- Charlemagne crowned
Charlemagne Crowned, a with the nimbus Painting on glass from the Cathedral of Strousbeg, XII and XIV centuries - Château-Gaillard, Plan
Château-Gaillard, the “Saucy Castle” of Cœur-de-Lion, the work of one year of his brief reign, and the enduring monument of his skill as a military engineer, is in its position and details one of the most remarkable, and in its history one of the most interesting of the castles of Normandy. Although a ruin, enough remains to enable the antiquary to recover all its leading particulars. These particulars, both in plan and elevation, are so peculiar that experience derived from other buildings throws but an uncertain light upon their age; but of this guide, usually so important, they are independent, from the somewhat uncommon fact that the fortress is wholly of one date, and that date is on record. Moreover, within a few years of its construction, whilst its defences were new and perfect, with a numerous garrison and a castellan, one of the best soldiers of the Anglo-Norman baronage, it was besieged by the whole disposable force of the most powerful monarch of his day; and the particulars of the siege have been recorded by a contemporary historian with a minuteness which leaves little for the imagination to supply, and which, by the help of the place and works, but little changed, enables us to obtain a very clear comprehension of the manner in which great fortresses were attacked and defended at the commencement of the thirteenth century. - Plan of the Castle of Arques
ARQUES is one of the earliest examples of a Norman castle, for which reason, though not an English fortress, it has been thought convenient to include an account of it in these pages. This grand castle crowns and occupies the head of a steep and bold cape or promontory, in this case a spur from the great chalk table-land of the “Pays de Caux.” On the west it is flanked by a short but deep combe or dry valley, and on the east by the deeper and far wider valley of the Bethune and Varenne—streams derived from different sources, but which here meander across a broad and level bottom, above half a mile wide, until, a little below the castle, uniting, they receive the tributary Aulne, and, thus combined, under the name of “la Rivière d’Arques,” fall into the sea at the port of Dieppe. A. Keep. B. Inner Ward. C. Outer Ward. D. Walls of Le Bel. E. Old Ditch. F. Glacis. G. New Ditch. H. Norman Gate. I. South Gate. K. Barbican. L. North Gate. a. Galleries. - King Louis leaped fully armed into the sea
But after some delay from contrary winds, and a long wait at Cyprus, the French army landed in Egypt, where the first attack was to be made; King Louis leaped, fully armed, from his galley into the sea in his eagerness to reach the shore. The Saracens fled at first before the invading army, and the city of Damietta was taken almost without a blow. There the Queen, who had followed her husband, as our good Queen Eleanor did a few years later, was left with a sufficient garrison while the army moved onwards up the Nile. - The Party Promptly broke up
- The Man that broke the bank at Monte Carlo
- The Girl who represented Alsace
- The Concierge of each house stood continually at the front door
- The Chateau Rouge
- The American Colony is not wicked
- Tes Dans La Rue, T'es Cheztoi
- Standing on their feet for hours at a time
- Some Young People of Montmarte
- She looked down upon our street
- With a long loaf of bread
- What might happen some time if these were love-matches
- To bring a queen back to Paris
- The Restauraunt among the trees
- And transform long-haired students into members of the institute
- A Cafe Chantant
- Portraits of Carnot in Heavy Black
- On Montmarte
- Listening for the voice to speak his name once more
- Interested in the Winner
- Inside Columbin's
- French Soldier
- At the Moulin Rouge
- At the Jardin de Paris
- At the Black Cat
- At Bruant's
- Around some stately dignitary
- I have one picture in the salon
- And you believe the guides
- The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds
The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds After a Miniature of the "Tournaments of King Réné" (Fifteenth Century), MSS. of the National Library of Paris. - Reaper in Gaul (70 AD)
The accompanying cut is a good restoration of the Gallic harvester of Pliny's day. Palladius wrote the De re Rustica in the fourth century A. D. and gives a good description of this contrivance, which was similar to our "heading-machines," having a row of sharp teeth at the front edge, between which the straw passed, the head being torn off at the angle where the teeth met, and falling into the box of the machine. The description of Palladius is as follows: —" In the plains of Gaul, they use this quick way of reaping, and without reapers cut large fields with an ox in one day. For this purpose a machine is made, carried upon two wheels; the square surface has boards erected at the side, which sloping outward, make a wider space above; the board on the fore part is lower than the others; upon it there are a great many small teeth, wide set in a row, answering to the hight of the can of the corn, and turned upward at the ends; on the back part of this machine two short shafts are fixed, like the poles of a litter; to these an ox is yoked with his head to the machine, and the yoke and traces likewise turned the contrary way: he is well trained, and does not go faster than he is driven. When this machine is pushed through the standing corn, all the ears are comprehended by the teeth, and heaped up in the hollow part of it, being cut off from the straw, which is left behind; the driver setting it higher or lower, as he finds it necessary; and thus, by a few goings and returnings, the whole field is reaped. This machine does very well in plain and smooth fields, and in places where there is no necessity for feeding with straw." - Rector and Doctor of the University of Paris
The Faculty of Theology, besides its dean, who was the senior doctor, chose every other year a syndic, whose business it was to administer the private business of the company. The Decree Faculty had only a dean selected by seniority in the grade of doctor, and the Faculty of Medicine had a dean elected every year from amongst the doctors in practice. Deans and proctors, to the number of seven, formed the higher tribunal of the University. The Faculty of Arts had, therefore, a clear majority of its own upon this tribunal ; it had, moreover, assumed for itself the exclusive right of nominating the rector or supreme head of the University, and he was bound to be a member of the faculty. - Electric flying machine depicted in Le Philosophe sans pretension (1775)
We reproduce as a curiosity this charming vignette, where we see the inventor Scintilla driving his machine. - Besnier's flying apparatus
Reproduction by heliogravure of the figure from the Journal des sçavans (1678). Extract from a letter written to Mr. Toynard on a Machine of a new invention to fly in the air. A, right front aisle. — B, left rear aisle. — C, left front aisle. — D, right rear aisle. — E, fissure of the left foot which lowers the D aisle, when the left hand lowers the Aisle C. — F, fissure of the right foot which lowers the D-pin when the left hand lowers the C-pin. - The fifteen joys of marriage
Illustration from 'LES QUINZE JOIES DE MARIAGE,' PARIS, TREPEREL, C. 1500. - Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816
Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816 - Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821 - Bonaparte and the grenadier
Bonaparte and the grenadier - Femme-de-la-cour and foundling
Femme-de-la-cour (Lady of the Court) and foundling - Louis XVI on the leads of the temple
After an engraving of the period. - 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." - 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. - 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. - Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc - Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis We must now speak of two important expeditions, which ought to have settled the animated discussion as to the shape of the earth. The Academy of Sciences had despatched a mission to America, to compute the arc of the meridian at the Equator. It was composed of Godin, Bouguer, and La Condamine. It was decided to entrust a similar expedition to the North to Maupertuis. - Map of France, corrected by order of the king
Map of France, corrected by order of the king Desborough Cooley in his "History of Voyages," says, "They deprived her (France) of several degrees of longitude in the length of her western coast, from Brittany to the Bay of Biscay. And in the same way retrenched about half a degree from Languedoc and La Provence." These alterations gave rise to a "bon-mot." Louis the XIV., in complimenting the Academicians upon their return, remarked, "I am sorry to see, gentlemen, that your journey has cost me a good part of my kingdom!" - Paris street scene
Paris street scene - Lamarck
Although there has been and still may be a difference of opinion as to the value and permanency of Lamarck’s theoretical views, there has never been any lack of appreciation of his labors as a systematic zoölogist. He was undoubtedly the greatest zoölogist of his time. Lamarck is the one dominant personage who in the domain of zoölogy filled the interval between Linné and Cuvier, and in acuteness and sound judgment he at times surpassed Cuvier. His was the master mind of the period of systematic zoölogy, which began with Linné—the period which, in the history of zoölogy, preceded that of comparative anatomy and morphology. - Lamarck when old
Portrait of Lamarck, when old and blind, in the costume of a member of the institute, engraved in 1824. - Lamarck - Aged 35
Lamarck - Aged 35 - Birthplace of Lamarck
Birthplace of Lamarck - The Flight to Varennes
One June night in 1791, between eleven o’clock and midnight, the king and queen and their two children slipped out of the Tuileries disguised, threaded their palpitating way through Paris, circled round from the north of the city to the east, and got at last into a travelling-carriage that was waiting upon the road to Chalons. They were flying to the army of the east.[439] The army of the east was “loyal,” that is to say, its general and officers at least were prepared to betray France to the king and court. Here was adventure at last after the queen’s heart, and one can understand the pleasurable excitement of the little party as the miles lengthened between themselves and Paris. Away over the hills were reverence, deep bows, and the kissing of hands. Then back to Versailles. A little shooting of the mob in Paris—artillery, if need be. A few executions—but not of the sort of people who matter. A White Terror for a few months. Then all would be well{v2-323} again. Perhaps Calonne might return too, with fresh financial expedients. He was busy just then gathering support among the German princes. There were a lot of chateaux to rebuild, but the people who burnt them down could hardly complain if the task of rebuilding them pressed rather heavily upon their grimy necks.... All such bright anticipations were cruelly dashed that night at Varennes. The king had been recognized at Sainte Menehould by the landlord of the post house, and as the night fell, the eastward roads clattered with galloping messengers rousing the country, and trying to intercept the fugitives. - Napoleon’s Empire, 1810
Napoleon’s Empire, 1810 - Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign
Says Holland Rose, quoting Thiers, this Egyptian expedition was “the rashest attempt history records.” Napoleon was left in Egypt with the Turks gathering against him and his army infected with the plague. Nevertheless, with a stupid sort of persistence, he went on for a time with this Eastern scheme. He gained a victory at Jaffa, and, being short of provisions, massacred all his prisoners. Then he tried to take Acre, where his own siege artillery, just captured at sea by the English, was used against him. Returning baffled to Egypt, he gained a brilliant victory over a Turkish force at Aboukir, and then, deserting the army of Egypt—it held on until 1801, when it capitulated to a British force—made his escape back to France (1799), narrowly missing capture by a British cruiser off Sicily. - Napoleon as Emperor
He was scheming to make himself a real emperor, with a crown upon his head and all his rivals and school-fellows and friends at his feet. This could give him no fresh power that he did not already exercise, but it would be more splendid—it would astonish his mother. What response was there in a head of that sort for the splendid creative challenge of the time? But first France must be prosperous. France hungry would certainly not endure an emperor.