ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

Fitzroy Square London c.1800     We've recently been told that less than 5 per cent of rapes reported in England today lead to prosecution. I n Regency England, it was very different. A man accused of rape could face such severe penalties as the reproach of his wife -- a fearsome deterrent! East Fitzroy Square, London 1807 This case was reported in 1817 as taking place in Fitzroy Square in the heart of Mayfair. The accuser, or "prosecutrix" as she was called in court, was a fourteen-year-old servant girl and the man she accused was her employer, a butcher in Fitzroy Market.      The newspaper report ran:- WEDNESDAY. - Clark, a butcher, in Fitzroy-market, was indicted for a rape on  Leah   Edwards . The prosecutrix deposed, that she is 14 years of age. Her mother resides in Grafton-street, Fitzroy-square, and she herself was servant to the prisoner, who is a married man.      On the night of the 13th of March, the prisoner was from h...

Anne-Marie Fauques de Vaucluse, a Tiger among the Bluestockings. The only biography and methodical bibliography of Anne-Marie Fauques de Vaucluse (1720-1804) an 18th century woman writer who was a novelist, poet, satirist, feminist and philosopher, as well as being a close friend of Elizabeth Craven. An ex-nun and fierce feminist, she wrote a book denouncing Madame de Pompadour and was thrown into prison in England...though not for writing the book. Under the name of Madame de Vaucluse, she became quite celebrated in Bluestocking circles for her literary talents and remarkable learning, and she became a close friend of William Beckford. Many of her books have not been attributed to her and even her identity has become severely confused in modern times. This confusion needs to be cleared up and her books deserve to be read. Paperback print version and Ebook are both now available. https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/julia-gasper/anne-marie-fauques-de-vaucluse-a-tiger-among-the-bluestocking...

Few people know where and when Anne-Marie Fauques de Vaucluse the writer was buried. When she died she did  not get  any obituaries, but the parish records survive and prove that she was buried on the estate of her friend and patron William Beckford. Beckford was the owner of a grand estate, Fonthill in Wiltshire, where he had a mansion in Palladian style. Nothing survives of it today except these imposing entrance gates.      There were several villages on the estate, one called Fonthill Gifford. There, in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Anne-Marie Fauques was buried in 1804 under her married name of Madame de Starck. Although the house has gone and the original, classical style church was rebuilt in Victorian times, the fine landscaped park of the Beckford estate survives, with its woodlands and lake. It is now owned by the National Trust and most of it is grazed by cattle or sheep. The lake in the grounds of Fonthill, where the author went boating with William...

Jane Austen's brother Edward owned the large estate of Chawton in Hampshire including this Tudor manor house which Jane called the Great House. He was fortunate enough to have been adopted by its previous owners, the Knight family. Something rather similar happens to Frank Churchill in Emma . The Knights were  distant relatives of the Austens, and had no child or heir of their own. They could have adopted any one of the Austen children, but they were only interested in a boy. It was an early lesson for Jane about how girls were less valued. When he grew up, Edward rarely lived at Chawton House as he acquired an even grander mansion, Godmersham Park in Kent, which became his by marriage.  When he was at Chawton, and his mother and sisters were installed in the cottage, they were frequently invited to visit him at the Great House. It was only a short walk from their home along a country lane and then up the drive.  Tall trees create a splendid avenue (just like the one at S...

This portrait in oils of Adrienne, Comtesse de Tessé, the foster mother of Sophie de Tott, was reproduced in the late François Schlumberger's book Chaville et Viroflay , published in 1997. It portrays her in a very sympathetic manner, as a thoughtful, gentle and sensitive person. She is dressed in a delicate shade of cream with trimmings of pale salmon pink. The light seems to bathe her in an almost golden hue, allowing the gown and her skin to blend into each other without any harsh boundaries. We know that Mme de Tessé was not considered beautiful but the portrait depicts her as gracious and kind. There is something relaxed and informal about her posture that is very pleasing and gives the impression that we are meeting her on intimate terms. Schlumberger said that the original painting was at the time of publication in the private collection of a certain Monsieur Léotard, a descendant of the family of the Comte de Mun, a close friend of the Tessé family. M. Léotard ...