I am writing a story and I need to find a perfect time period for it to take place in. I want it to be kind of an old period. I want it to be 19th century or earlier. I want the societies to be advanced enough so that they have social gatherings and events and balls and dances and things like that, but be old enough so that the villages are still relatively small and people are still very religious and are prone to believe in and be scared of monsters and the supernatural. I also want the medicines to be fairly advanced, like better than just herbal remedies, but it doesn't have to be much better than that. I like the renaissance, but I don't really know much about it. Please give me a time period and explain why it is good and why it would work. I don't want electricity or much indoor plumbing or luxuries that they have today. I also am not a big fan of monarchies. They are not out of the picture though, I guess. I don't really want like dirt roads and stuff like that, I am really into cobblestones. I don't know why, but I am. If you could tell me when Sherlock Holmes takes place, that would be pretty good, but explain the period to me and maybe post a few helpful links. I do like England, even though that is a monarchy. I don't know, I'm open to suggestions. I know that I will know its the right time when I hear about it. I also kind of want a god-fearing society, though I don't care much about which religion. Plz help me. Any suggestions work!
Thx!
Thx!