The Ladies' Tea Guild

Friday, July 24, 2009

A ball at Chawton, Jane Austen's home!

image from AntiqueClipArt.com
The founder of Cisco Systems, Sandy Lerner, is a Jane Austen fan, and she bought Chawton Cottage -- a rather large and beautiful country home, I think -- which was Jane Austen's home. Lerner has restored the home and filled the library with a collection of 18th and 19th century books written by women. On Saturday, July 18, the anniversary of Jane Austen's death, Lerner gave a Regency ball at Chawton. Here is the BBC video report of the event:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8152793.stm

Makes me wish I was in England!

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Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
-- William Cowper (1731-1800)
"The Winter Evening" (Book Four), _The Task_ (1784)