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Bookpossum · 08-27-2012, 01:10 AM

Thanks for this, fantasyfan. I had missed the subtle reference to dilapidations in Chapter 6.

On a much more frivolous note, when I came to the section where Fanny goes to her family in Portsmouth, the reference to all the racket in the house which she found very hard to cope with:

"Mrs Price, Rebecca, and Betsey, all went up to defend themselves, all talking together, but Rebecca loudest, and the job was to be done, as well as it could, in a great hurry; William trying in vain to send Betsey down again, or keep her from being troublesome where she was; the whole of which, as almost every door in the house was open, could be plainly distinguished in the parlour, except when drowned at intervals by the superior noise of Sam, Tom, and Charles chasing each other up and down stairs, and tumbling about and hallooing."

reminded me irresistibly of the noise which terrified Timmy Willie, the country mouse who accidentally goes to town in a hamper in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse":

"At last the cart stopped at a house, where the hamper was taken out, carried in, and set down. The cook gave the carrier sixpence; the back door banged, and the cart rumbled away. But there was no quiet; there seemed to be hundreds of carts passing. Dogs barked; boys whistled in the street; the cook laughed, the parlour maid ran up and down-stairs; and a canary sang like a steam engine."

08-27-2012, 01:10 AM	#24
Bookpossum Snoozing in the sun Posts: 10,146 Karma: 115423645 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad Mini, Kobo Touch	Thanks for this, fantasyfan. I had missed the subtle reference to dilapidations in Chapter 6. On a much more frivolous note, when I came to the section where Fanny goes to her family in Portsmouth, the reference to all the racket in the house which she found very hard to cope with: "Mrs Price, Rebecca, and Betsey, all went up to defend themselves, all talking together, but Rebecca loudest, and the job was to be done, as well as it could, in a great hurry; William trying in vain to send Betsey down again, or keep her from being troublesome where she was; the whole of which, as almost every door in the house was open, could be plainly distinguished in the parlour, except when drowned at intervals by the superior noise of Sam, Tom, and Charles chasing each other up and down stairs, and tumbling about and hallooing." reminded me irresistibly of the noise which terrified Timmy Willie, the country mouse who accidentally goes to town in a hamper in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse": "At last the cart stopped at a house, where the hamper was taken out, carried in, and set down. The cook gave the carrier sixpence; the back door banged, and the cart rumbled away. But there was no quiet; there seemed to be hundreds of carts passing. Dogs barked; boys whistled in the street; the cook laughed, the parlour maid ran up and down-stairs; and a canary sang like a steam engine."