Today in Edinburgh I shall pay my respects to Queen Elizabeth II before her casket continues her journey down to London, where her funeral is due to take place next Monday. It’s a sobering time here in the United Kingdom: the Queen was such a stable presence in our lives that many forgot she was also…
Author: Eliza Shearer
Eliza started writing at a young age but kept her words to herself until she decided to escape the corporate world and fully embrace her dream of becoming a writer. She has been a Jane Austen fan for as long as she can remember, regularly convincing family and friends to join in on pilgrimages to Austen-related sites and events. In 2017 she published Miss Darcy’s Beaux, a Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice continuation, the first book in her Austeniana series.
Having lived in different countries, Eliza is fluent in several languages and now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband, two children, and a tortoiseshell cat. Eliza is very partial to satin slippers, but like her namesake Elizabeth Bennet has never cared much for cards.
The Fashion Legacy of the Highlanders after Waterloo, by Eliza Shearer
I took up my Residence in a romantic Village in the Highlands of Scotland where I have ever since continued, and where I can, uninterrupted by unmeaning Visits, indulge in a melancholy solitude my unceasing Lamentations for the Death of my Father, my Mother, my Husband, and my Freind. Jane Austen, Letter the 14th in Love…
Tea Drinking, Jane Austen and the Janeite Community, by Eliza Shearer
Many readers of this blog will be aware that a new adaptation of Persuasion is available on Netflix. I first heard about it through my dear friends at El Sitio de Jane, a Spanish-speaking Jane Austen appreciation community, who this week are celebrating this latest addition to the list of adaptations with a virtual tea…
The Georgian Garden in Jane Austen’s Novels, by Eliza Shearer
Gardens make regular appearances in Jane Austen’s novels, often as the setting of key scenes, a source of pleasure or concern, or a place for the heroines to escape when they need some alone time. But how should we imagine these gardens, and why does it matter? The Rise of the Pleasure Garden Until the…
Jane Austen’s Writing Desk, by Eliza Shearer
In December 1794, the Reverend George Austen bought a gift for his second daughter Jane. Her birthday was on the 16th, and she was to turn nineteen. As the loving and generous father he was, he was keen to get her the perfect present – never an easy task, even less so where young women…
Regency Dressmaking and Bridgerton Costumes: Fiction and Actual Reality, by Eliza Shearer
Like many of my fellow Janeites, I recently indulged in season 2 of the series Bridgerton. Although Bridgerton does a marginally better job to follow Regency customs and etiquette than other shows (Sanditon, I’m looking at you), it does little more than find inspiration in the era. Instead, Bridgerton builds a fantasy world based on…
The Greatest Prankster of the Regency: An April Fool’s Special, by Eliza Shearer
With April’s Fool is just around the corner, fans of practical jokes will be considering their best moves for 2022. But no matter how inventive their ideas, they are likely to pale in comparison to those of Regency prankster extraordinaire, Theodore Hook. Born in 1788, Theodore Hook fancied himself a bit of a jester (one might…
The Polite Way to Pay Social Calls, According to Jane Austen, by Eliza Shearer
Paying and receiving social calls was one of the keystones of social etiquette during the Regency, and as such is a constant in Jane Austen’s novels. The socially acceptable time for ‘morning calls’ was between breakfast and dinner, so they spanned a good few hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or thereabouts, and an…
The Phaeton, a Regency Carriage with Wide Appeal – and a Dangerous Side, by Eliza Shearer
Towards the end of Pride and Prejudice, in a letter explaining Mr Darcy‘s role in securing Lydia’s marriage to Mr Wickham, Mrs Gardiner writes to her niece Elizabeth, whom she suspects the master of Pemberley admires very much: “I shall never be quite happy till I have been all round the (Pemberley) park. A low…
Siblings in Jane Austen’s Novels, by Eliza Shearer
My little sister gave birth to a baby girl right before Christmas. Because of covid, I won’t get to hug her and meet my new niece in the flesh for some time. It’s difficult because I’m very close to my sister, and as you can imagine, I can’t wait to see her. I like to…
The Seven Deadly Sins in Mansfield Park, by Eliza Shearer
I’ve long had a soft spot for Mansfield Park. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite Austen novel, but I always enjoy reading it. The last time I opened my well-thumbed volume of Mansfield Park was during lockdown, and what struck me is how prevalent the Seven Deadly Sins are in the novel. As a good…
The Edinburgh Medical School during the Regency – and Today, by Eliza Shearer
The Edinburgh Medical School was a top destination for medical students during the Regency. It’s a topic that has raised its head in the forums a few times, so I thought that, as an Edinburgh resident myself, I had to have a close look at it. Edinburgh is 430 miles or 700 km north of…
The Story of the Botanics’ Sabal Palm Tree, a Living Vestige of the Regency, by Eliza Shearer
I am a proud Edinburgh resident. As such, I’m spoilt for choice when it comes to reminders of the Regency, from windows and house doors to family portraits in museums and art galleries. However, only a few days ago, one of such reminders disappeared forever. It was a living being, one already in existence when Jane…
