Oxford, before becoming ordained. Clever and studious, his intellectual precocity enabled him to matriculate, that is to enter the university, at fourteen. His great-uncle the Master of Balliol invited him to dine. Dr Theophilus Leigh was by then well over eighty. At that time Oxford and Cambridge undergraduates wore academic dress, square tasselled caps and gowns, at all times in public. James, entering his great-uncle’s lodgings, was taking off his gown as if it were an overcoat, as he did not yet know the etiquette. ‘Young man,’ said Dr Leigh, ‘You need not strip. We are not going to fight.’
In 1786 James spent a year in Europe, visiting France, Spain and Holland. He was the most learned and scholarly of the Austen children.
James’s first curacy was at Stoke Charity and his second at Over-ton, both within a few miles of Steventon. He kept his university terms, popping down at intervals to perform his clerical duties. Living in the small vicarage house at Overton, he went hunting with the Kempshott pack. At that time Kempshott Park was rented by the Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent and King George IV of England) and James was often in the field with royalty. Another hunting man, Mr William John Chute of the Vyne, presented James to the vicarage of Sherborne St John in 1792. While at Overton he did duty at nearby Laverstoke, where he met and fell in love with Anne Mathew, whose father, General Mathew, rented the manor house. James married in 1792, his father performing the ceremony. The bride’s mother was Lady Jane Bertie, daughter of the second Duke of Ancaster and sister of the third. James was twenty-seven. A country clergyman was not much of a catch, but Anne was well over thirty with a great deal of nose’, so the General accepted James as son-in-law and allowed the young couple £100 a year. James had, after all, expectations from James Leigh-Perrot. The Leigh family found him a living at Cubbington, Warwickshire. This brought the couple’s combined income up to £300 a year. Although nominally vicar, James never went to Cubbington, but employed a curate. He and Anne lived for a while at Court House, Ovington, but James needed a permanent home to take his pale, slender bride to, so his kind father employed him as curate at Deane and allowed him to live there rent free.
This was generous, as the Deane house had previously been let to a tenant, Mrs Martha Lloyd. Mrs Lloyd and her unmarried daughters then moved to Ibthorpe (pronounced Ibthrop), about sixteen miles from Steventon and not far from Andover. Mrs Lloyd, a clergy widow, was the mother of Martha and Mary, close friends of Jane. Eliza Lloyd had married her cousin the Revd Fulwar Craven Fowle, who with his brother Tom (Cassandra’s fiancé) had been one of George Austen’s pupils. When Mrs Lloyd, Martha and Mary left Deane, Jane made Mary Lloyd a tiny ‘housewife’ or sewing set as a leaving present. This was a very small bag of white cotton with gold and black zigzag stripes. Inside was a strip of fabric pierced by tiny needles and fine thread. On a scrap of paper Jane had written:
This little bag I hope will prove
To be not vainly made,
For if you thread and needle want,
It will afford you aid.
And as we are about to part,
‘Twill serve another end,
For when you look upon the bag,
You’ll recollect your friend.
Settled at Deane, James and Anne lived above their modest means: she kept a close carriage and he a pack of harriers. They had spent £200 on furnishing the house.
Great-uncle Francis Austen had died the previous year, aged ninety-three, and left £500 to each of his nephews. Now Charles had left home for the Naval Academy the pressure was less and Mr Austen cut down on the number of his pupils. Inflation meant that his charges had almost doubled, and were now £65 a year. Jane and Cassandra could have a spare bedroom next to theirs as a sitting room, always called the dressing room. The walls were cheaply papered and
In 1786 James spent a year in Europe, visiting France, Spain and Holland. He was the most learned and scholarly of the Austen children.
James’s first curacy was at Stoke Charity and his second at Over-ton, both within a few miles of Steventon. He kept his university terms, popping down at intervals to perform his clerical duties. Living in the small vicarage house at Overton, he went hunting with the Kempshott pack. At that time Kempshott Park was rented by the Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent and King George IV of England) and James was often in the field with royalty. Another hunting man, Mr William John Chute of the Vyne, presented James to the vicarage of Sherborne St John in 1792. While at Overton he did duty at nearby Laverstoke, where he met and fell in love with Anne Mathew, whose father, General Mathew, rented the manor house. James married in 1792, his father performing the ceremony. The bride’s mother was Lady Jane Bertie, daughter of the second Duke of Ancaster and sister of the third. James was twenty-seven. A country clergyman was not much of a catch, but Anne was well over thirty with a great deal of nose’, so the General accepted James as son-in-law and allowed the young couple £100 a year. James had, after all, expectations from James Leigh-Perrot. The Leigh family found him a living at Cubbington, Warwickshire. This brought the couple’s combined income up to £300 a year. Although nominally vicar, James never went to Cubbington, but employed a curate. He and Anne lived for a while at Court House, Ovington, but James needed a permanent home to take his pale, slender bride to, so his kind father employed him as curate at Deane and allowed him to live there rent free.
This was generous, as the Deane house had previously been let to a tenant, Mrs Martha Lloyd. Mrs Lloyd and her unmarried daughters then moved to Ibthorpe (pronounced Ibthrop), about sixteen miles from Steventon and not far from Andover. Mrs Lloyd, a clergy widow, was the mother of Martha and Mary, close friends of Jane. Eliza Lloyd had married her cousin the Revd Fulwar Craven Fowle, who with his brother Tom (Cassandra’s fiancé) had been one of George Austen’s pupils. When Mrs Lloyd, Martha and Mary left Deane, Jane made Mary Lloyd a tiny ‘housewife’ or sewing set as a leaving present. This was a very small bag of white cotton with gold and black zigzag stripes. Inside was a strip of fabric pierced by tiny needles and fine thread. On a scrap of paper Jane had written:
This little bag I hope will prove
To be not vainly made,
For if you thread and needle want,
It will afford you aid.
And as we are about to part,
‘Twill serve another end,
For when you look upon the bag,
You’ll recollect your friend.
Settled at Deane, James and Anne lived above their modest means: she kept a close carriage and he a pack of harriers. They had spent £200 on furnishing the house.
Great-uncle Francis Austen had died the previous year, aged ninety-three, and left £500 to each of his nephews. Now Charles had left home for the Naval Academy the pressure was less and Mr Austen cut down on the number of his pupils. Inflation meant that his charges had almost doubled, and were now £65 a year. Jane and Cassandra could have a spare bedroom next to theirs as a sitting room, always called the dressing room. The walls were cheaply papered and
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