Summary of Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The story of the Austens at Steventon Rectory really begins in the late summer of 1768, when a wagon heavily loaded with household goods made its way through the Hampshire lanes from nearby Deane to the village of Steventon.
#2 Mr Austen had been in charge of the parish of Steventon for the last four years. But he had found his Rectory there so run-down and dilapidated that he and his family had been living instead in a rented house in the neighbouring village of Deane.
#3 Jane’s mother, Cassandra, was a powerful personality who had strong common sense. She was not necessarily attractive, but she was sharp and witty. In appearance, she was striking rather than beautiful.
#4 The heroine of any story should lose her parents when she was young. This was true in real life of Jane’s father, who had lost both of his parents when he was a baby. His stepmother could claim that her interest in his estate took priority, and that she did not want to bother with him anymore.

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669375296
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The story of the Austens at Steventon Rectory really begins in the late summer of 1768, when a wagon heavily loaded with household goods made its way through the Hampshire lanes from nearby Deane to the village of Steventon.

#2

Mr Austen had been in charge of the parish of Steventon for the last four years. But he had found his Rectory there so run-down and dilapidated that he and his family had been living instead in a rented house in the neighbouring village of Deane.

#3

Jane’s mother, Cassandra, was a powerful personality who had strong common sense. She was not necessarily attractive, but she was sharp and witty. In appearance, she was striking rather than beautiful.

#4

The heroine of any story should lose her parents when she was young. This was true in real life of Jane’s father, who had lost both of his parents when he was a baby. His stepmother could claim that her interest in his estate took priority, and that she did not want to bother with him anymore.

#5

George Austen was a clergyman who was given two livings. He was able to live like a gentleman because of them. His extended family helped him when he needed it.

#6

The parish of Steventon, where Jane would be born, was three miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide. It contained only thirty families, and its management should give little trouble as it contained no Papists, Dissenters, or any nobleman, gentleman, or person of note.

#7

The Austen family’s new life in Hampshire was not very different from the life they had in Oxford, except that they were now in a much quieter environment. The houses they lived in were not very fancy, and they did not have much money to improve them.

#8

The house that Jane’s parents lived in had a carriage drive at the front, which was a mark of gentility. It had a pond, and a screen of Chestnuts and firs to the sunny south side of the house.

#9

The Austen family moved into the Rectory in 1792, and Mr Austen’s study was his own exclusive property safe from the bustle of all household cares. The study housed hundreds of books in Hepplewhite cases, but Mr Austen was not pretentious enough to rename it a library.

#10

The Austens were also farmers. They had a farm of 195 acres, named Cheesedown, and attempted to make money from it. They lived with the rhythm of the country year, the festivals at sheep shearing and harvest home.

#11

The Austen family, who were descendants of the original owners of the house, had a difficult time making their famous aunt’s life look easier than it was. They had a hard time digging up the materials, which had been carefully buried out of sight by the past generation.

#12

The Austen family moved to a new house in Hampshire, and Mrs Austen got used to the sleepy pace of rural life. She was replaced by even more children, who came to join their brothers in rolling down the green slope.

#13

The baby was born on 16 December 1775, without warning. Mrs. Austen was fine, and Mr. Austen was relieved that his wife was fine. He wrote that their new daughter was a plaything for Cassy and a future companion.

#14

The baby was finally born, and everyone was relieved. Mrs Austen had been expecting to be brought to bed a month ago, and her calculations were probably accurate. The risk with such babies is that the placenta stops working properly, and they don’t get enough nutrition.

#15

In January and February of 1776, the first two months of Jane’s life, Steventon was extremely cold. The Thames in London was frozen solid. It wasn’t until 5 April that Jane was taken the short distance up the lane to be baptised in her father’s church.

#16

Jane’s first biographer, who wrote about her life in the 1800s, described the church’s solitary position and the abundance of violets beneath its south wall. He eliminated much of the mud and hard work from his picture of Georgian rural life.

#17

The family was very close, but Jane’s early years were spent away from her home and mother. She was sent to be dry-nursed in the village, and spent time at school.

#18

Jane Austen was the youngest daughter, and was the plaything of her older sister Cassandra. She had a placid temper, and was often silent. She had powerful feelings, and she turned to her sister for intimacy.

#19

Jane’s life did not end happily. She died young, and her father did not marry her off to Charles. But do not forget the beginning of her life, when she was six-and-a-half, because in this beginning there is also much that prefigures her devastating end.

#20

The Austen family was not rich, but they lived among rich people. They belonged to the pseudo-gentry, aspiring to a genteel lifestyle without having enough money to pay for it. Their sixteen-year-old brother’s getting that money placed him above his sisters in terms of both material standards of living and social consequence.

#21

The Austens opened a boarding school, which provided them with extra income. They would end up looking after boys for the next 23 years.

#22

Jane’s brothers were among the most important people in her life. She was close with them, and they would be among the first to stand by her during difficult times.

#23

Jane’s relationship with her brother James was slightly strained. He was the most literary member of the family, and he encouraged and inspired his sister as a writer. But he was also difficult and disappointed in later life.

#24

James was the first Austen child to venture into literary life. He became the brains behind a monthly magazine, The Loiterer, which was full of gentle satire. It was distributed in London by the publisher Thomas Egerton, whose firm would in due course become best known for publishing James’s sister’s work.

#25

The Knights took Edward Austen with them on their wedding journey. He came home to his family after the tour, but as the years passed and his marriage remained childless, the Knights invited him to stay with them from time to time.

#26

Edward’s beauty, his fun and liveliness, which had led to him being adopted by the Knights, had been his fortune. He was sent off to the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth in 1786.

#27

The youngest brother, Charles, had a sweet temper and a affectionate disposition. He never had Frank’s knack of making money, but he was still admired and loved by his sister.

#28

The Austen family was dynamic and expanding Georgian world, with connections spanning continents and empires. Jane and her sister were raised in complete ignorance of the world and its ways. They were unable to find a fortune, and their only hope was to marry.

#29

The bias against George is clear. He was forgotten altogether by the family, and his illness was not treated as a physical disorder, but as a divine punishment.

#30

The Austen family was extremely busy and noisy, but they were also extremely intellectual. They valued the intellect, but they were also left conscious that they could never enter the republic of the mind with the freedom given to their brothers and the pupils.

#31

Georgian girls were not supposed to be clever, or demand too much attention. They were expected to be submissive and make things with their hands. Jane Austen was especially good at making things with her hands.

#32

The author Jane Austen believed that the most important accomplishment a woman could have was to improve her mind by extensive reading. She illustrated this belief in her novels, where she often has the characters Mary and Elizabeth discuss books and music.

#33

The Austen family had a large collection of books, and Jane was enamored of Gilpin, her favorite moral writer, at a young age. She also enjoyed reading books for grown-ups.

#34

The children probably had to read a certain number of pages of history each day, for the Austens’ copy of The History of England