Educational Bonus

She [Rosamond Vincy] was admitted to be the flower of Mrs. Lemon's school, the chief school in the county, where the teaching included all that was demanded in the accomplished female—even to extras, such as the getting and and out of a carriage.

I laughed when I came across that passage in Middlemarch; "the getting in and out of a carriage" was just too delightful. I've recently begun George Eliot's novel for the fifth or sixth time, but this go-round feels like I'll read all the way through. My copy, a Bantam Classic paperback, features an introduction by Margaret Drabble, but I'd like to finish the book before reading Drabble's words. Sometimes authoritative opinions can color what I read. At any rate, a literary classic seems just right for the cold spring that usually constitutes April around southern New England.

Image courtesy of Powell's Books

Comments

[Michelle]

So, I'm hoping you can tell me when you finish why I so loved that book in college. I can't remember the first thing about it, other than I loved it!

[Susan]

I hope I can put my finger on it: I'm loving the book this time around, too! Did you like Vanity Fair? I read that a few years back. I have HUGE gaps in my reading!

[adrienne]

If there is a right way to get in and out of a carriage, I don't know it. This lack of knowledge will no doubt lead me to a bad end.

[Susan]

I feel pretty sure I'd inadvertently show my petticoat when I got into a carriage...or out.