(for which I am indebted to her kindness) an interesting feature in these Memoirs. Mrs. Austen, in consequence of the interest excited in her by each progressive arrangement for the publication of "Tremaine," in all of which her husband bore so active a part, had kindly undertaken to convey to the author a résumé of remarks upon it made by a literary conclave assembled at her own table. She had upon this occasion an opportunity of embracing in her report the approval of so high an authority as Mr. D'Israeli, sen.; to this he alludes in the following letter.

R. Ward, Esq., to Mrs. Austen.

"Chester Street, Saturday, (April, ) 1825.

"My dear Mrs. Austen,

"Your kind, flattering, and gratifying letter greeted me last night on my return home from Sir George Beaumont's, where I had dined, and where there had been much of dilettanti discussions, and much on literature; but though there had been some talk upon "Tremaine," nothing so pleasing as yours. I do assure you it is no affectation to say, that, though I felt all Mr. D'Israeli's praises much, I felt your good-nature in recording them more, and I was even lost in grateful surprise at the trouble you have condescended to take to give me the pleasure your letter inspires. How I am to thank you I really do not know, nor should if I were even broad awake, which I am not, for I got up exceedingly early because I would not let an unnecessary minute pass without telling you how much pleasure

your kindness gave me. Your husband had left me much his debtor before, what am I to do now when his wife gives a charm to it which those only who know the value of a woman's kindness can appreciate? But I must stop, or I shall get as sentimental as Tremaine himself, for it is very certain I cannot with common feelings tell you how much the kind interest which prompted so much trouble has impressed me. As to the communication itself, it would be great affectation to say that it did not very much please me. The critic is himself too well known not to make me feel that his is no mean praise, and it would go far to dispel any doubts or fears I might have for the reputation of the work. What I am pleased with as much as anything, is the penetration of the remark that it must have been a pet work, kept always at hand, always in mind, and recurred to at every possible interval of leisure. This is the exact account, and describes the interest both of me and my girls in it for the last two years, most precisely. Even all of us (the girls quite as much as myself) considered Evelyn, Georgina, and Jack, not merely as friends, but as relations and parts of the family at Hyde House, so that Julia used sometimes to think she would meet them in the walks when she went out, or waiting for her at the tea-table when she returned home. Tremaine himself was too great a man to be an inmate, but was a constant visitor. By the way, it is both curious and interesting to me to hear how much this same fastidieux is admired by your sex. I have been sometimes quite amused by hearing many

young ladies say he was not a bit too old, and that they could not have refused him like Georgina, but would have married him first for the sake of converting him afterwards. My incognito makes all this quite entertaining. But I must release you, my dear Mrs. Austen, nor will I revert again to the subject of thanks, for I should never have done, I will only say that I am your grateful friend and servant,

"R. W."

R. Ward, Esq., to Mrs. Austen.

"Chester Street, Tuesday, May 13. 1825.

แ 'My dear Mrs. Austen,

"All you tell me is important; the prospect as to the Quarterly seems quite inviting, or at least to lose many of its horrors. Yet what would you have said

if

you had heard, as I did yesterday, from *** at his own table, that he thought the work, particularly the third volume, very heavy indeed. This, too, immediately after telling me he had heard, but could not believe, I was the author. Upon this I begged to say, what was true, that I had heard Sydney Smith (who was there) was the author. Nobody else seemed to have read it but Sir S. Shepherd, and he did not agree with ** but the impression left certainly was that it was very stupid. I had heard in the morning that a determined "exclusive," an earl's daughter, had said it was vulgar, and gave Jack Careless as an instance. This was too contemptible, so in return I told her aunt (who had told me) that

I had heard she had sat for Lady Gertrude, which of course will be told her again. You see, however, that I am not so rich in honour as your kindness may have thought me, so that I still want a little dream of confidence. You see what it is to have shown self so obliging a writer.

your

"Yours,

"R. W."

The strict incognito which had been so successfully kept up gave rise to curious scenes, as it very often happened that the author was present when his own performance was discussed. Nothing, however, can excel in absurdity the event detailed in the following letter; unless indeed we may be permitted to suppose an ingenious piece of waggery on the part of one who well knew how to "sport in season," and who might have hoped, by the ingenuity of his conception, to throw the real author off his guard.

R. Ward, Esq., to Mrs. Austen.

"Guildford Street, May, 1825.

"What I chiefly called for was to tell you something I think will amuse you. I met Sydney Smith yesterday at the Attorney-General's, and he said, I certainly did suspect you, but the author of "Tremaine " has at length disclosed himself, and it is not you but a Mr. Ogle, son of the late Bishop of Winchester; and I think, he added, he was a clergyman, at any rate till now, he said, unknown to fame. Of course I asked how he knew all this; to which he answered, in

the best possible way, from his own confession, or rather from his claiming it. In short Mrs. (wife of the M.P.) has had a letter from him, as she assured me, in which he says, "I am the author of 'Tremaine,' and as I have no means of knowing in the country, I wish you would tell me how it has gone off." So far Sydney Smith. Now if this is not a hoax of Mrs. *, is it not one of the best things you ever heard. You may tell it where you like, and that Smith believes it. Lady S. Bathurst told me why Lady Holland was so desirous of knowing the author, she wishes the third volume had been made a work by itself. So I would have made it, had I suspected her Ladyship, or any other lady, would have read it in that shape. Col. Ponsonby told me his fourteen reasons for being sure who was the author."†

The success of "Tremaine," as well as the interest about the author, had been very great. Speculations at dinner tables, leading articles in newspapers, and comparisons of style among literary men, had been directed to the solution of the mystery, and yet it still remained one. A second edition was in preparation early in April, in the progress of which the author, with an impartiality not very common, announced to Mr. Austen that he had "cut out fifty

† He was betrayed to one who knew him well, but who had commenced the perusal of "Tremaine" without the slightest suspicion as to its author, by his raptures about rooks. In her letter to him she remarks: "The rooks betrayed you first. You say they can converse with one another; you might have gone a step further, for I can assure you they told us your secret.”