from a sister of Jane's
grandmother, Rebecca Austen, who married a man of that name.

[230] Perhaps in the battle of Albuera, May 16, 1811, which is described
by Professor Oman (_Cambridge Modern History_, ix. 467) as 'the most
bloody incident of the whole Peninsular War.'

[231] June 2. They ought to have waited for the King's birthday (June
4), which was considered the correct day to begin pease upon.

CHAPTER XV

_PRIDE AND PREJUDICE_

1812-1814

The title-page of _Sense and Sensibility_ describes the book as
being 'by a Lady.' This ascription satisfied the author's desire
for concealment, but it puzzled the advertisers. The first
advertisement--that in the _Morning Chronicle_ on October 31,
1811--merely describes it as 'a novel, called _Sense and Sensibility_,
by Lady ----.' In the same paper, on November 7, it is styled an
'extraordinary novel by Lady ----'; while on November 28 it sinks to
being an 'interesting novel,' but is ascribed to 'Lady A.'[232]

Jane's expectations were so modest that she laid by a sum out of her
very slender resources to meet the expected loss. She must have been
delighted at the result. By July 1813 every copy of the first edition
had been sold; and not only had her expenses been cleared but she was
one hundred and forty pounds to the good.[233] If we compare this with
the thirty pounds that Fanny Burney received for _Evelina_, the one
hundred pounds that Maria Edgeworth got for _Castle Rackrent_, or the
hundred and forty pounds gained by Miss Ferrier for her first novel, we
shall see that Jane Austen had no reason to complain.

The money was no doubt very welcome; but still more important from
another point of view was the favourable reception of the work. Had it
been a failure and an expense to its author, she would hardly have
dared, nor could she have afforded, to make a second venture. On the
success of _Sense and Sensibility_, we may say, depended the existence
of _Pride and Prejudice_. Now she could return with renewed spirit to
the preparation of the more famous work which was to follow, and on
which she had already been engaged for some time, concurrently with her
first-published novel.

We have no letters and little news for 1812; but we know that in April
Edward Austen and his daughter Fanny came to Chawton House for three
weeks. It was their last visit as Austens; for on the death of Mrs.
Knight--his kind and generous patron and friend--in October of that