Don't feel too bad... (Warming-pan baby)
Posted by The Mysterious H.C. on September 07, 1998 at 15:28:57:
In response to Feeling a Bit Foolish, written by Misty Ann Khan on September 07, 1998 at 14:53:32
I don't consider I was really pulling anyone's leg, but I was making an allusion to the birth of the Old Pretender ca. 1685, when there were rumors that a male infant had been snuck into James II's queen's childbirth chamber in a warming pan -- and plenty of people who wanted to believe the aforementioned rumors. Though these rumors were apparently not true, preventing such things from taking place was probably one reason why eminent personages were required to be present at the birth of a royal child (though not necessarily direct eyewitnesses). By the way, "pretender" in the old-fashioned sense merely means "claimant".
The program you watched may have been interesting, but as far as I can deduce, it had almost no relevance whatever to Jane Austen's period...
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