Leap Day Poll

We're going to have some fun on this extra day. Vote day and I'll share the results tomorrow.

Fun Friday: February Poll Results

If you could pair up any two Austen characters and send them on a Valentine's Day date who would you pair up and where would you send them?

Lady Susan and Captain Frederick Tilney are forced to spend the weekend at Bible camp. There is no electricity, but there is Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine to keep things in order.

Col. Brandon and Eleanor would spend a quiet weekend at a bed and breakfast.

Wordless Wednesday #106

Source: By Photochrom Print Collection [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
via CNJ JASNA on Pinterest

Pride and Prejudice Discussion

Yesterday we had our February meeting and we had a wonderful discussion about Pride and Prejudice.

I put together a list of 15 questions that I pulled from various sources (list at the bottom of this post).

Here are some of the ones we discussed:

• How are Elizabeth’s wit and intelligence and independence first made clear in the novel? In what ways, during the course of the novel, is she the victim of her own intellect and independence? Are these features eventually responsible for her happy ending?
• In 1814 Mary Russell Mitford wrote: "It is impossible not to feel in every line of Pride and Prejudice. . . the entire want of taste which could produce so pert, so worldly a heroine as the beloved of such a man as Darcy. . . Darcy should have married Jane." Would you have liked the book as well if Jane were its heroine?
• Austen suggests that in order to marry well a woman must be pretty, respectable, and have money. In the world of Pride and Prejudice, which of these is most important? Spare a thought for some of the unmarried women in the book-Mary and Kitty Bennet, Miss de Bourgh, Miss Georgiana Darcy, poor, disappointed Caroline Bingley. Which of them do you picture marrying some day? Which of them do you picture marrying well?
• In what ways is Elizabeth out of place in her own family? How do they limit what she can do with her “lively mind”? What do Darcy and Pemberly represent to Elizabeth? To what extent do you think family makes a person who he or she is? How does family influence the way others think of that person?
• Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are famously comic characters. What makes them so funny? How does Elizabeth’s perception of them affect your trust in Elizabeth’s views of other people in the book, particularly of Wickham and Darcy?

Discussion Question Sources:

• Pride and Prejudice Discussion Questions - Chicago Public Library
• Pride and Prejudice Questions - Shmoop.com
• Pride and Prejudice: Questions and Topics for Discussion - Penguin Books
• The Jane Austen Book and Film Club - PBS
• Pride and Prejudice Discussion Questions - Reading Group Guides

Wordless Wednesday #105

Source: The MET Collection Online via CNJ JASNA on Pinterest

It's Monday! What are you reading? - Pride and Prejudice

I'm gearing up for our discussion of Pride and Prejudice next weekend by rereading the novel.  I'm not just rereading it, I'm reading it as an English Major.  I picked up a low-cost copy, a pencil and set to reading and underlining passages and making notes in the margins. I haven't read any of Jane's work this way (kind of surprising) and I'm finding things that I've missed on previous reads of the novel.

I'm finding a kind of like Mr. Bennett a bit more, yes he's harsh and uncaring, but he's so witty. I've known this, but taking the time to mark some of his lines as made him seem new to my eyes.  

One thing I enjoy about rereading is knowing how the story is going to play out and finding tidbits that the author has left for you. Sort of a breadcrumb path through the story. These get an underline and a note about foreshadowing or "that comments going to come back to bite you". 

What are you reading?

Podcasting with Jane - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

While doing some searching for this month's podcast I came across a wonderful list put together by Jane Austen's World.  You can find it here - Podcasts on Jane Austen's World.

One of the podcasts is about Pride and Prejucie and Zombies. You can find it here - Rambler’s Cafe: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies


We are also going to try to put together a group of Janeites to go see the movie, if you are interested send us an email to cnjjasna{at}gmail{dot}com.

Happy Listening!

Wordless Wednesday #104

Source: Cinnamon-Orange Molasses Cookies - MarthaStewart.com via CNJ JASNA on Pinterest

Regency Man Monday - Pierce Egan

Pierce Egan (1772–1849)

Pierce Egan was a British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture.

Egan's parents were Irish migrants, but he may have been born in the London area. He went into the printing trade, and was a compositor for George Smeeton in 1812. He established himself as the country's leading reporter of sporting events, which at the time meant mainly prize-fights and horse-races.

It was Egan who first defined boxing as "the sweet science". Four volumes of Boxiana; or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism appeared, lavishly illustrated, between 1813 and 1824. In 1821 Egan announced the publication of a regular journal: Life in London, appearing monthly at a shilling a time. It was to be illustrated by George Cruikshank (1792–1878), and was dedicated to the King, George IV, who at one time had received Egan at court. The first edition of Life in London or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, esq., and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their rambles and sprees through the Metropolis appeared on 15 July 1821.

It is believed that Live in London help inspire Charles Dickens in writing about the everyday people of London. While Dickens may have never read this work, it created a demand for works that were written in street talk.

Further Reading

Pierce Egan - Wikipedia
Pierce Egan's Life in London - British Library
Pierce Egan - Spartacus Educational
Real Life in London - Project Gutenberg

Fun Friday: February Poll

Regency Woman Wednesday - Emma, Lady Hamilton

Emma, Lady Hamilton is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of George Romney. She was born Amy Lyon in Ness near Neston, Cheshire, England, the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith who died when she was two months old. She was raised by her mother, the former Mary Kidd, at Hawarden, and received no formal education.

Still only fifteen years old, Emma met Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, who hired her for several months as hostess and entertainer at a lengthy stag party at Fetherstonhaugh's Uppark country estate in the South Downs.Emma soon formed a friendship with one of the guests, the dull but sincere Honourable Charles Francis Greville, second son of the first Earl of Warwick and a member of Parliament for Warwick. It was about this time (late June-early July 1781) that she conceived a child by Fetherstonhaugh.

Soon thereafter, Emma gave up on Fetherstonhaugh, instead forming a romantic attachment to Greville. When the child (Emma Carew) was born, she was removed to be raised by a Mr. and Mrs Blackburn. As a young woman, Emma's daughter saw her mother reasonably frequently, but later when Emma fell into debt, her daughter, Emma Carew, worked abroad as a companion or governess.

Emma was at Greville's mercy and acceded to his request to change her name to "Emma Hart". Greville kept Emma in a house at Edgeware Row, but he was in love with her and, wanting a painting of her, sent her to sit for his friend, the painter George Romney. It was then that Emma became the subject of many of Romney's most famous portraits. George Romney was fascinated by her looks and ability to adapt to the ideals of the age. Romney and other artists painted her in many guises.

In 1783, Greville needed to find a rich wife to replenish his finances. Emma would be a problem his prospective wife would not accept him as a suitor if he lived openly with Emma Hart. To be rid of Emma, Greville persuaded his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples, to take her off his hands. To promote his plan, Greville suggested to Sir William that Emma would make a very pleasing mistress, assuring him that, once married to Henrietta Middleton, he would come and fetch Emma back. Greville did not inform Emma of his plan, however, but instead suggested the trip as a prolonged holiday in Naples while he (Greville) was away in Scotland on business. Emma was thus sent to Naples, supposedly for six to eight months, little realising that she was going as the mistress of her host. She became furious when she realised what Greville had planned for her.

After several months of waiting, Emma came to understand that Greville would not be joining her and, eventually, began an affair with Sir William, then in his fifties and more than twice her age. They were married on 6 September 1791; she was twenty-six and he was sixty. The wedding gave her the title Lady Hamilton which she would use for the rest of her life.

As wife of the British Envoy, Emma welcomed Nelson in 1793, when he came to gather reinforcements against the French.Nelson returned to Naples five years later, on 22 September 1798. Nelson's adventures had prematurely aged him: he had lost an arm and most of his teeth, and was afflicted by coughing spells. Emma reportedly flung herself upon him in admiration, calling out, "Oh God, is it possible?", as she fainted against him. Nelson wrote effusively of Emma to his increasingly estranged wife, Fanny, Lady Nelson.Emma nursed Nelson under her husband's roof, and arranged a party with 1,800 guests to celebrate his 40th birthday. They soon fell in love and their affair seems to have been tolerated, and perhaps even encouraged, by the elderly Sir William, whose own health was now failing and who longed for retirement. Hamilton showed nothing but admiration and respect for Nelson, and vice versa. Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson were by now the two most famous Britons in the world. They were not only in love with each other, but admired each other to the point of adulation.

Emma gave birth to Nelson's daughter Horatia, on 29 January 1801[7] at Sir William's rented home in Clarges Street, 23 Piccadilly, London. By the autumn of the same year, Nelson bought Merton Place, a small ramshackle house on the outskirts of modern-day Wimbledon. There he lived openly with Emma, Sir William, and Emma's mother, in a ménage à trois that fascinated the public.[8] The newspapers reported on their every move, looking to Emma to set fashions in dress, home decoration and even dinner party menus but Emma's great days were over. She had become fat, and Nelson did not like the social life she craved. She had turned down the offer from the Royal Opera in Madrid to sing for money. Now she and Nelson tried to create a new, quieter life.

Sir William died in 1803, and Nelson returned to sea soon after to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, leaving Emma pregnant with their second child. She was desperately lonely, preoccupied with attempting to turn Merton Place into the grand home Nelson desired, and frantic for his return. The child, a girl, died a few weeks after her birth in early 1804. Emma reportedly distracted herself by gambling, and spending lavishly. Now she was free to marry Nelson, if he could only obtain a divorce.

On 21 October 1805, Nelson's fleet defeated a joint Franco-Spanish naval force at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson was seriously wounded during the battle and died three hours later. When the news of his death arrived in London, a messenger was sent to Merton Place to bring the news to Lady Hamilton. After Nelson's death, Emma quickly exhausted the small pension Sir William had left her and fell deeply into debt. Nelson had willed his estate to his brother; he gave Merton Place to Emma, but she depleted her finances by trying to keep it up as a monument to him. In spite of Nelson's status as a national hero, the instructions he left to the government to provide for Emma and Horatia were ignored. They showered honours on Nelson's brother instead.

Emma spent a year in a virtual debtors' prison, in the company of Horatia, before moving to France to try to escape her creditors. Turning to drinking, living in poverty in Calais, she died in January 1815, aged 49, of amoebic dysentery – an illness she probably contracted during her years in Naples. Sir William Hamilton had also suffered from amoebic dysentery.

Horatia subsequently married the Rev. Philip Ward and lived until 1881. She had ten children: Horatio Nelson (born 8 December 1822); Eleanor Phillipa (born April 1824); Marmaduke Philip Smyth (born 27 May 1825); John James Stephen (13 February 1827 – 1829); Nelson (born 8 May 1828); William George (born 8 April 1830); Edmund Nelson (1831); Horatia Nelson (born 24 November 1833), Philip (born May 1834) and Caroline (born January 1836).

Horatia never publicly acknowledged that she was the daughter of Emma Hamilton. 

(This is an abridged version of her Wikipedia entry).


Further Reading:

Emma Hamilton - National Portrait Gallery

Nelson and Lady Hamilton: A Very Public Affair - BBC

Emma Lady Hamilton - Historic UK

The mistress of Lord Nelson died on January 15th, 1815. - History Today

Lady Hamilton - The Nelson Society

Lord Nelson: Hero and...Cad! - Smithsonian

Letter from Lord Nelson to his mistress Emma Hamilton - DailyMail

GoodReads Monday - Jane Austen's England

I went looking for some new memes to keep the blog fresh and new ideas coming. I found one called GoodReads Monday. You look back through your GoodReads To Be Read list and share the oldest book on there. I tend to mark nearly any Jane Austen related book as To Be Read so I'll be sharing some of them in hopes, I'll get myself to read it or interest you into reading a book you may have missed.




Title: Jane Austen's England
Author:  Roy and Leslie Adkins
Publication Date: August 15, 2013
Date Added to List: July 15, 2013

Synopsis: Billed as a cultural snapshot of everyday life in the world of Jane Austen. The book discusses topics such as  birth, marriage, religion, sexual practices, hygiene, highwaymen, and superstitions. It also includes the topics of chores like fetching water to healing with medicinal leeches, from selling wives in the marketplace to buying smuggled gin, from the hardships faced by young boys and girls in the mines to the familiar sight of corpses swinging on gibbets, Jane Austen’s England offers an authoritative and gripping account that is sometimes humorous, often shocking, but always entertaining. 

Why I Wanted to Read It: It just sounded like a really interesting read and a more solid way in learning about the time period.