Port of Spain, capital city and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago, southeastern West Indies. It is on the west coast of the island of Trinidad, below the northern peninsula on the Gulf of Paria, which separates the island from the northeastern coast of Venezuela. The city is laid out in geometric

Newport Beach, city, Orange county, southern California, U.S. It lies along Newport Bay (Pacific inlet), south of Long Beach. Captain Samuel S. Dunnells sailed into the bay in 1870 looking for “new port” facilities; he developed Newport Landing, which in 1873 became a lumber terminal. Known as

Port Orford, city, Curry county, southwestern Oregon, U.S., on the Pacific Coast. The coastal area was sighted in 1792 by Captain George Vancouver, the English navigator, who named it in honour of the earl of Orford. Established by gold prospectors in 1851, it was the first American town site on

false cypress: …species of false cypress, the Lawson cypress, Port Orford cedar, or ginger pine (C. lawsoniana), may be more than 60 metres (200 feet) tall and 6 metres (about 20 feet) in diameter. It is a very hardy tree; over 200 forms are cultivated as ornamentals in North America and Great…

Port Phillip Association, (1836–39), organization of settlers from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) formed to purchase and develop the grazing land of the unsettled Port Phillip District (later the colony of Victoria) of southeastern Australia; its efforts precipitated the large-scale colonization of

Port Phillip Bay, inlet of Bass Strait on the south-central coast of Victoria, Australia, extending approximately 30 miles (50 km) north-south and 25 miles (40 km) east-west. The large metropolitan area of Melbourne, the state capital, is located at the head of the bay. Rivers emptying into the bay

Port Phillip District, (1802–51), the original name of the area of the Australian colony and present commonwealth state of Victoria. It was discovered in 1802 by Lieutenant John Murray of the Royal Navy and soon afterward named for Governor Arthur Phillip of New South Wales, of which the area

Port Pirie, city, second most important seaport of South Australia (after Port Adelaide Enfield), located on the eastern shore and near the head of Spencer Gulf. Founded in 1848, it is named after the John Pirie, a vessel which had brought settlers there three years before. Incorporated as a

Oman: Transportation and telecommunication: …has several ports, most notably Port Qaboos in Maṭraḥ, Ṣalālah (formerly known as Port Raysūt), and Al-Faḥl, all of which were built after 1970; in the late 1990s work was begun to upgrade and expand the industrial port at Ṣuḥār. Ṣalālah underwent major renovations and in 1998 opened as one…

Pakistan: Manufacturing: A new port, Port Qāsim (officially Port Muḥammad Bin Qāsim), was built to bring iron ore and coal for the mill.

public health: National developments in the 18th and 19th centuries: …years later, the service enforced port quarantine for the first time. (Port quarantine was the isolation of a ship at port for a limited period to allow time for the manifestation of disease.)

United Arab Emirates: Transportation and telecommunications: …including the facilities at Dubai’s Port Rāshid, which is serviced by a vast shipyard, and Port Jebel Ali, situated in one of the largest man-made harbours in the world and one of the busiest ports in the gulf. Of the smaller harbours on the Gulf of Oman, Sharjah has a…

Portrush, town, Causeway Coast and Glens district, northern Northern Ireland, lying at the northwestern end of the Antrim Coast Road, on the basaltic peninsula of Ramore Head. Offshore in the Atlantic Ocean are the Skerries, a rocky group of islets forming a natural breakwater. The headland, or

Sir Samuel Argall: …parallel, including Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia), which he captured in 1614. He returned in that year to England, where he was cleared of charges of wrongdoing in his actions against the French.

Port Royal: The town of Port Royal is on the southern tip of the island, which is about 13 miles (21 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide.

Port Royal, island and town, Beaufort county, southern South Carolina, U.S., at the head of Port Royal Sound on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The island of Port Royal is one of the Sea Islands, and its principal town is Beaufort. The town of Port Royal is on the southern tip of the island,

Port Royal, historic harbour town on the southern coast of Jamaica, once the busiest trading centre of the British West Indies and infamous for general debauchery. The town was founded on a natural harbour at the end of a 10-mile (16-km) sand spit between what is now Kingston Harbour and the

grammar: Ancient and medieval grammars: …a group of grammarians from Port-Royal were also interested in the idea of universal grammar. They claimed that common elements of thought could be discerned in grammatical categories of all languages. Unlike their Greek and Latin counterparts, the Port-Royal grammarians did not study literary language but claimed instead that usage…

Port Said, port city located in northeastern Egypt, at the northern end of the Suez Canal. It also constitutes the bulk of the urban muḥāfaẓah (governorate) of Būr Saʿīd. Situated largely on reclaimed land, the city was founded in 1859 on a low sandy strip separating the Mediterranean from Lake

Port Salut cheese, semisoft cow’s-milk cheese first made by Trappist monks on the west coast of France in the mid-1800s. The name later became the registered trademark of the Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis for Saint-Paulin, a generic cheese type similar to the original Port Salut, with a mild,

Fort Pierce: The city of Port St. Lucie, about 15 miles (25 km) south of Fort Pierce, was created and incorporated in 1961. A fast-growing residential city, it reached a population of more than 80,000 by the end of the 1990s. It was originally planned as a retirement community but…

Stanley, only town and, since 1842, capital of the Falkland Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies on the northeast coast of East Falkland, along the southern shore of Port William inlet. Its fine inner and outer harbours attracted the early

Port Sudan, city, principal seaport of Sudan, located on the Red Sea coast 295 miles (475 km) by rail northeast of the Nile River valley at ʿAṭbarah. Built between 1905 and 1909 to replace Sawākin (Suakin)—the historic, coral-choked Arab port—Port Sudan has a petroleum refinery, an international

Port Kelang, the leading port of Malaysia, on the Strait of Malacca midway between the major ports of Pinang and Singapore. It is the port of Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital, 23 miles (37 km) east-northeast, with which it is connected by road and rail. At the mouth of the Sungai (River) Kelang,

Port Talbot, town, port, and urban area (from 2011 built-up area), Neath Port Talbot county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southern Wales. It is situated at the mouth of the River Afon on Swansea Bay (an embayment of the Bristol Channel) and adjoins the locality of Margam to the

Charles: …county seat from 1727 was Port Tobacco, one of the oldest extant English settlements in North America.

Lyttelton, town and port, eastern South Island, New Zealand. It is situated within the Christchurch urban area and on Lyttelton Harbour, an inlet of the southwestern Pacific Ocean extending 8 miles (13 km) into the north shore of Banks Peninsula. The harbour’s entrance is flanked by Godley Head on

Port Washington, unincorporated community in the town (township) of North Hempstead, Nassau county, New York, U.S. It lies on the north shore of Long Island overlooking Manhasset Bay, a summer yachting centre. The Delaware Indians inhabited the area at the time of settlement. In 1643 they sold the

Stanley, only town and, since 1842, capital of the Falkland Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies on the northeast coast of East Falkland, along the southern shore of Port William inlet. Its fine inner and outer harbours attracted the early

Adrien Duport was a French magistrate who was a leading constitutional monarchist during the early stages of the French Revolution of 1789. A prominent member of the Parlement of Paris (one of the high courts of justice), Duport was elected for the nobility to the Estates-General of 1789. On June

Port-au-Prince, capital, chief port, and commercial centre of the West Indian republic of Haiti. It is situated on a magnificent bay at the apex of the Gulf of Gonâve (Gonaïves), which is protected from the open sea by the island of La Gonâve. The city was laid out in a grid pattern in 1749 by the

Kerguelen Islands: …permanent base and scientific centre, Port-aux-Français, was established on the main island.

Port-Cartier, town, Côte-Nord region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. It lies on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River estuary, at the mouth of the Rochers River. Originating in 1918 as a small sawmilling community known as Shelter Bay, it was transformed into a modern ocean port 26 miles (42

Nouméa, city, port, and capital of the French overseas country of New Caledonia, southwestern Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern corner of the main island of New Caledonia. It was founded in 1854 as Port-de-France. It is situated on an excellent deepwater harbour protected by Nou Island and a reef.

Port-de-Paix, port, northwestern Haiti, situated on the Atlantic coast opposite Tortue Island. It was founded in 1665 by French filibusters, fomenters of insurrection who had been driven from Tortue Island by the British. The original settlement was located near Môle Saint-Nicolas, where

Nouâdhibou, town located in northwestern Mauritania, on Cape Nouâdhibou (Cape Blanco) peninsula facing a protective bay on the Atlantic coast. It has developed as a fishing centre, and fishing continues to be important; but, since 1964, with the completion of a special pier and a 419-mile (674-km)

Ilebo, town, south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town lies along the Kasai River near its junction with the Sankuru River. Ilebo is a river port and has rail connections with Kananga and Lubumbashi. It is an important transshipment point in the transport of copper and other minerals

Port-Gentil, city, western Gabon. It is located on Lopez Island (in the mouth of the navigable Ogooué River) and on a bay sheltered by Cape Lopez, which juts into the Atlantic Ocean. The nation’s chief port and industrial centre, it is linked by air with Paris and major West African centres as well

Kenitra, port city, northern Morocco. It is situated 10 miles (16 km) above the mouth of the Sebou River. Before the French protectorate was established, Kenitra (Arabic: Al-Qunayṭirah, “Little Bridge”) was a fort; the settlement and port, built by order of Marshal L.-H.-G. Lyautey, date from 1913.

Port of Spain, capital city and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago, southeastern West Indies. It is on the west coast of the island of Trinidad, below the northern peninsula on the Gulf of Paria, which separates the island from the northeastern coast of Venezuela. The city is laid out in geometric

Port-Royal, critical work by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, published in three volumes in 1840–48. It was based on a series of lectures he gave at the University of Lausanne in 1837–38. This monumental assemblage of scholarship, insights, and historical acumen—a unique work of its kind—chronicles

Port-Royal, celebrated abbey of Cistercian nuns that was the centre of Jansenism and of literary activity in 17th-century France. It was founded about 1204 as a Benedictine house by Mathilde de Garlande on a low, marshy site in the valley of Chevreuse, south of Versailles. Its church was built in

Port-Royal, celebrated abbey of Cistercian nuns that was the centre of Jansenism and of literary activity in 17th-century France. It was founded about 1204 as a Benedictine house by Mathilde de Garlande on a low, marshy site in the valley of Chevreuse, south of Versailles. Its church was built in

Pierre Nicole: Nicole was an influential spokesman from 1655 to 1668 through his writing or editing of most of the Jansenist pamphlets. He was probably the source of the celebrated distinction between the two “questions of fact,” an adroit device allowing him to separate into two parts…

Port-Vila, capital and largest town of the republic of Vanuatu, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Port-Vila is located on Mélé Bay, on the southwest coast of Éfaté, and is the commercial centre of the island group. Although the town is French in appearance, the population is multinational, including

Gates of Paradise, the pair of gilded bronze doors (1425–52) designed by the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti for the north entrance of the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence. Upon their completion, they were installed at the east entrance. Each wing of the Gates of Paradise contains five large

Campina Grande, city, eastern Paraíba estado (state), northeastern Brazil. It is situated in the Bacamarte Mountains at 1,804 feet (550 metres) above sea level. Located on the site of an Ariú Indian village, it was originally called Porta do Sertão (“Gateway to the Desert”). Made a village in 1766,

Jundiaí, city, in the highlands of southern São Paulo estado (state), Brazil. It lies at 2,460 feet (750 metres) above sea level along the Jundiaí River. Formerly called Porta do Sertão, Mato Grosso de Jundiaí, and Vila Formosa de Nossa Senhora do Destêrro de Jundiaí, it was given town status and

human digestive system: Gross anatomy: …centrally placed groove called the porta hepatis, which anatomically separates the quadrate and caudate lobes. The liver has two sources of blood supply: fully oxygenated blood from the hepatic artery, which is a major branch of the celiac axis (the main artery that crosses the abdomen) after its emergence from…

Pforzheim, city, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies on the northern edge of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), where the Nagold and Würm rivers join the Enz, northwest of Stuttgart. Originally the site of a Roman settlement (Porta Hercyniae), it was chartered about 1195. The

Italian literature: Experimentalism and the new avant-garde: …“We Want It All”); and Antonio Porta (pseudonym of Leo Paolazzi), whose untimely death at age 54 cut short the career of one of the less abstractly theoretical of these poets. At a subsequent meeting held near Palermo in 1963 this group was joined by, among others, aesthetic philosopher Luciano…

Italian literature: Opposing movements: …to the great Romantic poet Carlo Porta, who lampooned the aristocracy and clergy and expressed sympathy with the humble and wretched in narrative poems composed not in Italian but in a lively Milanese dialect. All Italy took part in the disputes about language, literature, and politics.

Giacomo della Porta was an Italian architect whose work represents the development in style from late Mannerism to early Baroque. He was the chief Roman architect during the latter third of the 16th century and contributed to most of the major architectural projects undertaken in Rome during that

Giambattista della Porta was an Italian natural philosopher whose experimental research in optics and other fields was undermined by his credulous preoccupation with magic and the miraculous. Della Porta founded the Accademia dei Segreti, which was later suppressed by the Inquisition, and in 1610

Giambattista della Porta was an Italian natural philosopher whose experimental research in optics and other fields was undermined by his credulous preoccupation with magic and the miraculous. Della Porta founded the Accademia dei Segreti, which was later suppressed by the Inquisition, and in 1610

Hugo Porta is an Argentine rugby union football player who was the sport’s top fly half during the 1970s and early ’80s and arguably the best ever. He was indisputably Argentina’s most celebrated player, lifting the standard of rugby there in dozens of Test (international) matches (he also played

Herman Wildenvey was a Norwegian poet whose sunny songs of simple sensual pleasure are unusual in the sombre history of Norwegian verse. When in 1904 the steamer Norge wrecked on a trip to the United States, with 600 or more passengers aboard, Wildenvey was among the few who survived. After

portobello mushroom, (Agaricus bisporus), widely cultivated edible mushroom. One of the most commonly consumed mushrooms in the world, the fungus is sold under a variety of names and at various stages of maturity in brown, white, and off-white forms. It is found naturally in grasslands around the

portobello mushroom, (Agaricus bisporus), widely cultivated edible mushroom. One of the most commonly consumed mushrooms in the world, the fungus is sold under a variety of names and at various stages of maturity in brown, white, and off-white forms. It is found naturally in grasslands around the

coin collecting: Modern collecting: The British Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme (both enacted in the mid-1990s) are widely advocated by collector groups as a viable system for the preservation of cultural property and the protection of individual freedoms.

PDF, universally readable format for electronic documents. PDF files (generally called PDFs) are widely used because documents converted into PDFs retain all their features, regardless of the application originally used to create them. PDFs can be viewed on any operating system with a PDF-viewer

William Faulkner: Later life and works of William Faulkner: …reputation in Europe—was boosted by The Portable Faulkner (1946), an anthology skillfully edited by Malcolm Cowley in accordance with the arresting if questionable thesis that Faulkner was deliberately constructing a historically based “legend” of the South. Faulkner’s Collected Stories (1950), impressive in both quantity and quality, was also well received,…

Tess Gallagher: In 1978 Gallagher published Portable Kisses, On Your Own, and Under Stars; the last volume contains a section based on her 1976 trip to Ireland. Several poems in Willingly (1984) eulogize her late father, and the collections Amplitude (1987) and Moon Crossing Bridge (1992) examine her relationship

Jinny Beyer: Her best-known collection, the Portable Palette (1990), features a wide range of monoprints (monotone prints) in 150 colours spanning all shades of the rainbow.

Walter van Tilburg Clark: Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph,” which imagines the aftermath of a devastating war, was published in the short-story collection The Watchful Gods (1950) and was much anthologized in the following decades. From the 1960s, Clark was a teacher of writing at San Francisco State College (now San…

Northern Ireland: Settlement patterns: Lurgan, and Portadown, all in the Lagan valley, form an extension of the Belfast industrial complex, their size a product of the textile industry. Bangor is a resort and a residential outlier of Belfast. Londonderry, a centre for shirtmaking, was the heart of the Lough Foyle lowlands…

Portage, city, seat (1851) of Columbia county, south-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, about 35 miles (55 km) north of Madison. The 1.5-mile (2.5-km) overland portage there between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers was first crossed by the French explorers Louis Jolliet

Portage: The Portage Canal was built between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers in the 1850s, but it faced competition from a railroad that came through the town in 1857; the canal fell into disuse and was closed to navigation in 1951. In 1792 a fur-trading post was…

Mackenzie River: History of Mackenzie River: …of them, Peter Pond, found Portage La Loche (Methy Portage) connecting the headwaters of Churchill River with the Clearwater River, itself one of the east-bank tributaries of the Athabasca River. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie made his historic journey northward from the trading post of Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, exploring,…

Assiniboine River: Major riparian cities include Brandon, Portage la Prairie (La Vérendrye’s Fort La Reine was built there in 1738), and Winnipeg, which are in Manitoba.

ice hockey: Early organization: The team, the Portage Lakers, was owned by a dentist named J.L. Gibson, who imported Canadian players. In 1904 Gibson formed the first acknowledged professional league, the International Pro Hockey League. Canada accepted professional hockey in 1908 when the Ontario Professional Hockey League was formed. By that time…

sculpture: Principles of design: …of the figures on the Portail Royal (“Royal Portal”) of Chartres cathedral does both: it enhances their otherworldliness and also integrates them with the columnar architecture.

architecture: Symbols of function: Portals, from the time of ancient Egyptian temple pylons and Babylonian city gates, became monuments in themselves, used to communicate a heightened significance to what lay behind them. In the Gothic cathedral they became the richest element of the facade—a translation of biblical doctrine into…

coal mining: Access: …to a coal seam, called portals, are the first to be completed and generally the last to be sealed. A large coal mine will have several portals. Their locations and the types of facilities installed in them depend on their principal use, whether for worker and material transport, ventilation, drainage…

circulatory system: The blood vessels: Lower vertebrates have two so-called portal systems, areas of the venous system that begin in capillaries in tissues and join to form veins, which divide to produce another capillary network en route to the heart. They are called the hepatic (liver) and renal (kidneys) portal systems. The hepatic system is…

alcoholism: Chronic diseases: …cirrhosis of the liver (specifically, Laënnec cirrhosis), which is commonly preceded by a fatty enlargement of the organ. Genetic vulnerability, the strain of metabolizing excessive amounts of alcohol, and defective nutrition influence the development of alcohol-related cirrhosis. In its severest form, Laënnec cirrhosis can be fatal; the successful treatment of…

digestive system disease: Portal hypertension: Portal hypertension is the increased pressure in the portal vein and its tributaries. It is the result of impediments to venous flow into the liver, and is brought about by the scarring characteristic of the cirrhotic process. The increased pressure causes feeders of…

circulatory system: The blood vessels: Lower vertebrates have two so-called portal systems, areas of the venous system that begin in capillaries in tissues and join to form veins, which divide to produce another capillary network en route to the heart. They are called the hepatic (liver) and renal (kidneys) portal systems. The hepatic system is…

Ireland: Neolithic Period: …of megalithic long barrow—the so-called portal tomb, of which there are more than 150 examples—developed from the court tomb. They spread across the court tomb area in the northern half of Ireland and extend into Leinster and Waterford and also to western Wales and Cornwall.

portal vein, large vein through which oxygen-depleted blood from the stomach, the intestines, the spleen, the gallbladder, and the pancreas flows to the liver. The principal tributaries to the portal vein are the lienal vein, with blood from the stomach, the greater omentum (a curtain of membrane

Charles Frederick Algernon Portal was a British air marshal and chief of the British Air Staff during World War II. Portal was educated at Winchester and Christ Church College, Oxford, and joined the Royal Engineers as a dispatch rider during World War I; in 1915 he was commissioned in the Royal

Charles Frederick Algernon Portal was a British air marshal and chief of the British Air Staff during World War II. Portal was educated at Winchester and Christ Church College, Oxford, and joined the Royal Engineers as a dispatch rider during World War I; in 1915 he was commissioned in the Royal

Portales, city, seat (1903) of Roosevelt county, eastern New Mexico, U.S., near the Texas state line. It was founded by Josh Morrison in 1898 and named for nearby Portales Springs, a watering place on the Fort Sumner Trail and so called because the waters flow from a series of cave openings that

Diego Portales was a Chilean politician and for seven years virtual dictator who was instrumental in establishing political order and instituting economic progress in Chile. Disliked by some Chileans during his lifetime, he became a symbol of Chilean unity after his death. Born into a middle-class

Diego Portales was a Chilean politician and for seven years virtual dictator who was instrumental in establishing political order and instituting economic progress in Chile. Disliked by some Chileans during his lifetime, he became a symbol of Chilean unity after his death. Born into a middle-class

Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis was a French lawyer and politician, one of the chief draftsmen of the Napoleonic Code, or Civil Code, which is the basis of the French legal system. A lawyer and provincial administrator at Aix-en-Provence, Portalis went to Paris in 1793, after the First Republic had

speech: Singing and speaking: …rules are found in the portamento, a gliding change between two pitch levels, of Western song, used sparingly as an embellishment. Parlando singing is a speaking type of song, used in the recitativo of Italian opera style. In these intentionally communicative preludes to formal arias—because they tell most of the…

Henri de Massue Galway, marquis de Ruvigny et Raineval was a French soldier who became a trusted servant of the British king William III. Massue began his career as aide-de-camp to Marshal Turenne (1672–75), then went on diplomatic mission to England (1678). After the revocation of the Edict of

telegraph: The first transmitters and receivers: …incorporated a device called a portarule, which employed molded type with built-in dots and dashes. The type could be moved through a mechanism in such a manner that the dots and dashes would make and break the contact between the battery and the wire to the receiver. The receiver, or…

portative organ, small musical instrument played from the 12th through the 16th century, popular for secular music. It had one rank of flue pipes (producing a flutelike sound), sometimes arranged in rows to save space, and was slung from the player’s neck by a strap. The keys and pipes lay at right

coin: Gold coinage: Her “portcullis,” or trade coinage for use by the newly incorporated East India Company, appeared in 1600–01. She also experimented with machinery for coinage, although the insistence of the moneyers on their immemorial right to use manual methods delayed its establishment until after the Restoration. James…

castle: …the gateway was defended by portcullises, doors, and machicolations. Portcullises were generally made of oak, were plated and shod with iron, and were moved up and down in stone grooves, clearing or blocking the passage. Machicolations were of two kinds: some were openings in the roof of the passage through…

Sublime Porte, the government of the Ottoman Empire. The name is a French translation of Turkish Bâbıâli (“High Gate,” or “Gate of the Eminent”). which was the official name of the gate giving access to the block of buildings in Constantinople, or Istanbul, that housed the principal state

porte cochere, in Western architecture, either of two elements found in large public and private buildings, popular in the Renaissance. A porte cochere, as the French name indicates, was originally an entrance or gateway to a building large enough to permit a coach to be driven through it into the

porte cochere, in Western architecture, either of two elements found in large public and private buildings, popular in the Renaissance. A porte cochere, as the French name indicates, was originally an entrance or gateway to a building large enough to permit a coach to be driven through it into the

Strait Is the Gate, tale by André Gide, published in 1909 as La Porte étroite. It is one of the first of his works to treat the problems of human relationships. The work contrasts the yearning toward asceticism and self-sacrifice with the need for sensual exploration as a young woman struggles with

Modest Mussorgsky: Life and career: …he composed his Podpraporshchik (Porte-Enseigne Polka), published at his father’s expense. Although not the most industrious of students, he gave proof of tremendous curiosity and wide-ranging intellectual interests.

Buenos Aires: People: Porteños, and Argentinians in general, tend to consider themselves European in character rather than Latin American. Moreover, porteños see themselves as having an identity that is quite distinct from those of other Argentinians and Latin Americans as a whole. Porteños are generally extroverted, sophisticated, animated,…

omen, observed phenomenon that is interpreted as signifying good or bad fortune. In ancient times omens were numerous and varied and included, for instance, lightning, cloud movements, the flight of birds, and the paths of certain sacred animals. Within each type of sign were minor subdivisions,

Porteous Riots, (1736), celebrated riots that erupted in Edinburgh over the execution of a smuggler. The incident had Jacobite overtones and was used by Sir Walter Scott in his novel The Heart of Midlothian. On April 14, 1736, a smuggler, Andrew Wilson, who had won popular sympathy in Edinburgh by