Mary Dougherty, age 14, of Prescott, Ariz., for her question:

WHO WAS JOHN BULL?

John Bull is the name used for England and the English people, just as Uncle Sam stands for the United States and its people. The name was first used in the 1600s but it was popularized in 1712 by a Scottish writer named John Arbuthnot.

Arbuthnot published pamphlets advocating the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. The pamphlets were republished in a book called “The History of John Bull.” John Bull, representing England, appears as a jolly, honest, plain dealing, hot tempered farmer.

A famous cartoonist named Sir John Tenniel drew cartoons for Punch magazine during the 1800s in which he pictured John Bull as a dignified gentleman.

The John Bull usually seen today appeared in the drawings of Sir Francis Carruthers Gould, published in the Westminster Gazette in the late 18009 and early 19009. Gould pictured John Bull wearing a tile hat and swallow tailed coat. The British flag sometimes appears on his waistcoat and he is wearing riding boots.