To be fair, the pay-by-the-hour women were, by all accounts, EXCELLENT in France in 1527, and were getting far better in England. But Peter was hanging around with Lutherans mainly for his part of the mission and, well...

While in The City (that's San Francisco to us of a Bayological persuasion) recently the Countess and I ambled up to the sixth floor of the public library and saw their Salute To Fops exhibit (not really, but for me, effectively, that's what it was), at which they had laid out under glass The Chap Almanac:An Esoterick Yearbook for the Decadent Gentleman, a copy of which I immediately sent for and which lies before me now. A sample:

"Fully blown consciousness is not a happy state, even when negotiated with the aid of a brocade dressing gown, a head full of poetry and the fire of Dionysus in your soul. That is why, as any gentleman knows, no period of 24 hours should ever be embarked upon without at least a moderate consumption of narcotics. The only questions that face any man about town are what to consume, when and how to consume it, and how to accomplish this with verve, dignity and style."

The book is entertaining me immensely currently, and the periodical it comes from can be found here, so give 'er a whirl!

In more Frederick-related stuff, it is not surprising to me that nobody wanted to return to 1527. Frederick was enchained there. Peter was taunted by fake moose-mounted Swedes. Newton was nearly killed by Italians until saved by Anabaptists, which experience being worse for him it is hard to say. So, to 1871 we go!! Victorians and Junkers ahoy!

- Count Dolby von Luckner