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Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs

A great BBC series if you want to dig even deeper into servant life. Posted on YouTube in three parts:

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The maid of all work was generally a very young girl. She could also be a mature woman so down on her luck that the only other choices open to her were life on the streets or finding shelter in a work house, which was to be avoided at all costs. In Mansfield Park Fanny’s family in Portsmouth is described as being poor, yet even they were able to hire a maid of all work, so you can just imagine what the work conditions were like for these poor women, who literally did everything from cooking, sweeping the floors, hauling water, carrying out slops, looking after the pets and children, laundering, changing the beds, and serving the family at mealtimes. Maids of all work were the first to rise and the last to go to bed.

Regency Servants: Maid of All Work, Jane Austen’s World

More about the kind of servant that Cassie most likely is. Just the morning routine is exhausting!

The duties of a maid of all work being multifarious, it is necessary that she should arise early in the morning; and six or half-past six o’clock is the latest period at which she should remain in bed. She should first light the kitchen fire, and set the kettle over to boil; then she should sweep, dust, and prepare the room in which breakfast is to be taken. Having served the breakfast, she should, while the family are engaged upon that meal, proceed to the various bedchambers, strip the beds, open the windows, &c. This done, she will obtain her own breakfast, and after washing and putting away the things, she will again go upstairs, and finish what remains to be done there.

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The servant class was quite fluid, however, and many people worked in their positions for no more than 2-3 years at a time.  Good workers were in top demand and on the lookout for higher pay and better employment, while those who were inefficient could be hired and fired on the same day. The situation was more stable in large rural households, but even in these establishments junior servants tended to leave after a year or so.

Hiring Servants in the Regency Era and Later, Jane Austen’s World

Some interesting information about different ways that servants were hired during this period and several quotations from books about the hiring process and how those looking for work could help themselves get hired.

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Regency Servants Life

The smooth running of a Regency household required a large number of servants, so it was fortunate that changing social conditions provided a good supply of applicants. A rising population, changes in farming techniques requiring fewer labourers and the hardships of factory work made life in service an increasingly attractive alternative, especially for men.

In the early nineteenth century labour was cheap and the wages for those in service were among the lowest.

In spite of the long days and often mundane tasks, domestic service provided a certain amount of security as regular meals and accommodation were part of the package.

Some servants would live in the attic bedrooms and some above the stables, but if these rooms were full then they might have to sleep in the servants' hall and kitchen down in the basement, a vast space laid out for the needs of the working environment that also included some spartan living accommodation.

To the modern eye, the basement is strikingly dark and cold. In the Regency period the only light in these rooms was from the sash windows and tallow candles or oil lamps. These coupled with the small coal fires would have made the basement very smoky.

Original stone flags cover the floors of the basement and the plaster walls have curved corners to allow the servants to move around quickly and easily without injury. The hallway would have been particularly busy with the coming and going of delivery men, bells summoning the maids upstairs and the staff going briskly about their duties.

There was a hierarchy of status and matching delineation of tasks within the household, where the butler, housekeeper and cook or chef formed the ‘senior management’.

Most tasks were labour intensive compared with today.

The housemaids rose earliest, to clean the grates and light the fires ready for the family. First the grates and fire irons had to be cleaned by rubbing them with oil and then emery paper or brick dust followed by scouring paper. The rest of the fireplace would be brushed with black lead while the marble hearth would be washed with soap and hot water and finally dried with a linen cloth.

Housemaids would use a tinder box to light the first fire of the day. This contained a flammable fabric such as linen which would be ignited by striking a flint against steel. This in turn was used to ignite a match dipped in sulphur

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The Wickhams - Mrs. Reynolds

In The Wickhams, we are joined by another character from the Pride and Prejudice universe - Mrs. Reynolds the housekeeper of Pemberley.

In the book, Mrs. Reynolds greets Lizzy and her aunt and uncle when they visit Pemberley, and is instrumental in providing Lizzy with new information about both Wickham and Darcy. Although Mrs. Reynolds acknowledges that Wickham has become a scoundrel as an adult, “I am afraid he has turned out very wild,” she was at Pemberley when he was a child and has a soft spot for him because of her long relationship to him.

Mrs. Reynolds’ feelings about Darcy are much less ambiguous - she holds him in the highest regard and believes he can do no wrong. In the book, she describes Darcy and his relationship to his sister, Georgiana, in the warmest and most loving terms which has a big impact on Lizzy’s perception of both of them.

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Hi, everyone! I know there have been some questions about food in the period. Here is an episode of Supersizers Go, a British series that delves into the food and daily life of different eras of British history, hosted by a food critic and a comedian. The Regency episode specifically covers the aristocracy and landed gentry (think estate owners like Darcy and the de Bourghs).

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Responsibilities of Mistress of the Estate

Said to be “equivalent, depending on the size of the state, to running a small hotel to running a major corporation.” They oversaw finances, food service, hiring and training staff, procuring supplies, and overseeing the interior design of the house and the entertainment, building social connections. Might even assist husband with overall estate business. Charitable contributions would also be made to rural areas or social inferiors, organizing schools, giving medical advice, and providing for charity. Might even meet with clergymen and try to see what they need.

All supplies for the home were handled by the mistress.  What could not be made in house was purchased.  What could be made was. Planning for and managing the creation of necessary products could be a huge year-round endeavor. All  foodstuffs and herbs were raised and preserved using recipes and instructions passed down over generations. To neglect this was to risk the family going without during the winter when it was difficult to raise and purchase supplies. The mistress even oversaw the making, mending and cleaning of the family's clothes. Clothing for the servants might also be included.

Though the husband was often in charge of the hiring and firing of servants, the mistress would act as the instructor and supervisor.

She was expected to raise her children and care for sick family members as well, responsible for hiring nursery maids and governesses if the state could afford them.  If not, she would take charge of those responsibilities.  Daughters were trained to carry on important tasks. Singing, playing an instrument, dancing, speaking French and possibly Italian, drawing and painting, sewing and decorative needlework, elegant penmanship, and the ability to conduct polite conversation that revealed suitable knowledge of history, literature and poetry were subjects they were taught.

No life of leisure. Full time working mother, business partner to her husband, and ideally a leader to the community. Very unlike the period dramas where they’re portrayed as playing dress and gossip.

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Regency Christmas Traditions

DECEMBER 24th: Christmas Eve, the House was decorated with greenery. Holly, ivy, rosemary, bayleaf, evergreen, laurel, even mistletoe over the bough. On Epiphany (Jan 6th traditionally) it was all taken down and burnt for fear of bad luck.

This Yule candle would be lit at sunset on Christmas Eve and burn until Christmas service (or dawn) the next day. Christmas Eve supper was served in the light of the Yule Candle which was thought to convey special blessings to anyone touched by it. Holiday breads were stacked around it, so they would be kept fresh by its light. Precious possessions might also be place within its glow so that they might be protected from harm.  

DECEMBER 25th: day usually begins with church. Gifts weren’t typically exchanged, but small gifts were given to children, and cottages would give gifts to landowners. There would be a toast and a great feast that included boar head or roast goose

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Regency hair styling tips

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Regency Era Fruits and Vegetables.

A lot of the exotic, tropical fruits would be brought back by explorers.

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Even during private interactions, it would still be common courtesy to give a little bow or curtsey. It wouldn’t be as grand as a formal introduction; it’s just being polite.

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Movement and Posture

Grace in all areas had to be entirely natural for any affectation would destroy the effect, as was often the case in stage performers. To be considered graceful every motion needed to be free from confusion or hurry while being lively and animated.  Not only did all the motions of the legs, hands and arms need to be graceful, but the head, neck and even speech had to display grace as well. The epitome of grace in speech required the unity of vivacity with softness in the voice and simplicity of speech. Needless to say, the development of grace required practice, so lessons in deportment began early.

Ladies began such practice in childhood as they learned to move properly in the long skirts fashion and decorum required. Small steps that pushed skirts out of the way allowed a young lady to appear to glide as she moved. Steps would be made from the knee, rather the hips, as swaying the hips as one walked was indecorous. Turns were made with the whole body allowing garments to turn elegantly and gracefully. When sitting, ladies kept their knees spread, rather than crossing their legs, in order to keep their skirts neat. Arms kept gracefully at ones side, emphasizing the long elegant column of their classically inspired, empire-waist gowns. If they had to cross their arms, it was done at the high waist line, so as not to spoil the line of their gowns.

Grace was expected, even required of men as well as women. Unlike women, they were not taught deportment, however, training in fencing sufficed for the purpose. Not only did fencing give men well shaped legs—which were shown off constantly in skin tight pantaloons and breeches—it trained them in balance, graceful movement. The same effortless, elegant motions that carried them through a fencing bout were equally welcome on the dance floor.

Above all, perfectly erect and graceful posture was essential. Sitting, standing, walking or dancing, the spine was held straight and the head perfectly balanced atop a supple neck. To slouch was to risk deformity of the spine and to demonstrate disrespect and weakness of character.  

For men, imperfect posture also risked chaffing and irritation from their fashionable garments. The cut of their coats, with armholes cut mostly in the back of the garment, rather than evenly distributed front to back as they are in modern garments, pulled shoulders back and opened the chest. High, stiff coat collars that often came up to their ears would irritate the back of the neck and even ears, if the spine was not straight and head held high, while a drooping chin could crush and soil a carefully tied cravat.

For all that ‘natural’ beauty was emphasized, ladies and gentlemen worked very hard to attain the standard of beauty. For those whose natural state was farther form the ideal, recommendations abounded upon how to improve on what nature graced on with. The next part of this series will look a how one might improve upon nature’s gifts.

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The Germans are coming! (and bringing their Christmas trees)

The first record we have of a Christmas tree in Britain is from 1800, when Queen Charlotte (German-born wife of George III) displayed one at a Christmas party. Although the tradition doesn’t take off amongst the general public until the Victorian era, it’s very likely that it was a regular tradition for the monarchy from 1800 on. It’s probably most likely that Elizabeth would have read about a royal holiday festivity that included a tree in something like The Lady’s Monthly Museum; Or, Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction, which was a monthly women’s magazine that carried the expected fashion and aristocracy interest stories.

Most likely, attitudes toward Germany were generally positive in the social strata that we’re concerned with. Keep in mind that, at this point, the British were on their third Hanoverian (a region of Germany) king (George III), so the ties between Germany and Britain were quite close, as they were to remain up until just before World War I.

From Immigration, Ethnicity and Racism in Britain, 1815-1945:

"Attitudes towards Germans in Britain between 1815 and 1945 have been extremely complex. For much of the nineteenth century there existed an underlying positive image of Germany, which focused upon the beauty of the countryside, the educational, philosophical and musical achievements of the country, and the racial affinity between the two nations. In contrast, another underlying image of Germans stressed their perceived uncouthness. German immigrants in nineteenth century Britain faced three different types of hostility. First, that based upon social prejudice, which asserted that the newcomers were immoral and drunken…."

The other two types of hostility have to do with economic threat to tradesmen, which wouldn’t really affect the landowning gentry in our story, and political animosity that arose much later in the century.

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Pride & Prejudice - A virtual book club

The following is the content I sent by email as a companion to reading Pride & Prejudice.

Hello!

Hopefully by now you’ve all had an introduction to the Bennets, the Bingleys, the Lucases, and of course the infamous Mr. Darcy. To start things off, relationships in this story are very important and often get a little muddled, so to help you keep track of who is whose cousin you can find a handy multiple-families tree here! I’ve highlighted in yellow those characters in Pride and Prejudice that also appear in Miss Bennet (not pictured: Arthur, Anne de Bourgh’s cousin).

Chapter I starts us off with possibly Jane Austen’s most famous line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This and the following paragraph really set the tone (for most of Austen’s work, not just P&P) of wryness but still an acceptance that there’s a social system and everyone works within it, for better or worse. This opening scene also introduces you to one of Austen’s strengths as a writer: she presents her characters incredibly effectively primarily through their dialog. Pay attention to the first time each character speaks - you can usually paint yourself a clear picture of their personality from that (Fun fact: the original draft of this story was titled First Impressions).

We get our first character sketches of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, who don’t make it on stage in our show but certainly loom large as the patriarch and matriarch of the Bennet sisters. Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with society and social rules, and of course with finding suitable husbands for her daughters. Mr. Bennet is the tree that Elizabeth, as the apple, didn’t fall far from. He’s clever, pragmatic, and takes a lot of pleasure in teasing his hysterical wife. He also loves his daughters very much, although there are indications throughout the book that he isn’t the most responsible father: his disdain for Mrs. Bennet’s obsession with getting the girls well-married, and his failure to set up appropriate legacies to support the girls after his death, means that he’s leaving his daughters to a very precarious future.

These first few scenes also give a nice flavor of typical daily life for members of this level of society. There were lots of rules for paying calls for social visits, and people gave or attended dinners and balls regularly. With all this day-to-day socializing in small, insular communities, it makes sense that the action in Austen’s novels is often catalyzed by strangers (usually men) coming to town, as Bingley and company do in P&P.

Austen wastes no time setting up the central conflicts of the novel by the end of Chapter VII: the Bingley-Jane romance,the Darcy-Elizabeth battle of wits, and the entail of the Bennet estate. It isn’t clear how Bingley and Darcy originally met, but it is clear that they are very dear friends: “Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of a great opposition of character. - Bingley was endeared to Darcy by the easiness, openness, ductility of his temper, though no disposition could offer a greater contrast to his own, and though with his own he never appeared dissatisfied. On the strength of Darcy’s regard Bingley had the firmest reliance, and of his judgment the highest opinion.” Bingley is introduced as the light-hearted, effusive, and romantic foil to Darcy’s aloof and brooding temperament: “Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offence.” This is also played out in the histories that are suggested for both of them. Indications early on in the book imply that the Bingleys are new money, and our Bingley is the first who has not worked at a trade (Bingley rents Netherfield because his father “had intended to purchase an estate, but did not live to do it”). In contrast, the Darcy family is old money with a great deal of prestige as well - we find out that one of Darcy’s uncles was a judge which at the time was an extremely prestigious appointment with only about 15 judges in all of England. In contrast with these two fortunes, the Bennet estate is entailed which means that it transfers only to the closest living male heir, so the Bennet sisters stand only to inherit a small amount of money from their mother when she dies but not benefit from their father’s estate when he does. This puts them in a much weaker social position for marrying, because they would become dependent on their husband’s family wealth rather than contributing to it.

We also get a couple of glimpses of Mary’s pedantic character, like the scene in Chapter V when she inserts herself into what’s basically a gossipy conversation between Elizabeth and Charlotte to give a fairly prissy thesis statement on the failing of pridefulness. Sorry Elyse, you’re much sweeter in the play :)

I think it’s a particularly apt characterization that Darcy’s attraction to Elizabeth starts with his recognizing her “uncommonly intelligent” nature; in fact he dismisses her as not particularly attractive before he’s recognized her intelligence.

Elizabeth’s teasing, non-conformist side, very much like her father, is perfectly encapsulated in Chapter VI: “Miss Lucas defied her friend to mention such a subject to him, which immediately provoking Elizabeth to do it, she turned to him and said…”

Lydia’s plot gets started in Chapter VII when more strangers come to town, this time a regiment of militiamen who are stationed in the village. This introduces us a little bit more to Lydia and Kitty, the youngest of the Bennets, who spend a lot of time visiting their aunt and uncle so they can get to know all of the officers and basically talk about nothing else.

The end of this section is devoted to Jane’s illness and convalescence at Netherfield (Bingley’s house), where Elizabeth joins her. Being in close quarters with the Bingleys and Darcy, we get to see how judgey Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst are of the Bennets as simple, country folk; Bingley and Jane falling in love; Darcy becoming more and more fond of Elizabeth and her quick-witted ways; and Elizabeth confirming her opinion of Darcy and Miss Bingley as stuck-up.

OK, so this section largely features one of Austen’s most hilariously self-important characters who, sadly, isn’t visiting Pemberley this Christmas ;) For our purposes, Mr. Collins (like Charlotte) doesn’t inform much of Miss Bennet, but they are instrumental in P&P for getting Elizabeth and Darcy into the same room again later in the story, and also connecting us to Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter, Anne.

For those of you who’ve watched Downton Abbey, Collins is a much-less-dreamy Matthew Crawley; he is the distant cousin who is the only living male relative of Mr. Bennet and thus will inherit all of the Bennet estate upon Mr. Bennet’s death. And to his credit, although it doesn’t work out in the end, he does come to Longbourn with the idea that maybe one of the Bennet sisters would be a suitable match for him and thus help out his female relatives by tying them back to their father’s fortune by marriage.

We get a LOT of information about Lady Catherine by way of Collins’ obsession with her. The first thing that readers of the time would have noticed is that, although Lady Catherine was married to a “Sir” (Sir Lewis, who is deceased), her title comes from her father rather than her husband. Women whose titles were linked to their husbands would only be referred to by their surname (Lady de Bourgh) but women inheriting a title from their parent would have their first name included as Lady Catherine does. We’ll find out later that Lady Catherine’s father was an earl, one of the three highest ranks of nobility in England, so she has a very prestigious pedigree in society. We also get an introduction to Anne, although like the praises of Lady Catherine there’s definitely an unreliable narrator feeling to the way Collins describes her.

Anne de Bourgh is said to be the heiress of Rosings and Lady Catherine’s estate, which is the reason for that little bit of detail near the beginning of Miss Bennet about the de Bourgh estate actually being entailed. As we’ll see in the next section, it’s entirely imaginable that Lady Catherine would have made bold assertions about her late husband’s estate that weren’t *completely* backed up by reality.

And you get to see more of the mischievous nature that Elizabeth and her father share when listening to Collins speak: “[Mr. Bennet’s] cousin was as absurd as he had hoped, and he listened to him with the keenest enjoyment, maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance, and except in an occasional glance at Elizabeth, requiring no partner in his pleasure.”

In Chapter XV we meet Wickham, who is also not on stage in Miss Bennet but definitely a part of the story. For those of you reading P&P for the first time, sorry about the spoilers but Wickham is going to turn out not to be quite the gentleman the girls all think he is in this chapter. Looking back in hindsight, this is a great example of how Darcy’s upstanding (but aloof) personality can be a double-edged sword for him. His sense of propriety keeps him from telling anyone in the Meryton area about Wickham’s past behavior, but he can’t help showing his emotions when they meet. Since Wickham has no problem lying for his own benefit, this makes Darcy look like the asshole in this situation, which only confirms everyone’s opinion of him as a stuck-up jerk (sorry, JR).

Here is Jane, the eternal peacemaker, in a nutshell (from Chapter XVII): “...she knew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr. Bingley’s regard; and yet, it was not in her nature to question the veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham. - The possibility of his having really endured such unkindness, was enough to interest all her tender feelings; and nothing therefore remained to be done, but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, and throw into the account of accident or mistake, whatever could not be otherwise explained.”

Also a pretty good nutshell for giddy Lydia: “The happiness anticipated by [Kitty] and Lydia, depended less on any single event, or any particular person, for though they each...meant to dance half the evening with Mr. Wickham, he was by no means the only partner who could satisfy them, and a ball was at any rate, a ball.”

One more for nerdy Mary: “While I can have my mornings to myself...I think it no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements. Society has claims on us all; and I profess myself one of those who consider intervals of recreation and amusement as desirable for every body.”

At the Netherfield ball in Chapter XVIII, we get another link in the relationship chain when we find out (again through Collins) that Darcy is Lady Catherine’s nephew (which makes him Anne de Bourgh’s cousin). We also see more evidence of Darcy being uncomfortable in social situations in a way that can provide a forgivable explanation for his coldness. The description of him “standing within a very short distance of [Elizabeth], quite disengaged, he never came near enough to speak” along with his conversation with Bingley at the first ball about how he’s only comfortable with people he knows, indicates that maybe he’s just too shy to know how to approach Elizabeth especially now that he knows she doesn’t think much of him in relation to Wickham’s story.

Also at the ball, we see several back to back examples of how the Bennet family is often kind of a social catastrophe. Obviously, Collins’ behavior is embarrassing, and then Mrs. Bennet doesn’t know how to use her inside voice at the supper table, Mary gives a painful singing performance, and Mr. Bennet manages to make the embarrassment worse by making it obvious that he’s trying to rescue Mary from continuing. I think it’s safe to say that both Jane, but especially Elizabeth since she isn’t as appeasing as Jane, have a lot of experience with trying to mitigate embarrassment by other members of the family.

The rest of this section sets all of the pieces in motion for the next phase of action: Caroline (Bingley’s sister) contrives a plan to get Bingley to move back to London and away from Jane to break them up, Collins proposes to Elizabeth and is turned down flat, then is picked up and dusted off by practical Charlotte whose move to Hunsford after she and Collins get married gives an excuse for Elizabeth to get out and do some visiting soon.

My thoughts in this section are particularly Elizabeth-based: She has a very strong reaction to her best friend Charlotte agreeing to marry Collins: “She had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own, but she could not have supposed it possible that when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage. Charlotte the wife of Mr. Collins, was a most humiliating picture! - And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem, was added the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen.” 

The beginning of Volume II shows us the clear distinction between Jane’s and Elizabeth’s temperaments. When the Bingleys have unexpectedly left for London, Elizabeth is indignant, resentful, angry, and contemptuous of the conniving Miss Bingley and the inconstant Mr. Bingley. Jane, on the other hand, is terribly sad but consoles herself by thinking that at least her “error of fancy” has harmed only herself. As Elizabeth says to her, “You wish to think all the world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of any body. I only want to think you perfect, and you set yourself against it.”

We also get to see again the way Jane and Elizabeth clearly have to fend for themselves emotionally in the absence of appropriate parental care. Mrs. Bennet won’t stop talking about Bingley’s disappearance as if it hurt her directly, never noticing that she keeps opening the wound for Jane instead of letting it heal. And Mr. Bennet just jokes about how sometimes girls like to “be crossed in love a little” to give them something to break up the dullness.

Some new characters come into play in Chapter II, Mrs. Bennet’s brother and sister-in-law, the Gardiners. These are also minor characters that really only need to be kept track of because they give Elizabeth and Jane opportunities for visiting outside of Meryton later, which moves their two love story plots along. Mrs. Gardiner is much more sensible than her sister-in-law, and provides Elizabeth with some good advice about not letting her heart get carried away with Wickham (although it’s about the practicalities of both Elizabeth and Wickham being fairly poor, rather than a knowledge of Wickham’s bad behavior).

Everyone scatters a bit in Chapter III, with Charlotte getting married and moving to the parsonage at Rosings Park with Mr. Collins, and Jane going back to London with the Gardiners to stay with them for awhile. At this point, Elizabeth agrees to go visit Charlotte in a few months, and then later she agrees to go on a summer tour of the Lake Country with her uncle and aunt, the Gardiners. All of these trips let Austen reverse her earlier formula of creating action by bringing strangers into town; now she can create action by sending the locals out into new environments.

When Elizabeth goes to visit Charlotte’s new home, she finds a Mr. Collins who is just as insanely obsequious and annoying as he is earlier in the book. But she also sees Charlotte in a new light when she recognizes all the subtle ways that the new Mrs. Collins has found to control her husband and her environment to make it pleasant and comfortable. It’s nice to see Elizabeth’s harsh opinion of Charlotte’s choice softening enough to recognize all the good qualities of her old friend again.

And then finally, in Chapter VI, we meet Lady Catherine de Bourgh! A couple of things for our purposes: obviously, Lady Catherine is dead in Miss Bennet. And, in Pride & Prejudice, we don’t get very much direct interaction with Anne de Bourgh at all. BUT, all of these sections that include Lady Catherine and Anne (in the background) are really instructive for how Anne lived her life presumably until her mother’s death. Pay attention to how much she’s talked about, and how little she’s talked to. And her mother’s way of interacting with everyone - because this is just about the only model for being an adult woman that Anne has in her life. OK, so, Lady Catherine is:

Obsessed with rank, and making sure everyone knows hers and their own

Extremely narcissistic

Extremely critical, nosey, scolding, and officious

Oblivious to anyone else’s needs/feelings/etc.

She also makes constant excuses for Anne and why she’s never learned any of the usual ladylike pursuits of playing, singing, painting, etc.

The end of this section (starting in Chapter VII) brings Darcy to Rosings Park, along with another cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam’s personality is a sort of balance between Darcy’s and Bingley’s. He’s very friendly and easygoing, but has a steadiness to him that is similar to Darcy’s sense of properness. Fortunately for Darcy, Fitzwilliam also has Charlotte’s brand of practicality as we’ll soon learn, which puts a stop to what might otherwise have been a romance between him and Elizabeth.

Before we get into this section, have you all noticed how often Austen seems to describe people paying visits to each other and then just sitting in a room and having long breaks of silence in the conversation?? It’s really struck me on this read through, and I can’t tell if she is trying to describe kind of forced conversation or if her experience really was that sometimes you go to visit somebody and you just sit around and not talk. Anyway, not really relevant but curious to me.

Of course what reminded me of that is poor Darcy and his real struggles with interpersonal communication. I think this scene in Chapter IX is an awfully cute example of him starting to act like he has human emotions like curiosity and interest in others, and immediately clamming back up: “Mr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, ‘You cannot have a right to such very strong local attachment. You cannot have been always at Longbourn.’ Elizabeth looked surprised. The gentleman experienced some change of feeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and, glancing over it, said, in a colder voice, ‘Are you pleased with Kent?’”

In Chapter X we basically wrap up the Col. Fitzwilliam plot, in which he acts as a conduit for some information that Elizabeth needs to keep the story going: While chatting with Elizabeth, they both “jokingly” talk about how the youngest son of an Earl (i.e., not the one who will inherit the fortune) can’t afford to marry someone who isn’t wealthy, and come to an unspoken understanding that it’s not meant to be between them for practical reasons. It’s cleverly done, and a good juxtaposition of Fitzwilliam’s communication skills with Darcy’s. We also learn that Fitzwilliam is co-guardian of Georgiana Darcy, Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, which will add some weight to an upcoming revelation. And finally, although Fitzwilliam doesn’t know that he’s talking to the sister of the jilted, he divulges that Darcy recently advised “someone” against an unfortunate match with a country lady. With an annoying family. From near Netherfield. It’s Jane, you guys. All of this perfectly sets up a scenario where Elizabeth’s fury against Darcy has reached a fever pitch just in time for…..him to propose!

The surprise proposal in Chapter XI (were you surprised??) shows off all of Darcy’s worst behaviors of officiousness and pride. We could probably somewhat forgive him for failing to read the room with Elizabeth, since she keeps her dislike pretty close to the vest, but telling someone that you love them even though their family is the worst and you tried to stop yourself from falling in love but you’ll take them anyway, is not the most tactful/charming proposal. Elizabeth shows off all of her prejudices as well, but I’ll say this - at least she’s not coy about explaining exactly what her complaints re: Jane and Wickham are, which opens the door up for Darcy to explain himself later. Still, they both get their licks in and then retreat to their corners to try and figure out what just happened.

Next Aside: From here out, there’s a fair amount of talk about Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship (obviously). There are lots of interesting things to be said about Austen and feminism, and if anyone’s interested in talking with me about them I would love to, but obviously this book was published in 1813 and was solidly rooted in a deep-seated patriarchal society. In spite of all that, I’m going to refer to Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship as one of equals because Elizabeth certainly has more agency than other characters of the time (or even the book), and also because I think we all know that we’re producing a romantic comedy and sometimes it’s nice to leave the really deep analysis at home.

So, moving into Chapters XII and XIII, we see one of the greatest strengths of Elizabeth and Darcy, and the next indication of why they are a good match. Despite the blow-up they just had, and their individual opinions that they are in the right, they both take the time to apply their intelligence and reason to considering the other person’s position. Darcy gets the upper hand here a bit because Elizabeth’s opinion is at least half based on Wickham’s lies. Of course, Darcy has to swallow his pride enough to explain the embarrassment of the real story of Wickham’s relations with the Darcys, which is a very real sacrifice for someone as proud as Darcy. Through the letter Elizabeth gets a whole new picture of Darcy - not so much the way he handled the Bingley/Jane situation, although it puts his intentions in a slightly new light - but definitely in respect to Wickham. Darcy’s reflection and gradual change occur later than Elizabeth’s, but even with him taking the time to write and deliver the letter we see him start to realize the importance of explaining himself and his thoughts, and doing so in a somewhat more gentle way than before.

Shortly after Darcy and Fitzwilliam leave Rosings Park, Elizabeth does as well and heads home to Longbourn after picking up Jane in London.

Chapter XVI is where Lydia starts to really show off her immaturity and self-interest. She:

Comes to meet her sisters and treat them to lunch, but

Uses up all her money buying a bonnet that she says isn’t very nice (but not the ugliest!), so

Tells Jane and Elizabeth they’ll have to pay for everyone’s lunch instead, and then

Laughs about how fun it is that they’re crammed uncomfortably into the carriage for the ride home because of her new, not-that-pretty bonnet and its box.

And later that evening at dinner, she goes back to telling everyone how she and Kitty treated their sisters to lunch.

In Chapter XVII, here’s sweet Jane again, being sweet. She can’t be surprised at anyone loving her sister, and she can’t help but feel sorry for Darcy who must be so disappointed at how things turned out. Elizabeth has a cute juxtaposition of she and Elizabeth when she says “Your profusion [of regret and compassion] makes me saving; and if you lament over him much longer, my heart will be light as a feather.”

Elizabeth also expresses the beginnings of her transformation when she half (maybe just a quarter) jokingly laments that no longer disliking Darcy is bad for her wittiness: “One may be continually abusive without saying any thing just; but one cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.”

Meanwhile, Wickham’s militia regiment is getting ready to leave town, and Kitty and Lydia (especially Lydia) won’t stop talking about how their lives are OVER. Lydia gets a reprieve though, when her friend who is a relatively new wife of the regiment’s colonel invites Lydia to go to Brighton with them. Mr. Bennet is passive enough to let this happen, even though Elizabeth warns him that Mrs. Forster (the friend) isn’t exactly a prudent companion for Lydia, and Lydia is far too improper to go to Brighton without adequate supervision. Here are some adjectives Elizabeth uses to describe Lydia: vain, ignorant, idle, flirtatious, attention-seeking. And here’s a passage about Lydia’s dreams of summer vacation: “She saw with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention, to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp; its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet [uniforms]; and to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.”

I have new thoughts on Lydia this read through, but I’m going to save them for a bit later because it feels chronologically wrong to put them here. So if you’re thinking to yourself that Lydia is a bit picked on for just being herself - hold that thought!

Chapter XIX is an interesting little meditation on Elizabeth’s thoughts about marriage coming from the example of her parents. Although it’s not quite expressed this way, she believes that it’s important for husband and wife to respect each other intellectually in order to garner respect from their children in turn. She certainly sees the danger in, as her father did, marrying someone who you don’t think of as witty.

Elizabeth’s vacation with the Gardiners starts the series of coincidences that will bring us to our happy ending - first with vacation plans having to be changed to start later and not actually include the Lake district. Then, when visiting Lambton, Mrs. Gardiner’s interest in seeing Pemberley. Tours of stately homes were becoming even more of a standard attraction during this time, which gives us another idea of the prominence of the Darcy estate. And THEN, while touring Pemberley, the unplanned/unexpected early return of Mr. Darcy that puts he and Elizabeth in the right place at the right time to almost literally run into each other again.

It makes a lot of sense that seeing Darcy’s home, and him in his home, is what really brings about the last of Elizabeth’s change of heart. As we’ve seen him, Darcy is a proud and private person who is fairly uncomfortable interacting with strangers and whose facade in those situations is distant and cold (and often fairly judgmental). His home is described as friendly, warm, beautiful but not in an ostentatious or stuffy way, with a kind and affectionate housekeeper. It’s certainly not an accident that Darcy himself is able to be more pleasant and welcoming to Elizabeth and her family when he is in his familiar surroundings.

In Chapter II we finally meet Darcy’s young sister, Georgiana. She is described as being so shy she can hardly speak to people even in a home setting, which we could probably imagine wasn’t helped by being primarily cared for by someone of Darcy’s temperament. These few days at Lambton becoming reacquainted with Darcy and Bingley create a sweet series of calm-before-the-storm scenes and a raising of Elizabeth’s spirits from the turbulence she’s been experiencing.

While that all changes again in Chapter IV, it still creates the bond that gets her and Darcy through this last upheaval of Lydia and Wickham’s elopement.

The interesting thing about Lydia (which I’m sure you’ve already thought, being much cleverer than I) is that she’s really only a victim of her era. Do I find people as giddy and vapid as she is kind of annoying? Yes, but they’re not bad people, just not really my type. But realistically, Lydia knows what she wants: to flirt and be adored and run off with a dashingly handsome officer. If she’d lived in a less stringent time, she and Wickham would’ve run off and had a firey affair, not gotten married, and she’s shown to be such a strong-willed person that she probably would’ve seen Wickham’s eventual disinterest and told him to hit the road, leaving her, for the most part, none the worse. Instead, because the society they live in meant that the family would be ruined by her sinful choices, she gets saddled with a marriage to a guy who’s kind of a dick and definitely doesn’t want to be married to her either.

This whole episode causes Elizabeth to be much more vulnerable and intimate with Darcy than she probably ever would have otherwise, and gives Darcy his classic knight in shining armor opportunity to make a grand gesture for the woman he loves. In this case, that grand gesture includes him going very much against a lot of his natural tendencies toward pride and humbling himself pretty significantly. We don’t get the sense that he’s ever been much of a moral compromise kind of person, but he certainly makes some compromises here in the best interest of Elizabeth and her family. Of course, it’s only by the coincidence of Lydia’s big mouth that Elizabeth finds out about all of this.

Advancing the plot through letters is a common theme of Austen’s work. In fact, Pride and Prejudice was originally written in an all-letter format, and so we’re going to see the last pieces of the puzzle fall into place through Mrs. Gardiner’s letter.

In Chapter X, Wickham’s last interaction with Elizabeth is particularly disingenuous, with him still fishing to find out how much she may have heard of him from Darcy, and continuing to play the wronged victim angle. Based on this interaction, my own assumption is that when Elizabeth says that Mr. Darcy won’t welcome Wickham to Pemberley, she certainly hasn’t done much to change his mind.

We also see the preamble to the lonely life that Lydia eventually confesses to in Miss Bennet. With the (sort of) happy couple being forced to move to Newcastle because of Wickham’s need to leave the militia and join the regulars, she will be far enough from family that they don’t expect to see her for at least a year. It’s easy to predict that Wickham’s inattention and their relative financial hardship will take the shine off Lydia’s adventure in a new town fairly quickly, and leave her more on the outskirts of society than she would like or expect.

And so the story comes full circle, with rumors running wild about the Bingleys returning to Netherfield. In the next few chapters, we see the effects of Elizabeth on Darcy has he attempts to have more patience when interacting with her mother, and he spends time observing Jane more closely to better understand her feelings for Bingley.

Lady Catherine’s imperious entrance into the story one last time only serves to help Elizabeth and Darcy solidify their feelings for each other in the face of Lady Catherine’s general awfulness. When they finally come back together at Longbourn, we see a lovely balance of her playfulness and his seriousness in their proposal scene as they both admit their shortcomings to each other.

The resolution of the marriage plots corresponds to the view of marriage Austen consistently asserts: rather than being simply a union of two individuals, marriage is a condition in which the couple will be connected to a variety of other people. In the final chapters, Elizabeth and Darcy take the trouble, even when they find it unpleasant, to accommodate and maintain good relations with other family members and acquaintances.

The story implies that Elizabeth and Jane were both married on the same day; fitting for the closeness of their relationship and that of their husbands. Jane and Bingley lived at Netherfield for a year, but then bought an estate about 30 miles from Pemberley so we can assume that the Bingleys and the Darcys have seen each other fairly often in the last two years before Christmas 1815. Elizabeth’s and Lydia’s relationship is probably further strained when Lydia writes asking for financial assistance now that Elizabeth is rich, and Elizabeth turns her down. We also learn that Elizabeth and Jane have both been asked to help settle the Wickhams’ debts from time to time over the past three years.

And finally, a charming characterization of Darcy’s enduring commitment to Elizabeth, from a letter written by Austen about how she was unable to find portraits in a gallery that she thought resembled Jane and Elizabeth: “I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any Picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye.--I can imagine he would have that sort [of] feeling--that mixture of Love, Pride & Delicacy”

[capstagepemberley]

A (brief) History on Jane Austen’s Life

Jane Austen was born to a clergyman in Dec 16th, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire.  She was the seventh child and second daughter of Cassandra and George Austen.  They were not well off, but well respected in the community.  Little known is about Austen herself, and her life would be pieced together by written family accounts, letters between her and her sister Cassandra, and documented purchases she made during her writing career.

Her father was educated and worked as a clergyman, a vicar, a teacher, and a farmer.  He would nurse Jane’s passion for writing by allowing her access to his library and gifted her with the writing desk her famous novels would be written on.  She would go on to write parodies such as Love and Friendship, short stories, plays, and novels.  Jane and Cassandra would be sent to boarding school, but their education would be cut short due to financial constraints.

Unable to afford transportation most of the time, Jane became accustomed to walking miles to her destination.  This trait would be seen in Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth Bennet would trek ankles deep in mud to see her ill sister.

The Austen family would move to Bath after her father’s retirement.  He would die of illness in 1805.  Jane herself became ill during her time at school (said to be contributed to the bodies of water and mosquitoes that populate the areas they lived), this would also influence her writing as many of her heroines are inflicted with illness as an obstacle to their goals.  Due to financial constraints after George Austen’s death, the Austen family would move from place to place, starting with the Leigh family in 1806.

Jane would never marry, although the closest she came to was a man named Tom Lefroy.  Though they met on several occasions and several balls, Tom would have to leave to marry richer in order to support his large family.

By her 30’s Jane would anonymously publish her work, but never would see the grand wealth her reputation today would earn her.  She would sell the rights for Pride and Prejudice to her publisher, a move she would regret after it became a big seller and they gained a majority of the profit.  She would go into self-publishing, but wouldn’t reach the same financial success.  A majority of her living was made of the generosity of extended family members

At 1816, age 41, Jane too would fall ill to Addison’s disease. She died on July 18th, 1817, with her final novels Sanditon and Persuasion being published posthumorously. After her death her brother Henry would reveal to the public of her authorship.

[capstagepemberley]

A (brief) History of Tree Decoration

First introduced in Germany in the 16th century, Christmas trees became fashionable when Queen Victoria’s husband brought one to Windosor Castle in 1841.  Trees at the time were mostly adorned with candles to give it and the home a more pleasing look.  Prince albert and Victoria bejeweled the tree with candles, sweets, fruits, and gingerbread.

The tradition of a evergreen fir used in winter traditions can be traced back to Pegans, ho used their branches to decorate the home.  It isn’t certain when this began,  but all throughout Northern Europe the tradition of using cherry or hawthorn plants to decorate the home because to spread over time.  The fir became a symbol of life, and the hopeful coming of spring.  

The first written account of a Christmas tree was in 1605 with John Matthew’s “The Winter Solstice”, German’s decorated their trees with “roses cut out of many colored paper, apples, wafers, gold-foil, and sweets”. Though it wasn’t until Victoria and Albert’s lavishly decorated tree it didn’t become common practice

Charles Dickens described in his 1850 short story, A Christmas Tree, describe them to be decorated with little tapers (candles), and were adorned a wild mix of tiny objects. “This motley collection of odd objects, clustering on the tree like magic fruit, and flashing back the bright looks directed towards it from every side,” describes Dickens, “…Full of sugar-plums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes, peep-show boxes, and all kinds of boxes; there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords, and banners; there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers, smelling-bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders; real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf; imitation apples, pears, and walnuts, crammed with surprises. It would seem as though people at the time would decorate the tree with whatever they had around the house.

Charleston, Libby-Jane. “The History of Christmas decorations.  Huffington Post. 15/07/2016:

Tinsel:

Tinsel originated in Germany in the early 1600s but it was a far cry from the shiny plastic tinsel we use today -- back then it was shredded silver. Real silver.

Tinsel makers of the day would hammer the silver until it was thin, then cut it into strips. Nobody seems to have recorded the name of the clever person who invented tinsel but it was so popular, machines began making the stuff to keep up with demand.

Eventually people realised the smoke from Christmas candles caused the tinsel to turn black, so later versions were made with tin and lead. That version proved to be too heavy for a Christmas tree, so the Brits took over and came up with the light silver sparkly tinsel we enjoy today.

Baubles:

Once again the Germans stepped up in the decoration invention department. Baubles were first invented in Lauscha, by local man Hans Greiner, who first manufactured them in the late 1840s. The first baubles were fruit and nut shaped glass, eventually turning into a more spherical shape.

Britain’s Queen Victoria was said to be quite taken with the tradition of baubles and brought them from Germany to Europe in the mid to late 1800s.

American retailer F.W. Woolworth made his fortune by importing baubles into the country in 1880. By 1890, he was reportedly selling $25 million worth a year.

At first, baubles were only for wealthy people as they were hand-crafted and made of glass. But it wasn’t long before a plastic version was made, allowing cheaper manufacturing and affordability for everyone.

Christmas lights:

In Victorian times, the tree would have been decorated with candles to represent stars. In many parts of Europe, candles are still used to decorate Christmas trees.