What the f?

My dearest Janeite-

I must first congratulate myself on such a witty title for this post, though I am most willing to admit I felt something akin to it as I began to pore over the long and much drawn out copy of The History of Sir Charles Grandison and later in a copy of The Mysteries of Udolpho. It was at first like I was reading something written in another language, stumbling over the words each time I encountered this strange and mystical letter:

We can even find this odd-f-looking letter within the subscriber list for Fanny Burney's Camilla (notice the Miss J. Austen, Steventon).

It will shock and surprise only some of you to learn that this is not a radical, impish "f" come to eat our tea cakes or steal our matching socks in the dead of the night, but actually just a fancy "s" (called the long s) used in the typesetting of the day.

Taken from the old Roman cursive medial s, the long s would begin to lose its appreciative audience before the mid-19th century. John Bell, the creator of the British Letter Foundry in 1788, is generally given credit for the demise of the long s.

As difficult as it is for us Janeites to read writings and manuscripts with this long forgotten not-an-f, I wonder how much trouble it would have been for Jane to read novels without its presence?

Until next time I am your most affectionate servant-

A Lady

The Players- Martha Lloyd- Martha, Martha, Martha

My Dearest Janeite-

A light mist has been falling for the past two days. The heavy fog brings to mind a different Jane who navigates her way through the Moors. I sit on a bench between two hedge rows and stare out over the countryside,  Jane Austen's Letters by Dierdre Le Faye finished for the first (but most certainly not last) time. My mind turns away from a different Jane or the English Moors or even dear Austen herself. Instead, I wonder at some of the bigger players in the great authoress' life. Yes, it is evident that her family, especially sister Cassandra, niece Fanny, and brother Henry, played an important part in her everyday life and writing career (and I will get to the family eventually). Today, though, I wish to turn my thoughts to Martha Lloyd.

I tend to agree with the Austen experts who claim that Martha was the third musketeer to Jane and Cassandra. She is referred to by Jane as like a sister. In Letter 58, upon the death of Elizabeth, Edward Austen Knight's wife, Jane writes:

"With what true sympathy our feelings are shared by Martha you need not

be told; she is the friend and sister under every circumstance."

 

 

Much has been said of this close friendship, such as the evidence that Martha was quite privy to the writings of Austen long before she had them published. In Letter 21, written in 1799, Austen writes of "First Impressions" (later titled Pride & Prejudice), saying:

"I would not let Martha read "First Impressions"[4] again upon any

account, and am very glad that I did not leave it in your power. She is

very cunning, but I saw through her design; she means to publish it from

memory, and one more perusal must enable her to do it. As for

"Fitzalbini," when I get home she shall have it, as soon as ever she

will own that Mr. Elliott is handsomer than Mr. Lance, that fair men are

preferable to black; for I mean to take every opportunity of rooting out

her prejudices."

 

 Ibthorpe.

 

 

 The Lloyd family began at Ibthorpe, and then moved to Deane. Martha would join the Austens in Bath and live with the Austen ladies during their time in Southampton and Chawton.

 

One of the most interesting bits about Martha from Jane's letters comes in 1809. Apparently Martha has a bit of a flirtation with a married man. Jane being the wit that she was, it is sometimes difficult to decipher when she is serious or joking, but this passage (to me) seems to elude to Martha's behavior not being what it should. In Letter  65 to Cassandra, Jane writes:

 

"Martha and Dr. Mant are as bad as ever; he runs after her in the street to apologise for having spoken to a Gentleman while she was near him the day before. Poor Mrs. Mant can stand it no longer; she is retired to one of her married Daughters."

 

In her next letter to Cassandra, Jane remarks to the effect that Martha was a little less than pleased about what Jane had said, while Jane writes:

 

"& as Dr. M is a clergyman their attachment, however immoral, has a decorous air."

 

Jane's willingness to jest about Martha's love life so openly does reveal just how close they were. I know many lament not having more of Cassandra's letters to Jane, but, given the choice, I think I would much rather have a nice long diary of Martha Lloyd's to read. What would you rather have?

 

Until next time, Your most humble servant-

 

A Lady

The Movies- Persuasion 2007 Alternate ending

My Dearest Janeite-

As I finished watching the 2007 version of Persuasion for the I-Don't-Know-How-Manyth time, I realized why I have always thought this book the most challenging when translating into a movie. For one, Anne does quite a bit of internal thinking throughout the course of the novel, a difficult thing to show on camera. This version of Persuasion attempts it by having our fair Anne stare mournfully into the camera, as if her eyes were pleading with us to understand what she is feeling. I do like the movie, as well as the 1995 version (pictured below), but find it more interesting that each version has chosen a different way to get to the ending of Wentworth's and Anne's story.

Why is that you might ask? Well, our dear Jane had initially written one particular ending for these two characters, then decided it was too boring and rewrote it. In fact, the rewritten manuscript of this section of Persuasion is the only example of Austen editing that we have in her own hand. While one does lament for the epistolary letters between Elinor and Marianne (before they became Sense & Sensibility), this does give us the notion that Jane did keep her dear readers in mind.

If you are feeling particularly frisky or academic, you can read the cancelled chapters 10 and 11 of Persuasion here. Which ending do you prefer? I just cannot quite decide, but I must say that Sally Hawkins did a lot of running to and fro at the end of the 2007 movie. Someone get that girl a cup of tea.

Until next time, I am your affectionate friend-  A Lady

       

OAM- A Tale, For Gentle and Simple

Dearest Janeite-

Once a month (or so), I would love to share with you a writer you may not have any clue about, but who wrote during the same time period or might have been an influence on our fair Jane. For my first story, I turn to "A Tale, For Gentle and Simple" written by an anonymous authoress. This particular novel can be found in full text at The Chawton House Library site here.

So, what is it about? This tale follows the life of a mysterious babe who happens to be found in the middle of a hay-cock and the friends she makes along her journey to womanhood. Full of mysteries, and quite a few spots of humor, I would give this story a good 4 out of 5 stars for it's well rounded character sketches and moments of giggling aloud.

So, what do we know about our anonymous author?

Well, the opening dedication is to Maria Edgeworth (sometimes referred to as the Irish Jane Austen), and we see Edgeworth's influence in the writer's remarks upon the proper way to educate children. Incidentally, "A Tale, For Gentle and Simple" was printed for a Rowland Hunter in 1815, as was Edgeworth's 1815 printing of "Education" (written with her father and previously published in 1801).

While we do not have a name for our writer, we might assume that she lived (or was at least experienced with) towns north of London. All of the cities she refers to  (Doncaster, Botany-Bay for criminals, Netherby, etc.) are real. We can also imagine that some experience in farming life might explain her descriptions.

There is a reference to Samuel Johnson on page 62, with Sir Thomas speaking of "Doctor What's-his-name" with his "love-tales." Like our fair Jane, this author was also an ardent fan of Samuel Richardson. Early on, there is an allusion to Sir Charles Grandison and a later reference to Pamela from Richardson's epistolary novel (novels written in letters) "Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded." Finally, there is a quote by John Dryden to open this small, country town tale.

Welcome

Letter 1

My Dearest Jane-

As I reach the halfway point of your letters, I find myself in a similar situation as Season 1 of Lost. The more I learn, the more mysteries I encounter. I am compelled to rewind episodes of your life and to take note of the odd or out of the ordinary. I anxiously flip back and forth from your letters to the footnotes that Deirdre Le Faye has so graciously left, but do not find the answers I seek. Thus begins my journey, and epistolary account, of My Dearest Janeite.

(If you would like to read Jane Austen's letters, here is a link to an online version of Brabourne's edition, though his is incomplete as of today. For a more current copy, check out Deirdre Le Faye's Fourth Edition).