JOkEs AbOuT MuSiC

 Elizabeth is very cruel about my writing Music; _& as a punishment for her, I should insist upon always writing out all hers for her in future, if I were not punishing myself at the same time’ writes Jane Austen to Cassandra [1] [1] Deirdre Le Faye, ed.,

Jane Austen’s Letters,

third edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Letter 17 to Cassandra Austen, 9 January 1799, p.33.

Jane Austen’s Letters  “I liked her for being in a hurry to have the Concert over & get away, & for getting away at last with a great deal of decision & promptness”  “Even the Concert will have more than its usual charm with me, as the Gardens are large enough for me to get pretty well beyond the reach of its sound”  To Replace ‘Strike the harp in praise of Bragela’, Austen wrote ‘Prike pe Parp pin praise pof Prapela’.

Jack and Alice

“She [her Aunt] provided me with some of the first rate Masters, who taught me all the accomplishments requisite for one of my sex and rank. Under their instructions I learned Dancing, Music, Drawing and various Languages, by which means I became more accomplished than any other Taylor’s Daughter in Wales” (p.19)

Catharine

“ Miss Stanley had been attended by the most capital Masters from the time of her being six years old to the last Spring, which comprehending a period of twelve Years had been dedicated to the acquirement of Accomplishments which were now to be displayed and in a few Years entirely neglected […] Years which ought to have been spent in the attainment of useful knowledge and Mental Improvement had been all bestowed in learning Drawing, Italian and Music, especially the latter, and she now united to these Accomplishments, an Understanding unimproved by reading and a Mind totally devoid either of Taste or Judgement” (p.191)

Frederic and Elfrida

*** When Corydon went to the fair He bought a red ribbon for Bess With which she encircled her hair And made herself look very fess ***

Allan Ramsay’s “Bessy Bell and Mary Gray/O

Bessy Bell”

O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray They are twa bonny lasses They bigg’d a bower on yon burn brae And theek’d it o’er with rashes […] Now Bessy’s hair’s like a lint-tap She smiles like a May morning

Henry and Eliza

Though misfortunes my footsteps may ever attend I hope I shall never have need of a Friend As an innocent Heart I will ever preserve And will never from Virtue’s dear boundaries swerve

The First Act of a Comedy

I go to town And when I come down I shall be married to Stree-phon And that to me will be fun Chorus: Be fun, be fun, be fun And that to me will be fun

The First Act of a Comedy

I am going to have my dinner After which I shan’t be thinner I wish I had here Strephon For he would carve the partridge if it should Be a tough one Chorus:

Tough one, tough one, tough one, For he would carve the partridge if it should be a tough one.

An Extract from Music Book 7: Juvenile Amusement

There was an old woman And what do you think she liv’d upon Nothing but victuals and drink And though victuals and drink was the chief of her diet This plaguey old woman could never be quiet And though victuals and drink was the chief of her diet This plaguey old woman could never be quiet