Regency Reader Questions: Unacceptable Behaviour

Regency Reader Question
I found this site by accident and it is great! I have written 5 books and had 2 published and am editing the other 3. In a current edit, I wanted to say someone’s behaviour was “unacceptable” and then I thought of “Beyond permission” I am sure I have read the words somewhere when someone’s activities are dreadful. this is what I want to say: ‘The excessive trouble this man brings upon you is “Beyond permission” ‘ I feel it is correct but I want to be sure. Patsy

Thank you for the question, Patsy, and for being a new Regency Reader!

I found the expression beyond permission to be most common in Victorian era religious documents, like sermons or work of John Donne:

The Works (John Donne, 1836).

However, I was able to find some earlier uses of the expression in sermons and even in a novel:

The Mourtray Family. A Novel (1814)

I did look at era dictionaries, and unacceptable was commonly understood to mean much the same:

A Dictionary of the English Language. (1828)

A London Encyclopaedia, Or Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature and Practical Mechanics (1829)

So that you would be on safe ground to use either.

Best of luck with the edit!

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