She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen. Marie Antoinette's position at court improved when, after eight years of marriage, she started having children. She became increasingly unpopular among the people, however, with the French libelles accusing her of being profligate, promiscuous, allegedly having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies—particularly her native Austria. The false accusations of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace damaged her reputation further. During the Revolution, she became known as Madame Déficit because the country's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to the social and financial reforms of Turgot and Necker.

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Greetings. I wish you all a happy and joyful New Year. I hope your life will be illuminated by love, warmth, happiness and joy.

I hope your Christmas was a good one and 2016 has been kind to you.

I hope that 2017 will be a year of peace and joy for all, many people around the world have not seen peace for years. Let hope and pray that their dreams of peace will be answered. Lets hope that the peoples of Iraq and Syria and the rest of the Middle East enjoy peace and happiness.

There are many who I feel sorry for, many peoples are now suffering from floods, fires, war and terrorist threats.

In Europe there have been terrorist attacks, earth quakes, civil unrest and major accidents.

My sympathies are with the people effected by these events. I hope next year will be kinder to them than the last year.

Take care my friends.

I once again wish you a Happy New year, I hope this one will be a good one for you.

Have fun.

Kind regards

Ross

This miserable winter is getting to me. How many ways can you say "brutal temperatures"? The broadcasters need to find a new word. I've never felt so house-bound by a winter. My sympathies to all.

I took this in 2007. This beautiful llama was begging for a photo. I wonder if llamas can see colors......

~~~ Rest in peace, Pete Seeger. You've earned it. ~~~

Or a Roman for that matter? An image of antiquity! Explore #434 April 8th

On a more serious note my sympathies to the Greek people for the economic disaster the euro has brought them....and are the Italians far behind?

Two wooden dice placed on a mirror -this represents my feelings at the mo. The negative is that my mobility has deteriorated at such an alarming rate during Lockdown that my MS Team sent an Occupational Therapist around this morning to assess my needs around the home. To me this is a positive with a capital P because I'm to buy a stairlift asap and will be provided with other equipment around my home to make my life easier, Please, no sympathies nor 'poor yous' This is the best thing since sliced bread, as the saying goes.

A post and run shot because I have things to sort asap

Built about 1698 by Jacob Leonard

sold to Rev. Allen, Minister of the First Parish Church, who under pressure for his Tory sympathies, sold the property to Col. Josiah Edson, a Tory who occupied it until 1775, when it was confiscated by The Continental Congress.

Prior to the Civil War it was a station on the Underground, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada.

REGENSBURG (RATISBON), a city and episcopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and the capital of the government district of the Upper Palatinate. Pop. (1905) 48,412. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the influx of the Regen, 86 m. by rail N.E. from Munich, and 60 m.

S.E. of Nuremberg. On the other side of the river is the suburb Stadt-am-Hof, connected with Regensburg by a long stone bridge of the 12th century, above and below which are the islands of Oberer and Unterer Worth. In appearance the town is quaint and romantic, presenting almost as faithful a picture of a town of the early middle ages as Nuremberg does of the later. One of the most characteristic features in its architecture is the number of strong loopholed towers attached to the more ancient dwellings. The interesting "street of the envoys" (Gesandtenstrasse) is so called because it contained the residences of most of the envoys to the German diet, whose coats-of-arms may still be seen on many of the houses.

The cathedral, though small, is a very interesting example of pure German Gothic. It was founded in 1275, and completed in 1634, with the exception of the towers, which were finished in 1869. The interior contains numerous interesting monuments, including one of Peter Vischer's masterpieces. Adjoining the cloisters are two chapels of earlier date than the cathedral itself, one of which, known as the "old cathedral," goes back perhaps to the 8th century. The church of St James - also called Schottenkirche - a plain Romanesque basilica of the 12th century, derives its name from the monastery of Irish Benedictines ("Scoti") to which it was attached; the principal doorway is covered with very singular grotesque carvings. The old parish church of St Ulrich is a good example of the Transition style of the 13th century, and contains a valuable antiquarian collection. Examples of the Romanesque basilica style are the church of Obermiinster, dating from Iwo, and the abbey church of St Emmeran, built in the 13th century, and remarkable as one of the few German churches with a detached belfry. The beautiful cloisters of the ancient abbey, one of the oldest in Germany, are still in fair preservation. In 1809 the conventual buildings were converted into a palace for the prince of Thurn and Taxis, hereditary postmaster-general of the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall, dating in part from the 14th century, contains the rooms occupied by the imperial diet from 1663 to 1806. An historical interest also attaches to the Gasthof zum Goldenen Kreuz (Golden Cross Inn), where Charles V. made the acquaintance of Barbara Blomberg, the mother of Don John of Austria (b. 1547). The house is also shown where Kepler died in 1630. Perhaps the most pleasing modern building in the city is the Gothic villa of the king of Bavaria on the bank of the Danube. At Kumpfmiihl, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city, was discovered, in 1885, the remains of a Roman camp with an arched gateway; the latter, known as the Porta Praetoria, was cleared in 1887. Among the public institutions of the city should be mentioned the public library, picture gallery, botanical garden, and the institute for the making of stained glass. The educational establishments include two gymnasia, an episcopal clerical seminary, a seminary for boys and a school of church music. Among the chief manufactures are iron and steel wares, pottery, parquet flooring, tobacco, and lead pencils. Boat-building is also prosecuted, and a brisk transit trade is carried on in salt, grain and timber.

Near Regensburg are two very handsome classical buildings, erected by Louis I. of Bavaria as national monuments of German patriotism and greatness. The more imposing of the two is the Walhalla, a costly reproduction of the Parthenon, erected as a Teutonic temple of fame on a hill rising from the Danube at Donaustauf, 6 m. to the east. The interior, which is as rich as coloured marbles, gilding, and sculptures can make it, contains the busts of more than a hundred German worthies. The second of King Louis's buildings is the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, 14 m. above. Regensburg, a, large circular building which has for its aim the glorification of the heroes of the war of liberation in 1813.

The early Celtic settlement of Radespona (L. Lat. Ratisbona) was chosen by the Romans, who named it Castra Regina, as the centre of their power on the upper Danube. It is mentioned as a trade centre as early as the 2nd century. It afterwards became the seat of the dukes of Bavaria, and one of the main bulwarks of the East Frankish monarchy; and it was also the focus from which Christianity spread over southern Germany. ' St Emmeran founded. an abbey here in the middle of the 7th century, and St Boniface established the bishopric about a hundred years later. Regensburg acquired the freedom of the empire in the 13th century, and was for a time the most flourishing city in southern Germany. It became the chief seat of the trade with India and the Levant, and the boatmen of Regensburg are frequently heard of as expediting the journeys of the Crusaders. The city was loyally Ghibelline in its sympathies, and was a favourite residence of the emperors. Numerous diets were held here from time to time, and after. 1663 it became the regular place of meeting of the German diet. The Reformation found only temporary acceptance at 'Regensburg, and was met by a counter-reformation inspired by the Jesuits. Before this. period the city had almost wholly lost its commercial importance owing to the changes in the great highways of trade. Regensburg had its due share in the Thirty Years' and other wars, and is said to have suffered in all no fewer than seventeen sieges. In 1807 the town and bishopric were assigned to the prince primate Dalberg, and in 1810 they were ceded to Bavaria. After the battle of Eggmiihl in 1809 the Austrians retired upon Regensburg, and the pursuing French defeated them again beneath its walls and reduced a great part of the city to ashes.

From:

www.1911encyclopedia.org/Regensburg

"How strange are presentiments, sympathies, and even omens! ...

“Life seems too short to me to spend it hating and taking account of the wrongs of others.”

(From the novel Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë)

Happy February 1st and a reminder that Valentine's Day is around the corner and that 2024 is a leap year.

My sympathies extend to all salaried employees who find themselves working an additional day this year without compensation.

Deepest sympathies go to the family, friends and comrades of the pilot who lost his life this morning the tragic crash of 48th FW F15C Eagle 86-0176.

He seemed to live only for his lantern. There he lived, silently, watchfully, his eyes ever fixed on the vessels going or returning; isolated from his fellow-beings; above life, and yet below it; above its affections, its hopes, its fears, its sympathies, and yet only half alive; dead to the world, and yet a world to himself; a fiery human soul in the midst of a waste of waters. -- Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell, The Lighthouse: A Novel, 1860

Excerpt from niagaragreenbelt.com:

Bowslaugh House

The first house built in this location was built in 1846 by John Beamer Bowslaugh, who donated the land on the lakeshore for the Ontario Methodist Camp Meeting Ground (currently Grimsby Park). The house was destroyed by fire in 1874, and was rebuilt as it appears today. It has been restored by the present owner John Allen. Notice the barn which has an off grain cupola. This is said to have represented the owners Pro-Confederate sympathies.

The widow's walk was built around 1920. A widow's walk is a railed rooftop platform, originally designed to observe vessels at sea. The name comes from the wives of mariners who would watch for their spouses to return. In some instances, the ocean took the lives of the mariners, leaving the women as widows; they would often thereafter gaze out to sea wishing that their loved ones would return home and hence the name widow's walk was born.

Taken a few weeks ago now. A lucky day where I was getting a break from the chronic Migraines Id had since October! Thankfully now they're gone, any of my flickr friends who suffer from them, you have my sympathies!! Was well worth getting up at dawn and risking triggering one that day, it was simply stunning :o)

Where Have All The Flowers Gone -anti-war song

has roots in Ukraine

Few people are well aware that central passages from this song come from a Ukrainian folk song.

Model: The lullaby in the novel "Stiller Don"

Seeger came to this folk song via literature. He had sympathies for socialist and communist ideas. In the 1950s he read the Soviet novel The Silent Don. This book tells about the First World War, but above all about the civil war after the October Revolution. It is a mammoth work with 2,000 pages.

The hero is a Don Cossack fighting on both sides, a failing hero. Incidentally, the author Mikhail Sholokhov received the Nobel Prize in Literature for this in 1965, although there were already allegations of plagiarism at the time that he could not have written such a work. But that's another story.

Crucial to Pete Seeger's future famous song was a scene in the novel when a female character sings a lullaby to a child. These lines impressed Pete Seeger and he wrote them down. These were the famous words that form the core of his song:

And where are the geese? They ran into the reeds. And where are the reeds? Mowed by girls. And where are the girls? Married long ago. And where the Cossacks? Are off to war.

From the novel "Silent Don" by Mikhail Sholokhov

Our sympathies go to some of our fellows who have to show the Finnish sisu, stay strong together and stand the heat...!

Greetings. Wishing you a happy Sunday.

My thoughts and sympathies are with all those affected by Hurricane Irma and Jose. As well as those who are living in or around their projected paths.

Lets hope and pray the hurricanes dissipate soon.

I hope the peoples of the communities and dependences affected by this disaster are given the help they need.

The news footage shows huge amounts of damage. Like a war zone. Lets hope that things will improve for the peoples of these areas soon.

I can not imagine the fear they must of felt and now how they feel when there is so little left undamaged. There is a difference between placement of words to an event and truly being able to imagine the implication of them.

Warm regards

Brancacci Chapel - Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Nel 1268 un gruppo di frati giunti da Pisa fonda a Firenze la chiesa della beata Vergine del Carmelo. I lavori di costruzione vengono portati avanti con il contributo del Comune e delle più facoltose famiglie fiorentine e si protraggono anche oltre la data della consacrazione (1422), terminando soltanto nel 1475.

Nel 1423 il ricco mercante Felice Brancacci , di ritorno dall’Egitto, commissiona l’esecuzione degli affreschi. Alle Storie di San Pietro, santo a cui era in origine intitolata la cappella, lavorano insieme Masolino e Masaccio; a causa della partenza del primo per

l’Ungheria e del secondo per Roma, nel 1427 gli affreschi rimangono però incompiuti.

In seguito all’esilio del Brancacci (1436), caduto in disgrazia per le sue simpatie antimedicee, i frati del convento fanno cancellare i ritratti di tutti i personaggi legati alla sua famiglia e nel 1460 intitolano la cappella alla Madonna del Popolo, inserendovi la venerata tavola duecentesca.

Soltanto negli anni 1481-1483 Filippino Lippi effettuerà il ripristino e il completamento delle scene mancanti. I dipinti rischiano più volte di andare perduti: nel 1680 la Granduchessa Vittoria della Rovere si oppone al proposito del marchese Ferroni di trasformare la cappella in stile barocco, ma alla metà del Settecento vengono effettuati interventi di ammodernamento che distruggono le pitture della volta e delle lunette. Scampata all’incendio che nel 1771 devasta l’interno della chiesa, la cappella è acquistata nel 1780 dai Riccardi, che rinnovano altare e pavimento. Gli affreschi, trascurati per tutto l’Ottocento, vengono sottoposti a spolveratura nel 1904; l’intervento di restauro effettuato negli anni Ottanta del Novecento ha finalmente permesso di recuperare la loro limpida e brillante cromia.

In 1268 a group of friars from Pisa founded the church of the Blessed Virgin of Carmel in Florence. The construction works were carried out with the contribution of the Municipality and of the wealthiest Florentine families and went on even beyond the date of the consecration (1422), ending only in 1475.

In 1423 the rich merchant Felice Brancacci, returning from Egypt, commissioned the execution of the frescoes. Masolino and Masaccio worked together on the Stories of Saint Peter, the saint to whom the chapel was originally dedicated.

because of the departure of the first for Hungary and of the second for Rome, in 1427 the frescoes remained unfinished.

Following the exile of Brancacci (1436), who had fallen into disgrace because of his anti-Medicean sympathies, the friars of the convent had the portraits of all the personages linked to his family erased and in 1460 they entitled the chapel to the Madonna del Popolo, inserting in it the venerated 13th-century panel.

It was only in the years 1481-1483 that Filippino Lippi carried out the restoration and completion of the missing scenes. The paintings were in danger of being lost several times: in 1680 the Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere opposed the intention of the Marquis Ferroni to transform the chapel in Baroque style, but in the middle of the eighteenth century are made modernization interventions that destroy the paintings of the vault and of the lunettes. Escaped the fire that devastated the interior of the church in 1771. of the church, the chapel was purchased in 1780 by the Riccardi, who renovated the altar and the floor. The frescoes, neglected throughout the nineteenth century, were subjected to dusting in 1904. 1904; the restoration work carried out in the 1980s restoration carried out in the eighties of the twentieth century has finally allowed to recover their their clear and bright colors.

I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.

--Ash (Ian Holm) - 'Alien' (1979)

Faith is my muse. She brings me great joy everyday. She's very affectionate and loving. She has that human quality to her where she understands my words quite well and I understand her needs too.

Faith's been trained from puppyhood to look at the camera, but today I chose a shot where she's looking out the window. I can almost feel her thoughts here.

Faith is so good to me. Always there when I need a friend... she's loving the fact that I home all the time now. So are my other two... but they don't understand Mommy is not making money and they don't have to pay the bills...

COVID 19 IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR EXIT!

I pray for the world to heal soon... and my sympathies go out to all those who lost loved ones.

Today I read of sweet Niko's passing.

Sending our love and sympathies..

Thank you to www.flickr.com/photos/utski729/, for sharing her beautiful little boy with us.

He will be so sadly missed..

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

A three metre high statue of a Seated Man has appeared in one of the most dramatic locations on the North York Moors. Rumours abound that it looked like an exiled Jeremy Corbyn sent to the moors to reflect; I knew I had to check it out. With the summer heather season in full swing, it is definitely the best time of year and little excuse is needed to get out into the North York Moors right now!

The painted bronze statue was created by artist Sean Henry and commissioned by the David Ross Foundation. David Ross is the co-founder of the UK company Carphonewarehouse and owns the land the statue stands on at Castleton Rigg in Westerdale.

The Seated Man was put up in June 2017, and is so far proving to be a big draw for tourists and visitors prepared to hike the half a mile from the nearest road to see it. The figure gazes out over Westerdale contemplating the landscape and is due to remain in place for five years.

Sean describes the artwork as “The tension between the making and staging of figures that seem to belong to the real world and the degree to which they echo our experiences and sympathies.”

Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

My prayers and sympathies go out to the people of Japan.

Here in Hawai‘i, so far there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries from the tsunami that reached us on Friday morning, March 11th. Most of the damage appears to be on the Kona Coast of the Big Island and in small boat harbors across the island chain.

Le Bambole Mk. IV, "the Midi" Pinhole Camera. Fujifilm FP-100C45 film. Exposure: f/111 and 10 minutes.

ADDENDUM March 17, 2011

Here are a few suggested links on maps/remote sensing imagery showing the disaster in Japan:

1) New York Times - before and after satellite images:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satelli...

2) Japan incident map from ESRI:

www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/japan-earthquake-...

And NHK World's live broadcast (in English): www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

It's amazing how many Mississippians seem not to realize that the flag on the right was (and thankfully is) the enemy of the flag on the left.

I think many latter-day Confederate sympathizers have no idea how far the South (and Mississippi in particular) moved toward an embrace of pure evil in the years leading up to the Civil War. I suspect their sympathies are influenced both by their lack of knowledge of the cause for which Southern governments fought and by the undoubted heroism of the Confederate soldiers who fought so bravely against hopeless odds.

When Mississippi was first admitted to the Union in 1817, its citizens still keenly felt the inherent tension between the statement in the Declaration of Independence that "all Men are created Equal" and the institution of chattel slavery.

In an 1818 decision, Harry v. Decker, 1 Miss. 36, the Mississippi Supreme Court declared, "Slavery is condemned by reason and the laws of nature. It exists and can only exist, through municipal regulations, and in matters of doubt, is it not an unquestioned rule, that courts must lean 'in favorem vitae et libertatis [in favor of life and liberty]'?"

In an 1820 decision, Mississippi v. Jones, 1 Miss. 83, the defendant who was charged with murder for killing a slave, appealed on the ground that a slave was not a human being. The Mississippi Supreme Court resoundingly rejected this argument:

"In this state, the Legislature have considered slaves as reasonable and accountable beings and it would be a stigma upon the character of the state, and a reproach to the administration of justice, if the life of a slave could be taken with impunity, or if he could be murdered in cold blood, without subjecting the offender to the highest penalty known to the criminal jurisprudence of the country. Has the slave no rights, because he is deprived of his freedom? He is still a human being, and possesses all those right, of which he is not deprived by the positive provisions of the law, but in vain shall we look for any law passed by the enlightened and philanthropic legislature of this state, giving even to the master, much less to a stranger, power over the life of a slave. Such a statute would be worthy the age of Draco or Caligula, and would be condemned by the unanimous voice of the people of this state, where, even cruelty to slaves, much less the taking away of life, meets with universal reprobation."

And, it should be noted, the Mississippi Constitution of 1832 forbade the importation of slaves into the state of Mississippi from either abroad or from another state within the United States.

But by the days immediately preceding the Civil War, white Mississippians had wholly lost their moral bearings, as can be readily seen from two astonishing Mississippi Supreme Court cases from 1859.

In the case of George (a slave) v. Mississippi, 37 Miss. 316 (1859), the defendant (George) was convicted of the rape of a 10 year old slave girl and sentenced to hang. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the conviction. The Mississippi Supreme Court held that as a slave, the little ten year old girl had no protection against being raped because "the common law has no relation to the rights of slaves, and can afford them no protection." Instead, unless the legislature had passed a law specifically protecting slaves, the Roman laws of antiquity were still applicable, which allowed slaves to be "tortured for evidence, punished at the discretion of their lord, or even put to death by his authority." The 1859 Mississippi Supreme Court did note its 1820 decision of Mississippi v. Jones, which had held that slaves were human beings entitled to protection of the law, but summarily rejected it as "founded mainly upon the unmeaning twaddle, in which some humane judges and law writers have indulged, as to the influence of the 'natural law' [and] 'civilization and Christian enlightenment.'"

George the rapist was allowed to live, with the punishment (if any) for his horrendous crime left solely to the discretion of his owner.

In the case of Mitchell v. Wells, 37 Miss. 235 (1859), the issue was the validity of a bequest of $3,000 in a will of a deceased white Mississippian to a Negro woman who was living in Ohio as a free woman under the laws of that state. The woman was the white man's daughter and he had traveled with her to Ohio, a free state, where he had freed her. Mississippi had passed a law forbidding the emancipation of any slaves within the state of Mississippi. However, this law had been interpreted by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1840 as allowing slaves to be sent to Liberia for emancipation, as this emancipation occurred outside the borders of Mississippi. See Ross v. Vertner, 6 Miss. 305 (1840).

Despite its precedent in Ross, the 1859 version of the Mississippi Supreme Court contemptuously rejected the daughter's plea that she be allowed to receive her father's bequest. The Mississippi Supreme Court declared the state of Ohio, which had decided that blacks could live as free people within its borders, to be "forgetful of her constitutional obligations to the whole race, and afflicted with a negro-mania, which inclines her to descend, rather than elevate herself in the scale of humanity." It declared blacks to be "an inferior caste, incapable of the blessings of free government, and occupying, in the order of nature, an intermediate state between the irrational animal and the white man." It voided the will's bequest to the Negro daughter because Ohio's attempt to confer rights on black people was morally unacceptable:

"Suppose that Ohio, still further afflicted with her peculiar philanthropy, should determine to descend another grade in the scale of her peculiar humanity, and claim to confer citizenship on the chimpanzee or the ourang-outang (the most respectable of the monkey tribe), are we to be told that "comity" will require of the States not thus demented, to forget their own policy and self-respect, and lower their own citizens and institutions in the scale of being, to meet the necessities of the mongrel race thus attempted to be introduced into the family of sisters in this confederacy?

If the sister, in violation of morality, and respect for herself, as well as her associates of the old household, will insist on the meretricious embrace, we are neither bound to sanction nor respect it, much less to receive her new associate into our immediate circle."

This passionate embrace of the "right" of one race to exercise totalitarian power over another was at the heart of Mississippian's decision to secede from the United States and to enter into the Civil War. The second paragraph of the Mississippi Secession Convention's Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union reads as follows:

"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin."

When I think of the noble sacrifices of the Southern patriots who charged into the hailstorm of cannon balls, grape shot, bullets, and cannister at Gettysburg, I also think of the fact that many of those so bravely giving their lives were fighting for the proposition that black ten year girls could be raped with impunity and fathers have no right to leave their inheritances to their black daughters.

Still, to this Southern white boy, they were brave and noble, so I ultimately share the sentiments of General Grant in the final pages of his autobiography describing his emotions at Appomattox: "I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though it was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse."

This portrait of Katherine Parr is clearly from a template produced for multiple portrait copies of the queen to be hung in the halls of English nobility. It seems to generally fit the overall image of Katherine as reddish-blonde-haired, blue eyed, healthy, and attractive.

Portrait painted by an unknown artist, possibly a follower of Hans Eworth, in the 16th century.

Oil on panel. Collection of Appleby Castle.

Philip Mould: "As the famous rhyme suggests, Katherine Parr’s record as the last of Henry VIII’s six wives was unique. She survived. Though Anne of Cleves, the sad ‘Flanders Mare’ unable to arouse England’s most insatiable monarch, lived on until 1557 it is only Katherine who was neither divorced, beheaded, or died. She was by any standards a remarkable woman: beautiful enough to marry the King of England, despite having neither royal nor court background; shrewd enough to remain his Queen, despite court plots and an attempt on her life; and courageous enough to sustain the Protestant cause, despite Henry’s latent sympathies for the Roman faith. She was Regent of England during Henry’s invasion of France in 1544. And with her publication of religious works such as Prayers or Meditations in 1545, she became not only the first English Queen to publish a work of prose, but the first woman to do so in the sixteenth century.

Katherine became Queen of England in July 1543. Henry was her third husband, but, on this occasion, not her first choice. She had instead fallen in love with the dashing courtier Thomas Seymour, and was understandably wary of Henry’s past form when it came to marital relations. Five wives had failed – what chance did a sixth have of success? Nonetheless, to turn down the King’s offer of marriage was unthinkable. Katherine, a deeply devout woman, determined that if she was to be Queen, she would be Queen with a purpose. That purpose was to further the cause of the Protestant Reformation.

In doing so Katherine, literally, risked her life. Never afraid to exercise her sharp mind, Katherine had become accustomed to discussing religion with Henry VIII. Though this was at first welcomed by the King, the conservative factions of court and church were terrified of any radical words whispered into the Royal ear - that after all was how Anne Boleyn had first led Henry towards Lutheranism. To conservatives like Bishop Gardiner and Chancellor Wriothesley the answer seemed obvious – Katherine should meet the same fate as Anne. At first, Henry, increasingly irascible from ulcerated legs, indicated that Katherine’s days were numbered. An arrest warrant was drawn up, and, amid rumours of ‘a new queen’, arrest could only have been followed by death. But Katherine succeeded in persuading Henry of her good faith and innocent naivety. “Is it even so, Sweetheart?”, said the King, “Then perfect friends we are now again…” Thus did Tudor Royalty kiss and make up.

Katherine’s victory checked any conservative renaissance in the final years of the King’s reign. From now all eyes turned to the future (Protestant) reign of Edward VI. Here, Katherine appears to have been less successful, and for once followed her heart rather than her head. With ill-considered haste, she took Thomas Seymour as her lover within weeks of Henry’s death in 1547, and married him just months later. In doing so she lost any chance she may have had in exercising power during Edward’s minority. And yet, perhaps her final and most enduring success was yet to come, for in helping to restore the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession she had extended the Tudor dynasty by half a century. Katherine died after giving birth to a daughter in 1548.

The iconography of Katherine Parr is of particular interest. It is ironic that so few portraits of the Queen appear to survive, given that she was the foremost patron of portraiture in mid-Tudor England. There are several reasons why the Queen liked portraiture, not least because she evidently liked art. But perhaps the most intriguing reason may lie in Henry VIII’s habit (undoubtedly annoying to Catherine) of repeatedly portraying himself with Jane Seymour. Was Katherine’s jealousy manifested in art? Was her decision to commission the first full-length portraits of Elizabeth and Mary as Princesses, part of her desire to elevate them from illegitimate bastards to heirs of the English crown? Whatever the reasons, her legacy to the advancement of English portraiture cannot be doubted.

There are five recorded certainly known portraits of Katherine Parr that survive. The first is a miniature formerly in the collection of Horace Walpole (now at Sudeley Castle), which is probably by Lucas Hornebolt. The second and third, in the National Portrait Gallery, are a full-length (once erroneously called Lady Jane Grey) by Master John, and a half-length by an unknown artist. A fourth (Lambeth Palace) shows a young Katherine in the 1530s. And now the present example represents a fifth, and shows the Queen towards the end of her life.

And yet, Katherine’s own records show that she commissioned at least more than a dozen portraits of herself; “give me one of your small pictures”, her fourth husband Thomas Seymour wrote, “if ye have any left…” The contrast between Katherine’s commissions and those extant portraits gives a useful indication of how little survives from the sixteenth century – in this case less than a third. The Queen’s chamber accounts show that John Bettes the Elder painted up to seven miniatures – none survive – and nor apparently do any other miniatures by Hornebolt, aside from the possible Sudeley example.

Records also show that Katherine was painted by Hans Eworth, the Dutch artist considered the closest thing to Holbein’s heir . Such patronage was an indication of Katherine’s desire to support the new, for Eworth had only arrived in England c.1543. His earliest known work is dated 1549. The almost enamel-like flesh tones and bright colouring of the cheeks in this portrait, together with the distinctive modeling of the eyes, may suggest that the artist of this picture was influenced in some way by Eworth’s now lost original. The accomplished handling of the detail in Katherine’s out-turned collar, and the delicate portrayal of her hair, is also reminiscent of Eworth’s Mary Neville, Lady Dacre (National Gallery of Canada). That the jewelry Katherine wears in this portrait is similar to that recorded in her inventories, not to mention the intelligent depiction of Katherine’s slight physique, further suggests that it is based on a contemporary ad vivum example."

REGENSBURG (RATISBON), a city and episcopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and the capital of the government district of the Upper Palatinate. Pop. (1905) 48,412. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the influx of the Regen, 86 m. by rail N.E. from Munich, and 60 m.

S.E. of Nuremberg. On the other side of the river is the suburb Stadt-am-Hof, connected with Regensburg by a long stone bridge of the 12th century, above and below which are the islands of Oberer and Unterer Worth. In appearance the town is quaint and romantic, presenting almost as faithful a picture of a town of the early middle ages as Nuremberg does of the later. One of the most characteristic features in its architecture is the number of strong loopholed towers attached to the more ancient dwellings. The interesting "street of the envoys" (Gesandtenstrasse) is so called because it contained the residences of most of the envoys to the German diet, whose coats-of-arms may still be seen on many of the houses.

The cathedral, though small, is a very interesting example of pure German Gothic. It was founded in 1275, and completed in 1634, with the exception of the towers, which were finished in 1869. The interior contains numerous interesting monuments, including one of Peter Vischer's masterpieces. Adjoining the cloisters are two chapels of earlier date than the cathedral itself, one of which, known as the "old cathedral," goes back perhaps to the 8th century. The church of St James - also called Schottenkirche - a plain Romanesque basilica of the 12th century, derives its name from the monastery of Irish Benedictines ("Scoti") to which it was attached; the principal doorway is covered with very singular grotesque carvings. The old parish church of St Ulrich is a good example of the Transition style of the 13th century, and contains a valuable antiquarian collection. Examples of the Romanesque basilica style are the church of Obermiinster, dating from Iwo, and the abbey church of St Emmeran, built in the 13th century, and remarkable as one of the few German churches with a detached belfry. The beautiful cloisters of the ancient abbey, one of the oldest in Germany, are still in fair preservation. In 1809 the conventual buildings were converted into a palace for the prince of Thurn and Taxis, hereditary postmaster-general of the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall, dating in part from the 14th century, contains the rooms occupied by the imperial diet from 1663 to 1806. An historical interest also attaches to the Gasthof zum Goldenen Kreuz (Golden Cross Inn), where Charles V. made the acquaintance of Barbara Blomberg, the mother of Don John of Austria (b. 1547). The house is also shown where Kepler died in 1630. Perhaps the most pleasing modern building in the city is the Gothic villa of the king of Bavaria on the bank of the Danube. At Kumpfmiihl, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city, was discovered, in 1885, the remains of a Roman camp with an arched gateway; the latter, known as the Porta Praetoria, was cleared in 1887. Among the public institutions of the city should be mentioned the public library, picture gallery, botanical garden, and the institute for the making of stained glass. The educational establishments include two gymnasia, an episcopal clerical seminary, a seminary for boys and a school of church music. Among the chief manufactures are iron and steel wares, pottery, parquet flooring, tobacco, and lead pencils. Boat-building is also prosecuted, and a brisk transit trade is carried on in salt, grain and timber.

Near Regensburg are two very handsome classical buildings, erected by Louis I. of Bavaria as national monuments of German patriotism and greatness. The more imposing of the two is the Walhalla, a costly reproduction of the Parthenon, erected as a Teutonic temple of fame on a hill rising from the Danube at Donaustauf, 6 m. to the east. The interior, which is as rich as coloured marbles, gilding, and sculptures can make it, contains the busts of more than a hundred German worthies. The second of King Louis's buildings is the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, 14 m. above. Regensburg, a, large circular building which has for its aim the glorification of the heroes of the war of liberation in 1813.

The early Celtic settlement of Radespona (L. Lat. Ratisbona) was chosen by the Romans, who named it Castra Regina, as the centre of their power on the upper Danube. It is mentioned as a trade centre as early as the 2nd century. It afterwards became the seat of the dukes of Bavaria, and one of the main bulwarks of the East Frankish monarchy; and it was also the focus from which Christianity spread over southern Germany. ' St Emmeran founded. an abbey here in the middle of the 7th century, and St Boniface established the bishopric about a hundred years later. Regensburg acquired the freedom of the empire in the 13th century, and was for a time the most flourishing city in southern Germany. It became the chief seat of the trade with India and the Levant, and the boatmen of Regensburg are frequently heard of as expediting the journeys of the Crusaders. The city was loyally Ghibelline in its sympathies, and was a favourite residence of the emperors. Numerous diets were held here from time to time, and after. 1663 it became the regular place of meeting of the German diet. The Reformation found only temporary acceptance at 'Regensburg, and was met by a counter-reformation inspired by the Jesuits. Before this. period the city had almost wholly lost its commercial importance owing to the changes in the great highways of trade. Regensburg had its due share in the Thirty Years' and other wars, and is said to have suffered in all no fewer than seventeen sieges. In 1807 the town and bishopric were assigned to the prince primate Dalberg, and in 1810 they were ceded to Bavaria. After the battle of Eggmiihl in 1809 the Austrians retired upon Regensburg, and the pursuing French defeated them again beneath its walls and reduced a great part of the city to ashes.

From:

www.1911encyclopedia.org/Regensburg

REGENSBURG (RATISBON), a city and episcopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and the capital of the government district of the Upper Palatinate. Pop. (1905) 48,412. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the influx of the Regen, 86 m. by rail N.E. from Munich, and 60 m.

S.E. of Nuremberg. On the other side of the river is the suburb Stadt-am-Hof, connected with Regensburg by a long stone bridge of the 12th century, above and below which are the islands of Oberer and Unterer Worth. In appearance the town is quaint and romantic, presenting almost as faithful a picture of a town of the early middle ages as Nuremberg does of the later. One of the most characteristic features in its architecture is the number of strong loopholed towers attached to the more ancient dwellings. The interesting "street of the envoys" (Gesandtenstrasse) is so called because it contained the residences of most of the envoys to the German diet, whose coats-of-arms may still be seen on many of the houses.

The cathedral, though small, is a very interesting example of pure German Gothic. It was founded in 1275, and completed in 1634, with the exception of the towers, which were finished in 1869. The interior contains numerous interesting monuments, including one of Peter Vischer's masterpieces. Adjoining the cloisters are two chapels of earlier date than the cathedral itself, one of which, known as the "old cathedral," goes back perhaps to the 8th century. The church of St James - also called Schottenkirche - a plain Romanesque basilica of the 12th century, derives its name from the monastery of Irish Benedictines ("Scoti") to which it was attached; the principal doorway is covered with very singular grotesque carvings. The old parish church of St Ulrich is a good example of the Transition style of the 13th century, and contains a valuable antiquarian collection. Examples of the Romanesque basilica style are the church of Obermiinster, dating from Iwo, and the abbey church of St Emmeran, built in the 13th century, and remarkable as one of the few German churches with a detached belfry. The beautiful cloisters of the ancient abbey, one of the oldest in Germany, are still in fair preservation. In 1809 the conventual buildings were converted into a palace for the prince of Thurn and Taxis, hereditary postmaster-general of the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall, dating in part from the 14th century, contains the rooms occupied by the imperial diet from 1663 to 1806. An historical interest also attaches to the Gasthof zum Goldenen Kreuz (Golden Cross Inn), where Charles V. made the acquaintance of Barbara Blomberg, the mother of Don John of Austria (b. 1547). The house is also shown where Kepler died in 1630. Perhaps the most pleasing modern building in the city is the Gothic villa of the king of Bavaria on the bank of the Danube. At Kumpfmiihl, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city, was discovered, in 1885, the remains of a Roman camp with an arched gateway; the latter, known as the Porta Praetoria, was cleared in 1887. Among the public institutions of the city should be mentioned the public library, picture gallery, botanical garden, and the institute for the making of stained glass. The educational establishments include two gymnasia, an episcopal clerical seminary, a seminary for boys and a school of church music. Among the chief manufactures are iron and steel wares, pottery, parquet flooring, tobacco, and lead pencils. Boat-building is also prosecuted, and a brisk transit trade is carried on in salt, grain and timber.

Near Regensburg are two very handsome classical buildings, erected by Louis I. of Bavaria as national monuments of German patriotism and greatness. The more imposing of the two is the Walhalla, a costly reproduction of the Parthenon, erected as a Teutonic temple of fame on a hill rising from the Danube at Donaustauf, 6 m. to the east. The interior, which is as rich as coloured marbles, gilding, and sculptures can make it, contains the busts of more than a hundred German worthies. The second of King Louis's buildings is the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, 14 m. above. Regensburg, a, large circular building which has for its aim the glorification of the heroes of the war of liberation in 1813.

The early Celtic settlement of Radespona (L. Lat. Ratisbona) was chosen by the Romans, who named it Castra Regina, as the centre of their power on the upper Danube. It is mentioned as a trade centre as early as the 2nd century. It afterwards became the seat of the dukes of Bavaria, and one of the main bulwarks of the East Frankish monarchy; and it was also the focus from which Christianity spread over southern Germany. ' St Emmeran founded. an abbey here in the middle of the 7th century, and St Boniface established the bishopric about a hundred years later. Regensburg acquired the freedom of the empire in the 13th century, and was for a time the most flourishing city in southern Germany. It became the chief seat of the trade with India and the Levant, and the boatmen of Regensburg are frequently heard of as expediting the journeys of the Crusaders. The city was loyally Ghibelline in its sympathies, and was a favourite residence of the emperors. Numerous diets were held here from time to time, and after. 1663 it became the regular place of meeting of the German diet. The Reformation found only temporary acceptance at 'Regensburg, and was met by a counter-reformation inspired by the Jesuits. Before this. period the city had almost wholly lost its commercial importance owing to the changes in the great highways of trade. Regensburg had its due share in the Thirty Years' and other wars, and is said to have suffered in all no fewer than seventeen sieges. In 1807 the town and bishopric were assigned to the prince primate Dalberg, and in 1810 they were ceded to Bavaria. After the battle of Eggmiihl in 1809 the Austrians retired upon Regensburg, and the pursuing French defeated them again beneath its walls and reduced a great part of the city to ashes.

From:

www.1911encyclopedia.org/Regensburg

Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau (4 November 1631 – 24 December 1660) was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his queen, Henrietta Maria. She was the wife of William II, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau (27 May 1626–6 November 1650) and the mother of King William III of England and Ireland, II of Scotland (14 November 1650–8 May 1702). Mary Stuart or Mary of Orange, as she was also known, was the first daughter of a British Sovereign to hold the title Princess Royal.

Mary Henrietta Stuart was born at St. James's Palace, London. Charles I designated her Princess Royal in 1642, thus establishing the tradition that the eldest daughter of the British Sovereign might bear this title. The title came into being when Queen Henriette Maria, the daughter of King Henri IV of France wished to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the French king was styled (Madame Royale). Until that time, the eldest daughters of English and Scottish kings were variously titled Lady or Princess (The younger daughters of British Sovereigns were not consistently titled princesses of Great Britain and styled Royal Highness until the ascension of George I in 1714).

Her father, Charles I, wished the Princess Royal to marry a son of Philip IV, king of Spain, while her first cousin, Karl Ludwig, the Elector Palatine, was also a suitor for her hand. Both proposals fell through and she was betrothed to Willem, the son and heir of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces, and of Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. The marriage took place on 2 May 1641 at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London, but was not consummated for several years due to the bride's age. However, in 1642, Mary crossed over to the Dutch Republic with her mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, and in 1644, as the daughter-in-law of the stadtholder, she began to take her place in public life.

In March 1647, her husband, William II, succeeded his father as stadholder. However, in November 1650, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam from his political opponents, he died of smallpox. The couple's only child, Willem (later William III), was born a few days later. The Dowager Princess of Orange was obliged to share the guardianship of her infant son, with his grandmother Amalia, the widow of Frederick Henry, and with Frederick William, the elector of Brandenburg. She was unpopular with the Dutch due to her sympathies with her family, the Stuarts; and at length, public opinion having been further angered by the hospitality that she showed to her brothers, the exiled Charles II and the Duke of York (later James II), she was forbidden to receive her relatives. From 1654 to 1657, the princess passed most of her time away from Holland. In 1657 she became regent on behalf of her son for the principality of Orange, but the difficulties of her position led her to implore the assistance of Louis XIV of France; the French king answered by seizing the principality.

The restoration of Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position of the Dowager Princess of Orange and her son in Holland. In September 1660, she returned to England. She died of smallpox at Whitehall Palace, London and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

To view more images, of Chastleton House click "here"

I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting images, and/or group invites; thank you!

Chastleton House is a Jacobean country house situated at Chastleton near Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1991 and is a Grade I listed building. It was built between 1607 and 1612, for Walter Jones, who had made his fortune from the law, although his family were originally Welsh wool merchants. The estate was bought in 1604 from Robert Catesby, although his residence was demolished to make way for the new house and no traces of the original building on this spot remain. The house is built of Cotswold stone, round a small courtyard, called the Dairy Court. The House is different from other houses of its type in several respects. It has never had a park with a long, landscaped approach such as many other houses of its era. Rather it was built within an existing settlement, Chastleton village, which provided many of the services for the house which would otherwise have been attached, such as a laundry, a fishpond and a bakehouse. Secondly, until its acquisition by the Trust in 1991, it was owned by the same family for nearly 400 years. Its treatment by the Trust was similarly unusual, with a policy of conservation rather than restoration, enabling visitors to see the house largely as it was when acquired. As a result of the Trust's approach, a large number of the rooms in the house are open to the public. Of particular note is the Long Gallery, with its barrel vaulted ceiling. No other gallery of such a length 72 feet (22 m) and date survive. Like much of the house, the Long Gallery ceiling has been subject to damage. The neglect of the roof for almost two centuries led to the failing of part of the plaster ceiling in the early 1800s, but it was not repaired until 1904-05, when two local men were engaged to make good the losses. Also of interest is the impressive Great Chamber. Designed for the entertainment of the most important guests and for the playing of music, the design scheme has its roots in Renaissance Italy and is the most impressive in the house. The setting out of the panelling shows some inspiration from the classical, as do the painted roundels around the frieze, depicting the twelve prophets of the Old Testament and the twelve Sybils or Prophetesses of Antiquity. Also in the Great Chamber are a set of Jacobite Fiat glasses engraved with the Jacobite emblems of roses, oakleaves, and a compass rose, which betray the families eighteenth-century sympathies. These probably belonged to Henry Jones IV, who was the president of the Gloucestershire Cycle Club, one of the oldest established Jacobite clubs. Other items of interest in the house include the Juxon Bible, which is said to have been used by the chaplain, Bishop Juxon, at the execution of Charles I. Juxon’s family lived locally in Long Compton until his family died out in the eighteenth century, when it is thought to have been given to John Jones II because the Jones’ were another family with Jacobite sympathies. In 1919 a number of significant tapestries were discovered at the house, and were interpreted as evidence for the establishment of a tapestry-weaving venture at the manor house of William Sheldon (d 1570) at Barcheston, near Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire. One of these tapestries is currently on display in the Middle Chamber, and another is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grade II listed garden at Chastleton has undergone a number of revisions since the completion of the house in 1612. There is no archaeological evidence of a garden on this site before this date: indeed, the North Garden is split by an old field boundary. There is no map or written evidence to suggest how the garden was laid out by Walter Jones in 1612, but the walls that enclose the garden are 17th century and archaeological evidence that suggests that the garden has been laid out the same way for the last 400 years. It is laid out according to the recommendation proposed by Gervase Markham in The English Husbandman (1613) – a fore court to the front of the house, with the base (or bass) court on one side, which included the stables and other farm buildings. The other two sides of the house should be composed of gardens, divided into an orchard, a kitchen garden and a best (or pleasure) garden, planted with more ornamental plants. At the time, the Forecourt at Chastleton described the entrance area below the House court (the area directly in front of the house). The House court was raised slightly above the forecourt by a small retaining wall, probably with a balustrade on top. There were likely to be few plants in the front of the house in the early 17th century, with the House Court possibly being paved or having two grass plats on each side of the central path like the Forecourt. To the east of this was the Pleasaunce or Pleasure Garden. This was the Best Garden, which was levelled, but with a viewing terrace along one side which also gave entrance to the church at the opposite end. The design of this garden is not known, but it was almost certainly surrounded by high walls with fruit trees trained against it. The Best Garden was laid out in the circular pattern we see today by Dorothy Whitmore Jones in 1833, although it is suggested that there were already box plants there. Beds were added within the circular hedge in the 1890s or 1900s and then grassed over again by 1972. During the periods of time when money came into the family the planting in this garden was always renewed. To the north are terraces, levelled from the sloping ground. There is evidence of a medieval cultivation terrace and the remnants of the old boundary wall of the garden. There was a Bowling Green on the Middle terrace and the third terrace may also have been the site of the original kitchen garden. Today, the middle terraces are the site of two croquet lawns, originally laid out by Walter Whitmore-Jones in the 1860s. His version of the rules of croquet published in The Field in 1865 became definitive, and Chastleton is considered the birthplace of croquet as a competitive sport. The Kitchen Garden as it is now was enclosed in 1847 and was formed of the existent garden and from part of the adjoining field. It was laid out as four plots on one side of a broad path and two on the other side, and the kitchen garden today has been recently rejuvenated to form this pattern as well.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

REGENSBURG (RATISBON), a city and episcopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and the capital of the government district of the Upper Palatinate. Pop. (1905) 48,412. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the influx of the Regen, 86 m. by rail N.E. from Munich, and 60 m.

S.E. of Nuremberg. On the other side of the river is the suburb Stadt-am-Hof, connected with Regensburg by a long stone bridge of the 12th century, above and below which are the islands of Oberer and Unterer Worth. In appearance the town is quaint and romantic, presenting almost as faithful a picture of a town of the early middle ages as Nuremberg does of the later. One of the most characteristic features in its architecture is the number of strong loopholed towers attached to the more ancient dwellings. The interesting "street of the envoys" (Gesandtenstrasse) is so called because it contained the residences of most of the envoys to the German diet, whose coats-of-arms may still be seen on many of the houses.

The cathedral, though small, is a very interesting example of pure German Gothic. It was founded in 1275, and completed in 1634, with the exception of the towers, which were finished in 1869. The interior contains numerous interesting monuments, including one of Peter Vischer's masterpieces. Adjoining the cloisters are two chapels of earlier date than the cathedral itself, one of which, known as the "old cathedral," goes back perhaps to the 8th century. The church of St James - also called Schottenkirche - a plain Romanesque basilica of the 12th century, derives its name from the monastery of Irish Benedictines ("Scoti") to which it was attached; the principal doorway is covered with very singular grotesque carvings. The old parish church of St Ulrich is a good example of the Transition style of the 13th century, and contains a valuable antiquarian collection. Examples of the Romanesque basilica style are the church of Obermiinster, dating from Iwo, and the abbey church of St Emmeran, built in the 13th century, and remarkable as one of the few German churches with a detached belfry. The beautiful cloisters of the ancient abbey, one of the oldest in Germany, are still in fair preservation. In 1809 the conventual buildings were converted into a palace for the prince of Thurn and Taxis, hereditary postmaster-general of the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall, dating in part from the 14th century, contains the rooms occupied by the imperial diet from 1663 to 1806. An historical interest also attaches to the Gasthof zum Goldenen Kreuz (Golden Cross Inn), where Charles V. made the acquaintance of Barbara Blomberg, the mother of Don John of Austria (b. 1547). The house is also shown where Kepler died in 1630. Perhaps the most pleasing modern building in the city is the Gothic villa of the king of Bavaria on the bank of the Danube. At Kumpfmiihl, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city, was discovered, in 1885, the remains of a Roman camp with an arched gateway; the latter, known as the Porta Praetoria, was cleared in 1887. Among the public institutions of the city should be mentioned the public library, picture gallery, botanical garden, and the institute for the making of stained glass. The educational establishments include two gymnasia, an episcopal clerical seminary, a seminary for boys and a school of church music. Among the chief manufactures are iron and steel wares, pottery, parquet flooring, tobacco, and lead pencils. Boat-building is also prosecuted, and a brisk transit trade is carried on in salt, grain and timber.

Near Regensburg are two very handsome classical buildings, erected by Louis I. of Bavaria as national monuments of German patriotism and greatness. The more imposing of the two is the Walhalla, a costly reproduction of the Parthenon, erected as a Teutonic temple of fame on a hill rising from the Danube at Donaustauf, 6 m. to the east. The interior, which is as rich as coloured marbles, gilding, and sculptures can make it, contains the busts of more than a hundred German worthies. The second of King Louis's buildings is the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, 14 m. above. Regensburg, a, large circular building which has for its aim the glorification of the heroes of the war of liberation in 1813.

The early Celtic settlement of Radespona (L. Lat. Ratisbona) was chosen by the Romans, who named it Castra Regina, as the centre of their power on the upper Danube. It is mentioned as a trade centre as early as the 2nd century. It afterwards became the seat of the dukes of Bavaria, and one of the main bulwarks of the East Frankish monarchy; and it was also the focus from which Christianity spread over southern Germany. ' St Emmeran founded. an abbey here in the middle of the 7th century, and St Boniface established the bishopric about a hundred years later. Regensburg acquired the freedom of the empire in the 13th century, and was for a time the most flourishing city in southern Germany. It became the chief seat of the trade with India and the Levant, and the boatmen of Regensburg are frequently heard of as expediting the journeys of the Crusaders. The city was loyally Ghibelline in its sympathies, and was a favourite residence of the emperors. Numerous diets were held here from time to time, and after. 1663 it became the regular place of meeting of the German diet. The Reformation found only temporary acceptance at 'Regensburg, and was met by a counter-reformation inspired by the Jesuits. Before this. period the city had almost wholly lost its commercial importance owing to the changes in the great highways of trade. Regensburg had its due share in the Thirty Years' and other wars, and is said to have suffered in all no fewer than seventeen sieges. In 1807 the town and bishopric were assigned to the prince primate Dalberg, and in 1810 they were ceded to Bavaria. After the battle of Eggmiihl in 1809 the Austrians retired upon Regensburg, and the pursuing French defeated them again beneath its walls and reduced a great part of the city to ashes.

From:

www.1911encyclopedia.org/Regensburg

To view more images, of Chastleton House click "here"

I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting images, and/or group invites; thank you!

Chastleton House is a Jacobean country house situated at Chastleton near Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1991 and is a Grade I listed building. It was built between 1607 and 1612, for Walter Jones, who had made his fortune from the law, although his family were originally Welsh wool merchants. The estate was bought in 1604 from Robert Catesby, although his residence was demolished to make way for the new house and no traces of the original building on this spot remain. The house is built of Cotswold stone, round a small courtyard, called the Dairy Court. The House is different from other houses of its type in several respects. It has never had a park with a long, landscaped approach such as many other houses of its era. Rather it was built within an existing settlement, Chastleton village, which provided many of the services for the house which would otherwise have been attached, such as a laundry, a fishpond and a bakehouse. Secondly, until its acquisition by the Trust in 1991, it was owned by the same family for nearly 400 years. Its treatment by the Trust was similarly unusual, with a policy of conservation rather than restoration, enabling visitors to see the house largely as it was when acquired. As a result of the Trust's approach, a large number of the rooms in the house are open to the public. Of particular note is the Long Gallery, with its barrel vaulted ceiling. No other gallery of such a length 72 feet (22 m) and date survive. Like much of the house, the Long Gallery ceiling has been subject to damage. The neglect of the roof for almost two centuries led to the failing of part of the plaster ceiling in the early 1800s, but it was not repaired until 1904-05, when two local men were engaged to make good the losses. Also of interest is the impressive Great Chamber. Designed for the entertainment of the most important guests and for the playing of music, the design scheme has its roots in Renaissance Italy and is the most impressive in the house. The setting out of the panelling shows some inspiration from the classical, as do the painted roundels around the frieze, depicting the twelve prophets of the Old Testament and the twelve Sybils or Prophetesses of Antiquity. Also in the Great Chamber are a set of Jacobite Fiat glasses engraved with the Jacobite emblems of roses, oakleaves, and a compass rose, which betray the families eighteenth-century sympathies. These probably belonged to Henry Jones IV, who was the president of the Gloucestershire Cycle Club, one of the oldest established Jacobite clubs. Other items of interest in the house include the Juxon Bible, which is said to have been used by the chaplain, Bishop Juxon, at the execution of Charles I. Juxon’s family lived locally in Long Compton until his family died out in the eighteenth century, when it is thought to have been given to John Jones II because the Jones’ were another family with Jacobite sympathies. In 1919 a number of significant tapestries were discovered at the house, and were interpreted as evidence for the establishment of a tapestry-weaving venture at the manor house of William Sheldon (d 1570) at Barcheston, near Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire. One of these tapestries is currently on display in the Middle Chamber, and another is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grade II listed garden at Chastleton has undergone a number of revisions since the completion of the house in 1612. There is no archaeological evidence of a garden on this site before this date: indeed, the North Garden is split by an old field boundary. There is no map or written evidence to suggest how the garden was laid out by Walter Jones in 1612, but the walls that enclose the garden are 17th century and archaeological evidence that suggests that the garden has been laid out the same way for the last 400 years. It is laid out according to the recommendation proposed by Gervase Markham in The English Husbandman (1613) – a fore court to the front of the house, with the base (or bass) court on one side, which included the stables and other farm buildings. The other two sides of the house should be composed of gardens, divided into an orchard, a kitchen garden and a best (or pleasure) garden, planted with more ornamental plants. At the time, the Forecourt at Chastleton described the entrance area below the House court (the area directly in front of the house). The House court was raised slightly above the forecourt by a small retaining wall, probably with a balustrade on top. There were likely to be few plants in the front of the house in the early 17th century, with the House Court possibly being paved or having two grass plats on each side of the central path like the Forecourt. To the east of this was the Pleasaunce or Pleasure Garden. This was the Best Garden, which was levelled, but with a viewing terrace along one side which also gave entrance to the church at the opposite end. The design of this garden is not known, but it was almost certainly surrounded by high walls with fruit trees trained against it. The Best Garden was laid out in the circular pattern we see today by Dorothy Whitmore Jones in 1833, although it is suggested that there were already box plants there. Beds were added within the circular hedge in the 1890s or 1900s and then grassed over again by 1972. During the periods of time when money came into the family the planting in this garden was always renewed. To the north are terraces, levelled from the sloping ground. There is evidence of a medieval cultivation terrace and the remnants of the old boundary wall of the garden. There was a Bowling Green on the Middle terrace and the third terrace may also have been the site of the original kitchen garden. Today, the middle terraces are the site of two croquet lawns, originally laid out by Walter Whitmore-Jones in the 1860s. His version of the rules of croquet published in The Field in 1865 became definitive, and Chastleton is considered the birthplace of croquet as a competitive sport. The Kitchen Garden as it is now was enclosed in 1847 and was formed of the existent garden and from part of the adjoining field. It was laid out as four plots on one side of a broad path and two on the other side, and the kitchen garden today has been recently rejuvenated to form this pattern as well.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

To view more images, of Chastleton House click "here"

I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting images, and/or group invites; thank you!

Chastleton House is a Jacobean country house situated at Chastleton near Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1991 and is a Grade I listed building. It was built between 1607 and 1612, for Walter Jones, who had made his fortune from the law, although his family were originally Welsh wool merchants. The estate was bought in 1604 from Robert Catesby, although his residence was demolished to make way for the new house and no traces of the original building on this spot remain. The house is built of Cotswold stone, round a small courtyard, called the Dairy Court. The House is different from other houses of its type in several respects. It has never had a park with a long, landscaped approach such as many other houses of its era. Rather it was built within an existing settlement, Chastleton village, which provided many of the services for the house which would otherwise have been attached, such as a laundry, a fishpond and a bakehouse. Secondly, until its acquisition by the Trust in 1991, it was owned by the same family for nearly 400 years. Its treatment by the Trust was similarly unusual, with a policy of conservation rather than restoration, enabling visitors to see the house largely as it was when acquired. As a result of the Trust's approach, a large number of the rooms in the house are open to the public. Of particular note is the Long Gallery, with its barrel vaulted ceiling. No other gallery of such a length 72 feet (22 m) and date survive. Like much of the house, the Long Gallery ceiling has been subject to damage. The neglect of the roof for almost two centuries led to the failing of part of the plaster ceiling in the early 1800s, but it was not repaired until 1904-05, when two local men were engaged to make good the losses. Also of interest is the impressive Great Chamber. Designed for the entertainment of the most important guests and for the playing of music, the design scheme has its roots in Renaissance Italy and is the most impressive in the house. The setting out of the panelling shows some inspiration from the classical, as do the painted roundels around the frieze, depicting the twelve prophets of the Old Testament and the twelve Sybils or Prophetesses of Antiquity. Also in the Great Chamber are a set of Jacobite Fiat glasses engraved with the Jacobite emblems of roses, oakleaves, and a compass rose, which betray the families eighteenth-century sympathies. These probably belonged to Henry Jones IV, who was the president of the Gloucestershire Cycle Club, one of the oldest established Jacobite clubs. Other items of interest in the house include the Juxon Bible, which is said to have been used by the chaplain, Bishop Juxon, at the execution of Charles I. Juxon’s family lived locally in Long Compton until his family died out in the eighteenth century, when it is thought to have been given to John Jones II because the Jones’ were another family with Jacobite sympathies. In 1919 a number of significant tapestries were discovered at the house, and were interpreted as evidence for the establishment of a tapestry-weaving venture at the manor house of William Sheldon (d 1570) at Barcheston, near Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire. One of these tapestries is currently on display in the Middle Chamber, and another is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grade II listed garden at Chastleton has undergone a number of revisions since the completion of the house in 1612. There is no archaeological evidence of a garden on this site before this date: indeed, the North Garden is split by an old field boundary. There is no map or written evidence to suggest how the garden was laid out by Walter Jones in 1612, but the walls that enclose the garden are 17th century and archaeological evidence that suggests that the garden has been laid out the same way for the last 400 years. It is laid out according to the recommendation proposed by Gervase Markham in The English Husbandman (1613) – a fore court to the front of the house, with the base (or bass) court on one side, which included the stables and other farm buildings. The other two sides of the house should be composed of gardens, divided into an orchard, a kitchen garden and a best (or pleasure) garden, planted with more ornamental plants. At the time, the Forecourt at Chastleton described the entrance area below the House court (the area directly in front of the house). The House court was raised slightly above the forecourt by a small retaining wall, probably with a balustrade on top. There were likely to be few plants in the front of the house in the early 17th century, with the House Court possibly being paved or having two grass plats on each side of the central path like the Forecourt. To the east of this was the Pleasaunce or Pleasure Garden. This was the Best Garden, which was levelled, but with a viewing terrace along one side which also gave entrance to the church at the opposite end. The design of this garden is not known, but it was almost certainly surrounded by high walls with fruit trees trained against it. The Best Garden was laid out in the circular pattern we see today by Dorothy Whitmore Jones in 1833, although it is suggested that there were already box plants there. Beds were added within the circular hedge in the 1890s or 1900s and then grassed over again by 1972. During the periods of time when money came into the family the planting in this garden was always renewed. To the north are terraces, levelled from the sloping ground. There is evidence of a medieval cultivation terrace and the remnants of the old boundary wall of the garden. There was a Bowling Green on the Middle terrace and the third terrace may also have been the site of the original kitchen garden. Today, the middle terraces are the site of two croquet lawns, originally laid out by Walter Whitmore-Jones in the 1860s. His version of the rules of croquet published in The Field in 1865 became definitive, and Chastleton is considered the birthplace of croquet as a competitive sport. The Kitchen Garden as it is now was enclosed in 1847 and was formed of the existent garden and from part of the adjoining field. It was laid out as four plots on one side of a broad path and two on the other side, and the kitchen garden today has been recently rejuvenated to form this pattern as well.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greetings. I wish you all a happy and joyful New Year. I hope your life will be illuminated by love, warmth, happiness and joy.

I hope your Christmas was a good one and 2015 has been kind to you.

I hope that 2016 will be a year of peace and joy for all.

There are many who I feel sorry for, many peoples are now suffering from floods, fires, war and terrorist threats.

My sympathies are with them. I hope next year will be kinder to them than the last year.

Take care my friends.

I once again wish you a Happy New year, I hope this one will be a good one for you.

Kind regards

Ross

There are so many wonderful animals at the SD Zoo, but some have become very dear, and Anna was one of those special friends. She recently passed away on July 5th, at 15 years old, and will be deeply missed.

I fell in love with Anna when I saw her for the first time, over 10 years ago, and grew to appreciate her sweetness and beauty even more during my many visits with her throughout the years. There were times I would look into her eyes and she would look into mine, and I felt her calmness touch me from inside her fluffy coat. She had two male companions: Everett, from 2006-2011, now residing at Santa Barbara Zoo, and then Beau who passed away in 2014. I enjoyed seeing both the playful and affectionate sides of her personality come out with both of these boys. She was so loved by her keepers, she even got the nick name Anna Banana. The feeling was mutual - a few times I saw her push her fur into the fence in hopes of a back scratch.

My sympathies to all who have loved this special girl, an amazing snow leopard that will always be remembered. ❤️

Anna, the Snow Leopard 3/29/03 - 7/5/18

A tribute to all those caught up in the atrocity in Manchester last night. Our sympathies for the loss of life, the injured and their families. A special thank you to the emergency services and all those who tried to help those in need.

Yesterday was my son's birthday and a very stormy day it was. My town was missed by the major storm cells by only a mile... My sympathies for all the areas hit by the high winds and golf and tennis ball size hail!

And looking at the moon I was thinking of this Poem, by Ailbhe Darcy

Panopticon

Only don't, I beseech you, generalise too much in these

sympathies and tendernesses—remember that every life

is a special problem which is not yours but another's, and

content yourself with the terrible algebra of your own.

—Henry James, in a letter to a friend

We are sitting in the kitchen

up to our pits in the Sunday papers

when my father says that things never used to happen

when he was growing up. He means

the black crawly crawly Darfur fly, man

on a leash, girl with burns, crumpled machinery

at Inishowen; and he means Matthew,

who died yesterday at last of madness.

My father and I at the eye of the panopticon,

two of Prometheus' descendents, bound

at the centre of a shrinking globe. Sometimes

he used to turn the television off, newspapers

would grow angular holes

where bloodshed had been. Now it's I

want to fold origami cranes of the papers for him,

build bonfires of television sets.

It circles us, the noise, all the same. When people ran

from the falling towers, they stopped

to buy disposable cameras, stood

with their backs to the towers to watch

the house of cards fall over

and over on shop window TV screens. No wonder,

perhaps, that you with your too much of gentleness

wanted out, and we did not stop you.

Your friends expect to weigh forever

what we could have given

against what we could not change.

What kind of algebra would it take?

Matthew, love, I carry myself with care on Mondays.

I lie to hairdressers. I walk. I carry a notebook

to write down feelings

in case I need them again. I pretend

to be someone else at traffic lights. I stay clear

of mirrors, newspapers sometimes. I live

as best I can. I do the awful maths.

My thoughts and sympathies are with all those affected by the recent attacks.

I feel very sorry for those who have lost loved ones, family, friends, neighbours and co workers.

I understand that for many the terrible events will stay with them for many years.

I hope and pray the pain which the people affected by these events will one day go, to be replaced with future happiness.

I hope the One Love Manchester concert will be a great success.

I will waste no words or thoughts for the terrorists.

I will say little about politicians promising extra police to try to get in power. Their words have little value.

But I will say. The British public have once again risen to the challenge.

Countless people helped fellow citizens. Often the people they helped they did not know. People who saved live's, supplied accommodation and food, some helped people who were lost.

Those who attack our country in such manner want to divide us. Make us change our ways.

But by keeping vigilant and working together, with our fellow citizens, friends, neighbours and the security services we will prosper and the madness will end.

Hate can only produce hate. So I will not preach hate.

Life is special, remarkable, irreplaceable and unique.

I can only offer my thoughts and prayers.

I wish everyone a happy week ahead.

May your live's be illuminated with love, joy, happiness and safety.

Kind regards

Strobist:Powerlight 1500SL @1/8 behind me

Run with me

I had a great talk with my dad tonight about life, and what we live and work for. Sometimes we can get lost in doing the things we do on a daily basis, and we forget to ask why.

Why do we have jobs, why do we work. To make money? well what does money give us? the next payment on a house that will wind up owning us.

That can't be the meaning of it all.

My dad told me the story of someone close to him who worked his whole life, saving all he could so he could have a great retirement, and just as he reached the age in which he could finally enjoy life, he fell ill, and is no longer able to leave the house. My sympathies go out.

And I won't let that happen to me. A job makes money, money lets you do what you want to do. Material possessions come and go just as we do, the only thing that matters is experience. We only live once, and in the end will we look back and be happy because of that crap we managed to amass, or will we realize that it was our experiences that made our life complete.

What do you love to do. I suggest you do more of it. Life is short. Spend time with the ones you love doing the things you love.

221/365

I Teach Photoshop online to people all over the world, if you like my work, you will love the class.

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

Sunset at 5:30 pm. Well, leaves more time for evening distractions...

DP-146 is in charge of a whopping nine coaches to Metlaoui at the northern Sahara desert boundary on January 22, 2005. The 2400 hp unit lays a nice coat of Chanel No. 251 over the train. The evening train has departed Sfax a few moments before and the engineer is yet notching out the boxy beast. Not winning any industrial design award the Bombardier/MLW MXS class has my sympathies nonetheless.

It is an illusion that there are shadows of three guys, my friend Nahne Johannsen is center, I am at the right and left is Mr. Steel from the drawbridge mock-up.

Sfax, Le Corniche/port, 5:10 pm

I saw these three smallish fires on my way back from Mt. Shasta, there had been a little storm in the morning and lightning struck over much of the state, causing the worst fire season in recorded history. But I didn't know it at the time, at the time, I just said "Fire Season has begun".

Edit: Sometimes I hate being right. A week later, these three fires have spread and merged into the huge "August Complex" wildfire, which has burned about 150,000 acres so far. I have not seen any deaths reported, that area is sparsely inhabited. My sympathies to anyone who has lost a home or land, or who has suffered injuries.

Edit: Two weeks after the picture was taken, the August Lightning Complex fire is 220,000 acres, and 18% contained.

Edit: Three weeks after the picture was taken, it's 350,000 acres, and 24% contained. You can't imagine how much I want some rain.

Edit: A month later, it's 877477 acres and 28% contained. A new huge fire broke out and was absorbed into the "complex". It's officially the largest fire in recorded California history, but at least there have been no deaths attributed to it on the news.

Edit: Five weeks on, its now listed as 846,000 acres and 34% contained. It's shrunk a bit! How?

Edit: SEVEN weeks on (or is it eight?), this fire is at 993191 acres and is 54% contained, and is on track to burn through a solid million acres. There's a chance of rain in the forecast, that's the only thing that could possibly slow it down.

View of the Coast Range from Orland, Ca., August 2020.

The Mark Twain House & Museum

Hartford, CT

"To us, our house… had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction."

— Mark Twain

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road. The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City. In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them. Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Disagreements over ownership, management and labor disputes resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945. The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. Between, 1901 and 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. This nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland. The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_Nevada

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing. The town of Nelson lies in the upper reach of the canyon. Eldorado Canyon Mine Tours operates mid way in the canyon at the Techatticup Mine one of the oldest and most productive mines in the canyon. Prospecting and mining in the El Dorado Canyon had been going on from at least 1857 if not earlier. But in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, word got out that silver and some gold and copper lodes had been discovered by John Moss and others in what became known as El Dorado Canyon, in New Mexico Territory, now Nevada. The canyon was on the west side of the river sixty five miles above Fort Mohave at what was then considered the limit of navigation of the river. George A. Johnson came up river and made a deal to supply the mines with his steamboats at a lower price than that provided overland across the Mohave Desert from Los Angeles. That fall news of the strikes in the Colorado Mining District, (by 1864 also called the Eldorado Canyon District), brought a flood of miners to the canyon. Several mining camps were founded in the canyon over the years. At the beginning San Juan, or Upper Camp were at the top of the canyon miles from the river near the modern town of Nelson. Midway down the canyon near the Techatticup Mine were Alturas and Louisville. At the mouth of the canyon was the boat landing of Colorado City. During the time of the American Civil War, three new mining camps developed in the middle canyon. In 1862, Lucky Jim Camp was formed along Eldorado Canyon above January Wash, south of the Techatticup Mine. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause. A mile up the canyon was a camp with Union sympathies called Buster Falls. In late 1863, Col. John R. Vineyard, at the time a California State Senator for Los Angeles, completed a ten stamp mill the first in the canyon, on its north side just below Lucky Jim Camp, at what soon became El Dorado City. Vineyard's mill, assembled from mill parts salvaged from abandoned works in the Mother Lode country of California, processed the ore of its mines and cut out the cost of shipping the ore out to San Francisco for such processing, cutting costs in half. George Alonzo Johnson's steamboat company losing this downstream ore trade and making fewer trips up to the Canyon responded by raising its freight rates. From 1865 to 1867 as part of Mohave County, Arizona Territory, El Dorado Canyon had its own post office. In 1867, to secure the riverboat traffic and protect miners in the canyon from Paiute attacks the U.S. Army established Camp El Dorado, an outpost at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon that remained until it was abandoned in 1869. From 1870 the mines again were active to the point where from 1879 to 1907 El Dorado Canyon again had a post office, now in Clark County, Nevada. The mines continued to produce ore until World War II.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Canyon_(Nevada)

The normally stoic dredger Arco Dijk on its way up the River Thames towards Dagenham, further up the dirty (not so much, now) old river, having sailed from Middlesbrough. The ship looks heavy laden, carrying material that will continue the process of denaturing London.

I gave in and left the river and park with the temperature at 33 and threatening 34. I say, Crivens ! 34 is too much, by 12 or more and having to work in it - well, not me. The local Council's parks team were hard at it, mowing and clearing, while a fun-fair was setting up readying for the town's Riverside Festival this weekend. My sympathies !

I made it indoor before the temerature did, indeed, rise to 34. It may yet go higher...

[IMG_2977a]

To view more images, of Chastleton House click "here"

I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting images, and/or group invites; thank you!

Chastleton House is a Jacobean country house situated at Chastleton near Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1991 and is a Grade I listed building. It was built between 1607 and 1612, for Walter Jones, who had made his fortune from the law, although his family were originally Welsh wool merchants. The estate was bought in 1604 from Robert Catesby, although his residence was demolished to make way for the new house and no traces of the original building on this spot remain. The house is built of Cotswold stone, round a small courtyard, called the Dairy Court. The House is different from other houses of its type in several respects. It has never had a park with a long, landscaped approach such as many other houses of its era. Rather it was built within an existing settlement, Chastleton village, which provided many of the services for the house which would otherwise have been attached, such as a laundry, a fishpond and a bakehouse. Secondly, until its acquisition by the Trust in 1991, it was owned by the same family for nearly 400 years. Its treatment by the Trust was similarly unusual, with a policy of conservation rather than restoration, enabling visitors to see the house largely as it was when acquired. As a result of the Trust's approach, a large number of the rooms in the house are open to the public. Of particular note is the Long Gallery, with its barrel vaulted ceiling. No other gallery of such a length 72 feet (22 m) and date survive. Like much of the house, the Long Gallery ceiling has been subject to damage. The neglect of the roof for almost two centuries led to the failing of part of the plaster ceiling in the early 1800s, but it was not repaired until 1904-05, when two local men were engaged to make good the losses. Also of interest is the impressive Great Chamber. Designed for the entertainment of the most important guests and for the playing of music, the design scheme has its roots in Renaissance Italy and is the most impressive in the house. The setting out of the panelling shows some inspiration from the classical, as do the painted roundels around the frieze, depicting the twelve prophets of the Old Testament and the twelve Sybils or Prophetesses of Antiquity. Also in the Great Chamber are a set of Jacobite Fiat glasses engraved with the Jacobite emblems of roses, oakleaves, and a compass rose, which betray the families eighteenth-century sympathies. These probably belonged to Henry Jones IV, who was the president of the Gloucestershire Cycle Club, one of the oldest established Jacobite clubs. Other items of interest in the house include the Juxon Bible, which is said to have been used by the chaplain, Bishop Juxon, at the execution of Charles I. Juxon’s family lived locally in Long Compton until his family died out in the eighteenth century, when it is thought to have been given to John Jones II because the Jones’ were another family with Jacobite sympathies. In 1919 a number of significant tapestries were discovered at the house, and were interpreted as evidence for the establishment of a tapestry-weaving venture at the manor house of William Sheldon (d 1570) at Barcheston, near Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire. One of these tapestries is currently on display in the Middle Chamber, and another is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grade II listed garden at Chastleton has undergone a number of revisions since the completion of the house in 1612. There is no archaeological evidence of a garden on this site before this date: indeed, the North Garden is split by an old field boundary. There is no map or written evidence to suggest how the garden was laid out by Walter Jones in 1612, but the walls that enclose the garden are 17th century and archaeological evidence that suggests that the garden has been laid out the same way for the last 400 years. It is laid out according to the recommendation proposed by Gervase Markham in The English Husbandman (1613) – a fore court to the front of the house, with the base (or bass) court on one side, which included the stables and other farm buildings. The other two sides of the house should be composed of gardens, divided into an orchard, a kitchen garden and a best (or pleasure) garden, planted with more ornamental plants. At the time, the Forecourt at Chastleton described the entrance area below the House court (the area directly in front of the house). The House court was raised slightly above the forecourt by a small retaining wall, probably with a balustrade on top. There were likely to be few plants in the front of the house in the early 17th century, with the House Court possibly being paved or having two grass plats on each side of the central path like the Forecourt. To the east of this was the Pleasaunce or Pleasure Garden. This was the Best Garden, which was levelled, but with a viewing terrace along one side which also gave entrance to the church at the opposite end. The design of this garden is not known, but it was almost certainly surrounded by high walls with fruit trees trained against it. The Best Garden was laid out in the circular pattern we see today by Dorothy Whitmore Jones in 1833, although it is suggested that there were already box plants there. Beds were added within the circular hedge in the 1890s or 1900s and then grassed over again by 1972. During the periods of time when money came into the family the planting in this garden was always renewed. To the north are terraces, levelled from the sloping ground. There is evidence of a medieval cultivation terrace and the remnants of the old boundary wall of the garden. There was a Bowling Green on the Middle terrace and the third terrace may also have been the site of the original kitchen garden. Today, the middle terraces are the site of two croquet lawns, originally laid out by Walter Whitmore-Jones in the 1860s. His version of the rules of croquet published in The Field in 1865 became definitive, and Chastleton is considered the birthplace of croquet as a competitive sport. The Kitchen Garden as it is now was enclosed in 1847 and was formed of the existent garden and from part of the adjoining field. It was laid out as four plots on one side of a broad path and two on the other side, and the kitchen garden today has been recently rejuvenated to form this pattern as well.

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