Social

Roman Aids to Beauty

Scents; cosmetics; essences: D.C.S. Wiltshire finds that enormous variety for the unguents were produced in fashionable Roman world.

Old Sarum

A classic example of the pre-Reform Act ‘pocket borough’, L.W. Cowie describes how the uninhabited Salisbury town of Old Sarum did not lose its Parliamentary privileges until 1832.

Mrs Cornelys and Carlisle House

Aileen Ribeiro describes the masquerades and concerts that took place in eighteenth century Soho, as devised by the socialite, opera singer, and adventuress from Vienna. 

Matthew Arnold’s School Inspections, Part II

Arnold spent some thirty-five years as an inspector of schools, in Europe as well as in England. David Hopkinson describes how the Victorian poet hoped education would humanize pupils and weaken the prejudices of nation and class.