Every woman knows that when she goes just about any place where there is a crowd that she will end up standing on line for the restroom, but at least there will be a restroom. In the Regency Era, few houses had indoor toilets, and they relied on the chamber pot or the outdoor necessary. In the backstory for the 2003 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, it was noted that there were no indoor facilities, male or female, for the guests. As a result, a woman had to give a lot of thought to what she drank before and during an assembly or ball, such as the one that Charles Bingley hosted at Netherfield Hall, very much like we do before getting on an airplane. I assume that most women judiciously sipped their punch throughout the evening. Of course, for the men, a nice bush would suffice. Pictured to the right is a very pretty chamber pot from the Regency Era.
A delicate matter indeed. The thought of chamber pots puts a damper on romantic visions of wedding nights, as well.
ReplyDeleteThe wedding night - isn't that the truth, esp. since there was no specific room for this. I didn't want to put this on the front of the blog, but after dinner, when the women would leave the men to have their after-dinner drinks in the dining room, there was a cupboard which held a chamberpot so that the men did not have to leave the room. In the dining room! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteYuck ! i cant even imagine the smells they were used to back then
ReplyDeleteHoneisos, That is so true, which is why everyone who could afford it wore perfume and carried posies. It probably explains the use of snuff.
ReplyDelete