Ulubrae was an ancient village about 50 kilometers (30 mi) from Rome, past the Three Taverns on the Appian Way, and at the start of the Pontine Marshes. It is known primarily for its use as a byword for a remote and empty location by Latin authors such as Cicero, Juvenal, and Horace. [1] [2] It could have been located, among the other proposed sites, in the territory of the current comune of Cisterna di Latina. [3] [4]
Its use in this proverbial fashion is also associated with the 18th-century Scottish Boswell family's country seat at Auchinleck. Alexander Boswell inscribed a line from Horace on Auchinleck House—"what thou seekest is here, it is in Ulubrae, unless equanimity is lacking"—and his son James Boswell referred to himself as the "Master of Ulubrae". [2]
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, was a British Indian Army commander who saw active service during the world wars. A career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, he rose to become commander-in-chief of the Indian Army by early 1941 during the Second World War. In July 1941 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Middle East Theatre, but after initial successes, the war in North Africa turned against the British-led forces under his command, and he was relieved of the post in August 1942 during the North African campaign.
Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, Life of Samuel Johnson, which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language. A great mass of Boswell's diaries, letters, and private papers were recovered from the 1920s to the 1950s, and their ongoing publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation.
Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, 8th Laird of Auchinleck was a Scottish judge who served in the supreme courts of Scotland. He was the father of the author and biographer James Boswell, and grandfather of songwriter Sir Alexander Boswell.
Cisterna di Latina is a town and comune in the province of Latina in Lazio, of central Italy. It was the scene of the Battle of Cisterna in January 1944.
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791) by James Boswell is a biography of English writer Samuel Johnson. The work was from the beginning a critical and popular success, and represents a landmark in the development of the modern genre of biography. It is notable for its extensive reports of Johnson's conversation. Many have called it the greatest biography written in English, but some modern critics object that the work cannot be considered a proper biography. Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject began in 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, and Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson's life, as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson's quotations and even censors many comments. Nonetheless, the book is valued as both an important source of information on Johnson and his times, as well as an important work of literature.
Auchinleck is a village 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Mauchline, and 2 miles (3 km) northwest of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Auchinleck House is an 18th-century mansion in Scotland. It is situated near the town of Auchinleck near Cumnock and Ayr in East Ayrshire. The Auchinleck Estate has been inhabited since the 13th century, and the remains of Auchinleck Castle and Auchinleck Old House stand in the estate. The house is protected as a category A listed building, while the two ruined dwellings are scheduled monuments.
The Battle Abbey Roll is a commemorative list, lost since at least the 16th century, of the companions of William the Conqueror, which had been erected or affixed as a memorial within Battle Abbey, Hastings, founded ex-voto by Duke William on the spot of the slaying of King Harold in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
The Auchinleck Manuscript, NLS Adv. MS 19.2.1, is an illuminated manuscript copied on parchment in the 14th century in London. The manuscript provides a glimpse of a time of political tension and social change in England. The English were continuing to reclaim their language and national identity, and to distance themselves from the Norman conquerors who had taken over the country after the Battle of Hastings 300 years before. It is currently in the collection of the National Library of Scotland.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) is a travel narrative by Samuel Johnson about an eighty-three-day journey through Scotland, in particular the islands of the Hebrides, in the late summer and autumn of 1773. The sixty-three-year-old Johnson was accompanied by his thirty-two-year-old friend of many years James Boswell, who was also keeping a record of the trip, published in 1785 as A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. The two narratives are often published as a single volume, which is beneficial for comparing two perspectives of the same events, although they are very different in approach---Johnson focused on Scotland, and Boswell focused on Johnson. In that biography, Boswell gave the itinerary of the trip as beginning at Edinburgh after landing at Berwick upon Tweed, then to St Andrews, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Fort Augustus. From there they went on to the islands of the Hebrides: Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Inch Kenneth, and Iona. Returning to the mainland in Argyll they visited Inverary, Loch Lomond, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Loudoun, Auchinleck in Ayrshire, and Hamilton, and then finished the journey by returning to Edinburgh. Boswell summarised the trip as, "[Johnson] thus saw the four Universities of Scotland, its three principal cities, and as much of the Highland and insular life as was sufficient for his philosophical contemplation."
Sir Alexander Boswell, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish poet, antiquary, and songwriter. The son of Samuel Johnson's friend and biographer James Boswell of Auchinleck, he used the funds from his inheritance to pay for a seat in Parliament and then successfully sought a baronetcy for his political support of the government. However, his finances subsequently collapsed and he was revealed as the author of violent attacks on a rival. Boswell died as a result of wounds received in a duel.
Trabboch is a hamlet in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Built as a miners village in the 1880s, it was owned and leased by Wm. Baird & Co., Ltd. and at one time had 94 dwellings. The miners rows stood, until demolition in 1969, on the Stair and Littlemill road, about two miles south of Stair, in that parish. The name is locally pronounced 'Traaboch'.
Clan Boswell is a Lowland Scottish clan and is recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. However the clan does not currently have a chief and is therefore considered an Armigerous clan.
Samuel Johnson was an English author born in Lichfield, Staffordshire. He was a sickly infant who early on began to exhibit the tics that would influence how people viewed him in his later years. From childhood he displayed great intelligence and an eagerness for learning, but his early years were dominated by his family's financial strain and his efforts to establish himself as a school teacher.
The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile and then the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was created to better control the growing Allied forces based in Egypt and to direct their efforts to lift the siege of Tobruk via Operation Crusader.
An Account of Corsica is the earliest piece of writing related to the Grand Tour literature that was written by the Scottish author James Boswell. Its first and second editions were published in 1768, with a third edition within twelve months. The full title given to the journal is An account of Corsica, the journal of a tour to that island and memoirs of Pascal Paoli.
Wallace's Cave in the Lugar Gorge at Auchinleck in the Parish of Auchinleck is an 18th-century grotto contemporary with Dr Johnson's Summerhouse, also located on the Auchinleck Estate. It shows superior workmanship in its construction, possibly being the enlargement of a pre-existing cave. The cave or grotto lies downstream of the confluence of the Dippol Burn with the River Lugar and is reached via a once well formed path, however access is now hazardous due to the condition of the cliff edge path and the vertical drop into the River Lugar.
Murdoch's Cave, is a relatively small artificial cave created by William Murdoch (1754-1839) and his siblings in the soft red sandstone Lugar river bank cliff just upstream of the old Bellow Mill close to the confluence of the Bellow or Bello Water and the Glenmuir Water in Lugar, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The spelling 'Bellow' is used for consistency.
Auchinleck Boswell Football Club was an association football club from Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland.