1. Life and literary activity of Charles Kingsley. Historical fiction genre in Literature

Other Notes

The edition we have spells Sir Walter Raleigh's name as Ralegh. Since Raleigh is the more usual spelling, and it is used in other editions, that's what I will use in these notes.
Note on the title "Don": Students unfamiliar with Spanish may wonder why so many characters have the same first name! "Don" is a title of nobility and respect, used in front of a man's first name.
I have not included ship's vocabulary in the words to look up. Some readers already know what a mizzen-mast is, some want to know, and some don't care. For those that do, I can suggest this webpage.
I have also not taken much notice of the vocabulary for flora and fauna, particularly the South American trees and animals. Some will be self-explanatory, like parrot-fish. Others you may be curious enough to look up.

Chapter 1. How Mr. Oxenham Saw the White Bird

Words to look up: Armada, quay, sack (the drink), rapier, tester (also called a testoon), suit (as in "help him with his suit"), "Tower Hill." "Jack" is a nickname for "John."
Copywork:
"God grant you become a braver man than he! for, as I think, to be bold against the enemy is common to the brutes; but the prerogative of a man is to be bold against himself."
"How, sir?"
"To conquer our own fancies, Amyas, and our own lusts, and our ambition, in the sacred name of duty; this it is to be truly brave, and truly strong; for he who cannot rule himself, how can he rule his crew or his fortunes?"
Narration and Discussion: Kingsley describes a painting of Sir Richard Grenville. Like a police artist, try to reconstruct the "suspect" from his description. Then look up the Wikipedia page for Grenville, where the painting is shown. How did you do?
Mr. Leigh (father of Amyas) refers to his oldest son and calls him Joseph. His son's name is actually Francis or Frank--what does his father mean by calling Frank Joseph and Amyas Benjamin?

Chapter 2. How Amyas Came Home the First Time

Before you read: This chapter jumps ahead five years, to 1580, and a great deal has happened in that time.
In the description of the Leigh family, the people first described are the parents of Mrs. Leigh, so the grandparents of Amyas. Anne Askew was a real person who was horribly tortured and burned for her Protestant faith. The mother of Mrs. Leigh, a Protestant who had married a Catholic, eventually had to "hide for her life" as well, and this had a lifelong impact on their daughter.
Words to look up: jocund, ordnance, burghers, rector, pedagogue, murrain, ochidore, profligacy. "Gloriana" refers to Queen Elizabeth. "Per diem" is Latin for "per day." "Is this hedgebantling to be fathered on you, Mr. Frank?" means, Are you responsible for this awful drivel? "Swan of Avon" refers to Shakespeare. Euphuism means affected (artificial) elegance, particularly in literary style; references to "euphuists" will come up several times in this book.
Copywork: He was one of those men, moreover, who possess almost every gift except the gift of the power to use them; and though a scholar, a courtier, and a soldier, he had found himself, when he was past forty, without settled employment or aim in life, by reason of a certain shyness, pride, or delicate honor (call it which you will), which had always kept him from playing a winning game in that very world after whose prizes he hankered to the last, and on which he revenged himself by continual grumbling. At last, by his good luck, he met with a fair young Miss Foljambe, of Derbyshire, then about Queen Elizabeth's Court . . . [and] they got leave to vanish from the little Babylon at Whitehall, and settle in peace at Burrough. In her he found a treasure, and he knew what he had found.
Narration and Discussion: Why is it such a big day in Bideford? As the flashback begins: what brought Frank home suddenly? Where did Sir Richard send him before he had been home six months? How was it that Amyas did finally get to go to sea?
Draw a picture of Frank as he is described at the celebration pageant.