The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-04-22
TREATS OF THE LIFE OF JANE
AUSTEN.
Life and Works-One of the Greatest
Novelists England has Produced
Study of Glass Subjects.

Professor Rolfe had a large and in
tellectual audience at the High school
building last evening for his second
university extension lecture. His sub
ject was Jane Austen, and the life and
works of that author were treated.
Professor Rolfe said
Jane Austen was born in the year
1775, at SteVenton, a little village in
the south of England. Her father was
the rector of the parish. He was a
scholarly man. The mother was
well educated, and was also gifted with
a lively imagination and remarkable
power of expression. SO it is not
strange that their children, of whom
there were seven, were all of decided
ability, and several of them distinctly
talented
The ablest of them all was Jane. This
does not mean however, that she was
at all precocious. Her childhood and
early youth were very much like those
of other English girls brought up in
homes of similar refinement and sliu-
pliCity. She learned to care for books,
but was equally interested in her ev-
eryday duties and pleasures. Society
she enjoyed keenly. She was very
fond of conversation and dancing.
Her knowledge of the world was
necessarily limited. She had but the
slightest acquaintance with London or
any other great city; she knew moth
ing of political life; even the mercan-
tile and industrial classes of the large
towns were entirely unknown to her.
She had been able to observe country
life alone, the life of landowners large
and small, and of agricultural labor
ers Still in spite of these limita-
tions she began at the early age of
20 to write novels.
Success under such conditions,
would seem to be impossible. But she
possessed genius. She knew how to
look beneath the surface of the quiet
restricted life that surrounded her, and
detect the underlying motives and pas
sions which are always and every
where the same. Her limitations,
therefore are felt only IN the outward
form of her stories. In describing
accidentals, such as the position of her
personages and their interests AID
occupations, she was obliged to confine
herself to the types that she had OBJ
served in the simple society about her.
But in the essentials, in deline8ting
character, she was as truly represen
tatiVe of the whole of human existence
as Shakespeare is.
The first of her novels was Pride
and Prejudice" 1t was completed be-
fore she was 22 1t was followed at
once by Sense and Sensibility," and
that by "Northanger Abbey" Then
the strong creative impulse was found
to have exhausted itself Nothing fur
ther was produced for some twelve
years: nor in the meantime was any
determined effort made to find pub
Usher for these three early works. 1t
is evident, therefore, that she wrote
not from the hope of money, or fame,
or any form of reward. but simply be
cause she was under an inward neceS-
sity. Like all other great artists ST.
was constrained at times to produce,
no matter how unfavorabe or even
discouragng the circumstances might
be.
That the cessation of literary activity
was so long continued was probably
owing to a change in outward circum-
stances. When Jane was 25 Gin lSOD
her father resigned his charge and he
moved to Bath. an island watering
place, where there We're many social
opportunities, which the daughters
could not resist. The four years there
were followed by four at Southampton,
where the distractions of her life were
much the same. Then they returned to
the country and to simpler living. Here
a desire to write soon revived. 1t led
first to the revision of Sense and Sem
sibility," and it's sale to London pub
lished for G150. Then Pride and Pre-
judice" was prepared for publication.
Both of these books were fairly sue
cessful, but not brilliantly so. Still
their poor reception did not affect their
author in the least. She continued her
labors, producing Mansfield Park"
and Emma" and Persuasion" The
last of these was finished during the
last year of her life, when her strength
had begun to fail. 1t was published
as was "Northanger Abbey" also, after
her death. This occurred in 1877 in her
42nd year.
During the half century and more
that has elapsed since she wrote Miss
Austen's fame has been growing stead
lily. She has won the enthusiastic COM
mendation of such critics as Scott and
Macauley and Tennyson. 1t is not too
much to say that she is one of the
three or four greatest novelists that
England has produced.
The second part of the evening was
devoted to an interesting discussion Of
class subjects, having special reference
to Miss Austen. in which a number Of
those present took part.