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EP105: The Thing About Marianne's Music with guest Dr. Elizabeth Weybright

5/21/2025

Marianne has a lot of feelings, and what better way of expressing them than through her music? Dr. Elizabeth "Elly" Weybright joins us for this episode to discuss Marianne as a musician and the ways in which Marianne's musicianship is central to her character. We also get into a bit of Austen's own history of piano ownership and music playing.

If you have ever cried on your piano after a bad break-up, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much to Elly for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter @EllyWeybright.

Ep104: The Thing About The Crescent

5/9/2025

Transcript

Henry Tilney has mysteriously disappeared, and Catherine will not rest until she finds him. Next up in her investigation? The Crescent. Join us as we cover the history and architecture of this notable landmark.

If you have ever been desperately hoping to casually bump into someone, this episode is for you.

Thank you to PBS for sponsoring this episode! Miss Austen will be released on Masterpiece on May 4, 9pm/8c.

Selected Sources

Edwards, Anne-Marie. In the Steps of Jane Austen. Madison, Wis: Jones Books, 2003.
Egan, Pierce. Walks Through Bath, Describing Everything Worthy of Interest. Bath: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 1819.
Forsyth, Michael. Bath. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
Haddon, John. Bath. London: Batsford, 1973.
Lane, Maggie. A Charming Place: Bath in the Life and Times of Jane Austen. Bath: Millstream Books, 1988.
———. Jane Austen’s England. London: Hale, 1996.
Lowndes, William. The Royal Crescent in Bath: A Fragment of English Life. Bristol: Redcliffe Press, 1981. http://archive.org/details/royalcrescentinb0000lown.

Ep103: The Thing About Elegant Extracts

3/31/2025

Transcript

Harriet has been talking a lot about this nice guy she met, which means that Emma has questions. In addition to Robert Martin's blood type, school transcripts, and tax returns, she would obviously like to know about his reading tastes and preferences.

This episode, we're flipping through the pages of Elegant Extracts.

Selected Sources

Altick, Richard D. The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900. 2nd ed. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998.
Ford, Susan Allen. “Reading Elegant Extracts in Emma: Very Entertaining!” Persuasions On-Line 28, no. 1 (2007). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol28no1/ford.htm.
———. What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why). 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2024.
Grundy, Isobel. “Jane Austen and Literary Traditions.” In The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster, 2nd ed., 192–214. Cambridge University Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9780521763080.013.
Knox, Vicesimus. “On Novel Reading.” In Essays moral and literary, 1:68–71, 1783. http://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_essays-moral-and-literar_knox-vicesimus_1783_1.
More, Hannah. Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, with a View of the Principles and Conduct Prevalent among Women of Rank and Fortune. London Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811. http://archive.org/details/stricturesonmode01moreuoft.
Price, Leah. The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel: From Richardson to George Eliot. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Ep102: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Shawl with guest Laboni Islam

3/6/2025

Transcript

Fanny's brother is headed back to sea, and Lady Bertram has a request (or two) for him. Poet and arts educator Laboni Islam joins us for this episode as we discuss Lady Bertram and her requested shawl(s). In addition to delving into the history and context surrounding these shawls, Laboni also shares details of her related project from her time as a Reimagine Resident at Jane Austen's House.

Thank you so much to Laboni for joining us for this episode! You can find Laboni's poetry project here and learn more about her other work here.

Ep101: The Thing About Lizzy's Pin-Money

1/28/2025

Transcript

Lizzy is officially engaged, and Mrs. Bennet has pound signs for eyes. Grab your marriage settlement and your preferred negotiator, because this episode we're getting into the history and purpose of pin-money.

Selected Sources

Addison, Joseph, and Richard Hurd. The Spectator. T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811.
Clancy (Barrister-at-law), James. An Essay on the Equitable Rights of Married Women, with Respect to Their Separate Property, and Also to Their Claim to a Provision, Called the Wife’s Equity. To Which Is Added, the Law of Pin-Money, Separate Maintenance, and of the Other Separate Provisions of Married Women. 2nd Ed. R. Milliken; London: Charles Hunter, 1819.
Dent, Susie, ed. “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable.” In Oxford Reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accessed January 3, 2025. https://www-oxfordreference-com.uvu.idm.oclc.org/display/10.1093/acref/9780199990009.001.0001/acref-9780199990009.
Longman, Eleanor D., and Sophy Loch. Pins and Pincushions. Longmans, Green and Company, 1911.
Muir, Rory. Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist; the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Staves, Susan. “Pin Money.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 14, no. 1 (1985): 47–77. https://doi.org/10.1353/sec.1985.0003.

Ep100: The Thing About Jane Austen's House with guest Lizzie Dunford

1/22/2025

Transcript

Happy 100! To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we are thrilled to share our conversation with Lizzie Dunford, Director of Jane Austen’s House. We chat about Austen's time living in Chawton, as well as the incredible work that Jane Austen's House is doing to promote and preserve Austen’s legacy as an author and storyteller.

Thank you so much to Lizzie for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Instagram @lizzie_dunford_writes. You can learn more about Jane Austen's house and find links to all their socials at https://janeaustens.house.

Ep99: The Thing About White Soup

11/26/2024

Transcript

Mr. Bingley is planning to hold a ball at Netherfield Park, and white soup is obviously on the menu. This episode we're cooking up something special in the kitchen as we explain exactly what goes into this delicious dish.

Selected Sources

Cashman, Dorothy. “Stir It In Well, It Will Give a High French Taste: The Relationship with French Culinary Influence in 18th. and 19th. Century Ireland.” Conference presented at the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, Dublin, June 6, 2012.
Grigson, Jane. English Food. London: Ebury Press, 1992. https://archive.org/details/englishfood0000grig.
Lane, Maggie. Jane Austen and Food. London: Continuum, 2007.
Lloyd, Martha. Martha Lloyd’s Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen’s Kitchen. Oxford: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, 2021.
McConchie, R. W. “‘Her Word Had No Weight’: Jane Austen as a Lexical Test Case for the OED .” Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America 33, no. 1 (2012): 113–36. https://doi.org/10.1353/dic.2012.0014.
Sutherland, Eileen. “Dining at the Great House: Food and Drink in the Time of Jane Austen.” Persuasions 12 (1990): 88–98.
Vogler, Pen. Dinner with Mr Darcy: Recipes Inspired by the Novels and Letters of Jane Austen. New York: Ryland Peters & Small, 2020.
Wei, Po-Yu Rick. “‘It’s All the Same What I Eat’: Jane Austen’s Dietary Philosophy.” LITERA 31, no. 1 (June 10, 2021): 19–41. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-868450.

Ep98: The Thing About Northanger Abbey's Bell System

10/25/2024

Transcript

THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE. And the person calling is General Tilney. For this year's spooky season episode, we're talking about the bell system at Northanger Abbey.
If you have ever wondered for whom the bell pulls, this episode is for you.

Selected sources

“Amalgamated Society of Whitesmiths, Domestic Engineers and General Pipe Fitters and Predecessors.” Accessed October 5, 2024. https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/AMW.
Cassell. Cassell’s Household Guide: Being a Complete Encyclopaedia of Domestic and Social Economy and Forming a Guide to Every Department of Practical Life. Vol. 1. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1869. http://archive.org/details/cassellshousehol01londuoft.
Dredge, Sarah. “‘Was There a Servant . . . Who Did Not Know the Whole Story before the End of the Day?’ Upside-Down Points of View in Austen.” Persuasions On-Line 40, no. 2 (2020). https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-40-no-2/dredge/.
Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1994.
Knight, John I. Mechanics Magazine. Knight, 1825.
Loudon, J. C. An Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture and Furniture. London: Longman, 1833.
Palmer, Marilyn, and Ian West. “Communications: Bells and Telephones.” In Technology in the Country House, 131–49. Swindon: Historic England, 2016.
Sambrook, Pamela A. The Country House Servant. The History Press, 2002.
Stone, Lawrence, and Jeanne C. Fawtier Stone. An Open Elite?: England, 1540-1880. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984. http://archive.org/details/openeliteengland00ston.

EP97: The Thing About Molland's

10/5/2024

Transcript

Anne is in Bath, and surprise, surprise, so is Captain Wentworth. Everyone has fortuitously converged at Molland's, and we're here to break down the momentous occasion. If you have ever run into your ex at the confectionery shop, this episode is for you.

Selected Sources

“2-22, MILSOM STREET, Non Civil Parish - 1395729 | Historic England.” Accessed September 6, 2024. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1395729.
Anstey, Christopher. The New Bath Guide: Or, Memoirs of the B-N-R-D Family. in a Series of Poetical Epistles. London: C. Whittingham, 1800.
Day, Ivan. “The Art of Confectionery,” 1997. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4a8725733d012539cdf505e69d9f16bf07d2a388.
Fawcett, Trevor. Bath Commercialis’d: Shops, Trades and Market at the 18th-Century Spa. Bath: RUTON, 2002.
———. Bath Entertain’d: Amusements, Recreations and Gambling at the 18th-Century Spa. Bath: RUTON, 1998.
———. “Eighteenth-Century Shops and the Luxury Trade.” In Bath History, Vol. III, 49–75. Bath: Sutton Publishing, 1990. https://www.historyofbath.org.
Holloway, Sally. “The Foods of Love? Food Gifts, Courtship and Emotions in Long Eighteenth-Century England.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, November 20, 2023, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0080440123000270.
John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton. The Wonders of a Week at Bath: In a Doggerel Address to the Hon. T. S----, from F. T.----, Esq. of That City. London: J. Cawthorn, 1811.
Piozzi, Hester Lynch. The Piozzi Letters: 1817-1821. Edited by Edward A. Bloom and Lillian D Bloom. University of Delaware Press, 1989.
Stobart, Jon. Sugar and Spice: Grocers and Groceries in Provincial England, 1650-1830. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Todd, Janet M. Jane Austen in Context. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Visit Bath. “A Brief History of Milsom Street,” September 1, 2023. https://visitbath.co.uk/blog/read/2023/09/a-brief-history-of-milsom-street-b231.

Ep96: The Thing About John Thorpe's Gig

9/10/2024

Transcript

John Thorpe has recently purchased a gig, and he has a full list of (obviously extremely impressive) features to review with you. Buckle up because this episode we're delivering a crash course on gig carriages.

Selected Sources

Byrne, Aoife. “‘Very Knowing Gigs’: Social Aspiration and the Gig Carriage in Jane Austen’s Works.” Persuasions 37 (2015): 198–207.
Donnelly, Bridget. “Accidents, Risk Management, and Driving Culture, 1780–1830.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 49, no. 1 (2020): 177–99. https://doi.org/10.1353/sec.2020.0016.
Duckworth, Alistair M. “Jane Austen’s Accommodations.” Persuasions 7 (1985): 67–77.
Ewing, Jennifer S. “As the Wheel Turns: Horse-Drawn Vehicles in Jane Austen’s Novels.” Persuasions On-Line 40, no. 1 (Winter 2019). https://ezproxy.uvu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/as-wheel-turns-horse-drawn-vehicles-jane-austen-s/docview/2332294766/se-2?accountid=14779.
Felton, William. A Treatise on Carriages. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. London, 1803. https://archive.org/details/treatiseoncarria01felt/page/n7/mode/2up.
Grose, Francis. 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Project Gutenberg. Accessed July 3, 2024. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5402/pg5402-images.html.
Jones, Hazel. Jane Austen’s Journeys. London: Robert Hale, 2014.
Mahony, Stephen. Wealth or Poverty: Jane Austen’s Novels Explored. London: Robert Hale, 2015.
Nimrod. Memoirs of the Life of the Late John Mytton...: With Notices of His Hunting, Shooting, Driving, Racing, Eccentric and Extravagant Exploits. Methuen and Company, 1837.
Walrond, Sallie. The Encyclopaedia of Driving. London : Country Life Books, 1979. http://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofd0000walr.

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Episodes

EP105: The Thing About Marianne's Music with guest Dr. Elizabeth Weybright

Ep104: The Thing About The Crescent

Ep103: The Thing About Elegant Extracts

Ep102: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Shawl with guest Laboni Islam

Ep101: The Thing About Lizzy's Pin-Money

Ep100: The Thing About Jane Austen's House with guest Lizzie Dunford

Ep99: The Thing About White Soup

Ep98: The Thing About Northanger Abbey's Bell System

EP97: The Thing About Molland's

Ep96: The Thing About John Thorpe's Gig

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