Articles about the Georgian era, or the “long” Regency
If you read Regency romances chances are you will sooner or later be drawn into a duel, or at least an account of one. Though it was illegal, dueling was a popular way for Regency males to display their athletic prowess, respond to an insult or settle a debt of honor. In the 18th century, duels…
It’s winter, and cold weather is a great inducement to focus on indoor activities. For me, that means it’s time to find my yarn basket. I just can’t relax for long without a colorful strand of yarn threaded through my fingers and a project to knit or crochet. Hand knitting and crocheting, used to make…
Emma and Lord Nelson – first impressions Emma Hamilton first met Lord Nelson in 1793 in Naples, where her husband, Sir William Hamilton, was stationed as an ambassador to the court of Ferdinand and Maria Carolina. However, Emma and Nelson’s love affair didn’t heat up until after they met again in 1798. It’s hard to…
This month marks the 209th anniversary of the death of Emma Hamilton. She was best known during the Regency as Emma Hamilton, wife of Sir William Hamilton and the mistress of naval hero Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Theirs was a passionate affair, and this is the story of two intertwined lives, one of which ended in…
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 –
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…
The Treaty of Ghent, also known as the Peace of Christmas Eve, was the pact signed in the city of Ghent, Belgium (chosen because Belgium was a neutral country) that officially ended hostilities between the fledgling United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Peace talks started in Ghent in August…
“This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper” T.S. Eliot wasn’t describing the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire when he wrote those words in his poem, “The Hollow Men.” Nonetheless, his lines are an extremely apt way to describe the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, which…
The Napoleonic Wars Finally End: the Second Treaty of Paris signed November 20, 1815 It is tempting to assume the wars ended at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, with the surrender of the French. In fact, the French army fled the field in shocking disarray without so much as a rear guard action pursued through…
In this picture, Edward Jenner vaccinates a reluctant patient with cowpox matter to prevent the more serious smallpox. Meanwhile, those already vaccinated show many, er, unusual side effects from the process. Previously innoculations for smallpox involved cutting the skin and using actual smallpox matter. It was called variolation and was much riskier. The word vaccine…