|
Janet Ann Ross (1842–1927) was an English historian, biographer, and Tuscan cookbook author. == Early life == Janet Duff Gordon was the daughter of Sir Alexander Duff-Gordon and Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon.〔(Ross (née Duff Gordon), Janet Ann – entry from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ) (subscription required)〕 Her father held a number of government positions, including Commissioner of Inland Revenue and her mother wrote the classic ''Letters from Egypt''. She had a brother, Maurice and a sister, Urania. She was the granddaughter of Sarah Austin, a famous translator, and the influential legal philosopher John Austin. She grew up in a highly cultured atmosphere among England's leading intellectual and literary figures. Her parents' friends and regular visitors to her home included: William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Thomas Macaulay, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Caroline Norton, Tom Taylor, and Thomas Carlyle.〔Beevor, Kinta, ''A Tuscan Childhood (hereafter "Tuscan Childhood)'' at 91 (Pantheon Books 1993)ISBN 0375704264〕 Janet's first years were spent at her family home located at No. 8 Queen Anne's Square (now Queen Square), Bloomsbury, London. Her parents subsequently moved to Esher. Her memoirs do not reference formal education aside from mentioning some tutors.〔Her informal home-schooling apparently left some gaps. In her autobiography, her grand niece, Kinta Beevor, recounts Janet asking the explorer Filippo de Filippi what the equator was. When he responded that it was an imaginary line circling the earth, she scornfully replied: "'Imaginary line? … I've never heard of anything so ridiculous.'" ''Tuscan Childhood, supra'' at 93.〕 She did travel to Paris and Germany for extended periods of time to learn French and German. She makes it clear that she preferred the company of adults and their conversation from a very young age. Her family's connections certainly augmented her education. For example, Dickens encouraged her reading early on and gave her one of her first books.〔Ross, Janet, ''The Fourth Generation ( hereafter "Fourth Generation")'' at 7 (Charles Scribner's Sons 1912).〕 She remembers her fifth birthday party, sitting on the knee of Thackeray while he drew a sketch on the frontispiece of her copy of his novel ''Pendennis''.〔''Fourth Generation, supra'' at 12–13.〕 Charles Babbage, the inventor of the difference engine, a precursor to the modern computer, invited her to his office to show her his newest calculator. The French philosopher Jules Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire tutored her in French and became a lifetime correspondent.〔''See, e.g., Fourth Generation, supra'' at 18–19, 29–30, 37, 42–44, 89, 172–73, 175, 179, 187, 188–89, 191–92, 206–07 242, 249, 277–79, and 284.〕 She likewise befriended Sir Austen Henry Layard and began an adolescent correspondence with him that continued through her life.〔''See, e.g., Fourth Generation,supra'' at 32, 63,65, 68,71, 77–78, 81, 83, 94–95, 107, 109, and 286.〕 She recalls Tennyson telling her that her mother had inspired him to write ''The Princess''.〔''Fourth Generation, supra'' at 16.〕 Alexander Kinglake, author of ''Eothen'', would take her riding, and likewise became a correspondent.〔''Fourth Generation, supra'' at 80–81.〕 At the age of thirteen, her knowledge of German was such that Kinglake asked her to translate a German book for him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Janet Ross」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|