Lady Susan


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This tale of the self-seeking Lady Susan Vernon was written by Jane Austen, probably some time before 1805, but was not published until 1871, as part of James Edward Austen-Leigh's Memoir (Jane Austen left it untitled; the title "Lady Susan" was provided by Austen-Leigh). This is the work of Jane Austen's which comes closest to what we now think of as "Regency".

[I have somewhat arbitrarily split the HTML version of Lady Susan into three conveniently-sized parts. Lady Susan is also available as a single plain ASCII e-text file, compressed in binary .zip format <49888 bytes> -- see explanation of ".zip" here].

Table of contents

Genealogical table of Vernons and De Courcys in Lady Susan

                                          Sir Reginald ===  Lady C.
                                            De Courcy   |  De Courcy
      +---------------------------+             +-------+-------+
      |                           |             |               |
      |                           |             |               |
 ---- Vernon === Lady Susan     Charles === Catherine V.     Reginald
 ELDEST SON   |  (About 35      Vernon   | née De Courcy     De Courcy
Died recently |  years old)              |                  ELDEST SON
              |                          |
              |                          |
   Frederica Susanna Vernon           several
      (16 years old)                  children

So why is she called "Lady" Susan anyway?

This must be because she is the daughter of a high-ranking nobleman (Earl or higher), like Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice. See the explanation of such aristocratic honorifics.

Notes

"wait for his emancipation"
Of course, Mr. Manwaring couldn't marry Lady Susan unless and until his wife died. (See Legalities of Marriage.)
"a Thirty-mile Journey"
This could easily take four hours or more, depending on the horses used, the state of the roads, etc.
"Rattle"
This is not a very reassuring term with Jane Austen -- she also used it for John Thorpe in Northanger Abbey, who is one of the most ridiculous and obnoxious of all her characters.
"Hunters"
Horses used for hunting.


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