Faith · Books · London · Observations · People

Thomas Eliot and Virginia Woolf were friends for over twenty years, but when Eliot embraced Christianity, or rather, after a period of open hostility to the Church, gradually became a zealous believer, Woolf said: he is dead to all of us

Thomas Eliot and Virginia Woolf were friends for over twenty years, but when Eliot embraced Christianity, or rather, after a period of open hostility to the Church, gradually became a zealous believer, Woolf said: he is dead to all of us. She called his faith in God and the immortality

NB! · Faith · People · Rome

Pope Francis Is 88 and Has Pneumonia

Faith · Mores · Education · People

Talleyrand's childhood injury, which sent him to seminary instead of military service

The Shoes of the Devil upon Two Sticks, and Louis-Philippe Supporting a Barely Upright Talleyrand. As you can see, old Talleyrand, author of the remark "Whole nations would be horrified if they knew what petty men rule over them", is wearing the orthopaedic footwear of his age.

Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People

The age gap of Henry II and Diane de Poitiers compared with the Macrons

Diane de Poitiers, favourite of the French King Henry II, was twenty years his senior. Just imagine how conspicuous such a difference was by the standards of the sixteenth century! She also outlived him by seven years. By all accounts, the delightful wife of the French President Macron, Brigitte, is

Art · Education · Society · People · Humour

The Best So Far on the Subject

The young Napoleon Bonaparte at his studies in Brienne (Jean Onfroy de Bréville, 1910). And the not-so-young Trump, who long ago stopped learning anything new.

NB! · Books · Mores · People

Thomas Mann and His Poodle Niko

NB! · Cinema · Monarchies · People

Stills from the film version of the Vakhtangov Theatre's production “Paul I”, about the complex and enigmatic life of the Emperor, which holds a great many secrets, with Alexander Oleshko in the title role

Books · Science · People

Pushkin on Lomonosov's poetry and its influence on literature

In Lomonosov there is neither feeling nor imagination. His odes are tiresome and bombastic. His influence on literature was harmful and is still felt in it today. Pomposity, affectation, an aversion to simplicity and precision, an absence of all national character and originality: such are the traces Lomonosov left behind.

Observations · Society · People

Do you remember the phrase attributed to Stalin, when he refused to exchange his son from his first marriage, Senior Lieutenant Yakov Dzhugashvili, for the former commander of the 6th Army in the Stalingrad "cauldron", Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus: "I d

This is a fairly commonplace formula for patriotic myths. Something similar is attributed to Barclay de Tolly, who was told of the death of his son during the Battle of Leipzig: "An officer has been killed; I beg you not to interrupt me, for now all children belong to

Black-and-white photograph of a desk piled with papers, in front of a blackboard covered in formulas and shelves of books.

NB! · Archive · Science · People

Albert Einstein's desk as it remained after the scientist's death

Albert Einstein's desk, just as he left it after his death

Art · People

Louis XV style commode by Parisian cabinetmaker François Linke, early 20th century

A Louis XV-style commode with a large central panel. Made by François Linke (1855-1946), early twentieth century. The central door of the commode bears an allegorical bronze composition with a pair of figures. The piece is richly adorned with foliage and flowers, and its façade is crowned at

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