History Notes

Book review: Doctor of Love James Graham and His Celestial Bed

April 17, 2009 By Cari

“Originality is not achieved by striving for it.” This is one of my favorite quotes. To me this means that the only way we can be original is to simply be ourselves. The moment we strive to be original our efforts end up morphing into a mess because we’re trying to be something we’re not. We lose the plot and our efforts (whatever they might be) end up…unoriginial. James Graham, an 18th century medical doctor who specialised in sexual health, was not only original but ahead of his time in many respects. Given the finite knowledge any good doctor actually had about the human body in the 1780’s a lot of medical care was either down to medical customs (sometimes more deadly than the ailment) or unfounded, untested quackery. Bascially, anyone who could afford to attend medical classes and make himself sound like a doctor…could set himself up as a doctor. [Read more…] about Book review: Doctor of Love James Graham and His Celestial Bed

Memories bloom like flowers in a lush green lawn…

April 8, 2009 By Cari

On Monday afternoon memories collided with the present. When I learned a friend from highschool would be passing through Stamford with her daughter to see Burghley House I offered to put them up and I’m so glad they stopped over. It was lovely to see her, meet her daughter and talk about the past and the present. We talked about memories, writing, books and people we used to know. Yesterday morning we went up to Burghley House and I took 235 pictures. With the clouds passing quickly over bright sunshine it was one of those days where pictures seem to appear and disappear as fast as you can raise your camera, but I kept snapping [Read more…] about Memories bloom like flowers in a lush green lawn…

Cameras and Cookies Don’t Mix!

March 16, 2009 By Cari

red stockings facing left — red stockings

Have I accomplished anything today? Not yet, not unless you count airing the house while I sat outside reading Lydia Syson’s Doctor of Love and eating chocolate biscuits to celebrate my forthcoming future mega-healthy eating plan. To the right you can see part of the outfit I wore to church yesterday. My favorite colour a la moment is red, but I LOVE red stockings. I waited years to find these and then I paid a lot for them. (They cost more then the rest of the outfit put together, though admitedly the shoes were second hand and I made the skirt from fabric I found at the market.) Red stockings bring to mind Louis XIV (one of my favorite dead-Frenchmen). He wore them for several paintings so I like to think of him parading about with red legs tout les temps, only his legs were covered with silk and mine with spun plastic…minor details. What you can’t see is how fat I am. [Read more…] about Cameras and Cookies Don’t Mix!

Lost Stories at the V&A

February 11, 2009 By Cari

The Victoria and Albert museum has about seven miles of exhibition rooms crammed with beautiful stuff from all ages and corners of the globe. I can’t imagine anyone being able to see the whole thing in week let alone a day. My visits have been kept fairly short. After about two hours in any museum I start having sensory overload. My eyes start to bug out and images start to swirl into meaningless blotches of painful shapes and colours. Six hours in the V&A and I’d be done for! Can you imagine some poor security guard finding me passed out, spread eagle like some dazed votary infront of a naked Celtic warrior. Have you ever seen the sculpture, “The Fallen Gaul”? I don’t know if the V&A has a copy, but it’s one of my favorite…yes he’s naked and has a wee too much facial hair, but he’s so lovely…even if he is dying. [Read more…] about Lost Stories at the V&A

Who was born 250 years ago today?

January 25, 2009 By Cari

250 years ago today Robert Burns was born. Today people all over the world will gather to celebrate his life and work. Why? Who was Robert Burns? He was a Scottish farmer-poet and you will know one of his songs even if you’ve never heard his name. Auld Lang Syne, the song the world sings at New Years…that’s Robert Burns! Technically he died before “The Regency” began, but his poetry heavily influenced the poets and politics of the nineteenth century. [Read more…] about Who was born 250 years ago today?

Georgian infertility…a money making opportunity

January 21, 2009 By Cari

Wealthy Georgians desperate to have a child in 1780 would have heard about Dr James Graham’s Grand Celestial bed with curiosity and hope. (Lord Cranston’s parents tried it without success.) Dr Graham rented a house in Pall Mall and constructed this contraption that he advertised as an aid to fertility. Patrons paid £50 a night for a chance to use it. In modern money given the fluctuating state of inflation one night would have cost over 4000£ (that’s about $7000 US dollars) for the privilege of spending one night in a bed, but this was no ordinary bed! Dr Graham (a real doctor who became known as the Doctor of Love) designed this bed himself as an aid to procreation. It was based on his previous experiments with electrocution and magnetism (and I assume his own fertile adventures).