1-Person Bookclub

it/its Here to write about what I read (and sometimes what I watch)

[vampyrictomes]

List of Vampyric Review posts

I decided that it has reached the point where I should have a directory of links to the different posts I have made. If you notice a missing link, please let me know.

Formatting

This list will be formatted as follows: [title of thing being reviewed, italics or quote marks as appropriate] ([Volume or other specifier]) - [Author or Director] - ([chapter given by text]/[chapter number by count]* : [review number of] : #[review number]**).

*Not all will even have a chapter number in the first place, but the reason for having two separate numbers is because Varney the Vampire in particular has differences between the chapter number in the text and the actual chapter count, and that this error is widespread in copies of the story, or at least applies from what I can tell to the version I'm reading.

**Some may have ">>>" in place of the review number if I have committed myself to such a post but it is not ready.

The List

"Christabel" - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1 : #4) (2 : #5)

The Citizen of the World - Oliver Goldsmith

(I, II : 1 : #44) (III, IV : 2 : #46) (V : 3 : #49) (VI, VII : 4 : #50)

(VIII, IX, X : 5 : #52) (XI, XII : 6 : #53) (XIII : 7 : >>>)

"A Dream Within a Dream" - Edgar Allan Poe (#30)

"A Fragment" - Lord Byron (#1)

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary - Hiroshi Ikehata (#39)

Mobile Suit Gundam - Yoshiyuki Tomino (>>>)

"There Will Come Soft Rains" - Ray Bradbury (#33 not yet released)

"There Will Come Soft Rains" - Sara Teasdale (#33 not yet released)

The Vampyre - John William Polidori (#20)

Varney the Vampire (Vol. 1/3) - Thomas Peckett Prest &/or James Malcolm Rymer

(I/1 : 1 : #2) (II/2 : 2 : #3) (III/3 : 3 : #6) (IV/4 : 4 : #7)

(V/5 : 5 : #8) (VI/6 : 6 : #9) (VII/7 : 7 : #10) (VIII/8 : 8 : #11)

(IX/9 : 9 : #12) (X/10, XI/11 : 10 : #13) (XII/12 : 11 : #14) (XIII/13 : 12 : #15)

(XIV/14 : 13 : #16) (XV/15 : 14 : #17) (XVI/16, XVII/17 : 15 : #18) (XVIII/18 : 16 : #19)

(XIX/19 : 17 : #21) (XX/20 : 18 : #22) (XXI/21 : 19 : #24) (XXII/22 : 20 : #25)

(XXIII/23 : 21 : #26) (XXIV/24 : 22: #27) (XXV/25 : 23 : #28) (XXVI/26 : 24 : #31)

(XXVII/27 : 25 : #32) (XXVIII/28 : 26 : #34) (XXIX/29 : 27 : #36) (XXX/30 : 28 : #37)

(XXXI/31 : 29 : #38) (XXXII/32 : 30 : #40) (XXXIII/33 : 31 : #42) (XXXIV/34 : 32 : #43)

(XXXV/35 : 33 : #45) (XXXVI/36: 34 : #47) (XXXVII/37 : 35 : #48) (XXXVIII/38, XXXIX/39 : 36 : #51)

(XL/40 : 37 : >>>)

The Vicar of Wakefield - Oliver Goldsmith

(I, II : 1 : #23) (III, IV, V : 2 : #29) (VI-IX : 3 : #35) (X : 4 : #41)

(XI+ : 5 : >>>)

And hopefully many more to come...

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #54: Varney the Vampire (37)

Chapter XL/40. This is the last chapter where the Roman numerals are correct (unless there's a middle point where it is recorrected as it will need to be wrong the opposite direction by the end).

Reference is made that there are vampire equivalents everywhere, such as the ghoul of the [Middle] East or the sema of Scandinavia. A little googling did not bring up results for sema. This is all to say that there was something for the information about Varney to build on in the minds of the townsfolk.

Mr. Chillingworth is as able to stop the townsfolk's march as King Cnut could stop the tide, and so the people reach Varney's estate and take turns keeping the knocker in constant use until a servant answers the door. The servant says Varney has already been out for an hour, but is of course not believed, so the people force their way in to search. The servants recognize resistance would be futile so they just stay out of the way. As the search itself is futile, eventually the mob heads back to search the town. Partway along, though, a boy who had to tend sheep early in the morning informs the mob that he had seen that Varney was halfway between his house and the Bannerworths' earlier.

This is the second time I've seen a version of the word "risible" (the first being of course The Life of Brian) as that applies to the mob's motley appearance. The women in the mob were actually the more energetic. The mob came armed with "flails, scythes, sickles, bludgeons, &c.". The mob is not deterred by being told that the issue with Varney is a private affair; a vampire at all is a public affair after all. The mob proceeds to a search of the forest. All in all, Henry is conflicted; Varney is bad, yes, but a lynching isn't something he can just be alright with.

Varney was found in the forest, so he fled once more, losing his cloak and hat. The Admiral has Jack stop one of the first among the chasers, but the numbers are too great to make any sizeable dent in (especially when the prevention is more born out of a sense of obligation than actually caring about saving a person).

Several letters are tilted to the right. Also there's a picture of someone strangling another; because pictures get placed a few pages ahead of the related text.

Henry and the crew now must do what they can to save Varney due to being too decent of people to let mob justice rule in even this case where they definitely should.

Varney, seemingly, wasn't heading anywhere in particular aside from away. But, he was headed to Monk's Hall and after 20 minutes that became clear. In the ruins, the mob can't find him and eventually give up.

End Chapter XL/40.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #53: The Citizen of the World (6)

Letter XI. Same address as before: Lien Chi Altangi (London) -> Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing).

An argument for luxury. First, that while there are many more vices with luxury, like fraud, rather than fewer more-severe vices, like violence. Then, that luxury increases virtue; after all, philosophers &c. appear more often in affluent societies. Third, luxury uniting a nation (in a kind of globalism-lite sort of way) wherein someone who has many luxuries can only have so much through a web of connections to thousands who work on it and thus will be more in tune with their fellow men than one who has no such connections. While not entirely unreasonable, the support for this does feel a bit weak overall.

There is a footnote discussing a conversation between Goldsmith & some others in 1775 (13+ years after this was written), in which Goldsmith said that their "race" was degenerated due to luxury. Another, Johnson, says first that he doesn't think the English are getting shorter, before then saying that the bulk of England, the poor, don't actually receive such luxury and would in fact be improved by some more. He challenges Goldsmith to come up with a (non-gin) shop that does ill, and Goldsmith brings up the pickle-shop. The final bit of response is "Besides, Sir, there is no harm done to any body by the making of pickles, or the eating of pickles." I'm really not sure what to make of this. I'm guessing LCA's philosophy is somewhat intentionally sounding like it would be easy to argue against, or maybe Goldsmith just had a pickle addiction that was slowly ruining his life and thought that all the poor people who were also eating pickles were also addicted. Either that or LCA's letter is more in line with Goldsmith's views and the pickle shop being brought up was Goldsmith doing a bit acting like a snooty upper-class person who (opposite to the "let them eat cake" portrayal) says things like "Pickles are ruining the morals of the peasantry" and "More than a tablespoon of butter each day will rot the brain of an unsophisticated mind". I don't know man.

Letter XII. Same address as before.

The English claim not to fear death, but what they do around the sick are signs that they are quite afraid.

For comparison, the Chinese practice is to spend much of their life preparing their tomb, such as an artisan spending half his income for 20 years on it. I am not prepared to do the research required to verify or disprove this claim, but I expect this is at minimum exaggerated.

The English method is described as trying to get a dying person through preparing a will and going through last rites and all the other things to be done before death, while at the same time refusing to tell the dying that that is what is happening. All is made dark and solemn in the house, making a more dreary and terrifying location than if death were more-openly accepted. This is contrasted against the willingness to march to one's own death, whether as a soldier or even by suicide; I suppose the important thing being ignored is that going out on one's own terms is probably a comfort to most.

In terms of reputation of the dead, lying in state is mentioned as something which, while possibly meant to honor oneself after death can equally turn someone of ill fame but relative obscurity into a display of infamy.

Epitaphs meanwhile are pretty much just nice words with no real correlation to the person they are meant to correspond to, whether written by someone who survives them or by the formerly alive themself. "If only people would draw up the epitaph they want and then use their life to actually deserve it."

"I intend to visit Westminster Abbey, that place should really have only the best of dead people there."

End Letter XII.

[buttpoems]

[melgillman]

Here’s the new 24 hour comic I drew this year!  This one is called THE KING’S FOREST.  cw: blood, violence

[rayj4ck]

How the fuck did you make that last panel say so many things without using any words at all that’s so fucking cool.

[hymnism]

making a collection

[putridghost]

Wait I have more

[acemingo]

[senjo]

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #52: The Citizen of the World (5)

Letter VIII. Same address as before: Lien Chi Altangi (London) -> Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing).

"It would probably be unbearable to be staying over here in Europe if I couldn't write to you." And yet knowing your family was arrested is bearable!? "I'm getting used to these people. Their women are tolerable; their blue eyes and white teeth aren't that ugly, but they're a lot more engaging. Why, more women call out to me in one night than would over a year in Beijing. They're so kind, even offering wine, and one who visited my apartment noticed my watch was broken offered to take it to be fixed for no expense. I'll have to thank her so much in a few days when she returns it."

Letter IX. Same adress.

"I have been deceived!" (that's the actual first sentence)

This bit talks about how the English have in law that they may only have one life, but that those with the means & want easily do take more. LCA describes the condition in China as allowing 2 wives but having less liberties being taken in that regard than happens in England; I don't know the historical accuracy of this condition of China, but the point being made is about English hypocrisy of creating a law just to ignore it anyways. He also talks about the men who seem to dress up and then spend the day fawning over whichever lady he has the opportunity to.

Letter X. Same adress.

The first leg of the journey, Beijng to Moscow. Past the Great Wall were ruins and desolation, the result of some Prince doing war with China and having his nation plundered and his people made captive.

The next region passed through is the nation of Daures with their city of Xaizigar. While googling the latter brings up Kashgar, which seems likely (especially with its connection to the Silk Road), while Daures probably refers to the Daur people, though they would likely not be the primary demographic in that region, though it's not impossible there would be at least some there. The situation there is corrupt officials come from Beijing, and the Daures are too used to submission to feel any reason to object. He then insults the religion and customs of the Daures; on the religion side for worshipping a god due to fear thereof, and on the custom side for offering food to corpses (the latter I would imagine to arise from a reasonable response to the difficulty in checking whether people are actually alive or dead).

"It's a good thing us philosophers are around to guide people away from worshipping wicked gods, ey?" Though as this talks about worship due to fear vs worship out of gratitude, with the former not carrying the worth of the latter, there's definitely commentary about Christianity that could be read from that, what with different denominations having different levels of "Do this and don't do that or you'll burn in Hell!" vs "It's possible to go to Heaven if you follow the teachings of Jesus."

End Letter X.

[count-fungula]

getting more laughs out of this book than i anticipated

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #51: Varney the Vampire (36)

Missed another day on this one. Hopefully I can at least keep up avoiding missing both dailies (aside from due to stuff like travel).

Chapter XXXVIII.

The arrangement of the duel, namely Varney, Chillingworth, & Pringle trying to arrange the pair of duels. Because of Varney's lack of second, Chillingworth refuses to go ahead with arranging Henry's duel, but Pringle has the idea to offer the Admiral to be Varney's second. The duel between Henry & Varney will be tomorrow, 7 o'clock.

After leaving Varney's, they run into Marchdale, who has left Bannerworth Hall but still cares too much to leave the neighborhood as a whole. Marchdale suggests his swapping in as Henry's second and having Chillingworth attend as a surgeon, as being a second could cause much more issue for Chillingworth. In a meeting between these three and the two challengers, news is shared and these arrangements are taken. They agree to keep this all secret (How?! There are already more people in the know than not).

The morning of. Amongst the other thoughts is explicit mention that the duel is not a legal affair, but going to the authorities to gain legal backing in refusal would result in massive reputational damage, so amongst other reasons it is unlikely for Varney to avoid the duel. The weather would appear to be the stereotypical gray clouds England is known for. Despite not having a direct connection to this duel, Jack Pringle still attends, masticating a quid, in hope that there will be some cause for him to join a fight.

Jack spots Varney "three or four pints to the sou-west." I have no clue what distance that translates to, what with pint normally being a measure of volume.

Varney is looking not good. Thinner than before, cadaverous, white lips, pink circles around his eyes. When his gaze moves to the Admiral, he gives a horrible smile that Jack says is like one the admiral gave after being grazed by a bullet one time. After that smile, Varney would be motionless but for an intermittent clapping of his teeth.

Now Varney takes his second aside to give the instructions for what to do if he is shot, which I expect will involve placing his body under the moonlight, and which the Admiral will thus be obligated to do.

Chapter XXXIX. If Roman numerals acted like I used to think they did (if there's subtraction, combine all of the subtraction and put it at the front), then it would be Chapter XIL. It was so long before I learned that Roman numerals do keep the different orders of magnitude in order.

Varney's instructions are indeed to place his body, should he die, before the moonlight, facing up. Reviewing Chapter XXIV, Charles was to meet Varney by the pollard tree by a pond, whereas Varney wants to be placed under an oriental looking fir tree atop a hill, so these would seem unrelated locations.

Interestingly, the Admiral refuses, citing that he is only there to ensure that anything up to death is done properly, not anything after. Varney does however remark that he'll "take care of [him]self in another way."

As the set-up is completed and they each stand in place, Henry is not cowardly but nonetheless feeling the sensations that such a proximity to death would produce while Varney seems "more amused than personally interested."

The 'count-down' is "Once!...Twice!...Thrice!...Fire!"

Henry fires. The Vampire very slowly, very leisurely, raises his gun, eventually straight up in response to this and fires. He declares that mortal weapons will not hurt him. He takes from his neckerchief a bullet which he says is the one Henry shot, and offers to let Henry shoot again the same bullet. It does at least have signs of being fired and does fit Henry's gun. However, the forged letters make me still inclined to believe Henry may have just missed (old-timey inaccurate pistols and all that) and Varney had this prepared only for if he was lucky enough as to not be hit. He has, after all, been established as being injured by bullets before (else they would not have made him flee), set up preparations for if he were to be 'killed', and has previously been shown pretending he had supernatural powers (taking credit for causing Flora's sleepwalking when that happened on its own); thus, this feels like a rather well-founded theory. The main weakness would be that he claims willingness to be shot at again, but as he specifies that Henry would have to 'refire the same bullet' that now he supplies to Henry, perhaps the bullet is sabotaged (my guess is misshapen to maximize chances of the bullet going off course, as that would be a method that allows for keeping the correct material and thus not seem immediately off by weight or appearance).

Aside from Henry, who insists on receiving Varney's shot, the rest are opposed to a refire. But, there is a crowd of armed and shouting men and women approaching. Chillingworth appears to be among them, trying to prevent them even. As they approach, shouts of "Down with the vampyre!" become discernible. This would seem to be a straight-up pitchfork & torch wielding mob here to attack the monster. Varney flees.

It would seem to be that Mr. Chillingworth told Mrs. Chillingworth what has happened in secrecy, and then she told 16 other ladies in secrecy. And so in the 24 hours the whole town has become privy to what was told in secret. The morning of the duel, the mob went to wake up Chillingworth and then head on Varney's; Chillingworth's protests were ignored and the actual authorities had too few people to stop the mob so they didn't even try.

We end with the author saying "Btw, most women are quite good at holding secrets they have been confided in with, Mrs. Chillingworth just happens to be one of the few women who have a poor mastery of that skill."

End Chapter XXXIX.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #50: The Citizen of the World (4)

Wow, already at number 50 of these reviews, and despite the odds it's not on Varney. Maybe I'll actually have something to say about milestones at 100.

Letter VI. Same address as before: Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing) -> through Moscow ->Lien Chi Altangi (London).

"Hey dude, when will you come home. I know that what you learn about those European savages isn't as pleasant as being back here, even though I know you'll say it is. Anyways, because you left the Emperor arrested all of your family—except your son, who's hiding at my place. He's probably going to sneak off to try to follow you. XOXO, stay safe."

Letter VII. I can't just leave it off there. Lien Chi Altangi (London) -> Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing).

The Editor (I believe the actual author, Goldsmith, not the actual editor thereafter) states that this letter is mostly just Confucius quotes.

"That does sound pretty bad. Confucius says to make something good out of even the bad things though, and I've learned so little here yet. I didn't cross half the world out of mere curiosity, but to improve myself and others. For example, I've learned how to not despair at misfortunes like nearly my entire family being arrested. Bye."

End Letter VII.

Wow, LCA is an ass. Fum Hoam is a real one though.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #49: The Citizen of the World (3)

Letter V. Same address as before: Lien Chi Altangi (London) -> Fipsihi (Moscow) -> Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing).

The daily routine of an Englishman is to go through the day learning news of politics, and to the next day discover that the last day's news holds as much truth as a mirage does liquid water. While China already holds that Europe has commercial interest in things that would be considered useless in China, this shows a commercial use to even lies between the European countries; this is both as exiting stories to sell and as international propaganda networks.

The idiom mentioned, "an [sic] European suffers not even his spittle to be lost", is one of the various bits I would want to see a citation for. The overall feeling I expect is true, but also mutual, whereas I can't help but expect that China would not be that different in terms of 'the selling of lies', although differing prevalences of newspapers (particularly private newspapers) would be believable as a reason for less monetization of lies.

Was European pronounced differently back then for "an European" to be written, or is that just a typo.

Of the traits which LCA ties to the nations that sell these lies to the newspapers—the traits that allow the recognition of which nation each story originated—there are a few that stick out: the cruelty of Portugal, and the absurdity of Ireland. The former because I don't have the historical knowledge to know whether it would make sense for Portugal to be singled out on that, and the latter because absurdity is the strangest trait (in my opinion, though I definitely can see arguments for others) of those shown to be placed on a nation here.

A section of newspaper is placed into this letter here. In it there is a reference to "father Fudgi", who has a footnote ascribing his name to be the origin of the exclamation "Fudge" of Mr. Burchell in The Vicar of Wakefield. In the Spain section there are uses of the words nosegay (synonym to posy, like in ring around the rosie) and prompter (seemingly as a precursor to the modern teleprompter). We see that the cause for cruelty to be associated with Portugal is due to the burning of heretics, Jews, and witches at the stake; thanks to reference to the aftermath of an assassination attempt on the King of Portugal, the temporal setting of LCA's visit to England must certainly be no earlier than September 1758. Vienna claims victory against a superior Prussian army; Berlin claims the same but with a bit more detail against an Austrian army. The elderly French king gets a new mistress every night. The English have a hiring advert for someone literate who has had smallpox. Dublin has horseracing and more details on Berlin's claims. Scottland, meanwhile, is just saying "That criminal wasn't a Scotchman, it was an Irishman." which may be the funniest of all of these.

End Letter V.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #48: Varney the Vampire (35)

Chapter XXXVII.

This one has a much better initial, a mast with a furled sail to form the letter T.

While all the family but Flora disapproved of how the Admiral treated Marchdale (in the last chapter he even threw an inkwell, hitting Marchdale's chin, in response to Marchdale's voicing his views on the likelyhood that Charles chose to leave), the Admiral is still by far the more preferred one to still have with them. His singlemindedness towards what is right has very much won over the family.

Flora is then informed that George (well that's not the right name, it's supposed to be Charles) Holland was to soon duel Varney had he not been disappeared. Henry promises Flora that if Charles really was killed, he will make sure such an act "will not save [Varney]". Again, this really seems like fertile ground for the beginning of a revenge quest once things are slightly more certain.

Henry heads to Varney's again, as soon as the conference was over, and Varney receives him. Henry accuses Varney of Holland's murder; Varney denies. Henry challenges Varney to a duel; Varney accepts; Henry refuses the offer of refreshments (this keeps happening, and is going from feeling like characterization and showing that characters aren't in the mood for it, to now feeling much like a Chekov's gun). Henry will send Chillingworth in the morning to work out details.

But of course, the Admiral also has similar intentions as Henry. It goes much the same, though the Admiral is more energetic in his accusations. The offer of refreshments isn't made this time. Jack Pringle will handle the preliminaries for Bell much like Chillingworth is for Henry.

Each of the soon-to-be-duelists of Bannerworth Hall each had a talk with their respective second the following morning, followed soon after by the second heading to Varneys. Though not elaborated on, it is mentioned that Bell had a dream involving a mermaid.

And we end the chapter with Jack Pringle being shown into the room that Chillingworth has just arrived in.

End Chapter XXXVII.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #47: Varney the Vampire (34)

Chapter XXXVI.

Ok, they gave up on this initial, they just stuck a cursive capital i (damn you to the fiery blazes of Hell, sans serif fonts which do not acknowledge that the bars on the top and bottom of capital i are integral to the recognition of that letter as itself; it's manageable in context, but if I'm talking about per se I, and not talking about myself, then per se I and per se l are practically indistinguishable, but could theoretically each have their own reason for being mentioned) in the middle of the image over the window.

The actual contents of this chapter begin with the point that though the Bannerworths had managed to get by well enough in better fortune, recent events have compounded on those issues they had before. What was the budget to have a few servants is not enough to get people to be willing to work on such an accursed estate. It doesn't help that the pride of independence the Bannerworths hold is still too much to simply accept aid from Bell, directly at least. Chillingworth, meanwhile, is no help for advice; he hasn't even been present for most of these events, so he really can't claim authority on knowledge of what to do about it.

Evening. The family, Marchdale, Chillingworth, Bell, and Pringle are having a meeting. Flora tells the rest about the conversation with Varney, and is generally pro leaving the mansion. Henry isn't immediately ready to just let Varney not get a comeuppance, though Marchdale reminds him that sometimes the kinda sucky option of running away is the correct choice if staying is untenable.

When things move to asking Flora more definitively the course, she says that she will discover the fate of Charles Holland, and then leave.

Marchdale (ever Charlie's biggest hater) airs his opinion that Charles really did write the letters and leave on his own. He also intends to leave; he's said it many times before, but this time seems to be for real and he won't be convinced to stay; some will try, but Flora will silence them. Marchdale leaves.

The Admiral also states his intention to leave, but Flora requests he stay. Alright, says the Admiral, but under one condition: The Admiral leases the Hall, paying for a few years in advance, with the Bannerworths staying as his guests.

End Chapter XXXVI.

[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #46: The Citizen of the World (2)

Missing the second day of a daily series is probably the worst day to miss, just at it's the most immediate "You were lying about it being daily" sort of thing.

Letter III.

This is likewise to Letter II being sent by our philosopher, Lien Chi Altangi. Rather than its final destination being Amsterdam, this is being sent to Fipsihi in Moscow to be forwarded to Fum Hoam, the "first president of the Ceremonial Academy at Pekin in China". These names don't generally look like what my impression of transliterated Chinese names is, but whether that's my own lack of familiarity, Goldsmith making up fake Chinese names, a difference in transliteration (this is, after all, old enough that it has "Pekin", presumably an earlier translation than even "Peking", let alone "Beijing"—this is much like "Nankin" in letter I which would more recently be "Nanking" and now "Nanjing"), or even something to do with different regions of China/dialects of Chinese having greater or lesser relative cultural export between then and now, I do not know.

This begins with a paragraph talking about having not forgotten the one he writes to, the pain of separation that this journey brings about, &c..

Once that is complete, he can begin on actually describing London, but he recognizes that he still has only seen the surface and even the unremarkable sights are still full of novelty. He has stared at strangers, and they at him, which is an arrangement he has already gotten used to earlier in his travels. At the beginning of his travels, he saw deviations from Chinese culture as like deviations from nature, but another thing he learned on his travels is to recognize (at least some of) the prejudices that were present in his idea of normal.

His only impression of the English so far is that they strive to improve their appearances beyond what they are born with, and striving to improve oneself and become better than others is hardly foreign to him. The main difference is the lengths the English go to to improve said appearances. One such facet for gentlemen is to employ the services of a barber, as the English seem to find that wisdom is stored in the facial hair and beauty is stored in the low ponytail, powder, and lard. The women are similar (albeit minus the beard of +2 wisdom). In LCA's opinion, the women are "horridly ugly" and so he much prefers the ladies of his homecity of Nanfew, which I do not hope to find a modern equivalent with any certainty.

Among the things would consider good-looking/fashionable in his homecity, there are the traits of broad faces, short noses, little eyes, thin lips, black teeth, fair skin, and small eyebrows. Unless his homeprovince of Honan actually corresponds to Hunan instead of Henan (which isn't impossible, but I'm inclined to believe it is Henan) then that is likely a case of taking something that would be most prevalent in Southern China (and in Southeast Asia) and assuming it applies to all of China. There is also the issue of foot-binding; LCA is not a fan of woman having feet as long as 10 inches, nor does he care for the fact that these "masculine feet" are pretty good for walking. I expect the mention of foot-binding in particular serves the purpose of reminding the reader that each culture may be disgusted by aspects quite engrained in another, and that this goes both ways. That said, for readers who are of England, the familiarity and approval of English fashion being placed against foot-binding would likely be read primarily as "Wow, this Chinese guy is a savage, and yet he thinks we're the weird ones."; on the other hand, I don't think foot-binding itself gets mentioned, so with that being left as implication the average reader might just assume that Chinese women have smaller feet without making the connection to foot-binding and the initial message does still get through.

Make-up is also mentioned, and the English are thus compared to "the Tartars of Koreki" for the coloring of faces. LCA has heard that ladies have functionally two faces, one for among family and one for among public; he does not have the ability to verify this as of this letter. He has however noticed that ladies appear to wear more indoors than outdoors (even so far as for one to "appear half naked in the streets").

Letter IV.

Same address as last.

"An Englishman fears contempt more than death;" English pride is described as both national vice & national virtue. On the virtue side of things is that every man sees it as their own duty to be a sentinel of liberty against tyranny. This bit does act as a bit of a reminder that this was written when the 13 colonies were still the 13 Colonies, and thus the ideals that would soon encourage revolution were the same ideals as those in the center of the British Empire. But that's still ahead, what is known about already is the 7 Years' War.

LCA mentions eavesdropping on a conversation between an imprisoned debtor, a resting porter, and a soldier. The topic is the war with France. The prisoner fears that the French, a nation of slaves, will, if they succeed in conquest of England, remove English liberty; the porter says the French are fit only to do carry burdens; the soldier says that if the French come over the true loss would be of their religion. The hypocrisy of the statements (the first two at least; whether the soldier's statement is written assuming soldiers are less religious or that preparedness to kill as a soldier is what disqualifies him from actually being religious both seem like reasonable options to me) is not remarked on; rather, that random people (sometimes even women) have thoughts on the direction the government should take. What is pointed out is that the newspapers, rather than being used as (potentially benevolent) propaganda to influence the people, instead are coffee-house conversations (itself already a ways along a game of telephone potentially originating at a joke) put to print that convince the people to give their hand at influencing the government.

English are described as aiming more for esteem than friendship; conversations a bit more intellectual, a bit less vivacious, however. But hey, at least the English are polite, particularly being more of the sort to help but downplay it (as opposed to helping but emphasizing the obligation owed in return that LCA encountered elsewhere in Europe); once again, I'm reminded of America & England sharing a common cultural heritage, particularly with my recently seeing something with a bunch of anecdotes about Bostonians being helpful but calling the people they're helping an idiot at the same time to remove any obligations of repayment (although the post itself blamed/gave credit to the Irish and Italians for this result) while LCA says "The English confer their kindness with an appearance of indifference, and give away benefits with an air as if they despised them.", and Boston is in New England after all.

To support this, LCA gives an anecdote of walking with an Englishman & a Frenchman when rain started pouring & he was the only one without a coat. First the Englishman says (paraphasing) "Take my coat I don't even like it." followed by the Frenchman "You can use my coat, but only because you're my friend." So the English are tsunderes, huh?

End Letter IV.

[snakeassassins]

JJBA Theory: Jotaro Doesn’t Actually Know Anything About Poker

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[vampyrictomes]

Vampyric Review #45: Varney the Vampire (33)

Chapter XXXV.

A very notable initial for this chapter, a hand holding up a note, the only discernible text thereupon being £1,000 (the same amount as Varney passed to the necromancer). The note forms the horizontal section of a T, and the arm the vertical.

Henry stood with his sword, blocking the door, but Varney had fled already in the end of the last chapter, breaking through the rotten wood that formed the back wall. Despite Flora's attempt to speak to Henry, he shakes her off and gives pursuit. With his exit is Marchdale & George's arrival. They follow Henry to the vantage point Henry took to (futilely) search for Varney.

The Admiral, madman of the sea that he is, at least knows some enemy is about, and attacks in the one way he knows how: a broadside. A broadside? A broadside from his room!? What do you mean he lined up several loaded pistols at his window so he could use a match to fire a volley! Good for him, I suppose.

As it is daylight, Henry proposes an active search for Varney now. The plan is to split up and search on three different ways to get to a spring that is known by all of the three.

Going back to the night, we get the answers as to why Flora was not caught sleepwalking and then was found with Varney. The precautions had shifted down to occasionally having one of the brothers come knock on the door to check up on her. Henry had been having trouble sleeping anyways, so he went up to check on her. Her door was open and she wasn't there, so he woke George & Marchdale, armed himself, and (without waiting for them) headed out and began searching the garden.

Back to the present: Flora promised George to return to the house, but needed a moment to recuperate. Varney appears; it would seem that instead of running to the woods, he just went around the side of the building so after the three searching for him left he appeared once more to Flora.

He has no more to say to her but that she still has a question for him. She does, of Charles Holland. Varney promises that once the Bannerworths have fled, he will return to them made no less honourable than they believe him to be. He makes his exit. Flora is relieved by this news.

Henry (speaking with George & Marchdale after the end of the search) is saying some real revenge quest type statements, like "He or I must fall." Marchdale hopes it won't come to that, but the only real progress on convincing Henry of anything is that they should let Flora choose the course.

End Chapter XXXV.