England

The Birth of the Dictionary

Among Johnson’s principal aims, he wrote, was to produce a volume, ‘for the use of such as aspire to exactness of criticism or elegance of style’. H.P. Collins assesses whether he succeeded.

Napoleon III and Napoleon IV

Joanna Richardson describes how the last Emperor of the French died at Chislehurst, Kent; his son was killed in the British Zulu war.

Gronow’s Reminiscences

John Raymond offers the picturesque records of an amiable spendthrift who lived through the greater part of one of the most eventful centuries of English history.

A Diary of 1803

In the month after the Napoleonic Wars resumed, writes R.M. Anthony, a middle-aged widow and three of her young daughters made an extensive sight-seeing tour of England and Scotland.

The Spa Fields Riots, 1816

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, writes Arthur Calder-Marshall, London became a centre of reforming agitation against poverty and political mismanagement.