Art · London · Mores

English game hunt the slipper and a quotation credited to Shakespeare but written by Dryden

Hunt the slipper, or Find the Slipper: an old English game in which the “customer” must find a slipper, shoe, toy or present that the “cobblers” seated in a circle pass secretly to one another under their feet. One may not only pass the slipper along furtively but also pretend

NB! · Monarchies · Mores · Humour

When 17-year-old Prince Charles was flying to study in Australia, a girl he had never met, Star Fluke by name, kissed him at Hawaii airport and said her dream of kissing a future king had come true

Terracotta figurine of a child riding a pig against a dark background in a museum display, with a painted ancient vase nearby.

NB! · Archaeology · Mores · Ethnography

Ancient Rattle of a Child on a Pig from Taras and Its Role as an Amulet

A child riding a pig, 3rd century BC, Taranto, Italy. Even over two thousand years ago children played with rattles, but besides entertainment the rattle also served as an amulet: the sound made by the pebbles inside was believed capable of frightening off evil powers

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores

The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna plays billiards with her elder sister, Alexandra of Denmark, Queen of England

Art · Observations · Mores

May the appearance of these two gentlemen of 1782, painted and gaudily dressed, help everyone who sees them to grow accustomed to the thought that notions of beauty in the past can be every bit as surprising, even shocking, as notions of beauty in the fut

May the appearance of these two gentlemen of 1782, painted and gaudily dressed, help everyone who sees them to grow accustomed to the thought that notions of beauty in the past can be every bit as surprising, even shocking, as notions of beauty in the future. Every age has its

People in a bar raise beer mugs beneath a sign reading “Farewell 18th Amendment”, while a bartender in a light jacket holds a huge mug.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

Prohibition in the United States repealed on 5 December 1933 after thirteen years

The lady in the foreground is delighted by the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, which had introduced Prohibition in the USA. The ban on the production, transportation and sale of alcohol had been in force in the States since 1920. On 5 December 1933 Prohibition was repealed by the ratification

Archive · Books · Monarchies · Mores

Mirror divination on the day of the Tilsit meeting of Alexander I and Napoleon

Pogodin has a tale, told by Countess A.D.B., of a strange divination that took place in a landowner's house, in the company of friends E.O. The young ladies fell to talking of divination by mirror, and the daughter of the house agreed to try it

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

This fellow has been receiving his friends without leaving his bed since about 1653

This fellow has been receiving his friends without leaving his bed since about 1653. Beer, wine and tobacco as the marks of idle dissipation, already in the days of the Dutch Golden Age and in the lifetime of the artist Gesina ter Borch

Faith · Observations · Mores

Francis of Assisi's pact with the wolf and the Russian tradition of pacts with evil

Francis of Assisi has a tale of how he struck a bargain with a ferocious wolf. Francis was displeased that the wolf preyed not only on animals but also made attempts on people, who bear the image of God. And so the medieval saint proposed a pact to the wolf:

NB! · Mores · Humour

I Like Your Outfit Very Much, but I Have Very Bad Taste

Faith · Books · Mores · Ethnography

Saint Lucy of Syracuse, her iconography, her role in Dante and the dessert of 13 December

In Italy there is a famous festive dessert called Saint Lucy's eyes. The iconography of the early Christian patron saint of the blind characteristically shows eyes, which she holds in her hands or on a small dish. According to variants of the hagiographic legend, Saint Lucy, who lived

NB! · Art · London · Museums · Mores · Humour