JANE AUSTEN’S SAILOR BROTHERS [Illustration: VICE-ADMIRAL SIR FRANCIS AUSTEN, K.C.B.] JANE AUSTEN’S SAILOR BROTHERS _Being the Adventures of Sir Francis Austen, G.C.B., Admiral of the Fleet and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen By J. H. Hubback and Edith C. Hubback_ _mdccccvi_ _London: John Lane_ _The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W._ _New York: John Lane Company_ Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED Tavistock Street, London TO M. P. H. “I HAVE DISCOVERED A THING VERY LITTLE KNOWN, WHICH IS THAT IN ONE’S WHOLE LIFE ONE CAN NEVER HAVE MORE THAN ONE MOTHER. YOU MAY THINK THIS OBVIOUS. YOU ARE A GREEN GOSLING!” PREFACE Perhaps some apology may be expected on behalf of a book about Jane Austen, having regard to the number which have already been put before the public in past years. My own membership of the family is my excuse for printing a book which contains little original matter, and which might be described as “a thing of shreds and patches,” if that phrase were not already over-worked. To me it seems improbable that others will take a wholly adverse view of what is so much inwoven with all the traditions of my life. When I recollect my childhood, spent chiefly in the house of my grandfather, Sir Francis, and all the interests which accompanied those early days, I find myself once more amongst those deep and tender distances. Surrounded by reminiscences of the opening years of the century, the Admiral always cherished the most affectionate remembrance of the sister who had so soon passed away, leaving those six precious volumes to be a store of household words among the family. How often I call to mind some question or answer, expressed quite naturally in terms of the novels; sometimes even a conversation would be carried on entirely appropriate to the matter under discussion, but the actual phrases were “Aunt Jane’s.” So well, too, do I recollect the sad news of the death of Admiral Charles Austen, after the capture, under his command, of Martaban and Rangoon, and while he was leading his squadron to further successes, fifty-six years having elapsed since his first sea-fight. My daughter and I have made free use of the _Letters of Jane Austen_, published in 1884, by the late Lord Brabourne, and wish to acknowledge with gratitude the kind permission to quote these letters, given to us by their present possessor. In a letter of 1813, she speaks of two nephews who “amuse themselves very comfortably in the evening by netting; they are each about a rabbit-net, and sit as deedily to it, side by side, as any two Uncle Franks could do.” In his octogenarian days Sir Francis was still much interested in this same occupation of netting, to protect his Morello cherries or currants. It was, in fact, only laid aside long after his grandsons had been taught to carry it on.