Dijitaliks News

27 August 1925: Favourite meals include breakfast on the banks of the Seine, lunch at the top of an Alpine pass, tea in the Highlands and dinner in Bolzano’s Waltherplatz

All readers of Jane Austen will remember Mr Woodhouse’s objection to his daughter’s portrait of Harriet Smith. “It is very pretty,” he said to Emma, “just as all your drawings are, my dear. The only thing I do not thoroughly like is that she seems to be sitting out of doors with only a little shawl over her shoulders, and it makes me think she must catch cold.” “But, my dear Papa,” protested Emma, “it is supposed to be summer, a warm day in summer. Look at the trees.” “But it is never safe to sit out of doors, my dear,” replied her Papa.

We may be sure that Mr Woodhouse would have regarded the suggestion of a meal out of doors as not only dangerous but almost indecent, and that the meals prepared by the impeccable Serle, who understood how to boil an egg better than any other, were served in a room from which all draughts were rigorously excluded. It is true that he travelled to the picnic at Donwell Abbey in his carriage with one window down, but while the others were enjoying themselves in the open air he was safely ensconced by a fire in the most comfortable room that the Abbey contained.