by Jane Austen
'My dear Diana!' exclaimed Mrs Parker, 'I could no more mention these things to Lady Denham than I could fly.'
'Where's the difficulty? - I wish I could go with you myself - but in five minutes I must be at Mrs Griffiths' - to encourage Miss Lambe in taking her first dip. She is so frightened, poor thing, that I promised to come and keep up her spirits, and go in the machine with her if she wished it - and as soon as that is over, I must hurry home, for Susan is to have leeches at one o'clock - which will be a three hours' business, - therefore I really have not a moment to spare - besides that (between ourselves) I ought to be in bed myself at this present time, for I am hardly able to stand - and when the leeches have done, I dare say we shall both go to our rooms for the rest of the day.'
'I am sorry to hear it, indeed; but if this is the case I hope Arthur will come to us.'
'If Arthur takes my advice, he will go to bed too, for if he stays up by himself, he will certainly eat and drink more than he ought; - but you see Mary, how impossible it is for me to go with you to Lady Denham's.'
'Upon second thoughts Mary,' said her husband, 'I will not trouble you to speak about the Mullins's. - I will take an opportunity of seeing Lady Denham myself. - I know how little it suits you to be pressing matters upon a mind at all unwilling.'
His application thus withdrawn, his sister could say no more in support of hers, which was his object, as he felt all their impropriety and all the certainty of their ill effect upon his own better claim. - Mrs Parker was delighted at this release, and set off very happy with her friend and her little girl, on this walk to Sanditon House.
It was a close, misty morning, and when they reached the brow of the hill, they could not for some time make out what sort of carriage it was, which they saw coming up. It appeared at different moments to be everything from the gig to the phaeton, - from one horse to four; and just as they were concluding in favour of a tandem, little Mary's young eyes distinguished the coachman and she called out, 'T'is Uncle Sidney Mama, it is indeed.' And so it proved.
Mr Sidney Parker driving his servant in a very neat carriage was soon opposite to them, and they all stopped for a few minutes. The manners of the Parkers were always pleasing among themselves - and it was a very friendly meeting between Sidney and his sister-in-law, who was most kindly taking it for granted that he was on his way to Trafalgar House. This he declined however. 'He was just come from Eastbourne, proposing to spend two or three days, as it might happen, at Sanditon - but the hotel must be his quarters - He was expecting to be joined there by a friend or two.'
The rest was common enquiries and remarks, with kind notice of little Mary, and a very well-bred bow and proper address to Miss Heywood on her being named to him - and they parted, to meet again within a few hours. Sidney Parker was about seven or eight-and-twenty, very good-looking, with a decided air of ease and fashion, and a lively countenance. - This adventure afforded agreeable discussion for some time. Mrs Parker entered into all her husband's joy on the occasion, and exulted in the credit which Sidney's arrival would give the place.
The road to Sanditon House was a broad, handsome, planted approach, between fields, and conducting at the end of a quarter of a mile through second gates into the grounds, which though not extensive had all the beauty and respectability which an abundance of very fine timber could give. - These entrance gates were so much in a corner of the grounds or paddock, so near one of its boundaries, that an outside fence was at first' almost pressing on the road - till an angle here, and a curve there threw them to a better distance. The fence was a proper park paling in excellent condition; with clusters of fine elms, or rows of old thorns following its line almost everywhere.34
Almost must be stipulated - for there were vacant spaces - and through one of these, Charlotte as soon as they entered the enclosure, caught a glimpse over the pales of something white and womanish on the other side; - it was something which immediately brought Miss Brereton into her head - and stepping to the pales, she saw indeed - and very decidedly, in spite of the mist; Miss Brereton seated, not far before her, at the foot of the bank which sloped down from the outside of the paling and which a narrow path seemed to skirt along; - Miss Brereton seated, apparently very composedly - and Sir Edward Denham by her side.
They were sitting so near each other and appeared so closely engaged in gentle conversation, that Charlotte instantly felt she had nothing to do but to step back again, and say not a word. - Privacy was certainly their object. - It could not but strike her rather unfavourably with regard to Clara; - but hers was a situation which must not be judged with severity.
She was glad to perceive that nothing had been discerned by Mrs Parker; if Charlotte had not been considerably the tallest of the two, Miss Brereton's white ribbons might not have fallen within the ken of her more observant eyes. - Among other points of moralizing reflection with the sight of this tete-a-tete produced, Charlotte could not but think of the extreme difficulty which secret lovers must have in finding a proper spot for their stolen interviews. - Here perhaps they had thought themselves so perfectly secure from observation! - the whole field open before them - a steep bank and pales never crossed by the foot of man35 at their back - and a great thickness of air, in aid -. Yet here, she had seen them. They were really ill-used.
The house was large and handsome; two servants appeared, to admit them, and everything had a suitable air of property and order. - Lady Denham valued herself upon her liberal establishment, and had great enjoyment in the order and the importance of her style of living. - They were shown into the usual sitting room, well-proportioned and well-furnished; - though it was furniture rather originally good and extremely well kept, than new and showy - and as Lady Denham was not there, Charlotte had leisure to look about, and to be told by Mrs Parker that the whole-length portrait of a stately gentleman,36 which placed over the mantlepiece, caught the eye immediately, was the picture of Sir Harry Denham - and that one among many miniatures in another part of the room, little conspicuous, represented Mr Hollis. - Poor Mr Hollis! - It was impossible not to feel him hardly used; to be obliged to stand back in his own house and see the best place by the first constantly occupied by Sir Harry Denham.
NOTES
LADY SUSAN
The text of this was taken from Jane Austen's own fair copy, which contained only twelve variations in all, none of them of much significance. The most striking are 'dull' for 'heavy' in Letter 4, 'attractive' for 'pleasing' in Letter 8, 'flexibility' for 'weakness' in Letter 25, and 'sensibilities' for 'feelings' in Letter 30. None of the others are worthy of mention, though all are included in Chapman's notes on the text. (Lady Susan, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1825.) Chapman also notes that the 1871 edition had many departures from the original, due to 'misreading of the manuscript, or to inadvertence (sic) in copying or printing'. He lists them all.
One looks in vain for obscure points of meaning or social detail in Lady Susan. There are none.
THE WATSONS
1. In the manuscript 'D.' appears as 'L.', and Surrey as Sussex, in an erasure, indicating that Jane Austen originally intended to set the novel in Sussex. There are other alterations and inconsistencies in keeping with this earlier intention: later on she refers to 'D.' (presumably Dorking) as 'R.', (presumably Reigate), and changes Southampton to Chichester. Surrey she always spells as 'Surry'.
2. The practice of sending a child to live more or less permanently with relatives seems to have been more acceptable than it would be now. Owing perhaps to medical ignorance, people tended to have large families or no children at all, or at least that is the impression one receives from Jane Austen's fiction and her experience. Her own brother Edward was brought up by a distant cousin, Thomas Knight, who was himself childless, and Edward eventually became his heir, took his name, and inherited his large estate. The Watsons had evidently expected such good fortune to come Emma's way also.
3. Tom Musgrave appears as 'Charles' in the manuscript: Tom' was a second thought. Jane Aus
ten very frequently had second thoughts about proper names, but as she drew on a very small range, and most of them from her own personal acquaintance, one cannot quite see why.
4. Deleted in the manuscript, 'tho' he is always philandering with one or another.' Did Jane Austen on second thoughts think this too unlady-like an expression?
5. There is an extra deleted section in the manuscript telling us that Purvis 'has the living of Alford about 14 miles off. We were very much attached to each other.'
6. 'Asthma' appears as 'gout' in an erasure. Why she preferred asthma to gout is not clear.
7. 'Is a little fretful and perverse' appears more becomingly as 'has a good deal of spirit' in a deleted phrase.
8. Captain Hunter appears as Captain Carr, and Shropshire as Devonshire, in deleted portions of the text. Surrey is again a second thought for Sussex. Guildford is always spelled by Jane Austen as 'Guilford'.
9. The social status of the surgeon was then considerably lower than it became in the nineteenth century. It was hardly a profession fit for gentlemen. When one looks at the general level of education and competence of the medical profession manifested in Sanditon, one can see why.
10. The turnpike system, which consisted of exacting charges from road-users at toll gates, or turnpike gates, had been introduced in the seventeenth century. The charges were used for the maintenance of the turnpike roads, many of which were still deplorably bad at this period; Emma's brother later comments indignantly on the poor state of the country roads.
11. A sweep was a curved carriage drive, as fashionable in Jane Austen's day as a shrubbery.
12. The White Hart at D. was probably the Red Lion at Dorking, which Jane Austen knew from her visits to her friends the Cookes, who lived nearby in Great Bookham.
13. Jane Austen's first thought was that Emma had not seen Sam since he was ten years old, and Emma says in an erased passage, 'and if you do not tell me that he is plain therefore (but let him be ever so plain, I have you know, I have no right to refuse being like him -) but my father reckons us alike.'
14. Jane Austen's French accents are often odd. I have left them as she wrote them.
15. Cassino was a fashionable card game. The Middletons play it in Sense and Sensibility.
16. Evidently, the dance was a country dance, of the sort which J. E. Austen-Leigh records in his Memoir of Jane Austen: the men and women would be ranged opposite one another in rows, with little opportunity for prolonged flirtation or even conversation, and he says 'Much heart-buming and discontent sometimes arose as to who should stand above whom, and especially as to who was entitled to the high privilege of calling and leading off the first dance; and no little indignation was felt when any of the leading couples retired prematurely from their duties...'
17. Negus was a drink mixed from wine (usually port or sherry) with hot water, sugar and flavourings. Doubtless it was considered a defence against the cold which young ladies seemed to be expected to catch at balls.
18. Half-boots were fashionable wear for ladies for riding, walking or sport: nankin (more often spelt nankeen) was a yellow-buff Chinese cotton, named after its place of origin, Nanking. A nankin boot galoshed with black would therefore have been a boot made of yellow cloth, with a piece of black leather running round the lower part of the boot above the sole. More a fashion boot than a boot for muddy lanes, as Emma points out.
19. There is a cancelled version of this part of the text, written by Jane Austen on a separate piece of paper. It says:
'You mean, I am to suppose, a compliment of course my lord,' said Emma bowing, 'though I do not exactly understand (define?) it.' Lord Osborne laughed rather awkwardly - and then said 'Upon my soul, I am a bad one for compliments. Nobody can be a worse hand at it (such things?) than myself.' (I wish I knew more of the matter) and after some minutes silence - added, 'Can (not) you give me a lesson Miss Watson in the art of paying compliments - I should be very glad to learn. I want very much to know how to please the ladies - one lady at least (A cold monosyllable and grave look from Emma repressed the growing) freedom of his manner. He had too much sense not to take the hint - and when he spoke again, it was with a degree of courteous propriety which he had never used before. He was rewarded...'
20. In a cancelled passage, Lord Osborne enthuses for a couple of sentences more about his hounds: 'Nobody can be indifferent to the glorious sounds (Everybody allows that there is not so fine a sight in the world) as a pack of hounds in full cry. I am sure you will be pleased (delighted) to hear the first burst if we can (but) find there as I daresay we shall.'
21. 'Speculation' was a game which became popular in the last three decades of the eighteenth century, reflecting public interest in what Adam Smith described as the new 'trade of speculation' - a subject with which Jane Austen deals in Sanditon. The chief feature of the game was the buying and selling of trump cards, and Jane Austen used to enjoy it herself: we find her writing to her sister Cassandra in January 1809 'The preference of Brag over Speculation does not greatly surprise me, because I feel the same myself; but it mortifies me deeply, because Speculation was under my patronage; and after all, what is there so delightful in a pair royal of Braggers?... When one comes to reason upon it, it cannot stand its ground against Speculation -'
22. A Pembroke table is a small elegant four-legged table with two folding flaps.
23. Vingt-un, or vingt-et-un, is a round game, in which the object is to make up the number of twenty-one or as near as possible without exceeding it, by counting the number of pips on the cards.
24. After deliberation I have left this semi-colon where Jane Austen places it, though it does seem that it might more logically come after 'prospect'.
SANDITON
There are a very great number of minor alterations in the text of Sanditon, most of them merely second thoughts about phrasing. I have only recorded a very few of the more interesting ones. It is worth noting that although it was the last thing Jane Austen wrote, and she was ill while she wrote it, Chapman says 'the latter part of the manuscript shows no change in legibility or accuracy'.
1. Jane Austen spells Tonbridge as 'Tunbridge', and Eastbourne usually, but not always, as 'East Bourne'.
2. Throughout, Jane Austen spells ankle as 'ancle'.
3. There is a real Willingden near Eastbourne, but Great Willingden and Willingden Abbots are fictitious.
4. 'Scrape' is a replacement for 'awkward predicament'.
5. For 'turnpike road', see note 10 on The Watsons. A turnpike road was a main road.
6. 'Nursery grounds' have replaced 'laying out gardens'.
7. The quotation from Cowper is from his poem Truth, which appeared in his first published volume in 1782. In it, Cowper compares the simple cottager to Voltaire, praising the first for her piety, and condemning the second for his scepticism and vanity. He says:
Yon cottager who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins all her little store,
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay,
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day,
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light...
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true -
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew...
O happy peasant! O unhappy bard!
His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward;
He praised perhaps for ages yet to come,
She never heard of half a mile from home...'
Jane Austen herself read and admired Cowper, and her heroines Fanny Price and Marianne Dashwood share her admiration. In 1807 we find her writing to her sister, saying she has asked the gardener to plant some syringa, on the strength of Cowper's description of it.
8. A deleted phrase after 'village' adds 'inhabited by one family of consequence, his own'.
9. 'Nobody wanted spirits, nobody wanted strength' has replaced 'nor cd the most obstinate cougher retain a cough there four and twenty hours'.
10. The circulating lib
rary was an important feature in late eighteenth - and early nineteenth-century social life. Particularly in bathing and watering places, the library was a popular social resort, and there were over a thousand of them in Great Britain by 1800. As can be seen from this passage, they dealt not only in books, but also sold tickets for entertainments, and commodities such as sealing wax, trinkets, local shell ornaments and pottery figures. Many of them had annexes where raffles were held and musical diversions offered, though the Sanditon library would seem not to have reached this stage of prosperity and vulgarity.
11. Originally it was 'one night' rather than 'five shillings' which Mr Heywood was to promise not to spend in Brinshore.
12. 'wants of society' has replaced the phrase 'social order'.
13. A 'cottage omee' (an example, like empressement in The Watsons, of Jane Austen's eccentric views of French punctuation) was a cottage which was not really a cottage - in other words, not a labourer's cottage, like the one Mr Parker was aiming for in the first chapter, but an elegant little middle-class retreat, often with French windows and verandas. The cottage ornee came in with the vogue for the picturesque: the aim, as the Encyclopedia of Architecture says, was to unite internal comfort and picturesque exterior effects.
