Jane Austen and Libraries

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

My fellow Austen Author, Rebecca Jamison shared this post in March of 2016. I thought it worthy to resurrect here. 

Last week, I came across a rather confusing line in Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon. In this part of the book, Charlotte has been invited to accompany her new friends to a seaside resort called Sanditon. Austen writes:

“Charlotte was to go, with excellent health, to bathe and be better if she could; to receive every possible pleasure which Sanditon could be made to supply by the gratitude of those she went with; and to buy new parasols, new gloves and new brooches for her sisters and herself at the library, which Mr. Parker was anxiously wishing to support.”

I found myself wondering why anyone would go to the library to buy a brooch . . . or gloves or parasols. What kind of libraries did they have in Regency times? (I had no idea this was all supposed to be funny.) Thus, my study of Regency libraries began.

circlibr

Jane Austen mentions two types of libraries in her books—the family library and the circulating library. Circulating libraries were like the public libraries of our day with a few important distinctions. First, patrons paid a subscription to belong to the library and also paid a small fee for each book they borrowed. Second, libraries were a for-profit business, often run by publishers or printers.

Books were expensive in Jane’s day, costing about five to ten times what a paperback would cost today. Circulating libraries allowed common people to have access to books and provided a new source of income for publishers, who could then afford to print more books. Jane Austen’s works would have likely never gone to press had it not been for circulating libraries.

Unlike the quiet, subdued libraries of today, circulating libraries of Austen’s time seemed to be a great place to meet people. For example, I found this line in Pride and Prejudice:

“When Lydia went away she promised to write very often and very minutely to her mother and Kitty; but her letters were always long expected, and always very short. Those to her mother contained little else than that they were just returned from the library, where such and such officers had attended them, and where she had seen such beautiful ornaments as made her quite wild.”

Note that Lydia makes no mention of the books she saw.

It was common to find small libraries located inside shops. Thus, one could conceivably buy a brooch at the same time one borrowed a book. However, when Charlotte from Sanditon and Lydia from Pride and Prejudice mention brooches and beautiful ornaments, I can’t help wondering if Austen is poking fun of silly girls, who have no interest in reading. If they really wished to support the library, they could buy themselves a subscription and borrow a few books.

It was also quite common at the time for moralists to frown upon the unsavory practice of reading novels from circulating libraries.

89af2926e4b57ef8196a870da0d90988.jpg

To quote Fordyce in his Sermons to Young Women:

“What shall we say of certain books, which we are assured (for we have not read them) are in their nature so shameful, in their tendency so pestiferous, and contain such rank treason against the royalty of Virtue, such horrible violation of all decoroum, that she who can bear to peruse them must in her soul be a prostitute, let her reputation in life be what it will be.”

So novel readers were prostitutes? Hmmm.

Austen pokes fun at this notion that libraries were wicked places when she has Mr. Collins turn up his nose at a book that has obviously come from a circulating library:

“By tea-time, however, the dose had been enough, and Mr. Bennet was glad to take his guest into the drawing-room again, and, when tea was over, glad to invite him to read aloud to the ladies. Mr. Collins readily assented, and a book was produced; but, on beholding it (for everything announced it to be from a circulating library), he started back, and begging pardon, protested that he never read novels. Kitty stared at him, and Lydia exclaimed. Other books were produced, and after some deliberation he chose Fordyce’s Sermons.”

Mr-Henry-Tilney-image-mr-henry-tilney-36670835-300-178

With this in mind, I laughed out loud when I found Henry Tilney’s sarcastic speech about the horrors of circulating libraries:

“You talked of expected horrors in London—and instead of instantly conceiving, as any rational creature would have done, that such words could relate only to a circulating library, she immediately pictured to herself a mob of three thousand men assembling in St. George’s Fields, the Bank attacked, the Tower threatened, the streets of London flowing with blood, a detachment of the Twelfth Light Dragoons (the hopes of the nation) called up from Northampton to quell the insurgents, and the gallant Captain Frederick Tilney, in the moment of charging at the head of his troop, knocked off his horse by a brickbat from an upper window.”

Austen obviously loved her libraries, and loved to make fun of those who didn’t share in her appreciation. As for me, I’m also a huge fan of my local library, and I count myself fortunate that I can check out books for free. I just wish I could also buy a brooch, and maybe a parasol while I’m there.

Posted in Guest Post, Jane Austen, literature, reading, reading habits, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Jane Austen’s “Invisible” Brother, a Guest Post from Elaine Owen

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Earlier, Elaine Owen shared a post with us on people with disabilities during Jane Austen’s lifetime. Today, she tells us something of George Austen, the brother of Jane Austen who did not live with the family because of his disabilities. Welcome, Elaine!

Today I’d like to tell you about George Austen, the brother you never knew Jane had.

George Austen, Jane Austen’s second oldest brother, was born in 1766, and from an early age he displayed some sort of disability that made him noticeably different from other children. We don’t know exactly what this disability was. We do know that he had “fits” (possibly seizures) at three and four years of age. We also know that when he was six years old his uncle and godfather, Tysoe Hancock, wrote that George, “must be provided for without the least hopes of his being able to assist himself.” George’s father famously said of him, “We have this comfort, he cannot be a bad or a wicked child,” indicating that there was some sort of mental impairment. Whatever his disability was, it was considered unlikely to improve and was the cause of some distress for his parents.

Jane & George

Philip Culhane as George and Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen from “Becoming Jane”

Sometime after the age of six, George was sent away to live with the Cullum family in the village of Monk Sherborne, some thirty miles away. He never lived with his own family again. The Austens paid for his support, but he spent the rest of his life on a farm with this other family, receiving few or no visits from his parents and siblings. His name gradually disappeared from the family correspondence, and Jane never mentioned him once in any of her surviving letters. It is as though he never existed. In fact when George’s mother died she did not even mention him in her will. And when George himself died of natural causes at the respectable age of seventy-one, no family members attended his funeral.

Those are the bare facts of George’s life, and at first reading they are heart breaking. To modern readers, two hundred years later and a culture away, it looks like the Austen family wrote off their disabled family member and completely forgot about him. Many scholars have written about the supposedly heartless treatment George received at his family’s hands.

I don’t pretend to know what the Austens were thinking, nor will I say that I can defend their decisions for him. But there are other factors to consider when judging how a family in a different time and place chose to care for their disabled child.

First, the Austens knew the Cullum family. They didn’t just send George off with complete strangers. The Cullums had already been caring for George’s uncle, Thomas Leigh, who likewise had some kind of mental disability. The Austens must have trusted the Cullum family to care for George just as they cared for Thomas Leigh. And with seven other children in the Austen home, perhaps they felt that George would be best off in an environment without so many demands on the caregiver’s time and attention.

Secondly, parents in that era and society routinely sent their children away for an education at an early age. Jane herself went to Oxford, some seventy miles away from her family, when she was just eight years old. So sending George away, even when he was quite young, would not have been remarkable. On the contrary, it may have been an attempt to give him as “normal” a life as possible compared to his fully-abled siblings. It’s even possible that they thought he would be able to return to them one day.

But what about the rest of his life? Why didn’t George ever come home? And why would the family not want to visit their son and brother? How could they cut him out of their lives without a second thought? I have a theory about this based on my own experiences with not just my daughter, but other children with disabilities. It’s just a theory but I think it’s plausible.

I suspect that once George had settled in with the Cullum family, after he got over the adjustment period and was in a routine, he was content and happy in his new environment. He may have been so content, so settled into his new life, that having visits from his family was upsetting to him. If George recognized his parents but was not able to go home with them for some reason, then a visit from his parents might have caused him tremendous stress. In that case the Austens may have decided that it was best for George if they kept their distance. If that is what happened, then it may have been a subject too painful for his parents to write about even to close family members.

But what about George and his mother’s will? Why wouldn’t she mention him there? I suspect Mrs. Austen left George out of her will for the simple reason that he was not competent to handle money. She may have instructed her other children to be sure to care for their brother George  after her death—and that is exactly what Edward, the closest sibling to George in age, did.

Of course, my theory might be wrong. It’s possible that the Austens decided George was too much for them to handle and just wrote him off, feeling that they had fulfilled their obligation by providing for his care and owed him nothing more. But it does seem odd that the Austen family, whose correspondence shows such strong bonds of affection and concern amongst themselves, would behave so heartlessly to one of their own. We’ll never know for sure, but I hope people will at least consider other explanations for how the Austen family treated their son and brother, George Austen.

For further reading: George Austen: Jane Austen’s almost forgotten, invisible brother

A Closer Look at Jane Austen’s Brother, George Austen

Meet Elaine Owen: Elaine Owen was born in Seattle, Washington and was a precocious reader from a young age. She read Pride and Prejudice for the first time in ninth grade, causing speechless delight for her English teacher when she used it for an oral book report. She practiced writing in various forms throughout her teen years, writing stories with her friends and being chief editor of the high school yearbook. She moved to Delaware when she married.

In 1996 she won a one year contract to write guest editorials in the Sunday edition of The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, and she continued her writing habit in political discussion groups and occasional forays into fiction.

In 2014 she began to write Pride and Prejudice fan fiction and decided to publish her works herself to see if she might possibly sell a few copies. Thousands of books later, the results have been beyond her wildest hopes, and she plans to continue writing fiction for the foreseeable future.

When she’s not writing her next great novel, Elaine relaxes by working full time, raising two children, volunteering in her church, and practicing martial arts. She can be contacted at elaineowen@writeme.com. Look for her on Facebook!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Austen actors, Austen Authors, Guest Post, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Princess Louise’s Charitable Work

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Louise_1865.jpg Although Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and her husband, John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll were often short of funds, the Princess managed to live a life her siblings could not imagine. Campbell, who was still the Marquess of Lorne at the time of their marriage, would eventually inherit a noble patrimony deeply in debt. With that in mind, the couple originally leased a five-storey townhouse in Belgravia’s Grosvenor Crescent, but they soon discovered, despite Louise’s attempts at economy, that the house was beyond their means. Constantly aware of her children’s doings, Queen Victoria made an attempt to ease some of her daughter’s situation by offering the couple an apartment in Kensington Palace. On the surface this would seem very generous of the Queen, but Victoria was always aware that her daughter’s circumstances were a reflection upon her. Kensington was a state residence, and Queen Victoria had the say as to who could and could not reside in the palace’s many apartments. Victoria had been born at Kensington Palace, and so she held the place in great fondness.

Louise_Marquis_Lorne_001.jpg Victoria chose the apartments that had once been the Duchess of Inverness’s [the widow of Queen Victoria’s uncle, the Duke of Sussex], who had recently passed, home and requested public money to remodel the suite of rooms to make them suitable for the daughter of a queen. For a country estate, at the expense of £30,000, Lorne chose Dornden, near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It was smaller than Victoria thought appropriate for one of her daughters, but the Lornes took well to the area. Now that they were settled, the couple turned to more pleasurable pursuits. 

Louise was a ‘different’ princess, not overly fond of royal ritual or the rather stuffy royal social rounds, and was clearly made for life beyond the limitations which her birth had imposed on her. Though a formal career was not possible for a princess in Louise’s time, her abilities in painting and sculpture were not allowed to go to waste. She was permitted to attend art school and in 1863, when she was fifteen, the famous sculptress, Mrs. Mary Thorneycroft, became her tutor. After her marriage in 1871, Louise embarked on an unusual life for a princess, as the wife of a Member of Parliament, and one who was able, as most other royals were not, to surround herself with artists and philanthropists, the people whose company both she and her husband preferred. [Britannica]

Living up to her reputation as “different,” Louise, for example, enjoyed fly fishing, an activity highly discouraged by society for women, but an activity upon which she would really find disfavor of the Queen was Louise’s association with the Ladies’ Work Society, a charity, which she founded and one she underwrote with her financial support. The Ladies’ Work Society aided women of middle and upper middle class who through circumstances beyond their control had fallen into poverty. At the Ladies’ Work Society they were taught crafts such as embroidery, repairing fine art items, needlework, etc., to aid them in earning a living. The organization displayed and sold the work/items of those they helped at a shop in Sloane Square.

Louise also sponsored an “Educational Parliament,” specifically the Girls’ Public School Day Company, an organization that provided middle-class parents extra money to send their daughters to the Girls’ Public School in Chelsea. Thirty-three schools for girls were eventually established through this initiative. This was not a popular “charity” at the time because men thought an educated woman was a threat to their power. 

John_Campbell,_9th_Duke_of_Argyll.jpgLorne, on the other hand, was not so much into charity work, but rather an exploration of his interest in literature, specifically poetry. In 1875, Lorne published his first book of poems, Guido and Lita—A Tale of the Riviera, a narrative poem, published by Macmillan. The poem dealt with a medieval struggle between Christians and Muslims. The hero and heroine of the poem was Guido and Lita. Lorne sold 3000+ copies of the book in Britain alone, with more sales in the United States and Canada. 

Lorne followed that effort with a rewriting of the Psalms. He published The Book of Psalms, Literally Rendered into Verse in 1877. He was criticized for his attempt to make the Psalms better, as the Biblical passages did not require alteration.

 Louise_1868.jpg Louise, meanwhile upped her involvement in arts and literary circles. From her teen years, Louise had immersed herself in art and sculpture. The members of these arts-based groups were often ostracized by the conventional arts community. Louise’s royal respectability rubbed off on some of London’s most controversial artists. lending them a “name” in the artistic community. 

 

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, family, history, kings and queens, Living in the UK, marriage, religion, royalty, Scotland, titles of aristocracy, Victorian era | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Princess Louise’s Charitable Work

Frugality and the Cost of Being “Cheap”

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

This is a lovely guest post from my friend Jennifer Petkus about Jane Austen, frugality, and being a bit eccentric. Enjoy!

I am frugal (cheap), but like many frugal (cheap) people I’m not always aware of the high cost of being frugal (cheap). For instance, it didn’t occur to me until too late that cobbling together a dust extraction system for my workshop using bathroom exhaust fans and dryer hose is ultimately a lot more expensive than just buying one a proper system off the shelf at my local home improvement store. Of course, I had a lot of fun designing my ultimately useless dust extraction system, but I sometimes wish I had those fruitless hours back and could apply them actually to building furniture.

Jane Austen, however, was probably actually frugal and was not just cheap. We know she essentially had no income of her own until she published her first novel in her mid thirties. So I’m sure she would have practiced economy in everything, from those little bits of ivory on which she wrote to the recipe she used to make her own ink for her pen. In fact, she probably had to make many things by herself for her use or the use of her family. I know she recopied musical scores and re-purposed her clothing, modifying old dresses to make them seem new with ribbons. In fact her novels mention quite a few practical considerations that make her and her characters seem quite industrious.

tiny-desk-cover
I’m still building my tiny desk (you can see a hole punch in the background for scale). The book will have text and an illustration of a cinchona plant. There will also be an admiralty chart with the island of Samokar unrolled on the desk, a pamphlet on electricity by Benjamin Franklin, a painting of Lord Byron in his Turkish get up, a color plate of Carleton House and a tiny miniature of Charlotte House’s brother. Oh, the little scissors open and close. My husband thinks I’m insane.

Frank Churchill lends a hand in Emma in repairing the rivet in Mrs. Bates’ spectacles and Lydia Bennet shows a practical side in Pride and Prejudice when she buys an ugly bonnet with the idea of taking it home and improving it with satin. I know many of us read that line with an idea of Lydia’s spendthrift ways, but I view her purchase as a frugal (cheap) person. The ugly bonnet was probably cheap because it was ugly and Lydia thought she could make it tolerable with the purchase of some pretty trim. And even the vain Sir Walter Elliot is persuaded to practice vulgar economy when he lets out Kellynch Hall to Admiral Croft, the baronet mistakenly thinking he could save money by staying in Bath, as if that arithmetic makes any sense at all.

I think these examples are indicative of the little economies Austen must have practiced or observed, and I like to think she would have understood my motivations to self publish. After all, she basically self published her first book and was involved in the design and typography of it. What she didn’t get to do, of course, was to design a book cover. I like to wonder what sort of book covers she might have designed had she the opportunity.

(A little aside here: In Austen’s day books were usually printed unbound and often with the folded pages (or signatures) still uncut. Upon purchase of a book, you’d have it bound in leather, replacing the paper boards that acted as a temporary cover. Then you’d slice open the pages with a knife, often resulting in a ragged edge. In Austen’s time, there were no dust jackets and no opportunity for a fancy book cover. Thus in the miniature book I’ve made you can see the ragged or deckled paper edges.)

Today her books are mostly printed by publishers who either want to take advantage of her public domain status (thrift editions), or as scholarly works with forewords by illustrious Janeites and copious footnotes. The dust jackets or book covers are usually pretty elegant, featuring Regency paintings or photographs of stately homes. Frankly, these covers are a little stuffy and highbrow.

If Austen were designing (or at least art directing) her own covers now, would she follow (perhaps on the advice of others) to follow some of the conventions of romantic fiction covers? Would she go the bared bosom route, the clasped hands or the running up the stairs clichés of modern romance fiction, or would she prefer the picturesque aspect of a stately home, the crash of waves against a breakwater or the rocks and mountains of Derbyshire? Would she just search Google thusly: “English seaside site: wikimedia.org” and then use the search tools to specify usage rights as “labeled for reuse.” Or would she just ask Cassandra for another drawing and have done with it, keeping it in the family and keeping down costs. (I also imagine a modern-day Henry Austen being an amateur photographer with some pretensions of talent.)

Whatever direction Austen might take, I like to think she would approve of my decision to design the cover for my latest book without paying for images (like stock photos of clasped hands and bared bosoms). My plan, you see, is to create a still life of the items on the desk of one of my characters. The items will be taken from the story, but being of a somewhat esoteric nature, I couldn’t collect them all without considerable expense—at least not at 1:1 scale. (I think of the items on the desk being like the cabinet of curiosities Mr. Knightley collects to entertain Mr. Woodhouse while the others are collecting strawberries at Donwell Abbey.)

So instead I’m making models of all the items at dollhouse scale—about 1/12th scale. Of course I could have bought some of the items I needed, but dollhouse furniture is expensive and usually doesn’t quite have the level of detail I want for my book cover, and so I’m building everything using my modeling skills.

I’ve been a scale modeler for years, but I usually work at much smaller scales, from 1/48th (World War II airplanes), 1/72nd (modern jet fighters) to 1/350th scale (aircraft carriers and starships) to 1/1400th scale (really big starships). So working at 1/12th scale is huge to me and consequently a lot of fun. I’ve made a plain, deal desk using basswood and even a quill pen from paper-thin sheet styrene. Scissors are made from the metal handle that comes on Chinese takeout boxes. The blade of the knife handle is from a aluminum Chipotle takeout lid. My only expense in this is about $5 for the basswood I bought at my local hobby shop. (Yes, I also spent an additional $30 buying other modeling supplies, but that’s neither here nor there.)

400px_Why-Are-We-Still-Reading-Jane-Austen062716.jpg This might seem mind-boggling tedious to many, but I think Austen would have appreciated the exercise. I understand her stitching and embroidery were quite good and I think she must have had some experience with the very tedious rolled paper craft or quilling for she mentions it in Sense and Sensibility.

Of course a present-day Austen might roll her eyes and wonder why I don’t pay for some stock photography and I might have to confess that ultimately, I’m going through this process because it’s so much darn fun. You might have to be a scale modeler to understand and appreciate my motivation and before you roll your eyes, I’ll bet many of you have spent hours at some hobby that most of the rest of the world considers quite mad. Whatever my excuse, this little exercise illustrates how much joy Jane Austen and writing Jane Austen-related fiction has brought into my life. Because I find the Georgian period so fascinating, I now read a lot of histories of the period and it’s even spread to reading American history. Thanks to Jane Austen, I even understand some of the jokes and references from Hamilton, the Musical, or Sleepy Hollow or even Pirates of the Caribbean. I am just so grateful for the experience of reading and writing about Jane Austen and her times and the opportunity to write these posts for Austen Authors.

And now you’ll excuse me because I just thought of another use for those all bathroom exhaust fans I’ve bought over the years.

Posted in Austen Authors, British currency, Guest Post, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, reading habits, Regency era, Regency romance | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Introducing Deanna Browne and “Demon Rising,” Arriving This Month from Black Opal Books

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Today we welcome another of my fellow Black Opal Books authors. Deanna Browne is a debut author, whose love for magic is mixed with a strong creative streak. Check out a bit about her and her first book, Demon Rising. 

Magic Isn’t Dead by DeAnna Browne

I love magic, and it started way before Harry Potter. I love reading about it, dreaming about it, watching movies with magic as the major part of the plot, etc. You name it. Hence, such is the reason why my novel, Demon Rising, centers around magic and demons.

While my novel is pure fiction, I love to find connections to magic in the real world. For example, I researched Solomon and his role in ancient magic for my novel. I also recently found in Chicago that the Newberry Library is calling for the public to help translate 17th Century books on witchcraft and magic. One in particular is called “The Book of Magical Charms.” This book is thought to be written by two witches in the 1600s in England. It contains spells on how to cheat at dice and talk to the spirits.

Whether you’re a believer or not, the history is fascinating, and it sparks my imagination. With so much in this scientific world not yet known, it’s fun to think about what may be.

If you want to journey with me to the “what if” and the unknown, check out my debut novel, Demon Rising, published by Black Opal Books.

DGAgisnUwAAyZlX.jpg DEMON RISING

Thirty years ago, dark magicians unleashed new power on the earth fueled by demons. Governments toppled, millions died and magicians ended up on top of the food chain.

Twenty-four-year-old Becca survives these dangerous times by relying on her wits, her fists, and the limited goodwill of her boss, a local crime lord. When news comes of a fire back home and the family she left behind dead, she realizes her dark past has finally caught up to her.

On the hunt for her missing sister, she must rely on Darion, a treacherous ex-boyfriend with ties to the local coven for back-up. Problem is he’s a pyromancer that can’t be trusted, especially with her heart. Becca’s forced to navigate a dangerous web of deceit and must decide what’s she’s willing to sacrifice to save her sister.

10918990_1010647088951452_4149776297749903545_n.jpg About the Author

DeAnna Browne graduated from Arizona State University with her BS in Psychology. She finds it helps to corral those voices in her mind and put them to paper. Her debut novel, A DEMON RISING, will be out in August 2017 with Black Opal Books. An avid reader and writer, she has a soft spot for fantasy with a touch of romance. Despite her love for food and traveling, she always finds her way back to Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, children, and pet dog.

To contact her and for free extras check out:

www.deannabrowne.com

www.facebook.com/deannabrownebooks/

https://twitter.com/BrowneBooks

deannabrownebooks@gmail.com

Posted in Black Opal Books, book release, publishing, writing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Introducing Deanna Browne and “Demon Rising,” Arriving This Month from Black Opal Books

The Wilderness Road, Setting for “The Road to Understanding”

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Kentucky_Road_MapAccording to Ancestry.com, the Wilderness Road “was only a crude trail; only pack teams could cross the mountains. Pioneers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas before 1796 found it necessary to unload their Conestoga Wagons at Sapling Grove [Bristol, Virginia] and pack their belongings on horses in order to cross the mountains. The early pioneers lashed huge baskets and bundles of clothing, bed furnishings and household articles upon packhorses. Children perched on top, or rode in front and behind their mothers and relatives. The older boys and men who did not have mounts had to trudge along on foot. A caravan of pack horses and people on foot sometimes stretched out as far as three miles along the trail. Indian raids were common at various points on the Wilderness Road.

“Professional packhorse men made it a business to hire out to settlers or merchants for transporting supplies through the wilderness. They objected to road improvements, saying it would drive them out of business. After 1796 when the trail was widened, Conestoga Wagons could cross over the mountains. A Scots-Irish family could travel from the end of their sea voyage at Alexandria, Virginia, all the way to the middle of Kentucky in the same wagon.

When Kentucky and Tennessee became occupied, the Wilderness Road provided the means to send surplus produce back to the eastern seaboard. Droves of cattle, horses, mules, and hogs went by this route to the cotton plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. Conestoga wagons were constructed of oak, with eight-inch wide hickory-spoked wheels, five feet high. They were pulled by six draft horses. The high-riding canvas top was supported by eight hoops, rising six feet above the wagon panels. The body was sixteen feet long–large enough to accommodate most of the personal belongings pioneer families wanted to take with them.”

Part of the road through the Cumberland Gap was known first as Boone’s Trace. Daniel Boone was hired by the Transylvania Company  to clear a trail into the valleys “over mountain.” Boone, with 30 men, managed to cut a trail of 208 miles in less than three weeks from Long Island on the Holston River (near what is now Kingsport, Tennessee) through the Cumberland Gap and on into Fincastle County, which is now Kentucky. Constant travel through the Cumberland Gap widened after the first settlements of Boonesborough and Harrodsburg were established. Once Kentucky claimed statehood the stream of settlers increased dramatically. 

“Early roads were made by chopping out underbrush and small trees in a swath only ten to thirty feet wide and cutting off the larger timber eighteen inches from the ground. The axemen had to leave the largest trees standing, even in the middle of the road. They bridged small streams with logs, and crossed rivers by fords or ferries. Even under the best of conditions such roads were unsatisfactory, and during wet weather they were impassible. Nevertheless, they connected the East to the West, and that was enough! Of Kentucky’s 75,000 population in 1790, about 90% had arrived by way of the Wilderness Road.

“Some suggest that the origin of the Wilderness Road was at Fort Chiswell (Ft. Chissel) on the Great Valley Road where roads converged from Philadelphia and Richmond. Others claim the Wilderness Road actually began at Sapling Grove (now Bristol, VA) which lay at the extreme southern end of the Great Valley Road because it was at that point that the road narrowed, forcing travelers to abandon their wagons. It moved through the Allegheny Mountains at Cumberland Gap, at what is now the junction of the State boundaries of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Heading northwest, it splits at Hazel Patch–with one route creating Boonesborough, the other Frankfort. Today one can follow the main route from Bristol, VA to Middlesboro, KY, then to Pineville, Mt. Vernon, and on towards Lexington on Interstate 75.” (Ancestry)

___________________________________

ATOV CoverThe Road to Understanding: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary [Pride and Prejudice; Inspirational Romance; vagary]

DARIUS FITZWILLIAM’s life is planned down to who he will marry and where he will live, but life has a way of saying, “You don’t get to choose.” When his marriage to his long-time betrothed Caroline Bradford falls through, Darius is forced to take a step back and to look upon a woman who enflames his blood with desire, but also engenders disbelief. Eliza Harris is everything that Darius never realized he wanted.

ELIZA HARRIS is accustomed to doing as she pleases. Yet, despite being infuriated by his authoritative manner, when she meets the staunchly disciplined Captain Fitzwilliam, she wishes for more. She instinctively knows he is “home,” but Eliza possesses no skills in achieving her aspirations.

Plagued with misunderstandings, manipulations, and peril upon the Great Valley Road between eastern Virginia and western Tennessee in the years following the Revolutionary War, Darius and Eliza claim a strong allegiance before love finds its way into their hearts.

This is a faith-based tale based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Purchase Links: 

Kindle     Kobo     Nook     Amazon     CreateSpace   Barnes & Noble 

Posted in America, American History, Appalachia, book release, historical fiction, history, real life tales, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Wilderness Road, Setting for “The Road to Understanding”

The Mappa Mundi, the World’s Largest Medieval Map

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

mappamundi.jpgHoused in the Hereford Cathedreal, the Mappa Mundi is believed to the be the world’s largest medieval map. England specialized in world maps of the Middle Ages. They were drawn upon cloth or walls or animal skins. 

Only those who spoke Norman French, the language of the literate secular elite, could read the maps. According to Historic UK, “The mappae mundi interpreted the world in spiritual, as well as geographical terms, and included Biblical illustrations, as well as portrayals of Classical learning and legend. As pictorial descriptions of the outside world, these impressive maps were also educational; they were used for teaching natural history and classical legends, and reinforcing religious beliefs.

Mappa Mundi in details HUIK

“There is little doubt that the map was created in Lincoln as the depiction of Lincoln Cathedral on the map is so true to life. Lincoln was already a renowned centre of learning in the 13th century: its library had contained a world map and the chronicler and map-maker Gerald of Wales had lived there prior to his death in 1223.

“The map is drawn on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin) and measures 64 inches by 52 inches, tapering towards the top. It is generally believed that the map was created in the late 1290s and written in English Gothic script by one person alone.”

The Hereford Cathedral website tells us, “Scholars believe it was made around the year 1300 and shows the history, geography and destiny of humanity as it was understood in Christian Europe in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The inhabited part of the world as it was known then, roughly equivalent to Europe, Asia and North Africa, is mapped within a Christian framework. Jerusalem is in the centre, and East is at the top. East, where the sun rises, was where medieval Christians looked for the second coming of Christ. The British Isles is at the bottom on the left.”

Mappa Mundi Exploration provides an interactive map with explanations. 

The map is attributed to Richard of Haldringham. He was also known as Richard de Bello. The map was likely copied from another older map. “The Roman Emperor Augustus appears on the Mappa Mundi and it is known that he charged his son-in-law Agrippa with the creation of a world map that emphasized the extent of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.  Agrippa’s lost map, along with later ones of the Roman Empire, are likely to form the basis of the Hereford map, along with medieval additions, illustrations and Christian symbolism.

Mappa Mundi angels HUK

“East is at the top of the map, South is on the right, West is at the bottom with North on the left. At the centre of the Mappa Mundi is Jerusalem, the centre of the Christian world. The continents are illustrated with drawings of cities and towns, classical mythology (the Minotaur is depicted on the map), Biblical events, plants, animals (including camels, elephants and lions), birds (including parrots and a phoenix) and people. The top of the map shows Christ sitting at the Day of Judgement, flanked by angels.”  

Hereford Cathedral HUK

The Mappa Mundi can be seen at Hereford Cathedral. The cathedral dates from Saxon times and is dedicated to the martyred King Ethelbert, killed on the orders of King Offa – his magnificent gilded and painted shrine is situated in the retro-choir, near to the Lady Chapel. It tells the story of the Saxon saint in 12 episodes.

Shrine of St Ethelred in Hereford Cathedral HUK

Hereford Cathedral is also home to another great medieval treasure, the Chained Library which holds 229 medieval manuscripts. The cathedral’s earliest and most important book is the eighth-century Hereford Gospels.

Resources: 

The History of the World in Twelve Maps, Time.

ICA Commission on Map Design

Posted in Africa, Age of Chaucer, British history, buildings and structures, Church of England, medieval, real life tales | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Did Anne Elliot Perform Admirably or Was She Too Easily Persuaded?

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

This is a guest post from my fellow Austen Author, Anna Elliott, regarding her love of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. 

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Although I (of course) love all Jane Austen’s novels, I must say that Persuasion is my favorite.  Much as I appreciate Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth is my favorite of the Austen heroes, too.  Every time I read the novel, I’m frustrated with Anne for having allowed herself to be persuaded not to marry him eight years before the novel opens.

Persuasion-jane-austen-12301145-360-348.jpg Austen tries to make us understand how Anne would have allowed herself to be persuaded: she was young– only nineteen– she honestly thought that it was better for Captain Wentworth not to be burdened with a wife when he was still poor and only beginning his career, and she trusted Lady Russell’s judgement. Anne doesn’t even feel bitterness towards Lady Russell for Lady Russell’s role in breaking off her romance. But she has also clearly spent the past eight years replaying everything that happened over and over again in her head and wishing that she had made a different choice.

Anne, at seven and twenty, thought very differently from what she had been made to think at nineteen.—She did not blame Lady Russell, she did not blame herself for having been guided by her; but she felt that were any young person, in similar circumstances, to apply to her for counsel, they would never receive any of such certain immediate wretchedness, such uncertain future good. . . . She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older—the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.

Persuasion-poster.jpgWhen he returns, Captain Wentworth is still angry with Anne for listening to Lady Russel– and I’ve never blamed him.

Captain Wentworth had not forgiven Anne Elliot. She had used him ill; deserted and disappointed him; and worse, she had shewn a feebleness of character in doing so, which his own decided, confident temper could not endure. She had given him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over-persuasion. It had been weakness and timidity.

Wentworth admires Louisa Musgrove’s strength of character.  But then– in one of the most dramatic scenes in any Austen novel– he cannot persuade Lousia out of her disastrous jump in Lyme that results in a serious head injury– and he comes to have a different view of strength of character vs. stubbornness.

There, [Captain Wentworth] had learnt to distinguish between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind. There, he had seen everything to exalt in his estimation the woman he had lost, and there begun to deplore the pride, the folly, the madness of resentment, which had kept him from trying to regain her when thrown in his way.

So what do you think?  Should Anne Elliott have simply married Captain Wentworth when she was young, against the advice of Lady Russel?  Would they have been as happy together if they had married when young as they are when they overcome their past heartache and reunite as older, wiser versions of themselves?

Posted in Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, marriage, Persuasion | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

Shetland Sword Dance

Posted on August 7, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

papa-stour.jpg Sir Walter Scott wrote in his diary of the Shetland Sword Dance on 7 August 1814. “At Scalloway my curiosity was gratified by an account of the sword-dance, now almost lost, but still practiced in the Island of Papa…. There were eight performers, seven of whom represent the Seven Champions of Christendom, who enter one by one with their swords drawn, and are presented to the eighth personage, who is not named. Some rude couplets are spoken (in English, not Norse), containing a sort of panegyric upon each champion as he is presented. They then dance a sort of cotillion going through a number of evolutions with their swords.” 

In a note to The Pirate (1821) Scott adds: “I am able to add the words sung or chanted, on the occasion of this dance, as it still performed in Papa Stour, a remote island of Zetland …. [The play is inserted here.] The manuscript from which the above was copied was transcribed from a very old one…. Mr. Henderson’s copy is not dated, but bears his own signature, and from various circumstances, it is known to have been written about the year 1788.”

The Shetland Sword Dance finds its roots as far back as does Beowulf. It is likely from the late 16th Century. Some versions have a leader who has ‘a fox’s skin, generally serving him for a covering and ornament to his head, the tailing hanging down his back” (J. Wallis, Hist. of Northumberland, II, 28). This “fool” or “tommy” was accompanied by a “bessy,” a man in woman’s clothes. In this debased version the comedy became grotesque. 

61Glo6OeBsL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg Originally, the sword dance was a mimetic representation of war, but in The Medieval Stage (I, 203), E. K. Chambers tells us, “It belongs to the cult of Mars, not as war-god, but in his more primitive quality of a fertilization spirit.”  Using swords suggest a symbolical sacrifice, as a prayer in agricultural worship for fertility. Therefore, some believe the play was a symbolized the death of winter. The play is most assuredly meant as a form of worship. In its later form it became a real, but questionable, influence on drama. 

The Shetland Folk Festival (see video at this link) says, “The Papa Stour Sword Dance is a masque which represents the age-old theme of the struggle between good and evil. The forces of good are the Seven Champions of Christendom, St James of Spain, St Dennis of France, St David of Wales, St Patrick of Ireland, St Anthony of Italy, St Andrew of Scotland and they are led by St George of England who introduces them in a long speech in verse. Music is supplied by the Minstrel. They then link up in a circle and the dance contains seven figures. The movement of the swords represents the battle, and evil is finally vanquished by the spectacular climax. St George then bids farewell to the onlookers and heads the Seven Champions off stage.”

“The dance, although originating in Papa Stour, is now performed by a group of men from the Shetland Mainland. It is an incredible 49 years since the Sword Dance was last performed by a Papa Stour based team. The Papa Stour Sword, one of only 6 traditional Sword Dances left in the British Isles, currently boasts both a junior and senior team, with around 25 active performers scattered throughout Shetland!”

(Enter the Master in the character of Saint George)

Brave gentiles all within this boor

If ye delight in any sport, 

Come see me dance upon this floor,, 

Which to you all shall yield comfort. 

Then shall I dance in such a sort

As possible I may or can. 

You minstrel man, play me a Porte, 

That I on this floor may prove a man.

You Tube “Papa Stour Sword Dance”

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Posted in Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Saxons, British history, drama, literature, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gentlemen’s Clubs, a Guest Post from Brenda J. Webb

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

This post appeared on Austen Authors in October 2015. However, I thought it worthy of a second look, especially for those of you who devour everything to do with the Regency Era. 

Mention White’s, Boodle’s or Brooks’s in a story and my ears perk up. At once I picture staid facades hiding smoke-filled rooms and intrigue amid expensive carpets, wallpapers, and leather and mahogany furniture. When I read of Mr. Darcy being offered a cigar or glass of brandy, or having supper whilst talking business with his contemporaries, it is equivalent to reading about 007 holding forth in a casino. Yes, my Mr. Darcy is right up there with Ian Fleming’s hero, and it is no great leap to imagine Darcy dressed to the nines and turning heads—men’s as well as women’s. After all, Beau Brummel’s fashionable clothes influenced his contemporaries, so they must have been paying attention.

Boodles club interior

How did men about town spend their time before these three became the clubs of choice in London? I suppose we shall never know the answer to that question, but I would like to share some of what I learned about the haunts of the elite (at least the men) in the Regency era.

Brooks-Club

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Gentlemen’s clubs were for amusement, politics, and play, and not the matter-of-fact meeting places of general society. These interior pictures are of Brooks. I have included them because this is how I imagine a proper gentlemen’s club should look. Keep in mind that there were many other less notable clubs during the Regency and much more information available than I could share here.

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boodles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boodle’s is a London gentlemen’s club, founded in 1762, at 49–51 Pall Mall, by Lord Shelburne, Boodles' todaythe future Marquess of Lansdowne and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The club came to be known after the head waiter, Edward Boodle. (One has to wonder how that came about.) I have never written Mr. Darcy as a member of this club, for I could not picture him telling his staff that he was “off to Boodles.”

During the Regency era, it was known as the club of the English gentry, while White’s became the club of the more senior members of the nobility. It has never been identified with politics and it was reputed that Beau Brummell’s last bet took place at the club before he fled the country to France.

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Brooks old. jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooks’s pre-eminently the clubhouse of the Whig aristocracy, occupies 60 St. James Street. 400 X 355William Brooks, a wine merchant and money lender who acted as manager for Almack’s, had the clubhouse constructed. Paid for at Brooks’s own expense, the building was completed in October 1778, and all members of Almack’s were invited to join (well, all the men). Brooks’s gamble paid off, as the existing members swiftly moved into the new building and the club then took Brooks’s name.

Brooks’s main attraction was its gaming rooms and gambling all day and all night was not unheard of. I have always been intrigued by the betting books which are often mentioned in Regency stories and one extraordinary entry from 1785 is as follows:

“Ld. Cholmondeley has given two guineas to Ld. Derby, to receive 500 Gs whenever his lordship (Use your imagination here. I had no idea they used that word back then!) a woman in a balloon one thousand yards from the Earth.” There is no indication that the bet was ever paid and I have to wonder how they would have checked the validity of the bet had it been claimed!

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White's Club. Illustration from Old and New London by Edward Walford (Cassell, c 1880).

White’s, the great Tory club, located at 37 St James’s Street, London, is the oldest and most exclusive gentleman’s club in the city. It began in 1693 as a chocolate shop established in Mayfair, by an Italian immigrant named Francesco Bianco.

whites_club_today2The hot chocolate emporium went under the name Mrs. White’s Chocolate House and from it tickets were sold to the productions at King’s Theatre and Royal Drury Lane Theatre as a side-business. By the early 18th century, however, it had transitioned from chocolate shop to an exclusive gambling house where fortunes were won and lost.

Those frequenting it were known as “the gamesters of White’s” and Jonathan Swift once referred to the club as the “bane of half the English nobility.” Moreover, White’s is famous for having a bow window on the ground floor where Beau Brummell ruled until he left for the Continent in 1816.

About 1870 the club was offered for auction and changed hands. Afterward, it is stated, “there was a great falling off in the number of members proposed for election; and after being so many years the great resort of the dandies, it is rapidly becoming the stronghold of what may be called fogeydom.”

Fogeydom? What a sad picture of the White’s I love to write about in my tales.

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In conclusion, I leave you with this picture of St. James’s Street showing Brooks’s on the right and Boodle’s on the left, and a quote from that era: “From the beginning there were too many aristocratic clubs and private mansions in St. James’s Street to leave much room for plebeian inns and hostelries on either side of so highly respectable a thoroughfare.”

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I hope you enjoyed seeing actual pictures of the three most popular gentlemen’s clubs in the Regency era (then and now) and learning a bit about them. Do you have a favorite?

Information for this post came from the following sites:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol4/pp140-164, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boodle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Posted in architecture, British history, buildings and structures, Georgian England, Guest Post, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments