众所周知，简·奥斯汀在她生前出版小说时，一直署名“一位女士”。虽然家族中有些人知道她写作上的成功——首当其冲的便是她的哥哥亨利和姐姐卡桑德拉——但很多人并不知道，包括她的堂表亲们。在描述像简这样一位淑女在“工作”时，这个词指的是针线活和为穷人篮（慈善缝纫）缝制衣服。一位淑女绝不会为了谋生而劳作，玷污自己的双手。简并不希望人们到处宣扬她是《傲慢与偏见》或《理智与情感》的作者，但她那些引以为傲的兄弟姐妹们，尤其是亨利，却按捺不住，到处夸耀他们才华横溢的妹妹。消息不胫而走，这个保守得最不严实的秘密，就是那位创作了这些令人愉悦的小说的女士的名字。
詹姆斯·爱德华·奥斯汀（James Edward Austen），简的长兄詹姆斯之子，也是她最喜爱的侄子，在1813年上学时发现，他最喜爱的姑妈就是他极为欣赏的那两部小说的作者。当时十一二岁的他得知这个消息欣喜若狂，为此写了一首热情洋溢的诗寄给她：
致 J. 奥斯汀小姐
亲爱的姑妈，我的惊讶无法言表，
也无法让您想象我如何睁大了眼睛，
就像屠夫皮尔刚刚用刀刺中的猪一样，
当我有生以来第一次听闻，
我竟有幸拥有一位亲人，
其作品在整个国家流传。
然而，我向您保证，我高兴得发狂；
哦天哪！想想看（这想法简直让我疯狂），
是您创造了米德尔顿一家、达什伍德姐妹等等，
是您（而不是年轻的费拉斯）发现，
即使在小得不能再小的村舍里也能举办舞会。
尽管柯林斯先生，对一切都感恩戴德，
会把德·包尔夫人称作他亲爱的恩主，
但真正要感谢的是您的才智，
他才得以有了生计、妻子和卑微的住所。
青年时期的詹姆斯·爱德华·奥斯汀
当后来改名为爱德华·奥斯汀-利的他（Edward Austen-Leigh）72岁时，他写下了如今著名的《简·奥斯汀回忆录》，留下了他和堂表亲们在简去世半个世纪后仍保留的记忆遗产。若非爱德华着手进行这项探寻，他的记忆（简去世时他才16岁），以及卡罗琳·奥斯汀（Caroline Austen）和范妮·奈特布尔（Fanny Knatchbull）的记忆，可能就未能以文字形式保存下来。虽然他的书保存了这些逐渐褪色的记忆，但也“净化”了他姑妈简的声誉，抹去了她许多犀利的言辞和机智，代之以温婉的性格描写：
我的姑妈已在五十二年前长眠于地下；在那漫长的岁月里，她的任何家人都不曾想过为她作传。她最亲近的亲属们，非但未曾为此目的做准备，反而实际上毁掉了许多可能有助于此的书信和文件。我相信，他们部分原因是出于对公开私人细节的极度反感，部分原因则是从未料到世人会对她的作品抱有如此强烈而持久的兴趣，以至于要将她的名字视为公共财产。因此，我不得不主要依靠回忆而非书面文件来获取素材；而传主本身也未能为我提供任何引人注目或突出的内容来吸引读者的注意……
写作《简·奥斯汀回忆录》时的爱德华·奥斯汀-利
最终促使我尝试（撰写这部回忆录）的动机，已在本卷开篇的引文里准确表达。我认为我看到了需要去做的事情：知道除我之外无人能做，因此才投身于此。我很高兴能完成我的工作。作为一份家族记录，对于那些必定永远珍视与简·奥斯汀亲缘关系的亲属们来说，它几乎不可能不引起他们的兴趣，我尤其将此书献给他们；但应他人之请，我也将其公之于众，接受批评，其中所有的缺陷与冗赘，皆由我承担。我深知其在公众眼中的价值，必不取决于其自身有何优点，而取决于我的姑妈的作品在他们心目中仍受重视的程度；的确，若能因其（简·奥斯汀）之故，人们能对我这拙劣的素描产生兴趣，我将视此为对她才华最有力的见证之一。
布雷教区牧师住宅：
1869年9月7日。
It is a truth universally known that during her lifetime, Jane Austen published her novels as “a lady.” While some in the family knew about her writing success – her brother Henry and sister Cassandra swiftly come to mind – many did not, including the cousins. When a genteel woman like Jane was described as being at “work”, the phrase meant needlework and sewing clothes for the poor basket. A lady simply did not sully her hands by toiling at a trade. Jane did not want it bandied about that she was the author of Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, but her proud siblings, Henry in particular, couldn’t restrain themselves and bragged about their talented sister. The word got out and the least well-kept secret was the name of the lady who wrote those delightful novels.
James Edward Austen, the son of Jane’s eldest brother James, and a favorite nephew of hers, discovered at school in 1813 that his favorite aunt was the author of two novels he had enjoyed immensely. The 11-12 year-old was so delighted with the news that he penned an enthusiastic poem about his discovery and sent it to her:
To Miss J. Austen
No words can express, my dear Aunt, my surprise
Or make you conceive how I opened my eyes,
Like a pig Butcher Pile has just struck with his knife,
When I heard for the very first time in my life
That I had the honour to have a relation
Whose works were dispersed throughout the whole of the nation.I assure you, however, I’m terribly glad;
Oh dear! just to think (and the thought drives me mad)
That you made the Middletons, Dashwoods, and all,
And that you (not young Ferrars) found out that a ball
May be given in cottages never so small.
And though Mr. Collins, so grateful for all,
Will Lady de Bourgh his dear Patroness call,
‘Tis to your ingenuity he really owed
His living, his wife, and his humble abode.
James Edward Austen as a young man.
When Edward Austen-Leigh, as he became later known in life, was 72, he penned his now famous Memoirs of Jane Austen, leaving a legacy of the memories that he and his cousins retained a half century after her death. Had Edward not embarked on this quest, his memories (he was 16 when Jane died), and those of Caroline Austen and Fanny Knatchbull, might not have been captured in print. While his book preserved those fading memories, they also “sanitized” his aunt Jane’s reputation, erasing much of her sharp tongue and wit and replacing it with sweetness of character:
The grave closed over my aunt fifty-two years ago; and during that long period no idea of writing her life had been entertained by any of her family. Her nearest relatives, far from making provision for such a purpose, had actually destroyed many of the letters and papers by which it might have been facilitated. They were influenced, I believe, partly by an extreme dislike to publishing private details, and partly by never having assumed that the world would take so strong and abiding an interest in her works as to claim her name as public property. It was therefore necessary for me to draw upon recollections rather than on written documents for my materials; while the subject itself supplied me with nothing striking or prominent with which to arrest the attention of the reader…
Edward Austen-Leigh at the time he wrote Memoirs of Jane Austen
The motive which at last induced me to make the attempt [to write this memoir] is exactly expressed in the passage prefixed to these pages. I thought that I saw something to be done: knew of no one who could do it but myself, and so was driven to the enterprise. I am glad that I have been able to finish my work. As a family record it can scarcely fail to be interesting to those relatives who must ever set a high value on their connection with Jane Austen, and to them I especially dedicate it; but as I have been asked to do so, I also submit it to the censure of the public, with all its faults both of deficiency and redundancy. I know that its value in their eyes must depend, not on any merits of its own, but on the degree of estimation in which my aunt’s works may still be held; and indeed I shall esteem it one of the strongest testimonies ever borne to her talents, if for her sake an interest can be taken in so poor a sketch as I have been able to draw.
Bray Vicarage:
Sept. 7, 1869.
