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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Father of one of the present writers, and grandfather of the other.
[2] Daughter of the author of the Memoir.
[3] It has not, however, been possible to consult the originals except in the instance of the letters from Jane to Anna Lefroy.
[4] History of Kent.
[5] For further particulars respecting the earlier Austens, we venture to refer our readers to Chawton Manor and its Owners, chap. vii.
[6] This almost exclusive care of the old man for his eldest grandson may possibly have been the model for the action of old Mr. Dashwood at the beginning of Sense and Sensibility.
[7] We are allowed to quote freely from a manuscript History of the Leigh Family of Adlestrop, written in 1788; some part of which appeared in an article written by the Hon. Agnes Leigh and published in the National Review for April 1907.
[8] Brother both of the Duke of Chandos and of Mrs. Leigh.
[9] Memoir, p. 5.
[10] The author of the Memoir remarks on the fact that the Leigh arms were placed on the front of Balliol towards Broad Street, now pulled down. He did not live to see the same arms occupy a similar place on the new buildings at King's College, Cambridge, erected when his son Augustus was Provost.
[11] The Perrots seem to have set great store by their armorial bearings: at least we are told that two branches of them lived at Northleigh at the same time in the eighteenth century, hardly on speaking terms with each other, and that one cause of quarrel was a difference of opinion as to whether the three 'pears'—which, in punning heraldry, formed a part of their coat of arms—were to be silver or gold.
[12] In the absence of any information as to where George Hastings died or was buried, it is at present impossible to be sure about the details of this interesting tradition.
[14] The description of Steventon is taken, almost entirely, from the Memoir, pp. 18-22.
[15] This was written nearly half a century ago, before the revival of mixed gardens.
[16] Her daughters seem to have looked upon this publicity of useful needlework with some suspicion. See letter from Lyme, September 14, 1804 (p. 179).
[17] These letters, hitherto unpublished, are inserted by the kind permission of Mr. J. G. Nicholson of Castlefield House, Sturton by Scawby, Lincolnshire.
[18] Son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter.
[19] Life and Times of Mrs. Sherwood, edited by F. J. Harvey Darton, p. 124.
[20] Records of a Girlhood, vol. i. p. 99. By Frances Ann Kemble. London, 1878.
[21] There are, we think, but two references to school in her surviving correspondence—namely, in a letter to Cassandra, dated September 1, 1796, where she remarks of her sister's letter: 'I could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at school'; and in another, dated May 20, 1813, where she describes a room at a school as being 'totally unschool-like.'
[22] In the same novel, Persuasion, Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove have brought back 'the usual stock of accomplishments' from a school at Exeter.
[23] See next chapter.
[24] It was no uncommon occurrence for the richer folk to hand on their newspaper to their neighbours. Thus we find the Austens, while at Steventon, apparently getting theirs from Mr. Holder at Ashe (p. 148); and, later, getting Mr. Pinckard's paper at Lyme (p. 148). Much in the same way Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility would not be denied the satisfaction of sending the Dashwoods his newspaper every day.
[25] The Letters of Warren Hastings to his Wife. Introduced and annotated by Sydney C. Grier, p. 456 et seq. For articles by the same author on the Hancock family, see 'A Friend of Warren Hastings' in Blackwood's Magazine, April 1904, and 'A God-daughter of Warren Hastings' in Temple Bar, May 1905.
[26] Genuine Memoirs of Asiaticus, by Philip Dormer Stanhope, London, 1784.
[27] This did not prove to be the case.
[28] This, and not 'de Feuillade,' is the correct spelling.
[29] Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, where Warren Hastings was then living.
[30] Henry Austen, and his elder brother, James.
[31] In the Memoir this action is by mistake attributed to the Count.
[32] National Archives, Paris (de Feuillide), W. 328, dossier 541, and T. 738; (Marbœuf), W. 320, dossier 481.
[33] W. R. O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849.
[35] We again make use of the words of the Memoir (pp. 15-17) in the description of the family party, &c.
[36] We are told that Jane was one of the least exclusive of the family.
[37] Memoir, pp. 22, 23.
[38] The carriage was given up in 1798. See letter of November 17 in that year in Brabourne, vol. i. p. 165.
[39] Memoir, p. 42.
[40] Memoir, p. 45.
[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.
[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.
[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 and not at the 'Angel Inn' (Miss Hill, pp. 51-54).
[120] Probably Jane wrote 'Axford Buildings,' which were a continuation of Paragon towards Walcot Church.
[121] Eliza Fowle.
[122] Memoir, p. 64.
[123] The Duke of Sussex, who married, without the King's consent, Lady Augusta Murray.
[124] Probably, when they were on a visit to the Fowles at Elkstone, between Cheltenham and Cirencester. See p. 373.
[125] Family MS. One short paragraph, Memoir, p. 65; the remainder unpublished.
[126] Afterwards Sir William Heathcote, M.P.
[127] We remember that in Mansfield Park William Price had been able to afford only the amber cross as a present to Fanny, and not the chain. See Sailor Brothers, p. 92.
[128] Terrace seems to be a slip; at least, its present name is Sydney Place. We have, unfortunately, no letters dated from this house.
[129] There is an inscription to his memory on the wall of the south aisle in the Abbey.
[131] In an article called 'Is it Just?' p. 282.
[132] Memoir, p. 24.
[133] Autobiography, vol. ii. p. 40.
[134] See end of Chapter XIII.
[135] The watermarks of 1803 and 1804 on the paper are the sole authority for this date.
[137] Miss Hill seems to have identified also the cottage, 'Mrs. Dean's house,' in which the Austens themselves lodged in 1804. No doubt decanters, and everything else, have long been perfectly immaculate.