A review by sherwoodreads
Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer

This early novel is set in the Georgian period, as Heyer discovers wit and plays around with it. I strongly suspect that she had been reading Pelham as well as a great deal of eighteenth century novels, as she gives us a young country hero whose beloved rejects him because he has no polish. So he sets out to become the most polished of beaux . . . and teach her a lesson.