A Fashionable Rout

“Lady Godina’s rout; – or – Peeping-Tom spying out Pope-Joan,” by James Gillray, 1796.

In my last post I talked about the riddles that appeared in Jane Austen’s Emma. Another form of entertainment that was popular in Georgian England and also features in Emma is a rout-party, or rout.

Routs were informal social gatherings hosted by the well-to-do in their homes. There were many types of routs – they could feature amusements such as conversation, music, card-playing, and, of course, plenty to eat and drink. In London a really successful rout could be thronged with guests, resulting in a “crush” that was sure to enhance the party-giving reputation of the hostess.

In Chapter XVI, Volume II of Emma, Mrs. Elton complains about the local routs she’s attended, noting “the poor attempt at routcakes [small, sweet cakes] and there being no ice in the Highbury card-parties.”

She plans on showing how a proper rout is done by hosting “one very superior party—in which her card-tables should be set out with their separate candles and unbroken packs in the true style—and more waiters engaged for the evening than their own establishment could furnish, to carry round the refreshments at exactly the proper hour, and in the proper order.”

In the wicked satire above, Gillray pictures a teen-aged Lady Georgina Gordon (i.e. “Lady Godina”) gambling at a crowded rout-party, playing a card game called Pope Joan. She’s holding the “Curse of Scotland” or the nine of diamonds, which is a winning hand. The gowns, and especially the huge feathery headdresses, are comically exaggerated.

These large evening get-togethers could get pretty rowdy, which is most likely why the military term of “rout” (meaning a disorderly retreat) became the accepted way to describe them. I’m sure, however, that Mrs. Elton’s rout-party would be a completely proper and sedate affair, as befits a vicar’s wife!

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Fun with Words: Riddles, Rebuses and Jane Austen

Jane Austen must have had fun writing her fourth published novel, Emma. In addition to sparkling dialogue, funny situations, and comic misunderstandings, she included a couple of riddles.  If you have the book handy, these riddles (also referred to as charades) appear in Chapter IX of Volume I.

Here’s how the riddles appear: Emma is attempting to improve her protégé Harriet’s mind with reading and conversation, but the only literary pursuit that interests Harriet is collecting riddles, which she is compiling into a book.

Emma sees an opportunity to further her misguided scheme of matching Harriet with Mr. Elton. She asks the vicar to contribute a riddle to Harriet’s collection. He replies with this convoluted gem:

“Another view of man, my second brings, Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!

But ah! united, what reverse we have! Man’s boasted power and freedom, all are flown; 

Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave, And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone. 

Thy ready wit the word will soon supply, May its approval beam in that soft eye!”

Emma solves the riddle right away but has to explain it to Harriet. It’s a two-syllable word, she tells her friend. “My first” or the first syllable signifies “court” (the wealth and pomp of kings) and the second (monarch of the seas) is “ship.” Put together, the answer is “courtship,” during which a man “bends a slave” and “woman, lovely woman, reigns alone.”

Emma is convinced that the riddle is a compliment to Harriet, announcing Mr. Elton’s wish to court her. But Emma is clueless, of course. She doesn’t get that Mr. Elton meant the riddle for her.

In any case, riddles were a popular pastime in Regency England. Here’s another riddle, well-known in her time, that Jane Austen also mentions in Chapter IX:

“My first doth affliction denote, Which my second is destin’d to feel 

And my whole is the best antidote, That affliction to soften and heal.

Thy ready wit the word will soon supply, May its approval beam in that soft eye!”

Once again the answer is a two-syllable word. The first syllable, a synonym for affliction, is woe. The second syllable refers to who feels the pain – man. So the answer to the riddle of what is the best cure for man’s pain is woe-man or woman.

Though this riddle is discussed by Emma and Harriet the answer isn’t spelled out in the text – probably because the author figured everybody already knew it.

But perhaps the best-known riddle of all time is the classic Riddle of the Sphinx. Jane Austen would almost certainly have been familiar with it. It’s in Oedipus Rex, a play written by the Greek dramatist Sophocles approximately 430 years BCE.

“Oedipus and the Sphinx,” by Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres, 1808

In the story, Oedipus has to get into the city of Thebes. But he has a problem: the entrance to the city is guarded by the Sphinx, a mythical creature that has the face of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird.

The Sphinx amuses herself by demanding that anyone who wants to enter the city answer a riddle first. If they don’t get the right answer – and, spoiler alert, no one does – she eats them. That’s why the Sphinx is often depicted in art with the remnants of her victims at her feet.

Here’s her riddle: “Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?” Do you know the answer? Oedipus did, so the Sphinx went hungry that night.

The answer is man – as a baby he crawls on all fours, as an adult he walks on two feet, and as an old man he walks with a cane – the cane is the third foot.

Riddles were popular brain teasers in the 18th and 19th centuries. One form of entertainment was a riddle menu, where you had to figure out what items were on a menu by solving a riddle.

For example, would you care for some “counterfeit agony”? You might turn that offer down until you realize it’s a riddle: “counterfeit” means “sham” and rhymes with “cham,” while “agony” is “pain” and rhymes with “pagne.” Now, how about that glass of champagne?

Bishop Oldham’s “owl-dom” rebus in Exeter Cathedral

In addition to riddles, a type of puzzle known as a rebus was another popular game, not only in the 18th and 19th centuries but going back as far as the Middle Ages.

A rebus is a word puzzle that uses pictures combined with letters to illustrate a word, a phrase, or even a whole sentence. It’s like a code you have to decipher to understand the message.

During the Middle Ages, rebuses were used in heraldry. A rebus often represented a surname in a family crest.

Jane Austen may have been familiar with a children’s Bible published by English painter and engraver Thomas Bewick during the 1780s in London.

Bewick’s book bears a ponderous title that begins with “A new hieroglyphical Bible: for the amusement & instruction of children: being a selection of the most useful lessons, and most interesting narratives (scripturally arranged) from Genesis to the Revelations : embellished with familiar figures, & striking emblems; elegantly engraved”  and continues for several more lines.

In his book, Bewick often uses pictures in place of text to simplify the stories and make them more appealing to children. A few years after this book came out in England, Isiah Thomas published a similar rebus-filled children’s Bible in America.

Here’s a Victorian example of a rebus on an “escort card” (also known as acquaintance or flirtation cards) that a 19th-century man might give to a woman he’s interested in courting:

“May I see you home, my dear?”

Rebuses are still popular today, used by advertisers, in books and on game shows, and even in the form of emojis in text messages and emails. Any parent who’s ever sat with a child in an American doctor or dentist’s office has likely seen the rebus page in the magazine Highlights for Children.

A rebus may have been difficult for Jane Austen’s publishers to add to her manuscripts, even if she wanted one in her stories. But at least we have proof in Emma that Jane enjoyed a good riddle!

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Sources for this post include:

  • Riddles, Charades, Rebusses, from the British Library Collection
  • “Decoding (Most of) an 18th-Century ‘Riddle Menu’,” by Anne Ewbank, Atlas Obscura, October 26, 2018
  • Emma, by Jane Austen, published December 23, 1815, by John Murray, London

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Wits, quips and snappy repartee

“The feast of reason, and the flow of soul,’ i.e., the wits of the age, setting the table in a roar” etching by James Gillray, 1797

Earlier this week I posted about Beau Brummel’s famous snub of the Prince Regent, a witty remark which ultimately resulted in Brummel’s downfall. In my research I came across some other zingers that had less tragic consequences. Although these comments may have stopped conversation, they didn’t ruin anyone’s life.

The following stories, some of which may be apocryphal, span the 18th century through the early 20th century. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Lord Sandwich and Samuel Foote

Samuel Foote was an 18th-century theater manager, writer and actor, and the story goes that he was sharing a meal with Lord Sandwich at London’s famous Beef Steak Club in Covent Garden. After the bottle had passed back and forth a few times, Sandwich said:

“Foote, I have often wondered what catastrophe would bring you to your end; but I think you must either die of the pox [syphilis] or the halter [hanged on the gallows].”

Without missing a beat, Foote replied: “My Lord, that will depend upon one of two contingencies – whether I embrace your Lordship’s mistress or your Lordship’s principles.”

Mme. de Stäel, circa 1818-1849

Talleyrand and Madame de Stäel 

Madame de Stäel was a noted French author and one of the most influential women of her time. Her life spanned both the French Revolution and the Regency era, as well as Napoleon’s rule in France.

Her lovers included several important men, including the witty Talleyrand (Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord), the French politician who represented France at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815.

In 1802 Madame de Stäel published her first novel, Delphine. In the book, de Stäel depicts her former lover, Talleyrand, as the character Madame Vernon, a sly and treacherous villain. Meanwhile, the title character Delphine, whom de Stäel modeled after herself, is written as a paragon of feminine beauty.

The book was a sensation, and no doubt an embarrassment to Talleyrand. But he had his revenge on de Stäel, a woman known for having a somewhat masculine cast to her facial features. In a letter to her, he wrote: “I hear that you’ve written a book in which both you and I are disguised as women.”

Sarah Bernhardt, 1864

Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt 

Oscar Wilde was an admirer of the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt. Once, after a supper, Wilde asked the actress: “Do you mind if I smoke?”

To which she replied, “Oscar, I don’t care if you burn.”

Mark Twain and Henry James

The famous American author offered this witty twist to a standard compliment in a comment he made about a book written by his literary contemporary, Henry James:

“Once you’ve put it down, you simply can’t pick it up!”

Winston Churchill and Lady Astor

Churchill was noted for being an astute politician, a heavy drinker, and a clever wit. But not everyone was charmed by him. According to legend, Lady Astor once said to him in exasperation: “If you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.”

His response? “If I were your husband, I’d drink it.”

Jean Harlow, 1930

Margot Asquith and Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was an American actress and a sex symbol of 1930s Hollywood films.  Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, was a British socialite, author and the wife of H.H. Asquith, the Prime Minister of Britain from 1908-1916 during the turbulent early years of World War I.

Margot Asquith was a woman of strong opinions who possessed an acerbic wit and wasn’t afraid to use it.

According to a diary entry recorded by Liberal MP Robert Bernays, in 1934 there was an encounter between the two women. Upon meeting the formidable Mrs. Asquith, Jean was understandably nervous, and kept addressing her as “Lady Margott.”

The countess replied: “My dear, the ‘t’ in my name is silent, as in Harlow.”

Bernays was not an eyewitness to this exchange, so there’s a chance the conversation he recounts is apocryphal. I hope it is a fiction – even though it’s funny, it’s pretty mean. But then, wit often has a sharp bite. Just ask anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of a witty remark!

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Sources for this post include:

Wit, The Best Things Ever Said, compiled and edited by John Train, Edward Burlingame Books, New York, NY 1991

 

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Grown Ladies and Gentlemen Taught to Dance

Since properly brought up young ladies and gentlemen learned to dance before they were old enough to be out socially, one assumes this piece satirizes the rising middle class and their pretensions. Notice that “taught to dance” is italicized and followed by exclamation points. The people to the left appear to be learning posture tortuously as well.

Published by Wallis & Son, artist unknown. From the British Cartoon Collection of the Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons.

Off to the Races! The Royal Ascot

Depiction of the Ascot Gold Cup race, by James Pollard, 1834

June is a busy month in the UK’s royal calendar. In addition to the King’s Birthday Parade (also known as Trooping the Colour), on the second Saturday of June there’s the Royal Ascot – arguably the most famous horse race in the world.

The Royal Ascot races, held every year, span five days in the middle of June, from Tuesday through Saturday. This year’s event took place last week on June 20-24.

Fabulous hat seen in the Royal Enclosure at the 2009 Ascot

It’s the social event for the sporting season, and a must for everyone who can afford tickets, especially the upper classes who go to see and be seen in their formal clothes. Some female guests like to display their hats – which can be huge, show-stopping creations or whimsical “fascinators.”

Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, 1964

As to the social importance of this royal racing event, who can forget the scene in My Fair Lady when Professor Higgins takes his pupil, Eliza Doolittle, to the Ascot races to prove that he has transformed her from a Cockney flower girl into a “real lady?”

But the Ascot races have a history that started long before the Edwardian setting of George Bernard’s famous play. It’s a history that includes our favorite time period, the Regency.

Here a selective timeline of that history, (as detailed on the Royal Ascot Hub, linked below), from the inception of the races through the mid 1820s:

1711: Queen Anne, an avid horse racing fan, starts a racing tradition at East Cote in London. Her race, called Her Majesty’s Plate, takes place in August and carries a prize of 100 guineas. The race was open to any horse, mare or gelding that was six years or older and capable of carrying a rider weighing 12 stone (168 pounds).

Queen Anne, painted by Michael Dahl, 1705

1744: A ceremonial guard called the Greencoats is formed. The Guard got its name from a rumor that their green uniforms were sewn with fabric left over from curtains made for Windsor Castle. By the early 19th century the guards’ duties expand to include crowd control. Today, Greencoats still can be seen assisting attendees of the Ascot races.

1752: By the mid-18th century the popularity of the annual races, especially among the ton, is becoming apparent. Peers like the Duke of Bedford complain that when he visits London during the races he can find “no soul to dine or sup with.” Surrounding the races are other diversions, and attendees can watch cockfighting and prize-fights, gamble in gaming tents, listen to balladeers, see freak shows and marvel at lady stilt-walkers.

1783: A new rule states that jockeys must wear the colors of their horse’s owners. Up to this point, jockeys could wear whatever colors they wished, making it confusing for spectators to follow the race.

Late 18th century: Men in the Royal Enclosure must don black silk top hats, or “toppers.” Vintage top hats, made from the original material of silk hatter’s plush, are very rare and valuable now. If you can find one that fits your head (apparently men’s heads were smaller 200 years ago) it can cost a small fortune – tens of thousands of pounds.

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Beau Brummel caricature by Richard Dighton, 1805

Early 19th Century: A general dress code for upper class men attending the races develops. Influenced by Beau Brummell, one-time friend of the Prince Regent,  men abandon the bright colors and ornate embroidery of 18th century fashion for plain white waistcoats, and pantaloons, worn with a black cravats. The emphasis is on cleanliness, quality fabrics, and expert tailoring.

1807: This year the Gold Cup, Ascot’s oldest surviving racing event, is introduced. Winners of the Gold Cup today still receive – and get to keep – an engraved gold trophy.

1813: Ascot Heath becomes the new home of the races, thanks to an Act of Enclosure, passed by Parliament. Although the property actually belongs to the Crown, the act guarantees that the land will be used as a racecourse, open to the public.

1822: Prinny, now King George IV, orders the construction of a two-story seating stand at the racecourse. Access to the Royal Enclosure is granted only by the king’s invitation.

1823: The tradition of Ladies Day, also known as Gold Cup Day, starts. It gets its name from an anonymous poet, who describes this day, Thursday of the racing week, as Ladies Day, “when women, like angels, look sweetly divine.”

1825: King George IV inaugurates the first Royal Procession, a tradition which has endured to modern times. Each day of the five-day event begins with the king and queen, along with other members of their royal family, arriving at the racing grounds in horse-drawn landaus. They drive in a procession along the track before going into the Royal Enclosure to watch the races.

There was much excitement at this year’s Royal Ascot when King Charles’s horse, Desert Hero, won Thursday’s marquee race, the King George V Stakes. Desert Hero, ridden by jockey Tom Marquand, was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II. The odds against the horse winning were long – 18 to 1 – making the victory all the sweeter.

This is King Charles’ first Royal Ascot win as a reigning monarch. It’s yet another first for the newly crowned king.

AscotFinishingPost.JPG
The finishing post at the Ascot racecourse, photo by John Armagh, 2007.

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Sources for this post include:

The Royal Ascot Hub

“King visibly moved as horse bred by Queen Elizabeth wins at Royal Ascot,” by India McTaggart, Royal Correspondent and Tom Cary, Senior Sports Correspondent, The Telegraph, June 22, 2023

“King Charles III claims his 1st Royal Ascot winner; Dettori rides to victory in Gold Cup,” by The Associated Press, June 22, 2023

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

Trooping the Colour

The 2013 ceremony, which hasn’t changed much over the last 200 years. The two-rank formation of soldiers shown here is a tribute to Wellington’s successful tactics at the Battle of Waterloo.

This month on the second Saturday in June, a curious and uniquely British ceremony took place, as it does every year. Trooping the Colour is a centuries-old tradition full of pomp and pageantry, where anything can, and sometimes does, happen.

King Charles and Queen Camilla after their coronation on May 6, 2023

Also known as the Sovereign’s Birthday Parade, the event officially honors not only the sovereign’s birthday but also the infantry regiments of the British Army.

Typically taking place on the second Saturday in June, it’s one of the biggest events on the royal calendar every year, along with the State Opening of Parliament in May.

The parade starts at Buckingham Palace and goes along the Mall to the Horse Guards Parade grounds, and then to Whitehall, before going back again to Buckingham Palace.

About 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians took part in this year’s ceremony. This year’s event was especially noteworthy since it marked the first time the newly crowned King Charles III was honored.

Also this year Charles put his own stamp on the ceremony by reviving the tradition of the monarch leading the parade on horseback.

The last time a horse-mounted sovereign led Trooping the Colour was over thirty years ago, when Queen Elizabeth did so in 1986. For the remainder of her reign, she rode in a carriage at the ceremony.

Charles II, circa 1660-1665, by John Michael Wright

The tradition of Trooping the Colour traces its origins back to the reign of Charles II in the 17th century.

Starting in 1748, during the reign of King George II, it became an occasion to publicly celebrate the king or queen’s birthday, no matter what month or day the reigning monarch was actually born. (King Charles was born on November 14, 1948.)

“Colour” is another name for the brightly-colored battalion flags associated with the Five Foot Guard regiments (including the Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards, and Coldstream Guards).

These flags not only showcase the individual spirit of each regiment but also commemorate its fallen soldiers.

In times past, there was a very practical reason to publicly display the “colour” like this – so that the soldiers would be able to recognize the flags of their comrades in the heat of battle.

Every year one of the five Foot Guard Regiments is chosen to display its flag.  This year the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards got to troop its color through the ranks of the assembled regiments. The honorary Colonel of the Welsh Guards is Prince William.

The inspection of the military troops and horses typically lasts about two hours. At the conclusion of this year’s event, King Charles and Queen Camilla and other members of the royal family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a flyover of about 70 RAF (Royal Air Force) aircraft.

George III, sick and unkempt in his final years. Engraving by Henry Meyer, 1817

This was a reprise of a flyover event originally planned for Charles’ coronation in May. That display had to be cut short due to bad weather.

The planes used in the flyover included Hurricanes and Spitfires from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Also, 18 modern Typhoon fighter jets spelled out “Charles R” (short for Charles Rex) in the sky to honor the king.

Trooping the Colour has been an annual event since the mid-18th century, with a few notable exceptions.

One exception was during the nine years of the Regency, from 1811 to 1820, when the king’s birthday parade was suspended due to King George III’s seclusion and illness. And the military parades were halted again during World War I and World War II.

There have also been a few memorable, unscripted moments, too, during this annual event, especially in the 20th century.

For example, in 1970 a guardsman rather spectacularly fainted while the Queen was reviewing the troops.

The Queen and her horse appear nonplussed by the fallen soldier ,who, though unconscious, has kept admirable form rather than collapsing into a crumpled heap.

And in 1981, a fame-hungry and delusional teenager fired six blank shots, point-blank range, at the Queen as she rode by with her procession from Buckingham Palace, on her way down the Mall to the Horse Guards Parade grounds.

Queen Elizabeth won a lot of praise that day as she kept her composure and her startled horse firmly under control. The young man was wrestled to the ground, charged with treason, and served a five-year prison sentence. When the man who shot blanks at the queen got out of jail at age 20, he changed his name and made a new life for himself.

I think he got off easy, considering how convicted traitors have been treated in the past!

Nothing that dramatic happened at this year’s event, though the King’s horse was notably restless and hard for the king to handle at times, perhaps most embarrassingly while the national anthem was being played.

Temperatures on the day of this year’s Trooping the Colour were in the high 70s, and I’m sure the king’s heavily decorated Welsh Guards uniform was hot for him to wear, but Charles sat ramrod straight on Noble, his horse, throughout the ceremony.

I suppose you could say the new king proved himself to be a real trouper as he led his first official Trooping the Colour!

King Charles on his horse Noble, at 2023’s Trooping the Colour

 

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Sources include:

“King Charles’ Horse Fails to Keep Still During National Anthem in Clip,” by Jack Royston, Newsweek, June 21, 1923

“What to Know as King Charles Takes Part in His First Trooping the Color Birthday Parade as Monarch,” by the Associated Press, June 17, 2023

 

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Here We Go…Wasailling!

Image shows a bulletin printed around 1820 in Birmingham for two Christmas carols (this would be something a church might hand out and carolers carry with them).The origins of caroling date far back in time, with the word ‘carol’ dating back to the Old French and the 1300s, meaning a ‘joyful song’ or to ‘dance in a ring accompanied by singers’. In ancient times, celebrations often included song and dancer, with May carols and harvest carols existing, and perhaps others we have lost. The idea of attaching songs to Christmas in terms of celebration is credited to Saint Francis of Assisi, who in the 1200s created nativity scenes with hymns and everyone invited to sing along. This idea spread throughout the 1300s, and the Anglo-Saxon toast of ‘waes hael’ (be well) gives us ‘wassailing.

Wassailers—usually those without much in a village—would serenade the better-off locals in the great and good houses who were likely to offer up food and drink, and perhaps a few coins at Christmastime. A candle in a window noted a house willing to entertain wassailers. It was considered bad luck not to reward the efforts of these traveling entertainers with food and drink, including a ‘figgy pudding’ (figgy simply means any dried fruit, and this would also be known as a plum pudding, and then as a Christmas pudding).

The Oxford Dictionary notes that one of the oldest printed carols is the ‘Boar’s Head Carol’, dating to 1521 and traditionally sung at Queen’s College, Oxford while Christmas lunch is served. In 1522, King Henry VIII published music and words for a carol called ‘Green Groweth the Holly’ (perhaps inspired by the song, ‘The Holy and the Ivy’). As with many early carols, these songs had roots in earlier pagan celebrations of Winter Solstice. The Tudors in particular enjoyed both wassailing and mummers. Twelfth Night was also a time for wassailing and mummers might arrive to offer up entertainment, usually in the form of a play with St. George, the dragon he slays, the Turkish knight, and others. Mummers might also ‘pass the hat’ for a few coins.

Wassailing celebrations could also extend to the ‘Old Twelvey’ (January 17, the date of the old Julian calendar, which was revised in 1752). The older wassailing might involve blessing the apple tress, an ancient tradition in cider-producing areas such as Devon, Kent, Herefordshire, Somerset, and Sussex.

In 1644, Oliver Cromwell outlawed public caroling, along with figgy puddings and all other ‘Popish’ Christmas celebrations, but they came back with the Restoration, which did away with all legislation passed in England between 1642 and 1660.

By the Georgian era—and the English Regency—Christmas celebrations began on St. Nicholas Day, December 6, with an exchange of gifts, and went on until Twelfth Night. While attending church service was common for many on Christmas, the idea of songs, games, feasting and fun carried throughout the Christmas celebrations.

William Holland, a parson who kept a diary from 1799 to 1818, wrote of December 25, 1799, “Cold, clear and frosty. Christmas Day, Sacrament Day at my church. Went to Aisholt in the afternoon, returned to a late dinner by myself on spratts and a fine woodcock. The kitchen was tolerably well lined with my poor neighbours, workmen &cc. Many of them staid till past ten o’clock and sang very melodiously. Sent half a crown to our Church Musicians who had serenaded the Family this cold morning at five o’clock.” (Quoted from Paupers and Pig Killers, his published diary.) Holland uses the more contemporary term—for him—of ‘musicians’,

What might these musicians or wassailers sing?

The English carol ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ dates to the 1500s, and was included in the book, Christmas with the Poets, which gives these words for a wassailing song: “Here’s to thee, old apple tree, Whence thou may’st bud, and though may’st blow! And whence though may’st bear apples enow! Hats full! Craps full! Bushel – bushel – sacks full! And my pockets full too!”

Another older carol is ‘I Saw Three Ships’, with multiple versions existing, depending on the location of the singers. ‘Deck the Halls’ comes from a Welsh song, ‘Nos Galan’. Translated from the Welsh, it has less to do with halls and more to do with love, “Oh! how soft my fair one’s bosom, fal lal lal lal lal lal la. Oh! how sweet the grove in blossom, fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la. Oh! how blessed are the blisses, Words of love, and mutual kisses, fal lal lal lal lal lal lal lal la.”

‘God rest you merry, Gentlemen’ dates to the 1500s, again with different words and music, all localized in England. The version most familiar to modern ears dates to the 1650s when it is printed in a book of dancing tunes. It became more popular as a Christmas carol in the Victorian era, which is true for many of the songs we know today. ‘Silent Night’ was first performed in Oberndorf, Austria as ‘Stille Nacht’ with words written in 1816 by Father Joseph Mohr and music added in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber. It would not appear in English until 1863. The music and lyrics of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ (‘Adeste Fideles’) dates to France and the early 1700s. The first published version shows up in 1760 and is translated into English in 1841. ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night’, a poem by Nahum Tate, was published in Tate and Brady’s Psalter in 1702. The music is by George Frederick Handel, written in 1728, and arranged for the carol in 1812.

Charles Wesley, who wrote over 6,500 hymns, published the words for ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ (noting it should have solemn music) in 1739 in Hymns and Sacred Poems. (His opening couplet was, “Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings” with welkin meaning the sky or heaven.) In 1752, George Whitfield modified the lyrics, but the tune we know comes from Felix Mendohlsson’s 1840 ‘Vaterland, in deinen Gauen’, which was adapted to fit the Christmas carol by William Cummings.

In 1822, Davies Gilbert published Some Ancient Christmas Carols and wrote: The Editor is desirous of preserving them in their actual forms…He is anxious also to preserve them on account of the delight they afforded him in his childhood, when the festivities of Christmas Eve were anticipated by many days of preparation, and prolonged through several weeks by repetitions and remembrances.” Gilbert often lists the tunes as simply Carol I, Carol II, and so on, but he includes music as well as lyrics, such as “Hark! Hark! What news the Angels bring, Glad tidings of a new-born king.”

William Sandys, an English solicitor and a Society of Antiquaries of London fellow, published Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern in 1833. His book included ‘The First Noel’.

Handel’s Messiah oratorio, which includes the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, was originally written for Easter performances. The first London performance was at the Theater Royal, Covent Garden on March 23, 1742. It became a regular performance there and in Bath, with the first performance in Bath on November 24, 1756. Performances in Bath often occurred either in December or around Easter, often in the New Assembly Rooms, but also in churches and other locations. It is noted as being performed for many years on Christmas Eve at the Assembly Room. The book, The Bath Messiah goes into detail about how the Herschels—William and his sister Caroline—arranged performances in Bath (she sang, and their brother played cello) in the late 1700s, before William became more interested in astronomy. Christmas Eve Messiah performances date to Venanzio Rauzzi who organized performances from 1781 to 1800, and the Bath Choral Society, which started up in 1819.

Finally, instead of song, if one was in town (London), there was always the Christmas pantomime, which opened on Boxing Day, where the famous clown Joseph Grimaldi performed at Drury Lane, or Astley’s Amphitheater offered a special Christmas spectacular.

For more information:
https://jobev.com/xmasarticle.html
Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern can be found online at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Christmas_Carols_Ancient_and_Modern/x2VKAAAAIAAJ?hl=en
Some Ancient Christmas Carols can be found online at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Some_Ancient_Christmas_Carols/u0dGAAAAYAAJ?hl=en


Article by Shannon Donnelly for The Quizzing Glass blog and The Regency Reader.

May Day Traditions in the English Regency

Johann Peter Neef's "May Day" painting, depicting three young ladies and two gentlemen in Regency garb dancing around a maypole holding streamers attached to to the top of a pole decorated with flowers.
May Day by Johann Peter Neef (1753-1796)
“On Monday last at Cheriton, near Alresford, the usual pastime of Maying commenced, where a Maypole was erected in commemoration of the day, and in the afternoon the sons and daughters of May, dressed in a very appropriate manner for the occasion, accompanied by a band of music, proceeded to a commodious bower, composed of green boughs, garlands of flowers, &c. erected for dancing; it was attended by upwards of 50 couple of the most respectable people in the neighbourhood, till the evening.” – Hampshire Chronicle, 8 May 1815

It’s May, when the weather warms, flowers bloom, and—according to Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur—“…it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May.” (Which is where the lyrics of the song in the musical Camelot gets the phrase.)
Celebrations of May date far back in time. The ancient Celts marked May 1 as Beltane and the start of the near year, and bonfires were lit—a celebration still held in parts of Ireland and Wales. Ancient Greek celebrated with a May-wreath, while the Roman festival of Floralia (for the goddess Flora), was held in late April and early May. May brings to England the time of year when fresh fruits and vegetables reappear in abundance and, with green being symbolic of life and renewal, it was a time to eat just about any herbs or salads made of greens.

The traditions in England often involved dances around a maypole—which dates back in records to the 14th century—that would be decorated with flowers. (In 1644, the Puritan Parliament of England banned maypoles as being far too pagan, but Charles II restored the tradition—not that it had really fallen from favor in the rural countryside). A May King and Queen might be crowned, and girls would dress in white and put flowers in their hair. Morris dancers, decked out in green and white with flowers on their hats and bells tied to their legs, would also be out to celebrate, and milk maids would dance, sometimes with decorated milk or ale pails on their heads. Pantomimes might be performed, with stories of Robin Hood and Maid Marion being very popular characters.

Around 1770 and through to the early 1900s, Jack in Green or Jack o’ the Green—a man dressed in a wicker frame decorated to look like a tree—became a popular character, and the milk maids—and sometimes the chimney sweeps of London—would dance around him. The tradition has deeper roots in the mythic Green Man who appears carved into many early churches with his face made of leaves and branches.

May Day was also when fairs might be held in many parts of England. London’s now posh area of Mayfair got it’s name from an annual fair that took place in what had once been a muddy, rural monastery (near the River Tyburn swamps). The May Fair was held at Great Brookfield (now part of Curzon Street and Shepherd Market) from May 1 to May 14, with the last fair held in 1764. Fairs offered plays, jugglers, fencers, bare-knuckle fighting, women’s foot races, eating contests, and rather a lot of bad, drunken behavior. The Grosvenor family acquired the land through marriage and by 1720, the wealthy moved from Soho and Whitehall into these fashionable “West End” addresses.

While London’s May Fair became a memory, fairs across England persisted as a place for shops to set up to sell cattle, horses and other livestock, for business to be conducted, crafts sold, and entertainment offered, and May offered good weather and a reason to get together.

In medieval times on through to the Industrial Revolution that changed the agricultural world, May Day was a day of rest and celebrations. Hawthorn branches were one of the favorites for its pretty white flowers and associations to bringing in luck, but sycamore, birch, and rowan trees were also used, with flowers plucked from anything that bloomed. Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language by John Jamieson in 1808 describes some of the May Day customs that persisted into the Regency era in Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out. (The Victorians came along and revived the traditions, however.)

Other customs that carried into the late 1700s and early 1800s included collecting May dew from grass and hedges to bring luck, beauty, clear away any spots, and even heal sickness. In parts of England, May Day would be the day to choose a bride, or hire a new servant (it was one of the main Quarter Days), or even take a community walk over the common paths that, by ancient rules, had to be kept open so long as one person walked them once a year. May baskets of flowers also became a popular gift to leave on the doorsteps of friends, relatives and loved ones.

Well dressing was another ancient custom—mostly in Derbyshire and Staffordshire—of tying floral garlands or colorful ribbons to wells and springs. In north England, the day for pranks fell on May 1 when May Goslings—typically young men—might swap shop signs or play jokes on others, but the jests had to stop by midday. In Oxford, on May Day, a tradition dating back to Tudor days is still held, when the Hymnus Eucharisticus is sung from the top of Magdalen Tower, along with the madrigal, Now is the Month of Maying. Crowds would gather—and still do—on Madalen Bridge and in boats on the River Cherwell—a tributary of the Thames—to listen to the choir and hear prayers led by the Dean of Divinity. The village of Randwick, Gloucestershire, from the 14th century until the late 19th century—when it was banned for too much drunken trouble (and later revived in 1970)—held the Randwick Wap, when three wheels of cheese were decorated, carried to the village churchyard, rolled three times around the church, and then taken to the village green to be shared.

(On a side note, the phrase “mayday” meaning distress has nothing to do with May Day. It originated in the 1920s when a English radioman though it sounded a lot like the French word m’aider, meaning “help me.”)

While May Day traditions carried on into the English Regency period, they started to fall to the side as the Industrial Revolution and the Enclosure Acts pushed people from the countryside to the cities. However, Victorians—with their fondness for the past—revived most of the traditions, as did many modern villages, bringing back the joy of spring flowers, dancing and the delight of the return of warm weather—an idea time to bring a little romance into your life.

For more information, visit:
https://riskyregencies.com/2015/05/01/celebrating-may-daybeltanewalpurgis-nacht/
https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/the-english-festivals-by-laurence-whistler/


Article by Shannon Donnelly for The Quizzing Glass blog and The Regency Reader.

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

The Rolling of the Cheese in Regency England

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

This past week, the fellow who reports on sport for the local public radio station did a tongue-in-cheek piece on the recent cheese rolling event which took place in Gloucestershire, England. His intent was to remind his listeners there were sporting activities abroad in the world beyond the upcoming basketball playoffs. However, his report also reminded me that this was an ancient country sport which had been enjoyed in England for several centuries, including during the years of the Regency.

A slice of cheese rolling lore …

Continue reading “The Rolling of the Cheese in Regency England”

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”

Caricatures — Tabloids of the Regency

Caricatures were extremely popular during the Regency era. Thousands were produced, ranging from mild criticism to biting satire, and included political, social, and personal commentary. They were printed from etchings or engravings and sold to whoever would pay for them.

Continue reading “Caricatures — Tabloids of the Regency”

Assembly Rooms – April 2015

Here’s the monthly assemblage of links of interest to lovers of the Regency era — everything from prisoners’ mementos to dishonest valets. Continue reading “Assembly Rooms – April 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”

Birds of a Feather Hate Fall by Regina Scott

The holiday of Thanksgiving as it is known in America was not celebrated in England during the Regency. Nevertheless, large game birds were an important part of the autumn season, for many English gentlemen devoted a great deal of time to shooting them. In today’s article, Regency romance author, Regina Scott, whose most recent book is The Bride Ship, gives us the details the annual autumn practice of shooting birds during the Regency. In between parties, of course.

Continue reading “Birds of a Feather Hate Fall by Regina Scott”

Vauxhall Vittoria Fete by Ann Lethbridge

Regency romance author, Ann Lethbridge, whose new book, Captured Countess, will be released in December, often writes about Regency fashions at her blog. During the course of her research, she discovered that in the fall of 1813, there were gowns named for a grand fete which had been held that summer at Vauxhall Gardens. The fete was given to celebrate the great victory in Spain which had been won by General, the Marquis of Wellington over the French forces in the Peninsula.

In today’s article, Ann tells us about the grand fete given to celebrate Wellington’s victory at Vittoria. It sounds like quite a crush, at least for some of those in attendance. Perhaps the event might be just the setting for a few scenes in one of your upcoming Regency romances.

Continue reading “Vauxhall Vittoria Fete by Ann Lethbridge”

Nineteenth Century House Party by Regina Scott

It is August, which means days are getting shorter, summer is coming to a close and soon it will be time for lots of children to go back to the schoolroom, if they are not there already. In today’s article, romance author, Regina Scott, whose boxed set, Timeless:   Historical Romance Through the Ages, is available now, tells us about the country house parties which often took place in the month of August during the Regency. But these parties were not all bucolic pleasure. Once you know about the many requirements for a guest at one of these parties, would you look for an invitation, or would you settle for the hot and smelly metropolis in August?

Continue reading “Nineteenth Century House Party by Regina Scott”

Victorian Parlour Games: A Book Review By Cheryl Bolen

In today’s article, award-winning Regency romance author, Cheryl Bolen, reviews the book Victorian Parlour Games. As Cheryl tells us, despite its title, this book is a very useful reference for Regency authors who are planning to include the playing of games in their stories. Many of the games in this book were played long before the Victorian era and are quite appropriate to a novel set in the Regency.

Once you read Cheryl’s review, the existence of which game in our favorite period surprises you the most?

Continue reading Victorian Parlour Games: A Book Review By Cheryl Bolen”