Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 51/52)

2153.—Billiards (From “School of Recreation,” 1710)

“We perceive from the engraving of the Billiards of the seventtenth century (Fig. 2153), that the game was altogether different from what it is now. There were two instead of three balls, and a pair of little arches near the centre of the table, instead of the six “pockets” that are at present to be found attached on its outer edges, namely, one [...] [more...] [$]

2154.—Francis Moore, 1657. (From an anonymous Print published at that date)

“But Lilly’s popularity with the million chiefly originated in his almanac, which he began to publish in 1644, under the title of ‘Merlinus Anglicus, Junior.’ This obtained an amazing circulation, and was [more...] [$]

2155.—Dee.

“The most eminent of the names intimately connected with astrology, in modern [1840s] times at least, is that of John Dee (Fig. 2155), a man of remarkable ability and learning, who at the age of twenty made a tour on the Continent for the purpose—unusual with persons of his age—of holding scientific converse with the most eminent European scholars. In 1543 he was made a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, just then founded by Henry VIII.; but, five years later, we find him entering into a kind of voluntary exile, by a second Continent expedition, caused by suspicions he had excited at home of his dealings in the Black Art, in which term, however, all kinds of legitimate studies that the vulgar could not understand were included. Dee, for instance, was an able astronomer and [more...] [$]

2156.—Kelly.

“It is in connection [... with ...] Edward Kelly (Fig. 2156) that the lovers of the miraculous have become most familiar with the name of Doctor Dee [see Fig. 2155]. Kelly entered his service as an assistant in 1581, and then, according to the ordinary accounts, were commenced the “conversations with spirits.” The two magicians, it seems, had a black [...] [more...] [$]

2157.—John Gadbury

John Gadbury published a popular almanack (alamanac) in the seventeenth century. He has a moustache and a small goatee beard. [$]

2175.—Chancel of St. Giles, Cripplegate.

This is a picture of the inside of the church now called St. Giles-without-Cripplegate (‘without’ being an old word meaning ‘outside’ or ‘beyond’). The modern church was largely rebuilt after being badly damaged by bombs in the War, but when this drawing was done it was probably still the mediaeval interior, [...] [more...] [$]

2271.—Oxford from the Abingdon Road.

“If in one of those magic freaks of which eastern tales are so full, a person who had never seen Oxford or Cambridge, nor paid much attention to aught he might have read about them, were set down just outside on of these cities, say, for instance, Oxford, and on the Abingdon road (Fig. 2271), and were conducted from thence into its streets and among its population, he would be apt to think he had been transported to some foreign country; so unlike in various respects would seem the aspect of the place as compared with the aspect of other English towns. The ladies, it is true, dress there much as elsewhere; but the gentlemen—some in black togas and black square caps—others with their robes displaying rich red silk linings, and wearing lace and embroidery, and yet others who move resplendently about beneath quantities of gold lace and gold thread—what are these who wear the most picturesque of dresses with so picturesque and gallant an air?

Turning from these, who form so large a part of the entire population of the place, the place itself presents new cause for wonder and admiration. Never surely before were so many magnificent edifices congregated in so limited a space. Private buildings and public ones have here reversed their usual numeric proportion. Here, if anywhere, may one speak with propriety of a city of palaces. And then the gardens—those paradises of peaceful delight—which seem as though each must join at some [more...] [$]

King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.

The Sixteenth-Century chapel at King’s College in Cambridge University is famous not only for its music but also for its fabulous architecture. This 1845 engraving shows not only the amazing vaulted stone ceiling but [...] [more...] [$]