Update: The Mystery Sign from Colonial Williamsburg

Susan reporting:

During our series of posts showing the Christmas decorations of Colonial Williamsburg last month, a reader asked an interesting question about one of the trade signs. Wrote Darla Vincent: "Can you please tell me what type of establishment this is? I cannot tell from the sign what the building is." The sign that puzzled her appears left (and check here for more about that dangling royal effigy.)

Often the images painted on 18th c. signs indicate the trade practiced within, or what the owner sells, such as shoes on the shoemaker's sign, and a waistcoat on the tailor's. But while this looks like the picture of a hay-rick, it seems unlikely that hay would be sold from a house-front shop in the middle of town. Because the building is not open to the public, no information about it appears on the historic area maps.

Mystified, we went straight to the ever-obliging experts at Colonial Williamsburg. Their explanation:

This house belonged to Dr. Peter Hay. The sign represents his apothecary shop, but is associated more with his personal name (the haystack) than with his trade. That's likely because, according to his 1766 obituary in both the Virginia and Maryland Gazettes, he was an especially well-known physician (especially when it came to midwifery skills), so people didn't need to know what he did, just where to find him. Incidentally, his wife Grissell operated a boarding house out of their home after the doctor died, so the sign could have continued in business (so to speak) after that. 

Many thanks to Darla for her question, and to Colonial Williamsburg for the answer. Now click here for a picture quiz: can you match the Williamsburg sign with the appropriate trade?

Cleaning up Shakespeare

Loretta reports

The current controversy about Alan Gribben’s bowdlerization of the Mark Twain classic, Huckleberry Finn, lures NHGs to travel back in time to 1818 and visit the man who gave his name to the tidying up of great works of literature, Mr. Thomas Bowdler.

Here, in his own words, is Bowdler’s explanation:
~~~
That Shakspeare is the first of dramatic writers will be denied by few, and I doubt whether it will be denied by any who have really studied his works . . . It must, however, be acknowledged, by his warmest admirers, that some defects are to be found in the writings of our immortal bard. The language is not always faultless. Many words and expressions occur which are of so indecent a nature as to render it highly desirable that they should be erased. Of these the greater part were evidently introduced to gratify the bad taste of the age in which he lived, and the rest may perhaps be ascribed to his own unbridled fancy. But neither the vicious taste of the age, nor the most brilliant effusions of wit, can afford an excuse for profaneness or obscenity; and if these could be obliterated, the transcendant genius of the poet would undoubtedly shine with more unclouded lustre. To banish every thing of this nature from the writings of Shakspeare is the object of the present undertaking. My earnest wish is to render his plays unsullied by any scene, by any speech, or, if possible, by any word that can give pain to the most chaste, or offence to the most religious of his readers.  . . . I flatter myself that every reader of the Family Shakspeare will be pleased at perceiving that what is so manifestly improper, is not permitted to be seen in it . . .
~~~

The full Preface  makes very interesting reading.  I'll leave you
to decide how you feel about it.


Excerpt from  The family Shakspeare, in ten volumes: in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family, Volume 1, Thomas Bowdler.

Illustrations:
First edition cover of Huckleberry Finn , courtesy Wikimedia Commons.



The W.P.A. Federal Theatre Negro Unit [presents] Macbeth by William Shakespeare , courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

The Crystal Palace in the Palm of Your Hand: 1851

Susan reporting:

The concept behind the GPS – where am I, anyway? – is nothing new. Guidebooks and maps have been available for centuries to aid travelers. Few maps, however, are as unique as this one: a Victorian lady's glove that promised to keep the wearer from becoming lost by placing directions literally in the palm of her hand.

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations that took place in Hyde Park, London, in the summer of 1851 was one of the first of the grand international exhibitions of the 19th c. Over six million people attended the Exhibition, streaming into London from every corner of the world. These gloves were created by George Shove as a fashionably discrete way for an out-of-towner to find her way about town. The map printed on the palm shows not only the famous Crystal Palace, the center of the Exhibition, but also other popular tourist destinations like Kensington Gardens, the British Museum, and St. Paul's Cathedral: an amusing, useful souvenir of London.

Those are the facts behind this handy map. But, being a writer with the usual writer's over-active imagination, I can't help but think of other, fictional purposes for such a glove. What about a pair for the hapless maidservant who, although fleet of foot while on errands for her mistress, could never quite recall directions to his destination? Or even more intriguing, why not for the young gentleman setting out on a night of entertainment, his gloves ready to guide him home again no matter how much he over-indulged?

Glove Map of London, George Shove, 1861, The National Archives of the United Kingdom

Etiquette in the world of Downton Abbey

Loretta reports:

As may be obvious by now, Downton Abbey has sent this NHG peering into the corners of the Edwardian era.  They sure had some complicated etiquette; the Regency era is positively freewheeling by comparison.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at Manners and Rules of Good Society.  If you want to make your head spin, turn to Chapter III, Leaving Cards.

“THE etiquette of card-leaving is a privilege which society places in the hands of ladies to govern and determine their acquaintanceships and intimacies, to regulate and decide whom they will, and whom they will not visit, whom they will admit into their friendship, and whom they will keep on the most distant footing, whose acquaintance they wish further to cultivate and whose to discontinue.”

If you want to time travel, this chapter is a wonderful door to the past.  On our early 21st century side of the door is Facebook and Twitter and texting.  On the early 20th century side are little pieces of cardboard printed in copperplate script.

Or try Chapter XLIII, Engaged.
~~~
It greatly depends upon the views held by parents as to the freedom of action accorded to a daughter during her engagement. Some entertain the strictest ideas on this head, and strenuously put them in force.

By ‘strict ideas’ is meant that an engaged couple, except in the presence of a chaperon, are never, under any circumstances, permitted to enjoy a tête-à-tête sit together, walk together, ride together, or meet during any part of the day.

Wisdom and common-sense dictate a middle course of action for the consideration of parents, neither granting too much nor withholding too much.
. . .
To dance with each other at a ball, or dance more than three or four times in succession, and when not dancing to sit out in tea-rooms and conservatories, renders an engaged couple conspicuous, and this is precisely what many mothers are most anxious that their daughters should avoid being, and would rather that they were overprudent than that they should run the gauntlet of general criticism.
~~~
I leave you to speculate why, exactly, a daughter’s being conspicuous was so abhorrent to a mother 100 years ago, and what form the general criticism would take. 

Manners and Rules of Good Society, or Solecisms to be Avoided, by A Member of the Aristocracy (1911 ed.)

Queen Victoria's Favorite: Sharp, the Border Collie

Susan reporting:

It's difficult to imagine English monarchs without their dogs. Whether King Charles II surrounded by his scurrying spaniels or the current queen with her corgis, royalty and dogs seem inseparable. The connection makes sense, really. What human courtier could ever offer the complete and unquestioning loyalty of a canine counterpart?

Queen Victoria was no exception. With her love of all things Scottish, the little queen admired the collies bred by sheep farmers in the border lands between England and Scotland. The first of the Queen's favorites was named Sharp, acquired in 1866 soon after the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, and the dog proved the perfect comfort to the grieving queen, even earning a place in royal photographs such as this one, upper left. He was also painted, right, by the queen's favorite animal portraitist, Charles Burton Barber. (This painting is soon to be sold at auction, where it is predicted to bring between $4,000-6,000 from either an art or dog lover.)

Border collies were still an unfamiliar breed to most 19th c. Englishmen, and many surrounding Her Majesty wished they had remained so. While Sharp was devoted to his mistress and to her personal servant, John Brown, others found the dog to be quarrelsome and badly trained. Wrote a contemporary:

One pet collie rejoiced in the name of Sharp. He had all his meals with his mistress, being seldom away from her. Though such a favorite...the popularity of the quadruped had limits. The households used to retreat before him, for Sharp not only barked with vigor, but could bite with spite. Even the Queen mentions that the pet was fond of fighting. Referring to him after a ramble, she mentions that the collie varied the monotony of the walk by numerous 'collie shangies'; it is the Highland phrase for a set-to between dogs of Sharp's breed.

Even after his death in 1879, Sharp continued to hold his place in the queen's affections. He was buried in her garden in Windsor Home Park, Berkshire, beneath the elaborate tomb, lower left, and immortalized as the "favourite and faithful Collie of Queen Victoria." What dog –– or queen –– could ask for more?

Above left: Queen Victoria with Sharp the Border Collie at Balmoral, 1867
Right: Sharp, Brother of Fern by Charles Burton Barber, 1877
Lower left: Monument to Sharp, Windsor Castle, Berkshire

Downton Abbey and the Edwardians

Loretta reports:

Though the new PBS Masterpiece program, Downton Abbey, is set in 1912, two years after King Edward VII (1841-1910) died, you won’t hear me complaining about descriptions calling it an “Edwardian era” drama.  George V might have been wearing England’s crown, but the Edwardian atmosphere lingered.  Like the Regency period about a century earlier, the term “Edwardian” is often stretched to include some time before and after the specific ruler whose name it bears.

There are some other interesting parallels to the Regency.  King Edward VII’s mother, Queen Victoria, had an interminable reign, like King George III, father of the Prince Regent (later George IV).  This mean that both heirs to the throne had a very long wait to wear the crown.  Both wore their crowns for a very short time—less than nine years for Edward VII, ten years for George IV.  Both were rebellious sons who had difficult relationships with their parents (Victoria blamed her eldest son for the death of her beloved Albert).  Both men were fashion plates, although Edward was more of a fashion leader.  The Prince Regent, when not under the guidance of Beau Brummell, had theatrical tendencies in dress, with sometimes unfortunate results. 

Both men had a lot of girlfriends, though I’m not sure either could compete with their ancestor King Charles II.  However, again unlike the Prince Regent, Edward VII was quite fond of his wife, Alexandra.  I blogged about one of his mistresses, Daisy, Countess of Warwick, a year ago, and plan to gossip about more of his girlfriends during the run of Downton Abbey.


For now, though, let's take look at fashion.  It’s interesting, isn't it? that both eras feature a vertical style of dress, and a reduction in underwear.  Between the time John Singer Sargent painted the splendid portrait of Daisy and her son, and the time of Downton Abbey, women's fashion underwent quite a change.  Instead of the S curves of the turn of the century, the shape of women’s fashion began slimming down, heading toward the boyish look of the Roaring Twenties.

As we all know, styles come and go and come again, and these two eras offer a good example.  Loyal readers of this blog may notice a similarity between the 1912 French fashion plate here and the winter promenade dress I showed for January 1815.

Breakfast Links: Week of January 3, 2011

Now that we've joined Twitter, we're discovering dozens of other interesting blogs and sites, news stories and announcements, that delight us as Nerdy History Girls. We're sure you'd enjoy them as well, and thus we're beginning this weekly selection of the best links gathered in our Twitter-ramblings.


• The internet's endless fascination with stays (it's a "magic word" for searches on our blog, too): http://bit.ly/h7lyAQRT
• Ready to elope with that charming rake? A New Years' Trip To Gretna Green http://wp.me/pGJsu-1kg
• Happy 450th anniv. yr. to The Broderers' Company - long live fine#needlework & hand embroidery! http://bit.ly/erYMZl
• Can't we get past the snarky "heaving bosoms"? Women read more than men & buy more books: this is news? http://bit.ly/eXcaQu
• Rock 'n' roll history: efforts to save Ringo Starr's childhood home in Liverpool: http://bbc.in/e2wAzR
• Shocked, we are by thist: Woman claims to have been fired because of historical fiction blogging? Good grief.http://bit.ly/ibk8E2
• Frocks & bikini, ooh-la-la! 1957: Clip: 'COMMONWEALTH FASHIONS MADE IN LANCASHIRE' : http://bit.ly/hFklP
• Now that's frugal: 19th c activist Lydia Child's "American Frugal Housewife" as free download: http://amzn.to/hbUia9
• @ Royal_Armouries: Check out our newly updated image library - including some 19th c. pictures of the Tower of London http://bit.ly/fbYoPO

• Hurray! NPG Thomas Lawrence portrait exhibition coming stateside next month to Yale! http://bit.ly/hnwjbf

• Attn. Dandies, Reenactors, & Seamstresses: 18th c menswear patterns to download at #LACMA: http://bit.ly/fDVGIK Oh that green silk banyan!

• In the footsteps of Will Kempe: morris-dancing from London to Norwich to raise cash for garden http://bit.ly/eFtFfi
• Gold sandals from King Tutankhamun's tomb: http://fb.me/PsdjdC9z

• Brooks's staircase today: http://bit.ly/fHl4P2 The gaming rooms used to be one of the main attractions of this St James's Club


Above: Princess Sophia by Sir Thomas Lawrence