In April, I’m posting 26 blogs, one for every letter of the alphabet. I write historical romance set in Regency England, and I’m offering a brief lexicon of words to help you understand the story world of my Regency characters. Follow the links for more in depth information.

L is for Long Meg:

A Long Meg refers to a tall woman. But if a Regency lady is called Long Meg it is not a compliment, apparently because of a fictional character you’ve probably never heard of.

A contemporary image of a “Long Meg”. The lady on the left is supposedly 5 feet, 4 inches. Image from Flickr via Wikimedia

Here’s a link to the “Full text of The life of Long Meg of Westminster: containing the mad merry pranks she played in her life time, not onely in performing sundry quarrels with divers ruffians about London, but also how valiantly she behaued her selfe in the warres of Bolloingne”

Long Meg, photo by Paul Farmer

Long  Meg may also refer to Long Meg and her Daughters, the third largest stone circle in England. Time travel, anyone?

And L is for Laudanum:

Laudanum is a mixture of opium and alcohol, used during the Regency to treat coughing, diarrhea, and pain. In two of author Loretta Chase‘s books, Lord of Scoundrels and Miss Wonderful,  villainous characters dose their victims with laudanum as a means of restraint. Instead of calming them, the laudanum induces uncontrollable vomiting making the victims harder to manage.

Dispensing pot for laudanum, Italy, 1771-1830

With its opium content, laudanum could be highly addictive, a nice plot device for a darker Regency story.

Questions? Comments? Visit tomorrow for the letter M!

Images: badge, a-to-zchallenge.com; all others, Wikimedia