In the mid-nineteenth century Joseph Lowe, dancing master of Edinburgh, taught at Queen Victoria's Court, in autumn at Balmoral and Christmas time at Windsor. The Journal is an account of these visits - of Queen Victoria practicing her Scotch steps for the Reel, of Princess Alice who danced a fetching Spanish solo, of Prince Alfred who was talented on the violin, of the Princess who turned her foot inwards while dancing, of the spirited Lady-in-Waiting who begged for extra lessons, of the children's chest expander exercises, and of how many trout Mr. Lowe caught when he took the Prince of Wales fishing. Concerts are held, balls last far into the night; the musical and dance life of the court is glimpsed through a myriad of Lowe's comments (always discreet), and a cheerful family life is portrayed. After the Prince Consort's untimely death, Mr. Lowe no longer attends the court. Archives at Windsor Castle reveal that two of his daughters continued to teach there for a decade but no journal of the period has been traced to the family collection which contains the original Lowe manuscript.

Compiled by Mara Shea, a Scottish dance fiddler with a classical violin background, this book will appeal to the classically-trained violinist or musician, intermediate to advanced, who would like to learn something about the type of music unique to Scotland-the strathspey. It will also appeal to Scottish dance musicians who would like to know a little about the history of some of the tunes and their composers. Each of the strathspeys is recorded by Mara Shea and accessible online for listening. Chords are provided by Julie Gorka. Sketches and illustrations are by Lisa McDonald.

Pointed Encounters establishes the literary significance of representations of dance in poetry, song, dance manuals, and fiction written between 1750 and 1830. Presenting original readings of canonical texts and fresh readings of neglected but significant literary works, this book traces the complicated role of social dancing in Scottish culture and identifies the hitherto unexplored motif of dance as an outwardly conforming, yet covertly subversive, expression of Scottish identity during the period. The volume draws upon diverse yet mutually revealing texts, from traditional dance and music to Sir Walter Scott and contemporary Scottish women novelists, to offer students and scholars of Scottish and English literature a fresh insight into the socio-cultural context of the British state after 1746.

Day after day, year after year, the lightbulb did not burn out. Here is the true story of a little lightbulb, located in a firehouse, that has stayed lit for more than one hundred years. As horse-drawn carriages make room for automobiles, dirt roads give way to paved streets, and new buildings transform small clusters of homes into bustling neighborhoods, a small town grows and changes. And fighting fires changes, too: fires once fought by bucket brigades and hand-pulled hose carts are now attended by full-time firefighters and modern firetrucks. Yet now, just like then, the lightbulb glows, strong and steady, above the brave firefighters and their trucks.