Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
An enticing jumble of antique hats on the shelf in Lock and Co.'s shop.
The waltz was considered daring, with its strong rhythms and dancing
in hold, and young ladies had to have the permission of one of the Pat-
ronesses to dance it at Almack's. This print of 1817 advertises a book
by Mr Wilson, a dancing-master, showing how it may be performed, to
'display all the grace, ease, and elegance of which the H^H human fig-
ure is capable.'
No alcohol was served, the refreshments were meagre and the Patronesses, who wielded
enormous social power by choosing to issue or deny a voucher of admission, enforced the
strictest of rules for the weekly balls. Famously, the Duke of Wellington was once turned
away for not being correctly attired in knee breeches.
In 1820 Henry Luttrell published Advice to Julia with the following lines about Al-
mack's precious vouchers:
All on that magic list depends;
Fame, fortune, fashion, lovers, friends:
'Tis that which gratifies or vexes
All ranks, all ages, and both sexes.
Jane's fashionable and socially ambitious cousin, Eliza de Feuillide (later Mrs Henry
Austen), attended Almack's. Eliza described herself as, 'the greatest rake imaginable',
doubting whether she would be able 'to support London hours, and all the racketing of a
London life for a year together.'
King Street ends at St James's Square, part of the development of the area in the 1660s.
It was largely rebuilt in the eighteenth century and was highly fashionable. The Prince Re-
gent received the news of the victory at Waterloo on 21 June 1815 while a guest at a party
at No. 16. He promptly promoted Major Percy, who had brought the dispatch and some of
the French Eagles, to the rank of colonel.
There were also commercial and institutional occupants. Wedgwood moved his china
showrooms from Soho to the corner of Duke of York Street in 1797. In June 1811 Jane
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