 For those of you just starting to read Henrietta's Journal, here's a tour of some of the scenes in the book. The pictures are fairly modern, I'm afraid--there were no cameras in 1832--but then, Oxford doesn't change all that much from one century to the next,  Henrietta and Julien met in Duke Humfrey's Reading Room, a section of the Bodleian Library dedicated to the preservation of rare medieval manuscripts. The manuscript Julien wanted to see--Digby 209--is real and as fascinating as he made it out to be. I used to have some snapshots of the cartoon sketches in its margins, but they have escaped me, so you'll have to settle for this view of the shelves and reading alcoves.Henrietta and Julien shared their first lunch at the White Horse Pub and their second at the Turl. The Turl has now closed, I'm sad to report, but the White Horse is still the best place to hare a Ploughman's Lunch.   Here's a plate of sausage rolls.  On the second weekend Sir Ephraim invited Julien to attend church with the family at St. Michael's at the Gate on Cornmarket Street. This church with its Norman tower was built some time between 1000 and 1050, according to local records. Other locations the young couple explored were Godestow Abbey, where Eleanor of Aquitaine was rumored to have locked up the Fair Rosamund to keep her out of the clutches of the lecherous King Henry II. (The story is entirely apocryphal.) The ruins, however, do lie close to the wonderful Trout Inn, which you might recognize if you were a fan of the "Inspector Morse" series on PBS.   Henrietta also took Julien to see the Botanic Gardens and watch the young chaps punting on the Cherwell River.   |
