A Charming Place

A Charming Place  – a talk by Elizabeth Merry

The City of Bath, architectural expression of the ‘Age of Elegance’, has been immortalised by many writers, none more distinguished than Jane Austen. Indeed Austen herself seems to epitomise the same values of taste and restraint, harmony and grace which characterise the city. We explore it through contemporary illustrations and engravings, with views of interiors and exteriors of buildings which featured in Austen’s own life as well as those of characters in her Bath novels (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion). Extracts from those novels and from some of her letters will bring Jane Austen’s Bath to life and will help us understand why, despite the undoubted significance of the city in her life and work; she never really liked the place!