Georgette Heyer's Regency World (11 page)

When Clementina Drummond married one of the minor dandies, Peter Robert Burrell, he appended his wife’s surname to his own and she became Mrs Drummond-Burrell. As heiress to the great Drummond banking fortune, Clementina Drummond-Burrell was renowned for her haughtiness and for keeping her distance from all but the most socially acceptable. She was the most difficult of all the patronesses to please, with an icy demeanour that tended to thaw only in the company of other strait-laced women (such as Eugenia Wraxton of
The Grand Sophy
).

Countess Lieven was born Dorothea Christorovna Benckendorff in Riga and, at fifteen, married Lieutenant-General Count Christopher Andreievitch Lieven who became Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James. Countess Lieven was a determined woman, clever, haughty and arrogant, and she counted among her friends some of the great political leaders of the day including the Duke of Wellington, George Canning and Earl Grey. Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy in
The Grand Sophy
was a friend of the Countess, calling her the ‘great
intriguante
’ and flirting with her whenever he was in London. A strong sense of her own importance gave her a decided air of superiority and she was ruthless in excluding from the hallowed halls of Almack’s any who did not meet her approval. It was Countess Lieven who introduced the waltz to Almack’s, most probably in 1813.

Although she was a great-niece of George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, Princess Esterhazy’s standing in London society came more from her husband’s role as Austrian Ambassador to the Court of St James and her own powerful position as a patroness of Almack’s than it did from her royal connections. A pretty woman, she was short and plump but with an animated personality, an occasional propensity for spite, a penchant for etiquette and a disdain of social climbers. It was Princess Esterhazy who angered Judith Taverner in
Regency Buck
with her mocking look and untimely laughter, and it was to the Princess that Mr Beaumaris applied for permission to ask Arabella to dance the waltz with him in
Arabella
.

The Best Circles

Often referred to as the Upper Ten Thousand, the
ton
, the
Beau Monde
, or Polite Society, those in the best circles lived a privileged and indulgent life. Birth and family were vital for social acceptance, although close connections and approval by those already in the upper echelons could pave the way for a few in society who were neither well-born nor well-heeled but whose wit or elegance set them apart. Most people in society came from the ranks of the landed aristocrats. Those of royal blood, members of the great houses, those of ancient lineage—with or without a title—and members of well-born families, could all take their place in the elite inner circle.

Society could be a ruthless arbiter of who was in and who was out, and its rules varied enormously depending on an erring individual’s status, wealth and family connections. A double standard was usually applied wherever royalty or the upper echelons of the aristocracy were concerned. To have an illegitimate child or an adulterous relationship in the ranks of the gentry or the middle and lower classes was considered scandalous behaviour and usually resulted in the ostracism of the offender by both friends and family, as poor Ruth Wimborne discovered in
Friday’s Child
. In the upper classes, however, such conduct, while giving rise to gossip and creating a degree of scandal, was frequently overlooked. The Prince Regent himself had numerous affairs, contracted an illegal marriage and treated his wife and daughter with rough disdain. His brother, the Duke of Clarence, was renowned for his ten illegitimate children but the FitzClarences, as they were known, were received everywhere, whereas illegitimacy below the rank of earl generally excluded an individual from the best circles. Lady Oxford, Lady Melbourne and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, among others of the nobility, all had affairs, produced illegitimate offspring or ran up huge gambling debts without serious consequence in terms of their social standing.

Individuals could find themselves excluded from the polite world, however, if their social position was not high enough to grant them immunity or if their conduct was deemed so scandalous as to put them beyond the social pale. Even women of the
ton
could find themselves ostracised if they cuckolded their husband by running off with another man—particularly if their lover was of a lower social standing. In
The Quiet Gentleman
, the first wife of the sixth Earl of St Erth had her name obliterated from the family records after she ran away with a well-known libertine. A man could be excluded from society for dishonourable behaviour such as failure to pay his gaming debts or other debts of honour, cheating at cards, attacking an unarmed opponent, improper conduct in a duel, or for running off with a married woman. The irrepressible Wilfred Steane in
Charity Girl
was forced to flee England when it was discovered he had been cheating at cards, and Sir Montagu Revesby in
Friday’s Child
was threatened with public exposure after he stepped over the line. Bankruptcy, the loss of one’s estates, criminal activities, murder and treason were all guaranteed to see a person permanently excluded from the
ton
.

Depending on the offence, people who committed certain social solecisms could find themselves gradually frozen out of society. Being refused the essential vouchers to Almack’s, finding themselves without an invitation to particular events, or being the recipients of the ‘cut direct’ were sure signs of social transgression. The cut direct was generally used sparingly as it was a powerful weapon in the social armoury, always done in public and always after making eye contact with the person to be cut, at which point the person making the cut would slowly and deliberately turn his or her head away. Phoebe Marlow in
Sylvester
felt the effects of society’s displeasure in this way, when she was suspected of having written a novel satirising several influential members of the
ton
. Excluding social transgressors by deliberately refusing to speak or associate with them was a socially devastating way of dealing with those who had crossed the social bounds. Beau Brummell was probably unique in maintaining his position in society even after receiving the cut direct from the Prince Regent. In the end it was Brummell’s gambling debts and not the Regent’s displeasure that forced him into exile in Calais.

Rules and Etiquette

Rules and etiquette were particularly prevalent among the upper classes with some kind of protocol laid down for every social situation. Very few of these rules were written down, however, and variations could apply depending on the circumstance. The most rigid protocol was applied at Almack’s club under the beady eye of its patronesses. Attendees had to enter the rooms before eleven o’clock or be barred from the door. Formal evening dress was essential: the ladies in their most beautiful gowns and jewels and the men in long tail-coats, white cravats, knee-breeches and stockings, and carrying a chapeau-bras. As Mrs Scattergood sternly told Perry in
Regency Buck
, under no circumstances were men to be admitted wearing ordinary breeches, trousers or pantaloons. Once the waltz was introduced into the clubrooms a young lady could only participate in it with the patronesses’ approval and on their presenting her with a suitable partner.

In society there were a great many other rules and points of etiquette which were understood and generally observed. In addition to the more deep-seated social structures that dictated the mating game, the choice of spouse and the conduct of married couples, many of the rules governed the behaviour between men and women and between the various ranks in the social hierarchy.

• Social connections were usually formed through a series of meetings, usually beginning with morning calls to the homes of those in fashionable society.
  
• Morning calls were generally undertaken in the afternoon.
  
• A morning call did not usually exceed half an hour.
  
• In London, a woman paid morning calls to her social equals or inferiors but not to her social superiors until they had called on her or left a card.
  
• A person new to the city or country area waited for calls of ceremony to be made to them by those already established before they made a call of their own.
  
• In the country it was acceptable for a man to make a call or leave a card with someone of higher social standing if they were new to the neighbourhood.
  
• A gentleman calling on a family asked for the mistress of the house if the visit was a social one, and the master if it was a business call.
  
• A card was left if the lady of the house was indisposed or not at home. It was acceptable for a gentleman to call on a daughter of the house if she were well above marriageable age or a long-standing friend.
  
• Callers were received by men in their business room or library, by women in the morning room or in their drawing-room.
  
• A lady, either married or single, did not call at a man’s lodging.
  
• A lady was permitted to drive her own carriage, but only about the town attended by a groom, or by herself on the family estate.
  
• A lady never drove on the open road or engaged in any kind of public contest or race.
  
• It was acceptable to go out riding or driving with a man as long as a groom or other chaperone was in attendance.
  
• It was acceptable to go out driving or riding with a man without a chaperone if he was a relative or close family friend.
  
• A lady could ride a horse and even hunt as long as she was correctly attired and rode side-saddle.
  
• Galloping in Hyde Park was prohibited.
  
• During the season it was essential to be seen in Hyde Park during the promenade hour of 5.00 to 6.00 p.m.
  
• Servants and social inferiors were always kept at a proper distance but without arrogance, pride or aloofness.
  
• Servants were spoken to with exactly the right degree of civility and never with the casual informality with which a person would speak to an equal.
  
• Neither a lady nor a gentleman discussed private business in the presence of servants.
  
• Servants were generally ignored at mealtimes.
  
• It was essential to dress for dinner.
  
• When going in to dinner, the man of the house always escorted the highest-ranking lady present. The remaining dinner guests also paired up and entered the dining room in order of rank.
  
• Dinner guests were seated according to rank, with the highest-ranking lady sitting on the right-hand side of the host, who always sat at the head of the table.
  
• When dining informally it was acceptable to talk across or round the table.
  
• At a formal dinner one did not talk across the dinner table but confined conversation to those on one’s left and right.
  
• Ladies were expected to retire to the withdrawing room after dinner, leaving the men to their port and their ‘male’ talk.
  
• A hostess should never give the signal to rise from the table until everyone at the table had finished.
  
• It was acceptable to offer one’s snuff-box to the company but not to ask for a pinch of snuff from anyone else.
  
• Overt displays of emotion were generally considered ill-bred.
  
• Laughter was usually moderated in polite company, particularly among women.
  
• Men could give themselves up to unrestrained mirth, provided they were in the company of other men or among women of low repute.
  
• Well-bred persons controlled their features, their physical bodies and their speech when in company.
  
• A lady always spoke, sat and moved with elegance and propriety.
  
• A bow or curtsy was always made when meeting or speaking to royalty.
  
• Children always bowed or curtsied on meeting their parents for the first time each day.
  
• A bow or curtsy was executed according to the status and relationship of the person encountered and with regard to the particular circumstance.
  
• A bow was made on entering or leaving a room, at the beginning and end of a dance, and on encountering any person one wished to acknowledge.
  
• Debutantes did not stand up for more than two consecutive dances with the same partner.
  
• Only those young ladies who were ‘out’ danced the waltz and then only with an acceptable partner, usually someone she already knew, or to whom she had been formally introduced.
  
• Full mourning dress was worn for an appropriate period, which varied depending on the mourner’s relationship to the deceased. A person did not go into society while in full mourning. Half mourning (usually grey or lilac) could be worn after an acceptable period of mourning had been observed and the mourner could choose to attend social functions but not fully participate in them.
  

Every well-born lady and gentleman also knew the unwritten rules and understood the social niceties that set them apart from the less ‘cultured’ masses. These were often the tiny details and nuances of socially acceptable behaviour that were instilled from an early age and which were often only discussed in private.