The Storming of the Bastille, as depicted by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1790)

The Storming of the Bastille, as depicted by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1790)

FRANCE BRITAIN AUSTEN

1788 Financial crisis in France. The French government declared bankrupt.

1789 April: Riots in Paris, caused by low wages and food shortages.

May: The Estates-General (parliament) is summoned for the first time since 1614

June: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly. When they are locked out of the meeting house – they believe by the king – they take on oath not to dissolve until a constitution has been established: The Tennis Court Oath.


1789 Increasing unrest and rioting in Paris.

July 14: The Fall of the Bastille.

July/Aug: Peasantry revolt against feudalism, which the National Assembly abolishes. Many aristocrats flee France.

National Assembly adopts ‘The Declaration of the Rights of Man’

October: Paris mob storm the Palace of Versailles stormed. King Louis XVI moved to Paris.


1790 Suppression of religious orders. Abolition of nobility. Growing power of the Jacobin club.

Nov: Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France. Wollstonecraft responds with A Vindication of the Rights of Men.

JA writes Love and Freindship.

1791 June: Royal family's flight to Varennes. Louis XVI forced to return to Paris.

August: Slaves revolt in the French controlled island of St. Domingo (Haiti).

Feb/March: Paine publishes The Rights of Man Part 1.

April: Parliament rejects Wilberforce’s bill to abolish the slave trade.

Charles Austen enters naval academy.


1792 Food riots in Paris. Other European monarchies begin to mobilize against France. Guillotine adopted as official means of execution.

April: France declares war against Austria

July: The Brunswick Manifesto - warns that should the French royal family be harmed by the popular movement, revenge will follow. Austria and Prussia begin invasion of France.

August: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Swiss Guard massacred. Louis XVI of France arrested.

Jan: Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

JA writes the last of her ‘Juvenilia’.


1792 Sept: First session of National Convention, which replaces the Legislative Assembly. This immediately abolishes the monarchy and declares France a republic.

1793 January 21: Louis XVI (Citizen Louis Capet) guillotined.

April-June: Committee of Public Safety established. The Jacobins quickly seize control.

July: Robespierre elected to Committee of Public Safety.

Feb: Britain declares war on France.

Henry Austen becomes a lieutenant in the Oxford-shire militia.

James Gillray, The Blood of the Murdered Crying for Vengeance

(Feb. 1793)


1793 Sept: Start of Reign of Terror. Between 20,000 and 44,000 are executed over the following year.

October: Marie Antoinette guillotined. Anti-clerical law passed (priests and supporters now liable to death on sight).

1794 July: Robespierre arrested and guillotined without trial, along with other members of the Committee of Public Safety. End of the Reign of Terror.

May: Parliament suspends habeas corpus.

Nov: Treason Trials. All three accused are acquitted.

Feb: Eliza de Feuillide's husband guillotined in Paris.

JA probably writes Lady Susan.


1794 Sept: Charles Austen leaves the Royal Naval Academy and enters active service.

1795 The National Convention is dissolved. The Directory replaces it (5 ‘directors’ who held executive power).

Oct: Royalists attempt a coup. The young General Napoleon Bonaparte makes his name suppressing it.

Oct: King George III’s coach is attacked by a mob calling for ‘Bread’ and ‘Peace’.

Dec: British government passes the ‘Gagging Acts’.

JA writes Eleanor and Marianne.


1796 Napoleon assumes command of French army in Italy.

Dec: Failed French landing at Bantry Bay, West Cork, Ireland

JA begins writing First Impressions.

1797 Prussia and Austria cease hostilities with France. Britain now fighting France alone.

April–June: Naval mutinies occur at Spithead and the Nore.

JA revising Elinor & Marianne; First Impress-ions rejected by publisher

1798 Aug: Battle of the Nile. Nelson’s fleet defeats Napoleon’s in Egypt.

Spring: Invasion scare in England.

May-Sept: Irish Rebellion, led by the United Irishmen.

JA writing Susan (eventually becomes Northanger Abbey).


1799 Napoleon Bonaparte named ‘First Consul’: now the effective dictator.

1801 Act of Union unites Britain and Ireland, creating UK.c

Austens move to Bath

1802 Treaty of Amiens. Hostilities cease. Winter: JA revises Susan.

1803 Napoleon imprisons all British males on French soil and re-engages Britain, breaking the Treaty.

Susan sold to publisher with HA’s aid

1804 Napoleon made Emperor. JA writing The Watsons.

James Gillray, Buonaparte, 48 Hours after Landing (July 1803)


1805 Oct: Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson killed. JA’s father dies

1807 British parliament abolishes the slave trade (not slavery).

1810 George III declared insane.

1811 The Prince of Wales becomes Prince Regent.

Luddites riots: protests against industrialization.

JA begins work on Mansfield Park.

Oct: S & S anonymously published.


1812 June: Napoleon invades Russia.

Oct: Napoleon’s defeated army retreats from Russia.

United States declares war on GB.

1813 British invasion of France. Jan: Pride and Prejudice published.

1814 Allies enter Paris. Napoleon overthrown and exiled to the island of Elba. The French monarchy is restored under Louis XVIII.

Aug: GB forces take control of Washington DC & burn the White House.

Dec: Treaty of Ghent ends war between GB and the US.

Jan: JA begins writing Emma.

May: Mansfield Park published.


1815 March-July: ‘The Hundred Days’. Napoleon escapes from Elba and returns to Paris, where he regains power.

June: Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon finally defeated by Prussian and British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington.

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena (where he dies in 1821).

Aug: JA begins writing Persuasion.

Dec: Emma published.

1816 Post-war economic depression. Popular political unrest calling for reform.

JA buys Susan back from publisher.


1817 Jan-March: JA works on novel later published as Sanditon. 18 July: JA dies.

Dec: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are published with Henry's ‘Biographical Notice of the Author’.

By preserving the method of nature in the conduct of the state, in what we improve we are never wholly new; in what we retain we are never wholly obsolete. By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy. In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood, binding up the constitution of our country with our dearest domestic ties, adopting our fundamental laws into the bosom of our family affections, keeping inseparable and cherishing with the warmth of all their combined and mutually reflected charities our state, our hearths, our sepulchres, and our altars.

The Last Interview

You will observe that from Magna Charta to the Declaration of Right it has been the uniform policy of our constitution to claim and assert our liberties as an entailed inheritance derived to us from our forefathers, and to be transmitted to our posterity — as an estate specially belonging to the people of this kingdom, without any reference whatever to any other more general or prior right.

entail, n.The settlement of the succession of a landed estate, so that it cannot be bequeathed at pleasure by any one possessor; the rule of descent settled for any estate.

entail, n.The settlement of the succession of a landed estate, so that it cannot be bequeathed at pleasure by any one possessor; the rule of descent settled for any estate.

I do think it is the hardest thing in the world, that your estate should be entailed away from your own children.

(Mrs Bennet in Vol. 1, Ch. 13)

Conduct Books for Women

Thomas Gisborne, An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1799).

John Gregory, A Father's Legacy to his Daughters (1774).

Miss Hattfield, Letters on the Importance of the Female Sex: With Observations of Their Manners (1803).

Laetitia Matilda Hawkins, Letters on the Female Mind, Its Powers and Pursuits (1793).Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799).

Sarah Pennington, An Unfortunate Mother's Advice to Her Absent Daughters (1761).

Conduct Books for Women

"Philogamus", The Present State of Matrimony: or, the Real Causes of Conjugal Infidelity and Unhappy Marriages (1739).

The Polite Lady: or, a Course of Female Education. In a Series of Letters, from a Mother to Her Daughter (1769).

George Savile, The Lady's New Year's Gift: or, Advice to a Daughter (1688).

Wetenhall Wilkes, A Letter of Genteel and Moral Advice to a Young Lady (1740).

If aught on earth can present the image of celestial excellence in its softest array, it is surely an accomplished Woman, in whom purity and meekness, intelligence and modesty, mingle their charms. But when I speak on this subject, need I tell you, that men of the best sense have been usually averse to the thought of marrying a witty female?

[…]

Men who understand the science of domestic happiness, know that its very first principle is ease. Of that indeed we grow fonder, in whatever condition, as we advance in life, and as the heat of youth abates. But we cannot be easy, where we are not safe. We are never safe in the company of a critic; and almost every wit is a critic by profession.

(Fordyce, Sermons to Young Ladies)

"My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners—my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?"

"For the liveliness of your mind, I did." (p. 291)

Who is not shocked by the flippant impertinence of a self-conceited woman, that wants to dazzle by the supposed superiority of her powers? If you, my fair ones, have knowledge and capacity; let it be seen, by your not affecting to show them, that you have something much more valuable, humility and wisdom.


there seem to me to be very few, in the style of Novel, that you can read with safety, and yet fewer that you can read with advantage.—What shall we say of certain books, which we are assured (for we have not read them) are in their nature so shameful, in their tendency so pestiferous, and contain such rank treason against the royalty of Virtue, such horrible violation of all decorum, that she who can bear to peruse them must in her soul be a prostitute, let her reputation in life be what it will. But can it be true—say, ye chaste stars, that with innumerable eyes inspect the midnight behaviour of mortals—can it be true, that any young woman, pretending to decency, should endure for a moment to look on this infernal brood of futility and lewdness?

They paint scenes of pleasure and passion altogether improper for you to behold, even with the mind's eye. Their descriptions are often loose and luscious in a high degree; their representations of love between the sexes are almost universally overstrained. All is dotage, or despair; or else ranting swelled into burlesque. In short, the majority of their lovers are either mere lunatics, or mock-heroes. A sweet sensibility, a charming tenderness, a delightful anguish, exalted generosity, heroic worth, and refinement of thought; how seldom are these best ingredients of virtuous love mixed with any judgment or care in the composition of their principal characters!


In the Old Romance the passion appeared with all its enthusiasm. But then it was the enthusiasm of honour; for love and honour were there the same. The men were sincere, magnanimous, and noble; the women were patterns of chastity, dignity, and affection. They were only to be won by real heroes; and this title was founded in protecting, not in betraying, the sex […] The times in which we live are in no danger of adopting a system of romantic virtue. The parents of the present generation, what with selling their sons and daughters in marriage, and what with teaching them by every possible means the glorious principles of avarice, have contrived pretty effectually to bring down from its former flints that idle, youthful, unprofitable passion, which has for its object personal attractions, in preference to all the wealth in the world.


The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this. And it is the more to be lamented, because there is reason to suppose as my dear Charlotte informs me, that this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence […] Let me then advise you, dear sir, to console yourself as much as possible, to throw off your unworthy child from your affection for ever, and leave her to reap the fruits of her own heinous offense.

(p. 225)

This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation […] Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.

(p. 219)

This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation […] Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.

(p. 219)

Remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman: it is, at once, the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.

(Evelina, p. 279)

I shall hope to receive a more favourable answer than you have now given me; though I am far from accusing you of cruelty at present, because I know it to be the established custom of your sex to reject a man on the first application, and perhaps you have even now said as much to encourage my suit as would be consistent with the true delicacy of the female character.

(p. 83)

On entering the drawing-room she found the whole party at loo, and was immediately invited to join them; but suspecting them to be playing high she declined it, and making her sister the excuse, said she would amuse herself for the short time she could stay below, with a book. Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment. "Do you prefer reading to cards?" said he; "that is rather singular." "Miss Eliza Bennet," said Miss Bingley, "despises cards. She is a great reader, and has no pleasure in anything else." "I deserve neither such praise nor such censure," cried Elizabeth; "I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things." "In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure," said Bingley; "and I hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well." Elizabeth thanked him from her heart, and then walked towards the table where a few books were lying. He immediately

offered to fetch her others—all that his library afforded. "And I wish my collection were larger for your benefit and my own credit; but I am an idle fellow, and though I have not many, I have more than I ever looked into." Elizabeth assured him that she could suit herself perfectly with those in the room. "I am astonished," said Miss Bingley, "that my father should have left so small a collection of books. What a delightful library you have at Pemberley, Mr. Darcy!" "It ought to be good," he replied, "it has been the work of many generations." "And then you have added so much to it yourself, you are always buying books." "I cannot comprehend the neglect of a family library in such days as these."

(pp. 27-8)

"What think you of books?" said he, smiling. "Books—oh! no. I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same feelings." "I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions." "No—I cannot talk of books in a ball-room; my head is always full of something else."

(p. 71)

With a strong prejudice against everything he might say, she began his account of what had happened at Netherfield. She read with an eagerness which hardly left her power of comprehension, and from impatience of knowing what the next sentence might bring, was incapable of attending to the sense of the one before her eyes. His belief of her sister's insensibility she instantly resolved to be false; and his account of the real, the worst objections to the match, made her too angry to have any wish of doing him justice. He expressed no regret for what he had done which satisfied her; his style was not penitent, but haughty. It was all pride and insolence.

(p. 156)

But when this subject was succeeded by his account of Mr. Wickham—when she read with somewhat clearer attention a relation of events which, if true, must overthrow every cherished opinion of his worth, and which bore so alarming an affinity to his own history of himself—her feelings were yet more acutely painful and more difficult of definition. Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her. She wished to discredit it entirely, repeatedly exclaiming, "This must be false! This cannot be! This must be the grossest falsehood!"—and when she had gone through the whole letter, though scarcely knowing anything of the last page or two, put it hastily away, protesting that she would not regard it, that she would never look in it again.

In this perturbed state of mind, with thoughts that could rest on nothing, she walked on; but it would not do; in half a minute the letter was unfolded again, and collecting herself as well as she could, she again began the mortifying perusal of all that related toWickham, and commanded herself so far as to examine the meaning of every sentence. The account of his connection with the Pemberley family was exactly what he had related himself; and the kindness of the late Mr. Darcy, though she had not before known its extent, agreed equally well with his own words. So far each recital confirmed the other; but when she came to the will, the difference was great. What Wickham had said of the living was fresh in her memory, and as she recalled his very words, it was impossible not to feel that there was gross duplicity on one side or the other; and, for a few moments, she flattered herself that her wishes did not err. But when she read and re-read with the closest attention, the particulars immediately following of Wickham's resigning all pretensions to the living, of his receiving

in lieu so considerable a sum as three thousand pounds, again was she forced to hesitate. She put down the letter, weighed every circumstance with what she meant to be impartiality—deliberated on the probability of each statement—but with little success. On both sides it was only assertion. Again she read on; but every line proved more clearly that the affair, which she had believed it impossible that any contrivance could so represent as to render Mr. Darcy's conduct in it less than infamous, was capable of a turn which must make him entirely blameless throughout the whole.

How differently did everything now appear in which he was concerned! His attentions to Miss King were now the consequence of views solely and hatefully mercenary; and the mediocrity of her fortune proved no longer the moderation of his wishes, but his eagerness to grasp at anything. His behaviour to herself could now have had no tolerable motive; he had either been deceived with regard to her fortune, or had been gratifying his vanity by encouraging the preference which she believed she had most incautiously shown. Every lingering struggle in his favour grew fainter and fainter; and in farther justification of Mr. Darcy, she could not but allow that Mr. Bingley, when questioned by Jane, had long ago asserted his blamelessness in the affair; that proud and repulsive as were his manners, she had never, in the whole course of their acquaintance—an acquaintance which had latterly brought them much together, and given her a sort of intimacy with his ways—seen anything that betrayed him to be unprincipled or unjust—anything that spoke him of irreligious or

immoral habits; that among his own connections he was esteemed and valued—that even Wickham had allowed him merit as a brother, and that she had often heard him speak so affectionately of his sister as to prove him capable of some amiable feeling; that had his actions been what Mr. Wickham represented them, so gross a violation of everything right could hardly have been concealed from the world; and that friendship between a person capable of it, and such an amiable man as Mr. Bingley, was incomprehensible. She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think without feeling she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd. "How despicably I have acted!" she cried; "I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust!

How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind! But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself."

From herself to Jane—from Jane to Bingley, her thoughts were in a line which soon brought to her recollection that Mr. Darcy's explanation there had appeared very insufficient, and she read it again. Widely different was the effect of a second perusal. How could she deny that credit to his assertions in one instance, which she had been obliged to give in the other? He declared himself to be totally unsuspicious of her sister's attachment; and she could not help remembering what Charlotte's opinion had always been. Neither could she deny the justice of his description of Jane. She felt that Jane's feelings, though fervent, were little displayed, and that there was a constant complacency in her air and manner not often united with great sensibility. When she came to that part of the letter in which her family were mentioned in terms of such mortifying, yet merited reproach, her sense of shame was severe. The justice of the charge struck her too forcibly for denial, and the circumstances to which he particularly alluded as having passed at the Netherfield ball, and as confirming all his first disapprobation, could not have made a stronger impression on his mind than on hers.

Documents

The Storming of the Bastille, as depicted by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1790)