A Delightful Curse on a Lead Scroll

By Kim Rendfeld

Only a historical novelist would use the word “delightful” to describe a curse inscribed on a rolled thin sheet of lead. Well, maybe an archaeologist or historian might know what I mean.

In research for my short story “Betrothed to the Red Dragon,” I came across this tidbit. Followers of the Celtic deity Sulis would write their requests to her on a lead scroll or tablet and toss it in a sacred hot spring at Bath. When the Roman ruled over Britain, that spring did some double duty as a space for devotion to Sulis and the Roman goddess Minerva. In fact, she is often called Sulis Minerva.

To polytheistic Celts, it was not a big deal. They could still worship Sulis and let her know their wishes, a lot of them calls for justice. If the Romans wanted to call her Minerva and ask for her assistance, fine. The Romans cared little about the religion of the people they conquered except for one thing: acknowledge their emperor as a god. A lot of polytheistic religions likely greeted this with a shrug. What was one more god after all? They could even distance themselves and say that the Romans have their gods and we have ours.

Roman Baths of Bath Spa, England
(photo by David Iliff, license: CC-BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons)

The Jews were having none of it, but they were not proselytizing. So their belief was confined. Christians posed another problem. Like the Jews, they refused to accept any other deity, and they were trying to convert other people to see the world as they did. That was one reason Christians were persecuted, especially when a natural disaster like a drought hit. Pagans and Christians believed the cause was an angry deity, but they disagreed on who offended what supernatural being.

Christians got a break in 313, when Constantine the Great proclaimed they would be tolerated. Their faith became mainstream in 337, when the Roman emperor accepted baptism shortly before his death.

Yet religion among Britons in the fourth and fifth centuries was fluid. Seemingly disparate sets of beliefs could coexist not only in society, but within the same person. No one would fault a midwife who whispered a spell to an expectant mother to ease her labor. Nor did wearing an amulet alongside a cross draw much attention.

Some habits are just too hard to break. When your harvest or victory in battle depended on pleasing deities (or at least not angering them), it didn’t hurt to hedge your bets.

A request to Sulis Minerva on a small scroll of lead is more tangible evidence of Christianity and paganism existing side by side. About 130 such requests, or curse tablets, were excavated from Bath, and many more remain buried. Throughout Britain, there are about 500.

These tablets are thin pieces of lead or pewter inscribed in a somewhat formulaic way. In the case of theft, it’s a complaint, name of the thief or catch-all phraseology if the perpetrator is unknown, name of the victim, and the appeal to the goddess. The piece is then rolled and folded to be legible only to the goddess and pierced with a nail.

A folded curse, photo by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net),
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The reason I find delight in one from a guy named Annianus is that I am hearing the beliefs of an ordinary Christian in his own words (in translation).

Annianus, son of Matutina, signed his name, so it’s not like he’s hiding anything. Annianus is believed to be Christian because he used the word “pagan,” a term only an early medieval Christian would use to distinguish other religions. Apparently Annianus doesn’t know the thief, but on the back of his request, he provides Sulis Minerva with 18 names, probably people he suspects.

What Annianus asks for is anything but Christian: “Whether pagan or Christian, whosoever man or woman, boy or girl, slave or free has stolen from me, Annianus, six silver coins from my purse, you lady goddess are to extract ... the blood of him who has invoked this upon me.”

Apparently, Annianus set aside that part of no other gods for the moment, and that part about forgiving your enemies hadn’t gotten through to Annianus.

In Annianus’s defense, those lost coins might have been six days of wages. One of those coins would have bought enough wheat for 20 loaves of bread. If he were a soldier, six silver coins could buy him a pair of boots and a good cloak.

The fellow likely just wanted his coins back. Appealing to Sulis Minerva might have been his best chance at justice.

This article is an Editor's Choice and was originally published August 23, 2017.


Sources

Daily Life in Arthurian Britain by Deborah J. Shepherd

Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World, edited by John G. Gager

Brigid: Goddess, Druidess and Saint by Brian Wright

Curse Tablets of Roman Britain

“What Were They Worth? The Purchasing Power of Ancient Coins,” CoinWeek

~~~~~~~~~~

Kim Rendfeld has written three books set in 8th century Francia. In The Cross and the Dragon, a Frankish noblewoman must contend with a jilted suitor and the fear of losing her husband (available on Amazon). In The Ashes of Heaven's Pillar, a Saxon peasant will fight for her children after losing everything else (available on Amazon). In Queen of the Darkest Hour, Queen Fastrada must stop a conspiracy before it destroys everyone and everything she loves. The book is available on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Kim's short story “Betrothed to the Red Dragon,” about Guinevere’s decision to marry Arthur, is set in early medieval Britain and available on Amazon.

Connect with Kim at on her website kimrendfeld.com, her blog, Outtakes of a Historical Novelist at kimrendfeld.wordpress.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/authorkimrendfeld, or follow her on Twitter at @kimrendfeld.

Playing the Provinces: 18th Century Actors on the Move, Part 2 (York, Bristol & Bath)

by Margaret Porter   This is the second part of Playing the Provinces. Follow this link to Part 1, featuring the provincial theatres of Liverpool & Manchester.

 

York

 

Tate Wilkinson

This city's Theatre Royal (patented in 1759) was managed by Tate Wilkinson, who left behind verbose and entertaining memoirs of his theatrical career and the personalities he encountered. He was an actor, but as mentor he nurtured the talents of many of the era's greatest players--and never failed to take credit for it. He was proprietor not of a single theatre, but of an entire circuit that included lesser Yorkshire theatres: Leeds, Hull, Wakefield, Doncaster, and Pontefract. He had an interest in the Edinburgh theatre as well, and his company also performed in Halifax, Beverley, Sheffield, and Newcastle. His 'theatrical army' as he termed it, in the 1770s and '80s included Sarah Siddons, John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Frances Kemble, Elizabeth Kemble, Dorothy Jordan, Elizabeth Inchbald, Dicky Suett, and Mrs Baddeley. Eventually he surrendered them to the Theatres Royal in London, but occasionally they returned for special engagements.

The York circuit followed the racing calendar, performing during the race week in its various towns. Wilkinson prided himself on his ability to offer actors year-round employment, rather than only for a summer season as at other provincial theatres, e.g. Liverpool. Among the London acts he lured to York 1785 was Signior Scaglioni, who, 'with his dancing dogs from Sadlers Wells, performed seven or eight nights at York theatre, and were really followed, and brought full houses...I can with truth say they entertained me, and I laughed immoderately at almost the whole of their performances: Indeed I received double entertainment to any other spectator, for I not only was pleased with the dogs in the theatre, but had my bow for the money they occasioned into my pocket before supper.'

Kemble rejoined the York company for a week in the summer of 1791, for which he received £150, in today's currency about £8700 or $12,600. He re-visited York in 1799.
 

Bath/Bristol

 

Bath's theatre was located in Orchard Street, dating from 1750. It lacked dressing rooms for the actors until expansion in 1767, and the following year its proprietor obtained the third royal licence in existence, after Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and the very first issued to a provincial theatre. Further enlargement took place in 1774. 

Orchard Street Theatre, Bath

 
In 1783 a performer connected to Bath declared that its theatre 'boasted the Best company out of London....The Bath audience had long maintained being the most elegant and judicious in the kingdom.' Some of that audience would have been local, but Bath's reputation as a fashionable watering place, especially in winter months, ensured that many theatre attendees were the same aristocratic and wealthy patrons of London's Drury Lane and Covent Garden.

A performance in the Orchard Street Theatre

During the 18th century, Bristol's hot wells made it a popular resort, and the Jacob's Well Theatre opened in 1729. In 1766 the King Street theatre opened, and in 1778 received its royal licence. John Palmer, the Bath proprietor, negotiated a lease of the Bristol theatre in 1779, and the relationship between the two sites continued until 1817. The design of the Bristol theatre copied London's Drury Lane.

The popular Hotwells social season was in summer, which complemented Bath's winter one. Also advantageous, these two theatres were geographically close and could be yoked. In September and October the company played in Bristol for three nights, and in Bath on Saturdays, and Mondays in Bristol. According to Tate Wilkinson, 'The Bath company perform at Bristol every Monday evening, from November till the end of May.'  Palmer, instrumental in developing the Royal Mail system, devised a lengthy 'caterpillar' coach that could carry twelve persons and their luggage, and these conveyed the players back and forth. Regular members of the company received a salary and a benefit night in each location if desired.
 

Sarah Siddons as The Grecian Daughter

In autumn of 1778, after her Liverpool, Manchester, and York years, and her recovery from her humbling Drury Lane failure, Sarah Siddons was engaged at the Orchard Street Theatre. She became a sensation--attendance at Thursday night balls suffered as fashionable society was drawn instead to the theatre to see the remarkable young actress. She performed at Bath and Bristol for a further three seasons, playing over 100 characters. It was there she encountered the budding artist Thomas Lawrence. At that time he worked in pastels, and in later years he often painted her portrait, and her brother's--and caused two of her daughters much romantic strife.


Sarah's ghost is said to haunt the theatre in Bristol, where she first appeared in March of 1779.

As at other provincial theatres, London actors performed in Bath and Bristol with regularity. In the summer of 1777, many members of the Drury Lane company performed at Bath. Other celebrated visitors included Signora Anna-Selina (Nancy) Storace, known as 'Mozart's Muse'; and George Frederick Cooke. John Philip Kemble, who appeared in Bath in 1799 and 1807, gave a farewell performance in Bristol in January 1817, prior to his retirement from the stage in June of that year.

With the construction of Bath's new (and current) Theatre Royal in Beaufort Square in 1805, the Orchard Street venue was abandoned; it served as a Roman Catholic chapel and lately as a Masonic Hall and museum.

Orchard Street Theatre today

Original columns and sole remaining box

Bristol's Theatre Royal is the longest continually running theatre in Britain, and houses the Bristol Old Vic company. In 1972 the theatre incorporated the adjacent Cooper's Hall, now serving as the iconic entrance to the refurbished 18th century space.

The Bristol Old Vic

 

Conclusion

Certainly there were other provincial theatres and circuits, but here I have presented the primary ones. Benefits to a player of performing outside of London were several. First and foremost, smaller theatres provided income at times of year when Drury Lane and Covent Garden were closed. Additionally, these places were already familiar to those who began careers in the provinces, who had previously established a relationship with the local audiences.

The theatres were more compact, the spectators closer to the stage, allowing greater intimacy. In London the major theatres had expanded to truly massive proportions, accommodating grand spectacles and visual effects but inhibiting their actors. Of necessity the performing style grew broader, resulting in the loss of nuance in voice and gesture. It must have been a relief to act in smaller venues, although of course the dressing rooms and green room spaces were cramped.

Another consideration: at a distance from the metropolis there were far fewer newspapers and critics, of which London had so many. Interest in theatrical matters--on stage and off--was high in all parts of Britain. Surely when performing at the lesser theatres the players appreciated the absence of the journalists who carped at any deficiencies in production!

For these reasons, and more, former provincial players who achieved a lasting reputation in London returned frequently to the places where they gained crucial experience as neophytes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margaret Porter is the award-winning and bestselling author of twelve period novels, whose other publication credits include nonfiction and poetry. A Pledge of Better Times, her highly acclaimed novel of 17th century courtiers Lady Diana de Vere and Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, is her latest release, available in trade paperback and ebook. Margaret studied British history in the UK and the US. As historian, her areas of speciality are social, theatrical, and garden history of the 17th and 18th centuries, royal courts, and portraiture. A former actress, she gave up the stage and screen to devote herself to fiction writing, travel, and her rose gardens.

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The Ruins of Rome beneath our feet

By Matthew Harffy

with Iona Harffy

"The city buildings fell apart, the works
Of giants crumble. Tumbled are the towers
Ruined the roofs, and broken the barred gate,
Frost in the plaster, all the ceilings gape,
Torn and collapsed and eaten up by age.
And grit holds in its grip, the hard embrace
Of earth, the dead-departed master-builders,
Until a hundred generations now
Of people have passed by. Often this wall
Stained red and grey with lichen has stood by
Surviving storms while kingdoms rose and fell.
And now the high curved wall itself has fallen.”

Hamer, R. 1970, A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse

These lines of poetry, taken from a piece commonly known as The Ruin, a part of The Exeter Book, were written in Old English sometime in the early medieval period. It may well have been composed about the Roman city of Aquae Sulis (modern day Bath), but wherever the author was describing, the Anglo-Saxons and native Britons of the British Isles would have been surrounded by such ruins. Buildings, with tiled roofs and beautiful mosaic floors and painted frescoes. Bridges of stone, spanning wide expanses of water, arches seeming to defy nature by not collapsing. Great walls and fortifications constructed of huge slabs of stone. Even the roads between key sites, perhaps cracked and overgrown in places now that the Legions were not there to keep them serviced, but still great feats of engineering.

Main bath at the Roman Baths, Bath.

After the Romans left, few, if any, could remember how to cut and work stone in this fashion. After a few generations, the knowledge had been forgotten. But the constant reminder all around them of a clearly superior technological past must have been unnerving. Did the everyday man and woman of the so-called Dark Ages have any idea who the Romans were? Or did they believe that a past race of giants had built the stone edifices and villas that dotted the countryside.  

The Romans left their mark on the world in many ways, not least in the fabulous constructions that those following them could not replicate.

“The massive structure, built by long-dead rulers of this land from grey slabs of stone, stretched to the horizon to the east and west. One of the fortified gates, that stood at intervals along its length, loomed near. The rocks that formed the edifice had been cunningly fashioned and placed together. None living knew how to build such things. Whenever he saw the Wall, or any of the tile-roofed buildings or stone bridges that yet stood throughout Albion, Scand felt a sense of awe and unease. People talked of giants having wrought these things, but Scand was no fool. The doorways and stone-hewn steps of the buildings were made for men, not giants. But how could men who ruled the land so absolutely have taken their leave of these lush shores? Had they all died? It was a quandary he would never solve, so he pushed it from his thoughts.”

Excerpt from The Cross and the Curse, by Matthew Harffy

Milecastle 39 on Hadrian's Wall

Even now, 1,600 years after they left the isles, their memories are seen everywhere, from the massive Hadrian’s Wall, to the amazing Roman baths of Bath. But one thing we don’t always think of is how much still lies undiscovered beneath the earth we walk on.

Or under the grass where our children play football.

In the town of Bradford on Avon, near Bath, the St Laurence School playing fields hide rich Roman remains. Whenever the weather was dry, the shape of buildings could be made out by discoloration of the grass, which was recorded by English Heritage. And back in 1976 a bath house had been excavated when some nearby houses were being built. But in 2003, excavations were carried out by the University of Bristol. These uncovered a wonderfully complex and nearly complete mosaic in the main villa building which has been dated to 360 AD.

St Laurence Roman Villa

There is a circular structure built over it at a later date which may have been an early Christian baptistery, predating the Saxon church in the centre of Bradford on Avon.

A geophysical survey showed that the Roman villa had at least fifteen rooms and more wings that extend under the nearby housing estate. The survey also revealed a second building of identical size and structure some 30 metres away. This second building appears to be an agricultural or industrial building, complete with hypocaust (underfloor heating), which may have been used to produce smoke for curing food.

St Laurence School and University of Bristol distributed find bags to 500 households and residents in the surrounding properties and people were asked to collect anything of interest they found while gardening. The finds included Roman coins, pottery and a Roman roof tile.

Both of my daughters have attended St Laurence School, and it is with a sense of wonder I have gazed upon some of the Roman finds and displays about the villa in the reception area when going to parents’ evenings or school theatre productions. One of my younger daughter’s teachers must have felt the same awe, for, back in 2003 he was a Physical Education teacher. After seeing the rich Roman remains unearthed from where he had officiated so many sporting events and cajoled so many reluctant children to participate, he became fascinated by all things of the past. He is now a History teacher!

In Britain, with its complex and many-layered history, one does not need to look very far to see evidence of past inhabitants. But it still amazes me, that in a landmass that is so densely populated, veritable treasures are unearthed with startling frequency. Roman villas under a few inches of grass, the magnificent Anglo-Saxon finds of the Staffordshire Hoard, even a former monarch beneath a car park. In 2013 alone, there were 73,000 reported archaeological finds in Britain!

Staffordshire Hoard

Unlike our Anglo-Saxon forebears we may know more about our past and those who lived before us, but next time you go out for a walk, ask yourself what secrets might be mouldering in the earth, just beneath your feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matthew Harffy is the author of the Bernicia Chronicles, a series of historical novels set in seventh century Britain. The first is the action-packed tale of vengeance and coming of age, The Serpent Sword. The sequel, The Cross and The Curse, was  released on 22nd January 2016. The third in the series, By Blood and Blade, will be released in the summer of 2016.

Buy The Serpent Sword
Buy The Cross and the Curse

Website: www.matthewharffy.com
Twitter: MatthewHarffy
Facebook: MatthewHarffyAuthor

References:
Hamer, R. 1970, A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse
http://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/archives/3686
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/features/boa_mosaic.shtml
http://www.history.co.uk/shows/articles/the-5-greatest-archaeological-discoveries-in-britain
https://st-laurence.com/schools-heritage

Images:
Main bath at the Roman Baths, Bath. ---- Photograph © Andrew Dunn, 15 September 2005. [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Milecastle 39 on Hadrian's Wall ---- By Adam Cuerden [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
St Laurence Roman Villa ---- Photograph © Roddy Smith [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Staffordshire Hoard ---- By David Rowan, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Staffordshire hoard) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A New Idea: Bathing for Health and Beauty

by Maria Grace

During the long 18th century, the prevailing European attitude toward bathing was largely negative. Plunging oneself into water for the purpose of cleansing was inconvenient, expensive and according to many actually unhealthy. Consequently, what washing that was done focused on the hands and face, utilizing an ubiquitous wash stand found in nearly every bedroom.

These attitudes were so ingrained in British society that even as attitudes toward bathing began to change at the turn of the 19th century, English society was well known for their lack of cleanliness. Upper class English women were particularly known for their lack of attention to personal hygiene. The Handbook of Bathing (1841) notes

In sad and sober earnest, the English themselves are much less cleanly about their persons than either the French, the Italians, or even the Russians whom they place almost out of the pale of civilization (sic). The English are habitually well dressed; and every Englishman, above the operative classes, generally appears with a clean face, clean hands, and the finger-nails carefully cleaned. The other parts of his body … seldom, if ever, feel the comfort of ablution. The bodies of the generality of Englishmen are never washed, but are covered with epidermal incrustations of years' duration. Even those who seek recreation in swimming … become not a whit the cleaner for such immersion, because cold water cannot sufficiently act in so short a time upon the accumulation of coagulated perspiration and epidermal scales. Friction is seldom applied, or, if it be used, it consists only of a gentle wiping with a towel.

While it would not be until the Victorian era that bathing became a moral imperative, attitudes definitely began to shift during the years of the Regency. During thus era, classical Greek and Roman influences impacted fashion and scholarship. The prevalence of bathing on both societies was not lost among scholars of the era. The Book of Health and Beauty (1837) notes:

The use of the bath was general among the Greeks and Romans; and to this salutary habit the Physician Baglivi ascribes the long and vigorous lives of the ancients. If we compare the manner of living among the Romans with that of our own at the present day, it will be seen how much nearer the former approached to nature, and how much more favourable it was to health. … everyone has tended to the bath; and no person could neglect this practice without incurring the charge of shameful negligence of health and decency. … Bathing may also be considered as an excellent specific for alleviating both mental and bodily afflictions, it is not merely a cleanser of the skin, enlivening and rendering it more fit for performing its offices; but it also refreshens the mind, and spreads over the whole system a sensation of ease, activity, and agreeableness.

Doctors and men of science began to suggest rather than be unhealthful, bathing was in fact, essential to health, particularly for the skin.

The condition of the skin is the truest indication of health. By neglecting to and healthy condition, which in almost every case depends upon bodily cleanliness, many loathsome diseases are engendered ... The skin is the most sensitive and excitable part of the human frame; for it is the indicator of sensation from without to every other part of the body. … In the cities and towns of France, cutaneous diseases arising from want of general bodily ablution, are much less common than with us  (English), because the poorest of the operatives enjoy, from time to time, the luxury of warm bathing.

How did bathing act to improve health so greatly? Doctors noted,

free perspiration, sensible and insensible, is so necessary to the human physical condition, that without it, fever headache, and inflammation, ensue. Also, that the skin itself, by a disordered state of the exhalant vessels or their extremities, forming the pores or outlets, becomes unhealthy, and by being so, disturbs the action of the stomach and alimentary canal, whereby the functions of digestion are impeded, the frame debilitated, and the whole animal economy thrown into confusion. Now, if for want of bathing and friction, a crust of epidermal scales is allowed to form upon the skin, instead of being constantly removed, some of the perspiratory pores are closed, whilst a portion of the aqueous fluid perspired remains coagulated at their orifices under the crust, and … an extremely offensive fermentation soon takes place. … If one tenth of the persevering attention and labour bestowed to so much purpose in rubbing down and currying the skins of horses, were bestowed by the human race in keeping themselves in good condition, and a little attention were paid to diet and clothing,—colds, nervous diseases, and stomach complaints, would cease to form so large an item of the catalogue of human miseries.(Combe, 1836)

This attitude represented a significant change from earlier days when bathing was thought to cause colds. ‘Modern doctors’ of the Regency began to recognize that

scantiness of clothing, aided by the absence of body washing and skin-rubbing, bring "colds" and "consumption" to the females of [England … As it is, colds attend their footsteps, ever ready to place them within the deadly embrace of consumption, because they omit keeping their skin in a condition to resist the changes that daily occur in our atmosphere… Now, as they are neglected by the great majority of the British population, there is among that population a tendency to "catch cold," erroneously attributed to the climate ; whilst in countries possessing even a less benignant clime, but where the use of warm-bathing and friction is adopted by the inhabitants, this facility of catching cold does not exist.

(The Handbook of the Toilette, 1841)

Though science and scholarship might argue for bathing, changes in public opinion spread more rapidly as social leaders demonstrated new ways. Both Beau Brummell and the Prince Regent were known for their distinct bathing habits. Brummell bathed daily in hot water and  exfoliated his body with a coarse-hair brush.  He purchased expensive soap, brushes and razors from Renard's of St. James's, along with toothbrushes, nail brushes, combs and soap.

Public policy followed after these social changes as demonstrated by the 1814 Thames Bathing Bill. The act corrected the most injurious encroachment on the comfort of the lower classes set forth in the Thames Police act. The later deprived commoners the right to bathe in the Thames during daylight hours. It levied a fine on those who dared defy the order.

As bathing and cleanliness became increasingly important to both people of fashion and society at large, merchants capitalized upon the trend. Shaving became increasingly important, with many men shaving themselves during their regular ablutions, rather than visiting barbers. The fine razors made in Sheffield, England became greatly prized. Scented soaps and toilet waters also became popular, both for purchase and to be made at home.

Moreover authors and other purveyors of advice offered a myriad of suggestions on how to bath (cold, warm, hot…) and with what preparations to bath. The next part of this article will examine recommendations on how to bath during Regency era.

Bibliography

A Lady of Distinction. Regency Etiquette: The Mirror of Graces (1811). Enl. ed. Mendocino, CA: R.L. Shep ;, 1997.

Buc'hoz, Pierre-Joseph. The Toilet of Flora Or, a Collection of the Most Simple and Approved Methods of Preparing Baths, Essences, Pomatums, Powders, Perfumes, Sweet-Scented Waters, and Opiates for Preserving and Whitening the Teeth, &c. &c. 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. For the Use of the Ladies. Improved from the French of M. Buchoz, M.D. London: Printed for J. Murray, Mo 12 Fleet-street and W. Nicoll, No. 51, in St. Paul's Church Yard, 1784.

Combe, Andrew M.D. The Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Mental and Physical Education. Fifth Edition. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Stewart. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1836.

Corbould, H. The Art of Beauty, Or, The Best Methods of Improving and Preserving the Shape, Carriage, and Complexion ; Together with the Theory of Beauty. London: Printed for Knight and Lacey ... and Westley and Tyrrell, Dublin, 1825.

Currie, James (1805). "Medical Reports, on the Effects of Water, Cold and Warm, as a remedy in Fever and Other Diseases, Whether applied to the Surface of the Body, or used Internally". Including an Inquiry into the Circumstances that render Cold Drink, or the Cold Bath, Dangerous in Health, to which are added; Observations on the Nature of Fever; and on the effects of Opium, Alcohol, and Inanition. Vol.1 (4th, Corrected and Enlarged ed.). London: T. Cadell and W. Davies. p. ii. Retrieved 2 December 2009. Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org)

Davidoff, Leonore, and Catherine Hall. Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850. Repr. ed. London: Routledge, 2002.

Gatrell, Vic. City of London: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-century London. New York: Walker &, 2006.

Kane, Kathryn. "Soap in the Regency — Bar or Barrel?" The Regency Redingote. April 23, 2010. Accessed June 5, 2015.

Kelly, Ian. Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style. New York: Free Press, 2006.

Murray, Venetia, and Venetia Murray. An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.

Radcliffe, M. A Modern System of Domestic Cookery Or, The Housekeeper's Guide, Arranged on the Most Economical Plan for Private Families ... : A Complete Family Physician, and Instructions to Female Servants in Every Situation, Showing the Best Methods of Performing Their Various Duties ... to Which Are Added, as an Appendix, Some Valuable Instructions on the Management of the Kitchen and Fruit Gardens. Manchester: J. Gleave, 1823.

Snively, John H. A Treatise on the Manufacture of Perfumes and Kindred Toilet Articles. Nashville: C.W. Smith, 1877.

Stone, Lawrence. The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800. Abridged ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.

The Art of Preserving the Hair on Philosophical Principles. By the Author of The Art of Improving the Voice. London: Printed for Septimus Prowett, Old Bond Street, 1825.

The Book Of Health & Beauty, Or The Toilette Of Rank And Fashion: Embracing the economy of the beard eye-brows gums nails breath eye-lashes hands skin complexion feet lips teeth eyes hair mouth tongue, 8::- 81c. with recipes, and directions for use, of safe and salutary cosmetics— perfumes—essences-simple waters—depilatories, etc. and a variety “ select recipes for the dressing room of both sexes. 2nd ed. London: Joseph Thomas, 1, Finch Lane, Cornhill, 1837.

The Book of Health; a Compendium of Domestic Medicine, Deduced from the Experience of the Most Eminent Modern Practitioners: Including the Mode of Treatment for Diseases in General; a Plan for the Management of Infants and Children; Rules for the Preserva. London: Vizetelly, Branston, 1828.

The Hand-book of Bathing. London: W.S. Orr, 1841.

The Hand-book of the Toilette. 2nd ed. London: W.s. Orr and, 1841.

The New London Toilet: Or, a Compleat Collection of the Most Simple and Useful Receipts for Preserving and Improving Beauty, Either by Outward Application or Internal Use. With Many Other Valuable Secrets in Elegant and Ornamental Arts. Containing near Four Hundred Receipts under the following General Heads. Perfumes Fine Waters Baths Cosmetics Conserves Confectionary Snuffs Pastes Wash Balls Scented Powders Pomatums Fine Syrups Jellys Preserved Fruits, &c. With Every Species of Cosmetic That May Be Useful in Improving Beauty, or Concealing the Ravages of Time and Sickness. To Which Is Added a Treatise on the Art of Managing, Improving, and Dressing the Hair on the Most Improved Principles of That Art. London: Printed for Richardson and Urquhart, under the Royal-Exchange, 1778.

The Toilette of Health, Beauty, and Fashion: Embracing the Economy of the Beard, Breath, Complexion, Ears, Eyes, Eye-brows, Eye Lashes, Feet, Forehead, Gums, Hair, Head, Hands, Lips, Mouth, Mustachios, Nails of the Toes, Nails of the Fingers, Nose, Skin, Teeth, Tongue, Etc., Etc., : Including the Comforts of Dress and the Decorations of the Neck ... with Directions for the Use of Most Safe and Salutary Cosmetics ... and a Variety of Selected Recipes for the Dressing Room of Both Sexes. Boston: Allen and Ticknor, 1833.

Walton, Geri. "18th and 19th Century: Baths for Medicinal Purposes." 18th and 19th Century: Baths for Medicinal Purposes. February 12, 2014. Accessed June 5, 2015. http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.com/2014/02/baths-for-medicinal-purposes.html

Walton, Geri. "18th and 19th Century: Health Remedies, Preventatives, and Cures in the 1700 and 1800s." 18th and 19th Century: Health Remedies, Preventatives, and Cures in the 1700 and 1800s. February 20, 2014. Accessed June 5, 2015. http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.com/2014/02/health-remedies-preventatives-and-cures.html

Wilcox, R. Turner. The Mode in Hats and Headdress: A Historical Survey with 198 Plates. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 2008.

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 Maria Grace is the author of Darcy's Decision,  The Future Mrs. Darcy, All the Appearance of Goodness, and Twelfth Night at Longbourn and Remember the Past.  Click here to find her books on Amazon. For more on her writing and other Random Bits of Fascination, visit her website. You can also like her on Facebook, follow on Twitter or email her.

The Triumvirate Which Changed the Face of Bath During the Georgian Era

by Regina Jeffers

The beginning of the 1700s in England saw the expansion of the middle class and a stronger economy. As such Bath had known a steady period of growth, but when the Queen visited the city in 1702 (and then again a year later), the fashionable crowd took notice. Although the Bath of the early 1700s remained smaller than other “bathing holes,” such as Tunbridge Wells, Daniel Defoe said, “We may say now it is the resort of the sound as well as the sick and a place that helps the indolent and the gay to commit the worst of murders–to kill time.”

Bath Abbey rose from a close and crowded resort town within the curve of the River Avon. One could find a crowded fish market at the East Gate on the river quay. Jacobean buildings sported gables and leaded windows. Sally Lunn’s house between Abbey Green and the Parade is said to be the city’s oldest house and is typical of the style of the Jacobean façade.

Sally Lunn's house

Unfortunately, the eighteenth century society in Bath was not what one might term “first tier.” The hot baths attracted the infirm and all those who thought to “cure” them. Hooligans and gamblers and those who practiced deceit polluted the city.

Beau Nash

It was Richard ‘Beau’ Nash, the Master of Ceremonies of the Corporation, who changed the city. Nash was named to the unpaid position after the incumbent had lost his life in a duel. He was a man known to possess an excessively high opinion of himself, but he was also seen a very practical gentleman.

“Almost immediately Nash forbade dueling and the wearing of swords in the city; persuaded the Corporation to repair the roads, to pave, clean and light the streets, to license the sedan-chair men and regulate their behavior. He engaged a good orchestra from London and was responsible not only for the building of a new Pump Room, but a large public room, Harrison’s Room, for dances as well as gaming on what is now Parade Gardens. He outlawed private gatherings and strictly controlled the public ones, and drew up a rigid list of rules to which everyone–and that included dukes, duchess, and even the Prince of Wales–had to conform. It might not have worked had not the age been one in which people were amused by such things: half the amusement of Bath was in obeying the ‘King,’ who was no doubt unaware that he himself was part of the fun. Besides, it worked. Bath was civilized and ‘different’–rather than a large, smart holiday camp.” (Winsor, Diana: Historic Bath)

John Wood

It was the architect John Wood who changed the face of Bath. His “Grand Design” for the city was executed in segments. He began with Queen Square, first leasing the land and then designing the square before sub-letting the sites for individual houses to builders who could design the interiors as they wished but who were compelled to follow Wood’s exterior design. Queen Square was completed within seven years. “It should be seen as the forecourt of a palace, the north dominating what was then a formal garden of parterre beds with espaliered limes and a low balustrade. Wood also designed the obelisk in the centre, raised by Beau Nash as a tribute to the Prince of Wales, with an inscription by the poet Alexander Pope.” (Winsor)

In the heart of Bath is Queen Square–a square of Georgian houses designed by John Wood the Elder in the early 18th century and paid for by Beau Nash. The square was designed to join the houses in unison and give the impression that together they formed one large mansion when viewed from the south facing side.

Queen Square

The focal point of Queen Square is the obelisk at the centre which commemorates the visit of Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Next, Wood built his “Royal Forum.” The Parades are a series of historic terraces built around 1741. The Royal Forum was to include North Parade, South Parade, Pierrepont, and Duke Streets, but was never completed. In the last year of his life, John Wood the Elder began the Grand Circus, but it was his son John Wood the Younger who brought the project to fruition. A Roman amphitheatre turned into domestic architecture, the Circus is made up of three segments and 33 houses, all of three stories, with Roman Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. The younger Wood linked the Circus to the Royal Crescent with his design of Brock Street. Between 1767 and 1775 the paving stones were laid and 30 houses rose to form the Royal Crescent. He also oversaw the completion of the Hot Bath and the Bath Assembly Rooms. These buildings contrasted with the more decorated and embellished style preferred by his father. Whilst John Wood the Elder’s Circus includes superimposed orders and a detailed frieze, the Royal Crescent – designed by his son, has a single order and plain decoration throughout.

North Parade

The site Wood chose for the Royal Crescent also demonstrates his interest in creating a “dialogue” between his buildings and their settings. Previous buildings and set pieces in Bath were all intensely urban and inward looking whereas the Royal Crescent was fully open and looked out on the open fields. This is not always apparent today, but when it was built in 1775, the crescent was situated right on the edge of the city with no nearby buildings to block residents’ views of the countryside.

The Royal Crescent is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found. Outside of Bath, Wood’s most notable works include Buckland House in Buckland, Oxfordshire, and General Infirmary in Salisbury.

The third man to change the face of Bath was the assistant to the postmistress, one Ralph Allen, a savvy businessman and philanthropist. Allen developed a powerful friend in the form of Marshall George Wade. Allen had shared with Wade the news of a large cache of arms stored in the area, and as Wade meant to squash the Jacobite insurgence in the west country, he took an immediate liking to Allen. Later, Allen married Wade’s daughter.

Allen developed several profitable postal routes, earning him high sums from the Postal System. He invested in the new Avon Navigation company, which was designed to make the river navigable to Bristol.

In 1726, Allen developed stone quarries on Combe Down. Allen built simple houses for his workers, which can still be seen as part of Combe Down village, and what is now the village recreation ground was once his quarry. Allen also built a railroad to carry the stone blocks to the river and canal wharf at Widcombe.

Earning a fabulous living, Allen built his home Prior Park, which was designed by Wood the Elder, to highlight the beauty and quality of Bath Stone. At Prior Park, Allen entertained writers, statesmen, poets, and actors. Henry Fielding’s character Squire Allworthy in Tom Jones is based on Ralph Allen.

"Almost anyone who was anyone visited Bath to take the waters and gossip in the Pump Room. It was a sparkling century, with aspects both sordid and brutal, but never lacking in vigour, wit and style. Bath was part of it all. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the gaming tables had long been forbidden and the old king buried more than forty years, the city had changed. Tobias Smollet wrote in 1771 that 'a very inconsiderable proportion of genteel people are lost in a mob of impudent plebians…'

Palladin Bridge at Prior Park

“Nevertheless, Bath was still elegant and fashionable, if a trifle less frothy and fizzy – more of a medium sherry than champagne. ‘Enchanted castles raised on hanging terraces,’ observed Smollett’s Lydia Melford. Its population had grown to more than 30,000; it had spread far beyond the old walls to incorporate surrounding villages and hills. It was now one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.” (Winsor)

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Meet Regina Jeffers:
Regina Jeffers is the author of several Austen-inspired novels, including Darcy’s Passions, Darcy’s Temptation, Vampire Darcy’s Desire, Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion, The Phantom of Pemberley, Christmas at Pemberley, The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy, Honor and Hope and The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy. She also writes Regency romances: The Scandal of Lady Eleanor, A Touch of Velvet, A Touch of Cashémere, A Touch of Grace, A Touch of Mercy, A Touch of Love and The First Wives’ Club. A Time Warner Star Teacher and Martha Holden Jennings Scholar, Jeffers often serves as a consultant in language arts and media literacy. Currently living outside Charlotte, North Carolina, she spends her time with her writing, gardening, and her adorable grandson.

‘Privy & Privation: A Handsome History of Health & Hygiene in Regaustenian* Times’ by Lady A~, Authoress of ‘The Bath Novels of Lady A~’ Collection.

*'Regaustenian'/ Lady A~'s novel term for Jane Austen's Regency England.






Does the ‘drawing-room’ trap of Jane Austen’s Regency world lure you, time and time again, to the romantically alluring? How often have you positively dribbled over a delicious adaptation of one of her novels, dreaming of an escape to the elegant harmony of some great, green country estate to be waited on by scores of underlings and pursued by creatures with Osbaldeston cravats and ‘ten thousand’ a year? It is so easy to escape to that fantasy, is it not (?)—and is very probably why we do it time and time again, ad nauseam. Being an Anglophile with a number of self-confessed quirks, I must admit to another, I don’t ever think of the romance without considering first the privations of the English Regency. What really lay below the surface of all of that harmony? Indeed, what was it really like to live, love and ‘lolleth’ in a time when proper indoor sanitation and electricity were as far-fetched as a mission to Mars? Although some elite, modernist households did have bathrooms and ‘water closets’, Jane Austen’s cousin, Eliza Austen (née Hancock), very likely being one of them, the ‘luxury of piped water’ was just that, pure luxury.

Photo by Mjroots

Although Albert Giblin’s ‘Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer’, a siphon-like discharging system, helped flush away waste woes rather woefully in 1819, the trend in homes, especially those in the country, was to have one’s ‘loo’ stashed under the bed in the form of a ‘potty’ (chamber pot) or, as in Jane’s Chawton Cottage, a ‘long-drop’ or privy with an (improved!) cesspit. The idea of suffering with any colonic disorder or, as Jane’s brother Edward so euphemistically called it, ‘Bowel complaints’—in such primitive conditions—quite defies decorum! I once spent some time with friends in their seaside cottage along the southern African coast and was treated to the joys of just such a ‘privy’—ooh! Ne’er again! Now swoop back 200 years and imagine what the poor servants had to face in their daily duties and what the area around the outhouses must have smelled like! Though they were often built a good deal away from the house, or had sweet-smelling herbs or shrubs planted thereabouts (e.g. lilac), there was little to ably mask the stench of these privies' overflowing cesspits. And when homes were privileged enough to have what resembled a ‘toilet’, the piping systems were often so ineffectual that even Elizabeth Bennet’s ‘country town indifference’ must have taken a dint from the resulting emanation of egregious fumes!

Personal hygiene was also quite a challenge and is evidenced, for example, in Jane Austen’s wincing remark about a common acquaintance’s very bad breath. From head to foot, what was one to do about being an appealing hero or heroine in the blood sport of Regency courtship? Dental hygiene must have been a topper amongst those concerns because how sweet could those stolen kisses really have been? Gentlemen, in particular, were known to overindulge in everything from spicy food to alcohol and the accumulation of such hedonism on their breath, combined with a popular indifference to full-body bathing, when coming to fraternize with the ladies, after dinner or supper, must have been dizzying indeed. Added to that, the odor of tobacco from their regular partaking in snuff (sniffing tobacco) might also have put the ladies in a swoon. In fact, if one had any fear of such malodorous maladies, it would have been better to hit on a dandy—a gentleman Georgian fashionista. Beau Brummel, a renowned dandy who once famously disparaged the Prince Regent over his rather ‘too-full’ figure, was generally acknowledged as encouraging his followers to a daily bathing regime and other practices of cleanliness. At least with a dandy like Beau the chances of a sweeter breath, ameliorated body odor, and the like, were greater on a scale of one to ‘phew’! Given that the dandy probably would have been at his toilette (the task of titivating one’s person) a good deal longer than any lady, perhaps, however, not as attractive in his raw appeal as the Regency ‘Buck’!

William Holland's Copper Bateau Bath

This brings me directly to the scene in the BBC’s ‘95 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Darcy arises out of a copper bateau bath as fresh as a dandy, but still quite manly, as he proceeds to keenly observe a playful Elizabeth outside (whilst drying off). I couldn’t help thinking how that scene must have been inserted deliberately to enhance the palpable sexual tension, but also to wipe away any concerns we modern lovers of Austen might have had over the personal hygiene of our fabulous hero. It almost goes to the quick of his character, doesn’t it? A metaphor to reveal all the superlative ‘spangles’ of Darcy’s progressive, heroic, noble nature.

That delectable diversion aside, the Bucks were a tawdry lot. Relieving oneself in a potty, placed right inside the dining room (behind a screen), following excessive bouts of after-dinner drinking, for instance, was just one of the less-than-hygienic practices for which the Bucks were infamous.

But this is not to say that, in the arena of hygiene, these fashionable hellraisers could not be very prettily rivaled by the ladies! Just as a combination of testosterone and primitive sanitation brought out the worst of robust male humanity, the gender of the fairer sex formed a rather lethal combination with similarly bad science. Indeed how was a lady to make herself attractive and feminine in trying to ameliorate the likes of rank body odor, rotten teeth and pock-marked skin? Unlike the lovely fresh gals portrayed in Austen’s novels, these distasteful realities, facing all Regency ladies, were prevalent detractors in the art of attraction.

Austen’s sister-in-law, Mary, for example, was badly scarred from a bout of smallpox; not an uncommon blight amongst the gentry who were just as susceptible to the disease as were their poorer counterparts. Thus, to combat what was quite naturally nasty, some rudimentary ‘innovations’ helped fill in the proverbial cracks for Mary, and gentleladies in general. In keeping with a trend to move away from the dastardly and startling effects of lead-paint powders to whiten the skin, foundations with natural and pearlized tints became the rage and palliative skin care was encouraged with the likes of ‘Gowlands’ (so memorably mentioned by Sir Walter in Persuasion). His reference too, to ‘rouge’, pink- (derived from safflower and alkanet) and red-tinted (derived from carmine) blushes, to spice up Lady Russell’s pasty colored cheeks, was also ‘trending’ in Bath at the time. And for the lips—‘Rose Lip Salve’ was a winner for plumping and adding color. Eyeliner, mascaras and eyebrow tint were becoming similarly fashionable, but were extremely garish thanks to their being invariably fashioned out of soot dust and oil—or even burnt cork! (At least this beat the rage of the Rococo era where rodent hide sufficed very well for false eyebrows!). All in all not much to beat a defacing brush with disease.

Napoleon Bonaparte's Toothbrush-The Wellcome Collection

But what then was a girl to do? Well, a lady’s ‘ring of confidence’ wasn’t anything much to fall back on, I assure you! Rotting teeth were dealt with upon an extraction-only basis, while tooth powders/gums, toothpicks and tooth-brushing (with unsanitary toothbrushes or sponges) were the only solutions to prolific gum disease; and chewing mint or comfits the only hope of alleviating the associated bad breath. Dentists of the English Regency were literally ‘smithys’ of the mouth and Jane Austen affirms this by declaring, quite candidly, that she would not have one look at her teeth ‘for a sixpence, or double it’!

Body odor was yet another ‘hum’-dinger in the Regency. Being a more problematic and sensitive condition for women, and because of the very ‘femininity’ that they strove to portray, sweaty armpits might have done very well for the sport-hungry Bucks, but the lasses wanted none of them. The solutions? Lemon juice was employed as an underarm deodorant, and, if there was a bath in the house, and one was lowest on the scale of genteel ladies present, that gal would find herself bathing in the (cold) dirty water used by several ladies before her; all while dressed in a linen tunic! Shampoos were comprised of rum, eggs and ‘rose water’, and when it came to the ‘menarche’ as Eliza Austen so delicately put it, sometimes a week’s confinement to one’s room with a ‘headache’ was the only solution to cope discreetly with monthly periods and the primitive, reusable ‘napkins’ (resembling rags) provided to stem them!

In retrospect, if any of we spoiled, self-confessed, modern 'Georgians' were to properly recapture the decided lack of hygiene of our Regency predecessors, the experience would, in Jane-speak, be nothing less than 'amazing horrid' (as evidenced in the marvelous Regency House Party)! So the next time you unfurl those delicious pages of Austen's most sparkling novel, you might dare to conjecture what Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy might really have looked and smelled like. Pride and Prejudice—zombies?

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