Jane Austen and the Godmersham Library

Godmersham Park
By Unknown - ajaneaustengazetteer, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10393105

"Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment.

"Do you prefer reading to cards?" said he; "that is rather singular."

"Miss Eliza Bennet," said Miss Bingley, "despises cards. She is a great reader and has no pleasure in anything else."

"I deserve neither such praise nor such censure," cried Elizabeth; "I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.""

Event:   JASNA CWNY November Meeting

Topic:    "Edward Austen Knight's Godmersham Library and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey"

               A talk that was presented at the AGM by JASNA CWNY member Alice Villaseñor

When:    Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 1 pm

Where:   Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

It is interesting that Jane Austen had one of her most memorable characters describe herself as "not a great reader". Jane Austen herself was obviously a great reader. In Mansfield Park, Fanny laments the falling of Sotherton's trees with a line from Cowper.

“Fanny, who was sitting on the other side of Edmund, exactly opposite Miss Crawford, and who had been attentively listening, now looked at him, and said in a low voice--

"Cut down an avenue! What a pity! Does it not make you think of Cowper? 'Ye fallen avenues, once more I mourn your fate unmerited.' "

He smiled as he answered, "I am afraid the avenue stands a bad chance, Fanny."” Mansfield Park, chapter 8.

Toward the end of Mansfield Park, Fanny in Portsmouth longs for home, which has now become Mansfield Park.

“Her eagerness, her impatience, her longings to be with them, were such as to bring a line or two of Cowper's Tirocinium for ever before her. "With what intense desire she wants her home," was continually on her tongue, as the truest description of a yearning which she could not suppose any schoolboy's bosom to feel more keenly.”  Mansfield Park, chapter 45.

Clearly Cowper was a favorite.

Northanger Abbey may be the Jane Austen novel richest in literary references (yes, we will include Gothic novels as literary references). In chapter 1 we are told what Catherine Morland learned from Pope, Gray, Thompson and Shakespeare.

But what books did Jane Austen actually have access to and how did they influence her writing? At this month's meeting Alice Villeseñor will speak to us about the connection between Edward Austen Knight's Godmersham Library and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. This is a reprise of her talk at the AGM in Williamsburg. Here is the abstract.

"The Knight Collection at Chawton House Library invites us to consider what sorts of books Austen’s Northanger Abbey characters—and Austen herself—might have read. For example, annotated volumes of novels and sermons from Edward Austen Knight’s Godmersham Park Library can provide insight into the Morland family’s reading habits." JASNA Annual General Meeting, Williamsburg, VA 2019 Program

Chawton House Library houses many of the books that were in the Godmersham Library when Jane Austen would have been a visitor.

Knight Collection at Chawton House
https://chawtonhouse.org/2016/11/scribbles-and-scrapbooks-the-godmersham-park-library/

Although Alice is well known to most of us, here is a bit more about her background:

"Alice Villaseñor is an Associate Professor of English at Medaille College in Buffalo, NY. Her articles and chapters on Jane Austen’s work and the Austen family have appeared in the Jane Austen Society Reports, Persuasions, Persuasions On-Line, the Journal of Victorian Culture Online, and Pride and Prejudice: A Bicentennial Bricolage. A lifetime member of JASNA, she has served as a board member of JASNA and JASNA-Southwest. She was the 2006 JASNA International Visitor and a 2011 Chawton House Library Fellow and has served as a past chair of the JASNA IVP Committee. She has spoken at several AGMs and Regional Meetings." 
JASNA Annual General Meeting, Williamsburg VA 2019 Program

Please join us for what promises to be a very informative discussion of what Jane Austen read and how it influenced her writing. 

A Review of the 2019 AGM in Williamsburg VA

Governor's Palace Colonial Williamsburg VA

"No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her." Northanger Abbey chapter 1

Event:   JASNA CWNY October Meeting

Topic:    Review of the recent JASNA AGM in Williamsburg, VA

When:   Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 1 pm

Where:  Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

No one who considered the idea of an AGM in Colonial Williamsburg ever thought it would be anything but a smashing success. Those who were able to attend toured the historic buildings of Colonial Williamsburg, ate at historic taverns, danced at a Regency Ball, met old friends and made new friends. We heard insightful talks and exchanged views in delightful conversations about all things Austen.

At our meeting this month we will review many aspects of the meeting. Several of the talks provided new insight into Catherine Morland's character. Other talks explored modern forward-looking aspects of the novel, while still others explored Northanger Abbey's relationship with the past. Of course, the historic buildings of colonial Williamsburg formed a perfect backdrop for these discussions.

In Northanger Abbey, General Tilney discusses his view of appropriate buildings and rooms:

"No, indeed," was Catherine's honest assurance; "Mr. Allen's dining-parlour was not more than half as large," and she had never seen so large a room as this in her life. The General's good-humour increased. -- Why, as he had such rooms, he thought it would be simple not to make use of them; but, upon his honour, he believed there might be more comfort in rooms of only half their size. Mr. Allen's house, he was sure, must be exactly of the true size for rational happiness." Northanger Abbey chapter 21

I'll leave you with pictures from some of the buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. Please join us for our review of the 2019 AGM.

Entry to Governor's Palace.
Plenty of muskets in case you were wondering who is in charge.

Randolph House Dining Room.
Perfectly sized for rational happiness

Wetherburn Tavern
Ready for a ball

Wythe House
Room used by Washington while planning the siege of Yorktown.
Not conducive to Lord Cornwallis' rational happiness

Jane at the Plate

Yes, Jane Austen invented baseball. Why do you ask?
Photo Credit: Marie Sprayberry

"... and it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, base ball, riding on horseback, and running about the country... "

Northanger Abbey, Chapter 1

Event:   JASNA CWNY September Meeting

Topic:   "Play Ball! Team Austen and the History of Baseball and Cricket"

              A talk that will be presented at the AGM by Lisa Brown, former Regional Coordinator

When:   Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 1 pm

Where:  Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

It is a truth universally acknowledged (except in Boston) that come September the Yankees will be on top of the American League East division. Here in Western New York we take our Jane Austen and our baseball seriously, although, perhaps, we take our Jane Austen a bit more seriously. We all know Jane Austen invented baseball, and in October Lisa Brown will explain the connection to JASNA at the AGM. At our September meeting Lisa will preview her talk and give us insight into the origins of baseball in British sports.

In the meantime, I thought I would go back to a previous post in order to relive one of the greatest moments in baseball history. It's late in September and Mary Crawford's bat has carried the Mansfield Nine almost to a division championship. However, Mary still must face Fanny Price on the mound one last time.

(With apologies to Ernest Thayer. See the original here)

Mary at the Bat

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mansfield Nine that day;
the score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Henry died at first, and Aunt Norris did the same,
a sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

Maria Bertram stood to go in deep despair. The rest
clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
they thought, if only Mary could get but a whack at that –
they'd put up even money, now, with Mary at the bat.

But Tom preceded Mary, as did also Johnny Yates,
and the former was so sickly and the latter would orate,
so upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
for there seemed but little chance of Mary’s getting to the bat.

But Tom let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
and Yates, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
and when the dust had lifted, and the crowd all saw what had occurred,
there was Johnny safe at second and Tom a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a buzz of bees;
it rumbled through the valley, and the Avenue of Trees;
it ran throughout the shrubbery and recoiled upon the flat,
for Mary, mighty Mary, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Mary’s manner as she stepped into her place;
there was pride in Mary’s bearing and a smile on Mary’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, she lightly doffed her bonnet,
no stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Mary who was on it.

With lavender she took her bat and rubbed it all well down,
while staring at the pitcher perched high atop the mound.
And there was Fanny Price, alone, with the spheroid on her hip.
Defiance gleamed in Mary’s eye, a sneer curled Mary’s lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
and Mary stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the pretty batter the ball unheeded sped--
"Tis not my style," said Mary. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"A duel! A duel with him!" the Colonel shouted in the stand;
and it's likely he'd have killed him had not Mary raised her hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Mary’s visage shone;
she stilled the rising tumult; she bade the game go on;
she signaled to Miss Fanny, and once more the spheroid flew;
but Mary still ignored it, and the umpire said: "Strike two."

“Obstinate and Headstrong”*, all said it was a fraud.
but one scornful look from Mary and the audience was awed.
Those hands that played the harp so well were tight with stress and strain,
and they knew that Mary wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Mary’s lip, her teeth are clenched in hate;
she taps, just like a lady would, her bat upon the plate.
And now Miss Fanny holds the ball, and now she lets it go,
and now the air is shattered by the force of Mary’s blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
the band is playing somewhere, and Edmund's heart is light,
and somewhere Janeites laugh, and somewhere children shout;
and there’s joy in Thornton Lacey for - mighty Mary has struck out.


*Contemporary accounts suggest the presence of many Mansfield fans from Derbyshire in the stands.

Please join us on September 21.