of her nature--a very real
one--has not been dwelt upon. No doubt the Austens were, as a family,
unwilling to show their deeper feelings, and the sad end of Jane's one
romance would naturally tend to intensify this dislike of expression;
but the feeling was there, and it finally found utterance in her latest
work, when, through Anne Elliot, she claimed for women the right of
'loving longest when existence or when hope is gone.'

Then, again, her nephew and nieces hardly knew how much she had gone
into society, or how much, with a certain characteristic aloofness, she
had enjoyed it. Bath, either when she was the guest of her uncle and
aunt or when she was a resident; London, with her brother Henry and his
wife, and the rather miscellaneous society which they enjoyed;
Godmersham, with her brother Edward and his county neighbours in East
Kent;--these had all given her many opportunities of studying the
particular types which she blended into her own creations.

A third point is the uneventful nature of the author's life, which, as
we think, has been a good deal exaggerated. Quiet it certainly was; but
the quiet life of a member of a large family in the England of that date
was compatible with a good deal of stirring incident, happening, if not
to herself, at all events to those who were nearest to her, and who
commanded her deepest sympathies.

We hope therefore that our narrative, with all its imperfections and its
inevitable repetition of much that has already been published, will at
least be of use in removing misconceptions, in laying some new facts
before the reader, and in placing others in a fresh light. It is
intended as a narrative, and not as a piece of literary criticism; for
we should not care to embark upon the latter in competition with
biographers and essayists who have a better claim to be heard.

Both in the plan and in the execution of our work we have received much
valuable help from another member of the family, Mary A. Austen
Leigh.[2]

An arrangement courteously made by the owners of the copyright has
procured for us a free and ample use of the Letters as edited by Lord
Brabourne[3]; while the kindness of Mr. J. G. Nicholson of Castlefield
House, Sturton-by-Scawby, Lincolnshire, has opened a completely new
source of information in the letters which passed between the Austens
and their kinsmen of the half-blood--Walters of Kent and afterwards of
Lincolnshire. Miss Jane Austen, granddaughter of A