I bought 'Belinda' by Maria Edgeworth (1801). Having just read 'Helen' by the same writer, I look forward to reading it.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Bookshop Heaven
Isn't it a delight to discover a new bookshop? On a recent trip home to Ireland my sister Caitríona, who lives in Galway, led me down to the city's heart where throbs Charlie Byrne's Bookshop. What a delight! Old books, new books, rare books, previously loved books, gems!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
'Longbourn' going to be a Movie!
I just read 'Longbourn' by Jo Baker. This is Pride and Prejudice from the Servants pov, particularly that of Sarah, the housemaid.
I think that many of us who read Austen think that if we were living back then, that we'd be the Gentry for sure - but they were a very privileged minority, just like the rich folks today! So we wouldn't be off to the Ball and catching Misters Darcy and Bingley, but rather trying to catch the eye of a footman in livery while dreading washday on the morrow.
If you were to cast P&P in an airline, they'd be in First Class while we'd be back in the Cabin, wedged into our proper place. (As I flew 6,000 miles Economy Class only yesterday, the word 'wedge' is lodged in my mind, rather painfully and with some resentment).
Jo Baker makes Downstairs so real, that in the end I didn't care much what happened the Bennet girls, (no, really!) as long as Hill, Sarah and little Polly were ok. Fascinating detail and it is going to be a movie, by Focus Features.
I think that many of us who read Austen think that if we were living back then, that we'd be the Gentry for sure - but they were a very privileged minority, just like the rich folks today! So we wouldn't be off to the Ball and catching Misters Darcy and Bingley, but rather trying to catch the eye of a footman in livery while dreading washday on the morrow.
If you were to cast P&P in an airline, they'd be in First Class while we'd be back in the Cabin, wedged into our proper place. (As I flew 6,000 miles Economy Class only yesterday, the word 'wedge' is lodged in my mind, rather painfully and with some resentment).
Jo Baker makes Downstairs so real, that in the end I didn't care much what happened the Bennet girls, (no, really!) as long as Hill, Sarah and little Polly were ok. Fascinating detail and it is going to be a movie, by Focus Features.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
'I am not romantic, you know'
Dublin 1913. A man who has come into money
has marriage on his mind…and ends up in court when he changes his mind. Great
listening! Hang on for the song at the end.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Colonel Brandon - stay home tonight!
I need this like I need a hole in my head.
I have sent Brandon on a walk down to the area of Fleet
Prison, which is where he might have found Eliza…I do not know why I did this. He
is in a great agitation today; a lot has happened in his life; and none of it is good. This is where his feet take him…where are you
going, Brandon? You belong in the drawing room! The Club! Your lodgings in St.
James Street! It is a cold night, I beg you – stay in – but no, you would be gone,
and now I have to research this very different part of Town…
Underworld, street lighting, watchemen, constables? Pickpockets…housing
– did this part of London survive the Great Fire of 1666? Dogs, pigs, Babies crying; the sound of Bow Bells...
The Fleet River – now a sewer, was flowing then. And by the
sounds of it, a lot of it was on the streets -
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Wake Chawton with a Sweet Tune, Jane!
Again, browsing Strasbaugh’s ‘The List Lover’s Guide to Jane Austen’ I came by a song Arne’s 'Overture to Artaxerxes'.
Jane practiced piano in the mornings - I can’t but wonder if she woke Chawton Cottage with this music which sounds eclectic for it’s time: Sorry, Jane, I would’ve shouted down the stairs for you to play something sweeter! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Chg_nMkjiU
Jane practiced piano in the mornings - I can’t but wonder if she woke Chawton Cottage with this music which sounds eclectic for it’s time: Sorry, Jane, I would’ve shouted down the stairs for you to play something sweeter! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Chg_nMkjiU
Handel's ‘Ask if yon Damask Rose be Sweet’, might be just my morning cup of tea.
Here’s my preferred Alarm Song, with Lyrics and Orchestra, on a channel named Austen Music.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXxoP7bgIrA&list=PLTbMXzrF3-J5lroJKA8LcRv3pIKNy5WoC
Here’s my preferred Alarm Song, with Lyrics and Orchestra, on a channel named Austen Music.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXxoP7bgIrA&list=PLTbMXzrF3-J5lroJKA8LcRv3pIKNy5WoC
Jane Austen's Music Collection
In browsing Joan Strasbaugh’s ‘The List Lover’s Guide to Jane Austen’ I came by a song in JA’s music book, Mrs. Hamilton of Pencaitland’s Strathspey.
(CelticJaneite has never heard the word Strathspey. She doesn’t know where Pencaitland is. But she once had a boyfriend named Hamilton, so she is not completely ignorant, in fact, for a time, she wondered if she would like to be Mrs. Hamilton, if she had, she might have heard of a Strathspey sooner).
WIKIPEDIA: A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps.
WIKIPEDIA: A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps.
Off to YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNJ35z0iTJA (the music starts at 1:40)
Oh so they are Strathspeys! I am familiar with the tunes. The 2nd tune is one which I learned as a child, with the profound lyrics ‘oh the cat has a gumboil, a toothache, a bellyache, a pain in his left leg, a pimple on his toe!’ Sorry all Cat Lovers, I don’t like it either…but I think the ''cat'' was a human, maybe the crotchety Laird or the King - I was reminded recently of ‘Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie…kissed the girls and made them cry…the Prince Regent?
Back to Mrs. Hamilton’s Strathspey”: here is one version:
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