Jane Austen adored her beloved birthplace and the place where she lived for the majority of her life – Hampshire. She led a quiet life as a rector’s daughter in a small village and yet, drew her inspiration and influences from the limited social circle around her. No doubt, the beautiful, rolling countryside of Hampshire must have been a great source of inspiration for her novels, and while many of her heroines delighted in the amusements a larger town could offer, it was apparent from her letters that she would always remain partial to the Hampshire countryside.
I am so happy and overwhelmed to reveal to you, my dear readers, that I am now living in Hampshire, too! A happy coincidence, although I should admit that the exact location might have had something to do with my preferences! Or was it fate?
Persuasions or not, here I am, enjoying my life in a small country town in Hampshire, just a short bus drive away from Alton - and easily accessible to Chawton, which I plan to visit soon, perhaps on the occasion of Jane Austen’s birthday next week?
What have I been up to since I last wrote in my blog? Worried about the loss of electronic data, having lost a vast amount of my food blog that I had maintained online for years, I decided to print out my blog in the form of a picture book. Out came a collection of three picture books, including most of my posts from 2010 onwards – and all this for me to cherish my memories of my trips to Austen country and my other essays on Jane Austen’s life and literature.
In addition to that, several trips to the local library, picking up fun titles such as the ones below, to entertain me during the dark winter evenings.
Having said that, these days I am more likely to be reading one of these instead:
My daughter loves this P & P counting picture book, and I love introducing her to some of the concepts in my favourite book!
I hope to be able to gather some more material for my blog while I live here, children permitting of course…
Wow! It has been a long time since I last worked on this blog. I have been totally engaged by the life-changing event of the birth of my child and looking after my baby, with very little time to dedicate to my research on Jane Austen. In fact, I seem to have forgotten to post the Conclusion to my last series of articles, which I have only just posted! Apologies for disappearing from the blogosphere! I hope I will be able to post something every now and then, although my baby is still keeping me extremely busy.
This post will be a bit of a personal ramble, really. Last night, as I was lying awake in bed in between feedings, having been woken up about 10 times so far and unable to fall back asleep, something shocking occurred to me. As a person who adores the Regency era and would love to be taken back to those times, it disturbed me to realise that, had I given birth in those days, I would probably have died at childbirth together with my child!
I went through a long labour of 12 hours, only to find out at the end that the baby was unable to descend due to “something wrong in the bone structure”. Although I tried pushing the baby out, in the end the Dr sent me to the OT for an emergency Caesarean section – that was the only way to get the baby out on time. Thank goodness, we were both fine at the end of it and my baby is now thriving! But it scares me to think that, without the modern invention of a Caesarean section, I would not have been able to deliver my baby.
That reminded me of my last post, where I explored Jane Austen’s romantic connections and analysed why Jane Austen perhaps chose never to marry. She was aware that, (quoting myself) “after marriage, her life would be a stretch of continuous pregnancy and child-bearing, and having seen her sisters-in-law suffer from bad health and even die of childbirth, she was probably not attracted to the idea of motherhood. “
Now I wrote this before I myself went through a partly dramatic childbirth, the idea of which now seems distant. But is it by fate that I live in the modern era and have had the fortune to avail of modern medicine to help me survive? Would I actually have been so fortunate, had I lived at Regency times?
Perhaps Jane Austen did make a wise choice never to marry. Though - before you point out - she did of course die of other reasons in the end – but very few people survived to ripe old age in those days. Had I been informed, knowing the situation of my own health, I probably would have made the same choice as her. But here end my melancholy thoughts…
Aurora from The Secret Dreamworld of a Jane Austen Fan interviewed me for her lovely blog. You can access the interview through this link.
I was the lucky one to win this beautiful notebook from Raquel Sallaberry’s one-year anniversary Giveaway Contest on Jane Austen Today. The notebook has been handmade by Raquel Sallaberry to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility.
The cover beautifully captures the famous scene from Sense and Sensibility where Willoughby rescues Marianne after she falls in the rain and hurts her foot.
“A gentleman carrying a gun, with two pointers playing round him, was passing up the hill and within a few yards of Marianne, when her accident happened. He put down his gun and ran to her assistance. She had raised herself from the ground, but her foot had been twisted in the fall, and she was scarcely able to stand. The gentleman offered his services, and perceiving that her modesty declined what her situation rendered necessary, took her up in his arms without farther delay, and carried her down the hill.”
Sense and Sensibility p. 31
There was also a ribbon bookmark that came with the notebook.
Thank you, Raquel and Vic!
I have just received a wonderful link from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, for an extensive site for research on Jane Austen. Nancy Meyer has been collecting information on Jane Austen for years, and this information is free to access on her website:
Nancy Meyer – Regency Researcher
On her site, you can also ask her questions on a variety of topics that you would like to learn more about, such as:
Was it legal for an Earl to have a fox hunting party on his own estate in June?
How soon could a Regency widow remarry?
Did Mothers wear mourning clothes for stillborn infants?
Images from Wikipedia Commons.
I just came across this – the gift shop at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath have set up a draw in which you can win a made-to-measure Regency style gown. The draw closes on 20th November, so all those planning to participate in next year’s dress parade, don’t miss this exciting opportunity!
From: http://giftshop.janeausten.co.uk/acatalog/info_687.html
