Back to Top

Monthly Archives: April 2014

Taxes and Wellington Winnner

Updated on by

Leaving_off_powder,_-_or_-_a_frugal_family_saving_the_guinea_by_James_GillrayI’ll bet many of you are doing your income tax returns right now. It is that lovely time of year. Income taxes. A topic that elicits strong emotion and, when filling out the returns, anxiety.

Did you know they had income taxes in the Regency?

Income taxes were first implemented in Great Britain in 1798 by William Pitt the Younger in order to pay for the impending war with Napoleon. It was a graduated income tax starting at 2 old pence in the pound for incomes over 60 pounds per year and rising to 2 shillings in the pound on incomes over 200 pounds.

This income tax was abolished in 1802 after the Peace of Amiens, but a new one was voted in in 1803, again because of the Napoleonic War. It wasn’t called an income tax, though. It was called a ‘contribution of the profits arising from property, professions, trades and offices,’ but, basically, it was an income tax.

Like our taxes, it even had different ‘Schedules.’ Schedule A was a tax on income from UK land. Schedule B, from commercial occupation of land. Schedule c was a tax on income from public securities. Schedule D was tax on trading income, income from professions and vocations, interest, overseas income and casual income (whatever that is!). Lastly, Schedule E was a tax on employment income.

The maximum tax rate seems minuscule to ours in the present day. It was only 5%, but, like all income taxes, it was very unpopular. After its repeal in 1816 Parliament ordered the destruction of all documents connected with it. This was all for show, though. The King’s Remembrancer made duplicates. 

Never fear, though. During that time there were many other taxes for the citizenry to complain about. Taxes on windows and glass, on servants, on carriages, on owning a dog (the more dogs, the more tax). And, of course, the tax on hair powder, which did its part in making that practice go out of fashion.

image1Winner of the Wellington (abridged) biography by Elizabeth Longford, in honor of The Duke of Wellington Tour, is……Louisa Cornell!! Louisa, I’ll be in touch by email.

So, who is having fun with taxes today?????

(By the way, I was quoted in a lovely blog post about Harlequin Historical on the USA Today Happy Ever After Blog!)

Posted in Risky Regencies | 6 Replies

Ladies of Ill-Repute

Updated on by
The Milk Sop - Thomas Rowlandson

The Milk Sop – Thomas Rowlandson

Moving along in my library, we leave last week’s Toilet of Flora, and move to my Georgian sex shelf.  On this shelf, we find the entertaining (and yet distressing) Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies.  Like last week’s book, this is also now available to you in Google Books.  The one I’ve linked to is for 1789, but you’ll be able to extrapolate to a later date.

Harris’s list is sort of a Zagat’s guide to ladies of the evening. It was not, however, written by Jack Harris, but by one Sam Derrick, based on Jack Harris’s list. Mr Derrick apparently reached some sort of agreement for use of the list, and provided comprehensive descriptions of Mr. Harris’s ladies and where to find them.  Shall we look at a few?

Picking Cheerful - Thomas Rowlandson

Picking Cheerful – Thomas Rowlandson

The book opens with Miss D-vis, No. 22 Upper Newman-street. This is a fine lively girl, about twenty-one, rather above the middle size, genteelly made; has several good friends, but is much attached to young Br-om, the lottery-office-keeper, who is now in prison, where she often visits him; is ever obliging, and seldom out of humour, understands a great deal of her business, and never fails to please.

In No. 82, Queen Ann-street, we find Mrs. D-nby, who has found a neat way to make a little additional money by wearing her clients out and renting them a room for the night.

A fine plump lady, twenty-four years old, rather short with sandy colour hair, fine blue eyes, rather of an amorous constitution; when in the arms of an equally lewd partner, she never wishes to fall in the arms of sleep, whilst Venus holds her court, Morpheus is kicked out of doors, as she keeps the house, any gentleman may have a night’s lodging for one pound one shilling, and half the money if he can do the business well.

Mrs. D-l-v-t of No. 46 Hanover-street is apparently on hiatus but is thinking about returning to the business:

And Inclined Beauty - Thomas Rowlandson

And Inclined Beauty – Thomas Rowlandson

This lady is about thirty, she was bread a milliner, and married very young an attorney’s clerk, but as his income was not sufficient to support her in the manner she wished to live, she listened to the addresses of an American gentleman who made her a handsome allowance whilst he remained in England, and took some pains to persuade her to accompany him in his present visit to that quarter of the world, but she preferred old to new England. She is at present a housekeeper, but soon intends to quit her situation and retire to snug lodging as she has experimentally found that the frail sisterhood are vary bad pay mistresses.

We further learn that she has kept her looks and wields a “birchen rod” with dexterity (in case your taste runs in that direction). We also learn that she never never condescends to grant her favors for less than a guinea.

Let’s finish with Sally Cummins, Charles Street, Westminster who is a bluish eyed comely lass, but too much indebted to art for her complexion. She talks French, and sings agreeably, and in her cups is very religious, when you should find her to be a most bigoted Papist.  She sounds like fun, doesn’t she?

So, I leave you with another book to look into. Mr. Derrick has quite a way with words and one doesn’t know how much of this to take at face value. We do know, however, that it was based on Mr. Harris’s list, which was quite probably what it purported to be.  I also leave you with some illustrations by Thomas Rowlandson, who seems best fitted for this topic.

 

Posted in Frivolity, Research | 7 Replies

Gail’s Winners and Lord Langdon’s Kiss Giveaway!

Updated on by

First of all, Gail would like to thank everyone who participated in the fantastic discussion of epilogues last week. She also asked me to announce the winners of her giveaway. Congratulations to Beth Elliott and Linda, who have won Kindle or Nook versions of The Captain’s Dilemma, the Regency romance which Gail has recently reissued with a lovely new epilogue.

This week I’m celebrating the reissue of my Regency, Lord Langdon’s Kiss, which unlike The Captain’s Dilemma, needed a lot more work than the addition of an epilogue. Lord Langdon’s Kiss was my first book, and although I’m proud that it sold, I’ve learned a lot in the fifteen years that have passed since I wrote it. In this version, I tackled an issue I’d shied away from the first time around and found that it helped me torture the hero a little more. That’s always a good thing. I also pruned out a lot of redundant introspection, cutting about 17,000 words. Maybe I can make a novella out of the chopped bits.

llkAnyway, I feel very happy about the revisions and I’m pretty sure I kept everything that people enjoyed about it the first time around. I’m hoping my favorite review is still true.

“Lord Langdon’s Kiss is a fine Regency romp that will satisfy lovers of the genre like ice-cold lemonade on a hot afternoon. This is what Regency romance is all about.” (Four hearts) — The Romance Reader

I think the digital revolution has been a wonderful boon to the traditional Regency genre. It’s helped make many previously published Regencies available to new readers, and also opened up a market for new traditional Regencies, filling the void left when the major publishers ended their Regency lines.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any good traditional Regencies lately? Please share, for the chance to win a copy of Lord Langdon’s Kiss on Nook or Kindle.

Elena

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted in Giveaways, Risky Book Talk, Winners announced | Tagged , , , | 12 Replies

The Duke of Wellington Tour

Updated on by

image1

The Duke of Wellington Tour
September 4 to 14, 2014

Diane: It is my pleasure today to welcome Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw of the fabulous blog, Number One London. Kristine, Victoria and I go way back. We became close during a tour of the UK, called The Romantic Road North tour, where Kristine was the tour’s historical expert (because she’s the author of The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England from 1811-1901) and Victoria and I were Regency authors soaking up research material.

We also came together as admirers and researchers of the Duke of Wellington.  I’m delighted to have them with us today to discuss their upcoming Duke of Wellington Tour scheduled for September of 2014.

In honor of the Duke of Wellington tour, I’m giving way a (very abridged) biography of Wellington by Elizabeth Longford to one lucky commenter, chosen at random.

Kristine and Victoria, can you tell us more about the tour?

Kristine:  The Tour features sites associated with the life and times of the Duke of Wellington. As you well know, the Duke played significant roles during the reigns of four monarchs – George III, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria, for well over half a century.  Because of that, we’ve been able to put together a great itinerary. In addition to London, we’ll be visiting Kent, Brighton, Reading, and Windsor.

Diane: And we can bet you’ll come up with some unique adventure! Remember the Highwaymen who held up our coach at Belvoir Castle?
image2

Kristine: Who could forget it!

Victoria: Don’t worry, we’ve include lots of unique opportunities on this tour, as well – a guided walking tour of St. James’s, a private dinner at the Grenadier Pub in London, a stop at the White Cliffs of Dover, luncheon at Wellington’s country home Stratfield Saye (below), and a river boat cruise in Windsor. Of course, we can’t tell you everything we’ve planned or they wouldn’t be secret.
Exif_JPEG_PICTURE

Kristine: Yes, and it seems that the itinerary keeps changing, as well. We got an email from a curator at the Tower of London letting us know that they’ll be mounting a special exhibition on the Duke and his influence on the Tower that will be running at the same time as our visit, so we’ve substituted that for St. Paul’s.

Diane: How did you come up with the idea for the Duke of Wellington tour?

Victoria:  The Duke of Wellington was an obvious choice for our first Number One London tour. We called our blog Number One London, the original address of Apsley House, because the Duke’s lifetime stretched across the periods of British history that we’re most interested in – Georgian, Regency and Victorian.

Kristine:  The tour includes all the best bits from each of the historic periods.  Most of the sites, such as the Tower of London, Brighton Pavilion and Windsor Castle will appeal to a wide range of people with varied interests, from medieval prisons to Edwardian dollhouses.

Victoria: Yes, and then there are the stately homes we’ll be visiting, Apsley House, Basildon Park, the Regency Town House, and Highclere Castle — all have elements that run through various periods of British history.

Diane: What part of the tour are you most looking forward to?

Kristine: Hands down, Stratfield Saye. I’ve wanted to visit the Duke’s country house for years, but it’s very rarely open. I’m looking forward to seeing the house itself, the portraits of the Duke’s favourites in the dining room and I’m especially looking forward to visiting Copenhagen’s grave. But I’m also looking forward to revisiting sites I’ve been to before, this time with the emphasis on their connections to the Duke of Wellington.

Victoria: I want to stand in Highclere Castle (below) and just take in all that magnificence. I have a real love/hate thing going with the story of Downton Abbey, but I have unconditional admiration for the costumes and settings. Can’t wait to see the Van Dyke and Reynolds portraits, for example, not to mention the museum of Egyptian antiquities from the Earl of Carnarvon’s expeditions. We’re to be given a private guided tour through the house and we’ve also included lunch on the grounds.
image4

Diane: What part of the tour was the hardest to arrange?

Kristine: Highclere Castle, without a doubt. Due to the popularity of Downton Abbey, they’ve been inundated with requests for visits, which they now have to fit in against filming schedules, so “open” days have had to be reduced. I believe they’re booked up a year or two in advanced just now, so we were really lucky to have been able to schedule our visit around the Tour dates.

Victoria: We’ve also arranged for private, guided tours at other sites, as well, such as Apsley House. We’re trying to keep the tour numbers small enough so that we can see things that aren’t typically open to the public.

Diane: This just sounds wonderful. I can hardly wait. Of course, Kristine, you and I have an ongoing rivalry regarding “dear Artie.” What makes you think he’ll prefer you above me?

Kristine: Well . . . . (sniff, sniff) I have dedicated the last thirty years to researching the life and times of the Duke of Wellington, dear. Seriously, Diane, I look upon the two of us as the modern day Mrs. Arbuthnot and Lady Shelley. Each of us adores the Duke in her own way, though I perhaps have taken that admiration to a greater extreme than you have.

Victoria: Wait a minute – not only to extremes, but to fixation! Both of you are downright obsessive over the man. Which puts you in excellent company, by the way. Speaking for myself, I think my more measured approach would be far more appealing to the Great Man.

(Kristine and Diane exchange glances and sniff in unison)

Diane: I cannot recommend this tour highly enough! I’m hoping to come and I’d love to have some Risky Regencies friends accompany us. Remember to comment for a chance to win Wellington by Elizabeth Longford–Who wouldn’t want to win Wellington? (hmmm, Kristine???)

Email Kristine and Victoria with any questions or to make reservations at london20@aol.com

Or ask your questions here! Kristine and Victoria will be stopping by.

Click here for complete Tour details.

Join The Duke of Wellington Pinterest Page

And the Facebook page

Posted in Guest, Research | Tagged , | 16 Replies

The Toilet of Flora

Updated on by

 

The Toilet of Flora

The Toilet of Flora

The Toilet of Flora is “a collection of the most simple and approved methods of preparing baths, essences, pomatums, powders, perfumes, and sweet-scented water with receipts for cosmetics of every kind, that can smooth and brighten the skin, give force to beauty, and take off the appearance of old age and decay.” published originally in 1779.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of the receipts provided therein so that we may, god forbid, take off the appearance of old age and decay.

Let’s start with a remedy for Corns on the Feet (as you do). Roast a Clove of Garlic, or an Onion, on a live coal or in hot ashes; apply it to the corn, and fasten it on with a piece of cloth. This softens the corn to such a degree, as to loosen and wholly remove remove it in two or three days.

How about A Coral Stick for the Teeth? Make a stiff paste with Tooth Powder and a sufficient quantity of Mucilage of Gum Tragacanth: form with this Paste little cylindrical Rollers, the thickness of a large goose quill, and about three inches in length. Dry them in the shade. The method of using this stick is to rub it against the teeth, which becomes cleaner in proportion as it wastes.

Maybe you’d like you’re worried about your child having excess hair on his forehead. Try A Simple Depilatory.  All you need is Oil of Walnuts frequently rubbed on a child’s forehead to prevent the hair from growing on that part.

Frida_Kahlo_(self_portrait)If you have a hankering to Change your Eyebrows black, First wash your eyebrows with a decoction of Gallo Nuts; then wet them with a pencil or a little brush dipped in a solution of Green Vitriol, in which a little Gum Arabic has been dissolved, and when dry, they will appear of a beautiful black colour.

feetAnd I leave you with a remedy for that ever-troubling problem, Moist Feet: Take twenty pounds of Lee made of the Ashes of the Bay Tree, three handfuls of Bay Leaves, a handful of Sweet Flag, with the same quantity of Calamus Aromaticus, and Dittany of Crete; boil the whole together for some time, then strain off the liquor, and add two quarts of Wine. Steep your feet in this bath an hour every day, and in a short time they will no longer exhale a disagreeable smell.

You’re on your own to find sources of Calamus Aromaticus and Dittany of Crete.  Let me know how you do.

Do take a look at Toilet of Flora.  It’s all there on Google Books.  Yes, most of these receipts are hilarious from where we sit, but some of them might be useful, if not for moist feet, then for authorial purposes.  Enjoy.

 

Posted in Risky Regencies | 9 Replies