Really! Hardly anyone in the Regency cared about minutes. Nor had anyone, anywhere, cared about these small measurements of time, throughout all of time, until just a few short years after the death of George IV, the erstwhile Prince Regent. Since then, nearly everyone pays attention to the minutes.

A brief summary of the measurement of time, what that meant for denizens of the Regency, and when and why the minute became important.

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Strangely enough, there were two calendars in use across the globe during the decade of the Regency. Though most of the world had adopted the Gregorian calendar, there were still some countries, Russia included, which had refused to give up the Julian calendar. Therefore, 1 January 1815 in London was 20 December 1814 in Moscow, as there was a difference of twelve days between the two calendars during the years of the Regency. The lack of a single calendar was to have disastrous results for the allies in at least one battle of the Napoleonic wars.

The Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar, how they differed, when they were adopted, and how Napoleon turned this discrepancy to his advantage ...

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During my research into Regency snuff practices and accoutrements, I discovered that there are a number of specifically Scottish aspects to snuffing. As there are many people who are fascinated by all things Scottish, I thought it would be of interest to all of them, and perhaps others, to corral all of the information surrounding the appurtenances of Scottish snuffing into one article.

The Scottish perspective of snuffing ...

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Snuff is another commodity to which I was introduced by the historical novels of Georgette Heyer. On first reading, it was not clear to me from the context of the story just what snuff was. Once again, I had resort to the nearest dictionary, where I discovered it was a form of tobacco. It was not until many years later that I learned snuff had a long and storied history and that it is still used by many people, even today.

For more than a century, snuff was the luxury tobacco of choice for noblemen, and women, across Europe. Yet by the death of George IV, an avid snuff-taker, this powdered form of tobacco was falling out of favor. Within twenty years of his passing, snuff consumption had dwindled to a trickle and had lost its fashionable status among the elite. The Regency was the end of what might be called the "Golden Age of Snuff."

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Last week, I wrote about the history of the development of the friction match in the years surrounding the Regency. If you have read that article, you will remember that there were a few innovative, expensive and rather dangerous match types available during those years. With the exception of a few wealthy and adventurous early adopters, these experimental matches were not widely used during the Regency. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the friction match was in general circulation.

But fire was necessary to everyone, as it was the source of both light and heat. So how did most people manage fire during the Regency?

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Literally.    Matches as we know them were not available during the years of the Regency since they had not yet been invented. Fire was not yet truly portable during the decade of the Regency, though it would move in that direction by the end of the reign of George IV. But matches would not become the inexpensive and ubiquitous fire source we now take for granted until the reign of his niece, Queen Victoria.

And yet, "matches" had been in existence since the early Middle Ages. A form of match was developed in China in 577AD by the ladies of a besieged court in need of fire for cooking. By the fourteenth century, the "match" was known in Europe, but it was rather more like what we know as a wick or a fuse. It was a chemically treated cord which burned slowly, but continuously and could be used to ignite the touch-hole of a cannon or a camp fire. Wooden splints called spunks or "matches," dipped in brimstone were one of the usual contents of the tinderbox. But none of these "matches" are comparable to the matches we use today, more precisely designated the "friction match."

So, when and where was the friction match invented and when did it come into common use?

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And if they aren't dead, where are they?

Who are "they?"

"They" are the figures of history with which writers of historical fiction sometimes pepper their novels. Over the years I have read any number of historical novels in which various personages of the time in which the story is set make an appearance. Or, sometimes these personages are referred to by the fictional characters in the stories without making a personal appearance. And entirely too often, the authors of these stories treat these once-real-life personages in much the same way that many of us today treat "has-been" celebrities.

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