Miss Austen's Emma, a Prelude

By Helen Baker

Miss Jane Austen in her well-loved book Emma introduced us to a mysterious character - Jane Fairfax. Beautiful and talented, she excited admiration and annoyance in equal measure by her reserved character. How could such a paradox have arisen? However did she meet and captivate the elusive Frank Churchill? In this book, the authoress seeks to explain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781300028260

Helen Baker

Helen Baker is a licensed Australian financial adviser with a Masters in Financial Planning. She is the founder of On Your Own Two Feet and the author of two books: On Your Own Two Feet – Steady Steps to Women's Financial Independence and On Your Own Two Feet Divorce – Your Survive and Thrive Financial Guide.  

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Dramatis Personae

Mrs Bates       - Frail old lady living in poverty in Highbury, grandmother of Jane Fairfax

Miss Bates  - Her garrulous daughter whom everyone in Highbury likes, aunt of Jane Fairfax

Jane Fairfax - The penniless orphan in their charge, as beautiful as she is gifted

Colonel Campbell - Benefactor of Jane who undertakes her education in Town

Mrs Campbell - His capable wife

Catherine Campbell - His daughter and Jane’s fond companion

Mr Woodhouse -       The fretful leader of society in Highbury

Emma Woodhouse - His daughter who runs his household

Miss Anne Taylor - Emma’s former governess, now her companion and the future Mrs Weston

Mr Weston - Highbury gentleman whose son does not bear his name

Frank C.  Weston Churchill - Son to Mr Weston and nephew to

Mr Henry Churchill - Of Enscombe in Yorkshire, noted only for indolence and compliance to his wife

Mrs Dorcas Churchill - A lady whose health and temper are equally uncertain

Mr William Dixon - A wealthy Irishman

Mr Richard Ryan       - A member of both the English and the Irish bars

Mr Graham - Respectable widower with an estate near Highbury, formerly acquainted with Mrs Bates

Chapter One

Jane Fairfax, beautiful, elegant and cultured, with a sensible guardian and affectionate companions, knew herself to be far more fortunate than her birth or circumstances ever seemed to promise.  Indeed, her beauty had already inspired several infatuations - one serious to the point of a proposal.  It should have been gratifying to any girl with twenty years in her dish except that Jane had been raised more soberly.  She knew her days of prosperity were drawing to a close.  She had to earn her living. 

Indeed, she should have begun to do so a year or two earlier, such a high level of accomplishment had she achieved, had it not been for the reluctance of her benefactors to part with her.  Nor was Jane eager to exchange the rational pleasures of elegant society, where she was treated as a daughter of the house, for the confines of a schoolroom with the ignominy and trials of a mere governess.  Can any young ladies reading these lines and remembering their treatment of their own long-suffering preceptress blame her? 

In her two decades of existence, Jane had already experienced many vicissitudes.  Her mother was the youngest daughter of an eminently respectable and suitably endowed clergyman in a parish some sixteen miles from Town.  She might have aspired higher but instead accepted a mere Lieutenant of a regiment of infantry with all the optimism of two-and-twenty.  Lieutenant Fairfax was agreeable, loyal and valiant to a high degree.  His family, sadly, were in no position to further him in his career.  If the pair had waited a few years and fate had smiled upon them in the form of promotion, they might have prospered.  Instead, within three years of their nuptials, the brave fellow fell in that ill-fated Flanders Campaign.  His ailing wife and her infant daughter had no choice but to return to her father’s house where they were most kindly received. 

The Reverend Bates lived in prosperous circumstances with his wife, son and two other unmarried daughters.  He had been incumbent at Highbury for seven years and agreed very well with his retiring patron, Mr Woodhouse.  The clergyman was prudent.  The extensive glebe and his own teaching abilities enabled him to improve his already comfortable income and his son, another James, had completed his university course, taken orders and already served as his father’s curate. 

So might Jane have grown up, fatherless it is true, but at the centre of a loving family very beforehand with the world.  It was not to be.  In her third year, Jane lost both her Mama and her grandfather.  The neighbourhood attributed the loss of the widow Fairfax in equal measure to her grief and to consumption.  They may have been correct.  Certainly Mrs and the Misses Bates watched over the tot she left behind with increased vigilance. 

The loss of the clergyman was explained by his constant attention to his flock.  This placed him in close proximity to sickness and destitution, yes even in such a prosperous parish as Highbury.  All agreed that he should have reached his three-score-years-and-ten and to fall fourteen years short was a tribute to his excessive diligence. 

At this juncture, the genial Mr Woodhouse came to the rescue, prompted by his neighbour, a certain Mr Knightley of Donwell Abbey, not long in possession of his inheritance.  The latter reminded his friend how much he preferred familiar faces and smooth continuity.  Young Mr Bates was long known to him and read the service exactly as he liked it.  At four-and-twenty he was just old enough for his own parish.  Mr Woodhouse, delighted to be of service to his old friends, the Bates ladies, offered him the living with no thought that he might have sold it elsewhere. 

Again, Jane’s future appeared assured.  Her grandmama and aunts never ceased to remind her how much they all owed to dear Mr Woodhouse and how respectful she must always be.  The young clergyman himself blinked a little at such early preferment.  He recalled however, that he was now the sole support of his mother, of two sisters approaching thirty so unlikely to wed, and of a niece in leading strings.  For him, there could be no question of matrimony.  Not even to set a good example in the parish. 

James Bates aspired in all things to emulate his father’s example.  He did not expect this to include a very premature death when mumps visited Highbury.  It claimed many victims but he was the only prominent adult.  This was a misfortune which the Bates family had not anticipated and struggled to overcome.  At once, they lost their home, the stipend and the many advantages which went with it. 

The only accommodation they could now afford was a very moderate-sized apartment belonging to people in business in Highbury’s main street.  The ladies occupied the drawing-room floor up a dark, narrow staircase with a step at the turning.  There was a little sitting-room whose casement window looked out onto the street, as did the mother’s room.  Any one else would have complained that the floors were not level, the brick house was cold and the chimney smoked.  After the vicarage it must be a comedown.  Mrs Bates and Henrietta, her eldest daughter, instead thanked Providence for giving them shelter and such very kind neighbours.  Their good humour became proverbial – even a little irritating.  It robbed their acquaintances of any excuse to complain on their own account. 

When the others moved from the vicarage, Julia, the middle daughter, married a poor widower with a large family in need of a mother.  It was a sensible solution to many problems.  As she lived at an awkward distance, her intercourse with her family shrivelled over the years to nothing. 

Some twelve years have passed since that time during which the ladies have been relying on the income from a small sum in the funds.  It is not hard to imagine what young Jane’s life would have been like in such confined society and how she would have grown up thankful when she had enough to eat and with the prospect of a life of domestic servitude before her. 

Perhaps some readers may wonder why Jane’s father’s family was not apprised of her situation because they were kindly people.  With a more humble situation in life, they had never been so averse to the original match.  When they lost their son, back in the year -95, the Reverend Bates was far better able than themselves to support the ailing widow and her child.  Within the year, consumption had swept away the mother and the Fairfax family understood that the child was likely to follow her.  Hearing no more, they assumed that this had actually happened.  They enquired no further.  By the time the Bates’ fortunes had sunk, no one could expect the distant Fairfaxes to interest themselves in an unknown child of seven, and a girl at that.  Mrs Bates still had her pride and her trust in Providence. 

It was not misplaced.  At that moment an unexpected benefactor stepped forward to change Jane’s life forever. 

Chapter Two

Lieutenant Fairfax had been an excellent soldier.  This did not escape the notice of his superiors but none were as convinced of it as a certain Colonel Campbell.  In addition to his liking for the man, the Colonel had particular reason to be grateful to him during the Flanders Campaign when, like so many, he had fallen prey to a severe camp-fever.  Only the Lieutenant’s devoted nursing had saved his life.  At that time, he was a Major and a distinguished career lay ahead of him in many theatres of war but when his Lieutenant fell, he kept a kindly eye upon the widow and her infant although, for the present, unable to extend his kindness further. 

The good Colonel had himself married when a Captain but with such varied postings as the Low Countries, Canada, Minorca and Egypt it had rarely been possible for his wife to accompany him.  She had spent most of these years with her family in London, not unhappily because she maintained interests of her own.  One daughter survived and she was younger than Jane Fairfax by a few months only.  So when Colonel Campbell, learning of the situation of his former protégé’s child, suggested that she be invited each year to Town for long visits as a playfellow for his solitary daughter, his wife was happy to agree.  A baby would not have been welcome but Jane had now reached the age of seven and Mrs Colonel Campbell knew she had been extremely well brought up.  There could be no question that Jane would lead Kitty astray. 

The association, happily begun, strengthened when, in the year -02, the Colonel could return from Egypt, his work complete and a general peace agreed in Europe.  Only now, after long campaigning, could he resume family life and even offer Jane a home.  It was a most generous offer and relieved the Highbury ladies of a great burden although they would miss their dear lively child. 

The Colonel did stipulate that he would give Jane a home and an education.  There his liberality must end.  At present, his income, by pay and appointments, was handsome but he needed to recuperate his health.  Only the most optimistic believed that the peace would last.  While it did, there would be no promotion.  Should he sell out, his fortune was moderate and must be all his daughter's.  Mrs Bates could not dispute this.  She was quite agreeable to dear Jane becoming a governess in due course.  Had she remained in Highbury, there was no likelihood that she could acquire enough accomplishments even to obtain a post at a local boarding school should any lady have the temerity to attempt to create one. 

So it was settled and the Colonel’s carriage collected little Jane and her traps for the last time.  Many were the tears and repeated demands for regular correspondence.  The excited little girl making her way to Town was now nine years old.  Having spent those years mostly in the company of adults, she was forward for her age.  Indeed, her repeated visits to the Campbells had given her, by their very contrast, a more critical view of Highbury and her life there than was quite welcome to her grandmama and aunt. 

Jane could hardly have failed to notice her own poverty and just how quiet and retiring – indeed dull – was life in Highbury.  She knew that charitable deeds were required of any good Christian but how could visiting the sick and those even more indigent than themselves compare to the delights Kitty enjoyed in town and the far more stimulating associates of both Colonel and Mrs Campbell? 

Young Jane had repeatedly asked for explanations which her fond relatives struggled to supply.  Encouragement to resignation, fortitude and reliance on Providence left her unsatisfied.  The more so when she compared her own situation with the only girl in Highbury with whom she associated.  This was Emma Woodhouse.  Both girls were of an age and motherless.  Both had abilities which outshone not only the other girls in Highbury, farmers’ daughters in the main, but even Emma’s complacent sister Isabella although she was some six years older. 

At that time, Mr Woodhouse had been three years a widower.  He had withdrawn from such social life as Highbury afforded and never went to Town, regarding even a ride around his own parish as fraught with danger.  It was easy enough to explain to young Jane that some people are far richer than others.  Why, that being so, they should chuse to lead such narrow, restricted lives, was harder.  Yet even the food served at Hartfield appeared plain while the only event which appeared to rouse Mr Woodhouse was a visit from his doctor, Mr Perry.  Entertainment, festivities seemed unknown to them. 

His two daughters were under the care of a governess, a Miss Taylor.  While an amiable person, all agreed that she displayed too yielding a disposition.  Already, or so it seemed to the perspicacious young Jane, the two girls were left to decide whether they chose to learn or not.  Their fond but undiscriminating father praised everything to which they put their hand.  Mrs Campbell in town, Jane knew to be far stricter while the Colonel might be expected to be more exacting still. 

‘Why does Emma always have her own way?’  ‘Did not Mr Woodhouse hear the many errors when Emma recited the rivers of England or Isabella said her tables?  The missed stitches in their needlework?  The faults of spelling, grammar and pronunciation in their reading and writing?’  Finally,

‘Could I not share Emma’s lessons?  I would be quiet as a mouse and not ask questions.  Emma has Bella for company but I have no one.  Could she not lend me some of her books – I would treat them with more care than she does?’

Aunt Hettie had explained, rather shocked, that such things were not possible.  Indeed, they must be grateful for the rare invitations to Hartfield which came their way.  Then, the ladies played cards with Mr Woodhouse in a room from which a fire was rarely absent even in mid-Summer while Miss Taylor endeavoured to interest her two charges and young Jane in some childish game which at least kept them quiet, if not amused. 

If Jane’s experience had been limited to Highbury perhaps these considerations would not have occurred to her.  She would have copied her aunt in humility, in constant gratitude and praise and recollection of how much the family already owed to Mr Woodhouse.  As it was, she learnt with difficulty to keep any opinions to herself, to be the lowest and the last, aware all the time of how Emma Woodhouse despised her for it.  Inwardly, it rankled.  Nor did it cease to do so when Jane’s contacts with Highbury were reduced to regular correspondence and annual visits.  At the same time, Jane left for Town without envy for a girl whose life seemed to her so very dull and predictable.  She knew that the society in which she would now move would be far more varied and exciting. 

Chapter Three

The reader might imagine that, after repeated and protracted visits, Jane knew the sort of life which awaited her in Town but such was not quite the case.  The Colonel’s return to these shores had involved necessary changes.  For a start, during his absences his wife had remained with her family in Gough Square off Fleet Street which was so conveniently situated for their occupation as printers and publishers.  The Colonel now rented a house in Gracechurch Street, undecided whether or not to purchase, depending on how and whither the Secretary of State for War intended to employ him.  This naturally separated Mrs Campbell and Kitty from the ladies of her family, her Mama and aunts, who had previously occupied themselves with Kitty so that Mrs Campbell could exercise her undoubted talents in the family business. 

I would not wish the reader to infer from this that Miss Chapman, and later Mrs Campbell as she became, fell in any respects short of the standards of a lady.  Not for her the demeaning stance behind a shop counter or the drudgery of assembling text blocks.  Even so, she imbibed abilities not common to her sex and a rare exposure to literature, the literati and those who would be esteemed such. 

Her father’s family had been printers, publishers and bookbinders time out of mind, valued members of the Stationers Company.  Many of their private clients were aristocrats, there being a timeless desire to trace one’s own name on a smartly-bound cover. Others longed to read about their family in a very limited subscription edition in volumes bound in fine leather with gilt ornamentations to match all the books in an already extensive library. 

If the Chapmans were well established at one end of the trade, the Bowdlers represented the other. 

Thus, the marriage of Matthew Chapman and Sally Bowdler back in the year -66 resulted in considerable expansion.  The Bowdlers concerned themselves in such diverse productions as street literature, prints and music.  In addition, they commissioned new plates and bought up and republished old ones.  Such activities, although lucrative, were not always straightforward.  More than once the business had found itself in trouble with the Stationers’ Company on the vexed question of copyright.  Thus, the Company was relieved when the more honourable house of Chapman assumed the previous activities of the house of Bowdler. 

One can readily imagine that a well-read and resourceful young lady like their daughter Mary Chapman could find much to occupy her without ever coming into contact with such dubious characters as authors, playwrights, poets or the writers of sonatas, unless they also happened to be aristocrats. 

Her parents encouraged her and her sisters in diverse activities from the transcription of fair copies and the review of manuscripts to the drafting of correspondence concerning the costs of publication and distribution for those authors able to pay.  A lady of taste could guide new clients in the choice of paper, the selection of typefaces, often in various fonts, and even the commissioning of a new one.  There were many decisions to be made, not least in the choice of illustrations, if any.  Often, a newcomer would rather admit his ignorance and look for advice to a tactful young lady.  Occasionally, the Chapman girls used their considerable talents to colour in various illustrations at the demand of a client.  Or they might be relied upon for hand-tooling or stamping the newly-bound books before applying a light wax for the final polish and to protect the gilt. 

In sum, there was much to occupy the young Chapman ladies beyond acquiring the usual accomplishments for their station in life.  Such activity continued to divert Mary Campbell in the repeated absences of her husband.  They also helped her to overcome the loss of two sons in infancy.  They stood the family in good stead too when in the year -91, Matthew Chapman died leaving only his wife and daughters to continue until his son, now merely eleven, should succeed.  However, and at her husband’s insistence, such skills were never imparted to little Kitty or indeed to Jane Fairfax. 

Such had been the, slightly eccentric, household in Town with which the young visitor from Highbury was familiar.  Now, the returning Colonel ran his affairs rather differently and with military precision.  Family hours were strictly observed.  Regularity and good planning were much prized.  Young Kitty and her companion found their activities more closely regulated.  Instead of diverse volumes being left around for anyone to peruse, the Colonel exercised a stricter supervision.  It was he who now read them suitable extracts from the newspapers.  It was also he, rather than his wife, who discovered any servant guilty of sloppiness. 

Like any father, especially one who has been unable for some years to perform his familial duties, the Colonel was concerned with the respectability of his daughter and keeping her innocent.  His ideas on this subject did not always coincide with his wife’s.  There was also friction because the poor gentleman displayed irritability occasioned by his deafness, a lingering weakness after his fevers and the privations of service.  He was also, like most Englishmen had long been, worried by international affairs.  His position left him better placed than most to know how seriously matters stood around the globe. 

Thus young Jane found herself living in a rather different household.  She thrived.  The Colonel became her lodestar.  She had never known her own father and recalled only the very mild manners and soft voice of the young Reverend Bates, her uncle.  Indeed, in retrospect, the whole of Highbury society, led by gentle Mr Woodhouse, seemed sadly lacking in gentlemen of an authoritative stamp.  How different to the military gentlemen who were constantly calling upon Jane’s benefactor or whom she and Kitty admired secretly through the balusters or at the military reviews in the Park to which the Colonel often took them on Spring and Summer mornings. 

Kitty Campbell, although she later preferred her baptismal Catherine or such French or Italian variants as she could lay her tongue to, was a pleasant child.  She was cheerful and much given to enthusiasms, but dogged in friendship and warm-hearted to a degree.  Kitty was never happier than when nursing a sick canary-bird or binding the paw of some stray kitten.  She welcomed Jane’s company, never quarrelled (well almost never) and, having been rather cosseted by her grandmama and aunts, remained young for her age.  It usually fell to Jane to suggest a new game or activity and Kitty was happy to follow her lead. 

It was the Colonel who organised masters for the two girls, who frequently heard their lessons in the absence of his wife and who delighted in their progress.  This was the family life for which he had hankered during his long years on active service.  He intended to enjoy it to the full. 

It did not take him long to realise the great difference between the two girls in his charge.  Despite his best efforts, Kitty read only for entertainment and to feed the vast appetite for that type of unimproving literature which encourages fantasy and which had proved so lucrative to her grandmama’s business.  Jane married natural abilities with serious intent and he loved her for it.  Her influence, he knew, could only benefit her young friend. 

Yet the influence worked both ways.  Kitty’s romantic inclinations, indulged to the full, peopled her imaginary world with evil stepmothers, cruel guardians, wicked baronets and the like.  One recurring character was the wretched, abused, despised governess.  Kitty had never known any such person.  Indeed she had never been in the care of any governess.  Yet she knew such creatures existed, hovering uncertainly in their standing between indigent relatives and the higher servants where the respect of the servant’s hall and her ungovernable charges must always be in doubt. 

From the minute Kitty learnt that this was to be the fate of her dearest friend, she railed against the cruelty of destiny which made her future happiness so impossible.  Jane tried to make light of the matter.  Kitty, she knew, tended to extremes.  She had imbibed too much silliness from the theatrical productions with which she was constantly indulged.  The good Colonel would never have intended Jane for such a future.  Far better she be left in Highbury.  No – that was foolishness.  He was giving her the best possible start in life.  Besides, a million things might happen before she was accomplished enough to teach others.  Nonetheless, the notion was started.  Jane began to dread the teaching profession more with each passing year. 

Equally, as the years went by, her annual visits to Highbury brought her back to a clearer realisation of how lucky she was.  Despite her anticipation and genuine delight to be reunited with grandmama and aunt Hettie, their constant unvaried company soon palled.  So did the confines of the small apartment to which their poverty compelled them, lacking, as it did, secular books, piano or indeed, any diversion except visitors and gossip.  Matters were not improved by the fact that Jane’s visits normally took place in the winter when the benefits of a country town were less apparent.  By now, Jane had grown into a competent horsewoman at the Colonel’s fond insistence.  Consequently, she felt her confinement more than before. 

There had been some suggestion of varying the home scene with visits to Mr Woodhouse and his daughters at Hartfield.  Among the most vocal in urging this was young Mr Knightley from Donwell.  He was generous enough to claim that such visits would benefit Emma Woodhouse as much as Jane Fairfax.  His was a lone voice. 

Jane called several times but such meetings were so unsuccessful that they were rarely repeated during any one year.  No one person could be blamed for this.  The reasons were manifold.  Jane herself kept her pride.  Despite her aunt’s urging, she was so accustomed to be on a footing of equality as a daughter of the house, that she could never act naturally in the subservient role implied by her family’s current situation.  Invited to comment, she found it safer to hold her tongue, temporise or offer a platitude which left the forthright Emma Woodhouse scornful. 

If Jane alone had been invited, affairs might have gone better.  Instead, she arrived both in her aunt’s verbose shadow and the subject of her aunt’s open and constant praise.  Such praise was justified.  Jane had acquired town polish while Emma remained provincial. 

Comparing accomplishments too, Jane’s proficiency seemed an open affront to both the ability of Emma and of her governess Miss Taylor.  While the older Isabella, seeing her future in domestic and maternal duties, could laugh off her deficiencies, Emma could not.  She knew that she lacked, not ability, but application.  In this, she was encouraged by a father who considered her already peerless and a governess of too yielding a disposition. 

Jane Fairfax, by contrast, laboured under the demanding regime that the Colonel had always imposed upon his men.  At the back of her mind was the knowledge that her future depended upon her accomplishments.  Not for her, lacking a dowry, the hope of domestic and maternal happiness.  From what early age had she learnt that Emma Woodhouse’s intended could expect thirty thousands pounds?  Certainly, it was common knowledge by the time she was thirteen because in that year Isabella married Mr John Knightley, the younger brother of the master of Donwell and a rising Town lawyer. 

One can imagine with what delight every last detail of the finery, the ceremony and the festivities was relayed by Aunt Hettie, filling page after trite page to her absent niece.  She of course concluded that she wished dear Emma equal felicity in due course.  No doubt she could expect a similar dowry to dear Isabella’s.  Disinterested lady – it never occurred to her that she was driving a further wedge between two young women born in the same year in the same parish yet destined never to be friends. 

The Woodhouses led social life in Highbury, such as it was, given the retiring habits of Mr Woodhouse.  No other family could rival them although the Coles, newcomers to the town, appeared to be increasing in affluence and in the desire to display it.  As yet, they had never been invited to Hartfield and Miss Woodhouse intended to see the distinction of rank preserved. 

Mrs