Sandwiches, Earls, and Chickens

Me at Mappertown House

(Randalls in 1996 Emma)

Chickens are off-screen, unfortunately.

On the same Jane Austen tour of England on which I met Nigel Nicolson (see previous blog post), we also visited Mapperton House, in Dorset, UK.  It has beautiful gardens, and was used as the location for Randalls (where the Westons live) in the 1996 BBC production of Emma.  In reality, it is the home of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich.

Of course, as most of you know, an 18th century Earl of Sandwich, not wanting to take time away from his gambling (card game or whatever) to dine, is reputed to have asked for some meat with bread around it. This  event is supposed to be the origin of the sandwich.

At any rate, we were to have lunch at Mapperton, hostessed by the Countess herself. Unfortunately, she was delayed. We learned eventually that this was due to her train being late coming back from London. The reason for her trip there? When Emma was filmed, a historic portrait of one of the earls, maybe the sandwich guy himself, had been removed from the house, perhaps because it was inappropriate for "Randalls," and stored in a secure "fire-proof" location in London. 

Which had burned down. 

The countess had been thus been visiting the National Portrait Gallery to see if purchasing a replacement for the lost portrait was possible. 

She said a friend of hers had suffered a greater loss. ALL the furnishings had been removed from her house when it was used as a location (for Hartfield? Donwell Abbey?) for the same Emma production.All had also been lost in the fire.

An any rate, while waiting for the countess to arrive, we had ample time to wander about the grounds. In doing so, I noticed some ornate-looking, unusually large chickens.

I proclaimed to our group, "Well! I've seen plenty of chicken sandwiches, but this is the first time I've ever seen a Sandwich chicken."

Stumbling into a Rather Appropriate Nickname

Obviously, my first name is "Dorothea." However, when I was born my brother Paul, only 15 months older than I, had a bit of trouble saying my four syllable name. He called me "Dee Dee." So that is what everyone called me. 

When I was 13, however, I went to a summer camp where the other girls in my cabin thought that "Dee Dee" looked too juvenile for a teenager. Because of this, I decided to change the spelling to "Deedy." I don't really remember why, except I thought to emulate "Kathy," or "Patty," or "Judy," etc.

It wasn't until I was MUCH older that I realized that the word "Deedy" has an actual meaning. Or it used to. In England.

It all started when I read Jane Austen's novel Emma for the umpteenth time.

Chapter 10 opens thusly:

The appearance of the little sitting-room as they entered, was tranquillity itself; Mrs. Bates, deprived of her usual employment, slumbering on one side of the fire, Frank Churchill, at a table near her, most deedily occupied about her spectacles, and Jane Fairfax, standing with her back to them, intent on her pianoforte.

Of course, first I chuckled, because it was obvious to those privy to their secret relatioship that Frank and Jane, for once unchaperoned because of her grandmother's nap, had been doing Something Else but quickly took a more innocent pose.

Then I thought, "Whoa. Deedily??" 

That sent me straight to the dictionary, and here's what I found (these are, of course, modern internet versions of what I found in the late 20th century).

Definition of deedily:

dialectal, chiefly England

: ACTIVELY, INDUSTRIOUSLY, EARNESTLY

Hmmm. From there I sped to the adjective form. . .

So. At least in archaic British English, Deedy actually has a meaning (possibly based on "full of deeds").

 So take your pick: industrious, active, earnest, serious, hard-working, busy, eager, tireless, industrious, or effective. 

Whew. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

But I must admit, at least some of these words do actually apply to me. (Not sure about "serious," "effective," and one or two others.)

However, it was after I learned about my nickname's meaning that a really cool thing happened.

I met Nigel Nicolson. son of Virginia Woolf's lover, the British writer/gardener Vita Sackville-West. He was the president of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society at the time, and a distinguished author, publisher, and Jane Austen scholar.

I was on a tour with the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) when I met Mr. Nicolson at Godmersham. (This was the Kent estate that Jane Austen's brother, Edward, inherited from his adoptive parents).

I had a nametag on identifying me as a JASNA member, and "DEEDY" was written on it in large letters. Mr. Nicolson looked at it, then looked at me. 

"I like your name," he said.

Right then I decided that I like it, too.

Regards,

Dorothea (AKA Deedy) Jensen 

          Nigel Nicolson at the "Garden Front" of Godmersham

The Power of Idealizing and Idolizing Pix

I chose the idealized picture of Washington (below) to include in my rhyming history, Liberty-Loving Lafayette.  The reason I used this instead of the usual staid images painted by Gilbert Stuart et al is simple. I think it shows how the very young Lafayette might have imagined his hero when he was pondering coming to fight on the American side. He might not have pictured an angel crowning Washington with a laurel wreath, but Lafayette certainly did idolize the man. 

I came across  similarly "idealizing and idolizing" picture recently that I believe shows exactly why millions of Americans turned out to see Lsfayette when he toured America in 1824-5. This engraved image, created by Achille Moreau, in 1825, based on a painting by Jean Auguste Dubouloz. 

I find it interesting that these two Frenchman exactly nailed what Lafayette's tour meant to Americans. He was the last general officer from the Revolution still living, and he had been a close friend of Washington (who had died 25 years earlier), and many other Founding Fathers. Thus, he was a living link with a defining moment of our nation's history.

At the bottom of the image are these words (in French and in English)

"The spirits of the defenders of the American liberty are visiting him during his passage. The genii protectors of America drive away the storms."

Here is one explanation of what this picture portrays:

"Lafayette’s triumphal tour of the United States in 1824-1825 focused the attention of Americans on the heroes of the Revolutionary War and  confirmed Lafayette’s own place among them. In this allegorical imageof Lafayette’s return voyage to France in 1825 on board the frigate Brandywine, the old general remembers the heroes who achieved American independence." 

-https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/exhibition/remembering-the-revolutionaries/

At the front of the crowd of Revolutionary heroes, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin are clearly identifiable. I don't know who the others pictured are. If anyone has a guess or more solid information about their identities please let me know at jensendorothea@gmail.com. 

Notice the native American kneeling on the right. I assume this is meant to depict the Oneida and other tribes who helped the Americans. Lafayette, after all, personally convinced the Oneida to join our army at Valley Forge, and they played a key role at Barren Hill, etc. (I can't figure out why he alone is kneeling.)

Title: Marquis De Lafayette

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Date: 1825

 

Witness to History