- Tokens sent to Wolsey by the King and Anne Boleyn
- The Queen's first baby
Drawn and Etched by Her Majesty the Queen. [Queen Victoria] - The fifteen joys of marriage
Illustration from 'LES QUINZE JOIES DE MARIAGE,' PARIS, TREPEREL, C. 1500. - The Dude of the 17th Century
Avoid what is called the "ruffianly style of dress" or the slouchy appearance of a half-unbottoned vest, and suspenderless pantaloons. That sort of affectation is, if possible, even more disgusting than the painfully elaborate frippery of the dandy or dude. - The Corset in the 18th Century
During the 18th century corsets were largely made from a species of leather known as "Bend," which was not unlike that used for shoe soles, and measured nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness. - The ascension of Montgolfier’s balloon
It was on June 5, 1783 that Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, two French brothers, sent up the first balloon. You can just imagine the amazement it caused when it arose from the ground. - Steel Corset worn in Catherine's time.
The most extensive and extreme use of the corset occurred in the 16th century, during the reign of Catherine de Medici of France and Queen Elizabeth of England. With Catherine de Medici a thirteen-inch waist measurement was considered the standard of fashion, while a thick waist was an abomination. No lady could consider her figure of proper shape unless she could span her waist with her two hands. To produce this result a strong rigid corset was worn night and day until the waist was laced down to the required size. Then over this corset was placed the steel apparatus shown in the illustration on next page. This corset-cover reached from the hip to the throat, and produced a rigid figure over which the dress would fit with perfect smoothness. - Sir Thomas Wyatt
- Ships the British, and the German, navy might have had
Ships the British, and the German, navy might have had! Designs by the Kaiser and other naval theorists. The first illustration on this page is a design for a battle-ship made by the Kaiser in 1893, to replace the old "Preussen," then out of date. The vessel was to carry four large barbettes and a huge umbrella-like fighting-top. Illustration No. 2 is an Immersible Ironclad, designed by a French engineer named Le Grand, in 1862. In action the vessel was to be partly submerged, so that only her three turrets and the top of the armoured glacis would be visible. No. 3 is Admiral Elliott's "Ram," of 1884. The ship was to carry a "crinoline" of stanchions along her water-line, practically a fixed torpedo-net. No. 4 is Thomas Cornish's Invulnerable Ironclad, of 1885. She was to have two separate parallel hulls under water; above she was of turtle-back shape. - Ships the British navy might have had
Ships the British navy might have had! Freaks of marine architecture that have not been officially adopted. We illustrate here some curious designs for war-ships by various inventors. No. 1 is McDougal's Armoured Whale-back, with conning-towers, a design of 1892 for converting whalebacks into war-vessels. No. 2 is an American design of 1892, Commodore Folger's Dynamite Ram, cigar-shaped, with two guns throwing masses of dynamite or aerial torpedoes. No. 3 is a design by the Earl of Mayo in 1894 and called "Aries the Ram," built round an immense beam of steel terminating in a sharp point, No. 4 is Gathmann's boat for a heavy gun forward, designed in 1900. She was to be of great speed, and the forward gun was to throw 600 lb. of gun-cotton at the rate of 2000 feet per second. A formidable Armada this, had it been practicable. - Queen Victoria - Age 8
Queen Victoria - Age 8 - Queen Victoria - Age 18
Queen Victoria - Age 18 - Queen Victoria - 1891
Queen Victoria - 1891 - Queen Anne Boleyn
- Louis XVI on the leads of the temple
After an engraving of the period. - Louis XIV, for the first time, receiving his ministers
This moral depravation, naturally, extended downward to the whole court. M. Brentano, who is one of the few French historians who venture to lay disrespectful hands on the grand Roi-soleil, says: "Charles VII was the original source of the crapulous debauchery of the last Valois; he traced the way for the crimes of Louis XIV, and the turpitudes of Louis XV." This, although the higher clergy of the reigns both of Charles and of Louis Quatorze did not fail in their duty, and did denounce openly from the pulpit the sins of these all-powerful monarchs. - Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816
Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816 - Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc - Her Majesty Queen Victoria
The first portrait painted after her Coronation. The history as to how the first portrait of Her Majesty after her coronation was obtained is also full of interest. The Queen is represented in all her youthful beauty in the Royal box at Drury Lane Theatre, and it is the work of E. T. Parris, a fashionable portrait painter of those days. Parris was totally ignorant of the fact that when he agreed with Mr. Henry Graves, the well-known publisher, to paint "the portrait of a lady for fifty guineas," he would have to localise himself amongst the musical instruments of the orchestra of the National Theatre, and handle his pencil in the immediate neighbourhood of the big drum. Neither was he made aware as to the identity of his subject until the eventful night arrived. Bunn was the manager of Drury Lane at the time, and he flatly refused to accommodate Mr. Graves with two seats in the orchestra. But the solution of the difficulty was easy. Bunn was indebted to Grieve, the scenic artist, for a thousand pounds. Grieve was persuaded to threaten to issue a writ for the money unless the "order for two" was forthcoming. Bunn succumbed, and the publisher triumphed; and whilst the young Queen watched the performance, she was innocently sitting for her picture to Parris and Mr. Graves, who were cornered in the orchestra. Parris afterwards shut himself up in his studio, and never left it until he had finished his work. The price agreed upon was doubled, and the Queen signified her approval of the tact employed by purchasing a considerable number of the engravings. - Henry the Eighth
- First Fight of SPRING and LANGAN, on Worcester Race-Course, January 24th, 1824
First Fight of SPRING and LANGAN, on Worcester Race-Course, January 24th, 1824 - Femme-de-la-cour and foundling
Femme-de-la-cour (Lady of the Court) and foundling - Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk receive the great seal from Wolsey
- Cromwell, Earl of Essex
- Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821 - Charles Dickens Chair and desk
Charles Dickens Chair and desk - Cardinal Wolsey in progress
- Cardinal Wolsey
- Bonaparte and the grenadier
Bonaparte and the grenadier - A Lady at Play
The court of France was, at this period, the most depraved in morals, the grossest and most unpolished in manners, of any in Europe. The women of the bourgeoisie, envious of the great ladies, called them dames à gorge nue; and the latter retaliated by designating the women of the people as grisettes, because of their gray (grises) stockings,—a name retained almost down to the present day. In the sittings of the États Généraux, the President, Miron, complained bitterly of the excesses of the nobility, the contempt for justice, the open violences, the gambling, the extravagance, the constant duels, the "execrable oaths with which they thought it proper to ornament their usual discourse."