Back to Top

Monthly Archives: February 2009

I’m over at the History Hoydens today, talking about sewing boxes and embroidery–or at least I think I will be, since I have notes but nothing written yet.

I woke up today thinking that I really should send out my allegedly quarterly newsletter. It really depends what you mean by quarterly. Sometimes my quarters are only about two months long, and sometimes, as now, they span the seasons. Because I’m a great believer in only sending out a newsletter when I have something to say, and for long chunks of time I don’t.
I can’t produce giggly writerly stuff about what my family and/or cat is doing (mostly asleep) and my fabulous writerly life (because I don’t seem to have that sort of life), and exciting places I’ve visited (because generally I don’t go anywhere). And, oh, yeah, sign up here.

And at the moment I do have something to say, which is that I’m getting a new website from designer Haven Rich, who gave us this beauteous new Riskies blog–we’ve just started work and I’m very excited about it. When it goes live on May 1 I’ll have a contest. And there’s more, like a book coming out in August, and sneak peeks and so on.

Now the Riskies newsletter always has something to say–that’s how you get advance warning on guests, contests, and special topics for the month–and I squeeze it out every month from yahoo (which really don’t like you to send great chunks of mail). What, you’re not signed up for the Riskies newsletter? Good heavens. Sign up now, please. Send an email to riskies @ yahoo.com (without the spaces) and put newsletter in the subject line. (We’re still getting lots of mail from people who want bank account information and/or prayers or something else I’m not likely to release, and I don’t want to miss you.)

There are a couple of newsletters I find really informative and which I’d like to share with you:

The Jane Austen Center. This is a fabulous resource with both scholarly and fun articles about Austen, Bath, and her times and, if you browse around the site, you can spend large amounts of money (still, even now the dollar is stronger) in the gift shop which does indeed ship worldwide.

Book Marketing Experts–written by a team who are the leaders in book marketing online and who really understand the Internet and how web sites and newfangled things like Twitter work.

And nothing to do with the Regency or writing, but just incredibly entertaining, Cartalk’s Time Kill Weekly, which always includes a lame joke and, they, like me, have a rather fluid sense of time.

What do you think makes a good newsletter, and which ones do you enjoy?

Many thanks to the Riskies, hostesses of one of my favorite destinations in the blogosphere, for inviting me as a guest during Elena’s leave of absence. And my best wishes to Elena and her family for her husband’s speedy recovery!

From the time I began reading Georgette Heyer, who made frequent reference to the serving of brandy on which no duty had been paid, I’ve had an interest in smugglers. Even more so than the highwayman, the free trader was a romantic figure who received a great deal of popular support from coastal residents, both the customers who bought at a cheaper price the goods they wanted and the workers who augmented their meager incomes as farmers, fishermen and laborers by assisting the smugglers in transporting their cargo.

Though Samuel Johnson described a smuggler as “A wretch who, in defiance of the law, imports or exports goods either contraband or without payment of the customs,” many would prefer the definition of Adam Smith—himself a Customs commissioner: “A person who, though no doubt highly blamable for violating the laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating these of natural justice and who would have been in every respect an excellent citizen had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so.”

Since the reign of Edward I in the mid-1200’s, when English wool was bought by French weavers who then made cloth that sold for lower prices than the English goods, the English government has tried to restrict trade. From the “owlers” of Kent and Sussex who smuggled English wool out of the country by “owl light,” to the “gentlemen” of the Regency, who dealt in tea, tobacco, spirits and luxury goods, traders sought to buy goods at origin and resell for a fair price, eliminating the taxes imposed by the government middleman.

Understandably not wishing to lose out on its share of the sale of sought-after goods, as early as 1698, the government established the Landguard of riding officers of the Customs, whose job it was to try to halt the illegal trade. Originally, each riding officer was assigned about 10 miles of coastline to patrol. He was also responsible for checking ships landing cargo in his district, searching inland places he suspected might be harboring contraband goods and gathering intelligence.

However, the profits to be made were high enough—and collusion with local officials so frequent—that it soon became evident that riding officers alone were not adequate to stem the flow of illegal goods. In 1723, the government began posting units of dragoons at points around the coast, who could be called out by the riding officers to assist in rounding up smugglers or their cargos.

Despite a spate of anti-smuggling laws throughout the 1700s that imposed ever more severe penalties on smuggling, the practice continued. In fact, by 1780 it was estimated that two-thirds of the tea consumed in England had not passed through Customs.


For moving their cargo, free traders used luggers, ships that were broad of beam, shallow of keel with a flat bottom that allowed the vessel to put in close to shore, and rigged with a lugsail that allowed them to sail close to the wind. Later, cutters that could make higher speed were preferred, and galleys, which combined sails and rowing seats for navigating in shallow water or narrow spaces.

Once the daring captain sailed his cargo across from France or Ireland, where did he land it? As you can see from the photos, Cornwall’s many coves and inlets and its limestone cliffs riddled with caves made the area an ideal spot for smugglers. In addition to its natural advantages, supportive locals expanded the concealment possibilities of the caves by offering barns and granaries as short-term storehouses for smuggled goods. There are reports of tunnels dug from the coastline up into inns, private homes–and even churches! In some instances, church towers were elevated to a height sufficient to allow them to serve as navigation aids for smugglers trying to locate a particular landing spot for their cargo.

A successful operation began with the “venturer,” who through his agent, the “bagman,” collected the sum necessary to purchase the goods to be smuggled. The bagman, whose accounts were kept by the “quill-driver,” often the parish clerk or schoolmaster, would collect the sums pledged, then meet the captain of the smuggling vessel to sail for the Continent. After exchanging his coins for the items requested by the shareholders, he would load the cargo and bring it back to England.

Once he’d determined by lantern-flash that it was safe to make for shore, the captain would turn his cargo over to a “lander,” whose responsibility was to summon, organize and pay the beach party that transferred the cargo from the ship to the waiting ponies and wagons to convey it inland.

Colorful stories and tales about smuggling and the smugglers abound. On one end of the spectrum, Isaac Gulliver, the “gentle smuggler” of Dorset who claimed never to have harmed a revenue officer during the course of his business, amassed a vast fortune smuggling tea, brandy and gin, bought property all over England and was highly revered by his fellow citizens. At the other end, the notorious Hawkhurst Gang in Kent was not above using murder, beatings and coercion to induce the cooperation of the local populace.

Already by the Regency, better enforcement and harsh penalties had begun to hamper the trade. But the practice was to continue unabated into the mid-1800s, not dying out entirely until tariffs were reduced to the point that the potential profits no longer outweighed the risks.
And so the era ended…but the romance, the legends, the stories and the lore continue to this day, when a visitor to Cornwall can still take a “Smuggler’s Tour.”

Okay, question: Do you think of smugglers as “romantic” figures, the Robin Hoods of the seas bringing fairly-priced goods to customers who want or need them? Or as mere law-breaking brigands? Should they be portrayed as heroes, villains…or both?

–See The Smuggling War: The Government’s Fight against Smuggling in the 18th and 19th Centuries by Geoffrey Morley.

PICTURE COMMENTARY
First: “Hidden among the bracket at Carn Brea, a smuggler’s cave.”
Second: “Zawn Trevilley near Land’s End: a narrow inlet perfect for leading to a smuggler’s trail.”
Third: “Sketch of Luggar”
Fourth: “St. Ives Parish Church—a smuggler’s storehouse?”
Fifth: “White Sands Bay near Sennen, Cornwall—with a smuggler’s hut in the left foreground?”

Julia is researching smugglers for a book to come out in 2010. For a glimpse of high seas revelry before then, check out Risky hostess Amanda McCabe’s High Seas Stowaway, a January Harlequin Historical release. For comments on the progress of Julia’s book, to view other research tidbits and oddities, or to enter Julia’s contest, visit her newly redesigned website, www.juliajustiss.com.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 18 Replies

Welcome to the February meeting of the Risky Regencies JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB!

Today, we’ll be discussing the 1934 version of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon.

(And be sure to come back the first Tuesday of next month, when we’ll be discussing the Anthony Andrews version!)

To aid the discussion, the major credits on the film include:


DIRECTOR: Harold Young

CAST:

Leslie Howard: The Scarlet Pimpernel

Merle Oberon: Marguerite Blakeney

Raymond Massey: Citizen Chauvelin

Nigel Bruce: The Prince of Wales

Bramwell Fletcher : The Priest

Anthony Bushell: Sir Andrew Ffoulkes

Joan Gardner: Suzanne de Tournay

Walter Rilla: Armand St. Just

Mabel Terry-Lewis: Countess de Tournay

So…what did you think?

In particular, is Leslie Howard how you envision the Pimpernel? If not, does he work, in his own way? Or is he your favorite Pimpernel?

Did you like the movie?

All answers welcome!

Cara
They seek her here, they seek her there…Those kitties seek her everywhere…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 20 Replies

I’m working on revisions for my next book, the first in my soldiers trilogy. Revisions always come with unique challenges and one of mine is to discover if my hero needed an invitation to visit The Green Room of Drury Lane Theatre.

“What” you are asking, “Does Drury Lane Theatre and the Green Room have to do with three soldiers?”
Nevermind…..you’ll find out later…when the book is out.

The Green Room is the backstage room in a theatre where the actors can lounge while not on stage and where certain people can visit after the performance. In Regency Romance we know it mainly as the place where gentlemen pick up actresses and ballet dancers. My question was–did gentlemen gain entrance to the Green Room by invitation or could anyone come in?

Here’s how I tackled finding the answer.

First I Googled “Green Room English Theatre”

I found out from this that the Green Room is not necessarily painted green and that there are all sorts of theories as to why it is called the Green Room. My favorite was, “Sitting in a totally green room before a performance, however, was believed to ward off the powers of this evil colour.” (ArtsAlove.com)

I googled around some more, adding “19th century” or “18th century” but I didn’t learn much more than the warding off evil thing.

My next strategy was to search in Google Books. Here I had more luck. This snippet came from The London Magazine, Jan Jun 1822
“…Not that I dislike Macready —but I never saw any picture so expressive as the fine countenance of Kean, when he is addressing you on dramatic subjects. Don’t you think so ? But oh I true—you never saw him in a room—you should go to the Green-Room with Tom, for he has the entre at all the houses—I wonder why they call it a Green-Room—for Tom says it is not green.”

The word entre gave me a clue that not just anyone could get in, but it wasn’t a very strong clue.

This from Life in London by Pierce Egan (and illustrated by Cruikshank):
“Where shall we go this evening?” said HAWTHORN to his Coz. “Apropos,” replied the CORINTHIAN, ” I have the offer of an introduction to the performers in the Green-Room of Drury-Lane Theatre.” “Excellent,” exclaimed JERRY; “it is DON GIOVANNI to-night, and the numerous characters that piece contains will afford us plenty of fun!”

Offer of an introduction….another clue.

I also looked at the links provided on the Beau Monde website, poked around in my research books, and even asked on the Beau Monde loop.

Then I had a really great idea.

I asked Cara.

Her reply:
” All I can say is that in the new 1811 Drury Lane, there were two (at least two) green rooms, both (if I read the diagram correctly) on the ground floor, which was either the same level as the stage, or one below. In “Mrs Jordan’s Profession,” about Drury Lane sometime in the 18th C, it says “at Drury Lane visits to the green room — the actors’ common room — could not be made merely at whim; special passes had to be agreed and provided by the management.” Then again, I have no idea if this later changed; also, my feeling is that in the “shared world” of Regency romances, one does not need a pass for the green room! (FWIW, in Gamester, I had the H&Hs younger brothers go to the green room during an interval…and surely they had no pass! Then again, one of them is wealthy and high-ranking, and the other sneaky, so I’m not sure it would have stopped them…)”

One of the members of the Beau Monde (the only one who answered my question) also thought that invitations were not required for the Green Room.

Sigh!

The way I see it, I still don’t have a strong, clear answer to my question. You’ll see how I solve this problem when the book is published! I still don’t know.

What do you think? Do I have enough evidence to keep my respectable soldier, but not a gentleman, out of the Green Room?

What do you do when you don’t have the answer to a research question and you have to get the book done?

Diane’s website is being updated today. Take a look! dianegaston.com
The theme for February on the Wet Noodle Posse Blog is Isn’t It Romantic? Come and see.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 19 Replies