P&P200: Lord Fitzwilliam Visits the Bride and Groom
Note: Antony, Lord Fitzwilliam, the current Earl Fitzwilliam and Darcy’s cousin, is an original character. If you have read my novels, you will be familiar with this scamp who doesn’t take anything too seriously and who drives his staid cousin crazy.
Arm-in-arm, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy walked the gardens on their first full day at Pemberley. The previous day, they had arrived at the manor house just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. Nearly exhausted from the wedding breakfast and their travels, the two had dined on a light supper before retiring for the night. After making love, they were quickly asleep in each other’s arms.
Since Elizabeth’s first visit to Pemberley in August, the gardens had been completely transformed, with vivid yellows, oranges, and reds replacing the softer pastels of a warmer season. There was also another difference. When Lizzy had first admired the gardens, she did so as Elizabeth Bennet, a woman who was contemplating the very real prospect of spinsterhood, having rejected the marriage proposal of Fitzwilliam Darcy at the Hunsford parsonage. Instead, she had returned—triumphantly—as the Mistress of Pemberley.
As they walked the pebbled paths, Elizabeth’s role as the mistress of such a great estate was very much on her mind. Her husband was attempting to reassure her that she was more than equal to the task of lady of the manor when they heard the sound of a carriage coming down the drive. From the noise it was making, they knew the conveyance was substantial, and Lizzy wondered aloud who their visitor might be.
“Good grief!” Darcy said as he caught site of the carriage with its two matched pairs of white stallions. With that exasperated exclamation, Lizzy knew who their visitor was: William’s cousin, Lord Fitzwilliam, the black sheep of the Fitzwilliam clan, an unrepentant reprobate and willing fodder for London’s scandal sheets. Continue reading
The Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles
Mr. Darcy’s P&P POV (the abridged version)
Part 6
Greetings, folks. Jack Caldwell here. This is Part 6 of my little work-in-process. For Part 1, go here, Part 2, here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here.
The completed story will be eventually posted in its entirety at Austen Authors’ The Writers Block and at my own Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile. But you don’t want to wait until then, do you?
Remember, comments are required.
~~~
PART 6
Chapter 19-23 –
Well, the deed is done. I have saved Bingley from a most imprudent match.
I traveled to London from Netherfield with Bingley. For me it was to escape the snare that Miss Elizabeth Bennet was becoming, and for Bingley, it was to see to some business. As I feared, part of Bingley’s business was to make inquiries as to the settlement that would be expected for a man of his means to the daughter of a country squire. My friend was indeed infatuated by the charming but otherwise inadequate Miss Jane Bennet. Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, who unsurprisingly followed us to Town, were beside themselves and petitioned me most passionately to talk sense into Charles. I agreed, and the disagreeable interview was done directly.
Bingley was at first quite put out by my questioning his intentions. However, when directly interrogated about the state of Miss Bennet’s affections, he could make no answer. Apparently, he owned some uncertainty about the level of her feelings, thinking her regard sincere but unequal. His doubts increased when I honestly could not alleviate his fears of her indifference. I pointed out the certain evils of choosing a lady with undesirable connections and intolerable relations, especially without any corresponding assurance of offsetting affection and love. Bingley’s disgust of making a marriage of convenience (which mirrors my own) and his reliance on my guidance made the unpleasant task of persuading him against Miss Bennet but the work of a moment.
I know I have done a great service for my friend. I just wish I did not feel so filthy.
Georgiana is somewhat improved. I think it is because of my return to Town. She misses me so, and I delight in her company, but she is so altered from the enchanting child who danced and sang throughout Pemberley—the girl I cherished, before Younge and… him. How dare he attempt to harm me through my sister! If there is a man on this Earth I hate, it is He Who Shall Not Be Named!
I fall back into gloomy thoughts, even as Advent begins. If only Miss Bennet loved Charles! Then, I could have no real objection. If only her connections were better. If only Mr. Bennet was a baronet. If only Elizabeth—
Gad, I must stop thinking about her! Continue reading
Halloween Hilarity with Jane Austen
Pumpkin by Machvala
Here in Vermont, I am fortunate to be experiencing a ruddy true autumn, with the world turned to gold, yellow, orange, flame red and deep crimson, with maple leaves whirling down, geese flying south, crisp winds, and a promise of even colder weather to come—the full array of New England fall colors similar to what Jane Austen herself probably saw in her own native England at this time of the year.
It can mean only one thing… Halloween is around the corner!
Yes indeed! I can hear it now, approaching with a howl and a moan and a creeping, dark shadow-chill, and an orange pumpkin with big, grinning jaws of fire!
What could be more perfect now than to give you a little taste of supernatural Jane Austen?
Here are three very short excerpts to put you in the Halloween mood, to raise delicious chills along your spine, and then to make you howl… with laughter!
In the first excerpt, from Mansfield Park and Mummies, you are treated to Lady Bertram, under the influence of an unfortunate Curse, and secreted away in the attic, as she tries to raise an Ancient Egyptian Mummy from the dead… Continue reading
The Brooklyn JASNA AGM: A View from the Stage
I’m just back from the overwhelming, stupendous, kaleidoscopic Annual General Meeting of JASNA, the Jane Austen Society of North America, held this year in lively Brooklyn. More excitement was packed into that single week than in an ordinary six months at home, but it would be impossible to cover or convey everything in a single blog post. So I’ll limit myself to a description of “The Austen Assizes,” the play co-written and produced by fellow Austen Author Syrie James and myself, which had a thoroughly smashing performance in the Grand Ballroom!
“We have been all alive with acting”
Partial cast picture: Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Marcee Chipman), Willoughby (Jonathan Ross), Court Clerk (Beatrice Nearey), Mrs. Bennet (Miriam Fuller), Fanny Dashwood (Diana Birchall), Robert Ferrars (Juliet Mc Master), Lucy Steele (Syrie James), and Col. Brandon (Bill James). Continue reading
Blast Your Timbers and other Regency Slang by Nina Benneton
Bite your vulgar tongue, sir!
Think you can spot a word or a phrase that doesn’t ring ‘Regency’ to you?
As a devoted, long-time reader of Jane Austen’s, Georgette Heyer’s, and numerous other contemporary Regency authors’ books, I thought I was rather good at picking up anachronistic words or phrases that do not seem to belong to ‘Regency’ period.
Then, I started writing a Regency novel, and a writer friend alerted me to online etymology site a few years ago, and before I know it, I’m buying and perusing books with titles like ‘Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue’ by F. Grose, ‘Regency Thesaurus and Slang’ by M. Jones, and ‘Dictionary of Historical Slang’ by J. Hotten.
Want to take a test? (I promise, it will be a fun test. No failing grades here.)
Yes or No?
Yes or No these Regency (up to 1820) word or phrase:
1. Bad show!
2. Balderbash!
3. Blast it!
Blast your timbers!
4. What the blazes! (Blazes= a very hot place.)
Mad as blazes!
Go to blazes!
5. Blimey!
6. Bloody!
Bleeding!
7. Bless my soul!
Bless his heart!
8. Oh bother!
Oh brother!
9. By Heavens!
By Jupiter!
By George!
10. Darn!
Da-mit! (2 m’s)
Da-n (as a noun),
Da-n ( as a verb),
Not give a da-n!
Not worth a da-n!
11. Dang it!
12. Dash it!
13. Go to the dickens!
The dickens you are!
What the dickens!
14. Drat!
Dratted!
15. Do tell!
Ready for the answers? Take out your Oxford English Dictionary (OED!), don’t worry about the other sources. OED is all you need, mostly. Continue reading
Is there anything sexier than Mr. Darcy reading a book?
Many thanks to Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, where this essay first appeared in January. Please check out the magazine’s website and consider subscribing!
Not to make all of you out there in cyber world swoon, but I’m in Brooklyn at the moment at the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting, so my responses will not be as timely as usual. I’m excited to meet Diana Birchall for the first time, but will be missing the usual Austen Author crowd that gathers at the AGMs.
Without further ado…back to Mr. Darcy…
Let’s face it. If you met Mr Darcy in real life, you wouldn’t go out with him after the disastrous first date. That’s assuming he condescended enough to actually ask you out, and that you, against your better judgment, said yes. Continue reading
P&P200: Lady Catherine Leaves Longbourn in a Dudgeon
Lady Catherine de Bourgh sat very straight in her seat in the chaise. Her always formidable mouth was compressed into an angry, thin line, and there were patchy spots of red on her cheeks. The waiting-woman, Mrs. Dawson, a widow forced into service owing to her poverty, shrank back onto the other side of the seat. Since tersely directing the coachman to drive at all speed to Mr. Darcy’s London residence, Lady Catherine had not opened her lips; and the speed and energy of the four post-horses she had hired, seemed to promise that they would reach their destination in a very few hours.
It was not until they were quite out of sight of Longbourn, Meryton, and any thing connected with the vile Bennet family, and indeed fast approaching the Hertfordshire border as they pounded down the good, smooth turnpike road, that she spoke.
“I am excessively displeased,” she said. “My journey has been for nothing.”
Mrs. Dawson might have said that her employer’s displeasure was evident, but she knew much better, and only murmured a sympathetic sound, inviting her Ladyship to say more.
“That girl. That pert, uncouth creature. I tell you, she intends to marry my nephew!”
“The Colonel, do you mean, my Lady? That will be too bad, won’t it?”
“No!” Lady Catherine exploded. “Don’t pretend ignorance, Dawson. That is as good as insolence and I shall not brook any such thing. You know very well I mean Darcy, and that Pemberley will be – rooo-hooo-ined!” At this point she gave a great glottal gulp and reached for her lace handkerchief. Continue reading
The Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles
Mr. Darcy’s P&P POV (the abridged version)
Part 5
Greetings, folks. Jack Caldwell here. This is Part 5 of my little work-in-process. For Part 1, go here, Part 2, here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here.
The completed story will be eventually posted in its entirety at Austen Authors’ The Writers Block and at my own Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile. But you don’t want to wait until then, do you?
Remember, comments are required.
~~~
PART 5
Chapter 15 –
WTF? WICKHAM? Wickham is in Meryton? What the devil is he doing here?
When I rode up with Bingley to greet the Bennet party, I almost fell off my saddle at the sight of that reprobate! Looking at his snide expression, the vision of Georgiana’s devastated face came directly to my mind. Oh, how I wish I had throttled that bastard in Ramsgate! I could not stand to be in that degenerate’s presence another instant, for if I did not ride away, I should have leapt off my horse and gave that deceitful disgrace of a man a piece of my mind. No—better yet, a kick in the bullocks.
Charles, of course, berated me for my behavior in Meryton, and I was forced to put him off with an abrupt apology. He knows I dislike that weasel, but he knows nothing about of how that scoundrel damaged my family in Ramsgate. And I mean to keep it that way. Charles cannot keep a secret to save his life.
Blast it all! Did Wickham know I was here? Is he after more of my money? Blackmail—is that his scheme?
No. He knows if he even breathes a word about Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam will hunt him down and skewer him with his sabre. And it will not be in a duel, either!
Well, if my father’s good-for-nothing godson knows what is best for him, he had better stay out of my sight! Continue reading
“Passionate” in Pasadena
Diana Birchall and Syrie James as Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen in Diana’s play “You are Passionate, Jane” in Pasadena
On Saturday Syrie James and I once again played Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte respectively, in my play “You are Passionate, Jane,” which JASNA-SW presented as a staged reading at the Pasadena Library. There were more than 100 people in the audience and the Los Angeles “debut” went as well as Seattle’s did – and Syrie and I had the same heavenly whale of a time. Professor Lynn Batten gave a wonderful talk on where Jane Austen’s writing fits stylistically between authors of the Regency period and Victorian times. This was the perfect preface to the play, which has Austen and Bronte “duking it out,” as he put it, in Paradise!
The play has now been videotaped (though I haven’t yet seen how it came out), and we also hope to perform it other cities, but because such plans are as up in the ether as the play’s characters, I thought it might be fun to share a little excerpt here:
“You are Passionate, Jane”
Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte: A Conversazione (Made in Heaven) by Diana Birchall Continue reading
How do you get your digital Austen fix?
Well, the local outdoor pool is officially closed now and my habit of jogging in the swim lanes (sounds crazy, but try it, it’s addictive, especially in the sunshine) must be shelved until Memorial Day 2013. Before I consider switching up my regimen to hot yoga (yoga in 110 degree heat, anyone?) or piloxing (pilates + boxing), I think I can get my endorphins pumping just by surfing the net and searching for all things Darcy and Austen.
I’m doing a little more of this lately due to the fact that on September 29th I’ll be giving a talk to the JASNA Greater Chicago Region entitled Jane Austen: Multimedia Maven? If you’re in town, I’d love to see you there! Either way, I’d like to ask you how you get your digital Austen fix…
Ready for a laugh? This clip is one of my favorite Austen fixes, a mash-up of Ashes to Ashes and Pride and Prejudice with an actor that really gets (and I mean gets) Gene Hunt. Even if you’ve never heard of Ashes to Ashes, you’ll love this spoof: Continue reading
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