"The style of the letter was much above her expectation. There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman; the language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed very much to the credit of the writer. It was short, but expressed good sense, warm attachment, liberality, propriety, even delicacy of feeling. She paused over it, while Harriet stood anxiously watching for her opinion, with a "Well, well," and was at last forced to add, "Is it a good letter? or is it too short?""
[Emma, by Jane Austen]
In a time where there were no telephones, emails, SMS or social media, people shared details of their everyday life by writing frequent letters. Corresponding with friends and family was an important part of life during the 19th century, and being able to write a good letter was considered a vital accomplishment for men and women.
As Jane Austen wrote to her sister in January 1801:
"I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth. I have been talking to you almost as fast as I could the whole of this letter."
Letters were sent regularly to friends and family members, informing them of the latest news and gossip. It was not unusual to begin writing a new letter to someone just after sending the last, adding extra news as things happened over a couple of days while waiting for a reply to your previous letter.
Landowners also sent written instructions back to their estates while they were in London, and often conducted business by letter.
The etiquette of reading and writing letters
"Miss Portman," said she, "I hope your politeness to me does not prevent you from reading your letter? Some ceremonious people think it vastly rude to read a letter in company; but I am not one of them: I can write whilst you read, for I have fifty notes and more to answer. So pray read your letter at your ease."
[Chapter 14, Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth]
While some thought it bad manners to read a private letter while in company, it was quite acceptable to share the contents of a letter out loud to family or friends, if it included nothing of a personal nature. Those who lived in London, or were visiting the capital, were expected to write frequently with details of the latest society gossip, and the most up to date trends in fashions. When received, their letter would then be quoted from when visitors came to call, passing news and information around the neighbourhood.
It was considered good manners to reply to a letter from a friend or family member as soon as possible, and a matter of pride for a lady to keep up to date with her correspondence.
Letter writing was the preserve of the middle and upper classes. To produce a letter you needed the education to be able to write. You then had to buy the paper, which was sold for up to one shilling per quire. (a quire was a pack of 24 sheets)
The person you were writing to also had to be able to afford the cost of the postage, as it was paid for by the recipient, rather than the sender. If you were sending a letter locally, it was considered good manners to dispatch it by servant, rather than through the post, so the addressee did not have to pay unnecessary postage.
It was not considered polite to send social letters to people you had not previously been introduced to in person. If you did write to a stranger, they were under no obligation to reply to you.
Letters of ceremony were sent to friends and family to advise them of important family news, such as the birth of a child, an upcoming wedding, or the death of a family member. Letters of congratulations or condolence would normally be returned on receiving the news.
This exchange of letters of ceremony was considered vitally important for maintaining connections, as Sir Walter Elliot discovered in Persuasion:
"Sir Walter had once been in company with the late viscount, but had never seen any of the rest of the family; and the difficulties of the case arose from there having been a suspension of all intercourse by letters of ceremony, ever since the death of that said late viscount, when, in consequence of a dangerous illness of Sir Walter's at the same time, there had been an unlucky omission at Kellynch. No letter of condolence had been sent to Ireland. The neglect had been visited on the head of the sinner; for when poor Lady Elliot died herself, no letter of condolence was received at Kellynch, and, consequently, there was but too much reason to apprehend that the Dalrymples considered the relationship as closed."
[Chapter 16, Persuasion, by Jane Austen]
Letters of introduction were also an important part of Regency society. If you were travelling to a town or city where you had no friends or acquaintances, someone might give you a letter of introduction to a person they knew. Letters of introduction were always hand delivered, as soon as possible after arrival, and vouched for the good character of the holder.
The propriety of personal letters
Private correspondence could be exchanged between family and friends, including husbands and wives, brother and sister, and cousins. They were also acceptable between an engaged couple—particularly if separated by distance.
However, it was quite a breach of propriety for any unmarried couple to exchange correspondence unless they were already engaged to marry. Letter writing more or less followed the same rule as for personal conversations. If you weren't permitted to speak to a person in private, then you couldn't send them a letter either, unless it was done in a clandestine manner.
Because of this rule, if a young unmarried couple openly exchanged letters it was presumed that they must be engaged. In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne does not hide the fact that she writes to and receives letters from Mr. Willoughby:
"Your sister's engagement to Mr. Willoughby is very generally known."
"It cannot be generally known," returned Elinor, "for her own family do not know it."
He looked surprised, and said, "I beg your pardon, I am afraid my enquiry has been impertinent; but I had not supposed any secrecy intended, as they openly correspond, and their marriage is universally talked of."
"How can that be? By whom can you have heard it mentioned?"
"By many—by some of whom you know nothing, by others with whom you are most intimate, Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Palmer, and the Middletons. But still I might not have believed it, for where the mind is, perhaps, rather unwilling to be convinced, it will always find something to support its doubts, if I had not, when the servant let me in today, accidentally seen a letter in his hand, directed to Mr. Willoughby, in your sister's writing."
[Chapter 27, Sense & Sensibility, by Jane Austen]
To avoid raising similar suspicions, letters could be delivered by hand, or left where they knew the recipient would find it.
When Captain Wentworth writes to Miss Anne Elliot in Bath, he quietly indicates the existence of a private letter, intended for her eyes only:
"He begged their pardon, but he had forgotten his gloves, and instantly crossing the room to the writing table, he drew out a letter from under the scattered paper, placed it before Anne with eyes of glowing entreaty fixed on her for a time, and hastily collecting his gloves, was again out of the room, almost before Mrs Musgrove was aware of his being in it: the work of an instant!"
[Chapter 23, Persuasion, by Jane Austen]
Mr. Darcy chooses to hand-deliver his letter in a place where he knew Elizabeth Bennet would walk, rather than leaving it at the parsonage:
"She had turned away, but on hearing herself called, though in a voice which proved it to be Mr. Darcy, she moved again towards the gate. He had by that time reached it also, and holding out a letter, which she instinctively took, said with a look of haughty composure, "I have been walking in the grove some time in the hope of meeting you. Will you do me the honour of reading that letter?" -- And then, with a slight bow, turned again into the plantation, and was soon out of sight."
[Chapter 35, Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen]
A third option was communication with the assistance of someone else; perhaps a relative or friend who is able to send letters, and who might include a few lines from you on their behalf, such as this example from Mansfield Park, where Miss Crawford openly writes to her friend Fanny Price, and yet knows that the words she writes will also reach the ears of Fanny's cousin Edmund:
"Miss Crawford's style of writing, lively and affectionate, was itself an evil, independent of what she was thus forced into reading from the brother's pen, for Edmund would never rest till she had read the chief of the letter to him; and then she had to listen to his admiration of her language, and the warmth of her attachments. There had, in fact, been so much of message, of allusion, of recollection, so much of Mansfield in every letter, that Fanny could not but suppose it meant for him to hear; and to find herself forced into a purpose of that kind, compelled into a correspondence which was bringing her the addresses of the man she did not love, and obliging her to administer to the adverse passion of the man she did, was cruelly mortifying."
[Chapter 38, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen]
Finally, a gentleman desperate to correspond with a single female, without the knowledge of her family, could always bribe a servant to carry an illicit note, to be put into her hands at a convenient moment.
Personality and letter writing
In her novels, Jane Austen often used letters and letter-writing as a way of illustrating her character's different personalities.
"About a month ago I received this letter, and about a fortnight ago I answered it, for I thought it a case of some delicacy, and requiring early attention."
In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bennet's slow reaction to the arrival of Mr. Collins' letter reflects his negligent and dilatory attitude to his correspondence, at a time when it was considered good manners to answer letters as soon as possible.
We also discover that Mr. Bingley "writes in the most careless way imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest." While Mr. Darcy "...does not write with ease. He studies too much for words of four syllables." And no one can mistake Lydia's selfishness when she sends the following note to her sister:
"You need not send them word at Longbourn of my going, if you do not like it, for it will make the surprise the greater when I write to them and sign my name Lydia Wickham. What a good joke it will be! I can hardly write for laughing."
The art of letter writing
Letters were written in ink, and most often using a quill pen. Although metal pen nibs and even mechanical fountain pens had been invented, they were not as popular as quills, which were cheap, easier to write with and less scratchy.
The longest primary goose feathers were used to make quill pens. The fresh quills were softened in hot water, and then hardened by plunging the shaft into hot sand. Other large birds' feathers were also used, such as swan, raven or crow feathers. You could buy prepared quills by the box, ready for making into pens.
A small pocket knife, still known today as a pen knife, was used to cut the end of the quill into a nib shape. When the end of the pen wore down or cracked, you could cut off the damaged part and mend, or re-cut the quill to create a new nib. This is what Miss Bingley is offering to do in Pride and Prejudice, when she said to Mr. Darcy: "I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well."
Although writing ink was available to buy by the bottle, in various colours, you could also make ink at home, using recipes printed in most household books. This particular recipe comes from "The Expeditious Instructor":
"To make good black ink: Take a quart of rain-water, and put into it three ounces of galls, bruised or broken into small pieces, half an ounce of gum arabick; and a quarter of an ounce of copperas and rock alum; then add half an ounce of common salt, and a spoonful of brandy: put all together in a bottle or earthen pot, shake it frequently, and it will be fit to use in a fortnight."
You would decant a small amount of ink into an inkwell, which often included a hinged lid or stopper to limit spillage if the inkwell was knocked over. The inkwell could stand on its own, or on a standish, which was a tray specifically designed to hold an inkwell and a quill pen. Some wooden writing cases also had sections for storing inkwells.
At the top of the letter you would write your address and the date. In a small village you might only add the village name, but in a town the street name was also included. When Jane Austen was writing to her family from their home in the village of Steventon, Hampshire, she would write "Steventon" at the top of the page, but when she was staying in London, her letters were written from "Hans Place" or "Cork Street".
Being able to write a well-written letter was a skill or accomplishment that everyone wished to master. There were even Regency self-help books that offered standard letters for every occasion that you could adapt to your own requirements.
In 1803 "The Secretary and Complete Letter Writer" claimed:
"The art of letter writing will ever be considered as one of the greatest ornaments of education; for, next to the power of pleasing by his presence, every man would wish to be able to give delight at a distance. In this Collection of Letters various models are offered, beginning with easy and familiar forms, and thence leading, by simple gradations, to epistles of the most complex construction."
Other similar books, with titles such as "The Universal Letter Writer" and "The Classical English Letter Writer" all provided various examples of letters you might need to write. The proforma letters presented in these books come under various types of letter, such as descriptive letters, letters of advice, letters of admonition, letters of congratulation, letters of condolence and letters of reference.
"I thank you for your long letter, which I will endeavour to deserve by writing the rest of this as closely as possible."
[Letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra Austen, 24th December 1798]
Postage was calculated by the number of pages sent, as well as distance. It therefore made financial sense to write as neatly and closely as possible, to fit in the maximum number of words on a page. Jane Austen often commented that her handwriting was too large, and her letters too "sprawly" to write a neat letter.
To save money, some writers crossed their letters. That means when they filled the page they turned the paper through 90° and continued writing.
There were no ready-made envelopes in Regency England. Instead the letter paper itself would be folded and sealed to hide the writing. Although Jane Austen used the word 'envelope' in Pride and Prejudice, at that time it referred to a wrapper, or page that formed an outer layer, which is why Elizabeth notices that the envelope had also been written on:
"With no expectation of pleasure, but with the strongest curiosity, Elizabeth opened the letter, and, to her still increasing wonder, perceived an envelope containing two sheets of letter paper, written quite through, in a very close hand. -- The envelope itself was likewise full."
So in this instance Mr. Darcy had written his letter on three sheets of paper. He'd folded them in such a way that the third sheet presented a blank surface on the outside, for writing the name of the recipient.
The front of the letter would show the direction (postal address) of the recipient. There was no return address included on the outside of a Regency letter. There was also no such thing as a post or zip code. The first rudimentary postcode system in London didn't appear until the 1850s.
Once you had folded your letter it would have to be sealed to keep the contents private. There were two common ways of sealing a letter.
Sealing wax was usually red, although green and black sealing wax was also available; the black being predominantly used during mourning, or to signal news of a death. Despite its name, sealing wax rarely contained wax, and had different melting properties from your everyday candle. Candle wax was too brittle for sealing letters.
"Sealing Wax - To every ounce of shell-lac, add half an ounce each of rosin and vermilion, all reduced to a fine powder. Melt them over a moderate fire, and when thoroughly incorporated and sufficiently cool, form the composition into what are called sticks, of any length or thickness, and either flat or round."
[The London Mechanic's Register, pub. 1825]
Sealing wax sticks did not have a wick, and melted easily over a small flame. You would drip a little melted wax onto the envelope, then press the 'flap' onto it—called the under-touch—before forming a circle of melted wax, about an inch wide, over the edge of the flap and the paper beneath.
Before it solidified you could imprint a mark into the wax using a seal. Because the design of the seal was personal to the sender, using a seal made it difficult for someone to open a letter and read the contents before re-sealing it. An engraved seal could be as intricate as a coat of arms, or as simple as a monogram, or a basic flower motif. Gentlemen often carried their own personal seal on a fob attached to their waistband, or on the end of their watch chain.
The second option for sealing a letter was using a wafer. Sealing wafers were small circles of dried paste, moistened to make them adhesive—the equivalent of our modern double-sided sticky tape. You would stick the moist wafer underneath the flap and press it down to seal the letter. The damp wafer would then be firmly joined to the paper on each side by use of a wafer seal, which would look to modern eyes like a miniature meat tenderiser; a cross-hatched seal with multiple points impressing the paper into the wafer to make sure the bond was firm. If you had no wafer seal handy, you could also join the paper to the seal by making a pattern of pin-pricks in the moist wafer.
Although wafers were supposed to be a quick and easy alternative to sealing wax, they were most commonly used when writing to someone of equal or lower social status. It would be considered a breach of etiquette to seal a letter to a social superior with an adhesive wafer.
Wafers were stored in a wood or porcelain wafer box, or a section of a writing case, as they needed to be kept dry and out of reach of vermin. You could either purchase wafers ready-made or make them at home.
"The art of making wafers is curious, yet sufficiently simple. They are composed by mixing the finest sifted wheaten flour, with white of eggs or a thin solution of isinglass, and a very small portion of yeast, which being well incorporated and reduced to a proper consistency by the addition of gum water, the batter is spread on tin plates, or a bordered flat iron form, of a thinness required for the wafers, and placed over a charcoal fire. It is thus expeditiously baked, and then cut out with sharp circular instruments of the required size."
[The London Mechanic's Register, pub. 1825]
Wafers could be made in different colours by the addition of beetroot juice, vermillion, indigo, saffron or French berries. Red lead was often used to make red wafers, even though it was poisonous. The waste off-cuts from the manufacture of wafers was even sold as a form of rat poison.
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[Image taken from Volume 10, The Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions and politics, pub 1813 by Rudolph Ackermann]