I do, too. Richardson was basically a serious writer, but Pamela has all kinds of bedroom farce madness.

...who was not actually a bride, but bravely refused not to be. Which was big stuff, in Richardson’s day.

Pompilia Comparini, from Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book had it worst. SPOILER (yes, I’m spoilering a 150+ year old poem). She was a young teenage bride married to a loveless, bankrupt aristocrat, who endured years of jealousy, imprisonment, abuse, doomed love, and a lingering death, at the hands of a husband…

Whew! The balance of the Universe is restored.

One thing I think is connected — there are some adults who have literally never seen anything that isn’t dumbed down. Our era of media specialization and unlimited “choice” make that possible. It’s not that they’re stupid; they simply haven’t been exposed to anything better. Years ago, I remember getting into an…

Less? or more?

Not unlike the reign of many an entertainment executive. But you have one supporter.

She and Geraldine are such stagey fun. They really get their characters. It’s like a British actress death match.

Oh, I see what you mean!

Yes, darling. Someone has to be.

Thank you! That will teach them to mock my string theory.

How nice it would have been, especially for an unknown number of soldiers and sailors, and their families, if Turkey had maintained neutrality. But it was all too late, and the Turks were too pissed off by then. They never got squat for the dreadnoughts, so far as I know.

I prefer The Moonstone’s Sergeant Cuff, myself. Am pretty sure that Doyle purloined a love of roses and opium from Collin’s book, as well.

If.

I wouldn’t have put anything past either of them.

Question: Should we be happy with ourselves, the way we are?

It’s probably Lady Clementine, Churchill’s wife, though I wouldn’t rule out T.E. Lawrence.

Link.

Churchill thought ill-planned amphibious attacks were so nice, he tried them twice.

No, but I’ll definitely give them a try.