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| Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland |
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| John Thornton and Margaret Hale |
This front door is number 17, The Circus, Bath. Approaching, The Circus, are three roads, Gay Street from the south, where Jane Austen lived for a short while, Bennet Street from the North East, which leads to The Upper Assembly Rooms and Brock Street to the North West which leads to the Royal Crescent. These three roads enter The Circus, dividing this circular road exactly into thirds. Number 17 is in the northern third and is near the entrance to Bennett Street.
It’s situation could not be closer to and was indeed part of the elite residences of Bath in the 18th century. It is also within a minutes walk of The Upper Assembly Rooms where the bright young things of the 18th century and some not so young, danced, gambled, flirted, paraded and generally made a show of themselves. These beautiful young things had time on their hands and many had money to spend.
The resident of number 17 The Circus between 1759 and 1768 was there to take advantage of this situation. He was Thomas Gainsborough an up and coming portrait artist.
Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy) and Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech
Jemima Rooper, Amanda Price in Lost in Austen, now in Me and My Girl
Felicity Jones (Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey) as Luise Miller, a woman in love with a prince.
Elizabeth Jenkins died on Sunday. She was 104 years old. Her......fondness for Jane Austen continued throughout her life. In 1940 she was a founder member of the Jane Austen Society, which aimed to buy Austen’s house at Chawton. The owner was prepared to sell, for £3,000 – a formidable sum for a group quite without resources. But in 1947, the magistrate Thomas Edward Carpenter put up the money for the purchase.
Gentle Readers: Jana from Time Travel Kitchen wrote to say that she prepared a Regency meal. Her menu consisted of Currie of dressed Meat in Casserole of Rice, Carrot Soup, Young Greens, Orange Pudding, and Turnips. Her post starts with:Lately, I read part of Pride and Prejudice. This particular passage inspired me to take a trip back to Regency times:Read the rest of the post and find Jana's recipes at this link.
The dinner was as well dressed as any I ever saw. The venison was roasted to a turn--and everybody said they never saw so fat a haunch. The soup was fifty times better than what we had at the Lucases' last week; and even Mr Darcy acknowledged, that the partridges were remarkably well done; and I suppose he has two or three French cooks at least. And, my dear Jane, I never saw you look in greater beauty. Mrs Long said so too, for I asked her whether you did not. -Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
The website, English and French Antique Textiles, offers information on finding rare cloth and lace, or antique clothes, such as an 1815 christening gown (below). Find Spitalfields silk (above) , an 18th c. French quilt, hand embroidered dress silk, and a woven toile d'abbeville from the 17th century.
"Can you possibly identify the creature that makes all that ruckus outside of the window of Rosings, in the early morning hours, after Mr. Darcy wrote his letter of defense to Lizzy, in P&P, the miniseries of 1995....?
I am hoping that you can help me to solve this mystery. It has been bugging me for years, now."
Gentle readers: I've been curious about your devotion to Pride and Prejudice for a long time. How many of you have read the book and seen a movie? How many of you have seen all the films, as well as a stage production? And have you read a sequel or prequel, or other Austenesque books? Or own a DVD or soundtrack CD of the film? Let us know. 
The September/October 2010 issue of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine is published this week.- Bath Jane Austen Festival, country fayre at the Guildhall, Bath, on Saturday, September 19
- JASNA AGM, Regency Emporium, in Portland, Oregon, October 28-30
Readers are invited to visit our stand and say hello!
Can you stand to wait for the premiere of The King's Speech, biopic about King George the VI and his stuttering problem? Here are a few images and a movie trailer/interview.
