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Isabella Fenwick
Isabella Fenwick (1783 – 1856) was a 19th-century British amanuensis, and a confidante, advisor, and friend of William Wordsworth and his family in his later years. She is the scribe behind the ''Fenwick Notes'', an autobiographical and poetic commentary Wordsworth dictated to her over a six-month period between January and June 1843. Her friendship inspired Wordsworth to write "On a Portrait of I.F., painted by Margaret Gillies" and "To I.F."—a sonnet in which he calls her "The star which comes at close of day to shine," a reference to their bond formed late in life. Biography Isabella Fenwick was born in 1783. She was the daughter of Nicholas Fenwick of Lemmington Hall, and Dorothy (Forster) Fenwick. Fenwick met William Wordsworth when she was in her late forties. She first signed the visitor's book at the Wordsworth family home, Rydal Mount, in June 1831, though it is likely that she was acquainted with the family beforehand through her cousin, the dramatist Henry Taylo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Gillies
Margaret Gillies (7 August 1803 – 20 July 1887) was a London-born Scottish portrait miniature, miniaturist and watercolourist. Biography Gillies was the second daughter of William Gillies, a Scottish merchant in Throgmorton Street, London, and his wife Charlotte Hester Bonnor (died 1811), daughter of Thomas Bonnor. Having lost their mother when Margaret was eight years old, and their father having met with business reverses, she and her older sister, Mary Gillies, Mary (1800–1870), were placed under the care of their uncle, Adam Gillies, Lord Gillies. They were educated by him, and then introduced to Edinburgh society. Before she was twenty, Gillies decided to earn her own living, and returned with her sister to her father's home in London. Mary Gillies became an author, while Margaret took the direction of a professional artist. She received lessons in miniature-painting from Frederick Cruikshank, and gained a reputation for it. Cruikshank's style was based on that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Wordsworth
Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had no ambitions to be a public author, yet she left behind numerous letters, diary entries, topographical descriptions, poems, and other writings. Life She was born on Christmas Day in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1771. Despite the early death of her mother, Dorothy, William and their three brothers had a happy childhood. When in 1783 their father died and the children were sent to live with various relatives, Dorothy was sent alone to live with her aunt, Elizabeth Threlkeld, in Halifax, West Yorkshire. After she was able to be reunited with William, firstly at Racedown Lodge in Dorset in 1795 and afterwards (1797/98) at Alfoxden House in Somerset, they became inseparable companions. The pair lived in poverty at first, and would often beg for ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanuenses
An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby assisted the blind composer Frederick Delius in writing down the notes that Delius dictated. Origin and secretarial uses The word originated in ancient Rome, for a slave at his master's personal service "within hand's reach", performing any command; later it was specifically applied to an intimately trusted servant (often a freedman) acting as a personal secretary (amanuensis is what he does, not what he is). In the Bible, the Apostle Paul is shown as the author of the Book of Romans. However, at the end of the book, Tertius of Iconium describes himself as the scribe who wrote the letter. A similar semantic evolution occurred at the French royal court, where the ''secrétaire de la main du roi'', originally a lowly clerk specializing i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1856 Deaths
Events January–March * January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California. * January 23 – American paddle steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatlantic voyage on which she will be lost with all 186 on board. * January 24 – U.S. President Franklin Pierce declares the new Free-State Topeka government in "Bleeding Kansas" to be in rebellion. * January 26 – First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the suppress an indigenous uprising, in response to Governor Stevens' declaration of a "war of extermination" on Native communities. * January 29 ** The 223-mile North Carolina Railroad is completed from Goldsboro through Raleigh and Salisbury to Charlotte. ** Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross as a British military decoration. * February ** The Tintic War breaks out in Utah. ** The National Dress Reform Association is founded in the United States to promote "rational" dress for w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1783 Births
Events January–March * January 20 – At Versailles, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain. * January 23 – The Confederation Congress ratifies two October 8, 1782, treaties signed by the United States with the United Netherlands. * February 3 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain acknowledges the independence of the United States of America. At this time, the Spanish government does not grant diplomatic recognition. * February 4 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States. * February 5 – 1783 Calabrian earthquakes: The first of a sequence of five earthquakes strikes Calabria, Italy (February 5–7, March 1 & 28), leaving 50,000 dead. * February 7 – The Great Siege of Gibraltar is abandoned. * February 26 – The United States Continental Army's Corps of Engineers is disbanded. * March 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Prelude
''The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind; An Autobiographical Poem '' is an autobiographical poem in blank verse by the English poet William Wordsworth. Intended as the introduction to the more philosophical poem ''The Recluse,'' which Wordsworth never finished, ''The Prelude'' is an extremely personal work and reveals many details of Wordsworth's life. Wordsworth began ''The Prelude'' in 1798, at the age of 28, and continued to work on it throughout his life. He never gave it a title, but called it the "Poem (title not yet fixed upon) to Coleridge" in his letters to his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. The poem was unknown to the general public until the final version was published three months after Wordsworth's death in 1850. Its present title was given to it by his widow Mary. Versions There are three versions of the poem: * The 1799 ''Prelude'', called the ''Two-Part Prelude'', composed 1798–1799, containing the first two parts of the later poem. * The 1805 ''Prelude'', which w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Quillinan
Edward Quillinan (12 August 1791 – 8 July 1851) was an English poet who was a son-in-law and defender of William Wordsworth and a translator of Portuguese poetry. Early life Quillinan was born in Oporto, Portugal, on 12 August 1791. His father, also named Edward Quillinan, was an Irishman of a good but impoverished family who had become a prosperous wine merchant at Oporto. In 1798, the younger Quillinan left Portugal to be educated at Roman Catholic schools in England; his mother (whose maiden name was Ryan) died soon after. After returning to Portugal, Quillinan worked in his father's counting-house, but this arrangement ceased upon the Invasion of Portugal under Jean-Andoche Junot in 1807, which obliged the family to seek refuge in England. Military service and early works After spending some time without any occupation, Quillinan enlisted in the army as a cornet in a cavalry regiment stationed at Walcheren. Some time afterwards, he passed into another regiment, stationed at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dora Wordsworth
Dorothy "Dora" Wordsworth (16 August 1804 – 9 July 1847) was the daughter of poet William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and his wife Mary Hutchinson. Her infancy inspired William Wordsworth to write "Address to My Infant Daughter" in her honour. As an adult, she was further immortalised by him in the 1828 poem "The Triad", along with Edith Southey and Sara Coleridge, daughters of her father's fellow Lake Poets. In 1843, at the age of 39, Dora Wordsworth married Edward Quillinan. While her father initially opposed the marriage, the "temperate but persistent pressure" exerted by Isabella Fenwick, a close family friend, convinced him to relent. Throughout her life, Wordsworth formed intense romantic attachments to both men and women, the most significant being her friendship with Maria Jane Jewsbury. Another close friend was Maria Kinnaird, adoptive daughter of Richard "Conversation" Sharp and the future wife of Thomas Drummond. Wordsworth and Kinnaird were friends from their tee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Taylor (dramatist)
Sir Henry Taylor (18 October 1800 – 27 March 1886) was an English dramatist and poet, Colonial Office official, and man of letters. Early life Henry Taylor was born on 18 October 1800 in Bishop Middleham. He was the third son of George Taylor Sr and Eleanor Ashworth, who died when he was an infant. His father remarried Jane Mills in 1818, and the family then moved to Witton-le-Wear. George Taylor Sr's friend Charles Arbuthnot found vocational positions in London for Henry Taylor and his elder brother, George Taylor Jr. In 1817, the pair along with their second brother, William, a medical student, went to London. Soon afterwards, all three siblings contracted typhus fever, and both his brothers died within a fortnight. Following this tragedy, Henry Taylor then accepted work in the Colonial administration of Barbados. Taylor's place in Barbados was abolished in 1820, subsequent to which he returned to his father's house. At the Colonial Office Taylor obtained a clerkship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lansdown Cemetery
Beckford's Tower, originally known as Lansdown Tower, is an architectural folly built in neo-classical style on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England. The tower and its attached railings are designated as a Grade I listed building. Along with the adjoining Lansdown Cemetery it is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. The tower was built for William Thomas Beckford, a rich novelist, art collector and critic, to designs by Henry Goodridge, and was completed in 1827. Beckford used it as a library and a retreat, with the cupola at the top acting as a belvedere providing views over the surrounding countryside. The Italianate building at the base of the tower housed drawing rooms and a library. Extensive grounds between Beckford's house in Lansdown Crescent and the tower were landscaped and planted to create Beckford's Ride. William Beckford's ability to build, and to collect, was made possible by the we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemmington Hall
Lemmington Hall is an 18th-century country mansion incorporating a 15th-century tower house, situated near Edlingham, Northumberland, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The original tower house built for the Beadnall family in the early 15th century was a four-storey construction which was reduced in height in the 17th century when Nicholas Fenwick (Mayor of Newcastle 1720) converted the building into a country house. Despite substantial alterations and improvements by architect William Newton in the late 18th century, the property had become a roofless ruin by the end of the 19th century. It was completely restored by Sir Stephen Aitchison (see Aitchison baronets), who acquired the ruinous property in 1913. In 1927 Aitchison bought an column, designed by Sir John Soane dedicated to the memory of members of the Evelyn family of Felbridge, Surrey, which he dismantled and re-erected in the grounds at Lemmington. In 1825 the property was acquired by William Pawson of S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, and the Sicilian School of poets who surrounded him then spread the form to the mainland. The earliest sonnets, however, no longer survive in the original Sicilian language, but only after being translated into Tuscan dialect. The term "sonnet" is derived from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (lit. "little song", derived from the Latin word ''sonus'', meaning a sound). By the 13th century it signified a poem of fourteen lines that followed a strict rhyme scheme and structure. According to Christopher Blum, during the Renaissance, the sonnet became the "choice mode of expressing romantic love". During that period, too, the form was taken up in many other European language areas and eventually any subject was considered acceptable for writers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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