“... with all the stifling force of old, status-obsessed New York society. And yet, much as he wants her, Newland does not exactly want the married Countess Olenska to be his ‘mistress’. We know that he has had a secret mistress in the past (‘poor silly Mrs Thorley Rushworth’), before his relationship with May, and he knows what clandestine squalor it ...”

“... the steelworkers, the ethnic minorities or any other ‘enemy within’) who had nearly got her. It is appropriate that the opening images of Endgame in Ireland showed the funerals of the hunger strikers. As the first of the four programmes made clear, it was at this lowest point in the conflict that the chance for a return from the brink presented ...”

“... Adding one storey to the house In others’ hands – and can you claim That here sex showed you her old powers? The little ghosts which charmingly In gentle masochism shone Grew up and lived oppressively Till loving was a looking-on; The staff was joined by Feminists With good French accents and strong wrists, Then blinds were drawn and hands went ...”

“... Adrienne-Marie-Louise Grandpierre-Deverzy exhibited The Studio of Abel de Pujol, a painting of her teacher’s workshop. More than a dozen female trainees are shown going about their business. A little group looks over de Pujol’s shoulder as he critiques a sketch; others make copies from paintings selected for their improving moral content; in the ...”

“... taste was as remarkable as his technique. Roots extend from the nymph’s toes and leaves from her fingers, and bark creeps up her legs, but because her limbs are not yet branches she is human enough to be beautiful and for us to share her terror and ...”

“... letters from Lord Burghley, the Queen’s chief adviser, begging him to return home ‘to honour Her Majesty … with the fruits of such great knowledge as God hath given him’. Or if he could not personally return, perhaps he might send her a small quantity of his gold-making powder, ‘in some secret box’, just ...”

“... Queen Elizabeth I … did not need special measures, advancement and protection to get her going; she did it through her own vim and vigour … Does the lord chancellor recall that in the reign of Henry VIII it was made high treason to take an appeal outside this kingdom? … I think one can take back the ...”

“... like were never known or read of in any age, all which I can show unto you. They were delivered to Her Highness, and command given by herself to prosecute it to the full. To paraphrase: Drury was commanded to search out his former acquaintance Richard Baines and get a certain ‘secret’ from him. This secret was information about the author of the Dutch ...”

“... II Door ajar to the great actress’s cabana at Nazimova’s Garden of Allah, she lies back on her chaise longue, gently running a finger along her glistening auburn lanugo, while, at the same time, changing stations on the radio until she arrives at Amos and Andy, ...”

“... toast, a smear of butter and a thin layer of dark, chunky marmalade’, since you ask. She enters her dining-room every morning prompt at nine o’clock, ‘carrying her old-fashioned Roberts radio tuned permanently to BBC Radio 2’. One of her two personal footmen (Burrell, from April ...”

“... As in a fairy tale​ , a girl is running through a dark wood. She owns nothing in her own right: her boots were stolen off the corpse of a smallpox victim; her leather gloves were taken from her mistress. She doesn’t even have a proper name ...”

“... it.’ A more accommodating view of the fleetingness of his language was taken by Hilda Hulme in her great study of aspects of Shakespeare’s language left unrecorded in the OED: double-meaning … is of special value to the dramatist as part of the never-again-ness of his language; reader and ‘auditor’ are kept alert and required to accept as part of ...”

“... legal protection to the young, the English painter Thomas Gotch portrayed his young daughter in majesty like a Madonna by Duccio, with a huge nimbus around her head, and called the image The Child Enthroned. Concurrently, the Swiss Ferdinand Hodler celebrated the birth of his son with an equally awed work, The Chosen ...”

“... There is panegyric: on Cromwell (Heroic Stanzas), on Charles II (Astraea Redux, To His Sacred Majesty), on the new baby heir to James II (Britannia Rediviva); though never on William and Mary. Theological disputation, first Anglican in complexion (Religio Laici), then Roman Catholic (The Hind and the Panther). Historical chronicle (Annus ...”

“... corsairs, but how could Gondomar reject the offer politely? His solution was audacious: if His Majesty was so committed to the worthy aim of the elimination of piracy, what better way could there be of demonstrating that commitment than bringing to justice the notorious pirate Sir Walter Ralegh? Gondomar had already returned to Spain by the time of ...”