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| Friday, February 26, 2010 | |
With jealousy! Because he did not write it.
Initially published anonymously in the last year of the Regency, this racy novel telling the tales of a young Greek's adventurous travels through the Levant was a runaway best seller and remained in print for thirty years. Yet few today even know of its existence. It was originally attributed to Lord Byron, but in the second edition, published the following year, the shy yet cultured man who wrote it admitted his authorship. And practically no one believed him.
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Which is not to say that the celestial body we know today as Uranus had not been discovered by 1811. In point of fact it had, thirty years before the Prince of Wales became Regent, by a German-born composer working as the director of the orchestra of Bath, England. But this new planet was not called Uranus in Regency England, though that name, among others, was used on the Continent.
The seventh planet, its name(s) and its discoverer ...
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There is no doubt that Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, was in command of the allied army during that gruelingly hellish day. But at that time, he had yet to be dubbed the "Iron Duke." In fact, that epithet was given to him many years later, long after the Regency was over.
There are a number different stories about how the Iron Duke acquired his sobriquet. In addition, there were other noble military men who had been called Iron Duke, long before Wellington was born.
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Posted on 01/01/10 at 07:01:00 by Kathryn Kane
Category: On-Dits
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Wellington's officers, however, more frequently referred to him as "The Beau," because he was, as they would say during the Regency, very "nice" in his dress. He was also fond of the ladies, which some believe accounted for this nickname. However, during the Regency, the appellation “Beau” was more commonly used for those who dressed well than for those who flirted well.
Wellington may have taken a lesson from Admiral Lord Nelson, because he seldom wore a uniform, and never in battle. He made no easy target of himself for any enemy sniper. He typically wore a dark blue coat and grey or buff riding breeches, except when it was necessary that he wear his dress uniform. And that was usually only on state occasions.
You are right about "Old Nosey." That nickname was used for Wellington by many of his troops, some times in admiration, but just as often in exasperation, since he was a stickler for order.
After Wellington was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Wellesley, his officers sometimes referred to him as "The Peer."
Very interesting given my interest in the Sharpe series. I'll have to re-read them at some point to see if he uses that term for the Duke. I know Cornwell did use Old Nosey every so often in the books though. So that at least seems correct.
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| Friday, December 11, 2009 | |
Perhaps abandoned is a more appropriate description of the fate of this live-saving practice by the medical community in the early years of the Regency.
Surely I must be mistaken, as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, that which the English call mouth-to-mouth ventilation, was not known until the mid-twentieth century? Sadly, there is no mistake. How this happened ...
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| Friday, November 20, 2009 | |
Last week I wrote about Chinese paper-hangings in the Regency, and mentioned that one set of these very expensive papers may have had special significance in the life of a young girl. In 1806, the Prince of Wales made a gift of a full set of Chinese paper-hangings to the mother of a woman who would later become his mistress. However, the facts seem to suggest this gift was actually made in an effort to gain custody of a child in order to please his current inamorata.
How a set of Chinese paper-hangings may have been an attempt to sway the choice of who had custody of the little girl who gave the Prince his nickname ...
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Truth or fiction? Essentially, true. Though mathematics confounded him and he was by no stretch of the imagination a computer programmer himself, Lord Byron was the father of the very first computer programmer, his daughter, Augusta Ada Byron.
Impossible? Computers are a twentieth-century invention, right? Not so.
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The Hero of Trafalgar also has a relationship of sorts to Jane Eyre, Heathcliffe and Kathy, and Agnes Grey. Yes, those characters inhabit novels which were written by three talented sisters decades after the death of Admiral Nelson in October of 1805. He did not know the sisters, in fact they were all born more than ten years after his death. And yet, thanks to Charlotte, Emily and Anne, the name of Nelson's favorite title lives on, even if it has lost his association with him.
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Wellington may have taken a lesson from Admiral Lord Nelson, because he seldom wore a uniform, and never in battle. He made no easy target of himself for any enemy sniper. He typically wore a dark blue coat and grey or buff riding breeches, except when it was necessary that he wear his dress uniform. And that was usually only on state occasions.