A Victorian Era Criminal Leads Police on a High Speed Bicycle Chase
In September of 1896, British newspapers reported the remarkable use of a bicycle in a New Jersey murder case. The case involved two men who had both emigrated to America from London in the early 1890s. One of these men was a farmer named Mr. Haggett who settled down with his family on a farm near Somerville. The other man was a fellow named Mr. Clossen who Haggett employed as a farm laborer. Sometime in 1896, Haggett caught Clossen stealing. In consequence, he not only fired him from his job, but also refused to pay him the thirty dollars in wages that Clossen believed he was owed.[…]Continue Reading
The Victorian Demagogue: 19th Century Words on a Modern Day Danger
“No organist can manipulate the stops and keys of his instrument with more dexterity than the demagogue exhibits in playing upon the different weaknesses, errors, and absurdities of the untutored mind.”
Kent & Sussex Courier, 1874.
National Portrait Gallery)
The word demagogue is thrown around quite a bit in politics today, but the term itself is nothing new. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a demagogue as a “political agitator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of the mob in order to obtain power.” In the Victorian era, such a man was considered dangerous. Philosophers, poets, and newspapermen alike sought to warn the public, reasoning that the better one understood the repertoire of a demagogue, the less chance the demagogue would have of success. Their commentary is incredibly modern and (as in the case of a poem on demagoguery) occasionally quite humorous. In today’s article, we look at a few of the highlights.
Literary Obituaries: Death Notices for Austen, Byron, Brontë, and Dickens
Today, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Charlotte Brontë, and Charles Dickens are generally recognized as four of the greatest authors in English literature. But how did their contemporaries view them? Were their works appreciated? And how did the 19th century public feel when three of them, still in their prime, met an untimely end? To discover the answers to these questions, one might delve into the legions of biographies written over the years or have a look at their letters, journals, or contemporary reviews of their poems and novels. However, since it is less than a week until Halloween, I thought we might instead take a brief look at their obituaries.[…]Continue Reading
The Origins of the Unicorn
According to historians, the legend of the unicorn first emerged in 398 BC courtesy of the Greek physician Ctesias. Ctesias wrote an account of India, titled Indica. He attests that all recorded within his account are things that he has witnessed himself or that he has had related to him by credible witnesses. This account of India, though largely lost, has been preserved in a fragmentary abstract made in the 9th century by Photios I of Constantinople. In the twenty-fifth fragment, Ctesias writes of the unicorn, stating:[…]Continue Reading
Robert Southey and the Cats of Greta Hall
Born of humble origins in 1774, Robert Southey went on to become Poet Laureate of England from 1813 until his death in 1843. A contemporary of 19th century Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he was an incredibly prolific writer, both of poetry and of prose. He was also a great lover of cats, as evidenced in his vast correspondence with friends and family.[…]Continue Reading