Love and Friendship, and Other Early Works

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP and Other Early Works
also spelled LOVE AND FREINDSHIP
A collection of juvenile writings
by Jane Austen

[ A few very small changes have been made to this version: Italics have
been converted to capitals. The British 'pound' symbol has been
converted to 'L'; but in general the author's erratic spelling, punctuation
and capitalisations have been retained.]
*
CONTENTS.
Love and Freindship
Lesley Castle
The History of England
Collection of Letters
Scraps
*

LOVE AND FREINDSHIP

TO MADAME LA COMTESSE DE FEUILLIDE THIS NOVEL IS

INSCRIBED BY HER OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT THE
AUTHOR.
"Deceived in Freindship and Betrayed in Love."

LETTER the FIRST From ISABEL to LAURA
How often, in answer to my repeated intreaties that you would give my
Daughter a regular detail of the Misfortunes and Adventures of your
Life, have you said "No, my freind never will I comply with your
request till I may be no longer in Danger of again experiencing such
dreadful ones."
Surely that time is now at hand. You are this day 55. If a woman may
ever be said to be in safety from the determined Perseverance of
disagreeable Lovers and the cruel Persecutions of obstinate Fathers,
surely it must be at such a time of Life. Isabel

LETTER 2nd LAURA to ISABEL
Altho' I cannot agree with you in supposing that I shall never again be
exposed to Misfortunes as unmerited as those I have already
experienced, yet to avoid the imputation of Obstinacy or ill-nature, I
will gratify the curiosity of your daughter; and may the fortitude with
which I have suffered the many afflictions of my past Life, prove to her
a useful lesson for the support of those which may befall her in her own.
Laura

LETTER 3rd LAURA to MARIANNE
As the Daughter of my most intimate freind I think you entitled to that
knowledge of my unhappy story, which your Mother has so often
solicited me to give you.

My Father was a native of Ireland and an inhabitant of Wales; my
Mother was the natural Daughter of a Scotch Peer by an italian
Opera-girl--I was born in Spain and received my Education at a
Convent in France.
When I had reached my eighteenth Year I was recalled by my Parents
to my paternal roof in Wales. Our mansion was situated in one of the
most romantic parts of the Vale of Uske. Tho' my Charms are now
considerably softened and somewhat impaired by the Misfortunes I
have undergone, I was once beautiful. But lovely as I was the Graces of
my Person were the least of my Perfections. Of every accomplishment
accustomary to my sex, I was Mistress. When in the Convent, my
progress had always exceeded my instructions, my Acquirements had
been wonderfull for my age, and I had shortly surpassed my Masters.
In my Mind, every Virtue that could adorn it was centered; it was the
Rendez-vous of every good Quality and of every noble sentiment.
A sensibility too tremblingly alive to every affliction of my Freinds, my
Acquaintance and particularly to every affliction of my own, was my
only fault, if a fault it could be called. Alas! how altered now! Tho'
indeed my own Misfortunes do not make less impression on me than
they ever did, yet now I never feel for those of an other. My
accomplishments too, begin to fade--I can neither sing so well nor
Dance so gracefully as I once did--and I have entirely forgot the
MINUET DELA COUR. Adeiu. Laura.

LETTER 4th Laura to MARIANNE
Our neighbourhood was small, for it consisted only of your Mother.
She may probably have already told you that being left by her Parents
in indigent Circumstances she had retired into Wales on eoconomical
motives. There it was our freindship first commenced. Isobel was then
one and twenty. Tho' pleasing both in her Person and Manners
(between ourselves) she never possessed the hundredth part of my
Beauty or Accomplishments. Isabel had seen the World. She had

passed 2 Years at one of the first Boarding-schools in London; had
spent a fortnight in Bath and had supped one night in Southampton.
"Beware my Laura (she would often say) Beware of the insipid
Vanities and idle Dissipations of the Metropolis of England; Beware of
the unmeaning Luxuries of Bath and of the stinking fish of
Southampton."
"Alas! (exclaimed I) how am I to avoid those evils I shall never be
exposed to? What probability is there of my ever tasting the
Dissipations of London, the Luxuries of Bath, or the stinking Fish of
Southampton? I who am doomed to waste my Days of Youth and
Beauty in an humble Cottage in the Vale of Uske."
Ah! little did I then think I was ordained so