AustLit

Poem in praise of Sir Richard Bourke.

'Praises Bourke's rule in eighteenth-century couplets.' (Webby)

In her biography of James Martin, Martin of Martin Place, Elena Grainger describes this work as 'the basis of his chapter under that name in the Sketch Book' (23). The work is similar in writing style and some content to the work of the same title in Martin's Australian Sketch Book (1838).

Source: Grainger, Elena. Martin of Martin Place (Sydney, Alpha Books, 1970): 18, 23

An imposter, Mr Bedford, tricks a colonial family, Mr and Mrs Dibbs and their daughter, out of 500 pounds sterling, two horses and their pride. It is revealed at the end of the story that the impersonator 'was the celebrated Lord Lascelles!'.

'Lord Lascelles' (John Dow alias John Colquhoun alias Edward, Lord Lascelles) was a conman in the colony of New South Wales in the early 1830s. The Sydney Herald newspaper of 27 July 1835 notes that 'The celebrated "Lord Lascelles," with other convicts, embarked on board the brig Siren, on Saturday last, under a military guard, preparatory to "His Lordship's" transmission to Hobart Town.' (3)

A biography of Andrew Jackson (1767 - 1845), the seventh president, from 1829 to 1837, of the United States of America. This biography was originally published in the English periodical the Monthly Magazine.

This piece is not a description of an actual journey, but rather an intended one, by Sir Richard Bourke, through South America. The author ends by wondering why the route 'has not more frequently been chosen by gentlemen proceeding from New South Wales to England - that is, quitting the Colony not later than the month of January.'

Bourke returned to England in December 1837 via South America.

The White-Boys, or Whiteboys, (also called Levellers) were an eighteenth century Irish secret society that defended, with violence, Irish tenant farmers rights.

Elena Grainger in her biography of James Martin, Martin of Martin Place, describes this work as 'a story of a ride from Dublin to Cork demonstrating his lifelong aptitude for convincing descriptions of places he had never seen but had read about' (23). The story may have been retold to Martin by his mother or father who were from Cork, Ireland.

Source: Grainger, Elena. Martin of Martin Place (1970): 23

Edited version of 'The Extract of a Letter from Dr. James Mounsey, Physician of the Czarina's Army, to Henry Baker F. R. S. Concerning the Everlasting Fire in Persia'. The extract was first published in the magazine Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Volume 45, no. 487 (1748).

'Optimistic prediction of future prosperity and greatness.' (Webby)