tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post1146269470940195011..comments2023-10-20T11:17:47.246-04:00Comments on Two Nerdy History Girls: The Frost Fair of 1683Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-76350240684076603772010-12-29T17:32:07.195-05:002010-12-29T17:32:07.195-05:00Printing on the ice -- the second is a subject clo...Printing on the ice -- the second is a subject close to Susan's heart.<br />"Portrait of Charles II in penmanship, drawn in an oval with calligraphic flourishes on all sides, printed on the Thames in the Frost Fair of 1684"<br />http://michaelrobinsonblogs.blogspot.com/2010/02/snow-showes-and-humours.htmlAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18385689703075431439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-20640300347479764502010-01-22T09:40:15.639-05:002010-01-22T09:40:15.639-05:00I saw that, too, Theo. You think of how bundled up...I saw that, too, Theo. You think of how bundled up people today get to, say, go skiing, or another outdoor winter activity -- yet these people look like they're off for a walk in park on a warmer day.<br /><br />I just read a passage in Samuel Pepys' diary for a cold January day in 1667. He meets with the Swedish envoy -- who would surely know something about keeping warm -- on business, and Pepys is a little disgusted that the envoy appears "out of his bed in his furred mittens and furred cap." Guess this was considered disgracefully slovenly, but it sounds cozy to me! *g*Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997375216314200469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-76232920079662760902010-01-21T21:25:10.815-05:002010-01-21T21:25:10.815-05:00Interesting that in those pictures, no one is dres...Interesting that in those pictures, no one is dressed any warmer than they would have been at any other time in winter. I can't imagine spending all day on the ice like that though. My poor feeties would be frozen!nightsmusichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05984119792540771870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-81062313531487540632010-01-20T14:04:23.901-05:002010-01-20T14:04:23.901-05:00Mme. T., you're right, there have been several...Mme. T., you're right, there have been several other Frost Fairs on the Thames when the river froze. The last was in fact early in the19th c., before weather became warmer and the course of the river was "improved" to run faster. This last Frost Fair must have been the one used in Heyer book; however, I'm not enough of a Heyer-reader to be able to pinpoint the book, either. Anyone else?<br /><br />Hurlyburly, John Evelyn is considered something of a visionary in regards to environmental matters, and he was one of the first to warn of the hazards of coal-fire smoke.<br /><br />LInda, you're absolutely right! When else could a printer or other "low" merchant do business in such primo real-estate, right there close to Whitehall Palace? *g*Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997375216314200469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-42552892703071225562010-01-20T12:32:13.783-05:002010-01-20T12:32:13.783-05:00The frozen river provided a huge tract of valuable...The frozen river provided a huge tract of valuable real estate for the wonderful price of FREE!Linda Banchehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18143074276306710646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-53077254269707436582010-01-20T12:03:51.045-05:002010-01-20T12:03:51.045-05:00I find it interesting that John Evelyn is writing ...I find it interesting that John Evelyn is writing about the clouds of coal smoke compounded by the weather in the 1680s. This sounds like the infamous "London Fog" that permeated Victorian London during the winter months. We always think of the air as being clear long ago, but here is proof that man had already begun to poison things with pollution nearly 350 years ago, well before the so-called industrial age.Hurlyburlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-49772336876680322962010-01-20T11:13:12.896-05:002010-01-20T11:13:12.896-05:00There was more than one London Frost Fair, wasn...There was more than one London Frost Fair, wasn't there? I believe I read a book with a description of a regency-era one. I believe it was by Georgette Heyer, though I can't remember the title.Mme.Tresbeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09946280107593133692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-2439533966825051112010-01-20T09:09:23.446-05:002010-01-20T09:09:23.446-05:00i agree, Vanessa. I have to think that they must h...i agree, Vanessa. I have to think that they must have been a much hardier bunch than us modern wimps. *g* Even the King must have been cold. Anyone who has warmed themselves before a fire knows that the heat only reaches a few feet into the room, and grandest rooms in Whitehall Palace with high ceilings and tall, uninsulated windows must have been impossible to heat. But the novelty of the frozen river seems to have overcome personal discomfort, and, as you say, they were an enterprising lot!Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997375216314200469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-63322460000536130552010-01-20T08:41:28.440-05:002010-01-20T08:41:28.440-05:00What interests me is that even though the hardship...What interests me is that even though the hardship was so severe, Londoners still found the time, money, and energy to enjoy the Frost Fair. But can you imagine how cold it must have been for those shopkeepers camped out on the ice? What an enterprising lot! I find it amazing that a printer even managed to set up shop.Vanessa Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14571549124283013391noreply@blogger.com