My Jane Austen Etiquette and Regency Era Lexicon Grows

"High-change in Bond Street, - ou- la Politesse du Grande Monde."  Sums up some rudeness in the Regency Era;   Fashionably dressed pedestrians on Bond Street. In the foreground, five men crowd a woman and girl off the sidewalk as they leer at them. The women, seen from the back, are oddly dressed. In the background, three ladies, also in exaggerated costumes, walking arm-in-arm in the roadway.

As I continue to read these books of Jane Austen's, I cannot help doing a bit of research.  I guess it is just a natural thing I should not fight.  So the following is my 3rd installment of definitions in my lexicon of Regency Era words and phrases:

Alloy : tempering, or tainting, through emotions

Brook: put up with something painful or difficult

Casino: point-scoring card game in which players combine cards exposed on the table with the cards in their hands, the 10 of diamonds being the highest-valued card

No, Anne Elliot's sister does not suffer from colicky gout. She suffers from hypochondriasis.

Colicky gout: abdominal pain and swollen joints, especially the toes and feet

Consequences: a pencil-and-paper game for several players, in which each player adds a line of a story without knowing with the previous lines are. The resulting stories are incongruous and humorous.

"While they were at breakfast, the letters were brought in. Among the rest there was one for Colonel Brandon; he took it, looked at the direction, changed color, and immediately left the room." from "Sense and Sensibility

Direction: return address

Douceur: pleasantry

Exigence: exigency; urgency

Illiberal: narrow minded; bigoted

Importune: troublesome; overly persistent in request or demand

Best dressed goose I've seen in a while!

Michaelmas: September 29th, the feast in honor of Saint Michael. One tradition is that if a young lady finds the ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie, she will soon marry.

Natural child: child born out of wedlock

Pall-Mall: main thoroughfare in the Saint James district of London

Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.  She later appears in other poetry and literature, including Jane Austen's

Queen Mab: Queen of the fairies in English literature

Rubber: session or round of playing a card game

The Art and Etiquette of Setting a Beautiful Table

... Not to Mention Throwing a Fabulous Bridal Shower! 

A beautiful welcome to a bridal shower for my nephew's fiancée, Casey!

A friend, Elle Richesse, recently gifted me with a subscription to Tea Time magazine.  Not being a big tea lover (as many of my readers know) I was still looking forward to the magazine, as I knew it would be filled with beautiful pictures, stories and features on various tea rooms.  I'm always up for a good cucumber sandwich, and tea rooms are generally charming places to visit.

Taking photos from an old Architectural Digest and tweeting from my doctor's exam room.  Surprisingly, he was interested in my thoughts on place setting etiquette.  Then again, his daughters were in my etiquette classes years ago.

I was pleased to see on the cover when the first issue arrived, that table settings would be featured and a Downton Abbey tea.  A big Downton Abbey fan, I was looking forward to reading about Downton and seeing the table settings.  

Tea really isn't "my cup of tea," but the articles in this magazine really are terrific.  Thank you again, Elle!

I am known for zeroing in on table settings the moment I see a table set. It comes from years of judging tables, setting tables, and an enthusiasm for a certain symmetry.  It's sort of like my bizarre counting the rings of ringing telephones on tv and in movies, but that is for another post.  It's not something I want to do mind you, it just happens. Its the same thing with table settings and me. It doesn't matter if I'm flipping through a magazine or walking through a restaurant. I see a place setting and immediately start looking to see if it is correct or incorrect. So flipping through Tea Time and to the Downton Abbey Tea... Oh dear...

Almost Downton Abbey style, but those forks would never be placed on the napkins!

One of my biggest peeves with place settings? Those which have forks placed on the napkins.  One's guests should not have to reset one's table, but that is exactly what a host or hostess is requiring their guests to do when they place forks on napkins.  The guests have to take the 2, or possibly 3, forks off of the napkin with one hand, retrieve the napkin to place in their laps, then replace the forks back down in their correct order. 

Napkin in the center of the place setting

A napkin belongs in the center of the place setting, if you really want your guests to use them nowadays.  Napkins placed to the left of the forks are okay in my book, but again, I want my guests to put their napkins in their laps.  Placing them on the table or service plate, in the center of the setting, means that your guest has to remove the napkin to have food placed in front of him or her.  I have seen napkins set to the left of the forks go completely unused, so I do not recommend placing napkins there.
 

Napkin to the left of the forks, in a napkin ring.

Now I understand why magazines and catalogs show gorgeous settings with the forks on the napkins.  It is either to show off more on an already crowded table, with limited space on the page, or it is that the stylist or photographer has no idea that placing the forks on the napkins is improper.  Those photos are not nearly as irritating as the old magazine and catalog, "mirror -image" backward place settings, that had the photo transparencies reversed prior to printing.  Seeing those photos of really beautiful but backward tables, always made me nuts!  So walking in to see these gorgeous tables set with such flair for the bridal shower Sunday... I was thrilled.

The settings Sunday?  Wonderful! 

The bridal shower Sunday was just beautiful.  Really stunning. 
 

Kudos to Peggy, and my niece Kelly.  They outdid themselves on this shower!

Kelly and Peggy have a surprise basket of roses for Casey from Sean.   Each had a note attached with a different reason why he loves her.  So sweet.

As I was admiring the tables and taking photos, a good friend of Peggy's, chef Cathy Mc Knight, told me that Peggy had gotten the vintage glasses, mismatched antique  silver flatware, etc... from a company called Archive Rentals.  I was dying to talk with Peggy about the settings, but didn't want to pester my sister in-law, as she and my niece Kelly had their hands full, putting the finishing touches on everything. 

Cathy's son, Scotty, is a groomsman in my nephew's wedding, as is a young man named Garrett Beck.  I had interviewed the three of them on sports etiquette back when they were all buddies in eighth grade.

Garrett, Sean and Scotty all grown up!  I still have my taped interview with them on sports' etiquette though, and am planning a blog post using their thoughts from 13 years ago.  All are still excellent etiquette tips!

Amanda Ngyuen (from my post on calling cards), a dear friend Maria Basdakis, Cathy McKnight and myself.  I spent a whole year and a half on the east coast and picked up that "no white after Labor Day" habit, so when the invite requested we, "Wear white or a favorite white accessory." I could only bring myself to wear a white jacket, even though it was a warm 80 degrees outside.

I also spotted Cindy Beck and chatted about Garrett.  She was exhausted, but also very excited and told us about her son in-law, Olympian Bode Miller's latest medal.  She had gotten texts from her daughter in Russia at about 4:00 a.m. and was thrilled for his win.
 

Me with Cindy Beck... Cheers to Olympic medals and a lovely afternoon!

Peggy had Yolanda Thayer there.  She has a company called "Perfume Bar Soiree" and mixed perfume for each guest.  We got to choose from the different top notes, etc... to create our own personal scent.  She had a label to place on the bottle and asked what I wanted to call my scent. All I could think of was "Etiquette."  The gift boxes at everyone's seats, held a different vintage or antique crystal perfume bottle.  No two were alike.   
 

One of Casey's bridesmaids, Emily with Amanda of "Feast.Fashion.Faves" along with my son Robert's girlfriend Kelsey, at Yolanda's table of "Perfume Bar Soiree"

Great food, wonderful company, scintillating scents and beautifully set tables.  What more could one ask for in a bridal shower?

Casey opening the gifts Kelsey and I brought for her.

Peggy and Kelly had a white, tufted seat raised up for Casey to sit on while she opened her gifts.  She looked just like a princess!

Victorian and Edwardian Era Bridal Shower Etiquette

The bestowal of engagement presents has of late years taken on a wholesale aspect. Instead of the occasional receipt of a present from one or another of her friends and relatives, the bride-elect is often now the guest of honor at one or more parties called "showers," and the recipient of numerous gifts which are literally showered upon her. There are many kinds of "showers," as many as the ingenuity and financial resources of friends may admit of. When, however, any one bride is to be made the object of a series of such attentions, it is well for the girl's friends who have the matter in hand to see to it that no one person is invited to more than one shower, or, if so invited, that it be at her own request and because she wishes to make several gifts to her friend.  These affairs should be purely spontaneous and informal, and occasions of much fun and jollity. Nevertheless, there is danger of overdoing the idea, and making the recipient feel burdened rather than gratified by the zeal of her friends in her behalf.
 
Effort should be made not to have the articles given at a "shower" duplicate each other. They should be some simple, useful gifts, which will be of immediate service, and need not be either expensive or especially durable, unless the giver so desires. A "shower" is usually given when a wedding is in prospect, and the necessity of stocking up the new home confronts the young home-makers. The aim is to take a kindly interest in the new home and help to fit it out, more in the way of suggestion than in any extravagant way, which would make the recipients feel embarrassed or indebted, or overload them with semi-desirable gifts.
 
The "shower" is usually in the afternoon, and is joined in almost exclusively by the girl friends of the bride-elect, with perhaps a few of her older women friends and relatives. If, however, it comes in the evening, the men of the bridal party are usually also invited. The refreshments are simple and the style of entertainment informal. The invitations to a "shower" are usually given by the hostess verbally, or she sends her cards by post with the words "Linen shower for Miss Hanley on Wednesday at four."
 
There is a wide range of possible kinds of "showers," but the only rational way is to choose for a donation party of this sort only such objects as will be needed in quantity and variety, and in the choice of which one has not too strong and distinctive taste, as, for instance, the following: Linen, towels, glass, books, fancy china, silver, spoons, aprons, etc. Of course, the furnishings of some one room, as the bath-room, laundry, or kitchen, might be the subject of a "shower," but usually a housewife would prefer to have what she wanted and nothing else for use in these places.


From Etiquipedia

Antique perfume bottles and scents to choose from, at the ready... 

Best wishes to Casey for a beautiful wedding!

More Etiquette and Regency Era Lexicon

Making sense of "Sense and Sensibility" and other works of the Regency Era, Part 2.5

"What do you mean 'you are getting ready to read another book'?!?"

I am getting ready to read another book. No, I am not referring to more research from more old etiquette books that clutter my home. This is an actual novel. I am on some sort of roll, reading two novels in twenty years. Who knows? I may continue this as a trend.

This is another book by Jane Austen, but it was completed after her death. The book is "Sanditon: Jane Austen's Last Novel Completed" loaned to me by my sister in-law Peggy. Getting ready to start this book, I thought I should first study up on the archaic phrases, terms and words of Jane Austen's Regency Era. The following are those I am adding to the growing list that is my "Regency Era Lexicon";

Assiduities: persistent personal attentions

Enormously popular with lower-class Londoners, the Bartholomew Fair was an annual, carnival-type event.

Bartholomew Baby: A person dressed up in a tawdry manner, like the dolls sold at Bartholomew Fair (a two-week festival celebrating the Feast of St. Bartholomew). 

Bear leader: A travelling tutor, who leads his charges as if they were trained bears

The world’s most famous mental hospital, Bedlam.  Its name derives from the "Church of St Mary of Bethlehem"

Bedlam: An insane asylum in London. The full name was the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem.
 
Bit o'muslin: A woman of who gives sexual favors in exchange for payment

Ignatius Bonomi, an English architect and surveyor.

Bonomi: Ignatius Bonomi, a well known architect at the time

To be played on a Bowling Green

Bowling Green: grassy lawn where game of ninepins could be played

Cavil: a trivial objection

Conjurer: someone who draws astute conclusions

Covert: a thicket providing cover for game

A Curricle Match "I have an IDEA my Lord, that nothing but time or a stone wall will stop them and I'll bet a cool hundred that Frank will not head them for the next mile."

Curricle:  a light, two-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses, side by side

Ebullition:  a sudden outburst, as of emotion

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane ~ Engraving, from the stage, looking into the auditorium

Drury Lane:  general term for the Theatre Royal; street were the London playhouse is located

Enclosure:  common land, previously used by everyone, this is fenced in by the landowner so that others can't use his land for pasture or gathering fuel

Gigs:  light, open, two wheeled carriages

Pear-shaped, ivory vinaigrette, for holding for the Regency Era lady's smelling salts

Hartshorn:  smelling salts or spirits
 
Had as lief:  would just as soon, would just as readily or willingly

"Accomplished women" of the era had mastered several pastimes; Needlework, Playing an instrument, Singing, Painting, etc...  A huswife held items for sewing and needlework

Huswifes:  pocket cases for needles, pins, thread and scissors, forerunner of "housewife"

Importune:  troublesome, overly persistent in request or demand

Incommode:  inconvenience, disturb

One gent lacks money, the other lacks charm; Both suffer from an inferiority of parts.

Inferiority of parts: lack of talent or capabilities

Knowing:  fashionable

La Boulangere: a simple circle dance for a group of couples

"Because breakfast was so late, there was not a regular lunch."

Nuncheon:  also "nunchion," a light, noon drink or snack, forerunner of the word "luncheon"

Offices: parts of the house in which servants work

Open weather:  mild and free from frost

Piquet, a classic game originating in France where it was the dominant card game for many years.

Riding side-saddle

Piquet: a card game for two players, with 32 cards

Porter: a dark brown beer made from charred or brown malt

Post-Horses: horses used or kept at inns, or post-houses, for use by mail-riders, or for hire by travelers

Public School:  in England it is a private school

Red-Gum:  swelling and redness due to teething

Retailed:  repeated

Serviley:  in the manner of a slave

The Inner Temple is one of the four "Inns of Court"

Temple:  one of two sets of buildings in London's Inns of Court, which served as residences for lawyers and law students

Whip Hand:  upper hand, advantage (the hand that holds the whip controls the carriage or horse)

Work-bags:  bags for needlework