Robert Browning, aboard ship in sight of Gibraltar, reflects
on the momentous events in British history that have happened nearby.
byRobert Browning1812-1889
Extracts from Literature
‘The Helmet! The Helmet!’
On the day that Manfred, Prince of Otranto, expected his son
Conrad to marry the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, grotesque tragedy struck.
byHorace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford1717-1797
Samuel Johnson
A Kind and Gentle Heart
After Oliver Goldsmith’s landlady lost patience with her
cash-strapped tenant, Dr Johnson took charge and a literary classic entered the world.
bySamuel Johnson1709-1784
Scottish History
St Margaret of Scotland
When Malcolm III, King of Scots, met Princess Margaret of Wessex, he
knew at once that he had found a woman capable of setting an example to a whole nation.
fromThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle11th century
Bible and Saints
The Harrowing of Hell
Will Langland tells how after the crucifixion, the soul of Christ
went down to Hades to fetch Piers the Ploughman and the rest of hopeless humanity.
byWilliam Langland?1340-?1400
Bible and Saints
Trial and Crucifixion
In ‘Do-bet,’ the sequel to his popular ‘Vision of Piers the Ploughman,’
Will Langland dreams about the trial of Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate, and what followed.
