little miss austin

This question is easy to answer.

"Because so many male writers have written male protagonists, and, I'm a girl, have you forgotten that?"

"So? I just want to see the male protagonist you wrote. Or you can use Oliver as the male protagonist: a noble young master who only needs to stay at home and wait for the succession of the title, but went to the Iberian Peninsula .”

"I'd be more likely to write about Georges, a Don Juan-like vagabond."

Julian immediately showed a playful smile, "This idea is better."

Don Juan is a fictional character in Spanish folklore who has appeared many times before in the works of writers and musicians, most famously in Mozart's 1787 premiere of the opera "Don Giovanni"— —Giovanni is Juan's Italian name.Italian Casanova (ova), born in 1725, is considered to be the real Don Juan.

Well, that’s not bad. Go your own way and let others have no way to go. No, it may make Byron think about it when he writes "Don Juan" in the future.

Oliver's letter was interrupted for a month, and finally arrived on the Isle of Wight with the latest situation of the Peninsula War.

Badajoz, a small city on the border between Spain and Portugal, has 5000 French soldiers stationed. It is located at the parallel latitude to the south of Lisbon and is an important city on the way from Lisbon to Madrid.

2 Anglo-Portuguese troops arrived outside Badajoz on March 7 and immediately began building trenches.

Badajoz has complete fortifications, including tall city walls and military fortresses built on top of the city walls. Explosives were buried under the walls in several key areas of the city walls.The Spanish army and the Anglo-Portuguese coalition had already conducted two military operations against Badajoz before, but both ended in failure. The Anglo-Portuguese coalition led by General Wesley will launch the third attack.

The British military engineers commanded the engineers to build trenches and artillery bases on the spot. When they started digging the trenches, they encountered heavy rain for a week. The engineers and farmers had to work against the heavy rain, and the work process was forced to be delayed.

Lieutenant Colonel Bundfield's troops were responsible for protecting the safety of the trench site. On March 3, the French defenders in Badajoz took the initiative to attack. Oliver was completely unprepared and passively fought. The French army quickly retreated to the city after a wave of harassment. Oliver did not have enough manpower to defend and pursue. After the French army retreated, he ordered the soldiers to strengthen the defense and count the casualties.

There were about 100 casualties on the construction site, and a British lieutenant colonel engineer was injured, but fortunately not very serious.

Oliver was unhurt, but there were a few casualties among his troops.

Afterwards, General Wesley fortified the site's defenses.

From the day the troops departed for Badajoz, all private correspondence was forbidden.Oliver is very busy. In addition to the rotation of the troops under his jurisdiction, he is also a combat officer of the headquarters. He is present at all meetings and meetings. He can only find time to write a few lines before going to bed.The atmosphere before the war was tense, and he could not guarantee at least 6 hours of sleep every night. The French defenders launched several harassment attacks in an attempt to destroy the fortifications of the British-Portuguese coalition forces.

With the help of construction fortifications, the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces gradually advanced under the walls of Badajoz and captured several fortresses outside the city.Afterwards, the British army brought in 52 siege guns of different sizes, with calibers of 18 pounds and 24 pounds respectively, distributed in the south, north and west of the small town. On the last day of March, General Wesley ordered the siege The cannons opened fire, bombarding the three walls of Badajoz.

Oliver wrote in the letter that the artillery attack was carried out for 5 days. The ground attack was originally planned to start on April 4, but it was postponed for another day. Therefore, on the 5th, 5 siege artillery bombarded the city for a whole day .The sound of the gunfire was so dense that all ears were ringing with the sound of the guns.

All the officers knew in the meeting that this siege would be a tough battle. The purpose of the artillery attack was to open a gap in the city wall and cause as many casualties as possible to the French army and avoid casualties from our army. After the start at 4 o'clock in the evening on April 6, the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces, from General Wesley down, did not expect that this war would be the most brutal battle that most of them had ever participated in in their lives.

In the first attack, the French defenders fought back fiercely. Rifles, grenades, gunpowder barrels, and burning haystacks caused great damage. Before midnight, the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces left nearly 2000 people under the city wall. Dead and wounded everywhere.General Wesley wanted to take advantage of the darkness to attack, but he did not expect that half of the sky was lit up by burning haystacks and corpses.

The battle was difficult and ferocious, but it didn't take too long. The next morning, in the early morning of April 4, the battle was basically over and the British-Portuguese coalition forces entered Badajoz.

The corpses of soldiers were piled up around the city wall, including French, British, and Portuguese, but mainly British soldiers. The British army suffered heavy losses, so that General Wesley, who was patrolling the battlefield, shed tears and cursed the British government angrily. He was not given enough soldiers and artillery, and the reduction in previous battles was not replenished in time. He never had more than 2 British troops.

As time went on, the commanders of the various units tallied the casualties: the Anglo-Portuguese coalition had about 4800 casualties, of which nearly 4300 were British soldiers.The number of French defenders killed and injured was 1500, and the other 3500 became prisoners.

The British troops who entered Badajoz immediately began a frenzied revenge in the small town.Soldiers stormed the shops, looted all kinds of liquor, got drunk quickly, and raped all the women they could find, even teenage girls; The British soldiers who were red-eyed were shot and killed. The population of the small town was not large, about 1200 to 1500 people, but more than 200 people died after the battle. This is a 20% mortality rate. It can be seen that the British soldiers What an astonishing act of brutal revenge.

The officers were indulgent at first, but had to improvise to catch criminal soldiers when the number of rapes of women and killings of civilians increased.General Wesley issued an order on the evening of the 7th to allow the temporary law enforcement team to restore order before 8:5 am on the 4th, but in fact the riots did not stop until the early morning of April 10th.

Hundreds of British soldiers were arrested and publicly executed in a small square in a small town. The penalty started with whipping, with a minimum of three lashes and a maximum of twenty lashes; No soldiers were hanged.

After the tragic siege of Badajoz and the subsequent crimes of the British army were reported back to the UK, it once again aroused discussions and debates among people from all walks of life in the country.

Alice Leigh published an article in the "London Morning News", saying that General Wesley has no way to control his subordinates, and the crimes committed by his subordinates should be borne by him, the supreme commander. This is a naked contempt for human rights and an amplification of the dark side of human nature. Inhuman crimes, the British peninsula army is a corrupt and evil powerful unit, representing the most backward and cruel side of this country.

Blake White published an article in the London Critic weekly, calling the great strategist General Wesley's inability to restrain his men a joke, and that he could not escape the charge of indulging his men in retaliation against the civilian population of Badajoz, Badajoz The civilians are not wrong, what is wrong is this war, French militarism, and Napoleon I. No matter how many tears General Wesley shed, he cannot make up for the loss of women raped by the British army and civilians massacred.

George Byron also published a quatrain in The Times, satirizing the post-war massacres of the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces.

Julian was very upset, saying that you scolded Oliver, didn't you?He knew that Alice Leigh was Alice, but not that Black White was Ivo.

"Why did he take a seat at the meeting?" Alice asked back.

"What?" Julian didn't understand.

"I mean, do you think Oliver will be like those lunatics and criminals? I dare say he will restrain his subordinates. The person most responsible for this crime is the Earl of Wellington, and then the parties who committed the crime, all levels of command As long as the officer does not deliberately indulge the criminal behavior of his subordinates, he is not within the scope of condemnation."

Julian rolled his eyes angrily, "Oliver is definitely not that kind of person. You also know that this kind of thing is unavoidable. You have read so many history books. The siege war is always extremely cruel, and after the city is broken, it will often be Burning, killing, looting, even the commander cannot stop it."

"I know. Knowing that there have been so many tragedies in history, it is so incredible that this kind of thing happened to Wellington's troops. The British army already has rifles, grenades, and siege guns. It's unbelievable that people's lives are needed to fill the trenches."

"I heard that this is because the Minister of War, Lord Castlereagh, decided to withdraw some troops from the Iberian Peninsula, resulting in insufficient numbers of troops under Wellington."

"Why? Where is the transfer going? Is there still fighting in other parts of the UK now?"

"The Indian subcontinent, and Upper Canada."

The disadvantage of too many overseas colonies and jurisdictions is that the government must recruit and station troops from the mainland, and maintaining sufficient troops stationed is also a huge expense.

"I forgot those."

Alice returned to London, Julian and Maria left the Isle of Wight with them, Ivo did not go with them, and remained on the island.

She hid for several months, and she couldn't always hide in other places.If she didn't return to London, there might be rumors that she was in hiding because she was actually pregnant and had given birth to Byron's illegitimate child.Rumors are a scary thing, and you never know what weird stories people with nothing to do can come up with.

Despite the scandalous scandals, Byron's personal reputation did not diminish, but became more popular - in the scandalous scandals, it was always women who were blamed - and people rushed to invite him to banquets and balls, everywhere. Strangers who want to know him, people find him very charming, dangerous, but charismatic.Byron never passed up the opportunity to flirt with other beauties, most of whom were beautiful young women who were married.

The rumors of Lady Caroline Lamb's pregnancy had been dispelled, and her waist was still slender, not at all pregnant.

While he maintained a lover relationship with Mrs. Caroline, he also had some one-night lovers-he finally felt embarrassed to continue living in Alice's apartment and moved out.Now he is not short of money, and some people are willing to send money to him.

He became a celebrity in the social circles of London's upper class. Men went to the tailor's shop to order the large lapel shirts he liked to wear, and bought his velvet coats of the same style, flannel trousers, and dark blue canvas for riding. Trousers, riding boots with metal studs, etc., among which canvas trousers and riding boots were actually learned by Byron from Alice.

Julian didn't stay long, and quickly took his leave.

Alice spent a few days revising the new book she had written on the Isle of Wight, and sent Jacob to send it to Brother Henry for review.Henry asked Jacob to bring back an invitation card, explaining that he would take her to a gathering of cultural people in the evening.

After reading the invitation, she put it aside and stroked the long fur of the Angora cat, "Tell me, why didn't Dad write a letter? Is there some secret military situation?"

She faintly felt that something was wrong, but she still couldn't remember what was wrong.

Gatherings of cultural people are very interesting.

It is inevitable to talk about Byron.Byron's travel notes were not published, but were serialized in the London Morning Post.Henry drastically deleted the fragments written about Andre, the twins Christie, and Angelica, as well as the Macri sisters in Athens. When Byron left Greece, he wrote a sad poem full of emotion. A little poem to bid farewell to his "Maid of Athens" Teresa.

Alice actually didn't care about Byron's traveling lovers, but Henry was very upset.

Many people also know that Alice Austin traveled to Europe with Byron's cousins ​​before. Byron's mother passed away, and Alice attended the funeral. Everyone in Newstead Manor thought that Miss Austin would be the future hostess. According to the normal procedure, they should have been engaged.

It was also said that Byron did not want to get married, but if he continued to maintain a relationship with Alice, he would have to propose marriage and engagement, so he turned to Mrs. Caroline, so as to avoid premature marriage.

When Lady Caroline heard the rumor, she was so angry that she had a big fight with Byron.

Cultural people also love gossip, and the group itself is also very good at creating gossip.

So tonight, these cultural people were very enthusiastic about Alice, and most of them still had a sympathetic attitude.

Alice said in her heart: I don't need you to sympathize with me.

A middle-aged man named William Godwin told her that what Byron did was just a man's nature, and when he understood his absurdity, he would return to her.

Alice was amused, "Why do I still need him?"

"You have known him for many years, and you know him well."

"Because I know him well, I won't forgive him."

"This is a common problem of men. Before marriage, men are allowed to be absurd. Maybe I can talk to him."

Alice looked at him in surprise: who is this person?Why did he feel that Byron could listen to his opinion?

Henry later told her that William Godwin was looking for a new publisher and that he wanted the Austin Press to republish his previous works.Oh, and his late ex-wife was Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Alice suddenly realized.

"I've heard he's not doing well financially."

"It's more than not good! It's a lot of debt."

"Famous writers are in debt." She thought of Byron.

"The money owed to you by Byron has not been paid."

"No."

"I told him that the manuscript fee of 500 pounds will be calculated once, but not to him, but to you directly, until he pays off your 5000 pounds."

"Then he needs to write a few more Harold's travel notes." She said calmly.

"Anyway, he doesn't have to worry about running out of money now."

Alice didn't even want to ask who was so discerning and lent him a large sum of money.

When William Godwin returned home in the evening, he told the two elder daughters of the family that they had found a new publisher and would republish their mother's works. Mary Wollstonecraft left two Daughters: Fanny, who will be 18, and Mary, 14 and a half.

He hoped that the republishing of Mary Wollstonecraft and his own works would alleviate the current financial distress at home.Although the family's financial conditions were not good and they lived on debt, he tried to ensure that all his children could receive an education, including Mary Wollstonecraft's illegitimate daughter Fanny, and his current wife's two illegitimate children Charles and Claire.

The members of the Godwin family are very complicated. The eldest daughter Fanny is the illegitimate daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and an American. Fanny has never met her biological father; Wedded daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft; present wife Mary Jane Claremont had two illegitimate children of different fathers, and a son by William, Little William.

It is difficult for such a family of seven to live comfortably in London. Godwin opened a bookstore, but due to poor management, it almost closed down last year.Fanny and Mary went to a boarding school for girls somewhere in Scotland. Since they had no money to pay tuition fees, they stayed at home for Christmas at the end of last year and did not return to school.

These days, it is difficult to support yourself by writing books. William Godwin also wrote popular goth in the past few years, but the sales were not good. The author's fee to survive, the amount owed is increasing year by year, reaching thousands of pounds.

He wanted to curry favor with Miss Austin, and of course he thought Byron was absurd and irresponsible. He also thought Byron was stupid. He didn't have to worry about money when he married a girl from Austin's family, but he did it easily. Abandoning Alice, I really don't understand what grass has grown in his mind.

Godwin had met Byron on other occasions, and he was indeed an attractive man, young, handsome, flirtatious, self-confident, and somewhat arrogant, and it was difficult to talk to him, because his mind leaped too much, and you still Thinking of his last sentence, he has already jumped to the next topic.

William Godwin soon invited the Austen brothers and sisters to their home, as well as Byron.Byron wanted to refuse at first, but it was stated on the invitation that the Austin brothers and sisters were also invited to the banquet. After thinking about it, he went anyway.

Godwin knew how to be a good host, and the banquet was small, just the Godwin family, the Austin brothers and sisters, and Byron.

Alice had intentionally or unintentionally avoided meeting Byron before, and this was the first time the two had met since December last year.

For the past 4 months, Byron has been so happy!

He can do whatever he wants, no one can restrain him, people around him even encourage him, he lives a very indulgent life, and sends Lucy and little Monk back to Newstead Manor — Poor Lucy is pregnant again.So, Byron did impregnate a woman during these months, only the pregnant woman was not Lady Caroline, but the maid Lucy.

Alice didn't want to say anything when she heard the gossip relayed by Sidney - obviously this guy knows condoms and can afford them, why is he such an asshole? !

Although the masters of the two families no longer meet, the servants of the two families still have contacts. Byron's personal servant, Hugh, is pursuing Sidney and has already proposed marriage, but Sidney is unwilling to agree to the proposal because of Byron.

Byron kept trying to talk to Alice, but she just pretended not to hear, and with Henry on the side, glancing at him from time to time, Byron felt very depressed.

Godwin made all four of his older children sit with the guests. Both Fanny and Mary were very interested in Byron and kept trying to talk to him. Even Claire, who had just turned 4, was too busy trying to talk to her idol.

Mary Godwin was very dissatisfied with Alice's ignorance of Byron, thinking she was too heartless.

She suddenly asked Alice, "Miss Austin, what do you think of marriage and love?"

Alice originally didn't want to answer the question of a girl under 15 years old, but she glanced at Byron and replied: "You put marriage first, because you think marriage is more important?"

Mary thought about it and nodded.

"What about love? Isn't love important?"

"It's also very important. A marriage without love must be very painful."

"I remember Mr. Godwin's early disapproval of the necessity of marriage."

William Godwin was a little embarrassed: didn't he end up marrying a wife and having children?

"That was his idea many years ago. People's ideas can change. What do you think?"

"I agree with you, a marriage without love is painful. There is no need for a woman to force herself to marry someone who is not suitable and doesn't even love you."

"But what if that person loves you very much, but only romantically?"

"Define 'romantic.'"

"That's—other lovers."

Godwin coughed lightly, "Mary, stop talking. This is not something you should talk about."

Mary Godwin lowered her head obediently, "Sorry, Miss Austin."

Mary was a bold girl, probably like her biological mother, while the same mother, Fanny, was a little more docile and prettier.Byron only had a little impression of the oldest and most beautiful Fanny, and basically ignored the younger Mary and Claire.

At the banquet, Alice didn't say a word to him.

For Byron, who is now being pampered and held in high esteem, he is very upset!

Finally, after saying goodbye to his master, Byron stopped the carriage of Austin's family, "Alice!"

Henry knocked on the carriage with his cane in dissatisfaction, "Lord Byron, please get out of the way."

"Let Alice say a few words to me."

"Go away, I have nothing to tell you." Alice's voice.

"You're so heartless," Byron said sadly, "you don't even get bored talking to me, do you?"

"you are right."

"Can I go to your house to find you? Let's... have a good talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about, don't go to me, I don't want to see you."

"But I want to see you. You have been away for several months, and I don't know where to find you." He stood by the car door.

The door of the carriage was suddenly pushed open, and Byron suddenly lost his balance and took several steps back.

Then Alice got out of the carriage, holding a whip in her hand, and lashed him dozens of times across the head and face.

Byron was so frightened that he didn't speak, and he didn't dare to cry out the pain. He just used his arm to prevent the whip from hitting his face.

The Godwins were also stunned when they heard the noise.

The author has something to say: *Byron is recognized as the pioneer of modern pop stars, the king of traffic in the British Regency era, the little prince with goods, fashionable people at that time loved to imitate his outfits, and Shelley and Keats also liked to wear him A white shirt with a large lapel.

*Byron wrote some satirical short poems, satirizing some politicians, and his mouth was quite poisonous.

Lord Castlereagh, the British Minister of War and Foreign Secretary, worried that he was a homosexual, committed suicide in 1822 when his career was in full swing. After his death, Byron wrote a poem to satirize him.

Posterity willne'er survey

Anrave than this:

Here lies the bones of Castlereagh:

Stop, traveller, and piss.

There are no too complicated words, so I won’t translate them.Junior high school English should be able to understand.

*Shelley's poem "The Mask of Anarchy" also mentions Castlereagh.