unliberated and disquieting. Options were limited in this era and both women and men often married for money. Female writers worked within the similarly narrow genre of romance. Part of Austen's prominent reputation rests on how well she integrates observations on the human condition within a convincing love story. Much of the tension in her novels arises from balancing financial necessity against other concerns: love, friendship, and morals.

Bibliography

Novels

- Sense and Sensibility (published 1811)
- Pride and Prejudice (1813)
-