Chapter XVIII: Persuasion

1815-1816

So far as we know, Jane went to London in 1815 perfectly sound in health. Her remark to Cassandra on her enjoyment of the muggy, unwholesome weather is written with the security of a person accustomed to be free from bodily ailments, and expecting that condition of things to continue. But, alas! we must look upon this visit, which seemed to mark the highest point in her modest fame, as marking also a downward stage in her career as regards both prosperity and health. Perhaps the excitement of the publication of _Emma_, and probably the close attention on the sick-bed of her brother which coincided with it--possibly even the muggy weather which she praised so highly--combined to diminish her vigour, and to sow the seeds of a disease, the exact nature of which no one seems ever to have been able to determine. These, however, were not the only disquieting circumstances which surrounded her. In the following March her favourite brother, Henry, was declared a bankrupt; and there are one or two indications of her being aware that all was not well with the firm in the autumn. The months which intervened while this catastrophe was impending must have been very trying to one already weakened by all that she had gone through. More agreeable associations, however, arose from the success of _Emma_. There was, for instance, a pleasant exchange of letters with the Countess of Morley, a lady of some literary capacity, to whom Jane had sent a copy of _Emma_, and who expressed her thanks and admiration in very warm terms. The author in her turn, speaking of Lady Morley's approval, says: '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.'

The end of March brought a still more flattering tribute to Jane's growing fame, in the shape of an article on _Emma_ in the _Quarterly Review_. The _Review_, though dated October 1815, did not appear till March of the following year,[311] and the writer of the article was none other than Sir Walter Scott.[312]

The honour of an article in the _Quarterly_ was no doubt mainly due to the fact that Jane had published her latest book with Mr. Murray, its owner. Though the praise contained in the article would scarcely satisfy an enthusiastic admirer of her works,[313] Miss Austen felt she had no cause to complain. In thanking Mr. Murray for lending her a copy of the _Review_, she writes:--

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.

The fact that she was honoured with a notice in the _Quarterly_ did not prevent the author from collecting and leaving on record the more domestic criticisms of her family and friends.

OPINIONS OF _Emma_.

_Captain F. Austen_ liked it extremely, observing
that though there might be more wit in _P. and P._
and an higher morality in _M. P._, yet altogether,
on account of its peculiar air of Nature
throughout, he preferred it to either.

_Mrs. Frank Austen_ liked and admired it very much
indeed, but must still prefer _P. and P._

_Mrs. J. Bridges_ preferred it to all the others.

_Miss Sharp._--Better than _M. P._, but not so
well as _P. and P._ Pleased with the heroine for
her originality, delighted with Mr. K., and called
Mrs. Elton beyond praise--dissatisfied with Jane
Fairfax.

_Cassandra._--Better than _P. and P._ but not so
well as _M. P._

_Fanny K._--Not so well as either _P. and P._ or
_M. P._ Could not bear Emma herself. Mr. Knightley
delightful. Should like J. F. if she knew more of
her.

_Mr. and Mrs. James Austen_ did not like it so
well as either of the three others. Language
different from the others; not so easily read.

_Edward_ preferred it to _M. P._ only. Mr. K.
liked by everybody.

_Miss Bigg._--Not equal to either _P. and P._ or
_M. P._ Objected to the sameness of the subject
(Matchmaking) all through. Too much of Mrs. Elton
and H. Smith. Language superior to the others.

_My Mother_ thought it more entertaining than _M.
P._, but not so interesting as _P. and P._ No
characters in it equal to Lady Catherine or Mr.
Collins.

_Miss Lloyd_ thought it as clever as either of the
others, but did not receive so much pleasure from
it as from _P. and P._ and _M. P._

_Fanny Cage_ liked it very much indeed, and
classed it between _P. and P._ and _M. P._

_Mrs. and Miss Craven_ liked it very much, but not
so much as the others.

_Mr. Sherer_ did not think it equal to either _M.
P._ (which he liked the best of all) or _P. and
P._ Displeased with my pictures of clergymen.

_Miss Bigg_, on reading it a second time, liked
Miss Bates much better than at first, and
expressed herself as liking all the people of
Highbury in general, except Harriet Smith, but
could not help still thinking _her_ too silly in
her loves.

_The Family at Upton Gray_ all very much amused
with it. Miss Bates a great favourite with Mrs.
Beaufoy.

_Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Perrot_ saw many beauties in
it, but could not think it equal to _P. and P._
Darcy and Elizabeth had spoilt them for anything
else. Mr. K., however, an excellent character;
Emma better luck than a matchmaker often has;
pitied Jane Fairfax; thought Frank Churchill
better treated than he deserved.

_Countess Craven_ admired it very much, but did
not think it equal to _P. and P._ which she ranked
as the very first of its sort.

_Mrs. Guiton_ thought it too natural to be
interesting.

_Mrs. Digweed_ did not like it so well as the
others: in fact if she had not known the author
would hardly have got through it.

_Miss Terry_ admired it very much, particularly
Mrs. Elton.

_Henry Sanford_--very much pleased with
it--delighted with Miss Bates, but thought Mrs.
Elton the best-drawn character in the book.
_Mansfield Park_, however, still his favourite.

_Mr. Haden_--_quite_ delighted with it. Admired
the character of Emma.

_Miss Isabella Herries_ did not like it. Objected
to my exposing the sex in the character of the
heroine. Convinced that I had meant Mrs. and Miss
Bates for some acquaintance of theirs. People whom
I never heard of before.

_Mrs. Harriet Moore_ admired it very much, but _M.
P._ still her favourite of all.

_Countess of Morley_ delighted with it.

_Mr. Cockerell_ liked it so little that Fanny
would not send me his opinion.

_Mrs. Dickson_ did not much like it--thought it
very inferior to _P. and P._ Liked it the less
from there being a Mr. and Mrs. Dixon in it.

_Mrs. Brandreth_ thought the third volume superior
to anything I had ever written--quite beautiful!

_Mr. B. Lefroy_ thought that if there had been
more incident it would be equal to any of the
others. The characters quite as well-drawn and
supported as in any, and from being more every-day
ones, the more entertaining. Did not like the
heroine so well as any of the others. Miss Bates
excellent, but rather too much of her. Mr. and
Mrs. Elton admirable and John Knightley a sensible
man.

_Mrs. B. Lefroy_ ranked _Emma_ as a composition
with _S. and S._ Not so _brilliant_ as _P. and P._
nor so _equal_ as _M. P._ Preferred Emma herself
to all the heroines. The characters, like all the
others, admirably well drawn and
supported--perhaps rather less strongly marked
than some, but only the more natural for that
reason. Mr. Knightley, Mrs. Elton, and Miss Bates
her favourites. Thought one or two of the
conversations too long.

_Mrs. Lefroy_ preferred it to _M. P._, but liked
_M. P._ the least of all.

_Mr. Fowle_ read only the first and last chapters,
because he had heard it was not interesting.

_Mrs. Lutley Sclater_ liked it very much, better
than _M. P._, and thought I had 'brought it all
about very cleverly in the last volume.'

_Mrs. C. Cage_ wrote thus to Fanny: 'A great many
thanks for the loan of _Emma_, which I am
delighted with. I like it better than any. Every
character is thoroughly kept up. I must enjoy
reading it again with Charles. Miss Bates is
incomparable, but I was nearly killed with those
precious treasures. They are unique, and really
with more fun than I can express. I am at Highbury
all day, and I can't help feeling I have just got
into a new set of acquaintance. No one writes such
good sense, and so very comfortable.'

_Mrs. Wroughton_ did not like it so well as _P.
and P._ Thought the authoress wrong, in such times
as these, to draw such clergymen as Mr. Collins
and Mr. Elton.

_Sir J. Langham_ thought it much inferior to the
others.

_Mr. Jeffrey_ (of the _Edinburgh Review_) was kept
up by it three nights.

_Miss Murden._--Certainly inferior to all the
others.

_Captain C. Austen_ wrote: '_Emma_ arrived in time
to a moment. I am delighted with her, more so I
think than even with my favourite, _Pride and
Prejudice_, and have read it three times in the
passage.'

_Mrs. D. Dundas_ thought it very clever, but did
not like it so well as either of the others.

* * * * *

We do not know how Mr. Jeffrey's involuntary
tribute of admiration was conveyed to the author,
but we are sure she must have valued it very
highly. It was not the first time she had
collected a miscellaneous set of opinions on her
work. The two following critiques on _Mansfield
Park_--apparently from two ladies of the same
family--will illustrate the sort of want of
comprehension from which the author had to suffer
when she got outside the limits of her own
immediate circle.

_Mrs. B._--Much pleased with it: particularly with
the character of Fanny as being so very natural.
Thought Lady Bertram like herself. Preferred it to
either of the others; but imagined _that_ might be
want of taste, as she did not understand wit.

_Mrs. Augusta B._ owned that she thought _S. and
S._ and _P. and P._ downright nonsense, but
expected to like _M. P._ better, and having
finished the first volume, flattered herself she
had got through the worst.

Meanwhile, the banking-house of Austen, Maunde, and Tilson, had closed its doors; and on March 23, 1816, Henry Austen was declared a bankrupt: the immediate cause of the collapse being the failure of an Alton bank which the London firm had backed. No personal extravagance was charged against Henry; but he had the unpleasant sensation of starting life over again, and of having caused serious loss to several of his family, especially his brother Edward and Mr. Leigh Perrot, who had gone sureties for him on his appointment as Receiver-General for Oxfordshire. Jane herself was fortunate in losing no more than thirteen pounds--a portion of the profits of _Mansfield Park_.[314]

Henry Austen possessed an extraordinary elasticity of nature which made a rebound from depression easy--indeed, almost inevitable--in his case. He returned at once to his original intention of taking Orders, as if the intervening military and banking career had been nothing more than an interruption of his normal course. Nor was it merely perfunctory performance of clerical duties to which he looked forward: he was in earnest, and began by making use of his former classical knowledge to take up a serious study of the New Testament in the original language. He seems to have been in advance of his age in this respect; for when he went to be examined by the Bishop, that dignitary, after asking him such questions as he thought desirable, put his hand on a book which lay near him on the table, and which happened to be a Greek Testament, and said: 'As for _this_ book, Mr. Austen, I dare say it is some years since either you or I looked into it.'

Henry Austen became in time an earnest preacher of the evangelical school, and was for many years perpetual curate of Bentley, near Alton. He did not marry the 'Hanwell favourite,' but found a wife after some years in Miss Eleanor Jackson, who survived him.

It must have been somewhere about this time that Jane Austen succeeded in recovering the MS. of _Northanger Abbey_. An unsuccessful attempt to secure the publication of the novel in the year 1809 has already been noticed; but we learn from the _Memoir_ that after four works of hers had been published, and somewhat widely circulated, one of her brothers (acting for her) negotiated with the publisher who had bought it, and found him very willing to receive back his money, and resign all claim to the copyright. When the bargain was concluded and the money paid, but not till then, the negotiator had the satisfaction of informing him that the work which had been so lightly esteemed was by the author of _Pride and Prejudice_.[315]

Meanwhile, Jane had been for some months engaged on _Persuasion_. It was begun before she went to London in the autumn of 1815 for the publication of _Emma_; but that visit and all that happened to her during the winter must certainly have interrupted its composition, and possibly modified its tone. It is less high-spirited and more tender in its description of a stricken heart than anything she had attempted before.

In May, Cassandra and Jane left Chawton to spend three weeks at Cheltenham, stopping with their brother at Steventon, and with the Fowles at Kintbury on the way, and again at Steventon on their return. Jane must have been decidedly out of health, for the change in her did not escape the notice of her friends. But whatever was the exact state of her health during the first half of this year, it did not prevent her from being able, on July 18, to write 'Finis' at the end of the first draft of _Persuasion_; and thereby hangs an interesting tale, which we cannot do better than relate in the words of the _Memoir_.

The book had been brought to an end in July; and
the re-engagement of the hero and heroine effected
in a totally different manner in a scene laid at
Admiral Croft's lodgings. But her performance did
not satisfy her. She thought it tame and flat, and
was desirous of producing something better. This
weighed upon her mind--the more so, probably, on
account of the weak state of her health; so that
one night she retired to rest in very low spirits.
But such depression was little in accordance with
her nature, and was soon shaken off. The next
morning she awoke to more cheerful views and
brighter inspirations; the sense of power revived;
and imagination resumed its course. She cancelled
the condemned chapter, and wrote two others,
entirely different, in its stead. The result is
that we possess the visit of the Musgrove party to
Bath; the crowded and animated scenes at the White
Hart Hotel; and the charming conversation between
Captain Harville and Anne Elliot, overheard by
Captain Wentworth, by which the two faithful
lovers were at last led to understand each other's
feelings. The tenth and eleventh chapters of
_Persuasion_, then, rather than the actual
winding-up of the story, contain the latest of her
printed compositions--her last contribution to the
entertainment of the public. Perhaps it may be
thought that she has seldom written anything more
brilliant; and that, independent of the original
manner in which the _denouement_ is brought about,
the pictures of Charles Musgrove's good-natured
boyishness and of his wife's jealous selfishness
would have been incomplete without these finishing
strokes. The cancelled chapter exists in
manuscript. It is certainly inferior to the two
which were substituted for it; but it was such as
some writers and some readers might have been
contented with; and it contained touches which
scarcely any other hand could have given, the
suppression of which may be almost a matter of
regret.[316]

For the cancelled chapter in _Persuasion_, and for other posthumous writings of the author, we will refer our readers to the second edition of the _Memoir_. They will not fail to note the delicate touches put to the characters of the Crofts by the Admiral's triumph over the servant who was 'denying' Mrs. Croft, and by the frequent excursions of husband and wife together 'upstairs to hear a noise, or downstairs to settle their accounts, or upon the landing to trim the lamp.' But the added chapters take one altogether into a higher province of fiction, where the deepest emotion and the most delicate humour are blended in one scene: a scene that makes one think that, had its author lived, we might have had later masterpieces of a different type from that of their predecessors.

_Persuasion_ is of about the same length as _Northanger Abbey_, and it seems natural to suppose that there was some purpose in this similarity, and that the two works were intended to be published together--as in the end they were--each as a two-volume novel. She certainly contemplated the publication of _Northanger Abbey_ (which at that stage bore the name of _Catherine_) after she had recovered it in 1816, and when she wrote the 'advertisement' which appears in the first edition of the book. Yet afterwards she seems rather to have gone back from this intention. Writing to Fanny Knight, March 13, 1817, she says:--

I _will_ answer your kind questions more than you
expect. _Miss Catherine_ is put upon the shelf for
the present, and I do not know that she will ever
come out; but I have a something ready for
publication, which may perhaps appear about a
twelvemonth hence. It is short--about the length
of _Catherine_. This is for yourself alone.

_Catherine_ is of course _Northanger Abbey_, and the 'something' is _Persuasion_. She returns to the latter in writing again to Fanny, March 23, telling her she will not like it, and adding 'You may perhaps like the heroine, as she is almost too good for me.'

Two remarkable points in these extracts are: the statement that _Persuasion_ was 'ready for publication,' but was not to appear for a twelvemonth, and the idea that the character of the heroine was, as it were, imposed upon the author by an external force which she was powerless to resist. The intended delay in publishing _Persuasion_ shows how unwilling she was to let anything go till she was quite sure she had polished it to the utmost: and we may imagine that, had health returned, the one comparatively dull and lifeless part of the book--the long story of Mrs. Smith--would have been somehow or other brought to life by touches which she knew so well how to impart.

As for the doubt about publishing _Catherine_ at all, it was not unnatural. She might reasonably hesitate to put an immature work by the side of her most mature: she might (and we know that she _did_) feel that the social usages of sixteen years ago, which she was describing in this tale, were no longer those of the day; and it was possible that a satire on Mrs. Radcliffe was not what the public now wanted. The members of the Austen family, who managed the publication of her novels after her death, thought differently; and we are grateful to them for having done so.

Had she followed all the advice given her by her friends, she would have produced something very different from either _Northanger Abbey_ or _Persuasion_. It must have been in the course of the year 1816 that she drew up the following 'plan of a novel, according to hints from various quarters,' adding below the names of the friends who gave the hints.

Scene to be in the country. Heroine, the daughter
of a clergyman[317]: one 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. He, the most excellent man that can be
imagined, perfect in character, temper, and
manners, 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,[318] a faultless
character herself, perfectly good, with much
tenderness and sentiment and not the least
wit,[319] very highly accomplished,[320]
understanding modern languages, and (generally
speaking) everything that the most accomplished
young women learn, but particularly excelling in
music--her favourite pursuit--and playing equally
well on the pianoforte and harp, and singing in
the first style. Her person quite beautiful,[321]
dark eyes and plump cheeks. Book to open with the
description of father and daughter, who are to
converse in long speeches, elegant language, and a
tone of high serious sentiment. The father to be
induced, at his daughter's earnest request, to
relate to her the past events of his life. This
narrative will 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[322] to a distinguished naval character
about the Court; his going afterwards to Court
himself, which introduced him to a great variety
of characters and involved him in many interesting
situations, concluding with his opinion of the
benefits of tithes being done away, and his having
buried his own mother (heroine's lamented
grandmother) in consequence of the High Priest of
the parish in which she died refusing to pay her
remains the respect due to them. The father to be
of a very literary turn, an enthusiast in
literature, nobody's enemy but his own; at the
same time most zealous in the discharge of his
pastoral duties, the model of an exemplary parish
priest.[323] The heroine's friendship to be sought
after by a young woman in the same neighbourhood,
of talents and shrewdness, with light eyes and a
fair skin, but having a considerable degree of
wit[324]; heroine shall shrink from the
acquaintance. From this outset the story will
proceed and contain a striking variety of
adventures. Heroine and her father never above a
fortnight together in one place[325]: 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 necessitated
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 characters, but there will be no mixture. The
scene will be for ever shifting from one set of
people to another; but all the good[326] will be
unexceptionable in every respect, and 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, in the progress of her first
removal, heroine must meet with the hero[327]--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 always refers wholly to her
father, exceedingly angry that _he_[328] should
not be 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
Kamschatka, 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 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,[329] and living in high style. The name
of the work not to be _Emma_,[330] but of same
sort as _Sense and Sensibility_ and _Pride and
Prejudice_.[331]

FOOTNOTES:

[311] The article would, of course, have been an impossibility had the _Review_ been published punctually, _Emma_ not appearing till late in December 1815.

[312] From information kindly supplied by Mr. John Murray.

[313] After a short mention of _Sense and Sensibility_ and _Pride and Prejudice_ (in which Sir Walter unkindly suggests that Lizzie Bennet in refusing Darcy 'does not perceive that she has done a foolish thing until she accidentally visits a very handsome seat and grounds belonging to her admirer'), the critic devotes considerable space, including a long quotation, to _Emma_. Summing up, he declares as follows:--

'Perhaps the reader may collect, from the preceding
specimen, both the merits and faults of the author.
The former consist much in the force of a
narrative, conducted with much neatness and point,
and a quiet yet comic dialogue, in which the
characters of the speakers evolve themselves with
dramatic effect. The faults, on the contrary, arise
from the minute detail which the author's plan
comprehends. Characters of folly or simplicity,
such as those of old Woodhouse and Miss Bates, are
ridiculous when first presented, but if too often
brought forward or too long dwelt upon, their
prosing is apt to become as tiresome in fiction as
in real society.'

Had not Sir Walter found it necessary to be somewhat apologetic in commending in public anything so frivolous as a novel, his praise would probably have been more whole-hearted, as in the well-known passage in his diary, under date March 14, 1826:--

'Read again, for the third time at least, Miss
Austen's finely written novel of _Pride and
Prejudice_. That young lady has a talent for
describing the involvements and feelings and
characters of ordinary life, which is to me the
most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-Wow
strain I can do myself like any now going; but the
exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace
things and characters interesting from the truth of
the description and the sentiment is denied to me.
What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!'

[314] No division or bitterness seems to have been caused in the family by these events: a remarkable proof of the strong affection which united them.

[315] _Memoir_, p. 130.

[316] _Memoir_, p. 157.

[317] Mr. Gifford.

[318] Fanny Knight.

[319] Mary Cooke.

[320] Fanny Knight.

[321] Mary Cooke.

[322] Mr. Clarke.

[323] Mr. Sherer.

[324] Mary Cooke.

[325] Many critics.

[326] Mary Cooke.

[327] Fanny Knight.

[328] Mrs. Pearse of Chilton Lodge.

[329] Fanny Knight.

[330] Mrs. Craven.

[331] Mr. H. Sanford.