Most popular posts for November 2004

Most wise men with one moderate woman wed Will scarcely find philosophy for more, And all (except Mahomentans) forbear To make the nuptial couch a 'Bed of Ware.' -- Byron, Don Juan The Great Bed of Ware: A random antique Jacobean bed: A Carolean (1625-1649) reproduction bed by the Royal Guild of Woodcarvers in the UK (I like this design best for E's bed but as you can see, the headboard doesn't provide much to hang on to):

Actually Arreton Manor on the Isle of Wight. It's about the size I'm thinking of, though, especially if you remove the bit on the left. Most of it is Elizabethan, with furnishings dating to around 1600 and the panelling in the dining room around 1650. The entranceway was built in 1639.

"On the 21st of February, 1738, this public plunderer began his depredations by stopping the post-boy bringing the Bath and Bristol mails, about seven o'clock in the evening, at the end of Sunning Lane, two miles north of Reading, in Berkshire ... It appeared by the evidence of the post-boy that he was stopped by the prisoner on horseback between the towns of Crewkerne and Sherborne , who compelled him to dis- mount, then bound him hand and foot, and rode off with the mail, containing twenty...