Regency Trivia – Men’s Breeches

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During the Regency there were three types of unmentionables men wore. The oldest—and the only one accept at Almack’s—were breeches. Breeches could be made in a variety of different fabrics, such as silk, wool, leather, and nankeen.  Breeches ended just below the knee and could be worn with either boots or dress pumps. They were essential wear for evening events until around the late 1840’s. Only gentlemen dressed in breeches were allowed in Almack’s. Buckskin breeches were de rigueur for riding, around Town, and in the country.

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Regency Trivia – Ubiquitous Words – Check

As we’ve seen before, some words have been around for hundreds of years, but their meanings have evolved over time. ‘Check’ used as a verb is one of those words. Up until the around 1911 in the US, ‘check’ meant to stop someone from doing something, or to stop yourself from doing something, or to slow your horses. It applied to dogs losing a scent. To lose one’s wages, in short, there were many meanings.

However, around the time of WWI in the US ‘check’ began to be used to look in on something or to arrive and depart from a place such as checking into a hotel.

Therefore, during the Regency, ‘check’ was not used to look in one someone or something or to ensure something.

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Regency Trivia – Men’s Underclothing

During the Regency, underclothing was the term for underwear. Unmentionables were actually breeches or trousers, not underclothing. The meaning changed to mean underclothing during the Victorian era. Interestingly, a man’s shirt was also considered to be underwear. Ergo, if a man is running around wearing only his shirt, he’s running around in this underclothing. This was probably the reason banyans were so popular. One man even had his portrait wearing one. For their nether parts, gentlemen either wore their shirt tails tucked around their groin or drawers.

 

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Regency Trivia – Women’s Drawers

There is an on-going (and unresolved) debate about whether ladies wore drawers. Advertisements have been found for drawers. I tend to think ladies, especially young ladies, did not wear them. It’s more than possible that women in the demi-mode did wear them. They were considered scandalous because they had legs and only men were supposed to wear clothing items with legs. They were also notorious for falling down. At least one lady was embarrassed when she was at an evening entertainment and they did just that. But whether you believe they did or not, it’s helpful to know just what Regency era drawers looked like.

Drawers were two pieces of cloth made into legs and held together by a string at the waist, very much like chaps. There was no slit.

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Regency Trivia – Hall or Foyer?

A hall originally referred to the large main room of an old castle or house. It was the place that the family showed its wealth. They were often quite elaborate because it was the first impression a visitor got. When I lived in England in the late 1990’s and early 2000 the first room one entered was still called a hall.

However, it’s quite common in the US to call the first room one comes to after entering the house a foyer from the French foyer. But what did the word ‘foyer’ mean in England during the early to middle part of the 19^th century? According to the OED foyer first came into use around 1859 and was the green room or large room in the theater as this quote shows. “1859   G. A. Sala Twice round Clock (1861) 263  “This model foyer is to have something of the Haymarket and something of the Adelphi.””

Gradually, it came to mean any large room in a theater, restaurant, or other public building.

1882   Harper’s Mag. Feb. 327  Twice a year it is held in the foyer of the Academy of Music.

1910   Bradshaw’s Railway Guide Apr. 1116  The Restaurant with Foyer is one of the prettiest Dining Rooms in London.

1915   ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship iv. 77  There were at least half a dozen mothers in the foyer of the big..hotel.

The OED still does not define the word as an entrance to a house. However, Merriam-Webster defines the word as an entrance hall or vestibule and dates its use in North America to 1833. Thus, clearly making it a word Americans have used for almost 200 years.

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Regency Trivia – The Dos and Don’ts of Being in the Company of Men for an Unmarried Lady

A lady cannot be alone with a gentleman who is not either a very close relative (father, grandfather, brother, uncle) or guardian in a closed room or a closed carriage, or a carriage that either the lady or the gentleman is not driving.

A lady must have a chaperone of some sort (friend, maid, footman) when she is walking with a gentleman.

A lady may not speak with a gentleman if he has not been properly introduced to her.

A lady who must accept a dance offer from a gentleman if she has an open set left. If she does not, she cannot dance that set with another gentleman. Unless, of course, a gentleman strolls up and says, “My dance I believe.” Thus saving her from the man she doesn’t wish to stand up with.

A lady may not dance more than twice in one evening with a gentleman. This could get interesting as there could be as many as four entertainments in one evening.

A lady may ride in a sporting carriage with a gentleman without a chaperone to some place like the Park. She may not take off to Richmond (for example) alone with him.

A lady may not accept jewelry or clothing from a gentleman. She may accept trifles such as flowers, poems, a fan, etc.

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Regency Trivia – Charades

The came of charades was developed in the 18th century. However, it wasn’t the acting a word game that we’re so familiar with. It was instead a literary riddle that was popular in France. The game is played by describing a word enigmatically as a separate word before the word as a whole was similarly described.

Written forms of the game were printed in books, magazines, and on the backs of Regency fans.

Here is a charade written by Jane Austen.

One charade composed by Jane Austen goes as follows:

When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit, And my second confines her to finish the piece, How hard is her fate! but how great is her merit If by taking my whole she effects her release!

The answer is “hem-lock”.

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New Release! The Most Eligible Lord in London

It’s been such a busy week that I forgot to post on release day!

This book combines characters from The Worthingtons and The Marriage Game.

The cover.

 

The blurb:

In this captivating new Regency trilogy, bestselling author Ella Quinn picks up where her beloved Worthingtons series left off, as three Lords of London discover true love at last . . .

Handsome, rakish, incorrigibly flirtatious—Fredrick, Lord Littleton, is notorious. Lady Adeline Wivenly is resolved to keep him at arm’s length during her first Season—until she overhears another woman’s plot to trick him into marriage. Even a rogue is undeserving of such deception, and Adeline feels obliged to warn him—only to find herself perilously attracted . . .

In the past, Littleton’s charm nearly got him leg-shackled to the wrong woman. Now he’s positive he’s found the right one, for Adeline is everything he wants and needs in a wife. Her sense of justice is so strong she agrees to help him despite her mistrust. But can the ton’s most elusive lord convince the lady he is finally serious about marriage—as long as she will be his bride?

An excerpt:

Blast it all. Why had he decided to look for a wife in the first place? He should have just done what his father and every other Littleton had done for centuries: wait until he had to marry.

Pulling himself together, he rode onto the carriageway. Within a few seconds, he found himself being genially greeted by four matrons in a landau. The tension eased out of his shoulders. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad as he’d imagined.

“Lord Littleton—”Lady Wall wiggled her fingers at him—“I am glad to find you in Town.”

The lady next to her raised interested blue eyes to his, gave him a come-hither look, and said, “I do not believe we have been introduced.”

“Oh, my,” Lady Wall exclaimed. “It did not occur to me that you did not know his lordship. Allow me to make you known to Lord Littleton. My lord, this is Lady Holloway.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, my lord.” Her generous lips rose in a smile.

In the past, he would have immediately returned her look for one of his own and made an arrangement to meet in a more secluded place. But his hunting instinct didn’t press him the way it used to. Perhaps that was the reason he’d decided to wed. He bowed. “The pleasure is mine.”

Lady Wall indicated the other two matrons in the carriage. “I trust you remember Lady Jersey and Lady Sefton?”

“Naturally.” Frits bowed again, and they exchanged greetings. “Ladies, I hope I find you in good health.”

“And you, my lord.” Lady Sefton inclined her head.

As the landau moved forward, Frits scanned the verge. He saw the one lady he had not wished to see, Lady Dorie Calthorp—daughter of the Marquis of Huntingdon, and his mistake—strolling with four other ladies. He’d behaved badly toward her last Season. Though not on purpose. For too long, he thought they would be a good match. But the more he grew to know her and her strengths and desires for her life, the more he was convinced marrying her would be a horrible mistake. But instead of finding a way to tell her, he’d fled London and returned to Littlewood, his main estate. And now it was too late to attempt to explain his panic. If he’d even had the words.

After taking a breath, he let it out slowly. He might as well get this over with. Frits just hoped she didn’t give him the cut direct.

Riding over to the group, he gave her his friendly smile. “Lady Dorie, well-met.”

The smile she returned was strained, and her eyes were hard. “Lord Littleton, I did not know you were in Town.”

“I arrived yesterday.” If looks could kill, he’d be lying on the ground bleeding. “Have you been in Town long?”

“Long enough.” Her words were clipped. She turned to the other ladies and made an elegant gesture toward him. “On the subject of gentlemen who appear eligible and are not, permit me to introduce to you Lord Littleton.” Damn and blast it. He fought to maintain his amiable countenance. She was obviously going to do her best to ensure he didn’t have an easy time finding a wife. “My lord, Lady Adeline Wivenly, Lady Augusta Vivers, Miss Featherton, and Miss Stern.”

He forced a smile and made what he knew was a stylish bow. “Ladies, it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope you enjoy your time in the metropolis.” Miss Stern gave him a hard look. Had Lady Dorie already blackened his name to her friend? Lady Augusta was polite but unaffected, as if she did not care one way or the other if she met him. Miss Featherton had narrowed her eyes as if assessing his worth as a human being. That was disconcerting, but it ran in her family. He knew her older brother and sister.

Then there was Lady Adeline. She just stared at him with considering, soft, gray eyes that shone like silver. Curls of gleaming, dark, honey-blond hair framed her face. She was utterly entrancing. Immediately, he wanted to know what she was thinking. As if she realized she should not continue to look at him, she dropped her gaze, and thick, brown lashes fluttered to her cheeks, drawing his attention to her straight, little nose and a light sprinkling of freckles. If only he’d met her in other company. Naturally, he could not help but notice her deep, rose lips and the fact that her bottom lip was just a bit plumper than the top one. His gaze dropped lower, and he sucked in a breath. Even her demure spencer couldn’t hide the bounty beneath. He could have licked his lips at the thought of her in an evening gown. Here was a lady worth getting to know.

Buy links.

Amazon US https://amzn.to/31ZVGWS

Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2XtWS5c

Amazon CA https://amzn.to/2x9wcYC

Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/2FpphPG

Google Play http://bit.ly/2utSE0Q

B&N http://bit.ly/2XBP7KR

BAM http://bit.ly/2TTxbsD

Kobo http://bit.ly/2RmDKCp

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Regency Trivia – No Get Togethers

A little while ago I posted about the word picnic. Well, yesterday I was writing along and decided I really should look up the term ‘get together.’ I’ve know I’ve used it before, but for some strange reason I never checked it for accuracy. You can imagine my dismay when I discovered that as an adjective or a noun there was no recorded usage before 1898 and it was a US term.

From the OED: colloquial (originally U.S.).

1. adj. noun

Of a social function: that enables people to get together, esp. informally. Also (of attitudes, etc.): favouring social interaction and cooperation.

1898   Congregationalist(Boston, Mass.)  29 Dec. 982/1  The Get-Together Club is not really an organization; it simply gets together, eats, and talks. Some listen.

Ergo, I immediately clicked the thesauruses and found two synonyms. The first is

1761 ‘free and easy’ an informal gathering for singing or similar entertainment, at which drinking and smoking are also permitted; a smoking concert.

I found this interesting, but it didn’t match the type of entertainment I envisioned.

The second term was sans souci1781 lit. without care or concern also, †a free-and-easy social gathering.

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Regency Trivia – Hello as a Greeting Was Not a Thing

Hello is ubiquitous and has become a common greeting in many countries in the world. Even in Germany, it’s become an excepted greeting when meeting another person. However, the more traditional greetings are still expected when meeting someone for the first time or when entering a small place of business or a restaurant. It was not, however, used as greeting during the Regency. I researched all of Jane Austen’s books, did a search on Google Advanced Book Search and found no reference to it at all. Then looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary OED).

According to the OED, hello as a term to get someone’s attention or register surprise has been used since around the 1820’s in North America. There are no British references.

Hello as a greeting was first recorded in the US in the US Yankee Clipper in 1853.

It does not appear to have been in common use in Britain until around the 1920’s. The first recorded usage was by P. G. Wodehouse’s Money for Nothing iv. 76   ‘Hello, sweetie-pie,’ said Miss Molloy in 1928. Wodehouse, as some of you might know, was a widely read contemporary English writer. We generally believe that spoken usage preceded written usage by about ten years. That still does not take us back to the Regency.

So what did they say? They would have used the greetings we all used before “hello” wiggled it’s way into almost universal parlance. Good morning, good afternoon, good day, good evening. When meeting by chance, “well met” is fine.

Let me know what other greetings you think of.

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