slender, her step light and firm, and her whole appearance expressive
of health and animation. In complexion she was a clear brunette, with
a rich color; she had full round cheeks, with mouth and nose small and
well-formed, bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls
close round her face. If not so regularly handsome as her sister, yet
her countenance had a peculiar charm of its own to the eyes of most
beholders. At the time of which I am now writing [1809] she never
was seen, either morning or evening, without a cap; I believe that
she and her sister were generally thought to have taken to the garb
of middle-age earlier than their years or their looks required; and
that, though remarkably neat in their dress as in all their ways,
they were scarcely sufficiently regardful of the fashionable, or the
becoming. Dearest of all to the heart of Jane was her sister Cassandra,
about three years her senior. Their sisterly affection for each other
could scarcely be exceeded. Perhaps it began on Jane’s side with
the feeling of deference natural to a loving child towards a kind
elder sister. Something of this feeling always remained; and even in
the maturity of her powers and the enjoyment of increasing success,
she would still speak of Cassandra as of one wiser and better than
herself. In childhood, when the elder was sent to the school of a Mrs.
Latournelle, in the Torbury at Reading, the younger went with her not
because she was thought old enough to profit much by the instruction
there imparted, but because she would have been miserable without her
sister; her mother observing that “if Cassandra were going to have her
head cut off, Jane would insist on sharing her fate.” This attachment
was never interrupted or weakened. They lived in the same home and
shared the same bedroom, till separated by death. They were not exactly
alike. Cassandra’s was the colder and calmer disposition; she was
always prudent and well judging, but with less demonstration of feeling
and less sunniness of temper than Jane possessed. It was remarked in
her family that “Cassandra had the _merit_ of having her temper always
under command, but that Jane had the _happiness_ of a temper that never
required to be commanded.”
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Its influence on her art.]
The bond of sisterhood, more than any other relation, seems to have
influenced Jane Austen in her art. With her own closest life-long
friend in her sister Cassandra, the author who so rarely repeats
herself in the circumscribed sphere in which she chose to work, again
and again draws a pair of sisters, for the most part sharing every joy
and sorrow. In two or three cases--those of the Bennets, the Dashwoods,
Mrs. John Knightley and Emma Woodhouse, we have the contrast between
the milder and more serene elder, and the livelier, more impulsive
younger sister, which caused their contemporaries to say that Jane and
Elizabeth Bennet stood for Cassandra and Jane Austen. But the author’s
nephew pronounced against this conjecture. It is said, indeed, that in
gentleness of disposition and tenderness of heart, Jane Austen bore
more resemblance to Jane than to Elizabeth Bennet.
SARAH TYTLER: ‘Jane Austen and Her Works.’ Cassell & Company.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: An uncomplimentary account of Jane.]
A friend of mine, who visits her now, says that she has stiffened into
the most perpendicular, precise, taciturn piece of “single blessedness”
that ever existed, and that, till ‘Pride and Prejudice’ showed what
a precious gem was hidden in that unbending case, she was no more
regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen, or any other thin
upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and
quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker, but
a poker of whom every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this
silent observation from such an observer is rather formidable.... After
all, I do not know that I can quite vouch for this account, though
the friend from whom I received it is truth itself; but her family
connections must render her disagreeable to Miss Austen, since she is
the sister-in-law of a gentleman who is at law with Miss A.’s brother
for the greater part of his fortune.
MARY RUSSELL MITFORD: _Letter to Sir Wm. Elford_, 1815, in the former’s
‘Life,’ by Rev. A. G. L’Estrange. London: Richard Bentley, 1870.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Possible unpopularity.]
It was the conviction of the Austen family that Jane’s occupation as a
novel writer continued long unsuspected by her ordinary acquaintances
and neighbors. That may have been, but we cannot imagine that her
close study of the characters around her, with her shrewd, humorous
conclusions--so extraordinary at the age at which she began to make
them--could have been either quite unperceived or wholly approved of
by her associates.... Jane Austen was the clear-sighted girl with
the sharp pen, if not the sharp tongue, who found in the Steventon
visiting-list materials for the _dramatis personæ_ of ‘Pride and
Prejudice.’ It would have been little short of a miracle, if she
could have conducted herself with such meekness, in her remote
rural world, or during the visits she paid to the great English
watering-place--while she was all the time laughing in her sleeve--so
as not to provoke any suspicion of her satire, or any resentment at
what might easily be held her presumption.... I have it on excellent
authority that, however thoroughly she was able to sympathize with the
witty repartees of two of her favorite heroines, in general company
she herself was shy and silent; even in more familiar circles she was
innocent of speaking sharp words, and was rather distinguished for
her tolerant indulgence to her fellow-creatures than for her hard
judgments on them. The tolerance belonged, by right, to her breadth of
comprehension, and to the humor which still more than wit characterized
her genius. The suggestion I make is that, seeing her neighbor’s
foibles, as she certainly did see them, she could not, however
generously she might use her superior knowledge, conceal it altogether
from her neighbors, and this was less likely to be the case when she
was a young girl with some share, presumably, of the thoughtlessness
and rashness of other girls, than when she was a mature woman, with
the wisdom and gentleness of experience.
SARAH TYTLER: ‘Jane Austen and her Works.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Home at Chawton.]
Chawton may be called the second, as well as the last home of Jane
Austen; for during the temporary residences of the party at Bath and
Southampton she was only a sojourner in a strange land; but here she
found a real home among her own people. It so happened that during her
residence at Chawton circumstances brought several of her brothers and
their families within easy distance of the house. Chawton must also
be considered the place most closely connected with her career as a
writer; for this is the place where, in the maturity of her mind, she
either wrote or re-arranged, and prepared for publication the books by
which she has become known to the world. This was the home where, after
a few years, while still in the prime of life, she began to droop and
wither away, and which she left only in the last stage of her illness,
yielding to the persuasion of friends hoping against hope. This house
stood in the village of Chawton, about a mile from Alton, on the right
hand side, just where the road to Winchester branches off from that to
Gosport. It was so close to the road that the front door opened at once
upon it; but behind it there was ample space for a garden and shrubbery
walks.
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Anecdote illustrating her pride.]
[Sidenote: Self centred character.]
There is an anecdote of Jane Austen which coincides with her character,
and has been widely circulated, though it is not mentioned by Mr.
Austen Leigh. If it had a foundation in fact, it must have occurred
either during this visit to London [1815], or in the course of
that paid not long before. It is said that Miss Austen received an
invitation to a rout given by an aristocratic couple with whom she was
not previously acquainted. The reason assigned for the invitation was
that the author of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ might be introduced to the
author of ‘Corinne.’ Tradition has it that the English novelist refused
the invitation, saying that to no house where she was not asked as
Jane Austen would she go as the author of ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ This
anecdote is often quoted with marks of admiration for the author’s
independence. But even the most honest and honorable independence
has its becoming limits. That of Jane Austen, ultra self-sufficing,
fastidious, tinged with haughtiness, is just a trifle repellent out
of that small circle in which she was always at home. Whether or not
Mme. de Staël was consulted about the proposed meeting, she was not an
admirer of her sister author. The somewhat grandiloquent Frenchwoman
characterized the productions of that English genius--which were the
essence of common-sense--as “_vulgaires_,” precisely what they were
not.... Apparently, Jane Austen was not one whit more accessible to
English women of letters. There were many of deserved repute in or
near London, at the dates of these later visits. Not to speak of
Mrs. Inchbald, whom her correspondent, warm-hearted Maria Edgeworth,
rejoiced to come to England and meet personally, there were the two
Porters, Joanna Baillie--at the representation of whose fine play,
‘The Family Legend,’ Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron had lately
“assisted”--and the veteran writer, Mme. D’Arblay, whose creations were
the object of Jane Austen’s early and late admiration. But we do not
hear of a single overture towards acquaintance between Miss Austen and
these ladies, though her works must have left as lively an impression
on some of their minds as theirs have done on hers. Men of letters were
no better known to her.
SARAH TYTLER: ‘Jane Austen and her Works.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Fondness for children.]
I cannot better describe the fascination which she exercised over
children than by quoting the words of two of her nieces. One says: “As
a very little girl I was always creeping up to Aunt Jane, and following
her whenever I could, in the house and out of it. I might not have
remembered this but for the recollection of my mother’s telling me
privately, that I must not be troublesome to my aunt. Her first charm
to children was great sweetness of manner. She seemed to love you, and
you loved her in return. This, as well as I can now recollect, was what
I felt in my early days, before I was old enough to be amused by her
cleverness. But soon came the delight of her playful talk. She could
make everything amusing to a child. Then, as I got older, when cousins
came to share the entertainment, she would tell us the most delightful
stories, chiefly of Fairyland, and her fairies had all characters of
their own. The tale was invented, I am sure, at the moment, and was
continued for two or three days, if occasion served.” Very similar is
the testimony of another niece.
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Slight narrowness.]
In her family and among her old friends Jane Austen was unsurpassed as
a tender sick-nurse, an untiring confidante, and a wise counsellor....
During her whole life she remained to a great extent engrossed by the
interests of her family and their limited circle of old and intimate
friends. This was as it should be--so far, but there may be too much of
a good thing. The tendency of restricted family parties and sets--when
their members are above small bickerings and squabblings--when they are
really superior people in every sense, is to form ‘mutual admiration’
societies, and neither does this more respectable and amiable weakness
act beneficially upon its victims.... Fondly loved and remembered as
Jane Austen has been, with much reason among her own people, in their
considerable ramifications, I cannot imagine her as greatly liked, or
even regarded with anything save some amount of prejudice, out of the
immediate circle of her friends, and in general society.... What I mean
is, that she allowed her interests and sympathies to become narrow,
even for her day, and that her tender charity not only began, but
ended, in a large measure, at home.
SARAH TYTLER: ‘Jane Austen and Her Works.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Her letters.]
The style is always clear, and generally animated, while a vein of
humor continually gleams through the whole; but the materials may be
thought inferior to the execution, for they treat only of the details
of domestic life. There is in them no notice of politics or public
events; scarcely any discussions on literature, or other subjects of
general interest. They may be said to resemble the nest which some
little bird builds of the materials nearest at hand, of the twigs
and mosses supplied by the tree in which it is placed; curiously
constructed out of the simplest matters.... Her letters scarcely ever
have the date of the year, and are never signed with her Christian name
at full length.
Happy would the compositors for the press be if they had always so
legible a manuscript to work from. But the writing was not the only
part of her letters which showed superior handiwork. In those days
there was an art in folding and sealing. No adhesive envelopes made all
easy. Some people’s letters always looked loose and untidy; but her
paper was sure to take the right folds, and her sealing-wax to drop
into the right place.
[Sidenote: A steady hand.]
Jane Austen was successful in everything that she attempted with her
fingers. None of us could throw spilikins in so perfect a circle, or
take them off with so steady a hand. Her performances with cup and
ball were marvellous. The one used at Chawton was an easy one, and she
has been known to catch it on the point above an hundredth time in
succession, till her hand was weary. She sometimes found a resource in
this simple game, when unable, from weakness in her eyes, to read or
write long together.... Her needlework, both plain and ornamental, was
excellent, and might almost have put a sewing machine to shame. She
was considered especially great in satin-stitch. She spent much time
in these occupations, and some of her merriest talk was over clothes
which she and her companions were making, sometimes for themselves and
sometimes for the poor. There still remains a curious specimen of her
needlework made for a sister-in-law, my mother. In a very small bag is
deposited a little rolled-up housewife, furnished with minikin needles
and fine thread. In the housewife is a tiny pocket, and in the pocket
is enclosed a slip of paper, on which, written as with a crow quill,
are these lines:
[Sidenote: Her needlework.]
“This little bag, I hope, will prove
To be not vainly made,
For should you thread and needles want
It will afford you aid.
“And as we are about to part,
’Twill serve another end:
For, when you look upon this bag,
You’ll recollect your friend.”
It is the kind of article that some benevolent fairy might be supposed
to give as a reward to a diligent little girl. The whole is of flowered
silk, and having been never used and carefully preserved, it is as
fresh and bright as when it was first made seventy years ago, and shows
that the same hand which painted so exquisitely with the pen could work
as delicately with the needle.
[Sidenote: Her accomplishments.]
Jane was fond of music, and had a sweet voice, both in singing and
in conversation; in her youth she had received some instruction on
the piano-forte; and at Chawton she practised daily, chiefly before
breakfast. I believe she did so partly that she might not disturb the
rest of the party who were less fond of music. In the evening she would
sometimes sing, to her own accompaniment, some simple old songs, the
words and airs of which, now never heard, still linger in my memory.
She read French with facility, and knew something in Italian.... In
history she followed the old guides--Goldsmith, Hume and Robertson.
Critical enquiry into the usually received statements of the old
historians was scarcely begun.... Jane, when a girl, had strong
political opinions, especially about the affairs of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. She was a vehement defender of Charles I. and
his grandmother Mary; but I think it was rather from an impulse of
feeling than from any enquiry into the evidence by which they must
be condemned or acquitted. As she grew up, the politics of the day
occupied very little of her attention, but she probably shared the
feeling of moderate Toryism which prevailed in her family.
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A modest opinion.]
I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most
unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.
JANE AUSTEN: _Letter to Mr. J. S. Clarke_, quoted in ‘Memoir,’ by
Austen-Leigh.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Taste in reading.]
She was well acquainted with the old periodicals, from the ‘Spectator’
downward. Her knowledge of Richardson’s works was such as no one is
likely again to acquire, now that the multitude and the merits of our
light literature have called off the attention of readers from that
great master. Every circumstance narrated in Sir Charles Grandison, all
that ever was said or done in the cedar parlor, was familiar to her;
and the wedding-days of Lady L. and Lady G. were as well remembered as
if they had been living friends. Amongst her favorite writers, Johnson
in prose, Crabbe in verse, and Cowper in both, stood high. It is well
that the native good taste of herself and of those with whom she lived,
saved her from the snare into which a sister novelist had fallen, of
imitating the grandiloquent style of Johnson. She thoroughly enjoyed
Crabbe; perhaps on account of a certain resemblance to herself in
minute and highly finished detail; and would sometimes say, in jest,
that if she ever married at all, she could fancy being Mrs. Crabbe;
looking on the author quite as an abstract idea, and ignorant and
regardless what manner of man he might be. Scott’s poetry gave her
great pleasure; she did not live to make much acquaintance with his
novels.
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Love of dancing.]
There were twenty dances, and I danced them all, and without any
fatigue. I was glad to find myself capable of dancing so much, and with
so much satisfaction as I did; from my slender enjoyment of the Ashford
balls, I had not thought myself equal to it, but in cold weather and
with few couples I fancy I could just as well dance for a week together
as for half an hour.
JANE AUSTEN: _Letter to her sister, Cassandra_, 1799, in ‘Letters of
Jane Austen,’ edited by Lord Brabourne. London: Richard Bentley & Son,
1884.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Manner of working.]
Jane Austen was able to write in the midst of a busily-talking roomful
of people, her desk sometimes on a table which she shared with others,
sometimes at one side of the room, or even upon her knee when there
was no other place for it; and under what might seem to many others
impossible social conditions or distractions, she wrote ‘Sense and
Sensibility,’ ‘Northanger Abbey,’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ all works
showing concentration and keen perception. A friend has told us of
her manner in writing--the earnest face bent above her page, the keen
bright eye suddenly lifted to flash out recognition of something which
was said in her presence, showing how entirely possible it was for her
to hear and heed as well.
ANON.: in _Harper’s Bazar_.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: No “den” for writing.]
The last five years of her life produced the same number of novels
with those which had been written in her early youth. How she was
able to effect all this is surprising, for she had no separate study
to retire to, and most of the work must have been done in the general
sitting-room, subject to all kinds of casual interruptions. She was
not, however, troubled with companions like her own Mrs. Allen, in
‘Northanger Abbey,’ whose “vacancy of mind and incapacity for thinking
were such that, as she never talked a great deal, so she could never
be entirely silent; and therefore, while she sat at work, if she lost
her needle, or broke her thread, or saw a speck of dirt on her gown,
she must observe it, whether there were any one at leisure to answer
her or not.” In that well-occupied female party there must have been
many precious hours of silence during which the pen was busy at the
little mahogany writing-desk, while Fanny Price, or Emma Woodhouse, or
Anne Elliott was growing into beauty and interest. I have no doubt that
I, and my sisters and cousins, in our visits to Chawton, frequently
disturbed this mystic process, without having any idea of the mischief
that we were doing; certainly we never should have guessed it by any
signs of impatience or irritability in the writer.
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Prejudices of the time.]
When I was young, it was not thought proper for young ladies to study
very conspicuously; and especially with pen in hand. Young ladies (at
least in provincial towns) were expected to sit down in the parlor to
sew--during which reading aloud was permitted--or to practise their
music; but so as to be fit to receive callers, without any signs of
blue-stockingism which could be reported abroad. Jane Austen herself,
the queen of novelists, the immortal creator of Anne Elliott, Mr.
Knightley, and a score or two more of unrivalled intimate friends of
the whole public, was compelled by the feelings of her family to cover
up her manuscripts with a large piece of muslin work, kept on the table
for the purpose, whenever any genteel people came in.
HARRIET MARTINEAU: ‘Autobiography.’ Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
1877.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Affection for her own characters.]
I want to tell you that I have got my own darling child [‘Pride and
Prejudice’] from London.... Miss B. dined with us on the very day of
the book’s coming, and in the evening we fairly set at it, and read
half the first volume to her, prefacing that, having intelligence from
Henry that such a work would soon appear, we had desired him to send
it whenever it came out, and I believe it passed with her unsuspected.
She was amused, poor soul! _That_ she could not help, you know, with
two such people to lead the way, but she really does seem to admire
Elizabeth. I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as
ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who
do not like _her_ at least I do not know.
JANE AUSTEN: _Letter to her sister Cassandra_, quoted in ‘Memoir,’ by
Austen-Leigh.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Individuality of her characters.]
She certainly took a kind of parental interest in the beings whom she
had created, and did not dismiss them from her thoughts when she had
finished her last chapter. When sending a copy of ‘Emma’ to a friend
whose daughter had been lately born, she wrote thus:--“I trust you
will be as glad to see my ‘Emma,’ as I shall be to see your Jemima.”
She was very fond of ‘Emma,’ but did not reckon on her being a general
favorite; for, when commencing that work, she said: “I am going to take
a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” She would, if asked,
tell us many little particulars about the subsequent career of some of
her people.
She did not copy individuals, but she invested her own creations
with individuality of character. Her relations never recognized any
individual in her characters; and I can call to mind several of her
acquaintance whose peculiarities were very tempting and easy to be
caricatured, of whom there are no traces in her pages. She, herself,
when questioned on the subject by a friend, expressed a dread of what
she called such an “invasion of social proprieties.” She said that she
thought it quite fair to note peculiarities and weaknesses, but that it
was her desire to create, not to reproduce; “besides,” she added, “I am
too proud of my gentlemen to admit that they were only Mr. A or Colonel
B.”
REV. J. E. AUSTEN-LEIGH: ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen.’
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Hunting for portraits.]
Henry [her brother], and I went to the exhibition in Spring Gardens.
It is not thought a good collection, but I was very well pleased,
particularly with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like
her.
I went in hopes of seeing one of her sister, but there was no Mrs.
Darcy. Perhaps, however, I may find her in the great exhibition, which
we shall go to if we have time.
Mrs. Bingley’s is exactly herself--size, shaped face, features, and
sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a
white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I have
always supposed, that green was a favorite color with her. I dare say
Mrs. D. will be in yellow.