I have read romances set in both periods. I prefer the Regency as a period to study and discuss. I like the men's clothes and sword play but think the clothes of the Regency period are more rational.While I like Jo Beverley's and some of Heyer's Georgian set stories, I don't much care for all the other so called classics. If we are going to talk about hygiene and sanitation we have to give the nod to the Regency again. I do think that ladies were freer in the Georgian era-- despite the clothes, than later. As the 18th century progressed and on into the 19th, it seems as though society put more restrictions on women. There was a great change from the time of George I and 1800. One of the big changes for society was the marriage act of 1754 and the other was the American Revolution. BTW, I disagree that Darcy would have been prissier if he had been born 40 years earlier. He would have been freer in all ways, I think.