To us, publications come hot and hot from the press. Telegraphic wires like the intricate and incalculable zigzags8 of the lightning ramify above our heads; and who can tell at what moment their[iv] darts9 may strike? In Miss Austen's day the tranquil10, drowsy11, decorous English day of a century since, all was different. News travelled then from hand to hand, carried in creaking post-wagons, or in cases of extreme urgency by men on horseback. When a gentleman journeying in his own "chaise" took three days in going from Exeter to London, a distance now covered in three hours of railroad, there was little chance of frequent surprises. Love, sorrow, and death were in the world then as now, and worked their will upon the sons of men; but people did not expect happenings every day or even every year. No doubt they lived the longer for this exemption12 from excitement, and kept their nerves in a state of wholesome13 repair; but it goes without saying that the events of which they knew so little did not stir them deeply.
Miss Austen's life coincided with two of the momentous14 epochs of history,—the American struggle for independence, and the French Revolution; but there is scarcely an allusion15 to either in her letters. She was interested in the fleet and its victories because two of her brothers were in the navy and had promotion16 and prize-money to look forward to. In this connection she mentions Trafalgar and the Egyptian expedition, and generously remarks that she would read Southey's "Life of Nelson" if there was anything in it about her brother Frank! She honors Sir John Moore by[v] remarking after his death that his mother would perhaps have preferred to have him less distinguished17 and still alive; further than that, the making of the gooseberry jam and a good recipe for orange wine interests her more than all the marchings and countermarchings, the man[oe]uvres and diplomacies, going on the world over. In the midst of the universal vortex of fear and hope, triumph and defeat, while the fate of Britain and British liberty hung trembling in the balance, she sits writing her letters, trimming her caps, and discussing small beer with her sister in a lively and unruffled fashion wonderful to contemplate18. "The society of rural England in those days," as Mr. Goldwin Smith happily puts it, "enjoyed a calm of its own in the midst of the European tempest like the windless centre of a circular storm."
The point of view of a woman with such an environment must naturally be circumscribed19 and narrow; and in this Miss Austen's charm consists. Seeing little, she painted what she saw with absolute fidelity20 and a dexterity21 and perfection unequalled. "On her was bestowed22, though in a humble23 form, the gift which had been bestowed on Homer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Scott, and a few others,—the gift of creative power." Endowed with the keenest and most delicate insight and a vivid sense of humor, she depicted24 with exactitude what she observed and what she understood, giving[vi] to each fact and emotion its precise shade and value. The things she did not see she did not attempt. Affectation was impossible to her,—most of all, affectation of knowledge or feeling not justly her own. "She held the mirror up to her time" with an exquisite25 sincerity26 and fidelity; and the closeness of her study brought her intimately near to those hidden springs which underlie27 all human nature. This is the reason why, for all their skimp28 skirts, leg-of-mutton sleeves, and bygone impossible bonnets29, her characters do not seem to us old-fashioned. Minds and hearts are made pretty much after the same pattern from century to century; and given a modern dress and speech, Emma or Elizabeth or dear Anne Eliot could enter a drawing-room to-day, and excite no surprise except by so closely resembling the people whom they would find there.
"Miss Austen's novels are dateless things," Mr. Augustine Birrell tells us. "Nobody in his senses would speak of them as 'old novels.' 'John Inglesant' is an old novel, so is 'Ginx's Baby.' But Emma is quite new, and, like a wise woman, affords few clues to her age."
We allude30 with a special touch of affection to Anne Eliot. "Persuasion," which was written during the last two years of Miss Austen's life, when the refining touch of Eternity31 was already upon her, has always seemed to us the most perfect of her novels; and Anne, with her exquisite[vii] breeding and unselfish straightforwardness32, just touched with the tender reserve of memory and regret, one of her best portraitures. But this is a matter of individual taste. Doubtless Elizabeth Bennet is "better fun" as the modern girl would say. Miss Austen herself preferred her. She had a droll33 and pretty way of talking about her characters which showed how real they were to her own mind, and made them equally real to other people. In 1813 she had the good luck to light upon a portrait of Jane Bennet at an exhibition.
"I was very well pleased (pray tell Fanny) with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her. I went in hopes of seeing one of her sister, but there was no Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps I may find her in the great exhibition, which we shall go to if we have time. Mrs. Bingley's is exactly like herself,—size, shaped face, features and sweetness; there never was a greater likeness34. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments35, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favorite color with her. I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow."
And later:—
"We have been both to the exhibition and Sir J. Reynolds'; and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either. I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye. I can imagine he would have that sort of feeling,—that mixture of love, pride, and delicacy37."
[viii]
The letters included in this series comprise about three quarters of the collection in two volumes published in 1884 by her great-nephew Lord Brabourne. The lightness, almost friskiness38, of their tone cannot fail to strike the reader. Modern letters written by women are filled more or less with hints and queries39; questionings as to the why and the wherefore occur; allusions40 to the various "fads41" of the day, literary or artistic,—Ibsen, Tolstoi, Browning, Esoteric Buddhism42, Wagner's Music, the Mind Cure, Social Science, Causes and Reforms. But Cowper and Crabbe were the poetical43 sensations in Miss Austen's time, Scott and Byron its phenomenal novelties; it took months to get most books printed, and years to persuade anybody to read them. Furthermore the letters, in all probability, are carefully chosen to reveal only the more superficial side of their writer. There are wide gaps of omission44, covering important events such as Mr. Austen's death, the long illness through which Jane nursed her brother Henry, and the anxieties and worries which his failure in business caused to the whole family. What is vouchsafed45 us is a glimpse of the girlish and untroubled moments of Miss Austen's life; and the glimpse is a sweet and friendly one. We are glad to have it, in spite of our suspicion that another and even more interesting part of her personality is withheld46 from us.
[ix]
A good daughter, a delightful47 sister, the most perfect of aunts, what better record could there be of a single woman? Her literary work never stood in the way of her home duties, any more than her "quiet, limpid48, unimpassioned style" stood between her thought and her readers.
Her fame may justly be said to be almost entirely49 posthumous50. She was read and praised to a moderate degree during her lifetime, but all her novels together brought her no more than seven hundred pounds; and her reputation, as it were, was in its close-sheathed bud when, at the early age of forty-one, she died. It would have excited in her an amused incredulity, no doubt, had any one predicted that two generations after her death the real recognition of her powers was to come. Time, which like desert sands has effaced51 the footprints of so many promising52 authors, has, with her, served as the desert wind, to blow aside those dusts of the commonplace which for a while concealed53 her true proportions. She is loved more than she ever hoped to be, and far more widely known. Mrs. Ritchie tells somewhere an anecdote54 of a party of seven assembled at a dinner-table, where the question arose of the locality of one of Miss Austen's places,—Maple Grove55, the residence of Mr. Suckling, if we are not mistaken,—and six of the persons present at once recognized the allusion, and had a formed opinion[x] on the subject. The seventh was a Frenchman who did not read English!
Scott, Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh, Miss Martineau, Mrs. Ritchie, Miss Mitford, and a host of others have vied in their generous tributes of admiration56. But most striking of all, to our thinking, is that paid to Miss Austen by Lord Tennyson when, in some visit to Lyme not many years since, those with him pointed36 out this and the other feature of the place only to be interrupted with—"Never mind all that. Show me the exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell!" Could non-historical verisimilitude go farther or mean more?
S. C. W.
Newport, June, 1892.
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1
cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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omens
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| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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auguries
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| n.（古罗马）占卜术，占卜仪式( augury的名词复数 )；预兆 | |
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strew
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| vt.撒；使散落；撒在…上，散布于 | |
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zigzags
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| n.锯齿形的线条、小径等( zigzag的名词复数 )v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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exemption
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| n.豁免，免税额，免除 | |
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13
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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14
momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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21
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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22
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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24
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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25
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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underlie
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| v.位于...之下，成为...的基础 | |
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28
skimp
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| v.节省花费，吝啬 | |
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29
bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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30
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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32
straightforwardness
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| n.坦白，率直 | |
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33
droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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34
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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38
friskiness
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| n.活泼，闹着玩 | |
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39
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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40
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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41
fads
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| n.一时的流行，一时的风尚( fad的名词复数 ) | |
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42
Buddhism
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| n.佛教（教义） | |
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43
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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45
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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46
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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47
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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48
limpid
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| adj.清澈的，透明的 | |
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49
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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50
posthumous
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| adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的 | |
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51
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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52
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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53
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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54
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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55
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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56
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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