Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (best affordable ebook reader .txt) π
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[284] Edward Knight and his daughter Fanny were to arrive that day.
[285] See p. 311.
[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.
[289] Page 84.
[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.
[295] See p. 26
[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:β
'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:β
'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.
[336] See p. 336
[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.
[341] See p. 376.
[342] On the birth of Anna Lefroy's eldest daughter, Jemima.
[343] See p. 374.
[344] No doubt the Frank Austens.
[345] Sailor Brothers, p. 270.
[346] Page 139.
[347] Memoir, p. 150.
[348] See note on p. 347.
[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
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