The plague took the lives of million of Europeans from the 14th until the 17th century. In England, its destruction stayed mainly in the south of England concentrating around the poor quarters of London. But for one small village in England’s rural north, the plague would be devastating and historic. The case of the small village of Eyam in Derbyshire is famed throughout England and serves in the modern age of an example of the importance of self quarantine in the face of deadly disease.
During that time, the small village of Eyam with a population of approximately 700 people lost 260 of its inhabitants to the plague. The plague affected 76 different families and wiped out a few of them forever. Many households had only a single survivor who lived to tell the tale of those terrible months. 
Few educators in history have made such a profound effect on the shape of the future as John Locke. His practical, down to earth approach on education and his belief in the folly in the practice of divine kinship did much to shape the course of the Enlightenment period and the basis of modern European thought.
Locke was born in 1632 into an upper middle class family in England and studied medicine at Oxford. Early on Locke found himself disagreeing with professors who insisted on teaching the ancient Greek philosophers. He was more interested in newer theories and had a penchant for the works of Rene Descartes. Through his friendship with the mechanical philosopher Robert Boyle and the famed scientific rebel Isaac Newton, Locke found logic in the new theories floating around in the late 17th century.
Soon after graduating from college, Locke came under the employ of the Earl of Shaftsbury and assisted him in a number of non medical matters including the administration of his estate, various business matters and also acted as his political advisor. The earl enjoyed Locke’s unique (for the time) views on the freedom of religion, the unbelief in absolutism and the desire for a democratic governing body for the country.
In 1682, Locke’s anti royal sentiments resulted in his banishment to Holland. It was in exile that Locke penned his influential work “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” In 1688, the Glorious Revolution in which William of Orange overthrew the current English king, James II. This meant Locke could return to his homeland without fear of persecution or prosecution and so he did.
In 1690, Locke published his two treaties on government which were considered influential works in the revolutions of the 18th century, namely America and France. Locke argued that revolution against tyranny was acceptable to bring legitimate rule to a nation. He also explained his thoughts on education which involved learning from experience not just because we exist.
During the 1690s Locke worked for the new British government in a number of positions including commissioner of plantations and trade. He continued with his theoretical writings, publishing on religion, government, ethics and education.
Locke retired to the country to live with friends and passed away in 1704, long before many of his works would influence the birth of a democratic America and the overthrow of royal power in France. But without Locke’s suggesting divine kingship as wrong and the rights of the citizens as the main work of any government, those two revolutions may have taken very different forms. His work on education would underlie the public school system in Britain and his thoughts on theology helped others find their own path to religious freedom. Locke was one of many that created the bedrock for the Enlightenment period.
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The son of an English revolutionary, William Penn was a central figure in the early days of America and laid the basis for religious freedom in the country. Born October 14, 1644, Penn came to the New World in his 50s after a lifetime of public service and a comfortable domestic life.
Penn’s public life was full of conflict from challenges to his authority, laws and loyalties to his insurmountable debts. He spent a few years in prison because of his allegiance to King James II and because of his economic troubles. Penn didn’t move permanently to Pennsylvania until after the English revolution in 1699.
We have all been told to “sleep tight” at some point in our lives by a relative and we know they are telling us that they hope we get a good night’s sleep but where does that phrase come from? As with most phrases and sayings there are a couple of different ideas on the actual origin of the phrase and the less exciting one almost always is the most accurate. One of the most widely accepted origins is the days when a mattress was supported on the frame by a series of ropes tied across the frame similar to the hammock we are familiar with. This rope platform would support the mattress which was usually made of straw, pine needles, or reeds and the ropes supporting the bed would loosen and sag over time and they would have to be tightened in order to provide decent sleep. According to some, the ropes would be loosened in order to get rid of guests who had overstayed their welcome. Beds like this did exist which is not in dispute and there are some examples on display at various museums and historical houses. The phrase “sleep tight” referring to making sure the ropes were tight is an explanation often given by tour guides and is supposedly ‘common knowledge’ among historians.
The second explanation is that the phrase “sleep tight” is a holdover from the 18th and 19th centuries when tightly meant soundly, well, or properly according to the Oxford English Dictionary. So according to them the saying “sleep tight” is the equivalent of saying sleep well and does not refer to a specific type of bed at all. The phrase appears in the mid-19th century at a point when the rope style beds were not as common. This explanation is not as interesting or exciting which probably makes it correct since that is the way it seems to work with the phrases we know well but don’t really know where they came from. 
Bonnie Prince Charlie, or Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart, was the son of the executed English King, James Stuart. Charlie was brought up a Roman Catholic and was taught to believe that the Stuarts were the true ruling family of England and Scotland. From his birth the Prince was at the center of the Jacobite revolt and he was trained in the military arts so that he would be able to lead his own army to war and reclaim his rightful kingdom. 
Unfortunately at The Battle of Culloden on the 16th April 1746 the Jacobite army was defeated by William Aufustus, the Duke of Cumberland. Thousands of Jacobites were killed but the Prince managed to escape with a bounty of £30,000 or $1 million on his head. After the battle Charlie fled to the Island of Benbecula, where Flora MacDonald lived.
Flora gave her own account of what happened: “After Miss MacDonald (with some difficulty) agreed to undertake the dangerous enterprise, she set out for Clanranald’s house, Saturday, June 21st and at one of the fords was taken prisoner by a party of militia, she not having a passport. She demanded to whom they belonged? And finding by the answer that her stepfather was then commander, she refused to give any answer till she should see their captain. So she and her servant, (Neil MacKechan), and another woman, Bettie Burk, a good spinster, and whom he recommended as such in a letter to his wife at Armadale in Sky, as she had much lint to spin. If her stepfather (Hugh MacDonald of Armadale) had not granted Miss a passport she could not have undertook her journey and voyage. Armadale set his stepdaughter at liberty, who immediately made the best of her way to Clanranald’s house and acquainted the Lady Clanranald with the scheme, who supplied the Prince with apparel sufficient for his disguise, viz. a flower’d gown, a white apron, ect., and sent some provisions along with him.”
It is said that the during the journey the Prince sung Flora many songs including ‘The King shall enjoy his own again’
