Jane & Me by Caroline Jane Knight

Author:Caroline Jane Knight [Knight, Caroline Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Jane Austen, Caroline Jane Knight
ISBN: 9780648080527
Publisher: The Greyfriar Group
Published: 2017-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

TO

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE PRINCE REGENT,

THIS WORK IS,

BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S PERMISSION,

MOST RESPECTFULLY

DEDICATED,

BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S

DUTIFUL

AND OBEDIENT

HUMBLE SERVANT

THE AUTHOR.

In later correspondence, Reverend Clarke went on to suggest the subject matter of Jane’s next novel. In March 1816, he wrote: ‘Perhaps when you again appear in print you may chuse to dedicate your Volumes to Prince Leopold: any Historical Romance illustrative of the History of the august house of Cobourg, would just now be very interesting.’ Jane replied firmly and ended her letter:

You are very, very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, & I am fully sensible that an historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe Cobourg might be much more to the purpose of Profit or Popularity, than such pictures of domestic Life in Country Villages as I deal in—but I could no more write a Romance than an Epic Poem.—I could not sit seriously down to write a serious Romance under any other motive than to save my Life, & if it were indispensable for me to keep it up & never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first Chapter.—No—I must keep to my own style & go on in my own Way; And though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.—

I loved it! Jane had been so brave and articulated her rebuke so wonderfully. I, too, wanted to ‘keep to my own style & go on in my own way’. I just didn’t know yet what way that was. I knew I didn’t want to work in a shop or in a factory or at a job that would be the same every day. I wished I had a passion—Jane had written since she was a young girl.

If we had to leave Chawton, I wanted to travel and see the world. Edward Austen Knight had travelled around Europe, my father had travelled to Australia, and my mother and brother had travelled to England. Perhaps I would travel the world one day. As Jane had written in Northanger Abbey, ‘If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.’

I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I was determined to do something I enjoyed and at which I could excel. After all, it was possible I would not be as fortunate as the Bennet sisters had been. I might not find a rich man, fall in love and marry—I needed a backup plan.

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