Risky Regencies

English Gardens

Updated on May 6, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Janet’s and Myretta’s blogs and spring itself has me thinking about gardens. Spring in Virginia is at its most beautiful right now with the azaleas and dogwoods in bloom, the grass and trees a lush green and spring flowers popping up all over.

I just got back from California where my cousin had the most amazing garden with a hodgepodge of plants of all kinds and colors. It reminded me of an English cottage garden, although she had several succulents, which I imagine are not common in the English version. She also had a lemon tree that was filled with bright yellow ripe lemons.

It is believed that the English cottage garden arose after the Black Death of the 1300s when land became available for small personal gardens of vegetables and herbs. Flowers were typically those that had medicinal properties. Certainly by the 19th century, farm workers kept cottage gardens where they could grow their own food. These personal gardens provided vegetables, and herbs and, increasingly, flowers for decoration.

In the late 1800s such gardens became romanticised and more decorative than practical. Cultivating flowers as a hobby became more popular and eventually this sort of garden gained popularity in the United States.

My cousin’s garden actually looks a bit similar to the one in this painting, The Goldfish Seller, by English painter Leslie George Dunlop (1835-1921). Of course, her house was a typical California ranch style, not a vine-covered brick cottage.

My garden is confined to a small space in front of our house, which I’m in the process of making more like an English garden. Right now my shrubs are tiny, and I need to plant some annuals, but I have gardenia bushes that I expect to bloom and a lilac bush with two blooms on it already. For me, who is so-not-a-gardener, this is a major achievement.

How does your garden grow?

Posted in Risky Regencies | 2 Replies

Travelling through England

Updated on May 3, 2013 by Myretta

The Jane Austen Gazetteer at The Republic of Pemberley is a compendium of information about the locations in each of Jane Austen’s novels using period resources. For example, the maps are from John Cary’s Maps of England from 1812 through 1818. In putting these together, we also examined a great many travel guides and relied heavily on Kearsley’s Traveller’s Entertaining Guide through Great Britain.

Kearsley gives you the standard description of roads and cross-roads, distances from London and from other locations. In addition it provides some historical and topographical information for many of the towns along the way.

Bath, for example, ” has been famous from the time of the Romans for its hot springs, the most remarkable in England and inferior to few in Europe: they are not only used as baths, but internally as a medicine; and great benefit is derived from them in gouty, paralytic, bilious and other cases. The reputation of these waters is so much increased that Bath is become the principal resort, next to the metropolis, for persons of rank and fortune and for the constant residence of opulent invalids as well as numerous votaries of dissipation. In splendour and elegance of buildings it exceeds every town in England, being constructed of a white stone of which the surrounding soil is chiefly composed. It is seated on the river Avon in a valley, and, from the reflection of the sun’s rays from the white soil, it is very hot in summer. The principal seasons for the waters are spring and autumn. The poor, who come here to drink them, may be received in a magnificent hospital. It is supposed to be very ancient. King Edgar was crowned here. On the l. is Prior-park, lord Hawarden.” Then it goes on to list the York Hotel, White Hart, White Lion, Lamb as places you might want to stay.

About Brighton (or Brightelmstone as it was known), Kearsley writes, “Brighthelmston was a poor town inhabited chiefly by fishermen; but having for some years past become a fashionable place of resort, on account of its convenience for bathing, it has been enlarged by many handsome new buildings. The Steine , a fine lawn between the town and the sea forms a beautiful and favourite resort for the company. Here Charles II embarked for France in 1651 after the battle of Worcester. Great flocks of sheep are fed on the neighbouring hills . This town is sometimes called Brighton. It is the station of the packet boats to and from Dieppe in time of peace . The prince of Wales has a bathing residence here.”

Oxford

Oxford, according to Kearsley, is “a celebrated university, and a bishop’s see. Besides the cathedral it has thirteen parish churches. It is seated at the confluence of the Thames and Cherwell, on an emininence. The town is three miles in circumference, and is of a circular form. It consists chiefly of two spacious streets, crossing each other in the middle of the town. The university is said to have been founded by the immortal Alfred, receiving from him many privileges and large revenues. Here are twenty colleges and five halls, several of which are in the streets, and give the city an air of magnificence. The colleges are Univeristy, Baliol, Merton, Exeter, Oriel, Queen’s, Nw, Lincoln, All-Souls, Magdalen, Brasenose, Corpus Christi, Christchurch, Trinity, St. John Baptist’s, Jesus, Wadham, Pembroke, Worcester, and Hertfrod. The halls are Alban, Edmund, St. Mary’s, New Inn, and ST. Mary Magdalen. All travellers agree in confessing that there is not such another group of buildings nor such another university in the world.” While there, you might stay at Star, Cross, King’s Arms, Angel, &c..

Kearsley’s is not the only guide to provide this kind of information. Paterson’s Roads also interrupts the long lists of towns on each road with descriptions of various places of interest. Cary’s New Itinerary is mostly just an itinerary. The descriptions found in Cary concern which buildings you’ll pass on a particular route (not unlike “take the second left after the Dunkin Donuts”). Most guides also provide the traveller with a list of available inns. And these are not all. You might like to take a look at A Guide to All the Watering and Sea Bathing Places for 1813 or Crosby’s Complete Pocket Gazetteer of England and Wales. Poke around Google Books. You’ll be amazed at the number of travel guides to be had.

Posted in Jane Austen, Regency, Research | Leave a reply

At the lake

Updated on May 3, 2013 by Elena Greene

I’m writing from a house on Cayuga Lake, where I’m on a writers’ retreat with some friends. Here’s a picture of this morning’s sunrise.

I can’t say enough about how wonderful these retreats have been for me. Given that I’m a stroke caregiver and a mother of teenagers, having great stretches of time to write is a luxury I hardly know what to do with!

Which actually presents something of a challenge. There’s a part of me that says pedal to the metal, make sure you write X pages, X thousand words, etc… Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with having goals, but too much pressure can make me choke.

So I take these retreats as something akin to a romantic getaway with my muse. A leisurely approach works best. A while back, I spoke to composer Carlos Sanchez Gutierrez, who composed Ex Machina a piece first performed by my local orchestra, the Binghamton Philharmonic. I asked him how he dealt with creative blocks. He replied that when he’s blocked, he takes a nap.

So although my goal is to finish the balloonist story, I’m resolved to mix work and relaxation as needed, trusting that will actually help to make it happen.

Wish me luck!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Writing | Tagged writer's block, writers' retreat | 2 Replies

Room with a view

Updated on May 2, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Here’s the view from my office window, showing the white oak that has always been a source of pleasure to me. (And yes, I’m afraid that window does need cleaning rather badly.)

But its days are numbered. It’s a big tree, probably between 80 and 100 years old, but it is dying. Most of the greenery in the picture is produced from the trees on the other side of the street and the majority of it, including branches near the roof, have no leaves. We think it became infected with oak bores, which do what they sound like (poor conversationalists who drill into trees). So I’ve spent the last couple of days talking to tree companies about removing it and bracing myself to move the hostas growing around it which are getting bigger every day. I moved some peonies today. Very scary roots.

Here’s the tree in the last real snowstorm we had, several years ago.

And here’s a really old tree, a 1,000-year old yew tree growing outside the church in Steventon, where Jane Austen’s father, and then her brother, held the living:

So today I’m mostly filthy and bits of compost are falling off me as I walk around the house. In addition to the peony, I have planted about 18 black-eyed susans and a volunteer columbine that appeared in a plant pot (well, hello!), and have so much more to do.

What do you think I should plant in the oak’s place? I’m in Maryland, so a natural choice might be a dogwood (at risk because of a virus–I’ve already lost one) or a redbud. Or I could plant a flowering cherry, which isn’t a native but is an honored adoptee.

If you’re a gardener, or would like to be, tell me what you’re planting this year or admiring in other’s yards.

Posted in Anything but writing | 4 Replies

Happy Hour

Updated on April 29, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

As I’ve probably talked about here before, I am obsessed with Pinterest! I keep boards of inspirations for stories I’m working on (Elizabethan stuff for the new mysteries; Regency houses and gowns; random stuff for future story ideas–it works much better than folders on my computer, I can see all the goodies all together and find new ones!). I also keep boards about clothes and shoes I love, Kate Middleton stuff–I do love her, interior decorating, random things that strike me as funny, and stuff that is pink (for when I’m feeling down–somehow pink things make me feel better…). I am a very visual person and have a limited amount of attention/time, so I enjoy it more than, say, Twitter, which seems to require more attention. (Though Pinterest has led to me buying a shameful amount of Eiffel Tower objects, as well as striped skirts and mint-green bikinis)

The funny thing is that my board that has the most followers, and has the most repins and likes, is my Cocktails board. I confess I do love a good cocktail–the prettier the better. My most popular pin last week was something called a Petite In Pink, which sounded to me like the perfect summer drink. It’s so simple, just champagne, cranberry, and lemon, lots of ice, perfect for sitting by the pool.

It made me wonder: what would people in the Regency want when they craved a “cocktail”?? (According to the May 13, 1806, edition of The Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication in New York, “Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.” All I can say is–Word)

When I did a little research into exactly how much our historical forbears drank, well, I was impressed they could get anything done at all.

I had a vague idea that Thomas Jefferson liked a mint julep, so I went looking for 18th century recipes. I found this: The first time a Mint Julep appeared in print was in a book published in London in 1803 where the drink was described as “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.” So what would a good mint julep recipe be?? And is it really good in the morning? (also the Kentucky Derby is coming up soon! Great excuse for a mint julep party):

A typical Southern recipe:

Ingredients: About 20 mint leaves; 2 tsp sugar; 2 to 3 oz. bourbon; plenty of crushed ice.

Instructions: Put mint leaves and sugar in a pewter Mint Julep cup. Muddle leaves and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add bourbon and stir. Fill a pewter cup with crushed ice and stir until an icy frost develops on the outside of the cup. Garnish with additional mint leaves or a whole sprig and serve immediately. Makes one Mint Julep Cocktail.

In the Regency, everyone was into punches (or “shrubs”). It seems like they gathered around punch bowls like modern people gather around the proverbial water cooler, to trade gossip and news (though I can’t help imagining it was more fun). Punches (or “shrubs”) were the cocktails of the day. They could involve up to 15 ingredients, including fruit juices, spices, wine, and various liquors. I can’t help but imagine what would happen if a Miss in her first Season got hold of a big glass if punch. So…what was a good punch recipe?

For a Victorian-era punch (from David Wondrich’s Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl:

In a mortar or small bowl, muddle a piece of ambergris the size of a grain of barley with an ounce of Indonesian gula jawa or other dark, funky sugar until it has been incorporated. Add 2 ounces Batavia arrack and muddle again until sugar has dissolved. Break up 5 ounces of gula jawa, put it in a two-quart jug with 6 ounces lime juice and muddle together until sugar has dissolved. Add the ambergris-sugar-arrack mixture and stir. Add the remains of the 750-milliliter bottle of Batavia arrack from which you have removed the 2 ounces to mix with the ambergris, stir again, and fi nish with 3 to 4 cups water, according to taste. Grate nutmeg over the top.

Let me know if you have any luck with that one.

From The Cook and Confectioner’s Dictionary (1823):

To make Punch-Royal.

Take three Pints of the best Brandy, as much Spring-water, a Pint or better of the best Lime-juice, a Pound of double refin’d Sugar. This Punch is better than weaker Punch, for it does not so easily affect the Head, by reason of the large Quantity of Lime-juice more than common, and it is more grateful and comfortable to the Stomach.

Punch for Chamber-maids.

Take a Quart of Water, a quarter of a Pint of Lime-juice; squeeze in also the Juice of a Sevil Orange and a Lemon; put in six Ounces of fine Sugar; strain all through a Strainer, three times till it is very clear; then put in a Pint of Brandy, and half a Pint of White-wine.

Which would you rather have? Punch Royal or Punch for chambermaids??

I had so much fun looking at historical drink recipes. I think they must have had a better head for liquor than us 21st cenury-ers have!!!

What is your favorite cocktail??? If you were (or have) tried a historical drink what would it be? Are you on Pinterest? What do you think of it? (I really want to know! I am new to it, but love it and am trying to figure out how to use it…)

(Also, if you are anywhere near me, I am having a Great Gatsby party next month, complete with Gin Fizzes, jazz, and flapper dresses!! It is one of my favorite books and I feel the need to celebrate the movie release, good or bad. If you want an invite, let me know…)

(And if you want to see my random obsessions on Pinterest, find me at AmandaMcCabe)

Posted in Frivolity | 9 Replies