to pull caps with someone: to argue
to swallow one’s spleen: to curb one’s temper
within ames-ace: nearly, or very near
LYING
bag of moonshine: nonsense, a lot of nothing
bamboozle: to deceive, hoax or make a fool of a person; to humbug or impose on someone
Banbury stories: a long-winded nonsense tale, a cock-and-bull story
bouncer: a big lie
Canterbury Tales: a long, tedious story
a clanker: a huge lie
cut a sham: to deliberately trick, cheat or deceive
cut a wheedle: to deliberately lead astray or decoy by flattery and insinuation
doing it much too brown: to go over the top in telling a lie; to lie or cheat thoroughly
faradiddles: a petty lie; originally ‘taradiddle’
flummery: false compliments
fudge: nonsense
fustian or fustian nonsense: pompous rubbish
gammon: nonsense, lies; to pretend, lie or deceive
gulled: duped, fooled, tricked
a hum: a falsehood, a deceit, a made-up story
pitching the gammon: to talk plausibly; to hoax someone; to flatter without restraint; to tell grand stories; to deceive merrily
plumper: an arrant lie—possibly from the false cheeks worn in previous centuries
shamming it: to pretend or make things up
slum: to speak cant or talk nonsense
to offer Spanish coin: to flatter with fair words and compliments
toad-eat: to pay compliments or to flatter in the hope of winning a person’s favour or approval
whiskers: lies
MONEY
at a stand or a standstill: run out of money and in financial difficulty
blunt: money
brass: money
brought to point non plus: backed into a financial corner with few options for recovery
cheeseparing: miserly, niggardly, mean with money
dibs not in tune: not enough money; in a parlous financial state
dished: financially ruined
drawing the bustle: spending too much money
a dun: a persistent creditor
flush in the pocket or flush with funds: having plenty of ready money
full of juice: wealthy
gingerbread: money
grease someone in the fist: to put money into a person’s hand; to bribe someone or give them a monetary incentive
gullgropers: a professional moneylender, especially one who does business with gamblers
hang on someone’s sleeve: to rely on someone financially
haven’t a sixpence to scratch with: flat broke
high water with him: wealthy; he has lots of money
in deep: in serious debt
in dun territory: in debt
in the basket: to be in financial difficulty—from the practice of putting those who could not pay their gambling debts at a cock-fight into a basket suspended above the pit. The term also relates to those purse-pinched stagecoach travellers who could only afford to travel in the boot—originally a large basket strapped to the back of the carriage.
low ebb or at ebb-water: a lack of money
low water: lack of money
nip-cheese or nip-farthing: a miser
not a feather to fly with: no money, dead broke
note of hand: an IOU
on the rocks: financially ruined, bankrupt
outrun the constable: to overspend; to live beyond one’s means
plump in the pocket: to have plenty of ready cash
pockets to let: no money, penniless
purse-pinched: short of money
raise the wind: borrow money
the ready: money, particularly money in hand
recruits: money, often money that is expected
the rhino: money
the River Tick: standing debts
rolled-up: no money and in serious financial trouble
run off one’s legs: to have spent all one’s money
run on tick: to buy on credit
swallow a spider: to go bankrupt
swimming in lard: very wealthy
tip over the dibs: to lend or give money to someone
to bleed: to extort money either openly or in an underhand way
to fleece: to swindle
to frank someone: to pay their way
to stand huff: to pay the bill in a tavern; to pay for everyone
under the hatches: in debt
vowels: IOUs
well-breeched: having plenty of money in your pockets—a prime target for robbery
well-inlaid: plenty of money
NOT THE THING
a bridle cull: a highwayman
a cursed rum touch: a strange person; an odd or eccentric man who is also annoying
a flat: an honest man; a fool, one who is easily tricked; a greenhorn
fulhams: loaded dice
half flash and half foolish: having a small knowledge of cant and a limited experience of the world
an ivory-turner: one who cheats in dice games
a peep-o-day boy: an unsteady young man always involved in pranks or larks
a rattle: one who talks too much
a rum ’un: a strange person, an odd or eccentric man
a sharp: a cheat who lives by his skill at manipulating the cards or dice
smoky: suspicious, curious
uphills: loaded dice; false dice made to roll to the higher or upper numbers—as opposed to downhills which fall to the lower numbers
PEOPLE
all the crack: in the mode, the height of fashion
an ape leader: a woman beyond marriageable age; an old maid—so-called because of a proverb that says their failure to increase and multiply dooms them to lead apes in hell. Also used by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing II.i.41 and The Taming of the Shrew II.i.34
awake on every suit: knowing what’s going on, understanding the business
a bang-up cove: a dashing man who spends money easily; a good-natured splendid fellow
bang up to the knocker: first-rate; well dressed, turned out in prime style
bang up to the mark: first-rate
bird-witted: thoughtless, brainless, easily imposed upon, gullible, inconsiderate
a bit of muslin: a girl; an attractive female—though usually one who is ready to be seduced or taken as a mistress
bracket-faced: ugly, hard-featured
bran-faced: freckled
a chawbacon: a country bumpkin; a stupid man
a chit: a young girl
a cicisbeo: a married woman’s lover or escort
clunch: a clownish person, awkward, foolish
complete to a shade: superbly dressed, dressed in the height of fashion
a diamond of the first water: a remarkably beautiful woman
a dowdy: a plain, ill-dressed female
a downy one: aware, a knowing intelligent person
a doxy: a whore
a green girl: a naive, inexperienced young woman
a hoyden: an active, tomboyish romp of a girl
a hussy: a forward, badly behaved female
a jade: a disreputable woman
a jilt: a woman who cries off from an engagement not long before the wedding
a Johnny raw: a novice, an inexperienced or untried youth
a loose fish: an unreliable person; a person of dissipated habits; a lecher or a drunk
a mort: a woman or wench; but could sometimes mean a harlot
an out and outer: one who is first-rate; a perfect person; excellent in every way
a prime article: a handsome woman, a beautiful female
a romp: a forward girl
a swell mort: an upper-class woman
a tabby: an old maid
a vixen: a shrewish woman
a vulgar mushroom: a pushing, pretentious member of the new rich—the reference being to mushrooms as a kind of fungus w
hich comes up suddenly in the night
a wet goose: a simple or stupid person
SEX AND SOCIETY
an abbess: a procuress of prostitutes, a female keeper of a brothel
barque of frailty: a woman of easy virtue
base-born child: an illegitimate child, a bastard
bird of paradise: a showy prostitute
by-blow: an illegitimate child, a bastard
carte-blanche: monetary support and protection offered to a man’s mistress in place of marriage
chère-amie: a mistress—literally ‘darling beloved’
crim. con.: short for criminal conversations—a euphemism for adultery
a game-pullet: a young prostitute or a girl likely to become a whore
Haymarket ware: a prostitute
an impure: a woman of easy virtue
incognitas: a masked or disguised prostitute
lady-bird: a lewd or light woman, a prostitute
light o’ love: a mistress
lightskirt: a prostitute
loose in the haft: a man of easy virtue and few morals
on-dit: gossip—literally ‘one says’
one of the muslin company: a prostitute; a female ready to be set up as a mistress
Paphian: a woman of easy virtue; relating to sexual love
a petticoat-pensioner: one who lives off a woman’s ill-gotten earnings, a whoremonger
a rake: a man of great sexual appetite and few morals
side-slips: illegitimate children, bastards
a slip on the shoulder: to seduce a woman, seduction
trollop: a sluttish woman
MARRIAGE
become a tenant for life: get married off, get married
cry off: to change one’s mind and call off the wedding
an eligible parti: a suitable marriage partner
leg-shackled: married
make an offer: propose marriage
on the shelf: unmarried and beyond the usual age of marrying
puff it off: announce one’s engagement in the papers
riveted: married
set your cap at a man: to try to win a man’s favour and a proposal of marriage
smelling of April and May: madly in love
Appendix 2
Newspapers and Magazines
By the time of the Regency, newspapers and magazines had become an important part of daily life for many English people—particularly those of the middle and upper classes—although the reading habit was gradually spreading to the servant class and to some among the working class. Although there was no universal education system the efforts of religious groups such as the Methodists to teach the lower classes to read (in order that they might benefit from reading the Bible) helped to create a surprisingly literate population. A large number of newspapers were established in the eighteenth century and, although many did not survive, by the early nineteenth century there were several London dailies and over one hundred provincial newspapers in circulation which offered readers items of general interest, entertaining articles and stories, society news and fashion.
The Times: The most famous of English newspapers, The Times was founded in 1785. It was originally called the Daily Universal Register but changed its name to The Times in 1788 and by the time of the Regency it had established itself as the major London daily newspaper. The Times was a broadsheet paper without pictures but with narrow parallel columns of printed articles and advertisements running lengthwise down the page. The front page was generally given over to a wide range of personal and commercial advertisements while the inside pages offered the reader both domestic and foreign news, reports from the war in Europe, obituaries, society news and information about the royal Court.
Morning Post: In 1772 a group of twelve businessmen, including Richard Tattersall (founder of Tattersall’s) and James Christie (founder of Christie’s auction rooms), established a newspaper, the Morning Post, with a view to securing cheaper and more advantageous advertising for their businesses. The famous publisher John Bell was the paper’s first main proprietor and Henry Bute its first editor. The Morning Post gained early notoriety for its constant criticism of the Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent) before he bought their support for £1,000 and a promise of £350 a year to refrain from mentioning Mrs Fitzherbert. In 1795 the paper was acquired by Daniel Stuart who radically changed it from a ‘ferocious political’ journal to a cheerful, entertaining newspaper with a range of literary articles and fashion notes designed to appeal to both men and women. During the Regency it was to the Morning Post that the upper class sent their betrothal and wedding announcements.
London Gazette: The first English newspaper, the London Gazette was originally called the Oxford Gazette, and was published in 1665 during the Great Plague while the royal Court was living in Oxford. A paper rather than a newspaper, the London Gazette listed royal activities, official appointments, bankruptcies, military items such as commissions and promotions, and casualty lists in time of war. The Gazette continues to be published today.
Gentleman’s Magazine: Founded in 1731, the Gentleman’s Magazine was originally a compilation of previously published articles, reviews, essays and news items. By mid-century, however, original material had become a regular feature as had reports of parliamentary debates. Samuel Johnson wrote for the magazine for some years and by the time of the Regency it was a well-established periodical which included, along with its more serious items, births, deaths and marriages, as well as songs, music, maps and articles of general interest. It survived for nearly two hundred years and finally closed in 1914.
La Belle Assemblée, or Bell’s Court & Fashionable Magazine, Addressed Particularly to the Ladies: Established in 1806 by the renowned publisher, John Bell, La Belle Assemblée was an elegant monthly magazine with an unusually high standard of production. Larger in size than its competitors, it offered readers both French and English fashion news with two superbly engraved fashion plates with captions indicating the type or style of dress. As well as fashion news the magazine offered readers literary items, articles on science, history and the arts, news from the foreign courts, a gossip column—which was often accompanied by an engraved portrait of a member of the nobility—poetry, political reports, a song and accompanying music, reports on places to visit in London, fashion notes and an embroidery pattern. Each volume finished with a list of notable births, deaths and marriages. La Belle Assemblée was expensive, costing 3s. per edition (a general housemaid was earning approximately £8 a year) but it was popular and influential. It remained the leading fashion magazine of its day until its eventual closure in 1832.
Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics: Founded in 1809, Ackermann’s Repository was the brainchild of Rudolph Ackermann, a German immigrant from Saxony with a talent for lithography and a sense of the commercial viability of a magazine which offered its readers superb pictures of a wide range of Regency products and fashion. Intended as a kind of cultural guide aimed more at men than women—although it included items designed to appeal to women—the Repository was dedicated to the Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent) and appeared monthly. Every edition carried superb hand-coloured plates depicting furniture, paintings, room interiors, objets d’art, silverware and two coloured aquatints showing examples of the latest women’s and men’s (until 1815) fashions. Intended as a guide to dressmakers and their fashionable clients, the fashion plates included detailed descriptions of the type of costume shown, its style, cut, trim, the fabrics used and their colour and also detailed the style and colour of accessories. Like its competitor, La Belle Assemblée, Ackermann’s Repository maintained a standard of excellence throughout its years of publication. It closed in 1830.
Lady’s Monthly Museum or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction Being an Assemblage of Whatever can tend to Please the Fancy, interest the Mind, or Exalt The Character of the British Fair: The ‘British Fair’ was a popular phr
ase with magazine editors and publishers during the Regency and advertisements and articles frequently spoke of and to ‘the British Fair’, using the term as a reference to both the female readers and the (mostly mythical) virtuous, elegant and beautiful woman that the magazine assumed each reader aspired to be. It was common for magazines to extol the British Fair as the epitome of womanhood and to exhort readers to dress, think and act in her image. Purportedly published ‘by a Society of Ladies’, the Lady’s Monthly Museum was no exception to this rule and actively encouraged women to constantly better themselves. First published in 1798 the magazine was aimed directly at women and contained an appealing mix of articles on fashion (with coloured plates), items of general interest, short biographies of the famous or aristocratic (with accompanying engraved portraits), poetry, essays and a monthly moral tale. The Lady’s Monthly Museum was one of the first magazines to serialise novels before they appeared as books and maintained a literary section in which it regularly informed readers of forthcoming publications and detailed the latest gossip about people and events in the arts; it also ran one of the early ‘lonely hearts’ columns.
Lady’s Magazine or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex: Known as the Lady’s Magazine, this monthly periodical was founded in 1770 by a Mr Coote and was designed especially to amuse, educate and ‘improve’ women. Costing only sixpence, it offered a wide range of articles, stories and fashion items and was the first magazine to publish extracts from forthcoming books to tantalise its readers. The Lady’s Magazine proved popular enough with readers that it continued until the mid-nineteenth century.
Appendix 3
Books in Heyer
The publisher and founder of the Minerva Press, William Lane, is generally credited with having initiated the spread of lending, or circulating, libraries to most of the large towns (and many smaller ones) in England throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Lane’s main library was located in Leadenhall Street, in the same building as his Minerva Press which had begun printing novels in about 1790. By setting up his own large lending establishment Lane was able to offer his novels to the borrowing and buying public along with a wide selection of other fiction and non-fiction texts. By the time of the Regency every seaside town and fashionable resort had at least one library—often housed in a shop, assembly room or other publicly accessible building—and London had a number of subscription libraries (over 100 by 1820) ranging from Hookham’s in Bond Street (where, in Regency Buck, Judith Taverner was able to borrow Sense and Sensibility) to Miss Flinders’s small shop cum library near Walpole Street. While novels were held by many among the upper classes to be most unsuitable reading matter for young women, they became increasingly popular during the period and the thrilling stories lying between the mottled signature covers of the Minerva Press were to be found in many households. In homes such as the Wraxtons’ in The Grand Sophy, however, disapproval of novels extended even to the famous works of Ann Radcliffe, Maria Edgeworth and Clara Reeve—and certainly to Lord Byron’s poems—whereas Walter Scott’s novels and romantic ballads and Jane Austen’s stories were considered quite acceptable.
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