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Marchmont (novel)
''Marchmont'' is Charlotte Smith's ninth novel, and follows the story of her heroine, Althea Dacres, and the Marchmont family. It was published in August 1796. Plot Volume 1 Chapter 1 Althea Dacres and her aunt Mrs. Trevyllian leave their home in the west of England to visit Sir Audley, Althea's father, at his home in London. From there they travel into Hertfordshire to visit a Mrs. Polwarth, a friend of Mrs. Trevyllian's, only to discover that she is gravely ill. Mrs. Trevyllian stays to nurse her friend, and Althea returns to London to stay at her father's house, where she receives a cold reception from Lady Dacres and especially from her servant, Morris. Characters Major characters * Althea Dacres – Althea is the protagonist of the novel. She is the daughter of Sir Audley by his first wife and was raised by her aunt, Mrs. Trevyllian. * Mrs. Anne Trevyllian – Mrs. Trevyllian is Althea Dacres's maternal aunt and her guardian. * Mrs. Dacres (née Trevyllian) – Alth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlotte Smith (writer)
Charlotte Smith (née Turner; – ) was an English novelist and poet of the School of Sensibility whose ''Elegiac Sonnets'' (1784) contributed to the revival of the form in England. She also helped to set conventions for Gothic fiction and wrote political novels of sensibility. Despite ten novels, four children's books and other works, she saw herself mainly as a poet and expected to be remembered for that. Smith left her husband and began writing to support their children. Her struggles for legal independence as a woman affect her poetry, novels and autobiographical prefaces. She is credited with turning the sonnet into an expression of woeful sentiment and her early novels show development in sentimentality. Later novels such as ''Desmond'' and '' The Old Manor House'' praised the ideals of the French Revolution. Waning interest left her destitute by 1803. Barely able to hold a pen, she sold her book collection to pay debts and died in 1806. Largely forgotten by the mid-19t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna Hall, Susanna, and twins Hamnet Shakespeare, Hamnet and Judith Quiney, Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shylock
Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the story. Shylock's characterisation is composed of stereotypes, for instance greediness and vengefulness, although there were no practising Jews who lived in England during Shakespearean England. Jews were expelled from the country in 1290 by Edward I in the Edict of Expulsion; this was not reversed until the Cromwell Era. Name Shylock is not a Jewish name. However, some scholars believe it probably derives from the biblical name Shalah, which is (''Šélaḥ'') in Hebrew. Shalah is the grandson of Shem and the father of Eber, biblical progenitor of Hebrew peoples. All the names of Jewish characters in the play derive from minor figures listed in genealogies in the Book of Genesis. It is possible that Shakespeare originally intended t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Usury
Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusive interest rates or other factors defined by the laws of a state. Someone who practices usury can be called a ''usurer'', but in modern colloquial English may be called a ''loan shark''. In many historical societies including ancient Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, usury meant the charging of interest of any kind, and was considered wrong, or was made illegal. During the Sutra period in India (7th to 2nd centuries BC) there were laws prohibiting the highest castes from practicing usury. Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism (''Loans and interest in Judaism, ribbit'' in He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gothic Fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels. The first work to call itself Gothic was Horace Walpole's 1764 novel ''The Castle of Otranto'', later subtitled "A Gothic Story". Subsequent 18th century contributors included Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, William Beckford (novelist), William Thomas Beckford, and Matthew Gregory Lewis, Matthew Lewis. The Gothic influence continued into the early 19th century, works by the Romantic poetry, Romantic poets, and novelists such as Mary Shelley, Charles Maturin, Walter Scott and E. T. A. Hoffmann frequently drew upon gothic motifs in their works. The early Victorian literature, Victorian period continued the use of gothic, in novels by Charles Dickens and the Brontë family, Brontë sisters, as well as works by the American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monthly Review (London)
''The Monthly Review'' (1749–1845) was an English periodical founded by Ralph Griffiths, a Nonconformist bookseller. The first periodical in England to offer reviews, it featured the novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith as an early contributor. Griffiths himself, and likely his wife Isabella Griffiths, contributed review articles to the periodical. Later contributors included Dr. Charles Burney, John Cleland, Theophilus Cibber, James Grainger, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Elizabeth Moody, and Tobias Smollett—who would go on to establish the ''Monthly'''s competitor in 1756, ''The Critical Review''. William Kenrick, the "superlative scoundrel", was editor from 1759 to 1766. Publishing history of the ''Monthly Review'' *Volumes 1–81, May 1749–Dec. 1789; * v. 1–108, Jan. 1790–Nov. 1825; *new ser., v. 1–15, Jan. 1826–Dec. 1830; *new ser., v. 1–45, Jan. 1831–Dec. 1844. (The 4-month volumes in this series are numbered I, II, and III on the title page, restarting at I e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Critical Review
''The Critical Review'' was a British publication appearing from 1756 to 1817. It was first edited by Tobias Smollett, from 1756 to 1763. Contributors included Samuel Johnson, David Hume, John Hunter, and Oliver Goldsmith. Early years The Edinburgh printer Archibald Hamilton started publishing ''The Critical Review'' in 1756 with Tobias Smollett as its first editor. The content was mainly book reviews, which were often long and favourable, with copious verbatim quotations. The Tory and High Church perspectives of contributors came through clearly, however. Besides Smollett, the writers of the first two volumes have been identified as John Armstrong, Samuel Derrick, Thomas Francklin, and Patrick Murdoch. After a libel against Admiral Sir Charles Knowles in the ''Review'', Smollett was sentenced to a fine of £100 and three months in King's Bench Prison. In 1763 he retired from the ''Review'', but left it as an influential publication. Sources External links Full textsat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1796 Novels
Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York. * February 9 – The Qianlong Emperor of China abdicates at age 84 to make way for his son, the Jiaqing Emperor. * February 15 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Invasion of Ceylon (1795) ends when Johan van Angelbeek, the Batavian governor of Ceylon, surrenders Colombo peacefully to British forces. * February 16 – The Kingdom of Great Britain is granted control of Ceylon by the Dutch. * February 29 – Ratifications of the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States are officially exchanged, bringing it into effect.''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
