The Party's Over...

The trunks are packed and being loaded onto the post chaises, the vails* have been paid to the household staff, and the house party is at an end. We’re delighted that you joined us in celebrating our birthday at Nineteenteen, and hope that you enjoyed yourself too. As I said before, you are the reason we blog here—though we love to share what we’ve learned and entertain a little along the way, it wouldn’t be much use (or fun) if we didn’t have readers to share with…so once again, an enormous Thank You!

But wait! Before you drive off…the randomly-drawn winning commenter from yesterday is Beebs! Beebs, please contact Regina at reginascott@owt.com to arrange to receive your prize.

In the comments from yesterday, Lo mentioned wanting to hear more about other YA historical fiction set in the 19th century…well, it just so happens that we’d already scheduled just such a thing for next week! We hope you’ll join us in greeting New York Times best-selling romance author (and all-round lovely person) Mary Jo Putney, whose second YA historical fantasy, Dark Passage, was released just this week. It’s the second in her series (the first, Dark Mirror, came out earlier this year) featuring magic, time travel, history and (of course) romance. So please stop by on Tuesday, when Nineteenteen will be interviewing Mary Jo's Lady Cynthia Stanton (if Lady Cynthia will let us!)

And thank you all again, dear readers.


*It was the custom at house parties of the 18th and earlier 19th centuries for guests at country houses to tip, or give vails, at the end of their stays to the household’s servants. Unfortunately, having to tip everyone from the butler to the footmen and maids could get sufficiently expensive that people with more friends than money often refused invitations to house parties, because they couldn’t afford the vails!

Shall We Dance?

What a delightful group you’ve been at our birthday house party! Good conversation, excellent suggestions, charming comments. The gentlemen have told me they are completely entranced. So, this sounds like a great time for a ball to me! Before we get started, let me also mention that the lovely El has won Lit Wit: 100 Trivia Cards to Boost Your Book Smarts by Richard Lederer. Please contact Marissa via her website and let her know where she should send it. And anyone who comments today will be entered to win a miniature reproduction of the 1817 Glengarry bonnet (by Pipkin and Bonnet) along with hat box and stand.

Now, our ball! Of course, one cannot spontaneously host a ball. We actually sent invitations to all our genteel neighbors in the area weeks ago, letting them know you’d be here with us and encouraging them to join us this evening. We hired musicians to play and brought in additional staff from the village to help with the cooking and cleaning and see to the needs of our guests. As I write, a footman is lowering the chandeliers in the ballroom to put in fresh candles, and our houskeeper is inspecting the dance floor to make sure it’s gleaming in expectation.


The gentlemen have already retired to their rooms to change into their evening clothes and freshen up. Perhaps you’d like to glance over the positions of dance so you’re ready for your partner.


And I can’t wait to see what you brought to wear to the ball! I’ve had a lovely gown made up in red, a bit daring, I know, but the off-white of so many of the gowns just doesn’t do my complexion any favors.


Ah, do you hear the musicians tuning up? Already the air is scented with perfume. Marissa and I welcome you to the ballroom and suggest a partner. We’re pairing up (I will of course partner Leopold on this first dance, but I’m sure he’d be happy to offer you his hand later). Goodness, but the set is crowded! Everyone looks so lovely! I can see you smiling from here. And away we go!


Do tell me your favorite dance so I can be sure to have the musicians play it. And please catch me between sets to suggest other ways we can make Nineteenteen the best it can be.

The Party Continues...

Well, I’m delighted to see we have more commenters…but ladies—please! We must behave with decorum, or the dreaded chaperone might raise her ever-vigilant head!


However, between languishing looks and meaning-laden glances with those delightful gentlemen Regina has introduced into our bluestockingly midst, please continue to comment! We want to be able to bring you posts on topics of interest to you—otherwise, there isn’t much point, is there? So please…what would you like to see discussed on Nineteenteen in the coming year? Let us know…and commenters on today’s post will have a chance to win Lit Wit: 100 Trivia Cards to Boost Your Book Smarts by Richard Lederer.

And in the meanwhile, I’m sure our chaperone will smile upon this: our randomly-drawn winner commenter of yesterday is Clarissa! Clarissa, please email Regina at reginascott@owt.com to claim your prize: a pre-release copy of Regina’s November book, An Honorable Gentleman. Very cool to get a sneak peek!!

And now, I’ve a fancy to take a turn in the garden and admire the flowers. Anyone care to join me? English gardens are renowned the world over. The damp, generally mild climate makes it a haven for temperate plants, shrubs, and trees…and the second half of the 18th and all of the 19th centuries are surely the heyday of gardening on a grand scale at country houses, where a new philosophy of viewing the land around a house as almost another set of rooms was adopted.


Topiary! What's an English garden without it?

And a maze...the perfect place to evade chaperones when out strolling with a handsome young man!

Don't forget to let us know what you think!

More Visitors!

So glad so many of you could make it to our house party! We had a hundred visitors to the blog yesterday, so I know there are more of you lurking out there. I’m certainly glad we have a lot of bedrooms in this pile!

It appears the library is the most popular among our guests, and why not! We share the love of reading, after all. Rachel even suggested we bring back the Young Bluestocking’s Book Club--excellent thought! And speaking of books, we're delighted to hand out our first prize to QNPoohBear: Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating. QNPoohBear, please contact Marissa via her website and let her know where you’d like it sent.

I do believe we should learn a lesson from QNPoohBear. Please comment. We’d love to hear how you like the house party, what you’d like to do, and how we could make Nineteen Teen even better in the coming year. If you have a suggestion for a book we could read for the Book Club, please toss that in as well. There will be more prizes Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so come back often and invite your friends along!

In the meantime, I felt it my duty as one of your hostesses to entice you out of the library. We have a number of other guests who are eager to make your acquaintance. I found this charming fellow looking positively lonely in the withdrawing room.


And this gentleman is hoping to find a lady interested in going for a ride in his phaeton. Do take a tiger along, though, to protect your reputation. I fear the gentleman is rather daring.


And this gentleman is keen to study the native flora and fauna in our park. I’m sure he’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter as you stroll through the countryside.



So, are you willing to give up the library?

Amended September 15 by Regina
My dears, during the night my dear friend Leopold arrived to join our house party. I'm taking him to the conservatory to introduce him to El to liven up her dreary day. Join us if you'd like!

Happy Birthday to Us, or A Country House (Birthday) Party

Welcome to Nineteenteen’s fourth birthday party! Can you believe we’ve been at this for four years?

In order to celebrate and kick off our fifth year of blogging in style, we thought we’d throw a party…a virtual country house party, to be exact…and yes, you’re invited!

So what happens at a virtual country house party? Well, what would you like to do if you were really at one? Would you be playing the pianoforte in the music room and flirting with a handsome fellow guest? Strolling through the gardens and enjoying the fine September weather? Exploring the library to find forgotten treasures?

One thing we do hope you’ll do is chat with us. It’s our custom on our birthday to solicit input and ideas for future topics you’d like to learn about (or re-visit), so please, tell us what you think or what you like to read here. All commenters, whether offering input or telling us what you’re planning on doing at the party, will be entered in a drawing for a daily prize…so comment early and often!

And so…

First of all, welcome to our house! Isn’t it the perfect setting for a house party? Lawns for endless games of croquet followed by sumptuous teas, and lots of windows for curling up in with a good book if the weather should prove inclement.So your post-chaise has drawn up to the entrance, where Regina and I await you in the front hall. It’s a little dark and medieval so we won’t linger…Would you care to see your room? We’ll take you right up so that you can freshen up before tea, and then your maid can unpack your things. Will this room do? Or would you prefer something a little lighter and airier?Here’s the dining room. The dressing bell rings a half hour before dinner, so you have time to change into evening clothes:And here we are at last, in the drawing room for tea:We hope you’ll enjoy your stay…and now, let the party begin! What are you going to do first?

(And don’t forget to leave us your input on how we can continue to make Nineteenteen fresh and fun in the next year!)

It Takes an Army to Manage a House Party

I seem to be bumping into servants a lot lately, at least in my entertainment choices. I finally had a chance to see a bit of Downton Abbey, which a number of friends had raved about (do not get me started on why we don’t have BBC America in my neck of the woods!). This series follows the lives of the servants assigned to a great house in the early part of the twentieth century. I also just finished reading Deeanne Gist’s Maid to Match, which stars a young lady hoping to be lady’s maid to one of the Vanderbilts in the late nineteenth century. One thing that really struck me from both of these well-researched stories is that I frequently underestimate how many servants were required for a house of any size. So, of course I went looking for more information. One estimate is that a wealthy family needed at least four servants per person. In other words, it took an army!

What would that look like if Marissa and I were living in a London townhouse together? (Never mind that we have families—we’ll pretend they are busy elsewhere for a week.) Going by the estimate above, two lovely ladies would need at least eight servants:

1. I’d need a lady’s maid to help dress and undress, but I’d be willing to share her with Marissa. :-)


2. We’d need a groom to tend our horses and escort us while riding. I’m tempted to include a coachman, but I don’t wish the neighbors to think us too high in the instep and I must admit to a fondness for handling the reins myself when we’re tooling about Hyde Park. Plus we can hire a carriage and driver when we need to go out to balls and such.


3. We have a townhouse, so no need for a groundskeeper, but we better have a man-of-all-work to keep up the back garden and maintain the house.


4. We’ll need a cook, of course,


5. And probably a scullery maid to help her.


6. We should probably have a footman to fetch and carry and look suitably impressive when we go out shopping,


7. And a maid to help clean up behind us.


8. Then of course we’d need a butler or housekeeper to keep things running smoothly.

I’m a bit amazed how easy it was to hit eight. And truthfully, one housemaid probably isn’t enough when you consider the dusting and cleaning that all had to be done by hand in homes where coal or wood was burned. And I haven’t added a laundress to clean our clothes or a personal secretary to help us with our writing (though in some cases the latter was considered an employee instead of a servant). And just think what would need to be added if we had a house in the country: definitely a coachman and gardeners, more grooms, more footmen, more maids (upstairs maids, downstairs maids, scullery maids), and a land steward, at a minimum!

And, my dears, Marissa and I will have need of all those servants, because next week, we’re hosting a house party, right here, to celebrate our blog birthday! So have your maids pack your things, hire a post-chaise if needed, and come join us. Your invitation is below. We hope to see you next Tuesday for a week of fun!

Such Language! Part 8

Hello, dear readers—we’re back! And since it’s September and the start of a new school year, a vocabulary lesson seemed appropriate for the day…courtesy of that wonderful (if frequently risqué!) 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Enjoy!

Bam: To tell a falsehood; also, to make fun of. (“Little Agatha was sure her older brother must be bamming her when he said it was hailing boiled sweets, but she ran to the window to see just in case.”)

Dew beaters: feet. (“Dearest Clara thought the idea of a picnic in the country just splendid, but after walking three miles uphill to the apple orchard with a heavy basket, her dew beaters felt otherwise.”)

Quiz: A strange-looking person. (“My cousin Ezekiel would be much less a quiz if he didn’t comb his hair from the back of his head and wear purple socks with his knee-breeches.”)

Rantipole: A rude, romping boy or girl (“Can you believe it? Hugh called me a rantipole, so of course I was forced to knock him down and put a handful of sand down his back.”)

Tongue enough for two sets of teeth: Description of a talkative person. (“Angelina is a sweet girl and very jolly, but her having tongue enough for two sets of teeth can be wearing on the ears.”)

Tuft-hunter: one who courts the acquaintance of nobility. (“Miss Pursnip is such a tuft-hunter that she carries a tiny copy of DeBrett’s Peerage in her reticule to record sightings of earls and viscounts as she walks in Green Park.”)

French cream: brandy: so called by the old tabbies and dowagers when drank in their tea. (“Aunt Mehitabel ask her bosom friend Lady Murgatroyd if she’d take some French cream in her tea, and now they’re trying to balance Mama’s best silver teaspoons on their noses.”)