This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.
“My dear child, commend Dr. Grant to the deanery of Westminster or St. Paul’s, and I should be as glad of your nurseryman and poulterer as you could be.”—Mrs. Grant to Mary Crawford, Mansfield Park, chapter 22
Churches Mentioned in Mansfield Park
Four real churches are mentioned in Mansfield Park, which talks extensively about the church and clergy. I’ve written about the Garrison Chapel, where the Prices and Henry Crawford went to church. A few days ago, I posted about a church in London, St. George’s, Hanover Square, the wedding venue that Mary Crawford wants to show Fanny.
Two more real London churches are mentioned in Mansfield Park. Mrs. Grant speaks of the two most well-known churches in England, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Mary Crawford tells her sister to greet the nurseryman (who took care of plants) and the poulterer (who provided poultry), but her sister tells her there are no such people in Mansfield. The Grants will need to move to the big city to get such help. She hopes that someone will “commend Dr. Grant to the deanery of Westminster or St. Paul’s,” so they can move to London.
The “deanery” is the office of the dean, the head clergyman of a major church.
Mrs. Grant finally gets that opportunity:
“Dr. Grant, through an interest on which he had almost ceased to form hopes, succeeded to a stall in Westminster, which, as affording an occasion for leaving Mansfield, an excuse for residence in London, and an increase of income to answer the expenses of the change, was highly acceptable to those who went and those who staid.”— Mansfield Park, chapter 48
Dr. Grant, as he had hoped, moves up in the church hierarchy to a prestigious church. He’s been the rector of a small country church at Mansfield Park. He will still receive the tithe income from that church until he dies, when Edmund will become rector. But Dr. Grant has connections to people with influence who can get him a higher church position. The church worked much like the Navy, where Henry Crawford’s uncle, the Admiral, gets William Price a promotion.
Westminster Abbey
One of Dr. Grant’s friends, or more likely a friend of a friend, gets him a “stall in Westminster,” meaning a position as a prebendary. A prebendary was a church official who sat in a prebendal stall, a seat of honor in the church. The position came with income from a “prebend,” specific church possessions.
Stalls in Westminster Abbey, 1908. Image Credit: Rev. Thomas Davidson 1856-1923 (ed.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Westminster Abbey is, of course, the church in London where monarchs are crowned, as King Charles III was not long ago. All English coronations have taken place there since 1066. It is not a cathedral or a parish church. Instead it is a “Royal Peculiar,” with a dean like other large churches, but under the direct supervision of the monarch rather than a bishop or archbishop.
Westminster Abbey in London, a “Royal Peculiar” directly under the Crown. Credit: Σπάρτακος, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Westminster Abbey is also, of course, a place where many famous people are buried and memorialized. While Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral, there is a small plaque commemorating her in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey, adjacent to Shakespeare’s memorial.
St. Paul’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Cathedral, the other place where Dr. Grant hoped to get a position, is the cathedral of the diocese of London. (A diocese is a geographical group of parishes, led by a bishop, whose “seat” is at the cathedral for the diocese.) The history of the church reflects the history of London.
One interesting fact: women were first ordained as priests in the Church of England in 1994, and St. Paul’s first clergywoman was appointed in 1997. Now the Lord Bishop of London is a woman, installed in 2018, with her seat, of course, at St. Paul’s. She is called the Right Reverend and Right Honorable Dame Sarah Mullally, and she is a member of the House of Lords. No doubt Jane Austen would be amazed.
One more London church is mentioned in Jane Austen’s novels. In Pride and Prejudice, Lydia tells her sisters,
“We were married you know, at St. Clement’s, because Wickham’s lodgings were in that parish. And it was settled that we should all be there by eleven o’clock.”
We don’t know for sure which St. Clement’s in London Austen has in mind. An old nursery rhyme goes, “Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement’s,” and two churches claim to be the St. Clement’s in the rhyme.
It seems most likely that Austen was referring to St. Clement Danes in the Strand, which served a large parish. The parish included areas of cheap lodgings and less savory areas, where Wickham could have afforded lodgings. It was also some distance from Gracechurch Street where the Gardiners lived, better concealing Wickham and Lydia from her family. (Source: Pat Rogers, editor of the Cambridge Pride and Prejudice.)
Another option, according to Rogers, is St. Clement’s Eastcheap on the east side of Clement’s Lane. However, this was a tiny parish only a block from Gracechurch Street, so was less likely to be the parish Wickham chose to lodge in.
The rhyme goes on to talk about not being able to pay a debt until one gets rich, at some unknown future time. Quite appropriate for Wickham, who was deep in debt but always hoping to get rich.
St. Clement Danes in the Strand, possible location for Lydia and Wickham’s wedding. Image credit: Stephen Richards / St Clement Danes, Strand / CC BY-SA 2.0
Faith in London Today
Another surprise for Jane Austen: In Mansfield Park, Edmund Bertram states, “We do not look in great cities for our best morality.” He implies that there was more virtue in the countryside and more vice in London. That was probably true in Austen’s time, according to all I have read.
However, a survey a few years ago indicated that the opposite is now true: “London is now more religious and socially conservative than the rest of Britain.” According to that survey, Londoners pray more, attend religious services more, and are more conservative on moral questions than those outside London. Also, Christian Londoners help their neighbours and give to charity more than non-religious Londoners. Of course, London is also a diverse religious environment, with people practicing various religious faiths, which are less common outside of the capital.
The London churches Austen mentions in Mansfield Park are still thriving.
Other churches mentioned by name in Jane Austen’s novels and letters
“. . . perhaps you would not mind passing through London, and seeing the inside of St. George’s, Hanover Square. Only keep your cousin Edmund from me at such a time: I should not like to be tempted.”—Mary Crawford, Mansfield Park, chapter 43
Mansfield Park includes much more discussion of the church than any other Austen novel. Not surprisingly, it also names more real churches than the other novels do.
In an earlier post we explored the Garrison Chapel, where Fanny Price and her family worship in Portsmouth. Henry Crawford attends with them on his visit. Perhaps this symbolizes his attempts to reform himself and become worthy of Fanny; attempts that ultimately fail.
Remains of the Garrison Chapel in Portsmouth where the Prices and Henry Crawford worshiped.
Henry’s sister Mary names another real church in a letter to Fanny. She wants Fanny to let her and Henry take Fanny back to Mansfield from Portsmouth, where Fanny has been staying with her family. Fanny is unhappy and unhealthy, but will not commit the impropriety of going back to Mansfield Park before her uncle sends for her. Mary wants to take Fanny to see Henry’s estate and then pass through London on the way to Mansfield.
She suggests visiting St. George’s, Hanover Square. This was a popular church for weddings among the upper classes of London. Mary hopes Fanny will marry Henry there. At the same time, Mary says it might tempt her to marry Edmund. She doesn’t want to marry a clergyman, or a second son who will not inherit an estate, but she is attracted to Edmund.
St. George’s Hanover Square exterior. According to the church website, “The classical front with six great Corinthian columns supporting a pediment represented a new trend in English Church design.”
St. George’s, Hanover Square Today
During a recent visit to London, I had the privilege of worshiping at St. George’s, Hanover Square on a Sunday morning. The service was a Sung Eucharist, a Communion service in traditional language, with beautiful singing from the choir and impressive organ music. During the service, the congregation renewed their baptismal vows.
St. George’s Hanover Square interior. The painting of the Last Supper over the altar, and the surrounding carvings, were installed in 1724. The seven silver hanging lights in the church represent the seven lamps of fire burning before God’s throne, according to the book of Revelation in the Bible.
The church also offers brief midday services from the Book of Common Prayer on weekdays and several other Communion services during the week. Weekday “Morning Calm” services are held during termtime, as “a short period of reflection, contemplation, and relaxation before the challenges of the day begin.”
Nowadays the area around Hanover Square is mostly offices and businesses. I was told that most people in the current congregation live farther away, since few people live close to the church now.
The signboard for St. George’s Hanover Square lists services, extensive opening hours, and rules such as no drugs in the church and no sleeping on pews.
Wealthy Mayfair
Hanover Square is in Mayfair. In Austen’s England, many wealthy people had large houses in Mayfair or surrounding areas. In Sense and Sensibility, the Palmers live in Hanover Square, while the Middletons, Mrs. Ferrars, and Willoughby live nearby in Mayfair. Mrs. Jennings and John and Fanny Dashwood live in Marylebone, an area just north of Mayfair. It developed when Mayfair could no longer accommodate all those who wanted fashionable, elegant housing. (Source: The Annotated Sense and Sensibility, David Shapard.)
St. George’s is the parish church of Mayfair, where the wealthy worshiped. In 1711, Parliament had passed an Act for the building of fifty new churches in and around London. The wealthy of Mayfair petitioned for a church, which was completed in 1725. The patron saint of the church is St. George, a Christian martyr of the third century who is also the patron saint of England.
Rectors of St. George’s Hanover Square during Austen’s time and thereafter. Some held other influential church positions as well.
The parish was large, with a vestry of 101 vestrymen. These included 7 dukes, 14 earls, 7 barons, and 26 other titled people. A vestry, led by the church’s rector and churchwardens, decides matters relating to the church and the secular parish. (Mr. Knightley, Mr. Weston, Mr. Cole, and Mr. Cox are apparently on the vestry for their parish, as they are “busy over parish business” in Emma.) The St. George’s, Hanover Square vestry dealt with local issues including street lighting, refuse disposal, nightwatchmen, and a workhouse for the poor.
St. George’s Hanover Square eagle lectern. Many churches of Austen’s time had lecterns similar to this, where the Bible was read to the congregation. (The eagle symbolized the Word of God because supposedly it could fly directly into the sun without closing its eyes, so it was like the Bible, leading people to God with eyes open. Eagles’ wings also symbolized carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth.)
Pulpit of St. George’s, Hanover Square
Rich and Poor
While the wealthy owned mansions in the area, most spent only the winter in London, passing the rest of the year on their country estates. The back alleys behind the mansions teemed with poverty and misery year-round. In the early 1800s, the Evangelical movement began to awaken the church to the needs of the poor. St. George’s established a parish school for poor children in 1804, supported by public subscriptions. Later in the century, the church initiated and supported extensive projects to help the working classes of the area.
But the wealthy ran the church in Austen’s time. Around the gallery (balcony) are listed the churchwardens, year by year. Anglican churches generally have two elected churchwardens, responsible for financial accounts, movable property of the church, keeping order, and other administrative responsibilities. The churchwardens listed on St. George’s galleries for the 1700s and early 1800s sound impressive: Viscounts, Earls, Lords, Sirs, Honorables, and Esquires.
St. George’s Hanover Square balcony listing early churchwardens. Many were titled men.
Music
The composer George Friderick Handel lived about a four minute walk from the church. He helped choose the organ and organist for the new church. He had a pew there and worshiped at St. George’s until he died. He wrote the Messiah in his house nearby on Brook Street, which is now a museum.
St. George’s Hanover Square organ pipes; a new organ was installed in 1972. The original organ had 1514 pipes and three manuals (keyboards for the hands). It cost £500 in 1725.
Weddings
Since it was at the heart of the wealthy district, St. George’s, Hanover Square was the popular place for weddings of the wealthy and influential. In 1816, the church hosted 1,063 weddings! Famous people including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Benjamin Disraeli, George Eliot (Mary Lewes), and Theodore Roosevelt were married at St. George’s. Mary Crawford was likely staying near there with her wealthy London friends, and she may have attended church there. So it was the first place she thought of for her own and her brother’s weddings. It is still a popular venue for weddings, though not as much so as in Austen’s time.
On Thursday, we’ll look at the other two real churches mentioned in Mansfield Park, the two most famous churches in England. Do you know which ones they are? We’ll also consider which London church Lydia and Wickham married in!
One of the most beautiful new books available for Jane Austen fans this year is the Jane Austen: Visual Encyclopedia by French authors Claire Saim and Gwen Giret. With sumptuous artwork throughout and gorgeous illustrations by Sophie Koechlin, this is one of the most extensive catalogs of the Jane Austen fandom I’ve seen in recent years.
It’s a showstopper and conversation-starter that you’ll want to keep on your coffee table indefinitely. While the sticker price is a bit steep (currently on sale on Amazon), this beautiful book is an investment many Jane Austen fans and book collectors will want to make.
As I explored this gorgeous new collectible book, I felt as though I was immersed in the entire world of Austen’s life, novels, and film adaptations. It’s a rich compilation of all-things-Austen for the dedicated Austen fan. It’s a one-stop book for everything you could ever hope to know about Austen, and it’s rare to see so many photos, articles, and illustrations in one place. It is not a scholarly book or a research tool, as it sticks more to the more popular aspects of Austen’s legacy, but it is delightful all the same.
Most of all, this book provides an expansive introduction to the enduring popularity of Jane Austen. It makes a wonderful gift for new Austen fans who have recently discovered the films or books. For fans of the film adaptations, it has many interesting tidbits about the various films throughout.
This is the book I would have wanted to read in college or in my grad school years when my Austen addiction truly took hold of me. I read dozens of books about her and watched as many documentaries as I could find during my early “Jane years,” but this has everything in one place.
Lastly, I cannot say enough about the actual look and feel of this book. When it arrived, wrapped in plastic, I was impressed. Once I opened it, it was even more stunning than I expected. It has a nice heavy feel to it, but you can still hold it comfortably in your lap, unlike larger coffee-table books. It’s definitely a book people will pick up if they see it displayed, which is what I’m planning to do!
Book Description
From her beloved family and her romantic escapades to her literary adventures and her enduring popular culture influence, experience the life and legacy of Jane Austen in this full-colour, beautifully illustrated, definitive 312-page encyclopedia.
Bursting with over 200 photographs and illustrations, explore Jane Austen’s work, which consists of six completed novels, two incomplete novels, letters and early writings. From the written word to the screen, from adaptations to secrets and filming locations, this book invites you on a fascinating journey of discovery through Austen’s writing.
Want to walk in the footsteps of Jane Austen, dressing in Regency style or simply enjoying a delicious afternoon tea? This coffee-table book features a beautiful gold-foiled cover and is perfect gift for fans of Jane Austen, her works and their enduring legacy.
Book Outline:
PART 1: Jane Austen, a woman of her time
Essays on Jane Austen, her family, friends and potential lovers
Illustrations and photos from across Jane’s beloved England
Researchers discuss Jane Austen’s appearance
PART II: The world of Jane Austen
A complete chronology of Jane Austen’s work
The historical and fictional backgrounds to iconic characters such as Elizabeth Bennet, the Dashwoods, and Mr Darcy
Filming locations and production secrets from over 30 adaptations
The unfinished novels and how they were eventually published
Expert analysis of early works and other writings
PART III: Jane Austen’s legacy
A comprehensive guide to the best Austen festivals
Details on the famous museums and collections dedicated to Jane Austen
From postage stamps to Funko-Pops Jane’s indelible influence
About the Authors
This book was lovingly compiled by Claire Saim and Gwen Giret (French authors), Sophie Koechlin (illustrator, French writer, painter & designer, and Hermès scarf designer), Lizzie Dunford (contributor and current Director at Jane Austen’s House Museum), and Helen Moss (translator).
Claire Saim, deeply in love with everything English, from literature to history and culture – including scones, obviously – she has been a devoted Janeite for many years. Always looking around Paris in search of whatever could be a reminder of her dear Great Britain, she shares her adventures on Instagram @jane_austen_france_. Based in France.
Gwen Giret, Jane Austen is a long-time passion of hers which led her to create a blog titled Jane Austen and her world. Her favourite things include travelling through the Pride and Prejudice author’s footsteps, reading all about Captain Wentworth and eating tons of clotted cream. Based in France.
Book Interior
If you’d like to take a tour of the interior of the book, you can watch this lovely video posted by the Jane Austen Centre:
Celebrating 250 Years of Jane
This book is a true testament to Austen’s timelessness and enduring legacy. Her life and work only become more popular with each passing year. It’s a comfort for many Austen fans to read about her life or sit down with one of her novels and slip into her world.
As we work our way through the many new books released and releasing in honor of Jane Austen’s 250th year, there is so much more to come! We have books to read and new shows to watch. What could be more delightful than a Year of Austen in books and on screen?
As spring turns to summer on our month-by-month exploration of Jane Austen’s life, letters, and novels, we turn our attention to May in Jane Austen’s world. If you’re just jumping on the bus, you can find previous articles in this “A Year in Jane Austen’s World” series here: January, February, March, and April.
During last month’s April showers in England, we dreamed of May flowers…and the Hampshire countryside certainly is showing some May flower power. First up, our monthly view of Chawton House Gardens. It certainly is bursting with color!
May is the time of year when the sun shines more regularly and everything bursts into bloom. Summer is close at hand, which means the temperatures are starting to warm up a bit, but frequent rain helps keep the gardens cool and watered. Austen had this to say in May 1811 in a letter to Cassandra:
The chickens are all alive and fit for the table, but we save them for something grand. Some of the flower seeds are coming up very well, but your mignonette makes a wretched appearance. Miss Benn has been equally unlucky as to hers. She had seed from four different people, and none of it comes up. Our young piony (sic) at the foot of the fir-tree has just blown and looks very handsome, and the whole of the shrubbery border will soon be very gay with pinks and sweet-williams, in addition to the columbines already in bloom. The syringas, too, are coming out. We are likely to have a great crop of Orleans plums, but not many greengages—on the standard scarcely any, three or four dozen, perhaps, against the wall. (Chawton, Wednesday May 29, 1811)
Here is a glimpse of Jane Austen’s House Museum and its blooms this month.
We have several letters from May to peruse. Interestingly, several are written from Bath. In an interesting article entitled “A Brief History of Jane Austen in Bath” on VisitBath.com, we read this about Jane Austen:
While many assume that Jane’s connection with Bath began when she moved to 4 Sydney Place in 1801 after her father’s retirement, the Austen family’s history with the City actually dates back further. Jane’s parents were married at St Swithin’s Church in 1764, and Jane herself visited in 1797 and 1799, lodging with her mother and sister-in-law at 13 Queen Square in 1799 while her brother took the waters for his health. Before moving into Sydney Place, she also stayed with her aunt and uncle, the Leigh-Perrots, at No.1 The Paragon. These short visits had a lasting impact on the young Jane Austen, inspiring her to write Northanger Abbey about Catherine Morland’s first visit to Bath and her “eager delight” at all it offered. (VisitBath.com)
May 17, 1799 (Queen’s Square):
Jane’s thoughts on the house: “We are exceedingly pleased with the house; the rooms are quite as large as we expected. Mrs. Bromley is a fat woman in mourning, and a little black kitten runs about the staircase. Elizabeth has the apartment within the drawing-room; she wanted my mother to have it, but as there was no bed in the inner one, and the stairs are so much easier of ascent, or my mother so much stronger than in Paragon as not to regard the double flight, it is settled for us to be above, where we have two very nice-sized rooms, with dirty quilts and everything comfortable. I have the outward and larger apartment, as I ought to have; which is quite as large as our bedroom at home, and my mother’s is not materially less. The beds are both as large as any at Steventon, and I have a very nice chest of drawers and a closet full of shelves — so full indeed that there is nothing else in it, and it should therefore be called a cupboard rather than a closet, I suppose.”
Happy and content, despite a delay with her trunk: “I find no difficulty in closing my eyes. I like our situation very much; it is far more cheerful than Paragon, and the prospect from the drawing-room window, at which I now write, is rather picturesque, as it commands a prospective view of the left side of Brock Street, broken by three Lombardy poplars in the garden of the last house in Queen’s Parade.”
The Royal Crescent in Spring (Photo Courtesy of VisitBath.com).
May 1801 (Paragon):
May 5 (their journey): “I have the pleasure of writing from my own room up two pair of stairs, with everything very comfortable about me. Our journey here was perfectly free from accident or event; we changed horses at the end of every stage, and paid at almost every turn-pike. We had charming weather, hardly any dust, and were exceedingly agreeable, as we did not speak above once in three miles. Between Luggershall and Everley we made our grand meal, and then with admiring astonishment perceived in what a magnificent manner our support had been provided for. We could not with the utmost exertion consume above the twentieth part of the beef. The cucumber will, I believe, be a very acceptable present, as my uncle talks of having inquired the price of one lately, when he was told a shilling.
Food prices: “I am not without hopes of tempting Mrs. Lloyd to settle in Bath; meat is only 8d. per pound, butter 12d., and cheese 9 1/2 d. You must carefully conceal from her, however, the exorbitant price of fish: a salmon has been sold at 2s. 9d. per pound the whole fish. The Duchess of York’s removal is expected to make that article more reasonable — and till it really appears so, say nothing about salmon.”
New bonnets: “My mother has ordered a new bonnet, and so have I; both white strip, trimmed with white ribbon. I find my straw bonnet looking very much like other people’s, and quite as smart. Bonnets of cambric muslin on the plan of Lady Bridges’ are a good deal worn, and some of them are very pretty; but I shall defer one of that sort till your arrival.”
The Paragon from Travelpod
May 12 (a ball): “In the evening, I hope you honoured my toilette and ball with a thought; I dressed myself as well as I could, and had all my finery much admired at home. By nine o’clock my uncle, aunt, and I entered the rooms, and linked Miss Winstone on to us. Before tea it was rather a dull affair; but then the before tea did not last long, for there was only one dance, danced by four couple. Think of four couple, surrounded by about an hundred people, dancing in the Upper Rooms at Bath. After tea we cheered up; the breaking up of private parties sent some scores more to the ball, and though it was shockingly and inhumanly thin for this place, there were people enough, I suppose, to have made five or six very pretty Basingstoke assemblies.”
The sale of their belongings: “I thank you for your Sunday’s letter, it is very long and very agreeable. I fancy you know many more particulars of our sale than we do; we have heard the price of nothing but the cows, bacon, hay, hops, tables, and my father’s chest of drawers and study table. Mary is more minute in her account of their own gains than in ours; probably being better informed in them. I will attend to Mrs. Lloyd’s commission and to her abhorrence of musk when I write again.”
Fancy Ball at the Upper Rooms, Bath, Thomas Rowlandson
May 21 – the search for apartments continues: “Our views on G. P. Buildings seem all at an end; the observation of the damps still remaining in the offices of an house which has been only vacated a week, with reports of discontented families and putrid fevers, has given the coup de grace. We have now nothing in view. When you arrive, we will at least have the pleasure of examining some of these putrefying houses again; they are so very desirable in size and situation, that there is some satisfaction in spending ten minutes within them.”
Walking with Mrs. Chamberlayne: “It would have amused you to see our progress. We went up by Sion Hill, and returned across the fields. In climbing a hill Mrs. Chamberlayne is very capital; I could with difficulty keep pace with her, yet would not flinch for the world. On plain ground I was quite her equal. And so we posted away under a fine hot sun, she without any parasol or any shade to her hat, stopping for nothing, and crossing the churchyard at Weston with as much expedition as if we were afraid of being buried alive. After seeing what she is equal to, I cannot help feeling a regard for her. As to agreeableness, she is much like other people.”
On a small party: “We are to have a tiny party here to-night. I hate tiny parties, they force one into constant exertion. Miss Edwards and her father, Mrs. Busby and her nephew, Mr. Maitland, and Mrs. Lillingstone are to be the whole; and I am prevented from setting my black cap at Mr. Maitland by his having a wife and ten children.”
Panorama of Bath from Beechen Cliff, 1824, Harvey Wood
Jane wrote several other “May letters” from Chawton (1811) and Sloane Street (1813):
May 29, 1811 (Chawton):
Springtime storms: “Mrs. Terry, Mary, and Robert, with my aunt Harding and her daughter, came from Dummer for a day and a night,—all very agreeable and very much delighted with the new house and with Chawton in general. We sat upstairs, and had thunder and lightning as usual. I never knew such a spring for thunderstorms as it has been. Thank God! we have had no bad ones here. I thought myself in luck to have my uncomfortable feelings shared by the mistress of the house, as that procured blinds and candles. It had been excessively hot the whole day.”
Improvements: “The chimneys at the Great House are done. Mr. Prowting has opened a gravel-pit, very conveniently for my mother, just at the mouth of the approach to his house; but it looks a little as if he meant to catch all his company. Tolerable gravel.”
May 20, 1813 (Sloane Street):
Travels: “We left Guildford at twenty minutes before twelve (I hope somebody cares for these minutiæ), and were at Esher in about two hours more. I was very much pleased with the country in general. Between Guildford and Ripley I thought it particularly pretty, also about Painshill; and from a Mr. Spicer’s grounds at Esher, which we walked into before dinner, the views were beautiful. I cannot say what we did not see, but I should think there could not be a wood, or a meadow, or palace, or remarkable spot in England that was not spread out before us on one side or other.”
Settling in: “I fancy it was about half-past six when we reached this house,—a twelve hours’ business, and the horses did not appear more than reasonably tired. I was very tired too, and glad to get to bed early, but am quite well to-day. I am very snug in the front drawing-room all to myself, and would not say “thank you” for any company but you. The quietness of it does me good.”
May 24, 1813 (Sloane Street):
On visiting an exhibition and finding the Mrs. Bingley’s (Jane Bennet’s) likeness and looking for Mrs. Darcy’s (Elizabeth Bennet’s) likeness: “…to my great amusement, Henry and I went to the exhibition in Spring Gardens. It is not thought a good collection, but I was very well pleased, particularly (pray tell Fanny) with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her. I went in hopes of seeing one of her sister, but there was no Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps, however, I may find her in the great exhibition, which we shall go to if we have time. I have no chance of her in the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s paintings, which is now showing in Pall Mall, and which we are also to visit. Mrs. Bingley’s is exactly herself,—size, shaped face, features, and sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favorite color with her. I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow.”
Later that evening, on searching for Mrs. D (Elizabeth Bennet): “We have been both to the exhibition and Sir J. Reynolds’s, and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either. I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye. I can imagine he would have that sort of feeling,—that mixture of love, pride, and delicacy.”
Jane Bennet, Pride and Prejudice (1995).
May in Jane Austen’s Novels
May isn’t mentioned too terribly much in Austen’s novels, but it is a special point of interest and conversation in Emma because of the timing of Frank Churchill’s visit and the timing of the ball:
Emma
Frank’s visit: “Emma heard that Frank wrote in the highest spirits of this arrangement, and seemed most fully to appreciate the blessing of having two months before him of such near neighbourhood to many dear friends—for the house was taken for May and June. She was told that now he wrote with the greatest confidence of being often with them, almost as often as he could even wish.”
Mr. Weston’s joy: “Mr. Weston’s own happiness was indisputable. He was quite delighted. It was the very circumstance he could have wished for. Now, it would be really having Frank in their neighbourhood. What were nine miles to a young man?—An hour’s ride. He would be always coming over.“
A ball: “Mr. Weston’s ball was to be a real thing. A very few to-morrows stood between the young people of Highbury and happiness.”
May is better for everything: “Mr. Woodhouse was resigned. The time of year lightened the evil to him. May was better for every thing than February.”
Evening fire in May: “The whole party walked about, and looked, and praised again; and then, having nothing else to do, formed a sort of half-circle round the fire, to observe in their various modes, till other subjects were started, that, though May, a fire in the evening was still very pleasant.“
Anya Taylor-Joy (left) as “Emma Woodhouse” and Callum Turner (right) as “Frank Churchilll.” (2020). Credit : Focus Features.
May Dates of Importance
This brings us now to several important May dates that relate to Jane and her family:
Family News:
May 1801: Austen family leaves Steventon and settles in Bath. Mrs. Austen and Jane travel via Ibthorpe. James Austen and his family take resident at Steventon rectory.
May 1807: Captain Charles Austen marries Fanny Palmer in Bermuda.
Historic Dates:
18 May 1804: Napoleon crowns himself emperor of France.
Writing:
May 1814: Mansfield Park published anonymously, “By the Author of ‘Sense & Sensibility,’ and ‘Pride & Prejudice.’
Sorrows:
24 May 1817: Jane leaves Chawton and moves with Cassandra to Winchester, for medical treatment.
On this day in 1817, Jane Austen left this house for the final time. She went to stay in Winchester, closer to her doctor, where she died two months later, on 18 July. -Jane Austen’s House Museum
I hope you’re enjoying our journey through each month of the year in Jane Austen’s world. It is a joy to look through this lens into Austen’s life and letters. We’ll continue our exploration and find out what happened in June in next month’s installment, June in Jane Austen’s World!
Today marks the start of a new month-by-month series, “A Year in Jane Austen’s World,” in which I highlight several important events and details that happened in Jane Austen’s novels, letters, and lifetime during each month of the year.
We’ll kick off Jane Austen January (aka “Jane-uary”) by examining passages and situations in each of her novels that occur in January. While some of the novels have no mention of January, others do—with interesting results! Next, we’ll note where Austen was and what she was doing in January by checking her letters for January dates and details. Finally, we’ll highlight events and anniversaries that occurred in January that directed affected Jane Austen or her family.
All of this can help us better understand Austen’s life and times as we look at specific dates, events, and details in the context of months and seasons.
Snowdrops at Chawton House in January, courtesy of Chawton House.
January in Regency Times
One of the highlights of January for Jane Austen’s family was surely Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany), which falls on January 5th.
Maria Grace, in her article “Celebrating Twelfth Night–Jane in January and You,” explains its religious importance: “Epiphany or Twelfth Night … was the exciting climax of the Christmastide season… It was a feast day to mark the coming of the Magi bearing gifts to the Christ child, and as such was the traditional day to exchange gifts.”
She also explains the social side of Twelfth Night: “In Jane Austen’s day, the party of the year would generally be held on Twelfth Night.” (Austen Variations)
During the Regency Era, people hosted parties and balls to celebrate Christmas and especially the last day of the Christmas season. The entertainment often involved guests playing assigned parts for the evening, dressing up in costumes, eating “Twelfth Cake,” and eating and drinking.
Rowlandson, “Twelfth Night Characters,” Creative Commons, 1811.
In a letter to Cassandra on December 27, 1808, Austen writes about an upcoming ball between Christmas and “Twelfth-day” at Manydown:
I was happy to hear, chiefly for Anna’s sake, that a ball at Manydown was once more in agitation; it is called a child’s ball, and given by Mrs. Heathcote to Wm. Such was its beginning at least, but it will probably swell into something more. Edward was invited during his stay at Manydown, and it is to take place between this and Twelfth-day. Mrs. Hulbert has taken Anna a pair of white shoes on the occasion.
Austen’s Letters (December 27, 1808)
Later, on January 10, 1809, she writes, “The Manydown ball was a smaller thing than I expected, but it seems to have made Anna very happy. At her age it would not have done for me.”
Manydown Great House, Wikipedia Commons, 1833.
January Travel in Jane Austen’s Novels
In Austen’s novels, January is primarily mentioned in the context of parties and travel. Anne Elliot goes to Bath for January and February, Miss Crawford is invited for “a long visit” to see her friend in London in January, Mrs. Jennings goes to her own house in London in January, and Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, and Bingley’s sisters all go to London (when Bingley leaves Netherfield) and stay for the winter.
In Sense and Sensibility, Lucy Steele and her sister, Anne, go to “town” (London) in January to stay with relatives (and subsequently move from house to house throughout the season as socially advantageous opportunities become available):
I had quite depended upon meeting you there. Anne and me are to go the latter end of January to some relations who have been wanting us to visit them these several years! But I only go for the sake of seeing Edward. He will be there in February, otherwise London would have no charms for me; I have not spirits for it.
Sense and Sensibility
Mrs. Jennings, who “resided every winter in a house in one of the streets near Portman Square,” invites Elinor and Marianne to come with her to London in January when her thoughts begin to turn toward home after Christmas.
Portman Square, London, Wikipedia Commons, 1813.
The London Season
So why do so many of Austen’s characters travel to London in January? Wouldn’t the weather make travel difficult? Wouldn’t they prefer to stay home (and inside) where it’s cozy?
These are fair questions, but after Christmas, a large portion of the genteel class moved “to town” during the winter months for the London Season, which coincided with England’s political schedule, for entertainment and socializing. The Season had previously started in the fall, meaning most people went to London before the bad weather set in, but with the improvement of roads and travel during Austen’s day, the season slowly shifted later.
Here’s an explanation of the London Season from Jane Austen’s House Museum:
The London season coincided with the sitting of Parliament, beginning at some point after Christmas when fashionable families would move into their London houses. The men would attend Parliament, whilst the women shopped, visited, and found husbands for themselves or their daughters. It lasted until early summer, when the ‘beau monde’ would return to their country estates, escaping the city’s stifling heat and pungent smells.
The season was a whirlwind of court balls and concerts, private balls and dances, parties and sporting events. On a typical day, ladies would rise early to go riding in Hyde Park, before returning home to breakfast and spending the day shopping, dealing with correspondence and paying calls.
Most villages had assemblies and balls during the winter, but all of the most important social occasions happened “in town.” In Pride and Prejudice, we’re told that the Bennet sisters have little to do “beyond the walks to Meryton” in January and February, when conditions are “sometimes dirty and sometimes cold” (Ch. 27). It makes sense that many young women longed to go to town in the winter, at the height of the London Season and “marriage market,” when the majority of the parties, balls, and social events were held.
Rowlandson, Drawing Room at St. James’s Palace in London, Wikimedia Commons, 1810.
January in Jane Austen’s Letters
January often brings rain, cold weather, and even snow to the various locations where Austen lived and traveled. Austen kept her spirits up, but January in England, especially in homes without central heating or today’s insulation, could not have been entirely comfortable. Balls and assemblies, visits and travel, kept Austen busy and content during the winter months.
Austen’s entries follow below and give us a glimpse into the miserable weather conditions during one particularly snowy and wet January:
17 January 1809 (Castle Square): “Yes, we have got another fall of snow, and are very dreadful; everything seems to turn to snow this winter.”
24 January 1809 (Castle Square): “This day three weeks you are to be in London, and I wish you better weather; not but that you may have worse, for we have now nothing but ceaseless snow or rain and insufferable dirt to complain of; no tempestuous winds nor severity of cold. Since I wrote last we have had something of each, but it is not genteel to rip up old grievances.”
In the same letter, Austen describes her writing: “I am gratified by her having pleasure in what I write, but I wish the knowledge of my being exposed to her discerning criticism may not hurt my style, by inducing too great a solicitude. I begin already to weigh my words and sentences more than I did, and am looking about for a sentiment, an illustration, or a metaphor in every corner of the room. Could my ideas flow as fast as the rain in the store-closet, it would be charming.”
On the topic of the store-closet, she writes this: “We have been in two or three dreadful states within the last week, from the melting of the snow, etc., and the contest between us and the closet has now ended in our defeat. I have been obliged to move almost everything out of it, and leave it to splash itself as it likes.”
30 January 1809 (Castle Square): “Here is such a wet day as never was seen. I wish the poor little girls had better weather for their journey; they must amuse themselves with watching the raindrops down the windows. Sackree, I suppose, feels quite broken-hearted. I cannot have done with the weather without observing how delightfully mild it is; I am sure Fanny must enjoy it with us. Yesterday was a very blowing day; we got to church, however, which we had not been able to do for two Sundays before.”
And a final update on the flooded closet: “The store-closet, I hope, will never do so again, for much of the evil is proved to have proceeded from the gutter being choked up, and we have had it cleared. We had reason to rejoice in the child’s absence at the time of the thaw, for the nursery was not habitable. We hear of similar disasters from almost everybody.”
If you’ve ever dealt with water damage or burst pipes due to cold weather, you know how awful and destructive it can be. Austen makes light, but one can imagine it caused quite a bit of damage.
Snow at Jane Austen’s House Museum, January 2021.
January in Jane Austen’s Lifetime
And finally, let us turn our attention to some of the most important dates and events that happened (or were celebrated) during the first month of the year in Jane Austen’s lifetime. In December 1800, Reverend Austen decided to retire and remove his family to Bath. Austen’s letters in January 1801 prove an interesting read as she and the Austen family prepare to move later in the year:
3 January 1801 (Steventon): Austen writes that her mother wants to keep two maids and quips about their plans to have “a steady cook and a young giddy housemaid, with a sedate, middle-aged man, who is to undertake the double office of husband to the former and sweetheart to the latter.”
Austen discusses three parts of Bath where they might live: “Westgate Buildings, Charles Street, and some of the short streets leading from Laura Place or Pulteney Street.” She writes extensively about each neighborhood and several others, giving her opinion and hopes about each. She details which pictures, furniture, and beds they are choosing to keep or leave behind and asks Cassandra’s advice. And she shares plans for the family to travel to Bath a few weeks from then.
Austen shares own thoughts on their move to Bath: “I get more and more reconciled to the idea of our removal. We have lived long enough in this neighborhood: the Basingstoke balls are certainly on the decline, there is something interesting in the bustle of going away, and the prospect of spending future summers by the sea or in Wales is very delightful. For a time we shall now possess many of the advantages which I have often thought of with envy in the wives of sailors or soldiers. It must not be generally known, however, that I am not sacrificing a great deal in quitting the country, or I can expect to inspire no tenderness, no interest, in those we leave behind…”
The letter is full of useful information and well-worth a read. You can access it HERE.
14 January 1801 (Steventon): Austen speaks of the many visitors they’ve received in response to the news that Rev. Austen is retiring and the family is moving to Bath. She says, “Hardly a day passes in which we do not have some visitor or other: yesterday came Mrs. Bramstone, who is very sorry that she is to lose us, and afterwards Mr. Holder, who was shut up for an hour with my father and James in a most awful manner.”
4 Sydney Place, Bath.Plaque outside 4 Sydney Place, Bath.
January Dates of Importance
This brings us now to several dates that would have been quite important to Austen personally:
Celebrations/Birthdays:
9 January 1773: Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra Elizabeth Austen, born.
23 January 1793: Edward Austen’s first child, Fanny, born.
Goodbyes/Sorrows:
January 1796: Tom Lefroy leaves Ashe for London (and never returns) and Tom Fowle (Cassandra’s fiancé) sets sail for the Indies, where he later dies.
21 January 1805: Rev. George Austen (Jane’s father) dies suddenly in Bath.
Writing:
28 January 1813: Pride and Prejudice was published, by Thomas Egerton (Whitehall, London).
21 January 1814: Austen begins writing Emma.
The Joys of Sleuthing
I hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of our month-by-month exploration of Jane Austen’s world. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was so much more to research and explore about the month of January than I anticipated. I enjoyed sleuthing around, following my nose, and discovering what I could uncover–just with the word “January.” If you have ideas about what I might pursue for February in Jane Austen’s World, please share your ideas in the comments.
Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is now available! By JAW contributor Brenda S. Cox. See Review. Available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.
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