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Maid of All Work

September 5, 2007 by Vic

On December 1, 1798, Jane Austen wrote her sister Cassandra:

We are very much disposed to like our new maid; she knows nothing of a dairy, to be sure, which, in our family, is rather against her, but she is to be taught it all. In short, we have felt the inconvenience of being without a maid so long, that we are determined to like her, and she will find it a hard matter to displease us.

In days of yore even the lowliest families that could afford it would hire a maid of all work, usually a young girl from an impoverished family. If you recall in Mansfield Park, Fanny Price’s real mother and father employed such a maid. To go without one meant hauling one’s own water, laying the fire, sweeping (which must have been endless), and accomplishing the myriad tasks needing to be done in an age that lacked electricity and internal plumbing.
Next to the scullery maid (who in a large household with many servants, was relegated to perform the meanest duties), the maid-of-all-work had one of the least desirable jobs in the servant hierarchy. Because she was the only servant or one of only a few, all the hard, backbreaking household tasks fell to her. Even Mrs. Beeton, whose expectations of servants was strict, commiserated with this maid’s lot, saying: Her life is a solitary one, and in, some places, her work is never done. She is also subject to rougher treatment than either the house or kitchen-maid, especially in her earlier career.

Learn more about the maid of all work here:

The Cock of Cotton Walk and Maid of All Work, 1820: A Satiric Verse

Illustrations from Pyne’s Microcosm

Posted in Servants | 1 Comment »

Sense & Sensibility Podcast

September 4, 2007 by Vic

“Called a beautiful girl, truth was less violently outraged than usually happens….”

Jane Austen on Marianne Dashwood

I heard this wonderful quote in Chapter 10 of the Sense & Sensibility podcast, which you can download under “Listening” on the sidebar of the new Old Grey Pony blog. Click on the University of Florida link and download all the chapters into your ipod.

Update: The links to Sense & Sensibility are no longer available.

Posted in Podcasts |

Jane Austen Icons

September 4, 2007 by Vic

Austen Icons offers among some of the best icons I’ve found. The site includes all the recent Jane Austen movies. Other fabulous sites for downloading icons are P & P 1995, which provides six pages of icons, and this one, which provides screen caps for P & P 2005 . Find both these sites on Cap It!

I love this banner from Austen Icons. Seeing Lizzie like this would make Darcy fall in love with her all over again.

This blog provides a list on the third tab at top of a large number of sites with icons and screen caps. Why not stay a while and find out what and where they are?

Posted in jane austen, Popular culture |

Cookery Books

September 3, 2007 by Vic

Although England was at war with France during the Regency Era, the upper crust considered it fashionable to hire a French chef. This common practice was considered a folly by cookery book author, Hannah Glasse, who said her fellow Englishmen “would rather be impos’d on by a French Booby, than give Encouragement to a good English Cook!”

For the more ordinary households, the most popular cookery books of the era were written by women: Eliza Smith,1727; Hannah Glasse, 1747; and Elizabeth Raffald,1769. Hanna’s wildly popular book was reprinted 17 times between 1747 and 1803! In those days, the authors borrowed recipes liberally from each other, but Mrs. Glasse’s recipes were more detailed and clearly written than most. “I have attempted a Branch of Cookery which Nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon…My Intention is to instruct the lower Sort [so that] every servant who can read will be capable of making a tolerable good Cook.” Tipsy Cake
Reading Hannah’s recipes, we can see how much our tastes in food have changed. Her Cookery Book included recipes for Jugged Pigeons, Potted Venison, Fried Celery, Tipsy Cake, and Salamangundy (a salad made with cuccumber, apples, grapes, herring, red cabbage, hard boiled eggs, and cooked fowl.) As to how the food of the day tasted, here are Jane Austen’s words, scribbled to Cassandra in 1808:

“The Widgeon and the preserved ginger were as delicious as one could wish. But as to our black butter, do not decoy anybody to Southampton by such a lure, for it is all gone …”

From Food: and Cooking in 18th Century Britain: History and Recipes, Jennifer Snead, English Heritage, ISBN 1 85074 084 4

Posted in Regency | Tagged | 3 Comments »

Street Pie Men

September 2, 2007 by Vic

Whenever Jane Austen came to visit London, her ears would have been assaulted by the din of London street noise. This would include the distinctive cries in the evening from street vendors such as the pie men shouting, “Pies all ‘ot! eel, beef, or mutton pies! Penny pies, all ‘ot–all ‘ot!”

In 1851, Henry Mayhew published London Labor and the London Poor, Vol 1. This social history described the venerable but humble occupation of the ‘street pie men’ and ‘the street-sellers of pea-soup and hot eels.’ These pie men sold their hot food to poor working class families at an affordable price. At one time, over 600 pie men roamed London to sell meat, eel or fruit pies in streets, taverns, summer fairs and at the races. By the time of Henry Mayhew’s history, only about 50 remained, selling their pies from 6 (in the evening, I presume) and staying out all night. The best time for selling pies was between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Cornish Pastry

Eel sellers, however, largely sold their wares from stalls. Around the mid-19th century, these two trades went into a decline when penny-pie shops were established. Some street pie men did not seal off their pies properly, whereas the new shops sold food that was generally safe. Instead of selling pre-made pies, they sold live eels or food with good nutritional value for families to take home and cook. Within a few years the street sellers had almost disappeared.

Read more about this topic in the following links, especially Henry Mayhew’s. He interviewed actual working pie men and wrote down their observations:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

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