Horsemanship

Hunting scene, Alken.

The horse took fright with Fanny.

Horsemanship was an essential skill for gentlemen, as horses were the chief means of transport for social, military and sporting activities. 

Hunting was a dangerous sport; it was not unknown for men to break their necks when jumping horses over hedges and ditches, so Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price felt alarmed instead of obliged to Henry Crawford when he lent her sailor brother William a horse. 

She was ‘by no means convinced... that he was at all equal to the management of a high-fed hunter in an English fox-chase. When it was proved, however, to have done William no harm, she could allow it to be a kindness’. 

 Although some ladies went fox-hunting, writers like Thomas Gisborne felt that 'the cruel spectacles of field-sports, are wholly discordant, when contrasted with the delicacy, the refinement, and the sensibility of a woman' (Enquiries Into the Duties of the Female Sex, 1797). 

Fanny Price learns to ride.

The ride to Mansfield Common.

For ladies, riding was a good way to exercise (Fanny Price's health went downhill when Mary Crawford borrowed her pony for several days so that she could learn to ride, too). 

Boys and girls learnt to ride at home on a steady pony, or perhaps (if they lived in town) at a riding school or academy.

Places like Bath had 'extensive and commodious...riding-schools' where ladies and gentlemen could take equestrian exercise indoors when the weather was too inclement to go riding about the countryside. If you did not already know to ride, lessons were 5s 6d each, or 3 guineas for 16 lessons (Pierce Egan, Walks Through Bath, 1819).

And if you wanted to see some amazing feats of horsemanship, Astley's Amphitheatre was the place to go.

Illustrations

Hunting scene, Henry T. Alken, The Chace, The Turf and The Road (2nd edition), John Murray, 1843. ‘The horse took fright with Fanny’. Illustration for Fatherless Fanny, G. Virtue, c.1819.

Fanny Price learns to ride with Edmund and the old grey pony. The ride to Mansfield Common. Hugh Thomson illustrations for Mansfield Park.

Astley's Amazing Amphitheatre

In August 1796, while staying in Cork St, London, Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra that she was looking forward to an evening out:  ‘We are to be at Astley’s tonight, which I am glad of’.
John Philip Astley, father of the modern circus, was Staffordshire-born. While serving in the army, Astley learnt feats of horsemanship, and in 1770 he founded a ‘Riding School’ near Westminster Bridge, where he gave open-air shows during the summer evenings: a rope defined the ‘ring’ for performances. In the mornings he gave riding lessons to ladies and gentlemen. 

These early shows were fairly humble. Astley’s wife beat a drum to provide music; a fife-player was soon added. The wonderful ‘Spanish Horse’ could allegedly undo his own saddle and wash his hooves in a pail of water.  Another equine star, ‘Billy’, could take a boiling kettle off a blazing fire and arrange teacups and saucers ready for tea.  

Astley installed (circa 1780) a stage and scenery at his riding school, and a dome-shaped roof painted with leaves and trees: he renamed it ‘The Royal Grove’. Now he could give shows illuminated by candlelight, accompanied by music from an orchestra. A typical evening's fare on a November evening in 1780 at the 'Amphitheatre Riding-House' began with Ombres Chinoises (shadow puppet-plays), equestrian displays, human pyramids, etc. Clowns 'helped' with the show. Horses were not the only animal stars;  'dancing dogs' and ‘the surprising Learned Pig' put in guest appearances. 

By the date of Jane Austen's visit, pantomimes had been added to the repertoire, and Astley's horses performed dances like the minuet or the hornpipe. A box for the evening's entertainment cost four shillings (approximately £33 today); a seat in the pit was two shillings. 

In Austen’s novel Emma (1816), Mr and Mrs John Knightley, their little boys Henry and John, Robert Martin and Emma’s friend Harriet Smith spent an evening at Astley’s, where they were all ‘extremely amused’ by the show. After ‘quitting their box...they were in such a crowd, as to make Miss Smith rather uneasy’. Robert took such gallant care of Harriet that she gratefully accepted his marriage proposal the following day. 

You can find out more about Astley's Amphitheatre and his amazing life story in the latest issue of Jane Austen's Regency World; and there's lots more info on the entertainment on offer during her lifetime in A Visitor's Guide To Jane Austen's England. 

2 views of Astley’s Riding School in 1770. ‘From J. T. Smith’s Historical and Literary Curiosities’. Old and New London Vol. VI, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c.1878).

Entrance to Astley’s theatre, 1820. Old and New London Vol. VI, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c.1878).

Interior of Astley’s Amphitheatre in 1843. Old and New London Vol. VI, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c.1878).