It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, criminal barristers were viewed by many people with suspicion and even hostility. A cartoon from around 1800 portrays a barrister saving a clearly guilty thief whilst trampling on the figure of Justice. In a way, it's not so different from the dislike which criminal barristers arouse in some people …
One of the most interesting things about history is that it's both far and near. Sometimes I read something and suddenly feel very close to the people of the past, realising that they often endured the same trials and shared the same joys. The tablets found at Vindolanda, an ancient Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall, …