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Chocolate
The first printed evidence we have of Chocolate being used in London is in the notice in the Public Advertiser in 1657: In Bishopsgate St is an excellent West India drink called chocolate to be sold, where you may have it ready at any time, and also unmade at reasonable rates. By the end of…
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Smuggling and Customs Officers
Smuggling is a crime with an unusual status. Although most crimes are abhorred by the middle classes smuggling was the exception which for reasons of economy and presumably of enjoying the thrill of taking a risk was regarded by them as the exception to their usual stance of not supporting illegal activities. The temptation was…
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7 Buildings-
The architect’s problems in dealing with clients impossible demands are illustrated in this extract. Imagine the size of the inscription necessary to make such large letters. Impossible to achieve while keeping the correct proportions of the pillar. We think of vandalism as a 20th century phenomenon. So it is on a massive and near universal…
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Activities and inventions
From the top to the bottom of society people were very much more active in the 18th Century than in the late 2Oth.At the bottom agricultural labourers aided by horses did by hand ploughing, sowing seeds and harvesting, their teenage children were mostly employed as servants, their wives worked most of the hours of the…