Happy Birthday, Emma!

September 27, 2009 at 9:33 am (a day in the life) (1801, birthday, emma austen leigh, emma smith, judith smith, the vyne)

by Frenchie (Photobucket)

On this date – 27 September – in 1801, Emma Smith was born.

Unlike Mary Gosling (who mentions only the birthdays of her children; never Charles’ or her own), Emma’s diaries make running comments on the birthdays of her mother and all her siblings. She also comments upon her own ‘natal day’, in both her diaries and her letters. I especially like these, written in 1821:

from the diary, 27 Sept – “God grant I may grow in virtue as in years”

and from a letter to Aunt Judith Smith, dated 28 Sept – “It is quite alarming to think I have completed a score of years & left my teens entirely, I shall fancy I begin to feel old”.

She continues, by listing a series of gifts given her: “–Augusta made me present of an ivory opera glass  Fanny a pretty blue bead necklace she has strung. Eliza a most excellent pen knife, Charlotte a little satin pincushion, & Maria a silk mark for a book made on the bobbin machine.”