Letter #9, Post #8

Sunday 15 April 2012
To Cassandra, from the Bull and George, Dartford, "My father is now reading the 'Midnight Bell', which he has got from the library, and mother sitting by the fire." - Jane Austen, Wednesday 24 October 1798

What a picture; to the romantic this seems like bliss.

The Midnight Bell, A German Story Founded on Incidents in Real Life, by Francis Lathom. It was a Gothic novel published in 1798, so it was a new release. Francis Lathom was born 14 July 1774, so he was just a year and half older than Jane Austen. This is a link to information about him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lathom

He wrote quite a few novels, but Midnight Bell is still famous because Jane Austen listed it among the horrid novels in Northanger Abbey in a conversation between Catherine and Isabella:

“Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”

“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?”

“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”

“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”

“Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them. I wish you knew Miss Andrews, you would be delighted with her. She is netting herself the sweetest cloak you can conceive. I think her as beautiful as an angel, and I am so vexed with the men for not admiring her! I scold them all amazingly about it.” - Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Chapter Six.

It would be fun to read the Northanger Abbey horrid gothic novels sometime, yeh, when I retire ;)

I hope you enjoyed your day today!

Terrie