Welcome to Nineteenth-Century England

Was the Chancery Court really as bad as Charles Dickens made it out to be?

Did husbands really sell their wives at fairs, as Henchard does in The Mayor of Casterbridge?

What is pudding? And why was it such a favorite English dish?

What was the order of precedence? Does an earl rank higher than a baronet?

Nineteenth-century England was long ago and far away. Anglophiles and readers of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, the Brontes, and Thomas Hardy know the intricacies of English daily life are a puzzle. This unique book, which decodes the rituals of the aristocrat and the commoner, is a godsend. Not a history and not a collection of dry footnotes, this is a book of engaging and vivid description that transports you to nineteenth-century England and reveals the facets of daily life as Dickens and Jane Austen and Trollope—and their readers—actually experienced them. Here are accounts of such major institutions as the dinner party, the army, marriage, the London season, the universities, and proper etiquette. Learn why the cavalry was chic, how a hostess ran a house party at one of the grand country estates, why young ladies avoided second sons, what the "tripos" and a "double first" were at Cambridge and Oxford, and when to shout "Tally Ho!" at a fox hunt. In addition, discover the grim reality of farm life in Thomas Hardy's Wessex in Southern England and the truth about debt and hard times in Dickens's London.

For quick reference, a separate glossary explains at a glance—briefly and concretely—what and when Michaelmas was; the difference between a half crown and a shilling; what happened at the assizes; what a barouche was; who the Lord Chancellor was; and a host of other peculiar and intriguing aspects of nineteenth-century English life.

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew is thoroughly researched and a delight to read. Another time and place come fully alive in these pages. This book will surely enhance the pleasure of anyone who has ever devoured the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy or been caught up in the lives of David Copperfield or Tess of the d'Ubervilles.

From the dust jacket