A Memoir of Jane Austen (Classic Reprint)

PREFACE.
THE MEMOIR of my Aunt, JANE AUSTEN, has
been received with more favour than I had
ventured to expect. The notices taken of it
in the periodical press, as well as letters addressed
to me by many with whom I am not
personally acquainted, show that an unabated
interest is still taken in every particular that
can be told about her. I am thus encouraged
not only to offer a Second Edition of the
Memoir, but also to enlarge it with some additional
matter which I might have scrupled to
intrude on the public if they had not thus seemed
to call for it. In the present Edition, the narrative
is somewhat enlarged, and a few more
letters are added; with a short specimen of her
childish stories. The cancelled chapter of 'Persuasion'
is given, in compliance with wishes
both publicly and privately expressed. A fragment
of a story entitled 'The Watsons' is Preface.
printed; and extracts are given from a novel
which she had begun a few months before her
death; but the c

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; 101; CHAPTER I; PAGB; Tntroductory Remarks-Bz"rtlt of Jane Austen-Her; Famz"ly Connec#ons-Tltez"r Influence on Iter Wrz"tbtgs I; CHAPTER II; Descrip#on of Steventon-Life at Steventon-Changes oj; Habz"ts and Customs in tlte last Cmtllry 1&; CHAPTER III; Early Compos#ions-Fn"ends at Aslte-A very Old Letter; -Lines on tke Deatlt of Mrs" Lefi-oy-Observa#ons on; jane Austen's Letter-wri#ng-Letters • 41; CHAPTER IV; Removal from Steventon-Residence at Batlt and at Soutltampton-; Settling at Ckawton 66; CHAPTER V; Du&rlp/ion 0/1ane Austen's person, character, and tastes 83; a Contents; CHAPTER VI; PAGE o Habits of Composi#on re