A lost manuscript has surfaced where Bronte has Jane Eyre traveling to India to meet her Guru after she ended her sordid affair with Rochester – so she would know enlightenment like some un-named British men. She reasoned that now that she was a poor beggar in the streets – why not go for Nirvana! What did she have to lose?

Meanwhile, back in Britannia, there is a tug-of-war over Jane Austen’s ring. Here is a prime example of life imitating art, where the Jane Austen look has been in every since Emily Blount did some serious feminine pouting in ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’. Why can’t Americans get some serious and sexy book stuff going? The book ‘Payton Place’ was like carrying around a bucket of hot coals.

I think I am that much closer to being declared a National Treasure with this ring thing.

The body language of the little boy caught-up in a spellbinding national calamity speaks for most men in all ages. Here comes the yawn! Watch for it! Why should grown men have to hide their true feelings?

This is not learned behavior. We males are hard-wired this way, just as these girls at in their prattling-on.

Jon Presco

“Mr. Rochester asks Jane to go with him to the south of France, and live as husband and wife, even though they cannot be married. Refusing to go against her principles, and despite her love for him, Jane leaves Thornfield in the middle of the night. Thereafter, Jane was forced to live in the streets begging for food.”

British fans of Jane Austen demonstrate they may be able to raise the cash to buy back her ring from pop star Kelly Clarkson.

Jane Austen’s House Museum

(Photo: Chris Ratcliffe Bloomberg)

Story Highlights
Austen museum gets donation to help buy back ring
Clarkson bought it at auction but blocked from taking ring back to USA
Ring is rare artifact of Austen and deemed a national cultural treasure

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It’s not looking good for American pop star Kelly Clarkson’s effort to keep the rare Jane Austen ring she bought at auction in Britain last year.

The Jane Austen’s House Museum said today it has received a donation of about two-thirds of the total needed to buy the ring back from Clarkson.

British media and the Associated Press are reporting that the museum, in Austen’s former home in Hampshire, had received about $155,000 from an anonymous donor aimed at keeping the ring in Britain.

Clarkson, who is wearing a replica of the turquoise cabochon and antique gold ring, bought the real thing at Sotheby’s last year for about $237,000 (including auction fees).

But Britain, like most countries with deep reserves of art and antique treasures, blocked the export of the ring in hopes that someone would match that price and keep it in the country on public display.

Now the Austen museum has provided evidence that they are prepared to do so. The export ban, which expires at the end of September, could be extended to the end of the year if necessary to raise the rest of the asking price.

A museum fundraiser, Louise West, expressed sympathy for Clarkson, a fan of the author of Pride and Prejudice and five other iconic novels of the early 19th century. Clarkson also owns a first edition of Austen’s Persuasion, the AP reported.

But West said the ring, one of the few artifacts known to have belonged to Austen, is a national cultural treasure that should not leave the U.K.

“The ring should stay in this country because there is so little of Austen’s personal effects left,” West told reporters. Austen died in 1817 and left the ring to her sister; it remained in the family until it was sold at auction last year.

Clarkson bought the ring anonymously, outbidding seven other bidders and paying more than five times the pre-sale estimated price. The ring came with its original box and proof of its provenance as belonging to Austen, which added to its value.

In a country that puts its literary stars on the highest pedestals, Austen has few peers; her face is set to appear on the 10-pound banknote starting in 2017. Nearly two centuries after her death, she continues to enchant.

“It is very good for Jane Austen PR that a young, famous American pop star expresses a love for her,” West said.