AUSTEN

austen, jane (1775-1817), english novelist, was born on the 16th of december 1775 at the parsonage of steventon, in hampshire, a village of which her father, the rev. george austen, was rector. she was the youngest of seven children. her mother was cassandra leigh, niece of theophilus leigh, a dry humorist, and for fifty years master of balliol, oxford. the life of no woman of genius could have been more uneventful than miss austen's. she did not marry, and she never left home except on short visits, chiefly to bath. her first sixteen years were spent in the rectory at steventon, where she began early to trifle with her pen, always jestingly, for family entertainment. in 1801 the austens moved to bath, where mr austen died in 1805, leaving only mrs austen, jane and her sister cassandra, to whom she was always deeply attached, to keep up the home; his sons were out in the world, the two in the navy, francis william and charles, subsequently rising to admiral's rank. in 1805 the austen ladies moved to southampton, and in 1809 to chawton, near alton, in hampshire, and there jane austen remained till 1817, the year of her death, which occurred at winchester, on july 18th, as a memorial window in the cathedral testifies. during her placid life miss austen never allowed her literary work to interfere with her domestic duties: sewing much and admirably, keeping house, writing many letters and reading aloud. though, however, her days were quiet and her area circumscribed, she saw enough of middle-class provincial society to find a basis on which her dramatic and humorous faculties might build, and such was her power of searching observation and her sympathetic imagination that there are not in english fiction more faithful representations of the life she knew than we possess in her novels. she had no predecessors in this genre. miss austen's "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory" on which she worked "with so fine a brush"--her own phrases--was her own invention. her best-known, if not her best work, _pride and prejudice_, was also her first. it was written between october 1796 and august 1797, although, such was the blindness of publishers, not issued until 1813, two years after _sense and sensibility_, which was written, on an old scenario called "eleanor and marianne," in 1797 and 1798. miss austen's inability to find a publisher for these stories, and for _northanger abbey_, written in 1798 (although it is true that she sold that ms. in 1803 for l10 to a bath bookseller, only, however, to see it locked away in a safe for some years, to be gladly resold to her later), seems to have damped her ardour; for there is no evidence that between 1798 and 1809 she wrote anything but the fragment called "the watsons," after which year she began to revise her early work for the press. her other three books belong to a later date--_mansfield park_, _emma_ and _persuasion_ being written between 1811 and 1816. the years of publication were _sense and sensibility_, 1811; _pride and prejudice_, 1813; _mansfield park_, 1814; and _emma_, 1816--all in their author's lifetime. _persuasion_ and _northanger abbey_ were published posthumously in 1818. all were anonymous, agreeably to their author's retiring disposition. although _pride and prejudice_ is the novel which in the mind of the public is most intimately associated with miss austen's name, both _mansfield park_ and _emma_ are finer achievements--at once riper and richer and more elaborate. but the fact that _pride and prejudice_ is more single-minded, that the love story of elizabeth bennet and d'arcy is not only _of_ the book but _is_ the book (whereas the love story of emma and mr knightley and fanny price and edmund bertram have parallel streams), has given _pride and prejudice_ its popularity above the others among readers who are more interested by the course of romance than by the exposition of character. entirely satisfactory as is _pride and prejudice_ so far as it goes, it is, however, thin beside the niceness of analysis of motives in _emma_ and the wonderful management of two housefuls of young lovers that is exhibited in _mansfield park_. it has been generally agreed by the best critics that miss austen has never been approached in her own domain. no one indeed has attempted any close rivalry. no other novelist has so concerned herself or himself with the trivial daily comedy of small provincial family life, disdaining equally the assistance offered by passion, crime and religion. whatever miss austen may have thought privately of these favourite ingredients of fiction, she disregarded all alike when she took her pen in hand. her interest was in life's little perplexities of emotion and conduct; her gaze was steadily ironical. the most untoward event in any of her books is louisa's fall from the cobb at lyme regis, in _persuasion_; the most abandoned, maria's elopement with crawford, in _mansfield park_. in pure ironical humour miss austen's only peer among novelists is george meredith, and indeed _emma_ may be said to be her _egoist_, or the _egoist_ his _emma_. but irony and fidelity to the fact alone would not have carried her down the ages. to these gifts she allied a perfect sense of dramatic progression and an admirably lucid and flowing prose style which makes her stories the easiest reading. recognition came to miss austen slowly. it was not until quite recent times that to read her became a necessity of culture. but she is now firmly established as an english classic, standing far above miss burney (madame d'arblay) and miss edgeworth, who in her day were the popular women novelists of real life, while mrs radcliffe and "monk" lewis, whose supernatural fancies' _northanger abbey_ was written in part to ridicule, are no longer anything but names. although, however, she has become only lately a household word, miss austen had always her panegyrists among the best intellects--such as coleridge, tennyson, macaulay, scott, sydney smith, disraeli and archbishop whately, the last of whom may be said to have been her discoverer. macaulay, whose adoration of miss austen's genius was almost idolatrous, considered _mansfield park_ her greatest feat; but many critics give the palm to _emma_. disraeli read _pride and prejudice_ seventeen times. scott's testimony is often quoted: "that young lady had a talent for describing the involvements, feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful i have ever met with. the big bow-wow i can do myself like any one going; but the exquisite touch which renders commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me." many monographs on miss austen have been written, in addition to the authorized _life_ by her nephew j.e. austen leigh in 1870, and the collection of her _letters_ edited by lord brabourne in 1884. the chief books on her and around her are _jane austen_, by s.f. malden (1889); _jane austen_, by goldwin smith (1890); _jane austen: her contemporaries and herself_, by w.h. pollock; _jane austen: her homes and her friends_, by constance hill (1902); _jane austen and her times_, by g.e. mitton (1905); _jane austen's sailor brothers_, by j h. and e.c. hubback (1906); and the essay on her in lady richmond (thackeray) ritchie's _book of sibyls_ (1883). (e. v. l.) austerlitz (czech _slavkov_), a town of austria, in moravia, 15 m. e.s.e. of brunn by rail. pop. (1900) 3145, mostly czech. it contains a magnificent palace belonging to the prince of kaunitz-rietberg, and a beautiful church. [illustration: (map of austerlitz battle site)] the great battle in which the french under napoleon i. defeated the austrians and russians on the 2nd of december 1805, was fought in the country to the west of austerlitz, the position of napoleon's left wing being almost equi-distant from brunn and from austerlitz. the wooded hills to the northward throw out to the south and south-west long spurs, between which are the low valleys of several rivers and brooks. the scene of the most important fighting was the pratzen plateau. the famous "lakes" in the southern part of the field were artificial ponds, which have long since been drained. on the west or brunn side of the goldbach is another and lower ridge, which formed in the battle the first position of the french right and centre. on the other wing is the mass of hills from which the spurs and streams descend: here the olmutz-brunn road passes. the road from brunn to vienna, napoleon's presumed line of retreat, runs in a southerly direction, and near the village of raigern (3 m. west of monitz) is very close to the extreme right of the french position, a fact which had a great influence on the course of the battle. (the course of events which led to the action is described under napoleonic campaigns.) napoleon, falling back before the advance of the allied austrians and russians from olmutz, bivouacked west of the goldbach, whilst the allies, holding, near austerlitz, the junction of the roads from olmutz and from hungary, formed up in the valleys east of the pratzen heights. the cavalry of both sides remained inactive, napoleon's by express order, the enemy's seemingly from mere negligence, since they had 177 squadrons at their disposal. napoleon, having determined to fight, as usual called up every available battalion; the splendid iii. corps of davout only arrived upon the field after a heavy march, late on the night of december 1st. the plan of the allies was to attack napoleon's right, and to cut him off from vienna, and their advanced guard began, before dark on the 1st of december, to skirmish towards telnitz. at that moment napoleon was in the midst of his troops, thousands of whom had made their bivouac-straw into torches in his honour. the glare of these seemed to the allies to betoken the familiar device of lighting fires previous to a retreat, and thus confirmed them in the impression which napoleon's calculated timidity had given. thus encouraged, those who desired an immediate battle soon gained the upper hand in the councils of the tsar and the emperor francis. the attack orders for the 2nd of december (drawn up by the austrian general weyrother, and explained by him to a council of superior officers, of whom some were hostile, the greater part indifferent, and the chief russian member, general kutusov, asleep) gave the five columns and the reserve, into which the austro-russian army was organized, the following tasks: the first and second (russians) to move south-westward behind the pratzen ridge towards telnitz and sokolnitz; the third (russian) to cross the southern end of the plateau, and come into line on the right of the first two; the fourth (austrians and russians under kolowrat) on the right of the third to advance towards kobelnitz. an austrian advanced guard preceded the 1st and 2nd columns. farther still on the right the 5th column (cavalry under prince john of liechtenstein) was to hold the northern part of the plateau, south of the brunn-olmutz road; across the road itself was the corps of prince bagration, and in rear of liechtenstein's corps was the reserve (russians under the grand-duke constantine). thus, the farther the four main columns penetrated into the french right wing, the wider would the gap become between bagration and kolowrat, and liechtenstein's squadrons could not form a serious obstacle to a heavy attack of napoleon's centre. the whole plan was based upon defective information and preconceived ideas; it has gone down to history as a classical example of bad generalship, and its author weyrother, who was perhaps nothing worse than a pedant, as a charlatan. napoleon, on the other hand, with the exact knowledge of the powers of his men, which was the secret of his generalship, entrusted nearly half of his line of battle to a division (legrand's) of soult's corps, which was to be supported by davout, some of whose brigades had marched, from vienna, 90 m. in forty-eight hours. but the ground which this thin line was to hold against three columns of the enemy was marshy and densely intersected by obstacles, and the iii. corps was the best in the _grande armee_, while its leader was perhaps the ablest of all napoleon's marshals. the rest of the army formed in the centre and left. "whilst they march to turn my right," said napoleon in the inspiriting proclamation which he issued on the eve of the battle, "they present me their flank," and the great counterstroke was to be delivered against the pratzen heights by the french centre. this was composed of soult's corps, with bernadotte's in second line. on the left, around the hill called by the french the santon (which was fortified) was lannes' corps, supported by the cavalry reserve under murat. the general reserve consisted of the guard and oudinot's grenadiers. the attack of the allies was begun by the first three columns, which moved down from their bivouacs behind the pratzen plateau before dawn on the 2nd, towards telnitz and sokolnitz. the austrian advanced guard engaged at daybreak, and the french in telnitz made a vigorous defence; both parties were reinforced, and legrand drew upon himself, in fulfilling his mission, the whole weight of the allied attack. the contest was long and doubtful, but the russians gradually drove back legrand and a part of davout's corps; numerous attacks both of infantry and cavalry were made, and by the successive arrival of reinforcements each side in turn received fresh impetus. finally, at about 10 a.m., the allies were in possession of the villages on the goldbach from sokolnitz southwards, and davout's line of battle had reformed more than a mile to rearward, still, however, maintaining touch with the french centre on the goldbach at kobelnitz. between the two lines the fighting continued almost to the close of the battle. with 12,500 men of all arms the marshal held in front of him over 40,000 of the enemy. in the centre, the defective arrangements of the allied staff had delayed the 4th column (kolowrat), the line of march of which was crossed by liechtenstein's cavalry moving in the opposite direction. the objective of this column was kobelnitz, and the two emperors and kutusov accompanied it. the delay had, however, opened a gap between kolowrat and the 3rd column on his left; and towards this gap, and the denuded pratzen plateau, napoleon sent forward st hilaire's division of soult's corps for the decisive attack. kutusov was pursuing this march to the south-west when he was surprised by the swift advance of soult's men on the plateau itself. napoleon had here double the force of the allies; kutusov, however, displayed great energy, changed front to his right and called up his reserves. the french did not win the plateau without a severe struggle. st hilaire's (the right centre) division was fiercely engaged by kolowrat's column, general miloradovich opposed the left centre attack under vandamme, but the french leaders were two of the best fighting generals in their army. the rearmost troops of the russian 2nd column, not yet committed to the fight on the goldbach, made a bold counter stroke against st hilaire's right flank, but were repulsed, and soult now turned to relieve the pressure on davout by attacking sokolnitz. the russians in sokolnitz surrendered, an opportune cavalry charge further discomfited the allied left, and the pratzen plateau was now in full possession of the french. even the russian guard failed to shake vandamme's hold. in the meanwhile lannes and murat had been engaged in the defence of the santon. here the allied leaders displayed the greatest vigour, but they were unable to drive back the french. the cavalry charges in this quarter are celebrated in the history of the mounted arm; and kellermann, the hero of marengo, won fresh laurels against the cavalry of liechtenstein's command. the french not only held their ground, but steadily advanced and eventually forced back the allies on austerlitz, thereby barring their retreat on olmutz. the last serious attempt of the allies in the centre led to some of the hardest fighting of the day; the russian imperial guard under the grand-duke constantine pressed closely upon st hilaire and vandamme on the plateau, and only gave way when the french guard and the grenadiers came into action. after the "chevalier guards" had been routed by marshal bessieres and the guard cavalry, the allies had no more hope of victory; orders had already been sent to buxhowden, who commanded the three columns engaged against davout, to retreat on austerlitz. no further attempt was made on the plateau, which was held by the french from pratzen to the olmutz road. the allied army was cut in two, and the last confused struggle of the three russian columns on the goldbach was one for liberty only. the fighting in telnitz was perhaps the hardest of the whole battle, but the inevitable retreat, every part of which was now under the fire of the french on the plateau, was terribly costly. soult now barred the way to austerlitz, and the allies turned southward towards satschan. as they retreated, the ice of the satschan pond was broken up by the french artillery, and many of the fugitives were drowned. in the twelve hours from 7 a.m. to nightfall, the 65,000 french troops had lost 6800 men, or about 10%; the allies (82,500 engaged) had 12,200 killed and wounded, and left in the enemy's hands 15,000 prisoners (many wounded) and 133 guns.