Cerise DeLand's Blog, page 7
August 4, 2023
Paris during the Regency: from the Terror to the Second Restoration (Part I: Early 18th century)
Cerise at Pont Alexandre, 2023Paris of today is a gorgeous combination of creative civic planning, geography and historical eloquence. To visit is to imbibe the freshness of fine architecture mixed with the greenery so vital to a thriving city. To visit also imbues one with the devotion so many had to maintaining the necessities to keep millions of people fed, clothed, moving, working and living well.
It was not always so.
The transformation of Paris from a medieval hub of civilization into a metropolis of beauty and renown occurred over centuries. Sometimes that happened in spurts; others over decades. Sometimes it happened with prudent planning; others by accident.
Major changes in the City began as Paris became the hub of economic activity during the reign of Louis XIV. That monarch who fought wars nearly incessantly also brought to Paris diplomats from other countries, cultural tastes that he dictated and decrees about the looks of buildings.
First, to understand the changes to come, we must look at the geography of Paris before the Revolution. Here is an excellent map of the city as it was in 1739. This map was commissioned by the chief of the municipality of Paris, Michel-Etienne Turgot and drawn by surveyor Louis Bretez.
Drawn with all buildings to scale, it presents the city toward the southeast. It has marvelous detail. Do enlarge this section to see that. You can see different types of housing and commerce. This map does not show all of the arrondissements, or departments of modern day Paris, as it corresponds roughly to the first 11 arrondissements of the City, not the current 18.
For more: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turgot_map_of_Paris
Here is a small portion of the map which shows the Louvre as it was in 1739. (Kyoto University Library)
Do return as I continue this series addressing all of the following aspects of city growth and dynamics, including:
August 2, 2023
Today's bon bon: You look for a house where your hero lives...and where his heroine will first meet him and you discover that...
You look for a house where your hero lives...and where his heroine will first meet him and you discover that the house you choose from a map of London because you "feel" that it is one you've seen, and you discover the house once belonged to someone famous.Very famous!
Like Caroline Norton! She of the notoriety of having been accused by her husband of a liaison with Lord Melbourne and subsequently losing rights to her children. However, she did protest by writing treatises and books that argued for the rights of women. She lived here at No. 3 Chesterfield Street, Mayfair.
It is a small world! Intriguing, always.
July 31, 2023
Today's bon bon: Amazing what you find when you look for your heroine's family's home in Paris! This!
Among the many ah-ha moments, I love when research brings me something I can smile about...and visit!
Here is a picture of Daisy Molyneaux's family home in the 1st Arrondisment of Paris. The Hotel de Toulouse, owned by her parents in the 1780s, is a building that still stands. As I describe in BECAUSE OF YOU, this home was built by her great grand father who was an illegitimate son of Louis XV.During the REVOLUTION, houses like this were seized by the Committee in Paris as national property. A few years later, Napoleon came to power and took this building and gave it to the Banquet de France.
And there it stands today!
July 29, 2023
Today's bon bon: Come see my heroine's chateau in BECAUSE OF YOU in the Loire Valley! (My pictures)
My heroine's home in France is a gorgeous place. I set it in the Normandy region, near Rouen. I had the pleasure of going there last year and took pictures galore. I've also traveled extensively in the Loire valley where many famous chateaux dot the river. I have combined many of the features from various chateaux to create Marguerite Molyneaux's family home!
Here are a few for you. Do enlarge to enjoy. (They are mine so they are copyrighted material. Please do not share the pictures, only the blog!)
This is really Azay-le-Rideau in the Loire valley
Me, of course, in front of the great kitchen fireplace in Chenonceau in the Loire valley
The collection of copper cookware, Chenonceau, the kitchen
The great dining room, Azay-le-Rideau
The grand parlor, Azay-le-Rideau
Diane's bedroom, Chenonceau
July 24, 2023
Today's Bon Bon: How fast can you run on a horse in 1815 from Rouen south, then over to Honfleur? All to escape mobs and Napoleon!
How fast can you fly on a horse in 1815 from Rouen south, then over to Honfleur? All to escape mobs and Napoleon!
When the little general escaped Elba February 26 1815, so many were shocked that he could. But he did and he went quickly, gaining support from old army veterans and active ones too as well as with the people. Tired of the new King Louis XVIII already, the French were happy to welcome Napoleon back.
Or at least at first they were.
In my newest BECAUSE OF YOU, my heroine and hero learn of Napoleon's march north to Paris six days later than his landing in Cannes. Why? Well, no tv or telephones then, you see! Word had to travel via runners.
And when it did, those like Daisy Molyneaux Ruxton and her English husband, Daniel Ruxton, must run of their lives.
Going only at night to escape detection, and going in disguise, they must travel an unknown road. They do it for three nights to finally arrive in Honfleur and book passage home to England!
And this is their route!
July 5, 2023
The price of that Chip hat! Regency style!
One of our readers asked this morning to provide clarity on the price of a chip hat during Regency period.
Here is a jpeg of the page in ENGLISH WOMENS' CLOTHING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY C. W. Cunningham, page 50.
The pricing is for a hat made in approximately 1817.
Chip could be plaited or woven just like straw but was sturdier, less flexible. Once formed into a sort of basket in whatever shape was currently fashionable, it could be bleached or colored, then trimmed as desired.
Here are a few examples:
LADY'S CHIP STRAW RIDING HAT, AMERICAN, 1810-1820
1814 Walking outfit, Straw hat.Ackermanns'
Pricing of Chip hats, 18-20 s.Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 11.10.1817
May 5, 2023
Today's bon bon: Selling a cotton mill in the Regency period was complex business!
Selling a cotton mile in the Regency period was complex business! What was included in the sale? What would a buyer wish for?
How easy was it to buy such a complex industrial site?
Often adverts tell the tale.
In IF I LOVED YOU, Viscount Bellamy considers it!
Here is one such advert, August 1, 1815. Note all the structures, where it is sold, when and how. By Auction!
It conveys with all kinds of amenities with plots of land, liberties privileges, advances and notices of the ground ent to be paid for a whopping 999 years!
Do enlarge to read better.
May 3, 2023
Today's bon bon: What does your hero look like?
Here he is first in a painting done slightly later than the Regency period of the story. Yet to me he has the aura of Bellamy.
Now here he is in a photograph I found recently.
What do you think of either?
Who appeals to you more?
April 30, 2023
Today's bon bon: How rich is your Regency beau???? Or...is money the root of all proposals?
That leading statement that he had “ten thousand a year” sounds rich…but it’s enlightening to learn the facts.To help you savor the possibilities of stepping into Lizzie’s shoes, I found a wonderful website that translates previous years’ British pounds into current British pounds. So for your titilation, here’s a sample of the real cost of living for Mr. Darcy and his bride. I’ve added to the cost of a hired carriage ride and the cost of paying his servants’ salaries. (Yes, all costs are those I took from original sources of the period, give or take a few years on the publication date of Jane’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE which is 1813.)
(Do enlarge the two excerpts from an 1825 book on Household governance!)A London carriage ride, hired hackney, 1-2 miles(ex: Charing Cross to Hyde Park Corner) 1-2 poundsLadies hat, chip straw 18 poundsLace trim, 6 shillings per yardGown: Fine India Muslin, white, 13 per yard* 39-65 pounds(3-5 needed for full length dress)*Sewing extra(Alternate fabric: chintz 7-8 pounds per yard)Dinner party, food and wine, for 16-20 20 poundsDinner for family of 4, 3-4 courses 5 poundsTo educate (a daughter) at boarding school, includingTransportation to, from 43 per yearRecommended expenditure for running complete household:This from one current expert in the period...and the category that breaks the bank. Watch and see!33% of all income should go to household expenses 330020% to servants’ salaries, equipage (i.e. horse, carriage) 2000TOTAL: 5300
So, let’s do the math!Darcy has income of 10,000 pounds a year.To run his country home, he spends 55% a year of 10,000 = 5300. poundsHe gives one dinner party a month x 12 = 240.1 ball for 100 = (equivalent of 5 dinners) = 200Total entertainment of others per year = 440.5 new dresses for his wife, Lizzie = 65 x 5= 3255 new hats for Lizzie, 18 x 5= 90Total for Lizzie: 415.What remains for him to expense:· Clothing for himself, rest of family· Education for children· Books, entertainment, etc.· His club dues, social responsibilities· Etc.And of course, the total to run his London townhouse is not listed here. That amount would be approximate to that of running his country estate. So add another 5300 pounds to his annual expenses as a gentleman.And by that rule of thumb alone, he would already be in debt by several thousand pounds.And what does 10,000 pounds in 1813 equal in British pounds today?638,000 poundsConverting that into American dollars at today’s inflation rate, we get$1,329,000.90Darcy is a millionaire. But if he’s running two households, I hate to say this, he’s in financial trouble.April 28, 2023
Today's bon bon: ALERT! Do not help this man find this lady!
Dear Editor!I write to you today, Tattler, in search of the woman I need to take back to my home. She has escaped me. Having written to that other nefarious newspaper that publishes adverts for those who wish to find spouses, she has gone to London and become the lover of a fellow who is not worthy of her.
I appeal to you to help me find her. He has taken her away, supposedly to marry her.
But I will not care. Married or not. Ruined by him or not, I will have her back. She is mine. Has always been mine. I care not that she resembles my dead wife. She is lovelier than that one and my wife knew it. Knew I craved this one.
If you hear from her, Tattler, you must write to me. I track her now. Papers in London and Brighton papers say the couple has gone to Brighton.
I will take her from him when they least expect me. I will show her that she is meant for me alone. No matter what she thinks.
MATRIMONY! #1. IF I LOVED YOU
Love does not advertise. Love counts no wrongs.
But when a young woman needs to escape, she’ll take an ad to find a man she can adore.
Verity Carr wants a new life in a new town far from her old home—and the vile threat to her body and soul. She comes from a fine family, has a good education and a bold ambition to become a portrait artist. She’s ready to live her life with a man who will value her. A husband she can can respect—and in time, hopefully love. Yet valiant though she is, she questions if she can escape her past and one who will not let her go.
Can a gentleman to whom great wrong was done, build a new life with a true wife and leave the past behind?
Miles St.John Armstrong never should have wed his first wife. He vows to select a new one with logic and careful investigation—via advertisement. The young lady he selects is Verity Carr who is no ordinary woman. She has charm, wit and a beauty that sears his soul. No wonder theirs is a relationship built quickly on admiration and trust. No wonder their marriage becomes one built of mutual mad passion.
But devoted as they are, their past comes to call.
And it asks of them the ultimate question: Can their love withstand the tempest and survive the terror?
AUTHOR Cerise DeLand invites you to read her newest in a dramatically different romantic suspense inspired by the adverts to a spouse in Regency period!
Excerpt, IF I LOVED YOU. Copyright, 2023, Cerise DeLand.
Miles had not known her for more than a few hours, but he’d seen her shock over such a sizable bequest. Certainly he could revel in the good fortune of anyone. But if she had suspicions about who had given her such a large inheritance and did not wish to discuss it with him, he could understand that, too. But her new-found gain, enough to support her at current standards in meager means for her lifetime, could lead her to break their agreement to marry. The possibility of losing her created an ache in his heart. A place he’d never expected to feel anything at all ever again.
As they entered the Grosvenor Gate and passed the park wall, she strode more slowly and breathed more deeply. They took a turn on the path south and one glance at her told him she was more at ease.
“I hate to spoil your enjoyment,” he said, “but I think we should not walk here much longer. The shadows grow deeper.”
“You are right, of course.” She had her hands in her coat pockets as she stopped and spun toward him. “You have been very good to me today.”
He raised a hand, his smile wry. “No more gratitude, please. I am quite thanked.”
She stopped, faced him and tipped her head, suddenly the coquette, though to him, she did not seem to have planned the spontaneity of such an attitude. She was without guile—and he valued that unexpected characteristic more than he could ever have imagined.
“You are a darling man,” she said with an honesty that emphasized her simplicity and lack of artifice.
“You are kind to think so.” He remembered a few instances when the moniker he deserved was the opposite. Savage. Insane. Gullible. All came to mind in a rush of bile.
She put her hands to his and held tightly. “Do you still want to marry a woman you barely know?”
“I’d like to marry you, if you’ll have me.”
She shook her head as if the whole idea were impossible. “Why? Why?”
“I want a wife. A friend. I am lonely. You seem a gentle soul. I think we would do well together.”
“I cannot imagine that you have not met a thousand young ladies you know better than me who would not make you a friend and wife because they do know you better.”
But they knew his past, too. His wife. “I would never find happiness with any I’ve met. They see me as the mill owner, a cit with a new title, an upstart viscount, too rich for his title. They also see me as a widower.” Not knowing I am more aggrieved than grieving.
She stood immobile, only her large eyes searching his for what he would not reveal. “Did you love her?”
“When I married her, yes.”
“And do you miss her?”
“No.”
She nodded. “I see. Then your loneliness comes not from her lack.”
“No. It does not.”
She gulped. “Do you want children?”
He blinked and peered up at the deep blue clouds scudding across a darker moonlit sky. “I have not wished for that in many years. But now,” he said as he met her frank gaze, “I believe I would.”
She smiled as if he’d just given her the keys to the kingdom. “I would, too.”
He stepped closer to her, dropped her hands and cupped her shoulders. Her luscious curves fit into the planes of his suddenly very needy self. “Might we proceed to getting them?”
She arched her neck and let her eyes dance into his. “First we must be wed.”
“Will day after tomorrow do?”
“Quite well,” she said on a delighted laugh. “And then we must become better friends.”
He sent his fingers up into the heavy coil of hair at her nape. Her skin was as soft as charmeuse and her hair smelled of lavender. She’d been in his arms often today and her need had been great. Now, he would test to see if she might come for a new and startling reason. Might she come because she could want him? Want him as a man? As her lover?
She pulled back a little, a question on her plump lips. “Friends kiss.”
“They do,” he said with a smile that grew from a friend’s to a ravenous man’s. “Shall we?”
She studied his mouth and swallowed hard. “Oh, yes. From the moment I heard your voice on the Great North Road, I have wanted to know how you taste.”
“Well, then,” he said as he loomed over her lips, “we must not delay.”
She circled her arms around his shoulders and pushed up on her toes. “Please don’t.”
The temptation to take her with all the ardor he bore her raged through him. He could not devour her like a satyr. He was a man who had foresworn passion and love. A man of reason and temperance. But then…
She put her lips to his, a brush of warm temptation. The sensation of her desire met the one of his quest as if two stars collided in the dark of night. Blinded by it, he groaned and caught her up. Her mouth was lush, and as his tongue invaded, he knew how hot her body was. How sweet. He swept the inside of her mouth and felt her complete surrender. This was what he’d craved. A woman who might love him.
He pulled away, breathless, cupping her cheek. “Darling, we must stop.”
In the shadows of the soft spring evening, she tipped her head and smiled at him. “You’ll kiss me again?”
“As often as you wish.”
There again was that sweet woman who drew him to her with the artless look of enchantment. “Must I tell you each time?”
“No,” he said on a laugh and hugged her close, then set her from him. “Only look at me like that, my darling, and I am yours.”
“As I am forever yours,” she said and put her arm in his to turn and walk home.
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