Sixth Installation: P
P
Packet – a ship running regular, usually short-distance routes
to carry mail and passengers.
Pantomime – theatre entertainment heavy on spectacle. The
pantomime could include singing, dancing, plays - either comic or
spooky/gothic, elaborate costumes, and the best special effects
of the day. This was rollicking popular fare in contrast to the
more prestigious, serious stage dramas, not unlike the summer blockbuster
movies of today!
Paragon – an exemplary person, a model of correct behavior
and integrity.
Parasol – a dainty fabric umbrella used as a fashion accessory
to shade a woman from the sun.
Parliament – the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Pattens – ladies footwear for inclement weather. They were
rings strapped onto the bottom of a woman’s shoes or boots
to elevate her a couple of inches above the mud or slush.
Peer – a nobleman with a hereditary seat in the House of
Lords: duke, marquess, earl, viscount, or baron.
Pelisse – a light coat, with or without sleeves, buttoning
down the front, and hanging to about shin level. (See my article
under the History section, Photos of Real Regency Clothing.)
Phaeton – the Regency version of a sports car, a light, fast,
fashionable four-wheeled carriage for one or two horses, usually
driven by the owner rather than a coachman.
Physician – as distinguished from a Surgeon, the main difference
was that a physician had gentleman status because he did not do
manual labor, i.e. did not touch the patient. The physician treated
patients by questioning them on their symptoms and then writing
out prescriptions to be brewed up by the local Apothecary. The Surgeon,
also known as the barber, was the hands-on guy for everything from
amputations to pulling teeth. Physicians were considered as white-collar
educated professionals whereas surgeons had a much lower status.
“Physick” – an antique term referring to medicine
in general.
Pianoforte – the forerunner of the piano. Before the pianoforte
came along, there was the harpsichord, which excelled in showing
off precision, technical brilliance, texture, and virtuosity, but
was limited in emotional expressivity because the player had no
control over volume. By using new technological advances, the pianoforte
allowed greater emotional expression because it could play softly
(“piano”) or more loudly (“forte”), depending
on the mood the musician wished to create. This innovation fed into
the Regency and early Romantic era’s preference for increasingly
emotional music, as in the works of Beethoven.
Pin-money – a woman’s allowance given for personal purchases.
Emily Hendrickson’s Regency Reference Book (p. 115) lists
the average sum given to a lady of the upper class or peerage as
being around 400-500 pounds sterling annually. In today’s
money, that would come in somewhere between $20,000-$25,000 U.S.
This sum could be written into her marriage settlement (as in a
pre-nup), or just informally agreed to by her husband.
Pluck – courage, spirit.
Poaching – hunting game animals on a landowner’s property,
a crime punishable by transportation to a penal colony. Landowners
were permitted to ward off poachers by severe means, such as setting
man-traps or even shooting at them.
Poppet – a term of endearment.
Port – sweet heavy red wine fortified with brandy, most frequently
imbibed by Regency gentlemen at dinner parties after the ladies
had withdrawn to the drawing room for tea. Port gets its name from
the country of Portugal. England had sworn off French wine during
the war years, and instead began importing wine from this allied
country instead.
Portmanteau – 19th century term for a suitcase, traveling
bag.
Prime Minister – in England, the head of the government;
it’s always the leader of whichever political party has the
most seats in the House of Commons.
Primogeniture – the traditional system of inheritance whereby
the eldest male offspring was the sole legal recipient of the deceased’s
title and entailed lands. Money, possessions, and non-entailed properties
could be divided up among the various children of the deceased,
but these dispensations to younger sons and daughters were usually
modest. It was found that family fortunes did not last as long once
they started dividing up the money. Instead, the preferred system
was to put the male firstborn in charge, educate him for that position,
and assume that he would look out for his younger siblings responsibly.
Younger sons of wealthy families were expected to make their own
way in the world; in the 19th century, it was common to send younger
sons into the military and into the Church.
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