What is a gentleman-usher in The Country Wife?

[Kayserada]

This appears in The Country Wife? Is it an escort for women in this case? How common was this?

The quote says:

‘’I will not be your drudge by day, to squire your wife about […] I shall be shortly the hackney Gentleman-Usher of the Town.’’

Thanks in advance.

[OrphanPip]

This appears in The Country Wife? Is it an escort for women in this case? How common was this?

The quote says:

‘’I will not be your drudge by day, to squire your wife about […] I shall be shortly the hackney Gentleman-Usher of the Town.’’

Thanks in advance.

Women of any status would never go around un-escorted in London during the Restoration, crime was rampant and the streets were quite dangerous. They would usually only go out accompanied by a male relative or protected by footmen. In the China scene where this comes from Horner is playing up his impotence in front of Sir Jasper by making a big show of not wanting to pal around with the girls (where as in reality he really does want to pal around with the girls because he's not truly impotent). A hackney Gentleman-Usher is not a real title for a servant, Horner is combining two positions for comedic effect: the hackney coachman and the gentleman-usher. A gentleman-usher was an upper level servant usually only found in very prominent households and the royal household, they were in charge of hiring staff and taking care of the personal chambers of the Lord. The joke here is that Horner is a gentleman, and he doesn't want to be treated like a squire/coachman to run errands for the ladies of the town.