Tag Archives: Great Britain

1750: Estimate

Posted on December 9, 2019 by corvusfugit

In 1750, astronomer Thomas Wright estimated the number of inhabited planets in the observable universe: Of…habitable Worlds, such as the Earth, all which we may suppose to be also of a terrestrial or terraqueous Nature, and filled with Beings of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Astronomy, Books, Great Britain, Printmaking, Science, Thomas Wright | Leave a comment

1869: Although He Was a Cow

Posted on November 24, 2019 by corvusfugit

Curious Dreams A writer in the “Argos” says: “I remember when a boy, sleeping in a strange house, in an old-fashioned room, with an oaken store cupboard over the bed. I dreamed that I was being murdered; the assassin struck … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1860's, 1870's, 19th Century, Advertising, Animals, Art, Cows, Dreams, Food and Drink, Great Britain, Joseph Denovan Adam, Mammals, Murder, Painting, Scotland, USA, Weather | Leave a comment

1920: Mother and Father Had Turned Into Cabbages

Posted on September 29, 2019 by corvusfugit

A selection from Charles William Kimmins’s book Children’s Dreams (1920): A lady was sitting on my bed, and the King and Queen were under the bed eating bread and butter, and a lot of ladies with them. The sun and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1850's, 1860's, 1870's, 1920's, 20th Century, Books, Charles William Kimmins, Children, Dreams, Great Britain, James Elliot, Photography | Leave a comment

1792: Name Your Weapons

Posted on September 7, 2019 by corvusfugit

One afternoon in 1792, Lady Almeria Braddock and a certain Mrs. Elphinstone were having tea when the following exchange occurred: Mrs Elphinstone: “You have been a very beautiful woman.” Lady Almeria: “Have been? What do you mean by ‘have been’?” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Art, Duelling, Great Britain, Illustration, Printmaking, Women | Leave a comment

1307: Qualiter caput hominis situatur

Posted on September 1, 2019 by corvusfugit

This llustration from an early fourteenth century compendium shows the five functions of the brain: perception, imagination, estimation, cogitation, and memory. Drawn from the works of Thomas Aquinas and the Arabic philosopher Avicenna, the theory posits that sensory information enters … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 14th Century, Art, Avicenna, France, Great Britain, Illustration, Philosophy, Psychology, Thomas Aquinas | Leave a comment

1956: The Hound of Heaven

Posted on August 10, 2019 by corvusfugit

In 1893, English poet Francis Thompson published a poem called “The Hound of Heaven.” The work is an extended metaphor: as a hound pursues a hare in a hunt, so does God pursue the human soul to restore it to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1890's, 1930's, 1950's, 19th Century, 20th Century, Art, Christianity, Francis Thompson, Great Britain, Painting, Poetry, Psychology, Religion, Robert Hale Ives Gammell, USA | Leave a comment

1784: Whimsical Associations

Posted on July 12, 2019 by corvusfugit

From Paul Fussell’s Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (1965): “In ‘The Poplar Field’ …William Cowper…unwittingly allows the whimsical associations of triple meter to work against him.” The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade And the whispering sound of the … Continue reading →