The Dance of Death is a grotesque allegorical representation in which the figure of Death, generally in the form of a skeleton, is represented interrupting people of every condition and in all situations, and carrying them away; so called from the mocking activity usually displayed by the figure of Death as he leads away his victims. It was frequently drawn by artists of the middle ages for cemeteries and cloisters. These representations were common in Germany, and also in France, where they received the name of Danse Macabre, the derivation of which has been much disputed. The series attributed to Hans Holbein, the younger, was first published at Lyons in 41 plates, increased in a subsequent edition by 12 additional plates. A remarkable Dance of Death was painted, in fresco, on the walls of the churchyard in the suburb of St John at Basel, which was injured, in early times, by being washed over, and is now entirely destroyed. This piece has been ascribed to Holbein; but it has long since been proved that it existed sixty years before his birth. Research Dance of Death
Felo-de-se is Latin for a felon with regard to himself, and is an old term describing someone who commits suicide. Until 1823 it was the practice in England to bury suicides at a cross-roads with a stake driven through the body, but a statute of that year directed burial in a churchyard or burial- ground, without religious service, between the hours of 9pm and midnight. In 1882 both these restrictions were removed. The estates of suicides were also formerly forfeited to the crown. Research Felo-de-se
Jougs or juggs were jointed collars of iron, by which misdemeanants were held captive in Scotland. The culprit's neck being encircled by the jougs, the two free ends of the iron band were slipped over each other and secured by a padlock. On the opposite side was a movable iron ring fastened into the collar by a small fixed ring, and by this ring the jougs were attached to a stone projecting from a conspicuous part of the churchyard wall. Research Jougs
The Cellar Beetle or Churchyard Beetle (Blaps mortisaga) is a beetle of the darkling beetles family (Tenebrionidae) found living in dark places such as old cellars, sheds and barns. Research Cellar Beetle
Robert Blake was a celebrated British admiral. He was born in 1599 at Bridgewater and died in 1657 at the entrance to Plymouth Sound. On finishing his education at Oxford he lived for some time in a private manner on the fortune left him by his father. He was elected member of parliament for Bridgewater in 1640, and after the dissolution of the parliament later he lost his seat and pursued a military career. In 1649 he was sent to command the fleet with Colonels Deane and Popham. He attempted to block up Prince Rupert in Kinsale, but the prince, contriving to get his fleet out, escaped to Lisbon, where Robert Blake followed him. Being refused permission to attack him in the Tagus by the King of Portugal, he took several rich prizes from the Portuguese, and followed Rupert to Malaga, where, without asking permission of Spain, he attacked him and nearly destroyed the whole of his fleet.
His greatest achievements were, however, in the Dutch War which broke out in 1652. On the 19th of May he was attacked in the Downs by Van Tromp with a fleet of forty-five sail, the force of Robert Blake amounting only to twenty-three, but Van Tromp was obliged to retreat.
On May the 29th he was again attacked by Van Tromp, whose fleet was now increased to eighty sail. Robert Blake had a very inferior force, and after every possible exertion was obliged to retreat into the Thames. In the following February he put to sea with sixty sail, and soon after met the Dutch admiral, who had seventy sail and 300 merchantmen under convoy. During three days a running fight up the Channel was maintained with obstinate valour on both sides, the result of which was the loss of eleven men-of-war and thirty merchant ships by the Dutch, while that of the English was only one man-of-war. In this action Blake was severely wounded.
On June the 3rd he again engaged Van Tromp and forced the Dutch to retire with considerable loss into their own harbours. In November 1654 he was sent with a strong fleet to enforce a due respect to the British flag in the Mediterranean. He sailed first to Algiers, which submitted, and then demolished the castles of Goletta and Porto Ferine, at Tunis, because the dey refused to deliver up the British captives. A squadron of his ships also blocked up Cadiz, and intercepted a Spanish Plate fleet.
In April, 1657, he sailed with twenty-four ships to Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe; and notwithstanding the strength of the place, burned the ships of another Spanish Plate fleet which had taken shelter there, and by a fortunate change of wind came out without loss. He died before landing on English soil, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, whence his body was removed at the Restoration and buried in St Margaret's Churchyard. Research Robert Blake
Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. He was born in 1750 at Edinburgh and died in 1774. He was educated at St Andrews University, and became clerk to a writer of the signet in Edinburgh. He wrote poems, of which those in the Scottish dialect have genuine poetic excellence. After his death he was buried in the Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh, where Burns erected a monument to the memory of this kindred genius, to whom he owed suggestions for several of his own poems. Research Robert Fergusson
Thomas Gray was an English poet. He was born in 1716 at London and died in 1771. Educated at Eton with Horace Walpole, and at Cambridge, in 1738 he entered himself at the Inner Temple, but accompanied Horace Walpole in his tour of Europe until they quarrelled in Italy. He returned to England in 1741, and on the death of his father took up residence at Cambridge. In 1747 his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College appeared, and in 1751 his Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, which went through four editions in two months. In 1757 he declined the laureateship, and the same year published his odes, On the Progress of Poesy, and The Bard. In 1759 he removed to London, where he resided for three years, and in 1768 the Duke of Grafton presented him with the professorship of modern history at Cambridge. His chief poems other than those mentioned were the Ode for Music and the fragmentary Essay on the Alliance of Education and Government. As a writer of Latinverse he is surpassed by few, and his letters are admirable specimens of the epistolary style.
Thomas Gray was an English railway promoter. He was born in 1787 at Leeds and died in 1848. He promoted the idea of widespread railway communications and urged the British and other European governments towards building national railway systems, under government control, rather than canal communications, publishing his ideas in 'Observations on a General Iron Railway' in 1820, which was revised and republished four times until 1825. Research Thomas Gray
An atrium is a square hall lighted from above, into which rooms open at one or more levels. Originally, the entrance hall to a Roman house, the concept was adopted as an open court with a porch or gallery around three or more sides at the entrance of a basilica or other church. The name was extended in the Middle Ages to the open churchyard or cemetery. Research Atrium
Abbreviations
Research Churchyard
