Posted by Jessamyn on July 20, 1997 at 01:38:46:
In reply to Re: Mud -- and other messes! posted by kathleen (elder) on July 19, 1997 at 06:50:16
] ] The S&S adaptation had a close up of the mud the Dashwood ladies had to navigate around on the way to the assembly in London. Or no, I guess in London especially it was more the horse droppings you had to worry about.
] I remember a scene from the BBC version of Bleak House (with Diana Rigg): DR's character wanted to cross a street, and a little beggar boy swept a path for her; she then gave him a coin.
I read somewhere that in France at the beginning of the (19th) century, the streets were so bad and women's clothes and shoes so flimsy that they would actually be carried across the streets by men who hung around waiting for such business opportunities to arise. Does anyone know anything as to the truth of this?
I have definitely seen a plate of a woman crossing the street, again in France, around 1815 or so. She's picking up her skirts and treading on a board which has been laid down by a guy in tall boots, whom she will presumably pay when she reaches the other side.
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