Illustration of Wilford church and the church yard
Posted inCulture & Society Local Histories Religion & Spirituality Travelers' Tales

Nooks And Corners Of Old England – Wilford Church

Wilford is a delightfully picturesque and secluded village on the banks of the river Trent, about a mile from the town of Nottingham; and though so short a distance from a populous manufacturing district, it yet retains all those rural characteristics which poets, and topographers delighted to describe centuries ago. Sir Juckes Clifton, Baronet, of Clifton Hall, is the lord of the manor; his ancestors have been seated at Clifton, two miles’ distant from Wilford, ever since the reign of Henry the Third; but they held lands in this district long before that period. Sir Gervase Clifton was created a baronet in the ninth year of James the First. Wilford was anciently a Roman station, and some years since many Roman coins were discovered there, most of which were of the latter emperors. It was an eminent manor in the time of Edward the Confessor; and “did belong,” says Thoreton, “to the famous Godes the Countess” When the great survey under William the Conqueror was made, his natural son, William Peveril, governor of Nottingham Castle, had possessions there; and the village in those days had a “priest and a church.” The population is now about 600. The present rector (the Rev. Thomas Thorp) was instituted in 1819 ; and the annual value of the living, according to the report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, is £574. The church, which is dedicated to St. Wilfrid, presents, to the north-east, an interesting and handsome appearance; but the southern side is disfigured by an unsightly porch, and several pieces of patchwork, which the hand of “modern improvement” has introduced. It has a low tower and clerestory, a rather spacious nave and aisle, and a good chancel, which, as the village chronicle says, was “beautified by the Rev. Mr. Carter, rector of this parish who also founded and endowed a charity school, and upon a flat stone in the north aisle, no further record on it being discernible. The churchyard is sheltered by a range of noble elm trees; and the silvery Trent flows close past this hallowed enclosure with a rushing stream.

Illustration of the church at Stratford-Upon-Avon
Posted inLocal Histories Travelers' Tales

Nooks And Corners Of Old England – Stratford-Upon-Avon Church

Stratford-upon-Avon Church is a chief ornament of the quiet rural nook in sylvan Warwickshire, which is hallowed by one of the holiest of England’s memories. Its appearance and architecture are thoroughly English. Its square tower and pointed windows, its mullions and tracery of the 14th century, its graceful spire tapering above the tall elms which surround it, and the avenue of limes arching overhead the graveyard path to the old porch, are all exactly in accordance with what an Englishman regards as the beau ideal of an old country church. It was formerly a collegiate, and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. In the plain chancel rests the “poet of all time,” Shakspere. The Avon’s ripple, as the pilgrim to the poet’s tomb stands in the quiet chancel, may be heard murmuring the same placid music which it sang in Shakspere’s ear some two centuries ago. The place of sepulture is marked by a flat stone bearing the oft-repeated and quaint lines which the poet himself left for the purpose:—

"View of Beyrout"
Posted inColonization & Indigenous Relations Local Histories Travelers' Tales

Syria and Lebanon

We are enabled to present to our readers two or three engravings illustrative of a country and people, which have latterly, by the mooting of the Syrian question attracted no small share of the attention of the rest of the globe. We commence with a view of Beyrout, the scene of so much active enterprize, both in the way of attack and defence, during the late Syrian warfare. Beyrout was a Phonician city of great antiquity, but now contains few traces of its former splendour. A bath, pieces of granite columns, several of which were still standing when Pococke visited the place, and a few other fragments, are all that now remain. But a great number of granite columns may be seen along the shore beneath the water, and part of the present mole is composed of them. From the debris without the present walls, it appears that the ancient town occupied a larger space than the modern, which is but a small place. The walls are strengthened by several towers, and there are five gates to the city. It receives a copious supply of water from a small river called Nahr Beirut, which rises in Mount Libanus, and flows into the sea a short distance from the town; the water is conveyed by the canal before-mentioned, and received into reservoirs and fountains. The streets are narrow and dirty, like those of all Turkish towns: the houses are mostly built of stone. The town is commanded by some low hills to the S.E. Its population is estimated at 6000 souls, of whom the Turks form one-third. There is a large and well-built mosque in the city, formerly a Christian church, dedicated to St. John, and there was a Capuchin convent. The suburbs of the town are as large as the city itself.

St. Mark's Square, painting by Canaletto
Posted inCulture & Society Local Histories Travelers' Tales

Italian Life Among The Better Classes

A VENICE correspondent of an American journal writes as follows: The most interesting object in the world is man, or rather women, and that we care most to have or to read of l society. I do not mean now that “society” which half the world could give everything it possesses, including self-respect, to “get into,” but I use the word in a broader sense. It seems to me that the social life which we know in America does not exist in Italy. The visiting, the entertainments, the reunions scarcely are known here, in the sense I mean.

Posted inAviation Daily News Travelers' Tales

Two Will Circle The Globe In 31 Days

New York May 19 (A.P.)—John Goldstrom, aviator, and E. Morris Titterington, pilot and mechanician, are out to reduce Jules Verne’s famous story “Around the World in Eighty Days’’ to 31 days.

Starting today on the Mauretania, they will follow a schedule expected to put them in Moscow a few hours after they take to the air near London.

From the Soviet capital to Yokohama they will follow the quickest and most direct route, possibly by both air and rail.

Posted inAviation Daily News Travelers' Tales

Commander of Norge Now At Nome

Nobile Reaches Northern City with Five Members of Crew, Dirigible.

NOME. Alaska, June 2. — The motorship Hazel has arrived here with Commander Nobile and five other Italian members of the crew of the dirigible Norge which recently completed a flight across the Arctic regions. Other members of the crew will be brought to Nome on the Silver Wave.

Commander Nobile said he was glad to reach here as it was lonesome at Teller. He said the framework of the Norge was packed and ready for shipment south.