As an avid reader of Regency romances and a life-long student of history, I find Google Book Search to be an enormous electronic literary cookie jar. It is an important resource for both my leisure reading and my ongoing research.

At Google Book Search I can search or browse literally millions of books and magazines on any topic under the sun. I can read excerpts of many of these books and magazines. In some cases I can read the entire book. With a Google account, I can also create my own personal library of these digitized publications. If you have not yet investigated Google Book Search, you may find it is great resource for you, too.

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The Glass Armonica.   Franklin always said that of all of his many inventions, this musical instrument, which could produce the pure dulcet tones of an angelic choir, was his very favorite. He got the idea while in London, as a representative of the Pennsylvania Legislature to Parliament in the late 1750s. He attended a concert at which music was played on a set of water-tuned wine glasses. He was captivated by the sound, but having an inventive turn of mind, he sought a more efficient and convenient method by which to produce it

Franklin introduced his invention in England in 1762, less than two years after George III had become king. Though he had originally dubbed it the "glassychord," he later changed the name of this instrument to the "glass armonica." In England it was also known as the "glass harp" or "musical glasses." Like Franklin himself, this instrument was very well received and it is estimated that more than four hundred musical works were composed for it. Over the course of the next seventy years at least five thousand instruments were constructed and played throughout Europe and America. Yet, by the death of George IV, it had almost completely disappeared from the musical scene.

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In the past few weeks I have happened upon several online book reviews and blog posts by readers of historical novels. I was very surprised to read some of them taking exception to the efforts of the authors of the novels which they had read to be historically accurate. Or, they wrote that it was not important to them that the historical points in the novels be factual. As you might imagine, if you have read even a few of my Redingote articles, I was appalled by such attitudes. If the historical setting is not authentic, in my opinion it is no longer an historical novel, it is merely a costume fantasy, essentially modern characters dressed up in period clothing and prancing about period buildings.

These online reviewers complained about the lack of modern conveniences, the unfamiliar language and the restrictive social attitudes of the times in which the novels were set. To me those are the things which make historical novels so appealing. Why else would one read a novel with an historic setting if not to immerse oneself in that milieu?

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"Epergne."   Like "redingote," for me it is a "Georgette Heyer word," since I first encountered it in the pages of one of her novels, though that was so long ago I cannot remember which one. I knew from the context that it was the centerpiece of a dining table. But of what was it made, how big was it, how was it shaped, what was its purpose? If you wanted to know things like that, Heyer left it up to you to figure them out for yourself. Of course, a standard dictionary was not much help in that effort, as it provided essentially the same information I was able to glean from the context of the passage in the novel.

Years later, while a student of the decorative arts, I finally did take the time to investigate the epergne. Only to discover that the epergne was something different in different countries and at different times. Here I shall outline the evolution of the epergne in England, with a focus on the Regency Epergne. You may then judge for yourself whether the epergne you encounter in the next Regency novel you read is accurately depicted.

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