Various

“ As he stood considerably more than 6 ft. in height, was a fairly trained athlete, and had a countenance of extraordinary impressiveness, if not of commanding beauty—Greek in type with a dash of the Hebrew—we may assume that there had never before appeared on the English high-roads so majestic-looking a tramp as he who, on an afternoon in May, left his squalid lodging with bundle and stick to begin life on the roads. Shaping his course to the south-west, he soon found himself on Salisbury Plain. ”

“ All greatness is the product of its opportunities, and the elder Boulle was made by the happy circumstances of his time. He was born into a France which was just entering upon the most brilliant period of sumptuary magnificence which any nation has known in modern times. Louis XIV., so avid of the delights of the eye, by the reckless extravagance of his example turned the thoughts of his courtiers to domestic splendours which had hitherto been rare. ”

“ In Henry II.’s reign London was taxed by both methods, the barones majores by head, the barones minores through the wardmoot. The pressure of taxation led in the 13th century to a closer definition of the burghal constitutions; the commons sought to get an audit of accounts, and (in London) not only to hear but to treat of municipal affairs. By the end of the century London had definitely established two councils, that of the mayor and aldermen, representing the old borough court, and a common council, representing the voice of the commonalty, as expressed through the city wards. ”

“ Should a bowl running jackwards touch the jack, however slightly, it is called a toucher and must be marked by the skip with a chalk cross as soon as it is at rest. Such a bowl is alive until the end is finished wherever it may lie, within the limits of the space. Even if it run into the ditch or be driven in by another bowl, it will yet count as alive. A bowl, however, that is forced on to the jack by another is not a toucher. The feat of hitting the jack is so common that it really calls for no special reward. ”

“ Among the marks of the second half of the 17th century was growing material prosperity, and there were those who thought their fellows unduly willing to relax church tests of fellowship when good trade was in question. There was an unpleasant Englishman who declared in 1699 that he found “Money Their God, and Large Possessions the only Heaven they Covet.” Prices were low, foreign commerce was already large, business thriving; wealth gave social status; the official British class lent a lustre to society; and Boston “town” was drawing society from the “country.” ”

“ For the villa of this younger Lorenzo at Castello Botticelli painted about 1477-1478 the famous picture of “Primavera” or Spring now in the Academy at Florence. The design, inspired by Poliziano’s poem the “Giostra,” with reminiscences of Lucretius and of Horace (perhaps also, as has lately been suggested, of the late Latin “Mythologikon” of Fulgentius) thrown in, is of an enchanting fantasy, and breathes the finest and most essential spirit of the early Renaissance at Florence. ”

“ The difficulty of dramatic description can only be realized, as Jowett well pointed out, by those who have attempted it, and it is not until we compare Boswell’s reports with those of less skilful hearers that we can appreciate the skill with which the essence of a conversation is extracted, and the whole scene indicated by a few telling touches. The result is that Johnson, not, it is true, in the early days of his poverty, total idleness and the pride of literature, but in the fulness of fame and competence of fortune from 1763 to 1784, is better known to us than any other man in history. ”

“ The Traité is a general sketch of the nature of God and the nature of man. The Discours is a history of God’s dealings with humanity in the past. The Politique is a code of rights and duties drawn up in the light thrown by those dealings. Not that Bossuet literally supposed that the last word of political wisdom had been said by the Old Testament. His conclusions are only “drawn from Holy Scripture,” because he wished to gain the highest possible sanction for the institutions of his country—to hallow the France of Louis XIV. by proving its astonishing likeness to the Israel of Solomon. ”

“ The habit of close scientific analysis which he derived from his father, the sense of style produced by a fine ear and moulded by a classical education, the innate appreciation of art in all its forms, the taste for seeing men and cities, the keen interest in the oldest not less than the newest civilizations, and the large tolerance not to be learned on the boulevard—all these combined to provide him with a most uncommon equipment for the critic’s task. ”

“ In ethics the highest aim is the direction of actions by reason in harmony with the Divine; so the state, like the individual, exists solely in God, and in its most perfect form consists in the harmonious obedience of all its members to a constitutional monarch; the perfection of mankind as a whole is to be sought in a rational orderly system of such states in obedience to Universal Reason. ”

“ In some parts of Herzegovina the dress, manners and physical type of the peasantry are akin to those of Montenegro. The Bosnians or Bosniaks resemble their Servian kinsfolk in both appearance and character. They have the same love for poetry, music and romance; the same intense pride in their race and history; many of the same superstitions and customs. The Christians retain the Servian costume, modified in detail, as by the occasional use of the turban or fez. The “Turkish” women have in some districts abandoned the veil; but in others they even cover the eyes when they leave home. ”

“ For picturesque as is Borrow’s style, it is this subject-matter of his, the Romany world of Great Britain, which—if his pictures of that world are true—will keep his writings alive. Now that the better class of gipsies are migrating so rapidly to America that scarcely any are left in England, Borrow’s pictures of them are challenged as being too idealistic. It is unfortunate that no one who knew Borrow, and the gryengroes or horse-dealers with whom he associated, and whom he depicted, has ever written about him and them. ”

“ Some places, such as Bidi in Sarawak, for instance, are notoriously unhealthy; but from the statistics of the Dutch government, and the records of Sarawak and British North Borneo, it would appear that the European in Borneo has in general not appreciably more to fear than his fellow in Java, or in the Federated Malay States of the Malayan Peninsula. Among the native races the prevailing diseases, apart from those of a malarial origin, are chiefly such as arise from bad and insufficient food, from intemperance, and from want of cleanliness. ”

“ As soon as the possibilities of the violin were realized, as a solo instrument capable, through the agency of the bow, of expressing the emotions of the performer, the perfecting of the bow was prosecuted in earnest until it was capable of responding to every shade of delicate thought and feeling. This accounts in a measure for the protracted development of the bow, which, although used long before the violin had been evolved, did not reach a state of perfection at the hands of Tourte until more than a century and a half after the Cremona master had given us the violin. ”

“ In theory the game of bowls is very simple, the aim of the player being to roll his bowl so as to cause it to rest nearer to the jack than his opponent’s, or to protect a well-placed bowl, or to dislodge a better bowl than his own. But in practice there is every opportunity for skill. On all good greens the game is played in rinks of four a side, there being, however, on the part of many English clubs still an adherence to the old-fashioned method of two and three a side rinks. Ordinarily a match team consists of four rinks of four players each, or sixteen men in all. ”

“ Races.—The peoples of Borneo belong to a considerable variety of races, of different origin and degrees of civilization. The most important numerically are the Dyaks, the Dusuns and Muruts of the interior, the Malays, among whom must be counted such Malayan tribes as the Bajaus, Ilanuns, &c., the Bugis, who were originally immigrants from Celebes, and the Chinese. The Dutch, and to a minor extent the Arabs, are of importance on account of their political influence in Dutch Borneo, while the British communities have a similar importance in Sarawak and in British North Borneo. ”

“ The chief point of difference from rod-boring is the substitution of rope for the jointed rods. For deep boring it possesses the advantage of saving the large amount of time consumed in raising and lowering the rods, as required whenever the hole is to be cleaned out, or a dull bit replaced, since the tools are rapidly run up or down by means of the rope with which they are operated while drilling. The speed of rope-boring is therefore but little affected by increase of depth, while with rod-boring it falls off rapidly. ”

“ To this day, among the natives of the Malayan Archipelago, men speak of going to Pontianak, to Sambas or to Brunei, as the case may be, but make use of no term which recognizes that these localities are part of a single whole. The only archaeological remains are a few Hindu temples, and it is probable that the early settlement of the south-eastern portion of the island by Hindus dates from some time during the first six centuries of our era. There exist, however, no data, not even any trustworthy tradition, from which to reconstruct the early history of Borneo. ”

“ In Amuntai and Martapura early Hindu colonization, of which the traces and the influence still are manifest, the fertile soil, trade and industry aided by navigable rivers, have co-operated towards the growth of population to a degree which presents a marked contrast to the conditions in the interior parts of the Upper Barito and of the more westerly rivers. Only a very small proportion of the Europeans in Dutch Borneo live by agriculture and industry, the great majority of them being officials. The Arabs and Chinese are engaged in trading, mining, fishing and agriculture. ”

“ The natives of the coasts of Borneo, assisted and stimulated by immigrants from the neighbouring islands to the north, devoted themselves more and more to organized piracy, and putting to sea in great fleets manned by two and three thousand men on cruises that lasted for two and even three years, they terrorized the neighbouring seas and rendered the trade of civilized nations almost impossible for a prolonged period. ”

“ The four players in a rink are known as the leader, second player, third player and skip (or driver, captain or director) , and their positions, at least in matches, are unchangeable. Great responsibility is thus thrown on the skip in the choice of his players, who are selected for well-defined reasons. The leader has to place the mat, to throw the jack, to count the game, and to call the result of each end or head to the skip who is at the other end of the green. He is picked for his skill in playing to the jack. ”

“ The horsemen, followed by the infantry, charged at speed, broke the Russian line in two, and the French squadrons entered the gorge of the great redoubt just as Eugene’s infantry climbed up its faces. In a fearful mêlée the Russian garrison of the redoubt was almost annihilated. The defenders were now dislodged from their main line and the battle was practically at an end. Napoleon has been criticized for not using the Guard, which was intact, to complete the victory. There is, however, no evidence that any further expenditure of men would have had good results. ”

“ The people of the country are by no means heavily taxed, a large number of the natives of the interior escaping all payment of dues to the company, the revenue being for the most part contributed by the more civilized members of the community residing in the neighbourhood of the company’s stations. There are bank agencies in Sandakan, and the company does banking business when required. The state, which has adopted the penny postage, is in the Postal Union, and money orders on North Borneo are issued in the United Kingdom and in most British colonies and vice versa. ”

“ It takes a comprehensive view of all the plants which cover the earth, from the minutest organism, only visible by the aid of the microscope, to the most gigantic productions of the tropics. It marks the relations which subsist between all members of the plant world, including those between existing groups and those which are known only from their fossilized remains preserved in the rocks. We deal here with the history and evolution of the science.
The plants which adorn the globe more or less in all countries must necessarily have attracted the attention of mankind from the earliest times. ”

“ If indeed the goods be of a perishable nature, and if it be impossible to get the ship repaired in sufficient time to obviate serious loss on them by delay, without including them under the bottomry contract, he has power to do so, because it may fairly be assumed, in the case supposed, that the cargo will be benefited by this procedure. The general principle is, that the master must act for the cargo, with a reasonable view to the interests of its proprietors, under the whole circumstances of the case. ”

“ In law, the exact boundary of land is always a matter of evidence; where no evidence is available, the court acts on presumption. For example, the boundary of land on opposite sides of a road, whether public or private, is presumed to be the middle line of the road. Where two fields are separated by a hedge and ditch the boundary line will run between the hedge and the ditch. ”

“ BOUCICAUT, JEAN [Jean le Meingre, called Boucicaut] (c. 1366-1421) , marshal of France, was the son of another Jean le Meingre, also known as Boucicaut, marshal of France, who died on the 15th of March 1368 (N.S.) . At a very early age he became a soldier; he fought in Normandy, in Flanders and in Prussia, distinguishing himself at the battle of Roosebeke in 1382; and then after a campaign in Spain he journeyed to the Holy Land. ”

“ Among amateurs boxing is far less popular than it once was, owing to the importance placed upon brute strength, and the prevailing ambition of the modern boxer to “knock out” his opponent, i.e. reduce him to a state of insensibility. Even in 3-round matches between gentlemen, in which points win, and there is therefore no need to knock an opponent senseless, it is nevertheless a common practice to strike a dazed and reeling adversary a heavy blow with a view to ending the battle at once. ”

“ History showed that this governance is, for the most part, indirect, exercised through certain venerable corporations, as well civil as ecclesiastical, all of which demand implicit obedience as the immediate representatives of God. Thus all revolt, whether civil or religious, is a direct defiance of the Almighty. Cromwell becomes a moral monster, and the revocation of the edict of Nantes is “the greatest achievement of the second Constantine.” Not that Bossuet glorified the status quo simply as a clerical bigot. The France of his youth had known the misery of divided counsels and civil war ”

“ Iron-wood, remarkable for the durability of its timber, is abundant; it is used by the natives for the pillars of their homes and forms an article of export, chiefly to Hong-Kong. It is rivalled in hardness by the kâyu těmběsu. In all, about sixty kinds of timber of marketable quality are furnished in more or less profusion, but the difficulty of extraction, even in the regions situated in close proximity to the large waterways, renders it improbable that the timber trade of Borneo will attain to any very great dimensions until other and easier sources of supply have become exhausted. ”