"Put him out of her mind. "

 

The Regency period was very short: nine years between 1811 and 1820, when the madness of King George III made him unfit to rule and his son stepped in as Regent. 

The author who made the Regency World her own, or indeed invented that world, wrote stories based upon and around the upper classes, their social lives, carriages and clothes and etiquette.  They have been incredibly popular since the 1950s. Her name was Georgette Heyer.

I’ve read one or two and enjoyed them. I’ve wondered if she made up all those phrases – a bag of moonshine, land a facer, in his altitudes

Heyer researched the period extensively and built up a library of a thousand reference books by the time she died. Her notes record things like how much candles cost in 1812 and it seems that authors who came after her used much of her writing as fact. Much of it can be checked today and probably more easily, thanks to Google, than when she did all those years ago.

My concern right now is how much of the language she used was real, and how much did she invent? I must ask the people who celebrate all thing Heyer on Twitter accounts such as the ones below. They may have the answer.

@georgettedaily Twitter account.

@HeyerSociety

@MissGHeyer

“She decided that her wisest course would be to put him out of her mind. After reaching this conclusion she lay thinking about him until at last she fell asleep.”

THe Regency gentry

To qualify as landed gentry a family of the Regency period must own 300 acres which gave a sizable income. Examples Mr Bennet had £2k a year, Mr Darcy £10k a year, Bingley £5k.

A circulating library was wildly popular in 18th century. The rise of the Gothic novel began with H Walpole's Castle or Otranto in 1765. Horror and romance mixed, supernatural, terrible family secrets, and female victims locked in castles by evil tyrants. Ann Radcliffe made the Gothic novel acceptable (The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian) and the market flooded with cheap imitations (The Monk by M G Lewis.) Fanny Burney spearheaded the comedies of errors - Cecilia, Camille and Evalina.
Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792

Between 1811-1817 Jane Austen earned £630 (about £38,000 today) Her dress allowance was £20 a year .(about £2k today)
Young people met at dances or through family friends. Young ladies were chaperoned, but they might play cards, perform duets, join in family conversations but shoud not walk out alone with   a young man.
Proposals usually took place at the young ladies family home and her only contribution was to accept or reject. If her father approved, marriage articles were drawn up outlining the disribution of wealth and property plus provision for wife and children on the husband's death. She might receive a jointure - part of his property - on his death but that would be unusual.

The potentail bride would buy a new wardrobe; clothes she would need in her new role, including a white wedding dress, which was a sign of wealth.

A barouche-landau was a small carriage with two rows of seats faceng each other.
A chaise waas a close carriage for travelling
A curricle was a two-wheeled vehicle pulled by two horses - one driver and one passenger.