Jane Austen Part II

In 1800 when Jane was around 25, her father decided to retire from his ministry and move to Bath... leaving his parish to his son who was also ordained.  Many of Jane’s brothers were in the navy but her brother James was a clergyman.... Jane was taken aback by the sudden decision that she would have to move to Bath and she never liked the city.   However she still had a reasonably busy social life and continued to write. 
In 1802 when she was 27, she received a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg Wither.  She was friendly with the family and seems to have accepted the proposal on the grounds that she would have the status of marriage and a comfortable life... But overnight, she changed her mind and broke off the engagement.  Harris was several years her junior and something of an awkward clumsy  difficult young man… and Jane clearly felt that she could not marry without love or at least affection.  In 1805, her father died suddenly, and Jane and her sister and mother were left not very well off.  Her brothers contributed some money for their upkeep but they were starting in their careers and the money was limited. Jane had passed up the chance of marriage so she may have realised that she was likely to be a not very well off spinster.  She loved her sister, but had a prickly relationship with her mother.

She Cassandra and Mrs Austen lived in Lodgings in Bath and sometimes shared quarters with relatives including her brother Frank… A few years later, however Edward Austen, one of her brothers, who had been adopted by a wealthy relative, offered them a cottage on his property in Hampshire. Jane and her mother and sister settled into Chawton Cottage and led a quiet life.  They didn’t socialise much, except with family and busied themselves with housekeeping and charity work. Jane was now able to devote herself more to her writing and to concentrate on getting her mature works published.