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Showing posts from June, 2010

Jane Austen's Poetry - A Summer Wedding!

Jane Austen wrote this poem for her niece, Fanny Knight, on the occasion of Captain Francis Austen's wedding to Mary Gibson at Ramsgate 24 July 1806. Jane's brother Francis and his new wife were to spend their honeymoon at their brother Edward's house, Godmersham Park, which was also Fanny's home. I love the the rhythm of the words that sound like cantering horse's hooves - it almost gives you the sensation that you are sharing the carriage ride along with them! Try saying it out loud for the best effect! See they come, post haste from Thanet, Lovely couple, side by side; They've left behind them Richard Kennet With the Parents of the Bride! Canterbury they have passed through; Next succeeded Stamford-bridge; Chilham village they came fast through; Now they've mounted yonder ridge. Down the hill they're swift proceeding, Now they skirt the Park around; Lo! The Cattle sweetly feeding Scamper, startled at the sound! Run, my Brothers, to

Castle Combe, a pretty English Village

I had a lovely time in Castle Combe recently, a pretty village some 12 miles out of Bath. We were very lucky on the day I chose to go with my camera - there are often a lot of tourists, but I think the extremely hot weather that day had kept people inside and in the shade! The area is thought to have been inhabited for around 10,000 years and the river Bybrook which you can see in my photos is thought to have flowed through the same route for more than a million years. The village was established in the fifteenth century, expanding to its peak population in the middle 16th century when the woollen industry was most active. (Info from the Castle Combe Cookbook, which is so much more than a cookbook!) The market cross provides the focal point of the village and has been in place since the fourteenth century when the privilege to hold a weekly market was first granted. Here I am sitting in the Castle Inn restaurant - although we arrived quite late for lunch we were made to feel very wel

Denzel Washington, Bob Marley, and Mrs Jennings

An unlikely trio, I hear you say, but here they all are in my post today. I found these pictures of my cats, Denzel and Marley, who love to listen to me talking about Jane Austen - yes, really. I'm not certain if Jane Austen liked cats, I suspect if the Austens had a cat, its use was probably functional. On a working farm a cat would be very useful for keeping numbers of rats and mice down. I could only find one reference to cats in the novels in Sense and Sensibility and though Mrs Jennings voices her opinion, I can't help wondering if Jane shared her point of view. "Ah! Colonel, I do not know what you and I shall do without the Miss Dashwoods;" - was Mrs. Jennings's address to him when he first called on her, after their leaving her was settled - "for they are quite resolved upon going home from the Palmers; - and how forlorn we shall be, when I come back! - Lord! we shall sit and gape at one another as dull as two cats." A google search led me to thi