As Jane grew up, she frequently visited her brother Edward and his wife Elizabeth at Rowling. This made her acquainted with many upper class Kentish people. Edward’s social circle consisted of wealthy and sophisticated people of whom she wrote to Cassandra as : "Kent is the only place for happiness. Everybody is rich there. Let me shake off vulgar cares and conform to the happy indifference of East Kent Wealth…"
Jane’s hobby of literary composition in childhood continued in her adult days as pastime and she began writing full scale mature novels. In 1795 she wrote Elinor and Marianne later known as Sense and Sensibility and in 1796 First Impressions, later known as Pride and Prejudice. The First Impressions made a good impression on Austen family and Mr Austen thought of publishing it. He wrote to a well-known publisher of London, Mr Thomas Cadell for the publication, but it did not work. Jane’s third novel was Northanger Abbey written in 1798-99.
By 1800 Mrs and Mr Austen thought of retiring to Bath and Mrs Austen one day said, "Well, girls, it is all settled, we have decided to leave Steventon in a week and go to Bath." After hearing this, Jane almost fainted. The reason was Jane’s love for country and its natural scenery, which were like joys from heaven. It was like exchanging childhood (home) for a stone-paved streets’ terrace house at Bath, but for a dependent young woman, there was no other option than to obey parents’ decisions. She wrote, "I get more and more reconciled to the idea of our removal. We have lived long enough in this neighborhood, the Basingstroke Balls are certainly on the decline, there is something interesting in the bustle of going away, and the prospect of spending future summer by the sea or in Wales is very delightful. – For a time we shall now possess many of the advantages which I have often thought of with envy in the wives of sailors or soldiers. It must not be generally known however that I am not sacrificing a great deal in quitting the country or I can expect to inspire no tenderness, nor interest in those we leave behind."
Once on the evening of December 2, Harris Biggwither, a 21 year old man proposed to Jane and she accepted it, but the very next morning Jane withdrew her consent. Why she acted this way is still a matter of conjecture. It could have been that Harris’ fine house and estate temporarily swayed Jane’s judgment. Henry Edridge was another person who was attracted to Jane. But soon afterwards it was heard that he died. Cassandra later mentioned that he had fallen in love with Jane and he undoubtedly would have been a best suitor.
Jane’s unwilling move to Bath and other journeys left her with little time for creative writing. However as she kept her manuscript of early work with her, she succeeded in selling Susan (Northanger Abbey) to the London publisher Richard Crosby for 10 pounds. Richard though advertised the work, never brought it out.
The last years of Jane at Bath were gloomy. She received the sad news of the death of her dear friend of girlhood, Madam Lefroy of Ashe, in a road accident. The incident occurred on December 16, Jane’s birthday. Shortly, Jane’s father died of sudden illness after two days of suffering.
This led her to come to terms with their changed circumstances, both social and financial from then onwards. For some years, Jane’s life became restless and unsettled due to her family visits. After their trip to Midlands, Austen took lodgings in Southampton. Jane’s new surrounding made her unhappy and she also fell ill with whooping cough. Cassandra went to spend Christmas at Godmersham. Brother James and his wife, along with their small lad came from Steventon.
The responsibility of entertaining the guests made Jane weary and downcast. She wrote to Cassandra – "When you receive this, our guests will be all gone or going, and I shall be left to the comfortable disposal of my time, to ease off mind from the torments of rice puddings and apple dumplings, and probably to regret that I did not take more pains to please them all." The Southampton gentry was embarrassingly wealthy for Jane. "They live in a handsome style and are rich, and she seemed to like to be rich." Referring to one of the ladies from the gentry, "… we gave her to understand that we were far from being so, she will soon feel therefore that we are not worth her acquaintance." The Austens, reduced to a small family of an elderly widow and two spinster daughters, seemed weary and downcast by such limitation imposed upon the family.
Things improved as the years advanced, with the Austens moving into a new house in March 1807. "We hear that we are envied our house by many people, and that the Garden is the best in the Town" – she wrote to Cassandra.
Southampton being closer to London, Steventon and Godmersham, Austen sons living there were now in touch with their mother and sister. Family gathering turned into cheerful family pleasures – going to the theatre, taking a trip by water to Hythe, leisurely walking through the Southampton High Street during summer evenings. In addition to this, congenial acquaintance with Southampton neighbors made Jane’s life much more pleasant.
Jane Austen, born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon rectory, entered the world as the seventh child and second daughter of Cassandra and Rev George Austen, a rector in northeast Hampshire. "…last night the time came, and without a great deal of walking, everything was soon happily over. We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion." This comment of Austen proved perfect, later on. Cassandra’s (Cassy) proximity with Jane is later on mentioned by Cassandra as "an accent of living love in her voice." Jane’s parents came from Kent and Oxfordshire respectively. Rev George Austen was a sheep-farming yeoman in Kent. Mrs Austen was the daughter of the rector of Halpsden, Oxfordshire.
Cassandra and little Jane were sent to Oxford to be tutored by Mrs Cawley at her residence. She was the widow of the principal of Brasenose College. In those days, generally the sons were sent to school and the daughters were taught at home by their mothers or a governess but the Austens changed this usual procedure. May be, Mr Austen was unable to afford the expense of five sons at boarding school. When Mrs Cawley moved to Southampton, she took the little girls along with her. In 1783 the soldiers returning from Gibraltar, brought with them a typhus fever, caused by the unhygienic conditions. It affected Jane and Cassandra too. Jane’s condition became serious and her parents were forced to call the children back to Hampshire.
In 1785, the Austens sent their daughters to Mrs Latournelle’s Ladies Boarding School in Reading, Berkshire, famous for its sensible and practical education and also known as Abbey House school. Jane was too young to go to the school but it was difficult for her to live without Cassandra, if Cassandra alone was sent to the school. "If Cassandra’s head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have hers cut off too," mentioned Mrs Austen. Jane and Cassandra enjoyed the domestic atmosphere at the school, having plenty of time to play in the large garden of the Abbey. However, the expensive fees charged by Mrs Latournelle forced the girls to return home to Steventon. Jane never stayed away from the family circle there after.
The Austen children were provided perfect environment for budding writers. They were made familiar with history and other subjects by Mr Austen as he would read the books aloud to the assembly of children. Jane and her siblings were brought up hearing to good and sophisticated English, never ever a slang was uttered in the house. Her father also took care about her writings and she had developed such neat hand that her father allowed her to make the official entries into church register. Though she was a little unsure about the spellings, especially in words like 'believe' or 'receive' she always faltered. Her early work bears a spelling mistake in its title itself - Love and Freindship!
People always found Jane very observant. Sometimes they did feel a peculiar gaze in her eyes which made them conscious about themselves, for they felt that little Jane has discovered something amusingly funny about them.
The children in the Austen family had a very good time organizing amateur theatrical performances for Christmas holidays between 1782 and 1788. James, the eldest one, used to write his own versified prologues and epilogues for these performances.
The venue was either the rectory dining room or in the barn, across the lane from the house. Matilda was the chosen drama while – The Wonder, The Chances, The Sultan, High Life Below Stairs, The Rivals were some of the comedies. The characters were young Austens and sometimes their cousins, while the family and friends were the audiences. Jane Austen being much younger, used to play only minor roles, but later on, the reminiscences of these amateur theatricals helped her, to make Lovers’ Vows, one of the important event in Mansfield Park.
The family atmosphere soon acted and Jane, after returning from school started writing. The first composition was a collection of comic short stories or essays titled as Juvenilia. Many of these plays were dedicated to the members of the family containing references or jokes.
Under the guidance of Jane’s parents and eldest brother James, Jane continued her education at home after the end of formal schooling. Her mother made her a practical housekeeper – teaching enough arithmetic to maintain domestic accounts. She also taught her how to take help from the servants, how to maintain the kitchen garden, the poultry yard and the domestic dairy and how to sew and embroider and to mend clothes. However, Jane continued reading throughout that period. James encouraged and guided her at studies. Some Winchester Cathedral organist taught Jane music, singing and dancing. She also learned a bit of Italian and French, enough to read.
Jane always enjoyed dancing and balls always fascinated her right from the time the invitation arrived. She used to dance tirelessly at the balls, never missing a single dance. She loved singing too, but never considered herself a good singer and always sang behind a closed door, before breakfast time.
Mr Austen’s interest in buying books amassed a library of some 500 volumes, which facilitated children and pupils' reading. Jane’s repeated reading of Richardson’s Sir Charles Grandison, made her well acquainted with its characters seeming as if they had been living friends; and the same was the case with Fielding’s Tom Jones. She also enjoyed reading Dr Johnson. She also read Shakespeare, Milton and Pope. The reading of Goldsmith’s The History of England, from the earliest times to the death of George II helped her to get a general view of English history. With that she was matured enough to point out shortcomings of Goldsmith Text by producing a parody The History of England from the reign of Henry the 4th to the death of Charles the 1st, by a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian.
At 17, Jane came of age to witness the society in the true sense, from close quarters. Though not an absolute beauty, she was certainly a very pretty girl, tall and slender with curly brown hair and bright hazel eyes. She had a rotund face with a small well-shaped nose, pleasant enough to evoke jealousy and a Mrs Milford described her as "the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband hunting butterfly she ever remembered." However, it was certain that at the age of 20, there were several young men in Hampshire and Berkshire, ready to admire her. Mrs Austen, aware of Jane’s talent, was bit anxious about her future which she mentioned in a letter to James’ fiancé : "I look forward to you as a real comfort to me in my old age, when Cassandra is gone into Shropshire, and Jane – the Lord knows where."
Among many admiring men, the only man who attracted Jane was Tom Lefroy. The friendship with Tom blossomed into romance. Tom was a fair, good looking, serious and scholarly young man, but slightly younger than Jane. Jane and Tom used to dance and flirt together. Their affinity rose to such an extent that the Lefroy family feared a formal engagement between the two. So Tom was sent off to London to continue his legal studies at Lincoln’s Inn under his uncle’s tutelage. Tom and Jane never met again. Though Jane told Cassandra that she was unnerved as Tom had departed. Perhaps, for some time, she was unable to come out of the pain of separation. For a long time, Jane had no news of Tom : "I was too proud to make any inquiries; but on my father’s afterward asking where he was, I learnt that he was gone back to London in his way to Ireland, where he is called to the Bar and means to practice." Tom, later on, after becoming a successful barrister, ended his career as the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Though he had a successful married life, he admitted that he could never forget Jane, the object of his motivation since then.
As Jane grew up, she frequently visited her brother Edward and his wife Elizabeth at Rowling. This made her acquainted with many upper class Kentish people. Edward’s social circle consisted of wealthy and sophisticated people of whom she wrote to Cassandra as : "Kent is the only place for happiness. Everybody is rich there. Let me shake off vulgar cares and conform to the happy indifference of East Kent Wealth…"
Jane’s hobby of literary composition in childhood continued in her adult days as pastime and she began writing full scale mature novels. In 1795 she wrote Elinor and Marianne later known as Sense and Sensibility and in 1796 First Impressions, later known as Pride and Prejudice. The First Impressions made a good impression on Austen family and Mr Austen thought of publishing it. He wrote to a well-known publisher of London, Mr Thomas Cadell for the publication, but it did not work. Jane’s third novel was Northanger Abbey written in 1798-99.
By 1800 Mrs and Mr Austen thought of retiring to Bath and Mrs Austen one day said, "Well, girls, it is all settled, we have decided to leave Steventon in a week and go to Bath." After hearing this, Jane almost fainted. The reason was Jane’s love for country and its natural scenery, which were like joys from heaven. It was like exchanging childhood (home) for a stone-paved streets’ terrace house at Bath, but for a dependent young woman, there was no other option than to obey parents’ decisions. She wrote, "I get more and more reconciled to the idea of our removal. We have lived long enough in this neighborhood, the Basingstroke Balls are certainly on the decline, there is something interesting in the bustle of going away, and the prospect of spending future summer by the sea or in Wales is very delightful. – For a time we shall now possess many of the advantages which I have often thought of with envy in the wives of sailors or soldiers. It must not be generally known however that I am not sacrificing a great deal in quitting the country or I can expect to inspire no tenderness, nor interest in those we leave behind."
Once on the evening of December 2, Harris Biggwither, a 21 year old man proposed to Jane and she accepted it, but the very next morning Jane withdrew her consent. Why she acted this way is still a matter of conjecture. It could have been that Harris’ fine house and estate temporarily swayed Jane’s judgment. Henry Edridge was another person who was attracted to Jane. But soon afterwards it was heard that he died. Cassandra later mentioned that he had fallen in love with Jane and he undoubtedly would have been a best suitor.
Jane’s unwilling move to Bath and other journeys left her with little time for creative writing. However as she kept her manuscript of early work with her, she succeeded in selling Susan (Northanger Abbey) to the London publisher Richard Crosby for 10 pounds. Richard though advertised the work, never brought it out.
The last years of Jane at Bath were gloomy. She received the sad news of the death of her dear friend of girlhood, Madam Lefroy of Ashe, in a road accident. The incident occurred on December 16, Jane’s birthday. Shortly, Jane’s father died of sudden illness after two days of suffering.
This led her to come to terms with their changed circumstances, both social and financial from then onwards. For some years, Jane’s life became restless and unsettled due to her family visits. After their trip to Midlands, Austen took lodgings in Southampton. Jane’s new surrounding made her unhappy and she also fell ill with whooping cough. Cassandra went to spend Christmas at Godmersham. Brother James and his wife, along with their small lad came from Steventon.
The responsibility of entertaining the guests made Jane weary and downcast. She wrote to Cassandra – "When you receive this, our guests will be all gone or going, and I shall be left to the comfortable disposal of my time, to ease off mind from the torments of rice puddings and apple dumplings, and probably to regret that I did not take more pains to please them all." The Southampton gentry was embarrassingly wealthy for Jane. "They live in a handsome style and are rich, and she seemed to like to be rich." Referring to one of the ladies from the gentry, "… we gave her to understand that we were far from being so, she will soon feel therefore that we are not worth her acquaintance." The Austens, reduced to a small family of an elderly widow and two spinster daughters, seemed weary and downcast by such limitation imposed upon the family.
Things improved as the years advanced, with the Austens moving into a new house in March 1807. "We hear that we are envied our house by many people, and that the Garden is the best in the Town" – she wrote to Cassandra.
Southampton being closer to London, Steventon and Godmersham, Austen sons living there were now in touch with their mother and sister. Family gathering turned into cheerful family pleasures – going to the theatre, taking a trip by water to Hythe, leisurely walking through the Southampton High Street during summer evenings. In addition to this, congenial acquaintance with Southampton neighbors made Jane’s life much more pleasant.
Jane now made her trips to London and Godmersham. At Godmersham another bereavement took place. Edward and Elizabeth had 10 children and the 11th baby was due. Though the child was born safely, a fortnight later Elizabeth suddenly collapsed and died within half-an-hour.
Jane’s letter to Cassandra for the bereaved family reveals the kind of love and sympathy she had for her brother’s family. "We have felt, we do feel, for you all – as you will not need to be told – for you (and others) and for dearest Edward, whose loss and whose sufferings seem to make those of every other person nothing … we need not enter into a panegyric on the departed – but it is sweet to think of her great worth – of her solid principles, her true devotion, her excellence in every relation of life…" The bereavement brought Edward closer to mother and sisters.
Before leaving Southampton, Jane made another attempt to secure the publication of long-forgotten manuscript of Susan. She wrote to Crosby & Co, saying that she would provide another manuscript of Susan, if they had lost the earlier one sold to them and if in case they were not interested in publishing it, she would publish it somewhere else. Mr Crosby curtly replied the letter "… there was not any time stipulated for its publication, neither are we bound to publish it, should you or anyone else we shall take proceedings to stop the sale. The manuscript shall be yours for the same as we paid for it." Jane had to leave the matter, as £ 10 was a big amount for her to pay back and with despair she left for Chawton.
The Austen family arrived at Chawton on July 7, 1809, which became Jane’s last home until her death eight years later. Here she was once again in a peaceful and congenial environment good enough to update alterations here and there on her early work. By this time her interest and hobby of literary composition became well known. Her important daily chore was to prepare family’s breakfast at nine and also to keep an account of the stores of wine, tea and sugar (Tea and Sugar were expensive luxuries of those times). She was never scolded or harassed for spending time in writing as she did justice to both the jobs. Her daily routine was quite disciplined – practicing simple songs and country-dances on her pianoforte in the morning, sewing and embroidering clothes, shopping trips or strolling in the fine beechwoods of the Great House estate, playing and taking care of ever-increasing nephews and nieces who were at the cottage for next years, and above all, writing.
In 1810, Jane was able to submit Sense and Sensibility to Thomas Egerton of Whiteall, but this time the manuscript was accepted on commission basis. Jane was ready to meet the expected costs as she knew very well that the sale would not repay the cost of publication.
Jane made a trip to London to attend the grand musical evening party arranged by his brother Henry and his wife Eliza. She also stayed with them for some time. Henry made a continuous effort by urging Egerton Printers on Jane’s behalf to publish the book. In those times writing for money was not respectable work and so when finally the book appeared in 1811, the title page bore 'By A Lady' and not Jane’s name. The book was a great success, receiving favorable response. Jane earned a net profit of £ 140 enhancing her financial position, and above all the favorable reception of the novel. The failure might have ended her future ventures in publication.
Meanwhile, Jane also revised the First Impressions and also changed its title to Pride and Prejudice. A book called First Impression had already been published in London in 1800. The phrase 'Pride and Prejudice' had appeared in the novel Celia, which was by her favorite author Fanny Burney. This time Egerton was clever enough to buy the manuscript for £ 110 and without any delay published the book in January of 1813.
The book’s popularity forced Jane to come up with a second edition in the same year. This time the title page displayed 'By the Author of Sense and Sensibility'. The people were curious and much interested in the identity of author as the title page puzzled them. One of the readers unknowingly advised Henry Austen himself to read it. "I should like to know who is the author, for it is much too clever to have been written by a woman." Richard Brinsley Sheridan, a playwright suggested his friend to buy it immediately for it was one of the cleverest things he ever read.
Mansfield Park published in 1814 was Jane’s first full-feature novel. Even Jane was matured enough to let it go without any revisions or delays. The book’s success brought a profit of £ 350 to Jane.
Before the publication of Mansfield Park, Jane started her new book Emma. She told her family, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." The manuscript was completed by March 1815. When Jane was in London, Henry negotiated the publication on her behalf and it was stipulated that John Murray, the publisher, would publish 2,000 copies on commission basis. He also agreed to publish second edition of Mansfield Park, which Egerton had refused earlier.
With the death of his wife Eliza, Henry became alone and Jane accompanied him, nursed him for several weeks, while Henry was ill. During Henry’s illness, Dr Baille the court physician, treated him. As Dr Baille also attended the Prince Regent, he had a message for Jane, who was now a well-known author in London. He told that the Prince was a great admirer of her novels, that he often read them and had a set in each of his residences – "That he, the physician, had told his Royal Highness that Miss Austen was now in London, and that by the Prince’s desire, Mr Clarke, the Librarian of Carlton House, would speedily wait upon her." Clarke, the librarian, then called at Henry house, reiterating all the previous compliments. He also invited Jane to visit the Prince Regent’s small and luxurious library of London Palace. He allowed Jane to dedicate her forthcoming novel with an indirect insistence. Jane, aware of Prince’s immoral character, however agreed to add it to Emma and presented a copy of the work to him.
Emma proved to be another great success both ways. It sold well and also earned her fame. However, the second edition of Mansfield Park got a poor response and so the net gain for Jane was just £ 40.
The period between 1809 to 1817 was pleasant for Jane. She got the company of James’s three children – Anna, James Edward and Caroline who often visited the Cottage from Steventon. Caroline remembered : "My visits to Chawton were frequent – I cannot tell when they began – they were very pleasant to me – and Aunt Jane was the great charm – As a very little girl I was always creeping up to her, 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, I must not be troublesome to my aunt – Her charm to children was great sweetness of manner. She seemed to love you, and you loved her naturally in return.
This as well as I can now recollect and analyze, was what I felt in my earliest days, before I was old enough to be amused by her cleverness – But soon came the delight of her playful talk – everything she could make amusing to a child – then, as I got older, and 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 sometimes continued for 2 or 3 days."
Anna Austen married Ben Lefroy of Ashe. When a baby was born to Anna, Jane wrote to Caroline who now became Aunt. "Now that you have become an Aunt, you are a person of some consequence and must excite great interest whatever you do. I have always maintained the importance of Aunts as much as possible, and I am sure of your doing the same now."
Jane also wrote often to her eldest niece Fanny, consoling and advising her in her agonies.
When Fanny had a doubt about her first suitor Mr John Plumptre, she turned towards Jane and Jane replied "… I had no suspicion of any change in your feelings, and I have no scruple in saying that you cannot be in love… I did consider you, as being attached in a degree – quite sufficiently for happiness, as I had no doubt it would increase with opportunity… But you certainly are not at all – there is no concealing it – poor dear Mr J.P. ! – Oh dear Fanny, your mistake has been one that thousands of women fell into. He was the first young man who attached himself to you. That was the charm, and most powerful it is…. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection nothing can be compared to the misery of being bound without Love….."
James Edward, Jane’s nephew, who was at the Winchester College, also started writing a novel. Once his chapters were missing and his stepmother wrote this to Jane. Jane immediately wrote to James Edward making things clear "… I am quite concerned for the loss your mother mentions in her letter; two chapters and a half to be missing is monstrous ! It is well that I have not been at Steventon lately, and therefore cannot be suspected of purloining them; two strong twigs and a half towards a Nest of my own, would have been something – I do not think however that any theft of that sort would be really very useful to me. What should I do with your strong, manly, spirited sketches, full of Variety and Glow ? – How could I possibly join them on to the little bit (two inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect offer much labor ?"
In 1816, once again Prince Regent’s librarian, Mr Clarke remembered Jane. Earlier he suggested Jane to write a novel with a Clergyman as the hero. He even sketched out a plot for her in which the hero’s career resembled his own. This time the idea was different. Prince Regent’s daughter Princess Charlotee got engaged to Prince Leopold of Cobourg. Clarke suggested that "… any historical romance, illustrative of the history of the August House of Cobourg, would just now be interesting." Jane, careful enough in her self-assessment wrote : "You are very very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, and I am fully sensible that on historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe Cobourg, might be much more to the purpose of profit or popularity than such pictures of domestic life in country villages as I deal in. But I could no more write a romance than an epic poem. I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and though I may never succeed again in that. I am convinced that. I should totally fail in any other."
The beginning of 1816 shows Jane’s health giving way. Her undiagnosed disease was similar to that of Addison, as revealed from her own description of the symptoms. It was something related to kidney failure, eventually proving fatal. The condition got worse during mental stress. However, sometimes during remission she felt better and became optimistic about recovery. The years 1814-16 were indeed stressful for Jane and family. There was a threat of Chawton estate’s dispossession. Henry Austen, who was seriously ill, was declared bankrupt as his banking partnership failed in the difficult time of post-war years.
Many members of the Austen family lost money deposited with Henry, but Jane was a bit lucky as she had some other source of investment for most of her money.
Cassandra took Jane to Cheltenham to drink the spa waters, which were the so-called pious water "singularly efficacious in all bilious complaints.
" However, this did not work and Jane gradually became weaker. She was not even in condition to complete her current work Persuasion and the idea of making it better weighed upon her mind.
The period of remission once again occurred in 1817 and Jane became enthusiastic to start Sandition, but the enthusiasm did not last as ailment soon reappeared following severe attack of fever. This last blow completely ceased her composition forever. When Mr Curtis of Alton, a local apothecary drew his hands off, the Austens decided to take Jane to Winchester to consult Mr Lyford, much renowned at County Hospital there. Jane and Cassandra, accompanied with Henry’s son William left in a carriage lent by James. Even at this stage she did not lose her wry sense of humor and wrote to James about the place : "Our lodgings are very comfortable. We have a neat little drawing room with a Bow-window overlooking Dr Labell’s garden… Mr Lyford says he will cure me, and if he fails I shall draw up a memorial and lay it before the Dean and chapter, and have no doubt of redress from the Pious, Learned and Disinterested Body." Nevertheless, Lyford knew very well that such patients do not survive long. And eventually the time came and Cassandra described it better. ‘She felt herself to be dying about half–half an hour before she became tranquil and apparently unconscious… She said she could not tell us what she suffered, tho’ she complained of little fixed pain. When I asked her if there was anything she wanted, her answer was she wanted nothing but death and some of her words were "God grant me patience, Pray for me oh Pray for me." With this, she died in Cassandra’s arms in the dawn of July 18, 1817.
Jane Austen is one of the best known and most loved novelists of the English speaking world. Yet on the face of it, she is one of the all-time unlikely candidates for such a title. This daughter of an ordinary clergyman never married or lived outside her own family circle. She never traveled abroad – indeed, did not even move beyond the Southern half of England – and died before the age of 42, leaving behind just six completed novels. Freshness of her work is signified by the fact that not a year passes without its adaptation on stage, screen or television. Henry, Jane’s brother, portrayed her best in his composition while preparing the inscription on her gravestone.
"The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her and the warmest love of her intimate connections.
Their grief is in proportion to their affection. They know their loss to be irreparable, but in their deepest affliction they are consoled by a firm though humble hope that her charity; devotion, faith and purity have rendered her soul acceptable in the sight of her R E D E E M E R."
December 16, 1775 Born at Steventon.
1783 Went to school for some months in Oxford and then Southampton.
1785 Joined the Abbey House School in Reading.
1786 Left the school for home again in Steventon. Started work on Juvenilia.
1788 On a trip to Kent and London with parents.
1793 Completed Juvenilia.
1794 Wrote Lady Susan.
1795 Wrote Elinor and Marianne.
1796 Started writing First Impression.
1797 Completed First Impressions and started converting Elinor and Marianne into Sense and Sensibility.
1798 Started writing Susan (Later known as Northanger Abbey).
1799 Jane completed Susan (Northanger Abbey)
1802 Revised Susan.
1803 Sold Susan to publisher Crosby.
1804 Started writing The Watsons.
1811 Started planning Mansfield Park. Sense and Sensibility published. Started revising First Impressions into Pride and Prejudice.
1813 Pride and Prejudice published. Completion of Mansfield Park.
1814 Began Emma. Mansfield Park Published.
1815 Emma completed and shortly published. Jane started Persuasion.
1816 Jane’s health began to fail. Persuasion completed.
1817 Jane started work on Sandition but left unfinished because of ill health. Jane died on July 18. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published together.
Jane Austen died leaving behind six novels. Her novels are conspicuous for its lack of event, allowing biographers to make it a study in quiet contemplation. She had an eye for the ridiculous in contemporary taste, which is noted in Northanger Abbey along with the heroines penchant for Gothic fiction. Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion examine small groups of people deliberately portrayed in a limited, perhaps confining environment and Austen moulds the apparently trivial incidents of their lives into a poised comedy of manner. Her characters are middle-class and provincial. Austen’s urgent preoccupation is with courtship and her target ambition is marriage. Austen sets about her task with a careful shaping of her material with a delicate economy and a precise deployment of irony to point to the underlying moral point.
If we talk about her three early novels, the most striking feature was that each approaches its subject in a radically different way. Sense and Sensibility is more a debate, Pride and Prejudice a romance and Northanger Abbey a satire, a novel about novels and novel reading. Jane Austen being too inventive and much interested in the technique of fiction was able to tackle the problems of three such diverse forms with all ease and astonishing skill.
In Sense and Sensibility the debate is about the behavior in which Jane compares the discretion, polite lies and carefully preserved privacy of one sister with openness, truthfulness and freely expressed emotion of other. Austen reveals how far society can tolerate transparency and its effect on the individual. Pride and Prejudice is most popular of Jane Austen’s books, inside her family and out, for all time. Its explicit good-humored comedy, its sunny heroine and its dream denouement are worth enjoying. Northanger Abbey seems to be started in the aftermath of a family tragedy. But as usual there is very little trace of personal allusion in the book, though it is more a family entertainment, with pictures of Bath. The heroine does not adhere to the usual rules of fiction and is not clever and an average looking ordinary girl, without accomplishments or admirers.
Mansfield Park is more a novel about the condition of England. It reveals the severe contradiction between the people with strongly held religious and moral principles, not compromising them at all and considers a marriage only if its based on true feelings rather than opportunism.
It is revolted by sexual immorality; and a group of worldly, highly cultivated, entertaining and well-to-do young people, who pursue having nothing to do with religious or moral principles. Emma is generally praised as Jane’s most perfect book, flawlessly carried out from conception to finish, without any rough patch or loose end. It reminds us of Racine’s play, Offering a World, as carefully and satisfactorily enclosed. The first time reading surprises us as the pleasures of a detective story are added to the study of human psychology. The deeper reading increases understanding and praise of its structure and subtlety. Persuasion is a remarkable leap into a new mood and a new way of looking at England. The remarkable portrait of Mrs Croft is of a distinctly new woman, who is tough, humorous, middle-aged, and always right in her judgment, proving old-fashioned values of prudence wrong.
•Affection
In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.
•Engagement
An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.
•Judgment and Judges
Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.
•Men and Women
With men he can be rational and unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works.
•Neighbors
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn ?
•Optimism
Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.
•Reserve
There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.
