February 18 1996 

Final word on Darcy 

I AM old enough to have viewed every Darcy (Letters, last week) from Olivier 
onwards and for me (and thousands of others) Colin Firth is the definitive Mr Darcy. 

Far from "impersonating" the character, he is the only actor who has made him 
completely believable. As for presence, whether appearing in a costume drama, a D 
H Lawrence play or a Ruth Rendell story, Firth has only to stand in front of a 
camera, hardly moving a muscle, to convey what is going on in his mind. Alan Badel, 
whether as Darcy or the Count of Monte Christo, was always Alan Badel. 

Pat Higgins Netley Abbey, Southampton 

    * Good news for young blades came during the Oxford debate on 
     Wednesday evening on Pride and Prejudice. Colin Firth, who played 
     Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation, is far less glamorous than his 
     screen persona. "He had to lose a lot of weight for the part and dye 
     his light-brown hair dark," said the director, Simon Langton. "He 
     doesn't look like Darcy in real life. He says that he is not even 
     recognised in the pub." 

    February 24 1996    WEEKEND 
 
Jill Parkin, heart aflutter, offers some inspired ideas for fanning the flames of 
                       your own Austen romance 

 
Laura Ashley sells patchwork quilts, from £95, for those who do not want to make 
                              their own 

 
A leaf out of the Regency book 
 

    IT IS a truth universally acknowledged that, as Jane Austen nearly wrote, 
    every female heart in the country skipped a beat when Colin "Darcy" Firth 
    took his shirt off in the television series, Pride and Prejudice. "That's not in 
    the book," we purists  protested, our tongues hanging out. 

    With any luck the film-makers will have taken the same liberties with the 
    darkly dashing Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility, which opened yesterday 
    and will be coming soon to a screen near you. 

    Whether it is a decent Darcy or a wayward Willoughby that you are after, 
    there are ways of conducting your own Austen mannered romance, aided by a 
    spot of Regency shopping. 

    An evening playing cards is just the deal, for you need to meet in a social 
    setting where rules are followed and opportunities are provided for brief but 
    loaded exchanges. Think of all the match-making behind the quadrille and 
    casino in Pride and Prejudice. 

    You don't play casino? You thought a quadrille was a dance? Whether your 
    game is bridge or Snap, try the InterCol Regency deck of cards with its 
    Cruickshank caricatures of the Prince Regent backed by a painting of the 
    Brighton Pavilion (£6.50). 

    If your beau ­ sulky or suave ­ comes to call, you should be engaged in a 
    feminine activity such as drawing or sewing. Patchworking was also a 
    favourite in Regency times. It takes forever and requires a great deal of 
    concentration, but it does have a definite suggestion of bed. At Jane Austen's 
    house in Chawton, Hampshire, you can see the quilt which the Austen sisters 
    worked on with their mother. 

    If the thought of sewing all those squares together does not appeal, buy a 
    patchwork quilt ready made. This season's quilts from Laura Ashley include 
    Poppy Meadow (meadow flowers against a yellow background), Strawberry 
    Field (green and red strawberry plants on white) and Megan (red, yellow and 
    blue flowers on blue). There are no singles, only doubles for £95, and large 
    doubles for £105. 

    As a break from patchworking there is always tapestry. You can give the 
    impression of housewifely virtuosity with one or two of the Victoria and Albert 
    Museum shop's handmade tapestry cushions in wool on a cotton background. 
    They are 10in square and traditionally illustrated with, for example, a coat of 
    arms (£47). 

    The V&A shop also has several Georgian and Regency lines. Cassandra 
    Austen, Jane's bee-keeping sister, would probably have appreciated the 
    cream, oval, sweetmeat dish hand-decorated with gold bees. It measures 5in x 
    3in and costs £28.50. 

    This season Laura Ashley has also revived something which is big in Jane 
    Austen: muslin. Before the material degenerated into a sieve for crab-apple 
    jelly, muslin ­ sprigged, spotted or plain ­ was something to wear, shop for and 
    talk about. 

    HENRY TILNEY in Northanger Abbey chats up Catherine Morland in the 
    Pump Room at Bath on the subject of muslin: they are married within the 
    year. These days muslin is used for draping beds and windows rather than for 
    wearing. The Laura Ashley range includes a cornflower striped chambray 
    muslin at £16.95 a metre and a matching chambray chintz bedspread with a 
    blue scalloped edge which is made to order (singles cost from £125, doubles 
    from £135, and large doubles from £165). 

    In those more formal times, when you could make a whole patchwork quilt 
    before you saw your Darcy take his shirt off, silhouette painting was a 
    favourite way of passing non-stitching time. 

    In the film version of Sense and Sensibility, you'll see Marianne paint a 
    silhouette of Willoughby while he poses behind a screen. The V&A museum 
    shop sells a typical example of the genre: Silhouette of an Unknown Man, a 
    brass-edged oval set in a square black papier mâché frame, 16cms high. The 
    profile is painted on a cream background and the whole thing has been given a 
    distressed look (£47.50). 

    Marianne ­ daring thing ­ writes frequently to Willoughby. Her final letter 
    demands the return of all her notes. Perhaps, after that, she laid her pen down 
    with a sigh in a pen tray like the hand-painted version from Limoges (white 
    and yellow with gold dots) that the V&A sells for £36.95. 

    The Prince Regent kept copies of Austen's novels in all his homes. It would be 
    rather appropriate, then, when you've caught your beau in your muslin net, to 
    marry him at Prinny's seaside palace, the Royal Pavilion, in Brighton. With its 
    Indian minarets on the outside and Chinese furnishings inside, it is not exactly 
    the village church where Austen heroines marry, but it is certainly distinctive. 

    For the wedding ceremony you can hire the red drawing room for £275 
    (excluding registrar's fees). A tour of the Pavilion for up to 25 guests costs 
    £70. You can also hire a room for the reception (£350 for the small Adelaide, 
    £625 for the William IV and £825 for the Queen Adelaide). 

    There is also a package rate of £850 for the Red Drawing Room and the 
    William IV room. First choice for the wedding pictures has to be the exquisite 
    music room with its beautiful domed ceiling of gilded, scallop-shape shells. 

    The catering for the big day could be inspired by The Jane Austen 
    Cookbook. It includes recipes from Martha Lloyd, who lived with the 
    Austens in Hampshire. Dishes include Lady Williams's Muffins; a recipe for 
    Curry after the Indian Manner; and Chickens with Hogs' Tongues (A Good 
    Dish for a Great Deal of Company). It beats canapés and sweet sherry any 
    day. 

    And then comes the chapter that Jane Austen never wrote, the time when you 
    unpack your Regency nightdress. Past Times has an all-cotton number with a 
    square neck and long sleeves which costs £24.50. Damask, 3-4 Broxholme 
    House, New King's Road, Chelsea, London, has a selection of historically 
    inspired nightdresses in cotton voile and cotton lawn with lots of 
    hand-smocking and embroidery. Its prices range from £42 to £66. Yes, of 
    course you need a nightie. Tut, tut. 

    InterCol (0181-349 2207); the Laura Ashley order line (0800 868 100); the 
    Victoria and Albert Museum order line (0171-938 8438); Brighton Pavilion 
    (01273 603 005); The Jane Austen Cookbook (£10.99) is available directly 
    from the British Museum Press (0171-323 1234), as well high- street 
    bookshops. The cookbook and other Jane Austen publications are also 
    available from Bath Museums Trading (01225 466766 for list); Past Times 
    (01993 770440); Damask mail order and brochure (0171-731 3470). 
 

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