12. Technology created the belief they were living in a wondrous age
In 1814 The Times, London’s most prestigious newspaper, printed each page using hand-operated presses. That year, steam-operated presses were installed. Where before they could print about 200 pages per hour, steam presses increased the rate to over 1,000 pages per hour. During the Regency steamboats and tugs began plying the rivers and canals of Britain, beginning on Scotland’s Clyde River. Burlington Arcade, built in London in 1818, became a shopping destination where the top layers of society could shop protected from both the elements and the poor who were everywhere evident. Beadles guarded the Arcade, assigned from the 10th Royal Hussars Regiment.
It was wondrous only for the wealthy and upper class of the merchants and manufacturers. The poor were everywhere, and as the Regency went on grew poorer. There were few government agencies addressing the sharp divide between the levels of society. Poverty indicated a moral failing, at least among those not counted among the poor. Jobs grew scarcer as machinery eliminated them. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, idle sailors crowded ports and waterfronts. Former soldiers idled in the streets, unable to find work, and most were without pensions. The wealthy drank fine wines and brandies, the poor cheap beer and even cheaper gin. Meanwhile, the Prince Regent and his fellows enjoyed their palaces, pavilions, and country estates.