@@EllieDashwood I found that bit really interesting, because the story is in the Austen-Leigh biography (but starring Henry instead of Mrs Merriot, I think?) I'd wondered if it was too far fetched to be true - thank you for confirming it!
What a fascinating life. I would have loved to meet the Comtesse de Feuillide. Even if her title was false, I could probably see myself willfully ignoring it just because she was so charming.
I love the letters of young Eliza, they are fun to read (and more enjoyable in the way you read them). I’ll start to use the “I don’t think i am very likely to lose either my gaiety or peace of mind for any male creature breathing” sentence whenever someone ask me if i am dating someone, and specifically the “male creature breathing” part for plenty of situations. I would have loved to know her!
Wow! What a crazy and remarkable life! Sad she died at only 50 (although at the time it wouldn’t have been unusual) - but she certainly packed it in! One thing that always makes interesting historical stories more fun - their being true stories. Thanks for another fun and interesting video! ✨
Love this video, I was actually thinking of Mary Crawford from Mansfield Park when hearing about Eliza not wanting to marry Henry due to him wanting to be a country parson. I don't feel like Eliza really fits the bill for any of Austen's characters as a whole though. She could have her own bbc series as someone mentioned just since her actual life was very interesting and drama filled.
I thought this too! I just finished Mansfield Park and Eliza seems to have an essence of Mary Crawford. What's interesting is that Jane Austen herself would be more in the position of one of the sisters, Maria or Julia, rather than protagonist Fanny Price. It's very interesting as a perspective change and I like the idea of her imagining up people and being inspired by small details instead of copying full scenes from life~
I'm wondering now if she's Elizabeth Bennet's namesake. The way she went by Betsy when she was young and Eliza when she was older, the way only Elizabeth's family call her Lizzie and to everyone else she's Eliza...
There's a hilarious book by a Nicholas Ennos contending that Jane Austen's novels were actually written by Eliza. I don't buy it, especially since he also believes the moon landings were faked, but it was amusing.
What a great story! I love how you tell the stories of both women. Managing what they did in times very tough for women. Eliza especially must have been incredibly charismatic.
The fake comte's desire to drain the swamp reminds me of part of the plot of a great French film called Ridicule that is set in the same time period which ends far happier for the swamp drainer than it did for the fake comte de Feuillide.
All the while I was looking forward to you mentioning the portrayal of Eliza in Becoming Jane... It was in its day unforgettable to me, and I found Lucy Cohu so beautiful in the role. I'm surprised it's possible to be left with an impression of her as "washed out" in that movie. She was anything but! Jane (and by extension, the audience) seems to look up to the glamour, wordliness and sensuality of her older cousin, who talks about Marie Antoinette, wears French fashion (which is old, but doesn't seem old on her), impresses people with her title (to the point it almost gains Jane a marriage), and gets doted on by Henry. I didn't get the impression at all that the romance with Henry was one-sided. Yes, money played a part, so their marriage was "sensible" in that way, but you clearly got the impression they also loved each other (and the actor who played Henry.. gaaaaahd). I even felt their relationship was set up as a contrast to Jane and Tom Lefroy's, as "the successful one" the one where they got each other in the end (which Jane and Tom did not). Constantly around Jane and Tom as the movie progressed, were Eliza and Henry, "the happier couple", flirting and having a physical relationship, quite openly. I felt the lession Jane was meant to learn from this was that a love match is possible, but only as long as one or both has access to money. Therefore Jane made sure that all of the happy endings for her own heroines involved both love and secure financing. I may remember some of this wrong, but it is my honest impression of the movie - and I very much recognized the Eliza from this video. Becoming Jane is far from a perfect movie, but this I felt was unfair.
She could totally have met Ben Franklin, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson when in Paris. They were down there too, I think, when these hot air balloons were launched.
Great video. Thank you. I wonder what happened to her husband's mistress, how you know he had one, and if it is known why she didn't have a child with her cousin.
A great video of a fascinating woman! Some French housekeeping: Feuillide is pronounced "Fuy-eed." Dauphin is pronounced "doe-fah." Comte is pronounced "kohnt."
I think she was such an original and charming figure! She really must have been very modern for those times! No wonder Jane and her brothers where bewitched by her! :)
utterly adorable presentation of a fascinating story. in other hands this could have been confusing and/or tedious but nope! ellie to the rescue! storytelling panache!
I smack the like button at the start of your videos so I don't commit the heinous sin of forgetting at the end, Seriously though Ellie I do love your channel. This as always is great listening. When life gives Eliza lemons she makes lemonade. A quick question whilst I'm here, I've been listening to the full collection of Austin audio books, why have I struggled so much with the characters of Sense and Sensibility?
Aw! Thanks so much for liking my videos! 😃💕 That’s a great question about Sense and Sensibility. And I think it’s because really Jane is using the characters to dramatize an argument about emotion versus reason that was happening in society around her at the time. And that argument uses a lot of obscure concepts and terms that have either been lost or changed since then. I really think it is the hardest book of hers for modern readers because of that.
@@EllieDashwood Hi Ellie, as I bought the full jane set in Audio I'll give it another go. It's more the number of people running through the book rather than language, I grew up with English lit including Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and the insane madcap adventure in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of being Earnest. .. thanks for the input. Jan
@@EllieDashwoodactually, I can relate so much to exactly that argument! So to me, those characters have always felt like close friends… I love your deep dives on all things Regency/ Victorian and Jane Austen!
I cant believe that people can change their nicknames that easy, i have been most of my life asking my family to stop calling me a nickname they put me when i was a baby because it makes me feel like a grandma lol (jossie)
what is it with jane austen adaptations and biopics always showing any married or widowed woman as middle-aged? a woman could be a 'mrs someone' and also under the age of 40!
I interpreted Eliza in "Becoming Jane" a bit differently. To me, Henry clearly likes her and they both flirt. What she does is just to offer him money when he needs it and generally just being generous to him, as in the movie they present her as a rich person in her own accord. I do agree that it would have been infinitely better if she was portrayed as this beautiful society lady that does as she pleases and that turns bad situations to interesting ones, as she did in real life. She truly xould have married anyone she wanted, yet she married Henry Austen. She could have stayed free the rest of her short life... I guess she did love him. I also didn't think they had a bad casting, it was a more mature, beautiful woman. I do not know what is supposed to be the age difference between her and Jane but she looked to me like an older cousin or even a young Auntie that is fun to hang around with.
I agree. The actress was beautiful, and the character came off every bit the glamorous, elegant, charming woman she is described as in this video. To me, anyway.
Ellie, you are extraordinary !!!! You and your videos make my live brighter !!!! I imagine myself ,there, somewhere, in each story of yours ! I love your passion for that period . In one of your previous lives you danced in many of the balls you mentioned ! I know it for sure because I was there too . Thank you for your work and for sharing !🥰
WOW!! That is quite a life to have had. I think it speaks to her and her mother's adventurous and resilient spirit that, even through some MAJOR life events, they always found a way to be well.
You'll hate me for this but, I can speak French with a French accent!!! I don't know how I do it but I've always been able to do that. I went to French immersion from play school that's before kindergarten in Canada. I can do it with Italian and Spanish too. I'm just thankful I that I can!!! 🧐😁🧐 Take care and have fun!!! 💃🕺💃 😷😎😷
Can you please explain how it is cheaper to live in Continental Europe at the time? I keep seeing this in history videos but I can't find any info on google... tia x
Love the video! And all your videos! Though I must comment on the pronunciation of Dauphin. Its more like Dough-faun (very soft "n", just in the nose) rather than Daw-fin. I'm sorry, I am deeply pedantic. Again, LOVE your videos :)
Hey, what is the situation? I think that in the UK first cousins are still allowed to marry. It's just a rare occurrence (quite common in Asian families but that's something else!)
Yes that’s still the case as far as I’m aware. I had a friend who married her first cousin. It’s not common though. In the 19th century the one invention that improved the general health of British people was the bicycle. This invention meant that ordinary.people could look for partners outside their village and this improved the gene pool very quickly. I found this out at Edinburgh University. We students were thinking, vaccination, better water and sewerage systems and antiseptics so hearing it was the bicycle was a surprise.
@@ameliecarre4783 I don't think they can help you much when your genes are all messed up due to inbreeding. Just ask those flat face kitties who can barely breathe.
Did it bother the men if their women were entertaining other men ? I just wonder about this since they often had mistresses. Eliza seems to be a pleasant fun person who nevér gives up ❤
Crazy! I just took a deep dive on the French Revolution and finished it yesterday - and today, I’m swimming around in the ‘life and times’ of someone that actually lived through it… (My ancestors fled Normandy to England during the French Revolution…) not sure if that’s cool, or embarrassing 👀🤣 oh, btw… do you think it is possible that the Lady Susan inspiration could have been Eliza’s mum, with Eliza being the daughter? What do you think? Is it plausible, or way off? 🤔😊
In those days, you would keep the highest title you had been . . Um. . . "ENtitled" to! Later it became customary to step back down in rank to match a lower ranking subsequent husband.
the last name of Eliza's husband is pronounced "fuhiyide", or something like that, the double L in French can be confusing on when to pronounce it as a Y and when to as an L, I still get confused
