Dora Wordsworth, the daughter of the poet William Wordsworth, was named after her aunt Dorothy, the diarist who helped inspire her brother's poems. In 1843 she married the poet and translator Edward Quillinan against her father's wishes. In 1845 she travelled with him to Portugal, where she had tuberculosis, and stayed about a year. Her journal of the trip describes fireworks, cork oaks and vineyards, often comparing them with the Lake District she missed. She died of tuberculosis in 1847, soon after returning to England.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.