Reticules and Pockets

Covent Garden Market was a haven for shopping and reticules

     could be found here as well as ready-made pockets. 

When the large hoop dresses of the 18^th century were discarded and the high-waisted gowns of the Regency era became fashionable, reticules (small purses) came into fashion.

Unfortunately some of the most fashionable reticules could only carry a handkerchief and a coin.

Before reticules, women wore pockets that they tied underneath their gowns, in between their chemise and petticoat. But with the straight skirt of the empire waist, pockets would ruin the line of the gown. Pockets were accessed through a slit in the side of the gown. These pockets could be quite deep and a woman might be able to put her hand into the pocket all the way up to her elbow. Often these pockets were ornately embroidered. 

It was where you could carry a pincushion, a pair of scissors, a snuff box, smelling salts, thimble, pencil, knife, a coin and maybe a biscuit.  

Some made the transition easily not wanting the pockets of their grandmothers. The working class wore pockets to keep their valuables safe even during the Regency era. Some even put their pockets below their pillows when they slept for safekeeping.

In the country, one could wear pockets. But once you entered London you would need to adopt the fashion of a reticule, a decorative pocket with fringe and a tie to close it at the top.   

Jane Austen and Writing

Jane Austen was such a great wit in her day and still in ours. I can’t help but read quotes from her letters to her sister Cassandra and laugh. I wonder if she was pleasant to be around seeming to say one thing and then twisting it to say another.  

One of my favorite quotes from her is when she was arriving in London.  “Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation and vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted.” 1796

Christmas Eve of 1798 she wrote, “You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve.”

Once when she was in London, she had reason to visit a fashionable girls’ seminary. She writes to her sister, "the weather...left me only a few minutes to sit with Charlotte Craven. She looks very well, and her hair is done up with an elegance to do credit to any education. Her manners are as unaffected and pleasing as ever... I was shewn upstairs into a drawing-room, where she came to me, and the appearance of the room, so totally unschool-like, amused me very much; it was full of modern elegancies, and if it had not been for some naked cupids over the mantelpiece, which must be a fine study for girls, one should never have smelt instruction."

I can't even begin to imitate and so I appreciate what she has written and press on to try and find another way to make my writing amusing. The quote below is wonderful. Anyone who writes about cake I have a natural affection for. 

“You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me." 1808

(On buying a "sprig" for her sister's hat)] "I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit. What do you think on that subject?" 1799

My vote is for flowers.

At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.  Ezekiel 24:27

The Secret of Words

The Regency language is for those who know how to unlock its encryption. Some of the words used during that time are quite humorous.

Inexpressibles – Pants 

Necessary - the bathroom

Maggot Pie – the lowest form of human         

Deuced - screwed over, damned

Imp - devil    

Dad shamed - shamed by God 

Dickens - hell or damnation      Dafted – dumb                          

Redneck - a poor person in the country

Dun territory – in debt                

Tarnation - a popular sub for damnation      

Abigail – lady’s maid                    

Contemptible - terrible, looked down upon  

Sit down upons - underpants

Strumpet - a lady of the night

Ape-leader– old maid or spinster

Affair of honor – a duel.

Apoplexy – stroke

Batman- an orderly assigned to a military officer

Blue ruin - gin                             

Blue-stocking – a derogatory word for intelligent women. Originally used to describe a man who wore blue stockings and who was a great conversationalist.

Bow Street Runner- a precursor to policemen

Chit – a young girl                        Cut direct – a public snub

Follow the drum – follow the army         

Foolscap – writing paper

Foxed - drunk                              

Hell- a gambling establishment

High in the instep – snobbish    

Hoyden – a girl who is boisterous and tomboyish

Laudanum – a small bit of opium used as a painkiller or sedative

Mayfair – the most desirable neighborhood to live in, reaching Piccadilly on the south, Oxford to the north, Park Lane on the west and Regent Street on the east. It includes Berkeley Square, Grosvenor Square and Hanover Square.

Rake – is somewhat of a libertine.

Rout – A crowded cocktail party often in homes where all the furnishings have been removed in order for more people to fit in. No cards, entertainment, food or conversation.

Season – A time in early spring lasting until the end of June. It coincides with Parliament meetings.

At sixes and sevens – a state of confusion

Special License – A license obtained by the Archbishop of Canterbury granting the right to marry. Otherwise marriages could take place only between 8:00 a.m. and noon where one of the parties would have lived for over 3 months and the banns had been read in church for three consecutive Sundays.

I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

A place for contemplation

We, my husband and I, went up to the mountains to see the colors change this weekend. It was beautiful—gold, red, orange and green.

The air was crisp and there was snow on the ground in places. Especially on the tops of the mountains and the trails through the forest. 
But what really got my attention was the small bench against the rocks. A place to rest. It called to me then, and it calls to me now.
I have lost someone very dear to me this year. I find myself eager to sit and watch and enjoy everything around me. Things that are hard, don't seem as hard. Things that are wonderful seem less so. It is probably the melancholy that I wear as a cape over everything I do, see and say.



The dark days of winter are coming and I know in advance, I will be more downhearted than usual. I know it will pass. But the truth is I don't want it to. I don't want to forget the person I loved and is no longer on this earth. I want to remember him always and I want others to remember him too.

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain. Psalm 51:11-12

Castlewood Canyon State Park

Hiking in Colorado is amazing. Castlewood Canyon State Park. We took a moderate loop hike. It was cold in the mountains and so it was perfect for an overcast day just outside the city. We should have taken a longer path, but hadn't picked up a map. Thought the trail maps would be enough. We will definitely be back.    

Regency fare

The Prince Regent indulged in food and it was said of him that he never restrained himself from any table. In one month’s time at Carlton House the household used 5,264 pounds of meat excluding sausage, pork and poultry. Those items were also consumed in varying amounts. At any given time there were close to 120 people eating at the Regent’s table. But that means that each guest had to eat at least more than a pound of meat a day. Any of the left-over dishes the servants ate and they were also given their own “joint of meat”.

In January 1817 at the Brighton Pavilion, the menu consisted of over a hundred dishes for the Regent and his guests. The dishes were placed in the middle of the table and servants would bring each dish to guests to serve them. Conversation was continually interrupted by guests asking servants for certain dishes.

One guest complained that the servants always offer the ladies the dishes first and some guests are offered the same dish 2 or 3 times while some unhappy fool sits without any options at all.

In smaller households hostesses began putting the dishes in the middle of the table and letting the guests serve themselves as they passed it along the table. It was more harmonious. But in order for this to work you could not have as many dishes otherwise you would be passing dishes all night and never have a chance to eat.

The working class’s main staple, you would think would be bread. However, bread cost a schilling, the same price for 20 pounds of potatoes. So they more than not survived on potatoes. If they received a higher wage, they would add tea, sugar and bread to their diet.  

So working as the staff of a grand home was desirable as it provided better food and often lodging. 

What's in a Title

What is in a title? It turns out during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s . . . a lot. Men’s titles dictated what the women in his family would be called. 

For instance if your father was a Duke, the highest rank under the King, both he and his wife the Duchess would be called Your Grace, though people close to them would be able to call them Duchess or Duke. All of the Duke’s daughters are given the title Lady, then their first name and then their surname. These titles continue to all daughters who have  fathers that are either a Duke, Marquess or Earl.

The Earl of Mistlewatch is then shortened to Earl Mistlewatch, his wife would be the Countess. So any one calling on him would call him the Earl of Mistlewatch or Lord Mistlewatch or Mistlewatch. His wife would be the Countess of Mistlewatch or Lady Mistlewatch, and sign letters to her closest friends, Constance Mistlewatch. His daughter would be called for instance Lady Helen Mistlewatch.

To make matters more interesting if Lady Helen Mistlewatch marries a commoner, she retains her title but if Lady Helen marries the Earl of Heinrich she becomes the Countess of Heinrich, Lady Heinrich. If she marries the holder of a courtesty title, then she may use his title or her birth title as she wishes.

So the Duke of Edinburough’s daughter, Lady Mary Edinburough will never be called Lady Edinburough. That is her mother’s title. The only exception being if her father has no sons and she marries the heir to his title. Then she will be Lady Edinburough. But if that does not occur she will be called Lady Mary until she marries.

To complicate matters the son of Earls, Marquesses and Dukes will take the title the father had before he became the higher title. So your father may be called Duke and the son from infancy would be called the Marquess of another property/land that the family holds. ie Marquess Somerset.  

It is great to keep a chart of who is who and what they should be called for it can be very confusing even within a family of who is who.