MA 1226, p. 14

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Jane Austen
1775–1817

Lady Susan

Autograph manuscript, fair copy, of a novel

Undated

Purchased, 1947

MA 1226
Transcription: 

14
to repent that I did not let Charles buy Vernon Castle
when we were obliged to sell it, but it was a trying
circumstance, especially as the sale took place exactly
at the time of his marriage — & everybody ought to
respect the delicacy of those feelings, which could not
endure that my Husband's Dignity should be lessened
by his younger brother's having possession of the family
Estate. — Could matters have been so arranged as to pre:
:vent the necessity of our leaving the Castle, could we
have lived with Charles & kept him single, I should
have been very far from persuading my husband to
dispose of it elsewhere; — but Charles was on
the point of marrying Miss De Courcy, & the event
has justified me. Here are children in abundance,
& what benefit could have accrued to me from his
purchasing Vernon? — My having prevented it, may
perhaps have given his wife an unfavourable im:
:pression — but where there is a disposition to dislike

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Images provided by DIAMM on behalf of Jane Austen’s Holograph Fiction MSS: A Digital and Print Edition.

Recording of Lady Susan courtesy of Naxos AudioBooks.

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