Augustus II or Frederick-Augustus I was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. He was born in 1670 at Dresden and died in 1733. He was the second son of John George III, elector of Saxony. He succeeded his brother in the electorate in 1694, and the Polish throne having become vacant, in 1696, by the death of John Sobieski, Augustus presented himself as a candidate for it and was successful. He joined with Peter the Great in the war against Charles XII of Sweden, invaded Livonia, but was defeated by Charles near Riga, and at Clissow, between Warsaw and Cracow. In 1704 he was deposed, and two years later formally resigned the crown to Stanislaus I, now devoting himself to his Saxon dominions. In 1709, after the defeat of Charles at Pultowa, the Poles recalled Augustus, who united himself anew with Peter. The two monarchs, in alliance with Denmark, sent troops into Pomerania, but the Swedish general Steinbock defeated the allies at Gadebusch, on December the 20th, 1712. The death of Charles XII put an end to the war, and Augustus concluded a peace with Sweden. A confederation was now formed in Poland against the Saxon troops, but through the mediation of Peter an arrangement was concluded by which the Saxon troops were removed from the kingdom. Augustus now gave himself wholly up to voluptuousness and a life of pleasure. His court was one of the most splendid and polished in Europe. The Poles yielded but too readily to the example of their king, and the last years of his reign were characterized by boundless luxury and corruption of manners. His wife left him one son. The Countess of Konigsmark bore him the celebrated commander Marshal Saxe (Maurice of Saxony). Research Augustus II
The Diamond necklace scandal occurred in 1785 when a diamond necklace was presented through Madame de Lamotte by Cardinal de Rohan to Marie Antoinette. The cardinal, a profligate churchman, entertained a passion for the queen and the Countess de Lamotte induced him to purchase for the queen a diamond necklace costing 85,000 pounds, which had been made for Madame Dubarry, from a jeweller named Boehmer. The cardinal handed the necklace to the countess, who rather than presenting it to the queen sold it to an English jeweller and pocketed the money. When the time for payment arrived , Boehmer sent his bill to the queen, who denied all knowledge of the matter. The matter went to court, and a trial lasting nine months ensued which caused great scandal. Research Diamond Necklace Scandal
The Order of the Garter (originally known as the Order of St George) is a British dignitary awarded for chivalry. The origin of the order, though sometimes assigned to Richard I, is generally attributed to Edward III, the legend being that the Countess of Salisbury having dropped her garter while dancing, the king restored it, after putting it round his own leg, with the words, which became the motto of the order, 'Honi soit quimal y pense' - Shame be to him who thinks evil of it. The date of the foundation or restoration by Edward III of the order, as given by Froissart, is 1344, while other authorities, founding on the statutes of the order, assign it to 1350.
The statutes of the order have been repeatedly revised, more particularly in the reigns of Henry V, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and George III in 1805. Ladies are said to have been admitted up until the reign of Edward IV. Until the reign of Edward VI the common title of the order was the Order of St George, and it still bears this title, as well as that of the Garter. The original number of knights was twenty-six, including the sovereign, who was its permanent head; and this number is still retained, except that by a statute passed in 1786 princes of the blood are admitted as supernumerary members.
The peculiar emblem of the order, the garter, a dark-blue ribbon edged with gold, bearing the motto and with a gold buckle and pendant, is worn on the left leg below the knee. The mantle is of blue velvet, lined with white taffeta, the surcoat and hood of crimsonvelvet, the hat of black velvet, with plume of white ostrich feathers, having in the centre a tuft of black heron's feathers. The collar of gold consists of knots alternating with garters inclosing roses, with the badge of the order, called the George pendent from it. This consists of a figure of St George on horseback fighting the dragon. The lesser George is worn on a broad blue ribbon over the left shoulder. The star, formerly only a cross, is of silver, and consists of eight points, with the cross of St George in the centre, encircled by the garter. A star is worn by the knights on the left side when not in the dress of the order.
A Pembroke table is a drop-leaf table with fly rails and usually with one or more draws at the ends of the skirt. It was probably named after Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, who originally ordered a table of this design around 1600. Research Pembroke Table
The cinchona is a genus of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants of the order Cinchonaceae native to South America which consists of gamopetalous, calycifloral dicotyledons, sometimes regarded as a sub-order of Rubiaceae.with fragrant white or pink flowers. They have simple opposite leaves, flowers arranged in panicles or corymbs; calyx adherent, entire or toothed; corolla regular; stamens attached to corolla; ovary two-celled; fruit inferior, dry or succulent. The bark contains quinine and other related alkaloids. The tree was named in honour of the countess of Chinchon, the vice-Queen of Peru after she was cured of fever by cinchona bark in 1638.
The genus Cinchona consists of trees seldom exceeding 14 metres in height, with simple, opposite, entire leaves and small flowers, inhabiting chiefly the east side of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. The valuable Peruvian bark is yielded by various species; crown or loxa bark by Cinchona Condaminea, gray or huanuco bark by Cinchona micrantha and Cinchona nitida, red-bark by Cinchona succirubra, yellow or calisaya bark by Cinchona Calisaya. From the wasteful method of cutting down the trees to get their bark it was believed that there would soon be a dearth of the valuable medicine, and hence cinchona plants were taken from their native regions and plantations formed in various tropical countries including Sri Lanka, India, Java, etc. Research Cinchona
Count Alfred D'Orsay was a French dilettante artist and man of fashion. He was born in 1798 at Paris 1798 and died in 1852. When a young man he visited England, and became acquainted with Byron and other literary and fashionable celebrities. He married a daughter of the Earl of Blessington, but after the earl's death a separation took place, and Alfred D'Orsay became an inmate of Gore House, which the Countess of Blessington had made the centre of a famous literary coterie. A zealous Bonapartist, he followed Prince Louis Napoleon to Paris in 1849, whose favour he enjoyed until his death. Research Alfred D'Orsay
Augustus II or Frederick-Augustus I was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. He was born in 1670 at Dresden and died in 1733. He was the second son of John George III, elector of Saxony. He succeeded his brother in the electorate in 1694, and the Polish throne having become vacant, in 1696, by the death of John Sobieski, Augustus presented himself as a candidate for it and was successful. He joined with Peter the Great in the war against Charles XII of Sweden, invaded Livonia, but was defeated by Charles near Riga, and at Clissow, between Warsaw and Cracow. In 1704 he was deposed, and two years later formally resigned the crown to Stanislaus I, now devoting himself to his Saxon dominions. In 1709, after the defeat of Charles at Pultowa, the Poles recalled Augustus, who united himself anew with Peter. The two monarchs, in alliance with Denmark, sent troops into Pomerania, but the Swedish general Steinbock defeated the allies at Gadebusch, on December the 20th, 1712. The death of Charles XII put an end to the war, and Augustus concluded a peace with Sweden. A confederation was now formed in Poland against the Saxon troops, but through the mediation of Peter an arrangement was concluded by which the Saxon troops were removed from the kingdom. Augustus now gave himself wholly up to voluptuousness and a life of pleasure. His court was one of the most splendid and polished in Europe. The Poles yielded but too readily to the example of their king, and the last years of his reign were characterized by boundless luxury and corruption of manners. His wife left him one son. The Countess of Konigsmark bore him the celebrated commander Marshal Saxe (Maurice of Saxony). Research Augustus II
Count appears to have been first used, as a title of dignity, in the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine during the 4th century, meaning originally the companion of a prince or high dignitary. After the fall of the Roman power the title was retained; and under Charlemagne it denoted equally a military or civil employment. About the end of the 15th century, in Germany, and under the last princes of the Merovingian race in France, the title appears to have become hereditary in certain families. The German titleGraf corresponds to the title Count in other countries of Europe. In modern, times the custom of styling all the sons of a count also counts makes this designation on the Continent very common, and the rank little more than nominal. In point of rank, the English earls are considered as corresponding to the continental counts, an earl's wife being styled a countess. Research Count
Abbreviations
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