Note 1: (Northampton)

Northampton is in central England (East Midlands), and is one of the largest market towns in the country. It is located approximately sixty miles, or one hundred kilometers, north north-west of London. Here's a link to the Northamptonshire page on BritWeb: Northamptonshire.

Also, here is a map of Britain from Encylopeadia Britannica which will show you exactly where the city is. (It is a big file, about 250KB): Map of Britain.

Note 2: (as your uncle will frank it, it will cost William nothing)

It was customary for the recipient of a letter to pay the postage, thus William would be required to pay for the letter. The cost was based on the number of pages the letter contained.

The practice of franking letters can still be seen in the United States when national politicians send out mailings. As long as the letter is for official business, a senator or congressman can place their signature where the stamp should be, and the post office will mail it.

Note 3: (penknife)

This was in the age before the modern pen, and quills would have been used. A knife would be needed to make and sharpen the pen. In Pride and Prejudice Caroline Bingley makes a big deal about wanting to mend Darcy's pen for him.

Note 4: (orthography)

According to the American Heritage dictionary, "orthography" is: The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.

Note 5: (principal rivers in Russia)

In case your knowledge of Russian geography isn't up to the standards of the Miss Bertrams, here is an excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (for more, click here: Russian mountains and rivers.):

Rivers of Russia

The vast lowland plains that dominate the Russian landscape carry some of the world's longest rivers. Five main drainage basins may be distinguished: the Arctic, Pacific, Baltic, Black Sea, and Caspian. Of these by far the most extensive is the Arctic basin, which lies mostly in Siberia but also includes the northern part of the Russian Plain. The greater part of this basin is drained by three gigantic rivers: the Ob (2,268 miles [3,650 km], which with its main tributary, the Irtysh, extends for a continuous 3,362 miles [5,410 km]), the Yenisey (2,540 miles [4,090 km]), and the Lena (2,734 miles [4,400 km]). Their catchments cover a total area of 3,127,000 square miles (8,100,000 square km) in West Siberia, East Siberia, and the Far East north of the Stanovoy Mountains, and their combined discharge into the Arctic averages 1,750,000 cubic feet (49,554 cubic metres) per second. Smaller, but still impressive, rivers make up the remainder of the Arctic drainage: in the European section these include the Northern Dvina (with its tributaries the Vychegda and Sukhona) and the Pechora, and in Siberia the Indigirka and Kolyma. The Siberian rivers provide transport arteries from the interior to the Arctic sea route, although these are blocked by ice for long periods every year. They have extremely gentle gradients--the Ob, for example, falls only 650 feet (200 metres) in more than 1,250 miles (2,010 km)--as a result of which they meander slowly across immense floodplains. Owing to their northward flow, the upper reaches thaw before the lower parts, and floods occur over vast areas, leading to the development of huge swamps. The Vasyuganye Swamp at the Ob-Irtysh confluence covers some 19,000 square miles (49,000 square km).

The rest of Siberia, some 1,815,000 square miles (4,700,000 square km), is drained into the Pacific. In the north, where the watershed is close to the coast, numerous small rivers descend abruptly from the mountains, but the bulk of southeastern Siberia is drained by the large Amur system. Over much of its 1,755-mile (2,820-km) length, the Amur forms the boundary that divides Russia and China. The Amur's tributary, the Ussuri, forms another considerable length of the border.

Three drainage basins cover European Russia south of the Arctic basin. The Dnieper, of which only the upper reaches are in Russia, and the 1,160-mile- (1,870-km-) long Don flow south to the Black Sea, and a small northwestern section drains to the Baltic. By far the largest European river is the Volga. Rising in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow, it follows a course of 2,193 miles (3,530 km) to the Caspian Sea. Outranked only by the Siberian rivers, the Volga drains an area of 533,000 square miles (1,380,000 square km). Separated only by short overland portages and supplemented by several canals, the rivers of the Russian Plain long have been important transport arteries. The Volga system carries two-thirds of all Russian waterway traffic.

Note 6: (Asia Minor)

From the Encyclopaedia Britannica (full link):

Turkish ANADOLU, also called ASIA MINOR [or Anatolia], the peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey. Because of its location at the point where the continents of Asia and Europe meet, Anatolia was, from the beginnings of civilization, a crossroads for numerous peoples migrating or conquering from either continent.

Note 7: (chronological order of the kings of England)

Here's a link to a site which gives the chrononlogical order of the kings of England (and Great Britain): Monarchs of Britain. That site also has the mnemonic poem which many British school children learn to help remember the order of the kings: Poem of kings.

House of Wessex Egbert (802-39) Aethelwulf (839-55) Aethelbald (855-60) Aethelbert (860-6) Aethelred (866-71) Alfred the Great (871-99) Edward the Elder (899-925) Athelstan (925-40) Edmund the Magnificent (940-6) Eadred (946-55) Eadwig (Edwy) All-Fair (955-59) Edgar the Peaceable (959-75) Edward the Martyr (975-78) Aethelred the Unready (978-1016) Edmund Ironside (1016) Danish Line Svein Forkbeard (1014) Canute the Great (1016-35) Harald Harefoot (1035-40) Hardicanute (1040-42) House of Wessex, Restored Edward the Confessor (1042-66) Harold II (1066) Norman Line William I the Conqueror (1066-87) William II Rufus (1087-1100) Henry I Beauclerc (1100-35) Stephen (1135-54) Empress Matilda (1141)

Plantagenet, Angevin Line Henry II Curtmantle (1154-89) Richard I the Lionheart (1189-99) John Lackland (1199-1216) Henry III (1216-72) Edward I Longshanks (1272-1307) Edward II (1307-27) Edward III (1327-77) Richard II (1377-99) Plantagenet, Lancastrian Line Henry IV Bolingbroke (1399-1413) Henry V (1413-22) Henry VI (1422-61, 1470-1) Plantagenet, Yorkist Line Edward IV (1461-70, 1471-83) Edward V (1483) Richard III Crookback (1483-5) House of Tudor Henry VII Tudor (1485-1509) Henry VIII (1509-47) Edward VI (1547-53) Lady Jane Grey (1553) Mary I Tudor (1553-58) Elizabeth I (1558-1603) House of Stuart James I (1603-25) Charles I (1625-49)

The Commonwealth Oliver Cromwell (1649-58) Richard Cromwell (1658-59) House of Stuart, Restored Charles II (1660-85) James II (1685-88) House of Orange and Stuart William III, Mary II (1689-1702) House of Stuart Anne (1702-14) House of Brunswick, Hanover Line George I (1714-27) George II (1727-60) George III (1760-1820) George IV (1820-30) William IV (1830-37) Victoria (1837-1901) House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Edward VII (1901-10) House of Windsor George V (1910-36) Edward VIII (1936) George VI (1936-52) Elizabeth II (1952-present)

Note 8: (Northamptonshire)

Northamptonshire is in central England (East Midlands), and Northampton is one of the largest market towns in the country. Here's a link to the Northamptonshire page on BritWeb: Northamptonshire, and a link from the Encyclopeadia Britannica: Northamptonshire.