Early years.

He was born in Paris, his father being an English physician and his mother a French dancer. Méryon's mother brought him up, but died when he was still young, and Méryon entered the French navy, and in the corvette "Le Rhin" made the voyage round the world in the 1840s. He was already a draughtsman, for on the coast of New Zealand he made pencil drawings which he was able to employ, years afterwards, as studies for etchings of the landscape of those regions. The artistic instinct developed, and, while he was yet a lieutenant; Méryon left the navy. Finding that he was colour blind, he determined to devote himself to etching. He entered the studio of the engraver Eugène Bléry, from whom he learnt something of technical matters, and to whom he always remained grateful. Méryon had no money, and was too proud to ask help from his family. He was forced to earn a living by doing work that was mechanical and irksome. Among learners' work, done for his own advantage, are to be counted some studies after the Dutch etchers such as Zeeman and Adriaen van de Velde. Having proved himself a skilled copyist, he began doing original work, notably a series of etchings which are the greatest embodiments of his greatest conceptions—the series called "Eaux-fortes sur Paris." These plates, executed from 1850 to 1854, are never found as a set and were never expressly published as such, but they nonetheless constituted in Méryon's mind an harmonious series.

Mature work.

Besides the twenty-two etchings "sur Paris", Méryon did seventy-two etchings of one sort and another ninety-four in all being catalogued in Frederick Wedmore's "Méryon" and "Méryon's Paris"; but these include the works of his apprenticeship and of his decline, adroit copies in which his best success was in the sinking of his own individuality, and more or less dull portraits. Yet among the seventy-two prints outside his professed series there are at least a dozen famous ones. Three or four beautiful etchings of Paris do not belong to the series at all. Two or three others are devoted to the illustration of Bourges, a city in which the old wooden houses were as attractive to him for their own sakes as were the stonebuilt monuments of Paris. Generally it was when Paris engaged him that he succeeded the most. He would have done more work if the material difficulties of his life had not pressed upon him and shortened his days.  He was a bachelor, yet almost as constantly occupied with love as with work. The depth of his imagination and the surprising mastery which he achieved almost from the beginning in the technicalities of his craft were appreciated only by a few artists, critics and connoisseurs, and he could not sell his etchings or could sell them only for about lod. apiece. Disappointment told upon him, and, frugal as was his way of life, poverty must have affected him. He became subject to hallucinations. Enemies, he said, waited for him at the corners of the streets; his few friends robbed him or owed him that which they would never pay. A few years after the completion of his Paris series he was placed in the asylum at Charenton. Briefly restored to health, he came out and did a little more work, but at bottom he was exhausted. In 1867 he returned to his asylum, and died there in 1868. In middle age, just before he was confined, he associated with Félix Bracquemond and Léopold Flameng, skilled practitioners of etching. The best portrait we have of him is one by Bracquemond under which the sitter wrote that it represented “the sombre Méryon with the grotesque visage."  There are twenty-two pieces in the "Eaux-fortes sur Paris". Some of them are insignificant. That is because ten out of the twenty-two were destined as headpiece, tailpiece, or running commentary on some more important plate. But each has its value, and certain of the smaller pieces throw great light on the aim of the entire set. Thus, one little plate—not a picture at all—is devoted to the record of verses made by Méryon, the purpose of which is to lament the life of Paris. Méryon aimed to illustrate its misery and poverty, as well as its splendour. His etchings are no mere views of Paris. They are “views" only so far as is compatible with their being likewise the visions of a poet and the compositions of an artist. Méryon's epic work was coloured strongly by his personal sentiment, and affected here and there by current events — in more than one case, for instance, he hurried with particular affection to etch his impression of some old-world building which was on the point of destruction, as Napoleon III tore down buildings to reconstruct Paris with wide boulevards. Nearly every etching in the series reveals technical skill, but even the technical skill is exercised most happily in those etchings which have the advantage of impressive subjects, and which the collector willingly cherishes for their mysterious suggestiveness or for their pure beauty.  Méryon also taught; among his pupils was the etcher Gabrielle-Marie Niel.

Style.

The "Abside de Notre Dame" is the general favourite and is commonly held to be Méryon's masterpiece. Light and shade play wonderfully over the great fabric of the church, seen over the spaces of the river. As a draughtsman of architecture, Méryon was complete; his sympathy with its various styles was broad, and his work on its various styles unbiased and of equal perfection—a point in which it is curious to contrast him with J.M.W. Turner, who, in drawing Gothic architecture, often drew it with want of appreciation. It is evident that architecture must enter largely into any representation of a city, however much such representation may be a vision, and however little a chronicle. Even the architectural portion of Méryon's labour is only indirectly imaginative; to the imagination he has given freer play in his dealings with the figure, whether the people of the street or of the river or the people who, when he is most frankly or even wildly symbolical, crowd the sky. Generally speaking, his figures are, as regards draughtsmanship, “landscape-painter's figures." They are drawn more with an eye to grace than to academic correctness. But they are not “landscape-painter's figures" at all when what we are ‘concerned with is not the method of their representation but the purpose of their introduction. They are seen then to be in exceptional accord with the sentiment of the scene. Sometimes, as in the case of "La Morgue", it is they who tell the story of the picture. Sometimes, as in the case of "La Rue des Mauvais Garçons"—with the two passing women bent together in secret converse—they at least suggest it. And sometimes, as in "L'Arche du Pont Notre Dame", it is their expressive gesture and eager action that give vitality and animation to the scene. Dealing perfectly with architecture, and perfectly, as far as ‘concerned his peculiar purpose, with humanity in his art, Méryon was little called upon by the character of his subjects to deal with Nature. He drew trees but badly, never representing foliage happily, either in detail or in mass. But to render the characteristics of the city, it was necessary that he should know how to portray a certain kind of water—river-water, mostly sluggish--and a certain kind of sky--the grey obscured and lower sky that broods over a world of roof and chimney. This water and this sky Méryon is thoroughly master of; he notes with observant affection their changes in all lights.  In his technique, Méryon experimented variously in his brief career, and at times within individual works. In two different impressions of his Paris view "La Pompe Notre Dame de Paris" (1852) he could employ crisp lines through a well wiped plate without plate tone, or leave softer edges and richer darks by ample plate tone. His aesthetics were often dictated by his paper, of which he endeavored to acquire the finest available. His more defined works he printed on 'Hudelist' paper, from a mill in Hallines in the North of France, which had the uniform, smooth quality ideal for sharp images. His more gauzy works, by contrast, were printed on a softer, felt-like Morel Lavenere paper produced in Glaignes, which was highly absorbent—and pale green, which Méryon in his color blindness would not have perceived as the typical viewer. Ultimately, however, his stated preference was for cleanly-wiped, clear prints of a uniform quality, which determination ironically positioned him against the Etching Revival he helped inspire.

Value of his prints (to 1911).

It is worthwhile to note the extraordinary enhancement in the value of Méryon's prints. Probably of no other artist of genius, not even of Whistler, could there be cited within the same period a rise in prices of at all the same proportion. Thus the first state of the "Stryge" - that "with the verses" - selling under the hammer in 1873 for £5, sold again under the hammer in 1905 for £100. The first state of the "Galerie de Notre Dame" - selling in 1873 for £5 and at M. Wasset's sale in 1880 for Lii?, fetched in 1905, £52. A "Tour de l'Horloge," which two or three years after it was first issued sold for half a crown, in May 1903 fetched f70. A first state (Wedmore's, not of course M. Delteil's "first state," which, like nearly all his first states, is in fact a trial proof) of the "Saint Étienne du Mont," realizing about £2 at M. Burty's sale in 1876, realized £60 at a sale in May 1906. The second state of the "Morgue" (Wedmore) sold in 1905 for £65; and Wedmore's second of the "Abside," which used to sell throughout the seventies for £4 or £5, reached in November 1906 more than £200. At no period have even Dürers or Rembrandts risen so swiftly and steadily.

Value of his prints (to 2018).

Though while alive he sold prints for francs, in 2014 prints are for sale under US$1000. In 2018 Meryon’s etchings fetch on the market (in the U.K) from between £1,500 to £7,500 GBP

Charles Méryon (23 November 1821 – 13 February 1868) was a French artist who worked almost entirely in etching, as he suffered from colour blindness. Although now little-known in the English-speaking world, he is generally recognised as the most significant etcher of 19th century France. He also suffered from mental illness, dying in an asylum. His most famous work is a series of views of Paris.


Background.

After the British and German armies first encountered each other at the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, the outnumbered British Expeditionary Force had begun to fall back in front of a stronger German army. The two clashed again at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August, after which the British again withdrew towards the River Marne. The withdrawal was orderly and disciplined; the German command mistakenly believed the British force was shattered and so neglected to aggressively harass them as they withdrew. As a result, the bulk of the Expeditionary Force was able to withdraw for several days without engaging in any major fighting; the German pursuit was leisurely, and most engagements were skirmishes between rearguard units and cavalry patrols, rarely more than a battalion in strength.  On 31 August, the Expeditionary Force continued falling back to the south-west, crossing the River Aisne between Soissons and Compiègne, with a rear guard provided by the brigades of the Cavalry Division. The day's march was cut short by the warm weather, which exhausted the already fatigued infantry, and they halted for the night just south of the Aisne. The I Corps bivouacked north of the forest around Villers-Cotterêts, with the II Corps to their south-west at Crepy-en-Valois, and the III Corps further to the west around Verberie. This left a gap of around five miles between the II and III Corps, which was filled by the 1st Cavalry Brigade, stationed at the village of Néry. The brigade had spent the day scouting for the German vanguard to the north-west of Compiegne, and did not reach its rest area until dusk, around 8.30pm. The British plan for the following day was for a march of ten to fourteen miles southwards to a new defensive line, which called for an early departure from their rest areas; the III Corps rearguards were expected to pass through Néry by 6 am, which would already have been vacated by the cavalry. However, most units had reached their overnight stations quite late on the 31st, and so General Pulteney, the corps commander, ordered a later departure.  Behind the retreating British forces, the German 1st Army on the right wing had begun to swing south, aiming to cross the river Oise around Compiègne, with the goal of cutting off the retreat of the French Fifth Army and isolating Paris. On the afternoon of 31 August, the 5th Division was identified about eight miles north-west of Compiègne and heading southwards, whilst the leading cavalry divisions of the army crossed the Oise north of Compiègne around the same time. The German units were on a forced march, ordered to reconnoitre towards Paris with all possible speed, and had begun moving at 4 am that morning. Many would continue through the following night; some prisoners at Néry said that they had been travelling for twenty-six hours without sleep. They pressed on regardless of fatigue; one regimental commander responded to complaints that his men were being pushed too hard with the curt remark that "sweat saves blood". The first contact between the armies that evening was just after nightfall, when the 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers of III Corps encountered a patrol of the 8. Husaren-Regiment, of the 9th Cavalry Division, outside Verberie, on the extreme west flank of the British force.

Prelude.

On the British side, the 1st Cavalry Brigade bivouacked at Néry consisted of three cavalry regiments under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Charles Briggs, the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays), 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards and 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars. Each had a nominal strength of 549 men in three squadrons, with two Vickers machine-guns; They were supported by L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, which had a nominal strength of 205 men with six 13-pounder guns. Both units were part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) Cavalry Division, and had seen action throughout the Retreat from Mons, including fighting at the Battle of Mons and the Battle of Le Cateau but neither had suffered many casualties and were still close to establishment size.  The German forces were screened on their southern flank by five cavalry divisions. One of these, the 4th Cavalry Division, had crossed the Oise during 31 August and moved towards Néry, apparently unaware of the presence of British forces in the area. Commanded by General Otto von Garnier, the division consisted of six 722-man cavalry regiments in three brigades, along with a divisional artillery battalion of twelve guns, a battery of six machine-guns and two "Jäger" (light infantry) battalions, each with a further six machine-guns; the total strength was around 5,200 men. The divisional units were the "3. Kavallerie-Brigade" ("2. Kürassier-Regiment" and "9. Ulanen-Regiment") commanded by Karl Leopold Graf von der Goltz, the "17. Kavallerie-Brigade" ("17." and "18. Dragoner-Regiment") commanded by Ernst Graf von Schimmelmann, and the "18. Kavallerie-Brigade" ("15." and "16. Husaren-Regiment") commanded by Walther von Printz. Garnier decided to attack the British at dawn with dismounted cavalry.

Battle.

Néry is set in a north-south oriented valley around a small river, which feeds into the River Autonne to the north; it is overlooked from the east and west by high bluffs. The main landmark was a sugar factory, just south of the village, where L Battery were billeted; the cavalry regiments were stationed in and around the village proper. Dawn on 1 September came with heavy fog lying in the valley; the force had been awakened and prepared for a move at 4.30 am, but due to the terrible visibility it was decided to wait an hour and a half for the mist to clear, and the men stood down to rest, water the horses, and prepare breakfast. The teams for the artillery were left harnessed to their guns, but with the limbers lowered to take the weight off the horses. At 5.25 am, a patrol from the 11th Hussars, which had been sent out to the south-east, encountered a strong force of enemy cavalry and escaped back to the village; the regiment quickly took up dismounted defensive positions along the eastern edge of the village, though the commander of the 5th Dragoon Guards refused to believe an attack was imminent.  At 5.40 am, firing began from the heights overlooking the village from the east, supported by machine-guns and light artillery. This was the advanced guard of the 4th Cavalry Division, which had been surprised to encounter a British force, and signalled that it had unexpectedly "been surrounded by considerable hostile forces". The commander, General von Garnier, sized up the situation and quickly ordered a dismounted attack on the village. The effects of the fire from the heights were dramatic; the riderless horses of the 2nd Dragoon Guards took fright and bolted along the road northwards, whilst the artillery was immobilised and forced to remain in the firing line. One of the first casualties was the commander of the battery, Major Sclater-Booth, who was knocked unconscious as he ran towards the guns; the second-in-command of the battery, Captain Bradbury, took charge, and managed to get three guns moved into firing positions, facing twelve field guns on the ridge to the east. Two were quickly knocked out, leaving only one gun, under the direction of Captain Bradbury assisted by Sergeant Nelson and three other men. It kept up a steady fire, drawing the attention of the German artillery away from the cavalry, until its ammunition was almost exhausted; Bradbury was hit by a shell whilst trying to fetch more ammunition, and fatally wounded. The gun continued firing under Nelson and Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell, but finally fell silent sometime before 8am, when reinforcements arrived.  Whilst Bradbury kept the gun in action, the men of the cavalry regiments had moved into position, on foot, along the eastern edge of the village to prevent an attack by the dismounted German cavalry. At 6am, two squadrons of the 5th Dragoon Guards were sent north to try to outflank the attackers, looping around to the east and pressing in to hold them in place. By the time Bradbury's gun stopped firing, the first reinforcements from III Corps had arrived; the 4th Cavalry Brigade with I Battery RHA, and two battalions of infantry. I Battery began firing directly on the German guns, now exposed by the clearing mist, as did the machine guns of the 1st Middlesex Regiment; the German horses took heavy casualties, and when the artillery withdrew eight of the guns had to be abandoned for lack of horses to pull them. A squadron of the 11th Hussars passed through to pursue the retreating Germans for a mile, taking seventy-eight prisoners, from all six regiments of the German division.  During the battle, the German cavalry nearly overran some of the British artillery but reinforcements were able to halt the German attack and artillery-fire in the fog caused a "temporary panic" among horses and gun-limbers. The reinforcements began to envelop the northern flank of the 4th Division and ammunition ran short, when the delivery was delayed. At Garnier heard reports that Crépy and Béthisy were occupied and broke off the engagement to rally east of Néry, having lost a battery of artillery. The division then moved south via Rocquemont to Rozières.

Aftermath.

L Battery was almost destroyed as an operational unit in the engagement, losing all five officers and a quarter of its men and was withdrawn to England in order to reform. It did not see active service again until April 1915, when it was sent to Gallipoli. The three cavalry regiments of 1st Brigade suffered less, taking eighty-one casualties between them, one of whom was Colonel Ansell, the commanding officer of the 5th Dragoon Guards. The brigade major of 1st Brigade, Major John Cawley, was also killed.  Three men of L Battery were awarded the Victoria Cross for their services at Néry; Captain Edward Bradbury, Battery Sergeant-Major George Dorrell, and Sergeant David Nelson. Bradbury was fatally wounded at the end of the fighting, dying shortly afterwards; Nelson was killed in action in April 1918, whilst Dorrell survived the war. Both Dorrell and Nelson were also given commissions as second lieutenants; they would later reach the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and Major respectively. The VCs awarded to all three, along with the surviving gun which they had used, are now on display at the Imperial War Museum in London. Lieutenant Giffard of L Battery, who survived, was awarded the French Croix de Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, and two men from the battery were awarded the Médaille militaire. The lieutenant commanding the machine-gun section of 2nd Dragoon Guards was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, with two of his men receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal. L Battery was later awarded the honour title of "Néry"; it was the only unit to be awarded this as a battle honour, although it was applied for by both the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 11th Hussars. The other participating units received the honour Retreat from Mons.  The 4th Cavalry Division, conversely, was almost completely routed. Its actual casualties are unknown, though were thought to be greater than the British losses, and eight of their twelve guns were captured by the counterattack of the Middlesex Regiment. The brigades were ordered to disperse – according to one officer, they "had to withdraw or be destroyed" when the strength of the British reinforcements became apparent, and scattered in various directions. The Germans either moved north into the Compiègne Forest or east towards Crépy-en-Valois, but hearing fighting at Crepy doubled back to the south-east. They halted in the forests around Rosières, south of Néry; however, they were forced to abandon their remaining four guns, and most of their food and ammunition in the process. That afternoon, the cavalry observed the British columns retreating south along the roads, but were unable to attack them because of their lack of supplies. They left Rosières in the evening of 1 September; a patrol of the 1st Rifle Brigade entered the village at 7pm and found it had just been abandoned by a cavalry unit, leaving in such haste that they had abandoned a machine-gun. The bulk of the units managed to rejoin the First Army by the morning of 3 September, but the division was left behind with a reserve corps on 4 September when the II Cavalry Corps began to advance again.

References.

Books  Websites

The Affair of Néry was a skirmish fought on 1 September 1914 between the British Army and the German Army, part of the Great Retreat from Mons during the early stages of the First World War. A British cavalry brigade preparing to leave their overnight bivouac were attacked by a German cavalry division of about twice their strength, shortly after dawn. Both sides fought dismounted; the British artillery was mostly put out of action in the first few minutes but a gun of L Battery, Royal Horse Artillery kept up a steady fire for two and a half hours, against a full battery of German artillery. British reinforcements arrived at around counter-attacked the Germans and forced them to retreat; the German division was routed and did not return to combat for several days. Three men of L Battery were awarded the Victoria Cross for their part in the battle' the battery was later awarded the honour title of "Néry", the only British Army unit to have this as a battle honour.


History and words.

Bach composed the cantata in 1731 in Leipzig, for the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Lutheran church year. In Leipzig this was the only Sunday in Advent when a cantata was performed, whereas "tempus clausum" (quiet time) was observed on the other three Sundays. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Romans, "night is advanced, day will come" (), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the Entry into Jerusalem ().  Bach based parts of the music on a homage cantata of the same name,, which he had composed for the birthday of a Leipzig University teacher and first performed in spring 1725. The text was probably written by Picander, who modified it to a congratulatory cantata for Countess Charlotte Friederike Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Köthen,, first performed on 30 November 1726. Another version was a congratulatory cantata for a member of the Rivinius family from Leipzig,, probably in 1735.  Bach transformed the secular music to a cantata for the first Sunday in Advent, first by combining four movements and simply adding a chorale, the final stanza of "". The librettist of this adaptation, who stayed close to the secular cantata without reference to the readings, is unknown. Klaus Hofmann notes that the jubilant opening matches the Gospel of the entry into Jerusalem "with the people's jubilant shouts of Hosanna". The date of the adaptation is not certain, because the version is extant only in a copy by Bach's student Christoph Nichelmann.  Finally in 1731, Bach reworked the cantata considerably and wrote a new score. He interpolated the arias not with recitatives, but with three stanzas from Luther's hymn for Advent, "". This main hymn for the first Sunday in Advent had already opened his cantata for the same occasion in 1714,, and he had used it as the base for his chorale cantata, in 1724. The hymn stanzas "serve to anchor the cantata to some extent in the Advent story, and to give it liturgical purpose and a clear focus". John Eliot Gardiner terms it "structurally unusual". Bach divided the cantata in two parts to be performed before and after the sermon, closing part I with a stanza from Nicolai's hymn. For context, he replaced stanza 7, which had closed the whole cantata, by stanza 6, and closed part II by the final stanza of Luther's hymn.  Bach first performed the cantata on 2 December 1731, one week after.

Scoring and structure.

The cantata is scored for four soloists—soprano, alto, tenor and bass—a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo. It is structured in two parts of four movements each. Its interpolation of chorus and arias with chorales is unique in Bach's cantatas.

Music.

The cantata is unique in Bach's church cantatas in its structure of arias combined with chorale instead of recitatives. Performed one week after, it shows Bach's emphasis on the chorale even beyond his second cycle of chorale cantatas, begun in 1724.  The opening chorus is opened by a ritornello, dominated by two contrasting motifs: the strings play a short rising figure in triplets, the oboes d'amore play an expansive melody. As in the secular model, the movement is in two similar parts, each consisting of two contrasting sections, "" (Soar joyfully upwards to the exalted stars) and "" (Yet stop!). The bass voice, the lowest register, enters first, followed by the tenors, altos, and sopranos. This ascending sequence also reflects the text: "soaring aloft", literally "swinging upward". Gardiner, who conducted the three cantatas for the first Sunday in Advent during the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir in 2000, described the movement as a "spiritual madrigal – capricious, light-textured and deeply satisfying once all its virtuosic technical demands have been met: those tricky runs, divisions and chromatic intervals in all voices, and the chains of triplet figuration in the unison oboes d'amore and first violins". He compares the figures on "" (stop) in the middle section to "" (where) in the aria "" in Bach's "St John Passion".  All three settings of the stanzas from Luther's chorale are different, beginning with a duet for soprano and alto for the first stanza. The voices are doubled by the oboes d'amore and render the text in sections of different length, with sixteen measures for the final "" (that God had ordained such a birth for Him). Alfred Dürr notes the expressiveness of the music, especially in leaps of sixths on the urgent request "" (now come), syncopated rhythm on "" (over whom the whole world marvels), and daring chromatic on the final line. The tenor aria reflects "" (Love approaches with gentle steps) with oboe d'amore as obbligato instrument, "the traditional musical symbol of love", alluding to the concept of Jesus as the bride-groom and the Soul as the bride, which is also the base for Nicolai's hymn that closes part I in a "rousing four-part harmonisation".  The bass aria beginning part II, "" (Welcome, worthy treasure!) shows "echoes of the first movement" and avoids a regular da capo structure. The bass voice is the vox Christi, addressing the bride. The welcoming gesture from the secular cantata seems appropriate for the expressed sentiment. The next hymn stanza, "" (You who are like the Father), the sixth stanza from Luther's hymn "dealing with the sins of the flesh and Christ's mission to redeem humankind", is marked "molt' allegro". The tenor sings the chorale melody unadorned as a cantus firmus, but the oboes d'amore play with "the urgent surging of semi-quaver activity". Dürr sees the expression of "" (fight and victory of the Son of God) over "" (weak/sick flesh) of man. Gardiner compares it to a trio sonata movement. He terms the last aria "a berceuse of pure enchantment" and compares it to the "echo aria" from part IV of Bach's "Christmas Oratorio". The text "" (Also with muted, weak voices) is illustrated by a muted (con sordino) solo violin. The closing choral, the final stanza of Luther's hymn, "" (Praise be to God, the Father) is a four-part setting.

Recordings.

A list of recordings is provided by the Bach Cantatas Website. Choir with one voice per part (OVPP) and ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performance are marked by green background.

Cited sources.

"Scores"  "Books"  "Online sources"  Several databases provide additional information on each cantata, such as history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, and musical analysis.  The complete recordings of Bach's cantatas are accompanied by liner notes from musicians and musicologists, John Eliot Gardiner commented his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, Klaus Hofmann wrote for Masaaki Suzuki, Christoph Wolff for Ton Koopman.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (Soar joyfully upwards), 36, in Leipzig in 1731 for the first Sunday in Advent. He drew on material from previous congratulatory cantatas, beginning with "Schwingt freudig euch empor", BWV 36c (1725). The Gospel for the Sunday was the Entry into Jerusalem, thus the mood of the secular work matched "the people's jubilant shouts of Hosanna". In a unique structure in Bach's cantatas, he interpolated four movements derived from the former works with four stanzas from two important Advent hymns, to add liturgical focus, three from Luther's "" and one from Nicolai's "". He first performed the cantata in its final form of two parts, eight movements, on 2 December 1731.


Background and education.

Brett was a son of the Reverend Joseph George Brett, of Chelsea, London, by Dorothy, daughter of George Best, of Chilston Park, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. He was educated at Westminster School, King's College London and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Brett rowed for Cambridge University Boat Club against Leander Club in 1837 and 1838, then in the victorious Cambridge crew against Oxford University in the 1839 Boat Race.

Career.

Called to the Bar in 1840, Brett went to the northern circuit and became a Queen's Counsel in 1861. On the death of Richard Cobden in 1865, he unsuccessfully contested Rochdale as a Conservative, but in an 1866 by-election, he was returned for Helston in unique circumstances. He and his opponent polled exactly the same number of votes, and the mayor, as returning officer, then gave his casting vote for the Liberal candidate. As the vote was given after four o'clock, however, an appeal was lodged, and the House of Commons allowed both members to take their seats.  Brett rapidly made his mark in the House, and in early 1868, he was knighted and appointed Solicitor General under Benjamin Disraeli. On behalf of the Crown, he prosecuted the Fenians charged with having caused the Clerkenwell Outrage. In Parliament, he took a leading part in the promotion of bills connected with the administration of law and justice. In August 1868, he was appointed a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Some of his sentences in this capacity excited much criticism, notably so in the case of the gas stokers strike, when he sentenced the defendants to imprisonment for twelve months, with hard labour, which was afterwards reduced by the Home Secretary to four months.  On the reconstitution of the Court of Appeal in 1876, Brett was elevated to the rank of a Lord Justice of Appeal. He was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time. After holding the position for seven years, he succeeded Sir George Jessel as Master of the Rolls in 1883. In 1885 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Esher, "of Esher in the County of Surrey". He opposed the bill proposing that an accused person or his wife might give evidence in their own case and supported the bill that empowered Lords of Appeal to sit and vote after their retirement. The Solicitors Act 1888, which increased the powers of the Incorporated Law Society, owed much to his influence. In 1880, he delivered a speech in the House of Lords, deprecating the delay and expense of trials, which he regarded as having been increased by the Judicature Act 1873. He retired from the bench at the close of 1897, and was created Viscount Esher, "of Esher in the County of Surrey", a dignity never given to any judge, Lord Chancellors excepted, for mere legal conduct since the time of Lord Coke.

Family.

Lord Esher married Eugénie Mayer (1814–1904) in 1850. Eugénie was possibly the illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and Fanny Meyer, though other sources suggest that her father was one Louis Mayer. They had two sons, Reginald, and Eugène, and a daughter Violet, wife of William Humble Dudley Ward and mother of William Dudley Ward. Lord Esher died in London in May 1899, aged eighty-one, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Reginald.

William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, PC (13 August 181524 May 1899), known as Sir William Brett between 1868 and 1883, was a British lawyer, judge, and Conservative politician. He was briefly Solicitor-General under Benjamin Disraeli and then served as a justice of the Court of Common Pleas between 1868 and 1876, as a Lord Justice of Appeal between 1876 and 1883 and as Master of the Rolls. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Esher in 1885 and further honoured when he was made Viscount Esher on his retirement in 1897.


History.

The first people to occupy the area around Tarkastad were the San who left an abundance of rock art paintings in Grootvlei just north of the town.. The first farmers settled in Tarkastad in 1795 who built watermills, inns and both a Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian Church. Two Great Trek leaders, Andries Potgieter and Piet Retief, farmed here for a short while. After the Dutch farmers decided to accompany their leaders on the Great Trek, the English 1820 settlers moved in, and in 1862 Tarkastad was established as a church centre and became a municipality in 1864. Elands River Poort, a mountain pass located on the Karoo, 24 km to the NNW of Tarkastad, where the Battle of Elands River (1901) was fought during the Second Boer War. The grave of Lt. Sheridan, cousin of Winston Churchill, who was killed in the Battle of Elands River can be found on the Modderfontein farm just outside Tarkastad. Victorian cast iron lamp posts, old water mills and broekie lace adornments indicate the British colonial influence.  Tarkastad's first Municipal Manager after apartheid was Mr Smilo Dayi an ex-political prisoner. The first mayor after apartheid was Mr Ntsikelelo Sampempe.

Climate.

Scientists have stated that Tarkastad has one of the healthiest climates in the world. Winters are cold with frequent snowfalls on high lying mountain tops, while summers are hot and dry. Tarkastad which is situated at an elevation of 4,280 feet normally receives about 335mm of rain per year, with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer.

Economy.

Surrounded by commercial farms, which specialize in crop, animal farming (Merino sheep, goats and cattle) and game farming, Tarkastad caters for the surrounding villages in Ntabethemba such as Tentergate, Khwezi and Khayalethu. Although no longer the capital of the Tsolwana Local Municipality which has been absorbed into the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, the town still offers public and administrative services for surrounding villages.

Demographics.

The following statistics describing Tarkastad are from the 2011 census.

Tarkastad is a Karoo semi-urban settlement situated on the banks Tarka River in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Tarkastad is on a plain to the north of the Winterberg mountain range on the R61 between Cradock and Queenstown and only three hours from Port Elizabeth. The name Tarkastad is believed to come from the Khoi-Khoi word "Traka" (meaning women) or the Celtic word "Tarka" (meaning otter) and the Afrikaans word "Stad" (meaning city). The fact that the town is overlooked by Martha and Mary; two peaks which look like two women resting after a hard day's work, also lends to the name.


Geography.

Blauvelt is located at (41.064396, -73.956881).  According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of, of which is land and, or 1.52%, is water.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,207 people, 1,564 households, and 1,313 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,144.4 per square mile (441.9/km). There were 1,588 housing units at an average density of 349.0/sq mi (134.8/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 88.42% White, 1.56% African American, 0.02% Native American, 7.34% Asian, 1.44% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.93% of the population.  There were 1,564 households, out of which 38.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.9% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.0% were non-families. 13.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.08 and the average family size was 3.40.  In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.6% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.7 males.  The median income for a household in the CDP was $103,071, and the median income for a family was $104,944. Males had a median income of $90,125 versus $80,096 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $94,211. About 1.9% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.1% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.

History.

The name "Blauvelt", of Dutch origin, is that of a prominent family that settled in the area in the 17th century. The etymology of the name probably comes from the coat of arms adopted by the first Blauvelt, Pieter Blauwveld, a prominent trader in the Netherlands. Literally, it means "blue-field", or "blue pasture fields", likely a reference to the blue and yellow shields hung on Pieter's ships (a common 14th century Dutch method of identifying the owner). The first Blauvelt in America was a peasant farmer who worked on Kiliaen van Rensselaer's estate cultivating tobacco, in 1638.  In 1909, New York State purchased property in Blauvelt to create Camp Bluefields, a large rifle range used to train members of the New York National Guard prior to World War I. The property was later used by the YWCA, ROTC, Columbia University and the U.S. Army for various purposes before being abandoned following World War II. The land is today the site of Blauvelt State Park.  In 1972, Robert Salvia and Professor Dr. Paul Olson of the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, a research unit of Columbia University located on a campus in Palisades, New York, discovered several 200-million-year-old dinosaur tracks that were identified as being from the coelophysis. Some of these tracks were sent to the New York State Museum in Albany, New York for identification and preservation. The fossils date from the Triassic period and are claimed to be the only dinosaur tracks ever discovered in the state of New York.  The 914 Sound Studios was a musical recording studio in the 1970s. Several albums were recorded in Blauvelt, including the title track of Bruce Springsteen's album "Born to Run" in 1974.

Tourism.

Historical markers.

The Jacob J. Blauvelt house and its four remaining acres of land had been in the Blauvelt family since the time it was built, in 1832, up until when it was acquired by the Historical Society of Rockland County in 1970. The Blauvelt family first arrived in America in 1638, and first arrived in Rockland County in 1683. Their genealogy today contains more than 26,000 names.

Blauvelt is a hamlet and census-designated place, formerly known as Greenbush and then Blauveltville, in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Tappan, east of Nauraushaun and Pearl River, south of Central Nyack, and west of Orangeburg. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 5,689.


History.

The Voigtland State Railway ("Voigtländische Staatseisenbahn"), which was opened in 1865 by the Royal Saxon State Railways ("Königlich Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen"), provided a rail connection to numerous villages and towns in the Vogtland railway, but it involved numerous twists on a long route. In the 1860s, it was planned to shorten the route by the construction of the Plauen–Oelsnitz link. Weischlitz received a station on the section of the line approved in 1868. The White Elster was moved a little farther west into a new river bed to allow the station to be built on the river bed. From the outset, the station was designed for the integration of the Wolfsgefährth–Weischlitz railway of the private Saxon-Thuringian Railway Company ("Sächsisch-Thüringische Eisenbahngesellschaft", Sä.-Th.E.). Weischlitz station was opened on 1 November 1874 together with the Plauen–Oelsnitz line. The private railway built its facilities east of the existing facilities of the state railway, the only necessary change to the buildings that had already been built was a slight enlargement of the entrance building. The Sä.-Th.E. opened its last section between "Plauen unt Bf" (Plauen lower station) and Weischlitz on 20 September 1875. A rail link enabled the exchange of carriages. The station became a virtual "Inselbahnhof" (island station), since the entrance building was surrounded by tracks, except for the access road. The Sä.-Th.E., along with its railways, was taken over by the Saxon state in 1876, but this did not change rail operations at all. The trains to Wolfsgefährth continued to begin and end in the eastern part of the station. In the following years smaller additions and conversions were made, including the building of another auxiliary building and an additional loading track with a ramp. Larger conversions and extensions were made around 1900. Following the largest stage of building, there were 42 sets of points and 21 tracks in the station, of which 9 were on the Plauen side and 12 were on the Gera side. Four platform tracks were used for passenger services, while several freight tracks, ramps and a goods shed were available for freight operations. In addition, there was a private storage shed. An overpass was built for the village’s main street, which crosses the railway at the southern end of the station. In essence, the railways remained the same until after the Second World War. After the Second World War the tracks inside the station was reduced by the dismantling of the second through track for reparations. In the mid-1970s all semaphore signals were replaced by colour light signals. With the economic impact of Die Wende, the freight traffic almost completely disappeared. Until the end of the 1990s, only three tracks on the eastern and six tracks on the western side were used. Then a platform track on the eastern side was dismantled in favour of a bus loop. There are now eight railway tracks in the station, six of them on the west side. There is also the loading track, the only remaining track for freight traffic.

Weischlitz locomotive depot.

The Sä.-Th.E. built a two-storey "Heizhaus" (a roundhouse where locomotives were heated) in Weischlitz. In 1899, this rectangular building was supplemented by four further stalls, which could be reached via a 20-m turntable. In the meantime, it was no more than a minor locomotive depot, which was responsible after the Second World War to Adorf locomotive depot ("Bahnbetriebswerk Adorf"). Later it was responsible to Reichenbach locomotive depot. With the change of traction to diesel, the locomotive depot became redundant and closed in the 1970s. The listed "Heizhaus" still exist, but the turntable was dismantled before 1989.

Weischlitz station is a local railway junction in the municipality of Weischlitz in Vogtland in the German state of Saxony. The station is located on the Plauen–Cheb railway and the railway from Gera Süd.


Background.

"Wet" was written by Snoop Dogg along with The Cataracs, who produced the song. Snoop Dogg specifically recorded the song for Prince William of Wales' bachelor party upon the request of the royal family of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms. Titled "Wet", Snoop spokespeople bill the song as a sequel to 2008's "Sexual Eruption". Produced by The Cataracs producers of the number-one single "Like a G6", Snoop spoke of the gift: "When I heard the [British] royal family wanted to have me perform in celebration of Prince William's marriage, I knew I had to give them a little something. 'Wet' is the perfect anthem for Prince William or any playa to get the club smokin'." The song was premiered on Snoop's SnoopDogg.com website at precisely 4:20 pm PST, November 30. The official remix, featuring Jim Jones and Shawty Lo, was released on February 8, 2011 as a part of Snoop Dogg's "Puff Puff Pass Tuesdays" giveaway.

"Sweat".

The second official remix features production by French DJ David Guetta. This version is entitled "Sweat", and was released on March 4, 2011. The remix interpolates Felix's "Don't You Want Me". A dub remix, which features production by both David Guetta and Afrojack, was released on May 13, 2011.

Chart performance.

In the United Kingdom, "Sweat" debuted at #16 before moving into the top 10 two weeks later, and eventually reached a peak position of #4. The song also hit number one in Belgium for three non-consecutive weeks. Elsewhere, "Wet" peaked in the top 5 in Finland, Germany and Ireland. On March 14, 2011, "Sweat" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at #60, and the following week it climbed 51 places to #9. Three weeks later it reached #1 for a week, becoming Snoop's third number one single in Australia. It has since been certified 4× platinum with sales exceeding 280,000.

Music video.

The video for "Wet" was shot at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. In the video, Snoop Dogg throws a bachelor party for Prince William who is accompanied by his brother Prince Harry, before his marriage to Kate Middleton. The video shows scenes including Snoop laying next to several women and walking through a hallway with more women dancing around him. The music video for the song premiered on Snoop Dogg's Vevo account on January 5, 2011. An edited version of the video has been released for "Sweat", which extra scenes featuring David Guetta himself.

Credits and personnel.

"Sweat".

Source:

"Wet" is the official lead single from hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg's eleventh studio album "Doggumentary". The original version was produced by The Cataracs. "Wet" reached #40 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, #18 on the Hot Rap Songs and #13 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. A remix of the song entitled "Sweat" was released by French DJ David Guetta on March 4, 2011.


Career.

She is the original singer behind Jamelia's international hit single "Superstar", which was written and produced by Danish producers Cutfather & Joe and Remee in 2002. It spent seven weeks at number one on the official Danish singles chart, sold over 12,000 copies, and gave Milton her first gold and platinum record.  In 2004 she co-hosted the annual Danish MGP, a junior singing competition, on DR1.  On 8 April 2004, Milton released her debut album "Friday". Written and produced by the Swedish producers Ghost (Ulf Lindström & Johan Ekhé) and Danish producers Cutfather & Joe and Remee, the album was a #1 success in Denmark. It also spawned three further singles, "Whicketywhack (I Ain't Coming Back)", "Shine On" and "So Addictive".  In 2005 she provided the voice dubbing for one of the characters in the Danish release of the adventure/comedy film "Racing Stripes".  In November 2006, "Superstar" appeared on the debut album of American singer Bianca Ryan, the first winner of the reality talent show "America's Got Talent".  Milton released her first Danish single, "Det' forbi" ("It's Over") in 2007. A year later, she released the single "Tilbage" on Smokenhagen Records, a label owned by the hip-hop production team Madness 4 Real.  On 12 April 2010, Milton returned with the come-back single "Leave You Now", released on Danish house producer Rune RK's Nightology Records.

Personal life.

Milton was born on 18 July 1985 in Amager, Denmark and was raised in Gilleleje, as one of four siblings.  Contrary to popular belief, she is not the daughter of Danish football referee Kim Milton.

Christine Milton (born 18 July 1985) is a Danish pop singer, songwriter and professional dancer. She was one of the participants in the second series of Denmark's popular "Popstars" series. Although she did not win she was signed to record label BMG.


Early life and career.

T. Vincent Quinn was born in Long Island City, New York on March 16, 1903. He attended schools in Queens, graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School, and received his LL.B. degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1924.  Quinn practiced in New York City. Active in the Democratic Party, he served as Assistant District Attorney of Queens County from September 1931 to August 1934. From 1934 to 1947 he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and he twice served as Acting U.S. Attorney.

Political career.

In July 1947 Quinn was appointed by President Harry Truman as an Assistant United States Attorney General for the Criminal Division and was confirmed in September. In the post, he worked on the post-war cases of World War II propagandists Iva Toguri D'Aquino, better known as Tokyo Rose and Robert Henry Best.  After 13 months at the Justice Department, Quinn resigned in August 1948 to run for Congress from New York's 5th congressional district. In the 1948 election, Quinn defeated freshman Republican Robert Tripp Ross. He defeated Ross in a rematch in 1950; but ran successfully for Queens County’s District Attorney in 1951 and resigned from Congress in December.

Criminal Charges.

In 1953, Quinn and his former law partners were indicted for allegedly enabling Quinn to accept legal fees for advising clients with business before the federal government while he was serving in Congress, and taking steps to conceal this activity. Despite the charges and the Queens Democratic Party’s refusal to endorse him, he ran for re-election as district attorney in 1955 with former state Senator Frank D. O'Connor challenging him in the Democratic primary. O’Connor prevailed by 1,452 votes after a recount. Quinn and his associates were acquitted on some charges in 1956. The judge ruled that prosecutors had presented no evidence that Quinn was aware the legal fees in question were from cases that took place during his time in Congress. In 1957, the remaining charges were dismissed.

Later career.

In 1957, Quinn was appointed to the New York City Magistrates' Court. He served as a magistrate until 1962, when the court was merged with the New York City Criminal Court. After the merger Quinn was a Judge on the criminal court until retiring in September 1972.

Personal life.

In retirement Quinn resided in Venice, Florida, where he died on March 1, 1982.

Thomas Vincent Quinn (March 16, 1903 – March 1, 1982) was an American jurist and politician from New York. He served as an assistant Attorney General and was elected to one term in the United States House of Representatives. He left Congress to become the Queens County District Attorney and was defeated for re-election after being indicted on Federal corruption charges. He was not convicted and was later appointed as a criminal court judge.


Early life.

Born Robert Chester Ruark Jr., to Charlotte A. Ruark and Robert C. Ruark, a bookkeeper for a wholesale grocery, young Ruark grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. His brother, David, was adopted, and little is known about him. The Ruark family was deeply affected by the Depression, but still managed to send Robert to college. He graduated early from New Hanover High School, and enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at age 15. His studies included a few journalism classes but, contrary to popular belief, he did not earn a degree in journalism.

Early career.

In the 1930s, Ruark was fired from an accounting job in the Works Progress Administration, and did a hitch in the United States Merchant Marine. He worked for two small town newspapers in North Carolina: the "Hamlet News Messenger" and, later, the "Sanford Herald".  In 1936, Ruark moved to Washington, D.C., and was hired as a copy boy for "The Washington Daily News", a Scripps-Howard newspaper. In just a few months he was the paper's top sports reporter.  During World War II, Ruark was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy, and served ten months as a gunnery officer on Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys.

Marriage.

In 1938, Ruark married Virginia Webb, an interior designer from an upper-middle-class family in the Washington, D.C. area, and a graduate of Georgetown University. They divorced in 1963, and had no children. Virginia Webb-Ruark died in 1966.

Writing career.

Upon his return to Washington, Ruark joined the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. As his obituary in "The New York Times" stated, Ruark was "sometimes glad, sometimes sad, and often mad — but almost always provocative." Some of his columns were eventually collected into two books, "I Didn't Know It Was Loaded" (1948) and "One for the Road" (1949).  As he became recognized, Ruark began to write fiction, first for literary magazines, and then his first novel, "Grenadine Etching", in 1947. The novel parodied the popular historical romances of the time and set the stage for his many humorous novels and articles published in the "Saturday Evening Post", "Esquire", and other popular publications.

African safari.

After enjoying some success as a writer, Ruark decided that it was time to fulfill a lifelong dream to go on safari to Africa, fueled by his doctor's advice to have a year's rest. Legendary Ker and Downey Safaris booked him with Harry Selby, and Ruark began a love affair with Africa. Ruark was booked with Selby because of a desire to use a tracker named Kidogo, who had once hunted with Ernest Hemingway. Ruark's pairing with Selby, though fortuitous, was pure chance. Kidogo was a member of Selby's crew.  As a result of this first safari, Ruark wrote a book called "Horn of the Hunter", in which he detailed his hunt. Selby became an overnight legend and was subsequently booked for up to five years in advance by Americans wishing to duplicate Ruark's adventures. After the first safari, Selby and Ruark again went hunting, and this time they took cameras along. The result was a one-hour documentary entitled "Africa Adventure", released by RKO pictures. Though extremely difficult to find, a 16mm print of this movie was discovered in 2002, and a DVD copy was created and donated to the Robert Ruark Foundation in Southport, North Carolina.  In 1953, Ruark began writing a series for "Field & Stream" magazine entitled "The Old Man and the Boy". Considered largely autobiographical (although technically fiction), this heartwarming series ran until late 1961. The stories were characterized by the philosophical musings of the "Old Man", who was modeled after both of Ruark's grandfathers, but mostly on Captain Edward "Ned" Hall Adkins, Ruark's maternal grandfather. In the stories, young Bob Ruark grows up hunting and fishing in coastal North Carolina, always guided by the Old Man. However, the pain of his parents' difficult domestic life and his relatively few childhood friends (Ruark, something of a child prodigy in school, was a loner) are tellingly absent from the narratives. Many of the stories were collected into a book of the same name, followed shortly thereafter by a companion book entitled "The Old Man's Boy Grows Older". Today these two books are probably his best remembered works. Twenty stories were also published in the book "Robert Ruark's Africa".  Ruark's first bestselling novel was published in 1955. Entitled "Something of Value", it describes the Mau Mau Uprising by Kenyan rebels against British rule. The novel drew from the author's personal knowledge and experiences on safari in Africa, and was adapted into a successful 1957 film, "Something of Value". "Uhuru", a novel with a similar theme, but not intended to be a sequel, was published in 1962. "Uhuru" is the Swahili word for "freedom". He had intended to write a final chapter in the series with the working title of "A Long View From a Tall Hill", but this never materialized.

Last years.

After his first half dozen books or so, Ruark continued to write, though few of his later novels matched his earlier successes. In 1960, after a bittersweet visit to his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, Ruark left the U.S. for good. He lived in London and Barcelona, before settling in Sant Antoni de Calonge, Spain. Shortly before his death, he wrote a final article which later appeared in "Playboy" and was titled "Nothing Works and Nobody Cares." He died in London, England, on July 1, 1965, of cirrhosis of the liver brought on by alcoholism. His last novel, "The Honey Badger", exemplified the condition of the author at this time in his life. The book was published posthumously, as was "Use Enough Gun", which is essentially a collection of excerpts from his earlier works. More notable are the two collections published by McIntosh and Casada, which are representative of the author's finest work.  Robert Ruark is buried in Palamos, Spain.

Bibliography.

By Robert Ruark:  About Robert Ruark:

Robert Ruark (December 29, 1915 in Wilmington, North Carolina – July 1, 1965 in London, England) was an American author, syndicated columnist, and big game hunter.


Location.

The delta reaches into the northeasternmost part of the Sea of Azov, which the Ancient Greeks called Lake Maeotis. The site of ancient Tanais is about 30 km west of modern Rostov-on-Don. The central city site lies on a plateau with a difference up to 20 m in elevation in the south. It is bordered by a natural valley to the east, and an artificial ditch to the west.

History.

The site of Tanais was occupied long before the Milesians founded an emporium there. A necropolis of over 300 burial kurgans near the ancient city shows that the site had already been occupied since the Bronze Age, and that kurgan burials continued through Greek and into even Roman times. Greek traders seem to have been meeting nomads in the district as early as the 7th century BC without a formal, permanent settlement. Greek colonies had two kinds of origins, "apoikiai" of citizens from the mother city-state, and "emporia", which were strictly trading stations. Founded late in the 3rd century BC, by merchant adventurers from Miletus, Tanais quickly developed into an "emporium" at the farthest northeastern extension of the Hellenic cultural sphere. It was a natural post, first for the trade of the steppes reaching away eastwards in an unbroken grass sea to the Altai, the Scythian Holy Land, second for the trade of the Black Sea, ringed with Greek-dominated ports and entrepots, and third for trade from the impenetrable north, with furs and slaves brought down the Don. Strabo mentions Tanais in his "Geography" (11.2.2).  The site for the city, ruled by an archon, was at the eastern edge of the territory of the kings of Bosporus. A major shift in social emphasis is represented in the archaeological site when the propylea gate that linked the port section with the agora was removed, and the open center of public life was occupied by a palatial dwelling in Roman times for the kings of Bosporus. For the first time there were client kings at Tanais: Sauromates (AD 175-211) and his son Rescuporides (c. AD 220), who both left public inscriptions.  In AD 330 Tanais was devastated by the Goths, but the site was occupied continuously up to the second half of the 5th century AD. Increasingly, the channel silted up, probably the result of deforestation, and the center of active life shifted, perhaps to the small city of Azov, halfway to Rostov.  The city was refounded around the 13th century by the Venetians. Later it was acquired by the maritime Republic of Genoa, who administered it 1332-1471 as Tana nel Mare Maggiore, being an important place for trade with the Golden Horde, like all their Black Sea colonies controlled by the Genoese Consul at Kaffa. It decayed again after 1368. In 1392 it was conquered by Timur, by the Ottoman Turks in 1471, by the Russians in 1696, again by the Turks in 1711 and by the Russian Empire in 1771.

Ecclesiastical History.

Circa 1300, under Venetian rule, was established a Diocese of Tana as territory not previously served, maintained under Genua. Most bishops were members of two major and missionary orders. It was exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province.  In 1471, under Ottoman Muslim control, the bishopric was suppressed.

Titular see.

In 1925 the diocese was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric of Tana, which from 1929 was called Tanais (exclusively from 1942).  It is vacant, having had the following near-consecutive incumbents, all of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :

Archaeology.

In 1823, I. A. Stempkovsky first made a connection between the visible archaeological remains, which were mostly Roman in date, and the "Tanais" mentioned in the ancient Greek sources.  Systematic modern excavations began in 1955. A joint Russian-German team has recently been excavating at the site of Tanais, with the aim of revealing the heart of the city, the agora, and defining the extent of Hellenistic influence on the urbanism of the Bosporan Greek city, as well as studying defensive responses to the surrounding nomadic cultures.  In the book "Jakten på Odin", author Thor Heyerdahl advanced a highly controversial idea postulating connections between Tanais and ancient Scandinavia. In preparation of the book, he conducted some archaeological research on the site of Tanais. Heyerdal`s idea was based on the old Norse sagas of Snorri Sturlason. (1178 - 1241)  Tanais Tablets are the most important historical discoveries in region of Tanais.

Genetics.

9 Y-chromosome markers were obtained from a skeleton. The result was 389I=13, 389II=30, 458=15, 385=11, 393=13, 391=11, 635=23, 437=14, 448=19. This result is characteristic for haplogroup R1a.

Tanais ( "Tánaïs"; ) was an ancient Greek city in the Don river delta, called the Maeotian marshes in classical antiquity. It was a bishopric as Tana and remains a Latin Catholic titular see as Tanais.


Private life.

Gülşen Aktaş was born in Tunceli, Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey in 1957. Her father died at an early age. Her mother moved without the children to Germany to work as a Gastarbeiter. She worked for years in a factory to provide for her four daughters in Turkey. Gülşen Aktaş grew up with relatives and homes in Turkey. She graduated from high school in Şanlıurfa, and became a primary school teacher in Diyarbakır Province.  At the age of 21, Gülşen Aktaş followed her mother to Germany. First in Frankfurt am Main and later in Berlin, she completed a degree in political science.

Career.

After graduating, she worked in one of the first women's shelters in Berlin, and worked in various immigrant and women's projects. In 2004, she supervised and advised pupils and parents of various origins at the Neumark primary school in Schöneberg, where she lives. She founded a women's network for Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, Bosnian and Arab women, mothers and girls.  Since 2007, she has been managing the "Huzur", Turkish for peace, tranquility, for senior citizens, which is frequented by first-generation migrants. self-help potential is promoted in this institution, which realizes intercultural dialogue between different ethnic groups of all ages. Additionally, in the facility, integration through education and leisure activities are organized. Other offerings are literacy class, the choir, new project ideas, such as retreat Nordic walking in the Tiergarten or senior Karaoke. Excursions on the subject of "History of Germany" find great popularity.

Awards.

For her extraordinary projects related to migrants of diverse ethnic groups, she was awarded the 2009 "Kosmopolita" Prize.  On 30 September 2011, the Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit awarded her the "Order of Merit of Berlin" ().

Gülşen Aktaş (born 1957) is a Turkish educator and social worker. Living in Schöneberg, Berlin, she serves for the needs of migrant women in Germany. She was awarded with "Kosmopolita" in 2009 and "Order of Merit of Berlin" in 2011.


College career.

Jacoby started off as an offensive tackle for the University of Louisville from 1978 to 1980.

Professional career.

After college, Jacoby went undrafted. He signed a free agent contract with the Washington Redskins in 1981, where he embarked on an enviable career—four Super Bowl appearances, of which his team won three (XVII in 1983, XXII in 1988, and XXVI in 1992), plus four consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 1983 to 1986.  Along with Jeff Bostic, Mark May, George Starke and Russ Grimm, Jacoby was a founding member of the Redskins' renowned "Hogs" offensive line of the 1980s and early 1990s (deemed one of the best front fives of NFL history), which was a mainstay of the Redskins' glory years during the first Joe Gibbs era.  Jacoby was the lead blocker on John Riggins' famous touchdown run which ensured the Redskins' Super Bowl XVII win over the Dolphins in 1983. In that game, the Redskins set a Super Bowl record for most rushing yards with 276. The Hogs helped the Redskins break that record five years later in Super Bowl XXII, in which Washington trampled over the Denver Broncos with 280 rushing yards en route to the second of the Redskins' three championships.

Personal.

One year after the Redskins' third Super Bowl victory in 1992, Jacoby retired, after which he became the owner of an auto dealership in Warrenton, Virginia.  Jacoby became an assistant football coach at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. He began as a part-time volunteer in 2008 and was hired as a full-time employee in 2009. In 2014, Jacoby was hired as the offensive line coach for Concordia University Chicago.  Jacoby has a wife, Irene, and two daughters.

Joseph Erwin Jacoby (born July 6, 1959) is a former American football offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL), where he won three Super Bowls during his tenure with the team. Many Redskins' fans and analysts consider Jacoby the greatest Redskins player not currently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


Plot summary.

The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa, in September 1954. Their mother, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, an Indian Carmelite nun, dies during childbirth. Their father, Thomas Stone, the English surgeon of Missing, abandons them and disappears. Orphaned at birth, the pair grow up in the household of two physicians of Missing, both from Madras, the obstetrician Kalpana Hemlatha (Hema) and Abhi Ghosh, who fall in love while caring for the infants. Hema names them Marion (after J. Marion Sims) and Shiva (after the Hindu deity). Ghosh teaches himself surgery to replace Stone. The tissue link between the twins has been separated at birth and the two grow up together being very close initially.  Both twins are exposed to the changing political environment in Ethiopia. There is an unsuccessful rebellion by Haile Selassie’s bodyguard, General Mebratu. Ghosh is imprisoned, then released, in the aftermath of the coup, due to his friendship with Mebratu. Through their parents, both boys are exposed to medicine and taught at the hospital.  Over time, though, individual differences begin to become pronounced. When entering puberty their relationship to Genet, the daughter of Rosina, a domestic help, finally tears them apart. Marion is in love with Genet and intends to marry her, but it is Shiva who, interested in sexual pursuits, becomes her first lover. Marion feels betrayed. Rosina forces Genet to submit to female genital mutilation and commits suicide shortly thereafter. Genet will later join the Eritrean liberation movement. While Marion goes to medical school, his brother stays at Missing. Focused on the repair of birth-related fistulas, he takes up his surgical training with Hema eschewing a formal medical education. On his death bed, Ghosh has three wishes for Marion - to get the best medical education, to find Stone, and to forgive his brother.  When Genet and her comrades hijack an Ethiopian Airlines airplane in 1979, Marion is on a list of her connections. To avoid arrest he flees the country overnight to Kenya. He goes to New York City where he finds a position at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, a hospital in the Bronx. There, he enters a surgical residency. One day, assisting his senior in a complicated trauma operation, an unknown surgeon enters looking them over the shoulder. It is Thomas Stone, by now a well-renowned liver surgeon from Boston. Marion's encounter with his biological father redirects his life leading to a painful reconciliation and reunion with his estranged brother.

Medical topics.

The book contains descriptions of many medical diseases and interventions. The title relates to the oath of Hippocrates that calls his acolytes not to cut for (bladder) stones. Marion's mother dies during a complicated delivery (conjoined twins) from a uterine rupture. The babies are born premature. Shiva becomes an expert in the repair of vesico-vaginal and recto-vaginal fistulas. A vasectomy is described in detail "so charming and surgically precise, it could serve, in a pinch, as a how-to-manual."  The surgery of an intestinal volvulus establishes a relationship between Ghosh and Mebratu, but leads to his later imprisonment. Ghosh later dies from leukemia possibly related to his handling of outdated x-ray equipment. Genet undergoes female genital mutilation (female circumcision) and suffers from its complications. The book describes conditions in a tuberculosis sanatorium where Stone's mother dies from a ruptured aneurysm, the underlying condition acquired from her husband who has syphilis, or more specifically, tabes dorsalis. Marion's participation in the setting of an atriocaval shunt (a "Shrock") during trauma surgery in New York sets the scene when he encounters his biological father. The reader is further confronted with typhoid fever and hepatitis with liver failure. Other topics covered are depression, appendicitis, amputation, rickets, intestinal cancer, phlebitis, and intracranial hemorrhage.

Reception.

By February 2012 the book had been on the bestseller list of the New York Times for more than two years, and over one million copies had been sold. Paula Bock praises the book finding the epic "absorbing, exhilarating, and exhausting." Aida Edemariam notes that Verghese "interweaves (the characters') story with that of Ethiopia's past half century" and likes "the variety and colour of Verghese's world, its earthiness and drama, its concreteness and unselfconscious swing." She criticizes "a certain brutality... in the gender politics" of the novel and that in real life things do not work out so neatly as narrated. Erica Wagner gives a mixed review finding "the novel to be capacious, not to say baggy" and "tinged, albeit lightly, with a sense of magic". While she admires the vivid descriptions of surgery, she suggests that the medical details sometimes interfere with the flow of the story. She criticizes that Verghese attempts "to cram in every last fact about (his characters)." However, John Irving wrote that "I've not read a novel wherein medicine, the practice of it, is made as germane to the storytelling process, to the overall narrative, as the author manages to make it happen here."  In 2011, President Barack Obama said he had chosen "Cutting for Stone" as one of the five books on his summer vacation reading list.  In February 2012 it was announced that Susanne Bier has signed on to direct a movie version of "Cutting for Stone." Scott Teems will write the screen adaption.

Cutting for Stone (2009) is a novel written by Ethiopian-born Indian-American medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at their births and forsaken by their father. The book includes a deep description of both medical procedures and explores the human side of medical practices.


Early life and family.

Vining was born in Dover in the Delaware Colony, son of John and Phoebe Wynkoop Vining. His father was a prominent and successful lawyer and landholder, who had been a Speaker of the Colonial Assembly and Chief Justice of Delaware. He was also the good friend of Caesar Rodney, who stood as godfather for his son John, the subject of this article. Vining's father died when his son was eleven years old, and from him John and his sister inherited a large fortune. On November 29, 1790, while he was a U.S. Representative in New York City, he married Anna Maria Seton, a poet, musician, and daughter of William Seton of New York. She fit well into Vining's social circle, and they had four sons, John, William, Benjamin, and Charles, but she died prematurely in 1800.

Political career.

Vining studied law under George Read in New Castle, Delaware, and was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1782, starting a practice in Dover. Because of his family's wealth and prominence he was elected three times to represent Delaware in the Continental Congress. First elected April 8, 1784, he served until October 27, 1786, although, like many of his contemporaries, his attendance was irregular. He was then elected to the 1787/88 and 1788/89 sessions of the Delaware House of Assembly.  In a special election on January 7, 1789, Vining defeated four other candidates to win election as the only Delawarean delegate to the 1st U.S. House of Representatives. Two years later he was re-elected to a second term. Although he arrived weeks late for every session, he was an energetic and conscientious legislator, consistently voting in support of the administration, particularly favoring a strong executive. He served on thirty-eight committees in the 1st U.S. House, including the committee considering the first proposed amendments to the Constitution, and the joint committee on rules.  Vining's positions were generally loose-constructionist, or Hamiltonian. Accordingly, he strongly favored the federal assumption of the state's revolutionary war debts. In the debate over the location of a national capital, he sought consideration for Wilmington, Delaware, but once that lost, supported an immediate move to Philadelphia, and the later construction of a city on the Potomac River.  In 1793 he returned to Dover, Delaware as a State Senator, but was soon elected to the U.S. Senate. He served there for five years, from March 4, 1793 until his resignation on January 19, 1798, and subsequent retirement from public life.

Death and legacy.

Vining died in Dover and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery at Dover.  Vining was a handsome, friendly, and outspoken member of a prominent and wealthy family. He was described as a "colorful," speaker who "brandished a florid metaphor," but also as "verbose" and "not above resorting to inflammatory language." His sister, Mary, who was a frequent companion of Anthony Wayne, lived with Vining, and together they entertained frequently and lavishly. Because of this hospitality and generosity he was known as "the pet of Delaware." But he spent through his fortune and suffering from alcoholism, and the death of his wife, went through a rapid decline on the way to an impoverished and premature death. His sister dedicated herself to raising Vining's four sons, but they died young as well, within a year of her death in 1821.  Elizabeth Montgomery in her "Reminiscences in Wilmington" wrote: "His brilliant talents, not nourished by application, withered in the bud. Indolence and generosity engendered extravagance that wasted his substance."

Almanac.

Elections were held October 1. Members of the General Assembly took office on October 20 or the following weekday. The State Councilmen were elected for a three-year term and the State Assemblymen for a one-year term. They chose the Continental Congressmen for a one-year term. U.S. Representatives took office March 4 and have a two-year term. The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who took office March 4 for a six-year term.  After 1792 elections were moved to the first Tuesday of October and members of the General Assembly took office on the first Tuesday of January. The Legislative Council was renamed the State Senate and the House of Assembly was renamed the State House of Representatives.

John Middleton "Jack" Vining (December 23, 1758February 1802) was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a Continental Congressman from Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as United States Representative and United States Senator from Delaware.


Early life and education.

Born into the planter class at the family plantation, "Gallant Green", in Charles County, Maryland, Mudd was reared Catholic and first educated locally. He attended Georgetown University and graduated from St. John's College of Annapolis, Maryland in 1878.  He "read the law" as an apprentice with an established firm and also attended the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1880 and returned to Charles County to begin his practice.

Marriage and family.

Mudd married a daughter of Walter Griffin of Surrattsville (now part of Clinton, Maryland). Among their children was Sydney Emanuel Mudd II, who became an attorney and politician like his father. The son was elected to several terms as a Congressman from Maryland's 5th district beginning in 1914, after his father's death.

Career.

Mudd was elected a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1879 and 1881.  As a Republican candidate, he challenged and successfully contested the 1888 election of Barnes Compton as US Representative from the 5th district to the Fifty-first Congress. At a time when many Maryland elections were surrounded by violence and fraud as Democrats sought to re-establish white supremacy, Mudd filed charges of election fraud. He claimed that election officials had turned away qualified voters and that, in Anne Arundel County, Democrats posing as US Marshals intimidated blacks, forcing them from the polls. The House Committee on Elections investigated and decided in his favor. Congress awarded the seat to Mudd in 1889, and he served in the next session, from March 20, 1890, to March 3, 1891. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress, defeated by Compton.  In 1895 Mudd was elected again to the state House of Delegates, where he served as Speaker of the House. He moved to rural La Plata, Maryland in 1896. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention the same year.  In 1896 Mudd benefitted by the coattails of a winning Republican biracial coalition that gained the governorship. He was elected from the 5th district to the Fifty-fifth and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1911. (His chief Democratic rival in the district, Barnes Compton, died in 1898.) In Congress, Mudd served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice (Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses).  Mudd died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was interred in St. Ignatius’ Catholic Church Cemetery at Chapel Point near La Plata.  His son, Sydney Emanuel Mudd II, was also elected as a Republican US Congressman from Maryland's fifth district. He was first elected in 1914 and for succeeding terms until his death in office in 1924.

Sydney Emanuel Mudd I (February 12, 1858 – October 21, 1911) was a politician, elected as Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates (1896) and as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives (1890–1891; 1897–1911), at a time of dominance by Democrats in much of the state. He was first seated by Congress in 1890 after it found in his favor in relation to the contested 1888 election in Maryland's 5th congressional district, which was marked by fraud and intimidation.


Life.

Metz was born October 19, 1867 in New York City, to Edward J. and Frances K. Metz, who were immigrants from Germany. He attended private and public schools. Later in life he was honored with the degree of Sc.D. from Union College and the degree of LL.D. from Manhattan College.  Metz was married twice, first, from 1891 to 1915 to Laura A. Traudt, from whom he was divorced, and second, from 1916 onward, to the former Mrs. Alice M. Norman ("nee" Van Ronk).  Metz died May 17, 1934, in a hospital in New Rochelle, New York. He was survived by his second wife, four sons, and a brother. He was interred in Kensico Cemetery, Westchester, New York.

Business career.

Metz attended private and public schools and rose to prominence as a manufacturer and importer of dyestuffs, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. From school he entered the employ of P. Schulze-Berge as an office boy in 1881, remaining with the firm through various consolidations and changes and advancing through the ranks to become its vice-president and general manager by 1893, and its majority stockholder and president in 1899. By that time it had become Victor Koehl & Co., specializing in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and dyestuffs. In 1903 the chemical and dyestuff department was split off from the company and incorporated as H. A. Metz & Co., and the manufacture of color and chemicals as Consolidated Color and Chemical Co., with Metz as president. He also became president of H. A. Metz Laboratories, Inc., Ettrick Mills, Textileather Company, and New York and Hanseatic Corporation, a member of numerous chemical and industrial societies, and a director with a number of banks. In July 1926 his dyestuff interests were consolidated into the General Dyestuff Corporation, of which he became president. He remained chairman of its board of directors at the time of his death.

Political career.

Metz was one of the founders and president of the Kings County Democratic Club in Brooklyn. He served as member of the Board of Education of Brooklyn and the City of New York, as Comptroller of the City of New York from 1906 to 1910, as a member of the commission appointed by Governor Hughes to draft the New York City Charter in 1907 and 1908, and as a member of the charter commission appointed by Governor Miller in 1922. He also served as commissioner of the State board of charities, a director of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, president of the National Civic Club, and a governor of the Democratic and Reform Club of New York.  Metz was the nominee of Kings County for governor in 1912, but withdrew in favor of William Sulzer after the second ballot, instead running for Sulzer's congressional seat. He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress (March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915). His district was a Republican one of which he was not a resident. He served on the Committee on Claims, and the Committee on Patents. As a German-American businessman with extensive ties to German manufacturing interests, he favored American neutrality during the early years of the First World War. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1914, instead resuming his former business activities. Metz was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1904, 1908, and 1920. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Sixty-eighth Congress in 1922.

Military career.

Metz served as a first lieutenant, captain, lieutenant colonel, and brigadier general of the Fourteenth Infantry, New York National Guard. During the war he served on the home front as an ordnance officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in the Twenty-seventh Division. Afterward he served as colonel in the ordnance department of the United States Army Officers' Reserve Corps. He was elevated to the post of brigadier general on the eve of his retirement in 1931.

Commemoration.

After his death Metz was honored together with U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton in the naming of Hamilton-Metz Field, a park in the Wingate neighborhood of Brooklyn. Originally part of Alexander Hamilton High School, the field was transferred to the city Parks department in 1940 and augmented by a number of adjoining parcels donated in memory of Metz and his wife by the Metz family.

Herman August Metz (October 19, 1867 – May 17, 1934) was a German-American businessman and politician who served as U.S. Representative from New York.


Overview.

The series of paintings depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, situated on the lower end of a river valley, near its meeting with a bay of the sea. The valley is distinctly identifiable in each of the paintings, in part because of an unusual landmark: a large boulder is situated atop a crag overlooking the valley. Some critics believe this is meant to contrast the immutability of the earth with the transience of man.  A direct source of literary inspiration for "The Course of Empire" paintings is Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (1812–18). Cole quoted lines from Canto IV in his newspaper advertisements for the series:  Cole designed these paintings to be displayed prominently in the picture gallery on the third floor of the mansion of his patron, Luman Reed, at 13 Greenwich Street, New York City. The layout was approximately as shown here, according to Cole's installation diagram. The series was acquired by The New-York Historical Society in 1858 as a gift of the New-York Gallery of Fine Arts.

"The Course of Empire".

"The Savage State".

The first painting, "The Savage State", shows the valley from the shore opposite the crag, in the dim light of a dawning stormy day. Clouds and mist shroud much of the distant landscape, hinting at the uncertain future. A hunter clad in skins hastens through the wilderness, pursuing a fleeing deer; canoes paddle up the river; on the far shore can be seen a clearing with a cluster of tipis around a fire, the nucleus of the city that is to be. The visual references are those of aboriginal North American life. This painting depicts the ideal state of the natural world. It is a healthy world, unchanged by humanity.

"The Arcadian or Pastoral State".

In the second painting, "The Arcadian or Pastoral State", the sky has cleared and we are in the fresh morning of a day in spring or summer. The viewpoint has shifted further down the river, as the crag with the boulder is now on the left-hand side of the painting; a forked peak can be seen in the distance beyond it. Much of the wilderness has given way to settled lands, with plowed fields and lawns visible. Various activities go on in the background: plowing, boat-building, herding sheep, dancing; in the foreground, an old man sketches what may be a geometrical problem with a stick. On a bluff on the near side of the river, a megalithic temple has been built, and smoke (presumably from sacrifices) arises from it. The images reflect an idealized, pre-urban ancient Greece. This work shows humanity at peace with the land. The environment has been altered, but not so much so that it or its inhabitants are in danger. Yet the construction of the warship and the concerned mother watching as her child sketches a soldier, herald the emerging imperial ambitions.

"The Consummation of Empire".

The third painting, "The Consummation of Empire", shifts the viewpoint to the opposite shore, approximately the site of the clearing in the first painting. It is noontide of a glorious summer day. Both sides of the river valley are now covered in colonnaded marble structures, whose steps run down into the water. The megalithic temple seems to have been transformed into a huge domed structure dominating the river-bank. The mouth of the river is guarded by two pharoi, and ships with lateen sails go out to the sea beyond. A joyous crowd gathers on the balconies and terraces as a scarlet-robed king or victorious general crosses a bridge connecting the two sides of the river in a triumphant procession. In the foreground, an elaborate fountain gushes. The look of the painting suggests the height of ancient Rome. The decadence seen in every detail of this cityscape foreshadows the inevitable fall of this mighty civilization.

"Destruction".

The fourth painting, "Destruction", has almost the same perspective as the third, though the artist has stepped back a bit to allow a wider scene of the action, and moved almost to the center of the river. The action is the sack and destruction of the city, in the course of a tempest seen in the distance. It seems that a fleet of enemy warriors has overthrown the city's defenses, sailed up the river, and is busy ransacking the city and killing its inhabitants and raping women. The bridge across which the triumphant procession had crossed is broken; a makeshift crossing strains under the weight of soldiers and refugees. Columns are broken, and fire breaks from the upper floors of a palace on the river bank.  In the foreground a statue of some venerable hero (posed like the "Borghese Gladiator") stands headless, still striding forward into the uncertain future. In the waning light of late afternoon, the dead lie where they fell, in fountains and atop the monuments built to celebrate the affluence of the now fallen civilization. The scene is perhaps suggested by the Vandal sack of Rome in 455. On the other hand, a detail in the lower right of "The Consummation of Empire" shows two children, maybe brothers, fighting, one clad in red and the other in green—the colors of banners of the two contending forces in "Destruction," which thus might depict a foreshadowed civil war. The children, now men, are shown, with one having finally prevailed over the other but seemingly in contemplation of the heavy price paid.

"Desolation".

The fifth painting, "Desolation", shows the results decades later. We view the remains of the city in the livid light of a dying day. The landscape has begun to return to wilderness and no humans are to be seen; but the remnants of their architecture emerge from beneath a mantle of trees, ivy, and other overgrowth. The broken stumps of the pharoi loom in the background. The arches of the shattered bridge and the columns of the temple are still visible; a single column looms in the foreground, now a nesting place for birds. The sunrise of the first painting is mirrored here by a moonrise, a pale light reflecting in the ruin-choked river while the standing pillar reflects the last rays of sunset. This gloomy picture suggests how all empires could be after their fall. It is a harsh possible future in which humanity has been destroyed by its own hand.  This cycle reflects Cole's pessimism, and is often seen as a commentary on Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. (Note, for instance, the military hero at the center of "Consummation.") However, some Democrats had a different theory of the course of empire. They saw not a spiral or cycle but a continuing upward trajectory. Levi Woodbury, a Democrat and a justice of the United States Supreme Court, for instance, responded to Cole by saying that there would be no destruction in the United States.

The Course of Empire is a series of five paintings created by Thomas Cole in the years 1833–1836. It is notable in part for reflecting popular American sentiments of the times, when many saw pastoralism as the ideal phase of human civilization, fearing that empire would lead to gluttony and inevitable decay. The theme of cycles is one that Cole returned to frequently, such as in his "The Voyage of Life" series. "The Course of Empire" comprises the following works: The Course of Empire – The Savage State; The Arcadian or Pastoral State; The Consummation of Empire; Destruction; and Desolation. All the paintings are 39.5 inches by 63.5 inches (100 cm by 161 cm) except "The Consummation of Empire" which is 51" by 76" (130 cm by 193 cm).


Biography.

Vladimir Stoychev was born in Sofia, the capital of the Principality of Bulgaria. He graduated from the Theresian Military Academy in Vienna, and the Military School and the Military Academy in Sofia. As a serviceman in the Bulgarian Army, Stoychev participated in the Balkan Wars and World War I.  In the interwar period, Stoychev represented Bulgaria in the equestrian events at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, among other competitions. From 1930 to 1934, Stoychev was a Bulgarian attaché in France and the United Kingdom. In 1934, he was appointed head of the Sofia Cavalry Academy, but he was fired from the army a year later due to his antimonarchist views and his affiliation with Zveno; he was also imprisoned a number of times due to his political stance.  In 1944, Stoychev became a member of the Fatherland Front's Bureau of the National Committee. During World War II, Stoychev was in command of the Bulgarian First Army after the country switched allegiance to the Allies. Under Stoychev, the Bulgarian First Army helped the Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans drawing the Nazis out of much of Yugoslavia and Hungary, reaching the Austrian Alps by May 1945. On 8 May 1945, Vladimir Stoychev signed a demarcation agreement with British V Corps commander Charles Keightley in southern Austria. On 24 June 1945, he took part in the Moscow Victory Parade.  In 1945–1947, Vladimir Stoychev was Bulgaria's representative in Washington, D.C. and the United Nations. Upon his return, he became Chairman of the Supreme Committee of Sports with the Council of Ministers. From 1951 or 1952 to 1982, he presided over the Bulgarian Olympic Committee; he remained honorary chairman until his death. From 1952 to 1987, he was also an International Olympic Committee member. Vladimir Stoychev died in Sofia in 1990, at an age of 98.

Vladimir Dimitrov Stoychev (, 24 March 1892 – 27 April 1990) was a Bulgarian Colonel General, diplomat and Olympic equestrian.


Biography.

Chase was born in Cooperstown, New York in 1789. He was educated locally, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1815. In 1818, he studied at the Litchfield Law School.  In addition to practicing law in Richfield, Chase was active in other business ventures; he was part-owner of a hotel and tavern, and was one of the original incorporators of the Otsego County Bank. He held various positions in local and county government, including postmaster of Richfield and the judicial position of Master in Chancery. From 1821 to 1829 he was District Attorney of Otsego County.  In 1826, Chase was elected to the 20th Congress as a supporter of John Quincy Adams. He served one term, 1827 to 1829, after which he returned to his Otsego County law practice.

Death and burial.

Chase died in Richfield on August 3, 1838, and was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Richfield. Chase's grave marker indicates that he died in 1839; this is clearly in error, since contemporary newspaper accounts and the probate process for his estate give his year of death as 1838.

Family.

In 1828, Chase married in Washington, DC Mary Frances Whetcroft, the daughter of William Whetcroft and Anne Winchester Whetcroft of Annapolis, Maryland. After Chase's death, Mary Whetcroft married Philetus Allen of Springville.  Chase's children included Frank Chase (September 18, 1838—January 14, 1902), who was born the month following Chase's death. Frank Chase was a graduate of Albany Law School, and resided in Concord and Springville. In addition to practicing law, he was involved in local politics and government, including service as Springville's town supervisor and a justice of the peace.

Samuel Chase (1789—August 3, 1838) was an American lawyer from Otsego County, New York. He represented New York in the U.S. House for one term.