-
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.
29 visits
-
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.
133 visits
-
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
302 visits
-
Bonaparte and the grenadier
203 visits
-
Femme-de-la-cour (Lady of the Court) and foundling
226 visits
-
After an engraving of the period.
230 visits
-
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."
237 visits
-
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.
226 visits
-
Ferdinand de Lesseps
395 visits
-
The illustration is from the valuable MS. Life and Acts of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. The present is part of a fight before Calais, in which Philip Duke of Burgundy was concerned on one side, and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, Richard Earl of Warwick, and Humphrey Earl of Stafford on the other.
763 visits
-
Our illustration represents Isabel of Bavaria, Queen of Charles VII., making her entry into Paris attended by noble dames and lords of France, on Sunday, 20th of August, in the year of our Lord 1389. There was a great crowd of spectators and the bourgeois of Paris, twelve hundred, all on horseback, were ranged in pairs on each side of the road, and clothed in a livery of gowns of baudekyn green and red. The Queen, seated in her canopied litter, occupies the middle of the picture, in robe and mantle of blue powdered with fleur-de-lis, three noblemen walking on each side in their robes and coronets.
621 visits
-
The cut, from a MS. in the French National Library, gives the interior of the courtyard of a great house. We notice the portion of one of the towers on the left, the draw-well, the external stair to the principal rooms on the first floor, the covered unglazed gallery which formed the mode of communication from the different apartments of the first floor, and the dormer windows.
398 visits
-
The woodcut represents the execution, in Paris, of a famous captain of robbers, Aymerigol Macel. The scaffold is enclosed by a hoarding; at the nearer corners are two friars, one in brown and one in black, probably a Franciscan and a Dominican; the official, who stands with his hands resting on his staff superintending the executioner, has a gown of red with sleeves lined with white fur, his bonnet is black turned up also with white fur. In the background are the timber houses on one side of the place, with the people looking out of their windows; a signboard will be seen standing forth from one of the houses. The groups of people in the distance and those in the foreground give the costumes of the ordinary dwellers in a fourteenth-century city.
495 visits
-
Portrait of Jean Cocteau
From an unpublished crayon sketch by Léon Bakst
597 visits
-
The Western Front, 1915-18
For a year and a half, until July, 1916, the Western front remained in a state of indecisive tension. There were heavy attacks on either side that ended in bloody repulses. The French made costly{v2-517} but glorious thrusts at Arras and in Champagne in 1915, the British at Loos.
3322 visits
-
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.
895 visits
-
Britain, France, and Spain in America, 1750
782 visits
-
Sainte-Geneviève, the patron saint of the Parisians, also perpetuated with her legend on the walls of the Panthéon, originally her church but now dedicated to the Grands Hommes of the nation, was born at Nanterre, near Paris, in 422, and guarded in the fields the flocks of her parents, Sévère and Gérontia.
2033 visits
-
Water-color by George Rochegrosse.
1343 visits
-
The crowd is generally sympathetic to weddings. The hour at which they are accomplished generally coincides with that of the lunch of the milliners and other dressmakers of the district, which their lack of dowry maintains in the state of celibates without depriving them of the desire and the hope of going up in `rank`. They constitute the fund of spectators, and their special knowledge enables them to estimate with precision the probable resources of the new spouses and their entourage.
2428 visits
-
From the weighing gate of Longchamps to the top of avenue du Bois, there is everywhere the same accumulation of cars, horses and bicycles. The lines follow one another without interruption, the noses of the horses touching the hood of the previous car and the drawbars threatening the rear of the footmen sitting behind the phaeton. Despite the impatience of some, the general resignation means that, in a relatively short time, this mass of spectators ends up flowing, which, first of all, seemed to be absolutely implausible.
2510 visits
-
While at the Potinière we admire the velocemen and velocewomen in possession of all the secrets of art, we only meet here the laggards studying under the eye of professionals. It is assured that the ordinarily gifted people are, after ten lessons, in a condition to direct themselves properly. But just as some students take a long time to do their law far beyond the statutory years, so we find certain temperaments refractory to equilibrium which persist in capsizing at every turn of the wheel beyond all expectations.
2476 visits
-
Few horses are driven there for the sole purpose of quenching their thirst, but the number of tired hocks that we hope to strengthen by staying in cold water is large enough for the trough to be sufficiently populated, and the hope of seeing some clumsy groom fall into the water keeps a certain number of fans of free shows on the parapets.
2428 visits
-
The case sometimes arises that one of them takes a fish, - generally small; - the physiognomy of colleagues immediately expresses all the nuances of astonishment much more than the symptoms of jealousy, - which would tend to prove that no illusion supports them during their long stations, and that, far from coveting imaginary fries, they know what to expect from the probable results of their platonic passion.
2698 visits
-
Everyone, after a hard day's work, is anxious to find the freshness of a more or less vast garden, but where one has the freedom to put oneself in shirt sleeves. — It is the hour when additional edibles abound in the nets of the wagons, and where the melons combine their perfumes with those of the marolles and the emanations of the cigars expensive or cheap, but also smelly, of our national factories.
2645 visits
-
Very sympathetic to the housewives of the district who support them against all odds, they are the masters of the road, and the heaviest vehicles are obliged to give way to them. — If an unfortunate coachman has the audacity to walk at the smallest trot , or the awkwardness of passing too close to a customer installed in the middle of the street, he is in the grip of a vocabulary which reveals the neighborhood of the halls.
2761 visits
-
The instruction that cars must pass through this oasis intended for the recreation of children and nannies is perfectly legitimate, and we find it natural that we seek to protect future generations from any accident. But would it not be fair to demand a certain reciprocity for the safety of teams that venture there, and to prohibit these young men, so paternally protected by municipal by-laws, from launching horses such a wide variety of projectiles?
2805 visits
-
The downpour, so impatiently awaited during certain summers, sometimes multiplies in such a way that this cataclysm becomes the daily event. — Despite this regularity, the phenomenon varies so much the hours of its appearance, and occurs with such instantaneousness, that 'he succeeds each time in surprising and flooding a satisfactory number of walkers, who had thought they could profit from a fallacious clearing.
2872 visits
-
The wooden pavement is sometimes slippery, - this is often the result of natural humidity; - more frequently still, this dangerous state of the roadways results from an insufficient watering which does not remove any of the refuse on which the horses skate. - These days, there are as many animals lying as standing, and without the spirit of brotherhood that leads our fellow citizens to help each other, the circulation would become decidedly impassable.
2779 visits
-
The cyclist is generally daring — it comes from his age, his confidence in his address, the little space he needs to evolve, the speed he can get. — As a result, he throws himself with all his might, and that, if he encounters an unforeseen obstacle, he tumbles. — As long as it does not occur under the omnibuses, there is only half harm. in extreme cases, it is not yet said that it will not get away unscathed. — The Binger brake is so powerful!
2976 visits
-
Here, it is the meeting place for gourmets of intelligence, who prefer to the satisfaction of vulgar gluttony the feast of the spirit. No indigestion to fear if the chance of the title has misled you; the heaviest products have never had more serious effects than bringing sleep, sometimes anticipated, but always calm and often deep. The great advantage of this kind of gift is for the donor that it is not forced to taste it; the danger is to give, without having read it, a book which demolishes the political, religious and social tendencies of the important personage to whom he offers it for the sole purpose of making himself a protector as devoted as it is persevering.
2723 visits
-
Foresighters did not wait until January 1 to send their gifts, but the latecomers who waited until the last moment pile up at the confectioner's and go jostle to get the obligatory bag. The unfortunate thing is that in these extreme times the supplies of renowned specialists are often exhausted, and that to meet "the requirements of the public", they sometimes find themselves in the need to replace their usual products poisonous sweets and adulterated chocolates from the nearest grocer.— " Tarde venientibus ossa, " said the poet on forgotten New Years.
2724 visits
-
It is certainly the most important step that has been taken towards social reform since the new era. — The refuge adds to human rights that of being crushed only when it wants to, when it is lacking of patience, or that his physiognomy is unfriendly to the peacekeeper responsible for interrupting the movement of devices to crush the members of the poor people.
2729 visits
-
It is noon. It's lunch time, and, as La Réclame knows that a hungry stomach has no more eyes than ears, it rests. Illuminated vehicles park lined up at the bottom of the sidewalks, while their hitches stretch their tired limbs and light the comforting cigarette. — To be immobile, these vehicles nevertheless retain their motley appearance for all, terrifying for quadrupeds, and like their daily station coincides with the return of the rides, it puts desperation the squires responsible for watching over the first steps of young Amazons, whose dismayed mounts manifest in various ways their invincible repugnance.
2693 visits
-
This is a serious problem. — Is the night rate applicable when you arrive home after 12:30 am, or is it necessary that the driver was picked up after that hour to be allowed to claim the price? In the current circumstance, the coachman claims the opposite, the bourgeois claims that he owes only the ordinary race, the agents are in an extreme perplexity, and the female part of the loading of the cab is moping while waiting for the solution of the conflict.
2677 visits
-
The horses had scarcely begun to get used to the steam trams, their smoke and their whistles, which it was thought fit to use electricity. — It was doubtless with good intention, since these new vehicles run noiselessly and smoke-free. Nevertheless they cause the Parisian cavalry an invincible terror. — The animals, who are only half stupid, are always wary of what they cannot explain, and the sight of this car that nothing apparently does not set in motion, and which stirs however, inspires them with a distrust which does not seem completely unintelligent to me.
2756 visits
-
It is an open-air circle, without subscription, and with this advantage that women are admitted to it. It is undoubtedly for this reason that we see regulars there, who, although provided with numbers, never decide to take their place in the vehicles which succeed one another, however, without interruption.
2835 visits
-
An impressionable porter saw smoke on his staircase. — In his zeal, he went to smash the windows of all the warnings in the neighborhood, and from all points of the horizon the firefighters rushed to the scene of the disaster, a little unsure of his exact situation. All the kids they met escorted them with long strides, while the city sergeants stopped the traffic, under the fallacious pretext of ensuring it.
2941 visits
-
The expected shock has occurred. A carelessly driven cab, it was seen, emerging from the rue de Presbourg, did not have time to avoid the avalanche with four wheels which rolled towards him. The rear wheel of the carried tank (it broke suddenly) struck hers so that the two vehicles were instantly stopped. The lighter cab was thrown to the side while his driver was launched on the back alley.
2702 visits
-
Suddenly, without us knowing which fly bit it, one of the horses in the procession suddenly took on a disorderly pace as the combined efforts of his coachman and of his tiller's comrade failed to moderate. He does not gallop, he flies, sowing fear in timid souls, arousing the noblest inclinations of devotion in generous natures.
2717 visits
-
For several years several agencies have been founded, which, for a modest remuneration, transport foreigners through Paris and make them aware of its monuments, its particularities, its beauties and its ugliness.
3544 visits
-
An incident
2735 visits
-
Representation of a Ballet before Henri III. and his Court, in the Gallery of the Louvre.--Fac-simile of an Engraving on Copper of the "Ballet de la Royne," by Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx (folio, Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1582.)
978 visits
-
Demons applying the Torture of the Wheel.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the "Grand Kalendrier ou Compost des Bergers:" small folio, Troyes, Nicholas le Rouge, 1529.
739 visits
-
Sandal and Buskin of Charlemagne.--From the Abbey of St. Denis.
682 visits
-
Costume of King Clovis (Sixth Century).--From a Statue on his Tomb, formerly in the Abbey of St. Geneviève.
722 visits
