Mr. Joyce Takes on the World

House of Jane--Part Two:  Cassandra, Cassandra, and Sir Richard             After I finished at Jane’s house I walked down the road to Chawton Great House—once occupied by Jane’s brother, Edward Austen-Knight. It was opened to the public by the Knight family in 1987. More about that later. The walk to Chawton House is about eight minutes and includes some gentle rolling hills if one looks to the left. The path to the house is one that Jane herself would have walked on a regular, almost daily basis. But before I could visit that magnificent country house I had to pay my respects to some of its former guests.             Both Mrs. Austen and Cassandra Austen are buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas (also known as Chawton Church). This is not to be confused with the church in Steventon where Rev. Austen was rector. This St. Nicholas was once a chapel for ...

Meditations on Westminster Abbey I'd first read of this place when I was a teenager. I used to confuse one of my high school classmates by having him guess who was buried there. He never guessed right, not once. Whereas I'd memorized a large portion of those who claimed it as a final resting place. Not to sound ghoulish, but I'd wanted to visit this former cathedral/burial place for some time. It was a key location on my recent visit to England, and I was glad I took the time and effort to walk to it. It was the highlight of the time I spent in London. It wasn't about spending time with the dead. No, it was about what the place can teach us about life. Westminster Abbey was built some 1056 years ago. It's probably the oldest building I'd entered during my U.K. Holiday. On this trip I'd visited Leamington Spa, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Oxford, and London. All of which I'll talk about in later entries. Westminster Abbey is one of those plac...