No wonder he served as her literary inspiration

I couldn’t resist a minute to blog about this one:  An exquisite miniature of Tom Lefroy has emerged in England.  He is the man nobody knows under his real name, but everyone knows under his immortal literary alter ego:  Fitzwilliam Darcy.  Thus, while it’s not 100% certain that he served as Jane Austen’s model for that character, it’s pretty darn certain.  As you can see from this picture, painted in 1798, he was a very good looking young man by any standards.  Couple those good looks with the fact that Jane found him charming, and you’ve got literary history in the making.