The Early Modern Commons

Travels and travails in 18th-century England

Recent Posts

A few little wagers

21 May 2013

Gambling was a popular activity in the eighteenth century, and some of the sums involved are staggering. I recently came across an example of someone using it almost as a means of...

Of the vagaries and eccentricities of women

12 May 2013

  Recipes are often found in printed appointment diaries, such as a copy of The Complete Pocket-Book, or Gentleman’s and Tradesman’s Daily Journal, for the Year of Our...

Here comes the sun

6 May 2013

To celebrate the brief appearance of the sun, these short verses were found on a tiny piece of paper in an anonymous eighteenth-century recipe book: Written upon a sun dial Thus steals...