Jane Austen (6 page)

In the fifth letter Jane’s wit bubbles up to the surface again when Musgrove, cousin of Lady Scudamore, has harsh words to say against the laws of England, which allow uncles and aunts to remain in possession of their estates when their nephews and nieces are anxious to inherit them. If you were in the House of Commons [as a Member of Parliament], says he, ‘you might reform the Legislature and rectify all its abuses’.

In her
Juvenilia
, Jane challenges existing conventions as any young person might, and brings the full power of her wit and invective to bear on that of which she disapproves; her humour even extending to serious topics such as death and bereavement.

In 1787, when she was aged only 12, Jane did something which can only be described as precocious, by making the following
entries of her own in the Steventon Parish Register of Marriages. First, fantasising about her own future marriage, she proclaims:

Next, she records that two other marriages had taken place:

It says a great deal about the forbearance and sense of humour of her father the Revd George Austen, that these entries were allowed to stand and were not expunged from the register.

In December 1789 the 14-year-old Francis Austen, having completed his naval studies at Portsmouth’s Royal Naval College, sailed aboard the Royal Naval vessel HMS
Perseverance
for the East Indies. In 1791, when Francis became a midshipman, his 12-year-old brother Charles followed in his footsteps as a pupil at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. A glittering career awaited them: Francis became Admiral of the Fleet and Charles, Rear Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the East India and China Station.

In that year, 1791, the Revd Austen’s uncle, Francis, died, leaving his nephew George the sum of
£
500. In December, Edward married Elizabeth Bridges and settled in a small house belonging to his wife’s family and situated at Rowling, about a mile from her family home of Goodnestone Park in Kent. (Edward was the first of Jane’s brothers to marry.)

In March 1792 James became the second of Jane’s brothers to marry when he wedded Anne Mathew, daughter of General Edward Mathew, a former Governor of Granada. George Austen then made James his curate at Deane. Late in 1792 the Revd Tom Fowle, a former pupil of Jane’s father, became engaged to Jane’s sister Cassandra.

France declared war on Great Britain and Holland on 1 February 1793. Henry had intended to become a clergyman but he now changed his plans; he postponed his ordination and instead, on 8 April, enlisted as a lieutenant in the Oxford Militia. In 1797 he became Captain and Adjutant.

Thomas Knight II died in 1794. That September the 15-year-old Charles Austen left Portsmouth and joined HMS
Daedalus
as a midshipman. On 16 December, Jane’s 19th birthday, her father, recognising her talents as a writer, purchased a mahogany writing desk for her for the sum of 12
s
.

On 3 May 1795 James’s wife Anne Mathew died. In the same month, Francis sailed as a newly commissioned officer aboard the ship
Glory
, conveying troops of the 3rd Regiment of Foot to the West Indies. Lord Craven, who was Colonel of the regiment, invited Tom Fowle – his kinsman and Cassandra’s fiancé – to accompany him on the voyage as his private chaplain. In the event Tom died of yellow fever at Santo Domingo in February 1797 and was buried at sea. In his will, he left Cassandra the sum of
£
1,000.

Jane lived vicariously through her brothers; their adventures were her adventures, their joys her joys, their heartaches her heartaches. This was particularly true of her naval brothers Francis and Charles. Whether they were thousands of miles away in foreign ports or on the high seas, or just down the road in Portsmouth, it made no difference.

In September 1796 Jane told Cassandra that Francis had received his appointment ‘on Board the Captn John Gore,
commanded by the Triton….’ Note that here she had amusingly transposed the name of the ship –
Triton
– and the name of its captain – Gore. The
Triton
is described by Jane as ‘a new [type] 32 Frigate, just launched at Deptford. – Frank is much pleased with the prospect of having Capt. Gore under his command.’
2
This is another joke by Jane, for Francis is as yet a mere lieutenant who will not be made a commander for another two years. Jane is concerned for Henry, and in the same month she writes:

Eliza’s letter to Phylly, dated 9 April 1787, indicates that she is continuing to enjoy the high life. In just one day, for example, she had spent the evening at the Duchess of Cumberland’s (wife of King George III’s younger brother) and progressed ‘from thence to Almacks [Assembly Rooms where balls of the most exclusive kind were held] where I staid till five in the morning … & am yet alive to tell You of it.’ She added:

That November, Eliza writes to Phylly in anticipation of a seasonal visit to Steventon Rectory:

Here, Eliza is referring to the amateur theatricals which the younger generation of Austens were accustomed to holding
at Steventon, usually in the great barn. In the event, Phylly declines the invitation.
2

The theatricals duly went ahead in the Revd Austen’s barn which was fitted up, according to Phylly, ‘quite like a theatre’. All the ‘young folks’ took their part, the plays chosen being
Which
is the Man?
and
Bon Ton
. ‘The Countess [Eliza] is Lady Bob Lardoon in the former and Miss Tittup in the latter’.
3

In the play
Bon Ton
, or
High Life Above Stairs: A Farce
by English actor, theatre manager and playwright David Garrick, Miss Tittup says:

Surely this is an indication that Eliza had a hand in the choosing of it. As regards
Which is the Man?
, Phylly appears to be confused because Lady Bob [Bab] Lardoon features in a different play by English soldier and dramatist John Burgoyne entitled
The Maid of the Oaks
, or
A Fête Champêtre
, which is described as ‘a cheerful little comedy of country life’.

On 22 July 1788 it was Phylly’s turn to meet her cousins Cassandra and Jane for the first time. This was on the occasion of the latter’s visit to their great-uncle Francis Austen at his home in Kent. Cassandra, said Phylly, ‘bore a most striking resemblance of me in features, complexion & manners’. However, her comments about Jane were not complimentary. Jane was, said Phylly:

Eliza, Hastings and Philadelphia spent the winter of 1788–89 in Paris. However, in the spring of 1789, with the summoning of the Estates General (which became the National Assembly), the French Revolution began. They therefore returned to London.

On 7 January 1791 Eliza wrote to Phylly from Margate, where she had taken her son who was not in good health. Here, she speaks of ‘the great Benefit Hastings has received & still reaps from Sea bathing’:

These scintillatingly witty lines could easily have tripped off the pen of Jane herself, for both ladies were able to write about serious matters in a light-hearted, even flippant way. This begs the question, did Jane model herself on the older Eliza in this respect?

On 26 February 1792 Philadelphia died. On 21 September of that year, when Eliza was staying with the Austens, France abolished its monarchy. The following day was declared the first day of the first year of the new French Republic. This was to have grave implications for Eliza’s husband, as will soon be seen.

On 16 July 1792 Eliza wrote to Phylly concerning a ‘little Accident’ which she had recently suffered:

Here, Eliza is gently mocking the medical profession and Jane herself would also make sport of that profession in her forthcoming novels. Again, Eliza’s writing is very reminiscent of that of Jane. It is not, of course, suggested that Jane was privy to her cousin’s letters to Phylly; only that Jane may have derived inspiration either from Eliza’s correspondence to her family, or from the latter’s sparkling wit and repartee.

On 26 October 1792 Eliza wrote to Phylly from Steventon and remarked on the change which she had observed in the Austen sisters:

Like Jane, Eliza loved a ball. Unfortunately, however, she had been forced to miss ‘a Club Ball at Basingstoke [held by the Hants Club whose members were a group of gentlemen from that town] and a private one in the neighbourhood [having] been confined to my Bed with a feverish Attack’. Nevertheless, she hoped to attend another ball on 4 November.
8

On 21 January 1793 the French king, Louis XVI, was sent to the guillotine. (A few months later, on 16 October, his queen, Marie Antoinette, suffered the same fate). The French Republic declared war on Britain and Holland on 1 February. Like all French aristocrats, the Comte de Feuillide was now in mortal danger. When he attempted to bribe an official whom he hoped would look favourably upon his friend the Marquise de Marboeuf – who was then on trial for conspiring against the Republic – the Comte himself was put on trial. The outcome was that de Feuillide was condemned to death and guillotined, together with the Marquise, on 22 February 1794.

To return to Jane’s
Juvenilia
, in it she did not neglect the subjects of love and marriage upon which, despite her inexperience in these matters, she wrote amusingly. First, she addresses the question as to what qualities a person might desire in a
prospective partner. In
Jack and Alice
Mr Johnson suggests to Charles Adams, the owner of a large estate, that the latter might like to marry his daughter Alice. The response is in the negative:

And what are the chances of meeting with such a partner? When Adams tells his cook Susan that his future wife, ‘whoever she might be, must possess, Youth, Beauty, Birth, Wit, Merit, & Money’, Susan declares that she has:

But she confesses that her arguments ‘have had no effect & he continues as firm in his determination as ever’.

Money and property loomed large when the choice of partner was being considered, and this theme was a favourite of Jane’s in her later novels. When, in
The Three Sisters
, Mary asks Sophie, ‘How should you like to marry Mr Watts?’, the response is:

Jane, despite her youth, is aware of how easy it is, despite all preconditions, to fall in love with someone at first sight. In the
fifth letter of
Love and Freindship
, Laura describes how she was suddenly and profoundly affected by the arrival of a stranger at her cottage. He was:

In the fifth letter of
A Collection of Letters
, a young lady receives a letter from Musgrove, cousin of Lady Scudamore, who declares:

To some people there are more important things to worry about than love and matrimony. In
Sir William Mountague
, for example, Jane describes how Sir William, at the age of about 17, inherits from his father Sir Henry, ‘an ancient House & a Park well stocked with Deer’. Shortly afterwards he falls in love with three young ladies at the same time, and as he does not know which one he prefers, he leaves the county and retires to a small village ‘in the hope of finding a shelter from the Pain of Love’. Here, he meets ‘a young Widow of Quality’ who consents to become his wife. However, when she names the date of the wedding as 1 September (the beginning of the game-bird shooting season), Sir William, being a fine shot, ‘could not support the idea of losing such a Day, even for a good Cause’. The result is that the wedding is cancelled, but Sir William has the consolation of knowing, ‘that he should have been much more grieved by the loss of the 1st of September …’