“I have got my own darling Child from London”
On 29 January 1813, Jane Austen wrote what must be her most well-known letter in her lifetime. (Letter No. 79)
Jane wrote to tell Cassandra the news that she had received her copy of the novel from the Publishers in London.
Whilst Cassandra was away, Jane and her mother had been reading Pride and Prejudice aloud after dinner to their friend Miss Benn, who was unimpressed with the novel. She was the sister of Revd Farringdon who had eleven children, and no room for her at the rectory. She moved around in the farmers cottages, which were in a terrible state. It is thought that Miss Benn inspired Miss Bates in Emma.
The Letter
I HOPE you received my little parcel by J. Bond on Wednesday evening, my dear Cassandra, and that you will be ready to hear from me again on Sunday, for I feel that I must write to you to-day. I want to tell you that I have got my own darling child from London. On Wednesday I received one copy sent down by Falkener, with three lines from Henry to say that he had given another to Charles and sent a third by the coach to Godmersham. . . . The advertisement is in our paper to-day for the first time: 18s. He shall ask 1l. 1s. for my two next, and 1l. 8s. for my stupidest of all. Miss B. dined with us on the very day of the book’s coming, and in the evening we fairly set at it, and read half the first vol. to her, prefacing that, having intelligence from Henry that such a work would soon appear, we had desired him to send it whenever it came out, and I believe it passed with her unsuspected. She was amused, poor soul! That she could not help, you know, with two such people to lead the way; but she really does seem to admire Elizabeth. I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know. There are a few typical errors; and a “said he,” or a “said she,” would sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but “I do not write for such dull elves” as have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves. The second volume is shorter than I could wish, but the difference is not so much in reality as in look, there being a larger proportion of narrative in that part. I have lop’t and crop’t so successfully, however, that I imagine it must be rather shorter than “Sense and Sensibility” altogether. Now I will try and write of something else.
Letter 9 February 1813 to Manydown
Jane wrote one of her next letters to Cassandra, who was now staying at Manydown visiting the Bigg sisters. Niece Fanny and Cassandra had complimented Jane on the novel, and passed on that everyone loved it. Jane was upset at the errors in the text, and was being self-critical, when she wrote:
‘I am exceedingly pleased that you can say what you do, after having gone thro’ the whole work – & Fanny’s praise is very gratifying; – my hopes were tolerably strong of her, but nothing like a certainty: Her liking Darcy & Elizth is enough. She might hate all the others, if she would.’
Read more about the letter at Jane Austen House Museum.
Lovely Links
Cassandra stopped off to visit the Bigg sisters at Manydown on her way back from Kent.
TAGS
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Novel, Letters, Cassandra Austen, Kent, London, “My own darling Child”, Miss Benn, Chawton House.
