Reading: Taming the Forest King, by Claudia J Edwards
Listening: Twinset
Watching: Midsomer Murders
Making me smile: The birds have finally found the treat-filled pine cone I put out for them -- much to their delight!
I'm hunting out research books for my next regency romance, and have stumbled across a gem: Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women, first published in the 1700s. It was from this book that Mr Collins read aloud after dinner, when he visited the Bennett family in Pride and Prejudice.
Need I tell you, Fordyce writes, that men of the best sense have usually been averse to marrying a witty female? You will probably tell me, they were afraid of being outshone; and some of them perhaps might be so.
Fordyce goes on to say: From the brandishings of wit ... who would not flee? But when that weapon is pointed at a husband, is it to be wondered if from his own house he takes shelter in a tavern?
So was Mr Darcy doomed to spend much of his married life hiding from his witty wife in the local tavern? What do you think?
(My vote: Not!)
