Early Saturday Morning in Colonial Williamsburg: The Governor's Palace

Susan reporting:

I'm heading home today, where I hear I'll find the same mess of downed power lines and no internet that Loretta has, all caused by that early snowstorm. But before I go, I'll leave you with one last picture from Colonial Williamsburg. While much is made of the last royal governor, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, and his disastrous tenure on the eve of the American Revolution, little is known of those below stairs who kept the "palace" (a term of sarcasm employed by 18th c Virginians in reference to the expense of their royal governor's residence; as grand as it might have appeared to them, it must have seemed decidedly inferior to the aristocratic Dunmores.) Lord Dunmore's staff was a mixture of favorite servants brought with him from Scotland and enslaved people purchased in Virginia. True, the young woman I glimpsed early yesterday was a tour guide, not a servant of any kind, but she did make me think of all the more ordinary folk of that house who must have had their own stories to tell.

Downed by Nor'easter

Loretta reports:
October snowstorm - downed trees, downed wires, downed Internet equals no blog. Sorry.  Back ASAP.

Breakfast Links: Week of October 24, 2011

Served up fresh for you, our weekly offering of Breakfast Links: our favorite links to other blogs, web sites, pictures, and articles, all collected for you from around the Twitterverse.

• Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific publisher. Its journal archive is now freely available online http://bit.ly/uP0uoW

• 17th century Glass Trade Beads http://bit.ly/vAq925 #chs

• General Grant’s sword and an unusual use for a Civil War artifact: http://ow.ly/77gF2

• Death attacks! The Nightingale monument at Westminster Abbeyhttp://bit.ly/hbCskq

•  'The Final Indignity: Dissecting the Criminal Body' - http://wp.me/p14Gvd-rc

• Ring lost in Wiltshire returned after 180 years - http://bbc.in/oRGI3v

• Degrees of prostitution in 19th c Paris: http://bit.ly/uBcnOC

• From the pages of Thomas Hardy: shepherds' huts:http://bit.ly/uJ5GLd

• Interiors of the Titanic - 1912http://bit.ly/oI4ZhN 

• Sad, symbolic & beautiful creations: mourning quilts: http://ht.ly/77UDK

• The Golden Age of Dirty Talk: http://bit.ly/v3U3sv Ruff diddling ahead!

• Roots of binge drinking traced back to 17th century studentshttp://j.mp/uxswG9

• Re-opening of 18^th c artist William Hogarth's house, Chiswick http://post.ly/3h2yi

• "The Negro Girl of Mr. Wheatley's": http://bit.ly/uTnaKx

• 1930s Madeline Vionnet bias-cut gownhttp://bit.ly/tZsqs3

• Cork family parts with Titanic victim's message in a bottlehttp://bbc.in/uqEN1c

• It's that time of year again! Tudor Ghost Caught on Film http://bit.ly/srQXuX

• Edith Wharton’s lessons on writing are still valuable today: http://bit.ly/v3NC3U

• Living ghosts of Civil War veterans come alive in silent newsreel footage. http://fb.me/BtWT5cZw

• London's lost amulets and forgotten folklorehttp://tgr.ph/tneUUt via 

• Ham and hay: 19th c cooking method inspired by autumn harvest, recipes: http://bit.ly/v3sgC4

•  A Capability Brown walk at Dinefwr Park, Carmarthenshire, restored and reopened:http://bit.ly/vJrXmd

Early Saturday Morning in Colonial Williamsburg:Rain & Wind & Sewing

Susan reporting:

The same Nor'easter that blasted most of the Northeast left its mark on Colonial Williamsburg yesterday, with much rain and wind and chilly temperatures (though fortunately no snow!) While only the bravest and those armed with the sturdiest umbrellas ventured out into the streets, it was a perfect day to stay indoors beside a fire. In the Margaret Hunter shop, seamstress Emma Cross, left, took advantage of the pale sunlight to in the shop's window to stitch a hem into the silk gauze of a new cap.

Friday Video: Silent Screen Actresses Model Flapper Fashions, 1928

Susan reporting:

Today's video is a short newsreel fashion show, featuring several Hollywood actresses modeling the latest fashions for 1928. Like a clip I shared earlier, this is a rare, early use of Kodachrome. Because of it, the women seem startlingly contemporary and fresh, as do many of the clothes. And check out those cars!

Of course I couldn't resist trying to learn more about these silent film actresses.  In order of their appearance:

•Corliss Palmer (1902-1952) was a popular silent screen actress, appearing in numerous films beside such famous actors as Charlie Chaplin, Max Sennett, and Oliver Hardy.
•Raquel Torres (1908-1987) was a Mexican-born actress who appeared in both silent and sound films. Today she's best remembered for playing a would-be Mata Hari in the Marx Brothers' move Duck Soup (1933).
• Laura LaPlante (1904-1996) was the most famous of these actresses in her time, and between 1921-1930 was Universal Pictures' most popular star. Talkies effectively ended her career, but her last movie, the Western Arizona (1931) included a young actor named John Wayne.
• Ruth Elder (1902-1977) was perhaps the most interesting of all these ladies. She was not only an actress, but also an aviatrix who - in a plane dubbed the American Girl - attempted to duplicate Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic to prove that women were equal to men.

Early This Morning in Colonial Williamsburg: Hats

Susan reporting:

It's true that no respectable 18th c lady would step out with an uncovered head, and preferably with a head covered by both a linen cap and a hat. But the flat, wide-brimmed hats that were so fashionable in 1770 can also serve a purpose beyond style and modesty. On this early morning with a slanting autumn sun, left, these two ladies - interpreters in Colonial Williamsburg - know there's no better way to keep the brightness from your eyes than a hat of fine Milano straw.

Alas, all of this glorious sunshine will soon be gone - the weather forecast predicts rain and a thirty-degree drop in temperatures tomorrow.

The pregnant look

Loretta reports:

In a discussion, I remember not where or when, but not long ago, I’d mentioned a vague recollection of women dressing to look pregnant in the late 18th C.  Trouble was, I couldn’t remember where I’d come across it . . .

It turned out to have arrived in my brain via the Cunningtons' The History of Underclothes.  I hunted for their two sources and voilà—

~~~

Jan. 7, 1783...On pretend that certain invisible machines, of which one heard much a year or two ago, and which were said to be constructed of cork, and to be worn somewhere or other behind, are now to be transplanted somewhere before, in imitation of the Duchess of Devonshire's pregnancy, as all under-jaws advanced upon the same principle.*
—The letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford, Volume 8.

The pretty, prominent pads, which now grace the first circles of female fashion, if they have no sanction in decency, can certainly find one in precedent.— The Spectator, in one of his numbers, mentions the then prevalence of the fashion: “The first time I saw a lady dressed in one of these petticoats, I could not forbear blaming her in my thoughts, for walking abroad when she was so near her time, but soon recollected myself out of my error, when I found all the modish part of her sex as far gone as herself."

The following advertisements copied verbatim from a London evening paper, may be termed an unique:—“William Dursley, Oxford-street, near the Pantheon, (name over the door) original patentee of the present fashionable Pads, begs leave to inform the nobility and gentry, that he has just completed an extensive and Curious assortment of Ladies Pads, happily adapted to all ages and sizes, and imitating the picturesque forms of pregnancy in all its months. As several ignorant persons have taken upon them to sell pads, pretended to be W. Dursley's, he thinks it proper to insert this caution: his real Pads may be easily known from others, as being the closest imitation of nature, and the most prominent proofs of good-breeding. —His much approved Twin-pads, for court dress, may be had as usual.
— Sporting magazine, Volume 2


Illustrations:   Thomas Rowlandson, 1756-1827, British, A Lady in a White Dress, wearing a Blue Hat, undated.  Courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.  A Milliner’s Shop, scanned from C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington, The History of Underclothes. (You can see the color print here at the British Museum.)

Early This Morning in Colonial Williamsburg: Cats Stand Guard

Susan reporting:

Even though the streets of Colonial Williamsburg are virtually empty in the early morning (except for the occasional dog-walker and runner), the cats remain vigilant.

The carved lion, left, tops the gates to the Governor's Palace, a regal symbol of the monarchy. While most visitors associate Williamsburg with the American Revolution, the 18th c. city as it is represented is still part of a royal colony, and there are plenty of reminders that Virginians are still His Majesty's subjects. Rule Britannia!

But it's likely that the calico cat named Shilling, right, turns up in far more tourist photos than King George's lion.  She is owned by the head coachman-interpreter, and can often be found strolling about the neighborhood below the Capitol. A true CW resident, she's quite obliging about posing for pictures, too – nor does she seem overly concerned that the street that she's surveying here is often called DoG (short for Duke of Gloucester Street.)

SHE knows who really rules, doesn't she?

What Made Those Big Sleeves Big, 1830s

Susan reports:

While my first fashion-love will always be 18th c gowns, I've recently developed a guilty-pleasure-relationship with the extravagant clothes of the 1820s. This is, of course, entirely due to Loretta, and to the lovely images like the ones yesterday.

Also thanks to Loretta, I know what inflated those extravagant sleeves: sleeve puffs, or plumpers. These were pillow-like constructions of linen stuffed with eiderdown or feathers that slipped over the upper arm. Ribbons or linen ties then connected to the wearer's corset to keep the puffs in place. The goal was to continue the exaggerated line of the sloping shoulders, and also visually to narrow the waist by comparison to the voluminous sleeve.  There are many surviving variations, and doubtless each seamstress created her own version to fit specific gowns. (See right for another pair of the puffs, tied in place to a corset and worn with a petticoat of the era.)

I'd seen pictures of sleeve puffs, but I hadn't seen an actual example in all its puffy glory until my recent visit to Winterthur.  There it sat, above, looking more like a drab linen pudding than a stylish fashion necessity, but how important they must have been to modish ladies of the time!

It's easy to look at this humble sleeve puff and think only of its foolishness. But I've two words to offer in (admittedly dubious) defense: shoulder pads. Those of you who can remember back to the 1980s will recall the fashion for linebacker-esque broad shoulders. While 'power suits' had their own sewn-in shoulder pads, many women also owned removable ones to wear beneath any blouse or sweater. These were saddle-shaped constructions of natural-colored fabric and padding that fastened onto lingerie straps with Velcro strips, with the aim of visually narrowing the waist and hips by comparison. Hmm....

Above: Sleeve puffs, American, 1820s-30s, linen and goose feathers. Winterthur, Gift of Margaret Wilcox.
Below: Sleeve plumpers, linen with down fill; Corset, quilted cotton sateen; Chemise, linen; Petticoat, cotton; Shoes, silk satin & leather: all English, 1830-1835. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Suzanne A. Saperstein & Michel and Ellen Michelson, with addition funding from the Costume Council the Edgerton Foundation, Gail & Gerald Oppenheimer, Maureen H. Shapiro, Grace Tsao, and Lenore & Richard Wayne.

Early This Morning in Colonial Williamsburg, II

Susan reporting:

A bit later in the day than yesterday's picture - the morning mists are gone and the sky's a beautiful blue. Still, though, it does appear that racing to work before opening is much the same in 1770 as it is in 2011 – this young woman was in such a hurry that I doubt she noticed either the sun on the Courthouse or the bright leaves on the tree.

Fashions for October 1832

Loretta reports:

Note that readers could buy the paper models for the plates.  I’m guessing some have survived.  Or am I hopelessly optimistic?  If you’ve seen any, please tell us about it.

~~~

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Our Fashionable Readers should know, that the drawings of the fashions are made from beautifully-formed paper models, which may be seen and purchased—as, for the purposes of the Magazine, they are useless after the copies are published.

FASHIONS FOR OCTOBER.

NO. 1.—MORNING DRESS.

Of lavender gros de Naples; the body is made half high and full; the skirt has a hem about one quarter of its depth, cut out on the top in leaf-like dents of five divisions each, and edged with piping. Over this dress is worn an apron and canezou of embroidered muslin. The canezou is made without fulness in any part, divided on the shoulder, where it falls in two deep and rounded lapels, and is open in front, with a narrow collar, which diminishes in width as it reaches the waist in front. This canezou is confined to the shape by braces of gauze ribbon matching the dress, which are gathered up into coques on the shoulders, and fastened behind with a short bow.

NO. 2. WALKING DRESS

Of olive green gros des Indes. The body is slightly fulled across the bust, and plain behind, and is finished at the throat by a small collar very slightly indented at the edge. The skirt is set on in bunches of folds alternately reversed; its trimming consists of long curved dents cut out from the top of the hem; they are edged with rouleau, and are made to form a wreath by turning down one and leaving one upright. The sleeves are set on like the skirt, in alternately-disposed folds; they have a cuff at the wrist, which has a trimming similar to that of the hem, but much smaller. Hat of Tuscany straw, trimmed with field-flowers and ears of wheat.

—The Royal lady's magazine, 1832

Early This Morning in Colonial Williamsburg....

Susan reporting:

Can't resist sharing this photograph. I'm back in Williamsburg, VA this week, where Indian Summer is in full flower. But while the days are warm, the nights are cool, meaning that there's a wonderfully mysterious mist every morning at dawn. I especially like walking through Colonial Williamsburg early in the day, before anyone else is about, and with that mist to soften the edges, you can almost – almost – imagine it's 1770 instead of 2011.

Visiting 'Loveland', c 1943

Susan reporting:

The 1940s isn't an era we often visit here at the TNHG, but this romantic map from 1943 is too charming not to share. (Please go to this link to see the entire map with zoomable features for all the details.)

A Pictorial Map of Loveland is the work of Massachusetts graphic artist Ernest Dudley Chase (1878-1966), who was well known for his decorative, pictorial maps. Most of his maps showed actual states or regions,  illustrated with drawings of the area's landmarks, buildings, famous people, or animals, and often included traditional cartographer's elements like compass roses, elaborate cartouches, and ornate hand lettering.

But this map is altogether different. Instead it shows the mythical, heart-shaped island of Loveland ("A place where everyone should go; Where Romance Thrives, and Friendships Dearer Grow") surrounded by Oceans of Joy, Sweetheart Sound, and the Bay of Bliss. In this country with state names like State of Admiration, dozens of jolly little couples engage in all kinds of courtship amidst a world of hearts and puns. I particularly liked how often the couples seem to be equals - whether playing sports or gazing happily at their future Home Sweet Home, not far from Line of Equality. There's none of that snarky women-as-cunning-huntresses or men-as-caveman-conquerors that so often turns up in comic interpretations of love. The only hint of a more passionate kind of love is the little couple in the back seat of their heart-shaped care, the label (S)Parking Permitted. Even that seems pretty wholesome, though, and the overall feeling is sweetly, cheerfully optimistic.

But if you look a little more closely, you can see hints that the war overseas is felt even here in Loveland. One little woman is waving farewell to her ship-born sweetie with the caption Kind Remembrance. Another is shown wistfully engaged in Wishful Thinking, while yet another is eagerly receiving Good News in a letter from the postman. But best of all is the couple joyfully kissing with Many Happy Returns – the ultimate goal of countless American couples in 1943.

Above: Detail of A Pictorial Map of Loveland by Ernest Dudley Chase, 1943. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library.

Breakfast Links: Week of October 17, 2011

Served up fresh for you, our weekly offering of Breakfast Links: our favorite links to other blogs, web sites, pictures, and articles, all collected for you from around the Twitterverse.

• Punch & Judy (Cruikshank's 1828 etchings) http://bit.ly/n4SSAz 

• Kaboom! The London Beer Flood of 1814. http://bit.ly/bhvAgT

• Braids and bows: Edwardian girls' hairstyles: http://bit.ly/nwo0VO

• Jockey Silks and Spectators; explores the historical roots of horse racing apparel http://ow.ly/6ZNzv

• The Duchess d'Uzes, a 19th c "valiant artist-sculptor," at work : http://bit.ly/rtok4L

• 'Body of Evidence: Proving Infanticide in Early Modern England' - http://wp.me/p14Gvd-pL

• Gorgeous Regency painted penwork sewing box - (Worth a look, as cannot afford to buy it!) http://bit.ly/orKcIg

• A brief history of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes & tintypes: http://ow.ly/713Bs

• Elegant small stable c 1871somehow survived in mid-town Manhattan: http://bit.ly/ncSgUC

• Previously little-seen (and saucy) portrait of Nell Gwyn included in an exhibition on the first actresseshttp://tinyurl.com/3uymjlf

• For manly sporting gentlemen in the late 19th c: the Norfolk jacket:http://bit.ly/obBejw

• A different kind of attraction at Los Angeles Zoo, with a carousel of endangered animals: http://lat.ms/pXWs0N

• A manuscript miscellany of poems gathered by Anne Campbell ca.1600 http://bit.ly/rpMSTl

• Have you ever wondered why pencils are yellow? http://ht.ly/70b1J

• Rude, lewd & obscene drawings of Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's favourite mistress - and what they reveal besides the obvious: http://bit.ly/pmDsCa

• An unsolved 19th c murder in NYC's wealthy elite & the now-ravaged mansion where it happened: http://bit.ly/nnnaoM

•  Drinking Whiskey In The Spirit Of George Washington http://n.pr/nIHFuC

• 11 Blows on His Buttocks - Bizarre customs of a 17th Century Printing House http://bit.ly/qLOBZS

• Writing tables as 17th century cutting-edge technology: Renaissance smartphones. http://bit.ly/ndgsMH

• “Spades, Umbrellas — Even a Tiny Pair of Child's Shoes — Everything” Victorian Pawnbroking:http://bit.ly/pz9Lyb

• You've just come upon a trove of #CharlesDickens letters! Which one will you read first?http://bit.ly/ouZAeT

• Every pearl, rhinestone, & bead is visible on exquisite 1954 gown by the House of Dior—zoom to see:http://tiny.cc/temdx

Above: At Breakfast by Laurits Andersen Ring, 1898

From Mr. Darcy & Miss Bennett to Fred & Ginger

Loretta reports:

I've posted about Regency era dancing before (here and here and here).

Do you ever wonder what Elizabeth & Darcy would have made of this?

NHG Library: "FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions"

Susan reporting:

E-books may be the unstoppable wave of the future, but for me there's still nothing like a great, big, heavy, luscious art book full of beautiful images beautifully printed, with thoughtful commentary to match. If the subject is historical dress and fashion, then I'm truly wallowing in visual heaven.

Fashion from the Kyoto Costume Institute, the Victoria & Albert's Fashion in Detail series, and last year's Fashioning Fashion from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, all have perpetual front-of-the-shelf status in my library. Now I have a new favorite to add to the collection: the aptly named FABULOUS!, from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum in Los Angeles, CA.

As the subtitle says, the book catalogues the very best of the museum's acquisitions over the last ten years. Included are women's, men's, and children's clothing from 1800 to the present, from a diaphanous Regency gown to the amazing black lace dress by Alexander McQueen featured on the book's cover, below. The1880s reception gown, above left, shows not only an example of extravagantly bustled fashion, but also how clothes can become almost sculptural in their beauty. The pieces are photographed to display their style and craftsmanship, with many full-page close-ups for details of embroidery, lace, and fabrics. One of my favorite dresses is a gorgeously elaborate court gown and train from 1907, worn to an Edwardian royal reception at Buckingham Palace. Pages fold out of the book to be able to display the spreading train to full advantage, and best of all is a vintage photograph of the dress being worn by the original owner.

There's also a tasty selection of accessories, including hats, gloves, corsets, and shoes. Oh, the shoes! Surely this pair, right, must have been worn to only the most exclusive of jet-set parties. Created by Roger Vivier for Christian Dior in 1959, they're leather, covered heel to toe in kingfisher feathers.

This is, in short, a wonderful book to explore and to treasure, with over 350 pages and 292 photographs and illustrations as well as fascinating commentary - a definite keeper for any true Nerdy History Girl. Even if you don't buy the book, check out the Museum's blog. It's one of the best historic fashion blogs on the internet.

FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 200-2010, by Kevin L. Jones, Christina M. Johnson, and Brian E. Sanderson, FIDM Museum Press, 2011.

Top left: Reception Gown, Europe or United States, c. 1886-1887
Right: Evening Shoes, by Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, Paris, France, 1959
In accordance with some FTC rule or another (which probably doesn't apply to us since we're writers, not reviewers, but never mind), Loretta and I received copies of this book as a gift from the museum.

A grateful corset customer in 1807

Loretta reports:

~~~

A LETTER TO MRS. LLOYD GIBBON,

OF SACKVILLE-STREET, LONDON.

“My dear Madam, to thank you, or be grateful to you, for the essential service you have been to me, would be impossible.  I feel all the gratitude that I am capable of, which is more than I can express; but not as much as you are entitled to from me.  You have almost restored me to health, after a painful and tedious suffering of ten years.  You I must consider as my preserver, with your PATENT STAYS, together with your other ingenious contrivance for Pendulous and Weak Bowels; otherwise I must necessarily have fallen a victim to my unfortunate complaint.  Now, thank God, and you, I have no fear; for while I live I shall never cease to remember you with every sentiment of gratitude.  And believe me, my dear Madam, to be,
                                    Your most grateful and obliged,
                           July 10, 1807.                                                    A.M.D. ”
 

N.B.  The original Letter may, for satisfaction, be seen at Mrs. Lloyd Gibbon’s, together with many others to the same effect.

—La Belle Assemblée, Advertisements for October 1807

~~~

I leave readers to speculate what A.M.D.'s "unfortunate complaint" was. 

My apologies for the bizarre spacing.  Blogger decided to go mental.

llustration from The book of English trades, and library of the useful arts, 1818

The Tale of a Teenage Sailor (and Embroiderer), 1850

Susan reporting:

One of the reasons for my recent visit to Winterthur was to see a special exhibition of historic needlework.  With Cunning Needle: Four Centuries of Embroidery is a wonderful show, filled with stunning needlework that ranges from schoolgirl samplers to masterpieces by professional embroiderers. While some of the pieces might represent more skill or sophistication than the sailor's uniform and sea bag back shown here, none had a better story behind them. (Click on the photos to enlarge them to see the details.)

Standardized uniforms for enlisted sailors in the American navy were still a relatively new notion in the 1840s-50s, when this uniform was created. While sailors were required to wear the Navy-issued uniforms while on board ship, there was more leeway in what they could wear on shore. The shore-going uniform could be proudly embellished and embroidered to suit a sailor's tastes, as well as to reflect his skill with a needle. (Here's part of another elaborately embroidered shore-going uniform, a dark wool blouse from c. 1862.)

This rare summer uniform and sea bar were owned, worn, and likely embroidered by Warren Opie, born in 1835. Growing up in a large family of comfortable means in Burlington, NJ, Warren's childhood effectively ended with his cordwainer (shoemaker) father's early death in 1848. Warren's mother struggled to support the family, and several of Warren's sisters were sent to live with other relatives. It's likely that Warren, too, felt the family's financial pressures, and in 1850, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy for a three-year tour of duty with the rating of a second-class boy. He was fifteen.

Warren served on the steam frigate Susquehanna, the flagship of the four-ship squadron commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry on his historic trip to Japan between 1850-1854. Warren would have had considerable time to make this sea bag and uniform on the long voyage between Norfolk, Va and Japan; it's possible that he learned to sew from his father, or perhaps from some of the other men in the crew. While the uniform shows the typical patriotic motifs – stars, eagles, anchors, and flags – popular among sailors, his bag features his parents, his two closest sisters, and landmarks from his hometown in New Jersey. Warren was visiting exotic countries on the far side of the world, but it's clear his heart still remained at home.

In Japan, Commodore Perry presented a letter from President Millard Fillmore to the ruler of Japan in an elaborate ceremony involving nearly all the American sailors in his squadron and thousands of Japanese officials, soldiers, and attendants. Records show that one of the American ship's boys carried the president's framed letter in the procession. It's tempting to imagine Warren, dressed in this splendidly embroidered summer-uniform, as the boy performing this important task.

Unfortunately, there's no documentation to tell what became of Warren after his three-year-tour was done; he last appears in navy records as having been promoted to "landsman," a full member of the crew. No one knows if he died at sea, or jumped ship in some foreign port, or returned to New Jersey to live a long and contented life, nor is there any record of how his uniform landed in the hands of the dealer who sold it to Mr. Du Pont for his collection. It's all another history-mystery – but what a wonderful legacy Warren Opie left in his embroidery!

Above: Summer uniform of an enlisted sailor, worn by Warren Opie, 1850-54, linen, silk, wool.
Sea Bag, owned by Warren Opie, 1850-54, linen, silk, wool, cotton.
From collection of Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library

It's a boy! or a girl! Celebrating baby in 1826

Loretta reports,

In 1826, a lady describes a Westbury custom that follows the birth of a child.

~~~

Sugared Toast.

In "these" parts of the country, it is the custom, when a lady shall have been " as well as can be expected," for thirteen or fourteen days, for the husband to enjoy what is called "the gentleman's party," viz: all his friends, bachelor and Benedict, are invited to eat "sugared toast," which, (as the cookery-books always say,) " is thus prepared"— Rounds of bread are "baked," (videlicit toasted,) each stratum spread thick with moist sugar, and piled up in a portly punch bowl, ready for action: "strong beer," (anglice, home-brewed ale,) is in the mean time heated, and poured boiling hot over the mound of bread; which is taken immediately to the expectant guests . . . How they contrive to emancipate the toast from the scalding liquid, I never could, by any effort of ingenuity and research, decide to my own satisfaction. A goodly slice you know, sir, it would be entirely impracticable to achieve; for in half a minute from the time of the admission of the "hot beer," the toast must be "all of a swam," (as we elegantly say here,) and, resembling the contents of the witch's cauldron, "thick and slab." Whether a soup ladle and soup plates are in requisition on the occasion, I am equally unable to ascertain; but on final dismissal of this gentlemanly food, (for I by no means would insinuate that the congregation is limited to one act of devotion,) they magnanimously remunerate the "nurse," by each putting money into the empty bowl, which is then conveyed to the priestess of their ignoble orgies! Of all the " mean and impotent conclusions" of a feast, defend me from that, which pays its "pic nic" pittance to an old crone, who is hired to attend the behests of the "lady," but who by some strange mutation becomes the directress of the " gentleman's" revels, and the recipient of the payment from his guests, for "sugar’d toast!"

~~~

Note:  I’ve edited mercilessly, since this is another example of the early 19th C preference for the longest and most convoluted way of saying something.  The long version is here in Hone’s Every-Day Book for October 17.

Illustrations:  Above left:  P.F. Sokolov, Mother and Baby 1826, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Below right:  Thomas Rowlandson, Naval Officers, courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

Breakfast Links: Week of October 10, 2011

Just for you: another fresh offering of this week’s Breakfast Links, noteworthy tidbits gathered from other blogs, web sites, news stories, and museums that we've discovered wandering around the Twitterverse: 

• Quilt with a message by 19th c. American quilter Emily Holbert: http://ow.ly/6Y0Cj Plus a historical mystery: http://ow.ly/6Y0BL

• These should come back! Posing on a paper moon - http://bit.ly/ndbnuZ

• Mountmaker's challenge: how to display beautiful embroidered 1870s jacket worn by Princess of Wales:http://bit.ly/pl6O7M

• 18th c recycling, but in the kitchen: recipe for Chicken Surprise uses leftovers: http://bit.ly/qaDTJa 

• The Green Cathedral: Interpretation of Paris’ Notre Dame in Treeshttp://zite.to/r5jkIW

• 'A Remarkable Birthday Present: The Corpse of Thomas Parr (1483 – 1635)' - http://wp.me/p14Gvd-oO

• Sadly 'accidentally leaping into a pond' was not the only peril of early railway travel. http://bit.ly/oG1oEu

• Perfect in every way: This is how you write a love letter: http://bit.ly/nH5eZW

• 'Wambling Trot' & 'Quavering of the Kidneys': ailments treated by quack "doctors" in Georgian Englandhttp://bit.ly/qPMi7d

• Gorgeous, delicate late 18th c painted ivory fan up for auction this week: http://bit.ly/qi1TiI

• Edison vs. Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry: http://bit.ly/qYeB0v 

• The story behind the WWII camouflage colours:http://bit.ly/o973eG

• Mogg Pocket Map of London, 1806 -http://is.gd/03jduo

• Inventory of Harewood House, 1795, reveals details of taste & personal habits, plus contents of each room: http://bit.ly/rtmfJr

• Original Central Park Garden was lost 1868 pleasure garden in heart of NYC: http://bit.ly/qZ9oEa

• Ooooh feathers! Fashion in Motion: 1950s hairstyles in San Mateo, Ca http://bit.ly/qyuhLb

• Why is there a tiger instead of a manatee on my cereal box? History of food packaging in Americahttp://ow.ly/6WwMp

• The Unicorn Is Found: Use the new zoom see every splendid feature of this beloved tapestry from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://met.org/oa2YeA

• Executed 14 October 1767: William Guest, coin shaver http://bit.ly/qxhktb

• The Nelson Mourning ring - only 56 were ever made. See it displayed at Soho House until the end of Oct.http://on.fb.me/oVytJa

• Newly published history of Boston from Hannah Mather Crocker (1752-1829): http://bit.ly/q2DF9w

• The brooch that Albert, her new fiancé, gave Victoria as an engagement gift http://bit.ly/pjtkcg

Above: At Breakfast, by Laurits Andersen Ring, 1898