Breakfast Links: Week of January 14, 2013

Served up fresh for you - our latest collection of links of the week, bringing you our favorite blog posts, photographs, articles, and news stories via the Twitterverse.

• Twenty spectacular abandoned mansions from around the world.

• Streaking in bad weather is not a good idea, 1791.

• What a way to save paper! Criss-cross letter by Jane Austen, 1808.

• Forgotten corners of Old London.

• The beautiful creations  of 19th-20th c.  Brooklyn dressmakers find a place in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collections.

• Corsets destroy health, 1857.

• "The sting of a hornet": Edwardian hat-pin self-defense. 

• Madeline La Framboise (1780-1846), enterprising French/Native American fur trader in Northwest Territory.

• Detailed account of the coronation of Elizabeth I, on January 15 1559.

• How the racy confessions of an NY society girl saved the New Yorker magazine in 1925.

• Alfred the Great: no Domestic God, but no slouch, either.

• Lady pirates: Mrs. Fulworth, little-known accomplice of notorious rich-girl-turned-pirate Anne Bonny.

• Exit, pursued by a bear? Bear-baiting in Shakespeare's London.

• The Devil, & Medea & her Dragons: Lord Byron exchanges juicy gossip with John Cam Hobhouse, 1813.

• Here you go, fellow nerdy history knitters: vintage knitting patterns to download for free.

• Gossip from 1500s Italy: the story of Bianca Capello de' Medici (1548-1587).

• In Naples, 1822, "it is a common thing enough for ordinary men's wives to suckle the lap-dogs of ladies of quality."

• How President Lincoln's second inaugural ball turned into a food fight of sorts, including the lavish menu.

• New research concludes that Roman bath-houses were places where weird things went down.

• There may be a shot for the modern flu, but in 17th c. Toulouse, the only preventative for lovesickness is excessive playing of the lute.

• A scandal survives: society fashion designer & Titanic passenger Lucile (and yes, she designed Lady Edith's wedding gown on Downtown Abbey.)

• A project to study and reinterpret the wonderful 1730s dollhouse from Uppark.

• Occurring this week in 1919, the Boston molasses disaster 21 dead, 150 injured, and $100 million in damage - plus a landmark court case.

• Learning to dance was an essential attribute for a young lady or gentleman in the 18th c.

ª Ancient beauty aids, including one attributed to Cleopatra that requires "one part of burnt domestic mice."

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