Part 1

LOVE & FREINDSHIP AND OTHER EARLY WORKS

A Collection of Juvenile Writings

By Jane Austen

CONTENTS

LOVE AND FREINDSHIP LETTER the FIRST From ISABEL to LAURA LETTER 2nd LAURA to ISABEL LETTER 3rd LAURA to MARIANNE LETTER 4th Laura to MARIANNE LETTER 5th LAURA to MARIANNE LETTER 6th LAURA to MARIANNE LETTER 7th LAURA to MARIANNE LETTER 8th LAURA to MARIANNE, in continuation LETTER the 9th From the same to the same LETTER 10th LAURA in continuation LETTER 11th LAURA in continuation LETTER the 12th LAURA in continuation LETTER the 13th LAURA in continuation LETTER the 14th LAURA in continuation LETTER the 15th LAURA in continuation.

AN UNFINISHED NOVEL IN LETTERS LESLEY CASTLE LETTER the FIRST is from Miss MARGARET LESLEY to Miss CHARLOTTE LUTTERELL LETTER the SECOND From Miss C. LUTTERELL to Miss M. LESLEY in answer. LETTER the THIRD From Miss MARGARET LESLEY to Miss C. LUTTERELL LETTER the FOURTH From Miss C. LUTTERELL to Miss M. LESLEY LETTER the FIFTH Miss MARGARET LESLEY to Miss CHARLOTTE LUTTERELL LETTER the SIXTH LADY LESLEY to Miss CHARLOTTE LUTTERELL LETTER the SEVENTH From Miss C. LUTTERELL to Miss M. LESLEY LETTER the EIGHTH Miss LUTTERELL to Mrs MARLOWE LETTER the NINTH Mrs MARLOWE to Miss LUTTERELL LETTER the TENTH From Miss MARGARET LESLEY to Miss CHARLOTTE LUTTERELL

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND

A COLLECTION OF LETTERS To Miss COOPER LETTER the FIRST From a MOTHER to her FREIND. LETTER the SECOND From a YOUNG LADY crossed in Love to her freind LETTER the THIRD From a YOUNG LADY in distressed Circumstances to her freind LETTER the FOURTH From a YOUNG LADY rather impertinent to her freind LETTER the FIFTH From a YOUNG LADY very much in love to her Freind

THE FEMALE PHILOSOPHER

THE FIRST ACT OF A COMEDY

A LETTER from a YOUNG LADY, whose feelings being too strong A TOUR THROUGH WALES—in a LETTER from a YOUNG LADY—

A TALE.

LOVE AND FREINDSHIP

TO MADAME LA COMTESSE DE FEUILLIDE THIS NOVEL IS INSCRIBED BY HER OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT THE AUTHOR.

“Deceived in Freindship and Betrayed in Love.”

LETTER the FIRST From ISABEL to LAURA

How often, in answer to my repeated intreaties that you would give my Daughter a regular detail of the Misfortunes and Adventures of your Life, have you said “No, my freind never will I comply with your request till I may be no longer in Danger of again experiencing such dreadful ones.”

Surely that time is now at hand. You are this day 55. If a woman may ever be said to be in safety from the determined Perseverance of disagreeable Lovers and the cruel Persecutions of obstinate Fathers, surely it must be at such a time of Life.

Isabel

LETTER 2nd LAURA to ISABEL

Altho’ I cannot agree with you in supposing that I shall never again be exposed to Misfortunes as unmerited as those I have already experienced, yet to avoid the imputation of Obstinacy or ill-nature, I will gratify the curiosity of your daughter; and may the fortitude with which I have suffered the many afflictions of my past Life, prove to her a useful lesson for the support of those which may befall her in her own.

Laura

LETTER 3rd LAURA to MARIANNE

As the Daughter of my most intimate freind I think you entitled to that knowledge of my unhappy story, which your Mother has so often solicited me to give you.

My Father was a native of Ireland and an inhabitant of Wales; my Mother was the natural Daughter of a Scotch Peer by an italian Opera-girl—I was born in Spain and received my Education at a Convent in France.

When I had reached my eighteenth Year I was recalled by my Parents to my paternal roof in Wales. Our mansion was situated in one of the most romantic parts of the Vale of Uske. Tho’ my Charms are now considerably softened and somewhat impaired by the Misfortunes I have undergone, I was once beautiful. But lovely as I was the Graces of my Person were the least of my Perfections. Of every accomplishment accustomary to my sex, I was Mistress. When in the Convent, my progress had always exceeded my instructions, my Acquirements had been wonderfull for my age, and I had shortly surpassed my Masters.

In my Mind, every Virtue that could adorn it was centered; it was the Rendez-vous of every good Quality and of every noble sentiment.

A sensibility too tremblingly alive to every affliction of my Freinds, my Acquaintance and particularly to every affliction of my own, was my only fault, if a fault it could be called. Alas! how altered now! Tho’ indeed my own Misfortunes do not make less impression on me than they ever did, yet now I never feel for those of an other. My accomplishments too, begin to fade—I can neither sing so well nor Dance so gracefully as I once did—and I have entirely forgot the Minuet Dela Cour.