REGENCY
GLOSSARY - first installation, A-C
A
abbey – an abbey is a monastery ruled by an abbot
or a convent ruled by an abbess. When an English property has “Abbey”
in its name, (as in Lord Byron’s home, Newstead Abbey) it means
that there used to be an abbey there in medieval times. When Henry VIII
broke away from the Catholic Church, he confiscated most of the abbeys,
evicted the monks and nuns, and gave the land to his top supporters.
This historical event was known as “The Dissolution of the Abbeys.”
Some of the new owners knocked down the structures and built on them
anew, but others converted the abbeys into private homes, but the word
oftentimes remains in the name.
abigail – another term for a lady’s maid.
accomplishments – in keeping with the ornamental
status of upper class women, an “accomplished” young lady
was expected to have cultivated talents such as playing the pianoforte,
painting watercolors, speaking French, fancy sewing, etc.
accoucheur – an obstetrician. These were male
physicians, and it was considered more prestigious to have an accoucheur
attend one’s childbirth rather than the traditional midwife. Accoucheurs
were the first to use forceps to extract babies from the womb.
Adams style – Robert Adams, along with his slightly
less influential brother, James, were late-Georgian architects better
known as innovators in interior design. Though they had both died by
1794, they had spread their influence far and wide. The Adams style
is light, delicate, graceful, and airy—a toned-down rococo. According
to John Morley in Regency Style (Abrams, 1993) the Adams brothers prided
themselves on having brought back a sense of “movement”
into the frozen grandeur of Palladianism, and increasing the variety
of room shapes (such as octagonal rooms). (p. 106)
Almack’s – assembly rooms in King Street,
London, where the most exclusive private subscription balls of the ton
were held each Wednesday night of the Season. To be found worthy of
the privilege of buying a subscription to the Wednesday night balls,
(a ticket known as a “voucher”) you had to be personally
known to one of the seven powerful Society hostesses who organized it.
These ladies were the so-called Patronesses of Almack’s, and fashionable
society lived in fear of getting on the bad side of any of them. Only
the creme de la creme of Society were permitted to come.
ape-leader – derogatory term for an unmarried
woman. Her “failure” to produce children was thought to
result in the punishment after death of leading apes around in Hell.
apoplexy or apoplectic fit – a stroke.
apothecary – health practitioner who specialized
in herbal (and often quack) remedies.
Ascot – England’s most prestigious horse-racing
track.
assembly rooms – ballrooms that could be rented for private gatherings
or subscriptions balls.
B
bam – to fool or trick someone.
Banbury story – you could bam someone by telling
them a Banbury story, an unbelievable tall tale. The English equivalent
of “blarney.” Otherwise known as a cock-and-bull tale.
banns – public announcement in church of a proposed
marriage. The banns were supposed to be read aloud during church for
three Sundays in a row in the parish/parishes where the engaged people
lived, so that anyone who might know a reason why they should not be
wed could come forward.
barouche – a fancy carriage with a folding hood
that seated four. Two, four, or six horses could be used to pull it.
Like a convertible today, the hood could be put down for the passengers
to enjoy nice weather. It was an elegant but not a particularly manly
carriage.
Bath – city in the western county of Somerset,
England, which became wildly popular in the mid-1700's for the healing
properties of its natural hot springs and mineral waters. (Thus the
name!) Given the craze for classical antiquity, the archeological discovery
of an ancient Roman bath in the center of the city kicked off a huge
fad for going to Bath “to take the waters.” Supervised by
medical experts, people went there hoping to be cured of everything
from gout to infertility. As England’s first true planned city
established during an architectural golden age, Bath is a World Heritage
site and a must-see destination for tourists today! The city and its
genteel social life are featured in many of Jane Austen’s novels.
By the Regency, it had lost popularity among the younger set due to
the rise of Brighton on the southern coast. Instead of taking the spa
waters, the hot new health craze that replaced it was sea-bathing. Bath
came to be associated with sickly, elderly people.
beaver hat – black top hat, made of beaver-skin
because it was waterproof.
blue ruin – gin. (It had reputation similar to
street drugs like crack in today’s world.)
bluestocking – an educated female with opinions
on intellectual matters with which demure young ladies were not supposed
to worry their pretty heads!
blunt – slang term for money.
Boney – Napoleon Bonaparte.
bottom – courage, pluck.
Bow Street – location of the justice offices
where the London detectives known as the Bow Street Runners were based.
Brighton – seaside town about forty-five miles
away from London, where people went to improve their health in the craze
for sea-bathing—and to party! Brighton had a festive reputation,
which was why it loved Prinny and Prinny loved it. It was here in his
favorite getaway spot that he built his fantastic Pavilion. Brighton
was annually the next stop on the social whirl for high society following
the Season in London.
Brooke’s – top gentlemen’s club of
the Whigs in St. James’s Street, London.
butler – more than merely answered doors, the
butler was responsible for directing the male portion of the indoor
household staff (except those under direct authority of the male chef,
if the house had one). The butler had extensive duties, including overseeing
the correct service of meals, protecting the (pure silver) silverware
from thieves, and being in charge of household security.
C
cabriolet – a light, two-wheeled carriage for
one horse. It seated two, was usually driven by the gentleman himself,
and had a folding leather hood. There was a perch in the back for the
“tiger.”
canals – before trains, cargo was moved through
England on narrow-boats that traversed quaint man-made canals. A vast
network of canals crisscrossed England. (This was a common mode of transportation
in Europe and America, too.) The narrow-boat would be hitched by ropes
to a horse that walked alongside the canal on the “tow-path.”
An attendant would walk the horse up the path while the animal towed
the narrow-boat quietly along the canal. Many investors made great fortunes
building canals during the Regency, but the trains soon made them obsolete.
Today many narrow-boats have been turned into passenger vessels and
offer tourists a relaxing way to view the English countryside.
cavaliere serviente – literally, “servant
knight.” There came from a tradition dating back to medieval times,
when a gallant young knight might dedicate himself to a married woman
in supposedly chaste idolatry. He would serve as her escort when her
usually powerful husband was too busy to bother with her. In the Georgian
era, when arranged marriages based on power and property abounded, too
much fraternization between husbands and wives was considered vulgar,
unsophisticated. Adultery was something of a national sport among the
upper classes. The lords had their mistresses and ladies had their cavalieres
servientes. Supposedly, these attachments were as chaste as their medieval
counterparts. I’m sure the husbands liked to think so. As long
as the wife had produced the heir and the spare, and was reasonably
discreet, usually no one complained. (Marriage based on love was a dangerous
new-fangled idea in the Regency!)
chaperon – a respectable female in charge of
an unmarried young lady in public, especially responsible for making
sure she behaves herself around the opposite sex.
cheroot or cigarillo – a small, thin cigar. Smoking
was not as popular as the use of snuff. Most Englishmen who smoked picked
up the habit in Spain while fighting the Peninsular War.
chinoiserie – decoration “in the Chinese
style.” You could have chinoiserie furniture or wall-paper, for
instance, with an exotic bird or bamboo motif. Plates depicting Chinese
scenes and figurines of Chinese people were also wildly popular. People
also built miniature “pagodas” as garden follies. Of course,
the port of Canton was closed to foreigners at this time, so the designers
using these patterns knew almost nothing about China. As a result, most
chinoiserie bears no resemblance to real Chinese people or culture,
but having some around made you look sophisticated and fashionable.
(Regency people were crazy about all sorts of exotic lands and cultures.)
chocolate – usually refers to the drink, hot
chocolate, though cocoa was also used in desserts. Awful to imagine,
but chocolate bars/candy had not yet been invented!
clerk or “clark” – a male secretary.
coach – a large, sturdy, four-wheeled closed
carriage pulled by four to six horses. It seated four, and might have
the family’s coat of arms painted on the door. The coach was driven
by the coachman who sat on the elevated, exterior “driver’s
box” at the front of the vehicle, perhaps with a groom by his
side and a pair of liveried footmen stationed in the back.
coaching inn – a hotel/pub/restaurant posted
along major roadways that serviced the stagecoaches. All those hungry
travelers had to sleep somewhere! At a coaching inn, you could have
a meal, rent fresh horses for the next leg of your journey, or stay
overnight.
coffee houses – though tea may be the quintessential
British beverage, coffee preceded it in popularity by several decades
and later became eclipsed by it.
coffeehouses – from the 1700's, men went to their
Regency Starbucks to drink coffee, read the newspapers, and enter into
lively debates over things like art and politics. Also served food.
confinement – in the latter stages of pregnancy,
women withdrew from the social scene, entering, as it was discreetly
called, their “confinement.”
console table – a table designed to fit against a wall, sometimes
anchored into the wall.
corn – refers to all the major cereal crops produced
in England, such as wheat, rye, oats, and barley, but NOT corn-on-the-cob,
which was known as maize.
corset – the French (and therefore “fancier” term)
for “stays,” a body-shaping garment for women intended to
hold in the waist and lift the bosom, tightened by laces in the back.
costermonger – street vendor of fruits and vegetables.
country house – mansion in the countryside. The more ostentatious
you could make it, the bigger the status symbol. Country houses are
associated with huge landscape gardens.
country house party – guests would be invited
to stay for weeks at a time. A favorite venue for eligible bachelors
and bachelorettes to get to know each other, with the proper chaperonage,
of course!
Covent Garden – an Italian-style piazza built
in the early 1600's by Inigo Jones, overlooked by a church, Covent Garden
offered fashionable housing to the rich for a while, but when they moved
away, drifting towards Mayfair, it became the main fruit and vegetable
market of London by day; at night it became what we’d call a “red
light district,” the most reliable place to pick up prostitutes.
Today it is part of London’s theatre district.
cravat – gentleman’s neckcloth, the correct
starching and tying of which was crucial to the wearer’s fashionable
appearance.
crim-con – when adultery had taken place, the
wronged husband could sue the man who had seduced his wife for in a
civil (not criminal) suit, and could be awarded financial damages. The
legal term for the charges that would be brought against the seducer
were “criminal conversation.” For rakes and roues of the
Regency, “crim-con” charges were a real danger!
curricle – two-wheeled carriage for two horses.
Seat in back for the tiger or groom. Like the cabriolet (which came
a few years after the curricle) it was an expensive gentleman’s
toy, like the modern sports-car.
cut – a social snub. To look straight at someone
and then coldly look away without acknowledging him or her was considered
giving that person “the cut direct.”
