Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England

By Brenda S. Cox

The Church of England was at the heart of Jane Austen's world of elegance and upheaval. Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England explores the church's role in her life and novels, the c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Topaz Cross Books
• Release date: Nov 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986601618

Brenda S. Cox

Brenda S. Cox is fascinated by the history of Jane Austen's time and the nuances of Austen's delightful and insightful books. Her own faith led her to start exploring the church in Austen's novels and world. She was excited to find new depths in Austen's works and astonishing connections with world-changing movements during this pivotal era in history. She spent almost ten years researching, including visits to England, hunting up many, many books and resources, some obscure and not easily available, and digging through them to answer her multiplying questions. So, she decided to write this book to provide all that information in one accessible place for others who love Jane Austen or history.A popular speaker at Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) meetings, Brenda Cox has shared about church-related topics, ranging from satirical cartoons to country curates, at regional and national meetings, and contributes regularly to JASNA's academic journal, Persuasions On-Line. She also loves connecting regularly with thousands of Austen fans at Jane Austen's World and on her own blog, Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen. Brenda first discovered Austen as a young mom living overseas, when she came across a copy of Emma. After devouring it, she immediately bought a complete set of Austen's novels. Each time she re-reads the books, she falls in love again with Austen's humor, deep insights into life and human nature, and finesse as a writer. She is now passing that love on to her grandchildren, reading the novels aloud together as Austen's own family did.Brenda loves learning and appreciated the privilege of homeschooling her four children because she got to learn so much along with them. She also enjoys cross-stitching Jane Austen projects and reading a wide range of books. She worked internationally for many years and values the beautiful variety of cultures and languages, which she expressed in her book on languages, Who Talks Funny? She earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, a master's in applied linguistics, and, now in her third career, is loving writing about Jane.Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is Brenda S. Cox's first book related to Jane Austen. Please visit her at brendascox.wordpress.com and as brendascoxregency on Facebook.

Book preview

Praise for Fashionable Goodness

"Finally! Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England is the Jane Austen reference book that’s been missing from the bookshelves of every Austen fan and scholar. I can’t wait to add this to my research collection and keep it at my fingertips whenever I’m writing about Austen’s faith and the religious lives of her characters. Thank you to Brenda S. Cox for creating this invaluable resource!"

~ Rachel Dodge, bestselling author of The Little Women Devotional, The Anne of Green Gables Devotional, and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen

---

"A meticulously researched, faultlessly organized, and engaging study of how religion, in all its forms, features in Jane Austen’s world, her life, and her writings.

"Starting with Henry Tilney’s famous defense of ‘the English’ in Northanger Abbey, Cox reveals the facts of Jane Austen’s faith and the realities and challenges of practicing religion in the Regency period. With biographical sketches of the leading religious leaders and analyses of the various denominations of the time, she puts into context the explicit and subtle religious references in Austen’s novels.

This Christian world permeates Austen’s writings. A fuller understanding of the Church and its clerical hierarchy, as well as the emphasis on living a moral ‘good’ life, opens up a clearer view of Austen’s plots, characters, and underlying themes. You will look at Mr. Collins, the Crawfords, the Dashwoods, the Tilneys, the Wickhams, the Willoughbys, and especially Fanny Price!—all the ‘good’ and the ‘not so good’ people who populate the novels, with new and surprising insights. Bravo to Brenda Cox for giving us this very accessible, illuminating take on the ‘fashionable goodness’ of Austen’s era!

~ Deborah Barnum, author of the websites Jane Austen in Vermont, Bygone Books, and Reading with Austen: Returning the Lost Sheep of Godmersham, co-founder of JASNA Vermont, board member of the North American Friends of Chawton House, and owner of the online shop Bygone Books

---

"Brenda Cox’s Fashionable Goodness is an indispensable guide to all things religious in Jane Austen’s world. While Austen is famously reserved in talking about religion, the doctrines and practices of the Church of England play a major role in her novels, and a proper understanding of 18th century Christianity is necessary for a full appreciation of the works. Cox provides this understanding: from pluralism to Evangelicalism, from pew rents to parsonages, she explores the peculiarities of contemporary clerical culture as well as theological issues and movements that animated Austen’s age. A worthy successor to landmark books on Austen and religion by Irene Collins and Laura Mooneyham White, this work will appeal to novice readers of Austen as well as scholars and specialists."

~ Roger E. Moore, Vanderbilt University, author of Jane Austen and the Reformation: Remembering the Sacred Landscape

---

"In her novels, Jane Austen never takes her readers into the heart of Christian beliefs, ethical teachings and liturgical practice, yet they were of profound importance not only for her personal life but are deeply and subtly embedded in her writings. Fashionable Goodness offers a magisterial study of the ways in which the Christian faith and the Anglican Church of Jane’s day were not only foundational for her personal life but also for her talent as a writer.

"Detailed study of the novels is revealed throughout this book and constant reference and quotation from the novels show how strongly Christian beliefs and ethics underpin Jane’s work. The book fully underlines that to read the novels without a religious framework in mind leaves the reader missing vitally important points about the presentation of both her plots and her characters.

"Brenda Cox’s scholarly and detailed work is a triumph. It is easily read and there are several appendices, a glossary of church terms, a survey of many issues, religious and social in Jane’s day, together with other highly informative material. The information given throughout this book is extremely helpful and accurate and particularly so when dealing with titles and the life and inner workings of the Anglican Church and its clergy in the late 18 th century.

The volume also provides a wide and fascinating panorama of Anglicanism in the 18 th century and of the various challenges the Church and wider society faced. In effect the volume is a marvellous compendium and a valuable handbook to turn to when reading (or indeed re-reading) the novels; the many insights it offers will undoubtedly instruct and enrich an understanding and appreciation of Jane’s skill as a writer and of her life as a devout Christian.

~ Michael Kenning, Rector of Steventon 1992-2010, Vice-Chairman of the Jane Austen Society from 2015

Fashionable Goodness

CHRISTIANITY IN JANE AUSTEN’S ENGLAND

BRENDA S. COX

Topaz Cross Books

Copyright © Brenda S. Cox 2022

BrendaSCox.wordpress.com

---

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except what is allowable under the U.S. Copyright Law and the use of brief quotations in a book review. The moral right of the author has been asserted. To request permissions, contact [e-mail].

---

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

---

Topaz Cross Books, Tucker, GA, USA

---

Edited by Lori Mulligan Davis

---

Cover art by Shannon Winslow

Soli deo gloria

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cox, Brenda S., 1958- .

Title: Fashionable goodness :  Christianity in Jane Austen’s England / Brenda S. Cox.

Description: Tucker, GA : Topaz Cross Books, 2022. | Includes tables and illustrations. | Includes bibliographic references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022914847 | ISBN 9798986601601 (pbk.) | ISBN 9798986601618 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Austen, Jane, -- 1775-1817. | Austen, Jane, -- 1775-1817 -- Criticism and interpretation. | Austen, Jane, -- 1775-1817 – Religion. | Church of England -- History -- 18th century. | Church of England -- History -- 19th century. | Christianity and literature--England--History--18th century. | Christianity and literature – England – History -- 19th century. | BISAC: LITERARY CRITICISM / Women Authors. | LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Religion. | RELIGION / Christianity / Literature & the Arts.

Classification: LCC PR4038.R4 C69 2022 | DDC 823 A--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022914847

Contents

Christian Faith in Jane Austen’s England

Brief Orientation

I. Jane Austen’s Church of England

1. Jane Austen’s England, a Foreign Country

2. Jane Austen’s Faith

3. Religious Faith in Austen’s Novels

Faith Words in Austen

4. Church Livings in Pride and Prejudice

Table 1: Church Patronage, England, 1800

Table 2: Church of England Hierarchy

5. Church Livings in the Other Novels

Table 3: Rectors, Vicars, and Curates in Austen’s England

6. The Country Clergyman’s Life

Table 4: Incomes in Austen’s England

7. The Country Clergyman’s Wife

8. The Clergyman’s Education at Oxford or Cambridge

Table 5: Teachers and Students, Oxford and Cambridge Terminology

9. Worship and the Book of Common Prayer

10. The Country Clergyman’s Work

11. Preachers Featured in Austen: From Blair to Fordyce

12. Psalms and Hymns: Singing in Church or Not

13. Churches, Chapels, Abbeys, and Cathedrals

Table 6: Places of Worship in Austen’s England

14. Elopement, Adultery, and Divorce: Faith and the Community

15. Faith and Science: The Sublimity of Nature

II. Challenges to Jane Austen’s Church of England

16. Patronage and Multiple Livings: Nothing but a Country Curate

17. Serving God or Mammon: How Austen’s Clergy Saw Their Duty

18. The Wesley Brothers and Whitefield: Waking Sleepy Churches

19. The Methodist Movement: Enthusiasm, Accountability, and Women Preachers

20. Welcoming the Working Classes: Pew Rents and Free Churches

21. Black England: Parishioners of Color

22. The Countess of Huntingdon: Reaching the Rich

23. Nonconformity: Religious Freedoms and Prejudices in Austen’s England

24. Dissenters in Austen’s Towns: Quakers, Baptists, Catholics, and More

Table 7: Denominational Distinctions

25. Evangelicals in the Church of England: Balancing Reason and Feeling

III. Outreach and Legacy of the Church in Austen’s England

26. John Newton, Slave Trader Turned Preacher: Amazing Grace

27. William Cowper: Jane Austen’s Beloved Poet

28. William Wilberforce: Faith-Infused Politics

29. Abolition: Opening Blind Eyes and Deaf Ears

30. Making Goodness Fashionable: Reforming the Manners of England

31. Hannah More: Influencing Society

32. School on Sundays: Educating the Working Classes

33. The Horrors of the Prisons: Jane Austen’s Aunt and Elizabeth Fry

34. Compassion like Emma’s: Chimney Sweeps, Factory Workers, and Mistreated Animals

35. The Word for the World: The SPCK and the Bible Society

36. Missionary into Foreign Parts: William Carey and India

37. Fathers and Mothers of the Victorians

Fingerprints of Jane Austen’s Church on Today’s World

To the Reader

Appendix 1: George Austen’s Memorandum to Francis Austen

Appendix 2: Jane Austen’s Prayers

Appendix 3: Main Characters and Summaries of Jane Austen’s Novels

Appendix 4: Jane Austen’s Cultural World

Appendix 5: Selections from Clergyman Richard Whately’s Review, 1821

Appendix 6: Outline of Morning and Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer

Appendix 7: The English Church, by Robert Southey, 1814

Appendix 8: Services in the Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel in Bath

Timeline

Glossary of Church-Related Terms

Tables in Tabular Format

For Further Exploration

Notes

References for Quotes from Austen’s Novels and Letters

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Christian Faith in Jane Austen’s England

PREFACE

I cannot call that situation [clergyman] nothing, which has the charge of all that is of the first importance to mankind, individually or collectively considered, temporally and eternally—which has the guardianship of religion and morals, and consequently of the manners which result from their influence.

EDMUND BERTRAM, MANSFIELD PARK (CH. 9)

I’ve loved Jane Austen ever since I discovered her as a young adult. Her novels can make me laugh, and cry, and gain new insights into life and human nature. Her artistry and finesse as a writer amaze me every time I re-read her books. Like many Austen fans, I always want more of her stories, and for years I wanted to write a sequel to one of her novels, as true to her time as possible. But first, I needed some background.

Because of my own faith, I wanted to include Christian characters and possibly church services. I wondered:

Was faith really important to Jane Austen? How did it affect her novels?

How would Jane Austen and her characters have worshiped?

What did they sing, and what kind of sermons did they hear?

Were there other denominations, and how were they different from Austen’s Church of England?

How did Christians, in all their varieties, live out their faith in Austen’s England?

How did these Christians influence their country and their world?

I had to dig through many, many resources, some obscure and hard to find, to answer my questions, which kept multiplying. As I uncovered new depths to Austen and fascinating connections to world-changing movements, I realized that lovers of Austen, like myself, as well as lovers of history and the church, needed to have one book that puts it all together. So, instead of a novel, I wrote this nonfiction book on all aspects of Christianity in Jane Austen's England, a pivotal time and place in world history.

I found that while Austen frequently refers to faith and the church in her novels, her terms are not always clear to us today. For example, she writes about livings, vicars, rectors, curates, and chapels. The meanings of these words have changed in the last 200 years. Even British Anglicans use them differently today than Jane Austen did. Words like serious, reflection, and candour had religious connotations which modern readers miss.

Understanding religion in Austen’s world sheds light on many questions about the novels, including:

Why can Mr. Collins, a rector, afford to marry a woman without a dowry, but Mr. Elton, a vicar, cannot?

Why does Mary Musgrove of Persuasion despise Charles Hayter as nothing but a country curate?

What is Jane Austen implying when Dr. Grant receives a high-ranking church position, then dies of gluttony?

Why do young gentlemen like Edward Ferrars and Edmund Bertram choose to enter the clergy instead of a more fashionable occupation?

How did clergymen like Mr. Collins get jobs, and what were they supposed to do for their communities?

I also discovered that Austen’s lifetime was a turning point for the church and country, full of revolutionary changes. Famous Christian preachers, including John Wesley and George Whitefield, and powerful Christian reformers, including William Wilberforce and Hannah More, lived during Austen’s era—how did these leaders relate to Austen’s quiet country churches? And how were women involved in the movements sweeping the church?

I visited Bath in England and came across a beautiful chapel attached to the former home of the Countess of Huntingdon. Built ten years before Austen’s birth, it included a large Sunday-school building. I was amazed to learn that Christians of all denominations in Austen’s England transformed their country by educating and empowering the lower classes, through Sunday schools!

The Countess was connected to the budding evangelical movement, which emphasized the importance of the Bible and personal conversion. John Newton, who had traded in enslaved people, was converted and became a preacher. He wrote the world’s most famous hymn, Amazing Grace. Newton mentored another influential Christian, William Cowper, whose poetry Austen loved and quoted in her novels.

Newton also influenced William Wilberforce, leader of the fight against the British trade in enslaved people, which is mentioned in Mansfield Park. Nowadays it is obvious to us that slavery is evil, but in the 1700s, slavery was taken for granted. How did a handful of Christians open the eyes of a whole country to a moral evil and get them to change, at great financial cost? These abolitionists, and the Bible Society around the same time, developed new techniques for swaying public opinion which are the basis even for modern social campaigns.

Wilberforce and his friends also worked to reform the manners of England. As Mansfield Park tells us, manners meant behavior, the way people act based on their moral principles. Much of that behavior depended on fashion.

In Jane Austen’s England, fashion dictated everything: clothing, hairstyles, homes, gardens, furniture, meals, language, entertainment, and even manners and conduct. Modern Austen fans love to recreate some of those fashions. We may take cream tea with scones while wearing Regency-era costumes: gorgeous gowns of silk or muslin flowing regally from high Empire waistlines. Gentlemen who love Austen may join the ladies for tea in cutaway riding coats over waistcoats (vests) with cravats (elaborately tied neckcloths).

In Austen’s era fashionable people went to church in such elegant attire, mainly to be seen by fashionable people. However, serious religion—religion that affected people’s hearts and actions—was ridiculed as enthusiasm. Among the upper classes, fashionable manners allowed for Wickham’s gambling in Pride and Prejudice, Maria Rushworth’s adultery in Mansfield Park (socially acceptable as long as it was discreet), and Sir Walter Elliot’s extravagance in Persuasion. Jane Austen’s novels all condemn fashionable vices and promote moral and honorable behavior. Wilberforce and others worked to make such goodness fashionable. Astonishingly, they succeeded in transforming their whole society’s attitude toward religion and morality.

Join me as we explore, first, Austen’s Church of England, as we see it in her novels; second, challenges and changes the church was facing, some of which are mentioned in Austen’s novels; and third, the impact the church in Austen’s England had on England and the world. I recommend reading part 1 straight through, then either continuing on or dipping directly into other chapters that interest you.

Along the way you’ll gain new insights into Jane Austen’s themes and the stories behind her stories. You may see the novels in brand-new ways as you begin to appreciate their wider context. People like Henry Tilney and Mrs. Norris will come even more alive for you as you explore the lives, responsibilities, ideas, and struggles of real-life clergymen and their wives.

Welcome to Christian faith in Jane Austen’s England: a world of fashionable, and unfashionable, goodness.

Brief Orientation

Terms: Terms preceded by an * are defined in the Glossary of Church-Related Terms.

Time Period: Jane Austen lived from 1775–1817, but this book includes about 1750–1850. A Timeline after the appendices puts events in historical context.

Plots and Characters: Appendix 3, Main Characters and Summaries, summarizes Austen’s plots and characters if needed.

Tables: Given in text form following relevant chapters, as well as in table form later.

Bible Verses: Unless otherwise noted, Bible verses are from the versions Jane Austen would have used: the King James Version (1611), with the Psalms from Myles Coverdale’s translation (1535–1537), which were usually bound with the Book of Common Prayer.

Quotations: Free online digital editions can give you quotations from Austen’s novels in context. In this book, chapter numbers from the novels are in parentheses like this: (ch. 7), following sequential numbers for chapters; chapter numbers do not restart for each volume, as in the original editions. (Notes with the full word chapter, as in See chapter 1, refer to chapters in Fashionable Goodness.) Quotations from Austen’s novels and shorter works follow the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen (general editor Janet Todd), with original British spelling and punctuation. Volume, chapter, and page numbers from that edition, and page numbers and dates for letters, are given in References for Quotes. Quotations from the letters are from Deirdre Le Faye’s fourth edition of Jane Austen’s Letters; letters are to Cassandra unless otherwise noted.

Abbreviations: Where needed, Austen’s novels are abbreviated as: Emma, E; Mansfield Park, MP; Northanger Abbey, NA; Persuasion, P; Pride and Prejudice, P&P; Sense and Sensibility, S&S.

Additional Resources: Appendices give additional resources. For Further Exploration lists books to read and places to visit related to each topic. Appendices 4-8 are also available online as bonus materials (not included in the print version) at brendascox.wordpress.com.

PART ONE

Jane Austen’s Church of England

Jane Austen’s faith was firmly based in the teachings of the Church of England. Her novels reflect her beliefs and values. The Church also affected her characters’ moral values, incomes, and lifestyles. In Part 1, we’ll explore worship in the Church of England, including music and preaching. Then we’ll look at connections between faith and the community, especially as it affected laws and expectations related to marriage, and finally at interconnections between faith and science during this time.

---

Image: St. Nicholas’s Church, Chawton, Hampshire. Jane Austen worshiped there from 1809 to 1817, the years in which she wrote or rewrote all her published novels. ©Brenda S. Cox, 2022

CHAPTER 1

Jane Austen’s England, a Foreign Country

(FOREIGN TO MODERN READERS)

Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians.

HENRY TILNEY, NORTHANGER ABBEY (CH. 24)

In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland imagines that General Tilney has secretly murdered his wife. His son Henry refutes Catherine’s suspicions, saying, we are English . . . we are Christians. Being Christian was the foundation of their national identity; it defined not only what they believed, but who they were. Henry goes on to cite their education, their laws, their social networks, their tightly knit communities, and their systems of transportation and communication to further characterize the English:

Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. . . . Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known, in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing; where every man is surrounded by a neighbourhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay everything open? (ch. 24) ¹

Henry claims that their whole culture prevents the crime Catherine imagined. However, Austen shows that their society does sanction less sensational crimes—greed, selfishness, cruelty, and deception. (While Henry is often teasing in his remarks to Catherine, here they are discussing a very serious topic, her suspicions of murder. Henry responds seriously, trying to drag her out of her imaginary Gothic world into what he sees as the reality of their English society.)

How can we understand the country and the age in which Jane Austen lived? Her society is poles apart from our modern world, despite some points of similarity. As L. P. Hartley insightfully begins a novel set in 1900, The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. ² The world of Austen’s novels is foreign to us, whether we live in the United States, modern England, or elsewhere. To enter this foreign country, the civilization that spawned Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and Emma Woodhouse, we need to learn its language and culture. While we may interpret Austen’s timeless novels according to our own experiences and values, we can enjoy them more deeply as we get to know Austen’s world.

Religious practices and values influenced many aspects of Austen’s culture. For example, in politics, the Church of England was (and is) the national church of England; the Pilgrims and Puritans fled to America to escape its authority. The sovereign was the head of the church, *bishops and *archbishops were members of the House of Lords, and Parliament made laws regulating worship, the clergy, and *churches. (Terms marked with an * are defined in the Glossary.) From 1810 to 1820 (the Regency), the Prince Regent governed the country because of his father’s illness. Jane Austen disapproved of the Regent’s immoral lifestyle, but when he asked her to dedicate Emma to him, she respectfully complied, ³ since it was her duty as a Christian to obey her country’s leader.

Religious values also guided family relationships. Honoring one’s parents was an important religious duty, given in the Ten Commandments in the Bible and elaborated in the Church of England *catechism. ⁴ In Mansfield Park, Edmund and Fanny are shocked by Mary’s disrespect for her uncle who raised her; Mary is showing poor moral values (ch. 7). Mr. Collins of Pride and Prejudice carries this to a ridiculous extreme when he delays reconciling with his cousins out of respect for his father’s memory, since his father was at odds with them (ch. 13). Disrespect toward a husband or wife was also considered immoral. In Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby shows his poor character by criticizing his wife, and Elinor rebukes him (ch. 44).

As Laura Mooneyham White points out in Jane Austen’s Anglicanism, the foundational worldview of modern Christians, including modern *Anglicans, differs radically from the worldview of the Georgian-era Anglican Church. ⁵ Because of this, we may miss some of the deeper dimensions of Austen’s novels. (For more on Austen’s cultural world, see Appendix 4.)

FANNY PRICE: GOODY-GOODY OR BEWITCHING?

For example, based on current values, modern readers often dislike Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. They see her as weak or insipid. A twentieth-century critic called her a dreary, debilitated, priggish goody-goody, ⁶ and recent movie adaptations change her into an active, independent, modern woman. ⁷ However, in the nineteenth century, readers loved her, and reviewers called her bewitching and charming. ⁸ Their society admired a woman like Fanny, humble and devout, frail in body but strong in character.

Mansfield Park is rooted in England’s traditional Christian values, which the *Evangelical movement of the time was bringing back into fashion. (Note that capital-E Evangelical means the movement within the Church of England.) However, it was also a counter-cultural statement. The upper classes, led by the Regent, had made gluttony, promiscuity, and extravagance fashionable in London, though their religion condemned these as vices. Austen brings fashionable Henry and Mary Crawford from the capital to the traditional countryside. Their lifestyle attracts Maria and Julia Bertram, bringing Maria to moral and social ruin. However, Edmund and Fanny hold firm to their religious values and principles and find happiness.

In the novel, Edmund wants to marry Mary, and Henry wants to marry Fanny; many modern readers think this should have happened. However, Jane Austen’s niece, Fanny Knight, could not think it natural that Edmund should be so much attached to a woman without Principle like Mary C.—or promote Fanny’s marrying Henry. ⁹ What did she mean by Principle?

The meanings of words have changed over the past 200 years. As Stuart Tave explains, for Austen and her readers, principle generally meant religious principles, which we might call moral values. (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary gives one definition as Tenet on which morality is founded.) ¹⁰ Mary and Henry are unprincipled; they would have to change radically to become appropriate spouses for Edmund and Fanny. Mary Crawford literally is not good enough for Edmund Bertram; nor is Henry Crawford good enough for Fanny.

RELIGION IS A KEY

Religion is a key to unlocking Austen’s novels. An 1821 review by *clergyman Richard Whately ¹¹ gives clues to the major differences between his era’s perspective and ours. He considered Jane Austen’s faith, expressed in the moral lessons of the story, to be central. He praised Austen for being evidently a Christian writer, whose religion is not at all obtrusive. ¹² (For more of this insightful review, see Appendix 5.)

Whately appreciated Austen’s themes of moral character, moral education, and religious principle. He noted that Maria’s father regrets, at the end of the novel, that his daughters’ education taught them religious ideas, but not how to practice them. Active principle was lacking—if they had applied their religious beliefs to their lives, they could have actively controlled their desires and tempers. Maria and her sister did not learn the duties (another word with strong religious overtones at the time) of self-denial and humility, which could have protected them (ch. 48).

Fanny Price, though, stays firm in her own religious belief and practice ¹³ and determines to marry a principled husband. She is totally dependent on the Bertrams, who pressure her to marry Henry. Marriage would give her wealth, some freedom, and her own home. However, Fanny shows her strength by refusing a man she considers immoral.

Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice makes a similar choice when she rejects two marriage proposals. For both Elizabeth and Fanny, two religious duties clash. Both have a duty to their families: Elizabeth, to help provide for her family if her father dies, and Fanny, to show gratitude to the family who raised her. But each also has a religious duty to love, respect, and be faithful to her future husband, ¹⁴ which seems impossible with their unsuitable suitors. Anne Elliot, before the beginning of Persuasion, made a similarly difficult choice between her religious duty to obey Lady Russell, who stood in her mother’s place, and her desire to marry Wentworth (ch. 33).

Scholar Anita Soloway claims that Proverbs 31, in the Bible, gives Austen’s criterion for a good person: A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Soloway concludes, For Austen, the essential attribute of a heroine is not wit or charm or vitality, but morality grounded in religion. ¹⁵ If we evaluate each of Austen’s heroines this way, Fanny Price is one of the best. (The same verse in Proverbs discounts charm and beauty, compared to religious principles; Austen’s male heroes and villains can also be evaluated by these standards.)

To understand the church’s pervasive influence in Austen’s world, we also need to recognize some of the issues it was facing. Edmund Bertram and Mary Crawford argue about several: clergy without a calling, clergy who did not live in their *parishes, and fashionable goodness. Was it enough to follow the fashions of the city and show up at church on Sundays, ignoring religion the rest of the week? Or, as new movements in the church stressed, should people seek a personal relationship with God that affected their hearts and behavior? Even for Mr. Darcy, being given good principles—knowing theoretical religious truths—was insufficient to make him a man Elizabeth could respect and marry. Elizabeth helps him apply those principles and learn the religious duty of humility (which she also learns herself). Darcy thanks her, saying, By you, I was properly humbled (ch. 58).

Jane Austen’s religious beliefs, and the beliefs of her society, are often overlooked. She does not talk as openly about religion as today’s Christian writers do, or even as openly as some of her contemporaries did. And yet, as Henry Tilney points out, being Christian was part of the English identity. Jane Austen’s personal identity was also Christian, as we will see in the next chapter. In the rest of this book, we’ll explore the crucial part Christianity played in Austen’s stories and in her world. In Austen’s England, morality came directly from religion.

The foundation of Austen’s life and worldview was her Christian faith. Christianity, as interpreted by the Church of England, influenced all areas of life. Jane Austen was English, and she was Christian.

CHAPTER 2

Jane Austen’s Faith

Above all other blessings Oh! God, . . . quicken our sense of thy Mercy in the redemption of the World, of the Value of that Holy Religion in which we have been brought up, that we may not, by our own neglect, throw away the Salvation Thou hast given us, nor be Christians only in name. ¹

EVENING PRAYER, JANE AUSTEN’S PRAYERS

Was Jane Austen a Christian only in name? Many in Austen’s England practiced a kind of fashionable goodness. They went to church on Sundays because it gave them a chance to see and be seen by other fashionable people. Mary Crawford of Mansfield Park appears to be this kind of Christian, who attends church only as a social obligation.

A later novelist, Georgette Heyer, pictures such fashionable goodness in Arabella. Arabella wonders whether her busy hostess will find time for church on Sunday. However, "Lady Bridlington would have thought it a very odd thing not to be seen in her pew every Sunday morning, unless, as was very often the case, she chose to attend the service at the Chapel Royal, where, in addition to listening to an excellent sermon, she could be sure of seeing all her more distinguished friends, and even, very often, some member of the Royal Family" (italics added). ² Like many in Austen’s England, Lady Bridlington is mainly concerned about appearances.

It was not fashionable, however, for Christian faith to affect people’s behavior and moral values. Fashionable people like Mary Crawford scorned those who took their faith more seriously, trying to practice it and openly talk about it during the week. They called such people *enthusiasts or *Methodists. Since Jane Austen seems not to have talked much about her faith or tried to convert others, she would not have been labeled an enthusiast. However, her faith was sincere, deeply affecting her life, her writing, and her values.

AUSTEN’S LIFE AND FAMILY

The Church of England was always a major part of Jane Austen’s life. She was born in a country *parsonage in the small village of Steventon on December 16, 1775. Her father, George Austen, was a Church of England *clergyman, *rector (minister who received all the *tithes, see chapter 4) of the Church of St. Nicholas in Steventon and of All Saints’ Church in nearby Deane.

A small church with a green pointed steeple, surrounded by trees.

Jane Austen worshiped in this church in Steventon, where her father was rector, when she was growing up. The green pointed steeple was added in later years, during the Victorian era. ©Brenda S. Cox, 2022

At that time, many clergymen in England considered their role as a job, not a calling. They led services on Sundays, getting through the readings and prayers as quickly as possible, and did as they wished the rest of the week. Austen addressed this issue in Mansfield Park, when Henry Crawford assumes Edmund will be such a clergyman. Austen obviously did not approve of that approach. She made it clear that a clergyman should be available seven days a week, encouraging and caring for his people and living according to biblical principles as a model for them. ³

Austen probably got her idea of what a clergyman should be from her father’s example. Mr. Austen seems to have taken his role very seriously. He faithfully served and preached to both his congregations and taught his family to honor and obey God.

Two of Jane’s brothers, Francis and Charles, who became naval officers and eventually admirals, were known for their faith. ⁴ The younger brother, Charles, wrote every day in his diary that he had Read the Lessons of the day. Lessons were the Bible passages listed daily in the Book of Common Prayer (see chapter 9). In 1801, Charles spent some of his naval prize money on topaz crosses and gold chains for his sisters. His choice of crosses suggests the siblings’ shared faith. Austen uses a similar amber cross in Mansfield Park to symbolize the faith of Fanny Price and her brother William, who had good [religious] principles (ch. 24). Fanny’s cross joins clergyman-to-be Edmund’s gift of a gold chain. Fanny responds to the gift with fervent prayers for [Edmund’s] happiness (ch. 27), reinforcing its religious significance. ⁵ (In all quotations, words in brackets are added for clarification.)

Two gold-colored topaz crosses

The topaz crosses Charles Austen gave to Jane (left) and Cassandra (right). Image ©Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, England. Used by permission.

Jane’s older brother Francis, or Frank, was called the officer who knelt in church at a time when it was unusual to show such devotion to God. ⁶ He was the protégé of a leading *Evangelical Christian, Admiral Gambier. ⁷ When Frank died at the age of 91, he still carried a well-worn, often-read letter that had been damaged in battles. (See Appendix 1 for the complete letter.)

His father wrote him that letter when Frank went to sea at age 14. George Austen emphasized the importance of religion to his young son. He told him,

The first & most important of all considerations to a human Being is Religion, or the belief of a God & our consequent duty to him, our Neighbour, & ourselves - In each of these your Catechism instructs you. ⁸

Rev. Austen was referring to a passage in the Bible, in which Jesus said the greatest commandments are, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁹ The Anglican church *catechism, which George Austen mentions, expands on these commandments by explaining our duties to God, our neighbors (other people), and ourselves. These were clearly important to the Austen family.

George Austen wrote to Frank that it was his duty, and in his own best interest, to pray Night & Morning, giving thanks and humbly asking for God’s favour and protection. He told Frank never to neglect this duty, no matter what was happening. He said the prayers could be brief, heartfelt ones when necessary, such as in the middle of a battle. The letter implies that the family was in the habit of praying together daily.

Worship was a foundational element of Jane Austen’s life. She always attended *church or *chapel on Sundays. Her letters often mention going to church, and one also describes family devotions at home (Oct. 24, 1808) . ¹⁰ According to Jane Austen’s Anglicanism, Jane Austen and her family

would have had family prayers for both Morning and Evening Prayer every day, two services of two to three hours each on Sunday, daily private prayers on awakening and on going to bed, and grace before each meal, with thanksgiving after. ¹¹

Their daily schedule revolved around prayer. Fanny Price says in Mansfield Park, A whole family assembling regularly for the purpose of prayer, is fine! (ch. 9)

Austen composed three beautiful prayers ¹² of her own which have survived. You can read them in their entirety in Appendix 2. They were designed for evening family devotions. The prayers echo the Book of Common Prayer, the *Anglican *liturgy she knew well. They breathe thankfulness, humility, and trust in God. Jane asks for the ability to recognize her sins, repent of them, and receive mercy. She also asks God to enable her to be kind and charitable toward others, perhaps because she tended to laugh at people’s foibles, as we see in her novels and letters. In the quote opening this chapter, she acknowledges God’s salvation and redemption and prays to be a true Christian, not just one in name. Her prayers show a woman of deep faith with a sincere desire to love and please God.

Each ends with the Lord’s Prayer (the prayer beginning, Our Father which art in heaven). The Lord’s Prayer is recited twice in Morning Prayer and twice in Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Laura Mooneyham White estimates that Austen would have said that prayer at least 30,000 times in her life. The Lord’s Prayer and other daily prayers must have made a powerful impression on Austen’s mind and heart. ¹³

A comment about art also confirms Austen’s personal faith. When she saw Benjamin West’s painting Christ Rejected, she wrote (Sept. 2, 1814) that she liked it better than anything of the kind she had seen before. She said, it has gratified me much more, & indeed is the first representation of our Saviour which ever at all contented me. ¹⁴ She had apparently been looking for a picture of her savior that matched her deeply felt image of him.

One way Jane Austen lived out her faith was by teaching poor children and giving charitably to the impoverished. She visited those in need and was concerned for her servants’ health and happiness. She was not class-conscious; one of her close friends was a governess. ¹⁵ While Jane Austen sometimes jokingly wrote cutting remarks in her private letters, her actions were humble and kind.

The Austen family was deeply connected with the church and clergy. Of Jane’s seven siblings, her sister Cassandra was her dearest friend, and we know much of Jane’s life from her letters to Cassandra. Jane’s letters refer to at least ninety clergymen she knew, and she and Cassandra also knew others. ¹⁶ Cassandra was engaged to a clergyman, but he died before they could marry. Clergymen often married clergymen’s daughters. In Mansfield Park, Edmund visits a clerical friend, and Mary Crawford says jealously of the clergyman’s daughters, Their father is a clergyman and their brother is a clergyman, and they are all clergymen together. He is their lawful property, he fairly belongs to them (ch. 29). Similarly, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine, the daughter of a country *parson, marries a *rector. However, neither Jane nor Cassandra Austen ever married.

Jane’s brother James followed his father as *rector of Steventon. Her brother Henry became an Evangelical minister, holding several curacies. Rich relatives adopted another brother, Edward, and he took their surname, Knight. Edward inherited wealth, including *patronage in the church. He married a sister of clergymen and one of their sons became rector of Chawton.

At Steventon, where Jane lived until she was 25, she began writing stories including the intricacies of church *livings. In The Generous Curate, the *curate is much too poor to be generous. In Catharine, a clergyman has the Living of Chetwynde and two or three Curacies, and only four children to provide for. Austen wrote the first versions of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey in her early twenties. Each features a clergyman: Edward Ferrars, Mr. Collins, or Henry Tilney.

When Jane’s father retired in 1801, the family moved to fashionable Bath for five years, while James served Steventon as *curate. In 1805, their father died and was buried at St. Swithin’s, the church where he and his wife got married. After his death, his clerical income went to James, the next rector. Jane and her mother and sister had to move to cheaper, uncomfortable lodgings in Bath and spend months visiting family and friends around the country. In the summer of 1806, they visited Stoneleigh Abbey; its *chapel appears to be the model for the Sotherton chapel in Mansfield Park. They also visited Jane’s Evangelical cousin, Edward Cooper, at his *rectory at Hamstall Ridware. Jane’s brothers soon added substantially to their mother’s income, but the women’s lives were still unsettled.

Jane wrote little between 1801 and 1809, when she did not have a stable home. Around 1804, she began a novel called The Watsons but abandoned it after six chapters. It introduces the daughters of a poor, invalid clergyman. According to Cassandra, Austen intended for him to die and the women to become dependent on a brother and sister-in-law. ¹⁷ Perhaps when Jane’s father died, leaving Jane and her mother and sister dependent on her brothers, the story felt too close to her own situation, and she could not continue.

In the autumn of 1806, they moved in with Jane’s naval brother Frank and his family in Southampton. There they attended All Saints’ Church, where Dr. Mant was the charismatic *rector. Jane mentions one of his sermons in a letter (Oct. 24, 1808). ¹⁸

In 1809, Jane’s wealthy brother, Edward Knight, provided them with a cottage in Chawton, a tiny country village similar to Steventon. From their house on Edward’s estate (now a museum, Jane Austen’s House), they could easily walk to the local *church, which is named for St. Nicholas, like the Steventon church. Jane’s brother Henry served briefly as *curate there in 1817. In Chawton, Austen finally felt settled enough to return to writing. There she revised her first three novels for publication, wrote her last three novels, and began but never completed her final novel, Sanditon.

JANE AUSTEN AND THE EVANGELICALS

During Austen’s lifetime, Evangelical influence was growing in the Church of England (see chapter 25). The term *evangelicals refers to Christians with certain beliefs. (The word may also imply specific political standpoints today, but the emphasis was different in Austen’s England.) Evangelicals stress the centrality of the Bible, Jesus’s death on the cross to pay for people’s sins, the need for a personal conversion experience, and the importance of expressing faith through action. The Evangelical movement within the Church of England at this time is usually referred to with a capital E. Other denominations also included evangelicals.

*Methodists, as we’ll see in part 2, were evangelical Christians who were part of the Church of England but then had to separate from it. In the eighteenth century, they were known for impassioned, emotional preaching and singing and for outdoor ministries to the poor, who had little access to the Church of England. Austen refers to them only once. Near the end of Mansfield Park, Edmund confronts Mary Crawford over her lack of moral principles. She sneers at him by connecting him with *Methodists (ch. 47). ¹⁹ Since Austen apparently agreed with Edmund’s views on sin and morality, this passage seems to be supporting the Methodists more than criticizing them.

Evangelicals who stayed in the Church of England, such as John Newton, William Wilberforce, and Hannah More, used a less emotional style and worked within the church hierarchy. Some scholars have found Evangelical influences and parallels to Evangelical ideas in Mansfield Park. Others believe it opposes Evangelicalism and supports more traditional Anglicanism. In any case, it champions sincere religion and the church. ²⁰

Austen is often quoted as saying in one of her letters (Jan. 24, 1809), I do not like the Evangelicals. However, she was responding to Cassandra’s recommendation of Hannah More’s novel, Coelebs in Search of a Wife. More (see chapter 31) was a popular Evangelical author who wrote in a didactic, moralizing style. Jane was not interested in reading More’s book, though she went on to say humorously, Of course I shall be delighted when I read it, like other people—but till I do, I dislike it. She probably disliked More’s writing style more than her beliefs. A few years earlier (Aug. 30, 1805), Cassandra had recommended another Evangelical author to her, Thomas Gisborne. Jane did enjoy Gisborne’s book, even though she had quite determined not to read it. She may have ended up enjoying Coelebs also.

Later, Austen commented directly and positively about the Evangelicals. In 1814, her niece Fanny Knight asked her advice about marriage. Jane responded seriously, with careful consideration. First, she commented on the suitor’s modesty and wisdom, saying wisdom was better than wit. She added,

And as to there being any objection from his Goodness, from the danger of his becoming even Evangelical, I cannot admit that. I am by no means convinced that we ought not all to be Evangelicals, & am at least persuaded that they who are so from Reason & Feeling, must be happiest & safest. . . . Don’t be frightened by the idea of his acting more strictly up to the precepts of the New Testament than others (Nov. 18, 1814).

This letter shows that Jane Austen actually admired the Evangelicals. She sounds close to becoming Evangelical herself—she thought perhaps everyone should. She recognized that Evangelicals combined both Reason and Feeling. This was a hallmark of the Evangelicals; they used reason, based on clear, straightforward interpretations of the Bible. They also emphasized the need for feeling, an experience of the heart. Austen’s first prayer shows that she valued faith that affects the heart; she wrote, Give us grace . . . to address thee with our Hearts, as with our Lips. Austen’s most admirable characters follow the precepts of the New Testament, exerting themselves to do their duty to God and man. Austen was praising Evangelicals highly when she said they acted according to principles from the Bible.

About two weeks later, she wrote to Fanny, I cannot suppose we differ in our ideas of the Christian Religion. You have given an excellent description of it. We only affix a different meaning to the Word Evangelical (Nov. 30, 1814). Unfortunately, she did not explain what the word meant to her. In a letter earlier that year (Sept. 2, 1814), Austen mentioned the War of 1812 (the American war). She described England as a Religious Nation, a Nation in spite of much Evil improving in Religion, ²¹ unlike the Americans, in her opinion. She was likely referring to the national reforms led by *Evangelicals at the time (see part 3).

Austen was on good terms with her Evangelical relatives, though she was sometimes impatient with her pompous Evangelical cousin, Edward Cooper. ²² She did read books of his sermons but did not like his emphasis on Regeneration & Conversion (Sept. 8, 1816; see chapter 35). Like most Anglicans of the time, she probably believed that growing in Christ was a lifelong process, beginning with baptism, without the need for a one-time conversion experience. Several Evangelical Christians of the time, including John Newton (author of Amazing Grace), also experienced conversion as a long process more than a sudden change.

Jane was very close to her brother Henry. If she was moving toward Evangelicalism, as her letter indicates, he continued that direction much further. He was ordained in 1816 and his niece Anna wrote that he became a zealous Preacher of the Gospel, according to the religious views of the Calvinistic portion of the Evangelical clergy, and so consistently remained to his life’s end. ²³ Jane’s brother, Henry, wrote that Jane’s favourite moral writers were Johnson in prose, and Cowper in verse. ²⁴ Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was a pious mainstream *Anglican, while William Cowper (1731–1800) was an *Evangelical Anglican. ²⁵

While Jane respected the Evangelicals, her own beliefs were traditional Anglican. She enjoyed reading books of sermons, popular in her time, as well as other religious books, including some by Evangelicals and *Dissenters (non-Anglicans). In a letter, though, she said her favorite sermon writer was the mainstream Bishop Sherlock, who wrote carefully reasoned defenses of Christianity (Sept. 28, 1814).

A rare political comment in her letters further illustrates the seriousness of her faith. When General Sir John Moore died after a victory over the French, his last words were about that victory. Jane wrote (Jan. 30, 1809), I wish Sir John had united something of the Christian with the Hero in his death. This implies that Jane loved her country but valued Christian faith more than military success.

HER FAMILY’S PERSPECTIVE ON HER FAITH

Two of Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published together soon after she died. In the introduction, her brother Henry described his beloved sister’s many talents. He concluded:

One trait only remains to be touched on. It makes all others unimportant. She was thoroughly religious and devout; fearful of giving offense to God, and incapable of feeling it towards any fellow creature. On serious [religious] subjects she was well-instructed, both by reading and meditation, and her opinions accorded strictly with those of our Established Church.

Critics might say Henry was being politically correct here, for his times. However, this was still the Regency era, when being truly religious was not particularly fashionable. Henry and Jane were quite close, so he may have exaggerated her virtues. But by this time Henry himself was moving toward a more serious Evangelical stance, and he still considered his sister religious and devout.

Jane spent the last two months of her life with her sister in Winchester, 16 miles from Chawton, for medical treatment. ²⁶ Her great-nephew wrote, Her two clergyman brothers were near at hand to administer the consolations of religion, and she made a point of receiving the Holy Communion while she was still strong enough to follow the Service with full attention. ²⁷ Austen took the sacrament of Communion very seriously throughout her life (see chapter 9).

According to her sister Cassandra, some of Jane’s final words were, God grant me patience, Pray for me Oh Pray for me (July 20, 1817).

Jane Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Her epitaph, written by her clergyman brother James, reads:

In Memory of

JANE AUSTEN,

youngest daughter of the late

Revd GEORGE AUSTEN,

formerly Rector of Steventon in this County

she departed this Life on the 18th of July 1817,

aged 41, after a long illness supported with

the patience and the hopes of a Christian.

The benevolence of her heart,

the sweetness of her temper, and

the extraordinary endowments of her mind

obtained the regard of all who knew her, and

the warmest love of her intimate connections.

Their grief is in proportion to their affection,

they know their loss to be irreparable,

but in their deepest affliction they are consoled

by a firm though humble hope that her charity,

devotion, faith and purity have rendered

her soul acceptable in the sight of her

REDEEMER. ²⁸

James did not mention her writing. To her family, at least, Jane’s faith was far more significant than her work. This, of course, is a public commendation. Some critics think it exaggerates Austen’s faith and whitewashes her character, attributing to her a fashionable goodness she did not have. We do see in Austen’s letters that she could be critical of folly, and even catty. Yet her sister Cassandra was the only one who saw those remarks. And Cassandra wrote glowingly of Jane’s character and hope of heaven in private letters to their niece, just after Jane’s death.

Cassandra wrote (July 20, 1817) that she was happy with Jane’s burial place, but added, her precious soul I presume to hope reposes in a far superior Mansion. May mine one day be reunited to it. She also praised Jane’s character, saying, I have lost a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed,—She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow. In a later letter (July 29), Cassandra said, Never was human being more sincerely mourned by those who attended her remains than was this dear creature. May the sorrow with which she is parted from on earth be a prognostic of the joy with which she is hailed in Heaven! She added, If I think of her less as on Earth, God grant that I may never cease to reflect on her as inhabiting Heaven & never cease my humble endeavours (when it shall please God) to join her there.

These are private, not public, tributes to Jane Austen’s godly character and place in heaven. Evangelicals, who focus on salvation by faith, may find Austen’s epitaph problematic. It says her family and friends firmly hope that her charity, devotion, faith and purity have rendered her soul acceptable in the sight of her REDEEMER. Were they saying that her good works saved her? That’s one interpretation. However, faith is on the list, and her Redeemer is given prominence, meaning Christ who died for her sins. The Bible teaches that faith without works is dead. ²⁹ Thus the epitaph more likely means that her charity, devotion, and purity showed the reality of her faith. Jane Austen’s family, her writings, and her life affirm that she was a serious, deeply committed Christian.

CHAPTER 3

Religious Faith in Austen’s Novels

Maria and Julia Bertram had been instructed theoretically in their religion, but never required to bring it into daily practice.

MANSFIELD PARK (CH. 48)

Jane Austen’s novels reflect her deep religious faith. Her best characters live according to religious values and principles, or learn to, while her worst characters do not. For those unfamiliar with some of the novels, we’ll start with an overview. Then we’ll look at some of the spiritual values they express. (If you are not familiar with the characters and plots of Austen’s novels, please refer to Appendix 3 as needed.)

JANE AUSTEN’S NOVELS

Most novels of the early nineteenth century do not appeal to modern readers, but Jane Austen’s are popular around the world. The first one published, Sense and Sensibility (1811), spins the story of Elinor Dashwood, the sister with sense (and some sensibility), and Marianne, the sister with sensibility (and some sense). Elinor is prudent and rational, while Marianne abandons herself to her feelings. Austen’s next published novel, Pride and Prejudice (1813), the rocky romance of proud (and prejudiced) Mr. Darcy and prejudiced (and proud) Elizabeth Bennet, is Austen’s best-loved novel. In the more serious Mansfield Park (1814), poor but principled Fanny Price proves worthier of love than fashionable, fascinating Mary Crawford from London. Emma (1816) followed; Austen thought no one but herself