Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

Part One

The Basics

Currency

The Calendar

Hogsheads and Drams: English Measurement

England

London

The Public World

Precedence: Of Bishops, Barristers, and Baronets

The Titled

How to Address Your Betters

Esq., Gent., K.C.B., etc.

Status: Gentlemen and Lesser Folk

Society

Society and "The Season"

Basic Etiquette

How to Address the Nontitled

"May I Have This Dance?"

The Rules of Whist and Other Card Games

Calling Cards and Calls

The Major Rituals

Presentation at Court

The Dinner Party

The Ball

The Country House Visit

Money

Being Wealthy

Entail and Protecting the Estate

Bankruptcy, Debt, and Moneylending

Power and the Establishment

The Government

Britannia Rules the Waves

The Army

The Church of England

Oxford and Cambridge

Schools

"The Law Is a Ass"

Lawyers

Crime and Punishment

Transition

The Horse

Please, James, the Coach

The Railroad

The Mail

The Country

Life on the Farm

The Midlands, Wessex, and Yorkshire

Who's Who in the Country

Shire and Shire Alike: Local Government in Britain

"The Theory and System of Fox Hunting"

Vermin, Poachers, and Keepers

Fairs and Markets

The Private World

"Reader, I Married Him"

Sex

An Englishman's Home

Houses with Names

Furniture

Lighting

How the English Kept Clean

"Please, Sir, I Want Some More."

Pudding!

Tea

Drink and the Evils Thereof

Women's Clothing

Men's Clothing

Servants

The Governess

A Taxonomy of Maids

Victorian Recycling

The Grim World

The Orphan

Occupations

Apprentices

The Workhouse

Disease

Doctors

Death and Other Grave Matters

Part Two

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Daniel Pool received a doctorate in political science from Brandeis University and a law degree from Columbia University. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

M.G. Lord New York Newsday A delightful book...indispensable to lovers of Victorian literature.

Geoffrey Stokes The Boston Globe Indispensable...Pool has gathered together...the facts of daily life in 19th-century England, and no one who likes an occasional dip into the period's history or literature can afford to be without it.

Glenn Giffin The Denver Post It's great fun reading this, and Pool has provided a valuable service.

Patrick T. Reardon Chicago Tribune This entertaining social history is just the ticket for Americans who like to read Dickens and other 19th-century novelists...or for anyone who likes to read histories and biographies of that era.