A Memoir of Jane Austen

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Explanatory Notes 229
Marquis of Lansdowne, who bought the old ruined castle within Southampton
city walls in 1804, enlarging it into a Gothic fantasy. The title
and estates passed subsequently to Lord Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
(1780–1863), moderate Whig politician (for whom, see note to p. 113
below).
phaeton: an open, four-wheeled carriage.
67 ‘like the baseless fabric of a vision’: Shakespeare, The Tempest, IV. i,
151.
In 1809: the offer coincided with the death of Edward Austen’s (he was
only ‘Knight’ from 1812) wife, Elizabeth, on 10 October 1808, after
giving birth to their eleventh child. The earliest mention of the move
occurs in JA’s letter of 24–5 October to Cassandra, now at Godmersham
comforting Edward (Letters, 152). Anna Lefroy, more critical in this matter
than her half-sister Caroline, thought Edward should have done more
for his mother and sisters (Fam. Rec., 155); and in her memories of JA she
hints at the shortcomings of Edward’s wife with regard to the Austens
(see RAJ). The move to the house at Chawton (according to Caroline it
was called ‘Chawton Cottage’ only ‘in later years’ (MAJA, 166)) occurred
in July 1809.
Miss Lloyd: Martha Lloyd; see notes to pp. 53 and 63 above.
only a sojourner in a strange land: Exodus, 2: 22.
69 A good-sized entrance . . . which supported it were not large: apart from the
clause ‘and was capable of receiving other members of the family as
frequent visitors’, this section describing Chawton Cottage was added in
Ed.2. As early as 20 November 1808 JA is writing to Cassandra of its ‘six
Bedchambers’ and ‘Garrets for Storeplaces’ (Letters, 153); and in her
letter in verse from Chawton on 26 July 1809, congratulating Frank on
the birth of his son, she describes in passing the renovations to ‘rooms
concise’ and ‘rooms distended’ (Letters, 178). This added section in Ed.2
owes much to Caroline Austen’s memories, which JEAL absorbs almost
verbatim (cf. MAJA, 167–8, in this collection). Caroline had spent
considerable periods of her childhood at Chawton.
Cowper’s unattractive house . . . Southey’s edition of his works: The Works of
William Cowper, with a Life of the Author, ed. Robert Southey, were
issued in 15 volumes (1835–7), and included an engraved plate in volume
1 of Cowper’s house in the village of Olney, Buckinghamshire.
The building indeed still stands: unlike Steventon rectory, pulled down in
1824. The Jane Austen Memorial Trust purchased Chawton Cottage in
1947 and they continue to administer it as a museum.
70 Description of JA’s person . . . and tastes: JEAL draws heavily in this
chapter on the memories of his sister Caroline and half-sister Anna,
written out in 1867 and 1864, respectively, though not published until
1952 and 1988.