FOOTNOTES:
[1] Father of one of the present writers, and grandfather of the other.
[2] Daughter of the author of the Memoir.
[3] It has not, however, been possible to consult the originals except in the instance of the letters from Jane to Anna Lefroy.
[4] History of Kent.
[5] For further particulars respecting the earlier Austens, we venture to refer our readers to Chawton Manor and its Owners, chap. vii.
[6] This almost exclusive care of the old man for his eldest grandson may possibly have been the model for the action of old Mr. Dashwood at the beginning of Sense and Sensibility.
[7] We are allowed to quote freely from a manuscript History of the Leigh Family of Adlestrop, written in 1788; some part of which appeared in an article written by the Hon. Agnes Leigh and published in the National Review for April 1907.
[8] Brother both of the Duke of Chandos and of Mrs. Leigh.
[9] Memoir, p. 5.
[10] The author of the Memoir remarks on the fact that the Leigh arms were placed on the front of Balliol towards Broad Street, now pulled down. He did not live to see the same arms occupy a similar place on the new buildings at King's College, Cambridge, erected when his son Augustus was Provost.
[11] The Perrots seem to have set great store by their armorial bearings: at least we are told that two branches of them lived at Northleigh at the same time in the eighteenth century, hardly on speaking terms with each other, and that one cause of quarrel was a difference of opinion as to whether the three 'pears'—which, in punning heraldry, formed a part of their coat of arms—were to be silver or gold.
[12] In the absence of any information as to where George Hastings died or was buried, it is at present impossible to be sure about the details of this interesting tradition.
[13] Charles Austen failed to do so in January 1799. See [p. 124].
[14] The description of Steventon is taken, almost entirely, from the Memoir, pp. 18-22.
[15] This was written nearly half a century ago, before the revival of mixed gardens.
[16] Her daughters seem to have looked upon this publicity of useful needlework with some suspicion. See letter from Lyme, September 14, 1804 ([p. 179]).
[17] These letters, hitherto unpublished, are inserted by the kind permission of Mr. J. G. Nicholson of Castlefield House, Sturton by Scawby, Lincolnshire.
[18] Son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter.
[19] Life and Times of Mrs. Sherwood, edited by F. J. Harvey Darton, p. 124.
[20] Records of a Girlhood, vol. i. p. 99. By Frances Ann Kemble. London, 1878.
[21] There are, we think, but two references to school in her surviving correspondence—namely, in a letter to Cassandra, dated September 1, 1796, where she remarks of her sister's letter: 'I could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at school'; and in another, dated May 20, 1813, where she describes a room at a school as being 'totally unschool-like.'
[22] In the same novel, Persuasion, Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove have brought back 'the usual stock of accomplishments' from a school at Exeter.
[23] See [next chapter].
[24] It was no uncommon occurrence for the richer folk to hand on their newspaper to their neighbours. Thus we find the Austens, while at Steventon, apparently getting theirs from Mr. Holder at Ashe ([p. 148]); and, later, getting Mr. Pinckard's paper at Lyme ([p. 148]). Much in the same way Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility would not be denied the satisfaction of sending the Dashwoods his newspaper every day.
[25] The Letters of Warren Hastings to his Wife. Introduced and annotated by Sydney C. Grier, p. 456 et seq. For articles by the same author on the Hancock family, see 'A Friend of Warren Hastings' in Blackwood's Magazine, April 1904, and 'A God-daughter of Warren Hastings' in Temple Bar, May 1905.
[26] Genuine Memoirs of Asiaticus, by Philip Dormer Stanhope, London, 1784.
[27] This did not prove to be the case.
[28] This, and not 'de Feuillade,' is the correct spelling.
[29] Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, where Warren Hastings was then living.
[30] Henry Austen, and his elder brother, James.
[31] In the Memoir this action is by mistake attributed to the Count.
[32] National Archives, Paris (de Feuillide), W. 328, dossier 541, and T. 738; (Marbœuf), W. 320, dossier 481.
[33] W. R. O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849.
[35] We again make use of the words of the Memoir (pp. 15-17) in the description of the family party, &c.
[36] We are told that Jane was one of the least exclusive of the family.
[37] Memoir, pp. 22, 23.
[38] The carriage was given up in 1798. See letter of November 17 in that year in Brabourne, vol. i. p. 165.
[39] Memoir, p. 42.
[40] Memoir, p. 45.
[43] A reproduction of this picture appears also as a frontispiece to the first volume of Dent's illustrated edition of the novels (1892).
[44] Dictionary of National Biography, s.v.
[45] By Dr. Thomas Francklin; but said to be almost a translation of Voltaire's Duc de Foix.
[46] A comedy by Mrs. Cowley.
[47] Bon Ton, or High Life above Stairs, a comedy by David Garrick.
[48] The Wonder: a Woman keeps a Secret, a comedy by Mrs. Centlivre.
[49] Probably Garrick's version of Fletcher's comedy.
[50] The Sultan: or a Peep into the Seraglio, by I. Bickerstaffe.
[51] Memoir, p. 9.
[52] Lady Dorchester gave one in January 1799, not at Greywell, but at Kempshot, which her husband acquired shortly before the end of the eighteenth century.
[53] The sisters kept the name Bigg, though father and brother became Bigg Wither.
[54] Memoir, pp. 93, 94.
[55] Memoir, p. 54.
[57] Chawton Manor and its Owners, p. 159.
[58] These letters will be found in Mr. W. H. Pollock's Jane Austen, her Contemporaries and herself.
[59] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 341, and vol. i. p. 281. The Gloucestershire visit was probably to the Fowles at Elkstone. See [p. 373].
[60] It was far from being his wish that Lady Susan should form the title of a separate volume. This work, and The Watsons, were to be printed as an appendix at the end of the Memoir. By some mistake, however, when the second edition appeared, the whole book bore the title of Lady Susan on its outside cover.
[61] How little she expected them to be published may be gathered from a sentence written by her niece Anna, at the time of the publication of the Memoir: 'I can fancy what the indignation of Aunt Cassandra would have been at the mere idea of its [the correspondence] being read and commented upon by any of us nephews and nieces, little or great.'
[62] Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, vol. ii. p. 10.
[63] All the letters in this volume from Jane to Cassandra, as to the source of which no statement is made, are quoted from Lord Brabourne's collection.
[64] Sailor Brothers, pp. 233 et seq.
[65] North Cadbury is the correct name of the parish.
[66] The Blackall family had been established and respected in Devonshire since the episcopate of their ancestor, Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter in the time of Queen Anne. Our Sam Blackall (an uncle of the same name had preceded him as Fellow of Emmanuel) was great-grandson of the Bishop; he became Fellow, and was ordained, in 1794; took the living of North Cadbury in 1812, and lived until 1842. His college record (which we owe to the courtesy of the Fellows) corresponds very well with our notices of him. He was evidently a sociable and lively member of the combination-room. The 'parlour-book' contains frequent mention of bets made by him on politics and other subjects, and his own particular pair of bowls still survive. He was tutor in 1811, when a great fire occurred in the College, and took his share in appealing for funds with which to rebuild it, application being chiefly made to those who agreed with the college politics in Church and State. He seems to have been one of a large family of brothers; another being John Blackall, of Balliol College, Oxford, for many years a distinguished Exeter physician, who did not die until 1860.
[67] Mr. Heathcote and Miss Elizabeth Bigg were married in 1798.
[68] Miss Hill (following a family MS.) calls him 'Blackall'; but it seems from what has been said above that the MS. confused two different men. Certainly Cassandra, in telling the story to her niece Caroline, did not give her that, or any other, name; for Caroline speaks of the tale as being—so far as she knew it—'nameless and dateless.' A possible alternative suggestion is that there were two Blackalls concerned: one being the Sam Blackall mentioned above, the other Jane Austen's admirer in the west of England.
[69] The author of the Memoir describes this gentleman as one who had the recommendations of good character and connexions and position in life—of everything, in fact, except the subtle power of touching her heart.
[70] Juniper Hall, p. 223.
[71] In a memorandum written by Cassandra.
[72] Other portions of these two letters are quoted in [Chapter VI].
[73] Cassandra was now staying with the Fowles at Kintbury, and 'Mary' was no doubt Eliza Fowle's sister, Mary Lloyd; not yet engaged to James Austen.
[74] Edward Bridges was brother, and Harriet and Louisa were sisters, of Elizabeth Austen; Lady Bridges being their mother. Harriet was afterwards married to the son of Archbishop Moore.
[75] A playful inversion on Jane's part.
[76] Mrs. Lybbe Powys records in her diary under April 26, 1799: 'To a party at Mr. Leigh Perrot's; eight tables, ninety people' (Passages from the Diaries of Mrs. Philip Lybbe Powys, 1756-1808).
[77] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxi. p. 965; see also p. 1049.
[78] Harry was one of the Digweeds—Edward Austen's tenants at Steventon—who shared with the Rectory party the deputed right of shooting over the Manor (Persuasion, ch. iii.). The New English Dictionary (s.v.) says 'The deputation was necessary to constitute a gamekeeper; but it was also frequently used as a means of giving to friends the privilege of shooting game over an estate.' The term of endearment has of course no particular significance.
[79] The Midnight Bell, a German story (London, 1798), is ascribed in the Dictionary of National Biography to Francis Lathom. This book is mentioned in chapter vi. of Northanger Abbey.
[80] Afterwards, as George Knight, a well-known Kent cricketer, and one of the principal agents in the introduction of round-arm bowling.
[81] Battleridge, an historical tale founded on facts. By a lady of quality [? Mrs. Cooke], London, 1799.
[82] The first part of this letter is inserted in [Chapter VI].
[83] James Edward Austen (Leigh), the author of the Memoir; in his youth always (after his uncle and cousin had become 'Edward Knight') known as 'Edward Austen.'
[84] Arthur Fitz-Albini, a novel [by Sir Egerton Brydges]. London, 1798.
[85] First Lord of the Admiralty, 1794-1801.
[86] George Daysh, clerk in the Ticket Office, Navy Office.
[87] The Basingstoke doctor.
[88] Anne Elliot, in Persuasion, thought that a cap would be a very suitable present for her sister Mary, who was a young woman, and who certainly wished to remain so.
[89] One of the Lords of the Admiralty: afterwards Lord Gambier.
[90] On his Aunt Jane's birthday.
[91] General Mathew, father of James Austen's first wife.
[92] The Miss Austens seem to have had a dress allowance of £20 a year. Cf. Brabourne, vol. i. p. 189.
[93] Brighton had possibly been suggested to her brother Edward as an alternative for Bath.
[94] This is of course an amusing mis-statement of the writer's real opinion. See [p. 83].
[95] The Hon. Mary Leigh, of Stoneleigh.
[96] Eliza de Feuillide.
[97] Lady Williams.
[98] I.e. without powder or pigtail.
[99] Paragon Buildings are well placed in a convenient part of Bath, between York House Hotel and Walcot Church. From the back of the houses there is a fine view to the south.
[100] Fanny (Lady Knatchbull) and Edward (Knight).
[101] I.e. on the King's Birthday (June 4).
[102] Mr. Leigh Perrot was at this time sixty-three and his wife fifty-four years old.
[103] Created a baronet in 1806.
[104] Before the passing of the Prisoners' Counsel Act of 1836, counsel were not allowed to address the Court on behalf of prisoners tried for felony.
[105] Seven minutes, according to another account.
[106] If this story were not specially well authenticated, it would be incredible; but we must remember that this all happened before the reforms of Sir Samuel Romilly, when the law was in a chaotic state, and when offences against property were very severely dealt with. Any larceny above the value of a 1s. was a felony, punishable—nominally by death, and actually by seven years' transportation; though the transportation may frequently have been commuted to a sentence of imprisonment. Magistrates had no power of bailing a person committed for a felony, if the stolen article were found in his possession.
[107] The two M.P.'s for the county.
[108] The carpenter.
[109] Catherine Bigg.
[110] Partly Memoir, p. 58; partly unpublished.
[111] James Austen.
[112] Memoir, p. 61.
[113] The invitation, the ball-dress, and some remarks made in this and the preceding letter, refer to a ball annually given at Hurstbourne Park, on the anniversary of the Earl of Portsmouth's wedding-day. He was the third Lord Portsmouth, whose eccentricities afterwards became notorious, and the invitations, as well as other arrangements about these balls, were of a peculiar character. It will be remembered that he had been for a short time a pupil at Steventon Rectory ([p. 21]).
[114] A very dull old lady, then residing with Mrs. Lloyd.
[115] For this expression, see 'The Watsons' (in Memoir, p. 325).
[116] Sir Thomas Williams, whose first wife was Jane Cooper; 'Whapshare' is the correct name of the lady.
[117] Unpublished.
[118] The Debaries were a large family, one of whom had the Parsonage near Ibthorp.
[119] This seems to show that the balls were held at the town hall and not at the 'Angel Inn' (Miss Hill, pp. 51-54).
[120] Probably Jane wrote 'Axford Buildings,' which were a continuation of Paragon towards Walcot Church.
[121] Eliza Fowle.
[122] Memoir, p. 64.
[123] The Duke of Sussex, who married, without the King's consent, Lady Augusta Murray.
[124] Probably, when they were on a visit to the Fowles at Elkstone, between Cheltenham and Cirencester. See [p. 373].
[125] Family MS. One short paragraph, Memoir, p. 65; the remainder unpublished.
[126] Afterwards Sir William Heathcote, M.P.
[127] We remember that in Mansfield Park William Price had been able to afford only the amber cross as a present to Fanny, and not the chain. See Sailor Brothers, p. 92.
[128] Terrace seems to be a slip; at least, its present name is Sydney Place. We have, unfortunately, no letters dated from this house.
[129] There is an inscription to his memory on the wall of the south aisle in the Abbey.
[131] In an article called 'Is it Just?' p. 282.
[132] Memoir, p. 24.
[133] Autobiography, vol. ii. p. 40.
[134] See end of [Chapter XIII].
[135] The watermarks of 1803 and 1804 on the paper are the sole authority for this date.
[137] Miss Hill seems to have identified also the cottage, 'Mrs. Dean's house,' in which the Austens themselves lodged in 1804. No doubt decanters, and everything else, have long been perfectly immaculate.
[138] Nearly all Memoir, p. 68; the remainder unpublished.
[140] Sailor Brothers, p. 127.
[141] Mr. Oscar Fay Adams, a most careful investigator, failed to discover the inscription in Walcot Church to the memory of George Austen. It is in the crypt below the church, and runs as follows: 'Under this stone rest the remains of the Rev. George Austen, Rector of Steventon and Dean in Hampshire, who departed this life the 21st of January 1805, aged 73 years.'
[142] Sailor Brothers, p. 125.
[143] A gentleman and lady lately engaged to be married.
[144] Memoir, p. 74.
[145] It seems that Charles Austen, then first lieutenant of the Endymion, had had an opportunity of showing attention and kindness to some of Lord Leven's family.
[146] George (Hatton) was afterwards Earl of Winchilsea; Daniel was Rector of Great Weldon and Chaplain to Queen Victoria.
[147] Henry's banking premises were then in Albany, Piccadilly.
[148] At Ushant, after the chase of Villeneuve.
[149] The cricket dinner seems to have come at the end of the play, as it did in the celebrated match played at a somewhat later date in the same county between All-Muggleton and Dingley Dell (Pickwick Papers, chapter vii.).
[150] A letter from Mrs. Austen is extant, dated 'April 1806, Trim Street still.' Most writers state that the Austens went to Southampton towards the end of 1805—a year too early.
[151] Jane afterwards asked Frank's leave to introduce the names of some of his ships (one of which was the Canopus) into Mansfield Park.
[152] This order is said to have been given to each squadron in succession; and it is evident that the ships of Admiral Louis's squadron were especially likely to be in need of supplies, as they had taken their part in Nelson's chase of Villeneuve.
[153] Sailor Brothers, chaps. ix, x, and xi.
[156] Probably Joseph Hill—the frequent correspondent of the poet Cowper.
[157] Miss Mary Leigh left her property—in so far as she had any right to do so—in trust for (a) the Rev. Thomas Leigh; (b) James Leigh Perrot; (c) William Henry Leigh.
[158] Not to be confused with his uncle, Thomas Leigh, Rector of Harpsden and father of Mrs. Austen.
[160] This letter is quoted by Miss Hill, [pp. 163-7].
[161] Unfortunately, Jane appears to date her letters merely 'Southampton,' until she moved to Castle Square.
[162] Alphonsine, by Madame de Genlis; The Female Quixote, published 1752, by Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, author of the phrase: 'A thought strikes me: let us swear an eternal friendship.'
[163] Miss Hill supplies us with the line from The Task, 'The Winter Walk at Noon,' ll. 149-50:—
| 'Laburnum rich |
| In streaming gold; syringa, ivory pure.' |
[164] The Austens were about to become Lord Lansdowne's tenants in Castle Square.
[165] Johnson to Boswell, July 4, 1774.—Birkbeck Hill's Boswell, ii. 279.
[166] Mr. John Austen of Broadford, under whose will the property at Horsmonden came into the possession of the family of 'Uncle Frank' on the failure of his own direct heirs. See [Chapter I].
[167] Letters from the Mountains: being the real Correspondence of a Lady, between 1773 and 1807, by Mrs. Grant of Laggan.
[168] Probably An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy, etc. London, 1768-9.
[169] Memoir, p. 77.
[170] Ibid. p. 140.
[171] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 116.
[172] The Henry Austens were then living at 16 Michael's Place, Brompton—a row of houses on the site of the present Egerton Mansions.
[173] James having arrived by the coach before the others.
[174] Son and daughter of James.
[175] Mr. W. Fowle speaks of a visit to Steventon, when Jane read 'very sweetly' the first canto of Marmion. By that time she was no doubt a warm admirer of the poem.
[176] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 1.
[177] Southey's Letters from England, by Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella (London, 1807); a lively account of this country, written in the guise of letters assigned to a fictitious Spanish traveller.
[178] Lord Lansdowne, who put off being cured too long: his death occurred about the time when he had proposed to go abroad.
[179] See [Chapter XIX].
[180] Henry Austen and John Bridges.
[181] William Stanley Goddard, D.D., Head Master of Winchester, 1796-1809.
[182] The Rector of Godmersham.
[183] Anglicised form of French word for cup-and-ball—bilboquet.
[184] As to the move to Chawton.
[185] Richard Mant, D.D., Rector of All Saints, Southampton, and father of Bishop Mant.
[186] She probably wrote noonshine, a somewhat incorrect way of spelling nuncheon (luncheon). See Sense and Sensibility, c. xliv.
[188] His approaching marriage to Harriet Foote.
[189] Frank.
[190] The Rector of Chawton, who was a bachelor.
[191] Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Perrot.
[192] In 1806, the small living of Hampstead Marshall became vacant by the death of old Mr. Fowle; and Lord Craven, the patron, looking round for an 'honest man' who would hold the living for his nominee, offered it to James Austen. He, however, felt scruples, grounded on the wording of the bond of resignation, and declined the preferment.
[193] Her second marriage to General H. T. Montresor.
[194] A joking suggestion that Sir Brook Bridges was about to propose to Cassandra.
[195] Sir John Moore's heroic twelve days' retreat to Corunna was now in progress, and the battle was fought there on January 16. It is mentioned again in the next two letters. The news on this occasion seems to have come very quickly. The St. Albans (under the command of Francis Austen) was at Spithead, and there took charge of the disembarkation of the remains of Sir John Moore's forces (Sailor Brothers, p. 203).
[196] Margiana; or Widdrington Tower, anon. 5 vols. 1808. For a description of this romance see a reply by M. H. Dodds in Notes and Queries, 11 S. vii. pp. 233-4.
[197] Women, or Ida of Athens, by Sydney Owenson (afterwards Lady Morgan), published in 1809.
[198] The Wild Irish Girl, published in 1806.
[199] Mrs. Charles Austen, whose daughter Cassandra was born on December 22, 1808.
[200] Eldest daughter of Jane's brother Edward.
[201] This proved to be Hannah More's Cœlebs in Search of a Wife, published in 1808. See next letter.
[202] Messrs. Crosby & Co. of Stationers' Hall Court, London.
[203] Mr. Austin Dobson, in his introduction to Northanger Abbey (Macmillan, 1897), makes the mistake of saying that the 'advertisement' of the first edition of 1818 tells us that the MS. was disposed of to 'a Bath bookseller.'
[204] Memoir, p. 129.
[205] This implies that (if Susan and Northanger Abbey were the same) no arrangement was concluded in 1809. Indeed, it does not appear that the author contemplated a re-purchase at that time; and the publisher was unwilling to relinquish his rights on any other terms.
[206] Later writers have not even been content to accept the 'publisher in Bath,' but have found a name and habitation for him. Mr. Peach, in his Historic Houses in Bath, published in 1883 (p. 150 note), says: 'The publisher (who purchased Northanger Abbey), we believe, was Bull.' Mr. Oscar Fay Adams, writing in 1891 (Story of Jane Austen's Life, p. 93), becomes more definite in his statement that 'nothing of hers (Jane Austen's) had yet been published; for although Bull, a publisher in Old Bond Street [sc. in Bath], had purchased in 1802 [sic] the manuscript of Northanger Abbey for the sum of ten pounds, it was lying untouched—and possibly unread—among his papers, at the epoch of her leaving Bath.'
It is true that Mr. Dobson, unable to find the authority for Bull's name, is a little more guarded, when he amusingly writes, in 1897:—
'Even at this distance of time, the genuine devotee of Jane Austen must be conscious of a futile but irresistible desire to "feel the bumps" of that Bœotian bookseller of Bath, who, having bought the manuscript of Northanger Abbey for the base price of ten pounds, refrained from putting it before the world. . . . Only two suppositions are possible: one, that Mr. Bull of the Circulating Library at Bath (if Mr. Bull it were) was constitutionally insensible to the charms of that master-spell which Mrs. Slipslop calls "ironing"; the other, that he was an impenitent and irreclaimable adherent of the author of The Mysteries of Udolpho.'
Mr. Meehan, in his Famous Houses of Bath and District (1901), is the most circumstantial of all, writing on p. 197:—
'Her novel Northanger Abbey, which is full of Bath, was finished in 1798, and in 1803 she sold the manuscript for ten pounds to Lewis Bull, a bookseller in the "Lower Walks" (now "Terrace Walk"). Bull had in 1785 succeeded James Leake, and he in turn was succeeded by John Upham. Bull was the founder of the well-known library in Bond Street, London—for many years known as Bull's Library.
[207] Memoir, p. 80.
[208] Ibid. p. 196.
[210] We are told in the biographical notice prefixed to Bentley's edition of the novels in 1833, that though Jane, when her authorship was an open secret, was once asked by a stranger to join a literary party at which Madame de Staël would be present, she immediately declined the invitation.
[211] Memoir, p. 89.
[212] She had experienced a similar shock before in the sudden death, by accident, of her cousin, Jane Williams.
[213] This judgment is based on the idea that Elinor and Marianne (admittedly earlier than First Impressions) bore something of the same relation to Sense and Sensibility that First Impressions did to Pride and Prejudice.
[214] Jane Austen and her Country-house Comedy, by W. H. Helm.
[215] Her cousin, Mary Cooke.
[216] This may have been Bullock's Natural History Museum, at 22 Piccadilly. See Notes and Queries, 11 S.v. 514.
[217] In Pall Mall.
[218] Theophilus Cooke.
[220] White Friars, Canterbury—the residence of Mrs. Knight.
[221] He took command of the Elephant on July 18, 1811, and became again concerned in the Napoleonic Wars. Sailor Brothers p. 226.
[222] The original of this letter is in the British Museum.
[223] Sense and Sensibility. We do not know whether the Incomes were ever altered.
[224] Mr. Hampson, like Mr. Walter, must have been related to Jane through her grandmother (Rebecca Hampson), who married first, Dr. Walter; secondly, William Austen. Mr. Hampson succeeded to a baronetcy, but was too much of a republican to use the title.
[225] Jane and her niece Fanny seem to have invented a language of their own—the chief point of which was to use a 'p' wherever possible. Thus the piece of music alluded to was 'Strike the harp in praise of Bragela.'
[226] We learn from a letter of Cassandra that he arrived in time to spend (with his family) a week at Chawton Cottage. He had been absent almost seven years. It was their first sight of his wife.
[227] The Comte d'Antraigues and his wife were both of them notable people. He had been elected deputy for the noblesse to the States-General in 1789, and had taken at first the popular side; but as time went on he became estranged from Mirabeau, and was among the earliest to emigrate in 1790. For the rest of his life he was engaged in plotting to restore the Bourbons. His wife had been the celebrated Madame St. Hubert of the Paris opera-house, and was the only woman ever known to have inspired Bonaparte to break forth into verse. Both the Count and Countess were murdered by their valet at Barnes, July 22, 1812. (Un agent secret sous la Révolution et l'Empire: Le Comte d'Antraigues, par Léonce Pingaud. Paris, 1894.)
[228] A novel by Mrs. Brunton, published in 1810.
[229] We can give no explanation of the cousinship, if any existed, of Miss Beckford; Miss Payne may have descended from a sister of Jane's grandmother, Rebecca Austen, who married a man of that name.
[230] Perhaps in the battle of Albuera, May 16, 1811, which is described by Professor Oman (Cambridge Modern History, ix. 467) as 'the most bloody incident of the whole Peninsular War.'
[231] June 2. They ought to have waited for the King's birthday (June 4), which was considered the correct day to begin pease upon.
[232] The publisher was a Mr. T. Egerton, described as of the Military Library, Whitehall. He was therefore not the same as Henry Egerton who called in Sloane St. ([p. 247]) pace Mr. Austin Dobson in his Introduction to Sense and Sensibility (Macmillan, 1896).
[233] Sailor Brothers, p. 237 (letter from Jane to Frank). See [p. 272].
[234] We shall in future describe Jane's brother Edward as 'Mr. Knight,' and his children as 'Knight' with the Christian name prefixed; while the name 'Edward Austen' will be reserved for the author of the Memoir (James's eldest son), as he was always known in the family by that name.
[235] Memoir, p. 11.
[236] Cassandra was now staying at Steventon; these letters to her are mainly in the Memoir, but are supplemented and re-arranged from family MSS.
[237] Authors of the Rejected Addresses (1812).
[238] Mansfield Park, chapter xxiv.
[239] Mansfield Park, chapter xxv.
[240] Mansfield Park was also published at 18s., Emma at £1 1s., whereas the first edition of Sense and Sensibility had cost only 15s.
[241] I.e. typographical.
| 'I do not rhyme to that dull elf |
| Who cannot image to himself.'—Marmion, vi. 38. |
[243] In Mansfield Park (the scene of which is laid in Northamptonshire), a good deal turns on the steadfast determination of Edmund Bertram to be ordained.
[244] The caution observed at Steventon in preserving the secret of the authorship of the novels is shown in a little manuscript poem addressed by young Edward Austen to his aunt, when (at the age of fifteen or sixteen) he was at last informed that the two novels, which he already knew well, were by her.
[245] This passage occurs at the end of chapter liv. For a long time the publishers tried to put matters right by making three sentences into one. Mr. Brimley Johnson's was the first edition to break up the sentences properly. See Appendix, [p. 409]-[10].
[246] Memoir, p. 104.
[247] Afterwards, Lady Pollen, of Redenham, near Andover, and then at a school in London.
[248] Layton and Shears, a millinery establishment at 9 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
[249] After the death of his wife, Henry Austen moved into chambers over his bank, 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
[250] This letter is full of allusions to Pride and Prejudice.
[251] Two of Henry Austen's clerks.
[252] Mr. Tilson was a partner of Henry Austen.
[253] Miss Darcy.
[254] Sailor Brothers, p. 233. One paragraph in this letter (respecting the marriage of Mr. Blackall) is quoted in [Chapter VI].
[255] Edward Knight, whom his uncle Henry was about to take to Scotland. See [p. 279].
[256] Pride and Prejudice was sold outright to Mr. Egerton; and this implies that the sum given was £110.
[257] 'Pengird' in Brabourne, but surely a misprint. Cf. Brabourne, ii. pp. 199, 266. Mme. Perigord and Mme. Bigeon were two of Eliza's French servants who stayed on with Henry until he moved to Hans Place.
[258] Lady Robert Kerr, whom Henry met in Scotland, and to whom he divulged the secret of his sister's authorship.
[259] Lizzie and Marianne Knight.
[260] Part of his duties as Receiver of Oxfordshire.
[261] These sisters were daughters of the Master of Balliol; and Mrs. Leigh was married to her first cousin, the Rev. Thomas Leigh, who succeeded to Stoneleigh. (See [Leigh pedigree].)
[262] Madame d'Arblay to Dr. Burney, June 18, 1795.
[263] The keeper at Chawton.
[264] The Rector of Godmersham.
[265] The Wanderer.
[266] Sailor Brothers, p. 243.
[267] To be allowed to use the names of some of his ships in Mansfield Park.
[268] The old nurse at Godmersham.
[269] Stephen Rumbold Lushington, M.P. for Rye, 1807-12, and for Canterbury, 1812-30, and 1835-37; Privy Councillor; Governor of Madras.
[270] At Ashford; 'she' is Fanny.
[271] Charles and his party. He was now on the Namur as flag-captain to Sir Thomas Williams, and his wife and two small children were living with him on board.
[272] See [p. 238]. Mrs. Crabbe did not die until October 31, 1813 according to the Dictionary of National Biography.
[273] Afterwards Earl of Winchilsea.
[274] Sister to Mrs. Lefroy.
[275] Probably, of Pride and Prejudice.
[276] Probably Miss Elizabeth Hamilton (1758-1816), author of The Cottagers of Glenburnie, &c.
[277] (?) Battle of Leipzig, October 16-19, 1813.
[278] Also, one of Pride and Prejudice.
[279] Begun about Feb. 1811.
[280] Quoted by Miss Hill, [p. 202].
[281] The Heroine, or the Adventures of Cherubina, by E. S. Barrett (2nd ed. 1814): a satire on Mrs. Radcliffe, in which a conspicuous part is played by an impostor called 'Whylome Eftsoons.'
[282] It is said to have been the hardest winter known for twenty years (Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 218).
[283] Kean had made his first appearance at Drury Lane on January 26, 1814, and had immediately taken the town by storm.
[284] Edward Knight and his daughter Fanny were to arrive that day.
[286] No doubt there were other cases in which particular traits of character were taken from those around her. Her brother Francis certainly thought that the domestic industry of Captain Harville (in Persuasion) was copied from himself. (Addenda to Sailor Brothers.)
[287] The Memoir calls it 'one pound.' The difference is not material, but Mrs. Norris would probably not be above giving herself the benefit of the doubt.
[288] Chawton Manor and its Owners, p. 171.
[290] Life of Mary Russell Mitford, by the Rev. A. G. L'Estrange (Bentley, 1870). We ought to add that Miss Mitford's admiration increased with time. Thus, in August 1816, she speaks of Emma 'the best, I think, of all her charming works'; and, at a later date, of her 'exquisite' Persuasion. In September 1817 she mentions her death as a 'terrible loss'; and a year afterwards, calls her 'our dear Miss Austen.'
[291] Box Hill, however, was seven miles from Highbury, whereas it is only three miles from Leatherhead.
[292] Highways and Byways in Surrey, by Eric Parker.
[293] In support of Cobham, it has been suggested that in chapter xi., where mention is made of this village, the author had forgotten to alter the name to Highbury. Jane knew Cobham as a halting-place on the way from Chawton to London ([p. 292]). Bookham is another possible claimant.
[294] Emperor of Russia, who with the King of Prussia was then visiting England.
[296] A visit of Jane to Scotland, of which no record is left in family tradition, is so improbable that we must imagine her to be referring to some joke, or possibly some forgotten tale of her own.
[297] One of our author's few inaccuracies is to be found in chapter xlii., where an 'orchard in blossom' is made to coincide with ripe strawberries. When her brother Edward next saw her, he said 'Jane, I wish you would tell me where you get those apple-trees of yours that come into bloom in July!' W. H. Pollock's Jane Austen, etc., pp. 90-91.
[298] No doubt the father of Sir Seymour Haden, and the introducer into England of the stethoscope. He lived at the corner of Hans Street and Sloane Street.
[299] Mr. Murray's 'reader' on this occasion was evidently William Gifford, the editor of the Quarterly Review, who writes under date Sept. 29, 1815: 'Of Emma I have nothing but good to say. I was sure of the writer before you mentioned her. The MS. though plainly written has yet some, indeed many little omissions, and an expression may now and then be amended in passing through the press. I will readily undertake the revision.' Memoir of John Murray by Samuel Smiles (1891), vol. i. p. 282.
[300] The present Mr. John Murray kindly informs us that the original edition of Emma consisted of 2000 copies, of which 1250 were sold within a year.
[301] (?) The Field of Waterloo, by Sir Walter Scott.
[302] Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk; or possibly John Scott's Paris Revisited in 1815.
[303] The printer.
[304] A narrative of the events which have lately taken place in France, by Helen Maria Williams. London, 1815.
[305] These included a set to Miss Edgeworth (Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, edited by A. J. C. Hare (1894), vol. i. p. 235), and another to Lady Morley, a clever woman, to whom Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice had at one time been ascribed (Life of M. R. Mitford, by the Rev. A. G. L'Estrange, vol. i. p. 241).
[306] Unfortunately, most of the worst misprints remained in the new edition, while certain new ones were added.
[307] Memoir, pp. 122-4.
[308] Life of King James II, from the Stuart MSS. in Carlton House, published 1816.
[309] At Brighton.
[310] Published, 1804.
[311] The article would, of course, have been an impossibility had the Review been published punctually, Emma not appearing till late in December 1815.
[312] From information kindly supplied by Mr. John Murray.
[313] After a short mention of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice (in which Sir Walter unkindly suggests that Lizzie Bennet in refusing Darcy 'does not perceive that she has done a foolish thing until she accidentally visits a very handsome seat and grounds belonging to her admirer'), the critic devotes considerable space, including a long quotation, to Emma. Summing up, he declares as follows:—
'Perhaps the reader may collect, from the preceding specimen, both the merits and faults of the author. The former consist much in the force of a narrative, conducted with much neatness and point, and a quiet yet comic dialogue, in which the characters of the speakers evolve themselves with dramatic effect. The faults, on the contrary, arise from the minute detail which the author's plan comprehends. Characters of folly or simplicity, such as those of old Woodhouse and Miss Bates, are ridiculous when first presented, but if too often brought forward or too long dwelt upon, their prosing is apt to become as tiresome in fiction as in real society.'
Had not Sir Walter found it necessary to be somewhat apologetic in commending in public anything so frivolous as a novel, his praise would probably have been more whole-hearted, as in the well-known passage in his diary, under date March 14, 1826:—
'Read again, for the third time at least, Miss Austen's finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-Wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!'
[314] No division or bitterness seems to have been caused in the family by these events: a remarkable proof of the strong affection which united them.
[315] Memoir, p. 130.
[316] Memoir, p. 157.
[317] Mr. Gifford.
[318] Fanny Knight.
[319] Mary Cooke.
[320] Fanny Knight.
[321] Mary Cooke.
[322] Mr. Clarke.
[323] Mr. Sherer.
[324] Mary Cooke.
[325] Many critics.
[326] Mary Cooke.
[327] Fanny Knight.
[328] Mrs. Pearse of Chilton Lodge.
[329] Fanny Knight.
[330] Mrs. Craven.
[331] Mr. H. Sanford.
[332] The first two batches of letters are to be found in Lord Brabourne's book, vol. ii. p. 277 et seq.; of the third set (to Caroline) only a few isolated quotations have been published. The second and third sets have been compared with the originals, but we have been unable to do this in the case of the first.
[333] Cassandra was evidently not in the secret; and we learn from their niece Anna the interesting fact that, close and intimate as were the relations between the two sisters, they were absolutely silent to each other when the confidences of a third person had to be guarded.
[334] Perhaps in March 1814.
[335] Lord Brabourne dates them in 1816, and Mr. Oscar Fay Adams and Miss Hill naturally follow him; but such a date is impossible, as they contain allusions to two or three family events which had not then happened. This correction makes the account of her own health in the letters of March 13 and March 23 (which will be found in Chap. XX, [p. 383]) fit in much better with our information from other sources as to the progress of her illness than would have been the case had it been written in 1816.
[337] In Evelina.
[338] It must be remembered that there was no 'Lord Portman' or 'Lord Desborough' in 1814.
[339] In Mansfield Park.
[340] Published July 7, 1814. Jane Austen had no more doubt as to who was the author than Miss Mitford had.
[342] On the birth of Anna Lefroy's eldest daughter, Jemima.
[344] No doubt the Frank Austens.
[345] Sailor Brothers, p. 270.
[347] Memoir, p. 150.
[349] One is quoted from a letter to Charles, dated April 6, 1817 ([p. 385]); the other from a letter written at Winchester shortly before her death ([p. 391]).
[350] The road by which many Winchester boys returned home ran close to Chawton Cottage.
[351] A small pond close to Chawton Cottage, at the junction of the Winchester and Gosport roads.
[352] Unpublished fragment.
[353] Edward Lefroy, brother of Ben.
[354] See [p. 360]. Mrs. West was a farmer's wife who lived to the age of ninety-three, and left behind her eighteen volumes of novels, plays, and poetry.
[355] Miss Bigg's nephew, afterwards Sir William Heathcote.
[356] Henry Austen.
[357] The poem by Southey, who had lost his eldest son early in 1816. It has been already stated that Southey was a nephew of Mr. Hill.
[358] The watering-place is called 'Sanditon,' and this name has been given to the twelve chapters by the family.
[359] Memoir, p. 181.
[360] Mme. Bigeon had perhaps lost her savings in the crash that ended her master's banking business.
[361] We ought not to forget that he had just lost £10,000 in the bankruptcy of his nephew Henry.
[362] Memoir, p. 161.
[363] Memoir, p. 162.
[364] Memoir, p. 163.
[365] Preface to original edition of Northanger Abbey.
[366] Memoir, p. 165.
[367] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 333, &c.
[368] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 338, &c.
[369] Memoir, p. 87.
[370] Sailor Brothers, chap. xviii.
[371] His two sisters and himself.
[372] Our references throughout are to Bentley's edition of 1885-6.
[373] Vol. ii. pp. 470-1, second edition.