Jane Austen Quote of the Week 163

In honor of Jon Spence, this week's quote is from "Becoming Jane Austen" in Chapter 4 where he is discussing Jane's story in her Juvenilia named "Evelyn":

'Evelyn' is dedicated to Mary Lloyd, who with her widowed mother and elder sister Martha had been living at Deane parsonage since 1789. The hyperbolic graciousness of the Webb family in the story seems to be Jane's unsentimental, satirical way of thanking the Lloyds for their kindness to her at Deane.

This passage is especially interesting to me for Jane's use of the surname 'Webb' because that happens to be my maiden name. Jane also uses that name in Pride and Prejudice when she write of the "Miss Webbs". Because Jon mentions the Webb family, I went in search of the story 'Evelyn' since it was not in the paperback I have of the juvenilia. I did find it on line here: Evelyn

This nugget of information illustrates to me that we can never be sure of what treasure awaits us in some book or other.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: cover to 'Becoming Jane Austen' by Jon Spence