JANE AUSTEN’S SAILOR BROTHERS
JANE AUSTEN’S SAILOR BROTHERS
Being the Adventures of Sir Francis Austen, G.C.B., Admiral of the Fleet and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen By J. H. Hubback and Edith C. Hubback
mdccccvi
London: John Lane
The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.
New York: John Lane Company
Printed by Ballantyne & Co. Limited
Tavistock Street, London
TO M. P. H.
“i have discovered a thing verylittle known, which is that inone’s whole life one can neverhave more than one mother.you may think this obvious.you are a green gosling!”
[Pg vii]
PREFACE
Perhaps some apology may be expected on behalf of a book about JaneAusten, having regard to the number which have already been put beforethe public in past years. My own membership of the family is my excusefor printing a book which contains little original matter, and whichmight be described as “a thing of shreds and patches,” if that phrasewere not already over-worked. To me it seems improbable that otherswill take a wholly adverse view of what is so much inwoven with all thetraditions of my life. When I recollect my childhood, spent chieflyin the house of my grandfather, Sir Francis, and all the interestswhich accompanied those early days, I find myself once more amongstthose deep and tender distances. Surrounded by reminiscences of theopening years of the century, the Admiral always cherished the mostaffectionate remembrance of the sister who had so soon passed away,leaving[Pg viii] those six precious volumes to be a store of household wordsamong the family.
How often I call to mind some question or answer, expressed quitenaturally in terms of the novels; sometimes even a conversation wouldbe carried on entirely appropriate to the matter under discussion, butthe actual phrases were “Aunt Jane’s.” So well, too, do I recollect thesad news of the death of Admiral Charles Austen, after the capture,under his command, of Martaban and Rangoon, and while he was leadinghis squadron to further successes, fifty-six years having elapsed sincehis first sea-fight.
My daughter and I have made free use of the Letters of JaneAusten, published in 1884, by the late Lord Brabourne, and wish toacknowledge with gratitude the kind permission to quote these letters,given to us by their present possessor. In a letter of 1813, she speaksof two nephews who “amuse themselves very comfortably in the evening bynetting; they are each about a rabbit-net, and sit as deedily to it,side by side, as any two Uncle Franks could do.” In his octogenariandays Sir Francis was still much interested in this same occupation ofnetting, to protect his Morello[Pg ix] cherries or currants. It was, in fact,only laid aside long after his grandsons had been taught to carry it on.
My most hearty thanks are also due to my cousins