by Jane Austen
1785 Attends Abbey House School, Reading, with Cassandra William Cowper, The Task
1786 Brother Francis (1774–1865) enters Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth; brother Edward on Grand Tour (to 1790); JA and Cassandra leave school for good William Gilpin, Observations, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty … particularly the Mountains, and Lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland
1787 Starts writing stories collected in three notebooks (to 1793); cousin Eliza de Feuillide visits Steventon; performance of Susannah Centlivre’s The Wonder at Steventon American constitution signed.
1788 JA and Cassandra taken on a trip to Kent and London; The Chances and Tom Thumb performed at Steventon; brother Henry (1771–1850) goes to St John’s College, Oxford; brother Francis sails to East Indies on HMS Perseverance; cousins Eliza de Feuillide and Philadelphia Walter attend Hastings’s trial Warren Hastings impeached for corruption in India; George III’s first spell of madness.
1789 James and Henry in Oxford produce periodical, The Loiterer (to Mar. 1790); JA begins lifelong friendship with Martha Lloyd and sister Mary when their mother rents Deane Parsonage Fall of the Bastille marks beginning of French Revolution.
1790 (June) completes ‘Love and Friendship’ Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; [Mary Wollstonecraft], Vindication of the Rights of Men
1791 Brother Charles enters Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth; (Nov.) completes ‘The History of England’; Edward marries Elizabeth Bridges and they live at Rowling, Kent Parliament rejects bill to abolish slave trade. James Boswell, Life of
Johnson; Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest
1792 Writes ‘Lesley-Castle’ and ‘Evelyn’, and begins ‘Kitty, or the Bower’; Lloyds leave Deane to make way for James and first wife, Anne Mathew; cousin Jane Cooper marries Capt. Thomas Williams, RN; sister Cassandra engaged to Revd Tom Fowle France declared a republic; Warren Hastings acquitted. Mary
Wollstonecraft; Vindication of the Rights of Woman; Clara Reeve,
Plans of Education
1793 Birth of eldest nieces, Fanny and Anna, daughters of brothers Edward and James; writes last of entries in the teenage notebooks; brother Henry joins Oxford Militia Execution of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette: revolutionary ‘Terror’ in Paris; Britain declares war on France.
1794 Probably working on Lady Susan; cousin Eliza de Feuillide’s husband guillotined in Paris Suspension of Habeas Corpus; ‘Treason Trials’ of radicals abandoned by government when juries refuse to convict; failure of harvests keeps food prices high.
Uyedale Price, Essays on the Picturesque; Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho
1795 Writes ‘Elinor and Marianne’ (first draft of Sense and Sensibility); death of James’s wife; JA flirts with Tom Lefroy, as recorded in first surviving letter George III’s coach stoned; Pitt’s ‘Two Acts’ enforce repression of radical dissent.
1796 Visits Edward at Rowling; (Oct.) begins ‘First Impressions’; subscribes to Frances Burney’s Camilla Frances Burney, Camilla; Regina Maria Roche, Children of the Abbey;
Jane West, A Gossip’s Story
1797 Marriage of James to Mary Lloyd; (Aug.) completes ‘First Impressions’; Cassandra’s fiancé dies of fever off Santo Domingo; begins revision of ‘Elinor and Marianne’ into Sense and Sensibility; George Austen offers ‘First Impressions’ to publisher Cadell without success; Catherine Knight gives Edward possession of Godmersham; marriage of Henry and Eliza de Feuillide Napoleon becomes commander of French army; failure of French attempt to invade by landing in Wales; mutinies in British Navy, leaders hanged. Ann Radcliffe, The Italian
1798 Starts to write ‘Susan’ (later Northanger Abbey); visits Godmersham; death in driving accident of cousin Lady Williams ( Jane Cooper) Irish Rebellion; defeat of French fleet at Battle of the Nile; French army lands in Ireland; further suspension of Habeas Corpus. Elizabeth Inchbald,
Lovers’ Vows, translation of play by Kotzebue.
1799 Visit to Bath; probably finishes ‘Susan’; aunt, Mrs Leigh-Perrot, charged with theft and imprisoned in Ilchester Gaol Napoleon becomes consul in France. Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education; Jane West, A Tale of the Times
1800 Stays with Martha Lloyd at Ibthorpe; trial and acquittal of Mrs Leigh-Perrot French conquer Italy; British capture Malta; food riots; first iron-frame printing press; copyright law extended to Ireland. Elizabeth
Hamilton, Memoirs of Modern Philosophers
1801 Austens move to Bath on George Austen’s retirement; James and family move into Stevenson Rectory; first of series of holidays in West Country (to 1804), during one of which thought to have had brief romantic involvement with a man who later died; Henry resigns from Oxford Militia and becomes banker and Army agent in London Slave rebellion in Santo Domingo led by Toussaint L’Ouverture; Nelson defeats Danes at Battle of Copenhagen; Act of Union joins Britain and Ireland. Maria Edgeworth, Belinda
1802 Visits Godmersham; accepts, then the following morning refuses, proposal of marriage from Harris Bigg-Wither; revises ‘Susan’ L’Ouverture’s slave rebellion crushed by French; Peace of Amiens with France; founding of William Cobbett’s Political Register
1803 With brother Henry’s help, ‘Susan’ sold to publishers Crosby & Co. for £10 Resumption of war with France.
1804 Starts writing The Watsons; (Dec.) death of Anne Lefroy in riding accident
1805 (Jan.) death of George Austen; stops working on The Watsons Battle of Trafalgar. Walter
Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel
1806 Austens leave Bath; visit relations at Adlestrop and Stoneleigh; Martha Lloyd becomes member of Austen household after death of her mother; brother Francis marries Mary Gibson; JA, Cassandra, and Mrs Austen take lodgings with them in Southampton French blockade of continental ports against British shipping; first steam-powered textile mill opens in Manchester. Lady Morgan,
The Wild Irish Girl
1807 Brother Charles marries Fanny Palmer in Bermuda France invades Portugal; slave-trading by British ships outlawed. George Crabbe, Poems
1808 JA visits Godmersham; death of Edward’s wife Elizabeth after giving birth to eleventh child France invades Spain; beginning of Peninsular War. Debrett,
Baronetage (Peerage first published 1802); Hannah More, Coelebs in
Search of a Wife; Walter Scott,
Marmion
1809 (Apr.) attempts unsuccessfully to make Crosby publish ‘Susan’, writing under pseudonym ‘Mrs Ashton Dennis’ (‘M.A.D.’); visits Godmersham; (July) moves, with Cassandra, Martha, and Mrs Austen, to house owned by Edward at Chawton, Hampshire British capture Martinique and Cayenne from France.
1810 Publisher Egerton accepts Sense and Sensibility British capture Guadeloupe, last French West Indian colony; riots in London in support of parliamentary reform. Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake
1811 (Feb.) begins Mansfield Park; stays with Henry and Eliza in London to correct proofs of Sense and Sensibility; (Oct.) Sense and Sensibility, ‘by a Lady’, published on commission; revises ‘First Impressions’ into Pride and Prejudice Prince of Wales becomes Regent; Ludditte anti-machine riots in North and Midlands. Mary
Brunton, Self-Control
1812 Copyright of Pride and Prejudice sold to Egerton for £110; Edward’s family take name of Knight at death of Catherine Knight United States declare war on Britain; French retreat from Moscow; Lord Liverpool becomes Prime Minister after assassination of Spencer Perceval.
1813 (Jan.) Pride and Prejudice published to great acclaim; JA stays in London to nurse Eliza; death of Eliza; in letter, expresses her hatred for Prince Regent; (June) finishes Mansfield Park; second editions of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice British invasion of France after Wellington’s success at Battle of Vittoria. Byron, The Giaour, The
Bride of Abydos; Robert Southey,
Life of Nelson
1814 (21 Jan.) begins Emma; (Mar. and Nov.) visits brother Henry in London, sees Kean play S
hylock; (May) Egerton publishes Mansfield Park on commission, sold out in six months; death of Fanny Palmer Austen, brother Charles’s wife, after childbirth; marriage of niece Anna Austen to Ben Lefroy Napoleon defeated and exiled to Elba; George Stevenson builds first steam locomotive; Edmund Kean’s first appearance at Drury Lane. Mary Brunton, Discipline; Frances Burney, The Wanderer;
Byron, The Corsair; Maria
Edgeworth, Patronage; Walter Scott, Waverley
1815 (29 Mar.) completes Emma; (Aug.) begins Persuasion; invited to dedicate Emma to the Prince Regent; visits Henry in London; (Dec.) Emma published by Murray Napoleon escapes; finally defeated at Battle of Waterloo and exiled to St Helena; Humphry Davy invents miners’ safety lamp.
1816 ‘Susan’ bought back from Crosby and revised as ‘Catherine’; failure of Henry’s bank; second edition of Mansfield Park; (Aug.) JA completes Persuasion; health beginning to fail Post-war slump inaugurates years of popular agitation for political and social reform.
1817 (Jan.–Mar.) works on Sanditon; (Apr.) makes her Will; moves, with Cassandra, to Winchester, to be closer to skilled medical care; (15 July) composes last poem ‘When Winchester Races’; (18 July, 4.30 a.m.) dies in Winchester; buried in Winchester Cathedral; (Dec.) publication (dated 1818) of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, together with brother Henry’s ‘Biographical Notice’ Attacks on Prince Regent at opening of Parliament; death of his only legitimate child, Princess Charlotte.
Map of Great Britain according to the Teenage Jane Austen
Map of London according to the Teenage Jane Austen
Volume the First
Contents*
Frederic & Elfrida
Jack & Alice
Edgar & Emma
Henry & Eliza
Mr Harley
Sir William Mountague
Mr Clifford
The beautifull Cassandra
Amelia Webster
The Visit
The Mystery
The three Sisters
Detached peices
Ode to Pity
To Miss Lloyd*
My dear Martha
As a small testimony of the gratitude I feel for your late generosity to me in finishing my muslin Cloak,* I beg leave to offer you this little production* of your sincere Freind
The Author
Frederic & Elfrida
a novel*
Chapter the First
The Uncle of Elfrida was the Father of Frederic; in other words, they were first cousins by the Father’s side.*
Being both born in one day & both brought up at one school,* it was not wonderfull that they should look on each other with something more than bare politeness.* They loved with mutual sincerity but were both determined not to transgress the rules of Propriety* by owning their attachment, either to the object beloved, or to any one else.
They were exceedingly handsome and so much alike,* that it was not every one who knew them apart.—Nay even their most intimate freinds* had nothing to distinguish them by, but the shape of the face, the colour of the Eye, the length of the Nose & the difference of the complexion.
Elfrida had an intimate freind to whom, being on a visit to an Aunt, she wrote the following Letter.
To Miss Drummond
‘Dear Charlotte’
‘I should be obliged to you, if you would buy me, during your stay’ ‘with Mrs Williamson, a new & fashionable Bonnet, to suit the’ ‘complexion* of your’
‘E. Falknor’
Charlotte, whose character was a willingness to oblige every one, when she returned into the Country, brought her Freind the wished-for Bonnet, & so ended this little adventure, much to the satisfaction of all parties.
On her return to Crankhumdunberry (of which sweet village* her father was Rector) Charlotte was received with the greatest Joy by Frederic & Elfrida, who, after pressing her alternately to their Bosoms,* proposed to her to take a walk in a Grove of Poplars* which led from the Parsonage to a verdant Lawn enamelled with a variety of variegated flowers* & watered by a purling Stream, brought from the Valley of Tempé* by a passage under ground.
In this Grove they had scarcely remained above 9 hours, when they were suddenly agreably surprized by hearing a most delightfull voice warble the following stanza.
Song
That Damon was in love with me
I once thought & beleiv’d
But now that he is not I see,
I fear I was deceiv’d.*
No sooner were the lines finished than they beheld by a turning in the Grove 2 elegant young women leaning on each other’s arm, who immediately on perceiving them, took a different path & disappeared from their sight.
Chapter the Second
As Elfrida & her companions, had seen enough of them to know that they were neither the 2 Miss Greens, nor Mrs Jackson & her Daughter, they could not help expressing their surprise at their appearance; till at length recollecting, that a new family had lately taken a House not far from the Grove, they hastened home, determined to lose no time in forming an acquaintance with 2 such amiable & worthy Girls, of which family they rightly imagined them to be a part.
Agreable to such a determination, they went that very evening to pay their respects to Mrs Fitzroy & her two Daughters. On being shewn into an elegant dressing room, ornamented with festoons of artificial flowers,* they were struck with the engaging Exterior & beautifull outside of Jezalinda* the eldest of the young Ladies; but e’er they had been many minutes seated, the Wit & Charms which shone resplendant in the conversation of the amiable Rebecca,* enchanted them so much that they all with one accord jumped up & exclaimed.
‘Lovely & too charming Fair one,* notwithstanding your forbidding Squint, your greazy tresses & your swelling Back,* which are more frightfull than imagination can paint or pen describe, I cannot refrain from expressing my raptures, at the engaging Qualities of your Mind, which so amply atone for the Horror, with which your first appearance must ever inspire the unwary visitor.’
‘Your sentiments so nobly expressed on the different excellencies of Indian & English Muslins, & the judicious preference you give the former, have excited in me an admiration of which I can alone give an adequate idea, by assuring you it is nearly equal to what I feel for myself.’
Then making a profound Curtesy* to the amiable & abashed Rebecca, they left the room & hurried home.
From this period, the intimacy between the Families of Fitzroy, Drummond, and Falknor, daily encreased till at length it grew to such a pitch, that they did not scruple to kick one another out of the window on the slightest provocation.*
During this happy state of Harmony, the eldest Miss Fitzroy ran off with the Coachman* & the amiable Rebecca was asked in marriage by Captain Roger of Buckinghamshire.
Mrs Fitzroy did not approve of the match on account of the tender years of the young couple, Rebecca being but 36 & Captain Roger little more than 63.* To remedy this objection, it was agreed that they should wait a little while till they were a good deal older.
Chapter the Third
In the mean time the parents of Frederic proposed to those of Elfrida, an union between them,* which being accepted with pleasure, the wedding cloathes were bought & nothing remained to be settled but the naming of the Day.*
As to the lovely Charlotte, being importuned with eagerness to pay another visit to her Aunt, she determined to accept the invitation & in consequence of it walked to Mrs Fitzroys to take leave of the amiable Rebecca, whom she found surrounded by Patches, Powder, Pomatum & Paint* with which she was vainly endeavouring to remedy the natural plainness of her face.
‘I am come my amiable Rebecca, to take my leave of you for the fortnight I am destined to spend with my aunt. Beleive me this separation is painfull to me, but it is as necessary as the labour which now engages you.’
‘Why to tell you the truth my Love, replied Rebecca, I have lately taken it into my head to think (perhaps with little reason) that my complexion is by no means equal to the rest
of my face & have therefore taken, as you see, to white & red paint which I would scorn to use on any other occasion as I hate art.’
Charlotte, who perfectly understood the meaning of her freind’s speech, was too goodtemper’d & obliging to refuse her, what she knew she wished,—a compliment; & they parted the best freinds in the world.
With a heavy heart & streaming Eyes did she ascend the lovely vehicle1 which bore her from her freinds & home; but greived as she was, she little thought in what a strange & different manner she should return to it.
On her entrance into the city of London which was the place of Mrs Williamson’s abode, the postilion,* whose stupidity was amazing, declared & declared even without the least shame or Compunction, that having never been informed he was totally ignorant of what part of the Town, he was to drive to.
Charlotte, whose nature we have before intimated, was an earnest desire to oblige every one, with the greatest Condescension* & Good humour informed him that he was to drive to Portland Place,* which he accordingly did & Charlotte soon found herself in the arms of a fond Aunt.
Scarcely were they seated as usual, in the most affectionate manner in one chair,* than the Door suddenly opened & an aged gentleman with a sallow face & old pink Coat,* partly by intention & partly thro’ weakness was at the feet of the lovely Charlotte, declaring his attachment to her & beseeching her pity in the most moving manner.
Not being able to resolve to make any one miserable, she consented to become his wife; where upon the Gentleman left the room & all was quiet.
Their quiet however continued but a short time, for on a second opening of the door a young & Handsome Gentleman with a new blue coat,* entered & intreated from the lovely Charlotte, permission to pay to her, his addresses.