Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson, a Book Review

Come, come, Miss Prissy, make it up,

And we will lovers be,

And we will go to Bagnigge Wells,

And there will have some tea;

It’s there you’ll see the lady-birds

Upon the stinging nettles,

And there you’ll see the waiters, ma’am,

With all their shining kettles.

“The Prentice to His Mistress” - 18th Century Song

Tea with Jane Austen is a charming book, a lovingly told tale, of the importance of tea in the life of those who lived in the Regency Era. It is all here: How to make tea, tea and toast for breakfast (the usual breakfast fare for all but the wealthiest households), seeping the tea leaves, tea caddies and miscellaneous utensils, shopping for tea sets, and the different types of teas. In Austen’s time, tea was a valuable commodity that was kept under lock and key. In the Austen household, Jane was the keeper of the keys to the tea chest.

But, for me, the most interesting part of the book was Jane’s excursions into London to buy the best tea from Twinings warehouse. “[Jane] would have walked through a doorway that looked virtually the same as it does today... Once inside, she would have been greeted with the aromatic scent of many different sorts of teas… [S]he would probably have smelled the tea to judge its fragrance and character before she bought it.”

This was the most expensive way of buying tea, but there was a reason for buying the best. Tea was regularly adulterated with things you don’t want to think about. Dregs were sold out the back door by kitchen maids. After being dried, they were mixed with “leaves, twigs, and sometimes floor sweepings.” That’s if you were lucky. “The dyes used on adulterated tea were often quite poisonous.”

Although the afternoon tea we associate with the British belongs to the Victorian Era, there were rituals aplenty in the Regency Era, and this book shows how important tea was to Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Five stars.

Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners

Josephine Ross's  Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners, Compliments, Charades & Horrible Blunders (with illustrations by Henrietta Webb) is a little book, duplicating the size of Austen’s original volumes. (Pride and Prejudice was published in three volumes.) It fits perfectly in my delicate feminine hands. The book is chock full of rules that kept everyone on the straight and narrow (at least for the middle and upper classes). For example, all ladies and gentlemen should carry calling cards, and once you visited with someone, you could not call again until the visit had been returned. This might leave someone twiddling their thumbs for a very long while if the visited party chose not to come a-calling.

Of course, the rules for young people were quite exacting, and if a lady was able to secure the affection of a gentleman, there was a whole other set of rules to observe, most especially, avoiding open shows of affection. Kissing, at any time, was out of the question. And so it went through marriage, child rearing, maturity, and death.

Occasionally, the author includes an interesting tidbit, such as “Manners Makyth Man is, of course, the famous motto of Winchester College, where the Authoress’s much-loved nephews were pupils; and it is no coincidence that… she gave the name of Winchester’s revered headmaster, Dr. Goddard, to the fictional proprietress of the modest little ladies school in Emma.” But mostly, it is a recitation of those rules that governed the lives of Jane Austen and her contemporaries.

Since we live in a time where just about anything goes, it might appear that people living in the Regency Era walked around in a cultural minefield. On the other hand, think how thrilling it would be for a young girl, new to society, to learn that a gentleman had approached a master of ceremonies at a dance for the purpose of seeking an introduction. It could almost make you swoon. Ladies, get out your fans.

She Done Him In - 1793

Today is the day in 1793 that Royalist supporter, Charlotte Corday, stabbed French Revolutionary, Jean Paul Marat, a supporter of Robespierre, to death. Because he suffered from a skin disease, Marat often spent hours in his bath, and it was there that he met his death. Corday did not try to escape and was sent to the guillotine four days later.

The painter, Jacques Louis David, was a disciple of the Revolution. He had visited Marat the day before his assassination and was able to recreate the scene of the crime.  However, he depicted an idealized version of Marat, free of all evidence of his skin disease.

With Robespierre's overthrow and execution in July 1794, David fell out of favor and went into exile in Belgium. Fortune signed on him once again with the rise of Napoleon.

David's death: "When David was leaving a theater, a carriage struck him, and he later died, on 29 December 1825. At his death, some portraits were auctioned in Paris, they sold for little; the famous Death of Marat was exhibited in a secluded room, to avoid outraging public sensibilities. Considered a regicide of King Louis XVI, the body of the painter was buried at Evere Cemetery, Brussels, while his heart was buried at Père Lachaise, Paris.

"In one of history's great coincidences, David's close association with the Committee of Public Safety during the Terror resulted in his signing of the death warrant for Alexandre de Beauharnais, a minor noble. De Beauharnais's widow, Rose-Marie Josèphe de Tascher de Beauharnais would later be known to the world as Joséphine Bonaparte, Empress of the French. It was her coronation by her husband, Napoleon I, that David depicted so memorably in the Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, 2 December 1804." Wikipedia

Marie Therese, Marie Antoinette's Daughter, Jane Austen's Contemporary

Marie Therese (1778-1851) is the story of the only surviving child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France. Because of their tragic end on the guillotine, the royal couple is a favorite of biographers and historical novelists, and the first third of the book recounts the circumstances that led to their execution, the difference being that, in Marie Therese, we are looking at these events through the eyes of a young girl. The downward spiral that began with the storming of the Bastille and led to the Reign of Terror started when Marie Therese was only 11 years old. While at Versailles, "Madame Royal" was forced to hide from armed mobs screaming for her mother's blood and to step over the butchered bodies of servants.

Three years later, the king, queen, Marie Therese, and her brother, the Dauphin, Louis-Charles, are incarcerated in the Temple Prison in Paris, and the horrors begin: the execution of her parents, the prolonged torture of her little brother who would die of neglect, and her own imprisonment. When she is finally released 3-1/2 years later, she is allowed to join her mother's brother, Emperor Franz II, in Austria. However, "The Orphan of the Tower" is now a young woman of steely resolve and one who recognizes the importance of her role as a representative of the Bourbon dynasty in exile.

In the years following her release from prison, Marie Therese and her husband, the Duc D’Angouleme, lived a peripatetic existence, finally ending up in England, where they watched the events unfolding in France. With Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, the Bourbon dynasty was again restored. For the next 15 years, France would be Marie Therese's home until, once again, the French wanted to be rid of their king, Charles X.

Marie Therese is an exhaustive, highly detailed account of the life of Madame Royal, the French Revolution, and the complexities of European politics in the early 19th century. In addition to the great events in the lives of the royals, minutiae, such as travel itineraries, meals, the appearances of numerous pretenders to the throne, are recorded. At times, the inclusion of so many mundane details bogs down the book, but for anyone who ever wanted to know what happened to the only surviving child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, they will have to wonder no longer.

* * *

After exile in Vienna, Marie Therese and her husband moved to Great Britain in 1809 where she settled at Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire. Marie Therese's  father-in-law, the Comte d'Artois, spent most of his time in Edinburgh, where he had been given apartments at Holyrood House.

The long years of exile ended with the Napoleon's abdication  in 1814 and the restoration of Bourbon dynasty. The ascension of  Louis XVIII  to the throne of France took place twenty-one years after the death of his brother, Louis XVI.

Tea With Jane Austen

Irena, at This Miss Loves to Read, has a review of Tea with Jane Austen. It's a slim volume, but it sounds very interesting. This book will go on my "must buy" list and will end up on the top of my floor-to-ceiling "to be read" pile.

Applying to the Housekeeper on Austenprose

If you have been following Laurel Ann's Jane Austen Without Zombies on Austenprose, you know that she has had excellent posts, including one titled "Applying to the Housekeeper," which refers to those tourists seeking permission to tour some of England's great manor houses. In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth meet for the first time after the dust-up at Hunsford Lodge because Lizzy and the Gardiners are touring Pemberley, Darcy's great country estate in Derbyshire. The tour, led by the estimable Mrs. Reynolds, reveals to Lizzy a kinder, gentler Mr. Darcy, and the thaw begins. This post is chock full of interesting tidbits, so you might want to check it out.

Hindeloopen - Dutch Stylized Art

Last week, my husband and I spent a week in New York’s Hudson River Valley, and everywhere we went, we found evidence of the Dutch influence on that area, including a type of art known as Hindeloopen. According to Dutch Proverbs by Holly Flame Heusinkveld and Jean Carris-Osland, Hindeloopen was a thriving seaport on the Zuider Zee in northwest Netherlands. During the Baroque and Rococo periods, guild and self-taught painters lavished their decoration skills on painted wood surfaces, such as furniture and walls, in an attempt to brighten home interiors and add inspiration to their surroundings. Hindeloopen villagers developed a distinct style of painting. Drawing from the scrolls of the Baroque period, the exotic birds of East Indian art, and the stylization of flower forms, the Hindeloopen painters came up with unique folk art forms. The objective was to fill a space, be it a table leg, door panel or storage chest, with flowers and berries or birds, in a stylized fashion.

In a Dutch colonial home, you may have found Hindeloopen artwork used to illustrate a proverb, such as "Zwijgen antwoordt veel." (Silence answers much.) Words of wisdom that I could benefit from (or so my husband tells me).

Fashion of the Regency Era

In connection with Austenprose's Pride and Prejudice Without Zombies Read-A-Thon, Vic from Jane Austen World, has contributed an article on elegant apparel of the Regency Era and discusses the ball gowns worn in the three adaptations of Pride and Prejudice: 1980's version with Elizabeth Garvie, the A&E production with Jennifer Ehle, and the most recent film with Keira Knightley. It is excellent and a must read for anyone interested in Regency fashion.

Fashion and Trivial History

On this day, Beau Brummel (at left) was born in England in 1778.  He started a revolution in men's fashion that would eventually lead to the three-piece men's suit that is worn by businessmen around the world. The three-piece suit would dominate  until "Casual Fridays" were introduced in the late 1980s, followed by the oportunity for many to work from home where you can pretty much work in anything or nothing.

I wonder if we would be as gaga over Mr. Darcy if he dressed as his father would have as indicated by the picture on the right. Mr. Darcy in a wig? I don't think so.

Brooklyn Bridge Opens on May 24, 1883

After 14 years and 27 deaths, the Brooklyn Bridge, spanning the East River, was opened. It connected the cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor, Grover Cleveland. Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.

John Roebling, born in Germany in 1806, was a great pioneer in the design of steel suspension bridges. Roebling is credited with a major breakthrough in suspension-bridge technology: a web truss added to either side of the bridge roadway that greatly stabilized the structure. Using this model, Roebling successfully bridged the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls, New York, and the Ohio River at Cincinnati. On the basis of these achievements, New York State accepted Roebling's design for a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan--with a span of 1,595 feet--and appointed him chief engineer. It was to be the world's first steel suspension bridge.

Just before construction began in 1869, Roebling was fatally injured while taking a few final compass readings across the East River. A boat smashed the toes on one of his feet, and three weeks later he died of tetanus. He was the first of more than two dozen people who would die building his bridge. His 32-year-old son, Washington A. Roebling, took over as chief engineer. Roebling had worked with his father on several bridges and had helped design the Brooklyn Bridge.

The two granite foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge were built in timber caissons, or watertight chambers, sunk to depths of 44 feet on the Brooklyn side and 78 feet on the New York side. Compressed air pressurized the caissons, allowing underwater construction. At that time, little was known of the risks of working under such conditions, and more than a hundred workers suffered from cases of compression sickness, or the "bends," is caused by the appearance of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream that result from rapid decompression. Several died, and Washington Roebling himself became bedridden from the condition in 1872. Other workers died from collapses and a fire.

Roebling continued to direct construction operations from his home, and his wife, Emily, carried his instructions to the workers. In 1877, Washington and Emily moved into a home with a view of the bridge. Roebling's health gradually improved, but he remained partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. On May 24, 1883, Emily Roebling was given the first ride over the completed bridge, with a rooster, a symbol of victory, in her lap. Within 24 hours, an estimated 250,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, using a broad promenade above the roadway that John Roebling designed solely for the enjoyment of pedestrians.

The Brooklyn Bridge, with its unprecedented length and two stately towers, was dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world." The connection it provided between the massive population centers of Brooklyn and Manhattan changed the course of New York City forever. In 1898, the city of Brooklyn formally merged with New York City, Staten Island, and a few farm towns, forming Greater New York. (Information was taken from several on-line sources. The pictures are from Wikipedia.)

Two movies that feature the Brooklyn Bridge: the awesome Moonstruck with Cher and Nicholas Cage and the cute Kate and Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.

Also, on May 24, 1941, the German battleship, Bismarck, was sunk in the Atlantic, which provided a much needed victory to the British and raised British morale.

I am just back from a week's vacation in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, so I have a lot of catching up to do, but here's a good start:

Check out Laurel Ann's Austenprose Hey Bonham’s! That Bentley Edition of Jane Austen’s Novels you’re Auctioning is Worth More Than you Thought!

Austenesque Reviews has a review of Alexa Adams' debut novel, First Impressions, and a poll on your favorite Northanger Abbey characters.

Tony (aka Southerner) has an excellent post on London Calling on the Cobb at Lyme, which played an important role in Jane Austen's Persuasion. There are several pictures, including the one at left.

Jane Austen's World - 1806-1818

This started out as a series of posts of events that happened in the years ending in '10. If you want to read all the posts in one spot, click on "Jane Austen's World" in the sidebar.

Jane’s contemporaries in the arts between 1806 - 1818: Goethe, Byron, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Scott, Mary Shelley, The Grimm Brothers; Beethoven, Rossini, Haydn, Mozart; Canova (Magdalen at left owned by the Hermitage in St. Petersburgh), Goya, Turner, Constable, John Singleton Copley.

Military: Napoleon enters Berlin; Joseph Bonaparte is name King of Naples; Louis Bonaparte is named King of Holland; Napoleon annexes the Papal States. It sounds as if everything is going Napoleon’s way. However, in 1809, Arthur Wellesley defeats the French at Oporto and Talavera and is created the Duke of Wellington. The final showdown will be at Waterloo in six years. Inspires ABBA song.

Important industrial and scientific advances: British cotton industry employs 90,000 factory workers and 184,000 handloom weavers; Humphry Davy invents the miner’s safety lamp; British road surveyor John Macadam constructs roads of crushed stone; The Comet, Henry Bell’s steamship, operates on the Clyde River in Scotland; Beaufort wind scale is designed; Apothecaries Act forbids unqualified doctors to practice in Britain (but where do all the unqualified doctors go).

In 1807, the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is passed in Parliament. It will be another 30 years before slavery itself is outlawed.

But while all this is going on, what has our dear Jane been doing.

1775 – Jane Austen is born at Steventon on December 16, the seventh child of Rev. George Austen and Cassandra Leigh.
1795 – Eleanor and Marianne is written in epistolary form.
1796 – First Impressions (later Pride and Prejudice) is finished.
1798 – Northanger Abbey is written.
1801 – The Austens move to Bath.
1805 – Austen writes The Watsons and Lady Susan.
1809 – The Austens move to Chawton.
1811 – Mansfield Park is begun. Sense and Sensibility published at Austen’s expense.
1813 – Pride and Prejudice is published.
1814 – Mansfield Park is published.
1815 – Emma is published with a dedication to the Prince of Wales.
1815-17 – Persuasion is written.
1816-17 – Jane works on Lady Susan and Sanditon.
1817 – Jane dies at Winchester and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.
1818 – Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are published posthumously with a biography written by her brother, Henry.
1869 - A Memoir of Jane Austen is published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, and reintroduces Jane to the literary world. A second edition was published in 1871 which includes previously unpublished Jane Austen writings.
1969 - One hundred years after the publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen,  Mary Lydon (aka, me) reads Pride and Prejudice in her senior high school English class. Forty years later, her first novel, Searching for Pemberley, is published by Sourcebooks.

Picture is of a first edition of Pride and Prejudice as displayed at Chatsworth House and owned by the Cavendish family, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

May Day - Past and Present

Traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen, and celebrations involving a Maypole (see picture at right). Much of this tradition derives from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held in May, then known as the Month of Three Milkings. Before the English Civil War, the working peasantry took part in morris dances (see pictures below), especially at Whitsun (aka, Pentecost). In 1600, the Shakespearean actor William Kempe, morris danced from London to Norwich, an event chronicled in his Nine Days Wonder. The Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell, a notorious party suppressed Whitsun Ales and other such festivities (like all of them). When the crown was restored by Charles II, a real party animal, the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday, as the date coincided with the birthday of Charles II.

In Oxford, it is traditional for May Morning revelers to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6.00am to listen to the college choir sing traditional madrigals as a conclusion to the previous night’s celebrations. It is then thought to be traditional for some people to jump off Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell. In Durham, students of the University of Durham gather on Prebend’s Bridge to see the sunrise and enjoy festivities, folk music, dancing, madrigal singing and a barbecue breakfast.

Jane Austen's World - 1796 - 1805

1796: Fanny Burney publishes Camilla; Robert Burns dies; Jenner introduces a vaccination against smallpox; Napoleon marries Josephine.

1797: Edmund Burke dies; Ann Radcliffe writes The Italian; first copper pennies are minted in England and one-pound notes issued.

1798: French capture Rome; income tax of 10% of all incomes over £200 is introduced in Britain as a wartime measure.

1799: Napoleon overthrows the Directory, appoints Talleyrand as Foreign Minister, and becomes Consul. Balzac is born; Beaumarchais dies. Rosetta stone is discovered making the deciphering of hieroglyphics possible.

1800: Wm. Cowper dies; Maria Edgeworth publishes Castle Rackrent; Royal College of Surgeons founded in London; Napoleon defeats Austrians at the Battle of Marengo.*

1801: Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland; Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president of the United States; The Union Jack becomes the official flag of the UK.

1802: Two-year Peace of Amiens between France and Britain. Two powerhouses of French literature are born: Alexandre Dumas, Pere, and Victor Hugo. George Romney dies. Peerage is published in London by Debrett. The Baronetage (the only book that Sir Walter Elliot reads) is not published until 1808. West India Docks in London are built.

1803: Robert Emmet, Irish patriot, (Let no man write my epitaph.) is executed by British in Ireland; Benjamin West paints Christ Healing the Sick.

1804: Disraeli is born; Alexander Hamilton is killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

1805: Turner paints Shipwreck; Paganini begins to tour Europe as violin virtuoso.

*The Battle of Marengo and Chicken: The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. The French defeated Austrian General Michael von Melas's surprise attack, driving the Austrians out of Italy, and enhancing Napoleon's political position in Paris. According to tradition Napoleon demanded a quick meal after the battle and his chef was forced to work with the meager results of a forage: a chicken, some eggs, tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs, olive oil, and crayfish. The chef cut up the chicken (reportedly with a sabre) and fried it in olive oil, made a sauce from the tomatoes, garlic and onions (plus a bit of cognac from Napoleon's flask), cooked the crayfish, fried the eggs and served them as a garnish, with some of the soldier's bread ration on the side. Napoleon reportedly liked the dish and (having won the battle) considered it lucky. Voila! Chicken Marengo! (Wikipedia)

Jane Austen's World - 1786 - 1795

In 1788, New York is declared to be the capital of the United States. However, a decision will be made to move the capital south to a district carved out of Maryland and Virginia (Virginia later takes their part back because of a slavery issue) and to separate the financial and government centers of the U.S. The following year, George Washington is inaugurated as President. In England, George III has his first attack of mental illness causing a regency crisis. In 1791, Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.

In 1789, in France, a Paris mob storms the Bastille. The French Revolution is on. Along with the Napoleonic Wars, these events will color the background of Jane Austen’s life. 1793: Louis XVI and his queen are executed. 1794: Danton, Robespierre, and St. Just are executed. Habeas Corpus Act is suspected in Britain. 1795: Bread riots and White Terror in Paris.

Between 1785 and 1795, the following artists flourished: William Cowper: John Gilpin; Robert Burns: Tam O’ Shanter; Schiller: Don Carlos; William Blake: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience; Robert Southey: Poems;  Mozart: Don Giovanni and Magic Flute. Byron is born; Keats dies. Robert Adam and Joshua Reynolds die.

Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, making cotton “King” in the South and insuring the continuation of slavery. First horse-drawn railroad in England. Daily Universal Register becomes The Times. The Observer is founded in London.

Marylebone Cricket Club is founded and moves to Lord’s cricket ground, and in Charleston, South Carolina, the Golf Club is founded.

Jane Austen's World - The First Ten Years (1776 -1785)

In 1785, Jane Austen was ten years old, and in that short span of time, the world had experienced remarkable change. Scottish millwright, Andrew Meikle, invents the threshing machine that will start an agricultural revolution. Because fewer workers are required to work the land, many thousands will migrate to the cities or emigrate to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and towns, such as Manchester and Birmingham, will become major manufacturing centers and experience explosive growth. Vincent Lunardi conducts the first balloon ascent in England. American, Ezekiel Reed, makes a nail-making machine. Just think about that one. Prior to 1785, nails had to be handmade one at a time.

In music, Mozart, Haydn, Paganini, and Salieri are composing, and in 1778, child prodigy, Ludwig von Beethoven, is presented by his father to the public. (Although Dad said he was six, he was actually eight.) Sheridan writes The School for Scandal, which is still performed on stages throughout the world. Voltaire, Samuel Johnson, William Blake, Washington Irving, Schiller, and Cowper are composing prose and verse. Joshua Reynolds paints Mary Robinson as Perdita, Canova sculpts a tomb for a pope, and the construction of the Brighton Pavilion is a work in progress.

In 1781, the American Revolution comes to an end with the defeat of the British at Yorktown in Virginia. Marie Antoinette is immersed in the Diamond Necklace Affair in 1785, which will be one rung on the ladder leading to the French Revolution, and William Pitt the Younger forms a government.

Jane Austen was an intelligent, curious child. How much did she know about the world around her? I imagine a great deal.

P.S. I hope you will read Southerner's comment on this post.

The World at the Time of Jane Austen's Birth in 1775

We are going to sneak up on what was happening in 1810 during Jane’s lifetime by beginning with her birth in 1775. She was born at a time when England was on the cusp of the birth of the modern world as well as dealing with the political upheaval in the American colonies which would lead to the revolution and American independence. (Pictures: Left: What a young girl would have worn in the Georgian and/or Regency Era. Right: Edward Austen being presented to the Knight family (who would adopt him) by Jane Austen's parents. Note men's hose and the fullness of the ladies's dresses.

Events leading up to the birth of Jane Austen (actually everyone's birth) - Part II

1510 – What a year for the Italians. Sandro Botticelli and Giorgione die. Raphael paints Triumph of Galatea, and Titian paints The Gypsy Madonna. Da Vinci designs the horizonal water wheel and introduces the principle of the water turbine.

Portuguese acquire Goa in India, and unintentionally provide Americans a place where they can live out their lives as 1960s hippies.

1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated. He was a Protestant, but in order to become king, he had to convert to Catholicism, and famously said, “Paris is worth a Mass.”

Shakespeare writes A Winter’s Tale. Caravaggio (my favorite Renaissance painter) dies. El Greco paints The Opening of the Fifth Seal, while Rubens is finishing the Raising of the Cross.

The Stationer’s Company begins to send a copy of every book printed in England to Bodleian Library at Oxford. Excellent!

1710 – Future Louis XV, King of France, and grandfather of the doomed Louis XVI, is born. He becomes famous for his mistresses (Madame de Pompadour and Madame DuBarry, among a hundred others) and his furniture.

Christopher Wren designs Marlborough House, Westminster, London.

On a visit to London, Handel, completes in fourteen days the score of Rinaldo, and it is performed at the Queen’s Theatre.

Porcelain factory at Meissen, Saxony, is founded, and Tiffany’s in New York has a future supplier.

Next up: 1810. Jane lives!

Events that led up to the birth of Jane Austen

Did you ever wonder what happened 100 years, 200 years, 900 years ago in years that end in the number ten. No? Well, some people might. So for the benefit of those who do care, here is a brief glimpse of the past. P.S. Eventually, I will get to Jane Austen.

1110 – Earliest record of a miracle play. It was performed in Dunstable, England. Why Dunstable? Paraphrasing Wikipedia, “Until the 11th century, this area of Bedfordshire, was an uncultivated tract covered by woodlands. In 1109 Henry I responded to dangers to travelers by clearing the land and encouraging settlement with offers of royal favor.” (No Robin Hood?)

This blurb would seem to argue against Dunstable being the first in doing anything in the one year of its existence since being abandoned by the Romans a half of a millennium earlier. Sounds like a promising subject for a doctoral thesis, and you get to live in England while you are doing the research; that is, if you don't already live in England, and then it's not a big deal.

1210 – Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. But as Edward Gibbons wrote in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the empire was neither “holy, Roman, nor an empire.”

Gottfriend von Strassburg wrote Tristan und Isolde, which is regarded as one of the great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages (and a subject for future chick flicks). Through no fault of his own, Strassburg's work became a source of inspiration for Richard Wagner's operas.

1310 – Edward II is forced to appoint Lords Ordainers. The whole of Edward’s reign was a tragic, murderous, and grisly time in England’s history, and because this blog is often read by the fire during family gatherings, you must learn of his gruesome death on your own.

1410 – Jean Froissart, French poet and chronicler dies at the age of 73. Pretty darn good for the time. He was probably a beneficiary of the nutritional French paradox (clue: wine and cheese).

American v. British English

Ironically, I knew all of the British words, but missed most of the American ones. My age is showing.