Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

It is unlikely that the groom will turn into Groomzilla, so obsessed by wedding details that he drives even the bride crazy. But it does happen.

Cilley, his old college mate, was just elected to Congress from Maine, Pierce was just elected Senator from New Hampshire, and Longfellow had found the ways of literature as smooth as the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire.

The doat on Dowdyes, and Deformity: E'en what they cannot praise, they will not blame, But veil with some extenuating name: The Sallow Skin is for the Swarthy put, And love can make a Slattern of a Slut …