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Suzi

Until I can sort out the issues with my other site, I’ll post some updates here.

Enjoy,

Suzi

But all older posts, especially my historical ones, can be read here too. And, as always, I’m on Face book and Twitter as Suzi Love or @suzilove, plus The Beau Monde’s Face Book Fan Page and @thebeaumonde.

Enjoy,

Suzi Love

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/index.ihtml

This website features an online Jane Austen magazine with over 500 articles, an online giftshop, information about the Jane Austen Festival, Regency tea rooms, group visits, walking tours, Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, an online quiz, a comprehensive list of Jane Austen related links and a monthly E-newsletter to keep you up to date with the world of Jane Austen.

The Jane Austen Centre at 40 Gay Street in Bath is a permanent exhibition which tells the story of Jane’s Bath experience – the effect that living here had on her and her writing.

Jane Austen is perhaps the best known and best loved of Bath’s many famous residents and visitors. She paid two long visits here towards the end of the eighteenth century, and from 1801 to 1806 Bath was her home.

Her intimate knowledge of the city is reflected in two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, which are largely set in Bath.

The city is still very much as Jane Austen knew it, preserving in its streets, public buildings and townscapes the elegant well-ordered world that she portrays so brilliantly in her novels. Now the pleasure of exploring Jane Austen’s Bath can be enhanced by visiting the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street. Here, in a Georgian town house in the heart of the city, the visitor can find out more about Bath in Jane Austen’s time and the importance of Bath in her life and work.

We have a secure Online giftshop which offers an unrivalled selection of Jane Austen and Regency related books, DVD’s, CD’s, costume and accessories, jewellery, gifts, cards, stationery, lace and needlepoint.

We deliver worldwide

The Exhibition Information about the Centre’s permanent exhibition

The Regency Tea Rooms Award winning Tea Rooms up on the 2nd floor of the Centre

Online Giftshop Stationery, Gifts, Music, Costume and much, much more

Free e-newsletter

Keep up to date with the latest Jane Austen news.

Group visits

How to book a group visit to the Jane Austen Centre

Jane Austen Walking tours Take a magical trip around the city with us

Jane Austen Quiz Test yourself with our online quiz

Brochure Download the latest Jane Austen Centre brochure

Film of the Centre Have a look round for yourself

via Jane Austen Centre|Festival|magazine|Tearoom|Bath UK England.

because I find these snippets of information about a woman’s life back them fascinating.

      Hope you enjoy learning more on Regency Petticoats too.

            Suzi 

                                                                                                                                                                                        Fashion Silhouette Petticoat

                     Suzi 

 Regency Fashion: Banyan, a man’s dressing gown  

Dress for Excess: Fashion in Regency England, the fashion exhibition at the Brighton Pavilion this year, features a quilted printed (chintz) banyan, or men’s dressing robe worn over a shirt and knee breeches. When at home, a gentleman would change into an informal knee-length dressing gown known as a banyan, and wear it around his family at breakfast, playing games, such as cards or backgammon, and while reading in his library or writing letters. One can readily imagine Mr. Bennet wearing a banyan in his study, and most definitely Mr. Woodhouse (image below), as he sat by the fire reading a newspaper.   

Mr Woodhouse (Bernard Hepton) in a fur-lined fitted man’s dressing gown, or banyan The banyan was a loose, full kimono style in the early 18th century, but later evolved into a more fitted style with set-in sleeves, similar to a man’s coat. It was known as an Indian gown, nightgown, morning gown, or dressing gown. First used as a type of robe, it was originally worn for leisure and in at-home situations; but came to be worn as a coat out-of-doors, in the street, or for business. Many gentlemen had their portraits made while wearing banyans. They were made from all types of fabrics in cotton, silk, or wool (Cunningham, 1984).

 

Nicholas Boylston in a loose fitting banyan, 1767. Painted by John Singleton Copeley.   

Tartan wool banyan lined in bottle green silk, 1800.  

             Suzi 

Regency Gaming Table by Nicola Cornick

Here is a thing of beauty! This Regency gaming table went on sale as part of the contents of Ashdown House, auctioned off at Sothebys last year. As you can see from the chequerboard top, it was designed for games such as chess or draughts but could also be used for cards games like faro, piquet and whist. If you click on the picture on the left you will see that the squares contain pictures of country scenes and that the surround also shows leaves and rosettes and flowers. It’s exquisite!

Many gaming tables I have seen are made of wood, mahogany being the most popular choice, with brass decoration and rosewood veneers. They could double up to serve as a tea table, a writing desk or even a needlework table. Some of them open up so that the cards – or needlework – can be stored in the space beneath. I’ve seldom seen any as pretty as this one, though, and would gladly give it house room. I hope you like it too!

What about you? Are you going?

Behind the Scenes Tour – Drury Lane Theatre

by Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw

at Number One London

Through the Stage Door is the UK’s first Interactive Theatre Tour at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Directed by Andrea Brooks with three professional actors, the history of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is brought to vivid life as key characters, writers and actors from the theatre’s 300 year old past take you back through time as you look around this famous theatre. Since its construction in 1663 the theatre has triumphed over tragedy, fire, bankruptcy and even murder.

The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane opened in 1663, soon after the Restoration when Charles II returned to the throne. This ended Parliament’s puritanical rule which had seen all theatres in England closed, and the destruction of Shakespeare’s Globe. Now in a new and more fun loving age, Thomas Killigrew formed the Kings Company and built the first Theatre Royal Drury Lane, an important symbol of Britain’s theatrical reinvigoration following the barren years of puritan rule.

Since that first theatre there have been three more theatres built on the site of the original, in 1674, 1794 and 1812. The 1794 theatre was built by dramatist and radical MP Richard Sheridan. This was the biggest of all the Drury Lane theatres. It was in this theatre that an assassination attempt was made against George III . James Hadfield fired two shots at King George who was sitting in the royal box. Both missed their target. The would-be assassin was arrested, and George ordered the performance to continue. The 1794 theatre burned down in February 1809, a disaster which ruined Sheridan. There is a well known and oft told anecdote regarding Sheridan and the night of the fire, the following account is from The Lives of Wits and Humourists by John Timbs:

“On the night of the 24th of February, 1809, while the House of Commons was occupied with Mr. Ponsonby’s motion on the conduct of the War in Spain, and Mr. Sheridan was in attendance, with the intention, no doubt, of speaking, the House was suddenly illuminated by a blaze of light; and the debate being interrupted, it was ascertained that Drurylane Theatre was on fire. A motion was made to adjourn; but Mr. Sheridan said, with much calmness, that “whatever might be the extent of the private calamity, he hoped it would not interfere with the public business of the country.” He then left the House, and proceeding to Drury-lane, witnessed, with a fortitude which strongly interested all who observed him, the entire destruction of his property. . . It is said that as he sat at the Piazza coffee-house, during the fire, taking some refreshment, a friend of his having remarked on the philosophical calmness with which he bore his misfortune, Sheridan answered, `A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.’

“Among his losses on the occasion there was one which, from being associated with feelings of other times, may have affected him, perhaps, more deeply than any that were far more serious. A harpsichord that had belonged to his first wife, and had long survived her sweet voice in silent widowhood, was, with other articles of furniture that had been removed from Somerset House, (Sheridan’s official apartments,) to the theatre, lost in the flames. The cost of building of this vast theatre had exceeded 150,000 pounds; and the entire loss by the fire, including that of the performers, musicians, etc., was estimated at 300.000 pounds.”

Theatre Royal Drury Lane is now owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Company, and is used to stage musical theatre. The tour lasts approximately one hour, during which participants will meet characters such as the playwright Richard Sheridan, the great clown Grimaldi, the celebrated actress/mistress Nell Gwynne and many others who played an important role in the theatre’s history.

Nell Gwynne

Tour Times: 10.15am and 11.45am – Wednesday and Saturday

2.15pm and 4.15pm – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

via onelondonone: Behind the Scenes Tour – Drury Lane Theatre.

      Enjoy these few facts about them,

            Suzi

As far back as 1400 BC, the Assyrians believed that rare and beautiful gemstones possessed magical properties. Some minerals were thought to possess a force or contain certain values and powers.

Tradition associates a gem with each sign of the zodiac based on a color system. Color was thought to release the power attributed to the stone.

Later, birthstones became associated with calendar months rather than the zodiac. People began selecting birthstones in colors other than the original colors.

The Roman, Arabic, Jewish, Polish, Russian and Italian lists were all different. In 1912, the American National Association of Jewelers, which later became Jewelers of America, adopted the list as we now know it.

         Suzi

The tradition started in Europe a long time ago when it was feared evil spirits were particularly attracted to people on their birthdays. To protect them from harm, friends and family would to come be with the birthday person and bring good thoughts and wishes.

Giving gifts brought even more good cheer to ward off the evil spirits. At first it was only kings who were recognized as important enough to have a birthday celebration (maybe this is how the tradition of birthday crowns began?).

As time went by, children became included in birthday celebrations. The first children’s birthday parties occurred in Germany and were called Kinderfeste.