Part 5 (2/2)

SCENE III--_The curtain rises, and discovers_ Sir EDWARD SPANGLE _reclined in an elegant attitude on a sofa fast asleep_

_Enter_ Col ELLIOTT

_Col E_ My daughter is not here, I see There lies Sir Edward Shall I tell him the secret? No, he'll certainly blab it But he's asleep, and won't hear me, so I'll e'en venture (_Goes up to_ Sir EDWARD, _whispers him, and exit_)

_End of the First Act Finis_

A soanza, called _Evelyn_ is dedicated, by permission, to Miss Mary Lloyd

The randly entitled on the outside 'Volume the Third'; on the inside 'Effusions of Fancy by a very Young Lady, consisting of Tales in a Style entirely new' It contains one other tale, unfinished, but of considerable length, called _Kitty or the Bower_, which is preceded by the following dedication, dated 'Steventon, August 1792'

TO MISS AUSTEN

MADAM,--Encouraged by your ware of _The Beautiful Cassandra_ and _The History of England_, which, through your generous support, have obtained a place in every library in the Kingdoh four score editions, I take the liberty of begging the sa novel, which I humbly flatter myself possesses Merit beyond any already published, or any that will ever in future appear, except such as rateful

Huins in characteristic style, which suggests the later _Northanger Abbey_

Catharine had theher parents when she was very young, and of being brought up under the care of a maiden aunt, hile she tenderly loved her, watched her conduct with so scrutinizing a severity as tothe rest, whether she loved her or not

Catharine lives with this aunt in Devonshi+re, five miles from Exeter

Sohter (very foolish, and suggestive of Isabella Thorpe) come to visit thereat attention to Catharine, ust of the aunt, who has a detestation of all young men The tale couests The story is at tiret that it was never finished

Other early sketches are _Henry and Eliza_, dedicated to Miss Cooper, which e at the end of 1792; _The Visit_, dedicated to the Rev James Austen; _Jack and Alice_, and _Adventures of Mr Harley_, dedicated to Francis William Austen, Esq, midshi+pman on board HMS _Perseverance_ (soon after 1788), and other pieces dedicated to Charles John Austen, Esq

_Evelyn_ and _Kitty_ seee in her literary education: when she was hesitating between burlesque and i, and when indeed it see note of all the faults to be avoided, and curiously considering how she ought _not_ to write before she atteht direction

[40]'Her own mature opinion of the desirableness of such an early habit of co words of a niece:--

As I grew older,andverses and stories, and I a them She was very kind about it, and always had soainst spending too much time upon the stories was a great ah ht otherwise; but that at e it would be bad for me to be much taken up with one to Winchester--she sent e to this effect, that if I would take her advice I should cease writing till I was sixteen; that she had herself often wished she had readyears of her own life

'As this niece was only twelve years old at the time of her aunt's death, these words seem to imply that the juvenile tales which we have mentioned had, some of them at least, been written in her childhood; while others were separated only by a very few years from the period which included speci'

In the suirls were fifteen and twelve respectively, they accoreat-uncle, old Mr Francis Austen, at Sevenoaks Though Jane had been to Oxford, Southa before, it is probable that this was her first visit into Kent, and, whatstill, her first visit to London We have no clue as to where the party stayed in town, but one of Eliza de Feuillide's letters to Philadelphia Walter mentions that they dined with Eliza and her mother on their way back to Hampshi+re

They talked much of the satisfaction their visit into Kent had afforded them What did you think of my uncle's looks? I was much pleased with them, and if possible he appearedman he is; I love him most sincerely, as indeed I do all the family I believe it was your first acquaintance with Cassandra and Jane

Though Philadelphia's reply to this letter has not been preserved, we have a letter of hers to her brother Writing on July 23, she says:--

Yesterday I began an acquaintance with my two female cousins, Austens My uncle, aunt, Cassandra, and Jane arrived at Mr F Austen's the day before We dined with them there As it's pure nature to love ourselves, I enerally reckoned aresemblance of me in features, complexion, and manners I never foundher very pretty, but fancied I could discover _she_ was not so well pleased with the coreat deal of the vanity so likely to arise and so proper to be suppres't The youngest [Jane] is very like her brother Henry, not at all pretty and very priment which you will scold me for My aunt has lost several fore-teeth, which makes her look old; my uncle is quite white-haired, but looks vastly well; all in high spirits and disposed to be pleased with each other

A day or two later, Philadelphia wrote further:--

I continue to admire my amiable likeness the best of the two in every respect; she keeps up conversation in a very sensible and pleasing manner Yesterday they all spent the day with us, and the more I see of Cassandra the more I admire [her] Jane is whimsical and affected

'Not at all pretty,' 'whimsical and affected' 'Poor Jane!' one is tempted to exclaim, but whatever she would have said to this esti we may be perfectly sure: that she would have been the first to agree with her critic as to her own absolute inferiority to Cassandra