Books · Mores · Humour

Excerpt from the notes of Diogenes Laertius published by the magazine

Once Diogenes of Sinope (the very one from the barrel) was pleasuring himself in the middle of the marketplace, remarking: if only hunger could be eased by rubbing an empty belly. From the notes of Diogenes Laërtius

NB! · Aristocracy · Mores

The water really does have a connection to the Medici family: it comes from a spring on the grounds of their Tuscan hunting estate of Panna, from which the Medici had it brought to Florence in enormous flasks

Aristocracy · Books · Mores · People

If we are to believe that the prototype of the Queen of Spades was the old Princess Golitsyna, then we must of course bear in mind: Natalya Petrovna was one of the most beautiful women of her time, in Paris she was called the Muscovite Venus, Emperor Geor

If we are to believe that the prototype of the Queen of Spades was the old Princess Golitsyna, then we must of course bear in mind: Natalya Petrovna was one of the most beautiful women of her time, in Paris she was called the Muscovite Venus, Emperor George II gave

NB! · Archive · Science · Mores

How Was a Solar Eclipse Observed in the Seventeenth Century?

How was a solar eclipse observed in the seventeenth century? On 12 August 1654, people looked at the sun through smoked glass; the more resourceful used a mirror, and the very cunning a dish or a bucket of water

Aristocracy · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · Society · Humour

Princess Olga Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, sixth son of Alexander II, has an interesting recollection of how, at the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks came to requisition her palace at Tsarskoye Selo

Princess Olga Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, sixth son of Alexander II, has an interesting recollection of how, at the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks came to requisition her palace at Tsarskoye Selo. The Soviet had resolved to occupy the palace for want of premises. Paley

Faith · Observations · Mores · Ethnography

In England there was a fortune-telling custom before Christmas or on St Thomas's Day: girls took three, five or eight onions and pierced them with pins, marking each with a special sign or initial standing for the names of the young men they had their eye

In England there was a fortune-telling custom before Christmas or on St Thomas's Day: girls took three, five or eight onions and pierced them with pins, marking each with a special sign or initial standing for the names of the young men they had their eye on,

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

Rembrandt, ‘The Bed’

Rembrandt, ‘The Bed’. A drawing of 1646, from the time of the artist’s relationship with his housekeeper Hendrickje Stoffels. All would be well, were it not that the woman has three arms

NB! · Mores · Pop Culture · Humour

How Facetune Worked in the Eighteenth Century

NB! · Archive · London · Mores

The Fashions of Hyde Park, Spring 1819

Old woodcut of two men with eyes dangling on strings and a winged devil carrying a man on a cloud above a town with spires.

NB! · Faith · Mores · Humour

A Puritan warning to sinners about falling eyes and a devil on a cloud

If you sin, your eyes will fall out, and then the devil will carry you off on a cloud. Hold fast to Puritan values, and have a good week!

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · London · Mores · Humour

Symptoms of Debauchery: Maria Anne Fitzherbert and Albinia Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire (the one with the larger jewellery) at the theatre, 1794

Symptoms of Debauchery: Maria Anne Fitzherbert and Albinia Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire (the one with the larger jewellery) at the theatre, 1794. Sometimes intraspecific competition drives one to extreme measures

Monarchies · Mores · Saint Petersburg · Humour

When Catherine II Was Giving Birth to Her Bastard Alexei Bobrinsky, Her Valet Vasily Shkurin Set Fire to His Own House to Distract Peter III, Who Loved to Run to Fires

When Catherine II was giving birth to her bastard Alexei Bobrinsky, her valet Vasily Shkurin set fire to his own house to distract Peter III, who loved to run to fires. Now that is devotion!