Jane Austen

JANE AUSTEN
AND HER
COUNTRY-HOUSE COMEDY

BY

W. H. HELM

AUTHOR OF "ASPECTS OF BALZAC," ETC.

EVELEIGH NASH
FAWSIDE HOUSE
LONDON
1909

RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

TOMY MOTHER

"I concluded, however unaccountable the assertionmight appear at first sight, that good-nature was anessential quality in a satirist, and that all the sentimentswhich are beautiful in this way of writing, must proceedfrom that quality in the author. Good-nature producesa disdain of all baseness, vice, and folly; whichprompts them to express themselves with smartnessagainst the errors of men, without bitterness towardstheir persons."—STEELE, Tatler, No. 242.

NOTE

The author is much indebted to the Hon. C. M. Knatchbull-Hugessen,and also to Messrs. Macmillan & Co.,Ltd., for permission to make extracts from the Letters ofJane Austen.

CONTENTS

I

DOMINANT QUALITIES

Jane Austen's abiding freshness—Why she has notmore readers—Characteristics of her work—Absenceof passion—Balzac, Jane Austen, andCharlotte Brontë—Jane in her home circle—Hertranquil nature—Her unselfishness—Comparedwith Dorothy Osborne—Prudent heroines—Thoughtlessadmiration

II

EQUIPMENT AND METHOD

Literary influences—Jane Austen's defence ofnovelists—The old essayists—Her favourite authors—Somenovels of her time—Criticism of her niece'snovel—Sense of her own limitations—Hermethod—Humour—Familiar names—Some characteristicsof style—Suggested emendations—A new"problem" of authorship—A "forbidding"writer—"Commonplace" and "superficial"—ThomasLove Peacock—Sapient suggestions

III

CONTACT WITH LIFE

Origins of characters—Matchmaking—Secondmarriages—Negative qualities of the novels—Closeknowledge of one class—Dislike of "lionizing"—Madamede Staël—The "lower orders"—Tradesmen—Socialposition—Quality of Jane's letters—Ballsand parties

IV

ETHICS AND OPTIMISM

Dr. Whately on Jane Austen—"Moral lessons" ofher novels—Charge of "Indelicacy"—Marriageas a profession—A "problem" novel—"TheNostalgia of the Infinite"—The "whitewashing" ofWilloughby—Lady Susan condemned by itsauthor—The Watsons—Change in manners—No"heroes"—Woman's love—The Prince Regent—TheQuarterly Review

V

THE IMPARTIAL SATIRIST

What has woman done?—"Nature's Salic law"—Womendeficient in satire—Some types in thenovels—The female snob—The valetudinarian—Thefop—The too agreeable man—"Personal sizeand mental sorrow"—Knightley's opinion ofEmma—Ashamed of relations—Mrs. Bennet—Theclergy and their opinions—Worldly life—Absenceof dogma—Authors confused with their creations

...