Jane Austen - Juvenilia

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 - 18 July 1817) was an Englishnovelist whose works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride andPrejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion.Her biting social commentary and masterful use of both freeindirect speech and irony eventually made Austen one of the mostinfluential and honored novelists in English Literature. Source:Wikipedia

Frederic andElfrida

A Novel

To Miss Lloyd

My Dear Martha,

As a small testimony of the gratitude I feel for your lategenerosity to me in finishing my muslin Cloak, I beg leave to offeryou this little production of your sincere Freind.

The Author

The Uncle of Elfrida was the Father of Frederic; in other words,they were first cousins by the Father's side.

Being both born in one day & both brought up at one school,it was not wonderfull that they should look on each other withsomething more than bare politeness. They loved with mutualsincerity, but were both determined not to transgress the rules ofPropriety by owning their attachment, either to the object beloved,or to any one else.

They were exceedingly handsome and so much alike, that it wasnot every one who knew them apart. Nay, even their most intimatefreinds had nothing to distinguish them by, but the shape of theface, the colour of the Eye, the length of the Nose, & thedifference of the complexion.

Elfrida had an intimate freind to whom, being on a visit to anAunt, she wrote the following Letter.

To Miss Drummond

Dear Charlotte,

I should be obliged to you, if you would buy me, during yourstay with Mrs. Williamson, a new & fashionable Bonnet, to suitthe complexion of your

E. Falknor

Charlotte, whose character was a willingness to oblige everyone, when she returned into the Country, brought her Freind thewished-for Bonnet, & so ended this little adventure, much tothe satisfaction of all parties.

On her return to Crankhumdunberry (of which sweet village herfather was Rector), Charlotte was received with the greatest Joy byFrederic & Elfrida, who, after pressing her alternately totheir Bosoms, proposed to her to take a walk in a Grove of Poplarswhich led from the Parsonage to a verdant Lawn enamelled with avariety of variegated flowers & watered by a purling Stream,brought from the Valley of Temp by a passage under ground.

In this Grove they had scarcely remained above 9 hours, whenthey were suddenly agreably surprized by hearing a most delightfullvoice warble the following stanza.

Song

That Damon was in love with me
I once thought & beleiv'd
But now that he is not I see,
I fear I was deceiv'd.

No sooner were the lines finished than they beheld by a turningin the Grove 2 elegant young women leaning on each other's arm, whoimmediately on perceiving them, took a different path &disappeared from their sight.

As Elfrida & her companions had seen enough of them to knowthat they were neither the 2 Miss Greens, nor Mrs. Jackson and herDaughter, they could not help expressing their surprise at theirappearance; till at length recollecting, that a new family hadlately taken a House not far from the Grove, they hastened home,determined to lose no no time in forming an acquaintance with 2such amiable & worthy Girls, of which family they rightlyimagined them to be a part.

Agreable to such a determination, they went that very evening topay their respects to Mrs. Fitzroy & her two Daughters. Onbeing shewn into an elegant dressing room, ornamented with festoonsof artificial flowers, they were struck with the engaging Exterior& beautifull outside of Jezalinda, the eldest of the youngLadies; but e'er they had been many minutes seated, the Wit &Charms which shone resplendent in the conversation of the amiableRebecca enchanted them so much, that they all with one accordjumped up and exclaimed:

"Lovely & too charming Fair one, notwithstanding yourforbidding Squint, your greazy tresses & your swelling Back,which are more frightfull than imagination can paint or pendescribe, I cannot refrain from expressing my raptures, at theengaging Qualities of your Mind, which so amply atone for theHorror with which your first appearance must ever inspire theunwary visitor."

"Your sentiments so nobly expressed on the differentexcellencies of Indian & English Muslins, & the judiciouspreference you give the former, have excited in me an admiration ofwhich I can alone give an adequate idea, by assuring you it isnearly equal to what I feel for myself."

Then making a profound Curtesy to the amiable & abashedRebecca, they left the room & hurried home.

From this period, the intimacy between the Families of Fitzroy,Drummond, and Falknor daily increased, till at length it grew tosuch a pitch, that they did not scruple to kick one another out ofthe window on the slightest provocation.

During this happy state of Harmony, the eldest Miss Fitzroy ranoff with the Coachman & the amiable Rebecca was asked inmarriage by Captain Roger of Buckinghamshire.

Mrs. Fitzroy did not approve of the match on account of thetender years of the young couple, Rebecca being but 36 &Captain Roger little more than 63. To remedy this objection, it wasagreed that they should wait a little while till they were a gooddeal older.

In the mean time, the parents of Frederic proposed to those ofElfrida an union between them, which being accepted with pleasure,the wedding cloathes were bought & nothing remained to besettled but the naming of the Day.

As to the lovely Charlotte, being importuned with eagerness topay another visit to her Aunt, she determined to accept theinvitation & in consequence of it walked to Mrs. Fitzroy's totake leave of the amiable Rebecca, whom she found surrounded byPatches, Powder, Pomatum, & Paint, with which she was vainlyendeavouring to remedy the natural plainness of her face.

"I am come, my amiable Rebecca, to take my leave of you for thefortnight I am destined to spend with my aunt. Beleive me, thisseparation is painfull to me, but it is as necessary as the labourwhich now engages you."

"Why to tell you the truth, my Love," replied Rebecca, "I havelately taken it into my head to think (perhaps with little reason)that my complexion is by no means equal to the rest of my face& have therefore taken, as you see, to white & red paintwhich I would scorn to use on any other occasion, as I hateart."

Charlotte, who perfectly understood the meaning of her freind'sspeech, was too good-temper'd & obliging to refuse her what sheknew she wisheda compliment; and they parted the best freinds inthe world.