Urania was considered the fair Muse of Astronomy, for Elfinspell she provides factual information, usually off-beat and interesting, appealing to a broad range of people — the curious types.
(The deadly dull--to some--but essential information not found elsewhere easily may show up here as well.)
But let's start with a favorite: a trivia guide of the nineteenth century--it's a must for those whose ambition is to appear on Jeopardy someday.
This book made it to at least six editions, proving that trivia and useless knowledge was information of great interest in the last century as it continues to be today.
If you don't find a fascinating fact here somewhere, then you either know all this already or you will have never navigated your way to this page in the first place.
Having been published in 1884, some of the information is out of date, especially geographical data. Even with this, you will get a glimpse of the world as it was in this year.
Bet you don't know a bunch of this stuff and when you read on, you'll find a use for the information. (A poor innocent stranger was just informed of the first card game ever invented at a small Chinese restaurant this very evening. He took it very well and it certainly didn't affect his appetite one bit.)
Go on, try it!
So, for starters, Elfinspell's Urania is delighted to bring you:
And a tidbit on the first use of the word Christmas in early English literature here.
A little bit about Sneezes and Sneezing — folklore, allusions, superstitions, etc., can be read in this excerpt by William Mathews from A Pinch of Snuff.
From John Timbs', The Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales; their Legendary Lore and Popular History:
The Castle and Abbey of Malmesbury,
Wilton Abbey and Wilton House,
Castles of Marlborough, Great Bedwin, and Trowbridge,
Cranbourn Chase: King John’s Hunting-seat,
Littlecote House. — A Mysterious Story,
Draycot House. — The Legend of the White Hand,
Avebury, Stonehenge, and Silbury Hill,
Some definitions of Older English terms for property and land divisions, the definition of socage, and other agricultural terms from the Appendix of A Short History of English Rural Life by Montague Fordham:
In this book, there is also a map that forms the Frontispiece by Mr. Widlake, showing the plan of a XIIth century Manor, which helps illustrate some of the terms used in the above brief descriptions.
Two pages from P. LaRousse's French Dictionary, showing picures modes of transportation in French, in common with much of Europe, in the late 19th century. The terms are in French, and most are translated into English. This was found in F. Berger's (1896) French Method.
From Anecdotes of Dogs by Edward Jesse:
The Irish and Highland Wolf-Dog,
