We are naturally displeas’d with an unknown critic, because we are bitten in the dark, and know not where to fasten our revenge.

John Dryden

The man’s voracious vanity devoured this implied tribute to his local and critical supremacy, with an appearance of the highest relish.

The Woman In White

Vocabulary: Recurring Herder Edition

jument: an ox, mule, or other beast of burden (from the Latin “jumentum”)
recrudescence: revival or reappearance after a period of dormancy
carle: a peasant or laborer (var. carl, from old Norse for karl, “man”)
quartan: something, usually a fever, recurring every fourth day
grazier: a rancher or farmer who grazes livestock on his land
ambage: an indirect method of expression or circumlocution
duenna: a chaperone or governess for a young lady
neatherd: a cow herder (like cowherd or shepherd)
exequy: a funereal ceremony or procession
rissole: a small, deep-fried, meat pastry
calid: warm (same root as calorie)
accoucheur: a male midwife

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White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun”
It’s Frightening

While for much of this album, the band attempts unsuccessfully to hit a sort of Spoon vibe, but the guy’s voice is just too overwrought. On this first track, though, they mostly nail it. The up-front drums are tight, and the guitar is very Hail To The Thief. (insound)

It appeared to me, on looking over the tradesmen’s books, as if we might have kept the basement story paved with butter, such was the extensive scale of our consumption of that article. I don’t know whether the Excise returns of the period may have exhibited any increase in the demand for pepper; but if our performances did not affect the market, I should say several families must have left off using it. And the most wonderful fact of all was, that we never had anything in the house.

David Copperfield

Jean-Pierre Blanchard crossing the English Channel in 1785