Another Search for Words in Jane Austen

By June Durant

Were you beguiled by searching for the cunningly hidden words in sentences in the first book in this series?

Here is another opportunity to search for words in Jane Austen-themed sentences. It is not your usual wordsearch book but something quite different.

Each group of ten sentences is supported by an information text designed for newcomers but equally informative for devotees of Jane Austen. There could be new information for the knowledgeable or even an invitation to look at Jane Austen in a new way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035840212

June Durant

A retired history teacher, June Durant is an amateur genealogist and has been a member of the Jane Austen Society for more than thirty years. Her hobby has been writing since the day she learned to write, but only in recent years has she thought of publication. Apart from one exception her works are all non-fiction. She lives in Berkshire, a mere stone’s throw away from her twin daughters and amazing four grandchildren.

Book preview

About the Author

A retired history teacher, June Durant is an amateur genealogist and has been a member of the Jane Austen Society for more than thirty years. Her hobby has been writing since the day she learned to write, but only in recent years has she thought of publication. Apart from one exception her works are all non-fiction. She lives in Berkshire, a mere stone’s throw away from her twin daughters and amazing four grandchildren.

Dedication

For my granddaughters Phebe and Abigail.

Copyright Information ©

June Durant 2024

The right of June Durant to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035840205 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035840212 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

Thank you to my daughters, Pippa and Jenny for their technical help and support, and thank you to my best friend, Sue, who never gave up.

The silhouette on the cover depicts Phebe, drawing inspiration from Jane Austen’s statue.

On each of the succeeding pages, there is a short introduction followed by examples of twenty nouns, proper nouns or other descriptive words to be found in Austen’s life, work and her times. Beneath that list of twenty are ten sentences and one word from the examples will be found in each.

The following should be noted:

Capital letters and punctuation can be ignored when searching for the words. The spelling of towns and cities, sometimes surnames, was fluid and not standardised throughout Austen’s writing. Although a Dr Johnson admirer, Miss Austen does not always abide by his dictionary spelling; also, Jane Austen had an idiosyncratic habit of confusing the i before e rule. For example, Frindship rather than Friendship, beleif instead of belief and greive not grieve. These misspellings will sometimes be found in the text.

Solutions are to be found at the back of the book followed by a further reading list for those who want to know more. There are also biographical and topographical indexes for interested readers.

Jane Austen the Child

The baby arrived on a cold December day, a month later than Mrs Austen had calculated. The Revd George called her Jenny, a plaything for Cassy and a future companion. He baptised her Jane in St Nicholas Church, Steventon.

Some readers and analysts of Northanger Abbey believe that Catherine Morland’s childhood reflects Jane Austen’s. Certainly, if you walk the lane parallel to what was the rectory garden you will see a grassed slope down which the Austen children could well have enjoyed rolling.

It was a lively, secure childhood for her because she grew up amongst intelligence, humour, love and sporting boys. Another brother arrived after Jane so now there were eight children. Mr Austen’s income hardly covered the cost of such a large family, so he took in sons of his university and local friends to tutor them for university entrance. The parsonage was bursting at the seams, predominantly with the male species. Perhaps that was why the girls were sent to be tutored by Mrs Cawley in Oxford together with cousin Jane Cooper. Always interested in Jane’s development, it is possible that big brother James took them on a tour of Oxford and introduced them to old Theophilus Leigh, Mrs Austen’s uncle. The girls were there for only a few months before Mrs Cawley whisked them off to Southampton either for a visit, to escape an outbreak of measles in Oxford or for a more permanent stay. The girls caught a putrid fever (typhus) in Southampton and Jane nearly died. They were collected by their mothers and sadly Mrs Cooper did die after catching the fever. The Reverend Edward Cooper left Bath and took up another of his Livings in Sonning-on-Thames, on the Bath Road near Reading.

The next we hear of the girls is that they are attending Mrs La Tournelle’s Abbey School in Reading. Some people believe that Mrs Goddard’s school in Emma is a description of the one Jane attended. There they enjoyed two years learning to dance, sing, speak French, behave like young ladies and died of laughing. More or less contained in the Abbey grounds they met with the Valpy boys for formal dancing or saw them on a Sunday when they walked the short distance to St Lawrence Church in Market Square. Once, they were taken out to tea by Edward Cooper and Edward Knight. Perhaps Mrs Austen’s close friend Caroline Powys took them out also. Perhaps they attended church in Sonning. Perhaps the Leigh-Perrots took them home or collected them for a new term. Maybe.

By the end of 1786, Jane and Cassandra were back in Steventon, often joined by Jane Cooper. It was back to bilbocatch, spilikins, ninepins, playing cricket, helping mother, enjoying family theatricals, sharing confidences with her sister in their bedroom and rolling down the grassed slope. Jane had extended her love of reading and acquired a talent for writing. She never stopped learning.

The dove’s gentle coo perfected the still air with a soothing ambience.

The comment knocked me flat, our Nell eyed the man with disgust and Molly simply turned her back on him and walked away.

After capture, the pregnant fox for Delaford Park, was taken by Willoughby to be released in his own new plantation in the hope of establishing a skulk for future hunts.

Jane Fairfax hoped that her novel would be read in great houses once it had been published by Minerva.

Sir Thomas calmed down and spoke in—at last—even tones when he endeavoured to cajole Fanny into marrying Henry Crawford.

When we were called for tea, us ten hungry children eagerly abandoned the garden and sat at the table in greedy anticipation.

Caroline listened to the bird’s trill, a wren certainly, and she looked around from whence the singing came so that she could be sure her identification was correct.

Mr Knightley thought that he should take his horse to the forge or get a blacksmith to come to Donwell to fix the loose shoe.

For several afternoons, Mary Crawford put riding at the top of her list for securing Edmund’s company.

Lady de Bourgh and Lizzy continued their conflab beyond the wilderness until the incensed departure of the irate elderly woman.

Jane the Teenager

Jane Austen was ten when she left the Abbey School, but it wasn’t the end of her education. There was her father’s library to explore and surely both parents continued to add to her knowledge. As a feisty teenager she was acquiring decided opinions flavoured with teasing and irony. Her vocabulary was wide and her taste eclectic.

She admired William Gilpin’s ideas of the Picturesque but was also amused and critical when artists and designers took the idea beyond what was sensible. Similarly, with novels and such authors as West, Lennox and Mrs Radcliffe. She wrote her own outrageous versions, dedicated them to family members and read them out loud—a source of much hilarity. She parodied the novels, taking on a Sheridan-like mantle of burlesque. She amused her appreciative family, but her father perceived a serious talent beneath the surface. Jane was encouraged to develop her writing beyond an exercise in jollity. He gave her three notebooks which became Volume the First, Volume the Second and Volume the Third.

Meanwhile, the family continued to indulge in home theatricals until circa 1792. Glamourous cousin Eliza Feuillide visited from France and then from her home in England. Brothers James and Henry graduated from Oxford, Edward was adopted by rich relations and the two youngest boys went to sea. Henry, unlike James, did not take Holy Orders but entered the Oxfordshire militia instead. There are hints in a letter that Jane was familiar with sign language. Why? Surely only because it would be used to communicate with her disabled brother George? Interestingly all of her published novels included subjects that could be applied to any of her siblings—except a disability such as occurred in the Leigh family from time to time.

In 1795, Jane’s teenage years ended. She was living through one of England’s most turbulent eras. That year and a few more saw disastrous harvests. Everyone was subject to the most comprehensive taxes, thanks to William Pitt. America had been lost, war and independence occurring when Jane was an infant. John Wesley had made an impact on the church and evangelism was gaining strength. Patronage and Pluralism were being questioned. Wilberforce and members of The Lunar Society were pushing for the abolition of the slave trade. The Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions were in full swing and more labourers were flocking to the towns than volunteering for the armed forces. The French Revolution was at its height and Napoleon was hovering on the horizon. Government was edgy and the Whigs, led by Charles James Fox, were ready to pounce as soon as Pitt could be edged out of office.

If Jane’s childhood and teenage years had been full of national unrest, it was to continue in much the same way for the rest of her life—not that you would particularly notice from her novels.

As soon as Edward is able, don’t prevent him from enjoying the fresh air again.

Lydia reached out for the vase but could not stop it tottering and falling from the shelf that she was disturbing with her tantrum.

Captain Jean-Francois Capot was bursting with pride as Queen Marie Antoinette was about to bestow a rather special award upon the regiment’s canine mascot that he was leading.

Jane and Cassandra were disappointed to discover that there was no velvet of the right hue to be found in Bedford House.

The cliff ran central to Mary Anning’s exploration of the Dorset coast.

Never put a lent book in my library Jane, said Mr Bennet, "because it