My girls

 Another writer complained recently that 'Regency heroines only have music and embroidery as hobbies'. 

So of course, my girls want to speak up in their own defence.

Kitty from Cheshire. 'Mama insisted I learn to play the pianoforte and to sing. I enjoy sewing, and I ride but my main interest is helping in the local hospital. Poor folk deserve help when they are ill.'

Sarah from Wiltshire. 'I was taught to play and I can sing reasonably well. It takes most of my time to run the estate for my brother, but he gambles all the money away. Whenever possible, I enjoy reading novels.'

   

Kitty                                     Sarah

Rose from Berkshire. 'I went to the Abbey School in Reading. My main talent is drawing, and it helps me earn enough to be independent. Unfortunately, it also drew me into a highly dangerous plot.'

Anna from Hampshire. 'When dearest papa died, mama remarried. Then I was sent to school in Bath until I was past 19 years of age. I can play the pianoforte and I have a good reading voice. My friends and I have sworn to live a life of adventure like Lord Byron's Childe Harold. So I am setting off to fulfill my first quest NOW.'

Rose 

                                   Anna

                                                                               

Olivia from Gloucestershire. 'Well, I can play the pianoforte if I have to. I prefer to listen to other people's playing. I draw well enough for my brother to want my sketches of the ancient buildings he loves to explore, and I can run an estate. I adore riding and I am a crack shot. Most of all I want to travel to exotic lands.'

Louise from London. 'My family are Huguenots. We work as silversmiths and I design jewellery. I used to enjoy riding before we moved into town. Of course I can sew, mending garments and making new ones is an essential skill, like it or not.'

Olivia                                    Louise

And then there's Nell, but her father has locked her in her room so she can't run away....

and what about Sonya, desperate to lead a raid against the Turkish scouts invading Hungary?

Yet they can sew and play an instrument, among other skills and interests.

I don't know about Lucinda yet, she hasn't told me so far.

How my virtue was saved

    Anna explains:  My virtue was only saved thanks to the Language of the Fan

           

                                                                                                   Marine Parade,   Brighton, 
                                                                                                         31st August 1814                                                                                                                                                                                            Dearest   Emily,

             Today I shall not be present at Donaldson’s for the teatime meeting. It is a great pity when the weather is so mild and the sea is calm. However, Lady Fording is fatigued and so we must remain quietly at home. She won quite a large sum at cards last night, and continued playing longer than usual, encouraged by her success. I do love her for being such a sprightly old lady. And she is very kind to me, but even so, I cannot tell her anything about the Events of last night, even though it is thanks to her that I had the means to escape a Horrid Fate.

           Emily, you swore you would keep anything I told you a Secret and so I will share what happened with you. Let me begin from the moment when that odious Mrs Chetwynd interrupted our little gathering at the Castle Tavern last night. By the by, did you see how low cut her gown was? If she had so much as sneezed…! She took me into the other salon, into an alcove and [I shudder as I write his name] that horrible roué, Sir Bilton Kelly, was there, with his dissipated face and oily manner. Between the pair of them, they thought they had me trapped, so that I would submit to being taken to the Prince Regent’s private party, which they kept insisting I must do.

The Castle Tavern, [digital image owned by the Society of Brighton Print Collectors]

             My dear Lord Longwood had warned me repeatedly against accepting any such invitation, and indeed, I was very Angry, but could not push my way out of that narrow alcove with Mrs Chetwynd blocking the way. It was most humiliating to see that many people in the room were watching, some more discreetly than others. And, oh, thankfully, at the far end of the room was Lord Longwood. He noted the general silence and turned in my direction. Lady Fording has been instructing me in the language of the fan, and so, even though my hands were shaking [with anger, not fright, you understand], I hastily took mine in my hand, waved it, then snapped it shut, laying a finger on the top of the sticks. That signals ‘I wish to speak with you’, and Lord Longwood understood.

At once, he made his way over toward me. Mrs Chetwynd was angry and tried to distract him, but he ignored her. When Sir Bilton Kelly blustered, he stared at him through his eyeglass in a truly Terrifying manner. Then he offered me his arm and so I made my escape. Once we reached the hallway, my knees began to shake. You know how Lord Longwood’s face goes dark when he scowls, and his black hair falls over his forehead. He assured me he was not angry with me and suggested we should take a turn along the path up towards the Pavilion and back, so I might compose myself.

In his company I soon felt calmer. But then he announced that he would be leaving Brighton today to return to London. That made my heart sink into my boots, for he is always so kind and helpful towards me and, as you have suspected, I do love him with all my heart. On an impulse I begged him to kiss me goodbye. But I asked for a proper kiss. He was shocked and then, his face changed, those wonderful green eyes glowed and he did, indeed kiss me. In those moments, I went to heaven. But now I am Wretched, for I want more of those sensations. Oh, Emily, I depend on you to support me through the next days as I struggle to appear calm. At least, until we can meet for a conversation, I have my copy of Lord Byron’s Corsair, to divert my mind from its sorrows. Truly, Emily, I cannot decide if being in love is a blessing or a curse.

                                                                             Your friend,                                                                                                                         Anna

     

                                                           The Rake's Challenge

Travelling abroad for work or pleasure in the early 1800s

The fascination of travel and of The East

In the early years of the 19th Century Britain was isolated by land due to the wide-ranging wars with Napoleon's armies. This did not deter adventurous travellers, and as Britain was mistress of the seas from Portsmouth to Constantinople, they set off on their expeditions. Some were purely tourists, burning to see ancient civilisations for themselves, others were diplomats, military advisers and traders. 

  In 1810, Lord Byron and his friend John Cam Hobhouse arrived in Constantinople. During their stay, they accompanied the British Ambassador on a formal visit to the Sultan, Mahmud II. Hobhouse later wrote that the Sultan, dressed in yellow satin, his milk-white hands ‘glittering with diamond rings’, had an ‘air of indescribable majesty’. 

This was confirmed by the wife of the retiring British Ambassador, Robert Adair. She had attended the ceremony, disguised as a man.

When Ambassador Robert Adair left in 1810, he promoted 24 year-old Stratford Canning, [ later Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe ], as Minister Plenipotentiary.  He was an energetic young man with robust ideas on protecting British interests. He had a wide intelligence network and corresponded with all his counterparts across Europe and the Levant.  Consequently, news of events in Paris, Vienna, St Petersburg and Berlin often came to London in the dispatches which Canning sent from Constantinople. 

In 1811, Lady Hester Stanhope arrived in Constantinople. The Sultan ordered that she was to be treated with great honour, as befitted a close relative of a former British Prime Minister. Lady Hester soon found a delightful place to live - a short distance north of the main city, in the seaside village of Tarabya. That is the Turkish form of the older Greek name of Therapia. The climate was mild and healthy here.                           

Tarabya 

Suitable for a Regency hero

At first I was a bit bewildered by Desperate Romantics. Then I saw James Walton's review in The Telegraph, which said:
'Once you realise this is essentially cheerful nonsense, you can relax, give up trying to learn about art history and enjoy even the corniest moments. '

So I did enjoy it - the discovery of the models, the anguished painting, the sliding out of bed to write poems, the rich colours and settings and the dominating energy of Gabriel Rossetti.

Aidan Turner looks very good in period costume. In fact he'd be fine in Regency breeches and maybe he'll land a role in another period film soon. I could well imagine him as Lord Byron
hmmm.......