Jane Austen Biography - Page 2 of 2 Jane Austen Biography Page 2 (of 2) Authored By Renee Warren | Last Updated: 5/3/2016 Jane Austen's real life story continues on as if a body of her own written work. Now we come to the part of the story where Jane's novels meet real life. Enter the real life character in the form of Harris Bigg-Wither, a childhood friend of the family and of Jane's. Once again in the month of December - this time in 1802 - Jane receives her one and only known proposal of marriage from Mr. Bigg-Wither. Sensing the practical measure of both their situations, Jane agrees to the marriage. Bigg-Withers is due to inherit a sizeable amount of real estate and is well off. His one negative seems to be Jane's indifference to the man as a whole. She expressed no true love for him, no affection whatsoever, but the convenience of being provided for and for her family's future as well seemed to have dictated her acceptance of the proposal. In a turn very much like one of her penned characters, however, Jane revoked her acceptance the next day.

In a letter to her niece some years later, a family member seeking relationship advice from Jane, Jane makes a pivotal comment in her writing that is a summary of many of her stories - her advice to the niece is simply not to wed if the affection is not there. This revelation is a shining insight into the mind of Ms. Austen, seemingly taken out of the very pages of one of her novels, where her heroines did not to marry for money or power, but for love. In 1803, brother Henry visited a London publisher by the name of Benjamin Crosby to help push the Susan novel into publication. The copyright for the work is sold for 10 pounds to Crosby with the promise that the piece will be published. Unfortunately, Crosby never fulfilled his end of the bargain in any acceptable timeframe and a tug of war over control of the copyright will go on for some time. Nevertheless, Jane continues work, this time on a piece entitled The Watsons. January 21st of 1805 brought about startling changes to the landscape of the Austen world. Beloved father George Austen - already falling quickly ill - died to the shock of the family.

This period of time forced Jane to put off work on The Watsons indefinitely as the Austen family is thrown into a kind of crisis. The Austen brothers all agree to help support Mrs. Austen and her two daughters though the girls are forced to live an unsettled life of constant moving and renting out their living quarters. Eventually, the women move in with brother Edward who later offers a cottage on a nearby property to the girls. This cottage - known as Chawton cottage - would rejuvenate the 33 year-old Austen into a period which she will made great strides in her work, nearly as great as her younger years. To begin with, Jane penned an angry letter to Benjamin Crosby, the publisher in London with a hold on the Susan copyright. Since the work had yet to be published by Mr. Crosby, Jane submits a new revised version of the novel to force Crosby's hand to either publish the work or return the copyright to her so she may find another, more willing, publisher. Crosby agrees to Jane's demand, though in a shrewd business move, allows Jane access to the copyright of Susan only if she can pay the equal 10 pounds back to him for it.

With the Austen family financial future severely in doubt at this point, Jane was forced to decline the offer for the time being, leaving Susan out of her control for still more time. Life in Chawton cottage proved to be a godsend for the women. Now fully settled in a quiet environment, Jane saw it fit to continue her work. Her sister and mother even acknowledged her talent and took away some of her required chores to allow her to work unfettered. This she did in a very private way, but still more productively than ever before. Henry Austen, working on a burgeoning banking career on his own with help from his brother's investing, doubled as Jane's literary agent and approached London publisher Thomas Egerton with the manuscript for Sense & Sensibility . Egerton agreed to publish the piece and fulfilled his end of the deal. The novel is published in October of 1811 and comes out to favorable reviews. The piece is a financial success for the family, the first edition selling out completely by1813. Egerton then took the manuscript of Pride & Prejudice and published this second work for public consumption in January of 1813.

This time around, Egerton put a fair amount of time and money into marketing Jane's work and the novel was an instant success with the public and critics alike. The success is so great that a second edition of printing is quickly ordered by October. Mansfield Park quickly followed, Egerton striking while the iron was hot. The piece was received in luke warm fashion by reviewers, but the public could not get enough of Jane Austen. Another modest monetary success greeted the Austen family. In fact, Mansfield Park, with all copies sold, became the best selling and most profitable of Ms. Austen's works at that time. In an effort to bring even more success to her novels, Jane left the services of Egerton in favor of a more well known London publisher, John Murray. Murray would be the final publisher to work with Austen before her untimely death. Under Murray's watch, Emma , a second edition of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published. Emma arrived with critical success, but the second edition printing of Mansfield Park is not so successful, basically negating the earnings Jane received from the former.

At this time, the banking venture pursued by brother Henry failed, and along with it, the fortunes of brothers Edward, James and Frank. This left the Austen girls - and family for that matter - in a precarious financial position. Jane continued writing, even more dedicated to complete a working first draft of The Elliots, though this work would later be more recognized as Persuasion. It is at this time that Henry takes it upon himself to repurchase the copyright of Susan from Crosby & Company and does so for the 10 pounds originally paid. The title of the work, however, is now changed to Catherine which led some historians to believe that there may have been another novel out in print at the time with the same title of Susan. At the beginning 1816, Jane noticed a decline in her health, but disregarded it in favor of continuing the works she started. With so much happening, Jane's health declined quickly with each passing day. Her family began to take note. Though progressively unwell, Jane maintained an upbeat attitude and played off her illness to family and friends, all the while rewriting the final two chapters of The Elliots to her liking.

The piece is eventually finished and, by January 1817, Jane is hard at work on a new project entitled The Brothers. Twelve chapters of the work are completed before her illness takes a more serious toll on Jane. The simple act of walking at age 41 became a chore and energy was greatly exhausted performing the simple tasks of a given day. By April, Jane was confined to her bed and her work suffered as well. In May of 1817, brother Henry and sister Cassandra looked to get medical help for their ailing sister. They escorted Jane to Winchester to seek medical treatment for an illness that - at that time - could not possibly have had a cure. On July 18th, 1817, Jane Austen died in Winchester and with her, she took the conclusions of her unfinished works. With his connections, Henry worked to have his sister buried at the Winchester Cathedral. Not content with seeing her final completed works go unpublished, Henry and Cassandra worked at getting Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published through Murray as a set collection. Within this work, however, Henry penned a most endearing account of the author of the works - who at this point was still nameless to the world.

He unveiled her as Jane Austen, connecting her to her work for the first time in her career. In many ways, Jane Austen embodied the very strong-natured, head-strong women that were her stories. They came from different circumstances with different backgrounds, yet all sought the same thing in true love. It is an irony that such a thing eluded the great Ms. Austen herself, but perhaps to the betterment of her stories and ours. In the end, we are left with what are truly timeless pieces of art. Despite penning just six completed works, she has spawned a legion of followers that devour every word she wrote. In her life, and even after her death, but most importantly through her works, she has left all readers with the fanciful notion of love revealed, love enduring... Harris Bigg-Wither - Notable Locals - Selwyn Kete » Person The young sulky face staring out from an early 19th-century pastel portrait is Harris Bigg-Wither, Trish Hall's great-great grandfather and, for a handful of hours, Jane Austen's fiance. Jane Austen was a woman who firmly believed in love. She loved her sprawling family and her circle of close friends.

She loved writing. The subject of love fills her books, inspiring characters like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, propelling lives and fuelling plots. Love also dispatched a storm through the outwardly calm Me of this modest and very private woman - an emotional tempest which eventually spread ripples as far as New Zealand. For Trish Hall, of Hororata, Jane Austen remains an central figure in her family history; a history with distant echoes in the Currently screening BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice". There is something vaguely Austenesque about Hororata on a brilliant spring morning. The houses are mellow, the gardens filled with daffodils and cherry blossom. The landscape is bucolic and peaceful. One half expects to meet the five Bennet sisters striding across the fields, bonnets a-flutter, or hear the rattle of a carriage splashing through the ford bearing the obnoxious Bingleys to yet another social coup de grace. In Trish Hall's dining room, pages of family history are spread out on the dining table.

Somewhere above the genealogical tables and the photograph of a large 18th-century house hovers the diminutive, neat presence of Jane Austen and the larger, more cumbersome figure of the man who briefly loved her, or thought that he did, 195 years ago. The young sulky face staring out from an early 19th-century pastel portrait is Harris Bigg-Wither, Trish Hall's great-great grandfather and, for a handful of hours, Jane Austen's fiance. In 1802, Harris was the 20 year-old-son of a distinguished Hampshire family with a coat of arms and a family motto ("I grow and wither both together.") Bigg-Withers had lived, married, and died at Manydown for 400 years, producing magistrates, squires, soldiers, and poets. Harris's father, Lovelace, former Deputy-Lieutenant of Hampshire was a genial, stocky widower with a face that less respectful tenantry said could have been very fine if a horse had not sat on it. Jane Austen was the 26-year-old daughter of Reverend George Austen and his wife, Cassandra.

The Rev Austen was descended from solidly obscure Kentish farming stock. His wife was a sharp-tongued, witty, and eloquent woman with aristocratic connections. Their seven children became a closely-knit and warm collection of personalities and ambitions - resourceful, intelligent individuals determined to make their way in the world, or at least within their own social orbit of it. As the daughter of the rectory, Jane Austen was certainly considered a social notch below the Bigg-Withers. Harris's sisters, Catherine and Alathea, were among her oldest friends and she had been a frequent visitor to Manydown. Her arrival with her sister Cassandra on November 25, 1802, promised another pleasantly uneventful exchange of news and discreet gossip. "We spend our time here quietly as usual," she had written after an earlier visit. "One long morning visit is what usually occurs." Harris Bigg-Wither probably contributed little to the conversation. Apart from a stutter, he was gangling, awkward, and brusque - "very plain in person - awkward and even uncouth in manner", as someone once described him. Others remembered him as rude and uncommunicative.

In any case, Harris Bigg-Wither was hardly the perfect suitor for the witty, ironic, and quick Miss Jane Austen , who may have imagined herself to be on no more than cordial terms with Manydown's heir. Harris obviously attached much more importance to his relationship with Miss Austen. Shortly after the Austen sisters' arrival, he proposed marriage to Jane on December 2, 1802. She accepted. Historians still debate her reasons for agreeing to marry him. At 26 she was almost past marrying age for a woman of the early 19th century. The bleak landscape of spinsterhood loomed before her. "Single women have a dreadful propensity to be poor," she wrote. Jane Austen was also a realist. She probably recognised that she would not marry Harris for love, but as a duty and an insurance against a penurious old age. Her books are filled with references to the strict social conventions of late Georgian England and the silent codes of conduct that governed them. Only two of her fictional heroines actually marry men who could ever be described as attractive. Everyone else walks down the aisle with solidly reassuring brother figures.

Marriage, in the time of Jane Austen, could be a coldly cruel social obligation. In the drawing room at Manydown on that late autumn day in 1802, she possibly debated the alternatives and decided to take the safer option. Harris, she may have told herself, could improve. They might even find love together. Jane had already loved. A year before, she had spent a summer holiday with her family in the small Devon resort of Sidmouth. There she had met and fallen in love with a young gentleman. We know nothing about him except that he was young, charming, intelligent and handsome. He may have been a clergyman. Whatever he was, the anonymous suitor with Jane and she loved him. Her sister Cassandra thought that they were seriously in relationship blossomed, family approved. Then, after two or three weeks, Jane's admirer left Sidmouth. He would return, he told Jane. Within days, she received a letter informing her that he had died suddenly. The story ends here. Jane, a prolific letter writer, did not write for many months, withdrawing from her friends and family. She never wrote or spoke about Sidmouth again.

The visit to Manydown was the first time she had visited friends since the tragedy. Perhaps her rapid acceptance of Harris Bigg-Wither's proposal was a reaction to the death of a man she genuinely loved. Here was a man of position and money, a man of considerable prospects, who loved her and offered her security, comfort, and possibly happiness. "I am not a romantic, you know. I ask only a comfortable home. I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state," Elizabeth Bennet's best friend, Charlotte, comments on her marriage to the insufferable Mr Collins. Perhaps Jane felt the same emotion for a few hours. While Harris informed his father and family of his proposal and her acceptance, she thought alone in her room. As the house slept, she sat awake m darkness or in the light of a candle, considering the future as Mrs Jane Bigg-Wither. By the time that Manydown's servants were preparing for another day, Jane reached a conclusion. She could not marry Harris. Nothing could exceed the misery of being bound to one while preferring another, she told her niece, Fanny, years later. She was not a passionate woman, but she was not shallow.

She could not live a lifetime's lie by accepting Harris Bigg-Wither while recovering from the loss of a man she had genuinely loved. Suffering from a "headake and fatigue", she walked slowly downstairs to break off the engagement. It was, one commentator said, the only time that Jane Austen would hurt anyone intentionally. There were recriminations. Relationships between the Austen and Bigg-Wither households temporarily chilled after Cassandra and Jane returned home. Questions were asked and letters exchanged but Jane did not change her mind. She never married. She remained a loving daughter, aunt, and friend. She was forgiven by Harris Bigg-Wither's sisters and returned to Manydown to stay. Her sharply ironic mind wrote six of the best English novels ever written. At 41, she died from Addison's Disease. "The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her and the warmest love of her connections," her brother wrote on her grave in Winchester Cathedral. And Harris Bigg-Wither? Two years later, he proposed and married Anne Howe Frith. They had 10 children.

One of their five sons, Charles, emigrated to Zealand with his wife and large family settling in Nelson. Harris died of a stroke in 1833, and while the New Zealand branch of the family spread, Manydown and a neighbouring property were sold in 1871 to pay debts. "I always knew about the connection but when I was younger I never paid much attenttion to it" says Trish Hall. "I read Pride and Prejudice' as a girl and I rember that I was bored. You somehow enjoy these things when you are older. "There are echoes of what happened at Manydown in her books. When you read her you always get the impression of a wonderful observer of human nature - a woman watching events, tongue in cheek and with a definite twinkle in her eye." Harris Bigg-Wither's New descendants continue to flourish, only suppose what would have happended to Jane Austen if she had married the young man. "Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Bigg-Wither certainly does not resounding literary ring.

Says Trish Hall: "Mr Darcy was possibly a more attractive man than Harris Bigg-Wither, but then our conceptions of attractivenes have changed." The events at Manydown in 1802 are fascinating. Friends recently sent me clippings of a story which appear English newspaper about the connection. Even after 195 years the story is still an exciting one. Source The Press, 12 September 1996 For more information Jane Austen's Biography: Life (1775-1817) and Family Austen family genealogical charts Jane Austen was born December 16th, 1775 at Steventon , Hampshire , England (near Basingstoke). She was the seventh child (out of eight) and the second daughter (out of two), of the Rev. George Austen , 1731-1805 (the local rector , or Church of England clergyman), and his wife Cassandra, 1739-1827 ( née Leigh ).

(See the silhouettes of Jane Austen's father and mother , apparently taken at different ages.) He had a fairly respectable income of about £600 a year, supplemented by tutoring pupils who came to live with him, but was by no means rich (especially with eight children), and (like Mr. Bennet in ) couldn't have given his daughters much to marry on . More than one reader has wondered whether the childhood of the character Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey might not reflect her own childhood, at least in part -- Catherine enjoys "rolling down the green slope at the back of the house" and prefers cricket and baseball to girls' play. In 1783, Jane and her older sister Cassandra went briefly to be taught by a Mrs. Cawley (the sister of one of their uncles), who lived first in Oxford and then moved to Southampton . They were brought home after an infectious disease broke out in Southampton . In 1785-1786 Jane and Cassandra went to the Abbey boarding school in Reading , which apparently bore some resemblance to Mrs. Goddard's casual school in Emma .

(Jane was considered almost too young to benefit from the school, but their mother is reported to have said that "if Cassandra's head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have hers cut off too".) This was Jane Austen's only education outside her family. Within their family, the two girls learned drawing, to play the piano, etc. (See "Accomplishments" and Women's Education .) Austen family genealogical charts Jane Austen enjoyed social events, and her early letters tell of dances and parties she attended in Hampshire , and also of visits to London , Bath , Southampton etc., where she attended plays and such. There is a famous statement by one Mrs. Mitford that Jane was the "the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers" (however, Mrs. Mitford seems to have had a personal jealousy against Jane Austen, and it is hard to reconcile this description with the Jane Austen who wrote The Three Sisters before she was eighteen). There is little solid evidence of any serious courtships with men.

In 1795-6, she had a mutual flirtation with Thomas Lefroy (an Irish relative of Jane Austen's close older friend Mrs. Anne Lefroy). On January 14th and 15th 1796, when she was 20, she wrote (somewhat sarcastically), in a letter to Cassandra : "Tell Mary that I make over Mr. Heartley and all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in future, and not only him, but all my other admirers into the bargain wherever she can find them, even the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I do not care sixpence. Assure her also, as a last and indisputable proof of Warren's indifference to me, that he actually drew that gentleman's picture for me, and delivered it to me without a sigh. Friday. -- At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over.

My tears flow at the melancholy idea." However, it was always known that he couldn't afford to marry Jane ( see "Money and Marriage" ). (Many years later, after he had become Chief Justice of Ireland, he confessed to his nephew that he had had a "boyish love" for Jane Austen.) A year later, Mrs. Lefroy (who had disapproved of her nephew Tom's conduct towards Jane) tried to fix Jane Austen up with the Rev. Samuel Blackall, a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but Jane wasn't very interested. In late 1800 her father, who was nearly 70, suddenly decided to retire to Bath (which would not have been Jane Austen's choice), and the family moved there the next year. During the years in Bath , the family went to the sea-side every summer, and it was while on one of those holidays that Jane Austen's most mysterious romantic incident occurred. All that is known is what Cassandra told various nieces, years after Jane Austen's death, and nothing was written down until years after that.

While the family were staying somewhere on the coast (probably in south Devonshire, west of Lyme ), Jane Austen met a young man who seemed to Cassandra to have quite fallen in love with Jane; Cassandra later spoke highly of him, and thought he would have been a successful suitor. According to Caroline "They parted -- but he made it plain he should seek them out again"; however, shortly afterwards they instead heard of his death! There is no evidence as to how seriously this disappointment affected Jane Austen, but a number of people have wondered whether or not Jane Austen's 1817 novel Persuasion takes place in Lyme . A more clearly-known incident occurred on December 2nd. 1802 , when Jane Austen and Cassandra were staying with the Bigg family at Manydown, near Steventon . Harris Bigg-Wither, who was six years younger than herself, proposed to Jane, and she accepted, though she did not love him ( see "Marriage and the Alternatives" ).

However, the next day she thought better of it, and she and Cassandra showed up unexpectedly at Steventon (where their brother James was now the clergyman), insisting they be taken out of the neighbourhood to Bath the next day. This was socially embarrassing, but her heart does not seem to have been seriously affected -- Mr. Bigg-Withers, though prosperous, was "big and awkward". Notoriously, none of Jane Austen's letters to Cassandra from June 1801 to August 1804, in which she probably would have alluded to these incidents, have been preserved. In the end, Jane Austen (like Cassandra ), never married. In 1803 Jane Austen actually sold (then titled Susan ) to a publisher , for the far-from-magnificent sum of £10; however, the publisher chose not to publish it (and it did not actually appear in print until fourteen years later ). It was probably toward the end of the Bath years that Jane Austen began , but this novel was abandoned in fragmentary form. In January 1805 her father died.

As would have been the case for the Bennets in Austen family genealogical charts In 1806 they moved from Bath , first to Clifton, and then, in autumn 1806, to Southampton . Two years later, Jane remembered ( in a letter to Cassandra ) with "what happy feelings of Escape!" she had left Bath . Southampton was conveniently near to the navy base of Portsmouth and the naval brothers Frank and Charles . In 1809 Jane Austen, her mother, sister Cassandra , and Martha Lloyd moved to Chawton , near Alton and Winchester , where her brother Edward provided a small house on one of his estates. This was in Hampshire , not far from her childhood home of Steventon . Before leaving Southampton , she corresponded with the dilatory publisher to whom she had sold Emma . Her brother Henry , who then conveniently lived in London , often acted as Jane Austen's go-between with publishers, and on several occasions she stayed with him in London to revise proof-sheets.

In October 1813, one of the Prince Regent's physicians was brought in to treat an illness that Henry was suffering from; it was through this connection that Jane Austen was brought into contact with Mr. Clarke . At Steventon she and Cassandra had had a private "dressing room" next to their bedroom (in the later years, after their brothers had mainly moved out), which she used to write her Juvenilia and early versions of her first three novels in relative privacy. At Chawton , she didn't have any such study, and James Edward tells the story of the famous creaking door , which Jane Austen requested not be fixed, since it gave her warning of any approaching visitors, so that she could hide her manuscript before they came into the room. In addition to her literary work, she often visited her brothers and their families, and other relatives and friends, and they sometimes came to Southampton or Chawton . She had a reputation for being able to keep young children entertained, and was also attached to her oldest nieces Fanny and Anna . In a letter of October 7th 1808 , she wrote about her niece Fanny : "I found her...

just what you describe, almost another Sister, -- & could not have supposed that a neice would ever have been so much to me". In a letter of October 30th 1815 she wrote to her young niece Caroline , after her sister Anna's first child had been born: "Now that you are become an Aunt, you are a person of some consequence & must excite great interest whatever you do. I have always maintained the importance of Aunts as much as possible, & I am sure of your doing the same now." In a letter of November 6th 1813 (when she was 37 years old) she wrote: "By the bye, as I must leave off being young, I find many Douceurs in being a sort of chaperon [at dances], for I am put on the Sofa near the Fire & can drink as much wine as I like." A few days earlier she had written , "I bought a Concert Ticket and a sprig of flowers for my old age." ( in August 1815, and finished it in August 1816 -- although during 1816 she was becoming increasingly unwell .

In early 1816 her brother Henry's business went bankrupt; Edward lost £20,000. In early 1817 she started work on another novel, Sanditon , but had to give it up in March. On April 27th she made her will (leaving almost everything to Cassandra ), and on May 24 she was moved to Winchester for medical treatment. She died there on Friday, July 18th 1817, aged 41. It was not known then what had caused her death, but it seems likely that it was Addison's disease. (See also Cassandra's letters to Fanny Knight announcing Jane's death .) She was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24th 1817 (at that time, so we are told, women did not usually attend funerals -- three years afterwards, Victoria's mother was not allowed to attend her husband's funeral -- so Cassandra was not present). Read the light poem that Jane Austen wrote soon before her death . The inscription on her grave in the cathedral has become rather notorious in recent years.

First, because it lays such emphasis on her "sweetness" and Christian humility, even though it is rather clear from Jane Austen's novels (let alone her letters ) that she was no Fanny Price . However, this could well be simply the conventional (and somewhat empty) eulogistic pieties of the day, heightened by Henry Austen's mid-life crisis. The more serious question is why there was no mention at all of her writings (except in the somewhat oblique allusion to "the extraordinary endowments of her mind"). In memory of formerly Rector of Steventon in this County . She departed this Life on the 18th 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 the 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. Portraits of Jane Austen, etc. There have been only two authentic surviving portraits of Jane Austen, both by her sister Cassandra , one of which is a back view! (A poor-quality greycale JPEG and a poor-quality color JPEG of this are available.) The other is a rather disappointing pen and wash drawing made about 1810 (a somewhat manipulated JPEG of this original sketch is available).

The main picture of Jane Austen referenced at this site (JPEG) is a much more æsthetically pleasing adaptation of the same portrait, but should be viewed with caution, since it is not the original (for a more sentimentalized Victorian version of this portrait, see this image , and for an even sillier version of the portrait, in which poor Jane has a rather pained expression and is decked out in cloth-of-gold or something, see this image -- for some strange reason, it is this last picture which has been frequently used to illustrate popular media articles on Jane Austen). Here's the silliest version of this portrait ever . ). See also a deliberately contemporized (but not silly) version of the portrait by Amy Bellinger. The silhouette included at the top of these files (if you have a graphic browser) is not actually known with certainty to be Jane Austen's. Here is another silhouette said to be of Jane Austen , taken from The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen edited by Penelope Hughes-Hallett (formerly published as My Dear Cassandra: The Letters Of Jane Austen ).

Silhouettes of Jane Austen's father and mother (that of her father apparently taken at a rather earlier age), a silhouette of Cassandra , and Cassandra's portrait of their niece Fanny Knight (JPEG) are also available. In 1994, another portrait, claimed to be of Jane Austen, has been discovered among Mr. Clarke's papers, and published in a limited edition (this portrait was reportedly printed in the Daily Telegraph Why Did Jane Austen Never Marry? by Claire Harman Claire Harman It wasn’t as if she was never asked, or didn’t want to be asked. The teenaged Jane Austen was in fact such a flirt and party animal that one neighbor called her “the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembered.” She was every bit as confident and witty as her creation, Lizzie Bennet, and considerably more mischievous. Take this from a letter she wrote to her sister Cassandra in 1796, when Jane was just 20: “Tell Mary that I make over Mr.

Heartley and all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in future, and not only him, but all my other admirers into the bargain wherever she can find them, even the kiss which C[harles] Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I do not care sixpence.” Her crush on “Mr. Tom Lefroy,” the nephew of family friends, was at least half-serious (which is why she was careful to make light of it here), but hardly the full-blooded romance/elopement that the film Becoming Jane tried to depict. Lefroy went back to his family in Ireland without giving Jane any grounds for hope. But she wasn’t heartbroken: It was fun while it lasted, and Tom could dance, unlike stodgy Reverend Samuel Blackall, who dithered around in 1798, hinting that he might be getting ready to pay court, and who only earned Jane’s scorn: “It is most probable that our indifference will soon be mutual,” she wrote crushingly.

There were plenty of young men for Jane Austen to choose from in her youth—her father’s past pupils, her brothers’ friends—and the Austens were a gregarious family. Jane was very fond of her cousin Edward Cooper (who might have been one of the models for Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park), but lamented the fact that he grew up to be quite a stuffy cleric. She may also (according to Jon Spence) have held a candle for Edward Bridges, her sister-in-law’s brother. Both men married elsewhere, as did Tom Lefroy—and Samuel Blackall. And there is an uncorroborated story of a “seaside romance” that Jane might have had on holiday in 1801, but no letters survive from that period, so it remains conjectural. What we do know is that on 2 December 1802, when Jane and her sister were visiting Manydown House in Hampshire, Harris Bigg-Wither, the 21-year old younger brother of Jane’s friends Alethea and Catherine, proposed marriage to her—and was accepted.

Jane was 6 years older than Harris, and a good deal cleverer, but they had known each other a long time, and he must have had some encouragement from her in the months or years before popping the question, or he wouldn’t have dared ask. And she said yes, after all: There might have been plenty of mutual regard, even love. But after what must have been an agonizing night of second thoughts, Jane left Manydown abruptly and in confusion, having broken off her very short engagement. Part of her decision not to marry Harris must have been the lack of really powerful feeling: If she’d been deeply in love, Jane would have let very little stand in her way. But by 1802 there were other strong considerations for Jane, perhaps the most pressing being the happiness of her beloved sister. Cassandra’s fiancé, Tom Fowle, had died abroad in 1797 and Cassandra had withdrawn completely from the marriage market afterwards. Jane had always idolized her elder sister and stuck with her through thick and thin: “If Cassandra’s head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have her’s cut off too,” their mother had once remarked.

Although the possibility of marriage was far from over for Jane, the companionship of her sister in shared spinsterhood had many attractions. She was frankly relieved in later life to have avoided the pitfalls of married life, not least the huge risks of childbirth, “all the business of Mothering,” and, worst of all, being tied to an uncongenial partner. As she wrote feelingly to Fanny Knight, who was thinking of making a match of convenience, “Nothing can be compared to the misery of being bound without Love.” And Lizzie Bennet surely echoes Jane’s own opinion when she deplores Charlotte Lucas’s acceptance of Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, finding it “humiliating,” “disgracing,” and a recipe for disaster. Would Jane Austen have ever got round to finishing and publishing Pride and Prejudice if she had been married to Harris Bigg-Wither—or anybody else? Decidedly not! Living quietly with her mother and sister, however low in material and social rewards, gave her the freedom she needed to write. And what she went on to invent was a set of heroes and romances unrivalled in their appeal, humour, and knockdown fantasy-power.

So we can all be thankful that this remarkable woman decided against becoming Mrs. Harris Bigg-Wither, or Mrs. Anyone. Where would the rest of us be without Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Colonel Brandon, and Captain Wentworth? Claire Harman is the author of Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World. Jane’s Fame is a history of Jane Austen’s fame, the changing status of her work and what it has stood for, or been made to stand for, in English culture in the two hundred years since her death. For more information stop in at . Harris Bigg-Wither | Tea in a Teacup Tea in a Teacup Frills and Furbelows, Corsets and Cuffs, Prose and Poetry, Mittens and Muffs.

Feeds: Posted in Historical Customs , People in History , Regency era , tagged Edward Bridges , Harris Bigg-Wither , Jane Austen , John Warren , Regency women and work , Samuel Blackall , Tom Lefroy on March 17, 2013 | 4 Comments » In my previous post about Jane Austen, I looked at the movies Becoming Jane (2007) and Miss Austen Regrets (2008) and questioned how historically accurate they were. There are obvious discrepancies taken in the name of artistic licence, such as the names and situations of her suitors, but there are also more subtle differences, like the more modern representations of her attitudes towards having a career. A watercolour painting of Jane Austen, by Cassandra Austen The best way to get a sense of who a person was – short of talking to them yourself – is to read what they have written. Obviously reading more personal accounts, such as journals and personal letters, allows you to see the person in the way they saw themselves. Their other writings, such as novels, poetry, and published pamphlets or articles, also give a sense of their voice and an idea of what interested them.

Reading other people’s first-hand accounts give a sense of how other people perceived this person. Biographies, although a secondary source of information, are valuable in giving a sense of the circumstances and background of the person’s life. So it is in these places that I have sought information on the realities of Jane’s life. Jane’s Suitors Thomas Lefroy (1776-1869) Jane did meet Tom Lefroy in 1795 while she was still living at Steventon, aged 20, and mentions him in her letters to Cassandra. However, there is little evidence that marriage between them was ever seriously contemplated. You scold me so much in the nice long letter which I have this moment received from you, that I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved, Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking the the way of dancing and sitting down together. I can expose myself however, only once more, because he leaves the country soon after next Friday, on which day we are to have a dance at Ashe after all. He is a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man, I assure you.

But as to our having ever met, except at the three last balls, I cannot say much; for he is so excessively laughed at about me at Ashe, that he is ashamed of coming to Steventon, and ran away when we called on Mrs Lefroy a few days ago. 9 January, 1796. John Warren (1771-1831), who proposed to Jane in Becoming Jane, was at Oxford at the same time as James Austen. He also became a pupil of Jane’s father, George Austen. Mr Warren and Jane were always good friends and he was occasionally mentioned in her letters. The following excerpt was written immediately after the above quote regarding Tom Lefroy, in the same letter to her sister. We left Warren at Dean Gate, in our way home last night, and he is now on his road to town. He left his love, &c., to you, and I will deliver it when we meet. Henry goes to Harden to-day in his way to his Master’s degree. We shall feel the loss of these two most agreeable young men exceedingly, and shall have nothing to console us till the arrival of the Coopers on Tuesday.

9 January, 1796. Samuel Blackall met Jane in 1798 while visiting the Lefroy’s and soon became an admirer of her. He had intended to visit again at Christmas but upon his return to Cambridge, where he was a Fellow, he discovered that he was not in a position to marry at present, and wrote to Mrs Lefroy to tell her so. In any event, his admiration does not appear to be returned by Jane. She [Mrs Lefroy] showed me a letter which she had received from her friend a few weeks ago (in answer to one written by her to recommend a nephew of Mrs Russell to his notice at Cambridge), towards the end of which was a sentence to this effect: ‘I am very sorry to hear of Mrs Austen’s illness. It would give me particular pleasure to have an opportunity of improving myself with that family – with a hope of creating to myself nearer interest. But at present I cannot indulge any expectation of it.’ Jane then goes on to comment on this to her sister: This is rational enough; there is less love and more sense in it that sometimes appears before, and I am well satisfied.

It will all go on exceedingly well, and decline away in a very reasonable manner. There seems no likelihood of his coming into Hampshire this Christmas, and it is therefore most probable that our indifference will soon be mutual, unless his regard, which appeared to spring from knowing nothing of me at first, is best supported by never seeing him. 17 November, 1798. There was one mysterious love interest that occurred in 1801, while Jane’s family was on a visit to Sidmouth from their new home in Bath. We only know this by a few scant remarks that Cassandra had made to several of her nieces and nephews later in her life. Biographer David Cecil goes into some detail about the incident. This man was handsome, intelligent and quite charming, and became quite attached to Jane over the two or three weeks that he was in town. Unfortunately, the gentleman was forced to leave on account of some business and it was understood that he would return soon to see the Austen family again. Before he could do so, the Austen’s received a letter from his brother saying that he had suddenly died.

There are very few letters of Jane’s that survive from May 1801 to 1805, which leaves this period of her life quite blank. Harris Bigg-Wither (1781-1833) In 1802, Jane was proposed to by Harris Bigg-Wither, when she was aged 27, on a visit to the family with her sister. She accepted the offer, but then withdrew it the next morning and hurriedly left with her sister to return to Bath. Biographer David Cecil suggests that her reluctance to marry Harris Bigg-Wither might be related to the brief but strong affection she felt for the Sidmouth man. In 1808, upon a visit to Godmersham, it appears possible that Mr Edward Bridges (1779-1825), made her an offer of marriage. She makes a curious mention of it in a letter to Cassandra, which has led Deirdre LaFaye – an Austen expert – to suggest that it is possible that he did make her an offer, but that she refused.

I wish you may be able to accept Lady Bridges’ invitation, though I could not her son Edward’s; she is a nice woman and honours me by her remembrance. October 7, 1808. One thing I can say for certain about Jane and her view of marriage is that she was well aware of the advantages of having money upon marrying. However, she also seemed firm in her views that a marriage without affection was as equally undesirable as one without money. She gave some very pertinent advice to her young niece Fanny in one of her letters, about her suitor Mr Plumtre. There are such beings in the World perhaps, one in a Thousand, as the Creature You and I should think perfection. Where Grace and Spirit are united to Worth, where the Manners are equal to the Heart and Understanding. But such a person may not come in your way, or if he does, he may not be the eldest son of a Man of Fortune, the brother of your particular friend, and belonging to your own country. Think of this Fanny. Mr J.P. has advantages which do not often meet in one person.

[…] And now, my dear Fanny, having written so much on one side of the question, I shall turn round and entreat you not to commit yourself further, and not to think of accepting him unless you really do like him. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection… 18 November, 1814. When I first discovered, early in my “Austen education”, that Jane Austen had never married, I remember being shocked! It seemed unthinkable that a person who could write such moving stories about life and love – stories that have stood the test of time and have charmed people born long after her death – never had her own love story. Even though Jane never married, it is clear that she had a variety of experiences in her relationships with marriageable men; some consisted of mutual friendship, others mere attraction and flirtation, at least one with a more financial allure, and possibly one with a deeper affection that Regency women regarded as a foundation for marriage. Whilst this tendency to want Jane Austen to have had a love story of her own is understandable, it is possible that this modern appetite for love and romance may cloud our perception of the realities in Jane’s life.

It can prevent us understanding the way a Regency woman would perceive her own situation of singleness within the context of her own time. As someone who is interested in history, I tend to find it more interesting to try to understand this historical context of a person rather than merely watch an entertaining movie about them. Actually, this interest has often driven me from the movie theatre to the nearest bookshop in search of more information – which I can then devour over a cup of tea! Due to space, I have decided to make a Part 3 to this post which will endeavour to explore the realities of Jane’s career prospects as a female author in the Regency era. Related Posts Search for: Follow by Email Jane Austen-Biography - Sense and Sensibility Fan Fiction Sense and Sensibility Fan Fiction Date of Birth: December 16, 1775 Date of Death: July 18, 1817 Place of Birth: Steventon, Hampshire, England Place of Death: Winchester, Hampshire, England Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire in England, to Reverend George and Cassandra “Leigh”.

She was the seventh child and the second daughter in the family of eight children. There were six boys, James, George, Edward, Henry, Frank and Charles and two girls, Cassandra and Jane. The Austen family provided the main stimulus for Jane’s writing. The Austen family also liked to stage place at the Steventon rectory and later production became more elaborate. In 1783, Jane and Cassandra were briefly taught by a woman named Mrs. Cawley (the sister of one of their uncles). Mrs. Cawley lived in Oxford and the moved to Southampton to teach the girls. Most of their education came from within the family. Between 1785 and 1786, Jane and Cassandra went to the Abbey, a boarding school in Reading, this was the only outside education they receive. The family taught them to draw, play the piano. In some early letter of Jane’s life she enjoyed attending social events, dances and parties in Hampshire as well as Bathe and London. There is little evidence of a serious courtship; however she had a mutual flirtation with Thomas Lefroy, a relative of Anne Lefroy, a close friend of Jane.

In a letter to her sister, Cassandra, Jane wrote of her affection Thomas, however his aunt did not approve of his relationship with Jane and tried to fix Jane up with someone else, but Jane was not interested. At the age of 26 years old, Harris Bigg-Wither proposed and she accepted, while her and Cassandra where staying with the Bigg family near Stevenson. She didn’t love him and the next day went to her brother James in Stevenson, where he insisted they leave and go to Bathe. Jane has many novels, short stories, poems and other works, which are listed below. Jane is probably most known for her novels. At 36 year old she sold Sense and Sensibility followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma which were sold before her death. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were sold a year after her death. Becoming Jane Fansite: Mr. Wisley vs Mr. Harris Bigg-Wither Mr. Wisley vs Mr.

Harris Bigg-Wither Becoming Jane viewers might not like John Warren who wrote the Judge the nasty letter (in fact, Warren was a pretty much decent guy who drew a sketch of Tom Lefroy and gave it to Jane Austen – letter 9 January 1796), but some viewers develop a sense of sympathy towards poor (well, rich) Mr. Wisley. I consent. I admit that I was not charmed by Laurence Fox’s Mr. Wisley during my first screenings, but then, upon watching the Husbands and Lovers scene again and again in YouTube, he somehow grew in me. Moreover, his last scene with Jane after he ditched his aunt Lady Gresham was touchy. Jane Austen and Mr. Wisley finally understood each other; they parted as friends. But mind you dear friends, there was no Mr. Wisley in the real Austenian landscape (nor Lady Gresham for that matter). This sensitive guy was created purposely for Becoming Jane, to be Tom Lefroy’s rival. Laurence Fox did his job well; Mr. Wisley was indeed awkward in comparison to James McAvoy’s Tom Lefroy.

And when I flipped through David Nokes’ Jane Austen: a Life (1997), I was struck by another ‘awkward’ friend of Jane Austen, a real person this time. He was Harris Bigg-Wither (1781-1833), heir of Manydown Park of Hampshire . In page 251, Nokes describes Harris as ‘tall, clumsy and awkward, he would shamble through the house, or lounge on a sofa, adding little to the general conversation.’ Caroline Austen even said that Harris was ‘very plain in person – awkward & even uncouth in manner – nothing but his size to recommend him – he was a fine big man – but one need not look about for secret reasons to account for a young lady’s not loving him.’ (Nokes, 1997, p. 258). Well… that was Mr. Wisley to me. And the fact that in the movie Jane Austen finally accepted Mr. Wisley’s proposal for a very short time (if not hours) before she met Tom Lefroy again in the forest makes me think that perhaps Mr. Wisley’s character was inspired a bit by Harris Bigg-Wither.

Now, to Harris. As I said, he was the heir of Manydown Park , a great house in Hampshire. Jane and Cassandra befriended Harris’ sisters and often stayed in Manydown Park for several weeks. The Bigg sisters (Elizabeth, Alethea and Catherine) did not use the ‘Wither’ name that was derived from their cousin’s name who, from whom they inherited Manydown. Harris was their little brother, six years younger than Jane. Manydown Park , by the way, was the place where Jane danced with Tom Lefroy in the evening of January 8, 1796 In 1801, the Austens moved to Bath . However, Jane occasionally returned to Hampshire and stayed with, among others, the Bigg sisters. Such was the occasion in December 1802, where Cassandra and Jane stayed for a while in Manydown. At that time, Harris had returned from Worchester ; a big tall guy now with golden future. In the evening of December 2, 1802 , Jane found herself in the library (or a drawing room?), alone with Harris. It is very likely that the Bigg sisters and Cassandra might have orchestrated the private meeting.

There, Harris proposed Jane… and Jane accepted. A happy night for everyone. Except for Jane. She went to bed, but might not sleep after all. It was in Manydown in January 1796 that she danced with Tom Lefroy in such a ‘profligate’ manner. And now, almost seven years later, she accepted a proposal in the same house. But not from Tom. We will never know Jane’s train of thought that night, it is possible that she talked with Cassandra about it. In any case, the very first thing she did the next morning was finding Harris and, again in private, cancelled their engagement. Afterwards, Jane and Cassandra simply could not stay longer in Manydown. The Bigg sisters ordered the carriage to take the Austen girls back to Steventon, where Jane later asked her brother James to take her home to Bath immediately. Confused, James finally cancelled his Sunday service to take his sisters back to Bath . And that was the end of Jane’s last marriage proposal. Apparently, Harris dealt with his broken heart well.

On November 2, 1804 , less than two years after the faithful rejection, Harris Bigg-Wither married Anne Howe Frith from the Isle of Wight who gave him ten children. They lived happily in Wymering Manor , Portsmouth , Hampshire, and the friendship between the Austen sisters and the Bigg sisters were preserved. I admire Jane Austen for her decision. She could easily succumb to the grandeur of Manydown Park , to the relatively easy life she could enjoy as the mistress of Manydown. She would be able to help her sister and her family then, and also taste a life of marriage she could only write about in her novels. But she did not do that. She cancelled the engagement, only 12 hours after her consent, risking her reputation and her friendship. She stayed true to her heart and principles, to never marry without love. And with that, she gave us six brilliant novels and three unfinished works that still show us the great woman behind the manuscripts. Reference: Nokes, D. 1997, Jane Austen: A Life, Fourth Estate, London. Tomalin, C. 2000, Jane Austen: A Life, Penguin Books, London.

Pic 1: Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) and Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox), from BBC UK Pic 2: Harris Bigg-Wither, from the Manydown site Pic 3: Hygra: Antique Important Large Anglo Indian ivory and Sadeli mosaic sewing/writing box C.1845. Antique Important Large Anglo Indian ivory and Sadeli mosaic sewing/writing box C.1845. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Reference: Sb400 Description: Important large Anglo Indian fully fitted sewing and writing box of pyramided shape veneered with ivory profusely inlaid with sadeli mosaic, the box having swan neck handles to the sides and standing on cast paw feet of unusual design. Inside the box is compartmentalized and fitted for sewing, with fragrant sandalwood and has supplementary lids and trays each veneered with ivory inlaid with sadeli, circa 1845. Provenance: sold in dispersal of contents of Manydown Park previous home of Jane Austen's momentary fiancï¿½e.

Origin: India Circa: 1845 Materials: Sandalwood ivory ebony rosewood and metal. Size: 44.5 cm wide by 29 cm by 16 cm (including feet): 17.5 inches wide by 11.4 inches by 6.3 inches (including feet (including feet). Condition: very good original condition. Small loses and blemishes which have been consolidated. Please look at large images which are accessed by clicking on the smaller. Working lock with original key. The inlay is rich and complex, and yet remains totally controlled. A box of this high quality represents hundreds of hours of master craftsman work. The box opens to a complex interior. The upper part is fully fitted for sewing with supplementary lids and turned ivory thread barrels, all profusely inlaid. There is a framed mirror in the lid with a velvet covered compartment behind. There is a drawer to the front which contains a fully fitted writing slope. The writing surface is covered with Tyrian purple velvet. The fast, non-fading purple dye was an item of luxury trade, prized by Romans , who used it to colour ceremonial robes.

Pliny the Elder described the dyeing process of two purples in his Natural History [2] : "'... the Tyrian hue ... is considered of the best quality when it has exactly the colour of clotted blood, and is of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a shining appearance when held up to the light; hence it is that we find Homer speaking of "purple blood'." From Wikipedia we learn: "Tyrian purple ( Greek : πορφύρα, porphura), also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is a purple-red dye made by the ancient Canaanites / Phoenicians in the city of Tyre , from a mucus-secretion of the hypobranchial gland of a marine snail known as Murex brandaris or the Spiny dye-murex. A synthetic purple was not developed until the early 20th C. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Ivory, pewter, rosewood ebony and stained ivory were cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue had set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections.

This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. The ivory was sometimes dyed green as here to give an extra colour. The ancient art of sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to Bombay, a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. The superb craftsmanship is evident in the control of the patterns in the complex corner joints with mitered and specially shaped elements. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The symmetry of the patterns is astonishing; this is strongly demonstrated by the sharpness of the points of the triangles. It is interesting to also note that the front is made of two pieces of ivory. The barely visible join running from the escutcheon to the drawer handle is evidence of complete mastery of materials.

Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Detail: cast paw feet of unusual design Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | There is a drawer to the front which contains a fully fitted writing slope. The writing surface is covered with Tyrian purple velvet. The pen tray is curved and made of solid ebony. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Detail: there are sandalwood risers for raising the writing surface to a slope. The drawer is made of sandalwood which still retains its perfume. The construction uses had cut dovetail joints. The original craftsman's scribed marking line is just visible. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The orchestration of the pyramided top with tapered plains is truly amazing. The design works and is a delight in both a totality and in the minutia. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Detail: one of the supplementary lids. Inside the box is profusely inlaid with sadeli mosaic.

Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The box has a set of six turned ivory thread barrels and two cylinder shaped boxes and a further turned holder for a silk tape measure. Each is decorated with a circle of sadeli mosaic. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The whole interior is extensively inlaid. Detail of one of the cylinder boxes in situ. Detail of the inlay on the top of one of the turned circular boxes. The inlay combines ivory ebony rosewood and pewter. The makers (reputed to be Persian) of Sadeli mosaic displayed a total understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which can expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others, which are hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns, which made up the whole design. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Beneath one of the supplementary lids there is a turned ivory bobbin with divisions for several coloured threads. The drawer is kept in place by a pin which goes through the facing to the right of the lock.

Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | There is a further compartment in the lid behind the mirror which is lined with purple velvet. Click on image or link. Amboyna Veneered Tea Chest, Circa 1845. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Inside the box was an Auction Catalogue which shows that the box was sold as part of the contents of Manydown Park in 1962. Manydown Park witnessed an interesting literary incident in its past. History records that on the night of Thursday 2 December 1802 when Jane and Cassandra were staying at Manydown Park, Harris proposed to Jane Austen . Jane accepted his proposal but the next morning decided to break the engagement off. That led to a confrontation ending in the Austen sisters demanding that their brother James must abandon his duties as a clergyman and escort them back to Bath. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The entry in the auction catalogue reads. "Lot 469. An Indian inlaid ivory work-box with dome cover, 17in.

x 11in." Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | Very few craftsmen could have worked to such high standards, even allowing for perfect eyesight and steadiness of hand. Special sadeli boxes found their way to the grand aristocratic houses in England . Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III owned three. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | The work spread to other centers in the Bombay Presidency and by the middle of the 19th century, an enterprising Parsee (Persian) introduced the work to Calcutta and sent some boxes to the 1851 London Great Exhibition. The Calcutta work consisted of sadeli patterns set into wood and ivory. Please click on images to enlarge | slide show | thumbnail index | This is an exceptionally large and impressive box.

Question: Harris Biggs-Wither proposed to which writer in 1793?
Answer: JANE AUSTEN