Who is your favourite Courtsean of the late Georgian era?

Courtseans was a big part of the social life in the Georgian era.Courtseans was a kind of "high class prosistitute", but I think this is a little bit rude. Many never walked on the streets, and they was not just used for they amourus gifts, but they were also intelligent, witty and funny to be with. They was fabolous and luxurisous. But they was scandalous, and in the papers, and pamhlets everyone wanted to har the lastest gossip about the courtseans.
Between the 1770-80`s, the top three courtseans was:

Grace Dalrymple Elliot:  Grace was the attractive, tall, smart and elegant divorced from her husband for cuckolding him, but soon became a high class courtsean. She was a super celebrity, and was known in the pamphlets and papers as "Dally the Tall". She had a fling with ca, almost every famous guy, including the Prince of Wales, whom she had a daughter (she claimed it was his, at least) in England, and soon moved over too France, were she was the courtsean of the Duc de Orleans. Grace was a loyal and brave royalist, (she risked he rown life, by hiding an injured man between her bedsheets!) and may have worked as a spy, or go-between. She was imprisoned many times (with a lot of famous people, acording to her memoirs, which is not, 100% true), but survived and returned to England, were she was the mistress of the commune`s major.


Mary "Perdita" Robinson:  Mary was, as I have written before, a talented, very beautiful actress, who caught the Prince of Wales eyes. At first he was bewitched by her, but soon moved on to "The Armistead". He had promised poor "Perdita" (which she was nown as in press) a large sum of money, which he never gave. So Perdita, who had a daughter, and husband to suport, blackmailed him with his love letters! (She revieved money from the King). But her reputation was now ruined, and as the fallen woman she was, became a courtsean. She coped with a lot of famous men, and became a high class celebrity too! She became a fashion-godess and socialite. But thing worsened as her legs became paralyzed, and she settled down with Banastre Tarleton, her lover. But she wasn`t finished yet! On her weak legs, she canvassed for Fox during the 1784 election, and was the leader for the women on the lower ladder. Then poor Mary devoted the rest of her life, writing poetry and books, becoming a literary genious, feminist, but lived her life, almost, in poverty.


Elizabeth Armistead: Liz wasn`t as beautiful as Grace and Perdita, but she was sweet and charming, and a talented courtsean (It was rumored she was trained in a brothel!), and she took many men, very often at a time. Liz was the most quiet of the courtseans mentioned, but she wasn`t innocense incarnation, exactly. She stole the Prince from Perdita, and it was open rivalty between them. One of her lover was politican Charles James Fox, and they would settle down together and make on of the cutest love stories in the Georgian era.
When her exclusive attachment to him put her into debt, she tried to break it off but Fox refused to hear of it. “You shall not go without me, wherever you go,” he wrote. “I have examined myself and know that I can better abandon friends, country, everything than live without Liz.”  They then went on to live a quiet life at St.Annes Hill. She survived her "angel", and despite her past, she became an respected widow of a great politican, engaging herself in charity projects. She dies at a great age, almost 92 years!

Three English Goddesses

This epigram was written in honour of three of the most charmingt ladies in England, the Duchesses of   Devonshire, Gordon and Rutland:

 Come, Paris, leave your hills and dells;

You`ll scorn your dowdy goddesses,

If once you see our English Belles,

For all their gowns and boddices.

Here`s Juno Devon, all sublime,

Minerva Gordon`s wit and eyes;

Sweet Rutland, Venus in her prime;

You`ll die before you give the prize. 

 

 

 

 

A 18th century childhood

Childhood changed a lot last part of the 18th century, or let me say it another way, childhood was intevted during the last part of the 18th century.
What happened? Well, under the influence of  John Locke, Jean Jaques Rosseau formed a natural philosophy. He meant that children was happy, natural beings, and not mini-adults. Prior to Rosseau children was treated like adults, expect for the corporal punishment, with stiff clothes, and everything was very formal and adult-like.
But Rosseau said that now children should be free from corporal punishment, be alowed to play and be, well, children! And mothers should be more loving. And was this fashionable! YES! Althrought the change didn`t happen over the night, mothers followed the fashionable style, and from 1760+ mothers became mothers and children could be children! In the 1780`s, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, breastfed her own child, which became ultra fashionable, and most aristocratic women started doing the same (Of course, many had done the same as Georgiana before her. Her sister, Harriet, Countess of Bessborough, Mary Robinson, and even Marie Antoinette wanted to breastfed their children)
This was the new kind of childhood:
The children was not as often as before left to a wet-nurse as an infant, the new mother breastfed the child herself. Children weren`t shut up in a nursey, being taken care by strict governesses, never seing their parents, wearing stiff clothes, not allowed to play. Now they, as mentioned above, wore loose clothes and were alowed to run around the big houses or gardens, laughing and playing.

So this was a happy time for family life. But althrought it was fashionable, it wasn`t false love which came from the mothers. No, this was pure motherly love. The examples were many, as the famous incident when poor Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire had to choose between her lover and unborn child, or the three children she already had . Georgiana wrote to her lover that he could console himself by that the only reason she didnt choose him, was because of her beloved children.
And  as Marie Antoinette wrote to her sister-in-law before her execution:
"My God, how heart-rending it is to leave them forever! Farewell! farewell!" 
But enough of that heartbreaking quote, childhood was very happy, and very much improved.

Happy Womens Day!

"We have broke the destructive spell which manacled the mind; we are no longer the vassals of our imperious help-mates; we dare think; and we at length assert those rights which nature formed us to enjoy."
-The false friend, the late Mary Robinson.

Mrs. Robinson here (drawing) was quite awesome, she was an A-list celebrity when she was young, mostly because of her affair with the Prince of Wales. But, she was dependent for a man. Once, when she found her unfaithful husband with another lady in a theatre box, she dragged him, actually, out and abused him in front of everyone!
She also canvassed for Charles James Fox during the 1784 Westminister election, together with many other famous awesome ladies, like the Duchess of Devonshire and many other. They walked the whole day, on their own feet on the street, canvassing for their men.
Some others used other methods, like the Duchess of Gordon, who actually kidnapped a man and locked him in her cellar, so he didn`t ruin for her favourite during another election.
And of course in the salons, and gatherings, it was discussed freely about politics with women like The Dss of Devonshire and Gordon, who were two very great society hostesses. In Paris, during the 1790 (women became "weaker" during the mid-end of this time) Germaine de Stael (portrait) talked and discussed and wrote freely, not fearing anyone very much, not even the boss, Napoleon, who she sometimes critizised, and even worse, asked private questions to him! Napoleon didn`t like this, expcially not from a woman, and exiled her. But the point is this:
So they were not some pretty, little, innocent wives like most people think. NO! Strong, independent women with some attitude has always existed!
Anyway, Happy Womens Day!!!

The Beautiful Duchess of Rutland

Lady Mary Isabella Somerset was born on the 1 of August 1756. She was the daughter of Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beauford, and Elizabeth Berkeley. In 1775, the 26 December, the beautiful young Mary Isabella married Charles Manners, 4 Duke of Rutland, a handsome and kind guy, but with a low morale and serious gambling problems, and Mary Isabella became a Duchess. They had six children.
Mary Isabella had a oval face, dark hair, beautiful complexion, and delicate features. She was also known to be very graceful, and kind. She was therefore known as "the beautiful Duchess". Sir Nathaniel Wraxhall wrote of her in his memoirs: " It is not sufficient merely to say that she was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom of high rank. Her person in symmetry, elegance and dignity outstripped all rivalry." Her lovely face was painted five times by Reynolds. Her husband`s former chaplain, George Crabbe, wrote a poem of her in 1826:
"...It was her smile that on each object shed 
Beauty and Grace and they with that are fled;
She is not there, but all that here can be,
Her love, her worth, her virtue dwell with thee;
And all she once esteemed, admired, approved,
Are doubly valued and as hers are loved." 

A memoir writer of the time says of her when she was first married: "I never contemplate her except as an enchanting statue, formed rather to excite admiration than to awaken love, this superb production of Nature not being lighted up by corresponding mental attractions." But there has never been a memoir writer who would yield to a beauty the pre-eminence given to her by the poets and painters of her time. Dr. Johnson, discussing the rival merits of the Duchess of Rutland and the Duchess of Devonshire, said that the former " must be very weak and silly, as he knew that she endured being admired to her face, and complimented perpetually both upon her beauty and her dress." Althrought the Duchess wasn`t the smartest society lady, Dr.Johnson himself must have been very weak and silly, not knowing that women can be clever, but still enjoy flattery. (Sorry, I was mean, forgive me Dr.J)
The lovely Duchess of Rutland became a celebrity, the press invented a rift between her and the Duchess of Devonshire, calling them "The rival and beautiful duchesses". They were both rivals and beautiful, but were on friendly terms.

But the Duchess was more than a pretty face. She loved to entertain, and was a devoted Tory. Once, at the opera during an, well, opera, most of the attention was on the audience rather on the stage. This was during the 1784 Westminster election, and it was a tense political amosphere. It was hissed at prominent politicans when they arrived, and people shouted at each other from their seats and boxes. The Duchess of Rutland then jumped to her feet and shouted "Damn Fox!", then Lady Maria Waldengrave rose to her feet and responded "Damn Pitt!"

In 1784 her husband was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Mary Isabella was the Queen of Irish society. The irish loved them, and they were considered the prettiest couple in Ireland, and this made them of course popular. People flocked to Dublin to see the celebrity couple, and the duchess held extravagant parties.
But it was problems in Paradise. The Duke was ridiciously jelaous. Since day one, Irish men had flocked around the beautiful Duchess, something her husband didn`t like, and the marriage became tense.
More problems came because of the Duke`s gambling problems, he gambled away great sums, and The Duchess tried to stop him. Once, when he gambled away much of his income, the Duchess tried to stop him by tapping at the window to his room, and he flew into a rage and said she had violated his privacy.
The poor Duchess was shocked and left the adoring Irishmen for London to be treated by Dr. Richard Warren. Irishmen turned against the Duke for this, and his popularity was going dooown.

But in the 1787, the Duke regained his populaity during a tour, where he was feted and stuff like that. He ate to much and this gave him a fever, which again caused the poor Duke death.
When the poor Duchess heard her husband was ill, she sent Dr. Warren to Ireland, but returned because her huband already was dead, right in time before she herself threw herself into a carriage and hastened to Ireland.
The duchess of Rutland was grief-stricken, she lived in retirement until 1788, when she again appeared in society, she was nore beautiful than ever, her grief having softened her features.

Until her death at the great age of seventy-five, still in mourning, she remained as beautiful as always, it is said. Rumors went that she often stayed away from rooms with open windows, in case the damp would give her wrinkles. it is also believed that a local woman had to remove her tooth as a replacement to the Duchess`s when she lost one. The lovely Duchess of Rutland was affectionatly called "Duchess Was-a-Bella".
The Duchess of Rutland is lesser known than other known society ladies, because of her lack of intellectual gifts, and her quiet personal life. She died in 1831 in Sackville Street, Piccadilly.

More Wise Words from Marie Antoinette

• Tribulation, first makes you realise who you are. It really did, Marie Antoinette was, as most know, very courageus when the revolution came, and she threw herself into politicks, which she knew nothing about, and her world fell apart.
• It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. This was a philsosophy Marie Antoinette wanted to learn to her children.  She would once present them with a lot of New-Year gifts which the children could choose one present from, while the rest would be given the to poor. It is many examples for Marie Antoinettes generousity                                                                                          (PS wouldn`t it be funny is the let-them-eat-cake believers could read this!)
•  I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. Poor, but courageous, Marie Antoinette
• I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all.
• Theres is nothing new exept what has been forgotten.

    Wise and inspiational words for a woman who is known in history for being a airhead, or what!

Paulines milk baths

Napoleons little sister, the scandalous and beautiful, Pauline can never be consired boring. And of many reasons. One of them is her milk baths.
Pauline had poor health, but this cure was not for her heath, but for her beauty. When Pauline travelled to different spa`s, she always had with her a bathub. In this bathub she would bath and shower in milk, the reason? To whiten her skin.
The unlucky hosts and villagers where not so lucky. The villagers had to obtain milk in a hurry, and the hosts had to create holes in the roof for her showers, and the stench of sour milk would plague them for months!

Elizabeth 1, Cleopatra and Elizabeth of Bavaria would take milk bath to become paler. It would often be applied scents and parfymes.

Milk baths are also said to utilise lactic acid, an alpha hydrolic acid, to dissolve the proteins which hold together dead skin cells. Cool anyway!!