During one dinner conversation with friends, young George Gordon was asked the question many brooding teenagers get at their parents' dinner parties: what trade would he like to go into? Although it is unlikely the question was meant to be taken seriously as George was next in line to be Duke of Gordon, he answered "making garters for ladies' stockings." While the group chuckled at young Gordon's jocular perversions, his mother piped up with her own jibe, "Ah George! You would soon be above your trade."
No wonder the ladies of fashion were reported to complain, "How dull the town is! Would to Heaven the Duchess of Gordon were arrived! We shall have no life, no spirit, till she come!"
Should his mother be disappointed if he was kept behind in his trade?
ReplyDelete(Not quite sure if the mot-d'esprit works in English. Be free to publicly correct me, my dear)
Haha, you have to love those Gordons!
ReplyDeletewow, it's so weird to hear a woman of such a high position talking like that, I mean in the 18th century!! But I guess that depending on good position and a high income a woman of the upper class could have more freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it was very natural for Jane to talk that way. I love Jane, she's the second coolest duchess ever.
ReplyDelete*giggles behind fan*
ReplyDelete