Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family RecordAusten-Leigh, William
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Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family Record
Austen-Leigh, William
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817; Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Family; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Family relationships
Your Uncle Henry is rather wanting me to come to
town to settle about a second edition, but as I
could not very conveniently leave home now, I have
written him my will and pleasure, and, unless he
still urges it, shall not go. I am very greedy,
and want to make the most of it, but as you are
much above caring about money I shall not plague
you with any particulars. The pleasures of vanity
are more within your comprehension, and you will
enter into mine at receiving the _praise_ which
every now and then comes to me through some
channel or other.
She did, however, leave home; and our next extract is from a letter
written to Fanny from 23 Hans Place, and dated November 30:--
Thank you, but it is not yet settled whether I
_do_ hazard a second edition. We are to see
Egerton to-day, when it will probably be
determined. People are more ready to borrow and
praise than to buy, which I cannot wonder at; but
though I like praise as well as anybody, I like
what Edward calls 'Pewter' too.
Apparently, Egerton did not fancy taking the risk; for there was no
second edition until 1816, when it appeared from the publishing house of
Murray.
Jane's stay in London was a short one; but it included a visit to her
niece Anna, who had lately been married to Ben Lefroy, and who was
living for the time at Hendon. Early in December, Jane returned home;
and three weeks later she and Cassandra set out for a couple of visits:
one for a week to Mrs. Heathcote and Miss Bigg in Winchester; the other
of longer duration, to their brother at Steventon. Then the curtain is
rung down once more, not to be raised till the end of September 1815.
During this quiet time, _Emma_ was prepared for the press, and it was no
doubt in connexion with its publication that she went to Hans Place on
October 4, 1815, for a visit which proved to be much longer and more
eventful than the last. For some reason that we are unable to explain,
Jane now forsook her former publisher, Mr. Egerton, and put her
interests in the charge of the historic house of Murray. She travelled
up once more in the company of Henry, who had been paying his mother and
sisters a short visit at the cottage. The prolongation of Jane's stay in
London to more than a couple of months was caused by Henry's dangerous
illness. She gives the news in a letter written to Cassandra and dated
Tuesday, October 17:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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