Visiting Bridgerule, Dreaming of the Past

Bridgerule Millhouse Thanks to every TV and cinema adaptation of Pride and Prejudice it isn’t hard for a modern reader to imagine the quiet corner of England that Elizabeth Macarthur left behind. Elizabeth Veale, as she was then, was born in 1766 and raised in the very English village of Bridgerule, on the border of Cornwall and Devon.   Rolling green hills, flowering hedgerows, majestic trees surrounding an ancient church, picturesque gardens beside quaint little cottages — the location ticks every English stereotype on the bonnet drama list. And [...]

Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer

Biographer Richard Holmes wrote a book about writing books - specifically, biographies. "This exhilarating book, part biography, part autobiography...shows the biographer as sleuth and huntsman, tracking his subjects through space and time." - Observer On the face of it Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer describes how Holmes retraced, on foot, a journey made through France by his subject Robert Louis Stevenson.  What Footsteps really describes, though, is how the biographer's journey both captured and failed to capture the subject. Footsteps is a book worth reading and having myself just [...]

Bridgerule

Elizabeth Veale, as she was then, was born in 1766 and raised in the English village of Bridgerule, on the border of Cornwall and Devon in England’s southwest. The time I spent in Elizabeth Macarthur's birthplace was absolutely the highlight of my trip to England.  But, as I always seem to find, the place mattered far less than the people. The spritely octogenarian, Mr Bowden, who showed me through St Bridget's church and then rang the bells for me.  That's him holding the enormous key to the church! Rose Hitchings, [...]

2018-03-21T14:56:19+11:00July 8th, 2014|Elizabeth Macarthur, Life|13 Comments
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