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.

P is for Phaeton:

A phaeton was a “sporty open carriage popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century”.

In Regency Buck, by Georgette Heyer, the heroine, Judith Taverner is the talk of the town for her skill at driving her matched bays in her “very smart sporting phaeton with double perches of swan-neck pattern.”

A high flyer phaeton carriage, 1816

And P is for Post Chaise:

Here is a lovely illustration of travel by post chaise. It’s very easy to understand what a chaise is–a lightweight two or four wheel carriage. But what is a “post-chaise”?

In the Regency, long distance travel was usually accomplished by traveling in a post chaise. Horses can only go so far pulling even a light-weight conveyance. Posting inns were set up throughout England at several mile intervals for a traveler to change to a fresh team of horses, literally in a matter of two to three minutes. The horses were “steered” not by a coachman, but by post riders, like those illustrated above. At the next stop, the horses would be unhitched for return to their home stable by their post riders, and a new team and riders would take the next step of the journey.

The rich could use a coachman and have teams stabled along a route they traveled regularly, but that would be the very rich, like those dukes I mentioned earlier in the month.

And P is for Parson’s Mousetrap:

The Parson’s Mousetrap was marriage, from the point of view of a young bachelor forced into matrimony by debts or other inducements.

Questions? Comments? Visit tomorrow for the letter Q!

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