- Besnier and his wings
In 1678, Besnier, a French locksmith, constructed a curious flying machine consisting of two wooden bars which rested on his shoulders. At the ends of the bars he attached muslin wings, arranged to open on the down stroke and close on the up stroke. The wings were operated by moving the arms and legs. Although Besnier failed to realize that no man had sufficient muscular strength to fly as the bird flies, he did sense part of the truth—that gliding with the air currents was possible. During his experiments he is said to have jumped from a window sill, glided over the roof of a near-by cottage, and landed on a barge in the river. - Captain John Smith’s Map of New England
The Pilgrims were familiar with Capt. John Smith’s account of a voyage in which he had surveyed the coast from Cape Cod to Penobscot Bay in 1614. He had even offered his services as guide and military captain, but Myles Standish got the job. Undoubtedly they did bring with them his Description of New England (London, 1616), in which the following map was published. Capt. Smith, who had already gained some fame and fortune in Virginia, dedicated to Prince Charles this effort in which the term “New England” first appeared: “... it being my chance to range some other parts of America, whereof I here present your highness the description in a map, my humble suit [in original, “sure”] is you would please to change their barbarous names for such English, as posterity may say Prince Charles was their godfather.” Several English place-names were incorporated in the map, but posterity disregarded most of them, a noteworthy exception being “Plimouth.” Smith notes that the Indians called the site “... Accomack, an excellent good harbor, good land, and no want of any thing but industrious people,” recalling that “After much kindness, upon a small occasion we fought also with 40 or 50 of those [Indians]; though some were hurt and some slain, yet within an hour after, they became friends.” - Hackney Coaches in London, 1637
Excessive number of Coaches in London. The preamble of a patent granted Sir Saunders Duncombe in 1634 to let Sedan chairs refers to the fact that the streets of London and Westminster “are of late time so much encumbered and pestered with the unnecessary multitude of coaches therein used”; and in 1635 Charles I. issued a proclamation on the subject. This document states that the “general and promiscuous use” of hackney coaches in great numbers causes “disturbance” to the King and Queen personally, to the nobility and others of place and degree; “pesters” the streets, breaks up the pavements and cause increase in the prices of forage. For which reasons the use of hackney coaches in London and Westminster and the suburbs is forbidden altogether, unless the passenger is making a journey of at least three miles. Within the city limits only private coaches were allowed to ply, and the owner of a coach was required to keep four good horses or geldings for the king’s service. - The Machine, 1640-1700
The coaches that travelled between London and distant towns were similar in construction to the hackney coach, which plied for hire in the streets, but were built on a larger scale. They carried eight passengers inside, and behind, over the axle, was a great basket for baggage and outside passengers, who made themselves as comfortable as they might in the straw supplied. The “insides” were protected from rain and cold by leather curtains; neither passengers nor baggage were carried on the roof; and the coachman sat on a bar fixed between the two standard posts from which the body was hung in front, his feet being supported by a footboard on the perch. Mr. Thrupp states that in 1662 there were only six stage coaches in existence; which assertion does not agree with that of Chamberlayne, quoted on a previous page; the seventeenth century writer tells us that in his time—1649—stage coaches ran “from London to the principle towns in the country.” It seems, however, certain that the year 1662 saw a great increase in the number of “short stages”—that is to say, coaches running between London and towns twenty, thirty, forty miles distant. - Diver Salving a Gun
(From a print of 1613) - Japanese Ironclad of about 1600 A.D
With hull covered with plates of copper and iron, two rudders, one at the bow and one at the stern; and a paddle-wheel as her propelling machinery, fitted inside. - A Matchlock and a Firelock, or Fusil (17th Century)
The constantly smouldering match of the former rendered it a very dangerous weapon in the neighbourhood of cannon; the "snaphaunce", or "fusil", was fitted with a "fire-lock", in which a spark was struck from a flint. - The Battle of the Nore, June, 1653, between the English and Dutch
- Old St. Paul's on Fire
- A Coach of the Middle of the Seventeenth Century
(From an engraving by John Dunstall.) - Temple Bar, London
(Built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670; taken down in 1878 and since rebuilt at Waltham Cross.) - Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes
(From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.') - Dress of Ladies of Quality
(From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.') - Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Coach of the latter half of the Seventeenth Century
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Paul Pindar's House
- A Gentleman and gentlewoman
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - A Citizen and his wife
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - A Countryman and Countrywoman
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - Costume of a Lawyer
(From a broadside, dated 1623.) - Civil Costume about 1620
(From a contemporary broadside.) - Shipping in the Thames, circa 1660
(From Pricke's 'South Prospect of London.') - Le Ballet De La Reine
A French Court Ballet In The Early Seventeenth Century - Marshall Bassompierre
Engraved by Gouttière from the Original by Alaux. - Louis XIII, King of France
- Henri IV
- Marshall Schomberg
Engraved by Rouargue from the Original by Rouillard. - Anne of Austria
engraved by W. Greatbach from a Print by Masson, after P. Mignard - Cardinal De Richelieu
Engraved by Bourgeois. - Collar and Bodice types. Period Charles I