The Diaries of Charlotte Downes Vol II

Download or read book The Diaries of Charlotte Downes Vol II written by John Lane and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Diaries of Charlotte Downes, Volume II, is the fourth in a four-volume set, covering years 1839-1858. The diaries afford the reader a glimpse of a small corner of rural England from the Regency through to the early-mid Victorian periods when life was based on a timeless and often precarious agricultural economy, a rigid, inequitable class system and deference to an authoritative Church. Charlotte, the daughter of an influential Wiltshire land-owner, was first cousin to the poet Shelley; she later married Richard Downes, rector of Berwick St John. Her diaries, together with those of her sister, Harriet, have been described by one authority as "like a novel by Jane Austen, but for real". This full transcription contains entries spanning a period of almost fifty years and provides a useful resource for scholars and social historians alike. Family historians will find recorded within these pages an extraordinary number of named individuals, from families representing all sections of society.