“Where…in the name of wonder… did you pick up this unmeaning gibberish? You have been studying Novels I suspect.”
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| Author Sophia Alexander six-sevens 'Juvenilia' by Jane Austen |
“But I plainly see that every thing is going to sixes and sevens.”
In Juvenilia I, II, & III, a youthful Jane Austen
mocks the ridiculousness of human beings. The writing is almost
fairytale-like, for all that there’s no obvious magic and many of the stories
are epistolary (i.e. telling the stories through an exchange of letters). Written between 1787 and 1793 from ages 12 to 18, the
collection amuses as it enlightens us about her early development as a writer.
Quite a few tales are incomplete, which reflects upon how
very not-plot-driven her stories are, really; one doesn’t feel desperate to
know what happened, only sorry that the stories are over sooner than expected.
So I do recommend the Juvenilia for committed Jane Austen fans who have
a personal interest in her, but probably not in their entirety for anyone else.
Not so notably, the insubstantial “The History of England”
in volume II briefly introduces initiates to some of the most famous monarchs
of Great Britain via Jane’s silly and snarky pen. Her loyalty to Mary, Queen of
Scots is endearing, even if her fervent disapproval of “that disgrace to
humanity, that pest of society, Elizabeth” leaves one at a bit of a loss. Not
sure how much of it she truly meant, though. She wasn’t even Catholic, for all
that she hints that she is in the telling (assuming the next quote is merely humorous).
Jane’s “History” doesn’t approve of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King Henry VIII, either, as
“nothing can be said in his vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses and leaving them to the ruinous depredations of time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England”.
Here’s an example of delightful silliness contained in a more typical story from Juvenilia:
“Mrs. Fitzroy did not approve of the match on account of the tender years of the young couple, Rebecca being but 36 & Captain Roger little more than 63. To remedy this objection, it was agreed that they should wait a little while till they were a good deal older.”
And after a while,
“‘if you refuse to join their hands in 3 days time, this dagger which I enclose in my left shall be steeped in your heart’s blood.’… Such gentle and sweet persuasion could not fail of having the desired effect.”
Hitting closer to home, the character Laura complains of an entirely inadequate new acquaintance:
“She staid but half an hour and neither in the Course of her Visit, confided to me any of her secret thoughts, nor requested me to confide in her, any of Mine. You will easily imagine therefore my Dear Marianne that I could not feel any ardent affection or very sincere attachment.”
Laura shortly meets someone more pleasing in plump Sophia:
“We flew into each other’s arms and after having exchanged vows of mutual Friendship for the rest of our Lives, instantly unfolded to each other the most inward secrets of our Hearts.”
I laughed at recognizing myself
there, as my own BFF is a Laura—who is now a counselor. What a perfect job that
would have been for the character Laura, hmm?
Sophia urges Laura to run mad rather than to faint, and when
I later realized that Jane Austen uses the term ‘distracted’ in the older sense
of ‘maddened or deranged especially by grief or anxiety’, I had to nod, as
this particular modern-day Sophia is all the time saying how distracted she gets.
For those who instead wish to avoid unwanted friendships, another Juvenilia character demonstrates how to answer in no uncertain terms when a nosy someone “challenge[s] you to accept the offer I make of my Confidence and Freindship (sic), in return to which I shall only ask for yours.” Simply reply:
“You are extremely obliging, Ma’am… but I am in no difficulty, no doubt, no uncertainty of situation in which any advice can be wanted. Whenever I am however… I shall know where to apply.”
Clarity is not Lady Williams’ forte, however. With vacillating certainty, she declares,
“Remember it is all forgot.”Henrietta continues the trend in another story when she protests, “say no more”, and shortly adds, “Pray go on.”
Very well, I will.
How intriguing it is that Jane Austen mentions curries in
her Juvenilia not once, but twice. But after all, India was a British
colony at the time, the British East India Company in full swing. Honestly, the notion
of Jane Austen eating curries is nearly as surprising and welcome as when
I read of Benjamin Franklin recommending tofu!
Both curry and tofu are delightful, especially taken together, as are
the writings of both Jane and Ben.
On this food note, Jane Austen uses the expression ‘White as
a Whipt syllabub’ more than once, and I was tickled to actually know what she’s
referring to, as I’d previously run across a syllabub drink recipe in an old
plantation receipt book; it promptly landed a role as the holiday beverage for
a Christmas dinner scene in my own novel, Silk: Caroline’s Story. (By
the way, receipt is the old term for recipe, useful to know if you’re reading Juvenilia.)
On a more prescient vein, perhaps, I was delighted with the following quotes, along with the similar one above, due to the popular Gen Alpha slang ‘six-seven’ (maybe unrelated, but did it actually derive from this old usage?):
Mrs. Percival “vehemently asserted that the whole nation would speedily be ruined, and everything… be at sixes and sevens.”
“Her behavior indeed is scandalous, and therefore I beg you will send your son away immediately, or everything will be at sixes and sevens.”
“I shall soon begin to think like my aunt that everything is going to sixes and sevens.”
Indeed.
Read more of my Jane Austen-focused blogs at the links below:
*Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous)
*Persuasion (1818, posthumous)
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