Your Host Ms Shama Rahman looks at the artistic side of Covent Garden in this week’s episode, with:

• Black Swans written by Mr Viel Richardson and performed by Ms Jasmine Elcock [Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London]
• Theatre of Blood written by Ms Becky Stamp and performed by Mr Stephen Fry [The Lyceum Theatre, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London]
• Jane Austen Sees a Portrait written by Ms Sarah Fleming and performed by Ms Kate Reid. This story contains adult themes [Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London]

Notes:

Several scholars write about speculation that Mrs Quentin (known as Georgina and sometimes Harriet) was the inspiration for Jane Bennet.

Jocelyn Harris’s book Satire, Celebrity, & Politics in Jane Austen (Bucknell University Press, 2017) is a great starting point for more information on this story. As well as Mrs Quentin, Harris also suggests another of George IVs mistresses as a possible reference for Jane Bennet.

There are many reviews of the book online too eg https://janeausteninvermont.blog/2017/11/05/reblog-the-inexhaustible-jane-austen-an-interview-with-jocelyn-harris-and-bucknell-university-press/

You can find the William Blake etching of Georgina (also known as Harriet) Quentin eg here https://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings/144074 or https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1867-1214-710

Read about Georgiana/Harriet Quentin in Memoirs of the Life of the Celebrated Mrs Q-

https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=NvUxAQAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=henrietta+street

Read Jane’s letter to Cassandra (24 May 1815, letter No:44 or XLIV) at eg gutenberg.com or pemberley.com