BRIDGE. To make a bridge of any one's nose; to push the bottle past him, so as to deprive him of his turn of filling his glass; to pass one over. Also to play booty, or purposely to avoid winning.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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H.P. Lovecraft [August 20, 1890 – March 15 1937]
88 years ago he left this world and started his journey to the unknown.
His legacy is alive today and stonger than before!
Morgan le Fay "espied [her husband] King Uriens lying in his bed sleeping. Then she called unto her a maiden of her counsel, and said, 'Go fetch me my lord’s sword, for I saw never better time to slay him than now.'"
- Thomas Malory, "Le Morte d'Arthur"
Iren Horrors
The great American classic we’ve been misreading for 100 years
The Great Gatsby is more than cocktail parties and color symbolism.
by Constance Grady
https://www.vox.com/culture/402406/great-gatsby-f-scott-fitzgerald-centennial-100
The Great Gatsby at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64317
"Here at least we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence.
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."
- John Milton, "Paradise Lost" Gustave Doré
COMMONS. The house of commons; the necessary house.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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#OTD in 1773.
Oliver Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer is performed for the first time, at the Covent Garden Theatre in London.
Initially the play was titled Mistakes of a Night and the events within the play take place in one long night. In 1778, John O'Keeffe wrote a loose sequel, Tony Lumpkin in Town.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Stoops_to_Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/383
"Ce n'est pas une cause
Que j'attaque ou que je défends
Et ceci n'est pas autre chose
Que l'histoire d'un pauvre enfant."
#OTD in 1900.
Sarah Bernhardt stars in premiere of Edmond Rostand's l'Aiglon. The title of the play comes from a nickname for Napoleon II, the French word for "eaglet" (a young eagle).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Aiglon
L´Aiglon at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66793
#OTD in 1920.
The Blue Flame, a four-act play by George V. Hobart and John Willard after Leta Vance Nicholson, opens at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway before a year's U.S. tour. Though described by a critic as "one of the worst plays ever written," it is a commercial success, largely due to Theda Bara as the central character of a vamp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Flame_(play)
George V. Hobart at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/4454
BOUNG NIPPER. A cut purse. CANT.--Formerly purses were worn at the girdle, from whence they were cut.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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A Chinese professor of Kobe Gakuin University in Hyogo Prefecture returned to Japan in January after going missing during his temporary stay in China, university officials said Friday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/03/14/japan/missing-chinese-back-japan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #china #hyogo #universities #literature #surveillance #espionage
SQUEAKER. A bar-boy; also a bastard or any other child. To stifle the squeaker; to murder a bastard, or throw It into the necessary house.--Organ pipes are likewise called squeakers. The squeakers are meltable; the small pipes are silver. CANT.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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What Is the Story of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?
by Alexander Roberts
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a history of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and it has an interesting history of its own.
https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-story-anglo-saxon-chronicle/
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at PG
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/657
and
"Les moeurs sont l'hypocrisie des nations."
"Manners are the hypocrisy of nations."
Part I, Meditation IV: Of the Virtuous Woman, aphorism XVI
#OTD in 1850.
Honoré de Balzac marries Ewelina Hańska at Berdyczów. The marriage ends with his death only five months later.
Although he married late in life, Balzac had already written two treatises on marriage: Physiologie du Mariage and Scènes de la Vie Conjugale.
Balzac at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/251
#OTD in 1889.
August Strindberg's naturalistic drama Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), 1888, is first performed, by the Scandinavian Experimental Theater at the University of Copenhagen. His wife Siri von Essen plays the title rôle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Julie
Miss Julie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14347
KNOCK ME DOWN. Strong ale or beer, stingo.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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“The moral component of history, the most necessary component, is simply a single question, asked over and over again: When it mattered, who sided with justice and who sided with power? What makes moments such as this one so dangerous, so clarifying, is that one way or another everyone is forced to answer.” from One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad #books #literature #gaza #genocide #occupation #palestine
As if hypnotized, he sank to his knees and said only, "Forgive me, because I do not know."
"You are forgiven, because you know you do not know," Aglie said. "And so, brothers, the prisoner has knowledge that none of us has. He knows even who we are; in fact, we learned who we are through him."
- Umberto Eco, "Foucault's Pendulum"
In Welsh folklore, the Witches of Caer Lloyw are "maiden hags" skilled in both witchcraft and warfare. They teach combat skills to the Arthurian knight Peredur (the Welsh version of Sir Percival). However, when he discovers that the witches had tormented his relatives, Peredur takes revenge. Jérôme Lereculey
LOUSE TRAP. A small toothed comb.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
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アルディ 
