text:
Talk:The Inklings

Something to add to Legacy section
The Inklings club is referenced in Lord of the Rings Online; the club members (with slightly changed names) can be found in The Bird and Baby Inn in the Shire. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.27.171.125 (talk) 19:41, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Saint Ignatius
I am removing the St Ignatius related entry; It appears fallacious and can't be backed up by an internet search.
 * How can I prove the Saint Ignatius Inklings to you? Could I take a picture of all of us posing next to a chalk board with "INKLINGS" written on it? Would that be enough or not?
 * It's not a question of proving that the group exists; we believe you—but wikipedia is only for encyclopedic subjects, and literary societies aren't inherently notable enough (even if they share a name with a famous one). Is there something that makes the Saint Ignatius Inklings famous? — brighterorange  (talk) 20:34, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Carpenter
Carpenter's book THE INKLINGS is well worth reading on this subject, imo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.206.164.99 (talk • contribs)

 * Well, it sounds very interesting to me. But where can one find this book? - —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.118.79.9 (talk • contribs)

 * I've added a link to the book to the article. Click the ISBN and then click 'find this book' on the book sources page. Angela

Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers was not a member of the group. Really. She knew and respected some of the members, particularly Lewis, but did not live anywhere near Oxford and did not meet with them. Dandrake 08:02, Feb 8, 2004 (UTC)

Chesterton?
I've seen (ubsubstantiated) reference elsewhere to an association of the Inklings with Chesterton. Does anyone know whether this is the case, and if so, should it be included? - FZ
 * The Inklings were certainly Chesterton fans, but of course much younger: GKC was never a member, and in fact died shortly after the group was founded.--Solicitr (talk) 22:39, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Eagle and Child
The entry for The Eagle and the Child states that the Inklings met between 1939 and 1962, whereas this article states they met between the 30's and the 50's. Which is it? Suppafly 21:22, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * The image caption says they met Thursday nights at the Eagle & Child, which conflicts with both the Eagle & Child article, which says Tuesday mornings, and the body of this article, which says Thursday nights at Magdalen College. Which is right? --Jcreed 22:37, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Inklings meetings, properly so-called, took place in CS Lewis' rooms at Magdalen on Thursday evenings during term. They began at some time in the Thirties, and came to an end in 1949.

 * As mentioned elsewhere, the morning pub sessions were not technically Inklings, but a regular gathering of Lewis' friends for drinks. These get-togethers lasted longer than the Inklings proper, indeed continuing for some time after Lewis' death. The 1962 date in the Eagle and Child entry merely reflects when they stopped meeting there (they moved across St Giles). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Solicitr (talk • contribs) 03:37, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Clubs named after the inklings
Clubs named after the Inklings that are not otherwise noteworthy do not belong on this page, in my opinion. I plan to delete these, but would like to solicit opinions before I do so. Brighterorange 15:59, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. Rmhermen 00:07, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * As do I...unless St. Ignatius Prep is very prominent indeed (and even then, the paragraph asserts that much of the school is unaware of the club). Jwrosenzweig 04:49, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The only club you have deleted is the one at St. Ignatius Prep, wouldn't it be a wise idea to delete all three of them until they can all provide accurate citations? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.76.120.122 (talk • contribs)
 * I'm open to this, but I don't think the other two are "clubs." The Inklings from Aachen have published scholarly works for 23 years, which makes them minimally notable (more information on this, including a citation, would be welcome!). The Wade Center is a 41 year old international study and research center with 11,000 volumes by members of the original Inklings (and memorabilia like Tolkien's actual desk). They provide a verifiable link. My personal standards for notability are lower than average, I think, but a high school club not even known within its own walls is definitely below them. — brighterorange  (talk) 04:30, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

While the anonymous editor who keeps inserting the paragraph about St. Ignatius has not participated in the discussion here, you may be interested in reading or participating at User_talk:Brighterorange. As he has admitted that the information is unverifiable, that he is a former member of the group, and the paragraph itself notes that the group is not known even within the St. Ignatius community, I even more strongly recommend its removal. — brighterorange  (talk) 00:39, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Christians
Which ones were not Christians? Just wondering, a citation would be helpful. (User:Jaysonwhelpley

Locations
Tiny point, and sorry if there is a stylesheet somewhere, but why is the University of Oxford 'England' whereas Wheaton College is 'Illinois'. Either make it Oxford, Oxfordshire (to match Illinois) or Wheaton, USA (to match England). Do delete this quibble if you feel that England/UK is justly equivalent to Illinois/USA! 81.154.180.147 20:54, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Christians and Anthroposophists
The statement that the Inklings were mostly Christians, though some were "Atheists and Anthroposophists", is quite misleading. Anthroposophy is not a religion or religious position, although as an attempt at scientific exploration of all human questions including spiritual ones it does explore religious questions. Barfield, who would be the leading person in question, was an anthroposophist but that certainly cannot be stated in contrast to his being a Christian. I won't go into what anthroposophical researches assert about religious questions, but it won't do to state it as it is now. --jb 00:19, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

WHO WERE INKLINGS?
In the current list Percy Bates is not an Inkling, and Roger Lancerlyn Green is an Inkling only in one sense. The list of members at the back of Humphrey Carpenter's _The Inklings_ is basic. The problem with Green is that both W. H. Lewis in his diary and Carpenter in his book apply the name "Inklings" to the evening meetings at which manuscripts were read. The Tuesday (and later Monday) meetings in a pub were not Inklings meetings in their view, just by and large the same group of friends meeting for talk and drinks. But a number of people who did not attend the evening meetings have referred to the Tuesday meetings as Inklings meetings. (The pub meetings continued long after the writers' group died.) The write-up needs to distinguish the two meanings, not necessarily say one is the only right way to use the name. Green was an Inkling in the sense that he attended a number of the Tuesday pub meetings, but not in the W. H. Lewis and Carpenter sense. Joe R. Christopher, 17 April 200770.246.102.110

 * Agreed- especially since Thursady evenings at Magdelen were members-and-guests-only: not a rule you could readily enforce in a pub!--Solicitr (talk) 22:41, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Bird and Baby
I call it that, and it is noted in the Wiki entry for the pub itself as a standard student nickname for it. Myopic Bookworm 15:16, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

 * I don't call it that; unfortunately, you need a reference for inclusion which isn't just anecdotal and demonstrates that the nickname is notable enough to be included on a completely separate article. --163.1.165.116 16:39, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

 * I have now reverted this yet again. I also altered the sentence which refers to the pub as "Bird and Baby" in the main text of the article, added a reference, and created a ref. list as the end of the article.  I have never created a reference list before, so someone with more experience should alter and improve it.  Thanks. ---Cathal 17:14, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

red links?
why are all the links dark red? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.68.0.94 (talk • contribs)

 * This has happened in the past, and to the best of my knowledge, no one has come up with a good explanation. If you are interested, you can see the discussion that took place at the Village Pump []. ---Cathal 21:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Pub Interior Photo
The existing caption is really rather misleading- Lewis and friends did not meet in a corner of the public bar! The area depicted was in their day a separate room, actually the publican Charlie Blagrove's private parlour, which he allowed Lewis and friends to use on Tuesday mornings. The door was kept firmly shut, and one Inkling remembers that the air became "quite blue with tobacco-smoke."

When the pub changed ownership in 1962 the partition wall was torn down; this was one of the principal reasons the Inklings moved across the street to the Lamb and Flag.Solicitr 03:29, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Do we have that mentioned in the article? that seems really notable as far as this group is concerned, do we have a WP:RS? Lets get it in there if we do!EliteArcher88 (talk) 20:41, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

External links modified
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Meeting place
Two photos of the B&B pub, which was not actually an Inklings site, but no pictures of Lewis' rooms at Magdalen where the Inklings' actual meetings were held on Thursday nights? (Lewis was a B&B regular on Tuesday mornings and his friends would catch up with him there, in such numbers that Charlie Blagrove the publican would lend them his private sitting-room (at that time a separate room, with a door); while these friends certainly could include Tolkien, Warnie and other Inklings, these were never considered "meetings" and no readings took place there. The article needs a Magdalen pic, and it should appear first. Solicitr (talk) 20:41, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

 * I've added one, although not really the best since it's just a general shot of the building. Solicitr (talk) 20:55, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

 * Still a great addition tho, thanks Solicitr!EliteArcher88 (talk) 20:25, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Inkling which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:33, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Dorothy L. Sayers and Tolkien
Just to clarify the relationship between Dorothy L. Sayers and Tolkien (or lack thereof):

While she is known to have corresponded frequently with C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, there is no such evidence for Tolkien. The only mention of Sayers in Tolkien's published letters is in a 1944 letter to Christopher Tolkien where he states he loathes her. Lewis believed that the two had never met, which is backed up by the 1966 letter from Tolkien to Roger Verhulst discussing a planned American edition of Essays Presented to Charles Williams :

"Many different people, attracted by the central magnet of Lewis, paid occasional visits, and sometimes even read things they had written: E. R. Edison, for instance, and Roy Campbell. But that did not constitute membership. I never met Dorothy L. Sayers and do not think she can be included, although an essay of hers (as a friend of Charles Williams) was printed in the above-mentioned Essays."

The reference cited as evidence that Dorothy L. Sayers was a frequent correspondent of Lewis and Tolkien states rather that she was a correspondent of Lewis and Williams.  Catfish  Jim  and the soapdish  22:48, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

 * It's time we put the Dorothy L. Sayers question to bed:

 * Dorothy Sayers was also impressed by Lewis's writings on Christianity, and she wrote to him to say so. "She was the first person of importance who ever wrote me a fan-letter," he recalled, and he added, "I liked her, originally, because she liked me; later, for the extraordinary zest and edge of her conversation - as I like a high wind." She did not, however, come to any meetings of the Inklings. No woman ever did. "She never met our own club," Lewis said, "and probably never knew of its existence."  Catfish   Jim  and the soapdish  13:18, 19 May 2022 (UTC)

E.R. Eddison and his wife Molly Eddison
The above quote from Carpenter's book (The Inklings) raised a question about this entry. Carpenter talks in detail of Eddison's visit but unsurprisingly does not mention the presence of his wife. Eddison's article mentions that his wife's name was Winifred... It looks like this was a result of a drive by prank by an IP editor in February 2019.  Catfish  Jim  and the soapdish  13:41, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

Camille Smith and J.H. Grant III
Neither appear in Carpenter's book about the Inklings. I can find no reference to Camille Smith being a cousin of Lewis (perhaps I haven't looked hard enough) outside of pieces that are clearly based on this WP article. Another drive-by prank, possibly, added by IP editor in September 2019. It had previously been added (and correctly reverted) in a clear act of vandalism in February 2019. J.H. Grant III seems to have been added in similar circumstances.  Catfish  Jim  and the soapdish  14:41, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

 * I've temporarily protected this page due to persistent vandalism, with the repeated re-addition of JH Grant III, whoever that is. He is not mentioned in any books about the Inklings and online references are all traceable to earlier versions of this article.  Catfish  Jim  and the soapdish  17:44, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:The Inklings


text:
New York Harbor

New York Harbor  is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay and an extremely small portion of the Lower Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York/New Jersey Bight near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of the United States.

New York Harbor is also known as Upper New York Bay, which is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne. The name may also refer to the entirety of New York Bay including Lower New York Bay.

Overview
The harbor is fed by the waters of the Hudson River (historically called the North River as it passes Manhattan), as well as the Gowanus Canal. It is connected to Lower New York Bay by the Narrows, to Newark Bay by the Kill Van Kull, and to Long Island Sound by the East River, which, despite its name, is actually a tidal strait. It provides the main passage for the waters of the Hudson River as it empties through the Narrows. The channel of the Hudson as it passes through the harbor is called the Anchorage Channel and is approximately 50 feet deep in the midpoint of the harbor.

A project to replace two water mains between Brooklyn and Staten Island, which will eventually allow for dredging of the channel to nearly 100 ft, was begun in April 2012.

The harbor contains several islands including Governors Island, near the mouth of the East River, as well Ellis Island, Liberty Island, and Robbins Reef which are supported by a large underwater reef on the New Jersey side of the harbor. The reef was historically one of the largest oyster beds in the world and provided a staple for the diet of all classes of citizens both locally and regionally until the end of the 19th century, when the beds succumbed to pollution.

Historically, it has played an extremely important role in the commerce of the New York metropolitan area. The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the immigrant experience during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Since the 1950s, container ship traffic has been primarily routed through the Kill Van Kull to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, where it is consolidated for easier automated transfer to land conveyance. As a consequence, the waterfront industries of the Harbor experienced a decline leading to diverse plans for revitalization, though important maritime uses remain at Red Hook, Port Jersey, MOTBY, Constable Hook, and parts of the Staten Island shore. Liberty State Park opened in 1976. In recent years, it has become a popular site for recreation sailing and kayaking.

The harbor is traversed by the Staten Island Ferry, which runs between Whitehall Street at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park (South Ferry) and St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace in Staten Island near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court. NY Waterway operates routes across the bay and through The Narrows to locations near Sandy Hook.

The harbor supports a very diverse population of marine species, allowing for recreational fishing, most commonly for striped bass and bluefish.

Colonial era
The original population of the 16th century New York Harbor, the Lenape, used the waterways for fishing and travel. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored in what is now called the Narrows, the strait between Staten Island and Long Island that connects the Upper and Lower New York Bay, where he received a canoe party of Lenape. A party of his sailors may have taken on fresh water at a spring called "the watering place" on Staten Island—a monument stands in a tiny park on the corner of Bay Street and Victory Boulevard at the approximate spot—but Verrazzano's descriptions of the geography of the area are a bit ambiguous. It is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location of the modern Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's approach viaduct in Brooklyn. He also observed what he believed to be a large freshwater lake to the north (apparently Upper New York Bay). He apparently did not travel north to observe the existence of the Hudson River. In 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population.

The first permanent European settlement was started on Governors Island in 1624, and in Brooklyn eight years after that; soon these were connected by ferry operation. The colonial Dutch Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, ordered construction of the first wharf on the Manhattan bank of the lower East River sheltered from winds and ice, which was completed late in 1648 and called Schreyers Hook Dock (near what is now Pearl and Broad Streets). This prepared New York as a leading port for the British colonies and then within the newly independent United States.

In 1686, the British colonial officials gave the municipality control over the waterfront.

19th century
In 1835, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney of the Survey of the Coast (renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878) discovered a new, deeper channel through the Narrows into New York Harbor. Previously, the passage was complex and shallow enough that loaded ships would wait outside the harbor until high tide, to avoid running into the huge sandbar, which was interrupted in a number of places by channels of fairly shallow depth: 21 feet at low tide and 33 feet at high tide. Because of the difficulty of the navigation required, since 1694, New York had required all ships to be guided into the harbor by an experienced pilot. The new channel Gedney discovered was 2 feet deeper, enough of an added margin that fully laden ships could come into the harbor even at slack tide. Gedney's Channel, as it came to be called, was also shorter than the previous channel, another benefit appreciated by the ship owners and the merchants they sold to. Gedney received the praise of the city, as well as an expensive silver service.

In her 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans, Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions upon entering New York Harbor for the first time:

"I have never seen the bay of Naples, I can therefore make no comparison, but my imagination is incapable of conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful than the harbour of New York. Various and lovely are the objects which meet the eye on every side, but the naming them would only be to give a list of words, without conveying the faintest idea of the scene. I doubt if ever the pencil of Turner could do it justice, bright and glorious as it rose upon us. We seemed to enter the harbour of New York upon waves of liquid gold, and as we darted past the green isles which rise from its bosom, like guardian centinels of the fair city, the setting sun stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, as if to point out to us some new glory in the landscape."

In 1824 the first American drydock was completed on the East River. Because of its location and depth, the Port grew rapidly with the introduction of steamships; and then with the completion in 1825 of the Erie Canal New York became the most important transshipping port between Europe and the interior of the United States, as well as coastwise destinations. By about 1840, more passengers and a greater tonnage of cargo came through the port of New York than all other major harbors in the country combined and by 1900 it was one of the great international ports. The Morris Canal carried anthracite and freight from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to its terminus at the mouth of the Hudson in Jersey City. Portions in the harbor are now part of Liberty State Park.

In 1870, the city established the Department of Docks to systematize waterfront development, with George B. McClellan as the first engineer in chief. By the turn of the 20th century numerous railroad terminals lined the western banks of the North River (Hudson River) in Hudson County, New Jersey, transporting passengers and freight from all over the United States. The freight was ferried across by the competing railroads with small fleets of towboats, barges, and 323 car floats, specially designed barges with rails so cars could be rolled on. New York subsidized this service which undercut rival ports. Major road improvements allowing for trucking and containerization diminished the need.

The harbor saw major federal investment at the end of the century when Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. Over $1.2 million of initial funding was appropriated for the dredging of 40-foot-deep (12.2 m) channels at Bay Ridge, Red Hook, and Sandy Hook.

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) stands on Liberty Island in the harbor, while the nearby main port of entry at Ellis Island processed 12 million arrivals from 1892 to 1954. The Statue of Liberty National Monument, encompassing both islands, recalls the period of massive immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century While many stayed in the region, others spread across America, with more than 10 million leaving from the nearby Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal.

Post–World War I
After the war, the 1919 New York City Harbor Strike by the Marine Workers Union shut down the port for weeks.

It started on January 9 and was paused on January 13 for arbitration. The strike resumed March 4 after workers rejected the War Board labor ruling and ended on April 20, 1919 after new terms had been offered by both public and private port employers.

World War II
After the United States entered World War II, the German navy's Operation Drumbeat set the top U-boat aces loose against the merchant fleet in U.S. territorial waters in January 1942, starting the Second happy time. The U-boat captains were able to silhouette target ships against the glow of city lights, and attacked with relative impunity, in spite of U.S. naval concentrations within the Harbor. Casualties included the tankers Coimbria off Sandy Hook and Norness off Long Island. New York Harbor, as the major convoy embarkation point for the U.S., was effectively a staging area in the Battle of the Atlantic, with the U.S. Merchant Marine losses of 1 of 26 mariners, a rate exceeding those of the other U.S. forces.

Bright city lights made it easier for German U-boats to spot targets at night, but local officials resisted suggestions that they follow London's lead and blackout the lights of coastal cities. However, some lights were darkened, including those of the amusement parks in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and the Coney Island Light, and Sandy Hook Lighthouse.

The Harbor reached its peak activity in March 1943 during World War II, with 543 ships at anchor awaiting assignment to convoy or berthing (with as many as 426 seagoing vessel already at one of the 750 piers or docks). Eleven hundred warehouses with nearly 1.5 sqmi of enclosed space served freight along with 575 tugboats and 39 active shipyards, the largest being Brooklyn Navy Yard. With a large inventory of heavy equipment, this made New York Harbor the busiest in the world.

Post–World War II
Deterrence and investigation of criminal activity, especially relating to organized crime, is the responsibility of the bi-state Waterfront Commission. The commission was set up in 1953 (a year before the movie On the Waterfront), to combat labor racketeering. It is held that the Gambino crime family controlled the New York waterfront and the Genovese crime family controlled the New Jersey side. In 1984 the Teamsters local was put under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) trusteeship, and in 2005 a similar suit was brought against the International Longshoremen's Association local.

In March 2006, the Port passenger facility was to be transferred to Dubai Ports World. There was considerable security controversy over the ownership by a foreign corporation, particularly Arabic, of a U.S. port operation, this in spite of the fact the current operator was the British-based P&O Ports, and the fact that Orient Overseas Investment Limited, a company dominated by a Chinese Communist official, has the operating contract for Howland Hook Marine Terminal. An additional concern is the U.S. Customs "green lane" program, in which trusted shippers have fewer containers inspected, providing easier access for contraband material.

Water quality
The water quality in New York Harbor has been affected by centuries of shipping activity, industrial development and urbanization. Water pollution from these sources has been a constant phenomenon, although there have been improvements in some areas of the harbor complex in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A 2019 study of the harbor identifies water quality trends in nine regions of the harbor, using data collected during 1996 to 2017. The Lower New York Bay region has the highest quality, due to frequent exchange of water with the Atlantic Ocean. The poorest regions are those with limited exchange of water flows: Newtown Creek, Flushing Bay and Jamaica Bay. High levels of nutrient pollution (nitrogen and phosphorus) were observed throughout the various harbor regions, although there has been a general lowering trend in total nitrogen, and some other indicator parameters show improvements. The implementation of the Clean Water Act and related pollution control laws, along with cleanup programs and conservation measures throughout the region, have begun to yield some improvements since the 1970s. The study authors state that "the New York Harbor ecosystem is much healthier than it was 30 years ago."

Container shipping and air travel
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest oil importing port and third largest container port in the nation. The commercial activity of the port of New York City, including the waterfronts of the five boroughs and nearby cities in New Jersey, since 1921 has been formalized under a single bi-state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Since the 1950s, the New York and Brooklyn commercial port has been almost completely eclipsed by the container ship facility at nearby Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Newark Bay, which is the largest such port on the Eastern Seaboard. The port has diminished in importance to passenger travel, but the Port Authority operates all three major airports, La Guardia (built 1939) and JFK/Idlewild (built 1948) in New York, and Newark (built 1928) in New Jersey.

Ferries and cruise ships
The harbor is still served by cruise lines, commuter ferries, and tourist excursion boats. Although most ferry service is private, the Staten Island Ferry is operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. Passenger ship facilities are New York Passenger Ship Terminal, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at Red Hook, and MOTBY at Bayonne.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: New York Harbor


text:
Fishing cat

The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It has a deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots. Adults have a head-to-body length of 57 to 78 cm, with a 20 to 30 cm long tail. Males are larger than females weighing 8 to 17 kg; females average 5 to 9 kg. Since 2016, it is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves.

The fishing cat's main prey is fish. Other prey items include birds, insects, small rodents; molluscs, reptiles including snakes, amphibians and carrion of domestic cattle. The fishing cat is thought to be primarily nocturnal. It is a good swimmer and can swim long distances, even under water. The species is the state animal of West Bengal. As of 2015, there are estimated to be 10,000 living individuals.

Taxonomy
Felis viverrinus was proposed by Edward Turner Bennett in 1833 who described a cat skin sent from India by Josiah Marshall Heath. Prionailurus was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as generic name for spotted wild cats native to Asia. Felis viverrinus rhizophoreus was proposed by Henri Jacob Victor Sody in 1936 who described a specimen from the north coast of West Java that had a slightly shorter skull than fishing cat specimens from Thailand. There is evidence that the nominate taxon and the Javan fishing cat are distinguishable by skull morphometrics.

Phylogeny
Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia in the Miocene around. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at around.

The Prionailurus species are estimated to have had a common ancestor between, and. Both models agree in the rusty-spotted cat (P. rubiginosus) having been the first cat of the Prionailurus lineage that genetically diverged, followed by the flat-headed cat (P. planiceps) and then the fishing cat. It is estimated to have diverged together with the leopard cat (P. bengalensis) between and. The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships of the fishing cat as derived through analysis of nuclear DNA:

Characteristics
The fishing cat has a deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots. Two stripes are on the cheeks, and two above the eyes running to the neck with broken lines on the forehead. It has two rows of spots around the throat. The spots on the shoulder are longitudinal, and those on the sides, limbs and tail are roundish. The background colour of its fur varies between individuals from yellowish tawny to ashy grey, and the size of the stripes from narrow to broad. The fur on the belly is lighter than on the back and sides. The short and rounded ears are set low on the head, and the back of the ears bear a white spot. The tail is short, less than half the length of head and body, and with a few black rings at the end. As an aquatic adaptation, the fur is layered. A short, dense layer provides a water barrier and thermal insulation, while another layer of protruding long guard hairs provides its pattern and glossy sheen.

The fishing cat is the largest cat of the Prionailurus. It is about twice the size of a domestic cat and stocky and muscular with medium to short legs. Its head-to-body length ranges from 57 to 78 cm, with a tail of 20 to 30 cm. Female fishing cats range in weight from 5 to 9 kg, and males from 8 to 17 kg, evidencing quite pronounced sexual dimorphism in size for a cat of this size. Its skull is elongated, with a basal length of 123 - 153 mm and a post-orbital width of 27 - 31 mm.

Its paws are less completely webbed than those of the leopard cat, and the claws are incompletely sheathed so that they protrude slightly when retracted. Webbed feet have often been noted as a characteristic of the fishing cat, but the webbing beneath the toes is not much more developed than that of a bobcat.

Distribution and habitat
The fishing cat is broadly but discontinuously distributed in South and Southeast Asia. It is strongly associated with wetlands, inhabiting swamps and marshy areas around oxbow lakes, reed beds, tidal creeks and mangrove forests; it seems less abundant around smaller, fast-moving watercourses. Most records are from lowland areas.

In Pakistan's Sindh Province, the fishing cat was recorded in the Chotiari Dam area in 2012. In the Nepal Terai, it has been recorded in Shuklaphanta, Bardia, Chitwan and Parsa National Parks and in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. In India, its presence has been documented in Ranthambore National Park, in Pilibhit, Dudhwa and Valmiki Tiger Reserves, in Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, outside protected areas in West Bengal, in Lothian Island Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sundarbans, in Odisha's Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and coastal districts outside protected areas, in Andhra Pradesh's Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining reserve forests.

Reports in Bangladeshi newspapers indicate that fishing cats live in all divisions of Bangladesh but are severely threatened; villagers killed at least 30 fishing cats between January 2010 and March 2013. In Sri Lanka, it has been recorded in multiple localities ranging from coastal to hilly regions. In Myanmar, it was recorded in the Ayeyarwady Delta in 2016 and 2018.

In Thailand, its presence has been documented in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area along the coast, and in Kaeng Krachan National Park. Between 2007 and 2016, it was also recorded near wetlands outside protected areas in Phitsanulok Province, Bang Khun Thian District, Samut Sakhon Province, Phetchaburi and Songkhla Provinces, and near a mangrove site in Pattani.

In Cambodia, a single fishing cat was photographed by a camera trap in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in March 2003. In 2008, a fishing cat kitten was found in Botum-Sakor National Park. In 2015, it was also recorded in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary. The island of Java constitutes the southern limit of the fishing cat's range, but by the 1990s fishing cats were scarce and apparently restricted to tidal forests with sandy or muddy shores, older mangrove stands, and abandoned mangrove plantation areas with fishponds. There are no confirmed records in Peninsular Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.

Behaviour and ecology
The fishing cat is thought to be primarily nocturnal, and is very much at home near water. It can swim long distances, even under water. Adult males and females without dependent young are solitary. Females have been reported to range over areas of 4 to 6 km2, while males range over 16 to 22 km2. Adults have been observed to make a "chuckling" sound.

The fishing cat's main prey is fish; scat collected in India's Keoladeo National Park revealed that fish comprises about three-quarters of its diet, with the remainder consisting of birds, insects, small rodents; molluscs, reptiles including snakes, amphibians and carrion of domestic cattle supplement its diet. In the Godavari River delta, fish comprised three fifths of the fishing cat diet, whereas rodents and crustaceans made up the reminder of the diet. The diet make-up remained relatively constant throughout the year. Fishing cats have been observed while hunting along the edges of watercourses, grabbing prey from the water, and sometimes diving into the water to catch prey further from the banks. It prefers hunting in shallow water and spends about half the time lying in wait for prey to approach.

It marks its home range using cheek-rubbing, head rubbing, chin rubbing, neck rubbing and urine-spraying to leave scent marks. It also sharpens its claws and displays flehmen.

Reproduction and development
Wild fishing cats most likely mate during January and February; most kittens in the wild were observed in March and April. However, fishing cats may mate as late as June. In captivity, the gestation period lasts 63–70 days; females give birth to an average of two to three kittens; the little size can be as small as one to as large as four. The generation length of the species is 5 years. They weigh around 170 g at birth, and are able to actively move around by the age of one month. They begin to play in water and to take solid food when about two months old, but are not fully weaned until six months old. They reach full adult size when about eight and a half months old, acquire their adult canine teeth by 11 months, and are sexually mature when approximately 15 months old. They live up to 10 years in captivity.

Health
Fishing cats are susceptible to carnivore protoparvovirus, a disease known to kill them. The disease significantly damages the kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal tract. A captive individual was recorded with chlamydiota. The fishing cat is also vulnerable to diseases and medical conditions such as feline hemoplasmas, transitional cell carcinoma and canine distemper virus. Young fishing cats have been recorded with Toxocara cati; mortality often occurs.

Threats
The fishing cat is threatened by destruction of wetlands, which are increasingly being polluted or converted for agricultural use and human settlements. The conversion of mangrove forests to commercial aquaculture ponds is a major threat in Andhra Pradesh, where the target killing of fishing cats is also prevalent where there is human/animal conflict. Over-exploitation of local fish stocks and retaliatory killing are also significant threats. Fish farmers in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, may also view fishing cats as pests, as they regularly take fish from farms, resulting in farmers killing them in retaliation. In Bangladesh, fishing cats are often confused for tiger cubs, and are killed whenever they come into contact with humans. They are also hunted for their meat, which is used for traditional causes. In one instance, between 2012 and 2015, poachers were arrested after slaying 31% of radio-collared animals in Thailand. Skin may also be traded, though this is not yet confirmed. Its habitat in India is primarily marshlands, thus, highly subjective to agricultural use under the country's law, leading to human–wildlife conflict. In Sagar Island, the natives there allegedly wiped out the fishing cat population. Deaths in the Indian subcontinent more often than not took place in the dry season, when paths with humans often cross. In West Bengal's Howrah district, 27 dead fishing cats were recorded between April 2010 and May 2011. In Bangladesh, at least 30 fishing cats were killed by local people in three years between January 2010 and March 2013. Furthermore, in a study in Thailand, 84% of all fishing cats that were tracked via radio collars were killed – either due to poaching or unknown causes. Crashes with vehicles is another major mortality factor.

In Southeast Asia, wetlands are strongholds for the fishing cat population. However, estimates predict that only 6% of wetlands remain unthreatened by human activities. A 2015 study stated that the fishing cat population is likely lower than 10,000. The fishing cat is possibly extinct in coastal Kerala, India.

Conservation
Prionailurus viverrinus is included on CITES Appendix II, and protected by national legislation over most of its range. Hunting is prohibited in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Hunting regulations apply in Lao PDR. In Bhutan and Vietnam, the species is not protected outside protected areas. Its survival depends on protection of wetlands, prevention of indiscriminate trapping, snaring and poisoning. The species is the state animal of the Indian state of West Bengal.

In areas where habitat degradation is a major concern, such as coastal Andhra Pradesh, NGOs are working to slow habitat conversion in collaboration with local villagers. Part of this work involves creating alternative livelihood programs that allow villagers to earn money without damaging natural habitats. A Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance provides an umbrella for the cooperation of national fishing cat conservation groups, which began with the establishment of India's in 2010.

In captivity
Fishing cat captive breeding programmes have been established by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums. All the fishing cats kept in zoos around the world are listed in the International Studbook of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Zoos in Thailand house around 30 individuals; birth rates are not particularly high. They have been placed in captivity as an "insurance population" due to their vulnerable status in the wild.

title: Fishing cat


text:
Mongrel (disambiguation)

A mongrel is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed and is not the result of intentional breeding.

Mongrel may also refer to:

Music

 * Mongrel (band), a British-Irish band formed in 2008
 * Mongrel (The Number Twelve Looks Like You album), 2007
 * Mongrel (The Bob Seger System album), 1970

Stage and screen

 * Mongrel (film), a 1982 American film
 * The Mongrel, a 2012 Italian film
 * Mongrels (TV series), a British puppet-based situation comedy series

Other uses

 * Mongrel (magazine), an Irish magazine 2003–2008
 * Mongrel (web server), an open-source software library
 * Mongrel Media, a Canadian film distributor
 * Mongrel Mob, a New Zealand gang
 * Mongrel complex, a national inferiority complex in Brazil
 * Mongrel, a 2016 novel by Stephen Graham Jones
 * Mongrel, a derogatory term for mixed-race people

title: Mongrel (disambiguation)


text:
George Crabbe

George Crabbe (24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.

In the 1770s, Crabbe began his career as a doctor's apprentice, later becoming a surgeon. In 1780, he travelled to London to make a living as a poet. After encountering serious financial difficulty and being unable to have his work published, he wrote to the statesman and author Edmund Burke for assistance. Burke was impressed enough by Crabbe's poems to promise to help him in any way he could. The two became close friends and Burke helped Crabbe greatly both in his literary career and in building a role within the church.

Burke introduced Crabbe to the literary and artistic society of London, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson, who read The Village before its publication and made some minor changes. Burke secured Crabbe the important position of Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Crabbe served as a clergyman in various capacities for the rest of his life, with Burke's continued help in securing these positions. He developed friendships with many of the great literary men of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, whom he visited in Edinburgh, and William Wordsworth and some of his fellow Lake Poets, who frequently visited Crabbe as his guests.

Lord Byron described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, and has been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. The modern critic Frank Whitehead wrote that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued." Crabbe's works include The Village (1783), Poems (1807), The Borough (1810), and his poetry collections Tales (1812) and Tales of the Hall (1819).

Early life
Crabbe was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the eldest child of George Crabbe Sr. The elder George Crabbe had been a teacher at a village school in Orford, Suffolk, and later in Norton, near Loddon, Norfolk; he later became a tax collector for salt duties, a position that his own father had held. As a young man he married an older widow named Craddock, who became the mother of his six children: George, his brothers Robert, John, and William, his sister Mary, and another sister who died as an infant.

George Jr. spent his first 25 years close to his birthplace. He showed an aptitude for books and learning at an early age. He was sent to school while still very young, and developed an interest in the stories and ballads that were popular among his neighbours. His father owned a few books, and used to read passages from John Milton and from various 18th-century poets to his family. He also subscribed to Benjamin Martin's Philosophical Magazine, giving the "poet's corner" section to George. The senior Crabbe had interests in the local fishing industry, and owned a fishing boat; he had contemplated raising his son George to be a seaman, but soon found that the boy was unsuited to such a career.

George's father respected his son's interest in literature, and George was sent first to a boarding-school at Bungay near his home, and a few years later to a more important school at Stowmarket, where he gained an understanding of mathematics and Latin, and a familiarity with the Latin classics. His early reading included the works of William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, who had a great influence on George's future works, Abraham Cowley, Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser. He spent three years at Stowmarket before leaving school to find a medical apprenticeship.

In 1768 Crabbe was apprenticed to an apothecary at Wickhambrook, near Bury St Edmunds; the apothecary also kept a small farm, and he ended up doing farm labour and errands, rather than medical work. In 1771 he changed masters and moved to Woodbridge. There he was under the surgeon John Page. He remained until 1775.

While at Woodbridge, Crabbe joined a small club of young men who met at an inn for evening discussions. Through his contacts there he met his future wife, Sarah Elmy. Crabbe called her "Mira", later referring to her by this name in some of his poems. During this time he began writing poetry. In 1772, a ladies' magazine offered a prize for the best poem on the subject of hope, which Crabbe won. The same magazine printed other short pieces of Crabbe's throughout 1772. They were signed "G. C., Woodbridge," and included some of his lyrics addressed to Mira. Other known verses written while he was at Woodbridge show that he made experiments in stanza form modelled on the works of earlier English poets, but only showed some slight imitative skill.

1775 to 1785
His first major work, a satirical poem of nearly 400 lines in Pope's couplet form entitled Inebriety, was self-published in 1775. Crabbe later said of the poem, which received little or no attention at the time, "Pray let not this be seen ... there is very little of it that I'm not heartily ashamed of." By this time he had completed his medical training and had returned home to Aldeburgh. He had intended to go on to London to study at a hospital, but he was forced through low finances to work for some time as a local warehouseman. He eventually travelled to London in 1777 to practise medicine, returning home in financial difficulty after a year. He continued to practise as a surgeon after returning to Aldeburgh, but as his surgical skills remained deficient, he attracted only the poorest patients, and his fees were small and undependable. This hurt his chances of an early marriage, but Sarah stayed devoted to him.

In late 1779 he decided to move to London and see if he could make it as a poet, or, if that failed, as a doctor. He moved to London in April 1780, where he had little success, and by the end of May he had been forced to pawn some of his possessions, including his surgical instruments. He composed a number of works but was refused publication. He wrote several letters seeking patronage, but these were also refused. In June Crabbe witnessed instances of mob violence during the Gordon Riots, and recorded them in his journal. He was able to publish a poem at this time entitled The Candidate, but it was badly received by critics.

He continued to rack up debts that he had no way of paying, and his creditors pressed him. He later told Walter Scott and John Gibson Lockhart that "during many months when he was toiling in early life in London he hardly ever tasted butchermeat except on a Sunday, when he dined usually with a tradesman's family, and thought their leg of mutton, baked in the pan, the perfection of luxury." In early 1781 he wrote a letter to Edmund Burke asking for help, in which he included samples of his poetry. Burke was swayed by Crabbe's letter and a subsequent meeting with him, giving him money to relieve his immediate wants, and assuring him that he would do all in his power to further Crabbe's literary career. Among the samples that Crabbe had sent to Burke were pieces of his poems The Library and The Village.

A short time after their first meeting Burke told his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds that Crabbe had "the mind and feelings of a gentleman." Burke gave Crabbe the footing of a friend, admitting him to his family circle at Beaconsfield. There he was given an apartment, supplied with books, and made a member of the family. The time he spent with Burke and his family helped by enlarging his knowledge and ideas, and introducing him to many new and valuable friends including Charles James Fox and Samuel Johnson. He completed his unfinished poems and revised others with the help of Burke's criticism. Burke helped him have his poem, The Library, published anonymously in June 1781, by a publisher that had previously refused some of his work. The Library was greeted with modest praise from critics, and slight public appreciation.

Through their friendship, Burke discovered that Crabbe was more suited to be a clergyman than a surgeon. Crabbe had a good knowledge of Latin and an evident natural piety, and was well read in the scriptures. He was ordained to the curacy of his native town on 21 December 1781 through Burke's recommendation. He returned to live in Aldeburgh with his sister and father, his mother having died in his absence. Crabbe was surprised to find that he was poorly treated by his fellow townsmen, who resented his rise in social class. With Burke's help, Crabbe was able to leave Aldeburgh the next year, to become chaplain to the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. This was an unusual move on Burke's part, as this kind of preferment would usually have been given to a family member or personal friend of the Duke or through political interest.

Crabbe's experience as chaplain at Belvoir was not altogether happy. He was treated with kindness by the Duke and Duchess, but his slightly unpolished manners and his position as a literary dependent made his relations with others in the Duke's house difficult, especially the servants. However, the Duke and Duchess and many of their noble guests shared an interest in Crabbe's literary talent and work. During his time there, his poem The Village was published in May 1783, achieving popularity with the public and critics. Samuel Johnson said of the poem in a letter to Reynolds "I have sent you back Mr. Crabbe's poem, which I read with great delight. It is original, vigorous, and elegant." Johnson's friend and biographer James Boswell also praised The Village. It was said at the time of publication that Johnson had made extensive changes to the poem, but Boswell responded by saying that "the aid given by Johnson to the poem, as to The Traveller and Deserted Village of Goldsmith, were so small as by no means to impair the distinguished merit of the author."

Crabbe was able to keep up his friendships with Burke, Reynolds, and others during the Duke's occasional visits to London. He visited the theatre, and was impressed with the actresses Sarah Siddons and Dorothea Jordan. Around this time it was decided that, as Chaplain to a noble family, Crabbe was in need of a college degree, and his name was entered on the boards of Trinity College, Cambridge, through the influence of Bishop Watson of Llandaff, so that Crabbe could obtain a degree without residence. This was in 1783, but almost immediately afterwards he received an LL.B. degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury. This degree allowed Crabbe to be given two small livings in Dorsetshire, Frome St Quintin and Evershot. This promotion does not seem to have interfered with Crabbe's residence at Belvoir or in London; it is likely that curates were placed in these situations.

On the strength of these preferments and a promise of future assistance from the Duke, Crabbe and Sarah Elmy were married in December 1783, in the parish church of Beccles, where Miss Elmy's mother lived, and a few weeks later went to live together at Belvoir Castle. In 1784 the Duke of Rutland became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was decided that Crabbe was not to be on the Duke's staff in Ireland, though the two men parted as close friends. The young couple stayed on at Belvoir for nearly another eighteen months before Crabbe accepted a vacant curacy in the neighbourhood, that of Stathern in Leicestershire, where Crabbe and his wife moved in 1785. A child had been born to them at Belvoir, dying only hours after birth. During the following four years at Stathern they had three other children; two sons, George and John, in 1785 and 1787, and a daughter in 1789, who died in infancy. Crabbe later told his children that his four years at Stathern were the happiest of his life.

1785 to 1810
In October 1787 the Duke of Rutland died at the Vice-Regal Lodge in Dublin, after a short illness, at the early age of 35. Crabbe assisted at the funeral at Belvoir. The Duchess, anxious to have their former chaplain close by, was able to get Crabbe the two livings of Muston, Leicestershire, and Allington, Lincolnshire, in exchange for his old livings. Crabbe brought his family to Muston in February 1789. His connection with the two livings lasted for over 25 years, but during 13 of these years he was a non-resident. He stayed three years at Muston. Another son, Edmund, was born in 1790. In 1792, through the death of one of Sarah's relations and soon after of her older sister, the Crabbe family came into possession of an estate in Parham in Suffolk, which removed all of their financial worries. Crabbe soon moved his family to this estate. Their son William was born the same year.

Crabbe's life at Parham was not happy. The former owner of the estate had been very popular for his hospitality, while Crabbe's lifestyle was much more quiet and private. His solace here was the company of his friend Dudley Long North and his fellow Whigs who lived nearby. Crabbe soon sent his two sons George and John to school in Aldeburgh. After four years at Parham, the Crabbes moved to a home in Great Glemham, Suffolk, placed at his disposal by Dudley North. The family remained here for four or five years. In 1796 their third son, Edmund died at the age of six. This was a heavy blow to Sarah who began suffering from a nervous disorder from which she never recovered. Crabbe, a devoted husband, tended her with exemplary care until her death in 1813. Robert Southey, writing about Crabbe to his friend, Neville White, in 1808, said "It was not long before his wife became deranged, and when all this was told me by one who knew him well, five years ago, he was still almost confined in his own house, anxiously waiting upon this wife in her long and hopeless malady. A sad history! It is no wonder that he gives so melancholy a picture of human life."

During his time at Glemham, Crabbe composed several novels, none of which was published. After Glemham, Crabbe moved to the village of Rendham in Suffolk, where he stayed until 1805. His poem The Parish Register was all but completed while at Rendham, and The Borough was also begun. 1805 was the last year of Crabbe's stay in Suffolk, and it was made memorable in literature by the appearance of the Lay of the Last Minstrel by Walter Scott. Crabbe first saw it in a bookseller's shop in Ipswich, read it nearly through while standing at the counter, and pronounced that a new and great poet had appeared. In October 1805, Crabbe returned with his wife and two sons to the parsonage at Muston. He had been absent for nearly 13 years, of which four had been spent at Parham, five at Great Glemham, and four at Rendham.

In September 1807, Crabbe published a new volume of poems. Included in this volume were The Library, The Newspaper, and The Village; the principal new poem was The Parish Register, to which were added Sir Eustace Grey and The Hall of Justice. The volume was dedicated to Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, nephew and sometime ward of Charles James Fox. An interval of 22 years had passed since Crabbe's last appearance as an author, and he explained in the preface to this volume the reasons for this lapse as being his higher calling as a clergyman and his slow progress in poetical ability. This volume led to Crabbe's general acceptance as an important poet. Four editions were issued during the following year and a half, the fourth appearing in March 1809. The reviews were unanimous in approval, headed by Francis Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review.

In 1809 Crabbe sent a copy of his poems in their fourth edition to Walter Scott, who acknowledged them in a friendly reply. Scott told Crabbe "how for more than twenty years he had desired the pleasure of a personal introduction to him, and how, as a lad of eighteen, he had met with selections from The Village and The Library in The Annual Register." This exchange of letters led to a friendship that lasted for the rest of their lives, both authors dying in 1832. Crabbe's favourite among Scott's "Waverley" novels was The Heart of Midlothian.

The success of The Parish Register in 1807 encouraged Crabbe to proceed with a far longer poem, which he had been working on for several years. The Borough was begun at Rendham in Suffolk in 1801, continued at Muston after his return in 1805, and finally completed during a long visit to Aldeburgh in the autumn of 1809. It was published in 1810. In spite of its defects, The Borough was an outright success. The poem appeared in February 1810, and went through six editions in the next six years.

When he visited London a few years later and was received with general welcome in the literary world, he was very surprised. "In my own village", he told James Smith, "they think nothing of me." The three years following the publication of The Borough were especially lonely for him. He did have his two sons, George and John, with him; they had both passed through Cambridge, one at Trinity and the other at Caius, and were now clergymen themselves, each holding a curacy in the neighbourhood, enabling them to live under the parental roof, but Mrs. Crabbe's health was now very poor, and Crabbe had no daughter or female relative at home to help him with her care.

Later life
Crabbe's next volume of poetry, Tales, was published in the summer of 1812. It received a warm welcome from the poet's admirers, was favourably reviewed by Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review and is considered to be his masterpiece. In the summer of 1813, Mrs. Crabbe felt well enough to want to see London again, and the father and mother and two sons spent nearly three months in rooms in a hotel. Crabbe was able to visit Dudley North and some of his other old friends, and to visit and help the poor and distressed, remembering his own want and misery in the great city thirty years earlier. The family returned to Muston in September, and Mrs. Crabbe died at the end of October at the age of 63. Within days of his wife's death Crabbe fell seriously ill, and was in danger of dying. He rallied, however, and returned to the duties of his parish. In 1814, he became rector of St James', the parish church of the town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, a position given to him by the new Duke of Rutland. He remained at Trowbridge for the rest of his life.

His two sons followed him, as soon as their existing engagements allowed them to leave Leicestershire. The younger, John, who married in 1816, became his father's curate, and the elder, who married a year later, became curate at Pucklechurch, not far away. Crabbe's reputation as a poet continued to grow in these years. His reputation soon made him a welcome guest in many houses to which his position as rector might not have admitted him. Nearby at Bremhill was the poet William Lisle Bowles, who introduced Crabbe to the noble family at Bowood House, home of the Marquess of Lansdowne, who was always ready to welcome those distinguished in literature and the arts. It was at Bowood that Crabbe first met the poet Samuel Rogers, who became a close friend and had an influence on Crabbe's poetry. In 1817, on the recommendation of Rogers, Crabbe stayed in London from the middle of June to the end of July in order to enjoy the literary society of the capital. While there he met Thomas Campbell, and through him and Rogers was introduced to his future publisher John Murray.

In June 1819, Crabbe published his collection Tales of the Hall. The last 13 years of Crabbe's life were spent at Trowbridge, varied by occasional visits among his friends at Bath and the surrounding neighbourhood, and by yearly visits to his friend Samuel Hoare Jr in Hampstead. From there it was easy to visit his literary friends in London, while William Wordsworth, Southey, and others occasionally stayed with the family. Around 1820 Crabbe began suffering from frequent severe attacks of neuralgia, and this illness, together with his age, made him less and less able to travel to London.

In the spring of 1822, Crabbe met Walter Scott for the first time in London, and promised to visit him in Scotland in the autumn. He kept this promise during George IV's visit to Edinburgh, in the course of which the King met Scott and the poet was given a wine glass from which the King had drunk. Scott returned from the meeting with the King to find Crabbe at his home. As John Gibson Lockhart related in his Life of Sir Walter Scott,

Scott entered the room that had been set aside for Crabbe, wet and hurried, and embraced Crabbe with brotherly affection. The royal gift was forgotten—the ample skirt of the coat within which it had been packed, and which he had hitherto held cautiously in front of his person, slipped back to its more usual position—he sat down beside Crabbe, and the glass was crushed to atoms. His scream and gesture made his wife conclude that he had sat down on a pair of scissors, or the like: but very little harm had been done except the breaking of the glass.

Later in 1822, Crabbe was invited to spend Christmas at Belvoir Castle, but was unable to make the trip because of the winter weather. While at home, he continued to write a large amount of poetry, leaving 21 manuscript volumes at his death. A selection from these formed the Posthumous Poems, published in 1834. Crabbe continued to visit at Hampstead throughout the 1820s, often meeting the writer Joanna Baillie and her sister Agnes. In the autumn of 1831, Crabbe visited the Hoares. He left them in November, expressing his pain and sadness at leaving in a letter, feeling that it might be the last time he saw them. He left Clifton in November, and went direct to his son George, at Pucklechurch. He was able to preach twice for his son, who congratulated him on the power of his voice, and other encouraging signs of strength. "I will venture a good sum, sir," he said, "that you will be assisting me ten years hence." "Ten weeks" was Crabbe's answer, and the prediction was right almost to the day.

After a short time at Pucklechurch, Crabbe returned to his home at Trowbridge. Early in January he reported continued drowsiness, which he felt was a sign of increasing weakness. Later in the month he was prostrated by a severe cold. Other complications arose, and it soon became apparent that he would not live much longer. He died on 3 February 1832, with his two sons and his faithful nurse by his side.

Poetry
Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, and has been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. John Wilson wrote that "Crabbe is confessedly the most original and vivid painter of the vast varieties of common life that England has ever produced;" and that "In all the poetry of this extraordinary man, we see a constant display of the passions as they are excited and exacerbated by the customs, laws, and institutions of society." The Cambridge History of English Literature saw Crabbe's importance to be more in his influence than in his works themselves: "He gave the poetry of nature new worlds to conquer (rather than conquered them himself) by showing that the world of plain fact and common detail may be material for poetry".

Although Augustan literature played an important role in Crabbe's life and poetical career, his body of work is unique and difficult to classify. His best works are an original achievement in a new realistic poetical form. The major factor in Crabbe's evolving from the Augustan influence to his use of realistic narrative was the changing readership of the late 18th–early 19th century. In the mid-18th century, literature was confined to the aristocratic and highly educated class; with the rise of the middle class at the turn of the 19th century, which came with a growing number of provincial papers, the heightening in production of books in weekly instalments, and the establishment of circulating libraries, the need for literature was spread throughout the middle class.

Narrative poetry was not a generally accepted mode in Augustan literature, making the narrative form of Crabbe's mature works an innovation. This was due to some extent to the rise in popularity of the novel in the late 18th–early 19th century. Another innovation is the attention that Crabbe pays to details, both in description and characterization. Augustan critics had espoused the view that minute details should be avoided in favour of generality. Crabbe also broke with Augustan tradition by not dealing with exalted and aristocratic characters, but rather choosing people from middle and working-class society. Poor characters like Crabbe's often anthologized "Peter Grimes" from The Borough would have been completely unacceptable to Augustan critics. In this way, Crabbe created a new way of presenting life and society in poetry.

Criticism
Wordsworth predicted that Crabbe's poetry would last "from its combined merits as truth and poetry fully as long as anything that has been expressed in verse since it first made its appearance", though on another occasion, according to Henry Crabb Robinson, he "blamed Crabbe for his unpoetical mode of considering human nature and society." This latter opinion was also held by William Hazlitt, who complained that Crabbe's characters "remind one of anatomical preservations; or may be said to bear the same relation to actual life that a stuffed cat in a glass-case does to the real one purring on the hearth." Byron, besides what he said in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, declared, in 1816, that he considered Crabbe and Coleridge "the first of these times in point of power and genius." Byron had felt that English poetry had been steadily on the decline since the depreciation of Pope, and pointed to Crabbe as the last remaining hope of a degenerate age.

Other admirers included Jane Austen, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Sir Walter Scott, who used numerous quotes from Crabbe's poems in his novels. During Scott's final illness, Crabbe was the last writer he asked to have read to him. Lord Byron admired Crabbe's poetry, and called him "nature's sternest painter, yet the best". According to critic Frank Whitehead, "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued." His early poems, which were non-narrative essays in poetical form, gained him the approval of literary men like Samuel Johnson, followed by a period of 20 years in which he wrote much, destroying most of it, and published nothing. In 1807, he published his volume Poems which started off the new realistic narrative method that characterised his poetry for the rest of his career. Whitehead states that this narrative poetry, which occupies the bulk of Crabbe's output, should be at the centre of modern critical attention.

Q. D. Leavis said of Crabbe: "He is (or ought to be—for who reads him?) a living classic." His classic status was also supported by T. S. Eliot in an essay on the poetry of Samuel Johnson in which Eliot grouped Crabbe together favourably with Johnson, Pope and several other poets. Eliot said that "to have the virtues of good prose is the first and minimum requirement of good poetry." Critic Arthur Pollard believes that Crabbe definitely met this qualification. Critic William Caldwell Roscoe, answering William Hazlitt's question of why Crabbe had not in fact written prose rather than verse said "have you ever read Crabbe's prose? Look at his letters, especially the later ones, look at the correct but lifeless expression of his dedications and prefaces—then look at his verse, and you will see how much he has exceeded 'the minimum requirement of good poetry'." The critic F. L. Lucas summed up Crabbe's qualities: "naïve, yet shrewd; straightforward, yet sardonic; blunt, yet tender; quiet, yet passionate; realistic, yet romantic." Crabbe, who is seen as a complicated poet, has been and often still is dismissed as too narrow in his interests and in his way of responding to them in his poetry. "At the same time as the critic is making such judgments, he is all too often aware that Crabbe, nonetheless, defies classification", says Pollard.

Pollard has attempted to examine the negative views of Crabbe and the reasons for limited readership since his lifetime: "Why did Crabbe's 'realism' and his discovery of what in effect was the short story in verse fail to appeal to the fiction-dominated Victorian age? Or is it that somehow psychological analysis and poetry are uneasy bedfellows? But then why did Browning succeed and Crabbe descend to the doldrums or to the coteries of admiring enthusiasts? And why have we in this century [the 20th century] failed to get much nearer to him? Does this mean that each succeeding generation must struggle to find his characteristic and essential worth? FitzGerald was only one of many among those who would make 'cullings from' or 'readings in' Crabbe. The implications of such selection are clearly that, though much has vanished, much deserves to remain."

Entomology
Crabbe was known as a coleopterist and recorder of beetles, and is credited for discovering the first specimen of Calosoma sycophanta L. to be recorded from Suffolk. He published an essay on the Natural History of the Vale of Belvoir in John Nichols's, Bibliotheca Topographia Britannica, VIII, Antiquities in Leicestershire, 1790. It includes a very extensive list of local coleopterans, and references more than 70 species.

Adaptations
Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes is based on The Borough. Britten also set an extract from The Borough as the third of his Five Flower Songs, Op. 47. Charles Lamb's verse play The Wife's Trial; or, The Intruding Widow, written in 1827 and published the following year in Blackwood's Magazine, was based on Crabbe's tale "The Confidant".

title: George Crabbe


text:
Talk:Mongrel

Hybrid vigor
The phrase 'hybrid vigor' was linked to 'hybrid'; I changed it to the more accurate 'heterosis' and expanded that stub. I realize that although heterosis is the correct term, (Webster's Collegiate still refers 'hybrid vigor' to 'heterosis') hybrid vigor is probbly the more familiar one. I bolded 'hybrid vigor' in the stub; is this sufficient to have it show up in the search engines? Anyone have another idea?

 * You forgot to sign again, Quill. :-) You'll get used to it.  What you did is perfect so far; google *should* find that page (and the Mutt page) when you search for "hybrid vigor", although I tried it just now and it didn't seem to find the Mutt page, and it's had this text for quite a while. (There's definitely a delay of days to weeks.)  I'd be inclined to also create an article titled "hybrid vigor" and make it a redirect to heterosis. To make an article into redirect, in case you hadn't already figured it out, type

 * 1) REDIRECT desired article name
 * Elf | Talk 02:47, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)

 * um...um...okay, well, maybe I can figure it out. I'll give it a go in a couple of days--I'll be out in the country tomorrow, far from the nearest computer.  I think that's a good thing....  Quill 11:19, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC) (I signed it!!)

What the--?!
Is this what happens when an article gets nominated for 'feature article'? All kinds of unsubstantiated information gets thrown in? Interesting information gets tossed out?

This now needs a lot of help. Quill 00:13, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I was pretty blown away, too. I did a bunch of work and also some bandaging on things I didn't get to--e.g., changed "most pet experts" to "some pet experts" but in fact there are a whole lot of issues involved in whether someone gets a mixed breed or purebred and I don't particularly like this statement at all.  The whole dog sports thing got completely misconstrued somehow during someone's rewrite and I have my eye on that for later tonight.  I've been trying to update it to correct the info, replace some stuff that was good that vanished, and add more info that's useful (& correct) but I don't have a lot of time right now. Elf | Talk 00:56, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Understood. If I don't go out of town, I'll help as well--or when I get back.  Quill 01:37, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Heinz 57--Not just ketchup!
People have twice changed this article to say that the "57 varieties" slogan is about Heinz ketchup. It's not! (wasn't, actually, since I don't think they use it any more) And it was intended particularly to forestall people thinking that they had only one product, which seems to be what's going on here. In fact, which products it refers to isn't relevant to this article at all and I'd rather leave the text as "the slogan of the HJ Heinz company", which is accurate and relevant. But now I'll change it to "H. J. Heinz company's condiments and relishes," which makes it sound even LESS relevant but at least it's accurate. Argh. No, I'm not going to do it, I'm just going to remove ketchup again. Elf | Talk 01:35, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * No, I agree, just remove it. Will keep watching--ketchup out. Quill 01:48, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

After this has been modified yet again (latest removed "57"), I've linked it to a new disambig page and listed some external web sites and stuff like that. Maybe people will leave the company, the name, & the slogan alone--I am just overwhelmed with despair that so many people have never heard of the slogan! How could this be??? Elf | Talk 20:49, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I explained why I removed the "57" in my comment after it had been put back in. The joke goes as follows:

 * Moe: What kind of dog is that?
 * Joe: He's a Heinz.
 * Moe: I never heard of that breed.
 * Joe: 57 varieties.

 * All laugh. Maybe this should be a quotation.

 * And, the slogan is a reference to 57 varieties of pickle, not relish, not condiments, just pickles. Heinz used to give out little pickle pins with a 57 on them.  They had a lot of kinds of pickles and they thought "57" sounded like a good number, although the actual count varied.  I am overwhelmed with despair that no one seems to know this, you know.  Now I guess I have to go and fix the disambiguation page too.  Busy busy busy.  Ortolan88 00:24, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Oops, I was wrong, it was relishes and condiments as well as pickles. Never hurts to look things up, even late. But I did understand the reference, FWIW Ortolan88 00:48, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC) PS Hope I didn't leave a sour dill taste in your mouth and that you will relish my mistake.

 * Don't worry, it just takes some people a little longer to ketchup than others. OK, if you have a straight man,  you can run your routine as indicated above, but most people don't (including books & web sites), so they just use "Heinz 57" straight up.  Elf | Talk 22:58, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Feists
Yes, sometimes small mixed-breed dogs, but also a breed type, if I'm not mistaken. Quill 21:58, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Yes, see UKC Curs and Feists page. I've been pondering what to do about that and not feeling ambitious. Elf | Talk 22:17, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Well I never heard that, but it doesn't seem that Feists and Curs are breeds in the sense that, say, King Charles Spaniels or Bichon Frises are breeds. If I knew more about it, I might add to this article something like, "not all dog fanciers are obsessed with bloodlines.  Breeds of hunting dogs in the South virtually boast of their mixed heritage and go by such names as Treeing Feists and Black Mouth Curs", but as I say, I don't know anything about it.  The United Kennel Club looks pretty interesting too.  Ortolan88 00:24, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Request for references
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 18:57, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mongrel