jane to return with them to and had some difficulty in getting a refusal accepted as they thought too highly of their own kindness and situation to suppose the o� could appear in less advantageous light to anybody else elizabeth gave them her interest though evidently against her own in privately urging to go you do not know what you refuse said she nor what you have to bear at home i would advise you by all means to accept the invitation there is always something lively going on at you will be in company almost every day and robert and jane will be very kind to you as for me i shall be no worse off without you than i have been used to be but poor margaret s disagreeable ways are new to you and they would vex you more than you think for if you stay at home was of course except to greater esteem for elizabeth by such representations and the visitors departed without her when the author s sister showed the manuscript of this work to some of her she also told them something of the intended story for with this dear sister � though i believe with no one else � jane seems to have talked freely of any work that she might have in hand mr was soon to die and to become dependent the for a home on her narrow minded sister in law and brother she was to decline an o� of marriage from lord and much of the interest of the tale was to arise from lady s love for mr and his counter affection for whom he was finally to marry a he knew of no one bat himself who was inclined to the work this is no motive a man sees something to be done knows of no one who will do it bat himself and so is driven to the helps s life of ch i the of my aunt jane has been received with more favor than i had ventured to expect the notices taken of it in the press as well as letters addressed to me by many with whom i am not personally acquainted show that an interest is still taken in every particular that can be told about her i am thus encouraged not only to offer a second edition of the but also to it with some additional matter which i might have to intrude on the public if they had not thus seemed to call for it in the present edition the narrative is somewhat enlarged and a few more letters are added with a short specimen of her childish stories the chapter of persuasion is given in compliance with wishes both publicly and privately expressed a fragment of a story entitled the is printed and are given from a novel which she had begun a few months before her death but the chief addition is a short tale never before published called lady i regret that the little which i have preface been able to add could not appear in my first edition as much of it was either unknown to me or not at my command when i first published and i hope that i may claim some indulgent allowance for the difficulty of recovering little facts and feelings which had been half a century deep in oblivion a of jane chapter i � birth of jane � her connections � their influence on her writings than half a century has passed away since i the youngest of the attended the funeral of my dear aunt jane in cathedral and now in my old age i am asked whether my memory will serve to rescue from oblivion any events of her life or any traits of her character to satisfy the inquiries of a generation of readers who have been bom since she died of events her life was singularly barren few changes and no great crisis ever broke the smooth current of its course even her fame may be said to have been it did not attain to any vigorous life till she had ceased to exist her talents did not introduce i went to represent my who was too to attend himself and i was the only one of my generation present a of jane her to the notice of other writers or connect her with the literary world or in any degree pierce through the obscurity of her domestic retirement i have therefore scarcely any materials for a detailed life of my aunt but i have a distinct recollection of her person and character and perhaps many may take an interest in a if any such can be drawn of that mind whence sprung the and the and the and who have been admitted as familiar guests to the of so many families and are known there as and intimately as if they were living neighbors many may care to know whether the moral the correct taste and the warm affections with which she invested her ideal were really existing in the native source whence those ideas flowed and were actually exhibited by her in the various relations of life i can indeed bear witness that there was scarcely a charm in her most delightful characters that was not a true reflection of her own sweet temper and loving heart i was young when we lost her but the impressions made on the young are deep and though in the course of fifty years i have forgotten much i have not forgotten that aunt jane was the delight of all her and we did not think of her as being clever still less as being famous but we valued her as one always kind and amusing to all this i am a living witness but whether i can sketch out such a faint outline of this excellence as shall be perceptible to others may be reasonably 