In Breihan and Caplan’s excellent 1990 article Jane Austen and the Militia, which throws a considerable amount of light on the historical underpinnings of Pride and Prejudice, the authors argue persuasively that the book is set in the years 1794 and 1795, by picking up on the many small military-historical hints that Jane Austen dropped…
Category: Miscellaneous
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!
Birthday congratulations are in order to the creator of Sherlock Holmes, on his 157th birthday! In honour of the occasion, why not follow Watson’s example and while away some free time (while waiting to be called into action) with a good mystery? (Take your boots off before you sit on the couch, though…)
Image of the Week: Summer bathing and sea air
In Chapter 12 of Austen’s Emma, Mr. Woodhouse questions his daughter Isabella’s decision to spend the autumn with her children at South End and adds sea air and swimming to his list of dangerous activities. “It was an awkward business, my dear, your spending the autumn at South End instead of coming here. I never had…
The Six Most Impertinent Things Ever Said By Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth is one of the truly great heroines of English literature. She has fine eyes; she’ll walk three miles of muddy countryside without fear of censure or ruined hemlines; she has tremendous chemistry with Colin Firth, and these days she’ll even put down a zombie uprising for you. But there’s one thing that really keeps…
“A charming amusement for young people”
In Chapter 6 of Pride and Prejudice, Sir William Lucas and Mr Darcy exchange some thoughts on the merits of dancing… Sir Lucas proffers “What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society.” A less than impressed…
Image of the Week: “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two”
This week’s image is taken from Thomas Hood’s “Hood’s Own: or, Laughter from Year to Year” (1855) and aptly depicts the shenanigans of Fagin’s gang in Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1838). In a humorous vignette in Chapter 10, The Artful Dodger and Charley Bates show off their pickpocketing prowess to an amused but naive Oliver… “When the breakfast was…
Insult of the Week: “An extraordinary specimen of human fungus”
In chapter 26 of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1853), Mr. George Rouncewell and his assistant Phil Squod are busy preparing for a day of work in the shooting gallery when they are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Grandfather Smallweed and his granddaughter Judy. Mr. Smallweed describes their engagement of a hackney cab for the journey and…
Puzzling racial humour from the 1890s
The Irish Tourist Development guidebook Visit Ireland, compiled in 1892 by F. X. Crossley and available in scanned form from the British Library Labs, contains a variety of useful information for the traveller of the 1890s, including timetables for railway, trams and steamer sailings, seasonal dates for game, estimates for how much you might expect…
Insult of the Week: “You double-distilled ould sthrap”
This week’s insult is provided by William Carleton’s The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine (1847). Following Condy Dalton’s admission of love for another woman, a furious Sarah M’Gowan returns home where her stepmother Nelly pushes her to boiling point… “You’re all out of it,” replied Nelly; “her blood’s up, now, an’ I’m not prepared…
Literary birthdays in April
April was a busy month for 19th-century birthdays! Many happy returns are due to Katherine Cecil Thurston, author of Max, who celebrated her 141st birthday on April 18th! Congratulations also to the wonderful Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre, on April 21st – the 200th anniversary of her birth! Finally, we wish a very merry 201st…
These Three Weird Tricks Will Help You Write 47 Victorian Novels
As I journeyed across France to Marseilles, and made thence a terribly rough voyage to Alexandria, I wrote my allotted number of pages every day. On this occasion more than once I left my paper on the cabin table, rushing away to be sick in the privacy of my state room. It was February, and…
Insult of the Week: Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say but they say it charmingly.
This week’s insult is provided by Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). While discussing Dorian’s apparent interest in the actress Sibyl Vane, Lord Henry Wotton states: “My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of…
The Sea of Books 