The strange affair of Spring-heeled Jack

"Not with dreams, but with blood and with iron, shall a nation be moulded to last," is from his poem "A Word for the Country" (undated).

Thou hast conquered, 0 pale Galilean;

The world has grown grey from thy breath;

We have drunken from things Lethean,

And fed on the fullness of death is from "Hymn to Prosperpine," which appeared in Poems and Ballads, First Series.

How he that loves life overmuch shall die

The dog's death, utterly:

And he that much less loves it than he hates

All wrongdoing that is done

Anywhere always underneath the sun

Shall live a mightier life than time's or fate's is from "Thalassius, Songs of the Springtides" which appeared in Poems and Ballads, First Series.

JOIN MANNING SPEKE

Much might be said about Speke's attitude toward Burton after their expedition to the lakes; his actions definitely raise questions about his character. However, it is quite wrong to accuse him of cowardice. Certainly, this is what he thought Burton had done when the explorer published his account of the attack at Berbera. Speke felt that Burton's command-"Don't step back! They'll think that we're retiring!"-was a personal slight. There is no evidence to suggest, though, that Burton ever meant it as such.

Without the advantage of flight, Speke's second expedition to Africa's central lake region took as long as the first. The subsequent debate with Burton, therefore, was not scheduled for September 1861, but September 1864.

OSCAR WILDE

The Great Irish Famine lasted from 1845 to 1852. Oscar Wilde was not a refugee from it, nor was he an orphan or paperboy.

As an adult he became a playwright, poet, author, and controversial celebrity. His epigrams are still celebrated today. They include: "By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community." "There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us." "I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I'm saying." "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best." "When I was young, I thought money was the most important thing in life. Now that I'm old-I know it is.,, "One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation." Wilde died in 1900.

LAURENCE OLIPHANT

Laurence Oliphant never kept a white panther as a pet. He did, however, nurture John Ha

In 1861, he became first secretary of the British Legation in Japan but soon after accepting the post there was an attack on the Legation during which he was severely wounded, losing the full use of one hand.

After a failed stint in parliament, he showed more promise as a novelist but then fell under the influence of the spiritualist prophet Thomas Lake Harris. From 1868, he lived as a farm labourer in Harris's cult, not breaking free until 1881.

He spent the rest of his life as an author until his death in 1888.