"I imagine the gap [between the Fall of Barad-dûr and modern times] to be about 6000 years; that is we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as Second Age and Third Age. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh."

"What animal were the Canary Islands named after?"

Sunt qui ultra eas Fortunatas putent esse quasdamque alias, quo in numero idem Sebosus etiam spatia conplexus Iunoniam abesse a Gadibus p. tradit, ab ea tantundem ad occasum versus Pluvialiam Caprariamque; in Pluvialia non esse aquam nisi ex imbri. ab iis Fortunatas contra laevam Mauretaniae in VIII horam solis; vocari Invallem a convexitate et Planasiam a specie, Invallis circuitu p.; arborum ibi proceritatem ad CXL pedes adulescere. Iuba de Fortunatis ita inquisivit: sub meridiem quoque positas esse prope occasum, a Purpurariis p., sic ut supra occasum navigetur, dein per ortus petatur. primam vocari Ombrion, nullis aedificiorum vestigiis; habere in montibus stagnum, arbores similes ferulae, ex quibus aqua exprimatur, e nigris amara, ex candidioribus potui iucunda. Alteram insulam Iunoniam appellari; in ea aediculam esse tantum lapide exstructam. ab ea in vicino eodem nomine minorem, deinde Caprariam, lacertis grandibus refertam. in conspectu earum esse Ninguariam, quae hoc nomen acceperit a perpetua nive, nebulosam. Proximam ei Canariam vocari a multitudine canum ingentis magnitudinis — ex quibus perducti sunt Iubae duo —; apparere ibi vestigia aedificiorum. cum omnes autem copia pomorum et avium omnis generis abundent, hanc et palmetis caryotas ferentibus ac nuce pinea abundare; esse copiam et mellis, papyrum quoque et siluros in amnibus gigni. infestari eas belvis, quae expellantur adsidue, putrescentibus.

'Some people think that beyond the islands of Mauretania lie the Isles of Bliss, and also some others of which Sebosus before mentioned gives not only the number but also the distances, reporting that Junonia is 750 miles from Cadiz, and that Pluvialia and Capraria are the same distance west from Junonia; that in Pluvialia there is no water except what is supplied by rain; that the Isles of Bliss are 250 miles WNW from these, to the left hand of Mauretania, and that one is called Invallis from its undulating surface and the other Planasia from its conformation, Invallis measuring 300 miles round; and that on it trees grow to a height of 140 ft. About the Isles of Bliss Juba has ascertained the following facts; they lie in a southwesterly direction, at a distance of 625 miles sail from the Purple Islands, provided that a course be laid north of due west for 250 miles, and then east for 375 miles; that the first island reached is called Ombrios, and there are no traces of buildings upon it, but it has a pool surrounded by mountains, and trees resembling the giant fennel, from which water is extracted, the black ones giving a bitter fluid and those of brighther colour a juice that is agreeable to drink; that the second island is called Junonia, and that there is a small temple on it built of only a single stone; and that in its neighbourhood there is a smaller island of the same name, and then Capraria, which swarms with large lizards; and that in view from these islands is Ninguaria, so named from its perpetual snow, and wrapped in cloud; and next to it one named Canaria, from its multitude of dogs of a huge size — two of these were brought back for Juba — He said that in this island there are traces of buildings; that while they all have an abundant supply of fruit and of birds of every kind, Canaria also abounds in palm-groves bearing dates and in conifers; that in addition to this there is a large supply of honey, and also papryus grows in the rivers, and sheat-fish; and that these islands are plagued with the rotting carcasses of monstrous creatures that are constantly being cast ashore by the sea.'

"How many countries exist on the continent of Australia?"

Why is Gouda considered the best cheese in the world?

Richard: Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings;
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front;
And now, — instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,—
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up,
About a prophecy, which says, that G
Of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes.