Dickensians! discussion

Welcome to the Chat Parlour! Mr. Charles Dickens has asked his wife, Catherine, to be especially gracious to his good friends in the "Dickensians!" and allow us to use his back parlour whenever we like, for group chat. Kate is a marvellous hostess, and loves company, and it's quite possible that Wilkie Collins, John Forster, Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell, or another famous face or two might pop in to join us.

So just take a seat, relax, pick a book of your choice from the library, and when you're nicely settled, tell us what's going on in your life at the moment.

How's everything today?

I'm a huge fan of Mrs. Gaskell, so I hope to catch a glimpse of her here in the chat parlour!

Enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon in between Easter brunch and dinner. Since the Easter bunny was banned from entering homes for social distancing purposes, he came around our neighborhood sticking out of the top of a jeep waving to all the young children in their driveways. So cute!

LOL Candi that is cute! Maybe Mrs. Gaskell has been baking her special Easter simnel cake, and will be bringing it round piping hot to Doughty Street, for us all to have a piece! :)

I just looked up the Easter simnel cake, not having heard of it before! It sounds delicious- except sometimes I have trouble taking to the dried fruits in cakes! We had an Easter bread this morning with dried fruit in it, and I had to eat around that part ;D

Oh, I do hope that Wilkie Collins drops by!

I've just taken 2 sour cream pound cakes out of the oven: one chocolate mocha; the other pineapple. The house is smelling good right now.

It's a sunny, lovely day. I am going out into the garden in a few minutes to poke around and see how things are growing.

I haven't heard of an Easter simnel cake either. I would adapt the recipe a bit: no candied/glace fruit or zest. LOL.

As I remember Simnel cake is quite a spicy cake, but I have to confess I prefer chocolate eggs :) We seem to have 5 this year, and they are all full size! It's usually just 2.

But Chris got a white chocolate Lindt one with truffles for me, and then by the time I tried to get one from supermarket delivery the choice left was quite small, except for one offer. That one had three for the price of two (with Kitkat bunnies in: a sort of chocolate wafer biscuit.) That was enough of a temptation for me, as it got the cost up to the the minimum for delivery (well that's my excuse anyway!) Then when they were delivered this morning, there was a free one from the supermarket for us!

I wonder if they had chocolate Easter eggs in Dickens's time ...

I'm fond of Kit Kat bars. I haven't seen a Kit Kat rabbit. That would be a fun treat.

I've tried some of the newer flavors: champagne (meh), green tea (interesting). I've only seen these in the Asian grocery stores. I've tried the thicker Kit Kat, too. My favorite is still the original. Perfect blend of wafer and cream filling.

I searched for the chocolate egg answer: chocolate eggs were first introduced in the 1950s by CAdbury. Poor Charles Dickens missed out on this treat.

Have I missed Ms. Gaskell??!
I’m reading a book of hers now and would love to tell her how much I’m enjoying it :)

My Easter bunny shops ahead so I was well prepared with candies, nail polishes, face masks, and other goodies to treat myself to.

Plus my mom dropped off a dark chocolate bunny from Sanders (yuuuummmmmm) and some scratch off lottery tickets. I won $10 and my sister didn’t win anything, she wasn’t happy I got “the good one” LOL.

LOL Allie! I think Mrs. Gaskell has disappeared, away with the crumbs left from her simnel cake. Sorry we didn't save you a bit ;)

She'll no doubt be pleased to hear that you are enjoying her book, though (I shouldn't say this since I'm partaking of our host's delicious viands!) Mr. Dickens doesn't tend to like anyone who outshines him. It's a good thing Mrs. Gaskell is naturally modest :)

Petra wrote: "chocolate eggs were first introduced in the 1950s by CAdbury. Poor Charles Dickens missed out on this treat ..."

Really? As recently as that? Since I've known of chocolate eggs all my life, I just assumed they were invented far earlier than that! I do remember when the individual chocolates were inside the egg though - and not in a cellophane packet. Somehow that made them much more special.

Those flavoured KitKats sound rather strange :( I had my first white chocolate one a couple of weeks ago, though, and really liked it :)

Off now to help with a bit of pruning. I can't sit on the ground to garden, but I can pass things!

I was curious about the chocolate Easter egg and found this:

"John Cadbury made his first 'French eating Chocolate' in 1842 but it was not until 1875 that the first Cadbury Easter Eggs were made. Progress in the chocolate Easter egg market was slow until a method was found for making the chocolate flow into the moulds.

The modern chocolate Easter egg owes its progression to the two greatest developments in the history of chocolate - the Dutch invention of a press for separating cocoa butter from the cocoa bean in 1828 and the introduction of a pure cocoa by Cadbury Brothers in 1866. The Cadbury process made large quantities of cocoa butter available and this was the secret of making moulded chocolate or indeed, any fine eating chocolate."

https://www.cadbury.com.au/About-Choc...

So, Dickens and company may well have had an Easter egg or two.

Oh yes, that sounds right :) And Cadbury's should know LOL!

I do remember chocolate eggs, decorated with tiny marzipan flowers in yellow and purple. They must have been popular for a long time then.

Thanks Sara!

Sorry for the misinformation. I just read the first thing that popped up. That's interesting info. Thanks, Sara.

No problem, Petra. It is easy to get inaccurate stuff on the net. I have done it. It just seemed 1950 was so late for chocolate eggs that I decided to check. I was pretty sure my siblings were all eating them before I arrived on the scene. :)

Yes, it didn't sound quite right, but as Sara says, it's easy to be misled on the Net. Glad it's clear now.

I made what was intended to be a simnel cake for Easter Day, but it had such a delicious crunchy sugary top that we decided to forgo the marzipan topping. Instead we ate it still slightly warm, with home-made cherry ice-cream. It was pretty good. Now I have to think of something to do with the marzipan!

A thought - I wonder if it was Cadbury's creme eggs that were introduced in the 1950s?

Nope, 1971 for those.

LOL I was thinking that too! It's a mystery.

Jodie, your cake sounds a great success! Perhaps you've invented a new recipe :)

We've been sorting out the garden, which is tricky when you can't get out to get any plants or seedlings :( After some weeding, we decided to use some old slabs to cover the earth, and spent a happy afternoon smashing them, and placing them in a loose crazy paving style, with space in between. We may not be able to get plants, but we can get seeds!

So that's what I did later, happily ordered lots seeds for colour, pinks blues, purples mainly, and alpine type or small wildflowers, to fill the spaces :)

Jean, your gardening endeavours sound great. The garden will look beautiful with all that colour and fragrance.

I don't know much about plants and shrubbery. Because of that, I need to see that plants in the Nursery before buying them. That's going to be a problem this year because the Nurseries are closed. They will take on-line orders and bring plants to the parking lot for pick-up at a pre-arranged time. If I were more knowledgeable about plants I would do this. But I may have to take a step back this year.

I'm glad that you are getting out into the sun and fresh air, Jean.

Thanks Petra! It was very much me "directing operations" I'm afraid, as I can't get down to the earth level yet. But so nice to be outside :) And I just chose plants I know, or that said "hardy annuals" and were the right size.

I'm the world's worst gardener! The thing is, I love looking at flowers and greenery, etc, but I hate taking care of it in any fashion! I am currently reading Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim so I am getting my fill of imagining a beautiful garden for now :)

Oh I'd like to know your thoughts on that, Candi! The only book I know of by her is The Enchanted April.

I'm the same as you, with gardening. But my mum used to know so much about flowers. She could identify wild flowers just at a glance, and tell you all about them - and she had green fingers. She used to send me home with lots of cuttings from her garden :) My brother used to say she should have been a botanist; she made lovely watercolours of wild flowers in her youth. It's one of the things I really miss. Looking things up in a book just isn't the same. But so often when I learn a name, I "hear" it in my mum's voice :)

Your garden sounds like it will be lovely, Jean! :) I am a passionate gardener and amateur botanist myself. Here in northern Maine the snow is still working on melting but parts of the garden are starting to emerge and I'm seeing some crocuses and tulips already coming up! I also love going for rambles in the fields and woods in search of wildflowers. Your mum sounds like a very special lady. I've always wished I could sketch or paint plants and flowers but I'm not very artistic.

Oh and Elizabeth And Her German Garden is a really good book! :)

Ooo Meg, I shall be able to pick your brains :)

My favourite plant to see after all the snow, are snowdrops. They are such a sign of hope, I feel, after the dark days of winter. We have just a few bulbs coming out, and bluebell-type (campanulata) flowers too. But the best thing about our garden at the moment, is the huge mauve lilac, which is fully in bloom and really fragrant :)

I envy you and your mother, Jean. My Granny Smallwood was a miracle worker with plants. Everything she smiled upon bloomed for her. My dad was the same, although he most often turned his skills to vegetables and edibles. With seven children to feed, there was always a garden patch wherever we might be living. He knew the name of everything that grew and how to tend it, but then he had worked on a farm most of his young life.

They are lovely memories, aren't they? I don't have such knowledge or green fingers, and think earlier generations were more in touch with living things than we are.

My dad used to have an allotment to grow veg and flowers. I especially remember black and redcurrant bushes, and in the greenhouse chrysanthemums and tomatoes. My favourites were the strawberries growing inside jamjars to keep off the crows :)

My aunt Dell would put up chow-chow and can vegetables. I can remember sweltering in the summer when the canning was going on--no air conditioning in those days. Nothing was ever wasted.

Yes, the memories are wonderful.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Oh I'd like to know your thoughts on that, Candi! The only book I know of by her is The Enchanted April.

I'm the same as you, with gardening. But my mum used to know so much about flow..."

I'm very much enjoying the book, Jean! It's more a collection of musings about her garden and her children... and visitors - her reflections on (mostly unwanted!) visitors makes me laugh :)

It's wonderful to have memories of your mother and her love for gardening and painting! I envy anyone that can do these sort of things.

Jean, your mom had talent, both in the naming and the painting of plants.

I would recommend The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72 for those who enjoy the creation of flower art, as well as biographies. As my review states, the author inserts herself too much into the story but if one can ignore that aspect, this was a really interesting story and the artwork is exquisite.

Thank you! I think Victorian ladies (not that my Mum was Victorian!) often had a passion for the natural world, and either became amateur illustrators or studied the Natural Sciences. Female fossil-collectors, or naturalists. Beatrix Potter, for instance, produced many professional drawings and illustrations of flora, especially fungi, which are still used for reference today - but most of us just think of her cute children's pictures and stories!

I love Beatrix Potter's natural history drawings, they are so exquisite. She's a writer who fits very nicely with this group, too - The Tailor of Gloucester (my favourite) could almost be Dickens-for-children, it's so poignant and so completely encapsulates its period.
I find Dickens interesting outside his fiction too. A few years ago there was a project to digitize all the issues of his magazine Household Words - in the course of working on my tiny section of it I learnt a lot about his campaign to improve conditions for the poor of Victorian society. He must have had enormous energy to write so much!

Absolutely Jodie, and how interesting that you were involved with that project! It sounds like a dream job :)

There is a woman here in Wisconsin who has a profession of giving first-person presentations on historical women. She does Mrs. Dickens, as well as Queen Victoria's housekeeper, Golda Meir, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more - in costume.

Unfortunately, Charles Dickens didn't treat his wife well at all. Like some other famous creative people, he had a weakness for younger women, including his sister-in-law and a very young actress, who he basically left his wife for. It had to be very hush-hush because he had the public image of a family man (with 10 children).

Robin wrote: "There is a woman here in Wisconsin who has a profession of giving first-person presentations on historical women. She does Mrs. Dickens, as well as Queen Victoria's housekeeper, Golda Meir, Eleanor..."

That must be very entertaining!

Yes, several of the early biographies of Charles Dickens miss out his relationship with Nelly Ternan, although it was well known at the time! He had to appear to be above blame officially, however, so even his great friend John Forster avoided mentioning it. Only recently have biographies begun to be more frank and complete.

It's a bit like The Life of Charlotte Brontë - Elizabeth Gaskell' s biography of Charlotte Brontë. It is blemish-free!

The pros and cons of having someone who knew you writing your biography...if they like you, you become a saint; if they don't a devil. I can sympathize with having to reveal something negative you know, especially a secret, that you know about a friend; but then you have some responsibility to truth when you undertake to write a biography. I enjoyed Mrs. Gaskell's book, but I learned more about her from other sources.

In the Victorian era, all kinds of public figures were prettied up in biographies after their deaths. Now it is the opposite, colleagues can't wait to publish a tell-all exposé (often while the subject is still alive!)

Robin wrote: "In the Victorian era, all kinds of public figures were prettied up in biographies after their deaths. Now it is the opposite, colleagues can't wait to publish a tell-all exposé ..."

Yes, those warts and all modern "biographies" are equally objectionable. I like Claire Tomalin because she is a well-respected literary writer. As you say Sara, she recognises her responsibility to the truth, and in her biographies eg., of Thomas Hardy: The Time Torn Man, and what she writes about Charles Dickens in The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, she is direct, informative and does not resort to judgemental language.

Robin wrote: "In the Victorian era, all kinds of public figures were prettied up in biographies after their deaths...."

I seem to remember that Queen Victoria's daughter edited her mother's diaries heavily before they were made public and she destroyed the originals. Wouldn't it be fascinating to know the bits that were cut out?!

We tidied up our garden this week, to give us a space to sit outdoors. It had been an outdoor workshop for my other half, who has been doing lots of DIY. But now that's all hidden at the back and we have a nice clean tidy space for... well, reading of course!

Even though we're all restricted at the moment, I'm enjoying sitting in the garden to read :) We have a huge mauve lilac bush, which is in full bloom, and so fragrant. Under it is a mass of bluebells, and there are lots of forget-me-nots on the other side. The red and pink geraniums are planted out now, after being over-wintered indoors, and it looks as though the day liles will be healthy this year. Next to those we have an everlasting purple geranium, and two rose bushes of different pinks to look forward to. Plus some packets of seeds I've ordered are on their way. I especially love blue flowers.

And that set me wondering which was Dickens favourite flower. Any guesses? Apparently he loved bright colours, but his absolute favourite was the (view spoiler)[ scarlet geranium (hide spoiler)] (we have lots of those!) and whenever he gave one of his series of readings he would always have a fresh one of these in his button-hole :) Even when he went to America, a society lady, Mary Boyle, organised it for him.

I hope someone remembered to bring one for Mrs. Dickens's cottage garden. It's small, very pretty, and enclosed. What's your garden (or "yard") like?

That sounds wonderful, Jean. I've just read Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim and that will have to serve as a substitute for really sitting in the garden for now. We've had snow on and off for the last few days with really cold temperatures and wind. It honestly does not help given the current circumstances! It would be nice to actually get out of the house, even if for just a few feet ;D My tulips won't open and the lilacs are far from blooming. For now I'll have to look at pictures of gardens and use my imagination!

Aw snow?! It's been a bit chilly some days but bright sun, and I've just added an extra layer and stubbornly sat there! But today really was like early summer :)

Hang in there, Candi. Your summer will come!

We got snow too! That's not too unusual for northern Maine though...

Oh my! I'm feeling really lucky now :)

Who are the little creatures in the bottom left of the picture, Meg?

Only yesterday I was cleaning up in the flower gardens and the crocuses were blooming!
Those are our friend's goats. :)

Crocuses are such a hopeful sign of what's to come :) I love to see them - and snowdrops too - peeping through the snow. Our grass is getting a bit long, but I hate to cut it when there are still bulbs dotted around, in our case vivid indigo grape hyacinths.

Ah, I was thinking that your dogs' ears were a funny shape LOL!

No garden or yard since I’m in an apartment :( so Mrs. Dickens will have to find her own scarlet geraniums for her cottage garden!

We’ve had snow every day this week so far. Not sticking much but hail has also thrown itself in there as well. Yesterday we had a perfectly beautiful day before it hailed, stopped, and then snowed, then that stopped, all within minutes of each other....all while bright sunshine was shining!

Maybe that's typical April weather? It always seems to be a month between the seasons, in a way.