The writ of discharge formerly granted to those barons and knights who personally attended the king on a foreign expedition. At their discharge they were exempt from the claim of scutage…
The Duchess of Portsmouth, a favourite court lady of Charles II. The allusion is to the wife of Uriah the Hittite, criminally beloved by David (2 Sam. xi.). The Duke of Monmouth says: My…
the squire of Don Quixote, was governor of Barataria, according to Cervantes. He is described as a short, pot-bellied rustic, full of common sense, but without a grain of “spirituality.”…
A cinerary urn of transparent dark-blue glass, long in possession of the Barberini family. In 1770 it was purchased by Sir William Hamilton, for 1,000 guineas, and cams afterwards into the…
(French). Le Grand Corneille. Corneille, the French dramatist (1606-1684). Le Grand Dauphin. Louis, son of Louis XIV. (1661-1711). La Grande Mademoiselle. The Duchesse de Montpensier,…
(3 syl.; g hard). La Belle Gabrielle. Daughter of Antoine d'Estrées, grand-master of artillery, and governor of the Ile de France. Henri IV., towards the close of 1590, happened to sojourn…
by John Gettings From the Spotlight Archive: This feature appeared in June 1998 The Duke and Duchess of Kent politely applaud American Pete Sampras' victory in 1997, but the royals and the home…
(To Brioche (2 syl.). A sort of bun or cake common in France, and now pretty generally sold in England. When Marie Antoinette was talking about the bread riots of Paris during the 5th and…
The first known representation of Britannia as a female figure sitting on a globe, leaning with one arm on a shield, and grasping a spear in the other hand, is on a Roman coin of Antoninus…
A character in the Battle of Alcazar (1594) by George Peele. It is referred to by Pistol in 2 Henry IV., act ii. 4; and Sir W. Scott uses the word over and over again as the synonym of…
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