It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
Pissabed; mare's fart; dead man's fingers. Three of the hundreds of traditional English plant names which, once ubiquitous but now little-known, have been replaced by the much more prosaic taraxacum, jacobaea vulgaris and xylaria polymorpha. A victory for scientific categorisation, perhaps, but arguably a loss for colourful English folklore. Before the professional standardisation of botanical …
Continue reading Pissabed, mare’s fart, dead man’s fingers: Curious old plant names
Although we are regularly reminded of the potential health risks of drinking too much coffee, to my knowledge no-one has yet argued that men ought to cut back on coffee because it makes them impotent. However, that is exactly what one bawdy pamphlet from 1674 claims. Given the catchy title of The Women's petition against …
Continue reading Does coffee make men impotent? a 17th-century perspective
Continuing on from 17th century romantic compliments, here is some advice from 1679 on how not to behave in public. The book, The Refin'd Courtier, or, A Correction of several Indecencies crept into Civil Conversation, criticises the foul manners of some of the author's high-born contemporaries. It provides an interesting insight into the social etiquette of …