“Nothing so Unmilitary”: Examining How Uniforms Influence Love in Pride and Prejudice

Soldiers in Regency England had the bad reputations of being some of the most inveterate rakes of the time, settling in towns with their companies and seducing the young daughters in the area. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, it is interesting that one of the most attractive men is a soldier, Mr. Wickham. When he gathers at parties he is the center of attention, and certainly catches Elizabeth Bennet’s eye. When he is first introduced, Austen writes, “His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address” (111). Part of the attraction to Wickham could be attributed to the uniform he would be wearing that would establish him as a man of action and honor in the King’s army. However, earlier in the same paragraph as the previous quote, of Wickham it is said, “the young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming” (111) with regimentals being defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a military or regimental uniform.” He was not wearing his uniform when he met the Bennet sisters, which could set him off as someone of a rebellious attitude towards regulations. Of course, soldiers were expected to keep their uniforms on at all times to maintain a sense of professionalism, and these accoutrements were to be kept in tip-top shape.

  

A selection from The standing orders for the Norwich; or, Hundred and Sixth Regiment by the British Army says as such in the manual to be given to officers who were stationed throughout England. It explains in the following passage in explicit detail how officers should be presented to the public and in exacting detail what to not wear with their uniform: Nothing is so unmilitary as seeing the Officers walk about in plain Clothes, and it is therefore absolutely forbid by his Majesty’s Orders; nor must they, on any Account, wear any Waistcoat and Breeches with their Uniform but white Cloth, Kersheymere, or Leathern Breeches, with regimental Buttons, made in the regimental Pattern, viz Waistcoat cut round and single breasted, no Colour appearing; the Breeches to buckle at the Knee. (Great Britain Army) With this new perspective from the primary source of the time, it makes the relationship (some may even label it a courtship) between Elizabeth and Mr. Wickham even more scandalous, as he was not only a soldier who had come into town and spread negative rumors about Mr. Darcy, but he is also a soldier who disregards dress regulations. This makes Mrs. Gardiner’s advice to Lizzy against Mr. Wickham more sensible, Lydia’s marriage to him more ill-advised, and the fact that Mrs. Bennet so approved of him more unbelievable. While gambling and drinking could be seen as entertainments everyone indulges in from time to time, Wickham’s snub at military parameters would be more officially punishable. Therefore, Lizzy’s attraction to the “bad boy” of the redcoat company in town further shows her lack of good sense, and makes her pride of her logical attitude seem more ridiculous than previously considered. With this new reading of the text, it calls into question whether Lizzy is a trustworthy protagonist at any time regarding romance, or whether she lets her emotions rule over any amount of good sense she could have. 

The Physic or Exotic Garden

“London; Being an Accurate History and Description of the British Metropolis and its Neighbourhood: To Thirty Miles Extent, from an Actual Perambulation” (1808) by David Hughson paints a picture of the landscape/setting that one would have seen during the Regency, and some which can be read about in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). In this piece of Literature, London is described as the most beautiful place there is. “Nothing can be more beautiful; here is a plain and pleasant country, a rich fertile soil, cultivated and enclosed to the utmost perfection of husbandry; then bespangled with villages, the houses surrounded with gardens, walks, vistas, and avenues, representing all the beauties of building, and all the pleasures of planting.” Multiple places are described ranging from the average household to mansions and Palaces. Some households would depict religious scenes such as a person or scene from the Bible displayed in a painted glass window. In the windows are coats of arms, sundials, and portraits. Gardens and parks, some stretching 13 acres, are “laid out with taste.” Carriages would travel through the park aside from the regular carriage roads. A Palace would be the most grand and vast with much money put into remodeling of rooms, such as turning a room into dancing room. As balls were a popular form of entertainment, it was not uncommon for a room of a grand house to be converted into a dancing room. After Archbishop Laud was beheaded, his palace was converted to a prison where the soldiers lived in excess. The furniture was sold and the coal and wood was reserved for military use. The parish church of St. Mary, Lambeth had a very ancient foundation and the tower remained even after it was rebuilt in the 14th century. The floor was paved with stone and the roof was covered with lead. Gothic arches and windows could also be seen here. An ancient mansion is also described dating back to 1650. The chimney piece is of wood with carved compartments containing items such as family urns and a lion passant guardant. On the back of the grate is a cast of Neptune included with tritons. The Palace of Kew is described, also containing many pictures and portraits. The gardens, which contain 120 acres, were begun by the late Prince of Wales. The Flower Garden, also known as the Physic or Exotic Garden, has two sides that are enclosed with trees, and the end facing the entrance is occupied by an aviary with numerous of both foreign and domestic birds.

   

Descriptions of places in London that are shown here can also be related to the descriptive settings that Austen provides in Pride and Prejudice. Hughson’s illustrations of various paintings and portraits as well as galleries can build a connection to those of Austen’s novel. Hughson describes a manor with detail on each room such as The Long Gallery with all its portraits, The Great Dining Room with all the archbishops, a grand Library, The Presence Chamber with multiple windows containing painted glass, along with other great rooms that make up the vast residence. When Elizabeth Bennet arrives at Pemberley for the first time she is in awe at the vastness of the property. The exterior and interior are described with such detail that is all to her liking that she can imagine spending a lifetime in the place. When her eyes first fell upon the wondrous site, she couldn’t help but admire every remarkable spot and point of view. Elizabeth Bennet originally was not quite taken with Mr. Darcy but once she explored his mansion, all previous thoughts about him turned positive. The opening line of the novel states “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, much be in want of a wife” proves to be true, clarifying that money and estate are held in such high regards when it comes to marriage.

I Never in My Life Saw Anything More Elegant than Their Dresses

London characters: or, Fashions and customs, of the present century is a book by Sir Barnaby Sketchwell (1809) that depicts the type of fashion in the Regency era and its popularity even in the theatre industry at that time. This writing is reminiscence of Austen (20) reference to a strong taste for fashion in that period. This is what he mention when he describes the manner “… of the fashionable world..” that one of the characters in the book – Darcy – so strongly despises or keeps away from. This shows that clothing in those times was being revolutionized by the introduction of additional costumes like caps or headgears Sketchwell’s story is about a royal family that seems to have a taste for fashion that was cropping up in the Regency era the same way Austen speaks of it. The Duchess of Pyrmont and the Duke are at the center of this story of a fashionable society at that time. Historically, the dukes and Duchesses have been known to have a flair for fashion through their costumes especially during public occasions. It is through this observation that the narrator observes “… both courted fashion and dissipation in whatever form they chose to present themselves …” (Sketchwell 2). Sketchwell is more enthusiastic when describing the women in the book. This might be due to the fact that the women in the 18th century Britain were just like today; overly conscious about their dressing in terms of how comfortable, decent and brilliant they were. The author points out the fashion of clothing at that time that was characterized by unnatural conformations. A good example is the waistline in the women’s dresses that seem to have been raised above the normal waistline but with an appealing effect on the women. But Sketchwell is almost fascinated by the use of fashionable costumes and this is evident in the illustration at the book’s front cover as shown below.

   

It is characteristic in the book that the type of fashion was also propagated by the need for attractiveness of the opposite sex of the courting partners. It is therefore common to find those who did not subscribe to the popular fashion being ridiculed. For instance, we read of “… Oh! Perhaps the rich sir Marmaduke Brooks, who walks out in an old greasy hat and a coat a cobbler would not be seen in ..” (Sketchwell 13). The writer shows how the beauty that resulted from the fashion attracted the comments of other individuals especially men taking advantage of this to flatter the women. For example, the Duke could frequently admire his “… Superbe Beauty of Madame la Duchess …” which was a humorous way of describing the duchess with a French touch. This is what also takes part in Austen’s book through Mr. Darcy and others. In addition, this is elegance that Mrs. Bennet says “I never in my life saw anything more elegant than their dresses” (Austen 43). However, it is not only women that were in this fashion in the Regency era but also their male counterparts were also not left behind. It is therefore observable that the men were also elegantly dressed and with accessories like hats common as the Duke in the story is fond of. The two books therefore seem to concur that Regency era was fashion filled.

Why Will Thou Bind Thy Lovely Brow?

Originally published in London in 1799, The Minstrel: in Two Books is a two-volume book of poetry by Scottish poet James Hay Beattie. Though Beattie’s long poem “The Minstrel” encompasses a large portion of the book, there are several of his other poems as well, including a poem titled “To the Right Honorable Lady Charlotte Gordon, Dressed in a Tartan, Scotch Bonnet with Plumes, etc.” In this poem, Beattie directly addresses a young woman whose bonnet he does not like. He begins by asking Lady Charlotte: “Why, Lady, wilt thou bind thy lovely brow/With the dread semblance of that war-like helm” (Beattie 1-2). For Beattie, the plumed bonnet resembles a military helmet that detracts from rather than enhances Lady Charlotte’s physical attractiveness. Though he does acknowledge the loveliness of her eyes, Beattie persists with his image of her bonnet as a masculine object describing it as a “plumy helmet” and referring to her demeanor as a “martial mien.” Beattie concludes the poem by decrying Minerva, the goddess of war and wisdom, by calling her charms “awful,” and offers instead the “Idalian queen” as the example Lady Charlotte should follow. She, unlike the wise and militant Minerva, relies solely on her femininity, thus rendering her the more attractive. 

This public scrutiny and debate about what constitutes an attractive woman is seen throughout Pride and Prejudice. Because of Mr. Darcy’s interest in her, Elizabeth is singled out by both male and female characters to be regarded, measured, and in the case of Miss Bingley, found wanting in terms of female beauty. When Elizabeth arrives at Netherfield to visit Jane, the Bingley sisters observe her appearance and her dirty petticoat and begin a two-fold assassination of both her beauty and her character. The act of walking a moderate distance alone and dirtying her petticoat dooms her as independent, and thus unfeminine in Miss Bingley’s eyes. Though certainly phrased much more civilly, Beattie’s critique of Lady Charlotte’s bonnet is no less a slight on her femininity. Taken together, a reader cannot help but sympathize with Elizabeth and other Regency women whose slightest wardrobe malfunction opened them up to intense scrutiny and unkind, baseless critiques. 

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=xdMIAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.RA1-PA92

“But the clothes, the wedding clothes!”: Fashionable Bridal attire in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

A fashionable wedding is foremost on Mrs. Bennet’s mind when she exclaims, “But the clothes, the wedding clothes!” (Austen 347). She is completely overcome with excitement at her beloved daughter Lydia being wed, despite the reasons for it, and it is incredibly telling that almost instantly she starts to envision what Lydia will wear! Regency ladies prized fashion, for all their sermons on the dangers of vanity, there was an insatiable desire for creativity in attire. In the 1816 May issue of La Belle Assemblee a new niche in women’s apparel was starting: the wedding gown. The article about the “Dresses of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte” may as well have been a fashion show, for all the detailed descriptions of her trousseau and in another article about her wedding to the Prince Leopold, “Her Majesty’s Drawing Room,” what all of her guests wore.

 

The Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopoldreturning from the altar after the Marriage Ceremony. 

The start of the description of the princess’s dresses first describes that she wore “on her countenance that tranquil and chastened joy which a female so situated could not fail to experience” (224), in other words the romantic and sentimental bridal glow is a part of her ensemble. It may perhaps be presumed that the tradition for brides to wear white has long been the norm in European wedding ceremonies, but this is not true for the Regency where a bride’s wedding attire was often merely her best dress and would be worn until it was no longer serviceable. White dresses, however, harkened back to the classical period that the Regency strived to evoke. In many of the fashion plates and descriptions found with in La Belle Assemblee the trend of “White dresses are now become general,” (39). The color was incredibly popular for dresses in general, not yet the hallmark of a bridal gown.

 

Princess Charlotte's wedding dress, 1816. The Museum of London. 

In fact, the princess Charlotte’s gown is one of the most famous wedding outfits of the Regency, which still survives in tact today. The dress is a “silver lama on net, over a silver tissue slip, embroidered at the bottom with silver lama in shells and flowers. Body and sleeves to correspond, elegantly trimmed with point Brussels lace. The manteau was of silver tissue lined with white satin, with a border of embroidery to answer that on the dress, and fastened in front with a splendid diamond ornament.”(224). Imported silver lace, glittering diamonds, the dress is only meant to be worn once, for the specific occasion of her wedding ceremony. Several more gowns featuring gold and silver with elements of lace, almost all of them are to be worn over a white satin slip (225). Cost does not enter into Mrs. Bennet’s dreams for “The marriage of a daughter… her thoughts and her words ran wholly on those attendants of elegant nuptials, fine muslins,” (351). Mrs. Bennet’s character is revealed to be completely frivolous and impractical in regards to the cost of such lavish preparations for Lydia as a new wardrobe. Mrs. Bennet, surely wishing to live vicariously through her daughter, plans an extravagant trousseau of several new dresses for Lydia. One can only imagine they were not on the scale of Princess Charlotte’s gowns, but never-the-less, this is a huge expense as “Mrs. Bennet found, with amazement and horror, that her husband would not advance a guinea to buy clothes for his daughter” (351). It seems at first comical that “She was more alive to the disgrace, which the want of new clothes must reflect on her daughter’s nuptials, than any sense of shame at her eloping and living with Wickham, a fortnight before they took place” (351). However, when one considers the attention to detail in the articles about Princess Charlotte’s wedding dresses, and the court dresses in “Her Majesty’s Drawing Room” it gives insight into Mrs. Bennet’s mental state of extreme dismay. The fact that photography had not yet been invented and that descriptions and drawings of the clothing would have all been done by hand, takes a considerable amount of time on the part of the authors and illustrators of fashion articles. The types of lace, the sorts of artificial flowers and the materials, the colors, and the cuts of fabric are a multitude of small elements that as a whole determined whether or not a person was fashionably attired. For a person like Mrs. Bennet whose sole ambition in life is to see her daughters married, what they wear on the day of the ceremony is the pinnacle of their lives in her eyes. Lydia in their new social position as a married woman will reflect directly on Mrs. Bennet. She wishes to show her daughter off to the neighbors in order to compete with them. If Lydia is fashionably garbed in the latest styles, which all women were to keep themselves current on, then Lyida would be perceived as superior to others less fashionably dressed. Their clothing serves as social marker as much as their new status gained from their husbands, as well as a financial one. For Mrs. Bennet what Lydia wears on her wedding day and to travel in is second only to the act of getting married. Fashion is crucial to convey the image of maternal success Mrs. Bennet wants to cultivate.

  

 Une Mariee. Journal des Dames ed des Modes. 10 September. 1813. Print.

"Dancing is of More Importance to a Gentleman Than at First it Appears"

Within a collection of Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century (1815) lies a letter Reverend Roger Pickering composed to a dear friend “On the Education of his Son.” Pickering pens a detailed account of what he hopes to teach to this friend’s son as his tutor, covering topics ranging from the classical languages to dancing. He argues that “Dancing is of more importance to a Gentleman than at first it appears. People form their judgment, and take impressions very frequently, from a person’s air and carriage, which dancing greatly contributes to make easy and graceful” (334). Pickering writes further to explain that the youth that he is instructing has tendencies that are unbecoming of a Gentleman his age. He feels firmly that “A little introduction into suitable company…together with learning to dance, will in a short time be found to make a great alteration in all these particulars” (336).

   

Pride and Prejudice showcases the importance of a proper gentleman in motion at the Meryton Ball. Upon entering the room, Mr. Darcy is quickly decided as being the most agreeable and attractive man in attendance. However, this opinion is short lived. Mr. Darcy only dances with members of the same party he arrives with and refuses to be introduced to any other ladies. Shortly after this it is decided that “He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and every body hoped he would never come there again” (40). This is a strong contrast against Mr. Bingley, who danced the night away and decided to throw a ball of his own. Between the two men, it is not who has the most money, the best looks, or the larger property that establishes his likability, but his ability and desire to dance. Mr. Darcy in not dancing presents himself as a stiff person with little to no regard to those around him. He is seen as though he views himself to be better than the others present in his company. Mr. Bingley is considered the opposite because he acquaints himself with everyone in the room and is not shy about moving his feet. If only Mr. Darcy would have considered a dance lesson or two, maybe he would have kept the heads of Meryton society turned in the right direction.

There Are But Few Things Which Can Afford Us Greater Pleasure or Improvements

The author of New and elegant amusements for the ladies of Great Britain (1772) is a Lady. Her publication serves to guide women in “sciences” that will help them improve their minds. The author’s aim is to instruct readers in the “Polite Arts and Sciences” because she feel that “…the heart-enlarging and improving Sciences, at this time give way to a more trifling round of fashionable Amusements” (vii). In other words, the Lady author is dismayed to find that women in her society are more focused on being amused than on improving developing rational thinking. In response to her concern for the women of Great Britain, she has written a treatise that will not only amuse ladies, but will also instruct them. In particular, the author explains astronomy, geography, maps, and the use of globes in a way in which she thinks ladies are better able to understand than the ways in which men learn these subjects. The Lady also divides what she views as the “Polite Arts and Sciences” into two groups: rational amusements and entertaining amusements.

   

Among the rational amusements is reading. In her treatise, the Lady writes how important she believes reading to be, especially since “…there are but few things which can afford us greater pleasure or improvement…” (51). The author is careful to present readers with authors and works which she believes will best guide women in their studies. The works do not include novels, which the Lady regards as “insipid” (51). Reading is a topic that is also discussed in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). Mr. Darcy comments on Elizabeth reading during her visit to Netherfield after Jane has fallen ill. In chapter eight of the first volume of the novel, Miss Bingley describes the “accomplishments” she believes a woman should have (Austen 73). To Miss Bingley’s list of accomplishments Mr. Darcy adds, “‘All this she must possess’… ‘and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading’” (74). Mr. Darcy’s sentiments seem to mirror those expressed by the Lady in her treatise. That Mr. Darcy should expect a lady to improve her mind through extensive reading fits with what many in the Regency culture expected of women. Mr. Darcy approves of Elizabeth’s reading as would most men of his day. Miss Bingley also alludes to the fact that Pemberely has an extensive library, where readers would assume that Miss Darcy reads extensively. Ironically, Austen creates a character in her novel that would perhaps not approve of women reading novels. Thus, while Mr. Darcy’s beliefs about reading reflect those of many during the Regency period, Jane Austen’s beliefs appear different. Austen, at least, seems to challenge her society’s view of novels or the content that they typically present.