(1778-1818)
Mary Brunton's Self-Control: A Novel is mentioned three times in Jane Austen's Letters. The first two are in letters addressed to her sister Cassandra:
Letter 72, Tuesday 30 April 1811
We have tried to get Self-controul, but in vain.--I should
like to know what her Estimate is--but am always half
afraid of finding a clever novel too clever--& of
finding my own story & my own people all forestalled.
Letter 91, Monday 11- Tuesday 12 October 1813
I am looking over Self Control again, &
my opinion is confirmed of its' being an excellently-meant, elegantly-written
Work, without anything of Nature or Probability in it. I
declare I do not know whether Laura's passage down the American River,
is not the most natural, possible, every-day thing she ever does.
The third is in a letter to her niece Anna Lefroy:
Letter 111, ?Thursday 24 November 1814
I will redeem my credit with him, by writing
a close Imitation of "Self-control" as soon as I can;--I will improve
upon it;--my Heroine shall not merely be wafted down an American
river in a boat by herself, she shall cross the Atlantic in the same way,
& never stop till she reaches Gravesent.--
Searching for information about Mrs. Brunton I discoverd that she had published two novels, the other being named Discipline. The titles intrigued me, perhaps because I possess little of either. There's a third volume, published posthumously by her husband under the title Emmeline, which consists of a memoir written by her husband including some of her letters, Emmeline, a novel left unfinished at her death, extracts from two travel journals and some other writing.
I'm preparing etexts of all three volumes, starting with Self-Control. I'll post chapters as I finish them in HTML. Each volume will be available for download in HTML and as text.
Status Report
(June 16, 2003)
Self-Control is complete.
Discipline is complete.
Emmeline is complete.
Now that the texts are completed I'll package them for dowload as HTML and text.