62-607: London Review has formed the title or partial title of a number of periodicals, some of which lasted only for a short period. These include: (1775–1780) London Review of English and Foreign Literature , founded by William Kenrick (1782–1826) European Magazine and London Review (1809) The London Review , edited by Richard Cumberland (1829) The London Review , founded by Nassau Senior and Richard Whately (1835) The London Review , founded by John Stuart Mill and other philosophical radicals, merged into The Westminster Review
124-457: A A New Dictionary of the English Language , where he indicated pronunciation with diacritical marks and to divided words according to their syllables ; it was meant as a response to James Buchanan's Linguæ Britannicæ Vera Pronunciatio – the only pronouncing dictionary at time, which Kenrick censured for its Scottish origin. In the same year, on 20 November 1773 his comedy The Duellist
186-518: A recommendation letter of Constant d'Hermenches , and made a pilgrimage to Rome, where his portrait was painted by George Willison . Boswell also travelled to Corsica and spent seven weeks there, meeting the Corsican resistance leader Pasquale Paoli , and sending reports to London newspapers. His diaries and correspondence of this time have been compiled into two books, Boswell in Holland and Boswell on
248-438: A Bawdy-house and past a whole night in the arms of a Whore. She indeed was a fine strong spirited Girl, a Whore worthy of Boswell if Boswell must have a whore." A few years earlier, he wrote that during a night with an actress named Louisa, "five times was I fairly lost in supreme rapture. Louisa was madly fond of me; she declared I was a prodigy and asked me if this was not extraordinary for human nature." Though he sometimes used
310-571: A Parodi-tragi-comical Satire , a parody of Macbeth in which the weird sisters circle about their cauldron, throwing in contemporary novels, periodicals and pamphlets. The play was banned by the Lord Mayor, however, "as it was to have been perform’d at the Castle-Tavern, Pater-noster-Row, on Thursday, February 13, 1752, but Suppressed, by a Special Order from the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen." (see
372-627: A careful journal, written in full, and the volume covering this period was published in 1950 as the London Journal . On 16 May 1763, Boswell met Johnson for the first time. The pair became friends almost immediately, though Johnson became more of a parental figure in Boswell's eyes. In Boswell's Life of Johnson , he records the first conversational exchange between himself and Johnson as follows: [Boswell:] "Mr Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it." [Johnson:] "That, Sir, I find,
434-517: A child, he was delicate. Kay Jamison , Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, in her book Touched with Fire , believes that Boswell may have suffered from bipolar disorder , and this condition would afflict him sporadically all through his life. At the age of five, he was sent to James Mundell 's academy, an advanced institution by the standards of the time, where he was instructed in English, Latin , writing and arithmetic. The eight-year-old Boswell
496-520: A condom for protection, he contracted venereal disease at least seventeen times. Boswell married his cousin, Margaret Montgomerie , on 25 November 1769. She remained faithful to Boswell, despite his frequent liaisons with prostitutes, until her death from tuberculosis in 1789. After his infidelities, he would deliver tearful apologies to her and beg her forgiveness, before again promising her, and himself, that he would reform. James and Margaret had four sons and three daughters. Two sons died in infancy;
558-455: A doctorate at Leiden University (although other sources maintain he went to a Scottish university) and appeared for the first time as a pamphletist in 1751 where he wrote, under the name of "Ontologos", The Grand Question debated; or an Essay to prove that the Soul of Man is not, neither can it be Immortal. In typical fashion, Kenrick forthwith provided an answer to this question proving the reverse,
620-586: A favourable though brief review (in June, 1762) of "The Citizen of the World". Kenrick published his translation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's Julie, ou La Nouvelle Héloïse in 1761. In spite of the fact that he substituted throughout the name of Eloisa for that of Julie ( a matter of no importance to the reader , as he wrote ), the work was a success and enjoyed six reprintings up to 1776. In 1765 Kenrick published A Review of Dr Johnson's new edition of Shakspeare : in which
682-428: A high degree. But I found him a bluff, hearty little man, full of spirits and cheerfulness. He said devotion was not natural; that is to say, the devotion of the heart; that fear made people use ceremonies but did not inspire true devotion. He said he had a pronouncing dictionary almost ready, by which he hoped to fix a standard, as the varieties of pronunciation among people in genteel life were very few. He said he taught
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#1732858424269744-508: A man from Aberdeen to speak good English in six weeks. He said his great difficulty was to get him to speak at all. He told him, "Sir, you don't speak at all. You sing." Kenrick's most successful work, reprinted in over 20 editions, was a courtesy book published in 1753 under the title The Whole Duty of a Woman; or, A Guide to the Female Sex, from the Age of Sixteen to Sixty, &c. , but the author
806-408: A manner, that his reputation was neither extensive nor lasting. I remember one evening, when some of his works were mentioned, Dr. Goldsmith said, he had never heard of them; upon which Dr. Johnson observed, "Sir, he is one of the many who have made themselves publick, without making themselves known.". Falstaff's Wedding , a comic sequel to Henry IV, Part 2 , written in imitation of Shakespeare,
868-579: A steady and virtuous direction, might have procured him an honourable place among the authors of his time. Indeed, Kenrick wrote revealingly of himself that he drank spirits ( aqua vitae ), to pen acid ( aqua fortis ): The Wits, who drink water and suck sugar-candy, Impute the strong spirit of Kenrick to brandy. They are not so much out: the matter, in short, is--- He sips aqua vitae, and spits aqua fortis. James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck ( / ˈ b ɒ z w ɛ l , - w əl / ; 29 October 1740 ( N.S. ) – 19 May 1795),
930-484: A strictly fact-based record of Johnson's public life in the style of the time, he painted a more personal and intimate portrait of the man than was normal in biographies of the day. Macaulay and Carlyle , among others, have attempted to explain how a man such as Boswell could have produced a work as detailed as the Life of Johnson . The former argued that Boswell's uninhibited folly and candour were his greatest qualifications;
992-488: A superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy. The latter, along with his tendency for drink and other vices, caused many contemporaries and later observers to regard him as being too lightweight to be an equal in the literary crowd that he wanted to be a part of. However, his humour and innocent good nature won him many lifelong friends. In 1773 Boswell bought
1054-596: A tactic he often used in order to publicize his productions. One of his first targets was the vulnerable Christopher Smart whose poem "Night Piece" he attacked in the London monthly journal The Kapelion; or Poetical Ordinary, consisting of Great Variety of Dishes in Prose and Verse, recommended to all who have a Good Taste or Keen Appetite in 1750 under the nom de plume Whimsey Banter. In 1752 Kenrick publicly mocked Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollett in his entertainment Fun:
1116-424: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages William Kenrick (writer) William Kenrick (c. 1725 – 10 June 1779) was an English novelist , playwright , translator and satirist , who spent much of his career libelling and lampooning his fellow writers. Kenrick was born at Watford , Hertfordshire , son of a stay -maker. He apparently obtained
1178-571: Is since the discovery of these journals that Boswell has become recognized as a major literary artist. In his openness to every nuance of feeling, his delicacy in capturing fugitive sentiments and revealing gestures, his comic self-regard and (at times) self-contempt, Boswell was willing to express what other authors of the time repressed. Boswell was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning on 14 August 1759. He subsequently became Master of that Lodge in 1773 and in that year
1240-449: Is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help." On 6 August, Boswell departed England for Europe, with the initial goal of continuing his law studies at Utrecht University . He spent a year there and although desperately unhappy the first few months, eventually quite enjoyed his time in Utrecht. He mixed with prominent families, and pursued his studies industriously. Boswell admired
1302-570: The General Biographical Dictionary of 1815 in Kenrick's later years he drank very heavily, a habit which probably caused his relatively early death: In his latter days, his constitution was so much injured by inebriety, that he generally wrote with a bottle of brandy by his elbow, which at length terminated his career June 10, 1779, less lamented than perhaps any person known in the literary world, yet possessed of talents which, under
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#17328584242691364-760: The Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769. Boswell attended the masquerade held at the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford-upon-Avon in September 1769 dressed as a Corsican Chief. He was also, much to the chagrin of his friend Johnson, a strong defender of the American Revolution. Some of his journal entries and letters from this period describe his amatory exploits. Thus, in 1767, in a letter to William Johnson Temple , he wrote, "I got myself quite intoxicated, went to
1426-635: The Paper War of 1752–1753 ). James Boswell records a meeting with Kenrick on Friday, 3 April 1772: In the evening came a company of literati invited for me: Dr. Jeffries, Dr. Gilbert Stuart, a Mr. Leeson, and Kenrick, now Dr. Kenrick, who once wrote an 18d. pamphlet against me, but principally against Mr. Johnson, though it was entitled A Letter to James Boswell, Esq. Kenrick was quite a different man from what I expected to see. His Epistles, Philosophical and Moral promised seriousness or rather profound gravity; and many of his other writings promised acrimony to
1488-531: The 1920s a great part of Boswell's private papers, including intimate journals for much of his life, were discovered at Malahide Castle , north of Dublin . These provide a hugely revealing insight into the life and thoughts of the man. They were sold to the American collector Ralph H. Isham and have since passed to Yale University , which has published popular and scholarly editions of his journals and correspondence, mostly edited by Frederick A. Pottle . A second cache
1550-565: The Grand Tour . Boswell returned to London in February 1766 accompanied by Rousseau's mistress Thérèse Levasseur , with whom he had a brief affair on the journey home. After spending a few weeks in the capital, he returned to Scotland, buying (or perhaps renting) the former house of David Hume on James Court on the Lawnmarket . He studied for his final law exam at Edinburgh University . He passed
1612-460: The Home Secretary to help gain royal pardons for four Botany Bay escapees, including Mary Bryant . He also offered to stand for Parliament but failed to get the necessary support, and he spent the final years of his life writing his Life of Samuel Johnson . During this time his health began to fail due to venereal disease and his years of drinking. Boswell died in London in 1795. Close to
1674-630: The Ignorance, or Inattention, of that Editor is exposed, and the Poet defended from the Persecution of his Commentators . James Boswell reported that: Johnson was virulently attacked by Mr. William Kenrick, who obtained the degree of LL.D. from a Scotch University, and wrote for the booksellers in a great variety of branches. Though he certainly was not without considerable merit, he wrote with so little regard to decency and principles, and decorum, and in so hasty
1736-541: The Perpetual Motion . Kenrick complained: One species of our predecessor's merit, however, I presume myself at least entitled to, that of perseverance; it being now fifteen years since I first engaged in this undertaking, which I have since pursued with almost unremitted assiduity, and that not only at considerable waste of time and expense, but under the constant mortification of hearing it equally ridiculed by those who do know, and by those who do not know, anything of
1798-521: The best specimens of his poetry. In November 1759, Kenrick (the "superlative scoundrel" ) succeeded Oliver Goldsmith as editor of The Monthly Review . He signalled his advent by writing an outrageous attack upon Goldsmith's "Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe". His vilification was so unjustified that Ralph Griffiths (the publisher) made an indirect apology for his successor by
1860-475: The cause ... became inimical to it". Boswell's most prominent display of support for slavery was his 1791 poem "No Abolition of Slavery; or the Universal Empire of Love", which lampooned Clarkson, Wilberforce and Pitt . The poem also supports the common suggestion of the pro-slavery movement, that the slaves actually enjoyed their lot: "The cheerful gang! – the negroes see / Perform the task of industry." In
1922-482: The country. The play was first produced at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1962 and adapted for BBC Television in 1965. In 1981 the cartoonist R. Crumb published the piece "Boswell's London Journal" in the anthology magazine Weirdo . Presented as a "Klassic Komic," the piece featured meticulous cross-hatched illustrations and excerpts from Boswell's writing to tell a satirical story of
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1984-399: The end of his life he became strongly convinced that the " Shakespeare papers ", including two previously unknown plays Vortigern and Rowena and Henry II , allegedly discovered by William Henry Ireland , were genuine. After Boswell's death they proved to be forgeries created by Ireland himself. Boswell's remains were interred in the crypt of the Boswell family mausoleum in what is now
2046-530: The exam and became an advocate . He practised the law in Edinburgh for over a decade, and most years spent his annual break in London, mingling with Johnson and many other London-based writers, editors, and printers, and furthering his literary ambitions. He contributed a great many items to newspapers and magazines, in London and Edinburgh. He found enjoyment in playing the intellectual rhyming game crambo with his peers. In 1768 he published An account of Corsica,
2108-546: The exception of the copyright infringement case of Donaldson v Beckett , where Boswell represented the Scottish bookseller Alexander Donaldson . By the late 1770s, Boswell descended further and further into alcoholism and gambling addiction. Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged and were exacerbated by his various vices. His happier periods usually saw him relatively vice-free. His character mixed
2170-520: The following year (1979, current) London Review of Books Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title The London Review . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_London_Review&oldid=1030216015 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
2232-488: The house of David Hume (who moved to a new house on South St David Street/St Andrew Square) on the south east corner of James Court. He lived there until 1786. Boswell's residency at James Court has been well established, but not the exact location. For example, a later edition of Traditions of Edinburgh by Robert Chambers suggests that Boswell's residence at James Court was actually in the Western wing. His James Court flat
2294-549: The journal of a tour to that island, and memoirs of Pascal Paoli. The book contained both a history and description of Corsica, as well as an account of his visit. Boswell was a major supporter of the Corsican Republic . Following the island's invasion by France in 1768, Boswell attempted to raise public awareness and rally support for the Corsicans. He sent arms and money to the Corsican fighters, who were ultimately defeated at
2356-730: The latter replied that beneath such traits was a mind to discern excellence and a heart to appreciate it, aided by the power of accurate observation and considerable dramatic ability. Boswell was present at the meeting of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in May 1787 set up to persuade William Wilberforce to lead the abolition movement in Parliament. However, the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson records that by 1788 Boswell "after having supported
2418-431: The life of a libertine , before he was taken back to Scotland by his father. Upon returning, he was re-enrolled at Edinburgh University and forced by his father to sign away most of his inheritance in return for an allowance of £100 a year. On 30 July 1762, Boswell passed his oral law exam, after which his father decided to raise his allowance to £200 a year and permitted him to return to London. Boswell had started keeping
2480-457: The matter. In 1772, he published Love in the Suds, a town eclogue: being the lamentation of Roscius for the loss of his Nyky , a direct and scurrilous attack on David Garrick , making explicit charges of homosexuality with Isaac Bickerstaffe against the great actor. Garrick immediately took legal action against Kenrick who was forced to publish a somewhat ambivalent apology . In 1773 he published
2542-549: The old Auchinleck Kirkyard in Ayrshire . The mausoleum is attached to the old Auchinleck kirk . When the Life of Samuel Johnson was published in 1791, its style was unique in that, unlike other biographies of that era, it directly incorporated conversations that Boswell had noted down at the time for his journals. He also included more personal and human details than those to which contemporary readers were accustomed. Instead of writing
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2604-418: The other two were Alexander (1775–1822) and James (1778–1822). Their daughters were Veronica (1773–1795), Euphemia (1774 – c. 1834) and Elizabeth, known as 'Betsy', (1780–1814). Boswell also had at least two extramarital children, Charles (1762–1764) and Sally (1767 – c. 1768). Despite his relative literary success with accounts of his European travels, Boswell was only a moderately successful advocate, with
2666-462: The production of two more Kenrick plays: The Lady of the Manor , a comic opera with music by James Hook , was the most successful of Kenrick's such works; and The Spendthrift; or, The Christmas Gambol , a farce based on Charles Johnson 's The Country Lasses which was taken off after only two nights. From 1778 to 1779 he directed a translation of Voltaire 's works in eight volumes. According to
2728-710: The purposes of biographing them. Boswell was played by Miles Jupp . American novelist Philip Baruth wrote a fictional account of James Boswell's early life in The Brothers Boswell (Soho Press 2009). The novel, which includes scenes that feature Samuel Johnson, is a thriller that focuses on the tense relationship between James and his younger brother John. Boswell also features as a character in James Robertson 's novel, Joseph Knight (2003). After Boswell's private papers were recovered, and brought together by Ralph Isham, they were acquired by Yale University, where
2790-626: The research edition of Boswell's journals and letters, each including never before published material, was ceased by Yale University in June 2021, prior to the completion of the project . These detailed and frank journals include voluminous notes on the Grand Tour of Europe that he took as a young man and, subsequently, of his tour of Scotland with Johnson. His journals also record meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club , including Lord Monboddo , David Garrick , Edmund Burke , Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith . It
2852-548: The road, but not to him and his heirs." Boswell was a frequent guest of Lord Monboddo at Monboddo House , a setting where he gathered significant observations for his writings by association with Samuel Johnson , Lord Kames and other notable attendees. After Johnson's death in 1784, Boswell moved to London to try his luck at the English Bar , which proved even less successful than his career in Scotland. In 1792 Boswell lobbied
2914-471: The tales, "I am lost without my Boswell." The comedy Young Auchinleck (1962) by Scottish playwright Robert McLellan depicts Boswell's various courtships and troubled relations with his father in the period after his return to Scotland in 1766, culminating in his eventual marriage to his cousin Margaret Montgomery (Peggy) in 1769 on the same day as his father's second marriage in a different part of
2976-588: The young Boswell attempting to establish himself in London society, dallying with prostitutes and suffering from venereal disease. Boswell was played by John Sessions in Boswell & Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles , a 1993 BBC 2 play. In February and March 2015, BBC Radio 4 broadcast three episodes of "Boswell's Lives", writer Jon Canter's comedic take on Boswell meeting later historical figures (Sigmund Freud, Maria Callas and Harold Pinter, respectively) for
3038-541: The young widow Geelvinck who refused to marry him. He befriended and fell in love with Isabelle de Charrière , also known as Belle van Zuylen, a vivacious young Dutchwoman of unorthodox opinions, his social and intellectual superior. On 18 June 1764, Boswell set out from Utrecht by coach, and spent most of the next two years travelling around the continent, his Grand Tour . He travelled through Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica and France. He arranged to meet European intellectuals Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire with
3100-629: Was Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. From 1776 to 1777 he was the Depute Grand Master of that Grand Lodge. Boswell's surname has passed into the English language as a term ( Boswell , Boswellian , Boswellism ) for a constant companion and observer, especially one who records those observations in print. In " A Scandal in Bohemia ", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's character Sherlock Holmes affectionately says of Dr. Watson , who narrates
3162-503: 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 publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation. Boswell
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#17328584242693224-625: Was a little awkward, as there had been no communication between the families for several of the last years of my father's life [...] I, however, wished to live on civil terms with such near neighbours". On October 27, 1782, Boswell writes, "we looked at Lord Dumfries's gate and the famous road. [...] I showed him that granting it would make the Auchinleck improvements appear part of the Earl of Dumfries's domains. [...] If Lord Eglinton – if my Earl – were Earl of Dumfries and living at Dumfries House, he should have
3286-463: Was born in Blair's Land on the east side of Parliament Close behind St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on 29 October 1740 ( N.S. ). He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck , and his wife Euphemia Erskine. As the eldest son, he was heir to his family's estate of Auchinleck in Ayrshire . Boswell's mother was a strict Calvinist , and he felt that his father was cold to him. As
3348-499: Was discovered soon after and also purchased by Isham. A substantially longer edition of The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides was published in 1936 based on his original manuscript, edited by L. F. Powell . His London Journal 1762–63 , the first of the Yale journal publications, appeared in 1950. The last popular edition, The Great Biographer, 1789–1795 , was published in 1989. Publication of
3410-403: Was exceedingly attentive to me [...] I was upon my guard, as I well knew that he and his Countess flattered themselves that they would get from me that road through our estate which my father had refused, and which in truth I was still more positive for refusing". He saw the Earl as “very attentive” . Having hosted the Earl, Boswell and his wife also decide to visit Dumfries House "[o]ur visit
3472-466: Was launched at Covent Garden , but lasted only one night. In 1775 Kenrick founded the book review digest The London Review of English and Foreign Literature which ran from 1775 to 1780, a monthly review of 80 pages which attacked most of the contemporary writers and their works, and gave habitual bad reviews to Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres. The magazine was continued for a year after his death by his son William Shakespeare Kenrick. 1778 saw
3534-604: Was notable for having two levels, and although a modern renovation in the Eastern section reveals such a possibility, it is likely that Boswell's residence was a similarly equipped one in the Western section that no longer exists, having burned down in the mid 1800s. Boswell became quite friendly with the 6th Earl of Dumfries , as well as seeing him in Scotland he also visited him in Rosemount, London in 1787 and 1788. In Boswell's of November 2, 1778 journal he writes, "[The Earl of Dumfries]
3596-519: Was of average height, and he tended to plumpness. His appearance was said to be alert and masculine. Upon turning nineteen, he was sent to continue his studies at the University of Glasgow , where he attended the lectures of Adam Smith . While at Glasgow, Boswell decided to convert to Catholicism and become a monk . Upon learning of this, his father ordered him home. Instead of obeying, though, Boswell ran away to London, where he spent three months, living
3658-506: Was published in 1760. A heavily rewritten version of the play was staged only for a single performance in 1766, and was revived infrequently. The rewritten version was published in the same year. The Widowed Wife (1767) was better received: it staged for 14 nights and resumed the next season. In 1770 and 1771 Kenrick published two pieces on perpetual motion : An account of the Automaton, or Perpetual Motion of Orffyreus and A Lecture on
3720-401: Was rapid and complete, and Boswell may have decided that travel and entertainment exerted a calming therapeutic effect on him. At thirteen, Boswell was enrolled into the arts course at the University of Edinburgh , studying there from 1753 to 1758. Midway through his studies, he suffered an episode of serious depression but recovered fully. Boswell had swarthy skin, black hair and dark eyes; he
3782-517: Was simply listed as "A Lady." Kenrick here assumed the persona of a fallen woman , now reformed, who wants to persuade other women to live a life of virtue. The irony of Kenrick's presuming to improve the moral tone of feminine England has not gone unnoticed: he has been described as "one of London's most despised, drunken, and morally degenerate hack writers in the later eighteenth century." In 1758 appeared his versified Epistles, Philosophical and Moral , an "avowed defence of infidelity" which afford
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#17328584242693844-512: Was unhappy there, and suffered from nightmares and extreme shyness. Consequently, he was removed from the academy and educated by a string of private tutors. The most notable and supportive of these, John Dunn, exposed Boswell to modern literature, such as The Spectator essays, and religion. Dunn was also present during Boswell's serious affliction of 1752, when he was confined to the town of Moffat in northern Dumfriesshire. This afforded Boswell his first experience of genuine society. His recovery
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