England

The Writing on the Wall

The Tower of London, writes E.A. Humphrey Fenn, contains on its walls an extensive collection of prisoners’ graffiti.

The Letters of Junius: Philip Francis

Romney Sedgwick describes how, under the pen-name of Junius, Sir Philip Francis ‘threw his firebrands’ at King and Government during the years 1769-72.

Bede of Jarrow

W.N. Bryant introduces Bede, the ‘Father of English History’, a Northumbrian Monk who devoted his life to study, teaching and church services.

Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers

‘On the winning side, yet subject to all the former tyrannies,’ the radical Winstanley in 1649 protested against Cromwell’s rule. By A.A. Mitchell.

The Duchess and the Doctors

David Green describes how, during her long life, the Duchess of Marlborough ceaselessly sought for a panacea against illness and disease.

The Keelmen of Tyneside

From the fourteenth century until the building of the railways, writes D.J. Rowe, the Newcastle keelmen were indispensable and pugnacious carriers between collieries and sea-going ships.

Natural Philosophy in James Howell

Meyrick Carre introduces James Howell; an enquiring disciple of the new astronomers who enlivened the British seventeenth-century scene, and ended his life as historiographer-royal to Charles II.