From the classic British Movie, The Shooting Party, a 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges based on Isabel Colegate’s 9th novel of the same name published in 1980 we find a scene set in the billiards parlor whereupon the host of the weekend shooting party Sir Randolph Nettleby walks in on Lord Gilbert Hartlet, known to be a crack shot in the bird hunting realm, sighting in a new set of Purdy shotguns, guns handmade in England by James Purdy & Sons since the year 1814 :

The Billiards Parlor: About 30 minutes into the movie…….

Sir Randolph Nettleby (played by James Mason) “Did I see you with a new pair of Purdy’s today Gilbert?”

Lord Gilbert Hartlet(played by Edward Fox, uncle of Laurence Fox from British crime drama Lewis ): Yes indeed, best guns I ever had, paid the fidler…nothing like Purdy’s for small ….and fiddish….other than Henry Hollanders, Patience, and experience….but I only ever go to Purdy now….Cockrell Hanson’s a very good begginers gun….but my first self gunder….

Sir Randolph: I imagine you must be pursued by them all now Gilbert

Lord Gilbert: Yes, very vulgar…now the only people to whom I  give…unsolicited testimony are Purdy….

In the Billiards Parlor: About 37 minutes into the movie…..

Sir Randolph Nettleby: Ah…Gilbert, yes…yes…. I didn’t realize it was you….

Lord Gilbert:  My Dear Randolph forgive me.... I wasn’t about to take a pot shot at your Roman Emperor……but with these new guns I thought my laird and I just have a minute or two of drill before we got going

Sir Randolph Nettleby:  I wouldn’t have thought that you’d need it…  things went like clockwork yesterday….anyway wouldn’t have mattered…Julius Ceasar….It’s just one of those casts I can get’em at the British Museum.…..not that you’d have be loaded….at least I hope you wouldn’t….

Hokie dokie…..so just what is one these casual casts available at the British Museum.  Well, first of all, they are unique and rare in today’s art market as the one’s made today simply can’t hold a candle to the ones made in yesteryear.

H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington

By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away.  Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, on 11th May, 1814. In due time he entered at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and took his B.A. degree in 1837.  Continue reading The Late Rev. H.M. Scarth

The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and  malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used as a drug and as a poison 2.

Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC) used orpiment (As2S3) and realgar (As2S2) as escharotics. Aristotle (384 to 322 BC) and Pliny the Elder (23 to 79 AD) also wrote about the medicinal properties of the arsenicals. Galen (130 to 200 AD) recommended a paste of arsenic sulphide for the treatment of ulcers. Paracelsus (1493 to 1541) used elemental arsenic extensively. He is quoted as saying ‘All substances are poisons … The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy’ – an apt statement for the arsenicals 3. Continue reading A History of the Use of Arsenicals in Man

Over the years I have observed a decline in manners amongst young men as a general principle and though there is not one particular thing that may be asserted as the causal reason for this, one might speculate…

Self-awareness and being aware of one’s surroundings in social interactions is something worth contemplating should a young man wish to make a goodly and lasting impression with future mother and father-in-laws, potential business clients, educated members of the clergy and perhaps the occasional fixer should one be inclined to take up politics—Caveat; not all fixers are especially socially adept, what?

Rather than bore the pants off the young man who perchance stumbles blindly into this article, let’s just get down to it and present a few dos and dont’s thus cutting to the proverbial chase.

A Few Don’ts, Never’s and God-forbids: (From personally observed behaviours of a few slobs, sloths, and whatchamacallems.)

• Never set a drink on a polished piano, grand or otherwise, without a coaster suitable to the task.
• God-forbid one does not understand that one may substitute the word fine-furniture for piano in the above sentence.
• Don’t tread on a fine looking Persian rug without first ascertaining from its owner do they prefer shoes be removed.
• Never sit on a sofa cushion unless one is willing to cough up the dough needed to repair the rip in the $500 per yard fabric should one’s hefty derriere bust the seams.  Gently pick up the cushion and set it aside in a caring manner prior to planting one’s arse and only if one has been invited to take a seat in the first place.
• Never should one prop their feet up after taking a seat…not on a coffee table, foot cushion or other furnishing unless invited to do so by the clear and present owner of said furniture.
• God-forbid one does not turn one’s phone off prior to entering the abode of the host,  one should never remove it from one’s pocket, and never enter an abode with it visible unless one is a medical doctor on emergency call duty and has clearly established this protocol with the host prior to the visit.  The best thing to do is leave the phone in one’s car prior to the visit.
• One should never talk more than one’s host.  One of the least enforced linguistic skills amongst the new millennium’s children is  turn-taking.  Let it be known that  I do actually know a few sixty year olds that have never fully assimilated said skill. If one does not understand this point, I suggest one look it up.  Never attempt to change the topic of conversation of the host unless one is a life-long acquaintance of the host well-versed in the other’s idiosyncrasies and personality traits— Otherwise, a duel might well ensue….

More later….as I quickly become bored with ill-mannered dandies….