Tom Lefroy Quote of the Week - Week 12

This quote jumped out at me this week. It is taken from page 243 of the memoir (part 6)- a letter written on 22nd February 1848.
The newspapers are full of stories of horrific crimes and it does make me feel very sick to think of the evil capabilities of some people.
I think Tom Lefroy was very accurate in this statement - "despair is no remedy", we should all be striving to do our duty to make this world a better place to live in and also for the sake of future generations. I fear that it is a sense of duty that has been lost.

"I confess I scarcely feel adequate to address you, for the heart sickens and the spirit flags at the contemplation of the apparently hopeless state of things which is presented to us by the amount of crime that it records, and the sadly demoralised state of your county which it exhibits.
But gentlemen, despair is no remedy for these evils; the only means by which they can be prevented is by every man in society doing his duty, and by a firm administration of justice. Emphatically, I say, gentlemen, that the state of your county demands that every man shall be found doing his duty, for that is the only way by which you can expect to remedy the evils which now press upon you."

I dont want this to appear as a negative quote, quite the opposite, I think it should be seen as some encouragement to work against some of the negative forces which exist.
I hope you all have a happy day.

Pic: Judges gavel

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 171 by Linda

I wish to bring your attention once again to James Austen's periodical "The Loiterer" where we find in No. 36 a letter from a Lady named Mary Simple. I will go out on a limb and fanaticize that there is a possibility that it was written by our own dear Jane. She begins her letter thusly:

Dear Sir,

I HAVE always considered a Periodical Work, as a very useful, and necessary publication. For to omit all the amusement it dispenses, and all the morality it contains, I look upon the Author of it as a confidential friend, to whom we Women in particular can entrust our trifling narratives, whose advise we can demand on any occasion, and to whom we may unburden all those little griefs and complaints, which though not sufficiently important to awaken the attention of the public, are yet of too much consequence to be entirely concealed. With this view, Mr. Loiterer, I write to You; and after the recital, though you may not call my situation unhappy, at least you will allow it to be distressing.

Mary goes on to "unburden" her "little grief and complaint" which is entertaining though not earth shattering. To me, the letter sounds so much like our Jane's writing. You may wish to take a moment to read the entire No. 36 of The Loiterer HERE:

Yrs aff'ly,
Linda the Librarian

Pic: The Loiterer, currently being sold in Amazon! Linda, do you want to buy this copy?

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 170

Australian and New Zealand readers, please forgive the rather late instalment for quote of the week. I have just returned from half a day tour de island where I live, and it would have been a quicker tour had we not experienced a mechanical trouble (flat, and I mean flat, battery!). Anyway, the tour was still pleasant, and my partner and I went out of the hustle and bustle of the southern part of the island, and clean and beautiful hills, mountains and beaches. Because I was still in travelling mode, this rather late quote is taken from Pride & Prejudice again (Chapter 42), when Elizabeth was about to go to Derbyshire.

The time fixed for the beginning of their Northern tour was now fast approaching; and a fortnight only was wanting of it, when a letter arrived from Mrs. Gardiner, which at once delayed its commencement and curtailed its extent. Mr. Gardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must be in London again within a month; and as that left too short a period for them to go so far, and see so much as they had proposed, or at least to see it with the leisure and comfort they had built on, they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour; and, according to the present plan, were to go no farther northward than Derbyshire. In that county, there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity, as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peak.

Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes; and still thought there might have been time enough. But it was her business to be satisfied—and certainly her temper to be happy; and all was soon right again.

I was a bit disappointed too today when the car broke down. The thing is, the car had already broken down yesterday, and we had fixed it. But apparently, the mechanic was not thorough enough and left the battery uncharged. Reminded me of the PP 2005 scene where Elizabeth and the Gardiners had to wait for the cart wheels to be repaired.

Still, it was a pleasant weekend after all. The time we took to repair the car had given us idea to go half-circling the island, hence we saw prettier sceneries than what we would have encountered in our original route.

What about you Ladies and Gents? Any recent trips that went a bit wrong, then it turned out to be another pleasant one in the end?

Pic: Keira Knightley as Lizzy Bennet viewing The Peak in PP 2005

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 169

I decided on a funny quote this week. One of the characters I always have held with high regard is Mr Bennet for his wit and gentile nature.

This quote is from chapter 3 of Pride and Prejudice when Mrs Bennet and the girls have returned from the ball where Mr Bingley danced with Jane, and Mr Darcy and Elizabeth first set sights on one another.

"Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet,'' as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Every body said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with her twice. Only think of that my dear; he actually danced with her twice; and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand up with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all: indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. So, he enquired who she was, and got introduced, and asked her for the two next. Then, the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger --''

"If he had had any compassion for me,'' cried her husband impatiently, "he would not have danced half so much! For God's sake, say no more of his partners. Oh! that he had sprained his ancle in the first dance!''

What a fantastic father he was!

Pic: Mr Bennet and family

Tom Lefroy Quote - Week 11

Our focus this week is on Tom Lefroy, so for a very interesting discussion of our Tom and Jane Austen, let me direct your attention to an essay written by my late friend Ashton Dennis which is posted on the "Male Voices in Praise of Jane Austen" web site that I maintain. He begins:

I wish to discuss a letter written by Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra on November 17 of 1798. This is the eleventh letter in the most recent edition of Jane Austen's letters published by Deirdre Le Faye (1997) and the tenth in the first collection of her letters published by her grand-nephew (Lord Brabourne, 1884). The latter reference is available on line at the Brabourne Collection . You won't need that link in this particular case, because I reproduce the entire letter for you at the end of this posting.

You are kindly invited to read the entire essay here: Jane Austen's Eleventh Letter

Ashton covers a lot of areas where Tom and Jane are concerned. I do hope you have a moment or two to read the entire page. It is in depth and will surely pull at your heart strings. Enjoy.

Yrs aff'ly,


Linda the Librarian

Pic: James McAvoy blog

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 168

This week’s quote is from Sense & Sensibility, Volume III Chapter X, Penguin Classics 2003 edition. Elinor and Marianne had returned back to the Barton Cottage after Marianne’s illness. The sisters were having a walk.

The sisters set out at a pace slow as the feebleness of Marianne in an exercise hitherto untried since her illness required; -- and they had advanced only so far beyond the house as to admit a full view of the hill, the important hill behind, when, pausing with her eyes turned towards it, Marianne calmly said,

"There, exactly there" -- pointing with one hand, "on that projecting mound, -- there I fell; and there I first saw Willoughby."

Her voice sunk with the word, but presently reviving she added --

"I am thankful to find that I can look with so little pain on the spot! -- shall we ever talk on that subject, Elinor?" -- hesitatingly it was said. -- "Or will it be wrong? -- I can talk of it now, I hope, as I ought to do."

I have been in many situations where the act of mere looking at the spot of event gave me pain. But healthy intentions to heal, coupled with sufficient time, doth the trick. As I return back to my home island, I often drove by places that were too painful for me to look at in the past. I’m very grateful that those places are now just places for me. Nothing more, nothing less. Healing takes time, but when we set our purpose and actions on that matter, healing does happen.

Picture: Willoughby carrying Marianne after the accident, by C.E. Brock (Austenprose.com)

Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 167

I have been away from the blog for a while and it is nice to be back.
Whilst I was away (in India) I did lots of self reflection as you can imagine and I realised just how busy my mind is and how I now endeavour to live my life with more calm. I am sure that will change swiftly with the return to the normal pace of life though.
These thoughts led me to my quote this week taken from Emma.
Emma is out shopping with Harriet and is led to the window as Harriet is "tempted by everything and swayed by half a word."

Emma is amused by what she sees and I like Jane Austen's observation of her mind:

"A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer."

I think that Emmas mind is always lively but less often at ease, but in standing watching the world she has found some calm and is content. However, sometimes it is just easier if we see nothing as this eliminates the pressure to process and contemplate what we see. I like the "can see nothing that does not answer" line as I think that this illustrates Emma's mental overactivity as she often has a habit of making something out of nothing - we see this throughout the whole novel.

It sure is tiring to have a lively mind. But also rather exciting.

Pic: Emma and Harriet

Tom Lefroy Quote – Week 10

We have left behind Tom Lefroy for a while, so it’s time to revisit some of Tom’s personal aspects: gardening. Taken from his son’s (i.e. Thomas Lefroy) note in the Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy page 51:

He had a great taste for gardening in early life, which induced him soon after his marriage to take a lot of ground in Leeson-street, (then on the outskirts of Dublin). On this lot he built the house which continued to be his town residence up to his death, enclosing a garden of about half an English acre; and here after he gave up going Circuit, he constantly spent a great part of his evenings during the spring and summer months in pruning his fruit trees and other garden work. I have still vividly before me our whole merry-hearted group – parents and children sallying forth into the garden after dinner, the youngest as well as the oldest taking share in the busy task of weeding borders, watering flowers, cutting shreds, or sitting at his side while he pruned the fruit-trees, and reading the pretty story book which he had bought on his way from Court in order that the evening might not pass without profit as well as pleasure.

Sigh…Beautiful… is it not? Reminding me that I must buy more flowers and shrubberies for my tiny weenie garden.

Pic: Camille Pissarro's The Gardener – Old Peasant with Cabbage

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 166

My apologies for the near-last-minute instalment of the quote this week. I’ve been inspired by Sense & Sensibility for a few days, hence the quote is from this dear book. The Dashwoods and Edward Ferrars were talking about what to do when they have more than enough money. Something that Mrs Dashwood and Elinor said rang true to me today. Page 91 (Chapter 17 Penguin 2003 edition):

“I should be puzzled to spend a large fortune myself,” said Mrs Dashwood, “if my children were all to be rich without my help.”

“You must begin your improvements on this house,” observed Elinor, “and your difficulties will soon vanish.”

I like Elinor’s tongue-in-cheek observation. However, was it possible to renovate a rented property back in those days? I would think so, no? I wonder whether the Dashwood eventually bought the Barton Cottage from Sir John Middleton. I don’t recall reading it, but I of course can be wrong. I did find that the last page of the book explained that Mrs Dashwood remained in Barton Cottage.

At any rate, methinks home improvement is a very exciting project. I haven’t got enough cash flow to buy some new furniture for my rented place, but I did some gardening today. Not a 'home improvement' in the sense of renovation, but certainly seeing those greeneries at my backyard improved my mood!

Pic: Janet McTeer as Mrs Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility 2008

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 165

This week's quote in honor of Jon Spence comes from "A Century of Wills from Jane Austen's Family 1705-1806" with introductions by Jon Spence.

From his introduction for Jane Leigh (born Walker) (1704-1768), Maternal grandmother of Jane Austen:

After Jane Walker's death [the maternal grandmother of our Jane Austen], her daughter Cassandra (by this time married to George Austen) [mother of our Jane Austen] purchased £3350 in South Sea Securities, which we may assume represents Cassandra's [our Jane Austen's mother] share of her mother's estate.

I have tried to simplify the complexity by adding information in brackets [] due to so many of the family having the same name.

What is interesting is to learn that Jane's mother did have some income/property. I am beginning to think that they were not all that desperately poor. Another interesting fact to discover is what exactly are "South Sea Securities". If anyone can shed more light on this subject, please do.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: Mrs Austen (Julie Walters) and Mr Austen (James Cromwell) in Becoming Jane (2007)

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 164

This week's quote is from "Jane Austen's Brother Abroad" edited by Jon Spence and in Jon's honor. It is from Jon's introduction where he says:

I have implied here that the Jane Austen Society of Australia has decided to publish Edward's journals because he was Jane Austen's brother and assumed that admirers of Jane Austen would be curious to know more about him. In annotating the journals this assumption has been my guide; Historians and social historians might find interest in who Edward met, what he ate, where he stayed, how he travelled; art historians in what works of art he saw (and liked) and where he saw them; scholars with a special interest in the Grand tour in all the details of his time abroad; economists in what he paid.

And Jon was quite correct. We are interested in all those things. That is a very good reason to be grateful for all his editing work to get the Grand Tour published. Thank you dear Jon.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: Edward Austen Knight, from Jane Austen's World