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Christmas Carols of Yore

December 9, 2018 by Vic

Faithful readers,

Fronticepiece of Christmas Carols by Thomas Wright, 1841Once again December has caught me flat footed. It is almost 10 days into the month and I am still researching interesting historical information about Christmas holiday celebrations as Jane Austen would have known them. While many books, articles, bloggers and internet sites cover this topic in detail, I hope to add a few interesting items that might not be widely known. I urge you to read Austenonly’s excellent article, “But Surely Christmas in England Didn’t Exist Until Dickens Invented It? “, which explains how and why this season was suppressed for years by the Puritans in the mid-17th century, when Charles I had been deposed and beheaded, and how our customs managed to survive and flourish.

As many of you know, Christmas celebrations as we know it in modern times (the decorative tree, a German custom, the elaborately wrapped presents, and the many traditional carols we still sing today) are rooted in Victorian times. So how did Jane Austen and her contemporaries celebrate this important Christian holiday? I hope to link to many articles of interest and provide a few insights of my own.

I learned with shock that many of my favorite carols, such as Silent Night and The First Noel, were written after Jane Austen’s death. I chose the following two 17th century carols (which Jane Austen might not have known, but which had been retrieved from obscurity in 1841 by Thomas Wright in Specimens of Old Christmas Carols ) because of the Boar’s Head motif, which has endured to this day. I love the old English spelling in these songs and yet their content speaks to the celebrations we still hold today.

A Carol bringyng in the bores heed.

Caput apm’ dgfero, Reddens laudes Domino.

[From a Collection of Christmas Carols, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1521, from which book it is given by Hearne, in his notes to William of Newbery, iii. p. 17 5.]

The bores heed in hande bring I,

With garlands gay and rosemary;

I praye you all synge merely,

qui estis in convivio.

The bores heed, I understande,

Is the chefe servyce of this lande;

Loke where ever it be fande,

servite cum cantico.

Be gladde, lordes, bothe more and lasse,

For this hath ordeyned owr stewarde,

T o chere you all this Christmasse,

The bores heed with mustarde.

Bringing in the Boar's Head image, copyright free.

XIX. [The following modernised form of the foregoing carol, is given by Dr. Dibdin, as preserved and used up to a very recent period at Queen’s College, Oxford. Dibdin’s Ames, vol. ii. p. 252.]

THE boar’s head in hand bear I,

Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary;

And I pray you, my masters, be merry,

Quot estis in convivio.

Caput Apri defero,

Reddens laudes Domino.

The boar’s head, as I understand,

Is the rarest dish in all this land,

Which thus bedeck’d with a gay garland,

Let us servire cantico.

Caput Apri dlfero,

Reddens laudes Domino.

Our steward hath provided this

In honour of the king of bliss;

Which on this day to be served is

In Reginemn’ Atria.

Caput Apri defero,

Reddens laudcs Domino.

Posted in Christmas, Jane Austen's World, Regency Christmas Traditions | Tagged | 5 Comments »

To Make Cyder

November 22, 2018 by Vic

Inquiring readers,

I am sharing this 18th century recipe just in time for the American Thanksgiving. In Georgian England and Colonial America, apples were picked in late fall in preparation for making cyder.  The fermented concoction was then bottled in March. This recipe comes from The Compleat Houfewife: or, Accomplifs’d Gentlewoman’s Companion, written by Eliza Smith and first published in London in 1727. The book was widely disseminated over the next 50 years, including the American colonies.

Recipe from the Compleat Housewife, a cookery book written by Eliza Smith and published in London in 1727.PULL your Fruit before ‘tis too ripe, and let it lie but one or two days to have one good Sweat; your Apples muft be Pippins, Pearlmains, or Harveys, (if you mix Winter and Summer Fruit together ‘tis never good) grind your Aples and prefs it, and when your Fruit is all prefs’d. put it immediately into a Hogfhead where it may have fome room to Work; but no Vent, but a little hole near the Hoops, but clofe bung’d; put 3 or 4 pound of Raifins into a Hogfhead, and two pound of Sugar, it will make it work better; often racking it off is the beft way to fine it, and always rack it into fmall Veffels, keeping them clofe bung’d, and only a fmall Vent-hole; if it fhould work after racking, put into your Veffel feme Raifins for it to feed on, and bottle it in March.

For those who are curious about the cider recipe above, a hogshead equals 110 gallons. By the end of the 17th century, close to to 10,000 hogsheads were exported yearly from Worcestershire alone. (1)

ancient cider making

From Ancient Cider Making at Smithsonian.com

Drinking cider has been around for thousands of years.

…cider spread throughout the Roman Empire and across Europe, becoming popular with people from the Germanic tribes to the Normans, whose conquest of England in the 9th century brought apple orchards and the very word “cider” into the English language.”  Read more @ Smithsonian.com

While ale and beer were more popular drinks, cider held its own. One of the apples mentioned in Eliza Smith’s cyder recipe is a pippin.  The word pippin denotes an apple tree grown from a seedling and that was not a grafted. Apples in the 17th and 18th century were not the sweet and beautifully shaped varieties we are accustomed to in our day. Pippins were lopsided, lumpy little fruits that were hard and tasted tart when picked early, but slowly ripened into a rich flavor. Other popular cyder apples were Pearmains,  the oldest known apple of English origin, and Doctor Harvey apples, which originated in Norfolk, England in 1629.

The endangered newton pippin apple.

Lumpy little pippins. Click here to learn more about the Newton Pippin apples in this photo. They are (link) now endangered in the U.S. 

In the 16th and 17th centuries , apple orchards were planted in Kent, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. Most of the apples, which were transported via canals throughout England to an ever expanding market, were used to make cider. This was how cider-making became a big business.

Image of the fronticepiece and title of the Compleat Housewie or Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion

I recall reading one historian’s opinion that, because of the dangers of unsafe water, before the age of enlightenment and before tea, hot chocolate, and coffee became popular and more affordable, (the boiled water essential in their preparation was safe), the populace was generally soused morning, noon, and night from drinking alcoholic beverages such as wine, ale, gin, cider, and other fermented beverages. Some folks obviously drank more than others (the vivid characters in Tom Jones come to mind), but drinking alcoholic beverages was so common, that pregnant women were administered these drinks to dull the pain of labor.

In 2009, Sarah Meachan, a history professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, published a book entitled Every Home a Distillery: Alcohol, Gender, and Technology in the Colonial Chesapeake. In it, she wrote:

In parishes, villages, and small towns throughout England, women continued to make small-scale cider and ale until the eighteenth century.” – Quote in this link from Google books

The men and women who colonized the Chesapeake region (Virginia and Maryland) followed patterns similar to their British counterparts. Women made alcohol in the Colonies from the late 17th to late 18th centuries. Men owned the taverns, which made sense since women were not allowed to own property, except in the instance of a rich widow. And, so, cyder making , which was once a woman’s task, both in Great Britain and the colonies, was eventually overtaken by men as the distribution of cyder to male-owned taverns increased in both size, scope, and profitability.

Hard cider is once more gaining popularity in boutique craft breweries that are sprouting up in every place I frequent along the East Coast of the U.S.

In ending this post, I raise my glass of cyder to you, dear readers. May you and yours have a most blessed day with family and friends (and may you remember every bit of it!)

 

Sources:

The Ancient Origins of Apple Cider: The classic fall drink has boozy origins going back thousands of years, Smithsonian Magazine, December 8, 2016, Smithsonian.com

Pippin image: The Heirloom Orchadist,

Additional reading:

Save England’s Real Apples, Karen Homer, The Guardian, downloaded 3/21/2018. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/14/apple-britain-gala-traditional

‘Age of Indulgence: Beer and Wine in the Era of Jane Austen,’ Ancient Art Podcast, July 12, 2015

 

Posted in Georgian Life, Jane Austen's World | Tagged , , | 6 Comments »

Rowlandson’s Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders at the British Library

November 18, 2018 by Vic

Landing page to Rowlandson's characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, intended as a companion to the New Picture of London, with an image of Drayman.

One of the privileges of using technology is our ability to peruse original editions online. We no longer need to travel to major city and university libraries to hunt down sources, or travel to distant states and lands, although viewing Jane Austen’s letters at the Morgan Library exhibit in New York gave me an unexpected thrill and feeling of awe.

Thomas Rowlandson is one of my favorite artists/caricaturists of the Georgian era. I hold him and the French caricaturist, Honoré-Victorin Daumier, in the highest esteem. As soon as I discovered this link I wanted to share it with you, the readers of this blog.

The following link leads directly to Rowlandson’s characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, intended as a companion to the New Picture of London. Published in London in 1820, the 54 scenes of London street life would have been very familiar to Jane Austen and her family. In fact, to understand the world she lived in, one must view the lives led by all the social orders in her era.

Rowlandson's "Chairs to Mend" detail of man, dog, and potential customer

One reason I love Rowlandson cartoons is the attention he pays to details – the dog reacting to his street cries, the chair mending materials he carries, the old woman in the background holding a chair to mend – with deft lines he recreates a noisy, raucous street scene. This image from the British Library is in the public domain.

Jane, who traveled to Bath and London and other large towns, was no simpering Miss. She must have been exposed (infrequently, perhaps) to scenes such as the one depicted in “Strawberries.”  If she did not view them as an eye witness, she might well have come upon to the many caricatures publicly hanging for sale in print shop windows or printed in publications.

Detail of "Strawberries" from Rowlandson's characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, intended as a companion to the New Picture of London

Rowlandson incorporates rich story telling into his masterful drawings. The strawberry seller in the front of this detail has packaged her fruit tidily in small baskets, which the customer at right carries away with some satisfaction. The strawberry seller in the background at left sells her fruit loosely, allowing the male customer to bend over and ogle her bosom while grabbing for her berries, a not so subtle jab at the many streetwalkers (both day and night) occupying London at the time.

Jane’s pugnacious sense of humor, evident from her juvenilia and in a more sophisticated fashion in her later novels and letters, makes sense, given her talent, the way in which her family nurtured her budding talent, and the influence satiric novels and cartoons of the day must have had on her. No matter how gently bred a young lady might be (except for the most shielded), there was no escaping the dichotomy between the rules of etiquette for the gently bred and the general licentiousness of the Georgian era.

Rowlandson depicts both worlds masterfully in the hand-colored plates we are privileged to view in this online resource.

Two pages in Rowlandson's characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, intended as a companion to the New Picture of London, depicting Door-Mats seller and Earthen-ware seller.

I love how Rowlandson draws details of every day life that no longer exists: the maid choosing a new door mat and another maid scrubbing the front stoop, while she is ogled by an old man. In ‘Earthen-Ware,’ a lady of quality inspects the pots and bowls for sale. This is a straightforward depiction of merchants trying to make a sale, one in which I can readily imagine Jane Austen as the customer. This public domain image was taken from this link on the British Library website.

 

Image of a lady selling poodle pups to a couple in Rowlandson's characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, intended as a companion to the New Picture of London.

One of the sweeter drawings in Rowlandson’s book. Public domain image from the British Library/

One can learn so much from these illustrations about early 19th century London and a life once lived and now lost. Heartbreaking scenes (such as those with the chimney sweepers and coal heavers) are interspersed with a sweet depiction of a young gardener showing his wares to a pretty woman or a funny scene of a woman crying “sweet lavender” while holding a screaming baby. These images help me understand Jane Austen’s London experiences better, while making me appreciate the sheer artistry of the man who created them.

Other posts on this blog:

Pinterest resources:

 

Posted in Georgian Life, Georgian London, Jane Austen's World | Tagged , | 5 Comments »

BOOK GIVEAWAY of Praying with Jane

November 4, 2018 by Vic

Inquiring readers,

We are almost halfway through our blog tour of Rachel Dodge’s book, Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. So far, you have been treated to a number of informative and creative interviews and reviews. You also had the opportunity to join in several givaways.

AND THE WINNERS ARE! Camille Turner and Jamie Fisher! Congratulations, ladies. As soon as I hear from you, I shall send your addresses to the publisher.

 

Praying With Jane Austen Book Cover

Jane Austen’s World is jumping on board the giveaway bandwagon. Using a random drawing generator, I will choose two visitors from the U.S. who answer this question (which Rachel Dodge also answered. See her reply in this post: Click here.)

What’s one question you wish you could ask Jane in person if you could go back in time?

I will draw the two winners on Saturday, November 17thand make the announcement on the 18th! Books will be sent by the publisher, Bethany House as soon as I receive your mailing addresses. (My apologies to all our foreign visitors.)

Now, feel free to comment away!

Vic

 

 

 

Posted in Jane Austen's World | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments »

Praying with Jane: My Changed Relationship with Jane, by Rachel Dodge

October 31, 2018 by Vic

Blog Tour Kick-Off!

Inquiring readers,

It is my privilege to kick off the blog tour of Rachel Dodge’s book, Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen on Jane Austen’s World blog. (See calendar of the tour below.) Jane wrote masterfully insightful, funny, witty, as well as unflattering and acerbic observations of family members, acquaintances, and village characters in her private letters and novels, but, as Ms. Dodge describes in her book, she was also a religious, wise, talented, and complex woman who was hard to pigeon hole. Rachel’s book discusses Jane’s faith and rich inner life. Below, find my discussion with Ms. Dodge, who gave much thought to answering my questions.

Dodge_RachelQ: How did writing and researching Praying with Jane change your insights about Jane as a person and a writer?

 I definitely feel like I understand Jane better as a result of writing and researching Praying with Jane. I spent days, weeks, and months pouring over her letters and novels; examining and researching her prayers; and reading through the Austen family papers and memoirs. Each day when I put my research materials away, I was tired but happy because I felt as if I had spent the day with Jane! Her words were in my mind constantly. I listened to the cadence of her prayers, reflecting on her words and the meaning behind them. I studied her life and her faith, learning from her family’s home life and spiritual traditions. I even incorporated some of her habits into my own life, such as writing down my own prayers each morning in my journal.

PrayingwithJanecoverI put Praying with Jane together in a subtle, chronological order, which gave me the sense that I was watching her life unfold as I wrote. I saw her through her father’s eyes in his letter when she was born. I pictured walking up the lane to church, kneeling for prayers, reciting prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and gathering with the family to read in the evening. I saw the changes that occurred in her life, from the Steventon years of a full house brimming with children to the Chawton years when it was just the ladies at home. I viewed her from the perspective of her nieces and nephews in their letters and memoirs, , with whom she was “the general favourite . . . her ways with them being so playful, and her long circumstantial stories so delightful” (Austen-Leigh). I read Cassandra’s letters about Jane’s final days here on Earth as though I was sitting beside her bed. I included an epilogue in the book called “A Lasting Legacy” because I wanted to honor the profound impact her life and writing has had on me and countless others.

 

 

 

 

Steventon Church, Photo by Rachel Dodge
Interior of church, Photo by Rachel Dodge

Q: How did your research change your personal feelings towards Jane?

In my academic work, I’ve always referred to Jane Austen by her last name, but after working on the manuscript for this book for several months, she soon became Jane to me. She was no longer a famous author; she was a person. Referring to her as “Jane” in the book, and even selecting the title Praying with Jane is evidence of the bond I felt with her after such an intense study of her life, faith, and prayers. I feel a certain kinship with her now as a result of my studies.

I also understand her desire to live life well, to consider how she spent each day, and to think about how her actions or words might affect others. In one of her prayers, she says this: “Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow-creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with that charity which we would desire from them ourselves.” Her words are personal and relatable. I think we’ve all had moments when we thought too highly of ourselves or judged others too quickly or harshly.

In the book’s introduction, I say this: “Reading Jane’s prayers is a bit like looking into her heart. In them, we get to know another side of Jane’s personality—a more serious and reverent side. They reveal a genuine, practical faith in Jesus Christ. Every line displays a balance of robust belief and tender intimacy. And like her novels, Jane’s prayers contain meaning that reaches far beyond eloquent words or graceful phrases. They are personal and reflective, passionate and thorough.” Exploring Jane’s prayers is a wonderful way to get to know her better.

Q: Did writing this book give you a desire to reread her books from a new perspective?

Absolutely! Jane’s novels took on new meaning for me as I read, studied, and wrote about her prayers and her spiritual life. Rereading her novels over the past two years with the lines of her prayers in the back of my mind has given me a brand new perspective on her writing. Though her novels are not overtly religious or “preachy,” they each contain moral lessons, religious themes, and biblical undertones.

Jane appears to have taken her faith quite seriously. We can see from the reverent language and tone of her prayers that she meant what she wrote. For example, her first prayer has this opening line: “Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our Hearts, as with our lips.” This tells us she wanted to pray from the heart. She wasn’t the type to say or do one thing on Sunday and then live differently the rest of the week. Her faith was part of who she was. It makes sense, then, that her writing, which also flowed from her heart, might include spiritual themes. Anytime I can read Jane’s novels in a new light, I find it fascinating!

Q: What’s one question you wish you could ask Jane in person if you could go back in time?

If I could go back in time, I would ask Jane why she loved to write. I’m so curious to know what writing felt like to her. She obviously enjoyed it. She had a lot of fun with her characters and plots. Lines came to her as she was sitting quietly with her needlework. I’d like to take a long walk with her and ask all about her writing process. I want to know the story behind each of her novels and how she came up with her delightful characters.

Q: What did you learn about Jane’s inner life? What drove her?

Most of us who love Jane Austen want to know what made her tick. Getting to know Jane’s spiritual side did that for me. I like knowing that she prayed each morning and evening on her own, prayed with her family each day, read devotional literature and sermons, and attended church on Sunday. I appreciate the way she lived out her faith in her daily life as a daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I think love for her family drove her. She wasn’t the type to lock herself away, not to be disturbed, because she was busy writing. She wrote letters, played with her nieces and nephews, spent time with her family and neighbors, played the piano, traveled, read novels, cared for others, and enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Cassandra. Jane is a wonderful example of a well-rounded woman of faith for me.

I also admire that Jane Austen’s faith held fast during even the most difficult moments in her life. It was a firm foundation for her when she was ill. Her deep belief in a loving, gracious Father and the promise of an eternity spent in Heaven provided comfort in her final days on earth. She was taught to love and know God at an early age and she did “not depart from it” in her adult life (Proverbs 22:6). The storms of life seem to only have drawn her closer to God. She believed in the Bible and lived by it. She had a well spring of joy in her life that came from deep within and did not depend on her circumstances. Perhaps she was merely a naturally happy person, but I believe her faith, which the Bible calls a river of “living water,” was a source of inner joy and contentment for her (John 7:38).

Q: Do you think her faith played any part in her decision to remain single and pursue the non-ladylike ambition of a writing career?

If Jane’s faith did play any part in her decision to remain single, I’d say it’s only because her faith undergirded much of what she did in her life. I think she was quite content with her life, her family, and her writing. Jane understood what it meant to be loved—as a daughter, sister, and friend. I think she could have enjoyed great happiness in marriage to the right man, but I believe “only the deepest love” could have induced her to marry, much like her character Elizabeth Bennet.

Thank you, Vic, for hosting my book and for kicking off this blog tour. Thank you readers of Jane Austen’s World for your time and interest. It is my hope and prayer that Praying with Jane will help you know Jane better . . . and the God she loved.

About Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen: For more than two hundred years, Jane Austen and her novels have charmed readers from around the world. While much has been written about her fascinating life, less is known about Jane’s spiritual side. In this 31-day devotional, Austen’s faith comes to life through her exquisite prayers, touching biographical anecdotes, and illuminating scenes from her novels. Each reading also includes a thematically appropriate Scripture and a prayer inspired by Jane’s petitions.

PURCHASE PRAYING WITH JANE HERE

About the author: Rachel Dodge teaches college English and Jane Austen classes, gives talks at libraries, teas, and Jane Austen groups, and is a writer for the popular Jane Austen’s World blog. She is passionate about prayer and the study of God’s Word. A true “Janeite” at heart, Rachel enjoys books, bonnets, and ball gowns. She makes her home in Northern California with her husband and two children. You can find her online at RachelDodge.com.

Rachel’s website, Facebook or Twitter pages:

Online Reading Group: Starting November 1, Rachel is hosting a “31 Days of Praying with Jane” Facebook group. Here’s the link if you’d like to join her online reading group for the month of November: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037743546402251/

Works Cited:

Austen-Leigh, James Edward. Memoir of Jane Austen, 1870.

Blog Tour Dates:

October 31 – Praying with Jane, My changed Relationship with Jane, Jane Austen’s World, Vic Sanborn

November 1 – Praying With Jane by Rachel Dodge,  So Little Time, So Much to Read!, Candy Morton

November 2 – Praying With Jane: 31 Days Through Prayer (Review and Giveaway),  Laura’s Reviews, Laura Gerold

November 3 – Praying With Jane: 31 Days Through Prayer by Rachel Dodge, Burton Book Review, Marie Burton

November 4 – Blog Tour: Praying With Jane: 31 Days Through Prayer by Rachel Dodge, BLOGLOVIN‘, Sophia Rose

November 5 – Guest Post: Praying With Jane by Rachel Dodge and Book Giveaway! Jane Austen in Vermont, Deborah Barnum

November 6 – Book Spotlight and Giveaway: Praying with Jane by Rachel Dodge,  Calico Critic, Laura Hartness

November 7 – Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through Prayer by Rachel Dodge,  A Bookish Way of Life, Nadia Anguiano

November 8 – Book Spotlight: Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen by Rachel Dodge, Diary of an Eccentric,  Anna Horner

November 9 – Review of Praying with Jane, Becoming, Nichole Parks

November 10 – Praying with Jane: A new devotional based on the prayers of Jane Austen, My Jane Austen Book Club, Maria Grazia

November 11 – Praying with Jane Blog Tour: Interview and Giveaways, My Love for Jane Austen, Sylvia Chan

November 12 – Laughing with Lizzie, Sophie Andrews

November 13 – Book Review: Praying with Jane, Faith, Science, Joy … and Jane Austen,  Brenda Cox

Previous reviews:

Praying with Jane Blog Tour: https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2018/10/20/praying-with-jane-blog-tour/

Praying with Jane, Michelle Ule: https://www.michelleule.com/2018/09/28/jane-austen/

Jane Austen in Vermont: https://janeausteninvermont.blog/2018/10/05/guest-post-praying-with-jane-by-rachel-dodge/

Posted in Jane Austen Blog, Jane Austen's religion, Jane Austen's World | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments »

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