An 1895 Arts and Crafts velvet coat in a deep pansy, with a vast medieval collar, hand-embroidered with sprays of Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata), a wild flower much loved by the Elizabethans.
By Marshall & Snelgrove, a London department store specialising in bespoke dressmaking.
I am useless. I took not one single photograph. But I did see the wonders. And was overwhelmed. If you can, please go. And if you can’t, there is a wonderful book-of-the-exhibition. Margaret Paston, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Joan of Arc in one room. Astonishing.
On his way back from Jerusalem in 1393, Henry Bolingbroke was given a leopard, which had its own cabin when they sailed from Cyprus to Venice, and ate a third of a sheep per day.
