Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (best affordable ebook reader .txt) 📕
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[41] See p. 201.
[42] Supra, p. 43.
[43] A reproduction of this picture appears also as a frontispiece to the first volume of Dent's illustrated edition of the novels (1892).
[44] Dictionary of National Biography, s.v.
[45] By Dr. Thomas Francklin; but said to be almost a translation of Voltaire's Duc de Foix.
[46] A comedy by Mrs. Cowley.
[47] Bon Ton, or High Life above Stairs, a comedy by David Garrick.
[48] The Wonder: a Woman keeps a Secret, a comedy by Mrs. Centlivre.
[49] Probably Garrick's version of Fletcher's comedy.
[50] The Sultan: or a Peep into the Seraglio, by I. Bickerstaffe.
[51] Memoir, p. 9.
[52] Lady Dorchester gave one in January 1799, not at Greywell, but at Kempshot, which her husband acquired shortly before the end of the eighteenth century.
[53] The sisters kept the name Bigg, though father and brother became Bigg Wither.
[54] Memoir, pp. 93, 94.
[55] Memoir, p. 54.
[56] See p. 79.
[57] Chawton Manor and its Owners, p. 159.
[58] These letters will be found in Mr. W. H. Pollock's Jane Austen, her Contemporaries and herself.
[59] Brabourne, vol. ii. p. 341, and vol. i. p. 281. The Gloucestershire visit was probably to the Fowles at Elkstone. See p. 373.
[60] It was far from being his wish that Lady Susan should form the title of a separate volume. This work, and The Watsons, were to be printed as an appendix at the end of the Memoir. By some mistake, however, when the second edition appeared, the whole book bore the title of Lady Susan on its outside cover.
[61] How little she expected them to be published may be gathered from a sentence written by her niece Anna, at the time of the publication of the Memoir: 'I can fancy what the indignation of Aunt Cassandra would have been at the mere idea of its [the correspondence] being read and commented upon by any of us nephews and nieces, little or great.'
[62] Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, vol. ii. p. 10.
[63] All the letters in this volume from Jane to Cassandra, as to the source of which no statement is made, are quoted from Lord Brabourne's collection.
[64] Sailor Brothers, pp. 233 et seq.
[65] North Cadbury is the correct name of the parish.
[66] The Blackall family had been established and respected in Devonshire since the episcopate of their ancestor, Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter in the time of Queen Anne. Our Sam Blackall (an uncle of the same name had preceded him as Fellow of Emmanuel) was great-grandson of the Bishop; he became Fellow, and was ordained, in 1794; took the living of North Cadbury in 1812, and lived until 1842. His college record (which we owe to the courtesy of the Fellows) corresponds very well with our notices of him. He was evidently a sociable and lively member of the combination-room. The 'parlour-book' contains frequent mention of bets made by him on politics and other subjects, and his own particular pair of bowls still survive. He was tutor in 1811, when a great fire occurred in the College, and took his share in appealing for funds with which to rebuild it, application being chiefly made to those who agreed with the college politics in Church and State. He seems to have been one of a large family of brothers; another being John Blackall, of Balliol College, Oxford, for many years a distinguished Exeter physician, who did not die until 1860.
[67] Mr. Heathcote and Miss Elizabeth Bigg were married in 1798.
[68] Miss Hill (following a family MS.) calls him 'Blackall'; but it seems from what has been said above that the MS. confused two different men. Certainly Cassandra, in telling the story to her niece Caroline, did not give her that, or any other, name; for Caroline speaks of the tale as being—so far as she knew it—'nameless and dateless.' A possible alternative suggestion is that there were two Blackalls concerned: one being the Sam Blackall mentioned above, the other Jane Austen's admirer in the west of England.
[69] The author of the Memoir describes this gentleman as one who had the recommendations of good character and connexions and position in life—of everything, in fact, except the subtle power of touching her heart.
[70] Juniper Hall, p. 223.
[71] In a memorandum written by Cassandra.
[72] Other portions of these two letters are quoted in Chapter VI.
[73] Cassandra was now staying with the Fowles at Kintbury, and 'Mary' was no doubt Eliza Fowle's sister, Mary Lloyd; not yet engaged to James Austen.
[74] Edward Bridges was brother, and Harriet and Louisa were sisters, of Elizabeth Austen; Lady Bridges being their mother. Harriet was afterwards married to the son of Archbishop Moore.
[75] A playful inversion on Jane's part.
[76] Mrs. Lybbe Powys records in her diary under April 26, 1799: 'To a party at Mr. Leigh Perrot's; eight tables, ninety people' (Passages from the Diaries of Mrs. Philip Lybbe Powys, 1756-1808).
[77] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxi. p. 965; see also p. 1049.
[78] Harry was one of the Digweeds—Edward Austen's tenants at Steventon—who shared with the Rectory party the deputed right of shooting over the Manor (Persuasion, ch. iii.). The New English Dictionary (s.v.) says 'The deputation was necessary to constitute a gamekeeper; but it was also frequently used as a means of giving to friends the privilege of shooting game over an estate.' The term of endearment has of course no particular significance.
[79] The Midnight Bell, a German story (London, 1798), is ascribed in the Dictionary of National Biography to Francis Lathom. This book is mentioned in chapter vi. of Northanger Abbey.
[80] Afterwards, as George Knight, a well-known Kent cricketer, and one of the principal agents in the introduction of round-arm bowling.
[81] Battleridge, an historical tale founded on facts. By a lady of quality [? Mrs. Cooke], London, 1799.
[82] The first part of this letter is inserted in Chapter VI.
[83] James Edward Austen (Leigh), the author of the Memoir; in his youth always (after his uncle and cousin had become 'Edward Knight') known as 'Edward Austen.'
[84] Arthur Fitz-Albini, a novel [by Sir Egerton Brydges]. London, 1798.
[85] First Lord of the Admiralty, 1794-1801.
[86] George Daysh, clerk in the Ticket Office, Navy Office.
[87] The Basingstoke doctor.
[88] Anne Elliot, in Persuasion, thought that a cap would be a very suitable present for her sister Mary, who was a young woman, and who certainly wished to remain so.
[89] One of the Lords of the Admiralty: afterwards Lord Gambier.
[90] On his Aunt Jane's birthday.
[91] General Mathew, father of James Austen's first wife.
[92] The Miss Austens seem to have had a dress allowance of £20 a year. Cf. Brabourne, vol. i. p. 189.
[93] Brighton had possibly been suggested to her brother Edward as an alternative for Bath.
[94] This is of course an amusing mis-statement of the writer's real opinion. See p. 83.
[95] The Hon. Mary Leigh, of Stoneleigh.
[96] Eliza de Feuillide.
[97] Lady Williams.
[98] I.e. without powder or pigtail.
[99] Paragon Buildings are well placed in a convenient part of Bath, between York House Hotel and Walcot Church. From the back of the houses there is a fine view to the south.
[100] Fanny (Lady Knatchbull) and Edward (Knight).
[101] I.e. on the King's Birthday (June 4).
[102] Mr. Leigh Perrot was at this time sixty-three and his wife fifty-four years old.
[103] Created a baronet in 1806.
[104] Before the passing of the Prisoners' Counsel Act of 1836, counsel were not allowed to address the Court on behalf of prisoners tried for felony.
[105] Seven minutes, according to another account.
[106] If this story were not specially well authenticated, it would be incredible; but we must remember that this all happened before the reforms of Sir Samuel Romilly, when the law was in a chaotic state, and when offences against property were very severely dealt with. Any larceny above the value of a 1s. was a felony, punishable—nominally by death, and actually by seven years' transportation; though the transportation may frequently have been commuted to a sentence of imprisonment. Magistrates had no power of bailing a person committed for a felony, if the stolen article were found in his possession.
[107] The two M.P.'s for the county.
[108] The carpenter.
[109] Catherine Bigg.
[110] Partly Memoir, p. 58; partly unpublished.
[111] James Austen.
[112] Memoir, p. 61.
[113] The invitation, the ball-dress, and some remarks made in this and the preceding letter, refer to a ball annually given at Hurstbourne Park, on the anniversary of the Earl of Portsmouth's wedding-day. He was the third Lord Portsmouth, whose eccentricities afterwards became notorious, and the invitations, as well as other arrangements about these balls, were of a peculiar character. It will be remembered that he had been for a short time a pupil at Steventon Rectory (p. 21).
[114] A very dull old lady, then residing with Mrs. Lloyd.
[115] For this expression, see 'The Watsons' (in Memoir, p. 325).
[116] Sir Thomas Williams, whose first wife was Jane Cooper; 'Whapshare' is the correct name of the lady.
[117] Unpublished.
[118] The Debaries were a large family, one of whom had the Parsonage near Ibthorp.
[119] This seems to show that the balls were held at the town hall
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