How did most regency families celebrate Christmas? Just how old was the “Old Bridge” in Bath? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this episode of My Cousin Jane.
Welcome back to My Cousin Jane. Today we’re going to be talking about Persuasion, Volume 2, Chapter 2, also known as Chapter 14, but not like your English lit teacher might discuss it, more like the deleted scenes and bonus features of your favorite movie.
Chapter Summary
In brief
In this chapter, we are wrapping up Anne’s time in Uppercross and Lyme, and we’re going to make our way to Bath. There’s a general shuffling of characters around. Charles and Mary return home, Charles’ parents come back from Lyme with the Harville children, and Anne and Lady Russell say their farewells to everyone and head off to Bath. We also catch glimpses of what’s going on with Louisa, Captain Wentworth, and Captain Benwick.
One of the fun things in this chapter is we get a glimpse of Christmas holidays at Uppercross. In this clip, which comes from Karen Savage, courtesy of LibriVox.org, we will see some of those things. Let’s listen to this:
The Musgroves came back to receive their happy boys and girls from school, bringing with them Mrs Harville’s little children, to improve the noise of Uppercross, and lessen that of Lyme. Henrietta remained with Louisa; but all the rest of the family were again in their usual quarters.
Lady Russell and Anne paid their compliments to them once, when Anne could not but feel that Uppercross was already quite alive again. Though neither Henrietta, nor Louisa, nor Charles Hayter, nor Captain Wentworth were there, the room presented as strong a contrast as could be wished to the last state she had seen it in.
Immediately surrounding Mrs Musgrove were the little Harvilles, whom she was sedulously guarding from the tyranny of the two children from the Cottage, expressly arrived to amuse them. On one side was a table occupied by some chattering girls, cutting up silk and gold paper; and on the other were tressels and trays, bending under the weight of brawn and cold pies, where riotous boys were holding high revel; the whole completed by a roaring Christmas fire, which seemed determined to be heard, in spite of all the noise of the others. Charles and Mary also came in, of course, during their visit, and Mr Musgrove made a point of paying his respects to Lady Russell, and sat down close to her for ten minutes, talking with a very raised voice, but from the clamour of the children on his knees, generally in vain. It was a fine family-piece. Persuasion, Chapter 14
A fine family piece. Lots of visitors.
Christmastide
If you’re listening to this episode the day it was released, you’ll notice it was released a day earlier than normal. That’s because I wanted it to come out on January 6th, also known as Epiphany. Depending on your religious background, you may know why that’s significant, but either way, stay tuned for more details about how it applies to the Regency era.
First of all, some things to note about this scene. There would have been no Christmas tree. Even though the Christmas tree first appeared in the British court under the reign of King George III, thanks to his wife, it didn’t become popular with England until the news printed a picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the rest of their family gathered around a Christmas tree in 1848.
It’s also unlikely that there were Christmas stockings, because, though it’s hard to know for sure, Christmas stockings didn’t start becoming popular until later in the 19th century. Even in places where they were popular, principally in Europe, they were usually hung out on St. Nicholas’ Day, which was observed on December 6th. It wasn’t until later on that they became associated with Christmas Eve.
What could we expect to see? First we hear from the clip that children are decorating with silk and gold paper. Hanging greenery was also pretty popular: holly branches, holly boughs, mistletoe, and, as we said, the silk and gold paper. These were popular decorations.
The night of Christmas Eve was considered the start of Christmastide, which ends on the night of January 5th, which is the day before Epiphany. The final night of Christmastide, sometimes referred to as Epiphany Eve, was usually called “Twelfth Night.” You may have heard there’s a play by Shakespeare called Twelfth Night, and there’s been a lot of conjecture about why it’s called Twelfth Night.
We can assume that the visit that Anne makes to Uppercross takes place sometime during Christmastide because of Anne’s reference to the “roaring Christmas fire.”
The roaring Christmas fire was most likely a Yule log. This was a very popular tradition in upper-class homes in the Regency era. It was a large log, usually from an ash tree, but not always, that was brought into the home and set alight on the evening of December 24th, and the goal was to keep it burning for all twelve days of Christmas, ending on Twelfth Night.
Many Regency homes, even those that couldn’t afford a Yule log or didn’t have room in the fireplace for a Yule log, would have at least a Yule candle. It was almost always set on the same dining table where the family was going to eat Christmas Eve dinner, and this candle was lit at sunset on Christmas Eve and left burning all night. It was considered a pretty bad omen if the candle went out or had to be moved before Christmas morning.
Boxing Day, which you’ve probably heard of, December 26th, was also widely popular. In some houses this was a day off for servants, who would take a box of Christmas gifts and treats home from their employer and share that with their families. Boxing Day coincides with St. Stephen’s Day, which has some of its own celebrations, but tended to be more popular in Ireland than in England.
Brawn and Cold Pies
The clip also mentions “brawn and cold pies.” The cold pies were most likely mince pies. When you think of mince pies, assuming you ever think of mince pies at all, you probably think of modern mincemeat, which is a mixture of dried fruit, sugar, and spices. In Regency times, mincemeat had real meat mixed in with the other ingredients: usually mutton, but sometimes beef, rabbit, or other meats were used too.
Brawn is also known as “head cheese,” and the exact recipe varied greatly by time period and region and what meats were available, but it was common to use bits of meat from a pig’s head mixed with clear gelatin. I think I’ll stick with the mince pies myself.
Noises of Bath
The noise of Uppercross is not very appealing to Lady Russell, and she prefers a different Christmas scene, as we hear in this clip:
“I hope I shall remember, in future,” said Lady Russell, as soon as they were reseated in the carriage, “not to call at Uppercross in the Christmas holidays.”
Everybody has their taste in noises as well as in other matters; and sounds are quite innoxious, or most distressing, by their sort rather than their quantity. When Lady Russell not long afterwards, was entering Bath on a wet afternoon, and driving through the long course of streets from the Old Bridge to Camden Place, amidst the dash of other carriages, the heavy rumble of carts and drays, the bawling of newspapermen, muffin-men and milkmen, and the ceaseless clink of pattens, she made no complaint. No, these were noises which belonged to the winter pleasures; her spirits rose under their influence; and like Mrs Musgrove, she was feeling, though not saying, that after being long in the country, nothing could be so good for her as a little quiet cheerfulness. Persuasion, Chapter 14
I get the impression from that clip and the one we listened to before that if Anne Elliot and Lady Russell lived in our modern era, Anne would have been quite happy to sit in front of the Christmas tree, surrounded by kids, reading Christmas stories, maybe watching Elf or It’s a Wonderful Life, while Lady Russell would have preferred walking along a crowded city street, finishing up her shopping, looking at the glow of the town’s Christmas lights on the lampposts, things like that.
The Old Bridge
They get to Bath, and we’ve talked about Bath in a couple of our previous episodes, but I want to talk specifically about the route that the clip mentioned that Anne and Lady Russell took. The clip said that they had driven through “the long course of streets from the Old Bridge to Camden Place.”
On the southern side of Bath, there’s a bridge called Churchill Bridge that crosses the River Avon, and that was built in 1965, and it’s built on the exact same spot where the Old Bridge stood that’s mentioned here.
What’s interesting is the Old Bridge was built in 1754, which would have been just a few years before this was written, and the Old Bridge was called the Old Bridge as soon as it was built. It was designed and built by Richard Jones, who is a contemporary of John Wood the Elder, who we discussed in a previous episode about Bath.
The thing about Bath is that it has suffered from a lot of floods over the years. After the flood of 1882, city planners decided it was time for the Old Bridge to be replaced, because the Old Bridge was what was called a multi-span bridge, and it had all these archways. The supports for the arches acted as a natural dam for the River Avon. As the river level rose, the Old Bridge contributed to the river flooding. Churchill Bridge was designed as a single-span bridge to replace the Old Bridge.
According to some researchers at the University of Bath, the Old Bridge was built on the spot formerly occupied by St. Lawrence’s Bridge, which was built sometime in the late 12th century. That bridge probably replaced another wooden bridge that had been built even earlier. Once you find a good spot for a bridge, I guess you stick to it.
Unfortunately, Bath continues to suffer from a number of floods, even today. Not nearly as bad as they were in Regency times, thanks to a number of improvements to infrastructure that have been built over the years to try to combat flooding. Even though things have gotten a lot better, there are still floods in Bath.
To Camden Place
It’s just over a mile from that crossing of the River Avon on the Old Bridge, through the streets of Bath, over to what is now called Camden Crescent, which in Austen’s time was referred to as Camden Place. That route, assuming they take the route that Google Maps says you should take, would have taken them right past Queen Square, which we’ve talked about before, where Jane Austen herself lived. The route also, interestingly, would have taken them past the current location of the Jane Austen Centre and Museum.
Meanwhile, Lady Russell’s lodgings were on the rather less fashionable side of town, over on Rivers Street. Certainly adequately fashionable today, but at the time it would not have been nearly as fashionable as Camden Crescent, or Camden Place, was.
A shorter episode today. From this point on, we’re going to be centered in the town of Bath, talking about things related to Bath and some of the cultural things that Anne is doing in that area and how they relate to the novel, as well as other interesting background information.
Conclusion
That wraps up this episode of My Cousin Jane. As always, if you enjoy the show and would like to help support us, please consider clicking the little donate button or subscribing to our newsletter. Either way, thanks so much for listening.
