Jane Austen

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Jane Austen Page 11

by Andrew Norman

’Tis mutual love the gift bestows.2

  Did reconciliation subsequently occur between Jane and Cassandra, and was this a factor in Jane being able to regain her composure to the extent that she was eventually able to resume her novel writing?

  If the sisters did fall out over a lover, who might this lover have been?

  TOM LEFROY

  Lefroy is an unlikely candidate, the reason for his break-up from Jane being that he was recalled to Ireland by his family. Also, at the time of Tom and Jane’s association in late 1795, Cassandra was engaged to the Revd Thomas Fowle.

  HARRIS BIGG-WITHER

  Bigg-Wither is alleged to have proposed marriage to Jane in December 1802. However, something of a smokescreen has been cast over this event. Between May 1801 and January 1805, no letters of Jane’s survive (with the exception of one she wrote to Cassandra in September 1804). This is either because during this ‘missing letter’ phase, no letters were written, which seems unlikely, or because Cassandra deliberately destroyed them after Jane’s death. Also, Caroline Austen told her brother James E. Austen-Leigh: ‘My own wish would be, that not any allusion should be made to the Manydown story [i.e. of Harris’s alleged proposal.]’3

  The Bigg-Wither episode occurred during the ‘missing letter’ phase, and therefore Harris cannot entirely be ruled out as object of Jane and Cassandra’s supposed rivalry – even if no blame attaches to him for it. (Harris, like Purvis in The Watsons, was married soon after his break-up with Jane, in November 1804, to Anne Frith). Catherine Hubback made light of the event: ‘I think the affair vexed her [Jane] a good deal, but I am sure she had no attachment for him [Bigg-Wither]’.4

  THE REVD SAMUEL BLACKALL

  Jane and Blackall met for the first time in the summer or early autumn of 1798. Evidence has been put forward that he reappeared briefly on the scene in the summer of 1802 when, during a visit to his brother John in Totnes, Devonshire, he was reunited with the Austens who were on holiday in the vicinity. By this time, Cassandra’s fiancé the Revd Thomas Fowle, had died (February 1797) and once again, the year 1802 falls within the ‘missing letter’ period.

  Was Jane wronged by Cassandra, and did the latter, like Penelope in The Watsons, attempt, in Elizabeth’s words, ‘to set him [in this case the Revd Blackall] against me, with a view to gaining him herself’? And if so, did this prompt Jane to express her feelings of outrage towards her sister in her subsequent letters, and was this the real reason why Cassandra deliberately destroyed so many of them?

  Likewise, was this falling out between the two sisters the real reason that Jane failed to complete The Watsons, which had the prospect of being equally as meritorious as any novel that she had written before, and would write subsequently? Also, why was publication of The Watsons delayed until fifty-four years after Jane’s death (and twenty-six years after the death of Cassandra)? Could the reason have been that if Jane’s explosive words about Penelope’s treachery towards Elizabeth had become known to Cassandra, which would inevitably have been the case, then this would have opened up a final, deep and unbridgeable rift between the two of them?

  What other clues does Jane’s novel The Watsons provide? When Elizabeth declares that ‘very few people marry their first loves’, this is reminiscent of the failed relationship between Jane and Tom Lefroy. However, when Elizabeth states that Purvis went on, soon after, to marry somebody else, this does not accord with what is known about either Tom Lefroy or Samuel Blackall. It is, therefore, unwise to attempt to extrapolate too rigorously the relationship between real people and the fictional characters of the novels. Nevertheless, the theme of love and treachery between sisters is a powerful one, and not easily dismissed.

  On 16 December 1804, which happened to be Jane’s 29th birthday, Mrs Lefroy died in a fall from her horse. Then came another blow; on 21 January 1805 Jane’s father George died, whereupon she wrote:

  Our Father has closed his virtuous & happy life in a death almost as free from suffering as his Children could have wished. His tenderness as a Father, who can do justice to [it]?5

  With the death of the Revd George Austen, his eldest son James, curate of Steventon since 1801, became its rector.

  When George Austen died, so did his clergyman’s pension of £600 per annum. From then on, the impecunious Austens were obliged to spend their summers with Jane’s brothers Henry and Edward, and the season in Bath, where Mrs Austen could continue to enjoy the company of the Leigh-Perrots.

  That Jane’s relationship with Henry and his wife Eliza was a warm and enduring one is vouched for by a letter Jane wrote to Cassandra in April 1805. Henry, says Jane:

  expresses himself as greatly pleased with the Screen, & says that he does not know whether he is, ‘most delighted with the idea or the Execution.’ [This implies that the screen – perhaps made to hide a fireplace or to partition a room – was made, or at least embroidered, by Jane herself.] Eliza of course, goes halves in all this, and there is also just such a message of warm acknowledgement from her respecting the Broche as you would expect.6

  In April 1805 the Austens moved to 25 Gay Street. For their income they now depended on Jane’s brothers James and Henry, each contributing an annual sum of £50, and Edward contributing an annual sum of £100. In addition, Cassandra derived a small income from the interest paid on her £1,000 inheritance from the estate of her late fiancé Thomas Fowle, and Mrs Austen had modest means of her own, amounting to about £200.

  At Godmersham Park in August that year, Jane made it clear that she did not appreciate her straitened financial circumstances. However, her hairdresser Mr Hall had been considerate in charging her only 2s 6d for a haircut. ‘He certainly respects either our Youth or our poverty’ she remarked dryly.7

  In view of the difficulties at that time, it might reasonably be asked why Jane did not look for employment. The answer was that her books were beginning to bring in a modest income; otherwise, she might well have become governess to the children of some wealthy family.

  In October, Francis narrowly missed taking part in the Battle of Trafalgar, which took place on the 21st of that month, between the British fleet on the one hand, and the French and Spanish fleets on the other. Instead of joining the battle, his ship Canopus (a prize ship which was originally Le Franklin), which Admiral Horatio Nelson had placed under his command, was required to travel to Gibraltar to collect water and stores. Francis did, however, see action in 1806 in the Battle of Saint Domingue (Santo Domingo – a French colony until 1804, when it became independent as Haiti) in the West Indies, when his squadron captured three French prize ships. His share of the prize money allowed him to fix a date for his marriage to Mary Gibson of Ramsgate: this took place on 24 July of that year. (Francis was the fourth of Jane’s brothers to marry).

  Francis and Mary set up home in Southampton, the city being situated conveniently near to the naval base at Portsmouth, and in October 1806 they invited Jane, Cassandra, their mother and Martha Lloyd to join them. In January 1807 Cassandra received an invitation to Godmersham Park, where she remained until the following month. Jane was not amused. In a letter to her sister dated 8/9 February, she stated as follows:

  Frank & Mary cannot at all approve of your not being at home in time to help them in their finishing purchases [presumably, their final purchases of items for the home].

  Jane also expressed regret that her sister’s return was to be delayed. But she said:

  It is no use to lament – I never heard that even Queen Mary’s lamentation [the title of a song with which Jane was familiar] did her any good …

  The same letter reveals just how cool the relationship between Jane and her brother James had become:

  I should not be surprised if we were to be visited by James again this week…. I am sorry & angry that his Visits should not give one more pleasure; the company of so good & so clever a Man ought to be gratifying in itself; – but his Chat seems all forced, his Opinions on many points too much copied from his Wife’s, & his time here is spen
t I think in walking about the House & banging the Doors, or ringing the bell for a glass of water.8

  On 20/22 February 1807, when Jane wrote again to Cassandra, she could scarcely conceal her annoyance with the latter, who to her way of thinking, was seldom in the right place at the right time:

  I confess myself much disappointed by the repeated delay in your return, for tho’ I had pretty well given up any idea of your being with us before our removal [to Godmersham Park], I felt sure that March would not pass away without bringing you. Before April comes, of course something else will occur to detain you. But as you are happy, all this is Selfishness [i.e. on Jane’s part].9

  Meanwhile Charles, while stationed in Bermuda, had met 17-year-old Frances Fitzwilliam Palmer (‘Fanny’), daughter of the island’s former Attorney-General. The pair were married on 19 May 1807. In March 1808 Francis was given command of HMS St Albans, in which vessel he voyaged to South Africa, China and the East Indies.

  On 15 June 1808 it was Jane’s turn to be invited to Godmersham Park and she makes no secret of the fact that she looks forward to the luxurious life there: ‘I shall eat Ice & drink French wine, & be above Vulgar Economy.’10

  Over a week later, on 26 June, Jane tells Cassandra that, ‘We are all very happy to hear of his [Francis’s] health and safety’, and a few days later she is exuberant at the prospect of seeing her seafaring brother again. She writes to her sister:

  I give you all Joy of Frank’s return, which happens in the true Sailor way, just after our being told not to expect him for some weeks.11

  In August, Francis found himself in command of a flotilla of ships transporting troops to Corunna, north-west Spain, in support of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and bringing wounded English soldiers and French prisoners back to Spithead (Portsmouth). The Duke had been sent to assist the Portuguese against France in the Peninsular War.

  At the end of September Cassandra made another visit to Godmersham Park; this time for Edward’s wife Elizabeth’s confinement with her eleventh child. Tragedy then struck because on 10 October, ten days after the birth of a boy, Brook John, Elizabeth died. Cassandra was required to remain with Edward while the latter’s eldest two sons George and Edward were taken by coach from Winchester College, where they were pupils, to Southampton, to be looked after for a time by Jane. Mourning clothes were purchased for them and during that period Jane took them on several excursions up the Hamble river where they saw a naval ship under construction. In a letter to Cassandra, Jane expressed her feelings:

  … dearest Edward, whose loss & whose suffering seem to make those of every other person nothing. – God be praised! … that he has a religious Mind to bear him up, & a Disposition that will gradually lead him to comfort.12

  Once again, Jane found herself missing her sister greatly. On 24/25 October she wrote to Cassandra saying, ‘As to your lengthened stay, it is no more than I expected, and what must be, but you cannot suppose I like it’.13 (In the event, Cassandra did not return to Southampton until February 1809).

  On 16 December 1808, which was her birthday, Jane composed a poem in memory of Mrs Lefroy who had died exactly four years previously:

  Beloved friend, four years have pass’d away

  Since thou wert snatch’d forever from our eyes

  However much she regretted the fact that Mrs Lefroy had been instrumental in sending away her nephew and lover Tom, Jane had clearly forgiven her.

  Jane’s letters indicate that she made frequent visits to Henry and Eliza at Sloane Street, and yet in that month of December 1808, she requests of Cassandra, ‘Send me some intelligence of Eliza, it is a long while since I have heard of her’. A month later Jane tells Cassandra, ‘Your report of Eliza’s health gives me great pleasure’.14

  In April 1809 the Austens left Southampton for Bookham in Surrey, home of Mrs Austen’s cousin and namesake Cassandra Cooke (née Leigh), and Godmersham Park. That summer, Jane’s brother Edward generously invited Jane, Cassandra, Mrs Austen and Martha Lloyd to live at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire; this was a part of the Chawton Estate which he had inherited from Thomas Knight II. They accepted and took possession of the property on 7 July.

  In that month Jane sent a delightful poem, which she had written, to Francis on the birth of his and his wife Mary’s son, Francis William Austen junior:

  My Dearest Frank I wish you Joy

  Of Mary’s safety [i.e. safe delivery]

  with a boy …15

  In the summer of 1810 Francis returned from China aboard the ship St Albans which was laden with gold and treasure – he being an agent of the East India Company. For transporting this precious cargo he received from the company the princely sum of £1,500.

  The following spring Jane visited Eliza and Henry at Sloane Street in order that she might correct the proofs of her novel Sense and Sensibility, sent to her by her publisher Thomas Egerton. Other things which Jane looked forward to included attending a party with Eliza, going for a walk with her, and also meeting her friends Comte d’Antraigues and his wife Mme St Huberti, formerly an operatic prima donna, and their son Comte Julien). ‘It will be amusing to see the ways of a French circle’ she says.16

  Also around this time, on 14 October 1812, Thomas Knight II’s widow Catherine died, whereupon Edward changed his name to ‘Knight’.

  Notes

  1.­ Jane Austen, Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon, p. 16.

  2.­ Brabourne, Letters of Jane Austen, p. 341.

  3.­ Letter from Caroline Austen to James E. Austen-Leigh, National Portrait Gallery, RWC/HH, Folios 8–10.

  4.­ Letter from Catherine Hubback to James E. Austen-Leigh, National Portrait Gallery, RWC/HH, Folios 11–12.

  5.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Francis Austen, 21/22 January 1805.

  6.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 8/11 April 1805.

  7.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 24 August 1805.

  8.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 8/9 February 1807.

  9.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 20/22 February 1807.

  10.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 30 June/1 July 1808.

  11.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 26 June 1808 and 30 June/1 July 1808.

  12.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 13 October 1808.

  13.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 24/25 October 1808.

  14.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 27 December 1808 and 10/11 January 1809.

  15.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Francis Austen, 26 July 1809.

  16.­ Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 18/20 April 1811.

  16

  Mansfield Park

  The novel was commenced in 1811, completed in the summer of 1813, when Jane was aged 38, and published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton.

  Mansfield Park, in the county of Northamptonshire, is the country seat of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. Lady Bertram has a sister Frances, who is married to Lieutenant Price of the Marines: a man ‘without education, fortune, or connections’. Living near to Mansfield Park at the White House is another of Lady Bertram’s sisters, Mrs (‘Aunt’) Norris, wife of a clergyman who, subsequently, becomes a widow.

  When the impecunious Mrs Frances Price is expecting her ninth child, she and her husband appeal to the wealthy Bertrams, who agree to assist them by inviting their eldest daughter Fanny to live with them at Mansfield Park. Fanny, the heroine of the novel, is then 9 years old and described as:

  small of [for] her age, with no glow of complexion, nor any other striking beauty; exceedingly timid and shy, and shrinking from notice …

  But with a sweet voice and a pretty countenance. At Mansfield Park Fanny finds a friend in Edmund, Sir Thomas Bertram’s youngest son who is destined to be a clergyman. Fanny describes Edmund as someone whose ‘friendship never failed her’.

  Tom Bertram is Sir Thomas’s eldest son and his heir. However, he lives an extravagant lifes
tyle and is told by Sir Thomas that as a result he has robbed his brother Edmund ‘for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his’.

  Sir Thomas visits Antigua (Leeward Islands) where he has financial interests, whereupon his daughters Maria and Julia consider themselves to be ‘immediately at their own disposal, and to have every indulgence within their reach’. Maria, ‘who was beginning to think matrimony a duty’, becomes informally engaged to Mr Rushworth of ‘Sotherton’. Such a match ‘would give her the enjoyment of a larger income than her father’s, as well as ensure her of the house in town’.

  Aunt Norris becomes a perpetual thorn in Fanny’s side. In one instance she declares that it is both unnecessary and improper that she should have ‘a regular lady’s horse of her own in the style of her cousins’. However, she is overruled by Edmund.

  A wealthy young brother and sister, Henry and Mary Crawford, come to visit Mary’s half-sister Mrs Grant, wife of Dr Grant the parson. It is Mrs Grant’s notion that Henry should marry the youngest Miss Bertram – Julia, whereupon Mary cautions her against it. Her brother Henry, she says, ‘is the most horrible flirt that can be imagined. If your Miss Bertrams do not like to have their hearts broke, let them avoid Henry’.

  Whereas Mary is a creature of the town, Fanny is a creature of the country. For example, when Mr Rushworth talks of having an avenue of trees cut down at his house ‘Sotherton’, Fanny expresses her regret by quoting the poet William Cowper: ‘Ye fallen avenues, once more I mourn your fate unmerited’.

 

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