| Fortunate for posterity that when the American | | | | stand (never sit) in rooms crowded with elegant |
| Mr. Louis Simond made a trip to Regency London | | | | people, jostling and moving about to find one's |
| in 1809, he not only stayed in the fashionable | | | | friends, with no entertainments offered and |
| West End of the city, but kept notes on what he | | | | apparently no refreshments. He mentions the lack |
| saw there. He recorded details about the general | | | | of cards, music, and even conversation. |
| tide of life for the residents who lived, loved and | | | | Supposedly, the aim was to get there, be seen, |
| played there. His are not the only eye-witness | | | | and to see whomever else had |
| notes we have of the period, but they are | | | | braved the crowded streets to attend.When |
| revealing.Simond was amused to notice that, | | | | ready to leave, waiting for one's carriage was the |
| firstly, no one "stirred" earlier than 10am. At that | | | | next trial, after which it was on to another "at |
| time, shops became | | | | home" (what we would call an "open house"party |
| sleepily awake, and the Horse Guards were on | | | | today). One can imagine the sheer exhaustion of |
| the move in a noisy parade, their daily march | | | | attending just one or two of these in a week! |
| from the barracks to Hyde Park. But what of the | | | | And yet they were constantly being hosted, and |
| ton, the inner circle of fashionable society?These | | | | the greater your popularity and consequence, the |
| lofty souls did not appear until nigh three or four | | | | more invitations you would receive.Entire evenings |
| o'clock, when, in a great racket, they would begin | | | | could be spent attending such things, and, as the |
| making their "morning" calls, or go shopping or | | | | grid-lock and flux of carriages in the |
| promenading, or grace an assembly room with | | | | street and their accompanying flambeaux gave |
| their presence. Why was the beginning of their | | | | away the location of these affairs, they were |
| day so late in the afternoon? Because it went on | | | | virtually public knowledge--and therefore heavily |
| until early next morning, or even 'til dawn.Simond | | | | attended.So much for the painstaking work of |
| says there was gaslight on the streets, and this, | | | | ordering and sending little gilded invitations to an |
| in 1809 (earlier than most of us thought); but the | | | | elite list of recipients, weeks in advance. As Mrs. |
| lights were not effective, and after being lit at | | | | Bentley notes (in "Before the Season Ends,"**) "a |
| dusk, did little to illumine one's way ( but made | | | | hostess always prefers a crush to its opposite! |
| "little brightish dots" in a line going down the | | | | But important members of the ton must not be |
| street).*There was a lull of activity around this | | | | made to suffer!" Alas for Mrs. Bentley, it was |
| time, and then, from six o'clock to about eight, | | | | seemingly unavoidable at times.Interestingly, a |
| after people had dressed for dinner and evening | | | | picture of a "rout" occurs in the BBC "Sense and |
| entertainments, the racket and street traffic | | | | Sensibility" with Emma Thompson and Kate |
| started up again. Another lull would follow, and | | | | Winslet. The scene where Marianne spots her |
| then near ten o'clock the crush of carriages was | | | | mysteriously absent sometime suitor and cries |
| back with all its ensuing noises: The thunderous | | | | out (quite unfashionably) "Willoughby!" Some |
| hoof-beats, whinnying, whips cracking, people | | | | people are shown with a glass in their hand, and |
| laughing, wheels turning, churning, and lumbering | | | | there are, I believe, servants making the rounds |
| along the cobbled roads. It was an awful din that | | | | with trays. A generous host, no doubt, but this |
| rarely subsided before midnight.In the book, Our | | | | was apparently not always the case.Either way, I |
| Tempestous Day, Carolly Erickson says that, | | | | must still say, the Regency? You've got to love |
| according to Simond, "At one o'clock it was still | | | | it!c 2006 Linore Rose BurkardAcknowledgement |
| difficult to sleep for all the commotion. Gradually, | | | | goes to Carolly Erickson's "Our |
| though, the number of carriages diminshed until, | | | | Tempestuous Day: A History |
| as the sky began to grow light, only a single | | | | of Regency England," in which she discusses |
| carriage was heard now and then | | | | Simond's visit.Linore Rose Burkard writes |
| at a great distance. The fashionable world went | | | | Inspirational Regency Romance as well as articles |
| to sleep, not to be roused until long after noon." | | | | on Regency Life, Homeschooling, and |
| *The next day, it would start all over again, and | | | | Self-Improvement. She publishes a monthly eZine |
| the endless whirl of activity called the "season" | | | | "Upon My Word!" which you can receive for FREE |
| would continue.Simond also detailed what it was | | | | by signing up at her website quickly and easily.Ms. |
| like attending a party (or, "rout") of the | | | | Burkard graduated from the City University of |
| fashionable. After waiting in long | | | | New York with a Magna Cum Laude degree in |
| carriage lines along the street to gain entrance, | | | | English Literature, and now lives in Ohio with her |
| one would greet the host or hostess, and then | | | | husband and five children. |