Jane Austen’s First Love (35 page)

Whenever I think of Edward Taylor, my heart aches a little. I am deeply grateful for the time we shared. I believe I am a stronger, more confident person for having known him. I learned so much that summer, from him as well as all the others: about the human mind and heart—about what motivates people to marry—about what really matters when two people are falling in love.

I learned one other valuable lesson as well.

As I told Cassandra, shortly after our return from Kent that memorable summer:

“I have done with match-making. Never again will I try to arrange the lives and romantic interests of real people; it is far too volatile and dangerous. From here on out, I shall restrict all such endeavours to the page.”

“To the page?” repeated my sister.

I nodded. “Yes. I shall devote myself—as I have been doing of late—to merely
writing
stories about love and courtship. It is a far safer occupation.”

Finis
July 1804

“We went by Bifrons and I contemplated with a melancholy pleasure the abode of Him, on whom I once fondly doated.”

So wrote Jane Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra in 1796. That tantalizing sentence has long intrigued me. Every Austen scholar concludes that Jane, as a young woman, was enamored of Edward Taylor, the heir to Bifrons, a grand manor house and estate in Kent—but the details of their relationship were never known. Who was Edward Taylor? What did he mean to Jane Austen? Did he return her affections? How did they meet?

Fascinated by the implications of this connection, I was determined to learn as much as I could about it. Unfortunately, Austen biographers presented very little information about Edward Taylor, simply repeating the same brief, generic reference: that Jane met him while visiting her brother Edward in Kent.

I began extensively researching Edward Taylor’s life. Luckily, he was a member of the landed gentry, and later in life served as a Member of Parliament; as such, after much digging, I was able to uncover many facts about him, such as the details of his education, career, and marriage. I quickly discovered that many Austen biographers had gotten Edward Taylor’s age wrong, citing him as being a year younger than Jane, when in fact he was a year and a half older.

From other sources, I found a great deal of information about the history of the Taylor’s ancestral house, Bifrons. Further probing led to the incredible discovery of an obscure memoir written by Herbert Taylor, Edward Taylor’s younger brother, which provided a wealth of knowledge about the family and their unusual and well-traveled childhood.

The more I learned about Edward Taylor, the more extraordinary he seemed to me; he was truly the sort of young man with whom Jane Austen would have fallen in love! That he was a real person, and that I had in my possession so many little-known facts about his life, was very exciting. A picture began to form in my mind as to how and when Edward Taylor and Jane Austen might have met as teenagers, and what their relationship might have been.

At the same time, I was intrigued by another Austen fact: in 1791, the year Jane’s brother Edward Austen became engaged to Elizabeth Bridges of Goodnestone, Jane wrote a comedic short story,
The Three Sisters
, featuring characters named Fanny and Sophia. It seemed very likely to me that Jane visited Kent that summer, where she not only met the young ladies who inspired that story, but also met and became enamored of Edward Taylor—and that her experiences there greatly shaped her views forever after regarding love and marriage.

That is the story I chose to write: the tale of Jane Austen’s first love, inspired by the facts of her life and his, presented as a memoir in Austen’s own words. I endeavored, to the best of my ability, to be true to Austen’s writing style. However, although I employed the British spellings of many words, I did not re-create Jane’s charming idiosyncrasies with regard to capitalization or spelling (rarely did she follow the “i before e” rule!), believing that might distract from the narrative itself.

The locations in this narrative are all real, and their histories based on fact. Godmersham Park currently serves as an opticians college, and Goodnestone Park is prized for its beautiful gardens, which are open to visitors. Sadly, Bifrons was demolished in 1948.

The characters in this narrative are almost all real people, and their personal histories have been thoroughly researched. The only figments of my imagination are the servants and the Fieldings. I was obliged to make up the names of some of the younger Payler children, although they did have seven sons in addition to their daughter, Charlotte.

The story is inspired by actual events. Fanny and Elizabeth Bridges did indeed announce their engagements in March 1791, and the three weddings took place as described that December. Mr. William Deedes really did travel to Bath to propose. The Thomas Watkinson-Paylers really did have their portraits painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Mrs. Watkinson-Payler’s is available to view online.

All the details of Edward Taylor’s childhood, his many accomplishments, and his unusual upbringing in Europe, are true and derived from his brother Herbert’s astonishingly candid memoir. Edward Taylor’s father was against his sons entering the military and fought it for a long while, worried that their spirits might “lead them into dangers.” Yet Herbert eventually distinguished himself in the military, rose to the rank of lieutenant general, and received a knighthood; and as Jane notes in this narrative, Edward Taylor did briefly achieve his dream of joining the army.

In November 1800, Jane wrote to Cassandra:

I hope it is true that Edward Taylor is to marry his cousin Charlotte. Those beautiful dark Eyes will then adorn another Generation at least in all their purity.

In 1802 Edward Taylor
did
marry—not his cousin Charlotte,but Louisa Beckingham of Bourne House, Kent. They had eight children. He was the Member of Parliament for Canterbury from 1807 to 1812—but sadly, in 1830, he was obliged to sell Bifrons and emigrated with his family to the Continent.

Mr. Lewis Cage and Fanny had two daughters, whom they named Fanny and Sophia. Mr. William Deedes and Sophia had fifteen children (ten sons and five daughters). Edward Taylor apparently continued his friendship with the Deedes family for the rest of his life. Mr. Deedes’s eldest son, William Deedes, Esquire of Sandling Park, Kent, married Edward Taylor’s daughter Emily Octavia, on 30 May, 1833. Charlotte Payler married a Mr. William Egerton in 1804; she died a year later.

Jane and Cassandra remained good friends with the Bridgeses, each paying short visits to Lady Bridges at Goodnestone in 1805, and to Mr. and Mrs. William Deedes at their country house at Sandling. Marianne was considered an invalid all her life; she and her sister Louisa never married. Brook Edward Bridges (more generally known as Edward) became a clergyman, and Jane Austen refers to their friendship in her correspondence.

Mr. Thomas Knight died in October 1794, at which time Edward Austen succeeded to his estate and many properties in Hampshire and Kent. Mrs. Catherine Knight gracefully moved into the dower house, giving Godmersham Park to Edward and his growing family. Years later, due to a stipulation in Catherine Knight’s will, Edward Austen changed his legal name to Knight. He and Elizabeth had eleven children; Elizabeth died not long after giving birth the last time, in October 1808. A few days later, Edward Austen offered his widowed mother and his sisters (who had been awkwardly shifting between homes for nearly four years since the death of Mr. George Austen) the choice of two of his properties in which to live free of charge; they chose Chawton Cottage. Jane Austen lived at Chawton in great contentment until her death, and there she wrote or rewrote all her famous novels, four of which were published anonymously during her lifetime. One of her most beloved novels,
Emma
, is about a willful and fallible young matchmaker.

Jane wrote a very abridged
History of England
in the autumn of 1791, and soon after dedicated her short story
The Three Sisters
to her brother Edward. In the original manuscript of
The Three Sisters,
Jane deliberately deleted the very passage to which Edward Taylor referred. These two works make up a very small part of her early writings, which include short plays, short stories, a poem, and several novelettes. Her juvenilia is exuberant and reflects, as early as age fourteen or fifteen, her familiarity with plot structure, thematic patterns, and other essential elements of fiction. Austen’s juvenilia, which she copied out into three separate notebooks entitled Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third, were not published until the twentieth century.

My biggest embellishment of the truth in this novel is the imaginary meeting of all these people in this particular manner at Goodnestone in the summer of 1791. Was Edward Taylor actually sent home to England a year ahead of his family? Did Jane and her family truly travel to Kent that summer? Did the Bridges family host a month of parties? We do not know; but I like to believe that they did.

S
YRIE
J
AMES

I am indebted to my dear friend Laurel Ann Nattress, who read an early version of the proposal for this book and said, “You simply
must
write this next!” She spent untold hours discussing every aspect of this novel with me during the creation, writing, and rewriting process, often in marathon phone conversations lasting until well past our bedtimes. Laurel Ann: you are a talented editor and literary advisor. (And your knowledge of and enthusiasm for All Things Austen is the icing on the cake!) Your unflagging interest, dedication, friendship, and support are invaluable to me.

Maria Stefanopolous of Ingenious Travel sent me and Laurel Ann on an unforgettable tour of Jane Austen’s England, for which we are both extremely grateful. To the fourteen lovely and lively ladies who accompanied us on the adventure: thank you for signing up! It was a pleasure to travel with you, and your love of Jane continues to inspire me.

A big thank-you to Hugh Whittaker of Pathfinders Tours, who went out of his way to arrange a private house tour of Goodnestone Park for me. Thank you, Lady Fitzwalter, for your kind hospitality during our visit—it was a thrill to meet you, and to see your beautiful home and grounds in person. My deepest appreciation to Francis Plumtree for the personal tour of Goodnestone, both inside and out, for the images you sent me afterwards, and for all the questions you answered. I do hope you feel I did your home justice in its portrayal.

Thank you to Jackie Cantor, my editor, for your interest in this novel, for allowing me to write my vision of it, for your excellent notes, and for shepherding it into reality. Thanks to everyone on the team at Berkley who prepared this novel for publication. You always do such a great job! Thanks to my copyeditor, Bob Schwager, who went over this manuscript with a fine-toothed comb, seeking out every potential anachronism. Your attention to detail is much appreciated.

Thank you, Tamar Rydzinski, my wonderful agent, for the benefit of your advice and counsel, and for overseeing all business matters with such expertise and efficiency. You are one of the best people I know, and I admire you more than I can say.

Thanks to my son, Ryan, for his input on the final draft. And a huge thank-you to my husband, Bill, my best friend, my love, my financial manager, and my partner in everything, for helping in countless ways to make it possible for me to write this novel and to continue in this profession that I love so dearly. Every day I count my blessings for you.

1. What challenges does the author face by tackling such a well-known, and well-loved, literary figure? If you are a reader of Austen, how did this rendering of her early life reflect her own fiction?
   
2. In
   Jane Austen’s First Love
   ,
   we encounter a social sensibility that now appears very gendered and antiquated. What behavior did you observe in the character of Jane Austen that speaks to today’s expectations for female independence and autonomy?
   
3. In what ways did Jane subvert expectations as a young unmarried woman? In what ways was she a typical, or even stereotypical, young woman of her time?
   
4. Jane and her companions perform Shakespeare’s
   A Midsummer Night’s Dream
   in one of the climactic scenes of the book. In what ways does the book resemble a play, and how do each of the characters perform their respective “roles”? Do we see tropes at play: the gallant knight, the wicked witch, et cetera?
   
5. Jane and Edward Taylor’s courtship begins when Jane and her siblings’ carriage is mired in mud. How does the physical act of Jane jumping off the carriage into Edward’s arms hint at their future relationship? How do perilous physical situations propel their relationship forward?
   
6. When describing Elizabeth Bridges, Jane says, “That charm did not appear to reach great depths, however; for her soft voice appeared more to convey a discharge of a duty to
   appear
   welcoming, rather than a sincere reflection of the emotion.” When are other characters “duty bound” to “appear” a certain way?
   
7. When Cassandra describes the Bridges family as all having “interesting” qualities, Jane says that “interesting” is a term “I reserve to describe people or things so dull or ordinary, that I can find no more promising attribution.” When and how do we use euphemisms to obscure our true feelings?
   
8. Why do you think Fanny criticizes her fiancé to others, despite her affection for him? Do you think this episode might sway her to act differently?
   
9. The book deals with the relationship between art and artifice; for example, the play provided Jane with a guise: her trick of manipulating the two couples. How do art and artifice differ, and where do they intersect?
   
10. Edward Taylor remarks to Jane that in other cultures, there are different expressions of beauty: from feet binding to lip piercings. What cultural practices of beauty are present in this historical novel, and how do they factor into the plot?
    
11. Ultimately, Jane realizes that she is not in love with Edward Taylor as an adult, but he has helped her discover a part of herself. How is finding this other facet of self even more rewarding than her finding a romantic partner? Was it rewarding or disappointing as a reader?
    
12. How does the comedic confusion of the crossed lovers reflect the plays of Shakespeare and
    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    in particular? How does Shakespeare reflect the frustrations of romantic love?
    
13. Did your first love change you—for better or worse? How are past relationships of value to our character despite their limited romantic success?
    
14. Jane is smitten with Edward Taylor at their first meeting. What makes him special in her eyes? In what ways are Edward Taylor and Jane similar and different?
    
15. Jane Austen is known for writing strong female characters: Emma, Elizabeth Bennett. How do those heroines reflect the values and traits of the character Jane as depicted in this novel?