As Brenda reported 30 July 2007 >an English ell is 45 inches whilst a French ell is 54 inches.
In August last year I accompanied DH to a conference in Prague. And I just happened to photograph a standard ell - an upright metal strip attached to a door frame. Too many photos that day to write the location of them all but it is sandwiched between a picture of a gate at "Stara Radnice" and a picture of Schwarzenberg Palace. Tycho Brahe's fatal illness originated at a banquet in the Palace on the 13th of October 1601 - I was being shown places relating to Tycho's stay in Prague by Alena Solcova, a mathematician /historian, and the "ell" just turned up! Never thought to measure the ell itself but Alena bent her arm against it for the photo; it is about twice as long as the distance from her elbow to the centre of her palm. She was my build so, assuming our arms are of similar length, the Czech ell at some time in its history was about 64 cm (25 inches). Jay in Sydney [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
