Victoria's Regencies - Victoria's Vibes -- a blog

Unwelcome Interludes

2/10/2026

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I seem to have lost a few weeks, not only from this blog. Someplace in November or December I acquired influenza, that new variant, the one that developed after the latest vaccine was marketed, the bug that burst onto the scene just in time for Christmas 2025. I had a stay of less than 24 hours in the hospital and easily ended the flu BUT ever since I have been fulfilling the Doctor's worst prediction: It may take up to two months or more to get over the lingering lethargy--sounds like a poem title: The Lingering Lethargy, right? As I continue to improve (fingers crossed) we return to our Program, already in progress.
Below left, the cover of Regency Christmas Reunions, the 2025 holiday anthology from Dreamstone Publishing. At right, the title page of my story, "Mama Knows Best."
The volume includes three stories, from USA Today bestselling and Award-winning authors, all focused around Christmas reunions. Lose yourself in the Regency world and be swept away by love!
Shortly after it was published, I dropped the ball, most promotions forgotten in flu's miasma (or whatever it was). More to come soon!
In Mama Knows Best ...
From childhood playmates to reluctant strangers, Lady Charlotte Easton and George Wyatt, the Earl of Blakemore, were once destined — at least in their mothers’ eyes — to share a future. But as the years passed and their paths diverged, those childish dreams faded into memory. Now, twenty years later, fate brings them together once more. Charlotte is looking for a new life. George never imagined his heart could be stirred by the girl he once knew. As affection awakens, they must decide whether to attempt a future together, or if some destinies are best left to the past.

Back to the AGM:

Below, one of the books and authors, celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen's birth at the October JASNA AGM held in Baltimore, Maryland. Caroline Jane Knight related stories from her childhood living in Chawton Great House and about her family of descendants of Edward Austen Knight.

Above, left: Studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, English 1769-1830, George IV, Baltimore Museum of Art; right, Sir Joshua Reynolds, English 1723-1792, Sophia, Lady St. Asaph with her Son, 1786, Baltimore Museum of Art.
Below, left, Wild for Austen, right, Author Devoney Looser.

Above Left, Collins Hemingway, and right Marsha Huff. both AGM speakers (among many others).
Below, left and right, visiting Baltimore's Homewood, the Carroll family mansion dating from 1801-1808 on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.

Above left, Victoria and celebrated author and collector Candice Hern; right readying for a photo of the Wisconsin JASNA delegation. Coming next, our visit to Washington, D.C.

November 04th, 2025

11/4/2025

A NEW HOLIDAY COLLECTION COMING SOON!

Oh No! A Bucket List?

8/31/2025

Less than a year from now I will be back from my long-postponed re-visit to Europe. Against my previous opinion, I am assembling a Bucket List for this trip. The idea has aways seemed foolish to me, but as travel becomes more and more fraught with the complications of visas, unreliable air connections, and over-populations of popular sights, I decided to work on that list. Age has nothing to do with it!?

Please click on the thumbnails for larger versions. I can hardly believe what I came up with first...the Wells Cathedral, above. And second, the City of Bristol. Hunh? I realized that I have visited Bath many times and most of the stately homes and famous historical sites nearby, but never those neighborhoods. The Wells Cathedral figures in one of my Christmas novellas. Below, left, Bristol Harbor; right, the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Above left, The Bristol Assembly, 1818, by Rolinda Sharples (1793-1838); Blaise Hamlet, developed by John Nash c. 1811. Bristol was one of the centers for the Atlantic Triangular Trade up to the 19th century, carrying enslaved Africans to America, returning to Bristol with tobacco and other products, and carrying manufactured goods to Africa. Perhaps this is why I have avoided the place in the past, but history is not to be denied. One must acknowledge the dreadful as well as enjoy the quaint and beautiful.
Below left, St James's Palace, now sometimes open in London, and right, Highgrove, King Charles III's estate in the Cotswolds. Both of these involve difficult-to-obtain tickets I hope we can acquire well in advance for their limited openings in 2026.

Above left, Audley End in Essex, and right, Attingham Park, near Birmingham in Shropshire. Both of these great NT properties are a little off our potential route, so visits are iffy.
Some years ago, Ed and I visited Clandon Park in Surrey, a wonderful country estate designed in 1730 by Italian architect Giacomo Leoni (1686-1746). Ten years ago in 2015, it suffered a disastrous fire which destroyed its roof and much of the interior. Though the semi-restored house is occasionally open, the gardens are accessible more of the time. Below, two pre-fire pictures, and beneath them, after the fire. The National Trust has begun a controversial plan, much debated, not to restore the house but to construct an enclosure and walkways to allow visitors to inspect the damaged ruins. I'd like to see what this involves more closely.

Above left, Claremont House, also in Surrey (photo by Heathermitch via Wikipedia); right, Claremont Landscape Garden, NT, one of Capability Brown's earliest examples of his widely-renowned designs. The house is now a school, but the garden is open to visitors. The property was purchased by the nation for Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817) and her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1790-1865), later King of the Belgians. After Princess Charlotte died in childbirth at age 21, Leopold lived at Claremont, often hosting his niece, Queen Victoria (1819-1901), her husband Prince Albert (1819-1861), and the family.

The trip will begin with a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Amsterdam, with a few stops along the way...and will include touring with Number One London tours. More to come!

Jane Austen at Stoneleigh Abbey

8/13/2025

In August, 1806, at age 30, Jane Austen accompanied her mother to visit Stoneleigh Abbey, an estate in Warwickshire recently inherited by her maternal cousin, Reverend James Leigh.

Cassandra Leigh Austen (1739-1827) was part of the large Leigh family, many of whom lived at Stoneleigh for about 400 years. Formerly a Cistercian Abbey, founded in 1154, it was taken over by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London, in 1558 after Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Abbeys.

Above photos from Author Kim Wilson.
Various structures comprised the residence over the centuries until, to quote Wikipedia, "Between 1714 and 1726 a new palatial four-storey fifteen-bay wing was built to designs by architect Francis Smith of Warwick. The result was an impressive baroque West Wing, built of silver-coloured stone, which was fashionable at that time. The Abbey's remarkable feature is the Saloon, one of the great interiors of Georgian England. Andor Gomme referred to it as 'almost the swan song of baroque figurative plasterwork in England'." Below, left, The West Facade; right, the Saloon. Photos from Wikipedia. Please click on the thumbnails for larger versions.

Above left and right, the conservatory, photos from Kim Wilson. The grounds were one of the projects of landscape designer Humpry Repton (1752-1818.)

Above, left the lake and conservatory; right, the Gatehouse, a 14th-century remainder of the ancient Abbey structures. Both photos courtesy of Kim Wilson, author of Tea with Jane Austen, In the Garden with Jane Austen, and At Home with Jane Austen. Visit her website at:
https://www.kimwilsonauthor.com/

Thank you, Kim.

On August 13, 1806, Mrs. Austen wrote about visiting Stoneleigh, "... I had expected to find everything about the place very fine and all that, but I had no idea of its being so beautiful. I had pictured to myself long avenues, dark rookeries, and dismal yew trees, but here are no such dismal things. The Avon runs near the house, amidst green meadows, bounded by large and beautiful woods, full of delightful walks."
It is left to Jane Austen's readers to speculate about which qualities of Stoneleigh she used in the settings of her novels.

Jane Austen at age 250!

7/12/2025

The year 2025 brings the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen (16 December, 1775 - July 18, 1817). Celebrations are well underway around the world, including many in her native Britain, in North America, and all over, including teas, balls, seminars, conferences, dedications, new publications, plays, films, and television series...too many to count.

Above, images related to New York City's Morgan Library Exhibition in honor of the event, which includes several manuscripts, first editions, and objects once belonging to the beloved author. In October, 2025, the Jane Austen Society of North America will gather in Baltimore at the annual AGM "Austen at 250." I can hardly wait.

Many celebrations will be held on or near Austen's actual 250th birthday, December 16, more fetes to anticipate with enthusiasm. I am listening to Austen's most popular novel, Pride & Prejudice. As usual when I indulge my passions for Austen, I am hearing (or reading) new insights. Her artistry never disappoints., and I am enjoying the excellent narration by Rosamund Pike, who played Jane Bennet in the 2005 film of P&P. I am preparing to lead a book group discussion next week, almost on the anniversary of Austen's death at age 41 om July 18, 1817. I shall report back.

Horse-Mad

5/25/2025

I spent my pre-teen and some teen years as a girl mad about horses. I petted and rode them, mucked out stalls, collected statues and pictures, tried to paint their images, and thought about horses incessantly. Were you like me? Did you know where every horse in your neighborhood could be seen? Did you beg your parents to drive you to the stables?

I was recently reminded of my love for this book when I came across an old newsletter from the Royal Oak Society with an article about English horses, especially the three founding sires of all Thoroughbreds in the 18th century: The Darley Arabian, The Byerley Turk, and The Godolphin Arabian, aka King of the Wind, in the novel by Margaret Henry. I was lucky to live near Wayne, Illinois, where Henry lived and wrote the books I adored, with illustrations by the equally brilliant artist Wesley Dennis, such as the four below. Click on the pictures for full-size versions.

The Royal Oak article on English horses, particularly racehorses, wrote of several famous artists who often painted the favorite champions of the 18th and 19th centuries, and whose portraits have gained widespread fame, such as those shown below. Left, Whistlejacket, by George Stubbs (1724-1806), original in the National Gallery, London, and right, a copy hanging at the Wentworth-Woodhouse estate. My photos.

Above left, Jason, his Groom and Sir Harry Harpur by Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807), which hangs at Calke Abbey;
right, Hambletonian Rubbing Down, also by Stubbs, which hangs at Mount Stewart in County Down, Northern Ireland. Both photos from National Trust Collections.

The closest I ever came to racing was months schooling this retired racing mare for a friend and colleague in Maryland who paused her riding while she carried her third child. I loved every minute of putting the mare through her paces to become a collected and amiable mount whether in the ring, on the trail, or even hunting.

Since both my colleague and I were journalists, we both must have been cheering Journalism in his brilliant stretch run to win the Preakness, right there in Maryland. In tracing the long line of Journalism's pedigree, we find it goes through Native Dancer, Eclipse, and all the way to the Darley Arabian, perhaps to all three of the founding Thoroughbred Sires.

Visiting Montacute House as Seen in Wolf Hall: the Mirror and the Light

5/1/2025

Montacute House (above, the east front) in Somerset plays the role of Greenwich Palace, aka Palace of Placentia, Henry VIII’s main London seat and the site of Anne Boleyn’s arrest in the first series. From the NT post:
"Locations manager, Rebecca Pearson says, 'In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the scene we shot there that audiences will remember is [in Episode 4] when Henry and Cromwell play chess by the window. It’s that moment where their relationship is starting to change."

From the NT: "The UK National Trust property Montacute House has stayed virtually frozen in time since the Elizabethan era. It’s built in an ‘E’ shape, a popular design of the period...
Of course, Henry VIII had loads of palaces--plus his hunting lodges. We were told by a curator that basically, [the Tudors] would stay in one palace for a few months until it smelt so much, they’d pack everything up, tapestries, furniture, clothes, and the whole court would move to the next palace. That’s why they had so many palaces.”

Please click on the small photos to enlarge. Above left, Palace of Placentia, artist's rendering; right, stone marking the former location of Greenwich Palace, near the present site of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, on the Thames downstream from London, shown below

From Wikipedia Common: "The Old Royal Naval College, viewed from the north. Between the two college buildings appears the Queen's House in the middle of the picture. On the skyline stands a statue of James Wolfe at the end of an avenue of chestnut trees, with the Royal Observatory visible at right."
Below left, Montacute, west front; right, one of two lodges at the corners of the East Court.

Above, statues of two of the Nine Worthies in niches on the east facade, described in Wikipedia as "nine historical, scriptural, and legendary men of distinction who personify the ideals of chivalry established in the Middle Ages, whose lives were deemed a valuable study for aspirants to chivalric status...The Nine Worthies include three pagans (Hector, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar), three Jews (Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, and three Christians (King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Boullion)."
Below, left, part of the Great Hall Screen, and right, in he Great Hall.

Above left, the ground floor Drawing Room and right, the Parlour. These rooms adjacent to the Great Hall would have originally the principal family rooms.
Below, the Dining Room, as adapted in the 18th century, once part of the Buttery. Left, the fireplace; right the Phelips family arms, the motto "Pro aris et fois" translates to "For homes and hearths," from 1599.

Above left, Sir Edward Phelips (c. 1555/1560 – 1614) Speaker of the House of Commons, who built Montacute House and established the dynasty which owned the estates until it was sold in the early 20th century. At right, Lord Curzon who leased the house and lived there with his mistress, the novelist Elinor Glyn. After his death in 1925, the house was emptied of its art and furnishings, remaining unwanted. In 1931, Ernest Cook of Thomas Cook Travel Agents purchased the empty Montacute House for the National Trust, as the second stately home under its protection.
Below James Lees-Milne (1908-1997), Historic Buildings Secretary of the NT, who with Eardley Knollys, initiated a drive to stimulate donations of period-appropriate acquisitions to furnish the house; right, Detail of The Hunter, a 16th C. tapestry from the Gobelins factory in Paris, dated 1788, one of many precious objects donated to the house by Sir Malcolm Stewart (1872-1951), philanthropist and founder of the London Brick Company.

Above, left, the silver epergne was once owned by the Phelips family and purchased in 2006 by the NT; right, the cabinet on a stand is English, in the Japanese style, in lacquer and gilt, dating from the mid-18th century.
I have wandered far afield from the brilliant PBS television series based on the late Hilary Mantel's trilogy Wolf Hall. But I cannot resist just one more nod to the fine work of Mark Rylance, who stars as counselor to Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell. An excellent performance.

Sevres Porcelain Pot-Pourri Ships

3/23/2025

This exquisite pot-pourri vase in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, is one of only ten remaining of its kind in museums in Europe and the USA. When the JASNA AGM is held in Baltimore in October, 2025, participants will have a chance to see it on display there.
According to Wikipedia, the "Pot pourri à vaisseau or pot pourri en navire ('pot-pourri holder as a vessel/ship') is the shape used for a number of pot-pourri vases in the form of masted ships, first produced between the late 1750s to the early 1760s by the Sèvres manufactory near Paris." Below, the reverse side of the vase.

"The difficulty of firing such a fragile piece with "multiple openwork piercings in the body weakened the overall structure, and they tended to collapse in the kiln. Consequently, only about twelve were ever produced, ten of which survive today." Below, the three similar vases we saw at Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschild Collection in Buckinghamshire, UK, recently.

The vases were designed to hold dried herbs and spices to perfume the air of rooms. Below, one of the ships on display at Waddesdon between a pair of Sèvres porcelain vases and below the oil painting "of five players of the commedia dell'arte shown in half-length..." from the Waddesdon collection, by Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) executed in 1719.

We have accounted for four of the remaining ten ships and we can find some others pictured on the web. Below, left, cupids adorn the version in the metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, "designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis...dated about 1757–58...is believed to (have been) the vase in the ownership of Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé; right, from the Louvre, Paris, another pink version "by Jean-Claude Duplessis (c. 1695–1774), painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (1734–1803), c. 1760 ...with a chinoiserie scene in the main panel, after a painting by Francois Boucher...once in the bedchamber of Madame de Pompadour at the Hôtel d'Évreux, which is today the Elysee Palace. Please click on the pictures for larger versions.

Above left, with later addition of a gilt-bronze base: from The Frick Collection, New York City.
Right, "acquired by George IV, the vase in the Royal Collection is the largest of the three models of this shape produced at Sèvres...and depicts a genre scene...inspired by David Teniers the Younger (1610–90). The ends of the vase are in the form of a bowsprit, projecting from the jaws of a marine head, and at the masthead is a fluttering white pennant, patterned with fleurs-de-lis...purchased in 1759 at Versailles from Madame de Pompadour (who is known to have owned at least three examples of this model (including those now in the Louvre and Royal Collection)."

From the website of Waddesdon Manor: "Pot-pourri vase in the shape of a masted ship, the cover (extensively pierced) resembling sails and rigging and with a pennant attched to the top of the mast. On four scrolling feet. Bleu céleste ground colour with a battle scene on the front; the back decorated with flowers..." The form is attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis (c.1695-1774). It was acquired by Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1861 and bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957.
Below, the back of the vase shown above. Because the vases were most often displayed in front of a mirror, the backs were painted as beautifully as the fronts.

Just a wee bit of browsing images on the web will show you hundreds of exquisite and elaborate Sèvres porcelain vases and figurines, among the most prized of decorative objects in the world. Waddesdon Manor exhibits many, as do stately homes, palaces, and museums, but apparently none more renowned than the fragile Pot pourri à vaisseau or pot pourri en navire (pot-pourri holder as a vessel/ship). Enjoy!

Winston Churchill's sesquicentennial birthday

11/30/2024

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was born the 30th of November 1874 in Blenheim Palace, home of his uncle, the 8th Duke of Marlborough. Sir Winston died January 24, 1965, at age 90, after a long career in British government. Photo above from 1941 by Yousuf Karsh. The room where he was born is on view to Blenheim visitors.
Below, left, Blenheim Palace, Oxon; right, Jennie Jerome Spencer-Churchill, mother of Jack (1880-1947) on the left and Winston, at right, photographed in 1959. Jennie was American-born and married Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill, a younger son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough.

Above, left, Clementine Hozier Churchill in 1915; right, Clementine and Winston in 1959. Married in 1908, the Churchills had five children. After her husband's death, Clementine was awarded a life peerage. As a baroness, she was a member of the House of Lords. She died at age 92 in 1977.
Below, left, the front of the Churchill's Kent country house, in which they lived from 1922; right, the view from the gardens of the many floors of the house, now open to the public and maintained by the National Trust.

Above, left, Sir Winston's painting studio with works on view; right, Churchill at his easel.
During his long life and distinguished career, Sir Winston filled what little leisure time he had by painting.
I will not attempt to list all of his accomplishments, such as wining the Nobel Prize for Literature as well as multiple posts in the British government including several times achieving the rank of Prime Minister. Perhaps he is best regarded as the man who won World War II, the result of his determination and ability to rally much of the world to defeat fascism.
Below, the statue of Sir Winston in Parliament Square, London, sculpted by Ivor Roberts-Jones, 1973.

Small Artifacts from The Cleveland Art Museum

11/9/2024

At our recent visit to Cleveland for the JASNA AGM, we spent most of a day at the Cleveland Art Museum. Exhibited among 18th C. paintings and sculpture were examples of furniture and small luxury items from the period in England. Please click on the photos to enlarge.

Above, left. portrait Miniature of Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765); enamel on copper; right, Chatelaine and Case (Etui) c. 1770.
The label Luxury's Troubled Ties states, "Luxurious objects were an essential part of a privileged wardrobe during the 1700's, emphasizing their owner's refinement and wealth. Jewelry, miniatures, and necessaires -- small expensive sets designed to hold grooming, writing, and sewing tools -- were often given as intimate gifts, intended to be seen and admired. Their glittering surfaces, however, disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved and indentured people, whether in gold or stone mines, tobacco farms, or shops where these goods were made.
Small elaborate boxes held snuff, a form of powdered tobacco that was inhaled in tiny amounts. Like cotton, sugar, and tea, snuff came from British colonies in America, India, and the Caribbean, where enslaved people were exploited to grow these crops under extremely harsh conditions."
Below, left, Snuff Box, c.1770 (George III); enamel on copper; right, snuff box, c. 1759 (George II), gold and blue agate.

Above, left. Snuff Box, about 1790-1810 (George III), gold, moss agate, pearls, enamel; right, Snuff Box , 1750-60 (George II), gold, moss agate, hematites (reddish iron oxide).
Below, left, Figure of Britannia, c. 1756, maker: Longton Hall Porcelain Factory, Staffordshire, and decorator: Vauxall Porcelain Factory, 1751-64; right, Hen & Chicks Covered Tureen on stand, c. 1755, Chelsea Porcelain Factory, London, 1745-84
About Britannia, the museum writes, "The creation of this triumphant personification of the nation was likely spurred on by Great Britain’s conflict with France in the Seven Years’ War (1756–63)...In this depiction of Britannia, the figure is surrounded by symbols of England’s power and military might. On one side, she and a lion, another symbol of Britain, support a shield adorned with the Union flag. Below it lay motifs associated with war such as armor, a trumpet, and a flag. On her left, Britannia presents a medallion to the viewer as she rests her feet on a globe, a symbol of the nation’s territorial aspirations. The portrait may depict the reigning king, George II (1683–1760), or Prince Frederick Louis (1707–1751), his recently deceased heir.

Above, one of a pair of Candlesticks (torchieres). c. 1773, by Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779); right, Flower Pyramid, c. 1699, by Adrianus Kocx, Dutch, manufacturer, active 1686-1791, tin-glazed earthenware.
The museum states, "This pair of gilded candle stands was made by Thomas Chippendale, the most renowned cabinetmaker in eighteenth-century London, for the grand drawing room of Brocket Hall, a large country house in Hertfordshire, England. With finely carved acanthus leaves, swags, fluting, and oval masks depicting the Roman goddess Diana, these candle stands exhibit Chippendale’s masterful understanding of neoclassical proportion, scale, and ornament. His landmark book of furniture designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (first published in 1754), was highly admired as a source of inspiration by cabinetmakers and architects around England as well as in Europe and America.
In reference to the Flower Pyramid, the museum says, "The iconic blue-and-white ceramics from Delft originated as an attempt to copy Chinese porcelain...
Allegorical figures representing Faith, Hope, and Love decorate the base of this pyramid, on which rest six tiers with spouts where flowers can be placed. Flower pyramids are among the most complex and luxurious types of ceramics produced in Delft in the late 1600s. This example was made in the Greek A Factory, owned by Adrianus Kocx. During his tenure, the factory became the most prestigious of Delft potteries and received commissions from Queen Mary II, who ruled over England, Scotland, and Ireland together with her husband, William III. She contributed to the international spread of the fashion for Delft ceramics."