Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou artNot in lone splendour hung aloft the nightAnd watching, with eternal lids apart,Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,The moving waters at their priestlike taskOf pure ablution round earth's human shores,Or gazing on the new soft-fallen maskOf snow upon the mountains and the moors--No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,Sti... Read Full Story

Everything we now use is made to imitation of those models lately discovered in Italy. – Observation by an Englishman Diana Sackville, 1777 In the late 18th century, hairstyles for women took a dramatic turn from the pouffed-up and constructed hairdos of the earlier Georgian age to the simple hair styles inspired by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Curls now framed the face and chignons replaced the complicated, almost architectural concoctions that took hairdressers hours to create. ... Read Full Story

I know, I know. I am writing about Austen monster mash-up’s again. Sick of it as much as me yet? Here’s an article in Hemispheres, United Airlines online magazine about one Janeite writer’s experience with a sales clerk while buying P&P (the original) at Borders Bookstore that inspired her to write about the swath of Austen inspired derivatives and her enduring popularity.While I must gently reprove her (since I work for Barnes and Noble) for trusting that she would receive exemplary cust... Read Full Story

Lucky us on the East Coast! The Morgan Library in New York will be opening A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy from November 6, 2009, through March 14, 2010. Click on this link for schedules and other information.The online exhibition includes:FilmThe Divine Jane is a short documentary film specially commissioned for the exhibition and examines the influence of Austen's fiction—and her enduring fame—through interviews with leading writers, scholars, and actors.Lady Susan facsimileThe... Read Full Story

Vendors of fruit and flowers, of milk and muffins are not agreeable visitors when they roar for a living, and the poor organ-grinder little knows, let us hope, the anguish he inflicts upon sensitive nerves. – Street Noises, The Illustrated London News, 1882 William Hogarth’s famous 1741 etched engraving of ” The Enraged Musician” visually described the cacophony of sounds heard all over the city of London: the shouts of vendors, clattering of wagon wheels and clopping ... Read Full Story

You know the holiday season is just around the corner when Christmas movies are scheduled. The new A Christmas Carol features Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Jim Carrey, and Gary Oldman. Click here to see their interviews. Read Full Story

A reader is desperate to find the porcelain set used for this scene in Pride and Prejudice 2005. This was the best image she could pull from the film. The scene is where Jane and her family discuss whether or not she will be allowed to use the carriage for her travels to dine with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Bennet’s refusal to allow her to do so. Any help you might be able to offer in this matter is highly appreciated. Pride and Prejudice 1995: China at Netherfield Park Pride and Prejudice... Read Full Story

Burghley House, a stately English manor in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England served as Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s estate of Rosings in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Join one of my favorite Anglophile/gardening/Jane Austen inspired blogs, My English Country Garden Blog as they visit Burghley House and discuss their family experience with the movie production during its filming. Lydia would heartily approve of the snaps of the Militia in red uniforms. La!Cheers, Laurel Ann Read Full Story

Say it ain't so, Janeites! I'm still in shock.Norilana Books has announced the acquisition of Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian, due November 28. Sample chapters are available for your delectation.Excerpt One:About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds and nary a kingdom or sand granule in sight, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, ... Read Full Story

Historical romances abound with tales of aristocrats falling in love with beautiful women outside of their own class and marrying them. Several years ago in The Dairy Maid and the Master of Uppark, I wrote about Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, who married his milkmaid.  These exceptions prove the rule, for  Society frowned severely upon those who married downward. Thomas Thynne, 5th Viscount Weymouth, who made the mistake of falling in love with the tollgate keeper’s daughter, was never to b... Read Full Story