A delightful reader's companion to the great nineteenth-century British novels of Austen, Dickens, Trollope, the Brontes, and more, this lively guide clarifies the sometimes bizarre maze of rules and customs that governed life in Victorian England.
For anyone who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell Tally Ho! at a fox hunt, or how one landed in debtor's prison, this book serves as an indispensable historical and literary resource. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the plums in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life--both upstairs and downstairs.
An illuminating glossary gives at a glance the meaning and significance of terms ranging from ague to wainscoting, the specifics of the currency system, and a lively host of other details and curiosities of the day.
By:
Daniel Pool
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: Reprinted edition
Dimensions:
Height: 214mm,
Width: 140mm,
Spine: 30mm
Weight: 433g
ISBN: 9780671882365
ISBN 10: 0671882368
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 04 July 1994
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Other merchandise
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Introduction Part One The Basics Currency The Calendar Hogsheads and Drams: English Measurement England London The Public World Precedence: Of Bishops, Barristers, and Baronets The Titled How to Address Your Betters Esq., Gent., K.C.B., etc. Status: Gentlemen and Lesser Folk Society Society and The Season Basic Etiquette How to Address the Nontitled May I Have This Dance? The Rules of Whist and Other Card Games Calling Cards and Calls The Major Rituals Presentation at Court The Dinner Party The Ball The Country House Visit Money Being Wealthy Entail and Protecting the Estate Bankruptcy, Debt, and Moneylending Power and the Establishment The Government Britannia Rules the Waves The Army The Church of England Oxford and Cambridge Schools The Law Is a Ass Lawyers Crime and Punishment Transition The Horse Please, James, the Coach The Railroad The Mail The Country Life on the Farm The Midlands, Wessex, and Yorkshire Who's Who in the Country Shire and Shire Alike: Local Government in Britain The Theory and System of Fox Hunting Vermin, Poachers, and Keepers Fairs and Markets The Private World Reader, I Married Him Sex An Englishman's Home Houses with Names Furniture Lighting How the English Kept Clean Please, Sir, I Want Some More. Pudding! Tea Drink and the Evils Thereof Women's Clothing Men's Clothing Servants The Governess A Taxonomy of Maids Victorian Recycling The Grim World The Orphan Occupations Apprentices The Workhouse Disease Doctors Death and Other Grave Matters Part Two Glossary Bibliography Index
Reviews for What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England
Geoffrey Stokes The Boston Globe Indispensable...Pool has gathered together...the facts of daily life in 19th-century England, and no one who likes an occasional dip into the period's history or literature can afford to be without it.
