Tag Archives: Great Britain

1899: O ye whales and all that move on the waters bless ye the Lord

Posted on May 7, 2019 by corvusfugit

Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne: O ye whales and all that move on the waters bless ye the Lord (1899); from the Prayer of Azariah, a passage that appears in the book of Daniel in some versions of the Christian Bible: … Continue reading →

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1891: May Day

Posted on May 1, 2019 by corvusfugit

Happy May Day! Walter Crane: The Triumph of Labour (1891)

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1921: Outnumbered and Outgunned

Posted on April 23, 2019 by corvusfugit

In the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), Irish republicans were vastly outnumbered and outgunned by British forces—yet they won, fighting to an eventual truce and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. How did they do it? In … Continue reading →

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1963: A Colour Guide to Clouds

Posted on April 15, 2019 by corvusfugit

Each time you look at the sky, try to identify the clouds in it and test whether the explanations given in the book could be true for them. Gradually you will come to know the important clouds and the circumstances … Continue reading →

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1871: Wasp in a Wig

Posted on March 13, 2019 by corvusfugit

In 1870, illustrator John Tenniel wrote to Lewis Carroll suggesting that he delete an episode from Through the Looking-Glass: Don’t think me brutal, but I am bound to say that the ‘wasp’ chapter doesn’t interest me in the least, & … Continue reading →

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1939: A Cat Standing on Its Hind Legs

Posted on February 14, 2019 by corvusfugit

Louis Wain: A cat standing on its hind legs, formed by patterns supposed to be in the “Early Greek” style (1925-1939).

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1991: Time’s Arrow

Posted on December 31, 2018 by corvusfugit

In Martin Amis’s 1991 novel, Time’s Arrow, time flows backwards. It’s not simply that the events are narrated in reverse order; rather, it’s as if the characters were in a film being show in reverse. Here’s how eating works, for … Continue reading →

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1773: An Extraordinary Animal

Posted on December 20, 2018 by corvusfugit

In his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, James Boswell famously recounts his travels with Samuel Johnson in the highlands and western islands of Scotland. The year was 1773; Johnson was in his mid-sixties. In an 1885 edition of … Continue reading →

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1842: Snowstorm

Posted on December 4, 2018 by corvusfugit

J. M. W. Turner: Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (c 1842)

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1357: Fruit

Posted on November 23, 2018 by corvusfugit

In passynge be the lond of CATHAYE toward the higℏ ynde & toward BACHARYE, men passen be a kyngdom þat men clepen CALDILHE, þat is a fuƚƚ fair contre. And þere growetℏ a maner of fruyt as þougℏ it weren … Continue reading →

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