BJ Calendar for May from Maria!

Thanks ever so for Maria who is always excited to send us darling monthly Becoming Jane calendars! The May edition is this one, and can be downloaded from the links below.

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Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 150

In chapter 21 of Emma the marriage of Mr Elton to Miss Hawkins has just been announced by Miss Bates. She says:



"It is such a happiness when good people get together—and they always do."





As I am sure all of you know today has been a very special day here in England (and all around the world) as Prince William married Catherine Middleton. The ceremony was wonderful and from the interviews I have heard and what I watched today, they really do appear to be "good" people. I wanted to use this quote to commemorate such a momentous occasion.




Pic 1: Mr and Mrs Elton
Pic 2: Prince William and Kate Middleton

Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 149

Of special interest this week (with a surprise at the end) in Pride &Prejudice is Miss Mary King. We find her mentioned in the following chapters.

In Chapter 27 Elizabeth and her Aunt Gardiner are discussing Wickham's attachment to Miss King:

Mrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham's desertion, and complimented her on bearing it so well.
"But, my dear Elizabeth," she added, "what sort of girl is Miss King? I should be sorry to think our friend mercenary."
"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, and avarice begin? Last Christmas you were afraid of his marrying me, because it would be imprudent; and now, because he is trying to get a girl with only ten thousand pounds, you want to find out that he is mercenary." "If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I shall know what to think."
"She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no harm of her."
"But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather's death made her mistress of this fortune."
"No -- why should he? If it were not allowable for him to gain my affections because I had no money, what occasion could there be for making love to a girl whom he did not care about, and who was equally poor?"
"But there seems indelicacy in directing his attentions towards her so soon after this event."


In Chapter 36 Elizabeth is re-evaluating the character (or lack thereof) of Wickham and she thinks:

How differently did everything now appear in which he was concerned! His attentions to Miss King were now the consequence of views solely and hatefully mercenary; and the mediocrity of her fortune proved no longer the moderation of his wishes, but his eagerness to grasp at anything.

In Chapter 39 we find that Miss King is saved from Wickham:

There is no danger of Wickham's marrying Mary King. There's for you! She is gone down to her uncle at Liverpool: gone to stay. Wickham is safe."
"And Mary King is safe!" added Elizabeth; "safe from a connexion imprudent as to fortune."
"She is a great fool for going away, if she liked him."
"But I hope there is no strong attachment on either side," said Jane.

Briefly, this covers Miss King's story. Now here is the surprise. Sophie St. Clair sent me an email at my web site "The Loiterer" to say that she had written a graphic novel about our "Miss King" in Pride and Prejudice. Sophie has a beautiful web site here: Sophie's Mary King and her book "Mary King- Volume 1" is available at Amazon here: Mary King. Both are definitely interesting. Enjoy.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: Sophie St. Clair

The Jane Austen Centre Features.....

I wanted to acknowledge some of the great features in this months The Jane Austen Centre Monthly Newsletter.


Firstly an article entitled Art competition set to revive interest in Stoneleigh Abbey written in the The Courier, based in Warwick, UK.

Excerpts from the article:
"In 1806, the house passed to the Rev Thomas Leigh, a relative of Jane Austen, who is believed to have based descriptions in Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park on the house and its grounds."

"Four Leaf Clover, which runs events at the historic house, is launching a competition to draw or paint either the west wing or its 14th century gatehouse."

"Pictures can be any size up to A1, in charcoal, pencil, watercolour, acrylic, oil or pastel. Entry is free. The closing date will be September 29 and winners will be announced on October 10."

I appreciate that the majority of our readers are not local to Warwick in the UK but I wanted to make you all aware of this excellent attempt to awaken interest in people about something so wonderful.

____________________________________________________________________

The Jane Austen Centre also points us to an article written by an English Literature teacher in the USA. It can be read here. The title of this article is "Why We Need Jane Austen or How to be a Gentleman with Examples Good and Bad."
He explains his experience of reading Pride and Prejudice with a group of young students and the joy it has brought him. Excerpts taken from the article:

"In short, Austen reminds us of the largely forgotten categories of the lady and the gentlemen. It is her genius to make us aspire to these roles even in a world where such notions are strange and often ridiculed."

"Austen’s gentlemen (I’m thinking especially of Darcy here) understand the call of duty; they are committed to family, reputation, propriety, and self-control. To be sure, Darcy takes himself quite seriously, but aren’t these pursuits serious by nature? To neglect one’s duty, to be careless of one’s family and reputation, to ignore the bounds of propriety and to indulge the appetites without restraint are not the actions of a gentleman. They represent, conversely, the behavior of a boor. Or, perhaps equally fitting, they are the actions of a male who has no sense of what it means to be a man."

Thanks to The Jane Austen Centre for making us aware. I would be really interested to here your comments ...

Pic 1: Article in The Courier
Pic 2: Period drama website

Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 148

This week I have chosen a quote from Sanditon. Jane Austen died in 1817 leaving Sanditon unfinished. The novel is about the generation of a new town, named "Sanditon" and my chosen quote is taken from a letter (featured in chapter 5) in which one of its inhabitants, Diana Parker, wrote to her brother criticising the medical profession.

“We have consulted physician after physician in vain, till we are quite convinced that they can do nothing for us and that we must trust to our own knowledge of our own wretched constitutions for any relief.”

I have a personal interest in alternative therapies. I do not see them as a conventional medicine replacement but instead a means of complementing the conventional approach with less intrusive, supportive methods. My interest has led to many conversations with people who have a less than fond opinion of the medical profession and that is why this quote stood out to me.

I think that Diana's words are very wise and so true- ultimately we have to trust our own knowledge of self before any relief from an ailment can be experienced. I truly believe that a deep understanding of ourselves (body, mind and soul) has the power to achieve anything, what some would call miracles.

I find it interesting that Jane Austen in these last months of her life felt the urge to embrace such a topic as the pros and cons of the medical profession- it makes me wonder about her own experiences and whether she decided that her only relief was to try to truly understand herself.

Pic: Jane Austen sequels

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 147

This week's quote was, once more, taken from Pride & Prejudice. Chapter 18 of Volume III (Chapter 60) in which Elizabeth and Darcy had confessed their love towards each other and Lizzy wrote a letter to Mrs Gardiner.

``I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have done, for your long, kind, satisfactory, detail of particulars; but to say the truth, I was too cross to write. You supposed more than really existed. But now suppose as much as you chuse; give a loose to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford, and unless you believe me actually married, you cannot greatly err.''

The context of this week's quote is the bolded phrase. Indulge your imagination in every possible flight. I feel it very relatable to me, for I had several problems last week (among others the final break down of my personal laptop) which made me cry big time today (well, not because of the laptop). But I felt better afterwards and started to look forward for better days. As my partner wisely put: when you have a bad day, just know that tomorrow will definitely be better.

Well, let's hope so. And that's what imagination is for.


Pic: found it over the internet last year, but I was careless not to note the source. Will search for it later... my apologies...

Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 146

Since we are on the subjects of cakes, I did a bit more research on ‘sponge cakes’. The word ‘cake’ is mentioned once in Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. Emma has 3 mentions and Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey does not have any. Here is the one from Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 45 where Elizabeth finds herself visiting at Pemberley:

The next variation which their visit afforded was produced by the entrance of servants with cold meat, cake, and a variety of all the finest fruits in season; but this did not take place till after many a significant look and smile from Mrs. Annesley to Miss Darcy had been given, to remind her of her post. There was now employment for the whole party -- for though they could not all talk, they could all eat; and the beautiful pyramids of grapes, nectarines, and peaches soon collected them round the table.

The fruit is interesting also, especially the nectarines. I would not have thought that they were around way back then.

Next I did find a recipe for “Aunt Norris’ Spunge Cake” in the on line magazine from the Jane Austen Centre seen here: Recipe. This recipe is said to be from Raffald’s book quoted below, but I could not find that recipe in the original edition.

The reference on that page led me to look it up and here is the complete title “The Experienced English House-keeper, For the Use and Ease of Ladies, House-keepers, Cooks, &c. Wrote purely from PRACTICE, And dedicated to the Hon. Lady Elizabeth Warburton” by Elizabeth Raffald, and published in 1769. It has a recipe for ‘Spunge Biscuits’ and just to give you some idea of what all is involved, I’ll copy the recipe here from the Google copy of 1769:

Beat the Yolks of twelve Eggs half an Hour, put in a Pound and a half of Sugar beat and sifted, Whisk it well up ‘till you see it rise in Bubbles, beat the Whites to a strong Froth, Whisk them well with your Sugar and Yolks, beat in fourteen Ounces of Flour, with the Rinds of two Lemons grated, bake them in Tin Moulds buttered, or Coffins; they require an hot Oven, the Mouth must not be stopped, when you put them into the Oven, dust them with Sugar; they will take half an Hour baking.

This is beginning to sound like what we call “sponge cake” today, but please don’t ask me to explain ‘Coffins’ or ‘the Mouth must not be stopped’ because I have no idea. Whew, what a journey, and they did all this without the benefit of our electric kitchen gadgets.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: Period Dramas website

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 145

This weekend’s quote was taken from Jane Austen’s letter in 1808 which was written for Cassandra Austen. It was a simple, no-brainer quote that I searched for because today I just tried a new green tea cake recipe. I am pleased to report that the cake did not disappoint me, although a slightly more moist texture would be preferable. The quote was directly taken from Pemberley.com.

Godmersham: Wednesday (June 15)

Your account of Anna gives me pleasure. Tell her, with my love, that I like her for liking the quay. Mrs. J. A. seems rather surprised at the Maitlands drinking tea with you, but that does not prevent my approving it. I hope you had not a disagreeable evening with Miss Austen and her niece. You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me.

So there you go. Miss Jane Austen loved sponge cake. I’m not certain that we can find a sponge cake recipe here in the Jane Austen Cookbook , but it’s always worth a try. Anyone has an award-winning sponge cake recipe they'd like to share?

Pic: Cover of the Jane Austen Cookbook (by Maggie Black & Deirdre le Faye)

Tom Lefroy Quote Week 7

Since it seems to be the season for birthdays, I thought a quote from our own Tom Lefroy in “The Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy” about his ninetieth birthday might be appropriate to celebrate Icha’s birthday today even though I am fairly certain that she is not 90.

Leeson Street, Jan. 9th, 1866

My Dearest Jeffry, - I have just received the congratulations of yourself, and your dear companions on God’s wonderful mercy in permitting me to see the ninetieth anniversary of my birth-day. It fills my heart with joy and thankfulness of no ordinary degree, when I find those I love ascribing praise for all our family mercies, to Him to whom all praise is due. I think I cannot do better in return than pray that the blessing which old Jacob gave to his loved son Joseph, may rest on my dear Jeffry, and his no less dear wife, who may well claim to be “a fruitful bough, and even a fruitful bough by a well.”

“May the God of thy fathers keep thee, may He bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and bless thy progeny to the utmost bounds of the Everlasting Hills.” With fondest love from all the dear ones around me to you and yours, T.L.

I have to say that I admire his Godly expressions. They remind me of what I want to believe he discovered from our dear Jane at their ‘encounters’ at the dances. My beliefs are based on his notes at the beginning of the Memoir which I have quoted before. I especially want to wish our Icha the same blessing: “May the God of thy fathers keep thee, may He bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and bless thy progeny to the utmost bounds of the Everlasting Hills.”

Happy Birthday, dear Icha from Team Jane. And I send Love from Linda the Librarian

Pic: Community live journal

Jane Austen Quote - Week 144

In light of Icha's quote last week and the fact that it was International Women's Day last tuesday (8th March 2011), I would like to use a related quote from Northanger Abbey. This quote has been mentioned before on the blog when we wrote a review of Anne Newgarden's book The wit and wisdom of Jane Austen but not in the context of quote of the week.


This is taken from a conversation between Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland:

Henry: “As far as I have had the opportunity of judging, it appears to me that the usual style of letter-writing among women is faultless, except in three particulars.”

Catherine: “And what are they?”

Henry: “A general deficiency of subject, a total inattention to stops, and a very frequent ignorance of grammar.”

I shudder at the thought of the gender discrimination Jane Austen must have faced when she revealed herself as a 'female' authoress.
Icha commented in last weeks quote about how the wonderful gift of education is now offered to many more women in the world with each passing year. Things have come so so far in the 200 years since Jane Austen's time but lets hope that they can go further, and a time will come when men and women are truly viewed equally by all.

Happy International Women's Day!

Pic: Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland from The Lit Connection

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 143

This week’s quote is taken from Persuasion, chapter 23 on the conversation between Capt Harville and Anne Elliot (Wentworth was writing THE love letter to Anne in the same room).

Capt Harville: “But let me observe that all histories are against you -- all stories, prose and verse. If I had such a memory as Benwick, I could bring you fifty quotations in a moment on my side the argument, and I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps, you will say, these were all written by men.”

Anne Elliot: “Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.”

Two centuries have passed by since Miss Austen’s era, and so many had changed in the way education is conducted in many countries. Many women now have the same chance of enjoying education like men, such that I have nothing but utter gratitude for my luxury. However, at the same time, in many places too remote culturally, emotionally or geographically from where I am now, so many women are still without proper access to education, and if they do, they might have to do that in fear that it will be cut short one way or another, usually from the lack of fund in the family (forcing the parents to choose only the boys in the family to go to school and leave the girls to help in the kitchen) or from the lack of security (Afghanistan is an example popping into my mind now, but not the only one for sure).

So here’s to the hope that one day, sooner than later, any girls and boys in every spot in this planet will have equal opportunities to enjoy education and hence better their lives.

Pic: Art by Hugh Thompson on the scene where Wentworth gave Anne his love declaration letter, from Heritage Image. The conversation between Anne and Harville took place before this scene.

March desktop calendar from Maria!

Sorry for the belated posting; I was a bit under the weather last week (and Maria sent it on 27 Feb!). But thanks a lot Maria!

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Jane Austen Quote - Week 142 - From Linda

In Chapter 14 of Emma we find Emma mentally berating Mr. Elton in a very long paragraph, but in the very next paragraph we find her thoughts turning to Mr. Frank Churchill and marriage in our quote for this week:


"Now, it so happened that in spite of Emma's resolution of never marrying, there was something in the name, in the idea of Mr. Frank Churchill, which always interested her. She had frequently thought - especially since his father's marriage with Miss Taylor - that if she were to marry, he was the very person to suit her in age, character and condition. He seemed by this connection between the families, quite to belong to her. She could not but suppose it to be a match that everybody who knew them must think of. That Mr. and Mrs. Weston did think of it, she was very strongly persuaded; and though not meaning to be induced by him, or by anybody else, to give up a situation which she believed more replete with good than any she could change it for, she had a great curiosity to see him, a decided intention of finding him pleasant, of being liked by him to a certain degree, and a sort of pleasure in the idea of their being coupled in their friends' imaginations."

Please pardon me for dwelling on the subject of ‘marriage’ and the ‘how to do it’ ideas, but when you have been around as long as I have, one does learn a little something. And just as Emma has a tendency to do, I find myself wishing to pass on the bits that I did learn.

The crux of the matter is in those underlined words in the quote. I have previously commented on that subject a year ago in my post HERE. You may wish to read that one again to get the context. There are some books now that cover this topic in detail, so I admonish you all to do your ‘homework’ so as to not make any great mistakes and save yourself a lot of heart aches.

Yrs aff’ly,

Linda the Librarian – who’s been there, done that

Pic: Frank Churchill in BBC TV series of Emma (2009)

Tom Lefroy Quote - Week 6

The quote I have chosen represents Tom's dedication to his religious faith and how it comforted him in times of need.

The following was written in 1852 (Tom was 76 years old) in a letter to his wife:


"Amidst all the gossiping rumours of the last few days these sweet words have kept my mind very quiet 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you - let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' I cannot delay but a moment longer, except to send my love to all the dear ones around you."

The quote within the quote is taken from the bible - John 14:27.


We all have methods which comfort us in situations of unease and in my opinion the words which keep Tom's 'mind quiet' are quite beautiful. The fact that he shares them with his wife is very charming.

Pic: JamesMcAvoy.com

Quiz from The Jane Austen Centre

There is an exciting new quiz on The Jane Austen Centre website for you to try.
There are 10 questions and the theme is Love. Your results are posted straight back to you.



The Jane Austen Centre Quiz

Give it a go and let us know how you do. Which questions did you find particularly hard?

The picture provides help with one of the answers ...

Happy quizzing



Pic: BBC website

And a new Valentine edition banner!

Thanks a lot Maria! You are so valuable here!

And some love for Jane's brother George...

I have been meaning to post this one, but I kept forgetting it. Last January, Jane Austen Centre of UK adopted one of our old articles about George Austen (Jane's brother, not her father), the deaf in the family. Laura of the JA Centre expanded it by adding a lovely letter from Jane that depicted her ability to use sign language. The letter is below, and the link to George in JA Centre is here.

"We spent Friday evening with our friends at the boarding-house, and our curiosity was gratified by the sight of their fellow-inmates, Mrs. Drew and Miss Hook, Mr. Wynne and Mr. Fitzhugh; the latter is brother to Mrs. Lance, and very much the gentleman. He has lived in that house more than twenty years, and, poor man! is so totally deaf that they say he could not hear a cannon, were it fired close to him; having no cannon at hand to make the experiment, I took it for granted, and talked to him a little with my fingers, which was funny enough. I recommended him to read Corinna." ~Jane Austen to Cassandra, December 27, 1808


Thanks so much Laura for thinking of George too. He is usually rather forgotten, and it's nice to give love to someone like that.

Pic: Jane (Anne Hathaway) and George (Philip Culhane) from Becoming Jane the movie

And a very lovely Valentine wallpaper from Maria!

Thanks so much dearest!

Download here:

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Wallpapers by Maria from Sweden

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 141

This week I ventured into Sense & Sensibility again to find anything for tomorrow's Valentine's Day. I found this passage and I hope it serves us all. Volume III Chapter 12, last paragraph. It was when the Dashwoods finally found out that Edward Ferrars was not married to Lucy Steele.

Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. Edward, who had till then looked anywhere rather than at her, saw her hurry away, and perhaps saw - or even heard, her emotion; for immediately afterwards he fell into a reverie, which no remarks, no enquiries, o affectionate address of Mrs. Dashwood could penetrate, and at last without saying a word, quitted the room, and walked out towards the village; - leaving the others in the greatest astonishment and perplexity on achange in his situation, so wonderful and so sudden;- a perplexity which they had no means of lessening but by their own conjectures.

Most of us feel for Elinor. Yes, of course we feel for Marianne too (and I am very happy that she was eventually married to my fave hero Col Brandon). However, Elinor never uttered a word about her own suffering, thus her happiness to me was somewhat special.

A friend of mine told me recently of an unfortunate engagement that was broken a few months ago; leaving her wings clipped. She asked me how I got over my own broken heart more than a year ago before I met my current partner. I told her, "With many tears and catharsis. But also by trying to truly enjoy being me and just live for the moment."

I hope what I said helped her. I think Elinor and Marianne would agree. Marianne would cry herself to sleep and Elinor would busy herself with anything around the house. And somehow, as Elinor (in this case) was ready to let go of the past and walk her life alone... somehow things changed rapidly around her for her benefit. I bet she had not expected that Edward would walk in with such a confession when she woke up that morning.

And there's the line of the week: we never know what's around the corner, so just do our best and enjoy the ride. Afterall, before we love someone else, we have to be totally in love with ourselves first. And there maybe something sweet as we turn around the corner which we might fail to see if we are too busy looking at the past.

Happy Valentine, everyone. Love and Peace for us all.

Pic: Elinor (Emma Thompson) and Edward (Hugh Grant) from Sense & Sensibility 1995

February Calendar

To match the wonderful header, Maria has also produced a stunning calendar for this month. I can only apologise that we are already 7 days into the month.


Thanks Maria.

Update 8 Feb11:

Links to the high resolutions of the wallpaper:

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