tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44684026557325524512024-02-20T07:55:33.346-08:00A Regency ReticuleElegant Regency Romance To Sweep You AwayHeather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.comBlogger13315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4468402655732552451.post-51810683011657421082024-01-19T12:05:00.000-08:002024-01-19T13:59:50.679-08:00THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE – The Bedchamber<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs09I1uFGXCzHHqvL775Mvr7QvIJWT1nwMYsrmDuLrOXj8sydHqIphQYTwwwNPu9sbAV7gsbXs9B21tS1bHjAZ8J0FTEraWidbZUtwxb0RuK3abnObuqRwwel_o8xZOWRML106g0zsUUYlhfgRntillPhcyUzTTEliDT9CocNJjHMSEiRgAucQurJEEG3/s2592/Fleur%20de%20lis%20bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs09I1uFGXCzHHqvL775Mvr7QvIJWT1nwMYsrmDuLrOXj8sydHqIphQYTwwwNPu9sbAV7gsbXs9B21tS1bHjAZ8J0FTEraWidbZUtwxb0RuK3abnObuqRwwel_o8xZOWRML106g0zsUUYlhfgRntillPhcyUzTTEliDT9CocNJjHMSEiRgAucQurJEEG3/w400-h300/Fleur%20de%20lis%20bed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bedchamber at Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Unless
we live in a flat or bungalow, most of us in this modern age go
upstairs to bed, but this was not always the case. In earlier
centuries, it was customary for the wealthy to conduct their lives
pretty much on the one floor, with bedchambers added beyond
withdrawing rooms. This can be seen at houses such as Chatsworth,
where the State Apartments have a corridor of doors, called an
enfilade, stretching in a line from the State Dressing Room through
the five other State Rooms and ending in the State Dining Room. This
arrangement has evolved from the medieval custom of a chamber which
was used for daily activities, for eating and sleeping, for business
and the receiving of guests. As greater privacy became important, so
this chamber was divided into smaller spaces until separate rooms
were incorporated into the design, first introduced at the beginning
of the seventeenth century and seen today in Palladian country houses
of the Georgian period.</p><p>As a
sign of rank and wealth, the bedchamber became more public, if less
so than those in France. Rows of stools and chairs, covered in rich
upholstery, were set against the walls and the room was furnished in
a manner befitting a principal salon or reception chamber. The bed
itself was hung with fabulous curtains and had the owner’s crest
either embroidered or carved on the bed-head. This was, of course, a
four-post bed, with a tester (‘ceiling’) or canopy lined with
pelmets to keep out draughts (and hide the rails) and embellished
with ostrich plumes. Charles II slept in such a bed at Powis Castle
in Powys. By 1678 he had issued the directive, ‘Persons of Quality
as well our servants as others who come to wait on us are permitted
to attend and stay us in the withdrawing room.’ This, then, was the
forerunner of the Drawing Rooms held at court during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. Although his bedchamber was less
accessible, royal princes were admitted by right whenever they chose,
whilst privy counsellors and other state officials were required to
seek permission to gain access. Following the French custom, Charles
caused the royal bedchambers in his palaces to have the bed set back
within a balustraded alcove. This arrangement can still be seen in
the bedchamber at Powis Castle, which was prepared for him in the
style he had adopted from the Continent.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9WSI3TIRUxUUZ4t9EMBXRK6o4skndOnASABSYoGXvsuTdcVSwhOgXayfRC0p-0PNiXh2yQlpo6_x9PXbVd5zXn-00EEwHrHSHfnblKrduIc6ryp-XP7wtP4M3kmCBxLLmKkauQVWUovdlnK5OhGwnCAcADk2UmKHWAtZS4MBFz7A8NPorjbonnzW2CVG/s2592/State%20Bedroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9WSI3TIRUxUUZ4t9EMBXRK6o4skndOnASABSYoGXvsuTdcVSwhOgXayfRC0p-0PNiXh2yQlpo6_x9PXbVd5zXn-00EEwHrHSHfnblKrduIc6ryp-XP7wtP4M3kmCBxLLmKkauQVWUovdlnK5OhGwnCAcADk2UmKHWAtZS4MBFz7A8NPorjbonnzW2CVG/w300-h400/State%20Bedroom.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State Bedroom, Eastnor Castle (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Whilst there is no balustrade, a bedchamber at the Brighton Pavilion shows the bed to be set back within an alcove as well as various furnishings to be found in the Regency era, if perhaps more elaborate than would be found in the generality of country houses.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfeKRvYm6i0bnATm35b6d19QyAma20D0OiIgAkVWi1bwogQvl0RUvDYcX55wwzfysyG69Xmy-DyDd9SVugLUZ8y9lJ_tcS4zNRVh9i5RDVfNeYhG6I3elU9VH6UpqvTlXeMAQ0VcbHnqG0q_ZZC-v5d1lCgQa50ZDp246jKqvpFqXbYZUxAe4mZlVC3th/s1000/Bedchamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfeKRvYm6i0bnATm35b6d19QyAma20D0OiIgAkVWi1bwogQvl0RUvDYcX55wwzfysyG69Xmy-DyDd9SVugLUZ8y9lJ_tcS4zNRVh9i5RDVfNeYhG6I3elU9VH6UpqvTlXeMAQ0VcbHnqG0q_ZZC-v5d1lCgQa50ZDp246jKqvpFqXbYZUxAe4mZlVC3th/w400-h300/Bedchamber.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bedroom in the Brighton Pavilion, old print</td></tr></tbody></table><p>At
Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, designed circa 1678 by Robert Hooke (for
Charles II’s Secretary of State, Lord Conway), the four so-called
pavilions each contained a separate apartment, accessed from a
central hall and saloon. Each had a drawing or withdrawing room,
beyond which lay a bedchamber, a closet, a servant’s chamber and a
backstairs to the kitchens &c. To the left and right of the hall
respectively lay the chapel and the library. The saloon doubled as
the dining room,</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">By
contrast, whilst still possessing the pavilion wings, Hagley Hall in
Worcestershire, built circa 1752 for Lord Lyttelton by Sanderson
Miller and probably inspired by Croome Court, was designed to have
two circuits of rooms which overlapped. To one side of the central
hall and saloon lay a suite of private apartments, including the
library, and to the other, the public circuit of dining and drawing
rooms and the gallery. The bedchambers had by now been settled on the
upper floor. With the emphasis changing in the country from
high-ranking guests being entertained in a small number of grand
apartments to visitors choosing to occupy their time in public
saloons and drawing rooms rather than their own chambers, these last
became reduced in size and importance. To accommodate this, an
increased number of smaller apartments were included in architectural
plans, with the average suite having a bedchamber and a dressing
room, with perhaps also a closet. Such dressing rooms were often also
used as sitting rooms and were handsomely fitted out. At Berrington
Hall in Herefordshire, there are two such chambers, known as the
White Dressing Room and the Corner Dressing Room, furnished as
bedrooms (but about a hundred years after the Regency) and each with
a small closet.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
At Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire, built around 1701, the main entrance
led into the Great Hall, with a Smoking Room and Steward’s Room
beyond. From the Great Hall to the right, the visitor might enter
either the Great Parlour or the Lobby, through which was reached the
Withdrawing Room and the master’s bedchamber and dressing room. The
ceiling was later altered to remove the lobby wall and form a drawing
room in place of the Great Parlour and amalgamate the Lobby and
Withdrawing Room into what is now the Dining Room.</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBZiy-5NIYpzXd-BVWhe9CRwBtfVdxFFSXy5GO8yLWfjycQznmKGwmQICypdOdpARODzwl3qsfp03SmjwXoQyxU5KJuyW8X19CBnR2HW3PzTQbU9Uq4NEAe9oQFaGGvGqQ2eBl8t13z1ogFWRuYOzfylBVDy5i7eMdeUsaUmUcc9URT0kLXwACq7IDCpl/s1600/PICT0609%20Dining%20Room%20ceiling%20(Withdrawing%20Rm).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBZiy-5NIYpzXd-BVWhe9CRwBtfVdxFFSXy5GO8yLWfjycQznmKGwmQICypdOdpARODzwl3qsfp03SmjwXoQyxU5KJuyW8X19CBnR2HW3PzTQbU9Uq4NEAe9oQFaGGvGqQ2eBl8t13z1ogFWRuYOzfylBVDy5i7eMdeUsaUmUcc9URT0kLXwACq7IDCpl/w400-h300/PICT0609%20Dining%20Room%20ceiling%20(Withdrawing%20Rm).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Withdrawing Room (Dining Room) Ceiling, Hanbury Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">Following
the enclosures of land in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
production of wool had brought a great deal of prosperity to these
shores and many early bed-hangings were produced in woollen cloth,
some of which have survived to this day. For the wealthy, Spanish
merino (introduced to Britain by George III in 1786) offered a warmer
and less dear option than the expensive silks and satins which faded
and failed to give ‘that clean appearance’ required by the
English aristocracy. With the advent of cotton, the heavy moreen
(liable to attract moths) and similar fabrics lost favour. Chintz,
calico, dimity and muslin became popular for bed-hangings, curtains
and upholstery during the Regency, being washable and far cheaper
than Jacquard imported from France. A patent for an English version
was issued to Stephen Wilton in 1820, allowing the textile industry
in Britain to breathe more easily. Just before the start of the
Regency proper, in about 1809, the ‘gaudy colours’, as Ackermann
described them, of chintz and calico furnishings yielded to ‘a more
chaste style’ which required only two colours to create an effect
similar to damask.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Regency
designers took inspiration from many different periods, and so the
country house guest might find their bedchamber decked out with
Gothic, Greek or Egyptian influences, in the Chinese style so much
vaunted by the Prince of Wales, or in patterns incorporating stripes,
trelliswork, architectural or geometric shapes. Curtains for windows
were usually of a hue complementary to those on the bed, with linings
in a colour to march with that. Quite often, the curtain at the head
of the bed was gathered in a semicircular pattern resembling the
sun’s rays, to add definition to the design. Bed linen was
customarily white or the natural colour of the fabric, and blankets
that of the wool from which they were made, although in wealthy
households personal whims were no doubt accommodated. The same could
be noted for the counterpane. Authors, please note here that the word
bedspread is of American origin, dating from 1845.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">A
State bed of about 1754, part of a suite made by William Linnell for
the Chinese Room at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, was decorated
in Oriental emblems and japanned in gilt, red and black. It had a
pagoda-style top ornamented with feathers, panels on the bed-head
decorated in a geometric design reminiscent of brick paving, and
(probably) neutrally coloured linen and hangings, but these have been
replaced in modern times. Messrs. Gillow of Lancaster designed a
canopied bed-head thought to be Egyptian in style, with swags of
green and pink fabric caught into bunches above a carved frame that
was filled with white material ornamented with rosettes and fringing.
The heads of sphinxes which surmount four posts suggest, however,
that the original inspiration had come from Classical Greece.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Curtains
for windows in aristocratic houses were not always plain but might be
printed and fringed, sometimes of cotton and sometimes of silk, and
generally reaching to the floor. In 1803, Sheraton noted that whilst
festoon curtains, drawn vertically, were still to be found in
bedrooms, the French rod curtain had become widely introduced in
fashionable houses. On a similar system to that we see today, these
curtains hung from a wooden or brass rod and were drawn horizontally,
either hidden behind a pelmet or swags of fabric or left on display
with rosettes or tassels to show where the material was attached. The
rings had strings which connected to a pulley, enabling the curtains
to be drawn.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Bedroom
furniture of the Regency era included a wash-hand stand, a dressing
table and stool with looking-glass, an armoire or wardrobe, tables,
chairs, an ottoman or chaise longue and perhaps a cheval mirror. In
the early seventeenth century, a matched set of pier glass, pier
table and candlesticks was a common facility provided in large
houses. These items were principally designed for display rather than
practicality and were elaborately fashioned: with marquetry, with
lacquered finishes, inlaid with pewter and even made of silver. They were
sited against the pier between the windows (hence the name), usually
opposite the bed to catch the best daylight in the morning and the
best candlelight at night. Gradually, with the increasing use of
dressing rooms, the dressing table as we know it today was developed
for practical use and placed, with wardrobes and other furniture for
the pursuit of dressing, in the secondary room. Sometimes this also
contained a truckle bed for the accommodation of a maid or valet.</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg7SPCrrhZMM_dnWmDGCR6NX_X2afZbCyj-ZAfC-6ppr7YiQYnrbRjOZ-0wXXujR-EL53t2L6TTxbDC4DQ9wtluC_cTc0wFR1wmcsmcqcVn7iQHWmNyVXR0Jvvu8ZealJr1KRBZ9p_iUmRxzsqP_-zjvOITSHXx6yOd6lzVII2pzQD_-4ub8popoKtdIE/s2592/Wash-stand%20table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg7SPCrrhZMM_dnWmDGCR6NX_X2afZbCyj-ZAfC-6ppr7YiQYnrbRjOZ-0wXXujR-EL53t2L6TTxbDC4DQ9wtluC_cTc0wFR1wmcsmcqcVn7iQHWmNyVXR0Jvvu8ZealJr1KRBZ9p_iUmRxzsqP_-zjvOITSHXx6yOd6lzVII2pzQD_-4ub8popoKtdIE/w400-h300/Wash-stand%20table.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wash-hand Stand, Hanbury Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOxk02VcA3YLEIiXWvnqa6iHGnTBmjrQydqLVkZImzBq11jdC7PmIXLMj62jbCm3jjXw2rp7Aek4B2Hyp_ryPWfHM3FdoEXOb_P4c8kO1EhO5mgKchI2AeCWe-0GcXy2C9I1_UblCBpaQWSgZJYMwkQyyHlnFYtPG-Nn6Fu_X83u9uOMxJvoRuvjwj00P/s2592/Table%20and%20stool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOxk02VcA3YLEIiXWvnqa6iHGnTBmjrQydqLVkZImzBq11jdC7PmIXLMj62jbCm3jjXw2rp7Aek4B2Hyp_ryPWfHM3FdoEXOb_P4c8kO1EhO5mgKchI2AeCWe-0GcXy2C9I1_UblCBpaQWSgZJYMwkQyyHlnFYtPG-Nn6Fu_X83u9uOMxJvoRuvjwj00P/w400-h300/Table%20and%20stool.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dressing Table with Stool, Hanbury Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLq2PBOsSSaR8YTcBV9vD6l17NBt4AOELkc7isIjr0XKU02Ap8Q9YaNlT0h0uNehf5QSaNsly0oDSqncBtQJOuGqxTpm783IhTW4nSNeerKOpcn5599vKp1wLhyphenhyphenc3GWgdssgEogiJvO2S8UCGvJTf63Ap0aLmwvpo-Z0ts_hXZ8fjKeFmY7F3-TDhB2sWO/s2592/Hercules%20Room%20-%20Marquetry%20chair%20&%20table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLq2PBOsSSaR8YTcBV9vD6l17NBt4AOELkc7isIjr0XKU02Ap8Q9YaNlT0h0uNehf5QSaNsly0oDSqncBtQJOuGqxTpm783IhTW4nSNeerKOpcn5599vKp1wLhyphenhyphenc3GWgdssgEogiJvO2S8UCGvJTf63Ap0aLmwvpo-Z0ts_hXZ8fjKeFmY7F3-TDhB2sWO/w300-h400/Hercules%20Room%20-%20Marquetry%20chair%20&%20table.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marquetry Table and Chair, Hanbury Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaIw7iaze729ScHxMLCAC6XDz_5F5ELXuS0sRG4AVVDoLgOoq2Z70A4bCOENDrCBi5eCtVo7qj_ERpNfkssUu9hoUvDd0LQovU6GYeJHTxYEKg1jxto_t3uuPTaPws6UFNqKZhtGcuJ51XcuBBtVP40JeVYQz6qostDoDwkMKQ8ZWSqZxXISjbspFOvzxA/s1600/PICT0632%20Main%20Bedroom%20Chair%20&%20side%20table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaIw7iaze729ScHxMLCAC6XDz_5F5ELXuS0sRG4AVVDoLgOoq2Z70A4bCOENDrCBi5eCtVo7qj_ERpNfkssUu9hoUvDd0LQovU6GYeJHTxYEKg1jxto_t3uuPTaPws6UFNqKZhtGcuJ51XcuBBtVP40JeVYQz6qostDoDwkMKQ8ZWSqZxXISjbspFOvzxA/w400-h300/PICT0632%20Main%20Bedroom%20Chair%20&%20side%20table.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chair and Pier Table, Hanbury Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLtwF0tG5k4FUq_tqa3s43XCKtr0jZ2ipoNQBtoGxJVaVLyqstJOOx3u3J9R9NajghWVn1EdpoOUks-PQxKNWRz6KSP4x5rbxhSxsLOoMcVlFT_8eyzq4Pr6rfaRIKPA8bEcuDV6nSPRTyjwFq_VsupLfrq_oTLvMXq2abN0RO-jVMfNFXzZ4Tjd5BfMk/s960/Walnut%20wardrobe_Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="714" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLtwF0tG5k4FUq_tqa3s43XCKtr0jZ2ipoNQBtoGxJVaVLyqstJOOx3u3J9R9NajghWVn1EdpoOUks-PQxKNWRz6KSP4x5rbxhSxsLOoMcVlFT_8eyzq4Pr6rfaRIKPA8bEcuDV6nSPRTyjwFq_VsupLfrq_oTLvMXq2abN0RO-jVMfNFXzZ4Tjd5BfMk/w298-h400/Walnut%20wardrobe_Edit.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cabinet or Wardrobe, State Bedroom, Eastnor Castle<br />(Susana Ellis, with permission)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUD2MtqdujfmlfYGR_y1FoVVQfKi23n1NN7om6Velnhb6eo__J5OFvquPl0FrsHBppJ_m6pNTZY8UZ0aTP0Ri_PPF0aD5dGcsaUZMGQMV7JeeiUVHOIBa0QD6qP0vMpp0TwrIfRzRWWKnikuEVBuozDvkEnjvUGjMFzHPpwmCDmlPBDBeYg4Iq-UzBB-B/s1756/Chaise%20Longue2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1756" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUD2MtqdujfmlfYGR_y1FoVVQfKi23n1NN7om6Velnhb6eo__J5OFvquPl0FrsHBppJ_m6pNTZY8UZ0aTP0Ri_PPF0aD5dGcsaUZMGQMV7JeeiUVHOIBa0QD6qP0vMpp0TwrIfRzRWWKnikuEVBuozDvkEnjvUGjMFzHPpwmCDmlPBDBeYg4Iq-UzBB-B/w400-h254/Chaise%20Longue2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chaise Longue, Eastnor Castle (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF-7ZKun1VNIvKSJD7uFf6YRMBcztZe5Hx7atRBh73yxQWYeYBSDHFzMn6StOrtVnOY7Qp6xYOmCNGCj_EtSGEXLBt7HFkVInKTic36XcEKgrmcuIB6KOpbTnVD551G3KkfOxBpGsH5unPq1jfSI3qYiHXQLI-c1dZUues37xzSOsi8uypB4_3IYgvwX4/s1600/PICT0616%20Library%20pier%20table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPF-7ZKun1VNIvKSJD7uFf6YRMBcztZe5Hx7atRBh73yxQWYeYBSDHFzMn6StOrtVnOY7Qp6xYOmCNGCj_EtSGEXLBt7HFkVInKTic36XcEKgrmcuIB6KOpbTnVD551G3KkfOxBpGsH5unPq1jfSI3qYiHXQLI-c1dZUues37xzSOsi8uypB4_3IYgvwX4/w300-h400/PICT0616%20Library%20pier%20table.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pier Table and Glass, Berrington Hall (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">As
very few Regency hangings have survived the centuries,
representations of bedrooms of that era are hard to find, most having
long since been redecorated to Victorian or Edwardian taste. At
Hartlebury Castle in Worcestershire, however, a bedchamber was
prepared by Richard Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, for an impending visit
of the Prince of Wales, who had made it known in 1807 that he would
like to visit and stop the night. Bishop Hurd was then
eight-eight and unfortunately became too frail to welcome His Royal Highness. To a nerdy author’s delight, the room,
while not large (it is almost filled by the bed), remains much as it was for
that auspicious event.</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0yt0JWpRr3mgRyQsDMRDDQjP5DXMspeFxorJBvvtz23P6Lo26Sb40Sag3MIKkykpTL4oHZErIUG2aARI6Pdf7rpzCXEuqsgtu8KNRxsIMgvP0HhWsTAfZFIy5qY6D-aR7ho0WgMKvCW6aXDzBSGdYo36q_-VKrMtR-OIOeXzmMMfwKhymWKagKcXTCAY/s3968/33%20Prince%20Regent'a%20Bed%20&%20Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3968" data-original-width="2976" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0yt0JWpRr3mgRyQsDMRDDQjP5DXMspeFxorJBvvtz23P6Lo26Sb40Sag3MIKkykpTL4oHZErIUG2aARI6Pdf7rpzCXEuqsgtu8KNRxsIMgvP0HhWsTAfZFIy5qY6D-aR7ho0WgMKvCW6aXDzBSGdYo36q_-VKrMtR-OIOeXzmMMfwKhymWKagKcXTCAY/w300-h400/33%20Prince%20Regent'a%20Bed%20&%20Room.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prince Regent's Bed, Hartlebury Castle (Author)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: medium;">All photographs are the property of the author unless otherwise
stated and may not be copied or shared without the owner’s
expressed permission.</span></i></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> © Heather King, 2024</span></i></div>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p><br />Heather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4468402655732552451.post-46827606613339319402023-05-16T03:01:00.002-07:002023-05-16T05:22:22.634-07:00Historic Palaces: Kensington Palace<p><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthx6cIWlMFC2WUnnOrge9Y4mXbPTd_lTQ8lVXew44Z18yEtY0-HyNunKae3HhB3f9pYCfYuf-Q1MSb8q9UtoBrO3_A3Y9CY43KkVkfQtpJCGpruoGxTDHZ7mr0s949gyXLrwEdTrhlU-A6mIDDK9glH_yFlJ15Y4tPSH-u8Dvs7ycPP0oJCzp3umL-g/s1280/Queen%20Victoria%20Statue%20Pix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthx6cIWlMFC2WUnnOrge9Y4mXbPTd_lTQ8lVXew44Z18yEtY0-HyNunKae3HhB3f9pYCfYuf-Q1MSb8q9UtoBrO3_A3Y9CY43KkVkfQtpJCGpruoGxTDHZ7mr0s949gyXLrwEdTrhlU-A6mIDDK9glH_yFlJ15Y4tPSH-u8Dvs7ycPP0oJCzp3umL-g/w400-h266/Queen%20Victoria%20Statue%20Pix.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Queen Victoria's Statue with Kensington Palace in the background.</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Mentioned
in the Domesday Book as Chenisitun, and in other ancient texts as
Kenesitune and Kensintune, Kensington was a village on the Great
Western Road, about one and a half miles from Hyde Park Corner. In
1829, the parish was bounded by Chelsea; St. Margaret, Westminster;
St. George, Hanover Square; Paddington, Wilsden, Acton and Fulham.
The Palace stood in the parish of St. Margaret, while the Gardens
were situated in Westminster.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Kensington
Palace was not always a Royal residence. Indeed, built as a modest
mansion for Sir George Coppin about 1605, it was later sold to
physician and diplomat Sir John Finch, who left it to his brother,
Sir Heneage Finch, afterwards the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord
Chancellor. Thus the property became known as Nottingham House. Then,
in June 1689, William III and Queen Mary paid Nottingham £18,000 for
the mansion, in order to remove from the grime and smells of the
river at the palace of Whitehall. The riverside situation worsened
the King’s asthma, while the Queen objected to views of naught but
‘...water or wall’.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Sir
Christopher Wren, and his clerk of works, Nicholas Hawksmoor, were
commissioned to make hurried extensions to the building, whereupon
the Court removed to the fresher air of Kensington just before
Christmas. Various other additions were made; first the Clock Court,
then the Queen’s Gallery, measuring 84 feet by 21, in 1691 and in
1695-96 the King’s Gallery, measuring 94 feet by 21. With its
restful outlook over the gardens, the latter became William’s
delight and place of relaxation following Mary’s death from
smallpox in 1694, when aged but 33. £11,000 was spent on these
gardens by the King, the work carried out by nurserymen and garden
designers London and Wise from nearby Brompton Park. At his own
command, William was brought to Kensington from Hampton Court after
falling from his horse in 1702, a fall which was to prove fatal.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGxO1xqiv_f06mRqqSTuR0tq9dzBSnwgl4E-r4fxFRq6DZReQ-8MrkGdUBE-lAzwqg47WlMbnitEEkAmVuheBZ7TA7DolwPX630rqdudBZp1b2Cej-5xryRiP_jUVfiEi1lLBwJsM92nNi5hKj44wksQn2iciH1xMRmCUGcib4s6c2l2ykoEdKjwZUvw/s1200/The%20King's%20Gallery_1200x944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1200" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGxO1xqiv_f06mRqqSTuR0tq9dzBSnwgl4E-r4fxFRq6DZReQ-8MrkGdUBE-lAzwqg47WlMbnitEEkAmVuheBZ7TA7DolwPX630rqdudBZp1b2Cej-5xryRiP_jUVfiEi1lLBwJsM92nNi5hKj44wksQn2iciH1xMRmCUGcib4s6c2l2ykoEdKjwZUvw/w400-h315/The%20King's%20Gallery_1200x944.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The King's Gallery, W.H. Pyne, 1819</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Originally
twenty-six acres, Queen Anne added thirty more to the gardens when
she came to the throne. London and Wise continued the work started in
the previous reign, and this was augmented in 1704 by the
construction of a ‘Summer Supper House’, otherwise known as The
Orangery, designed by Hawksmoor and Sir John Vanbrugh. An elegant
building, the interior has been described as ‘tranquil’ and a
most pleasant place to sit. Built of red brick, a long row of
mullioned windows allowed both glorious views and light for those
within.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRx7xUNNdTm64CMLQmrujVBFCghvfCicJJEhL5VNXdb84-BgVhYL6WdGZYLT9GU_YSB-sZm9ENISEjtKOH35zk4POQ9Rt0Ea4uTvBJpoE7X8WevXDA-Sc3DdY68MsFOjVcM_EwWu6kmA-dMGf6Gvl5dV4mwj-sxbnFpWDRhO8oLNvmtFZREnn3gBnFQ/s1200/Kensington%20Palace%20Jan%20Kip_1200x758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1200" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRx7xUNNdTm64CMLQmrujVBFCghvfCicJJEhL5VNXdb84-BgVhYL6WdGZYLT9GU_YSB-sZm9ENISEjtKOH35zk4POQ9Rt0Ea4uTvBJpoE7X8WevXDA-Sc3DdY68MsFOjVcM_EwWu6kmA-dMGf6Gvl5dV4mwj-sxbnFpWDRhO8oLNvmtFZREnn3gBnFQ/w400-h253/Kensington%20Palace%20Jan%20Kip_1200x758.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Kensington Palace from the south, Jan Kip, 1724</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">When
George I ascended the throne in 1714, Nottingham House’s role as a
country seat was to change forever. Under the guidance of Colin
Campbell, the house was turned into a residence fit for a king. The
body of the old mansion was remodelled, with the addition of three
new State Rooms – the Privy Chamber, the Cupola Room and the
Withdrawing Room. By 1829, the State Apartments consisted of a suite
of twelve rooms. Most of the Royal Apartments were fitted up with
paintings and decoration by William Kent, who also painted the King’s
Staircase, reflecting various stories of the Court at that time. He
represented the King’s Turkish Gentleman of the Privy Chamber,
Mustafa – who was jealously regarded for his closeness to the King – Peter, the wild boy, a
child and a lapdog, and even included an image of himself! The
staircase is particularly grand, rising on two sides to a gallery on
the third, edged with a banister of intricate, scrolled ironwork.
Arched panels with rich decoration enclose the paintings and stand
alongside ornate, pedimented niches containing statuary, while the
ceiling is a magnificent blaze of gilding and moulding.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1DZjhAFicJMfXDzneCRYt3qSYY63oTHJem4Zx2dnHnwpHzA9WDraF5YbPTwTXj-mfVnO4Orksw9DLgSVs6DYoQoZKn-7JEHfYkZHUbhsPFRLz5OBSBWwqwNwPkG2KIiuMUMrlsIuE-Vx9KhTGDoZ4twaaz_5q_3G4BYPkWIaGIOir1Quf7o0JAWx9Q/s1456/Great%20Staircase_Pyne_1200x1456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1456" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1DZjhAFicJMfXDzneCRYt3qSYY63oTHJem4Zx2dnHnwpHzA9WDraF5YbPTwTXj-mfVnO4Orksw9DLgSVs6DYoQoZKn-7JEHfYkZHUbhsPFRLz5OBSBWwqwNwPkG2KIiuMUMrlsIuE-Vx9KhTGDoZ4twaaz_5q_3G4BYPkWIaGIOir1Quf7o0JAWx9Q/w330-h400/Great%20Staircase_Pyne_1200x1456.jpg" width="330" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Great Staircase, W.H. Pyne, 1819</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
Cupola Room was where the great and not-so-good went to be seen, to
further careers and seek favour with Their Majesties, and was a sumptuous
chamber appointed in gold, with gilt figures and side-tables. Suspended from
the glorious gold and blue ceiling, on purple ropes, were
four tremendous chandeliers. Centuries later, these mysteriously
disappeared, but in 2020 new ones were hand carved and gilded, to the
closest representation as possible, to replace them.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCoiV8KOm--X5rcu9YrDQWrG14ze54Qy5OH2cHMkxGDyje-DMtmK0YLSi5PLMA2OuU8J-oOwGTYKf3gg6zhDShAu2Hu8NlngeW_B6Nv6vFnJJC7uZ4h_SrZnRFhbRhhOh0Vyrr2r8T_tsA9QZxjkL8NFqCfBlU-yuflaoNkVA6-V7u-5x-5newo8Qalg/s1200/Cupola%20Room_Pyne_1200x971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="1200" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCoiV8KOm--X5rcu9YrDQWrG14ze54Qy5OH2cHMkxGDyje-DMtmK0YLSi5PLMA2OuU8J-oOwGTYKf3gg6zhDShAu2Hu8NlngeW_B6Nv6vFnJJC7uZ4h_SrZnRFhbRhhOh0Vyrr2r8T_tsA9QZxjkL8NFqCfBlU-yuflaoNkVA6-V7u-5x-5newo8Qalg/w400-h324/Cupola%20Room_Pyne_1200x971.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Cupola Room, W.H. Pyne, 1819</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Queen
Caroline’s Withdrawing Room was a light, airy apartment where she
would sit to read, converse with her ladies or sew. The walls were
lined with paintings in gilt frames, below which were set
blue-covered stools, and the ceiling had a great, gilded oval
surround to a painting featuring Mars and Minerva.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXNNYhIdOSv3FzvaXB-DSP2S-aGIBP9KK4_u32VHXRWIYs6U03WxuEq7UVTMpUmLiS0jFEvxfDfIAIbmvIPZlux-47FNsaaOnbdBqzUtHzsGeSDeEruqQrAQ2IA3ZZevqK2sumQlOA416La39dMabmG0ilxrm9-z2BKkIfiyEQ1_PVfxwSQY8Ji9smA/s1200/Queen%20Caroline's%20Drawing%20Room_Pyne_1200x965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="1200" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXNNYhIdOSv3FzvaXB-DSP2S-aGIBP9KK4_u32VHXRWIYs6U03WxuEq7UVTMpUmLiS0jFEvxfDfIAIbmvIPZlux-47FNsaaOnbdBqzUtHzsGeSDeEruqQrAQ2IA3ZZevqK2sumQlOA416La39dMabmG0ilxrm9-z2BKkIfiyEQ1_PVfxwSQY8Ji9smA/w400-h321/Queen%20Caroline's%20Drawing%20Room_Pyne_1200x965.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Queen Caroline's Drawing Room, W.H. Pyne, 1819</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
Princesses’ Courtyard (named for the King’s granddaughters) was
built and new kitchens were added. With all these alterations, the
building became a large, irregular construction. Once George II
became monarch in 1727, little more in the way of structural
improvements were made, for He and Queen Caroline concentrated on the
gardens, restricting themselves, within the house, to the
reorganization of furnishings and paintings. The Queen discovered,
forgotten in a bureau, a parcel of drawings by Holbein. Wise and
Charles Bridgeman were brought in to create a new design for the
gardens, poaching 300 acres from Hyde Park for the purpose, and so
the Round Pond became a feature, as did the Broad Walk, which
extended from the palace along the south side of the gardens. In the
spring this was a particularly fashionable promenade, especially on
Sunday mornings. At the time of these innovations the Serpentine was
also formed, from several small ponds of the River Westbourne.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIb-F9CJ6JXOgcHa-PBbrTNM5OU4N8cPBRwIvirLEdAZV_67kK0UeWPW9oIM1KmHdCOCPKY-MEGANtC9EOaSsm3Db6IyxOiHlKAAaBODoW5eIlp_-u896rvncdpH0IIWdMFk33UvYeBWu-wS414LJ26LNg6FOPYhsDeE5kR4iFEmC1hLt5pG9qIpeNg/s7151/Kensington%20Gardens%20John%20Martin%20300dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4674" data-original-width="7151" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIb-F9CJ6JXOgcHa-PBbrTNM5OU4N8cPBRwIvirLEdAZV_67kK0UeWPW9oIM1KmHdCOCPKY-MEGANtC9EOaSsm3Db6IyxOiHlKAAaBODoW5eIlp_-u896rvncdpH0IIWdMFk33UvYeBWu-wS414LJ26LNg6FOPYhsDeE5kR4iFEmC1hLt5pG9qIpeNg/w400-h261/Kensington%20Gardens%20John%20Martin%20300dpi.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Kensington Palace Gardens, John Martin, 1815</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Due
to George III choosing to live at Buckingham House, following Queen
Caroline’s death Kensington Palace was put under Holland covers and
closed for four decades, much falling into disrepair, although in the
1830s the Duchess of Kent made use of the State Rooms to extend her
apartments. She also divided the King’s Gallery into three rooms
for Princess Victoria’s accommodation. The State Rooms were used to
store furnishings and paintings during the nineteenth century and
were rather neglected.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Although
no monarch since George II has lived at Kensington Palace, apartments
were made ready for Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV, in the
early 1800s, and then her daughter, the Princess Charlotte. Frederick
Augustus, Duke of Sussex, also made his residence here. Princess
(later Queen) Victoria was born at Kensington in May 1819, and grew
up beset by ‘The Kensington System’ of rules and regulations
devised by her widowed mother’s secretary and adviser, Sir John
Conroy, who seems to have had an eye to his own advancement and
power. The young Victoria was supervised in everything she did, even
to moving about within the palace, yet she did enjoy riding her
donkey or driving her goat-coat around the grounds. She also drove a phaeton drawn by four ponies. However, Conroy’s
attempted control over the young Princess backfired. When the Prime
Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived in the middle of
the night to inform her that she had become Queen, she swiftly
assumed her authority and insisted upon receiving them alone – and
she was dressed only in her nightclothes and a dressing gown! She
then proceeded to hold her first council at Kensington on the very
next day, 20 June 1837. After that, she packed her bags and moved to
Buckingham Palace (so lavishly extended and redesigned by George IV),
leaving her mother behind at Kensington. When the Duchess of Kent
died in 1861, the Duke and Duchess of Teck moved into her apartments.
Queen Mary was born there in 1867.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 1897 Parliament was persuaded to release funds to the tune of £36,000 for the refurbishment of the
palace, after which the State Apartments were opened to the public on
Queen Victoria’s 80<sup>th</sup> birthday in 1899. The gardens had
been open to view since George II’s reign. In 1923, the Palace was
reopened after housing the London Museum. Princess Margaret, sister
of the late Queen, lived at Kensington for almost 42 years, and
Diana, Princess of Wales, lived at the palace following her wedding
to the then Prince Charles, on 29 July 1981, until her death in Paris
on 31 August 1997. One of her favourite places was the Sunken Garden,
commissioned by Edward VII in 1908; it sits in a part of the garden
once the domain of hot-houses and potting sheds.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16qrGBv9aQcCvgcmSl24P4FS5KkMrI2VBR5b0lz5QXd8srdfrUDnI8KyQioRx3h0nhSRhbjTWcxaKlpSfL6ONQqAqXGQtBt_gkI1JQUOeMpqx0BwBR5lljX96i4nJN-_5LxdKxcIF6J3bqkgUQQO6qJHicMcIqBwsd4rRxXOCKvoRqjMEhpN4QvOlag/s960/Sunken%20Garden%20Pix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16qrGBv9aQcCvgcmSl24P4FS5KkMrI2VBR5b0lz5QXd8srdfrUDnI8KyQioRx3h0nhSRhbjTWcxaKlpSfL6ONQqAqXGQtBt_gkI1JQUOeMpqx0BwBR5lljX96i4nJN-_5LxdKxcIF6J3bqkgUQQO6qJHicMcIqBwsd4rRxXOCKvoRqjMEhpN4QvOlag/w400-h266/Sunken%20Garden%20Pix.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Sunken Garden</div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today
the Palace is the official London residence of the Prince and
Princess of Wales and their children, the Duke and Duchess of
Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and Prince and Princess
Michael of Kent.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
Heather King</span></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>All images are in the Public Domain.</i></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Heather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4468402655732552451.post-25867613308281721662023-03-20T07:58:00.000-07:002023-03-20T07:58:16.542-07:00Rambling in the Regency<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs9K8xMrcI0D6gZl0zx8OAEhPsCiAam_5bDiRQ6s-kyRz0bcn7q8VUzIgUM933savGtudu-HGnAxjb0LH1u3SH4G4WKomeoHIB7X22cPReqwbGDBX2I5zxVrsDepkvzcjVvySeUotpznfnxGoG8WNEXo-HuD_j7WRfXPZKfgmCfofpa9aDR0nWgGMRw/s1853/Horse%20Guide%20Vol%20II_Greyhound.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1853" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs9K8xMrcI0D6gZl0zx8OAEhPsCiAam_5bDiRQ6s-kyRz0bcn7q8VUzIgUM933savGtudu-HGnAxjb0LH1u3SH4G4WKomeoHIB7X22cPReqwbGDBX2I5zxVrsDepkvzcjVvySeUotpznfnxGoG8WNEXo-HuD_j7WRfXPZKfgmCfofpa9aDR0nWgGMRw/w259-h400/Horse%20Guide%20Vol%20II_Greyhound.png" width="259" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am delighted to be able to announce the publication, today, of the paperback version of Volume II of The Horse: An Historical Author's and Reader's Guide! Packed full of information with respect to the horse when used for travel - care, treatment, harness, the carriages and coaches he was put to, and the major coaching inns of London - this book contains everything you didn't know you needed to know!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BYRJ359L">Amazon UK</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRJ359L">Amazon US</a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I do hope it proves useful and entertaining. There are a few changes from the Kindle copy, so that will be updated in due course.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All the best,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Heather</span></p>Heather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4468402655732552451.post-30888884097757530382023-01-09T06:42:00.001-08:002023-01-09T06:42:36.616-08:00The Horse: An Historical Guide<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9H59xvOgbR_iI9N9E5fwvqCVizVLZ2ch00rWhpHPuaPU0m7DqMkDoZRTLfVj8_-D4YIx26yie_0wZPDUwCy3wIAIb11NoPi6Wt7uLflBZ7oskMUZiLPnSV87U5o0get7TH50wqdstXbZTqfArYj9PGPZG8So7MMzBZM7y57Cdix7VS0WeT4AVqOEeA/s3860/Horse%20Guide%20Vol%20II%20&%20III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3860" data-original-width="2500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9H59xvOgbR_iI9N9E5fwvqCVizVLZ2ch00rWhpHPuaPU0m7DqMkDoZRTLfVj8_-D4YIx26yie_0wZPDUwCy3wIAIb11NoPi6Wt7uLflBZ7oskMUZiLPnSV87U5o0get7TH50wqdstXbZTqfArYj9PGPZG8So7MMzBZM7y57Cdix7VS0WeT4AVqOEeA/w259-h400/Horse%20Guide%20Vol%20II%20&%20III.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">FINALLY... after months and months off scurrying down endless rabbit holes and the diligent study of an extraordinary amount of research material, I can proudly reveal the publication of The Horse: An Historical Author's and Reader's Guide, Volumes II and III, which in the e-book are one volume. Two for the price of One!</span></p><p></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: medium;">Companions to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Horse: An Historical
Author’s And Reader’s Guide Volume I,</i> Volumes II and III are mainly aimed at those interested in the
Georgian/Regency era, although they also cover a wider historical period. The series of volumes offer a fascinating
journey through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, being packed with
information vital to the historical author and of interest to any reader with a
passion for horses. Bowling along the major routes, past picturesque coaching
inns, we visit racecourses and other places of pleasure whilst meeting a rogue
or two along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;">This book (two paperback volumes will be available in due course) will give the reader an insight into the way horses
were treated, regarded and employed for both travel and pleasure, covering
driving history and methods; harness; carriages and coaches; the arrival of the
postal service; the major London inns, the main mail roads leading from the
capital and the inns which sprang up along them.</span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope authors and readers everywhere will find the series not only useful but also entertaining and informative. Enjoy!</span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Heather</span></span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BRWZB1P9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4" target="_blank">Amazon UK </a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Historical-Authors-Readers-Guide-ebook/dp/B0BRWZB1P9?ref_=ast_sto_dp" target="_blank">Amazon US</a></span></span></p><p class="Block"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="Block"><o:p></o:p></p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span><p></p>Heather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4468402655732552451.post-25932327952248969642022-10-31T13:34:00.001-07:002022-11-01T02:09:19.736-07:00Nutcrack Night ~ Hallowe’en In The Regency<p> </p><h3 class="western"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I cannot believe it is a year since I last wrote a post for A Regency Reticule! Where has the time gone to? It has been a very busy year.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I thought I would look at Hallowe'en from the Regency perspective rather than the event we celebrate today.</span></h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJfAPX3lTkQziLK9V0zJ0h6B1h8a_6I6EuCT9D76C147EyAu_GpkLF-AZ8-iQZY41eLWpT_SOWfNZ-rFgsWyTv_NvKbRgCw_movDuSg09vtyii2KIpSL17GQYHbUH-1kHlxbbsgyDgFnl7dX-5sEk-BLHYNhXadipiWVZmbSH1p5zdomwKv6pQ7YrFA/s720/witch-1461961_960_720.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="677" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJfAPX3lTkQziLK9V0zJ0h6B1h8a_6I6EuCT9D76C147EyAu_GpkLF-AZ8-iQZY41eLWpT_SOWfNZ-rFgsWyTv_NvKbRgCw_movDuSg09vtyii2KIpSL17GQYHbUH-1kHlxbbsgyDgFnl7dX-5sEk-BLHYNhXadipiWVZmbSH1p5zdomwKv6pQ7YrFA/s320/witch-1461961_960_720.png" width="301" /></a></div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div>Chiefly a northern
festival, Hallowe’en, Hallow Even or Holy Eve were all alternative
or colloquial terms (described by the Reverend John Platt in 1827 as
‘vulgar’) for All Hallows’ Eve, the last day of October. This
was the night before All Saints’ Day, the Christian appropriation
of the old Celtic feast of Samhain. This is the night when the veil
between the world of the living and that of the spirit realm is at
its’ thinnest, allowing the two to merge and the undead to live
again.</div>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dating from the
middle of the sixteenth century, the term All Hallow Eve was
overtaken by that of Hallow-e’en or Hallowe’en in the last years
of the seventeenth century, particularly in Scotland. It is not
therefore surprising that Sir Walter Scott should include a spirit in
one of his early works, <i>The Monastery</i>, published in 1820.
Central to the tale is the Glendinning family, the scion of which,
Halbert, is a sprightly, impetuous youth – and jealous of the
apparent affection Mary of Avenel holds for his brother.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">‘<i>He arrived at
length in a narrow and secluded cleuch, or deep ravine, which ran
down into the valley, and contributed a scanty rivulet to the supply
of the brook with which Glendearg is watered. Up this he sped with
the same precipitate haste which had marked his departure from the
tower, nor did he pause and look around until he had reached the
fountain from which the rivulet had its rise.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Here Halbert
stopt short, and cast a gloomy, and almost a frightened glance around
him. A huge rock rose in front, from a cleft of which grew a wild
holly-tree, whose dark green branches rustled over the spring which
arose beneath. The banks on either hand rose so high, and approached
each other so closely, that it was only when the sun was at its
meridian height, and during the summer solstice, that its rays could
reach the bottom of the chasm in which he stood. But it was now
summer, and the hour was noon, so that the unwonted reflection of the
sun was dancing in the pellucid fountain.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>It is the
season and the hour,” said Halbert to himself; “and now I—I
might soon become wiser than Edward with all his pains! Mary should
see whether he alone is fit to be consulted, and to sit by her side,
and hang over her as she reads, and point out every word and every
letter. And she loves me better than him—I am sure she does—for
she comes of noble blood, and scorns sloth and cowardice.—And do I
myself not stand here slothful and cowardly as any priest of them
all?—Why should I fear to call upon this form—this shape?—Already
have I endured the vision, and why not again? What can it do to me,
who am a man of lith and limb, and have by my side my father's sword?
Does my heart beat—do my hairs bristle, at the thought of calling
up a painted shadow, and how should I face a band of Southrons in
flesh and blood? By the soul of the first Glendinning, I will make
proof of the charm!”’</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Halbert
then bowed three times to the holly tree and the same to the
fountain, uttering a rhyme, thus producing ‘</span><i>...a figure
of a female clothed in white...</i><span style="font-style: normal;">’</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>'There’
something in that ancient superstition,</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Which, erring
as it is, our fancy loves.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The spring
that, with its thousand crystal bubbles,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Bursts from the
bosom of some desert rock</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>In secret
solitude, may well be deem’d</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The haunt of
something purer, more refined,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And mightier
than ourselves.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>OLD
PLAY.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">‘<i>Young Halbert
Glendinning had scarcely pronounced the mystical rhymes, than, as we
have mentioned in the conclusion of the last chapter, an appearance,
as of a beautiful female, dressed in white, stood within two yards of
him. His terror for the moment overcame his natural courage, as well
as the strong resolution which he had formed, that the figure which
he had now twice seen should not a third time daunt him. But it would
seem there is something thrilling and abhorrent to flesh and blood,
in the consciousness that we stand in presence of a being in form
like to ourselves, but so different in faculties and nature, that we
can neither understand its purposes, nor calculate its means of
pursuing them.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Halbert stood
silent and gasped for breath, his hairs erecting themselves on his
head—-his mouth open—his eyes fixed, and, as the sole remaining
sign of his late determined purpose, his sword pointed towards the
apparition. At length with a voice of ineffable sweetness, the White
Lady, for by that name we shall distinguish this being, sung, or
rather chanted, the following lines:—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Youth of the
dark eye, wherefore didst thou call me?</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Wherefore art
thou here, if terrors can appal thee?</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>He that seeks
to deal with us must know no fear nor failing!</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To coward and
churl our speech is dark, our gifts are unavailing.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The breeze that
brought me hither now, must sweep Egyptian ground,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The fleecy
cloud on which I ride for Araby is bound;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The fleecy
cloud is drifting by, the breeze sighs for my stay,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>For I must sail
a thousand miles before the close of day.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The astonishment
of Halbert began once more to give way to his resolution, and he
gained voice enough to say, though with a faltering accent, “In the
name of God, what art thou?” The answer was in melody of a
different tone and measure:—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>What I am I
must not show—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>What I am thou
couldst not know—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Something
betwixt heaven and hell—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Something that
neither stood nor fell—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Something that
through thy wit or will</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>May work thee
good—may work thee ill.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Neither
substance quite nor shadow,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Haunting lonely
moor and meadow,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Dancing; by the
haunted spring,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Riding on the
whirlwind’s wing;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Aping in
fantastic fashion</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Every change of
human passion,</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><br /></i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>While o'er our
frozen minds they pass,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Like shadows
from the mirror’d glass.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Wayward, fickle
is our mood,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Hovering
betwixt bad and good,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Happier than
brief-dated man,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Living twenty
times his span;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Far less happy,
for we have</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Help nor hope
beyond the grave!</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Man awakes to
joy or sorrow;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Ours the sleep
that knows no morrow.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>This is all
that I can show—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>This is all
that thou mayest know.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The White Lady
paused, and appeared to await an answer; but, as Halbert hesitated
how to frame his speech, the vision seemed gradually to fade, and
became more and more incorporeal. Justly guessing this to be a
symptom of her disappearance, Halbert compelled himself to
say,—“Lady, when I saw you in the glen, and when you brought back
the black book of Mary Avenel, thou didst say I should one day learn
to read it.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The White Lady
replied,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Ay! and I
taught thee the word and the spell,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To waken me
here by the Fairies' Well,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>But thou hast
loved the heron and hawk,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>More than to
seek my haunted walk;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And thou hast
loved the lance and the sword,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>More than good
text and holy word;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And thou hast
loved the deer to track,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>More than the
lines and the letters black;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And thou art a
ranger of moss and of wood,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And scornest
the nurture of gentle blood.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>I will do so
no longer, fair maiden,” said Halbert; “I desire to learn; and
thou didst promise me, that when I did so desire, thou wouldst be my
helper; I am no longer afraid of thy presence, and I am no longer
regardless of instruction.” As he uttered these words, the figure
of the White Maiden grew gradually as distinct as it had been at
first; and what had well-nigh faded into an ill-defined and
colourless shadow, again assumed an appearance at least of corporeal
consistency, although the hues were less vivid, and the outline of
the figure less distinct and defined—so at least it seemed to
Halbert—than those of an ordinary inhabitant of earth. “Wilt thou
grant my request,” he said, “fair Lady, and give to my keeping
the holy book which Mary of Avenel has so often wept for?”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The White Lady
replied:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Thy craven
fear my truth accused,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Thine idlehood
my trust abused;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>He that draws
to harbour late,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Must sleep
without, or burst the gate.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>There is a star
for thee which burn’d.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Its influence
wanes, its course is turn’d;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Valour and
constancy alone</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Can bring thee
back the chance that's flown.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>If I have been
a loiterer, Lady,” answered young Glendinning, “thou shalt now
find me willing to press forward with double speed. Other thoughts
have filled my mind, other thoughts have engaged my heart, within a
brief period—and by Heaven, other occupations shall henceforward
fill up my time. I have lived in this day the space of years—I came
hither a boy—I will return a man—a man, such as may converse not
only with his own kind, but with whatever God permits to be visible
to him. I will learn the contents of that mysterious volume—I will
learn why the Lady of Avenel loved it—why the priests feared, and
would have stolen it—why thou didst twice recover it from their
hands.—What mystery is wrapt in it?—Speak, I conjure thee!” The
lady assumed an air peculiarly sad and solemn, as drooping her head,
and folding her arms on her bosom, she replied:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Within that
awful volume lies</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The mystery of
mysteries!</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Happiest they
of human race,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To whom God has
granted grace</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To read, to
fear, to hope, to pray,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To lift the
latch, and force the way;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And better had
they ne'er been born,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Who read, to
doubt, or read to scorn.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>Give me the
volume, Lady,” said young Glendinning. “They call me idle—they
call me dull—in this pursuit my industry shall not fail, nor, with
God's blessing, shall my understanding. Give me the volume.” The
apparition again replied:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Many a
fathom dark and deep</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>I have laid the
book to sleep;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Ethereal fires
around it glowing—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Ethereal music
ever flowing—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The sacred
pledge of Heav’n</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>All things
revere.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Each in his
sphere,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Save man for
whom ’twas giv’n:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Lend thy hand,
and thou shalt spy</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Things ne’er
seen by mortal eye.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Halbert
Glendinning boldly reached his hand to the White Lady.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>Fearest thou
to go with me?” she said, as his hand trembled at the soft and cold
touch of her own—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Fearest thou
to go with me?</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Still it is
free to thee</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>A peasant to
dwell:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Thou mayst
drive the dull steer,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>And chase the
king's deer,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>But never more
come near</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>This haunted
well.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>If what thou
sayest be true,” said the undaunted boy, “my destinies are higher
than thine own. There shall be neither well nor wood which I dare not
visit. No fear of aught, natural or supernatural, shall bar my path
through my native valley.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>He had scarce
uttered the words, when they both descended through the earth with a
rapidity which took away Halbert's breath and every other sensation,
saving that of being hurried on with the utmost velocity. At length
they stopped with a shock so sudden, that the mortal journeyer
through this unknown space must have been thrown down with violence,
had he not been upheld by his supernatural companion.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>It was more than
a minute, ere, looking around him, he beheld a grotto, or natural
cavern, composed of the most splendid spars and crystals, which
returned in a thousand prismatic hues the light of a brilliant flame
that glowed on an altar of alabaster. This altar, with its fire,
formed the central point of the grotto, which was of a round form,
and very high in the roof, resembling in some respects the dome of a
cathedral. Corresponding to the four points of the compass, there
went off four long galleries, or arcades, constructed of the same
brilliant materials with the dome itself, and the termination of
which was lost in darkness.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>No human
imagination can conceive, or words suffice to describe, the glorious
radiance which, shot fiercely forth by the flame, was returned from
so many hundred thousand points of reflection, afforded by the sparry
pillars and their numerous angular crystals. The fire itself did not
remain steady and unmoved, but rose and fell, sometimes ascending in
a brilliant pyramid of condensed flame half way up the lofty expanse,
and again fading into a softer and more rosy hue, and hovering, as it
were, on the surface of the altar to collect its strength for another
powerful exertion. There was no visible fuel by which it was fed, nor
did it emit either smoke or vapour of any kind.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>What was of all
the most remarkable, the black volume so often mentioned lay not only
unconsumed, but untouched in the slightest degree, amid this
intensity of fire, which, while it seemed to be of force sufficient
to melt adamant, had no effect whatever on the sacred book thus
subjected to its utmost influence.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The White Lady,
having paused long enough to let young Glendinning take a complete
survey of what was around him, now said in her usual chant,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Here lies
the volume thou boldly hast sought;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Touch it, and
take it,—’twill dearly be bought!”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Familiarized in
some degree with marvels, and desperately desirous of showing the
courage he had boasted, Halbert plunged his hand, without hesitation,
into the flame, trusting to the rapidity of the motion, to snatch out
the volume before the fire could greatly affect him. But he was much
disappointed. The flame instantly caught upon his sleeve, and though
he withdrew his hand immediately, yet his arm was so dreadfully
scorched, that he had well-nigh screamed with pain. He suppressed the
natural expression of anguish, however, and only intimated the agony
which he felt by a contortion and a muttered groan. The White Lady
passed her cold hand over his arm, and, ere she had finished the
following metrical chant, his pain had entirely gone, and no mark of
the scorching was visible:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Rash
thy deed,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Mortal
weed</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>To immortal
flames applying;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Rasher
trust</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Has
thing of dust,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>On his own
weak worth relying:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Strip thee of
such fences vain,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Strip, and
prove thy luck, again.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Obedient to what
he understood to be the meaning of his conductress, Halbert bared his
arm to the shoulder, throwing down the remains of his sleeve, which
no sooner touched the floor on which he stood than it collected
itself together, shrivelled itself up, and was without any visible
fire reduced to light tinder, which a sudden breath of wind dispersed
into empty space. The White Lady, observing the surprise of the
youth, immediately repeated—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Mortal warp
and mortal woof.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Cannot brook
this charmed roof;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>All that mortal
art hath wrought,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>In our cell
returns to nought.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The molten gold
returns to clay,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The polish’d
diamond melts away.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>All is alter’d,
all is flown,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Nought stands
fast but truth alone.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Not for that
thy quest give o'er:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Courage! prove
thy chance once more.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Imboldened by her
words, Halbert Glendinning made a second effort, and, plunging his
bare arm into the flame, took out the sacred volume without feeling
either heat or inconvenience of any kind. Astonished, and almost
terrified at his own success, he beheld the flame collect itself, and
shoot up into one long and final stream, which seemed as if it would
ascend to the very roof of the cavern, and then, sinking as suddenly,
became totally extinguished. The deepest darkness ensued; but Halbert
had no time to consider his situation, for the White Lady had already
caught his hand, and they ascended to upper air with the same
velocity with which they had sunk into the earth.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>They stood by the
fountain in the Corri-nan-shian when they emerged from the bowels of
the earth; but on casting a bewildered glance around him, the youth
was surprised to observe, that the shadows had fallen far to the
east, and that the day was well-nigh spent. He gazed on his
conductress for explanation, but her figure began to fade before his
eyes—her cheeks grew paler, her features less distinct, her form
became shadowy, and blended itself with the mist which was ascending
the hollow ravine. What had late the symmetry of form, and the
delicate, yet clear hues of feminine beauty, now resembled the
flitting and pale ghost of some maiden who has died for love, as it
is seen indistinctly and by moonlight, by her perjured lover.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<i>Stay, spirit!”
said the youth, imboldened by his success in the subterranean dome,
“thy kindness must not leave me, as one encumbered with a weapon he
knows not how to wield. Thou must teach me the art to read, and to
understand this volume; else what avails it me that I possess it?”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>But the figure of
the White Lady still waned before his eye, until it became an outline
as pale and indistinct as that of the moon, when the winter morning
is far advanced, and ere she had ended the following chant, she was
entirely invisible:—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> “<i>Alas! alas!</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Not ours the
grace</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>These holy
characters to trace:</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Idle forms
of painted air,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Not to us
is given to share</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The boon
bestow’d on Adam's race!</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>With
patience bide.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Heaven will
provide</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>The fitting
time, the fitting guide.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The form was
already gone, and now the voice itself had melted away in melancholy
cadence, softening, as if the Being who spoke had been slowly wafted
from the spot where she had commenced her melody.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>It was at this
moment that Halbert felt the extremity of the terror which he had
hitherto so manfully suppressed. The very necessity of exertion had
given him spirit to make it, and the presence of the mysterious
Being, while it was a subject of fear in itself, had nevertheless
given him the sense of protection being near to him. It was when he
could reflect with composure on what had passed, that a cold tremor
shot across his limbs, his hair bristled, and he was afraid to look
around lest he should find at his elbow something more frightful than
the first vision. A breeze arising suddenly, realized the beautiful
and wild idea of the most imaginative of our modern bards {Footnote:
Coleridge.}—</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>It fann’d his
cheek, it raised his hair,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Like a meadow
pale in spring;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>It mingled
strangely with his fears,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <i>Yet it fell
like a welcoming.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>The youth stood
silent and astonished for a few minutes. It seemed to him that the
extraordinary Being he had seen, half his terror, half his
protectress, was still hovering on the gale which swept past him, and
that she might again make herself sensible to his organs of sight.
“Speak!” he said, wildly tossing his arms, “speak yet again—be
once more present, lovely vision!—thrice have I now seen thee, yet
the idea of thy invisible presence around or beside me, makes my
heart beat faster than if the earth yawned and gave up a demon.”</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>But neither sound
nor appearance indicated the presence of the White Lady, and nothing
preternatural beyond what he had already witnessed, was again audible
or visible. Halbert, in the meanwhile, by the very exertion of again
inviting the presence of this mysterious Being, had recovered his
natural audacity. He looked around once more, and resumed his
solitary path down the valley into whose recesses he had penetrated.’</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6WN0kL4NHtCeLp8CA_6mREFlzRzR7OGpGXcwaFGFmTxctrFKblbi7Uloa_y5PbaahlUHq_29NtZ6nH7mQaZR6bBWfZM6YJ13C9yTxJL3ewyzsN8F6dOQFxtZKpA3YKOSomUcqEIRedOH35wHJP_wemOfIwcLYMZt2PUw2ceGjJqrXhGfzmH8DLEzBpg/s720/creature-2029421_960_720.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="407" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6WN0kL4NHtCeLp8CA_6mREFlzRzR7OGpGXcwaFGFmTxctrFKblbi7Uloa_y5PbaahlUHq_29NtZ6nH7mQaZR6bBWfZM6YJ13C9yTxJL3ewyzsN8F6dOQFxtZKpA3YKOSomUcqEIRedOH35wHJP_wemOfIwcLYMZt2PUw2ceGjJqrXhGfzmH8DLEzBpg/s320/creature-2029421_960_720.png" width="181" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Fairies,
too, come abroad on Hallowe’en, making it a night full of charms
and spells. In 1785, Robert Burns wrote his poem of that name and
published it the following year. Here are just the first two stanzas:</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>UPON that night,
when fairies light,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>On Cassilis
Downans dance,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Or owre the lays,
in splendid blaze,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>On sprightly
coursers prance;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Or for Colzean
the route is ta’en,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Beneath the
moon's pale beams;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>There, up the
cove, to stray an’ rove</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Amang the rocks
and streams</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>To sport that
night.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Amang the bonnie
winding banks,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Where Doon rins,
wimplin, clear,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Where Bruce ance
ruled the martial ranks,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>An’ shook his
Carrick spear,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Some merry,
friendly countra folks</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Together did
convene,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>To burn their
nits, an’ pu’ their stocks,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>And haud their
Hallowe’en,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i>Fu’ blithe that
night.</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Spells
and magic were very much at the root of the customs and traditions of
this night, which has very little to do with pumpkins, trick or
treating and dressing up in scary costumes, although the Lord of
Misrule does promote the last. With the exception of the Prince of
Misbehaviour, these are, of course, much enjoyed by modern children
of all ages but have </span><span style="font-style: normal;">come to
us</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> from </span><span style="font-style: normal;">America.
On this side of</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> the Pond,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">superstition, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">witches
and warlocks, fairies and other magical spirits are the traditional
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">components</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
of this once pagan celebration on the last night of the year</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></p>
<p style="break-before: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">British customs, by which mainly
Scots and Irish, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">may well
have </span><span style="font-style: normal;">beg</span><span style="font-style: normal;">u</span><span style="font-style: normal;">n
with </span><span style="font-style: normal;">a festival to honour
Pomona, the goddess of fruits, for it was thought that this was the
time when the stores of fruit kept for winter consumption were
opened. Nuts were considered sacred by </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the
Romans, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">echoing the belief
from those pagan times.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Indeed, it was a Roman custom for a
bridegroom to toss nuts about the room, whereupon the boys might
scramble to gather them, intimating (as put forward by some) that the
new husband intended thereafter to set aside the games and sports of
boyhood. Nuts were also employed in perhaps the most ancient rite of
divination performed on this night – that of prophesying </span><span style="font-style: normal;">a
successful marital union. Two nuts, selected by the girl and her
proposed match, were put into the fire. If they lay still and burned
together, it was a sign of a happy marriage or a hopeful love. If
they bounced and jumped apart, it was considered to be a sign of
ill-omen. From this practice, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
from cracking nuts with the teeth,</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
came the rather charming appellation of ‘Nutcrack Night’. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">John
Gay </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(1685-1732)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
described the custom quite beautifully in his poem, ‘Spell’.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
‘<i>Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>And to each nut I gave a sweetheart’s name,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>This with the loudest bounce me sore amaz’d,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>That in a flame of brightest colour blaz’d;</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>As blaz’d the fat, so may thy passion grow,</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>For t’was thy nut that did so brightly glow!’</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Th</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
nutty </span><span style="font-style: normal;">proceedings</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
however, w</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ere</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
not the first </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to be
performed. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">he
foremost and first act of the evening was for the younger members of
the party to proceed into the garden. With eyes tightly closed, they
groped to the cabbage patch, where they each pulled up a stock. These
were then examined on their return to the house. The shape of each
stock was said to determine the figure of the maid or youth’s
future husband or wife. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Thomas
Pennant, in his </span><i>Tour In Scotland</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
of 1769, confirms this practice, saying: ‘</span><i>The young
people determine the figure and size of their husbands by drawing
cabbages blindfold on All-Hallows Even...</i><span style="font-style: normal;">’</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
Then it was time to gather about the roaring fire and, with each
person given a certain number of nuts, one boy and one girl </span><span style="font-style: normal;">put
one nut into the fire, in an alternative version of the above ritual.
Depending on how seriously this was taken, the outcome could cause
much hilarity, happiness or horror!</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">N</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ext,
a barrel of water was produced containing a few apples bobbing on the
surface. The young gentlemen of the company then ducked for them in
the time-honoured manner, their hands behind their back while they
tried to catch them with their teeth. The apples thus claimed were
given to the ladies, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">who,</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
according to the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">old
superstition, then lit a candle and went alone to a room. Here,
before a looking-glass, each combed her hair whilst eating the apple,
in order to see the face of her future husband peeping over her shoulder.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Three dishes were then placed on a
table. One contained clean water, one dirty water and one nothing at
all. Blindfolded, the young gentlemen were led to the table to dip a
finger in one bowl. This was repeated three times, with the bowls in
different positions. If the gentleman dipped his finger in the clean
water, it was a sign his future wife would be a pretty young girl; if
he chose the dirty water, she would be a widow; and if fate gave him
the empty bowl, he was destined to remain a bachelor.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">After this came the second
apple-</span><span style="font-style: normal;">catching tradition, one
of great antiquity. From a length of thin rope or cord, a crossed
stick was suspended from the ceiling or horizontal beam. At the four
ends were hung, alternately, an apple and a lit candle. The cross was
then set spinning, and while it was whirling, the maids and their
swains tried to catch the apples with their mouths without being
burned. This activity may be likened to the ancient game of Quintain.
John Stow describes the sport, the province of squires and young
knights in medieval England, in his Survey of London.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
‘<i>I have seen a quinten set up on Cornehill, by the Leaden Hall,
where the attendants on the lords of merry disports have runne and
made greate pastime; for he that hit not the broad end of the quinten
was of all men laughed to scorne; and he that hit it full, if he rid
not the faster, had a sound blow in his necke with a bag full of sand
hanged on the other end.’</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">D</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ifferent
parts of the kingdom and, indeed, different countries, have different
ceremonies and traditions. The inhabitants of St. Kilda, state</span><span style="font-style: normal;">d</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Martin Martin in 1703,
observed the festival of All Saints by baking ‘</span><i>a large
Cake, in form of a Triangle, furrowed round,</i><span style="font-style: normal;">’
and that ‘</span><i>it must be all eaten that Night</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.’
This tradition, says </span><span style="font-style: normal;">a
correspondent in</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>The
Gentleman’s Magazine Vol. LX, Part II</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
for 1790,</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> had </span><span style="font-style: normal;">travelled</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
to Ripon in Yorkshire, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">where
‘</span><span style="font-style: normal;">On the eve of All Saints
the good women make a cake for every one in the family; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">o
this is generally called cake-night.’ </span><span style="font-style: normal;">John
Brand, in </span><i>Popular Antiquities of Great Britain</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
1813, adds, ‘</span><i>There was formerly a custom in Warwickshire
to have Seed Cake at Allhallows </i><span style="font-style: normal;">[sic]</span><i>,
at the end of wheat seed-time...</i><span style="font-style: normal;">’</span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> It was also the tradition in Scotland to light bonfires in every
village. Once the fire had been consumed, the ashes were carefully
drawn into a circle, and a stone placed near the edge for every
person of those families taking part. Any stone moved or damaged by
the following morning indicated that person to be fey and they were then expected
not to live above a twelvemonth from that day. The bonfire was lit by
consecrated fire received from the Druid priests and was supposed to
remain for a year.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><span>
</span></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A similar tradition was upheld in North Wales, where a fire was lit
on All Hallow Even, under the name of Coel Coeth. This was done in
the most conspicuous position near each house and then kept burning
for about an hour during the night. Once almost out, each person
flung a white stone, previously marked, into the ashes. The company
then paced about the embers, saying their prayers, before retiring to
bed. Early the following morning they searched for the stones, the
firm belief being that should any stone be missing, the one to whom
it belonged would die before All Saints’ Eve could come again.
Spooky!</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">O</span><span style="font-style: normal;">n
the subject of foretelling the future, though, not everyone approved.
John Platt, as a minister of the church clearly did not and neither,
it seems, did Robert Burns.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
‘“<i>The passion of prying into futurity,” says Mr. Burns,
“makes a striking part of the history of human nature, in its rude
state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to a
philosophic mind to see the remains of it among the more
unenlightened in our own.”’</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">I wonder what they would think if they could see the ghoulish, vampiric, tricking, pumpkin-grinning and treating celebration it has become?</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tASgFwBZFv6wcsOygxw3ZrGd5GxDbzU723wJUpF7LYJwByqm_fQIFXD4-pLUIovg84zFMIADhiLkxSpWwvTb0oQeC3CExN4vWW_BrzE6h5ffHj08m7UoGN2hBPaV6jC1s2PceXTaqCDigEWYmQ_a2QqCTeME6IonBlaCt3YVxKqoTtj_Mz6rqjDTwQ/s960/halloween-963082_960_720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="960" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tASgFwBZFv6wcsOygxw3ZrGd5GxDbzU723wJUpF7LYJwByqm_fQIFXD4-pLUIovg84zFMIADhiLkxSpWwvTb0oQeC3CExN4vWW_BrzE6h5ffHj08m7UoGN2hBPaV6jC1s2PceXTaqCDigEWYmQ_a2QqCTeME6IonBlaCt3YVxKqoTtj_Mz6rqjDTwQ/w400-h259/halloween-963082_960_720.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">© Heather King</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<i>All images are in the public domain.</i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>Heather King Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00416923442181947873noreply@blogger.com0