{"id":741,"date":"2019-02-01T10:40:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T10:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=741"},"modified":"2019-02-01T10:40:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T10:40:12","slug":"ladies-might-you-not-consider-the-benefits-of-puppy-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=741","title":{"rendered":"Ladies, might you not consider the benefits of puppy water?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A review of The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain<\/a><\/em>, by Ian Mortimer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear reader, might I recommend the services of the good Doctor Mortimer as a companionable guide to the highways and byways of life in Restoration England, with occasional, albeit brief, remarks upon the lives of the North Britons, who pride themselves upon the name of Scots. From the life of the meanest peasant to that of the most urbane and profligate rake, you will find yourself witness to the pleasures, and pains, of our forebears, as they throw off the restraints of those dismal and earnest years of Old Noll, and the Commonwealth. From the squalor and superstition of the old world, we see the glimmerings of a new and more rational age, ushered in by the gentlemen of the Royal Society, and the efforts of architects in the wake of the Great Fire. Fewer crones in their dribbling dotage now find themselves prosecuted and hanged for witchcraft, but still other women find themselves consigned to the flames for the petty treason of dispensing with an abusive husband. The law must be seen to be done, and so the highwayman sways in his creaking gibbet, and the corpse of the pirate hangs tarred on the shores of the Thames; many a thief must hang, or be indentured to the West Indies, and the heads and quarters of traitors may find a public resting place upon a spike, or nailed up somewhere for the edification of the populace. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an age of tumult and colour, of enlightened discovery and casual cruelty, rendered in a deft and engaging manner, channelling the observations of Pepys, Evelyn, Fiennes, and others, to transport the reader into an everyday world that we can never directly know. The impressions are vivid, and the details striking, with the consequence that this volume is a delight for any reader who possesses an interest in social history, or this particular period in time. It is also, undoubtedly, a boon for authors of historical fiction. There are details here which will in turn surprise, delight, and disgust, and sometimes all three. Ladies, might you not consider the benefits of puppy water? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain<\/a><\/em> may be viewed by clicking the title. <\/p>\n

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