Memoir of Jane Austen

by Austen-Leigh, James Edward; Sutherland, Kathryn;

  Anna (Jane Anna Elizabeth) Lefroy (1793–1872), daughter of James Austen and Anne Mathew, was born at Deane, Hampshire. Only 2 when her mother died, she spent much of the next two years, until her father remarried, at Steventon with her grandparents and aunts Jane and Cassandra. She married Ben Lefroy, the son of a neighbour, in 1814, and bore him seven children, but was widowed early (in 1829). She died in Reading. She was protective in later years of her special relationship to Jane Austen, who had encouraged her early attempts at writing fiction and, though the novel she was writing at Austen’s death was later destroyed unfinished, she eventually earned a little money from a novella, Mary Hamilton (1833) and two small books for children—The Winter’s Tale (1841) and Springtide (1842). At Cassandra’s death she inherited Jane Austen’s unfinished manuscript ‘Sanditon’ and tried unsuccessfully to finish it. In 1864 she wrote out for her half-brother her ‘Recollections of Aunt Jane’.

  the Goodneston Bridgeses: JA’s brother Edward Austen Knight was married to Elizabeth Bridges of Goodneston Park, the sixth of Sir Brook Bridges’s thirteen children. Lady Knatchbull, mentioned a few lines later, was their eldest daughter, Fanny Austen Knight (for whom, see note to p. 79 above).

  Mrs Hunter of Norwich: Rachel Hunter (1754–1813). The novel here referred to is Lady Maclairn, the Victim of Villany (1806). (See Deirdre Le Faye, ‘Jane Austen and Mrs Hunter’s Novel’, Notes and Queries, 230 (1985), 335–6.)

  the note… weeks afterwards: no. 76 in Letters, where Le Faye tentatively dates it 29–31 October 1812. No original manuscript surviving, Le Faye takes her text from that in Anna Lefroy’s ‘Recollections’, but adds a further sentence from a copy taken by Anna’s daughter Fanny Caroline (see Letters, 407, n. 4).

  Nicholson or Glover: Francis Nicholson (1753–1844) and John Glover (1767–1849), landscape painters.

  Car of Falkenstein: a nonsensical name for the Alton coach, invented for a mock-heroic story which Anna was at this time writing with JA’s encouragement. Caroline refers to it in MAJA, 172 (‘it had no other foundation than their having seen a neighbour passing on the coach, without having previously known that he was going to leave home’).

  Dr and Mrs Cooper at Bath: The Revd Dr Edward Cooper and his wife Jane, Mrs Austen’s sister and JA’s aunt. See note to p. 26 above.

  CAROLINE AUSTEN, My Aunt Jane Austen: A Memoir (1867)

  Caroline Austen wrote her memoir of Aunt Jane apparently for family consumption, ‘that she herself should not be forgotten by her nearest descendants’, though as revisions to the text (noted below) show, she took some trouble in the crafting of it. It is described on the final page as ‘Written out’ ‘March 1867’. JEAL drew on it extensively for his Memoir, especially in the enlarged second edition of 1871 . Twelve years younger than her half-sister Anna, seven years younger than her brother JEAL, Caroline spent much of her childhood with her aunts Jane and Cassandra at Chawton: she was only 4 when the Austens moved there in 1809. To her we owe the description of Chawton Cottage and the intimate details of JA’s daily routine there, together with the most touching of the accounts of her affinity with children, the little observations about her dexterity with cup and ball, her neat satin stitch, and the care she took with the look of her letters and the placing of the sealing wax on the envelope; so, too, the story of the three chairs which substituted for a sofa, and the record of JA’s final illness, as reported by Caroline’s mother, Mary Lloyd Austen, who witnessed it. JEAL incorporates Caroline’s memories, deepening their effect in Ed.2 by further verbatim quotation and the addition of new details, like JA’s warning to Caroline against writing too much while young (Memoir, 42, 67–74, 77, 124, 130–1). Caroline’s account was again a source for the next generation of family biographers—for JEAL’s youngest son and grandson, William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh, in Life & Letters (1913); and it was printed in almost complete form by Caroline’s niece, Mary Augusta Austen-Leigh, JEAL’s daughter, in her Personal Aspects of Jane Austen (1920), 139–47. It was not published independently until 1952, when R. W. Chapman prepared it for the Jane Austen Society. His edition received a brief mention in the Times Literary Supplement, 20 June 1952, p. 406. It was reissued in 1991 . The present edition, based on Chapman’s, has been corrected against Caroline’s manuscript by Deirdre Le Faye. I am greatly indebted to Miss Le Faye for this generosity. The manuscript was presented to the Jane Austen Society in 1949 by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh and now hangs, framed, in JA’s House, Chawton.

  Caroline Mary Craven Austen (1805–80) was James Austen’s youngest child, born at Steventon. She did not marry, but lived with her mother Mary Lloyd until 1843, thereafter moving to be near her brother James Edward. From her mother she inherited ‘pocket-books’ recording family events and heard first-hand accounts of Aunt Jane. In adult life she spent much time with Aunt Cassandra.

  last long surviving Brother: Admiral Sir Francis (Frank) Austen (1774–1865). The death of Frank Austen, her last surviving sibling, seems to have been one of the major factors in prompting the next generation to assemble a publishable biography of JA.

  Cowper’s dwelling place at Olney: see the note at p. 69 above, where JEAL draws extensively on this section of Caroline’s memoir.

  The front door opened on the road: Caroline first wrote ‘The front door of the house opened on the road’, subsequently crossing out ‘of the house’.

  he had many children: Charles Austen’s first wife died in September 1814, leaving him with three daughters, Cassy Esten, Harriet Jane, and Frances Palmer. Frank Austen eventually fathered eleven children, the seventh being born just before JA died. His eldest child, Mary Jane (1807–36), often stayed with her aunts, as did Cassy Esten. Both are mentioned a little later in Caroline’s memoir, at p. [174]. On 8 January 1817, JA writes to Cassy Esten of a visit to Chawton Cottage made by Frank and his six children, then living, courtesy of Edward Austen Knight, at Chawton House (Letters, no. 148). They subsequently moved to nearby Alton.

  One of my cousins: he has been identified by Deirdre Le Faye as Frank’s second son, Henry Edgar Austen (1811–54). See note to p. 73 above.

  ‘Behold how good… in unity’: Psalm 132: 1.

  the time came… forbearance and generosity: a reference to Henry’s bankruptcy in March 1816, which hit several members of the family hard. See notes to pp. 101 and 120 above. Caroline’s later Reminiscences, 47–8, contains the most detailed family account of the bankruptcy and its consequences.

  chiefly at work: referring here exclusively to needlework.

  quizzed: made fun of.

  one of her nieces: Anna Austen Lefroy; a reference to the tale spun around the ‘Car of Falkenstein’, as described in Anna’s ‘Recollections’.

  History has charged her memory: see note to p. 71 above.

  I dare say: meaning, somewhat differently from nowadays, ‘I am quite sure’.

  should cease writing: Caroline first wrote ‘should write no more’.

  a volume of Evelina: Fanny Burney’s first novel, published in 1778.

  her especial pride and delight: her fourth brother, Henry.

  Two of the great Physicians: Henry Austen was seriously ill during October and November 1815. He was first attended by Mr Charles Haden, who lived nearby in Sloane Street, but later, during the crisis of his illness, Dr Matthew Baillie was called in, one of the Prince Regent’s physicians (Fam. Rec., 202).

  afforded some amusement: one consequence of this amusement was JA’s ‘Plan of a Novel’, written late 1815–early 1816. See note to p. 97 above and Caroline’s letter to JEAL in which she remarks on his ‘very merciful’ handling of the ridiculous Rev. Clarke in the recently published Memoir (see the Appendix, p. 192).

  In a letter to me she says: no. 156 in Letters, written 26 March 1817.

  pocket books in my possession: these were Caroline’s mother’s, Mary Lloyd Austen’s, pocket books, in which she recorded brief, diary-type notes of events as they occurred. They formed the basis for Caroline’s later Remi
niscences, written in the 1870s.

  They stayed: Caroline first wrote ‘They stayed with us’.

  Mr. Fowle’s at Kintbury: the Revd Fulwar Craven Fowle (1764–1840), of Kintbury, Berkshire. He had been a pupil of JA’s father at Steventon, 1778–81, and was married to Eliza Lloyd, sister of Martha and of Mary, Caroline’s mother. Mary Jane Fowle was Fulwar Fowle’s eldest daughter and Caroline’s cousin.

  a letter… dated Jany. 23rd–1817: no. 149 in Letters. JEAL quotes this extract in Memoir, Ed.2 (p. 127 above).

  Mr. Leigh Perrot’s death: JA’s uncle died on 28 March 1817. For the distress caused in the family by the arrangements of his will, see note to p. 120 above.

  one of the eminent physicians of the day: possibly Dr Matthew Baillie (see note to p. 176 above).

  APPENDIX

  NPG, RWC/HH: a file of correspondence between Henry Hake of the National Portrait Gallery and the Austen scholar R. W. Chapman, 1932–48. This includes a set of typed sheets, sent by Chapman to Hake, comprising copies of letters made by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh of correspondence addressed to JEAL around the time of the preparation and publication of the Memoir. (‘Copies of parts of various letters addressed to JEAL about the date of the composition & publication of the Memoir and preserved by him in an album—lent to me by RAAL 1926’ RWC.) JEAL’s album containing the originals of these letters is now lost or destroyed. The file consists of typed extracts of letters from Anna Lefroy (3 letters), Caroline Austen (4 letters), Catherine Hubback (Frank Austen’s daughter) (2 letters), T. E. P. Lefroy (Tom Lefroy’s nephew and Jemima Lefroy’s husband)(i letter), Cassandra Esten Austen (Charles Austen’s daughter) (1 letter), Elizabeth Rice (Edward Austen Knight’s daughter) (3 letters), Louisa Knatchbull-Hugesson (Fanny Knatchbull’s daughter) (2 letters), Revd G. D. Boyle of Kidderminster (1 letter). It is not possible to determine whether errors or idiosyncratic features of orthography and punctuation are original to the lost manuscripts or were introduced at the typing stage.

  Veneroni Grammars: Giovanni Veneroni, The Complete Italian Master (1763) and further editions in 1778, 1798.

  Lady Le Marchant: wife of Sir Denis Le Marchant and JEAL’s sister-in-law. See Memoir, 112–13, where JEAL records Sir Denis’s anecdotes of famous opinions of JA’s novels.

  Mrs George Austen: wife of Frank Austen’s son George. For Poll’s letter, see note to Memoir, 44.

  Cassandra Austen… Fanny: probably a reference to Charles Austen’s daughters Cassandra and Frances. Another Fanny (Frank’s daughter Frances Sophia) had letters from JA to Frank which she offered to JEAL on condition that he did not publish them, but the daughter referred to here as possibly objecting to handing over manuscript material is probably Frank’s other surviving daughter Catherine, now Mrs Hubback, suspected of having copies of The Watsons and Sanditon. Portsdown Lodge, near Portsmouth, was Frank Austen’s last home.

  Herbert Austens: Frank Austen’s fourth son Herbert and his wife.

  Mr. Austen’s letter to Cadell: used in the Memoir, at p. 105. Anna Lefroy’s eldest daughter Anna Jemima was married to the purchaser of the letter, Tom Lefroy, usually distinguished as T. E. P. Lefroy, nephew of JA’s former admirer of that name.

  to his daughter Maria: a reference to ‘Evelyn’ from Volume the Third. See Memoir, 43 and note.

  still living ‘Chief Justice’: a reference to Tom Lefroy, who died in 1869 months before the publication of the Memoir. See p. 48 and note.

  pocket book of 1817: a reference to their mother Mary Lloyd Austen’s diary for that year with its brief record of events, including JA’s death.

  the Manydown story: this and the following anecdote of JA’s seaside admirer find their way into the second edition of the Memoir at p. 29 (see note).

  HRO, etc.: Hampshire Record Office, Austen-Leigh archive, MS 23M93.

  young Hastings: a reference to the infant son of Warren Hastings who died in the Austens’ care in 1764. See Memoir, 13 and note. Other details recorded in this letter are included at Memoir, 11.

  One Lime… by our father: HRO, MS 23M93/60/32 includes a poem by James Austen, copied in JEAL’s hand, entitled ‘To Edward, On planting a lime tree on the terrace in the meadow before the house. January 1813’.

  W Knight: JEAL’s cousin, William Knight, since 1822 rector of Steventon.

  HRO, MS 23M93/86/ 3b item 73: Caroline is responding to the reception of the recent, expanded second edition of the Memoir in which JA’s manuscript writings were first published. Lord Stanhope had written to the publisher Richard Bentley expressing disappointment at not finding JA’s deathbed verses in the new edition. Bentley forwarded the letter to JEAL who shared its contents with his two sisters. We have only Caroline’s defensive response. This extract is also quoted in Deirdre Le Faye, ‘Jane Austen’s Verses and Lord Stanhope’s Disappointment’, The Book Collector, 37 (1988), 86–91 (at pp. 89–90).

  unluckily Uncle Henry… half a Century ago: the verses are those known as ‘Winchester Races’. Henry Austen referred to them in his ‘Biographical Notice’ (1818) as an indication of his sister’s cheerfulness of spirits only days before her death. The reference was deleted from his 1833 ‘Memoir’. But the comic verses and Henry Austen’s tactless pride in them seem to have caused his nephew and nieces some embarrassment. See Memoir, 130 and note for further details.

  a very great gain: Caroline is referring to the expansion of Memoir, ch. 6 in Ed.2, to include two letters from JA recording visits to London in 1813 and 1814. See pp. 86–9 above.

  Charlotte Craven: Charlotte Elizabeth Craven (1798–1877), mentioned in Letters, 210–11 and 321, and in Memoir, 87.

  Catherine Hubback: Frank Austen’s fourth daughter and a novelist.

  Mr Withers proposal: Harris Bigg-Wither, younger brother of Catherine and Alethea Bigg of Manydown Park. See Memoir, 29 and note.

  Dr Blackall: the Revd Dr Samuel Blackall (1771–1842), Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, introduced to JA by Mrs Lefroy, at Christmas 1797, in the hopes of his replacing Tom Lefroy in her affections. JA found him pompous and loud and was unimpressed. (See Letters, 19 and 216.) The story of his interest in their aunt, handed down by Cassandra Austen, seems to have been confused in the minds of the next generation with Cassandra’s other story of the seaside romance cut short so tragically by death. There is no evidence that JA was at all attached to Dr Blackall. See Memoir, 29.

  Mr. Clarke: the Revd James Stanier Clarke, the Prince Regent’s Librarian. See note to p. 97 above, which explains the ‘mercy’ JEAL showed to his memory.

  The portrait: the steel-engraved portrait of JA, derived from a sketch by Cassandra Austen, which formed the frontispiece to the first edition of the Memoir. See note to p. 70 above.

  Her groves of green myrtle: For identification of the songs, see Deirdre Le Faye, ‘Three Missing Jane Austen Songs’, Notes and Queries, 244 (1999), 454–5.

  Rev. F. W. Fowle: Fulwar William Fowle (1791–1876) was the eldest son of Fulwar Craven Fowle, a one-time pupil of Jane Austen’s father and brother of Tom Fowle who was engaged to Cassandra. See Fam. Rec., 147, where F. W. Fowle’s description of Jane’s appearance, as remembered in 1838, is quoted, from Kathleen Tillotson, ‘Jane Austen’, Times Literary Supplement, 17 Sep. 1954, p. 591. Fulwar Fowle’s mother was Eliza Lloyd, sister to Martha and Mary. Hence, James Edward, Caroline, and Fulwar Fowle were cousins.

  Marmion: by Walter Scott. See note to p. 72.

  NPG, RWC/HH, fos. 26–9: for a transcript of the letter and an investigation into the identity of Mrs Barrett and her relationship with JA, see R. W. Chapman, ‘Jane Austen’s Friend Mrs Barrett’, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 4 (1949), 171–4; and Deirdre Le Faye, ‘Jane Austen’s Friend Mrs Barrett Identified’, Notes and Queries, 244 (1999), 451–4, where the letter is again reproduced. Le Faye identifies her as Ann Barrett, wife of an attorney living in Alton and helping with the business of the Chawton estate during the period c.1813–16. JEAL draws on these recollections (as ‘by a friend’) at Memoir, 1
18.

  HRO, MS 23M93/85/2: a substantial, unpaginated prose manuscript, written c.1880–5 by Fanny Caroline Lefroy (1820–85), Anna’s fourth child, recounting the history of the Austen and Lefroy families. It contains copies of JA’s letters to Anna Lefroy, transcribed extracts from Caroline Austen’s manuscript books (published as Reminiscences of Caroline Austen, ed. Deirdre Le Faye, 1986), and extracts from the papers of other members of the Austen family. Though not the account of someone known to JA, it nevertheless became a repository for copies of primary documents of those who did know her. Included here are extracts from the ‘Family History’ describing the reaction to JA’s death, in the words of her brother Frank Austen and of her mother, Mrs Cassandra Austen, Fanny Lefroy’s great grandmother.