Overview
Between 1788 and 1820, under the reckless influence of the fat, promiscuous Prince Regent, the English aristocracy set a standard of elegance and vulgarity that has not been surpassed. Venetia Murray chronicles the daily life of that glittering circle of rakes and dandies, duchesses and courtesans, pugilists and patrons, whose scandalous conduct will entertain readers of social history and Regency romances alike, plus the new generation of Jane Austen addicts.Against a backdrop of artistic triumphs and industrial progress, working-class riots and the twenty-year war with France, Venetia Murray's sparking narrative is lavishly illustrated through rare contemporary cartoons, prints, diaries, and caricatures--some newly discovered and never before reproduced. An Elegant Madness is a book of airy delights and surprising depths that reveals a fabled age in all of its varied splendor.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Mad Kings and EnglishmenWhile Jane Austen's novels offer us a romantic vision of 19th-century characters struggling with issues of goodness and morality, Venetia Murray's social history, An Elegant Madness, depicts a less noble side of the British aristocracy. Bringing us into the parlors and balls of the wealthy gentry, Murray entertainingly reveals how the "proper" upper class behaved, in fact, with wild abandon and an "amazing vulgarity."
During the Regency period of 1788-1820, the leader of the pack was the prince regent (to whom Austen dedicated EMMA). This dashing, charming future king was also a "dedicated hedonist and lecher." Openly parading affairs with a myriad of mistresses, ranging from teenage actresses to society matrons, the king was so hated by his wife that she stuck pins in a wax effigy of him. Vain and extravagant, he drank and ate to excess, all the while tottering about in pink high heels and suits of black velvet and pink satin. A visiting duchess was moved to write that his "much boasted affability is the most licentious, and I may even say obscene, strain I have ever listened to."
The constantly redecorated Carlton House was his headquarters, and he gathered about himself a dissolute and debauched gang that partied relentlessly, seemingly undeterred by the working-class riots and Napoleonic wars waging outside their gilded doors. Murray reveals how the often ridiculous antics of this beau monde led to a loosening of the rigid decorum of the rest of society. For example, Beau Brummell was the progenitor of the "dandy" persona: a stylishly dressed man whose main occupation was uttering withering bon mots. While he popularized such fashion innovations as the cravat, his debts and rudeness ultimately caused him to flee to France in disgrace.
Harriet Wilson, a courtesan who read Voltaire and Rousseau in her spare time, helped her fellow mistresses "acquire a cachet which was positively respectable." In exchange for exorbitant fees, she bedded a Who's Who of dukes, marquises, and lords. When several of her lovers refused to pay additional fees for her silence, she published their intimate secrets in an instantly bestselling memoir. Byron's mistress, Caroline Lamb, also refused to be a silent and stigmatized scarlet woman. When the famous poet scorned her at a grand affair, she collapsed screaming and tried to commit suicide by slashing her wrists and stabbing herself with scissors. She, too, wrote a bestseller, a popular novel in which she satirized the pompous ladies who failed to acknowledge her charm.
While the aristocrats occasionally slummed it up at boxing matches and taverns, they spent most of their time indulging in exorbitant banquets (partial menu: "truffles with wine, a pudding made of 50 crayfish, lobster salad, pineapple jelly, and cherry tarts") and visiting one another's country houses ("monkeys played on the lawns and [the hostess] even kept tame kangaroos"). Despite, or due to, their enjoyment of the frivolous, the elegant arbiters revolutionized architecture and interior design. The hedonistic prince regent became "one of the greatest royal patrons of the arts [England] has ever possessed" -- establishing the National Gallery, the Royal Society of Literature, and Regent's Park.
Aided by a wonderful collection of letters, caricatures, diaries, and memoirs, An Elegant Madness re-creates a lost world of silliness, snobbery, and style. And while Murray's work is a fascinating social history, it's also a useful primer for those who worry that the current prevalence of shallow celebrities and tawdry scandals is indicative of our culture's decline. It's a relief to consider that amoral, decadent figures are not unique to our time; they are merely carrying on the traditions that arise when a society is in the midst of great prosperity.
—Margot Towne
Atlantic Monthly
...[P]rovides specific details on the doings of dandies, prostitutes, influential hostesses, and tearful politicians.Margaret H. Towne
While Jane Austen's novels offer us a romantic vision of 19th-century characters struggling with issues of goodness and morality, Venetia Murray's social history, An Elegant Madness , depicts a less noble side of the British aristocracy. Bringing us into the parlors and balls of the wealthy gentry, Murray entertainingly reveals how the "proper" upper class behaved, in fact, with wild abandon and an "amazing vulgarity."During the Regency period of 1788-1820, the leader of the pack was the prince regent (to whom Austen dedicated Emma ). This dashing, charming future king was also a "dedicated hedonist and lecher." Openly parading affairs with a myriad of mistresses, ranging from teenage actresses to society matrons, the king was so hated by his wife that she stuck pins in a wax effigy of him. Vain and extravagant, he drank and ate to excess, all the while tottering about in pink high heels and suits of black velvet and pink satin. A visiting duchess was moved to write that his "much boasted affability is the most licentious, and I may even say obscene, strain I have ever listened to."
The constantly redecorated Carlton House was his headquarters, and he gathered about himself a dissolute and debauched gang that partied relentlessly, seemingly undeterred by the working-class riots and Napoleonic wars waging outside their gilded doors. Murray reveals how the often ridiculous antics of this beau monde led to a loosening of the rigid decorum of the rest of society. For example, Beau Brummell was the progenitor of the "dandy" persona: a stylishly dressed man whose main occupation was uttering withering bon mots. While he popularized such fashion innovations as the cravat, his debts and rudeness ultimately caused him to flee to France in disgrace.
Harriet Wilson, a courtesan who read Voltaire and Rousseau in her spare time, helped her fellow mistresses "acquire a cachet which was positively respectable." In exchange for exorbitant fees, she bedded a Who's Who of dukes, marquises, and lords. When several of her lovers refused to pay additional fees for her silence, she published their intimate secrets in an instantly bestselling memoir. Byron's mistress, Caroline Lamb, also refused to be a silent and stigmatized scarlet woman. When the famous poet scorned her at a grand affair, she collapsed screaming and tried to commit suicide by slashing her wrists and stabbing herself with scissors. She, too, wrote a bestseller, a popular novel in which she satirized the pompous ladies who failed to acknowledge her charm.
While the aristocrats occasionally slummed it up at boxing matches and taverns, they spent most of their time indulging in exorbitant banquets (partial menu: "truffles with wine, a pudding made of 50 crayfish, lobster salad, pineapple jelly, and cherry tarts") and visiting one another's country houses ("monkeys played on the lawns and [the hostess] even kept tame kangaroos"). Despite, or due to, their enjoyment of the frivolous, the elegant arbiters revolutionized architecture and interior design. The hedonistic prince regent became "one of the greatest royal patrons of the arts [England] has ever possessed" -- establishing the National Gallery, the Royal Society of Literature, and Regent's Park.
Aided by a wonderful collection of letters, caricatures, diaries, and memoirs, AN ELEGANT MADNESS re-creates a lost world of silliness, snobbery, and style. And while Murray's work is a fascinating social history, it's also a useful primer for those who worry that the current prevalence of shallow celebrities and tawdry scandals is indicative of our culture's decline. It's a relief to consider that amoral, decadent figures are not unique to our time; they are merely carrying on the traditions that arise when a society is in the midst of great prosperity.
Margot Towne is a freelance writer living in New York.