Christmas with Jane Austen and Charles Dickens

Mr. Fezziwig’s Christmas Ball, from A Christmas Carol

I’m always impressed by how one book can make a tremendous impact on the world, extending far beyond the writer’s lifetime. This certainly applies to Charles Dickens, born just a year after George, Prince of Wales was appointed Prince Regent. Dickens’ book, A Christmas Carol (originally titled A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) not only affected the way Victorians celebrated Christmas but is still a major influence on the Christmas values and traditions we cherish today.

Christmas in Jane Austen’s time

If we could travel back in time a couple of hundred years, we’d see that Christmas celebrations before the Victorian era bear little resemblance to how we celebrate today.

In medieval times Christmas celebrations were the highlight of the year, with feasting, pantomimes, dancing, singing, games, gifts, and other fun. However, the Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries frowned on celebrations in general and forbade any frivolity at Christmas.

This Puritan influence lingered, and during the 18th century and the Regency era, Christmas was low-key. Games, gifts, and raucous merry making were out.  A toned-down observance of the holiday centering on a religious service was in.

In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen mentions Christmas exactly six times, and the references are brief. For example, Darcy says his sister will stay at Pemberley until Christmas, and Mrs. Bennet’s brother and sister-in-law are mentioned as having come as usual to spend “the Christmas at Longbourn.”

A bag-boiled plum pudding, a Christmas treat Jane Austen would have recognized.

That’s not to say that Christmas wasn’t observed at all. Regency homes were often decorated with greenery such as holly or laurel. People went to church on Christmas Day, and then home to a dinner that could include plum pudding and mince pie.

Lucky servants or tradesmen might get “Christmas Boxes” – small gifts of money – but it wasn’t the custom to lavish gifts on family and friends the way we often do today.

Austen alludes to festivities linked to Christmas during the Regency in Pride and Prejudice through a character in her story, Caroline Bingley.

Caroline, sister of the eligible bachelor Mr. Bingley, sends Jane Bennet a letter, hoping to convince Jane that her brother was no longer interested in her. She writes:

“I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshire may abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings, and that your beaux will be so numerous as to prevent your feeling the loss of the three of whom we shall deprive you.”

“Gaieties” sounds nice, even if the intent of Caroline’s letter was mean.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with their children and their Christmas tree, December 1848

Christmas observances in England started to change when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. Prince Albert usually gets the credit for having the first decorated Christmas tree in England, a Christmas tree being a German custom he brought to his family in the late 1840s. His royal example inspired British families to get their own Christmas trees.

Less well-known is the fact that it was the German wife of King George III, Queen Charlotte, who actually set up the first Christmas tree in England in 1800 in the Royal Lodge at Windsor.

However, Christmas really started to transform into the merry holiday we’re familiar with after a certain novella was published in 1843 and became a smash hit with the British public.

Enter Charles Dickens

On February 7, 1812, while Jane Austen was writing her famous novels and living in a cottage in Chawton, Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.

His childhood was marred by his family’s financial instability. When Dickens was only 12, his father was thrown into debtor’s prison. Young Charles had to leave school and work in a factory for three years. He was able to return to school, and later began his literary career as a journalist, editing a weekly publication for 20 years while writing his stories.

A portrait of Dickens in 1842, the year before he published A Christmas Carol

Throughout his life, Dickens authored 15 novels and five novellas, plus nonfiction articles and hundreds of short stories. He often wrote about the plight of the poor and the need to reform living and working conditions.

His literary works include A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, all of which were popular during his lifetime and still are. But it’s A Christmas Carol, the little book Dickens had to pay Chapman and Hall to publish because they didn’t think it would sell, that may be Dickens’ greatest legacy.

Adaptations of A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol has been adapted too many times to count, and in every medium imaginable (books, film, cartoons, stage, public readings, television, radio) with new versions appearing every year.

Scrooge himself has been immortalized and re-interpreted by actors in an array of movies, including the critically acclaimed 1951 film with Alastair Sim and the popular Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine in 1992. Even Bill Murray had a go at the role in 1988 with Scrooged.

The very first film adaptation as far as anyone knows was a 1901 British silent film, titled Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost. The special effects are primitive compared to current cinema, but I’m sure the film was scary for its turn-of-the-century audience. (If you’re curious, you can watch it on YouTube.)

The lasting impact of A Christmas Carol 

Scrooge’s transformation from an unloved miser to a beloved philanthropist has helped Christmas evolve into much more than an important religious holiday. It’s also become an occasion to show appreciation for friends and family through joyful celebrations and gifts. Dickens reminded his readers to use Christmas as a time to express gratitude for what they have and give generously to those in need. And, of course, to have fun, too!

~~

This is our last Quizzing Glass post for 2023. We will be here again in the new year.

To borrow Scrooge’s words near the end of A Christmas Carol:

“A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world.”

~~~

Sources for this post include:

  • Inventing Scrooge, by Carlo DeVito, Cedar Mill Press Book Publishers, Kennebunkport, Maine, 2014
  • The Man Who Invented Christmas, by Les Standiford, Crown Publishing Group, Inc., New York, New York, 2008
  • Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England, by Roy and Lesley Adkins, Abacus, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, London, England, 2013
  • A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, first published in December 1843, in London, England, by Chapman and Hall.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

Featured Member for October: Anne Rollins

This month Quizzing Glass chats with Anne Rollins, author of historical fantasy romance

QG: What most interests you about the people of the Georgian/Regency era?

I think part of the appeal is how challenging it seems to find romantic partners in such a strict society. Women weren’t supposed to be too obvious about their feelings. Moralists like Dr. Gregory thought a woman should never tell a man that she loved him even if she married him! This creates a lot of narrative tension as you watch to see how two people can end up together.

QG: When did you first get hooked (and what hooked you) on the Regency era?

There were two writers that got me into the Regency: Patricia Wrede and Georgette Heyer. I discovered Wrede’s Mairelon the Magician in high school, and Sorcery and Cecelia in college, and read them over and over again. As the titles imply, these are Regency fantasies, and they undoubtedly had a large impact on my decision to write Regency fantasy.

Then, maybe a decade later, I stumbled on a Georgette Heyer novel in a used bookstore, and I loved it. (Ironically, my first Heyer may have been A Convenient Marriage, which is not Regency but Georgian!) After that, I was hooked. I bought Heyer’s books right and left, rereading my favorite ones many times. I even taught Frederica in a college course a couple of times! Slowly, I branched out from there and began exploring other writers, including both sweet and spicy Regencies.

QG: What is your favorite Jane Austen book?

Pride and Prejudice, but it’s either tied or closely followed by Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey is such an underrated book! It is hilarious, and Henry Tilney might be Austen’s wittiest love interest.

QG: What is your favorite Georgette Heyer book?

I am a huge Heyer fan, so I can’t list just one. I like different books depending on my mood, but my top five are The Corinthian, Cotillion, The Reluctant Widow, Arabella, and Frederica.

QG: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?


First, realize that writing is a process. Most people don’t sell their first book, at least not right away. Once you’ve written one book, start writing another. Your writing will get better over time. 

Second, you need to tap into the writing community. You can learn so much by joining online or real-life groups of writers. When you find good beta readers or critique partners, your writing will get stronger.

QG: Tell us about your current project or latest release.

In August, The Solitary Rose, my first novel for adults, will release from The Wild Rose Press, under the pen name “Anne Rollins.” The idea for this story came after I read one too many Regency-era “Beauty and the Beast” retellings featuring grumpy, brooding, scarred male leads. I thought “Why is it usually the male lead who’s scarred? There should be more stories with scarred female leads.” Then I had the idea to gender-flip “Beauty and the Beast,” and the result was The Solitary Rose, a Regency fantasy romance. The female main character, Emma, has smallpox scars. The male lead, Henry, is a blond-haired, blue-eyed gorgeous young man. But their personalities are all their own!

 QG: Pantser or Plotter or hybrid?

I am almost a total Pantser. When I get an idea, I jot down a few notes about the characters, the setting, and the premise of the story, but I never do outlines and I never work out the whole plot ahead of time. Generally, I have some idea of how the story will end, but figuring out how to get there is part of the joy of drafting. (I mean “joy” literally, because drafting is my favorite stage of the writing process.)

QG: Would you like to travel back in time? Where would you go? What one thing would you take with you?

If I could travel back in time for just a day, maybe. It would be fun to visit nineteenth-century Britain in real life. But I would not want to live there. Life without antibiotics and other modern medicines would be scary!

QG: What music do you play when writing?

I have ADHD, and I don’t deal well with noise while I’m concentrating. When I write, I often put on my noise-canceling headphones and play white noise or rain sounds rather than music—that helps drown out the sounds of daily life in the house. (I have three kids, so it gets noisy!) When I do play music, I may play instrumental love songs or Jane Austen-related music. The soundtrack to the 2020 Emma movie makes great writing music.

QG: What is the most surprising or amazing thing you discovered while researching a book?

While researching Regency-era mail coaches, I discovered that in 1816, a lioness escaped from a menagerie and attacked the Exeter mail coach! That’s the kind of thing that would seem unrealistic if it had happened in a novel, isn’t it?

Anne Rollins is the pen name of an English professor who lives in Northern California with her family, her pets, and an enormous collection of books. She is equally a fan of Diana Wynne Jones and Georgette Heyer, two authors whose writing influenced this novel.

Website:  https://www.annerollins.com

Featured Member for September: Heather Redmond

This month Quizzing Glass chats with Heather Redmond, mystery author

QC: What most interests you about the people of the Georgian/Regency era?

It was a very dramatic era, with war, industrialization, royal drama, mad poets, scientific advances, and so much more! Those years seem to be an endless well for creatives.

QC:  When did you first get hooked (and what hooked you) on the Regency era?

Signet Regency romances back in the 1990s. I loved the covers as well as the stories.

QC: What is your favorite thing about the Regency – what do you like to write about?

I am currently writing about (fictional) crime and murder around the Shelley Circle. I love writing about the creative minds of the nineteenth century and learning more about the era before modern policing.

QC: What is your favorite Jane Austen book?

 Pride and Prejudice, with Northanger Abbey a near second.

QC: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?

The best possible advice is simply, “finish the book.” Just keep going to the end of that first project because it is the best learning tool possible, and you can’t publish something that isn’t complete.

QC: Tell us about your current project or latest release.

My newest Heather Redmond title is my upcoming series starter, Death and the Sisters. It’s the first in my Mary Shelley mysteries. Mary Shelley famously wrote the novel Frankenstein when she was only 19, but my story takes us back to May 1814, when she was just sixteen and living across the street from Newgate Prison in London, England, with her family. They lived above their bookshop. One night, she finds a young man face-down on the bookshop floor with a knife in his back, and another in between his legs…

QC:  What comes first, plot or characters?

For me, it is a character, and these past few years, it has actually been historical figures – real people – rather than just characters I made up.

QC: Do you have a daily writing schedule and goals? What are they?

When I’m drafting, it’s a minimum of a thousand words a day, preferably seven days a week until I’m done.

QC: What did you want to be when you were ten or twelve?

I wanted to be a writer from the age of seven.

QC: Who was your favorite author as a child?

I was a voracious reader, but probably the multiple authors of the Trixie Belden mystery series.

QC: If your newest book is being made into a movie, who would you cast as the hero?

The main characters in my new series are heroines, not heroes, but I would cast the first supporting male character (Percy Bysshe Shelley) with Timothée Chalamet.

QC:  What is the most surprising or amazing thing you discovered while researching a book?

When I was a younger writer, I was very intimidated by historical fiction. I didn’t have the confidence to think I could do it myself. Even when my second professional sale was a fantasy-type Victorian short story, I didn’t think I could do it. After years of dabbling in shorter history-set stories, I finally worked my way up to full novels set in the past, and I’ve never looked back. The research is fun and we have to accept that we will make mistakes, but if it is hard for us to research, very few readers, if any, are going to know the absolute truth anyway. Besides, we can write to what we know, and write around what we don’t. The ultimate goal is to tell a good story.

About the Author

Heather Redmond is the author of the A Dickens of a Crime and the upcoming Mary Shelley mysteries. She has also written many works as Heather Hiestand. Website:  www.heatherredmond.com

Thanks for telling us about yourself, Heather

England’s “Injured Queen”

Caroline, the Princess of Wales, in 1804. Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

August can be an unlucky month for European royalty, and that was especially true during the Regency. Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena in August of 1815. And in August of 1821, Caroline of Brunswick, the Princess of Wales, died a lonely death in London just three weeks after her estranged husband, the former Prince Regent, was crowned King George IV.

But let’s go back to the beginning of this tale of an unhappy royal marriage. Caroline’s sad story began in Germany long before she caught the attention of the Court of St. James.

 An arranged marriage 

Caroline was unlucky throughout her life. Born a German princess in 1768, she nonetheless had a lonely childhood.  Her family kept her isolated and secluded, especially from the opposite sex.

Her companions were elderly females and governesses. She was sent to her room when guests came over and usually couldn’t go to court functions or balls. And when she was permitted to attend a ball, she wasn’t allowed to dance.

She had even less luck in her married life.

Caroline’s husband, chosen for her, was the Prince of Wales, the future Prince Regent and King George IV of England.

The Prince’s money problems

Caroline was by no means the Prince’s one and only. By the time he was considering marriage, the Prince already had kept several mistresses and had even entered into an illegal marriage with a Catholic woman, Maria Fitzherbert. Though the marriage was never valid, the Prince referred to Maria as his wife for years after his marriage to Caroline.

The only reason the Prince agreed to legally wed Caroline, or any woman at all, was because he was deeply in debt – millions of dollars in today’s money. He regularly exceeded his generous annual allowance, and his lavish spending was taking its toll on the government coffers.

King George III refused to settle his son’s debts unless his heir married an eligible princess. So Prince George reluctantly agreed to enter into matrimony on the condition that his allowance was to be doubled in addition to his debts being paid.

Enter Caroline

Caroline in 1795, painted by Gainsborough Dupont.

And that’s how Caroline of Brunswick came into the picture. She was the daughter of  the British Princess Augusta and the Duke of Brunswick. Princess Augusta was the sister of King George III, which made Caroline’s mother the Prince’s aunt.

Not only was Caroline an eligible Protestant princess, but the Prince’s marriage to her would further strengthen the alliance between England and Brunswick.

For King George III and his royal advisors, Caroline was the perfect choice to wed the Prince of Wales.

Meeting her prince

Even though Caroline and George were first cousins, they had never met in person. There were no photographs in those days, so the young couple relied on carefully crafted painted portraits to “see” each other – sort of like the 18th-century version of Tinder.

But painted portraits, designed to flatter their subjects, can lie. When Caroline and George finally saw each other right before their wedding, both were disappointed in their future mates.

When the Prince of Whales first laid eyes on his future bride he was taken aback. Caroline at age 27 wasn’t bad-looking, and some sources even describe her as pretty at this stage in her life, with golden curls. But she was short and rather heavy, graceless, and loud. She was also careless about her personal hygiene and by some accounts had to be reminded to bathe more often and change her underclothes.

You could see why someone as fussy and fastidious as the Prince would be appalled. After meeting Caroline, the Prince reportedly asked for a glass of brandy and retreated to the far corner of the room.

As for Caroline, she later commented that her intended was “very fat and he’s nothing like as handsome as his portrait.”

Caroline may have been naïve going into her marriage, but she was no fool. She noticed, and was unhappy about, the Prince’s obvious preference for the company of Lady Jersey, who was his mistress at the time. Prince George had sent Lady Jersey to meet his future bride when Caroline landed in England, and he also made his mistress his future wife’s Lady of the Bedchamber. But despite their mutual misgivings, the royal pair went through with their wedding anyway, on April 8, 1795.

Off to a bad start

Another Sir Thomas Lawrence portrait of Caroline, painted in 1798.

However, the Prince’s bad first impressions of Caroline soon congealed into real antipathy. He insisted later he only had sexual relations with his wife three times – twice after the wedding and once a week later. In any event, it was just enough to conceive their only child, Princess Charlotte, who was born in 1796.

Though they shared a residence (Carlton House) the couple unofficially separated within weeks of their marriage. After Charlotte was born, Caroline moved out, establishing herself in a rented place close to Blackheath.

His dynastic duty done, the Prince proceeded to publicly ignore his wife. As much as he could arrange it, she wasn’t part of his life. She wasn’t invited to his parties or court functions. He severely restricted her access to her child, insisting that a nurse or governess had to be with her when she visited the baby.

As far as he was concerned, his legal wife didn’t exist. He continued to exceed his allowance, lavishing money on his palaces, clothes, mistresses, and entertainment.

A neglected wife

In the years that followed, stories began to circulate that Caroline had taken lovers – rumors that led to a “delicate investigation” into her conduct in 1806. During the investigation Caroline was not allowed to see her daughter at all, and even after the charges of infidelity were proved groundless, Caroline’s visits with Charlotte were further restricted to once a week, and only in the presence of her mother, the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick.

Jane Austen weighs in 

Like most of the British public, Jane Austen had an opinion on the squabbles between the royal couple. She was firmly on what today we’d call “Team Caroline.”

Here’s what she wrote in a letter to a friend in 1813 about the Princess of Wales: “Poor woman, I shall support her as long as I can, because she is a Woman, & because I hate her Husband  . . . but if I must give up the Princess, I am resolved at least always to think that she would have been respectable, if the Prince had behaved only tolerably by her at first.”

The Princess goes on holiday

Caroline and Pergami together in a caricature by George Cruikshank, 1821

In August of 1814 Princess Caroline left England and her husband, who was now the Prince Regent, for a self-imposed exile on the Continent. After a visit to her native Brunswick, she moved to Italy. Back in England, the Prince Regent continued his extravagant lifestyle.

Freed from the restrictions she’d known in England, Caroline went a little wild, and word of her behavior soon reached London. One scandal in particular was her liaison with a handsome Italian hunk who was many years her junior. He was a servant she hired in Milan, and his name was Bartolomeo Bergami. He later changed his surname to Pergami because he thought it sounded more aristocratic.

According to gossip, Caroline spent much of her time cavorting with Pergami and dressing and acting in ways inappropriate to her age, much less her station in life. But perhaps she was reacting to years of being stuck in England with a husband who made no secret of his disgust of her.

Caroline returns to England

After leaving England in 1814 Caroline stayed in Europe for six years. While she was away her daughter Charlotte married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the happy couple soon became pregnant.

In 1817, with Caroline still living abroad, tragedy struck when Charlotte died giving birth to a stillborn son. Caroline heard the news of her daughter’s death from a passing courier, showing how far she had been cast out of the royal circle.

Charlotte’s death and the death of the baby made Caroline’s position in the royal family even more tenuous. As the Prince Regent’s estranged wife, she had much less clout than she would have had as the mother and grandmother of his heirs to the throne.

So when mad old King George III died in 1820 and it was the Prince’s turn to become king, Caroline decided it was time to return to England. She was determined to claim her rightful role as queen consort.

The new king, however, was equally determined that she would never sit beside him on the throne.

Next time: England’s “Injured Queen,” Part 2.

**

Sources for this post include:

  • The Prince of Pleasure and his Regency 1811-20, by J.B. Priestley, Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1969.
  • Our Tempestuous Day, by Carolly Erickson, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1986.
  • An Elegant Madness, High Society in Regency England, by Venetia Murray, Viking (Penguin Putnam, Inc.) New York, 1999.
  • The Regency Companion, by Sharon Laudermilk and Teresa L. Hamlin, Garland Publishing Inc., New York and London, 1989.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Mistletoe Myths

Christmastime in Regency England began on Christmas Eve—it was considered bad luck to decorate any earlier, a tradition lost in this very commercial modern world. Decorations included holly with its prickly green leaves and bright red berries, green ivy and fragrant rosemary, evergreen boughs, laurel and bay leaves, and—of course—mistletoe. In the countryside, this could be collected, and in the city, it could be purchased, and many an enterprising young person might gather the greenery to sell and raise some money.

This image is from the early 1800s and shows a couple about to kiss underneath a bough of mistletoe. Others sit around them and another couple waits their turn.

Jane Austen also mentions cutting out ornaments from gold paper and silk to pin onto the greenery. The decorations would stay in place until Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, when it was said the three kings or magi visited baby Jesus, and Twelfth Night cake would be served. It would be bad luck to leave it up any longer, and so the greenery—now dry—would be burned.

The custom of kissing under the mistletoe—or kissing bough—was in place in Regency England, but its exact origins are lost.

Mistletoe was prized by the ancient Greeks, and included in marriage ceremonies. Romans used the plant as a symbol of peace. The Norse considered it a symbol of peace as well, with a myth about the death of Baldur, killed by a spear of the plant, and after that the goddess Frigg declared the mistletoe to instead be a symbol of love. The Druids thought the plant, which grows upon other trees, had magical and medicinal powers and brought good luck. It was usually found on apple trees, but was considered a divine plant when found upon oak trees. The Druids used mistletoe to cure infertility, but mistletoe was a herbal remedy used for centuries to treat arthritis, epilepsy, hypertension, headaches, and menopausal symptoms.

Its modern name comes to us from Old English mistiltan, which in turn comes from the old Saxon words mistel, a word of uncertain origins, and Proto-Germanic word tan, meaning “twig” (which in turn traces back to the Old Saxon and Old Frisian word ten, and the Old Norse teinn).

While decorating with mistletoe in winter dates to pre-Christian times—it was a custom in Wales to decorate the house with mistletoe—Mark Forsyth in his book A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions traced the tradition of a kiss under the mistletoe to starting up somewhere between 1720 and 1784 in England. Forsyth notes mention of mistletoe in print in 1719 and 1720 books by John Colbatch. The apothecary and physician wrote on the superstitions and customs associated with mistletoe, but without a mention of kissing. That could be due to him being more interested in its medicinal properties. Forsyth also mentions stories from the 1700s depicted women “using the mistletoe excuse to elude possessive husbands and parents”—so it seems to have been a way to break some rules.

The tradition holds that a man is allowed to kiss any woman—or a woman may kiss any man—standing beneath a sprig of mistletoe, or a kissing bough made by weaving the mistletoe into a ball. If the kiss is refused, bad luck befalls that person. When a kiss is taken, a berry is plucked off the mistletoe, and after the last berry has been taken, no more kisses can be stolen.

But a Regency Christmas was not just about stolen kisses. The Reverend William Holland, who served at the vicarage of Overstowe in Somerset, kept a diary of his life there from 1799 to 1818. Not only did he hold the traditional Christmas Eve service, with its church bells calling the faithful to attend, he and his family would be woken early on Christmas by wassailers who sang for their traditional drink. Holland then opened his house to these folks and the villagers for food and drink, showing the custom in Regency England of goodwill and charity at Christmastime. Let us hope he also had some mistletoe in the house.

For more reading:
https://www.95th-rifles.co.uk, A Regency Christmas
https://randombitsoffascination.com, Kissing Boughs and Mistletoe
https://janeaustensworld.com, Gathering Mistletoe

Assembly Rooms, May 2015

So many articles this month! I hope you find some of them to be of interest.

Gillray-very slippy weatherThe prodigiously talented Gillray: http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/james-gillray-prince-of-caricaturists.html

The care and upbringing of foundlings: http://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/thomas-coram-and-the-foundling-hospital/

A London walk: https://londonhistorians.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/footsteps-of-soane-ii/

Continue reading “Assembly Rooms, May 2015”

Assembly Rooms, January 2015

Assembly Rooms is a collection of links to blogs and articles of interest to lovers of the Regency Era.

Glorious Gothic: http://www.regencyhistory.net/2015/01/strawberry-hill-horace-walpoles-gothic.html

Strawberry Hill by Paul Sandby, courtesy Wikipedia
Strawberry Hill by Paul Sandby, courtesy Wikipedia

An impressive display of carriages: http://www.regencyhistory.net/2014/10/the-national-trust-carriage-museum-at.html Continue reading “Assembly Rooms, January 2015”

Below stairs at Belton House — Lincolnshire   by Jane Lark

Jane Lark, author of a number of historical romances, spent some time at historic Belton House, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire. This great seventeenth century house played the part of the many-windowed mansion of Rosings Park, Lady Catherine de Burgh’s country estate in the 1995 series of Pride and Prejudice. Today, Jane tells us about her tour of the servants’ areas of the great house.

Continue reading “Below stairs at Belton House — Lincolnshire   by Jane Lark”

The Most Popular Man of the Regency by Angelyn Schmid

In today’s article, Angelyn Schmid tells us about Richard Sharp. No, not the fictional Regency soldier, Richard Sharpe. This Richard Sharp, without the "e," was a real man who lived during the Regency. A man who was very popular with many people across all classes. Once you know more about him, despite the fact that he would prefer you did not, you might like him nearly as well as those who knew him in life.

Continue reading “The Most Popular Man of the Regency by Angelyn Schmid”

Fordyce’s Sermons and Jane Austen’s Joke   By Jane Lark

If you have read Pride and Prejudice, even if you recognized the reference to Fordyce’s Sermons, you may not get the subtle joke Jane Austen intended. It would have been understood by most readers of her era, particularly the ladies, but the majority of modern readers will miss it all together. Today, Regency romance author, Jane Lark, whose most recent book is The Passionate Love of a Rake, will explain Jane Austen’s joke with regard to Mr. Fordyce’s book of sermons so that we can all enjoy the fun.

Continue reading Fordyce’s Sermons and Jane Austen’s Joke   By Jane Lark”

The Real Regency Reader:   Jane Austen   by Angelyn Schmid

In honor of Jane Austen’s two hundred and thirty-eighth birthday, today we have an article by Angelyn Schmid about the importance of reading, not only in the Regency, but specifically in the novels of Jane Austen. Though she did not have many years of formal education, Jane Austen was an avid reader, as were some of the characters in her books. Angelyn also explains what it meant to be literate during the Regency.

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Continue reading “The Real Regency Reader:   Jane Austen   by Angelyn Schmid”

Regency Beauty — Part II by Ann Lethbridge

This is the second and final article in Ann Lethbridge’s series on Regency-era beauty products. As we learned from her last article, the use of these products was not restricted to ladies. There were a number of toiletry products which were also regularly used by men during the Regency. She includes an image of an eighteenth-century shaving stand which was sent to her by one of the readers of her first article. A most intriguing contraption.

Ann also offers a home recipe from the era on how to make one’s own lavender water. Once you understand its many benefits, would you consider making some?

Continue reading “Regency Beauty — Part II by Ann Lethbridge”

Jane Austen Experience by Jane Lark

A couple of years ago, author Jane Lark and her husband travelled to Warwickshire to visit Stoneleigh Abbey. This lovely country manor was the home of the Leigh family from the 1560s through 1990. The Leigh family were cousins of the Austen family and during Jane Austen’s lifetime, she spent time at this lovely estate. In today’s article, Jane Lark shares her perceptions of the house and the various ways in which it is connected to the works of Jane Austen.

Continue reading “Jane Austen Experience by Jane Lark”

Web Site Do’s and Don’ts   By Cheryl Bolen

When Jane Austen wrote her novels, she used a quill pen and a bottle of ink to make a fair copy of her manuscript on hand-made paper. She sent it off to her publisher, who had it type-set by hand, printed and distributed to book-sellers and circulating libraries. Her publisher might have taken out an ad in some of the more widely circulated newspapers. That was the extent of book promotion during the Regency. But for those who write Regency novels today, technology has made it possible to promote those books in a number of different ways. In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen shares some tips from a web mistress who has designed web sites for a number of prominent authors. Whether you have had a web site for years or have just published your first novel and are ready to set up your web site, you will find sage advice from a professional in Cheryl’s article.

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Jane Austen ~ Regency Promenade by Nancy Mayer

Our Regency Personage for December was born in December

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775. She was the seventh of eight children and only the second daughter. Her father was a clergyman.

Her oldest brother was James who became a clergyman like their father.

The second brother was George about whom not much is known. It is thought that he was deaf because Jane knew how to “speak with her fingers.” Some say he had other problems and might have been a Down’s syndrome child. George lived in a private home with a caretaker all his life.

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Courting and Marriage in the Regency   by Cheryl Bolen

Are you planning a big wedding scene in your next Regency novel, the bride in a brand-new white wedding gown and veil, a flock of bridesmaids in matching gowns, and a church-ful of guests throwing rose petals as the happy couple leaves the church? You may want to re-think all of that after you read the article Cheryl Bolen has for us today.

How couples really courted and married in Regency days …

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Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

Assembly Room – Round-up of the best Regency and historical posts


 A disastrous royal marriage – George and Caroline:  http://bit.ly/xhdFxF
Lady Jersey by Richard Cosway
Regency versus Victorian – which do you choose?  http://bit.ly/y202yZ
Victorian with Crinoline
Victorian with Crinoline

Chariot Elaborate with Coat of Arms
Chariot Elaborate with Coat of Arms
           Livery and coaches:  http://bit.ly/ympeiN
Weymouth – a Georgian spa for a princess: http://bit.ly/zxXaDV
What horrid novel would Jane Austen recommend?  http://bit.ly/AzykwL
I love that word fustian:  http://bit.ly/xmZXGQ
Lady with Rouged Cheeks
Lady with Rouged Cheeks
       Regency beauty secrets (and some lovely prints besides!) http://bit.ly/yjZm8Z
Capital improvements – a sophisticated review of a Regency movement http://bit.ly/ABYxBM

Posts collected by Angelyn Schmid, a member of The Beau Monde.   Like history?  Fall in love with it!  Check out my blog at www.angelynschmid.com on history and romance.

Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

1805-1825 Almack's Assembly Room
1805-1825 Almack's Assembly Room

Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

          by The Beau Monde member Angelyn Schmid.

These caps are adorable:  http://bit.ly/yoWl8G

Adorable caps from Rose Lerner
Adorable caps from Rose Lerner

A birthday cake for Jane Austen: http://bit.ly/uj4t3p
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The Education of Young Men and Women in the Regency — by Cheryl Bolen

Today we offer you an article by Cheryl Bolen about the way in which young people of both sexes were educated during the Regency. She presents some interesting facts on a Regency education which authors might find of value in their research. Bolen makes clear that the education of ladies was not ignored, nor was education available only to the wealthy. However, as you read about education in Regency times, consider whether or not you would have enjoyed getting an education, Regency-style.

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Mrs Hurst Dancing

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

No, this book is not about Jane Austen’s Mrs. Hurst from Pride and Prejudice. The Mrs. Hurst who lent her name to the title of this delightful volume was a real woman, who lived during the Regency. Her home was in a small English village in Buckinghamshire called Newport Pagnell, and she loved to dance. She was captured in full swing one evening at her home in a charming watercolor by a young friend, Diana Sperling.

The full title of this book is Mrs Hurst Dancing & Other Scenes from Regency Life 1812 – 1823. I stumbled across it in my local library and was immediately enchanted. This volume contains full-size reproductions of a number of watercolor sketches made by a young woman called Diana Sperling during the years of the Regency and just beyond. Miss Sperling also wrote witty explanatory captions for most of these watercolors which gives a real flavor of the daily life of a family of the minor gentry during the Regency.

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