Fecundity
You know I don't really read books, I just sample them. I am done sampling Agatha Christie's autobiography, and now am on to The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton by Kathryn Hughes. This is of course, about Isabella Beeton, author of the eponymous guide to Beeton's Book of Household Management, popular since 1861.
Anyway, the sentence that has struck me so far is about Isabella's mother, Elizabeth. Widowed at an early age with four children under the age of eight, she remarried a man who also had four children under the age of eight. So, they instantly had eight children under the age of eight. That seems plenty, no?
But no, apparently not. The new couple went on to have THIRTEEN more children, for a total of twenty-one, seventeen of them delivered by Elizabeth. She gave birth to her last child at the age of 47 in 1862. Ouch. That hurts just to think about it. It is amazing that she survived all the births.
And it is especially sad to contrast her with Isabella, who apparently died at age 28, giving birth to her second child. (Note: I haven't gotten far enough in the book to be sure of that...).
I cannot even fathom having seventeen children and four stepchildren. Not at all.
Anyway, the sentence that has struck me so far is about Isabella's mother, Elizabeth. Widowed at an early age with four children under the age of eight, she remarried a man who also had four children under the age of eight. So, they instantly had eight children under the age of eight. That seems plenty, no?
But no, apparently not. The new couple went on to have THIRTEEN more children, for a total of twenty-one, seventeen of them delivered by Elizabeth. She gave birth to her last child at the age of 47 in 1862. Ouch. That hurts just to think about it. It is amazing that she survived all the births.
And it is especially sad to contrast her with Isabella, who apparently died at age 28, giving birth to her second child. (Note: I haven't gotten far enough in the book to be sure of that...).
I cannot even fathom having seventeen children and four stepchildren. Not at all.
posted by Shelly at 1:12 PM
4 Comments:
so who delivered her last child?
Who, Isabella? Or Elizabeth?
Did you mean that Isabella delivered 17 of Elizabeth's kids? or did E deliver 17 of her own by herself?
No I meant that of the twenty one kids they had, 17 were birthed by Elizabeth, the other four were from the dad's first marriage. I don't know who delivered them, silly.
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