Books · Observations · Nature · Ethnography
On the traditions of respectful regard for bees, Rudyard Kipling writes, for example, in the tale "Puck of Pook's Hill":. A Maiden in her glory, Upon her wedding-day, Must tell her Bees the story, Or else they'll fly away. Fly away—die away—
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,
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
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
Faith · Books · Observations · Humour
The text, however, is anything but enlightening. And although Giovanni himself stressed that he was not versed in the differences between nouns and verbs and did not know the rules of grammar, he boldly declared that "Poets are the enemies of the true faith and must be removed far
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Books · Museums
Archive · Faith · Books · Observations
On St Nicholas's Day, a detail comes to mind. In the 1642 book "The Service and Life of Nicholas the Wonderworker" there is, in the margin of one page, a curious note dating from the eighteenth century: "If things go quite badly for you, pray
Faith · Books · Observations
There is a lovely and rare word in Church Slavonic texts: petoglashenie (“cockcrow”). It denotes the time between midnight and morning and corresponds to the first crowing of the cock, when special prayers are said, the midnight offices, otherwise known as the “cock-crowing” prayers. Anyway, I make you a
Aristocracy · Books · London · People
In the autobiography of Baroness Trumpington, Jean Alys Barker, a prominent English political figure who sat in the House of Lords for 37 years and in her day held ministerial office, there is the sweetest episode in the whole history of memoirs:. “A few months ago I was doing my
NB! · Archive · Art · Books · Science
A flayed angel? From Jacques-Fabien Gautier d'Agoty's book "General Anatomy of the Internal Organs"
Archive · The East · Books · Monarchies · Moscow
The German Olearius witnessed a visit by a Kabardian delegation to the Tsar's court in 1634. What particularly struck Olearius was that the Kabardians arrived in modest array and with no particular occasion or pretext for conversation with the Tsar's officials, yet were presented with silk