Essays on Petticoat

Introduction

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and Ben Jonson (1572-1637) are famous English poets, playwrights and authors. Herrick and Jonson grew up and wrote poems and plays in the same era and were both comparable to the great William Shakespeare. After his apprenticeship with his uncle ended abruptly, Herrick, aged 26 then, became a disciple of Ben Jonson who mentored him in literature. The two wrote five poems together. Herrick’s poetry was about religion, love and he was famed for writing on pastoral themes on the life in the English countryside. Ben Johnson on the other hand was best famed for satirical ...

Introduction

The clothing that the people of 18th century Europe wore has the ability to fascinate us like some objects of their material culture do. Clothing is intimate, for example, an eighteenth century garment seen in a museum collection, usually elicits an instinctive urge to touch it. To some of us, we have the desire to experience the elaborate decoration, the beautiful fabrics and the tactile qualities found in 18th century Europe clothing no longer with our own clothing. To other people, these desires are raised by the need to understand the people from the past a little better.

How the clothes were made

Clothes during this ...

Book Review: The Petticoat Affair

John Marszalek, in his book The Petticoat Affair: Manners Mutiny and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House, investigates the well-documented and scandalous 'Eaton Affair' of President Andrew Jackson's first presidential term, in which he defended the provocative marriage of Peggy Timberlake (rumored to be sexually promiscuous) to Jackson's War Secretary John Henry Eaton. Since the wives of the rest of Jackson's Cabinet refused to accept her into the fold, Jackson tirelessly spent two years of his life trying to defend her honor, which cost Jackson a great deal of reputation and cachet among the American people. It even cost him ...