What does it mean to refer to a man as a good leg?
Thanks for the question, Valerie, and for being a Regency Reader!
This wasn’t a common piece of cant, so there is no direct definition. I think the context might tell us a bit more, but without that I have some guesses about what the author may have meant.
“A good leg, and a good foot” comes from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing where a woman is describing amiable qualities about a man (including the size of his purse). Most early 19th century uses I have been able to find about “good leg” are either quoting Shakespeare, talking about mutton, or are medical journals. So I suspect the author may have been implying that the “good leg” of a man was eligible and desirable as a mate.
However, if there was a nautical element to the scene or characters (eg, they were both in the Royal Navy or were sea going blokes), then is may have been a play on this nautical phrase:
A good leg
| (Naut.) | a course sailed on a tack which is near the desired course. |
Generally, legs were a significant body part for men in the 18th century. There are several derogative slang terms particularly targeting thin legs (gambs, spider-shanked, spindle shanks) and men wore breeches which emphasized their calves, especially when dancing, bowing, or posing. Some men were also known to pad their calves to make them larger, although there is some debate about how true this is (See Were Colonial Men Obsessed With Their Calves? – Atlas Obscura).
In all of these scenarios, it seems to be a compliment to describe a man as a good leg. Whether on a true course, sexy, or a good match, it seems the reference was to express the man was desirable or at least had good qualities.
I’ve seen books where someone refers to a man as having a good leg, but not one where the man himself is called a good leg.
I think this is a wonderful distinction!
Some contemporaries noted Sir Arthur Paget liked to show off his legs — er–‘shapes,’ as they called them.
Another perspective: ” ‘Am I to infer you don’t share Kitty’s liking for the Chevalier?’ ‘Wouldn’t say that,’ replied Freddy, rubbing his nose. ‘Very pleasant fellow. But you know how it is: can’t be on the town without learning a flat from a leg!’ ” — Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer.
Love this addition, thanks Angelyn!
It may be, indeed, the author was using it as Heyer did in reference to gambling/cant. I didn’t find a clear definition in the cant dictionaries I have to “leg” or “good leg” related to gambling…which often makes me suspect the term may have been a Heyerism.
The tidbit on Sir Arthur Paget is a treasure. Love this idea of showing off your shapes!
For some reason I always assumed it meant he was good on a horse! That was the meaning I cobbled together from reading Heyer, anyway.
Oh, another interesting thought!
Flat vs Leg (gaming cant) *gaming used to mean “gamble” here because it involved games of chance
flat = person who is easily tricked whilst gaming
leg = the opposite of a flat, i.e., he/she knows when X is trying to cheat at cards/dice and will take the necessary precautions/reactions against it. this does not necessarily mean that a leg will cheat. a cheater at cards/dice is called by a different name.
make a leg / show a leg (an idiom still used in the upper classes in the UK and the Commonwealth) = to make a deep bow with the one leg forward (and straight) and the other leg drawn back and bent. this is a throwback to the way men would execute a bow in the Restoration era. if the guy was not physically fit, he wouldn’t do this bow nicely and could fall over. Imagine the Prince Regent doing it in his later years. Not a pretty sight, especially since his legs would be fat and/or gouty. Trousers, stockings and boots then were tight and showed the exact shape of the legs, so showing your leg (physically when he sticks it out to bow and metaphorically to execute a correct bow without toppling over) matters. See pic at https://www[dot]phrases[dot]org[dot]uk/images/break-a-leg%5Bdot%5Dgif
Replace [dot] with actual dots. I had to do this because my comment will be classed as spam if I use a link.
Make a good leg = (for men) knowing to present oneself well socially and in dress and knowing how to bow well and correctly (bowing to the king and bowing to your friend’s mother are different), i.e., John knows how to dress well without being too showy (think Beau Brummell) and knows how to circulate well in society without royally cheesing off the lower and higher orders.
having a good leg = a good sportsman (not in the modern sense of a sportsman). it is almost (but not quite) the same as having well-turned calves. it means having well-shaped legs, muscular calves that are nicely rounded and symmetrically shaped. such legs/calves cannot be too bulky nor too scrawny. it also means the man is a good dancer (you need to have the legs for it because each dance was long then and required stamina) and implies the man knows how to sit himself in the saddle with good posture and without tiring or looking like he’s a potato with limp half-wet rags for legs. it’s a leftover from the days when royal tennis (what Henry VIII played before his jousting accident) was a thing. You needed to be light and spry and fast on your feet to run and play it (it’s like modern tennis but more punishing and more physical). You would definitely build up leg and calf muscles if you played that regularly. so a guy like this would have good legs. The Shakespearean usage likely stemmed from the way having good legs and having well-turned calves were important (and used in phrases) in the Tudor court.
Now that we’ve covered the definitions, let’s go back to why “having a good leg” and “making a good leg” are desirable. If you are a young heroine, you want a handsome, fit guy who looks good on a horse and on his legs, can dance well for hours (because that’s when you can interact the most). To do that, he needs to be physically fit, well versed in the social niceties, a good sportsman. The last is important because a good hunter on a horse was a good provider. Why? He had to be rich as maintaining horses was expensive and a good hunter meant you will never starve. The aesthetics of having a good leg and making a good leg are also important, especially when britches (everyday wear) and hoses (court wear) were tight and left nothing to the imagination. Remember, Queen Victoria wrote that Prince Albert “looked so handsome in his white cashmere britches, with nothing on underneath”. That gives you some idea of what it was like and why making a good leg and having good legs mattered to the Regency heroine.
Thanks for all the analysis, Yvette!