Aristocracy · Observations · Mores · People
A great-great-granddaughter of the Russian historian Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev spoke about the background of another famous historian, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Karamzin's stepmother had a nephew, Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev, who was on friendly terms with Senator Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, the curator of Moscow University, a former tutor
NB! · Heritage · Mores · Nature
Footbridge on the Khmelita Pond. In the estate's heyday, a system of ponds was laid out within the grounds of the parks, where fish were bred for the household and the master's table. The ponds have survived to this day
NB! · Art · Mores · Humour
You broke my pitcher, so marry me. Social satire, 1773. In reality, of course, the pipkin here stands for the female genitals. To crack a pipkin meant to deflower. As you can see, the girl has a belly
NB! · Faith · Mores
Mores · Society · People
Constantin and César Faucher, known as the Twins of La Réole, were brigadier generals of the French army and took an active part in the revolutionary movement. They came from a well-to-do family, studied under Voltaire and were friends with Mirabeau. The brothers were inseparable, and their lives
NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · Observations · Mores
For some time I have been gathering material on twins among the aristocracy and the royal houses. One of the most remarkable and touching stories is, perhaps, that of the Faucher brothers, who lived in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
Aristocracy · Cinema · Books · Mores
Byron once wrote that a woman should never be seen eating, unless it is lobster, salad or champagne. Only these dishes, so the argument goes, do not diminish pure femininity. Idiocy, of course. But in the biographical film about Byron made by the BBC in 2005, this quotation is wittily
NB! · The East · Museums · Observations · Mores
Dancing slippers of the 1820s to 1830s with Chinese embroidery and, it would seem, a British leather sole. Well, nineteenth-century footwear on a flat sole looks far better than heels, like
NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
The Duke and Duchess of Angoulême: he puts one in mind of our pensioners in Rubchinsky, chasing fashion with their brains switched off; really, silly boy, can one go about with a bikini line like that? Not even in 1823.
Aristocracy · The East · Mores · Society
A love drama comes to mind. The Catherinian grandee Count Osip Igelstrom, packed off to live out his days on a pension for his Warsaw failures, was appointed by Paul I, after the Empress's death, military governor of Orenburg. In Orenburg the 60-year-old Igelstrom made the
NB! · Art · Monarchies · Mores
His Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales, takes boxing lessons, 1786. Judging by the face, the future King George IV is standing in the middle; he is 26 here. The man with the wound on his face is the trainer, John Jackson
Archive · London · Observations · Mores · Nature
On 14 November 1813 Byron paid a visit to Chunee, London's celebrated elephant. The seven-tonne giant was the star of the menagerie at Exeter Change. The elephant would take off visitors' hats, accept a coin and hand it back, and open doors. Byron was delighted by