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Fitzwilliam Darcy has been making readers swoon for over 200 years. So who's the man behind the much-loved character? 

Dr. Susan Law spent five years hot on Darcy's historical trail, and in her new book, 

"Through the Keyhole: Sex, Scandal and the Secret Life of the Country House,"

 she points the finger at John Parker. That would be John Parker, Earl of Morley — also known as Lord Boringdon. 

The Thread

Law dug through diaries and letters to track him down, and while she admitted she can't be absolutely sure, she makes a firm case for the Earl. The Earl was married to Austen's good friend, Frances Talbot, and Austen was a frequent guest at their home while writing "Pride and Prejudice." (No word on whether Frances knew that her friend cast her husband as her love interest.)

 that the physical similarities between Darcy and the Earl are also "obvious." This is a trickier piece of evidence, considering Austen's descriptions of Darcy's looks are few and far between. She tells readers only that Darcy "drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien." Do you see the resemblance?

The Earl may actually have been the inspiration for more than one of Austen's novels. Law claims that before he married Frances, "the Earl was involved in a sordid sex scandal that led to divorce, which is thought to be behind a famous plot in another of Jane Austen's books, 'Mansfield Park.'"

But the Earl isn't the only suspected inspiration for Darcy out there. Previous scholars have made claims that the Irishman Thomas Lefroy was Austen's model. Austen and Lefroy did have a romantic relationship — or at least they exchanged some flirtatious letters — which overlapped with the period in which she wrote "Pride and Prejudice." 

 Jon Spence twists this claim in an unexpected way: He theorizes that Lefroy actually inspired the character of Elizabeth and that Austen modeled Darcy after 

.  (19th century girl power!) Regardless of who was who in their love story, they didn't get a happy ending. 

"At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy," 

. "My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea."

Their affair ended when Lefroy wed a rich heiress. Austen died, unmarried, at age 41.

Tracy Mumford

Author

A historian claims to have found the tall, dark and brooding inspiration behind the love interest of "Pride and Prejudice."

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