JANE AUSTEN 75 



ings and among unknown sisters, should be reserved 

 and a little prim, and that we should be made to 

 feel that this was not her complete character. 

 Possibly she would have developed into a Fanny- 

 Price with a strong touch of Eleanor Dashwood, 

 but this is a barren speculation. 



Another unfinished novel was begun in January, 

 1 81 7, and twelve chapters were written by the 

 middle of March. Miss Austen died on July 1 8 of 

 that same year. This unnamed novel, to judge by 

 extracts published in the Memoir (p. 181), promised 

 to contain at least one admirable character in the 

 person of Lady Denham, who seems an ill-natured 

 and grasping Mrs. Jennings (if that is not a contra- 

 diction in terms), with a strong flavour of Lady 

 Catherine de Burgh. 



Miss Austen's works are not only to be studied 

 from the point of view of genetics, nor merely by a 

 naturalist whose desire is to classify without 

 inquiry as to the origin of his species; they also 

 supply material for the geographer. I do not 

 know who first identified the Highbury of Emma 

 with Cobham, as being seven miles from Boxhill 

 and 18 from London ("sixteen miles, nay 18, it 

 must be full 18 to Manchester Street"). The 

 identification is confirmed by a slip on the part of 

 the authoress, who, in a single passage, printed 

 Cobham in place of Highbury. By this method of 

 mensuration my friend the Master of Downing has 

 shown Kellynch Hall in Persuasion to be near 

 Buckland St. Mary, and Mansfield Park to 

 coincide roughly with Easton, near Huntingdon. 



The geography of Lyme Regis is of interest. 



