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Authors: Valerie Grosvenor Myer
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to his wife from Charles William Taylor, andMary-Cassandra went home to her mother. In June 1798 the Bishop of London granted Ricketts an Episcopal divorce, which did not allow remarriage; in January 1799 the House of Lords granted a civil one, which did. The hearing was newsworthy: Mary-Cassandra had been seen furtively visiting Taylor’s house in Margaret Street and had boasted to her maid, in lurid detail, how much better he was in bed than her husband. The Austen sisters knew all about this. Indeed, Jane openly expressed opinions about scandals of which she had heard. She was far from being sheltered from learning of the immorality of society.
For example, Jane told Cassandra in a letter in January 1801 that Fulwar Fowle’s wife Eliza, née Lloyd, had seen Lord Craven and ‘found his manners very pleasing indeed. The little flaw of having a mistress now living with him at Ashdown Park seems to be the only unpleasing circumstance about him. 3 The mistress was fifteen-year-old Harriette Wilson, who later became a notorious courtesan. When Harriette fell on hard times, she wrote her memoirs and tried to blackmail her former lovers. Her price for silence was £200 (now worth at least 200 times as much) per lover. It was to Harriette that the Duke of Wellington is said to have uttered his famous challenge: ‘Publish and be damned!’ Lord Craven in 1807 married an actress called Louisa Brunton. When
Emma
was published in 1815, Jane Austen wrote that Lady Craven admired it very much, but did not think it equal to
Pride and Prejudice
.
Nearer home, the diminutive Revd Charles Powlett, curate of Winslade, who had tried to give Jane a kiss at a ball in January 1796, gave a rowdy party, disturbing the neighbours. His father was an illegitimate son of the third Duke of Bolton. Illegitimate children were numerous. Sometimes called ‘accidental’ or ‘natural’ children, they were often recognized and reared by their paternal relatives. Charles spent much time at his grandfather’s seat, where he acquired expensive tastes and ran seriously into debt, finally leaving England for Brussels to avoid his creditors. He married a young, extravagant wife, who appeared at a ball ‘both nakedly and expensively dressed’. She caused Jane some amusement by referring to her husband in Italian as her
‘Caro sposo
,' a detail Jane was to put to use when she created the affected Mrs Elton in
Emma
.
Another Mrs Powlett caused even bigger ripples. Colonel Thomas Norton Powlett was a distant relative of Charles and had at the age of thirty-one married Letitia Mary Percival, ten years younger. When Jane was living in Southampton in 1808 she was shocked to learn that Colonel Powlett’s wife had had an affair with Charles Sackville Germain, second Viscount Sackville, later fifth Duke of Dorset. This continued until after the Powletts had moved to Southampton where Mrs Powlett took communion with Cassandra and Jane. Twelve days before Jane wrote to tell her sister all about it, the Viscount and Mrs Powlett had been caught together. The
Morning Post
the previous day (21 June) had announced, ‘Mrs P’s
faux pas
with Lord S e took place at an inn near Winchester/ Three days earlier it had announced, ‘Another elopement has taken place in high life. A noble Viscount, Lord S, has gone off with Mrs P, the wife of a relative of a noble Marquis.'
Colonel Powlett brought an action for damages against Lord Sackville. The case was reported in the
Hampshire Chronicle
five weeks later. The story was this. Lord Sackville met Colonel and Mrs Powlett at the Stockbridge racecourse on 9 June, when Sackville overheard the Colonel arrange to go yachting with a friend the next day Next morning, after the Colonel had gone to Southampton Quay, Mrs Powlett ordered post horses for her carriage and drove to the White Hart Inn, Winchester. When she arrived she took a room upstairs. Lord Sackville arrived soon afterwards, and was given a room downstairs where he ate
For example, Jane told Cassandra in a letter in January 1801 that Fulwar Fowle’s wife Eliza, née Lloyd, had seen Lord Craven and ‘found his manners very pleasing indeed. The little flaw of having a mistress now living with him at Ashdown Park seems to be the only unpleasing circumstance about him. 3 The mistress was fifteen-year-old Harriette Wilson, who later became a notorious courtesan. When Harriette fell on hard times, she wrote her memoirs and tried to blackmail her former lovers. Her price for silence was £200 (now worth at least 200 times as much) per lover. It was to Harriette that the Duke of Wellington is said to have uttered his famous challenge: ‘Publish and be damned!’ Lord Craven in 1807 married an actress called Louisa Brunton. When
Emma
was published in 1815, Jane Austen wrote that Lady Craven admired it very much, but did not think it equal to
Pride and Prejudice
.
Nearer home, the diminutive Revd Charles Powlett, curate of Winslade, who had tried to give Jane a kiss at a ball in January 1796, gave a rowdy party, disturbing the neighbours. His father was an illegitimate son of the third Duke of Bolton. Illegitimate children were numerous. Sometimes called ‘accidental’ or ‘natural’ children, they were often recognized and reared by their paternal relatives. Charles spent much time at his grandfather’s seat, where he acquired expensive tastes and ran seriously into debt, finally leaving England for Brussels to avoid his creditors. He married a young, extravagant wife, who appeared at a ball ‘both nakedly and expensively dressed’. She caused Jane some amusement by referring to her husband in Italian as her
‘Caro sposo
,' a detail Jane was to put to use when she created the affected Mrs Elton in
Emma
.
Another Mrs Powlett caused even bigger ripples. Colonel Thomas Norton Powlett was a distant relative of Charles and had at the age of thirty-one married Letitia Mary Percival, ten years younger. When Jane was living in Southampton in 1808 she was shocked to learn that Colonel Powlett’s wife had had an affair with Charles Sackville Germain, second Viscount Sackville, later fifth Duke of Dorset. This continued until after the Powletts had moved to Southampton where Mrs Powlett took communion with Cassandra and Jane. Twelve days before Jane wrote to tell her sister all about it, the Viscount and Mrs Powlett had been caught together. The
Morning Post
the previous day (21 June) had announced, ‘Mrs P’s
faux pas
with Lord S e took place at an inn near Winchester/ Three days earlier it had announced, ‘Another elopement has taken place in high life. A noble Viscount, Lord S, has gone off with Mrs P, the wife of a relative of a noble Marquis.'
Colonel Powlett brought an action for damages against Lord Sackville. The case was reported in the
Hampshire Chronicle
five weeks later. The story was this. Lord Sackville met Colonel and Mrs Powlett at the Stockbridge racecourse on 9 June, when Sackville overheard the Colonel arrange to go yachting with a friend the next day Next morning, after the Colonel had gone to Southampton Quay, Mrs Powlett ordered post horses for her carriage and drove to the White Hart Inn, Winchester. When she arrived she took a room upstairs. Lord Sackville arrived soon afterwards, and was given a room downstairs where he ate
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