Jane Austen (11 page)
Authors: Andrew Norman
Northanger Abbey
is a cautionary tale about an impressionable young lady who allows her imagination to get the better of her. This is largely because she has read too many Gothic novels – of the type which Jane Austen clearly considered to be absurd and ridiculous. Does this mean that Jane herself was lacking in romantic feelings? By no means, as the tears she shed for the loss of her lover Tom Lefroy, clearly demonstrate. Also, let it be remembered that at the conclusion of
Northanger Abbey
, her heroine Catherine Morland succeeds in marrying her knight in shining armour, Henry Tilney.
Having thoroughly debunked the Gothic novel in
Northanger Abbey
, the question became, what kind of novel would Jane write next?
1.
J.M. Evans, Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey, p. 10.
In early January 1799, Jane told Cassandra how, at the Kempshott Ball (at Kempshott Park near Basingstoke – home of the Crooke family) she had stayed overnight; Martha Lloyd kindly making room for her in her bed, where the two had lain awake and talked until 2 o’clock in the morning. Jane said, ‘I love Martha better than ever …’
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Despite these words, it is obvious that Jane missed her sister greatly, for later in January she tells Cassandra, ‘I shall be very glad to see you home again …’
2
Alas for Jane, it would be another two months before the pair were reunited.
In May 1799 Jane’s brother Edward decided to pay a visit to Bath for health reasons, along with his wife and children. Bath’s naturally occurring thermal springs had been discovered by the Romans who had created a settlement there, known as
Aquae Sulis
. In the eighteenth century the city was transformed by architects Messrs. John Wood the elder and the younger, and Richard ‘Beau’ Nash. They laid out Queen Square, The Royal Crescent, the parades and The Circus – all built in the neo-classical style together with beautiful parks and gardens. The city became a magnet for royalty, the nobility, the gentry, and the new, moneyed, industrial classes. Also, those suffering from arthritis and other diseases were attracted to Bath by the spa water which was said to have healing properties. The water could either be drunk or bathed in, there being several baths including Hot Bath, King’s Bath and Cross Bath. In Jane
Austen’s time, the population of the city was about 30,000. Jane and her mother accompanied Edward to Bath, arriving there on 17 May and taking lodgings at 13 Queen Square. Here they stayed until 27 June.
Meanwhile, on 29 October 1799, Jane’s cousin Eliza – now Mrs Henry Austen – indicated that her zest for the high life may be beginning to pall, but she had:
not found it possible to persevere in my plan of shunning all society, to which I must honestly confess that I greatly prefer my Books, my Harp & my Pianoforte.
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In 1800 Revd George Austen, who was now in his 70th year, decided to retire as Rector of the Steventon and Deane parishes. From October 1800 until February 1801, Cassandra enjoyed another prolonged stay at Godmersham Park. Jane missed her sister’s company and, once again, it was Martha Lloyd who filled the gap. On 1 November 1800, Jane told Cassandra that Francis had again written to her, this time to describe his adventures with the Egyptian squadron ‘off the Isle of Cyprus’.
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She also told Cassandra that she had been reading
Les Veillées du Chateau
by French writer, educator and moralist Madame de Glenlis, who was best known for her children’s books.
When on 30 November Jane Austen’s mother informed her that the family was intending to relocate to Bath, Jane was ‘greatly distressed’.
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In early January 1801 Jane expressed her irritation at the way in which her parents were giving away the family heirlooms and possessions to her various siblings, seemingly without discussion, prior to moving house. To Cassandra she said:
As to our Pictures, the Battlepeice [
sic
] (a battle scene), Mr Nibbs, Sir Wm East, & all the old heterogeneous, miscellany,
manuscript, Scriptoral pieces dispersed over the House are to be given to James … My Mother says that the French agricultural Prints in the best bed-room were given by Edward to his two Sisters. Do you or he know anything about it?
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Likewise, Jane observed that ‘the brown Mare, which as well as the black was to devolve on James at our removal’, had already settled herself at Deane, ‘& everything else I suppose will be seized by degrees in the same manner’.
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(Jane draws a parallel between her brother James and his wife Mary’s miserliness in her novel
Sense and Sensibility
).
On 24 January 1801 Henry resigned his commission and set himself up as a banker in London. In that month Jane expressed the hope that, ‘Charles may, perhaps, become 1st [Lieutenant] of the [frigate] Endymion …’
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In May, she jubilantly reported that the
Endymion
had arrived at Portsmouth, which meant that she would see Charles very shortly. She had received a letter from him saying that he had:
received 30
£
for his share of the [French] privateer [La Furie] & expects 10
£
more – but of what avail is it to take prizes if he lays out the produce in presents to his Sisters. He has been buying Gold chains & topaz Crosses for us; he must be well scolded.
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(Charles’s experience in capturing a privateer was mirrored by Jane in her novel
Persuasion
, when Captain Wentworth also made ‘successive captures’ of prizes).
On 4 May 1801 Jane and her mother arrived in Bath where they stayed with Mrs Austen’s brother James Leigh-Perrot and his wife Jane in order to go house-hunting. A month later they were joined by the Revd Austen and Cassandra.
In October 1801 the Austens moved to 4 Sydney Place, Bath. Jane’s eldest brother, the Revd James Austen, now transferred
to Steventon Rectory with his second wife Mary Lloyd as curate of the parish. (James became Rector of Steventon in 1805). On the 9th of that month, Hastings de Feuillide, Eliza’s son, who had been plagued by chronic illness during his short life, died.
Following their removal from Steventon to Bath, the Austens’ possessions were auctioned and the notice of sale of the ‘Valuable Effects at Steventon Parsonage’ made for depressing reading. Included were:
[a] well made Chariot … and Harness, 200 volumes of books, Stump of Hay, Fowling Pieces, three Norman cows & Calves, one Horse, and other effects.
The furniture comprises four-post and field bedsteads, with dimity, moreen and other furnitures, fine feather beds and bedding, mattresses, pier and dressing glasses, floor and bedside carpets, handsome mahogany sideboard, modern set of circular dining tables on pillar and claws, Pembroke and card ditto, bureaus, chests of drawers and chairs, a piano forte in handsome case (by Ganer), a large collection of music by the most celebrated composers, an 18-inch terrestrial globe (by Adams), and microscope, mahogany library table with drawers, bookcase with six doors, eight feet by eight feet; a smaller ditto, tea china, a table set of Wedgwood ware, eight day clock, side of bacon, kitchen, dairy and brewing utensils, 13 ironbound casks, an end of hops, set of theatrical scenes &c. &c.
Later that year, a separate sale was held to dispose of the Revd Austen’s farm stock and farm implements. They included:
… five capital cart horses, three sows, 22 pigs, and seven stores, three market waggons, two four-inch wheel dung-carts, two
narrow wheel ditto, one grass cart, four ploughs, eight harrows, two drags, two rollers, troughs, timber bob, shovels, prongs, useful plough timber and iron, &c. [together with] All the Valuable Live and Dead FARMING-STOCK, and Fine Meadow Hay Rick, about Ten Tons….
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By word of explanation, ‘volumes of books’ may mean sets, as Jane estimated her father’s collection to number ‘above 500 volumes’; the books were valued at
£
70; Norman cows originate from La Manche, Normandy, France; the pianoforte referred to was Jane’s – its manufacturer being Christopher Ganer who came to London from Leipzig in 1774. It sold for a mere 8 guineas; the globe was made by Dudley Adams, a mathematical instrument maker of Fleet Street; the ‘theatrical scenes’ were those which the younger Austens used in their theatrical performances.
Following the sale of their household effects, Jane wrote bitterly about her sister-in-law: ‘Mary is more minute in her account of her own gains than in ours,’
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implying that James’s wife was of a mercenary nature. She follows this up on 21/22 May 1801 with, ‘The whole world is in a conspiracy, to enrich one part of our family at the expense of another.’
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1.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 8/9 January 1799.
2.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 21/23 January 1799.
3.
Le Faye,
Jane Austen’s ‘Outlandish Cousin’
, p. 157.
4.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 1 November 1800.
5.
Letter from Caroline Austen to James E. Austen-Leigh, 1 April 1869(?).
6.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 3/5 January 1801.
7.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 8/9 January 1801.
8.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 21/22 January 1801.
9.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 26/27 May 1801.
10.
Robin Vick,
The Sale at Steventon Parsonage
, in Jane Austen Society Collected Reports, 1986–95, pp. 295–6.
11.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 12/13 May 1801.
12.
Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 21/22 May 1801.
The accounts of an alleged love affair, which Jane had while she and her family were on holiday in Devonshire in the very earliest years of the nineteenth century, are many and various. The most important of these accounts, which contain vital clues as to the identity of the mystery lover whom Jane allegedly met in the summer of 1801 or 1802, are quoted below. (The word ‘lover’ does not, of course, imply that her relationship with the gentleman in question was anything other than platonic).
For example, Caroline Austen, daughter of James by his second wife Mary Lloyd, in a letter to her brother James E. Austen-Leigh, written
c
.1869, at the time of the compilation of his
A Memoir of Jane Austen
, states that:
During the few years my grandfather [the Revd Austen] lived at Bath, he went in the summer with his wife and daughters to some sea-side [place]. They were in Devonshire, and in Wales – and in Devonshire an acquaintance was made with some very charming man – I never heard Aunt Cassandra speak of anyone else with such admiration – she had no doubt that a mutual attachment was in progress between him and her sister. They parted – but he made it plain that he should seek them out again – and shortly afterwards he died. My Aunt [Jane’s sister Cassandra] told me this in the late years of her own life, and it was quite new to me then – but all this, being nameless
and dateless, cannot I know serve any purpose of yours [i.e. of James E. Austen-Leigh’s, in his writing of his
Memoir
].
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In another letter which Caroline wrote, this time to Mary Leigh of Adlestrop, she gives the name of the mystery lover as ‘Blackall’ (having previously stated above that he was ‘nameless’. She wrote:
I have no doubt that Aunt Jane was beloved of several in the course of her life and was herself very capable of loving. I wish I could give you more dates as to Mr. Blackall. All that I know is this. At Newtown Aunt Cassandra was staying with us when we made the acquaintance of a certain Mr. Henry Eldridge of the Engineers. He was very pleasing and very good looking. My Aunt was much struck with him, and I was struck by her commendation as she rarely admired anyone. Afterwards she spoke of him as one so unusually gifted with all that was agreeable, and said he had reminded her strongly of a gentleman whom they had met one Summer when they were by the sea (I think she said in Devonshire) who had seemed greatly attracted by my Aunt Jane. That when they parted (I imagine he was a visitor there also, but his family might have lived near) he was urgent to know where they would be the next summer, implying or perhaps saying that he should be there also wherever it might be. I can only say the impression left on Aunt Cassandra’s mind was that he had fallen in love with Aunt Jane. Soon afterwards they heard of his death. I am sure she thought him worthy of her sister from the way she recalled his memory, and also that she did not doubt either that he would have been a successful suitor.
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The next source of information is a diary, kept by Jane’s niece Anna (James Austen’s only child by his first wife Anne Mathew, who married Benjamin Lefroy). After Anna’s death, Louisa
(her sixth child, who in turn married the Revd Septimus Bellas) copied some extracts from her late mother’s diary into a notebook. This is referred to by R.W. Chapman as the
Bellas
Manuscript
, part of which reads as follows:
The Austens with their two daughters were once at Teignmouth, the date of that visit was not later than 1802, but besides this they were once travelling in Devonshire, moving about from place to place, and I think that tour was before they left Steventon in [May] 1801, perhaps as early as 1798 or 1799. It was while they were so travelling, according to Aunt Cassandra’s account many years afterwards, that they somehow made acquaintance with a gentleman of the name of Blackall. He and Aunt Jane mutually attracted each other, and such was his charm that even Aunt Cassandra thought him worthy of her sister. They parted on the understanding that he was to come to Steventon, but instead came I know not how long after a letter from his brother to say that he was dead. There is no record of Jane’s affliction [i.e. sorrow following the event], but I think this attachment must have been very deep. Aunt Cassandra herself had so warm a regard for him that some years after her sister’s death, she took a good deal of trouble to find out and see again his brother.
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Louisa Bellas provides further information in the following notes which she made about the Austen family in her copy of Lord Brabourne’s
Letters of Jane Austen
. (In 1884 Edward Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne, published his collected
Letters of
Jane Austen
in two volumes. His second wife was Fanny Knight, daughter of Jane’s brother Edward):
In the summer of 1801 the father, mother and daughters made a tour in Devonshire. They went to Teignmouth, Starcross,
Sidmouth etc. I believe it was at the last named place that they made acquaintance with a young clergyman when visiting his brother, who was one of the doctors of the town. He [the young clergyman] and Jane fell in love with each other, and when the Austens left he asked to be allowed to join them again further on in their tour, and the permission was given. But instead of his arriving as expected, they received a letter announcing his death. In Aunt Cassandra’s memory he lived as one of the most charming persons she had known, worthy even in her eyes, of Aunt Jane.
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A third contributor to the account of Jane’s 1801 or 1802 summer romance was Catherine, daughter of Jane’s brother Francis and wife of John Hubback, a barrister. On 1 March 1870, Catherine wrote as follows to her cousin James E. Austen-Leigh and gives the impression that Jane’s sister Cassandra, was the source of her information:
If ever she [Jane] was in love it was with Dr. Blackall (I think that was the name) whom they met at some watering-place, shortly before they settled at Chawton [in July 1809]. There is no doubt she admired him extremely, and perhaps regretted parting …
Here, Catherine appears to be confusing Dr Blackall with his brother the clergyman. She continues:
I do not think Dr. Blackall died until long afterwards. [This statement, it will be noted, differs from the previous two accounts.] If I do not mistake there were two brothers, one of whom was called Mr. Edward B – and I never heard what became of him. The other, the Dr., Aunt Cassandra met with again long afterwards when she made an excursion to the Wye
in company with Uncle Charles, two of his daughters and my sister Cassandra. My cousin Cassie [Cassandra] Austen, the only survivor of that party, could I have no doubt tell when and how they met him – I only remember that my Aunt found him stout, red-faced and middle-aged – very different from their youthful hero. It must have been in [18]32 or thereabouts, and I believe he died soon afterwards.
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Is it possible, from the incomplete and sometimes contradictory information contained in the above accounts, to identify Jane’s mysterious lover? If so, then first it is necessary to examine the clues provided by the above statements individually.
The various narrators give the following dates of time for the alleged meeting between Jane and her lover:
Louisa Bellas gives several possibilities – 1798–99/The summer of 1801/‘They parted on the understanding that he [the lover] was to come to Steventon [which the Austens left in May 1801]’.
Catherine Hubback – ‘shortly before [the Austens] settled at Chawton (in July 1809)’.
Louisa Bellas – while making a tour of Devonshire/by the sea/Sidmouth in Devonshire.
Catherine Hubback – A ‘watering-place’ (i.e. spa or seaside resort).
Caroline Austen – Devonshire.
Louisa Bellas – a gentleman named Blackall/‘a young clergyman’.
Catherine Hubback – ‘Dr Blackall (I think that was the name).’
Caroline Austen – ‘Mr Blackall’.
James E. Austen-Leigh – ‘a gentleman’.
Louisa Bellas – ‘a clergyman who was visiting his brother who was one of the doctors of the town’.
Caroline Austen – ‘I imagine he was a visitor there [to Devonshire] … but his family might have lived near’.
Louisa Bellas – ‘They parted on the understanding that he [the lover] was to come to Steventon, but instead came I know not how long after a letter from his brother to say that he was dead’./‘… when the Austens left he asked to be allowed to join them further on in their tour … but instead of his arriving as expected, they received a letter announcing his death’.
Caroline Austen – ‘soon afterwards [i.e. after their meeting] they heard of his [the lover’s] death’./‘Shortly afterwards [i.e. after their meeting] he died.’
James E. Austen-Leigh – ‘within a short time [of Jane and her lover having met] they [the Austens] heard of his sudden death’.
From the above accounts there seems to be little doubt that one summer in south Devonshire, Jane met, and fell in love with a gentleman who was probably a clergyman (and who may have had a brother who was a doctor in the area). Also, from Louisa Bellas’ account, it appears that her mother (James’s daughter Anna) had learned, at first hand, from Cassandra that this person’s name was ‘Blackall’.
None of Jane’s letters survive between the time she wrote to Cassandra on 26/27 May 1801 (when she was aged 25) up until 14 September 1804 (when she was aged 28), so it is difficult to be sure of her movements during this period. However, in a letter to her sister dated 8/9 January 1801, Jane states that, ‘Sidmouth is now talked about as our Summer abode’. In other words, that resort on the south Devonshire coast was where the family were to spend the summer of that year. Another clue is that in August 1814 Jane wrote to her brother James’s daughter Anna Austen, describing how she had visited the library at the Devonshire seaside resort of Dawlish ‘12 years ago’ – i.e. in 1802.
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Jane’s letters contain no other reference to Devonshire seaside resorts (Lyme Regis, which she visited in 1803 and 1804, being in Dorsetshire). It seems reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the meeting of Jane and her lover took place in the summer of either 1801 or 1802.
R.W. Chapman correctly states that the Blackalls were a West Country family.
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However, he believes that the mention of the name ‘Blackall’ (by Caroline Austen and by Catherine Hubback), ‘is probably a mere error’. In any case, Chapman affirms that this could not be a reference to the Revd Samuel Blackall whom Jane met in 1798, as that gentleman had not died young; in fact he ‘had lived and prospered’.
Suppose for a moment that Chapman was mistaken in his first proposition, and that Jane’s Devonshire lover’s name was,
indeed, Blackall. Suppose also, that Louisa Bellas was correct in saying that the brother of the lover was a doctor. The question then arises, was there a Dr Blackall resident in a town (Louisa Bellas’ words) in South Devonshire, probably on or near the coast at the requisite time? The answer is yes.
John Blackall MD (1772–1860) was the 6th son of the Revd Theophilus Blackall – a prebendary of Exeter Cathedral – and his wife Anne (
née
Drewe), and the great-grandson of Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter. In June 1797 John was appointed physician to the Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter, Devonshire’s county town. In 1798 he relocated to the south Devonshire town of Totnes (5 miles inland from the coastal town of Paignton and 12 miles inland from the coastal town of Teignmouth)
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, ‘where he became physician to the district’.
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Here he remained until 1806, when he returned to take up his former post at Exeter.
The next question is, did Dr John Blackall have a brother who was a clergyman? Again, the answer is yes. In fact, John had three surviving brothers. Of these, Henry (1769–1845) was a magistrate, a Sheriff and also Mayor of Exeter on a number of occasions, and Thomas (1773–1821) was the Vicar of Tardebigge in Worcestershire. The great surprise is that John had a third surviving brother Samuel – baptised on 6 December 1770 – who was two years his senior.
10
The year of Samuel’s birth, 1770, correlates precisely with that of the Revd Samuel Blackall, whom Jane had met in 1798. Also, William Austen-Leigh confirms the fact that one of Samuel’s brothers was ‘John Blackall, of Balliol College, Oxford, for many years a distinguished Exeter physician’.
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(In fact, John was BA, MA, MB and MD of Balliol College, Oxford. It should be noted that in the Blackall family tree, provided by the Society of Genealogists, there is no mention of an Edward Blackall, so from where Catherine Hubback obtained this name is not known).