Category Archives: Travel

August 21, 2007 · 12:37 pm

The West Indies


I love this quote, and I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps because I love Fiona Shaw’s performance as Mrs. Croft in the 1995 BBC version of Persuasion.

“I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the East Indies and back again, and only once; besides being in different places about home: Cork, and Lisbon, and Gibraltar. But I never went beyond the Streights, and never was in the West Indies. We do not call Bermuda or Bahama, you know, the West Indies.”

Mrs. Croft to Mrs. Musgrove about her travels with her Admiral husband
Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 8

This goes out to my sister, who just celebrated her tenth anniversary with a cruise to Bermuda.

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Filed under Mrs. Croft, Persuasion, Travel

June 21, 2007 · 8:00 am

Dirty lodgings in Lyme

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“We are quite settled in our Lodgings by this time, as you may suppose, & everything goes on in the usual order. The servants behave very well & make no difficulties, tho’ nothing certainly can exceed the inconvenience of the Offices, except the general Dirtiness of the House & furniture, & all it’s Inhabitants.”

letter to Cassandra
September 14, 1804 [39]

I have to say, my own experiences in Lyme were similar! Ugh.

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April 12, 2007 · 11:45 am

Seeking adventure abroad

“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.”

Northanger Abbey, volume 1, chapter 1

I had read this quote attributed to Austen, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I was thrilled the other day, re-reading Northanger Abbey, to find that it’s said of Mrs. Allen’s inviting young Catherine Morland to Bath.

The new ITV adaptation, which has already aired in Britain, will run on Masterpiece Theatre here in the US this fall. It’s not gotten great reviews, but I’m hoping if nothing else it will introduce Austen fans to this great, fun little novel, which I’m afraid is sometimes overlooked in all the Darcy mania.

(I can’t get the page to load, but evidently there’s a preview here.)

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Filed under Adventure, Bath, Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey, Travel