Jane Austen lived in entire seclusion from the literary world: neither by correspondence, nor by personal intercourse was she known to any contemporary authors. It is probable that she never was in company with any person whose talents or whose celebrity equalled her own; so that her powers never could have been sharpened by collision with superior intellects, nor her imagination aided by their casual suggestions. Whatever she produced was a genuine home-made article. Even during the last two or three years of her life, when her works were rising in the estimation of the public, they did not enlarge the circle of her acquaintance. Few of her readers knew even her name, and none knew more other than her name. I doubt whether it would be possible to mention any other author of note, whose personal obscurity was so complete. I can think of none like her, but of many to contrast with her in that respect. Fanny Burney, afterwards Madame D'Arblay, was at an early age petted by Dr Johnson, and introduced to the wits and scholars of the day at the tables of Mrs Thrale and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Anna Seward, in her self-constituted shrine at Lichfield, would have been miserable, had she not trusted that the eyes of all lovers of poetry were devoutly fixed on her. Joanna Baillie and Maria Edgeworth were indeed far from courting publicity; they loved the privacy of their own families, one with her brother and sister in their Hampstead villa, the other in her more distant retreat in Ireland; but fame pursued them, and they were the favourite correspondents of Sir Walter Scott. Crabbe, who was usually buried in a country parish, yet sometimes visited London, and dined at Holland House, and was received as a fellow-poet by Campbell, Moore, and Rogers; and on one memorable occasion he was Scott's guest at Edinburgh, and gazed with wondering eyes on the incongruous pageantry with which George IV was entertained in that city. Even those great writers who hid themselves amongst lakes and mountains associated with each other; and though little seen by the world were so much in its thoughts that a new term, 'Lakers', was coined to designate them. The chief part of Charlotte Bronte's life was spent in a wild solitude compared with which Steventon and Chawton might be considered to be in the gay world; and yet she attained to personal distinction which never fell to Jane's lot. When she visited her kind publisher in London, literary men and women were invited purposely to meet her: Thackeray bestowed upon her the honour of his notice; and once in Willis's Rooms,[7.1] she had to walk shy and trembling through an avenue of lords and ladies, drawn up for the purpose of gazing at the author of Jane Eyre. Miss Mitford, too, lived quietly in 'Our Village', devoting her time and talents to the benefit of a father scarcely worthy of her; but she did not live there unknown. Her tragedies gave her a name in London. She numbered Milman and Talfourd amongst her correspondents; and her works were a passport to the society of many who would not otherwise have sought her. Hundreds admired Miss Mitford on account of her writings for one who ever connected the idea of Miss Austen with the press. A few years ago, a gentleman visiting Winchester Cathedral desired to be shown Miss Austen's grave. The verger, as he pointed it out, asked, 'Pray, sir, can you tell me whether there was anything particular about that lady; so many people want to know where she was buried?' During her life the ignorance of the verger was shared by most people; few knew that 'there was anything particular about that lady'.
It was not till towards the close of her life, when the last of the works that she saw published was in the press, that she received the only mark of distinction ever bestowed upon her; and that was remarkable for the high quarter whence it emanated rather than for any actual increase of fame that it conferred. It happened thus. In the autumn of 1815 she nursed her brother Henry through a dangerous fever and slow convalescence at his house in Hans Place. He was attended by one of the Prince Regent's physicians. All attempts to keep her name secret had at this time ceased, and though it had never appeared on a title-page, all who cared to know might easily learn it: and the friendly physician was aware that his patient's nurse was the author of Pride and Prejudice. Accordingly he informed her one day that the Prince was a great admirer of her novels; that he read them often, and kept a set in every one of his residences; that he himself therefore had thought it right to inform His Royal Highness that Miss Austen was staying in London, and that the Prince had desired Mr Clarke, the librarian of Carlton House, to wait upon her. The next day Mr Clarke made his appearance, and invited her to Carlton House, saying that he had the Prince's instructions to show her the library and other apartments, and to pay her every possible attention. The invitation was of course accepted, and during the visit to Carlton House Mr Clarke declared himself commissioned to say that if Miss Austen had any other novel forthcoming she was at liberty to dedicate it to the Prince. Accordingly such a dedication was immediately prefixed to Emma, which was at that time in the press.
Mr Clarke was the brother of Dr Clarke, the traveller and mineralogist, whose life has been written by Bishop Otter. Jane found in him not only a very courteous gentleman, but also a warm admirer other talents; though it will be seen by his letters that he did not clearly apprehend the limits of her powers, or the proper field for their exercise. The following correspondence took place between them.
Feeling some apprehension lest she should make a mistake in acting on the verbal permission which she had received from the Prince, Jane addressed the following letter to Mr Clarke:
Nov. 15, 1815
SIR,
I must take the liberty of asking you a question. Among the
many flattering attentions which I received from you at
Carlton House on Monday last was the information of
my being at liberty to dedicate any future work to His Royal
Highness the Prince Regent, without the necessity of any
solicitation on my part. Such, at least, I believed to be
your words; but as I am very anxious to be quite certain of
what was intended, I entreat you to have the goodness to
inform me how such a permission is to be understood, and
whether it is incumbent on me to show my sense of the
honour, by inscribing the work now in the press to His Royal
Highness; I should be equally concerned to appear either
presumptuous or ungrateful.
The following gracious answer was returned by Mr Clarke, together with a suggestion which must have been received with some surprise:
Carlton House, Nov. 16, 1815
DEAR MADAM,
It is certainly not incumbent on you to dedicate your
work now in the press to His Royal Highness; but if you wish
to do the Regent that honour either now or at any future
period I am happy to send you that permission, which need
not require any more trouble or solicitation on your part.
Your late works, Madam, and in particular Mansfield Park, reflect the highest honour on your genius and your principles. In every new work your mind seems to increase its energy and power of discrimination. The Regent has read and admired all your publications.
Accept my best thanks for the pleasure your volumes have given me. In the perusal of them I felt a great inclination to write and say so. And I also, dear Madam, wished to be allowed to ask you to delineate in some future work the habits of life, and character, and enthusiasm of a clergyman, who should pass his time between the metropolis and the country, who should be something like Beattie's Minstrel --
Silent when glad, affectionate tho' shy,
And in his looks was most demurely sad;
And now lie laughed aloud, yet none knew why.
Neither Goldsmith, nor La Fontaine in his Tableaux de Famille, have in my mind quite delineated an English clergyman, at least of the present day, fond of and entirely engaged in literature, no man's enemy but his own. Pray, dear Madam, think of these things.
Believe me at all times with sincerity and respect, your faithful and obliged servant,
J.S. CLARKE, Librarian
The following letter, written in reply, will show how unequal the author of Pride and Prejudice felt herself to delineating an enthusiastic clergyman of the present day, who should resemble Beattie's Minstrel:
Dec. 11
DEAR SIR,
My Emma is now so near publication that I feel it
right to assure you of my not having forgotten your kind
recommendation of an early copy for Carlton House, and that
I have Mr Murray's promise of its being sent to His Royal
Highness, under cover to you, three days previous to the
work being really out. I must make use of this opportunity
to thank you, dear Sir, for the very high praise you bestow
on my other novels. I am too vain to wish to convince you
that you have praised them beyond their merits. My greatest
anxiety at present is that this fourth work should not
disgrace what was good in the others. But on this point I
will do myself the justice to declare that, whatever may be
my wishes for its success, I am strongly haunted with the
idea that to those readers who have preferred Pride and
Prejudice it will appear inferior in wit, and to those
who have preferred Mansfield Park inferior in good
sense. Such as it is, however, I hope you will do me the
favour of accepting a copy. Mr Murray will have directions
for sending one. I am quite honoured by your thinking me
capable of drawing such a clergyman as you gave the sketch
of in your note of Nov. 16th. But I assure you I am
not. The comic part of the character I might be equal
to, but not the good, the enthusiastic, the literary. Such a
man's conversation must at times be on subjects of science
and philosophy, of which I know nothing; or at least be
occasionally abundant in quotations and allusions which a
woman who, like me, knows only her own mother tongue, and
has read little in that, would be totally without the power
of giving. A classical education, or at any rate a very
extensive acquaintance with English literature, ancient and
modern, appears to me quite indispensable for the person who
would do any justice to your clergyman; and I think I may
boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most
unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an
authoress.
Believe me, dear Sir,
Your obliged and faithful humbl Sert
JANE AUSTEN[7.2]
Mr Clarke, however, was not to be discouraged from proposing another subject. He had recently been appointed chaplain and private English secretary to Prince Leopold, who was then about to be united to the Princess Charlotte; and when he again wrote to express the gracious thanks of the Prince Regent for the copy of Emma which had been presented, he suggests that 'an historical romance illustrative of the august House of Cobourg would just now be very interesting,' and might very properly be dedicated to Prince Leopold. This was much as if Sir William Ross had been set to paint a great battle-piece; and it is amusing to see with what grave civility she declined a proposal which must have struck her as ludicrous, in the following letter:
MY DEAR SIR,
I am honoured by the Prince's thanks and very much obliged
to yourself for the kind manner in which you mention the
work. I have also to acknowledge a former letter forwarded
to me from Hans Place. I assure you I felt very grateful for
the friendly tenor of it, and hope my silence will have been
considered, as it was truly meant, to proceed only from an
unwillingness to tax your time with idle thanks. Under every
interesting circumstance which your own talents and literary
labours have placed you in, or the favour of the Regent
bestowed, you have my best wishes. Your recent appointments
I hope are a step to something still better. In my opinion,
the service of a court can hardly
be too well paid, for immense must be the sacrifice of time
and feeling required by it.
You are very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, and I am fully sensible that an historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe Cobourg, might be much more to the purpose of profit or popularity than such pictures of domestic life in country villages as I deal in. But I could no more write a romance than an epic poem. I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or at other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Your very much obliged, and sincere friend,
J. AUSTEN
Chawton, near Alton, April 1, 1816
Mr Clarke should have recollected the warning of the wise man, 'Force not the course of the river.' If you divert it from the channel in which nature taught it to flow, and force it into one arbitrarily cut by yourself, you will lose its grace and beauty.
But when his free course is not hindered,
He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage:
And so by many winding nooks lie strays
With willing sport.
All writers of fiction, who have genius strong enough to work out a course of their own, resist every attempt to interfere with its direction. No two writers could be more unlike each other than Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte; so much so that the latter was unable to understand why the former was admired, and confessed that she herself 'should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses'; but each writer equally resisted interference with her own natural style of composition. Miss Bronte, in reply to a friendly critic, who had warned her against being too melodramatic, and had ventured to propose Miss Austen's works to her as a study, writes thus:
Whenever I do write another book, I think I will have nothing of what you call 'melodrama'. I think so, but I am not sure. I think, too, I will endeavour to follow the counsel which shines out of Miss Austen's 'mild eyes', to finish more, and be more subdued; but neither am I sure of that. When authors write best, or, at least, when they write most fluently, an influence seems to waken in them which becomes their master -- which will have its way -- putting out of view all behests but its own, dictating certain words, and insisting on their being used, whether vehement or measured in their nature, new moulding characters, giving unthought of turns to incidents, rejecting carefully elaborated old ideas, and suddenly creating and adopting new ones. Is it not so? And should we try to counteract this influence? Can we indeed counteract it?[7.3]
The playful raillery with which the one parries an attack on her liberty, and the vehement eloquence of the other in pleading the same cause and maintaining the independence of genius, are very characteristic of the minds of the respective writers.
The suggestions which Jane received as to the sort of story that she ought to write were, however, an amusement to her, though they were not likely to prove useful; and she has left amongst her papers one entitled, 'Plan of a novel according to hints from various quarters'. The names of some of those advisers are written on the margin of the manuscript opposite to their respective suggestions.
Heroine to be the daughter of a clergyman, who after having lived much in the world had retired from it, and settled on a curacy with a very small fortune of his own. The most excellent man that can be imagined, perfect in character, temper, and manner, without the smallest drawback or peculiarity to prevent his being the most delightful companion to his daughter from one year's end to the other. Heroine faultless in character, beautiful in person, and possessing every possible accomplishment. Book to open with father and daughter conversing in long speeches, elegant language, and a tone of high serious sentiment. The father induced, at his daughter's earnest request, to relate to her the past events of his life. Narrative to reach through the greater part of the first volume; as besides all the circumstances of his attachment to her mother, and their marriage, it will comprehend his going to sea as chaplain to a distinguished naval character about the court; and his going afterwards to court himself, which involved him in many interesting situations, concluding with his opinion of the benefits of tithes being done away with... From this outset the story will proceed, and contain a striking variety of adventures. Father an exemplary parish priest, and devoted to literature; but heroine and father never above a fortnight in one place: he being driven from his curacy by the vile arts of some totally unprincipled and heartless young man, desperately in love with the heroine, and pursuing her with unrelenting passion. No sooner settled in one country of Europe, than they are compelled to quit it, and retire to another, always making new acquaintance, and always obliged to leave them. This will of course exhibit a wide variety of character. The scene will be for ever shifting from one set of people to another, but there will be no mixture, all the good will be unexceptionable in every respect. There will be no foibles or weaknesses but with the wicked, who will be completely depraved and infamous, hardly a resemblance of humanity left in them. Early in her career, the heroine must meet with the hero: all perfection, of course, and only prevented from paying his addresses to her by some excess of refinement. Wherever she goes, somebody falls in love with her, and she receives repeated offers of marriage, which she refers wholly to her father, exceedingly angry that he should not be the first applied to. Often carried away by the anti-hero, but rescued either by her father or the hero. Often reduced to support herself and her father by her talents, and work for her bread; continually cheated, and defrauded of her hire; worn down to a skeleton, and now and then starved to death. At last, hunted out of civilised society, denied the poor shelter of the humblest cottage, they are compelled to retreat into Kamtschatka, where the poor father quite worn down, finding his end approaching, throws himself on the ground, and after four or five hours of tender advice and parental admonition to his miserable child, expires in a fine burst of literary enthusiasm, intermingled with invectives against the holders of tithes. Heroine inconsolable for some time, but afterwards crawls back towards her former country, having at least twenty narrow escapes of falling into the hands of anti-hero; and at last, in the very nick of time, turning a corner to avoid him, runs into the arms of the hero himself, who, having just shaken off the scruples which fettered him before, was at the very moment setting off in pursuit of her. The tenderest and completest eclaircissement takes place, and they are happily united. Throughout the whole work heroine to be in the most elegant society, and living in high style.
Since the first publication of this memoir, Mr Murray of Albemarle Street has very kindly sent to me copies of the following letters, which his father received from Jane Austen, when engaged in the publication of Emma. The increasing cordiality of the letters shows that the author felt that her interests were duly cared for, and was glad to find herself in the hands of a publisher whom she could consider as a friend.
Her brother had addressed to Mr Murray a strong complaint of the tardiness of a printer:
23 Hans Place, Thursday, November 23 (1815)
SIR,
My brother's note last Monday has been so fruitless, that I
am afraid there can be but little chance of my writing to
any good effect; but yet I am so very much disappointed and
vexed by the delays of the printers, that I cannot help
begging to know whether there is no hope of their being
quickened. Instead of the work being ready by the end of the
present month, it will hardly, at the rate we now proceed,
be finished by the end of the next; and as I expect to leave
London early in December, it is of consequence that no more
time should be lost. Is it likely that the printers will be
influenced to greater dispatch and punctuality by knowing
that the work is to be dedicated, by permission, to the
Prince Regent? If you can make that circumstance operate, I
shall be very glad. My brother returns Waterloo with
many thanks for the loan of it. We have heard much of
Scott's account of Paris.[7.4] If it be not incompatible
with other arrangements, would you favour us with it,
supposing you have any set already opened? You may depend
upon its being in careful hands.
I remain, Sir, your obt humble Set
J. AUSTEN
Hans Place, December 11 (1815)
DEAR SIR,
As I find that Emma is advertised for publication as
early as Saturday next, I think it best to lose no time in
settling all that remains to be settled on the subject, and
adopt this method as involving the smallest tax on your time.
In the first place, I beg you to understand that I leave the
terms on which the trade should be supplied with the work
entirely to your judgment, entreating you to be guided in
every such arrangement by your own experience of what is
most likely to clear off the edition rapidly. I shall be
satisfied with whatever you feel to be best. The title-page
must be 'Emma, dedicated by permission to H.R.H. the
Prince Regent.' And it is my particular wish that one set
should be completed and sent to H.R.H. two or three days
before the work is generally public. It should be sent under
cover to the Rev. J.S. Clarke, Librarian, Carlton House. I
shall subjoin a list of those persons to whom I must trouble
you to forward also a set each, when the work is out; all
unbound, with 'From the Authoress' in the first page.
I return you, with very many thanks, the books you have so obligingly supplied me with. I am very sensible, I assure you, of the attention you have paid to my convenience and amusement. I return also Mansfield Park, as ready for a second edition, I believe, as I can make it. I am in Hans Place till the 16th. From that day inclusive, my direction will be Chawton, Alton, Hants.
I remain, dear Sir,
Yr faithful humb. Servt
J. AUSTEN
I wish you would have the goodness to send a line by the bearer, stating the day on which the set will be ready for the Prince Regent.
Hans Place, December 11 (1815)
DEAR SIR,
I am much obliged by yours, and very happy to feel
everything arranged to our mutual satisfaction. As to my
direction about the title-page, it was arising from my
ignorance only, and from my having never noticed the proper
place for a dedication. I thank you for putting me right.
Any deviation from what is usually done in such cases is the
last thing I should wish for. I feel happy in having a
friend to save me from the ill effect of my own blunder.
Yours, dear Sir, &c. J.AUSTEN
Chawton, April 1, 1816
DEAR SIR,
I return you the Quarterly Review with many thanks.
The Authoress of Emma has no reason, I think, to
complain of her treatment in it, except in the total
omission of Mansfield Park. I cannot but be sorry
that so clever a man as the Reviewer of Emma should
consider it as unworthy of being noticed. You will be
pleased to hear that I have received the Prince's thanks for
the handsome copy I sent him of Emma. Whatever
he may think of my share of the work, yours seems to
have been quite right.
In consequence of the late event in Henrietta Street, I must request that if you should at any time have anything to communicate by letter, you will be so good as to write by the post, directing to me (Miss J. Austen), Chawton, near Alton; and that for anything of a larger bulk, you will add to the same direction, by Collier's Southampton coach.
I remain, dear Sir, Yours very faithfully,
J. AUSTEN
About the same time the following letters passed between the Countess of Morley and the writer of Emma. I do not know whether they were personally acquainted with each other, nor in what this interchange of civilities originated:
THE COUNTESS OF MORLEY TO MISS J. AUSTEN
Saltram, December 27 (1815)
MADAM,
I have been most anxiously waiting for an introduction to
Emma, and am infinitely obliged to you for your kind
recollection of me, which will procure me the pleasure of
her acquaintance some days sooner than I should otherwise
have had it. I am already become intimate with the Woodhouse
family, and feel that they will not amuse and interest me
less than the Bennets, Bertrams, Norrises, and all their
admirable predecessors. I can give them no higher praise.
I am, Madam, your much obliged
F. MORLEY
MISS J. AUSTEN TO THE COUNTESS OF MORLEY
MADAM,
Accept my thanks for the honour of your note, and for your
kind disposition in favour of Emma. In my present
state of doubt as to her reception in the world, it is
particularly gratifying to me to receive so early an
assurance of your Ladyship's approbation. It encourages me
to depend on the same share of general good opinion which
Emma's predecessors have experienced, and to believe that I have
not yet, as almost every writer of fancy does sooner or
later, overwritten myself.
I am, Madam,
Your obliged and faithful Servt
J. AUSTEN
December 31, 1815
[7.1] See Mrs Gaskell's Life of Miss Bronte, volume ii, p. 215.
[7.2] It was her pleasure to boast of greater ignorance than she had any just claim to. She knew more than her mother tongue, for she knew a good deal of French and a little of Italian.
[7.3] Mrs Gaskell's Life of Miss Bronte, volume ii, p. 53.
[7.4] This must have been Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk.