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December in Jane Austen’s World

Posted in A Year in Jane Austen's World, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen's Birthday, Jane Austen's enduring popularity, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's letters, Jane Austen's life, Jane Austen's World, Regency, Regency Customs, Regency Life, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2024| 4 Comments »

We’ve arrived at December in Jane Austen’s World, dear readers! We’ve traversed Austen’s life, letters, and novels for a full year now, and it’s been a wonderful adventure.

You can find the rest of the “A Year in Jane Austen’s World” series here: Jan, Feb, Mar, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, and Nov.

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

To start, December is Jane Austen’s birthday month, and today, December 16th, is her birthday! Let’s stop for a moment and wish a very Happy Birthday to Jane!!

Can you imagine raising a child like Jane? I’m sure her parents had no idea that their little bundle of joy held such an incredible gift within her – a gift that would bless people around the world for generations to come. Almost 250 years after her birth, people still study and celebrate her writing every day!

December in Hampshire

As we do each month, let us now turn our attention to the lovely Hampshire countryside, the place where Jane spent most of her life, and see what it looks like this time of year. Here are the Chawton Great House gardens in December:

Chawton House in December: Photo @ChawtonHouse.

As one might assume, the weather turns cold and brisk this time of year. However, the weather in December did not keep Regency people at home as much as January-March, so many of Austen’s letters and novels feature parties, balls, and gatherings in December. Austen makes mention of December weather in her letters here:

Steventon (26 December 1798): 

“The snow came to nothing yesterday, so I did go to Deane, and returned home at nine o’clock at night in the little carriage, and without being very cold.”

Castle Square (27 December 1808):

“We have had snow on the ground here almost a week; it is now going, but Southampton must boast no longer.”

And here is a photo of Jane Austen’s House Museum all decked out for Christmas:

Jane Austen’s House, Photo: @JaneAustensHouse.

December in Jane Austen’s Letters

We have letters posted from Steventon on December 1st, 18th, 24th, and 28th in 1798; from Castle Square on December 9th and 27th in 1808; and a small mention in January 1809 of an important letter from Charles from posted from Bermuda in December 1808.

But first, perhaps one of the most important letters we have from December – Jane’s father’s letter to his sister announcing his second daughter’s entry into the world!

You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassy certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago: however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion. She is to be Jenny.

Tree-lined lane to St. Nicholas Church, Steventon. Photo @ Rachel Dodge.

Other odds and ends from Austen’s December letters are below, but I encourage you to read them in their entirety. Her letters are always so newsy and amusing. Several in this batch include information about her brothers away at sea. Relaying letters and news about their whereabouts and safety was of utmost importance to the entire family, as is true of every family with members serving in the military.

Steventon (1 December 1798):

  • News of Frank: “I am so good as to write to you again thus speedily, to let you know that I have just heard from Frank (Francis). He was at Cadiz, alive and well, on October 19, and had then very lately received a letter from you, written as long ago as when the ‘London’ was at St. Helen’s… Frank writes in good spirits, but says that our correspondence cannot be so easily carried on in future as it has been, as the communication between Cadiz and Lisbon is less frequent than formerly. You and my mother, therefore, must not alarm yourselves at the long intervals that may divide his letters. I address this advice to you two as being the most tender-hearted of the family.“
  • A splendid dinner: “Mr. Lyford…came while we were at dinner, and partook of our elegant entertainment. I was not ashamed at asking him to sit down to table, for we had some pease-soup, a sparerib, and a pudding. He wants my mother to look yellow and to throw out a rash, but she will do neither.”
  • New baby and Jane’s opinions on ‘laying in’: “Mary does not manage matters in such a way as to make me want to lay in myself. She is not tidy enough in her appearance; she has no dressing-gown to sit up in; her curtains are all too thin, and things are not in that comfort and style about her which are necessary to make such a situation an enviable one. Elizabeth was really a pretty object with her nice clean cap put on so tidily and her dress so uniformly white and orderly.”
Regency-style meal (reproduction). Jane Austen’s House, Photo: @JaneAustensHouse.

Steventon (18 December 1798):

  • A birthday message received: “I am very much obliged to my dear little George for his message,—for his love at least; his duty, I suppose, was only in consequence of some hint of my favorable intentions towards him from his father or mother. I am sincerely rejoiced, however, that I ever was born, since it has been the means of procuring him a dish of tea. Give my best love to him…”

Steventon (24 December 1798):

  • News of both brothers in the Navy: “Admiral Gambier, in reply to my father’s application, writes as follows: As it is usual to keep young officers in small vessels, it being most proper on account of their inexperience, and it being also a situation where they are more in the way of learning their duty, your son (Charles) has been continued in the ‘Scorpion;’ but I have mentioned to the Board of Admiralty his wish to be in a frigate, and when a proper opportunity offers and it is judged that he has taken his turn in a small ship, I hope he will be removed. With regard to your son now in the ‘London’ (Francis) I am glad I can give you the assurance that his promotion is likely to take place very soon, as Lord Spencer has been so good as to say he would include him in an arrangement that he proposes making in a short time relative to some promotions in that quarter.”
  • One of Jane’s now-famous quotes: “Miss Blackford is agreeable enough. I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.“
  • A Christmas-time ball: “Our ball was very thin, but by no means unpleasant. There were thirty-one people, and only eleven ladies out of the number, and but five single women in the room. Of the gentlemen present you may have some idea from the list of my partners,—Mr. Wood, G. Lefroy, Rice, a Mr. Butcher (belonging to the Temples, a sailor and not of the 11th Light Dragoons), Mr. Temple (not the horrid one of all), Mr. Wm. Orde (cousin to the Kingsclere man), Mr. John Harwood, and Mr. Calland, who appeared as usual with his hat in his hand, and stood every now and then behind Catherine and me to be talked to and abused for not dancing. We teased him, however, into it at last. I was very glad to see him again after so long a separation, and he was altogether rather the genius and flirt of the evening. He inquired after you.”

  • There were twenty dances, and I danced them all, and without any fatigue. “I was glad to find myself capable of dancing so much, and with so much satisfaction as I did; from my slender enjoyment of the Ashford balls (as assemblies for dancing) I had not thought myself equal to it, but in cold weather and with few couples I fancy I could just as well dance for a week together as for half an hour. My black cap was openly admired by Mrs. Lefroy, and secretly I imagine by everybody else in the room…”
Regency Dancing, Pride and Prejudice (1995).

Steventon (28 December 1798):

  • More Navy news: “Frank is made. He was yesterday raised to the rank of Commander, and appointed to the ‘Petterel’ sloop, now at Gibraltar. A letter from Daysh has just announced this, and as it is confirmed by a very friendly one from Mr. Mathew to the same effect, transcribing one from Admiral Gambier to the General, we have no reason to suspect the truth of it. As soon as you have cried a little for joy, you may go on, and learn further that the India House have taken Captain Austen’s petition into consideration,—this comes from Daysh,—and likewise that Lieutenant Charles John Austen is removed to the ‘Tamar’ frigate,—this comes from the Admiral. We cannot find out where the ‘Tamar’ is, but I hope we shall now see Charles here at all events.”

Castle Square (8 December 1808):

  • A December ball: “Our ball was rather more amusing than I expected. Martha liked it very much, and I did not gape till the last quarter of an hour. It was past nine before we were sent for, and not twelve when we returned. The room was tolerably full, and there were, perhaps, thirty couple of dancers. The melancholy part was to see so many dozen young women standing by without partners, and each of them with two ugly naked shoulders. It was the same room in which we danced fifteen years ago. I thought it all over, and in spite of the shame of being so much older, felt with thankfulness that I was quite as happy now as then. We paid an additional shilling for our tea, which we took as we chose in an adjoining and very comfortable room.”

Castle Square (27 December 1808):

  • A new pianoforte: “Yes, yes, we will have a pianoforte, as good a one as can be got for thirty guineas, and I will practise country dances, that we may have some amusement for our nephews and nieces, when we have the pleasure of their company.”
Regency ladies at a pianoforte.

December in Jane Austen’s Novels

There are several mentions in Austen’s novels about Christmas, but as next week’s post from Brenda will focus on Christmas scenes from the novels, we shall mostly stick to the month of December in this article with a few helpful quotes about the Christmas season:

Sense and Sensibility

  • Insight on Mr. Willoughby: “He is as good a sort of fellow, I believe, as ever lived,” repeated Sir John. “I remember last Christmas at a little hop at the park, he danced from eight o’clock till four, without once sitting down.”

Pride and Prejudice

  • A family holiday: “On the following Monday, Mrs. Bennet had the pleasure of receiving her brother and his wife, who came, as usual, to spend the Christmas at Longbourn.”

Mansfield Park

  • A special visit from William: “William determining, soon after her removal, to be a sailor, was invited to spend a week with his sister in Northamptonshire before he went to sea. Their eager affection in meeting, their exquisite delight in being together, their hours of happy mirth, and moments of serious conference, may be imagined; as well as the sanguine views and spirits of the boy even to the last, and the misery of the girl when he left her. Luckily the visit happened in the Christmas holidays, when she could directly look for comfort to her cousin Edmund; and he told her such charming things of what William was to do, and be hereafter, in consequence of his profession, as made her gradually admit that the separation might have some use.”

Emma

  • Tolerable weather: “Though now the middle of December, there had yet been no weather to prevent the young ladies from tolerably regular exercise; and on the morrow, Emma had a charitable visit to pay to a poor sick family, who lived a little way out of Highbury.”
  • The fogs of December: “The next thing wanted was to get the picture framed; and here were a few difficulties. It must be done directly; it must be done in London; the order must go through the hands of some intelligent person whose taste could be depended on; and Isabella, the usual doer of all commissions, must not be applied to, because it was December, and Mr. Woodhouse could not bear the idea of her stirring out of her house in the fogs of December.”
  • Dinner party at Randalls: “The evening before this great event (for it was a very great event that Mr. Woodhouse should dine out, on the 24th of December) had been spent by Harriet at Hartfield, and she had gone home so much indisposed with a cold, that, but for her own earnest wish of being nursed by Mrs. Goddard, Emma could not have allowed her to leave the house.”
Regency dinner party, Emma (2020).

Persuasion

  • Charles and Mary Musgrove married 16 December, Jane’s birthday: “Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary’s birth—’Married, December 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset…'”
  • Mary Musgrove bemoans the lack of December parties: “We have had a very dull Christmas; Mr and Mrs Musgrove have not had one dinner party all the holidays. I do not reckon the Hayters as anybody. The holidays, however, are over at last: I believe no children ever had such long ones. I am sure I had not.”

Northanger Abbey

  • A December visit: “Mrs. Thorpe and her daughters had scarcely begun the history of their acquaintance with Mr. James Morland, before she remembered that her eldest brother had lately formed an intimacy with a young man of his own college, of the name of Thorpe; and that he had spent the last week of the Christmas vacation with his family, near London.”
  • A long lecture on dress: “Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim. Catherine knew all this very well; her great aunt had read her a lecture on the subject only the Christmas before…”

December Dates of Importance

And now for our monthly round-up of December dates of importance relating to Jane and her family. This time, there is plenty of family news, plus important publishing news and one very difficult sorrow:

Family News:

  • 16 December 1775: Jane Austen born at home in Steventon.
  • December 1786: Jane and Cassandra Austen leave Abbey School.
  • 23 December 1788: After finishing at the Royal Naval Academy, Francis Austen sails to the East Indies.
  • 27 December 1791: Edward Austen marries Elizabeth Bridges.
  • 31 December 1797: Henry Austen marries Eliza de Feuillide.
  • December 1800: Rev. Austen announces his retirement and intention to move to Bath.
  • 2 and 3 December 1802: Harris Bigg-Wither proposes to Austen and she accepts. The next day, she rejects his proposal.

Historic Dates:

  • 16 December 1773: An event occurs in the American colonies now known as the Boston Tea Party.
  • 2 December 1804: Napoleon crowns himself emperor of France.

Writing:

  • December 1815: Emma is published and dedicated to the Prince Regent.
  • December 1817: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published together, posthumously.

Sorrows:

  • 16 December 1804: Austen’s close friend, Mrs. Anne Lefroy, is killed in a riding accident.
Boston Tea Party, engraving in W. D. Cooper’s The History of North America, London: E. Newberry, 1789.

Looking Forward to Next Year

Writing this series for the past twelve months has been a great joy. I’ve learned a lot, and I feel as though I know and understand Jane Austen and her life and time period better than before. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well! In the new year, I look forward to a year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and all the events and books coming our way. Have a very happy Christmas!

RACHEL DODGE teaches college English classes, speaks at libraries, teas, and conferences, and writes for Jane Austen’s World blog. She is the bestselling, award-winning author of The Anne of Green Gables Devotional, The Little Women Devotional, and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. Her most recent book is The Secret Garden Devotional. A true kindred spirit at heart, Rachel loves books, bonnets, and ballgowns. Visit her online at www.RachelDodge.com.

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Travel for the Poor and Working Classes in Regency England

Posted in 19th C. Poor, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Travel, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2024| 7 Comments »

Inquiring readers: We readers of Jane Austen’s novels, letters, and stories, as well as of the history of the Georgian/Regency era in England, are fairly knowledgeable about the modes of travel for the upper classes and rising middle classes – from grand carriages to fast paced curricles to the humbler donkey cart that the Austen women drove from Chawton to the nearby village of Alton (1.6 miles away). A majority of these vehicles (except perhaps for the donkey cart) were beyond the means of most of the working classes, as well as the poor. (Just one horse cost an average of £500 per year to maintain. Even Rev Austen used his horse for a variety of jobs: to visit his parishes, post letters in town, and for farm work.). So how did humbler citizens travel? What modes of transportation were affordable and available to them? 

Chawton to Alton. Google map

On Foot:

If memory serves me well (from an article I read 20 years ago), most villagers in Austen’s day moved around within an 18 mile radius (plus/minus) from where they lived. In a 2022 article (1), author Wade H. Mann discussed the distances and time people took to reach Point A to Point B. To paraphrase him, walking was the way most people used to travel, especially the poor, servants, and working people. Mann’s distances and times provide a quick perspective. For his extrapolations, he used the information he gleaned about the Bennet family in Pride and Prejudice, their walks to the village of Meryton, and the distance of Longbourn to London. In short order, he discussed:

  • Lydia’s walks to Meryton nearly every day. (Distance: 1 mile each way.) One can assume that servants who worked for the Bennets also walked those distances, if not farther, to and from their homes every morning and evening after their shifts were over. One can also imagine servants, be they male or female, being sent on frequent missions of 1 mile or more throughout the day to obtain food or medicines, and to receive packages, or deliver letters with information for merchants and notes of appreciation or invitation to close neighbors.

    (c) Dover Collections, Supplied by Art UK

  • Elizabeth’s walk of three miles to visit Jane at Netherfield Park over wet fields was easy for her strong, athletic body. She would not have been “intimidated by a six-mile [round trip] walk.” If this was the case for a gentle woman of her status, one can imagine that male or female servants and field laborers would think nothing of walking six miles one way to work. 
  • In this bucolic image of a country road in Kent, painted in 1845 by William Richard Waters, three women are shown along a dirt road. (The village is located in the far horizon.) The woman on the left is probably a servant. From their dress, the two sitting females are gentle women taking a break. Although this painting was created past Austen’s day, rural villages were still relatively unchanged. With the advent of railroads and macadam roads, long distance travel became easier for those who could afford it, but long walks were still a part of daily life during the 19th century.


Distances in Regency  England


As mentioned before, the distance between Longbourn, where the Bennets lived, and Netherfield Park, which Mr Bingley rented, was only three miles. 

On a good surface, almost everyone walks 3 to 3.5 miles per hour; ordinary people can walk 10 to 24 miles per day. Twenty-four miles is the exact distance from Longbourn to Gracechurch Street [London], so even on foot, it’s only a hard day’s walk.” (1)


According to today’s estimates, the distance from London to Bath is approximately 115 miles (plus minus 30 miles depending on the roads one travels and which fields they chose to cross). Given the above estimate, and that, depending on their age and physical ability to walk from 10 to 24 miles per day, this journey would take a walker anywhere from 11½  to 4.8 days. In our fast-paced world, such a long time would be unacceptable. 250 years ago it was not. Travelers also minded their pocketbooks in terms of their budgets for lodging. Some might even need to find employment along the way.

London to Bath, google maps

Road surfaces and weather conditions mattered

If you’ve ever walked along a dirt path in a large park, you might have stumbled across fallen limbs and trees, climbed up and down steep paths, and treaded carefully over rocky surfaces, etc. Road conditions in and around most of England’s rural villages were abysmal until the early 19th century. Macadamized roads, with their crushed stone surfaces were constructed in 1815, just 2 years before Austen’s death. During most of her life, she would have largely known the miseries of walking along and riding on dirt roads that turned into muddy quagmires on rainy days. 

Rains were frequent in this island country. Roads became so rutted that they were almost impassable in certain areas, where mud slowed horse drawn coaches and carriages, which forced riders and people to take down luggage and packages, and push the vehicles, or to walk to nearby shelters and villages. Mrs Hurst Dancing, a book that features Diana Sperling’s charming watercolours of her life during this time, shows how weather affected her family’s everyday lives.

This image shows the challenges of a muddy road with deep wagon tracks by a family embarked on an eleven mile walk. Seeing how these gentle folks struggled on an excursion of their choice, we can imagine the challenges many servants faced walking to their place of employment, having no other option. 

A walk of 11 miles in deep mud, Mrs Hurst Dancing (2), P. 60 (Image, Vic Sanborn)

Walking to Dinner at a Neighbor’s House, Mrs Hurst Dancing (2) P38. (Image: The Jane Austen Centre)

Effects of weather 

Frequent rains were not the only problem. Cold winters and deep snow provided unique challenges during the years known as The Little Ice Age (1811-20), when winters were harsher than normal. People who embarked on walking long distances needed to plan their routes in advance, which included knowing the condition of the roads (often through word of mouth or by previous experiences) and which villages could offer affordable shelters. Many itinerant laborers would have no problem sleeping in a farmer’s barn on a soft bed of hay in exchange for work. 

Snow and ice made travel extremely difficult and was often avoided unless absolutely necessary. People would hunker down indoors and wait for the snow to clear before embarking on long journeys, as conditions could change rapidly. (My favorite Emma incident is when Mr Woodhouse, dining at the Weston’s house, INSISTED on leaving a dinner party immediately at the first signs of snowflakes. The Woodhouse party left, even though dinner had barely begun. Mr Woodhouse feared being stuck in snow. Austen knew her comedic settings well, but she was also knowledgeable about the realities of travel in her time.)

Detail of a Mail Coach in a snow drift with a Coachman leaving to seek assistance, James Pollard. To view the full painting and to read a complete description of the situation, click on this link to Artware Fine Art.

Itinerant laborers and sales people

Towns and villages were largely isolated. In cosmopolitan centers, like London, residents received the latest news almost as fast as Regency travel allowed. Thus cities and major metropolitan centers had more access to most of the benefits that a well informed society offered.

Villagers were often the last to know about the latest news about fashion, music, and dance. Enter the itinerant wanderers, the purveyors of knowledge and of all things current, albeit months past the time that the citizens of Paris and London knew about them. 

Those with special talents profited the most from their peripatetic lives. A musician could offer entertainment with the latest popular ditties or teach lessons on an instrument, such as a piano forte or violin. A dance master might teach the latest steps from ‘The Continent’ that a young lady and gentleman should know.

The Dancing Lesson, Pt 3, George Cruikshank, 1825. The Art Institute of Chicago, image in the public domain.

The dancing master in the above image, was employed to teach children the steps and dance moves of the latest dances.

Talented and professional individuals – music teachers, dance instructors, tutors and the like –  often had their services enlisted beforehand, and likely travelled by stage coach or on horseback to their destinations. They would stay in a nearby village or with the family that employed them for the duration of their contract before moving on.

Other people with various skills travelled between cities and towns either looking for work, or to sell their wares. They sold items as varied as kitchen equipment in town squares or brightly colored ribbons at county fairs. Some individuals crossed the English Channel, carrying fashion books and paper dolls* to inform the populace about the latest changes in fashions. I imagine farriers and blacksmiths were in hight demand, since horses were vital. Others offered seasonal labor in exchange for a meal or a place to sleep. Some were beggars or vagabonds who scrounged for any scraps.

The sad fact was that in a land of plenty, land enclosures took away the common fields from villagers by fencing off the shared, common lands, which were vital to rural folks by providing grazing land for livestock, and offering legal ways to gather firewood or hunt game. The impact of enclosures on commoners was enormous, as their independence was taken away. Many left their villages and homes, looking for work in cities and elsewhere, making their situation worse than before. 

Beggar in early 19th C. London, John Thomas Smith, Spitalfields Life.His broom indicates that he might have been a street sweeper.

Itinerants also cadged free rides from friendly farmers and workers, or hitched a ride to the next town. They might take a seat in the back of a humble cart for a few miles, and then continue their walk. Again, a workman/woman might offer their menial services in return for a favor. 

Below are images of a variety of itinerant travellers. The first was created by the incomparable Thomas Rowlandson, of whom I am an enormous admirer.

 

Aerostation out at Elbows ~

or the Itinerant Aeronaut

Behold an Hero comely tall and fair!

His only Food. Phlogisticated Air!

Now on the Wings of Mighty Winds he rides!

Now torn thro’ Hedges!–Dashed in Oceans tides!

 

Now drooping roams about from Town to Town

Collecting Pence t’inflate his poor balloon,

Pity the Wight and something to him give,

To purchase Gas to keep his Frame alive. ~

The above copyright free image by Thomas Rowlandson is called Aerostation out at Elbows, or The Itinerant Aeronaut, 1785, Met Museum. The poem below the image is about Vincent Lunardi, an Italian balloonist, whose successful balloon ride was of short duration. Sadly he died in poverty.

Wandering musicians during the Georgian era were also known as gleemen. 

Detail of street musicians in London surrounded by a crowd, Thomas Rowlandson.

A ballad singer

A Ballad Singer, Thomas Rowlandson, 1820, from Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, British Library

Wagons and carts for the common folk 

Unlike the fancy carriages and equipages of the well heeled, conveyances for the lower classes were ordinary wagons, rough hewn carts, drays, wheelbarrows, wagonettes, pushcarts, donkey or pony carts, and the like. 

This link to a Thomas Rowlandson image of country carts (1810) shows ordinary country folk setting out on a journey. These are a few details of that image:

Setting out behind the covered wagon

Loading the wagon

Larger covered wagons were also used for longer distances. This wagon, to my way of thinking, is the poor man’s stage coach.

Rowlandson, Flying Wagon, 1816, MET Museum, public domain

In Mr. Rowlandson’s England, Robert Southey described the laboriously slow progress of a flying wagon:

The English mode of travelling is excellently adapted for every thing, except for seeing the country…We met a stage-waggon, the vehicle in which baggage is transported, I could not imagine what this could be; a huge carriage upon four wheels of prodigious breadth, very wide and very long, and arched over with a cloth like a bower, at a considerable height: this monstrous machine was drawn by six large horses, whose neck-bells were heard far off as they approached; the carrier walked beside them, with a long whip upon his shoulder…these waggons are day and night upon their way, and are oddly enough called flying waggons, though of all machines they travel the slowest, slower than even a travelling funeral.” – P 23    

Thomas Rowlandson, Country Folk Leaving for the Town, 1818

Take a peek inside this link to Meisterdrucke.us of Thomas Rowlandson’s cartoon ‘Depicting Country Folk Leaving for the Town’. It’s a joyous event, with all the people setting off to…where? A country fair perhaps? The procession is obviously as slow as the Flying Wagon, for many people are walking in pairs and carrying baskets (Food for personal consumption? Produce or goods for sale or barter?).

Lastly, this image by Rowlandson of a cart carrying a dead horse to the knacker is sad in several respects. Not only has the family lost a valuable animal, but, looking at the faces of the parents, much of their livelihood as well. One can’t imagine that they can afford to purchase another horse any time soon.

A Dead Horse on a Knacker’s Cart, Thomas Rowlandson, Undated, Yale Center for British Art, Public Domain

Bricklayers Arms, an image by Thomas Rowlandson, sums up the variety of wagons and methods of transportation.

Stage Coaches

These coaches were unattainable for the very poor, but the working classes could afford an uncomfortable spot on an exposed space ‘up top’. 

A Laden Stage Coach Outside a Posting Inn

Thomas Rowlandson, Stage Coach, 1787, Met Museum, Public Domain

Given the road conditions, ‘up top’ could be a dangerous choice, as one of the images below shows. Newspaper clippings of the time mentioned the deaths of passengers thrown violently to the ground when a stage coach was involved in an accident.

Stage Coach Perils, Donna Hatch, Coach Travel in Regency England: Stage and Mail Coaches

Should everything go right on the journey, and the coach stops at a coaching inn, the unfortunate individuals ‘up top’ are then …”directed to the kitchen with the pedestrians, gypsies, itinerant labourers and soldiers. Do not expect help getting off the eight foot high coach; if you were a lady, you would not be on top in the first place, would you?” A Guide to the Georgian Coaching Inn

Transportation across water

Travellers faced many impediments as they progressed along rural roads, a major one being water. While larger cities and towns provided bridges, most villages surrounded by country lanes did not have this luxury. Passage over small streams was possible – large rocks were frequently placed at comfortable intervals to make walking easier. 

Methods of transportation across a wide and deeper stream or river included a ferry, or a pulley and rope system to tow a wood platform from one bank to the other. (3) 

This painting by Joseph Stannard dates from 1826 and shows The Ferry House Inn from the opposite riverbank. Crossing the Yare – Buckenham Ferry

John Constable, Ferry Crossing, River at East Bergholt in Essex, 1817

Barges pulled by horses and mules along towpaths provided inner- and inter-city travel along a system of interconnected canals, which sped the movement of people and goods. 

“A horse, towing a boat with a rope from the towpath, could pull fifty times as much cargo as it could pull in a cart or wagon on roads. In the early days of the Canal Age, from about 1740, all boats and barges were towed by horse, mule, hinny, pony or sometimes a pair of donkeys.” Wikipedia, Horse-drawn boat

As mentioned, ferries, canal boats, and barges carried heavier loads. These boats also provided accessibility and affordability to a variety of people from different classes.

Sources:

(1) Distance and Time In Regency England, By Wade H. Mann, author of A Most Excellent Understanding, Q&Q Publishing, Jun 8, 2022

(2) Mrs Hurst Dancing, To find more images by Diana Sperling, click on this page to the Jane Austen Centre. 

(3) Ferrymen and water men: Water Transportation and Moving in Regency England

Not quite related to this topic, but equally as fascinating are:

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“Austen, Annotated” in Cleveland, Ohio: JASNA 2024 AGM

Posted in 2024 AGM Cleveland, Jane Austen's World, JASNA, tagged on November 25, 2024| 7 Comments »

By Brenda S. Cox

“My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.”–Anne Elliot, Persuasion

Every year, JASNA (the Jane Austen Society of North America) holds a wonderful Annual General Meeting. “Meeting” doesn’t sound very exciting, but JASNA AGMs are the highlight of the Jane Austen year for many of us in North America. Over a period of about five days, we get to meet with hundreds of other Janeites, enjoying plenty of “good company,” enjoying old friends and making new ones. We also get to hear plenaries from top experts in the world and breakout sessions on many fascinating topics. Plus, we enjoy fun workshops, tours, a ball, and much more.

JASNA 2024 AGM in Cleveland, Ohio

On Oct. 16-20 of this year, 660 JASNA members attended the AGM in person, including 30 students, plus 63 companions and 160 virtual participants. 20% were first-time participants. About 90% were women, about 10% men. The topic was “Austen, Annotated: Jane Austen’s Literary, Political, and Cultural Origins.”  A wide area. But right up our alley here at “Jane Austen’s World.” This conference touched on many areas of the context of Austen’s life and writings, which gave participants new insights into her novels.

Plenary Talks

The wonderful plenary talks included:

  • “‘So Potent and So Stimulative’: Jane Austen’s Reading” by Susan Allen Ford, author of What Jane Austen’s Characters Read and Why?—Ford explored with us how Austen’s reading influenced Mansfield Park. She has identified 43-51 titles that influenced that novel alone! These include Mary Brunton’s evangelical novel Self-Control and Austen’s cousin Edward Cooper’s sermons. Personally, I found this a wonderful lead-in to my own breakout session on “Jane Austen and the Evangelicals.” I’ll be reviewing Susan’s book for you before long; it’s full of great insights.
Susan Allen Ford speaks at the opening plenary of the 2024 JASNA AGM.
  • “Was Austen Political?” by Amanda Vickery, author of The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England—Vickery explained to us women’s limited roles in “public business” (politics) at the time. She told us that heiresses and rich widows, like Mrs. Jennings and Lady Catherine, might influence their tenants to vote for a certain MP. They might also choose the parish clergyman, important in local government. Upper-class wives might be political hostesses, giving them influence as well. Women were also involved in the abolition movement. Jane Austen was observant and attentive, making subtle references to the movements of her day. 
  • “‘The Capital Pen of a Sister Author’: Reading Frances Burney with Jane Austen,” by Peter Sabor, editor of the Juvenilia in the Cambridge edition of Austen’s works—We learned about the Burney novels that Austen loved: Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla, and how Austen referred to them in her letters and in Northanger Abbey. She even “subscribed” to Camilla, supporting it as a sort of eighteenth century Kickstarter backer.
  • Patricia A. Matthew, whose current work-in-progress is “‘And Freedom to the Slave’: Sugar, Gender, and the History of the Novel,” talked about women and the sugar boycott which helped get British slavery abolished. She also told us about the new “Race & Regency Lab.” George Austen’s first cousin, John Cope Freeman, owned a plantation in Jamaica. Maps of the plantation, shown on the website, provide information on the enslaved people there and the plots of land they cultivated for themselves or others.
  • “Jane Austen and the Jurassic,” by Thomas Keymer, author of Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics, gave a scientific plus literary slant on the time period. During our final brunch, Keymer focused on fossil discoveries at Lyme Regis, including those by Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. Austen’s novels include brief references to fossils: Fanny’s amber cross was fossilized, Elizabeth Bennet plans to pick up “petrified spars,” and in Persuasion we hear of changes in the landscape at Charmouth and Pinny, which revealed fossils. Keymer posited that the real “fossils” in Persuasion are Sir Walter Elliot and Lady Dalrymple and her daughter. And, by the way, Charles Darwin knew Persuasion practically by heart, and called the captain of the Beagle a “Captain Wentworth.”
Thomas Keymer speaks on the Jane Austen and the Jurassic at the closing brunch of the JASNA 2024 AGM.

Breakout Sessions

Honestly, though, my favorite sessions were the breakouts. Five great choices were offered for each of five session times. It was so hard to decide that I paid extra to get recordings of some of them afterwards. As I mentioned, I spoke in one of them. I was opposite Dr. Ben Wiebracht and his students, who were the JASNA New Voices Speakers for this year. They spoke about their Doctor Syntax book, which I reviewed last month. I got to hear a recording of the talk, which was full of great information about this very popular author of Austen’s time.

Other highlights for me were my friend Breckyn Wood’s talk on how grammar and linguistics shaped Austen’s moral worldview, Roger Moore’s session on Jane Austen’s clergymen and their literary ancestors, Lona Manning’s discussion of charity in Emma compared to charitable heroines in other novels of the time, and Deb Barnum’s pictures of books Jane Austen owned. Linda Zionkowski spoke about the “whiners” of Austen’s novels, comparing them with a popular book on complaint, and Collins Hemingway told us about riots and insurrections of Austen’s time. I wish I could have gone to all the breakout sessions!

Fortunately, many of the plenary and breakout talks will be covered in articles in upcoming issues of Persuasions (available to all JASNA members) and Persuasions On-Line (available to everyone).

Breckyn Wood, hostess of Austen Chat, presents a breakout session on “Good Tenses Make Good Neighbours: Or, How Grammar and Linguistics Shaped Austen’s Moral World.”
Author Collins Hemingway presents a breakout session on “Riots & Insurrections: Social and Political Unrest in Austen’s Time”

Fashion, Crafts, Music, and Dance

Of course when we celebrate Jane Austen, there’s lots of “fun stuff” as well. I got to make ribbon flowers and an evening headdress. Other workshops taught how to make a corset, a handbound book, and a turban.

Workshop leader Camela Nitschke helped participants create ribbon flowers “inspired by Jane Austen’s Gardens”
A workshop participant begins creating a Regency headdress.

Dance workshops prepared us for the Ball, which was great fun.

The AGM Ball is always a highlight.

Gillian Dooley and Laura Klein gave a wonderful concert of music Jane Austen owned. In another special session, Hilary Davidson showed us what Jane Austen wore. A fashion show followed, where JASNA members wore gowns they had made. They promenaded in the order such gowns would have been worn in history, with historical background for each. A bingo game followed, and I won a copy of Hilary Davidson’s gorgeous book, Jane Austen’s Wardrobe. (Rachel reviewed that for us last year.)

JASNA members wearing their own historically accurate creations curtsey to the crowd.

Extras

Shopping: As always, the Emporium offered everything from a splendid selection of books (thank you, Jane Austen Books!), to t-shirts, gowns, headdresses, and ribbons, to handmade paper and calendars giving Austen events from the novels and letters for each day of the year. (Thank you, Wisconsin region–I love those calendars.) Looking for Christmas presents, anyone?

Church: I was delighted that this year we could attend Evensong at beautiful Trinity Cathedral nearby. Most people didn’t dress up in Regency gear for it, as it was very cold outside, but many of us worshiped together for Evensong, similar to the way Jane Austen worshiped in her Anglican churches.

Participants who chose to go enjoyed an Evensong church service at lovely Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland. That eagle lectern on the left is much like eagle lecterns I’ve seen in several English churches Austen may have visited.

Tours and Local Events: Tours were offered to local sites, such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and downtown Cleveland. Tickets were also available for a play, concerts, and a dinner cruise.

Military: Two special sessions brought in the military. One was held outside, with Napoleon and a horse, and one was inside, a talk on the Battle of Lake Erie.

A banquet, brunch, and promenade gave us more chances to mix with other Janeites at the conference. A wide variety of other special sessions and interactive stations offered something for everyone.

One first-time participant and vendor from my region, who runs Jane Austen Treasures, said this AGM was one of her “best life experiences ever.” Another participant, who has attended many AGMs, said it is always “the most magical time,” where she feels like she is “walking around in fairyland. . . . Say hello to anybody, and you’re going to have a fantastic conversation.” A different first-timer added, “It was so fun! . . . When else can you be surrounded by so many intelligent, well-read, interesting, kind, funny, warm people?”

Next year’s JASNA AGM will be in Baltimore, Oct. 10-12, 2025. The theme is “Austen at 250: ‘No check to my genius from beginning to end.’”  We’d love to see you there!

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At Home and Behind Closed Doors in Georgian England

Posted in 18th Century England, Georgian Life, Georgian marriage, Jane Austen's World, tagged , on November 18, 2024| 13 Comments »

Vic’s DVD Set

Inquiring readers: At the end of 2010, PBS sent Jane Austen’s World blog many DVDs for review. Most dealt with Jane Austen or the Georgian/Regency era. Close to fifteen years have passed since the series “At Home With the Georgians” first aired in the US. Recently I started to think that a new audience of Jane Austen fans might not be aware of this marvelous series, which presented the private lives, courtships, and marriages of Georgian men and women in 18th Century England. This series was developed in a variety of ways: by reading original sources, such as letters, discussions with experts, museum displays, and visiting the houses and regions where the British from all classes once lived. 

This three part series is based on Amanda Vickery’s book, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, a thoroughly informative and academic effort. Vickery is also the host of this visually stunning show. About the Georgian household she states that a home “reflected your taste, your values, your moral character, and the state of your marriage.” This concise introduction sums up the series. A man’s home ownership determines his position. For example, a rented home could determine his status. If he rented the entire house, from top to bottom, he could not only attract a wife, he would  also be viewed as a full citizen qualified to vote. Bachelors who rented rooms in squalid areas of town, were at the bottom of the matrimonial ladder, always yearning to improve their circumstances.

Bachelor fantasizing about a home and family. (DVD scene)

Marrying well was the major focus for Georgian women. Spinster ladies who were unsuccessful in finding a husband, led lives of dependency. Austen described their lot beautifully in her letters and novels.

Gertrude Saville, a very sad spinster (DVD Scene)

Finding a husband and raising a family were a Georgian woman’s main ambitions. As for the man, all he really needed for happiness was “a wife and a fire.” His primary focus early in life was to set up the kind of household that enabled him to woo a woman successfully. 

A proper Georgian Family. Thomas Hudson,The Thistlethwayte Family, ca. 1758. Yale Center for British Art

The third video has a much darker tone than the first two, but its content is equally as fascinating. In it, Vickery discusses how the home provided safety during the night, especially in cities, towns, and rural communities that were dark after sundown and badly lit at night in an age before electricity.

Georgian dress with chatelaines attached to her bodice and skirt

While the wife carried the keys and other instruments, such as sewing scissors, inside the home during the day to perform her housewifely duties (notice the instruments attached to the bodice in the image), the husband’s responsibility was to walk around the house every night, and lock the doors and windows to prevent intruders from entering. As the 18th century progressed, crimes, including relatively minor ones of theft, were punished more harshly. Serious robberies and break ins led increasingly to brutal imprisonment or a death sentence. 

The “At Home With the Georgians” videos are divided into the following three topics. Click on the links to read our full reviews.

  1. A Man’s Place, reviewed by Vic. Read it at this link.
  2. A Woman’s Touch, reviewed by Tony Grant, a frequent contributor to this blog. Read it at this link.
  3. Safe as Houses, reviewed by Vic, with photo contributions from Tony Grant. Read it at this link.

Where to view the videos today

DVDs of these videos are available at Amazon and eBay. Roku Channel and Tubi offer free views, although if I recall correctly, they come with ads. One YouTube channel features at least the first two videos: A Man’s Place and A Woman’s Touch. Click on soniab1’s YouTube channel to see them.

About Amanda Vickery

Amanda Vickery reading letters & documents

Amanda Jane Vickery FBA is an English historian, writer, radio and television presenter, and professor of early modern history at Queen Mary, University of London. Source: Wikipedia

About her Book

Podcast talks with Amanda Vickery, Blackwell’s Bookshops – around 20 min total

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November in Jane Austen’s World

Posted in A Year in Jane Austen's World, Edwardian Life, Georgian Life, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's letters, Jane Austen's life, Jane Austen's World on November 11, 2024| 1 Comment »

I can hardly believe we’ve arrived at November in Jane Austen’s World! After 10 months of this series, it’s proved an experience I won’t soon forget. What a fantastic journey! As we turn now to Jane Austen’s life, letters, and novels in the month of November, I can’t wait to explore Jane’s Regency world in the fall!

If you’d like to catch up on previous months, you can find each post of the “A Year in Jane Austen’s World” series here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.

As is our tradition, let’s first take a look at Jane Austen’s beautiful Hampshire countryside this time of year. As you might imagine, the yellow and golds of fall are on display and the weather has changed. Here is a gorgeous photo of the Chawton landscape this time of year:

Chawton House in November: Photo @ChawtonHouse.

November in Hampshire

November is the time for crisp weather, rain, and pretty fall colors. I found this lovely description of November weather in Austen’s letters:

Castle Square (21 November 1808): 

“How could you have a wet day on Thursday? With us it was a prince of days, the most delightful we have had for weeks; soft, bright, with a brisk wind from the southwest; everybody was out and talking of spring, and Martha and I did not know how to turn back. On Friday evening we had some very blowing weather,—from six to nine; I think we never heard it worse, even here. And one night we had so much rain that it forced its way again into the store-closet; and though the evil was comparatively slight and the mischief nothing, I had some employment the next day in drying parcels, etc. I have now moved still more out of the way.”

Wouldn’t you love to walk with Jane in that beautiful soft, bright day with its brisk wind! I’ve enjoyed quite a few similar walks this past week where I live and it’s exhilarating.

Jane Austen’s House Museum and gardens are always so pretty. Here is a recent November photo:

Jane Austen’s House in November, Photo: @JaneAustensHouse.

November in Jane Austen’s Letters

We don’t have many letters from the month of November in Austen’s collection of surviving letters, but November produces a few interesting details such as these:

20 November 1800 (Steventon):

  • Night out: “Your letter took me quite by surprise this morning; you are very welcome, however, and I am very much obliged to you. I believe I drank too much wine last night at Hurstbourne; I know not how else to account for the shaking of my hand to-day. You will kindly make allowance therefore for any indistinctness of writing, by attributing it to this venial error. Naughty Charles did not come on Tuesday, but good Charles came yesterday morning. About two o’clock he walked in on a Gosport hack. His feeling equal to such a fatigue is a good sign, and his feeling no fatigue in it a still better. He walked down to Deane to dinner; he danced the whole evening, and to-day is no more tired than a gentleman ought to be.“
  • Dance partners lacking: “There were only twelve dances, of which I danced nine, and was merely prevented from dancing the rest by the want of a partner. We began at ten, supped at one, and were at Deane before five. There were but fifty people in the room; very few families indeed from our side of the county, and not many more from the other. My partners were the two St. Johns, Hooper, Holder, and a very prodigious Mr. Mathew, with whom I called the last, and whom I liked the best of my little stock.”
  • Jane’s appearance for the ball: “Mary said that I looked very well last night. I wore my aunt’s gown and handkerchief, and my hair was at least tidy, which was all my ambition.”

21 November 1808 (Castle Square):

  • First thoughts on Chawton Cottage: “There are six bedchambers at Chawton; Henry wrote to my mother the other day, and luckily mentioned the number, which is just what we wanted to be assured of. He speaks also of garrets for store-places, one of which she immediately planned fitting up for Edward’s man-servant; and now perhaps it must be for our own; for she is already quite reconciled to our keeping one. The difficulty of doing without one had been thought of before. His name shall be Robert, if you please.”
Black and white pen and ink drawing of the cottage by Ellen Hill
Chawton Cottage by Ellen Hill

November in Jane Austen’s Novels

Sense and Sensibility

  • Lucy Steele Visits Barton Park: Elinor tells Marianne, “I have known it these four months. When Lucy first came to Barton Park last November, she told me in confidence of her engagement.” 

Pride and Prejudice

  • Mr. Collins Visits Longbourn: He writes to Mr. Bennet: “If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o’clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se’nnight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.”
  • Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley leave Netherfield in November: “How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr. Darcy! It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley to see you all after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day before. He and his sisters were well, I hope, when you left London?”
Mr. Collins comes to Longbourn, Pride & Prejudice (1995).

Mansfield Park

  • Sir Thomas returns home: “November was the black month fixed for his return. Sir Thomas wrote of it with as much decision as experience and anxiety could authorise. His business was so nearly concluded as to justify him in proposing to take his passage in the September packet, and he consequently looked forward with the hope of being with his beloved family again early in November.”
  • Maria marries in November: “Mrs. Rushworth was quite ready to retire, and make way for the fortunate young woman whom her dear son had selected; and very early in November removed herself, her maid, her footman, and her chariot, with true dowager propriety, to Bath, there to parade over the wonders of Sotherton in her evening parties; enjoying them as thoroughly, perhaps, in the animation of a card-table, as she had ever done on the spot; and before the middle of the same month the ceremony had taken place which gave Sotherton another mistress.”
  • November gloom and dirt (mud): “Not only at home did [Fanny’s] value increase (‘with the departure of her cousins’), but at the Parsonage too. In that house, which she had hardly entered twice a year since Mr. Norris’s death, she became a welcome, an invited guest, and in the gloom and dirt of a November day, most acceptable to Mary Crawford.”
Michelle Ryan as Maria Bertram in Mansfield Park.

Emma

  • Mr. Woodhouse argues autumn colds: “That has been a good deal the case, my dear; but not to the degree you mention. Perry says that colds have been very general, but not so heavy as he has very often known them in November. Perry does not call it altogether a sickly season.”
  • Jane Fairfax catches a November cold: “Jane caught a bad cold, poor thing! so long ago as the 7th of November, (as I am going to read to you,) and has never been well since. A long time, is not it, for a cold to hang upon her? She never mentioned it before, because she would not alarm us. Just like her! so considerate!—But however, she is so far from well, that her kind friends the Campbells think she had better come home, and try an air that always agrees with her; and they have no doubt that three or four months at Highbury will entirely cure her—and it is certainly a great deal better that she should come here, than go to Ireland, if she is unwell. Nobody could nurse her, as we should do.”
  • Emma and Mr. Knightley must return from their seaside honeymoon by November, so that Isabella and her husband can stay at Hartfield with Mr. Woodhouse:
    • “[Emma and Mr. Knightley] had determined that their marriage ought to be concluded while John and Isabella were still at Hartfield, to allow them the fortnight’s absence in a tour to the seaside, which was the plan.”
    • “But Mr. John Knightley must be in London again by the end of the first week in November.”
    • “[Emma] was able to fix her wedding-day—and Mr. Elton was called on, within a month from the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Martin (in September), to join the hands of Mr. Knightley and Miss Woodhouse.”
Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse in Emma (2020).

November Dates of Importance

And now for our monthly round-up of November dates of importance relating to Jane and her family:

Family News:

  • November 1796: Jane’s brother James Austen engaged to Mary Lloyd, a close family friend.
  • 17 November 1798: James Austen’s son, James-Edward, born.
  • November 1797: Edward Austen moves his family from Rowling to Godmersham Park in Kent.

Historic Dates:

  • 9 November 1799: Napoleon becomes First Consul of France.
  • 20 November 1815: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending Napoleonic wars.

Writing:

  • 1 November 1797: Jane’s father, Reverend Austen, offers “First Impressions” to Thomas Cadell, a London publisher, but is ultimately unsuccessful.
  • November 1797: Austen begins revisions on “Elinor and Marianne,” which later becomes Sense and Sensibility.
  • November 1813: 2nd editions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility released.
  • November 1813: Mansfield Park accepted for publication (most likely).
  • 13 November 1815: Austen visits the Prince Regent’s Library at Carlton House, where she receives the invitation to dedicate a future novel to him.
Jane Austen reluctantly dedicated Emma to the Prince Regent, at his request.

Sorrows: I am happy to report that I could not find any major family sorrows during the month of November in the family history, biographies, or letters.

Looking Toward December

This truly has been an enormous joy each month, and as this is the penultimate post for this series, I cannot tell you all how excited I am to round out the series next month as we explore December in Jane Austen’s World, Jane’s birthday, and all things Regency Christmas!

RACHEL DODGE teaches college English classes, gives talks at libraries, teas, and book clubs, and writes for Jane Austen’s World blog. She is the bestselling author of The Little Women Devotional, The Anne of Green Gables Devotional and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. Now Available: The Secret Garden Devotional! You can visit Rachel online at www.RachelDodge.com.

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