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January 22, 2015

Eyewitness Account of Queen Elizabeth I

Queen-Elizabeth-I.jpg
“Next came the Queen, in the sixty-fifth year of her age,
as we were told, very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; her lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the English seem subject to, from their too great use of sugar); she had in her ears two pearls, with very rich drops; she wore false hair, and that red; upon her head she had a small crown, reported to be made of some of the gold of the celebrated Lunebourg table; her bosom was uncovered, as all the English ladies have it till they marry; and she had on a necklace of exceeding fine jewels; her hands were small, her fingers long, and her stature neither tall nor low; her air was stately, her manner of speaking mild and obliging.
- - Never Yet Melted

Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 22, 2015 11:18 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

I didn't get much farther than:

"...her bosom was uncovered, as all the English ladies have it till they marry..."

That was the Queen! Can you imagine? The mind boggles.

Posted by: Smokey [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 22, 2015 6:28 PM

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death.

They did things differently in those days.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 22, 2015 11:16 PM

I suspect that in those days, "bosom uncovered" meant some cleavage was shown. Maybe a MFA whose thesis focused on Elizabethan things can enlighten us.

Posted by: BillH [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 23, 2015 7:16 AM

Sure doesn't describe the First Wookie.

Posted by: Jack [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 23, 2015 7:47 AM

I suspect that in those days, "bosom uncovered" meant some cleavage was shown

Almost certainly correct. Even in the 18th century "naked" sometimes meant not wearing the outer clothing. Girls working the fields in the Great Plains wheat fields wearing only their shifts and knee-high wool stockings would have been described as "half-naked" in the late 19th century.

Posted by: DonRodrigo [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 23, 2015 8:11 AM

In "Gone With the Wind", Mammy tells Scarlett, "You can't show your bosom before three o'clock."

I think it's before the party early in the movie. In any case, Scarlett wasn't planning to flash anybody, just wear a low-cut dress.

Posted by: browncoat [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 23, 2015 2:01 PM

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