Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People
Just think, what a tragic fate! Mary of Modena endured ten miscarriages, and five of her children died in infancy; and when at last a viable child came into the world, she was accused of having substituted a healthy baby for her real child, a sickly, feeble one, and most
In the Press · Books · Observations · Society · People
A Few Words on Haters. Turgenev had many enemies even in his lifetime, Katkov of the Russian Messenger among them. Their quarrel began when Ivan Sergeyevich stopped publishing in his journal. The matter was this: the editor had thought it permissible to correct Fathers and Sons at his own discretion,
Archaeology · Faith · Art · Museums
Relief of the 2nd century AD dedicated to the goddess Vesta, guardian of the hearth and patroness of the millers' guild, set up at the expense of the baker Pupius Firminus and his wife Mudasena Trophima. In one hand Vesta holds a sceptre, in the other a plate of
Books · Observations · Humour
Poor little dwarves(( In his day Dvalin forged golden hair for Loki and made many other marvellous things. A regrettable accident, by which he and his friend became the prisoners of Sigrlami, was resolved, as so often happens, in a manner unexpected by the victor. Dvalin and Durin took their
Art · Books
The Danish artist Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908): a scene from the Saga of Hervör. Sigrlami, grandson or son of Odin and king of Garðaríki, caught the dwarfs Durin and Dvalin by brandishing his sword over their heads and so preventing them from vanishing. Sigrlami forced the dwarfs to forge him
Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
Good morning: we are breakfasting with Mrs Rattle and her family, a doggie, a kitty, a squirrel and a parrot. I think one ought not to ask a woman who keeps such picturesque company where her husband is. And as for the fact that the squirrel in English images of
Geography · People · Nature
Incidentally, today is considered the day of the discovery of Florida by the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, who in 1513 led an expedition in search of either new lands for Ferdinand I, or the fountain of eternal youth, which is mentioned in an ancient legend that places it
Books · Mores · Ethnography · Humour
Never buy furniture from workshops and shops near the cemetery: grandfather clocks and dining tables with antique tops are made from the planks of ornate oak coffins, which acquire an elegant patina underground. Advice from a book on Cheshire folklore, 1898
Monarchies · Science · Education · People
The first obstetric mannequin was designed by Angélique Du Coudray, celebrated for her book on the fundamentals of midwifery and her vast experience of training young midwives. Under the influence of Du Coudray and her petition, the decision to deny women professional training in obstetrics was reversed. After this success,
Art · Observations · Humour
The base of a drinking vessel, c. 500 BC. A man in a cloak, leaning on a staff, wipes himself with a smooth stone. The Greeks did not often turn to scatological subjects, that is, to those connected with the natural functions, in the applied arts, but this was evidently
NB! · Art · Museums · Rome
Aristocracy · Moscow · Mores · People · Humour
One of the directors of the Assembly of the Nobility, Pavel Afanasyevich Afrosimov, a retired major general, a fearfully important and dreadfully rich Moscow grandee, whom some call the prototype of Griboyedov's Famusov, was dying at the age of 64. His contemporaries left some amusing recollections of the