Kingsley School, a private school in Bideford, the town in which Westward Ho! is set, took its name from him after it was founded in 2009 as a merger of Edgehill College and Grenville College. Words to look up: expedient, reprobate, profligate, malapert, mutch (an item of clothing). "The say" is "the sea." "Crammed up the rubrics" means gave themselves a crash course. "The old man of the seven hills" is the Pope. In Australia he became involved in gold-digging, and later joined the mounted police. For some time he had little or no money and carried his swag from station to station. At Langa-Willi station he wrote the novel Geoffrey Hamlyn, which was set in Colebrooke, Devon and Australia. On his return to the UK in 1858 he devoted himself to literature, and wrote several well-regarded novels, including The Hillyars and the Burtons (1865), Ravenshoe (1861), and Austin Elliot (1863). Henry was fond of mixing in literary circles, with authors such as Aldous Huxley, Matthew Arnold, George Meredith and Lewis Carroll. R avenshoe, generally considered his best novel, ran as a serial in Macmillan's Magazine and was then published as a book. The novel is partly set on Exmoor and is thought to have been inspired by Trentishoe. The complex plot of the novel revolves around the life of Charles Ravenshoe. In line to inherit the family estate, Charles meets many obstacles that force him from boyhood into manhood. The plot is set in motion when Densil Ravenshoe agrees to allow his wife to raise George in the Protestant faith. In turn, the Roman Catholic family priest, fearing a loss of influence and position, attempts to disavow George's claim as rightful heir. In line with the novels of his brother Charles, Henry’s villains were often Catholics.

Amyas spends time in the Caribbean coasts of Venezuela seeking gold, and in the process finds his true love, the beautiful Indian maiden Ayacanora. During the return journey to England, he discovers that Rose and his brother Frank have been burnt at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition. He vows revenge on all Spaniards, and joins in the defence of England against the Spanish Armada. When he is permanently blinded by a freak bolt of lightning at sea, he accepts this as God's judgement and finds peace in forgiveness. All who have travelled through the delicious scenery of North Devon must needs know the little white town of Bideford, which slopes upwards from its broad tide-river paved with yellow sands, and many-arched old bridge where salmon wait for autumn floods, toward the pleasant upland on the west. Above the town the hills close in, cushioned with deep oak woods, through which juts here and there a crag of fern-fringed slate; below they lower, and open more and more in softly rounded knolls, and fertile squares of red and green, till they sink into the wide expanse of hazy flats, rich salt-marshes, and rolling sand-hills, where Torridge joins her sister Taw, and both together flow quietly toward the broad surges of the bar, and the everlasting thunder of the long Atlantic swell.“ Narration and Discussion: Sir Walter Raleigh says to himself, "I would be good and great--When will the day come when I shall be content to be good, and yet not great, like this same simple Leigh, toiling on by my side to do his duty, with no more thought for the morrow than the birds of God?" Is it better to be good, or to be great? Can you be both? Chapter 12. How Bideford Bridge Dined at Annery House

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Copywork: "Why, then? Is not the West the land of peace, and the land of dreams? Do not our hearts tell us so each time we look upon the setting sun, and long to float away with him upon the golden-cushioned clouds? They bury men with their faces to the East. I should rather have mine turned to the West, Amyas, when I die; for I cannot but think it some divine instinct which made the ancient poets guess that Elysium lay beneath the setting sun. It is bound up in the heart of man, that longing for the West." Narration and Discussion: Lord Grey says to Raleigh, "[The Queen] will be furious when she hears of this cruelty." Raleigh answers, "Her Majesty shall at least not find me among the number of those who prefer her favour to her safety." What does he mean? Chapter 10. How the Mayor of Bideford Baited his Hook with His Own Flesh Copywork: Flower-gardens at least were there in plenty; for every limb was covered with pendent cactuses, gorgeous orchises, and wild pines; and while one-half the tree was clothed in rich foliage, the other half, utterly leafless, bore on every twig brilliant yellow flowers, around which humming-birds whirred all day long. Parrots peeped in and out of every cranny, while, within the airy woodland, brilliant lizards basked like living gems upon the bark, gaudy finches flitted and chirruped, butterflies of every size and color hovered over the topmost twigs, innumerable insects hummed from morn till eve; and when the sun went down, tree-toads came out to snore and croak till dawn. There was more life round that one tree than in a whole square mile of English soil. Copywork "For as there is nothing more noble and blessed than to fight in behalf of those whom we love, so to fight in our own private behalf is a thing not to be allowed to a Christian man, unless refusal imports utter loss of life or honour; and even then, it may be (though I would not lay a burden on any man's conscience), it is better not to resist evil, but to overcome it with good." Charles Kingsley died of pneumonia on 23 January 1875 at Eversley, Hampshire, aged 55. He was buried there in St. Mary's Churchyard. [9] Influences and works [ edit ]

The legendary "Lost City of Gold", also known as Manoa, has fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish conquistadors. Historical Incidents Horsman, Reginald (1976). Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism in Great Britain before 1850 (Journal of the History of Ideas – Vol. 37, No. 3ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. p.76. McCourt, John (2015). Representing Race: Racisms, Ethnicity and the Media. SAGE Publishing. p.3. ISBN 978-0761969129. Samuel Schoenbaum (1987). William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life. Oxford University Press. p.120. ISBN 978-0-19-505161-2. First off, I didn't really get into this book until almost half-way through. The start seemed to be largely about Amyas Leigh, the protagonist, desiring to go to sea, and his romance with the character Rose.

After a time, Amyas fits out a ship and prepares to go with Drake to Virginia, but before they sail, the Spanish Armada arrives off English shores. Amyas, with his ship, joins the rest of the fleet in that famous battle. After twelve terrible days, the Armada is defeated and almost every Spanish ship destroyed. Amyas, however, is not satisfied. Don Guzman is aboard one of the Spanish ships, and although Amyas pursues him relentlessly, he has to sit by and watch a storm tear the Spaniard’s ship apart. Amyas curses that he himself was not able to kill Don Guzman and thus avenge his brother’s death. Kingsley's concern for social reform is illustrated in his classic, The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby (1863), a tale about a boy chimney sweep, which retained its popularity well into the 20th century. The story mentions the main protagonists in the scientific debate over human origins, rearranging his earlier satire as the "great hippopotamus test". The book won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1963.

Narration and Discussion: Salvation Yeo says, "I thank the Lord, who has given so wise a heart to so young a general." Do you agree? How is Amyas showing wisdom, or not?

CHAPTER XII

Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms. Conlin, Jonathan & Klaver, Jan Marten Ivo. Charles Kingsley: Faith, Flesh, and Fantasy (Routledge, 2020) Information Sheet: Charles Kingsley". Cheshire West and Chester. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011 . Retrieved 19 April 2010.