CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Mr. Darcy didn’t make a good first impression, but his lack of manners and snobbish attitude hid a generous nature. Mr. Wickham was charming and romantic, but he seduced a teenager while looking to marry for money.
How was Elizabeth Bennet to tell which gentleman might make a suitable husband? And what was it that made a man a gentleman in the Regency period of the early 19th century?
A spring exhibit at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library looks at the expectations for gentlemen of the period, including how they were educated, how they dressed and how they chose a marriage partner. The exhibit, “Making Mr. Darcy: Cultural Context for the Regency Gentleman,” provides context for the environment in which Jane Austen wrote her novels, including “Pride and Prejudice,” featuring Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham and Elizabeth Bennet.
“It’s meant to be a fun, accessible introduction, not a scholarly deep dive,” said Lynne M. Thomas, the head of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library who curated the exhibit. “People who are fans of Austen’s work or want to learn more about it can come and see materials from the period.”
Many people know Austen’s work through TV or movie adaptations of her novels, where fancy dress and a posh accent are sufficient to identify the gentlemen, Thomas said. Austen draws different kinds of gentlemen – those who display virtues such as kindness and a moral compass, and those who lack those qualities.
“The base assumption is gentlemen are born into a role via class and family. What separates them is not education, not their upbringing, but what they choose to do with it. Austen has a higher standard, I argue, for acceptable marriage-material gentlemen. They make life better for those around them,” Thomas said.
For example, Colonel Brandon in “Sense and Sensibility” is not from the highest ranks of society, and he is not overtly romantic. He is initially rejected by the young Marianne Dashwood.
“He is constantly caring for other characters throughout the book. Part of the arc of the novel is Marianne learning to appreciate that versus the intense romance with the guy who says and does the right things, then jilts her for a wealthy match,” Thomas said.
“The love matches that Austen talked about in her novels were not all that commonplace. During the Regency, marriages within the gentry were much more likely to be political or financial matches or based on familial alliances of some kind. If it turned out you liked your life partner, that was a bonus,” she said.
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library owns first editions of all Austen’s novels, and they will be on display in the exhibit, along with works from the contemporaries who influenced her. The first edition of Austen’s “Emma” was dedicated to the Prince Regent at his request, although she didn’t like him, Thomas said.
The exhibit includes a section on politics and the Prince Regent, who became King George IV in 1820 upon the death of his father, George III. The Prince Regent was a controversial figure who was criticized for being a spendthrift; being indifferent to his role as monarch; marrying illegally without permission from the king; and for a later failed marriage to his cousin, whom he married in order to pay off his debts and unsuccessfully tried to divorce.
The materials in the exhibit include original drawings by George Cruikshank, a well-known caricaturist of the time; a book depicting Carlton House, the Prince Regent’s main residence in London that he lavishly decorated with public money; and a pamphlet berating him for not paying debts, published by a jeweler who went broke when he was not paid for the work he did for the Prince Regent.
“Before he became king, he was kind of like a random Instagram celebrity. He looked good but didn’t do a whole lot,” Thomas said.
The proper education of a gentlemen was a much-debated topic during the Regency period. Because it was a time of social upheaval and a large gap between the rich and the poor, the differences between a moral and an intellectual education were a hot topic, Thomas said, and the undercurrent running through that debate was the fact that the upper-class men who were governing society were, in many cases, slaveholders in British colonial holdings.
A set of paper dolls from 1811 illustrates the types of dress appropriate for a gentleman, as well as other playful options. The dolls’ various costumes include a knight’s armor, a naval uniform, a monk’s habit and a gentleman’s evening costume. Visitors to the exhibit’s opening can get a postcard reproduction of a paper doll and costume.
Books and illustrations on leisure activities include depictions of boxing, gymnastics, horsemanship, hunting and cards. A colorful illustration titled “The Hopping Match” shows “the runner exhibiting his agility.”
“Wagering was a major leisure activity in the Regency, and the hopping match was exactly the thing a person with more money than sense would wager on,” Thomas said.
One of the most surprising things Thomas found in researching the Regency period was the number of public sex scandals. The exhibit includes a pirated edition of a best-selling tell-all book by a courtesan who published it to fund her retirement, and a satire on love, marriage and infidelity titled “The Trap.” The former is the source of the quote “Publish and be damned” by the Duke of Wellington, in response to an offer to leave his name out of the book, for a price.
“It’s in conflict with our conception of the Regency as a prim and proper time,” Thomas said. “What were people really doing beyond our perceptions of fussy cravats and stiff manners?”
The exhibit opens Feb. 21, with a reception from 3-5 p.m. Thomas will talk about the exhibit, and she and other library staff members will wear Regency-style clothing and serve high tea.